Achieving physical sainthood begins with the Iron Shirt technique!

Lu Chen's rough hands were pressed firmly against the huge black monument.

It didn't have the icy, bone-chilling feel I had imagined.

The originally cold and hard stone surface, stimulated by the surging ancient blood and qi within his body, gradually began to seep out a little warmth.

The warmth traveled up his palm and into his forehead.

Lu Chen's pupils contracted violently.

Some extremely fragmented yet shocking images flashed through my mind.

A blood-red moon hung in the sky.

The earth was cracked and parched, and everywhere was scorched earth.

Countless ancient ancestors, shirtless, with bulging muscles and covered in blood.

They were carrying huge black stone tablets, walking forward under the falling divine light.

The roar was deafening.

With each step taken, the earth's veins trembled violently.

That primal, indomitable, and tyrannical aura belonging to the human race, spanning countless years, crashed relentlessly onto Lu Chen's nerves.

Just as this resonance of bloodlines was about to reach its peak.

Suddenly, a blinding blue light burst forth from the towering city wall of the inner city.

The sound of something cutting through the air was sharp and piercing.

A middle-aged man dressed in black rode a flying sword and sped out from the inner city, finally hovering steadily in mid-air above the square.

This person had a frosty expression and an unfathomable aura; he was definitely not a half-baked outer disciple.

This is the steward sent from the inner city.

A genuine Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

The steward, riding on his flying sword, looked down at Lu Chen from his elevated position.

That look was as if he were looking at a completely dead object.

High and mighty, full of disdain.

"The Saintess's severing of worldly ties is a destiny ordained by Heaven."

The steward stood with his hands behind his back, his voice carrying immense true energy, echoing throughout the entire Xuanni City.

"You ant, you not only refuse to obediently accept your fate."

"How dare you defile our sect's spirit beast and destroy the town's sacred stele!"

"Do you know that you have committed an immeasurable karmic act that will lead to your complete annihilation, both physically and spiritually?"

The words hadn't even completely faded from his lips.

The steward had no intention of giving Lu Chen a chance to explain, and quickly changed hand seals in front of his chest.

The arrogance of cultivators was on full display at this moment.

Killing mortals requires no reason, only conviction.

The spiritual energy surrounding the plaza was instantly drained and frantically converged into the air.

In the blink of an eye, a giant azure true essence hand, several meters long, condensed in mid-air.

The lines on his palm were clearly visible, exuding a terrifying pressure that could crush everything.

The steward flipped his right hand downwards.

The giant azure true essence hand, carrying the terrifying force of Mount Tai pressing down, slammed down fiercely towards Lu Chen's crown.

The wind howled, causing the wooden doors on both sides of the street to shake violently.

Those ordinary people hiding behind broken walls and peeking through cracks in doors in the distance were so frightened that they covered their mouths tightly.

It’s over.

A Foundation Establishment stage immortal master personally descended.

The boy who stood up for his blind sister, no matter how strong he was, could never withstand true immortal magic.

If this hits hard, he'll definitely be crushed into a pile of minced meat.

Lu Chen stood before the Dao stele, not taking a single step back.

He had no intention of dodging at all.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind, protecting her even more tightly to ensure the little girl wouldn't be hit head-on.

Then, Lu Chen took a deep breath.

The chest cavity expanded violently.

The ultimate furnace within his body emitted a deafening roar.

All the vital energy and blood were forcibly squeezed out and sprayed out through the pores.

Crimson blood and qi shot straight into the air, forming a straight column of smoke that forcefully met the descending giant hand of true essence.

"Bang!"

A deafening roar erupted in the center of the square.

The giant azure true essence hand patted Lu Chen's shoulder and back without any fancy moves.

A terrifying pressure of true essence suddenly poured out.

The bluestone slab beneath Lu Chen's feet couldn't even withstand a moment's pressure, shattering inch by inch and turning directly into fine stone powder.

The immense downward pressure was transmitted down the spine of the sinking land.

His legs were pressed into the ground, up to his knees, sinking in about half a foot deep.

The bones made a cracking sound that sent chills down your spine under the immense pressure.

But he didn't fall!

His back remained ramrod straight.

The muscles throughout his body spasmed violently under the high pressure of the Foundation Establishment stage, and the iron-gray skin brought by the eleven layers of Iron Shirt on his body was instead undergoing extremely brutal tempering.

Black metallic textures roamed wildly beneath the skin, their color growing increasingly darker.

His entire body was completely covered in a dark iron-like color.

Lu Chen used his mortal body to withstand this Foundation Establishment technique that could have collapsed a city wall.

The giant hand of true essence in mid-air dissipated as its spiritual energy was exhausted, turning into specks of light.

The black-robed steward on the flying sword suddenly narrowed his eyes.

His usually haughty face finally betrayed a look of undisguised horror.

He subconsciously took half a step back, causing the flying sword beneath his feet to shake.

"That's impossible!"

The steward shouted in a shrill voice, his voice cracking.

"You have absolutely no spiritual energy within you!"

"Without magical protection, how can a mere mortal body withstand the immense pressure of true energy?"

This completely shattered his centuries-old understanding of cultivation.

Human flesh and skin are made of paper; they should be reduced to ashes when they encounter true essence. How could they possibly withstand it without breaking?

Lu Chen slowly raised his head.

He raised his rough hand and casually wiped away a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

A pair of bloodshot eyes stared intently at the road stele in front of him.

He completely ignored the Foundation Establishment stage manager shouting in mid-air.

Those high and mighty cultivators are nothing in his eyes.

Lu Chen spread his thick arms wide, one on each side, and tightly hugged the base of the massive black Dao stele.

Ten fingers, covered in the color of black iron, dug deeply into the cracks in the rock patterns on the surface of the stele.

"Get up!"

Lu Chen opened his mouth, and a terrifying roar, like that of a wild beast driven to the brink of despair, erupted from deep within his throat.

The heart pumped blood frantically, producing a muffled thud like a war drum.

Blood surged through the large blood vessels, washing over every part of the body.

The brute force of the Ancient Forbidden Body was unleashed without reservation at this moment.

The muscles in his arms bulged exaggeratedly, and the tendons were taut to the point of breaking at any moment.

"Crunch—"

An extremely harsh sound of stones grinding together came from deep underground.

The sound traveled along the earth's veins, spreading throughout the entire Xuanni City.

The steward in mid-air stared wide-eyed, his breath catching in his throat.

Under everyone's watchful eyes.

That town-guarding stele, weighing 30,000 jin and rooted in Xuanni City for over a century, was regarded by the immortal sects as an absolute symbol of majesty.

It suddenly started shaking violently.

This is not some inanimate object created by some immortal sect for enlightenment.

Rather, it is a relic left behind by ancient supreme body cultivators.

It is an ancient war monument used to suppress the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and to reshape the glory of the ultimate path.

The moment the Dao Stele was shaken by Lu Chen's pure blood and qi.

An ancient, violent, and heavy force field, specifically designed to suppress the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, instantly enveloped the space within hundreds of feet around the Dao Stele.

All the spiritual energy in this space instantly became stagnant, and the gravity increased several times over.

The manager in mid-air was the first to be affected.

The flying sword beneath his feet lost its spiritual energy support, let out a mournful cry, and its light dimmed completely.

The foreman swayed and screamed as he plummeted straight down from mid-air, crashing heavily into a pile of rubble in the distance, leaving him dazed and confused.

Accompanied by a huge roar caused by the shaking of the road stele.

The houses along the entire main street were shaking violently, with large pieces of tiles and mud bricks crashing to the ground.

"Boom!"

The soil at the base of the stele finally couldn't withstand the immense force and exploded completely.

The moment the 30,000-pound monument was forcibly pulled from the ground.

A blindingly bright crimson pattern suddenly shone from the ancient engravings at the bottom of the Dao stele.

This ancient pattern carries the boundless vitality of the ancient times.

Following Lu Chen's arms that were clinging to the base of the monument, they climbed upwards at an extremely ferocious speed.

In the blink of an eye, the blood-red barbaric patterns spread across Lu Chen's entire body!