3 The First Breakthrough

At this moment, Jun Wu Xiao felt something miraculous happening to his body. He could sense his body more clearly than ever before. Then, he felt his strength rapidly increasing. It was as though he had shattered the chains and shackles binding his body, allowing him to break through to a new level, a process that could also be described as evolution.

After a while, the breakthrough process had ended. Only then did Jun Wu Xiao slowly open his eyes, unable to hide the excitement on his face. His excitement was understandable; after all, if anyone had strived for something for fifteen years without seeing any results, and then one day suddenly achieved success, how could they not be overjoyed?

"Ha ha ha ha. This is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. After fifteen years of effort, I have finally accomplished something." Jun Wu Xiao laughed heartily towards the sky.

After a moment of laughter, he gradually calmed his emotions. He wanted to feel how his body had changed after the recent breakthrough. He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and concentrated his spirit to the fullest to sense the changes in his body. After a while of focused sensing, he slowly opened his eyes.

"This... is truly unbelievable. My skin and flesh have become incredibly tough after the breakthrough, something ordinary humans could never achieve. My strength has reached a thousand kilograms, three times what it was before the breakthrough. Moreover, my maximum speed has also increased to eighteen meters in a second, which is also three times faster than before." Jun Wu Xiao spoke in disbelief.

It's important to note that in recent years, his strength had been growing increasingly slow. Suddenly becoming much stronger like this made him think it was all just a dream.

He pinched his cheek hard, and after feeling the pain, he became even happier. He laughed and said:

"Ha ha ha ha. This is not a dream, this is reality. I have truly broken through my own limits. Although I am still far from what I desire, now I have more hope for the future than ever before."

He also suspected that it was all just a dream, but because his desire for a breakthrough was so great, he imagined the breakthrough scene. But after determining that this was indeed true, he felt extremely happy.

Suddenly, he thought of something and said:

"Why do I feel like the breakthrough has also increased something else? But what could it be? Maybe I should check again just to be sure."

After that, he focused his spirit to sense his body once more. This time, it took him longer than before because he didn't know exactly what he should be feeling for in his body. 

After a while, he slowly opened his eyes, and once again, he was incredibly excited. He laughed loudly and said:

"Ha ha ha ha. So, that's it. Another thing that has increased is my lifespan. I can feel that my original lifespan was ninety years, but after the breakthrough, it has been extended by another fifty years. This means under normal conditions, I could live up to one hundred and forty years. Now, I have even more time to cultivate."

Why say under normal conditions? Simply because there are many reasons for a human to die, such as from diseases or accidents, not necessarily from reaching the end of their lifespan.

"Ah, but calling it practice doesn't seem quite right. I think 'cultivate' is a more suitable term. That's settled then, from now on I will refer to my practice as cultivation. Onward! I've just taken a step on the way of cultivation, and the road ahead of me is still very long." Jun Wu Xiao said.

After that, he happily began his daily cultivation routine. Unbeknownst to him, his breakthrough today marked the beginning of cultivation on Earth. But he didn't care much about that, he was only concerned with the fact that he had the potential to become even stronger.

Day after day, year after year, Jun Wu Xiao remained there, persistently cultivating without missing a single day. After the breakthrough, he only needed to sleep for exactly three hours a day, and during the cultivation process, he rested for another two hours, meaning he cultivated for fourteen hours a day.

And so time passed, now it's been ten years and eight months. He continued his cultivation as usual, but today he had another breakthrough. However, this breakthrough was not as significant as the previous one.

"Ha ha ha. I've broken through once again. But why is it that, even though it's a breakthrough, my strength has increased so little this time? I need to check." Jun Wu Xiao said.

Then, he began to focus his spirit to check his body, and after a while, he discovered why the feeling of strength increase was not as significant as before.

"So that's it, fundamentally, this breakthrough also strengthened my skin and flesh, and my overall strength along with my senses were enhanced. It's just that it wasn't threefold like the last time but only increased by a third. Moreover, my lifespan hasn't increased at all." Jun Wu Xiao said, a bit disappointed.

But he quickly regained his spirits, feeling that being disappointed about the breakthrough was truly foolish. He shook his head and said:

"No, no, no. Why should I be disappointed? A breakthrough means there is hope. Human lifespan is originally fixed, but finding a way to extend it is truly something to be happy about. However, lifespan can't be easily increased, and the same goes for strength. Small gains accumulate to a significant increase, and with many more breakthroughs like this, I will become much stronger."

At this moment, Jun Wu Xiao was no longer disheartened and immediately went on to continue his daily cultivation. Suddenly, his stomach growled, he had been so focused on the breakthrough that he forgot to eat.

"Ah, I was so concerned about the breakthrough that I forgot it was time to eat. First, let's go cook some rice." Jun Wu Xiao said, scratching his head.

He went to the kitchen to get rice for cooking, but when he opened the rice container, he found it empty.

"Ah, how could I forget that I ran out of rice? Well, since I've made a breakthrough today, I might as well go out to buy rice and take the opportunity to walk around and alleviate some boredom." Jun Wu Xiao said.

After that, he left his house, having not left it for a long time. But upon reaching the market, he felt that something was very wrong.