Frenzied Breakthroughs in Physical Strength
After a brief incident, only ten minutes later, there were only a few people left in front of Gu Ding and his group.
Gu Ding also learned the name of the Blonde Woman who came with him; her name was Brenne.
As each person handed over their Iron Tag and disappeared into the crevices of the mountain rocks ahead, Gu Ding extended his soul power, only to be blocked by a peculiar energy. He immediately knew that this energy was the one that kept all experts at the True God level and above out.
What puzzled him was that this energy seemed fundamentally different from the spatial restrictions that isolated the spore ocean. Gu Ding had encountered spore oceans several times in this world and had even tried to probe them with his soul power, only to have them completely torn to shreds by the power of spatial rules. This made Gu Ding somewhat suspicious that the restrictions in this area were not naturally formed, but rather artificially created.
After handing over the Iron Tag, Gu Ding followed the people in front and walked towards the crevice in the mountain ahead.
As he passed through the gap, he clearly felt a special energy scan his body before allowing him to pass.
Gu Ding followed the people in front of him through the crevice, only to find that the further they went in, the wider the view became. Finally, they saw a ring-shaped rock formation, with many people gathered around it, peering down. Gu Ding then walked over and also looked down.
Several thousand meters below, there was a circular, Scarlet Lake. Gu Ding knew that must be the Abyss Blood Pool.
"Should we just jump down?" Gu Ding wondered.
At this moment, a young man in purple robes spoke up, "Once everyone has arrived, I will explain the rules again."
There were four other people in purple robes standing next to the young man in purple robes.
Many people immediately recognized them. "They're from the Heavenly God Palace!"
"The Heavenly God Palace is the most powerful force in this world. It is said to have been founded by a celestial god long ago. At its peak, it was said to have hundreds of the Strongest King of the Tenth Sequence. Although there are no Strongest King now, it is still a behemoth that no other force can match because it has a large number of powerful inheritances within it."
Before long, all three hundred people had finally gathered.
The purple-robed youth spoke again, "The rules in this Abyss Blood Pool are simple: just jump in. If someone can't hold on in the pool, they'll be automatically teleported back up once their body is completely outside the pool's enclosure, and they'll never be able to enter again. The Abyss Blood Pool. Each person can only enter once in their lifetime, and I hope everyone cherishes this hard-won opportunity."
After the purple-robed youth finished speaking, he was the first to jump down, followed by the other four purple-robed youths.
With the five of them taking the lead, many more people immediately followed suit and jumped down.
Many people chose to wait and see until they saw heads float to the surface of the blood pool. Only then did they feel safe enough to jump in.
Gu Ding jumped into the blood pool after seeing that someone was still alive.
He tried to control his body, but found that he couldn't control it at all. His body was as if it was being sucked in by something, and he was falling rapidly, at a speed hundreds of times faster than free fall.
"Gu Ding, quickly activate your Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body! Otherwise, your body won't be able to withstand this impact!" the Sea Emperor shouted hurriedly.
Gu Ding immediately unleashed his Combat Strength, raising his physical strength to the level of Nine-and-a-Half Star Half-Step True God.
"Boom!"
Gu Ding's body quickly plunged into the pool of blood. A powerful shock reverberated throughout his body, even severely affecting his internal organs. His bones were also somewhat deformed.
Gu Ding then truly realized the terrifying power of the impact. If he hadn't unleashed his full Combat Strength and increased his physical strength, his internal organs and bones would probably be completely shattered, and his body would have turned into a pile of minced meat.
"With this impact, even a seven-star Half-Step True God would be doomed, and at the very least, an eight-star Half-Step True God would be needed to survive," the Sea Emperor said directly.
As for Gu Ding, after his body touched the blood pool, he could clearly feel a strange blood energy frantically drilling into his body.
His physical strength, which had already reached the limit of One-Star Half-Step True God, was also showing signs of weakening.
"Sea Emperor, how many meters from the Abyss Blood Pool am I currently in?" Gu Ding immediately asked.
"It's only a little over 300 meters. You should continue diving. The cultivation effect here is much worse than down below. The deeper you go, the better the cultivation effect," the Sea Emperor suggested.
Gu Ding nodded and dived deeper into the water.
Four hundred meters, five hundred meters, six hundred meters...
It wasn't until they reached 600 meters that Gu Ding finally felt the pressure.
The pressure came from all directions, because every drop of liquid in this Abyss Blood Pool was extremely dense, and the squeezing force deep inside was quite astonishing.
But 600 meters was not the limit for Gu Ding; he only felt slight pressure, so he chose to continue diving.
700 meters, 800 meters...
When Gu Ding descended to nearly a thousand meters, he finally began to feel that he could not continue.
Of the three hundred people who have reached this depth, less than twenty have.
Among them was Brenne, the Blonde Woman had come to the Abyss Blood Pool with Gu Ding.
Brenne was also somewhat surprised to see Gu Ding, and transmitted her Way of Sound to Gu Ding, "So you've been hiding your cultivation all along."
She had clearly misunderstood, thinking that what she was seeing now was Gu Ding's true cultivation level, and that his previous cultivation level of One-Star Half-Step True God was deliberately revealed. In reality, Gu Ding's basic physical strength was indeed only One-Star Half-Step True God.
However, Gu Ding didn't refute this; he simply smiled and nodded at her. It was fine if she misunderstood; that way, he wouldn't have to come up with any lame excuses.
"You should cultivate here for now. Going any further will be dangerous. Within a thousand meters, there are only occasional undercurrents, but below a thousand meters, the number of undercurrents increases several times over, and whirlpools will also appear," the Sea Emperor advised.
Gu Ding nodded. He felt even moving his arm was difficult now, and going any further would indeed be dangerous. He immediately sat down cross-legged and began to circulate his Devouring the Heavens and Swallowing the Earth Divine Power, rapidly absorbing blood and qi energy.
A large amount of Qi and blood energy, under Gu Ding's active absorption, continuously poured into Gu Ding's body, frantically transforming every cell in Gu Ding's body.
Gu Ding's basic physical strength is also increasing rapidly.
In less than three days, he was promoted from One-Star Half-Step True God to a two-star Half-Step True God.
In the following days, this improvement continued unabated.
Five more days passed, Gu Ding's physical strength broke through again, reaching the level of a three-star Half-Step True God.
The consecutive breakthroughs in his physical body filled Gu Ding with ecstasy. Now, with his Combat Strength at full strength, his physical strength has reached the level of First Sequence true god, the same level as White Jade Emperor Body.
With this breakthrough, Gu Ding finally opened his eyes. He could feel that after reaching the three-star Half-Step True God level, the rate at which his physical strength increased had slowed down.
The physical strength of a true god-level body also increased Gu Ding's tolerance for pressure, so he chose to continue diving.
Brenne was startled when she saw Gu Ding descend, and the others around her looked at him with envy. They could all sense that the energy emanating from Gu Ding had reached the level of a true god, so they weren't surprised that Gu Ding continued to Gu Ding.
Brenne, however, calmed herself down completely and began to accelerate the absorption of blood energy. Her purpose in coming here was to break through to the True God realm, and she hoped not only to reach the First Sequence True God, but also to reach the Second Sequence or even the Third Sequence.
Gu Ding, unaware of what the others were thinking, simply continued his descent.
After a kilometer, the number of undercurrents had indeed increased significantly, as had their power, and each one would cause a certain impact on Gu Ding's body. However, Gu Ding also discovered that the strengthening speed of his cells would accelerate each time an undercurrent struck, so he simply stopped dodging.
His body continued to descend, searching for the limits he could withstand.
Upon reaching 1,100 meters, Gu Ding once again felt his limits. He finally stopped descending and resumed his cultivation.
Time passed day by day, and this time, seven days later, his basic physical strength was raised to the level of Four-Star Half-Step True God.
He has advanced three ranks from One-Star Half-Step True God to Four-Star Half-Step True God. According to Emon, historically, only a handful of people have advanced three ranks in the Abyss Blood Pool.
His physical strength, amplified by the increased Combat Strength, had barely reached the peak of First Sequence true god. Therefore, Gu Ding chose to continue diving.
1200 meters!
Gu Ding once again felt the limits of his body, and he once again immersed himself in a state of cultivation.
Ten days later, the basic physical strength of Four-Star Half-Step True God was raised to the level of a five-star half-step True God. Under the state of physical enhancement, Gu Ding's physical body reached the level of Second Sequence True God.
Gu Ding chose to continue diving. When he reached 1,300 meters, Gu Ding realized that he had broken the record for the deepest dive. The previous record was 1,289 meters.
Gu Ding closed his eyes and began to absorb blood and qi energy again, wanting to break through again. However, he found that after the blood and qi energy entered his body, it did not strengthen his cells. Instead, it was added to the circulation of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body.
"Your physical body has reached its limit. This blood and qi energy has truly unlocked your potential. Originally, being One-Star Half-Step True God was the limit you could reach with your current cultivation, but you have actually advanced four ranks to reach the level of a five-star Half-Step True God." The Sea Emperor found it somewhat unbelievable.
"It seems there's still a limit, but this result is already quite good." Gu Ding raised an eyebrow, satisfied with the outcome. Moreover, although his physical body couldn't be strengthened now, this blood and qi energy still had a strengthening effect on his Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body. He also wanted to know to what extent his Emperor Body would be strengthened. (To be continued~^~)