As night fell and the moonlight was thick, Xia Ning frowned slightly, then opened his eyes. He felt as if his physical body had touched a bottleneck. If he wasn't mistaken, this should be the sign that his physical body was about to break through the limitations and enter the Spirit Guiding stage.
But Xia Ning had a feeling in his heart that his tempering in the Mortal Transformation realm was far from reaching its limit.
This feeling came without reason, but Xia Ning had always trusted his intuition.
Since he wasn't planning to break through that bottleneck, he would try to strengthen his physical foundation further, just like in cultivation novels, continuously reinforcing the body to build a solid foundation.
He acted on his thoughts. Using the energy that hadn't been completely depleted, Xia Ning began an extremely bold attempt.
Entering the cultivation state again, Xia Ning could clearly feel that without touching the Spirit Guiding bottleneck, his physical body's progress was very difficult, and there was also a strong sense of resistance.
As the cultivation technique continued to operate, his body's meridians began to feel a tearing pain.
Xia Ning firmly believed his intuition was correct. Gritting his teeth, he persevered, continuing to run the cultivation technique. After an unknown amount of time, the tearing pain gradually subsided, and his physical body's cultivation speed returned to normal, just as before.
This discovery made Xia Ning overjoyed.
His idea seemed to have potential.
He took out two more spirit fruits, bit them and swallowed them, and began to run the Hundred Meridians Body Tempering Art repeatedly.
Xia Ning only stopped to rest when all his energy was depleted.
At this moment, the limit his physical body could bear for cultivation had long surpassed the ninth layer of Mortal Transformation by an unknown amount, yet he hadn't broken through the Spirit Guiding bottleneck.
"Did I break through the extreme realm and create a tenth layer of Mortal Transformation?"
Xia Ning's expression was a bit strange. If he could create a tenth layer, could he also create an eleventh, twelfth layer?
In short, the firmer the foundation, the better.
He glanced at the sky; the morning sun had already risen. Xia Ning sent a message to Guo Da, telling him he would be cultivating during the day and to pick him up before nightfall.
The other side quickly replied with an OK emoji.
Xia Ning put down his phone and took out two more spirit fruits, swallowing them.
Pure energy flowed into his body. Xia Ning fully operated the cultivation technique. The pain this time was countless times more intense than before. Xia Ning felt as if his body was about to explode at any moment, but he had already come this far.
There was no turning back.
Gritting his teeth, after an unknown amount of time, the energy from the spirit fruits was completely consumed. Xia Ning, with great difficulty, broke through the eleventh layer of Mortal Transformation. Without hesitation, he took out three more spirit fruits and swallowed them all at once.
That feeling had already appeared twice. Xia Ning had a premonition that one more time would be his limit, so he would go for it with all his might and push through.
The cultivation technique ran madly. Xia Ning was like a gambler who had lost his head, firmly believing in his idea and not retreating an inch.
Soon, pain even more intense than the previous two times rapidly struck. Under this pain, Xia Ning's soul felt like it was being torn apart, accompanied by a great fear that his life could vanish at any moment.
Xia Ning's face contorted in pain, veins bulging all over his body, sweating profusely. Even so, he continued to run the cultivation technique, roaring in his heart.
Break for me...
Time seemed to pass for a century in Xia Ning's eyes.
*Bang*.
At some point, a muffled sound came from within his body, and the pain receded like a tide.
Xia Ning knew he had made it through. Before he could be happy, he quickly calmed his mind and fully operated the Hundred Meridians Body Tempering Art, accelerating the absorption of energy within his body.
Unconsciously, the moon rose.
As the last trace of energy was refined into his body, Xia Ning opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them.
He jumped out of bed and moved his body.
For a moment, Xia Ning truly felt like he was about to die. Fortunately, he endured. Feeling the hundreds of times increase in his physical strength, Xia Ning knew.
It was all worth it.
Although he hadn't tested it, Xia Ning was confident that his current strength was absolutely terrifying, perhaps not even inferior to the young cubs of the legendary divine beasts and fierce beasts.
If he encountered Cheng Du now, Xia Ning was confident that even with time to prepare, they would be at a 70/30 split, with him having the 70.
This was the absolute confidence brought by continuously breaking through his physical limits. With his current strength, as long as he didn't encounter a Spirit Channel realm expert of the fourth realm, he would definitely be able to dominate the lower ranks.
He took out his phone and browsed the internal information of the Special Investigation Bureau, wanting to know if his situation was an exception.
As he browsed, Xia Ning's expression instantly froze.
What he could think of, others could naturally think of too.
According to the records, long ago, people had organized experiments to explore the extreme realm of Mortal Transformation. Unfortunately, the experimental results were tragic. The best outcome for those at the ninth layer of Mortal Transformation was that their meridians burst, leaving them in a vegetative state. As for those who were unluckier, they exploded on the spot and died, beyond saving.
After reading the results, a cold sweat broke out on Xia Ning's back. He realized he had already walked past the gates of hell three times.
Fortunately, fortunately, he was lucky. He had repeatedly and madly tested himself on the edge of death and endured it all.
Xia Ning calmed down and suddenly realized something was wrong. If it was once or twice, it could be explained by luck or coincidence. But three times in a row.
This was definitely not luck or coincidence.
Xia Ning thought about his uniqueness compared to others, which could only be attributed to his cheat.
His consciousness sank into his mind, and he carefully observed the Illustration of Mountains and Seas Beasts. Soon, Xia Ning discovered that the patterns of the Taotie, Qiongqi, and Thunder God on the Illustration of Mountains and Seas Beasts were countless times dimmer than before.
At this moment, Xia Ning was absolutely certain that these three guys had helped him.
"Thank you three for your trouble."
Xia Ning expressed his sincere gratitude. Faintly, he seemed to hear three satisfied roars in his ears.
His consciousness retreated from his mind. Xia Ning then remembered his appointment with Guo Da. He quickly tidied his bed, picked up his phone, and dialed Guo Da's number. The call was answered almost instantly.
"Hello, Brother Ning. I'm downstairs. I was afraid of disturbing your cultivation, so I didn't come up."
"Okay, I'll be down right away."
Xia Ning changed into sportswear and quickly went downstairs.
As soon as he got in the car, Xia Ning noticed that this chubby guy was slightly different from yesterday.
"You broke through to the eighth layer of Mortal Transformation?"
"Heh heh, I knew I couldn't hide it from Brother Ning. Just a bit of luck, a bit of luck."
Guo Da said, his face showing undisguised pride. Suddenly, he reacted and looked at Xia Ning with a stiff expression.
"Brother Ning, you broke through to the eighth layer of Mortal Transformation too?"
"Remove the 'too'."
After continuously breaking through his limits, Xia Ning was in a very good mood.
"Ahhhh～"
Guo Da let out a silent scream from his heart. He had originally wanted to show off a little, but now what was there to show off?
Is this the cultivation speed of an absolute monstrous talent? One realm a day?
Guo Da was greatly disheartened and wilted like a frost-beaten eggplant. If he knew that Xia Ning was already at the eighth layer of Mortal Transformation yesterday, he would probably collapse.
Xia Ning saw Guo Da's dejected look and patted his shoulder.
"Don't compare yourself to me. I'm using a cheat."
"What cheat? A system? Can you get me one too?"
Guo Da was naturally optimistic and quickly adjusted his emotions, joking along with Xia Ning's words.
"Sure, I'll help you ask the system headquarters if they have any spare systems."
Xia Ning said as if it were true.
"Then thank you, Brother Ning."
Guo Da echoed, not really believing such things as systems existed, otherwise, the world would have been in chaos long ago.
He started the car. It was already late at night. The two of them headed straight for their destination, the abandoned residential building.
He just didn't know if they could gain anything tonight.