Greatly Increased Strength! East Gate Sealed! (Seeking Reads!)

A burning sensation ignited deep within his bones the moment his resolve was set, a torrent of heat surging through his entire body and rushing straight into his mind.

Lu Jue felt a slight tremor in his consciousness, as if some indescribable change was occurring throughout his body.

"Is this the Heart of the Savage Bull? It reduces pain perception and strengthens willpower?"

He pondered for a moment, then lit a fire on the stove. Without hesitation, he brought his finger close to the flame.

The nerves in his fingertip immediately sent back feedback of being scorched by the high temperature.

It hurt, but it wasn't the bone-piercing, instinct-driving agony. It felt more like "information" that needed to be processed.

His finger remained steady as a rock, unmoving above the flame. Three breaths, five breaths passed. Only when his skin began to char slightly, and the smell permeated the air, did he slowly withdraw his hand.

A numb, burning sensation spread across his fingertip. The injury was real, but the pain that would have made an ordinary person collapse was transformed by the power of the Heart of the Savage Bull into a "phenomenon" that could be calmly observed.

"My body still transmits normal signals when injured, but the pain component of these signals has been filtered by at least forty percent!"

"But this is only a temporary forty percent. If this ability can continue to improve, filtering sixty, eighty percent, or even completely isolating the pain?"

Lu Jue's breathing quickened slightly. The mere thought of it was enough to make his heart pound.

What a terrifying existence a martial artist who felt no pain but retained complete combat awareness and explosive power would be on the battlefield!

This meant that in future battles, he would become a monster who knew no pain. Serious injuries wouldn't distort his movements, broken bones wouldn't make him scream and fall. As long as his will didn't break, his body could fight until his last breath!

"Then let's test my current strength again."

The large tree, which had been one person's embrace, had been damaged during his last test of strength.

Lu Jue walked out of the house and found another tree outside the courtyard, one that required two people to embrace. Standing before it, without gathering any momentum or adjusting his breathing, he simply drew his fist back slightly and then, like a whip, unleashed a punch!

"BOOM!!!"

Where his fist struck, the tree trunk exploded as if hit by a giant hammer!

Wood chips sprayed backward like a torrential rain. The thick trunk snapped in the middle, and the upper half of the tree, under the impact of the immense force, flew several yards away with a series of ear-splitting tearing sounds. It crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Even more shocking was that the lower half of the tree stump, deeply rooted and intertwined with the ground, was actually shaken by the residual force of this punch!

The soil around it buckled, countless gnarled roots were torn apart by the brute force, and half of the stump stood askew in its place. The splinters at the broken end jutted out like fangs, as if silently testifying to the power of this punch!

"The law of action and reaction states that even if I could exert this much force before, the recoil from the tree trunk would have been enough to deal with me."

"But now, with the Iron Bone Stance perfected, my bones are as hard as fine steel, capable of withstanding the recoil, and the Heart of the Savage Bull further reduces pain perception."

"This means that even if my target were a steel wall, I could, without reservation, unleash my full strength again and again!"

Lu Jue slowly retracted his fist, silently flexing his finger joints, feeling the vibrational feedback that had its pain component filtered by forty percent.

The power in his fist now was likely even greater than Li Zhanting's after he took the Crimson Blood Pill.

If they fought again, he was confident he could pierce through Li Zhanting's skull with a single punch.

He glanced down at his phone. The screen showed it was already half past one in the afternoon.

The Quota Competition tomorrow would use mobile phone draws, so there was no need to rush back. He planned to wait for his father to return and bid him farewell in person.

Just then, a pop-up window from a forum caught his eye—

"Reliable News! Tianhai City's East Gate is sealed!"

Lu Jue quickly clicked it open.

The accompanying images showed several shots of the East Gate scene taken from a distance: the iron gate lowered, guards standing in formation...

The poster claimed to have regular business dealings with the inner city. This morning, they had prepared a batch of medicinal materials to be transported to the inner city, only to be informed that the only exit from Tianhai City to the inner city, the East Gate, had been sealed!

No one inside the city was allowed to leave!

"East Gate sealed?"

Lu Jue's pupils contracted, and his fingers rapidly scrolled down the screen.

The comment section had already exploded, with panic and speculation spreading. Amidst the chaotic messages, one piece of information firmly caught his attention:

"It's probably true! I have a friend who works at a martial arts school. He let slip while drinking last night that a master at their school, a Divine Strength level expert, secretly went to Yunyuan City two days ago."

Others chimed in, saying their fathers were Gang Strength martial artists who had also secretly rushed to Yunyuan City the day before yesterday.

Lu Jue clicked to turn the page, intending to read further, when the page suddenly froze and then displayed a cold prompt—

[This post contains false information and has been deleted by the administrator.]

East Gate sealed, Yunyuan City.

Yunyuan City was adjacent to Tianhai City, both important nodes on the western defense line.

His eyelids twitched. A sense of foreboding washed over him.

All the previous illogical doubts were now connected by the thread of "Yunyuan City"!

Why was the Jin Kingdom implementing "Student Diversion" at this time?

Why did Tianhai City forcibly collect nearly forty percent of the city's resources, causing prices to skyrocket?

Why did Tianhai City seal the East Gate, prohibiting everyone from going to the safer inner city?

Why would powerful Divine Strength experts secretly head to Yunyuan City?

This is likely the precursor to a major event!

And the core location is probably in neighboring Yunyuan City!

Could a massive beast tide be imminent?

This was the only possibility Lu Jue could think of.

Ten years ago, a similar large-scale beast tide had razed five cities the size of Tianhai City to the ground.

In this world, the areas between outer cities like Tianhai City and inner cities, though called safe zones, were merely the result of the Jin Kingdom government's regular culling of Calamity Beasts of Tiger-grade and above.

Within the safe zones, low-level Calamity Beasts still proliferated and roamed in the shadows like weeds that couldn't be fully cut down, and even some high-level Calamity Beasts that slipped through the cracks could be encountered.

Trade between cities and countries had barriers.

This was also why it was difficult for commoners to get ahead in this world. Almost all cross-border trade was controlled by the powerful Great Families, and over ninety percent of commoners would never leave their city in their lifetime.

Therefore, Tianhai City's tightly shut eastern gate was not to keep commoners out, but out of fear that the Influential families, who controlled over half the city's power, would seize the opportunity to flee, causing morale on the front lines to collapse and the defenses to crumble before a fight even began!

With this thought, he took a deep breath, forcing his emotions down.

If the sky falls, the tall ones will bear it. Regardless, his current focus was tomorrow's Quota Competition.

According to the agreement signed with the Martial School, "If outstanding performance is demonstrated during the sponsorship period, rewards may be given based on the situation, or the time serving as an Instructor may be reduced."

Zhao He's intentions for this Quota Competition were obvious: he wanted to secure all the top-ranked commoner students, thereby gaining leverage in the first round of the Martial Arts Examination selection.

This, in any case, threatened the Martial School's original purpose and interests.

What he needed to do was to create a massive hole in Zhao He's plan, obtain the Martial School's commendation, and quickly convert it into tangible strength.

Only strength could be the sole reliable capital in these turbulent times when the edifice was on the verge of collapse!