Mental Realm Breakthrough

"..."

"38."

"39."

"40."

All of a sudden.

It felt as though an electric current passed through the muscles in his shoulders and back.

The intense stimulation made it impossible to remain calm.

Warning! You have begun overexerting your physical strength. Please rest promptly and regulate your physical condition.

Warning! You have slightly overexerted your mind. Your physical condition is poor. Please rest.

Two messages emerged before his eyes in quick succession.

Fang Cheng's gaze flashed slightly as he was forced to withdraw from his focused state.

The physical exhaustion was secondary.

The key was his mental fatigue, which prevented him from continuing to use his skills.

Waves of pain washed over him, enveloping his entire body.

It was as though countless fine needles were viciously stabbing into him, making the muscles in his arms, shoulders, and back visibly tremble.

Perhaps because of the high-intensity training, work, Fitness Test, and battles over the past several days.

His energy had ultimately become slower to recover.

The effects of practicing his skills had appeared, but his body was about to give out.

Gritting his teeth, Fang Cheng barely managed one more.

His shoulders felt the heavy burden of his body, as though his weight had suddenly multiplied several times over.

Forty-one Pull-Ups should have counted as a top-tier level among amateur fitness enthusiasts.

But that was still far from enough. Fang Cheng's target was fifty to sixty or more.

After his Physical Quality improved, the threshold for unlocking Fitness Skills had risen accordingly.

Fang Cheng's gaze flashed slightly. He could feel that he was only a hair's breadth away from getting started.

It was just... he was running out of strength.

He hung beneath the horizontal bar by his arms, catching his breath as he adjusted his condition.

The sky had grown somewhat brighter than before.

Lead-gray clouds pressed down on his head, as though they were about to touch the ground.

Lightning faintly revealed a weak glow, yet Fang Cheng heard no thunder.

The intense exhaustion had already left him deaf.

When he looked down, the space beneath his dangling feet seemed, in a daze, to become a bottomless abyss.

He was like an utterly exhausted climber, clinging to a steep, towering peak.

Torrential rain and mountain floods relentlessly battered his body.

As long as he let go, he would surely be crushed to pieces in the fall.

Fang Cheng used such extreme imagined thoughts to spur his body onward, refusing to give up.

"My limit is definitely not just this..."

His face tightened, and his gaze became calm once more.

Even though he could not use the Focus Skill, he still tried his best to make himself calm and composed.

Perhaps because he could not hear anything, the whole world fell into silence.

Raindrops struck his body, as though washing away his sweat.

The cold wind brushed across his face, like fingertips gently stroking his skin.

The lightning that occasionally flashed past the sky was like a glimmer of dawn.

Gradually, Fang Cheng's breathing and heartbeat miraculously calmed along with it.

The Whole Person became unusually relaxed, entering a strange and wondrous state.

His thoughts continued to flow, flowing into the rain and merging with the surrounding trees and nature.

This torrential rain no longer seemed to be a difficult obstacle, but rather an eruption of some kind of life force.

Billions of years ago, life had been born amid such dark and violent rain...

Fang Cheng took a Deep Breath and looked up at the sky.

The rain instantly blurred his vision.

He closed his eyes and silently felt it.

As if he were being cleansed by that life-giving force.

A crystalline raindrop slowly fell from high above, passing through countless streaks of rain before striking the tightly furrowed space between his brows.

Fang Cheng's brow relaxed, and he abruptly opened his eyes.

The muscles in his shoulders and back suddenly exerted force, swiftly pulling his body upward.

"42."

"43."

"44."

"..."

Fang Cheng resumed his pull-ups.

It was as though he had completely forgotten the pain of his body and the exhaustion weighing on his spirit.

His movements became nimble and light again. Each time he raised himself above the bar, it was as though he were answering that power that nurtured the miracle of life.

His eyes ignited like flames. The torrential rain could no longer extinguish them; if anything, it was fanning them higher.

Suddenly, a long-absent prompt information emerged.

Potential Activation cooldown has ended. Activation requirements met.

Fang Cheng paid it no heed, still immersed in that incomparably wondrous state.

His consciousness seemed to vaguely brush against the deepest layers of the world, receiving the most primordial information from the vast cosmos.

Empty, yet not empty.

Within the endless darkness were countless clamorous sounds and countless brilliant lights, floating and vibrating like strings of music.

It was as though the consciousness of The Masses—birds, beasts, fish, insects, all living things—existed here.

You have comprehended a profound principle of Meditation. Spirit Attribute increased by 0.001.

You have comprehended a profound principle of Meditation. Spirit Attribute increased by 0.001.

You have comprehended a profound principle of Meditation. Spirit Attribute increased by 0.001.

One new prompt after another flashed past like a rain curtain.

After several cycles of movement and breath.

The panel flickered with dazzling light and rapidly expanded.

You have practiced Pull-Ups to a certain extent and gained a profound understanding of them.

Skill unlocked: Pull-Ups lv0 (0/100)

Yet.

These prompt information still did not make Fang Cheng stop.

He didn't know how many repetitions he had done.

His expression remained calm, his breathing steady, as he maintained the rhythm of his movements.

Like dancing gracefully in the rain to the song of life.

As his body transcended its shackles, his spirit was also quietly undergoing some kind of transformation.

You have comprehended a profound principle of Meditation. Spirit Attribute increased by 0.001.

You have comprehended a profound principle of Meditation. Spirit Attribute increased by 0.001.

On the panel, his Spirit Attribute had already broken through from 18 points to 19 points.

And the Progress Bar continued to rise, climbing at an incredible speed.

It kept closing in on the Major Milestone of 20 points, charging straight upward...

Rumble!

A dazzling forked bolt of Lightning leaped from the Dark Clouds, winding its way downward.

The earth-shattering thunder restored Fang Cheng's hearing.

In that instant, it also pulled him out of that unknown Mental State.

The prompt information about his Spirit Attribute increasing came to an abrupt stop as well.

Fatigue, numb soreness, and tearing pain surged back.

His muscles spasmed endlessly like rippling waves, more than ten times worse than before.

Fang Cheng's arms trembled, and he let out a timely Low Shout:

"Potential Activation, activate!"

Just as he was about to let go and fall, a surge of newfound strength erupted from his shoulders and back, lifting him up.

Next, both hands gripped the horizontal bar again, ten fingers clenched tightly around the slick steel pipe.

His suspended body swayed, but after a close call, he steadied himself once more.

At that moment, he truly seemed like a professional rock climber.

Feeling his limbs and body brimming with vitality again, Fang Cheng lay back and looked up at the sky, grinning.

Then, as he looked at the stream of information that emerged on the panel, the arc of his smile became even more pronounced.

Raindrops kept falling into his mouth, moistening his parched, burning throat.

They also gave him an unprecedented experience.

It was as though he could taste the scent of earth and vegetation contained within the rain.

It was not just his sense of taste—his vision and hearing had also undergone remarkably significant changes.

In the residential district of high buildings across the river, several pinpricks of light had come on.

From over a thousand meters away, he could vaguely make out silhouettes moving inside.

Fang Cheng's eyes shone as he looked again at his own attributes.

His Spirit Attribute had reached a staggering 20 points.

Recalling the wondrous state he had entered earlier, Fang Cheng could not help but speculate.

What exactly was the true essence of Meditation?

After comprehending it, his Spirit Attribute had actually skyrocketed.

But... why had no corresponding skill been unlocked?

Fang Cheng had no time to dwell on it. Looking at the intensifying rain and the faintly brightening sky, he straightened his waist and exerted force through his shoulders and back.

With an effortless Muscle-Up, he flipped over and sat atop the horizontal bar.

At this moment, he was like a climber who had reached the summit, freely gazing at the high buildings in the distance, now seeming so small.

Dark Clouds shifted like masses of ink, forming an enormous curtain of water that washed over the entire city.

Lightning tore across the sky, like a breathtakingly magnificent scroll painting. Every scene Caused people to hold their breath.

This was a sight that Ordinary People accustomed to comfort could never appreciate.

"Even if the panel stops working and all my skills disappear, I definitely won't be weak anymore..."

Fang Cheng sat on the horizontal bar, quietly enjoying a world that belonged to him alone.

Beneath the torrential rain, his body and spirit seemed to undergo a dual cleansing.

Several minutes later.

He calmed his mind and brushed aside the wet black hair hanging over his forehead.

Then he turned his gaze toward the newly unlocked Skill Bar.

Pull-Ups lv0 (6/100)

His gaze swept over it, and just as he was about to look away, he noticed something unusual.

Behind the four skills—Push-Ups, Squats, Leg Raises, and Pull-Ups—faintly glowing little arrows had appeared.

They seemed... to link all four fitness-related skills together.

"What is this?"

Fang Cheng's gaze turned slightly startled.