I Crushed the Immortal Sect's Cold Iron with My Bare Hands!

In the forest on the outskirts of Immortal-Breaking Mountain, the ground was carpeted with rotten dead branches and fallen leaves.

Night had fallen completely.

Lu Chen dragged his heavy steps up the steep mountainside.

Until, behind a curtain of vines halfway up the mountain, he found a hidden cave half-covered by scattered boulders.

"Crash."

The muscles in Lu Chen's arms suddenly tensed.

Thick tendons bulged exaggeratedly beneath his iron-gray skin.

He forcibly dragged the black Dao stele weighing thirty thousand jin to the very front of the cave.

His legs sank sharply, crushing the brittle weathered rock beneath his feet.

His waist and abdomen locked tight in an instant.

Bracing both arms against the colossal object, he shoved it forward with all his strength.

Accompanied by an extremely muffled scraping of stone, the thirty-thousand-jin heavy weapon was firmly wedged across the cave entrance.

The Dao stele was absurdly huge, nearly sealing the entire entrance shut.

Lu Chen deliberately adjusted the angle, leaving only a gap less than half a foot wide at the top near the rock wall for ventilation.

The interior of the cave instantly sank into total darkness.

Immortal-Breaking Mountain was bitterly cold at night.

Damp, frigid wind seeped out through cracks in the ground, enough to stiffen an ordinary mortal's limbs and impede the flow of blood.

But Lu Chen did not light a fire at all.

In these desolate mountains and wild ridges, even the faintest glimmer of fire—or a wisp of blue smoke—would become the most conspicuous target in the night.

He did not need fire.

The vitality and blood of the eleventh level of Iron Cloth Shirt surged madly through his body.

The Ultimate Dao Furnace operated at full speed.

Scalding crimson blood coursed through his thick veins.

Lu Chen's bare upper body continuously radiated astonishing heat.

He was now like a human furnace, forcefully baking the damp, freezing air in this cramped cave until it turned warm.

At the deepest part of the cave stood a flat, dry boulder.

Lu Chen walked over.

He brought over the Netherwind Wolf hide he had hunted and skinned in the woods during the day.

The hide of a first-rank demonic beast was exceptionally thick, and the scent of blood had yet to fade from it.

Moving very gently, he bent down and wrapped the broad wolf hide around A-Nan's frail body layer by layer.

The little blind girl instinctively curled into a ball within the wolf hide.

Her tattered little padded coat had long been soaked through with mud and blood. Now, she could only clutch the edge of the wolf hide tightly, trying to draw out more warmth.

Lu Chen lowered his head and examined her condition.

Something was wrong with A-Nan's condition.

A thick, dark-red scab had formed over the wound in her chest where the Immortal Sect's sword qi had pierced through her during the day.

That scab radiated an incredibly high temperature.

It was so hot that even the surrounding air warped faintly.

The drop of purified exotic beast blood filtered through the Ultimate Dao Furnace during the day was carrying out an exceptionally tyrannical reconstruction within her tiny body.

That violent vitality did not care in the least how weak this mortal shell was.

It brutally burrowed between her fractured breastbones.

It drove straight into the deepest marrow.

Forcibly breaking apart and rebuilding every inch of flesh and blood.

The transformation of jade bones came with agony beyond anything ordinary people could imagine.

"Mm..."

A-Nan's eyes remained tightly shut, and the gray cloth over her blind eyes was completely soaked by cold sweat seeping from her forehead.

She let out an intensely suppressed cry of pain in her unconsciousness.

Her tiny body trembled violently without stop.

Lu Chen sat cross-legged beside her without making a sound to disturb her.

He extended his left hand and picked up the century-old cold iron chain he had forcibly torn from the Sumeru Ring of Black Mud City's steward.

"Clatter."

He tightly wound the heavy darksteel chain around his right wrist and forearm, loop after loop.

The clasp locked firmly into place.

He maintained an absolute defensive posture.

His back was ramrod straight, his breathing slowed to its lowest rhythm.

Lu Chen focused completely, alertly listening to every faint movement outside the cave.

Just then—

"Whoosh—hum—"

A faint sound of something tearing through the air came from the distant night sky.

It was the sound of an Immortal Sect spirit vessel's engine cutting through the air.

The mountain search team had arrived.

The spirit vessel was circling low over the outskirts of Immortal-Breaking Mountain.

Through the narrow gap above the Dao stele, Lu Chen saw a flash of icy-blue formation light pass over the black treetops.

Those lofty cultivators were using magical artifacts to comb the area carpet by carpet for traces of disturbance.

A-Nan's trembling suddenly grew more violent.

The agonizing pain of marrow reconstruction battered her nerves wave after wave.

This torment of grinding every bone in her body to pieces and putting them back together left her nowhere to vent it in her half-conscious state.

Her pale, slender little hand blindly reached out from a gap in the thick wolf hide.

Her ten fingers clawed blindly through the air twice.

Then—

She touched Lu Chen's arm and instinctively gripped the century-old cold iron chain wrapped around his wrist.

The instant her little hand clenched.

"Creak—"

An abrupt sound rang out in the cave.

The tough iron chain meant for binding great demons actually gave off a teeth-grating metallic groan beneath the pressure of A-Nan's pale fingers.

Lu Chen's heart lurched.

He knew all too well how hard this chain was.

Cold iron that could withstand the dragging force of a thirty-thousand-jin Dao stele would be difficult even for a Qi Refinement cultivator wielding a flying sword at full strength to leave the slightest mark upon.

Yet now, A-Nan was squeezing it with nothing but unconscious brute force.

If she kept clawing at it like this, the bones in the little girl's fingers would definitely snap on the spot.

Lu Chen immediately stretched out his rough left hand and grabbed A-Nan's wrist.

He wanted to use physical contact to send the Ultimate Dao vitality and blood within his body over, helping her suppress the rampant vitality raging through her body.

However—

The instant Lu Chen's palm closed around her wrist—

A-Nan sensed an external resistance in her half-conscious state.

Her pure Ultimate Dao instinct was instantly awakened.

When met with obstruction, crush all obstruction.

Her little hand instinctively erupted with even more terrifying gripping strength.

Her five knuckles locked tight in an instant.

"Crack, crack, crack."

Amid a series of fine splintering sounds—

A-Nan's five pale fingers, without even the slightest callus, forcibly gouged five deep finger marks into the surface of the indestructible century-old cold iron!

The next second—

"Bang!"

An exceptionally crisp metallic snap exploded through the cramped cave.

Lu Chen lowered his head.

His gaze locked tightly on that little hand.

The cold iron chain link, as thick as an adult's thumb, was first crushed into several clearly visible cracks.

Then—

Unable to bear that utterly unreasonable monstrous force any longer—

It snapped directly into two pieces.

"Clang."

The broken remains of the iron ring fell onto the cave's stone floor.

Their collision rang clear through the silent cave.

Lu Chen immediately opened A-Nan's palm.

After just crushing the century-old cold iron, there was not even a single reddened mark on the surface of A-Nan's pale, delicate fingers.

Not even the skin had broken.

This was the most unreasonable aspect of the Ultimate Dao system.

There was no need for spiritual energy to protect the body.

No need for the enhancement of spells.

Pure physical strength had been reconstructed to an utterly terrifying level.

The transformation of jade bones had begun to reveal its sharp edges.

Lu Chen slowly lifted her little hand, his movements incredibly gentle.

He tucked it back into the dry, warm wolf hide.

After snapping the iron chain, A-Nan seemed to have vented that extreme pain.

Her tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Her breathing steadied once more, and she fell back into sleep.

Lu Chen withdrew his hand and silently watched her.

His pupils narrowed slightly, ink-dark turbulence churning endlessly in his eyes.

This was only a brief stress-induced outburst triggered by excruciating pain.

The little blind girl had yet to awaken, much less understand how to actively control the monstrous strength awakening within her.

But this was already astonishing enough.

A mortal girl the Immortal Sect regarded as an ant had just broken an Immortal Sect magical artifact with her bare hands.

Lu Chen turned his head.

He fixed his gaze once more on the narrow gap above the Dao stele.

Just then—

A burst of chaotic noise came from the pitch-black forest outside the cave.

"Crack. Crack."

It was the sound of cultivators' boot soles snapping dry branches on the ground.

The footsteps were very light.

But to Lu Chen's exceptionally sharp hearing, they were as clear as beating war drums.

"Senior Brother, there are drag marks over here."

A deliberately lowered male voice came from outside.

"Follow the tracks," another voice replied coldly. "That stone is so heavy. That brat couldn't have gone far."

Immediately after—

A faint ray of green flying-sword light shone straight into the cave through the gap less than half a foot wide above the Dao stele.

The light swept back and forth over the black rock walls.

The Immortal Sect's mountain search team had already found the cave entrance.