86: Chapter 86 A Surge in Strength

Upon hearing this, Fang Zhuo immediately adopted a posture of listening attentively.

Old Man Zhang's cloudy eyes cleared up as he said, "Federal martial arts emphasize the physical body; one could even say they only care about the physical body."

"You know this."

Fang Zhuo nodded. Throughout his cultivation journey, including the hardships and suffering in the early stages, it had been several years. Now that he had become a Transcendent Martial Artist, his greatest realization was the arduous nature of refining the physical body.

The martial arts cultivation potions produced by various major corporations were mostly for tempering the physical body.

There were not many pills for enhancing mental power; the only one he was familiar with was the spirit-nourishing pill, and it was only suitable for beginner and Intermediate Martial Artists.

Federal martial arts focused primarily on strengthening the physical body, using the leap in Life Level to drive the growth of mental power.

"Once a martial artist reaches the Transcendent stage, increasing mental power becomes increasingly difficult. Later on, a leap in Life Level can hardly drive the synchronous growth of mental power anymore."

"I'll just say one thing, and you'll understand: most peak Transcendent Martial Artists at level 49 in the Federation have a mental power level of less than 45."

"It's that hard?"

Fang Zhuo was surprised. He had thought a difference of two or three levels was already a lot.

"Of course, many martial artists at the Flying Sky level still have their mental power stuck at the Transcendent stage."

Old Man Zhang said, "Take that kid Wang Jinhua, for example. The reason his comprehension is monstrous, and he grasped Body Control at the Heaven-Reaching level so early, lies in the fact that his mental power is extraordinary!"

"His mental power did not slow down in its growth during the Transcendent stage; it even led the way ahead of his Life Level!"

"So that's how it is..."

Fang Zhuo was secretly delighted. It seemed his mental power might be the same?

His Life Level was currently 40, but his mental power was already at 41. He hoped to keep this up!

"You're not bad. In the future, you might have a chance to spar with Wang Jinhua and strive to pull him down from the top spot on the Transcendent Ranking."

Old Man Zhang chuckled mischievously, his hands behind his back and his head tilted up, looking as if he were looking forward to a good show.

"...Alright, thank you for your guidance, Uncle Zhang."

Fang Zhuo respectfully cupped his fists in a salute.

After Old Man Zhang had seen through his Life Level and mental power at a glance this time, he was certain that Old Man Zhang was definitely not simple.

This kind of discernment was not something an ordinary martial artist could possess.

...

Inside the High-Civilization Gravity Chamber.

In the dim and narrow space, Fang Zhuo took off his shirt, revealing his well-defined muscles, and began to adjust the gravity.

After becoming a Transcendent Martial Artist, how many times the gravity could his physical body withstand?

8 times? 10 times?

Fang Zhuo felt that 8 times was a safe starting point, but he didn't set it to 8 times right away; if he couldn't withstand it and got crushed and injured immediately, it would be a joke...

5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0...

"Hmm, at 9 times gravity, there is some pressure."

Fang Zhuo slowed down the adjustment speed, increasing it bit by bit, and finally set the gravity multiplier to 11.9 times!

Under such high gravity, even though the value was only more than double compared to before, the pressure it exerted was incomparable.

If he hadn't already become a Transcendent Martial Artist, and it had been the level 39 him instead, he would have been crushed into a meat patty instantly.

"Persist. The more the physical body is pushed to a state of extreme hunger, the better the effect of the remaining five portions of phoenix essence blood will be!"

"Coming out of seclusion this time is the best opportunity to kill Ding Nan!"

Fang Zhuo gritted his teeth tightly and struggled to assume the 'Great Dragon Stance', beginning to temper his physical body under high pressure.

With the remaining five portions of phoenix essence blood, if he could push himself to level 43, and then rely on his super-high mental power to improve his Body Control, the Thunder Fire Blade could enter the fourth, or even the fifth stage!

This kind of improvement was something Ding Nan could never imagine.

Caught off guard, this would be the best chance for a one-hit kill!

...

Four hours later, the High-Civilization Gravity Chamber opened with a bang.

A 'drip-drop' sound accompanied by footsteps rang out. Fang Zhuo, looking as if he had been drenched in a heavy rain, was soaked all over and walked out step by step.

His gait was slightly stiff.

His muscles were somewhat unresponsive due to exhaustion and were trembling from time to time, but Fang Zhuo walked with determination.

"Kid Fang... you're ruthless. You've even pushed your Transcendent body to this state. But gravity shouldn't just be set as extreme as possible. Without top-tier precious medicine to assist in tempering, remember not to do this next time."

Old Man Zhang's eyes lifted slightly.

"Thank you for the reminder, Uncle Zhang."

Fang Zhuo finished speaking with chattering teeth and walked into the elevator step by step.

Of course, he wasn't recklessly tempering his body; he still had five portions of phoenix essence blood to use later, so he wasn't afraid of damaging his body at all.

...

90th Floor.

The 86th to 95th floors of the corporate building belonged to the Transcendent Martial Artist cultivation area. Fang Zhuo opened a cultivation room and scanned the code to pay the usage fee for one month.

"In the future, I'll bring Shi Wei up here to cultivate together."

Fang Zhuo pushed open the door and quickly scanned the room.

Force tester, human dummy area, neural reaction tester... there were fewer pieces of equipment compared to the advanced cultivation room, but the quality was much higher.

The space was also larger; he estimated it to be over 200 square meters.

"Suffered for four hours, it's time to enjoy the results...!"

Fang Zhuo locked the door, set it to "do not disturb" seclusion mode, sat cross-legged on the cultivation mat in the center, and with a wave of his hand, five small jade boxes lined up in front of him.

"First drop!"

Swallowing the phoenix essence blood again, the familiar dry heat and burning sensation did not torture him to death; his Transcendent body carried it relatively easily.

After digesting the medicinal power, Fang Zhuo's brows lifted with joy: "Level 41, continue!"

In this case, there were still four portions of phoenix essence blood left, and reaching level 43 was hopeful.

The result was as he expected.

Next, every two drops of phoenix essence blood allowed his Life Level to jump up by one level.

"Such surging vitality... The current me, could I suppress the previous me with one hand?"

Fang Zhuo stood up abruptly, clenched his fists, and punched the force tester.

"Bang—!"

"Basic punching force: 318,092kg!"

"Not bad. This kind of treasure combined with the High-Civilization Gravity Chamber allows for fast improvement, and the foundation is not lacking at all. It's over 8,000 kilograms higher than the standard punching force of a level 43 Transcendent Martial Artist."

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly. By the way, let's check the mental power level first, how high can it reach?

This point is very important; mental power is related to comprehension and determines his future cultivation speed in Body Control and secret manuals.

[Subject: Fang Zhuo]

[Life Level: Level 43 (Transcendent Martial Artist)]

[Mental Power: Level 45]

[Body Control: Inner Sight Minor Accomplishment (12x boost)]

[Thunder Fire Blade: Third Stage (2.6x boost)]

[...]

"Very good!"

"Mental power level 45. According to Uncle Zhang, this is already higher than the vast majority of peak Transcendent Martial Artists in the Federation."

Fang Zhuo was quite satisfied. He performed some basic fist techniques on the spot, and after slowly adapting to the explosive growth in strength, he took the long blade down from the weapon rack.

He continued to slash out with the blade, attempting the fourth stage of the Thunder Fire Blade.

When the Thunder Fire Blade cultivation fell into a strange bottleneck, it was like a person staring at a character for a long time, resulting in a daze where they no longer recognized the character.

Fang Zhuo put down the long blade and went to the human dummy area to start training his Body Control.

"It should be difficult to improve my Life Level again in the short term. Next, I will mainly focus my energy on improving Body Control and the Thunder Fire Blade."

At one o'clock in the middle of the night, the long blade in Fang Zhuo's hand suddenly lit up with a fiery red blade glow, accompanied by bursts of crackling sounds.

This fiery red blade glow was more than twice as bright as the third stage of the Thunder Fire Blade.

"Thunder Fire Blade, Fourth Stage!"

Fang Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief. After using up the remaining five drops of phoenix essence blood and having his Life Level and mental power jump several levels in a row, he had a premonition.

The fourth stage of the Thunder Fire Blade would not be too difficult.

All things considered, it took less than an hour to master the fourth stage of the Thunder Fire Blade.

"Now, Body Control boost is 12x, and the fourth stage of the Thunder Fire Blade boost is 3.4x, so my total combat power boost has reached 40.8x!"

"When fully unleashed, a single strike exceeds ten million kilograms! Compared to before, my strength has more than doubled!" Fang Zhuo clenched his fist, intoxicated by the terrifying power hidden in his body.

"...Let's call it a day."

"In the next few days, I will strive to make another breakthrough in Body Control."

Fang Zhuo sat down to rest, a file on Ding Nan appearing in his hand, which he had privately entrusted Sister Lan from the Supervision Department to provide.

Ding Nan, 47 years old, Superior Martial Aspect 'Black Tortoise', Life Level 44, Thunder Fire Blade Fourth Stage (3.4x boost), Body Control Inner Sight Minor Accomplishment (12x boost), total combat power boost 40.8x.