Achieving physical sainthood begins with the Iron Shirt technique!

The secluded valley deep within Broken Immortal Mountain.

Thick night fog swirled between the steep cliffs. Lu Chen carried the 30,000-jin town road monument on one arm, striding across the uneven gravel under his feet, and arrived at the narrowest cave entrance in this deep valley.

The pass is narrow and the terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Lu Chen stopped in his tracks. The bulging muscles in his waist and hips suddenly sank downwards, and his thick thighs caused a large area of ​​the rock beneath his feet to collapse. A brute force of 100,000 jin (approximately 50,000 kg) surged through his spine.

With his arms wrapped around the heavy monument, Lu Chen exerted his strength and slammed the massive 30,000-jin black stone forward.

The stone tablet was hammered heavily into the mud, fitting perfectly into the narrow passage and completely sealing off the cave's connection to the outside world.

The moment the stele hit the ground, the originally dull black rock on its surface shone brightly. The ancient dark red runes flickered wildly.

A savage and untamed ancient force field violently expanded outward from the Dao Stele.

The Azure Sky Sword Sect's Heaven-Locking Array was draining the life force from the entire Broken Immortal Mountain. A wisp of sparse spiritual energy from the immortal sect's array had just seeped into the deep valley when it collided head-on with this unreasonable force field.

There was no stalemate or buffer. The celestial spiritual energy was forcibly expelled by this force field, instantly crushed into useless mortal air currents in mid-air. The interior of the cave was completely isolated from the cultivators' laws of heaven and earth.

The environment deep inside the cave is dark and dry.

Anan huddled on a hard, dry boulder. The little girl was wrapped in a tattered wolfskin, her face flushed and hot, her forehead covered in sweat.

Newly formed jade bones were growing rapidly within her young body. A series of dense, cracking sounds rang out continuously. The newly formed bone marrow frantically demanded nutrients; her life force was rapidly depleting, and she desperately needed external energy replenishment.

Lu Chen strode over to the boulder. He sat cross-legged on the edge of the hard, dry rock.

Rough, large hands pulled at the animal hide bundle tied to his lower back. Untying the leather ropes and peeling back the hide, a century-old blood marrow vine, its entire body a deep red, was revealed to the air.

The surface of the Blood Marrow Vine was shrouded in extremely pure immortal spiritual energy, emitting a pungent and rich fragrance. The roots still carried soil from the Black Market Treasure Vault.

Lu Chen didn't have a pill-refining furnace, nor did he know how to simmer over a low flame. He grabbed the blood marrow vine covered in mud, and without even looking at it, stuffed it into his mouth.

His jaws snapped open and closed wildly, violently tearing apart the muddy vines.

The ultimate furnace of the twelve-layered Iron Shirt technique was suddenly activated. Large blood vessels immediately bulged beneath Lu Chen's skin, the blood flow accelerated instantly, and a heavy, muffled rumble resounded from within the vessels.

The Blood Marrow Vine descended down the esophagus into the stomach. The immortal laws and medicinal power contained within the elixir exploded on the spot, transforming into countless tiny spiritual energy spikes that frantically resisted and surged within Lu Chen's body.

The twelfth layer of pure Yang heat swept in with absolute suppressive force. Layer upon layer of scalding extreme Dao energy tightly enveloped the chaotic immortal laws. Muscles writhed, intestines convulsed. Lu Chen ruthlessly crushed the lofty spirituality of the immortal herbs, extracting only the most primal and purest essence from within.

Lu Chen closed his eyes. The immense medicinal power dissolved and washed over his body, bringing waves of backlash and throbbing pain that threatened to tear his meridians apart.

He endured the excruciating pain and, relying on his extreme physique's absolute control over his qi and blood, forcibly restrained the rampaging pure medicinal power.

He forced all his primordial essence towards his right arm, channeling it along the wrist meridian and pressing it into the tip of his right index finger. A drop of highly concentrated blood, radiating a dazzling red light, was rapidly condensing beneath the skin of his fingertip.

The scene shifts back to Xuanni City.

On the muddy streets after the rain, the commander of Xuanni City's guards was leading a dozen heavily armored men, trudging along the main road.

In the middle of the procession, two men were dragging a dilapidated wooden cart with thick iron chains. Lying on the cart was Old Man Zhang, completely paralyzed from the waist down. The commander was leading the old farmer straight towards the ruined core of the inner city's defenses.

The commander strode at the head of the column. His face was flushed an unnatural red. His chest heaved violently, and his breathing was more than twice as heavy as usual. With each breath, hot air billowed from his nostrils.

The commander felt as if a fire was burning inside his internal organs, and his whole body was unbearably hot.

The black, broken stele he had hidden close to his inner armor was pressed tightly against his flesh. The stele silently unleashed its power, frantically absorbing the Foundation Establishment True Essence overflowing from the Commander's dantian.

Every time this piece of gravel absorbs a trace of immortal essence, it immediately feeds back a domineering and savage stream of extreme Dao blood and energy into the commander's body.

The violent blood and energy were forcibly poured into the fragile meridians that governed it. The meridians of cultivators were originally only adapted to absorbing the gentle spiritual energy of heaven and earth in a step-by-step manner. Faced with the impact of this blood and energy, the inner walls of the meridians were stretched and pulled continuously.

The commander was completely unaware of this. He felt the ever-expanding power in his limbs and bones, and instead thought that the immortal treasure was cleansing his marrow and strengthening his bones.

He was overjoyed, his mind racing with calculations. Once he completely refined this power, he could immediately break through his current cultivation bottleneck and directly join the absolute core of Xuanni City. At that time, he would be in charge of setting the rules of the Immortal City.

The commander suppressed his excitement and tried to secretly activate the Qi-guiding technique of the Azure Sky Sword Sect in order to guide that heat flow.

As soon as he started, he was jolted. The circulation of spiritual energy within his body became extremely sluggish and difficult. The once smooth circulation was now blocked and stagnant, and he couldn't mobilize the true energy in his dantian at all.

The wooden cart bounced and swayed on the uneven cobblestones, making a screeching sound.

The commander turned his head in annoyance.

Old Zhang lay half-dead on the cart. The old farmer's withered face was pressed against the dirty wooden board, but his cloudy eyes looked past the guards and stared intently at the commander's neck.

On the leader's neck, due to the backflow of blood and qi, thick blue veins bulged out, and the flushed color spread to the base of his ears.

Old Zhang's chapped lips slowly parted to the sides, revealing a mocking, bitter smile.

The commander was thoroughly enraged by the smile of this lowly mortal.

He strode back, raised his heavy black iron boots, and kicked the side of the wooden cart hard.

"Old bastard, you still dare to play tricks even when you're about to die!" the commander cursed through gritted teeth, spittle flying everywhere.

The wooden cart shook violently, but the commander turned around and continued striding forward.

Unaware that his ten fingers, hidden in the black iron guard, were having their nails turn black and harden at a visible speed, even with sharp keratin protruding outwards.