Madman!

Chapter 105: Something Must Be Passed Down

The very next day, Chen Wujun went to see his master, Zhou Qing.

"Master!"

"Not bad. You've reached Qi Refining." Zhou Qing was pruning the flowers behind the house. He turned to glance at Chen Wujun and immediately noticed the change in him.

Although Qi Refining involved integrating faint internal bio-currents—something generally invisible from the outside—the unity of mind and intent created a massive shift in one's spirit and aura.

Previously, Chen Wujun's spirit had been like a sharp blade: keen but unrestrained.

Now, however, he resembled a small mountain—far more solid, possessing his own rooted foundation.

The threshold from Body Forging to Qi Refining varied in difficulty from person to person. Some progressed slowly during Body Forging but crossed this threshold in a single day, achieving it in one fell swoop.

Chen Wujun had progressed with miraculous speed earlier, yet this specific threshold had taken him quite some time.

Most people could not bridge the gap between Body Forging and Qi Refining even after years of effort.

The requirement to understand one's true self and unite the mind with intent had stumped countless practitioners.This was especially true for those with complicated minds.

"Master, I've also developed Dragon Force." Chen Wujun's back sprang taut and released, his muscles rolling like layered waves. He channeled the force through the back of his hand and punched forward. Snap! A crisp, bright sound rang out.

"You have laid a good foundation." Zhou Qing smiled. He was not surprised that Chen Wujun had mastered Dragon Force.

Chen Wujun possessed strong talent in body control; he could learn techniques instantly and had excellent comprehension. His only flaw was that his thoughts were too cluttered.

"Did you run into problems controlling the bio-currents?"

"Yes, Master. I've been trying to find a way to control the bio-currents to stimulate my internal organs, but I haven't had a clue where to start," Chen Wujun admitted.

The greatest difference between Qi Refining and Body Forging was the use of bio-current stimulation to continuously strengthen the internal organs.

Body Forging, no matter how intense, only exercised the muscles and bones; the internal organs remained fragile.

With strengthened viscera, however, one would not only gain greater resistance to impacts but also see improvements in explosive power and endurance.

Zhou Qing clasped his hands behind his back and returned to the house, with Chen Wujun hurriedly following.

Inside, Zhou Qing took a chart from a drawer and tossed it to Chen Wujun.

"In a moment, I will teach you a Sleeping Stance. Practice it while visualizing according to this chart."

Hearing Zhou Qing mention visualization, Chen Wujun assumed the chart contained something profound.

When he opened it, however, he was momentarily stunned.

It was simply a common anatomical chart of the human body.

It displayed the positions of human muscles, internal organs, and various bones.

"If you don't even know the location of every muscle, every bone, and every organ, how can you possibly control the internal bio-currents to stimulate them?"

"The Sleeping Stance I am teaching you is called Hibernating Dragon Sleep. It takes its meaning from 'The dragon hibernates, hiding in the abyss.' A dragon can be large or small; it can ascend or hide. The external form of this stance is like sleep, but internally, it is like a dragon in hibernation—within the utmost stillness and softness, you continuously mobilize the bio-currents within your body."

"This stance must be paired with specific breathing and visualization."

'I knew it,' Chen Wujun thought.

The system Zhou Qing passed down was a complete set. From Old Bear Hugging Tree to White Crane Exploring Branch, then to Tiger Descending Mountain and Spirit Ape Hanging Beam—these four stances trained every aspect of the body.

From heavy to light, from hard to soft.

Now that he had reached Qi Refining, there was indeed a specialized accompanying stance.

This Sleeping Stance was not difficult physically. The body lay on its side like a bow, with one hand pressing a Magnetic Field Crystal below the navel. Inhale for eight seconds, exhale for twelve seconds, pause for ten seconds.

Imagine a current flowing from the Magnetic Field Crystal into the dantian. During the inhalation, the current travels upward to the face; during exhalation, it flows down from the back of the head to the soles of the feet, then returns to the area below the navel. The ten-second pause is for complete physical stillness, visualizing the current wrapping around and illuminating the five viscera and six bowels.

Chen Wujun lay on the bed, curled sideways like a bow, his palm pressed below his navel. Zhou Qing stood aside to explain.

"When practicing this stance, your heart rate must drop below forty beats per minute. At this point, the body enters deep meditation and begins to restore and strengthen itself. It also calms the blood and Qi, repairing any hidden injuries accumulated from previous training."

"If one only practices Body Forging without Qi Refining, their blood and Qi will begin to decay after the age of fifty. This is because too many hidden injuries were accumulated during earlier training. Although you cannot feel them, they accumulate within the body. During Qi Refining, these hidden injuries can be slowly repaired."

"Master, this is quite similar to the meditation in New Arts," Chen Wujun remarked.

He had some understanding of New Arts.

New Arts also required entering meditation. However, lowering one's heart rate below forty was something only New Arts experts in the Resonance Phase could achieve.

"I told you before: New Arts and Old Arts are Different Paths to Same Destination."

"However, the goal of New Arts meditation is purification and assimilation, allowing the body to better accept external magnetic field energy. Its process pursues absolute stillness."

"Hibernating Dragon Sleep, on the other hand, aims to awaken and control your own bio-currents. Within the utmost stillness lies the seed of movement."

"Remember this: the slower your heart beats, the clearer your consciousness must be. Your intent must be as precise as a silk thread. If distracting thoughts fly wild during the 'pause' phase, or if you lose control of the current, the minor consequences are heart palpitations and chest tightness; the severe consequences are a backlash against your mind, leading to internal injuries."

Chen Wujun took a deep breath, casting aside distracting thoughts. He visualized exactly as Zhou Qing had instructed. At first, he only felt his breath lengthening. But when he entered the ten-second pause, he began to hear the sound of blood rushing through his body like a river, and he felt the faint vibration of every muscle and fascia...

The sound of the blood-river grew louder, and the oscillation of his muscles and fascia became more distinct.

Finally, he felt his internal organs begin to swell slightly. As the sensation of the blood-river and fascia gradually faded, he grasped that single, faint, and pure strand of bio-current.

...

After a long time, Chen Wujun opened his eyes. His heart immediately accelerated, and strength returned to his limbs.

Lying there, he carefully examined his body. It felt as though he had been washed by a fine rain; he felt completely renewed from head to toe. That subtle sensation was hard to describe.

He knew he had practiced correctly.

It wasn't that his body was truly brand new, but rather that his entire system had been stimulated by the bio-currents, creating this sensation. It would fade before long.

Getting off the bed, he saw Zhou Qing sitting on the sofa drinking tea. Chen Wujun recalled the photograph he had seen last time and the person Li Wei had mentioned.

He asked, "Master, do you know Deng Yuan?"

"Someone still remembers him..." Zhou Qing's expression remained calm.

"I recruited a subordinate who smuggled himself in from East District 7."

Zhou Qing nodded slightly. "The Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover you learned is Deng Yuan's Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover. This technique has existed since ancient times, but he trained it to an inconceivable level."

Hearing this, count Chen Wujun thought, 'I was right.'

Deng Yuan... was very likely one of the people in that photograph.

Deng Yuan had left with others fifty years ago. Was his master also one of those people?

"Since you have met someone from East District 7, you should know that Deng Yuan is most famous for his Tiger Roaring Golden Bell Cover and Dragon Roaring Iron Cloth Shirt. However, he had another technique that reached perfection. Combined with his Horizontal Training Kung Fu, it allowed him to dominate a region, unstoppable."

Without waiting for Chen Wujun to ask, Zhou Qing continued, "The ultimate technique of Three Emperors Cannon Hammer: Master's Three Arching Hands."

"Master, what is Three Emperors Cannon Hammer? And what is this Master's Three Arching Hands?" Chen Wujun was immediately interested.

"The name Three Emperors Cannon Hammer comes from the legendary Three Emperors of Heaven, Earth, and Man in our Huayan culture. Because the force is released like a cannon and the strikes are like hammers, it is called Three Emperors Cannon Hammer."

"As for Master's Three Arching Hands, the whole body becomes a rounded, unified entity. It integrates offense and defense—you hit yours, I hit mine. It excels at borrowing force, with each strike stronger than the last."

"Combined with Deng Yuan's invincible Horizontal Training Kung Fu, no one could block this move."

A look of reminiscence appeared in Zhou Qing's eyes.

Chen Wujun's heart itched with curiosity.

"Master, do you know this Three Emperors Cannon Hammer?"

"If you want to learn, just ask. This place is too small; I'll teach you next time we go to the Warehouse," Zhou Qing said leisurely.

Chen Wujun stayed at Zhou Qing's place until evening. When his senior brother Li returned and saw him there, he was slightly surprised but said nothing.

After dinner, Chen Wujun left.

Late at night, Zhou Qing suddenly opened his eyes. When his eyelids parted, they flashed like lightning.

He put on his clothes and left the house unhurriedly. In the clearing ahead, a tall figure appeared, radiating a majestic aura as imposing as a towering mountain.

"So it's you!" Zhou Qing's eyelids lowered slightly after recognizing the figure.

The other person did not reply. With a single leap, the figure vanished into the darkness. His speed was like lightning; to an ordinary eye, it would look like a blur or a ghost disappearing.

Zhou Qing stomped his foot, and he, too, vanished.

Moments later, Zhou Qing reappeared on the sea surface near Red Incense Burner Bay.

He was actually treading upon the water as if walking on flat ground.

Immediately afterward, he appeared atop a reef.

The figure opposite him turned around. It was a fierce-looking man with neither hair nor eyebrows. Without a word, he stomped his foot, instantly crossing a distance of dozens of meters. He raised his hand and smashed a fist down toward the top of Zhou Qing's head.

This punch descended like a collapsing mountain, the wind pressure exploding and the air currents swirling violently.

Zhou Qing's eyelids didn't twitch. He took a deep breath, and his entire body suddenly expanded. From an elderly man of one meter seventy-five, he instantly transformed into a giant over two meters tall, his muscles knotting like coiling pythons.

His appearance also changed from that of a man in his fifties or sixties to someone around thirty years old. He looked like a completely different person.

Facing the opponent's mountain-like punch, Zhou Qing stood his ground. He raised his hand, turning it outward to block with a horizontal fist.

Bang!

A thunderous boom erupted when their arms collided.

The man's arm bulged, his already thick limb expanding another two sizes until it resembled a pillar cast from refined steel. Veins coiled around it like small serpents.

His palm, large as a millstone, glowed acinnabar red. The air cracked and popped as he flicked his fingers, before he violently pressed his hand down again.

Any expert witnessing this palm strike would feel a terrifying sense of inevitability—that it could not be evaded or blocked.

Even an invincible master would be suppressed under this palm.

At this moment, Zhou Qing's eyes pierced with brilliant light. His muscles rippled in layers as he pressed both hands upward to meet the attack.

The reef beneath his feet instantly disintegrated. It didn't shatter into rocks; it was ground directly into black sand. The surrounding sea surface rose up in concentric waves several meters high.

Both men concentrated their power into a single point, yet the leaked force was still terrifying.

The hard reef was shaken into fine sand, and walls of water rose from the sea.

Zhou Qing retreated dozens of meters in that instant. The man followed closely, his palm raised high to smash down once more.

Zhou Qing's muscles undulating like waves, he unleashed a Sky-Pounding Cannon strike. It collided with the man's palm, causing the air to behave like water, blasting out a barely visible ring of white shockwaves.

The man pressed forward step by step, while Zhou Qing only defended, never attacking. The constant bang of impacts sounded like two great mountains crashing into each other repeatedly.

Their figures flickered constantly across the coastal reefs. In just moments, the entire stretch of rocky shore was reduced to powder by the shockwaves of their battle.

The ocean seemed to boil, with huge waves surging and crashing in all directions.

After trading hundreds of hard blows, the man finally stopped. He looked at Zhou Qing with eyes void of emotion.

"Why won't you die? Everyone else is dead, so why aren't you? You should have died with them!"

"It has been fifty years. Are you still going to cling to life? Li Shanjun!"

Zhou Qing was not his original name; Li Shanjun was.

Zhou Qing lowered his eyelids.

"Soon!"

There were always some things that must be passed down.