Gravity Pagoda.
Inside the ninefold gravity chamber, Ye Chen was bare-chested, his lean and muscular physique completely exposed without an ounce of fat. Under the terrifying ninefold gravity, he was currently standing upside down, supporting his entire body with his hands on the ground, moving up and down in a vertical push-up position.
He was undergoing a fearsome training regimen. While the Tyrant Heaven Refining Saint Art was crucial, basic physical conditioning was equally indispensable, as it could coordinate every function of the body.
As a descendant of the legendary Battle Saint lineage, Ye Chen understood this aspect better than anyone.
Supporting himself upside down with his hands, his body moved up and down in inverted push-ups with the bending and straightening of his arms. It seemed like simple, ordinary daily exercise, but under ninefold gravity, it invisibly increased the exertion by dozens of times, becoming incredibly arduous and enduring unimaginable pressure.
His body felt as heavy as a thousand catties. Each descent and subsequent rise bore that terrifying gravity, draining his strength immensely.
Even if a Xiantian expert circulated their Xiantian True Yuan to protect their body, they absolutely could not sustain this for long, as it consumed energy too rapidly.
However, Ye Chen's physical body was extraordinarily robust. For him, such training only caused the veins on his arms to bulge slightly. His expression remained calm, not a single drop of sweat falling.
Moreover, a faint golden glow circulated throughout his entire body. At this moment, the Human Yuan Body Art was still operating autonomously, circulating through the major and minor heavenly circuits within him, continuously cycling.
After persisting for three hundred repetitions, Ye Chen suddenly changed his supporting fingers from five to three on each hand. Though it seemed like he had merely reduced four fingers, the difficulty increased by more than double.
At this point, sweat had begun to appear on Ye Chen's face, but it was still bearable.
Half an hour later, he suddenly changed to supporting himself on just a single index finger on each hand. The pressure increased severalfold instantly, with all the gravity borne by just two fingers, bending as if they might snap at any moment.
The veins on his arms bulged out one by one, twisted and terrifying like earthworms. As the number of inverted push-ups increased, copious sweat began to seep from all the pores on his body, pouring down like rain.
Even Ye Chen's breathing became labored, his face flushed red.
But if an outsider were here, they would be shocked to the core. For despite supporting his entire body with just two fingers to perform inverted push-ups—enduring unprecedented pressure and expending far more effort—each up-and-down motion Ye Chen performed took exactly the same amount of time. Not a second more, not a second less. Uniform and consistent, precise as a machine. It was unbelievable.
Even a Xiantian expert using Xiantian True Yuan to protect and enhance their body could absolutely not achieve this.
Finally, after a full hour and a half, on the seven hundred and eighty-third inverted push-up, Ye Chen finally stopped and stood up properly.
Only now, his entire body was thoroughly drenched in sweat, as if he had been caught in a heavy downpour. His arms were swollen to the thickness of thighs, aching and sore to the point of complete numbness.
Ye Chen's face had also turned somewhat pale, his breathing rapid. But his eyes remained as calm and natural as ever, as if none of this had ever happened.
Even Old Yan couldn't help but marvel inwardly: this guy is truly no ordinary person, to remain so composed in the face of such pain.
As if no one else was around, Ye Chen accelerated the circulation of the Human Yuan Body Art. Streams of Human Yuan Power flowed into his arms. The swollen arms quickly reduced in size, and the intense soreness likewise faded away.
Although the Human Yuan Body Art was a body-tempering technique, as the first part of a supreme three-body technique that could rival the Tyrant Heaven Refining Saint Art, it also possessed extraordinary healing effects and could repair injuries.
Afterward, Ye Chen began a new round of cultivation.
Since returning from the Alchemist Heart Palace, Ye Chen had gone nowhere else. Using the privilege of the Thirteenth Prince, he directly entered the ninefold gravity chamber and embarked on a monotonous, arduous cultivation life, staying there for twelve days straight.
During these twelve days, Ye Chen had not left the ninefold gravity chamber for even an hour. He continuously endured a grueling cultivation routine that ordinary people could hardly bear, practicing his two major body-tempering techniques.
Although cultivation days were always monotonous, compared to the decades-long seclusions common in his previous life, this was utterly insignificant. Ye Chen could ignore such tedium.
With the Tyrant Heaven Refining Saint Art excavating his body's potential, the Xiantian demonic core aiding his cultivation of the Human Yuan Body Art, and the environment of ninefold gravity, the progress of his physical cultivation was astonishing. It increased almost daily. Ye Chen could clearly feel his body growing stronger with every moment, every cell breathing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, continuously expanding.
At times, Ye Chen even felt his physical strength had grown so powerful that a single punch could annihilate a Xiantian expert.
Naturally, this was somewhat illusory, but it was enough to prove his rapid progress.
During his cultivation, even his own cultivation base advanced by leaps and bounds. Unintentionally, he had broken through to the ninth level of Houtian. The next step was the Xiantian realm.
Reaching the ninth level of Houtian at twenty-six was already remarkable. However, compared to his achievements in physical cultivation, it was insignificant.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Finally, Ye Chen began directly swinging his fists and feet within the gravity chamber. Each punch and kick possessed the force of a thousand jun, striking the air and directly blasting it apart, producing thunderous vibrations that shook the entire ninefold gravity chamber.
Moreover, his entire person moved like a phantom. Under ninefold gravity, he actually left a series of afterimages while running. An ordinary person simply couldn't capture where his figure was.
If an outsider were present, they would inevitably be astounded. To be able to blast apart the air and leave afterimages while moving under ninefold gravity—what incredibly powerful body could achieve this? It was unbelievable.
When everything ended, Ye Chen suddenly stood firm, unmoving and steady as a mountain. His entire body crackled incessantly, his bones and sinews resonating in unison like beating war drums, deafeningly loud.
Finally, when all grew calm, Ye Chen let out a long exhale, opened his fierce eyes, and a cold flash of lightning seemed to pass through them, illuminating the entire gravity chamber.
The door of the ninefold gravity chamber opened. Ye Chen left, choosing to end his seclusion.
Because he felt that continuing to cultivate like this wouldn't yield much more effect. For his current self, he had gradually adapted to the ninefold gravity chamber. Its effectiveness had slowly diminished, no longer as potent as at the beginning. To further strengthen his body, he would have to choose other methods.
Moreover, an unprecedented grand auction event was about to take place in the royal capital, not to be missed. Ye Chen naturally would not miss it.
Now, only two days remained until the auction event. Ye Chen ended his seclusion a day early to better prepare for it.
After all, every item at the auction would be an extremely rare treasure, and the bidding prices would undoubtedly be exorbitantly high. Although he possessed three hundred and seventy thousand gold coins on him—perhaps a vast sum to ordinary people—when it came to actual bidding, it would likely prove quite insufficient.
The rarer the treasure, the higher the auction price. This was an unbreakable rule.
Especially the final divine-level secret treasure, which would be priceless. It might even provoke conflicts among those lofty, supreme existences. Having no capital was not an option.
Therefore, he planned to first acquire some capital, trying to accumulate more wealth in his Purple Pattern Gold Card to prepare for future needs.
After leaving the Gravity Pagoda, Ye Chen was about to head to the Alchemist Heart Palace to discuss this matter with Li Yun when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a training ground not far away. At this moment, a large crowd of students was densely gathered there, bustling and lively.
Somewhat curious, Ye Chen walked over. He saw a pitch-black stone stele, fully ten zhang tall, standing in the center of the training ground. Its surface was smooth, but it clearly bore the marks of considerable age, appearing somewhat ancient.
The stele was densely inscribed with names, arranged in a column from top to bottom. A careful count revealed over three hundred names.
Moreover, after each person's name was a numerical value, measured in jin.
Through the discussions of the people around him, Ye Chen finally understood: this was the Power Stele, a mysterious stone monument. As long as one punched it with full force, it could accurately measure a person's strength.
The three hundred people on the stele were the top three hundred with the highest measured strength in the history of the Xia Feng Academy since the stele's erection. Each person's strength value exceeded thirty thousand jin. The lowest among them could reach thirty-three thousand jin.
Ye Chen's gaze shifted to the very top of the Power Stele, where it was clearly written:
First: Xia Yang, sixty-eight thousand and seventy-nine jin of strength!
Xia Yang—the current Crown Prince of the Xia Feng Kingdom!