Ti flew by, and soon it was November. It had been two months since Wuyi Academy’s school year began.
Many A-class students had already officially begun their training and mastered the Breathing Technique, but many had also failed—more than in any previous year.
The school’s board of directors had discussed the matter and pressured the administration. However, the administration argued that with the increased student population, this failure rate was proportionally normal, and thus rejected the inquiry.
anwhile, the Class B students were training even harder to prepare for their own turn. Since their natural aptitude was considerably lower than that of the A-class students, they needed more ti to build a foundation through practice. Most of them wouldn’t be qualified to begin their official training for another six months to a year.
With no assigned missions to worry about for the ti being, Chen Chuan was able to devote himself completely to his training.
As for the second monthly exam, it passed without incident.
At this mont, he was once again lost in that state of deep imrsion, forgetting the passage of ti. Then one day, amidst his repetitive, grueling training, he felt a faint heat begin to build in his body again.
This heat was completely different from the last ti. It felt as if a unique power was stirring within him, on the verge of erupting but not yet released.
It was like the stirring of a butterfly about to break free from its chrysalis, the feeling of shedding an old shell to be reborn. Yet at the sa ti, it was constrained and obstructed by an invisible force.
A sense of understanding dawned on him. He perford the Orthodox Scattering Hand again and again, trying to push and guide that power to break through the obstruction.
His movents had been fast at first, but they grew slower and slower. His steps beca incredibly sluggish, as if every motion carried an imnse burden.
But the barrier stubbornly refused to break. It was as if he couldn’t escape a cage he was trapped in. Yet, he remained calm, his mind steady. He cast aside all distracting thoughts and focused only on the task at hand. And so, the night passed.
Just as the Sun was about to rise, at the very mont the sky was to be greeted by the light of dawn, he pushed out with one hand and suddenly felt a jolt run through his entire body. It was as if so restraint had been thrown off. He then held the Freehand Posture, remaining perfectly still.
After a long mont, as the rays of the rising sun shone in from the side of the floor-to-ceiling window and illuminated the entire sky before him, he let out a long breath. He slowly relaxed his stance, walked to the window, and bathed in the nascent morning light.
Despite not having slept all night, the abundant power that ca with mastering the Force Technique, combined with the inner joy of achieving growth through hard work, left him feeling invigorated and utterly free of fatigue.
He slowly initiated the Breathing thod of Qi Breathing, sensing the changes in the Mutated Organization within his body.
Unlike the growth patterns induced by other Force Techniques, his Mutated Organization began growing from the fascia. From there, slender strands of Mutated tissue extended out, reaching into his muscles and sinews.
They appeared disconnected, intertwining with one another to form a web that seed both broken and whole. But the mont he exerted the slightest force, they would pull taut, bind together, and twist into power.
The ones that reached just beneath his skin took on a different Mutated form. They seed to be extensions of these fibrous strands, existing as even finer, extrely resilient, thread-like filants.
They seed to be fluid, almost alive. With a re thought, they would stretch and link together, forming a protective layer that was like a mbrane, yet not quite.
These different parts of the Mutated Organization were not independent; they were strongly interconnected. It was a multi-layered system, rooted in the fascia that clung to and wrapped around his bones and muscles, from which it extended outward.
Whenever he tried to exert force, the parts of the Mutated Organization would coordinate, contracting and expanding to mobilize and transfer power layer by layer.
However, this Mutated Organization, which had been guided and constrained by the Circulation Technique, still seed quite fragile for now.
For instance, that seemingly fluid layer of Mutated Organization could gather in an instant, but it couldn’t form a protective barrier as solid as that of the Cloak Force. After all, he hadn’t specialized in that kind of Mutated skin mbrane.
However, this was just his normal state. Because the Mutated Organization had grown from his own body, it was part of his "self." Therefore, his Second Self also possessed this power. And when the two were combined...
His gaze shifted to a punching bag hanging to the side. He reached out and gently tapped it with the back of his hand.
The punching bag barely swayed, but suddenly, it completely burst apart. Its contents—sand, cotton, sawdust, and other fillings—spilled all over the floor.
He slowly withdrew his hand. He had just imitated the Inner Shock Soft Power from the Mixed Elent Force. He didn’t know how it compared to the real Mixed Elent Technique, but what mattered was that he could now attempt to replicate the power application of various Force Techniques. His actual combat performance would no longer be comparable to that of a single Force Technique.
At this point, he also noticed a few important things. For example, when he used the Mixed Elent Technique’s thod of exerting power, the force naturally originated from his Dantian, as that was the foundation for that particular technique.
But his Circulation Technique had more than one point of origin for its power. For now, they were mostly located at the "root joints," with only a few at the "middle joints."
He understood that this was because he had only just mastered the Circulation Technique; it wasn’t developed enough to turn every part of his body into a point of power. However, if the Mutated Organization in his body continued to grow, then more of these points should erge as he deepened his practice.
Next, he went through and imitated so of the other Force Techniques he knew. Of course, this was only a surface-level imitation. After all, every mature Force Technique was the product of countless refinents and required total-body coordination.
Even among people who cultivated the sa Force Technique, their levels of application varied. So, even if he could emulate them, he probably couldn’t reach the highest level of proficiency in any single technique.
But he didn’t need to. As long as he could channel his Power into his various moves, that was enough. He had his own path to walk and didn’t need to simply imitate others.
After organizing his thoughts, he washed up and got ready before leaving his dorm room. Although it was still early, most of the other students were already out and beginning their training.
He walked over to the public telephone, picked up the receiver, and dialed a number. When the call connected, he asked, "Teacher, I hope I’m not disturbing you this early?"
Cheng Zitong’s voice ca from the other end. "I’m in charge of logistics, so I have to be up early and stay up late. What’s up?" Then, realization seed to dawn on him, and his voice rose slightly. "Don’t tell ..."
Chen Chuan said, "Yes, Teacher. I’ve mastered it."
He heard a brief silence on the other end, followed by a voice deliberately suppressing its emotion. "Excellent, Chen Chuan. You haven’t disappointed my expectations. More importantly, you haven’t disappointed yourself. Your hard work has paid off!" After a pause, the voice on the other end said, "Alright, don’t go anywhere. Wait for to co to you."
Chen Chuan said, "But Teacher, don’t you have things to do this morning? Maybe..."
Cheng Zitong imdiately cut him off. "What could possibly be more important than my student right now? Just wait for ."
Ten minutes later, Cheng Zitong arrived at Dorm Room 4 on the seventh floor. He first had Chen Chuan give a demonstration, then inspected him by patting him down with a special technique and asked a few questions. Finally, he confird that his student had indeed mastered the Circulation Technique.
"Just over two months... You really did it. Good, very good!"
Cheng Zitong no longer seed to be suppressing his excitent; he let it show freely. He knew his student possessed a maturity beyond his years and wouldn’t get arrogant, so he didn’t hold back his praise.
Chen Chuan said, "It was all thanks to your guidance, Teacher."
Cheng Zitong smiled and said, "No matter how well I teach, it’s useless without your own hard work. But I must remind you, even though you have now mastered the Circulation Technique, that doesn’t an you have complete control over it."
"The Primordial Truth Seed emphasizes the concept of ’nurturing.’ Now that the truth seed is planted, you must find a way to make it ’grow.’ This ans letting the Mutated Organization develop according to it, gradually growing stronger. However, there are so subtleties to this process."
Chen Chuan had sensed this as well. He gave Cheng Zitong a deep bow and said, "Please enlighten , Teacher."
Cheng Zitong nodded and said, "The first part of your Mutated Organization to erge was your Mutated Tendons and Ligants. They attach to your bones and are connected to your muscles. To secure their own existence, the Mutated Organization will reverse-infiltrate your bones, making them tougher and more powerful, able to bear even greater force."
"In the words of the old martial arts, this process is called ’Reinforced Bridge, Fra Beam’! It’s like forging a new set of tendons and bones within your body."
"Practitioners of the old martial arts didn’t understand the specifics of what was happening, but they could feel the changes within themselves and, through experience, they summarized workable thods and steps. This coincides with the training philosophy of the ’First Limit.’ The only difference is that today’s thods are more targeted, practical, and efficient."
He pointed at Chen Chuan and said, "From now on, in addition to dication, you need to use constant training and live combat to make this Mutated Organization more compliant with your will—to make it obey you."
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