Chapter 2910: New Bottlenecks
Lin Mu stood amidst the wreckage of the once-proud mountains, the dust settling like a fog of awe and devastation. The land bore witness to his strength, reshaped under the terrifying force of his Mountain Collapsing FistāThird Form: Devastator.
What was once a barren mountain range was now just a cluster of craters. Perhaps in the future when the rains blessed the land, a new land full of lakes would be birthed and with it a plethora of plant life that would invite beasts and more creatures of the world.
But Lin Mu wasnāt smiling.
His body remained whole, yes. Not a single bone cracked, nor a muscle torn. TheBurdenless Dominator Physiquelived up to its nameāpeerless in its resilience. But something else was wrong.
He sat cross-legged on a high stone ridge, golden skin dimming slightly as he cycled his breath.
Hisqi flow had become sluggish, hismeridians sore, tingling faintly with pain. Hisapertures, the very nodes through which his immortal essence surged, now pulsed erraticallyāsome spasming slightly under the strain.
"So... thatās my limit."
He looked down at his fist, still glowing faintly from the 58% output punch he had unleashed moments ago. The land below him bore a scar miles wideāa deep crevasse like a divine beast had clawed the earth.
But Lin Mu felt no thrill.
"My body is fine. I could have gone further... maybe even to sixty or sixty-five."
"But mymeridiansandaperturescanāt take it."
He slowly stood, letting gravity pull at his limbs. The familiar sensation of heaviness, now second nature to him thanks to his Gravity Dao Embryo, felt like a gentle reminder of how far heād come.
"Itās not the fist technique thatās faulty," he mused aloud. "Itās not even my body."
He turned his gaze inward.
The core problem was painfully clear.
"Itās thefoundationsāthe very techniques that support all this strength."
HisThree Apertures Invoking Techniqueand theTyrant Bull Marrow Secretshad both served him well. They had carried him to the Fifth Tribulation stage of Body Tempering and given him strength few in the world could match. But now... they trembled under the weight of his evolving power.
TheMountain Collapsing Fist, especially in its third form, demanded a level of internal reinforcement that pushed his channels to their brink. At 58%, his apertures had nearly collapsed from the violent surge of immortal essence, and his meridians were visibly bruised under his spiritual senseālike overused battle scars.
If he pushed even a little further...
"Iād rupture everything from the inside out."
Lin Mu clenched his jaw. Not from frustrationābut from clarity.
"Iāve reached a bottleneck."
Not one of cultivation rank or power, but one oftechnique integrity.
He couldnāt blame the skills themselves. After all, they were never meant to reach this level. TheThree Apertures Invoking Techniquewas profound, yesābut it was still developed for Immortals to have a bountiful stores of immortal essence not for raw power.
And theTyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, for all their savage might, werenāt forged to handle the containment of Dao-infused body cultivation supported by Gravity Daos and Immortal Essence flows of this caliber.
"The container has outgrown its frame."
If he were to continue on this pathāto elevate hisMountain Collapsing Fist, to push his physical might even furtherāhe would need to go beyond.
To improve not just himself, but thetechniques that housed his strength.
"Iāll need to progress them... and in the future craft entirely new ones if not find suitable replacements."
The idea struck hard.
Creating body cultivation techniques was no easy feat. Most sects guarded theirs like sacred scripture, and ancient body arts were often lost to time. Even refining an existing method to a higher level could take a genius millennia.
But Lin Mu had two things in his favor:
OneātheBurdenless Dominator Physique. A body no longer constrained by mortal or even immortal limitations. With it, he could withstand experiments that would kill others.
Twoāhisunique cultivation path. His comprehension of bothMetalandEarth, ofGravity, ofHeaviness, ofEnduranceandViolence, was vast. His insights into the Dao had progressed far beyond what most immortals could grasp.
"The next step isnāt strength," he murmured.
"Itāsrefinement."
He returned to the monastery not with pride, but with determination. The monks, who had felt the distant quakes and seen the collapse of entire ridgelines, greeted him with silent awe. But Lin Mu only bowed and said:
"Iāve hit my ceiling. I need to temper what carries me now."
The abbot, wise and ever-watchful, nodded with understanding.
"The body is a vessel, Lin Mu. But so too are your arts. Strength is not only a matter of forceābut also offlow. If your meridians scream under your power, it means the technique that moves your strength is incomplete."
Lin Mu agreed.
He secluded himself within the training chambers carved from stoneāa vault built to contain pressure, sealed by formation arrays reinforced by gravitational talismans. Here, he began todissecthis body cultivation techniques.
He broke down every step of theThree Apertures Invoking Techniqueāanalyzing how his apertures circulated essence, how they opened and closed, how much qi they could safely handle.
He mapped the Immortal Essence routes of theTyrant Bull Marrow Secrets, using his Immortal sense to trace the flow of power through his bones, muscle fibers, and tendons.
He drew diagrams, inscribed runes, meditated on insights from his Gravity Dao, and even consulted the monks for fragments of ancient body knowledge passed down orally.
It was the beginning of something new.
Something greater.
And Lin Mu knew one thing with certainty:
"Until I forge thevessel worthy of my power, I will not take another step forward."
Lin Mu still had a lot to progress in both of his body cultivation skills that hadnāt even reached the peak. Both were at the fifth stage and could grow two more stages. They still had potential and more skills to reveal.