Breakthrough

A tight grip on the boulders with his fingertips and palms Xiao Fan tilted his head upwards and started to lift.

The massive boulder first seemed to be too heavy, yet as he kept pushing it gave in, and when the boulder was lifted even a little, it became much easier for the rest of the lift.

Still, during the lift, he felt a massive strain on his legs, yet the boulder was smoothly lifted all the way to straight legs.

And when he felt his legs had straightened did he immediately push the boulder of him.

Xiao Fan now felt little light-headed in his head. Taking it slowly, he took several slow steps to a bench.

He might look weak right now if one looked from outside; however, inside his head, there was only an elated feeling and nothing about feeling weak.

He had truly felt a proper challenge in lifting such a heavy object. And now while his chest still jumped up and down, he was already looking at the fifth rock in line with a conviction to test himself.

After the moment of elation was over he looked to his side where Du Lan was ¨Du Lan go get me some water before something happens¨ He said while holding his parched throat.

His elevation and rush going down his bodily needs were surging up water at the forefront of these needs.

¨I'll go fetch it¨ Du Lan said as she was already moving out of the training room while thinking.

For she had seen her sister training, but she did nothing like this, and so she thought about which one was the right one?

From what she had seen, Du Huan only focused on speed and bodyweight exercises, while she had never seen her lift anything like this.

At the same time Cao Cao, who was also hovering inside the room sometimes peeked from the corner of a book he was reading what Xiao Fan was doing and was somewhat content.

From his peeking, he could unquestionably say that Xiao Fan was close to breaking through to third of grade Body Warming realm.

This was good for in his ideal situation, Xiao Fan wouldn't take over two years to finish Body realm and move into Qi training. That would also mean he wasn't indefinitely behind a thrash person in his plane.

Still, his idea needed most likely thousands of years more time before he could harvest any fruits from his investment or debt trap whichever one would prefer to it as.

But luckily for him, he had the time as the sky hadn't been showing any signs yet.

Off from his bigger plans, Cao Cao from the side of his book saw Du Lan was bringing the water Xiao Fan had requested already.

Coming inside the room, Du Lan wasn't bringing a bottle of water but a full milk churn of it. Even she knew that a person in the Body realm needed a little bit more than a regular person even for a between reps refreshment.

Xiao Fan seeing the wooden milk churn stretched his hand to get it and said ¨Thank you¨ as he took the water from her.

Du Lan didn't say anything back as going jogging speed with no less than half a hundred kilos on her was enough training for her to become exhausted.

Meanwhile, Xiao Fan tilted the milk churn over his head and fast as he could begins to gulp down the water that didn't even get into his stomach.

Despite his best efforts before the water got there, his muscles had already ripped it off from his throat to be used as fuel and cooling to please his body's needs for consumption.

Not before half of it was gone did the water start to hit his stomach which made it disappear again, but this time it was to his other part of the body like the organs and lastly the head.

In the end, only a few litres of water was left inside the milk churn, which was then gobbled by Du Lan with the same discretion as he had.

Xiao Fan now feeling refreshed stood up and talked to her again for a brief moment ¨Go get another one already and also if you can find a second one that would be good¨ After which he then proceeded towards the fifth weight.

The fifth weight wasn't average-sized round rock to be lifted as this one wasn't even a boulder like the third and fourth but a small ball like the first and second one.

However, there were also differences as this one sometimes glowed brightly if looked from the right angle.

Xiao Fan hadn't much knowledge about minerals, but he knew it should be some ore, and not only a boulder chopped of a mountainside.

He couldn't say he wasn't intrigued about what the stone was, but having enough books for a few months, he didn't think about buying a book.

So without further ado, he then again squatted on the fifth weight but just to feel it.

Trying to get a feel for the weight he noted that the ball was already heavy enough to be moved around the floor whilst the attempt to lift it had done nothing.

These things in mind, he forgot about lifting and waited for Du Lan to bring another batch of water before trying to lift it with full power.

For this, he didn't need to wait long before Du Lan again brought a milk churn filled to the brim with water. It was actually so filled that water inside of it spilt off it as she made her way towards him.

Seeing her struggle with it, Xiao Fan came to meet her before Du Lan had even taken a step inside the room from the hallway.

Taking the water off her hands, he quickly thanked her and then gulped all of it before sending her off again.

The first one had been used so fast that he felt a second full one would be a good idea.

Furthermore, the second load could be used during the lift itself, or so the Book of Cultivation had told him.

The Book of Cultivation was such an amazing book that if it told to bloat your stomach with water Xiao Fan would do so without asking.

And so with a bloated stomach, he squatted and made his own holes into the ore filled ball.

Doing so, he felt that the stone was surely something else, for it had resisted his handling for a moment there.

However, the time of thinking was now over. Now was the time to act, and so Xiao Fan began to hype himself for the lift.

Even Du Lan outside the cave could hear the roaring and shouting of Xiao Fan who was beginning his lift.

Inside the man making these noise pronged his legs into action.

The start of the lift was going well. Xiao Fan was feeling how his legs were straightening, letting him know that the weight had been lifted off the ground.

But everything can't go well at the same time, and the thing that wasn't going like he wanted was the speed of which he was losing water.

What more critical was that at the current speed of it, he wouldn't be finishing the lift.

And for a moment that felt like an eternity inside his head, the lift stopped in the very middle under his knee caps.

Fully aware of this Xiao Fan then made the quick decision to put everything into a last effort to lift and began to shout his lungs out.

However, the boulder didn't care about his last-ditch effort so much as it did about gravity as it started to fall at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Xiao Fan still struggling and feeling all of this felt amongst the lifting about to fail how his nose and eyes were about to burst out blood.

He was already starting losing his sight as it became narrower and misty red.

And just when he was about to stop due to his stomach finally emptying its water tank and the muscles around his body giving up he felt a different burn in them.

A burn of a breakthrough!

The calming but also volatile feeling swept his muscles as it flooded from the heart.

The feeling was racing towards his every muscle from every vein from the smallest carrying few drops to the aorta pumping like a town's only well during the dry season.

His red beetle face of pain became a twisted expression of extreme joy that anyone would feel when experiencing a breakthrough.

For him, it had been a half a year or more from feeling this happening last time, though this time wasn't like the previous.

It felt different because this time he was making something consequential not just sitting inside a cell and following a rhythm from day to day.

He was now reading books full of unimaginable things that even the most influential person he could image couldn't and living with a monkey tribe in a place no one even knew the name of.

Xiao Fan was feeling like he was alive and experiencing his own adventure.

Like he was living for something much greater than a week ago. He was now living the real life of a cultivator. He was now making his own path towards where Cao Cao was and above him!

The path of a cultivator challenging the heavens had finally appeared in front of him.

Cao Cao above him coughed for a few times behinds the book he was reading; however, he didn't kill him for such blasphemous thoughts.

His muscles were turning significantly stronger and more potent. His skin also was going through a metamorphosis on a cellular level.

And while this was all happening he made quick work of the fifth and last boulder for now.

Following his breakthrough, the fifth boulder just wasn't a match for him anymore as it slowly brushing his knee caps and rose onto his thigh, becoming a successful lift.

Feeling the success, he kept the ball up to enjoy the feeling of pride and accomplishment of making a breakthrough, because for him it felt terrific or almost like he was finally reborn from the prison life.

Sadly for Xiao Fan, there was still a thing called reality, and as it hit him, it ended his moment that had felt like an eternity.

And even if one had made a breakthrough, he most likely couldn't use all of his power.

In an example, Xiao Fan had only gotten enough strength to lift the fifth weight once; however, after that, there was no real capacity to hold it up anymore.

Xiao Fan now meeting this reality felt how his body was about to break into bits.

Which in turn, prompted him to quickly throw off the weight he was holding up for no good reason.

It was still a little late for after this action, he made his way towards the hallway for no real reason other than that he couldn't make any good decision anymore.

He was feeling too weak.

With wobbly steps and his eyes about to shut down completely, he tried his best to navigate what he perceived as a red hallway.

Of course, the hallway wasn't red, but due to his eyes being flooded by blood, he saw everything be red.

One's body wouldn't heal from improving cultivation level, and his already badly damaged eyes were soon shut down by his brains to conserve them from losing them entirely.

Leaving Xiao Fan to wander the hallway of his home without any knowledge where or what was happening.

Leading him to consistently hit the walls of the cave, while making little to no progress towards the place Xiao Fan didn't even know.

The only thing he knew anymore was to try and find Du Lan before something really bad would happen to him.

But even after minutes when he had lost his sight and any movement of his body impossible, he hadn't found the woman he wanted to find.

Before he had found him, he had been reduced to leaning on one of the walls while sitting on the cave's floor.

Favourably he did after some more time hear Du Lan coming back with the water, which made him happy and trying to call for her.

But that wasn't possible either anymore his voice was far too weak to be heard further away, he could only wait for her to come to him.

Du Lan was coming back to the training room and so saw Xiao Fan sitting on the floor that was just outside the training room.

Seeing this, Du Lan thought for a moment that why was he in such bad condition, but she didn't grasp a lot before just throwing some of the water on his face.

To this action of hers, Xiao Fan only zapped little showing signs of consciousness that were restricted.

¨Du Lan?¨ He got a few weak words out while trying to figure things out.

Nevertheless, as his body wasn't moving anymore, nor was he able to see anymore, he could only talk weakly and move his head around a little.

¨Yes it's me, but what happened to you? Why are you here like this?¨ She asked with a small voice of concern.

She was worried since Xiao Fan couldn't die just like this not yet, as even if she didn't genuinely care for him much would his death most likely also mean hers.

¨Breakthrough... Good... Need water¨ He let out words while his voice was becoming more coarse every sentence.

¨Okay, then open up your mouth and be ready to gulp it down¨ Saying that she then lifted the milk churn full of water to his mouth and began to tilt it so that water slowly poured out as if a gentle waterfall.

Maybe this was full service from beauty for most; however, Xiao Fan was still much more interested in the water that would replenish his need for it.

Keep in mind that the metabolism for a cultivator was very different. One cultivator might only eat the same amount as a mortal, but that amount is only enough to keep one going.

In simpler terms that amount wouldn't help him with cultivation at all, and the same was with water.

Typically Xiao Fan just needed a few litres per day, but now in the time of need, he had drunk at least a few hundred litres, while it didn't negatively affect his body at all.

He was using all of it.

Although even when he had drunk all the water, his eyes didn't open, as they would seem shut entirely from his brains.

Furthermore, that wasn't all of the things his brains had locked away.

As he didn't regain his movement ability by much, so he was still an unmoving husk with a spirit inside that could control his head movement and speaking.

However, despite all of this, he did still feel really good about today and two good things especially them being one from having a breakthrough and one being thankful towards Du Lan.

She had been helping him for a day now. And she was amazing for she had quickly after their meeting, started to clean his cave from the cleanliness level of a monkey to a degree for humans to live.

Also, she had made good food for him from the fruits and herbs in the storage, making him eat something better than just raw, unprepared meals.

He hadn't spent a lot of time with her, but to him, she felt like a perfect companion.

And so with a smile on his face, he turned towards where she should be and spoke¨Bed... Thank you¨ In a fleeting voice like he was almost about to sleep.

¨Sure sure just go sleep now¨ She also saw him about to fall asleep with a small smile.

Xiao Fan hearing her say so did do just that as the last sign of him that rendered him awake stopped.

His head not moving anymore, Du Lan knew that it was her time to take care of him.