Achieving physical sainthood begins with the Iron Shirt technique!

The warmth swirled within Lu Chen's broad chest. He stretched out his large, calloused hand and pressed A'nan's delicate little hand firmly back into the deepest layer of the Ghost Wind Wolf skin. With a flick of his fingertips, he tightened the collar of the wolf skin and casually tied the bowstring of the demonic python wrapped around the outside into a knot.

Lu Chen straightened his body. His legs were apart, his thigh muscles taut. His thick right arm reached back, his five large fingers precisely wedging into the holes of the century-old black iron chain. His wrist clenched inward, and the muscles in his back bulged. The 90,000-jin [Suppressing Heaven Desolate Bone Primordial Ferocious Stele] lifted off the ground. The iron chain taut, producing an extremely ear-piercing metallic scraping sound.

Lu Chen strode forward, pinpointing the location of the Earth Lung Poisonous Fire Spring ten miles away, and began to run wildly.

His feet slammed into the mud, an absolute, extreme force of 100,000 jin pressing down on his soles. With each step, the dead trees and rocks along the way were pushed aside by this immense force.

The ten-mile journey was completed in the blink of an eye. The air deep in the wilderness began to heat up rapidly.

The surrounding scenery had completely changed. The dark red poisonous miasma forest had completely receded. The trees ahead were now pure black. The bark of the thick trunks had all been petrified into hard stone shells, and the leaves were carbonized, crumbling into black ash and falling to the ground with the slightest gust of wind.

The surface temperature rose sharply. Large, net-like cracks appeared on the granite foundation. A thick, viscous liquid, black and red, continuously gushed from the fissures. It was sulfurous oil, extracted from deep underground over many years. Stepping on the soles of Lu Chen's black iron boots produced a soft, melting sound. The heat, carrying an extremely pungent, strong sulfurous odor, assaulted the nostrils; even ordinary Qi Refining cultivators standing here found it difficult to breathe.

Lu Chen stopped in his tracks. A giant crater appeared ahead, with the toxic fire spring lying across its center.

He untied the bowstring of the demonic python from his shoulder and removed the thick layer of ghostly wolf skin from his chest. Scanning his surroundings, he located a protruding bluestone slab at the edge of the poisonous spring. This slab was positioned sheltered from the wind, perfectly positioned in a corner untouched by the heat of the fire spring. Its surface was covered with a thick layer of cool moss, nourished by moisture, and felt to the touch.

Lu Chen walked over and placed A'Nan, wolf skin and all, in the center of the bluestone slab. He patted the little girl's back twice with his large hand. A'Nan sat obediently, her two little hands resting on the edge of the wolf skin.

After settling everyone in, Lu Chen turned and walked towards the pit.

He tightened his grip on one arm. The massive black iron chain wrapped around his chest, and he simultaneously gripped the chain with both hands. He dragged the 90,000-jin (approximately 45,000 kg) Primordial Ferocious Stele of the Heaven-Suppressing Desolate Bone to the very edge of the spring. The pit was filled with boiling, churning red and black poisonous fire springs, billowing thick smoke.

Lu Chen stood with his feet apart, his waist and stance perfectly aligned, his legs firmly planted in the granite. He then threw himself forward with both hands.

The colossal object, weighing a staggering 90,000 jin, was released from his grasp. With terrifying force, the black stele slammed straight into the deepest part of the red and black poisonous fire spring.

A vast expanse of fiery red liquid was pushed aside, splashing out a high-temperature heat wave tens of meters high. The large black stele sank to the bottom of the water. Extreme heat completely enveloped the ancient, barren stone. The cold, hard stele was forged by the extreme heat from the earth, and the deep internal structure underwent violent friction, continuously emitting extremely sharp and piercing metallic clangs.

A-Nan sat alone on the bluestone slab. Her legs were crossed, and she didn't move.

When Lu Chen was cleaning up the Qingxiao stewards, he casually picked up a broken piece of armor-piercing steel arrow that hadn't been poisoned and carried it with him. He left this broken arrow on the bluestone slab for his daughter to hold as a small toy.

The object was covered by a white cloth, so its appearance was not visible. Her delicate little hands gripped the steel arrow shaft, which was as thick as a child's arm. She brought her face close, her fingers unconsciously rubbing it, feeling the cold, hard texture of the steel surface.

The little girl found the long, hard object a bit uncomfortable and wanted to fold it up and put it in her pocket. Her two delicate little hands gripped the two ends of the fine steel arrow shaft.

There was no energy channeling. There was no internal force circulating at all. It was simply something he thought would be fun, so he unknowingly exerted force, pressing his hands down along the center point.

After staring at the spring, Lu Chen turned around. His gaze fell directly on the bluestone slab.

The moment Lu Chen saw the image clearly, his eyes widened.

The steel arrow shaft, used by the Qingxiao Sword Sect's Punishment Division to hunt down high-level body cultivators and capable of withstanding the deadly force of a thousand-pound crossbow bolt, was completely deformed in A'nan's small hands, which gleamed with a subtle jade-like luster.

Without any sense of combat readiness, not even a furrowed brow, these two small hands bent the solid steel arrow into a perfect ninety-degree angle from the very middle. The steel fibers snapped under the absolute pressure, emitting a dull, metallic twisting sound.

A section of a powerful magical weapon that could pierce armor was reduced to a scrap metal hook in the little girl's hands.

Lu Chen stood there for a long time, staring at the scene. He raised his large, rough hand and touched the back of his head.

"Hahaha!"

He tilted his head back and laughed loudly three times. This piece of junk, what kind of immortal dares to bring it out to embarrass themselves? It can't even defend against a little girl who hasn't grown up yet.

After laughing, Lu Chen walked back to the original path and picked up the two long fragments that had broken off and fallen to the ground. He wiped the dirt and venom off them with his sleeve. He strode back to the bluestone slab.

He stuffed the two solid iron lumps into A-Nan's arms at once.

"Take it and play with it, knead it however you like."

After giving his instructions, Lu Chen turned around and turned his gaze back to the Poison Fire Spring.

The heat in the Poisonous Fire Spring was nearing its limit. The massive black stele, weighing 90,000 jin (approximately 45,000 kg), remained submerged at its base. The originally jet-black stele had been scorched crimson by the extreme heat. The dark golden, wild patterns on its surface were now glowing.

The thirty percent of the Azure Sky Ancestor's bone-attached curse hidden deep within the crevice of the stone could not withstand the scorching heat of this extremely malevolent fire. A clump of extremely viscous, foul-smelling, cold black energy was forcibly forced out from the cracks in the crimson stone tablet.

The black mist left the black monument and desperately tried to rise to the surface of the water. It wanted to escape the fire spring and soar into the air to find something to parasitize.

Lu Chen, with his sharp eyes, spotted the fleeing black aura.

He grabbed the collar of his already tattered coat and pulled it outwards. The fabric was completely torn and thrown to the ground.

Lu Chen's broad upper body was bare, revealing his dark gold muscles. He pushed off with both legs, leaping his massive body directly towards the boiling fountain of fire. He chose to land on the shallow edge of the pool where the toxic oil was churning.

His feet plunged into the muddy bottom of the fiery spring, the black and red toxic oil reaching up to his calves.

The fire spring was extremely hot. Lu Chen did not dodge, but instead faced it head-on.

The Thousand-Layer Iron Shirt Ultimate Formation was fully activated within his body. Ten thousand jin of pure Yang Qi and blood flowed through his entire body along his thick meridians. His skin turned a deep, dark black.

The boiling, toxic oil from the fiery spring spilled over his legs, directly scorching the surrounding skin. The flesh and the fiery cauldron clashed, producing a series of rapid, crackling sounds as the oil exploded.

The intense external heat did not burn through his physical defenses; instead, it forced out the ancient will of a body cultivator ingrained in Lu Chen's bones. Rough, dark golden patterns emerged from the depths of his black skin, directly imprinting themselves onto the surface and forming a substantial fire-resistant layer.

Lu Chen bent down. His two thick arms plunged directly into the depths of the scalding, churning poisonous fire spring.

Two massive hands precisely positioned themselves, gripping the edges of the red-hot black monument tightly. A hundred thousand jin of extreme power pressed down, crushing it.

He was not only stabilizing the black monument, but also actively igniting it. The toxic fire from the earth's lungs flowed along the crimson black monument, pouring into Lu Chen's hands. It surged wildly upwards along the tendons and bones of his arms.

The pure yang energy and blood mingled with the pure fire of the earth's lungs, forming a high-temperature furnace in his chest cavity. Lu Chen opened his mouth wide, using the extreme yang heat emanating from his internal organs to aim at the cold, black energy that was still escaping outwards in mid-air.

A burst of extremely hot air shot out.

The crimson heatwave crashed directly into the black mist. The Yin curse made no sound; it was instantly burned to ashes by the intense heat, turning into invisible ash that dissipated into the strong smell of sulfur.

After the Yin Curse was burned away, strange movements were detected in the geological layer at the very bottom of the fire spring.

The sound was extremely muffled, carrying the deathly stillness and malevolent energy accumulated underground over millions of years. The surface of the spring began to bubble violently and on a massive scale. Large plumes of extremely concentrated sulfurous gas were forcibly pushed to the surface from the depths.

Deep within the spring, a colossal beast that had long resided at the very bottom of the earth's heat source was forcibly awakened by the commotion.

This was a colossal creature, four zhang long. A rare beast from the Great Wilderness, a two-headed lava python. Its thick body was densely covered with a layer of dark red lava stone armor, forged by ten thousand years of poisonous fire. Even the finest flying swords of ordinary immortals could not leave a shallow mark on it.

A two-headed python broke through the water's surface.

Its heavy, dark red body, carrying a large amount of black and red venomous oil, surged straight up from the bottom of the pool. Two enormous triangular python heads, one on the left and one on the right, locked onto Lu Chen, who was standing in the shallow water at the edge of the pool.

Its mouth opened wide, emitting an extremely strong, foul stench. Instead of the usual forked tongue of a snake, it possessed rows of sharp teeth honed from years of consuming fragments of natural poisonous crystals from the ground.

The two python heads descended in a swift, overlapping motion, giving their prey no time to react. They clamped their jaws down fiercely on Lu Chen's broad, unprotected side.

A gigantic maw loomed before him, and an unexpected turn of events occurred.

Lu Chen was suppressing the black stele with both hands, which restricted his movement. Most critically, his back had just been forcibly fused with the 90,000-jin ferocious stele and the remnant soul of the Nascent Soul, and his deep bones and muscles were undergoing rapid metabolism. The old blood had just receded, and new blood and energy were still being reconstituted. His physical body was in its most vulnerable healing window.

This ferocious giant python, reaching the mid-grade level of the second tier, possessed an incomprehensibly powerful bite. Tens of thousands of pounds of strangulation force were all concentrated on its venomous crystal teeth.

The stone tooth slammed into his waist. Lu Chen's proud, dark skin, which he was so proud of, withstood the impact for less than a breath. Then, the extremely sharp point of impact pierced through the skin's protective layer.

The sharp stone teeth pierced through the dark membrane and penetrated two inches deep into the thick, red and white flesh beneath. The ultimate physical body had its defenses breached.

The moment its defenses were breached, the venom glands in the giant python's jawbone opened wide.

A large amount of scorching hot and highly corrosive red and black venomous oil was frantically injected into the deep muscles of Lu Chen's waist through the hollow venomous crystal teeth.

The venom entered his body. The Supreme Blood Furnace within Lu Chen's abdominal cavity immediately ceased functioning. The originally smoothly flowing pure Yang Qi and blood, upon encountering this foreign, exotic poison, experienced a massive reverse flow. The Qi and blood surged back into his internal organs.

The flesh at the wound on the waist emitted a horrible hissing sound as it was corroded by the toxic oil. Black, necrotic tissue rolled outwards along the stone teeth. The two python heads held on tightly, using the weight of their massive bodies to pull backwards frantically, trying to tear the living person completely in two at the waist.

With his life hanging by a thread, the oppressive feeling of being in dire straits reached the deepest part of Lu Chen's bones.