Tower of Heaven

'This forest is plentiful with beasts to practice real combat with, however, I cannot start with just this. My foundation is not sturdy at all.'

His words weren't entirely accurate. Even if he never acknowledged it, the Five Element Scripture was actually a priceless treasure and a top-tier cultivation scripture. As for the larger Heavenly Unification Law that it was a part of, Atlas couldn't even begin to imagine.

Circulating his qi along the pathways provided by such a high level scripture would allow him to cultivate an extreme foundation. Even if he wished to prematurely breakthrough, he would still need to gather an abnormal amount of qi into his dantian to do so, giving him at least the makings of a solid foundation.

'Regardless, I cannot go too deep quite yet. Firstly, I should…'

His figure breezed past a large boulder before halting and returning to it. 'Mm, this will work fine.'

His legs bent slightly, his posture steadying. After he was in optimal condition, he took a deep breath, pivoted on his foot, twisted his waist, and poured all his built-up momentum into a punch.

Bang!

With a dull sound, his fist impacted the boulder, leaving an imprint roughly 6 inches deep.

'Hm? This is not an average boulder. Even with my small strength, my fist imprint should have at least been a foot in depth.'

Atlas shrugged his shoulders. Regardless of what material the rock was made from, it was better for him this way. It would take far longer for him to shatter this boulder.

With this thought in mind, Atlas leveled his feet parallel to his shoulders and squatted. From this position, he sent a slow yet sturdy stream of jabs into the boulder's surface.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The muffled thumps continued to ring out. Occasionally, Atlas would switch between this horse stance and his previous boxing stance to practice his punches.

Through this, he was able to train his control, strengthen his body, practice endurance, posture, and much more at once.

This exercise continued unceasingly until the sun set. But due to Atlas's Superior Regeneration, his fists were only left with smaller scars and wounds as compared to the large gashes they should've had.

'This is not enough. Can this even be called training?'

Atlas felt a sense of urgency in his heart. He didn't know where it sprouted from, but he realized his pace in this life had been steady and fast. Even in a period of extended training, he desired quick results and constant movement.

He simply couldn't sit still. And with this motivation, he took off running.

With [Intrinsic Foresight], he wouldn't need to worry about getting lost. Since he was assured, he ran freely without worry.

It wasn't a short run either. Only after running an entire 10 kilometers did Atlas finally stop, sweat covering his body.

'My breathing regulation is poor, and my stamina is even poorer. To think the sun is already rising after I ran a mere 10 kilometers! Unacceptable!'

Atlas refused to stop. Without waiting to take rest, he began his trek back to the boulder from which he came.

He kept his pace steady the entire way, he focused on his breathing, regulating it and extending his breaths, he focused on his footwork, making sure his steps were always perfectly placed.

It was only his second try, but [Insight] was a truly miraculous thing.

Even with this small amount of effort, Atlas saw a good amount of progress. It was like achieving double the results with half the effort.

'Yet, I still have a long way to go. The only reason I possess combat prowess above my level is my Dao of Fire. Once I step into the Earth Sage Realm where others begin comprehending their Daos as well, this advantage will slowly dwindle. At that time, I can only rely on my deep cultivation and bodily strength to maintain my advantage.'

Knowing this, Atlas began planning out his routine for the next few months. But before he could begin following this routine, he needed to collect some materials.

***

A month passed by quickly. Currently, Atlas's figure could be seen beneath a crashing waterfall. His legs were squatted until his thighs were parallel to the ground, and his arms were held out straight to mirror his thighs.

In this pose, Atlas endured the crashing currents of the waterfall. Yet, even this was far harder than it sounded.

Even though it was quite the normal waterfall, that didn't mean its pressure was nonexistent. With every second that passed, Atlas felt like he was being repeatedly bashed with a sledgehammer! The pain was truly immense.

But he casually endured it. If there was one thing he held confidence in, it was his pain tolerance.

The current exercise was only one of Atlas's training methods. His schedule was divided evenly into six different sections.

When he awoke with the sun, he would immediately enter this waterfall to both bathe himself and cultivate his endurance.

He would stay here until the sun reached halfway through its trek. When that time came, he'd finally exit the waterfall and begin his next exercise.

Naturally, after endurance came stamina. The cold water of the waterfall would force Atlas's breaths to become short. To combat suffocating in this situation, Atlas had to learn to control his breathing and keep consistent, even breaths at all times.

When he was under the waterfall, his body would adjust to this state almost instinctively, but that instinct disappeared when he left. Due to this, he scheduled his run after his endurance training.

In the first week, running ten kilometers in both directions would take him roughly half a day. However, now, he only needed around 6 hours. He had effectively halved his time.

And this was mainly attributed to his increase in stamina. Because of his regulated breathing, he didn't tire out as quickly, as his breaths provided sufficient oxygen to his cells.

But his bodily strength was still a problem. If his physical body could match up, he'd be able to halve his time again easily, taking only three hours to complete his run.

But currently, he didn't have such ability. He could only continue to practice daily until his body improved to an optimal level.

Regardless, his run was only his second exercise of the day. By the time it was over, not much of the day remained.

But he already knew how to spend it. And during the month, he found a way to maximize his efficiency.

After his run came time to eat. Even if he began cultivating, he wouldn't escape the need for sustenance entirely until he reached the World Core Realm. Though, the need for sustenance and hygiene would slowly diminish with each realm as the spiritual energy within the body became stronger.

While Atlas used to hunt after his run and cook the beast he caught, he changed his style after the first week. Instead, he chose to hunt before he ran, and carry his prey along his entire 20-kilometer run.

It was an even more masochistic method of strength training, but when was training not masochistic?

With how much pain Atlas had gone through, he'd have gone insane if he didn't come to like the feeling even a little bit.

But that was beside the point. With his hunting done and his meal of the day eaten, the next step was strength training with his favorite boulder.