Chapter 41 Shock (Part Two)
Chapter 41 Shock (Part Two)
Under the pressure of four thousand pounds, his speed was already extremely slow. Zen managed to cover the distance by jogging slowly. It took him half an hour to complete the distance to the stone tablet.
If a cultivator at the marrow refining level reached this stone tablet, it would show that he had passed the initial exam. But the end of the road was not in sight yet. Zen didn't know how much the pressure would increase by if he crossed this stone tablet.
After mulling over the situation, Zen decided to try. He stepped over without any hesitation.
Just after, Zen felt a terrible pressure enclose him.
"Bump!"
Zen was pinned to the ground as though someone had placed a mountain on him.
"The pressure is too much!" Zen moaned.
His face, stomach, and limbs were firmly attached to the ground as if they were stuck in viscose. He could not budge an inch.
He tried to lift his head, but Zen's head felt as heavy as tens of thousands of pounds. No matter how hard he tried, Zen could not raise his head again. Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.
Disappointment filled Zen. The first 10-mile road was under a pressure of 1, 000 pounds. The second 10-mile road was under a weight of 2, 000 pounds. The final distance Zen had managed, the third 10- mile road stretch was under a pressure of 4, 000 pounds. If the same math was being followed, this section of the 10-mile road should be under a pressure of 8, 000 pounds. But now Zen felt the force of tens of thousands of pounds. The pressure seemed to have increased tenfold!
'I'm confident that I can overcome this pressure!' Zen tried to motivate himself to continue struggling under the immense pressure.
The pressure gave him a lot of energy. He communicated with the two dragon scales in his body before putting their power into his body. With a roar, Zen mustered all his strength.
"Get up!"
He felt the strength gathering in his body. His muscles bunched and swelled to their limit, giving off a bronzed glow.
With a brutal force, Zen held up his body with his hands.
But he remained close to the ground. Zen realized that he had been unable to get up completely.
"Once more!"
Zen took a deep breath and roared. He gathered all the strength in his body and infused it in his legs. With hands placed on his thighs for support, Zen managed to stand up slowly although in a rather awkward posture.
He got up very slowly, almost inch by inch.
It took him an hour to go from squatting to standing upright.
By this time, he was sweating profusely, and his chest heaved violently with the effort to breathe. The process seemed to have depleted the strength from his whole body.
But he had made it!
Now that Zen had completed the task of standing, he tried to take a step forward. However, the immense pressure made it impossible for Zen to take a step.
As predicted, the moment Zen tried taking a step, he lost his balance and fell on the ground, head first.
But it was at this moment that the warm currents began flowing through his body.
"What is going on?" Zen mumbled.
There was a constant flow of warmth emerging from his arms, torso, and legs. The warm currents surging through his body seemed to be stronger than before.
A look of bemusement spread across his face. He was not being beaten now, how could there be warm currents?
"I get it!" Zen said when he figured it out. Ecstasy replaced the bewilderment Zen had felt a moment ago.
His body was capable of producing warm currents because the power of the outside world was pouring into his body. His body had transformed that power into warm currents, which in turn, was refining his body.
It was true that no one was beating him now, but the external pressure had reached a horrific level. And the pressure was no less powerful than the beatings. So this was why his body was producing the warm currents!
Since the pressure was constantly flowing, it was evenly affecting his whole body. Therefore, warm currents were spreading and circulating all across his body.
This kind of high-pressure environment was the perfect training place for Zen. He was so happy that he stood where he was, closed his eyes, and let the warm currents remove the impurities from his viscera.
While Zen was on the road, enjoying the feeling of being refined, the chief examiner and Master Su were shaken by what they had witnessed.
The first 30-mile road had been designed to test participants at the bone refining level, the organ refining level, and the marrow refining level. In general, candidates would be promoted to the next test when their jade pendants turned red.
But the area after the first 30 miles was a training place for participants at the nature level!
The pressure on this stretch of the road reached the horrendous force of 50, 000 pounds. That meant a person had to bear 50, 000 pounds of pressure on their body.
In the face of such terrible pressure, all participants at the marrow refining level, and even those who had just stepped into the nature level were deterred. The pressure could only be borne by participants who had stepped into the nature level completely.
General cultivators at the bone refining level and the organ refining level would be crushed immediately upon entering the area.
Though the boy's body was strong enough to bear the attacks of the four men at the marrow refining level, he should have died under the pressure of 50, 000 pounds.
Aware of the seriousness of the problem, the chief examiner and Master Su jumped into their flying chariots and rushed over to the site.
With the speed of the flying chariots, they arrived in an instant despite the distance being 30 miles.
When they jumped off their flying chariots, they found that Zen was not only alive, but he had managed to get up from the ground.
Seeing this, the chief examiner murmured, "I have presided over so many years of the initial exam, but I have never seen …this is the first time... ..."
Master Su put her hands over her mouth in surprise. She was startled, too. The boy was only at the organ refining level. How could he resist the pressure of 50, 000 pounds and stand up?