Chapter 161: Charging Through the Dense Fog

The mystified and thrilled male cubs were successfully experiencing human transformation—a rite of passage usually reserved for those who had reached the fifth tier.

At this moment, Gu Fatty had truly become their boss, not just in name, but completely and deeply acknowledged from the bottom of their hearts.

First, he had them run laps carrying boulders to extract their physical potential, helping each of them advance by one tier.

Next came brutal physical combat to refine their bodies, pushing them forward another step.

And now, through painstaking reverse-engineering of the ancient scriptures on the stele, he performed a miracle, granting their eager desire to transform into human form while still at low and middle tiers.

Every single cub, who had previously struggled to make even the slightest progress over the past few months, felt an indescribable surge of excitement whenever they recalled the leaps and bounds they had made under their boss's guidance over the past half-month.

Though they had only been together for a little over half a month, they now felt like lifelong friends. Without exception, across all races, they genuinely accepted Gu Fatty.

Hearing Gu Fatty’s teasing laughter, the nearly seven thousand cubs burst into loud, cheerful laughter as they began to transform their clothes into being.

Dozens of breaths later, Bai Ling'er and Lv Xinrou led a group of nearly three thousand young beauties back to the training grounds, instantly filling the atmosphere with lively energy.

Nearly ten thousand cubs stood before them: the males were either carefree and bold or introverted and shy, while the females ranged from gentle and virtuous to radiating the aura of dominant queens.

In terms of figure, some were slender and upright, with handsome males and pretty females; others remained robust, their wild nature still untamed; and some were delightfully plump, full of curves and rather proud of their fleshy charms.

Looking at the nearly ten thousand cubs in the arena who had just experienced the thrill of transformation, Gu Fatty felt an inexplicable sense of accomplishment, his own spirit lifting with excitement.

"Remember, you have not yet reached the fifth tier. This technique merely helps you assume human form and experience the sensation of a brand-new cultivation method. Therefore, essentially, nothing about you has changed."

"If you want to achieve natural transformation like Sister Xinrou, you must cultivate with all your might and improve yourselves going forward. After all, strength is the ultimate law!"

"Yes, Boss!"

As ten thousand cubs shouted in unison, Gu Fatty and the two women smiled with deep satisfaction.

"So, Boss, what is our special training mission next?"

Hearing Aru's question, all the cubs fell silent instantly, gazing expectantly at Gu Fatty.

"Advancement in cultivation requires a step-by-step approach and a period of consolidation. Therefore, the fourth special training session will not focus on boosting your cultivation levels."

"Then what is it?"

"Listen up, little ones, all of you! The fourth special training objective: breaking through the dense fog zone! Consider this a final test of your success in the previous training sessions!"

"This time, the requirement is that you must push at least twice as far as your previous breakthrough records to pass!"

"Move out!"

"Roar, roar, roar, roar!..."

At Gu Fatty's command, the cubs, whose hands had been itching for action and whose egos were somewhat inflated from continuous breakthroughs, cheered and howled as they swarmed headfirst into the dense fog zone.

"This beast's previous record was twelve meters, so this time my target starts at thirty-six meters!"

"This beast's previous record was eight meters, so this time I'm charging for twenty-four meters!"

"This beast's previous record was sixteen meters, and this time my target is forty-eight meters!"

"This beast's previous record was six meters, and this time... humph, I'm going for twenty-five meters!"

...

Nearly ten thousand cubs plunged aggressively into the thick fog, once again initiating the battle to conquer the mist.

Gu Fatty, whose physical strength had also improved, plunged in with a burning heart.

During his first breakthrough through the fog barrier, Gu Fatty had managed to push fifty-six meters deep. This time, his target was one hundred.

Seemingly, his demand on himself appeared less ambitious than those of the cubs, but in reality, that was not the case, because the deeper one pushed into the fog, the harder the difficulty increased exponentially.

In truth, Gu Fatty had no absolute confidence in his heart as to whether he could successfully reach the hundred-meter mark this time.

Bai Ling'er and Lv Xinrou each found adjacent spots, lightly floating into the mist to begin their own challenge mode.

No one knew which supreme expert had created this fog barrier. It spanned over one hundred and eighty meters in width and breadth, making every step excruciatingly difficult, each one far harder than the last.

In nature, it was somewhat similar to the Heaven, Earth, and Mortal tiers Gu Fatty had faced at the Ethereal Sect, but its might was far greater.

Because this dense fog was specifically prepared for mysterious beast cubs whose physical bodies were far stronger than those of the human race. In Gu Fatty's estimation, these cubs would likely find it hard to truly break through unless they officially stepped into the fifth tier.

One must know that the physical strength of a newly advanced fifth-tier mysterious beast had already crossed the threshold of law metamorphosis, which was equivalent to the physical prowess of a human in the late or even great perfection stage of the Deity Transformation Realm.

This meant that if a human were to brave this fog, theoretically they would need to reach the late or great perfection stage of the Deity Transformation Realm to truly make it through.

However, this restriction did not apply to Gu Fatty. Similarly, Bai Ling'er possessed the ability to fight opponents two tiers above her; although far inferior to Gu Fatty, she still held a significant advantage right from the starting line.

At this moment, Gu Fatty's physique, which could at the very least resonate with the heavenly ladders, was undeniably formidable. The fifty-plus meters he had conquered during his first attempt were traversed in the blink of an eye. Without stopping, his figure continued to push forward rapidly.

Bai Ling'er also rapidly advanced over forty meters in one breath before her speed finally began to slow down. Even so, she still far outpaced the vast majority of the mysterious beast cubs.

As for Lv Xinrou, needless to say, she herself was a member of the mysterious beasts who excelled in physical strength. Although Gu Fatty did not know her exact race, nor had she ever volunteered to reveal it, the mere fact that she could successfully transform like a fifth-tier powerhouse while still at the late fourth-tier was enough to prove her extraordinary innate talent and indisputable strength.

Sure enough, Lv Xinrou drifted into the fog along a route extremely close to Gu Fatty's—one could say their paths were virtually side by side.

While Gu Fatty was rapidly pressing forward, Lv Xinrou seemed completely unaffected by the pressure, her figure gliding effortlessly past the fifty-meter mark.

"Fatty, care for a wager?"

"A wager? Sister Xinrou, honestly, how far did you reach at your best previously?"

"Last time? Probably a month ago, I suppose. I managed to reach around sixty-seven meters at the furthest."

"Alright, then your little brother accepts the challenge, hahaha!"

"Good. So, what's the stake?"

"What? Sister Xinrou, we need stakes too?"

"Of course! Don't you think that makes it much more interesting?"

Having spent all his spirit stones on purchasing scrap materials earlier, most of the alchemy and forging materials in his loot had already been squandered.

Gu Fatty could truly be considered dirt poor right now—at least, that was what he believed.

And now, Lv Xinrou actually suggested a wager with stakes attached, which made Gu Fatty's heart ache with reluctance. He was terrified of losing. After all, though he had the courage to claim he would challenge the hundred-meter mark, he still lacked experience with the deeper paths, and no one could say for sure where he might be forced to stop.

Judging by Lv Xinrou's breezy mention of sixty-seven meters, she was clearly downplaying it and not telling him the whole truth. Her expression looked as though she was afraid that telling the truth would scare Gu Fatty away and make him refuse to compete with her.

His guess was spot on. Lv Xinrou had indeed been extremely modest. Beneath her seemingly innocent and flawless smile, a trace of mischievous cunning flashed in her eyes.

"How about a fifth-tier medicinal herb?"

"Tch! Can you be any stingier?! Or do you look down on your big sister?!"

"Uh... Sister Xinrou, you name it then."

"How about this? Big sister won't bully you: ten sixth-tier spiritual herbs. Anything less, and I'd be embarrassed to make a move."

"Ten? And sixth-tier ones?"

"You're a tycoon, Sister Xinrou! Little brother begs to be kept!"

"Puh! Talking nonsense again."

Hearing Gu Fatty jokingly ask to be kept by her, Lv Xinrou's face instantly turned crimson and burned with heat.

Dropping a sentence quieter than the buzzing of a mosquito, she sped further ahead, the dense fog parting on either side of her body as if sliced open by a blade.

Meanwhile, Gu Fatty's shameless, miserly nature resurfaced.

He thought to himself: *If I actually lose, at worst I can just renege on the debt or write an IOU first. She comes from a wealthy and powerful background; she certainly won't hound me to pay it back.*

*But what if I win? Hehe, that's a full ten sixth-tier spiritual herbs! They're worth a fortune, definitely worth a gamble.*

Having figured this out, Gu Fatty felt completely relaxed, and the pressure of the stakes vanished instantly.

He took a deep breath, braced his posture, let out a mighty roar, and darted forward with a whoosh.

Sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two...

When beads of sweat finally broke out on Gu Fatty's forehead, he finally caught up to Lv Xinrou, whose speed had also noticeably slowed down.

"Sister Xinrou, your little brother has caught up to you!"

"Want to win against this girl? You might as well go back and wash up before sleeping."

"That's not necessarily true, Sister Xinrou. Let me whisper a secret to you: your little brother hasn't even used his full strength yet, hahaha!"

"Humph! And you think your big sister has used hers?! In your dreams!"

As if provoked, Lv Xinrou took a few deep breaths of the misty air, and amidst the fluttering of her emerald green robes, she accelerated once again, shooting forward.

Watching the graceful figure ahead and to his right gradually drift away and become swallowed by the dense fog once more, Gu Fatty felt a surge of passionate heat. He raised a hand to wipe away his sweat, rallied his remaining strength, and gave chase.

While this pair of man and woman raced forward, the nearly ten thousand cubs behind them were also pushing themselves forward with all their might, as if locked in a fierce competition.

"Aru, Brother Gu is amazing! He must be past the seventy-meter mark by now, right?"

"Of course! Why else would he be my boss?"

"Sister Amei, stop staring at Aru! If you don't push harder, this little sister of yours is going to surpass you, oh!"

"Ah-shu, are you about to give out? Hahaha!"

"Stinky Elephant, stop showing off! This beast hasn't even unleashed its ultimate move yet; otherwise, it'll definitely scare you to death!"

"Really? An ultimate move? Let's see it, come on and scare this beast, hahaha!"

"Yeah, yeah! The rest of us are waiting for your ultimate move too, haha!"

"Pfft!..."

"You, you, you... Damn it, did this guy just fart?!"

"Uh... This, this beast can't hold on anymore! It really, truly stinks! Damned thing, it actually blackened my pristine white fur coat!"

"How's that? Is this move big enough? If it doesn't scare you to death, it'll suffocate you! Go on and bathe in this beast's essence. This beast is taking the lead first, haha!"

"After him! This guy is asking for a beating!"

"Roar, roar..."

Where one place was like this, everywhere was like this. The originally solemn breakthrough training session had completely degenerated.

Yet, it had to be said that every single cub made immense progress this time around.

At this moment, the entire massive horde of cubs had all pushed past double the distance of their initial records, and they were fighting, striving, and competing with everything they had to reach the targets set by their boss.