My Apocalypse Territory

Chapter 316: Chapter 313 Peak of Body-shaping Realm Chapter 316: Chapter 313 Peak of Body-shaping Realm The strength defined by the Extreme Martial Arts Hall differed from the strength perceived by most survivors and Awakeners.

For the majority, Awakening at the Fifth Tier was already a sign of strength, capable of slaughtering their way through a weak horde of Demonized Beasts, or bringing down a high-rise building with sheer force… For Fifth Tier Awakeners, those at the level of Bosses, like him, were the true strong.

However, in the definition of the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, a strong person had two aspects.

One was the level of Awakening, the other was the enhancement of combat power.

Moustache could barely reach the level requirement, yet in terms of combat power, using Demonized Beasts as the standard, the Extreme Martial Arts Hall required its apprentices to have at least the ability to kill beasts above their own level without sustaining any injuries during the process.

Facing a Seventh Layer Demonized Beast, Moustache would have to pay the price of minor injuries, and if he were to engage in a one-on-one death battle with an Eighth Layer Demonized Beast, the best outcome would be mutual destruction.

This was even when he had learned a Cultivation Skill and possessed D3-grade Armor and C1-grade Weapons… The combat power enhancement test at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, it was said, could only be conducted using Equal Level (enough to break through a Demonized Beast’s defense, but not with ease) Weapons and the most common grade E Armor.

The future apprentices of the Martial Arts Hall were likely to become strong, partly because of the apprentices’ own talents, and on the other hand, the Hall’s resources, as well as the guidance of several Master instructors, was of the utmost importance.

Moustache, in his desire to send his nephew to the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, had not failed to learn about the four Masters.

As for who was stronger or weaker, Moustache could not say, yet in terms of teaching, as far as he understood, Master Luo, Chief Instructor Luo, was best at teaching, and many strong members of the former Patrol Team had been trained by him.

Moustache sighed, “If Director Tang were also teaching at the Martial Arts Hall, with his strength and insight, if he really took an apprentice, I’m afraid, before long, that apprentice would be stepping past the threshold into the realm of the strong.”

Lord Tang, considered by the outside world as the strongest, the Controller of Heavenly Punishment, a Legendary expert… Tang Yu, was currently sitting in a Cultivation chamber, gazing up at… the monotonous ceiling.

He had been stuck at the Ninth Layer Peak of the Body-shaping Realm for over a month.

From the Sixth to the Ninth Layer, each stage entailed the external refining of muscles and skin, the internal refining of the visceral organs, and each elevation of life tier brought significant leaps in bodily strength.

By the Eighth and Ninth Layers, ordinary firearms no longer posed a threat to Awakeners, with small-caliber pistols being bounced off the skin without leaving even a mark.

With the reaction speed and velocity of Eighth or Ninth Layer Awakeners, in reality, bullets had almost no chance of hitting their mark. But with a robust physique, even in the face of crossfire that blocked all avenues of escape, the strong of the Body-shaping Realm could withstand the barrage.

Tang Yu wasn’t someone with just an impressive level; by combining the cultivation methods of Demon Swordsmen with potions like Body Tempering Liquid, he had already excavated his potential, his physique being many times stronger than that of his peers.

However…
“Even if I’m invincible at the same level, what’s the use if I can’t break through!”

His followers also encountered this bottleneck at the Ninth Layer Peak, but often, they would break through after not too long.

Before Luo Zhe got injured, he was at the Peak of the Body-shaping Realm, and after recovering from his injuries and improving his talent, he too had smoothly broken through this bottleneck. Now, he had reached the eleventh layer of Awakening.

Kong, Shay, Xing Ling Xing Yue, the Carmen Brothers, Lorraine, Xiaoli, including those B-grade talent followers who were summoned later and unnamed, had a similar cultivation progress as Luo Zhe.

Fani, Grey Blade, and Greta, the three with A-grade talent, had already reached the twelfth layer of Awakening, the peak of the Source Condensation Realm. One step further, and they would reach Thirteen Layer Perfection… Having reached the Thirteenth Layer, they were eligible to touch upon the Transcendent, gathering energy, adjusting their condition to tackle the bottleneck that lay in the path of life tier transition.

Once past it, they would soar through the Dragon Gate, transcending the ordinary.

And Blood Moon, Tylon, as well as Winnie, were at the stage of accumulating energy in the Thirteenth Layer.

Blood Moon and Tylon, both with A-grade talent, had been very powerful when summoned, while Winnie, though slightly less talented, chanced upon an inheritance crystal from a Holy Light Sage during a market refresh.

Main healer, assistant, and even the light-series output is not weak among advanced professions.

Winnie, having inherited the profession, refined her skills at a noticeably faster pace, breezing past the bottleneck at the peak of the Body-shaping Realm without even a hint of hesitation.

It was the same with Eileen.

As the strongest in the territory, she had stepped into the Thirteenth Layer of Awakening over a month ago.

“Even though I too have inherited an advanced profession, why… is it not the same?”

Tang Yu shook his head slightly.

After Eileen entered the Thirteenth Layer of Awakening, it took her more than half a month to reach Perfection and begin challenging the bottleneck to transcendence.

Back then, he thought that if Eileen could break through, the territory would have its true Transcendent Strongman, and they could face even more Catastrophe Level Demonized Beasts without fear in the future.

Unfortunately…

It wasn’t that the attempt to become Transcendent had failed, but rather Eileen realized after her attempt that the bottleneck to transcendence was not something that could be broken through just by mustering strength.

It required a gradual process, where each accumulation of energy before attacking the bottleneck would loosen it slightly, and only when it was sufficiently loosened was the time to attempt a real breakthrough.

According to Eileen’s own estimate, it would take at least two to three months, or as long as half a year, to grind the bottleneck loose enough; as for when she could truly break through to the Transcendent Tier…

That was unpredictable.

“At present, there is still too little information on transcendence. Kevin, Greta, and others who have come in contact with Transcendent Strongmen, have only had simple interactions or have seen battles between those at the Transcendent Tier from afar…”

None had a deep understanding.

The gap between them and the Transcendent was too great. Despite the followers’ strength improving rapidly, approaching the Transcendent in just a few months, Luo Zhe had once said that, even without considering the improvement brought by refining soul power, relying solely on cultivation, the speed of progression on Earth was more than ten times faster than what they had experienced before.

The concentration of Source Qi on Earth was still on the rise.

Even Kevin, who is an Equipment Manufacturing Master, only had the qualifications to converse with a Transcendent Strongman.

How to break through to the Transcendent Tier, what mysteries lie within the Transcendent Tier, Tang Yu could only gain a rudimentary understanding from the dozen or so Rune Language Books that had appeared on the market.

“Forget it, transcendence is too distant for me. Rather than mulling over these notions, I might as well focus on breaking through to the Tenth Layer of Awakening. It’s fine if I can’t compare to Eileen and the others, but if the Awakeners of the two Corps and the apprentices of the Martial Arts Hall catch up to me, that would be somewhat embarrassing.”

The former Patrol Team is now officially renamed as… the Guardian Corps responsible for defending the territory, and the Investigation Corps responsible for scouting the outside world… both Corps consisting of three hundred members each, together totaling six hundred Awakeners.

Each one possesses at least the strength of a Fifth Tier Awakener; among them, there are precisely fifty-three individuals who could be considered Boss Level strongmen.

Of course, the members of the two Corps would never dare to think of themselves as big shots, but the strongest in the Investigation Corps had broken through to the Eighth Layer of Awakening. The original Patrol Team was more symbolically significant than practically effective, but now, the two Corps have begun to exert their influence and are capable of acting as the core force.

The Core Apprentices of the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, although few in number—Green Shadow, Luoxia, all the Core Apprentices combined amount to less than thirty people—half of them have already entered the Body-shaping Realm, with the strongest reaching the Seventh Layer of Awakening.

Weaker than the Corps’ Awakeners because the apprentices often join the Martial Arts Hall shortly after their initial Awakening… the examination for Core Apprentices seems open to all, but in reality, most who pass come from reputable backgrounds, are younger in age… This type of person is more malleable, and their innate talents are not bad either.

Awakeners from adventure groups, awakeners from public… almost none can get through.

The apprentices of the Martial Arts Hall are improving in strength even more quickly and hold great admiration for him as the ‘Strongest of the Sanctuary’.

Tang Yu felt a sense of urgency; if he were to be overtaken, where could he hide his old face!