However, this time was an exception. Nathaniel Reed said, “She may already be dead, or she may still be alive. John, if you want to know your mother’s whereabouts, you need strength. As for your mother, when you have the strength, I will naturally tell you. If you don’t have the strength, from now on, I won’t speak to you about her at all.”

“Father, that day will come for me…!” John Reed declared resolutely.

His desire to know news of his mother was just as intense as his hatred for Howard Newman.

Fortunately, whether it was learning about his mother or seeking revenge on Howard Newman, for John Reed, the two did not conflict. In fact, they shared a common point: both required strength.

Therefore, he had to become stronger.

John Reed’s determination to grow stronger had never been as firm and intense as it was at this moment.

Born with crippled meridians?

Unable to cultivate true qi?

Nothing could shake John Reed’s resolve to become stronger.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, three months had passed.

During these three months, John Reed trained with exceptional diligence, spending almost half again as much time cultivating as before.

With greater effort came greater rewards.

In just three months, John Reed’s strength had already increased to three thousand jin, and his blood exchange was fully completed.

Three thousand jin of strength was the limit of the Body Tempering Realm, as well as the limit of the human body—practically a humanoid beast, able to fight tigers, leopards, and bears barehanded.

Once the body’s strength reached its limit, it could not be increased further—unless one developed a sense of qi within, and gained true qi, only then could strength continue to grow. Moreover, upon stepping into the True Qi Realm, one’s power would advance by leaps and bounds.

A martial artist in the True Qi Realm could easily kill any wild beast without the slightest effort, and would even have the strength to battle demon beasts that had developed demonic qi within.

Of course, this only applied to the lower-tier demon beasts. Truly powerful demon beasts could fly through the skies and burrow through the earth, able to contend with cultivators.

Only three months had passed, and there were still about nine months left until the next strength assessment. At this point, John Reed had already reached the limit of body tempering. If he had not been born with crippled meridians and could cultivate true qi, with his talent, in the next nine months his strength would likely soar, and by the time of the assessment, breaking through ten thousand jin would not be impossible.

Unfortunately, reality was so cruel.

He could not cultivate true qi. If he wanted to make progress, he could only break through the limits of the flesh.

Breaking through the body’s limits was similar to training strength in the Body Tempering Realm, but also very different.

The Body Tempering Realm was about tempering the body in a reasonable way, increasing strength while ensuring the body remained intact.

But to break through the body’s limits, one had to exhaust all strength each time, using up all the body’s potential. Only then could new strength and new potential be stimulated, achieving the effect of breaking through the body’s limits.

Every morning, John Reed would arrive early at the training grounds, where there were cauldrons weighing from one hundred to one thousand jin.

John Reed would first go to the thousand-jin cauldron, lift it, put it down, lift it again, put it down again, repeating the motion of lifting the cauldron.

Once, twice, three times… ten times… twenty times… fifty times… one hundred times…

After lifting it a full one hundred times, even though John Reed possessed the tremendous strength of three thousand jin, lifting a thousand-jin cauldron one hundred times was still extremely taxing, leaving him gasping for breath.

But he did not stop, continuing to the one hundred and first time…

One hundred and second time… one hundred and tenth time… one hundred and twentieth time…

Before long, John Reed had lifted it more than one hundred and fifty times. Not only was he panting like an ox, but sweat was pouring down his body like rain, especially his arms, which felt as if they were being slashed by knives.

If he followed his body’s instincts, he would have thrown the cauldron aside immediately and taken a good rest—this feeling was simply too painful.

At this moment, John Reed felt as if his will and body had completely separated. His body wanted to throw away the cauldron, but his will told him he could not. If he wanted to break through the body’s limits, he had to first train his body’s endurance to the utmost.

Though it hurt now, he clearly still had strength left—he was far from his limit.

In the end, the body is controlled by the will. John Reed kept repeating the motion of lifting the cauldron. He panted even harder, sweated even more, and the pain grew even more intense…

One hundred and sixty times… one hundred and seventy times…

Two hundred times…

After lifting it two hundred times, the intense pain in his arms brought tears to John Reed’s eyes.

This was the body’s instinctive reaction—its endurance was almost at its limit. Yet, John Reed still did not throw down the cauldron, continuing the motion of lifting it.

His will, compared to his body’s instincts, was especially strong. Even though the intense pain made tears stream down his face, he did not stop.

Two hundred and fifty times… two hundred and sixty times… two hundred and seventy times… two hundred and seventy-one times…

When John Reed lifted the thousand-jin cauldron for the two hundred and seventy-first time, finally, his arms trembled, and with a bang, the cauldron crashed to the ground.

John Reed’s body could no longer stand steady, and he immediately dropped to one knee, leaning forward onto his other leg.

As for his arms, they seemed to have lost all strength, hanging limply at his sides.