Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

This was all normal; she didn’t think anything of it.

But the problem was...

’Why hadn’t Chen Cheng broken a single sweat? Why was his breathing steady and calm? Why weren’t his legs weak or his back sore, as if he could go another three hundred rounds? How was that even possible?’

As Zhuang Zhen’s thoughts churned, their spar didn’t stop.

She gritted her teeth, retracted her fist, twisted her waist, and sent a sweeping kick. Whether it was due to distraction or her dwindling Blood Qi, her movement was half a beat slow.

Chen Cheng instantly seized upon such an obvious opening.

Instead of retreating, Chen Cheng advanced. He sank down slightly, placed his palm against her calf, and executed a Dragon Locking Twister, his arm winding up her leg.

Previously, when faced with such an unavoidable situation, Zhuang Zhen would ’cheat’ by using Transforming Force to repel Chen Cheng.

But this time, perhaps because her Heart Power was also overdrawn, her Heart Spirit’s response was also half a beat slow.

Before her Transforming Force could manifest, Chen Cheng had already thrown her. She was about to take a nasty fall and slam hard into the stone table in the courtyard.

But Chen Cheng’s figure flashed over as if riding the wind and stepping on thunder. He caught her back with his palm—the force was light yet extremely steady, like catching a feather—and neutralized all the momentum.

For a moment, she even felt a sense of weightlessness and let out an involuntary gasp.

The next moment, her feet touched the ground—lightly, yet with perfect stability.

Turning around, she met Chen Cheng’s gaze.

His face was impassive, as if he had just done something as trivial as breathing.

Zhuang Zhen stared at him for two breaths, then suddenly smiled. She raised a hand and tucked a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear.

”What are you smiling at, Senior Sister?” Chen Cheng asked.

”Nothing.”

Zhuang Zhen’s breathing seemed to have grown even more rapid. Her impressively full chest rose and fell, stretching the fabric of her top taut and clearly defining its shape with each breath.

”Junior Brother, how is your stamina so good?”

”Nothing more than diligent training.”

Chen Cheng replied casually.

’My own training is diligent enough; that’s the core foundation.’

’On top of that, my Health-Preserving Traits have been nourishing my physique and tempering my Divine Marrow for a long time. It’s only natural that my stamina and Heart Power are far greater than an ordinary person’s.’

’The key is that the Harmonious Attribute reduces my stamina and Heart Power consumption by thirty percent.’

’With these two Traits working in tandem, going another three hundred rounds is no exaggeration.’

”We can’t go on for so long next time... Otherwise, it’ll affect my regular training schedule.”

Zhuang Zhen wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead, her tone carrying a hint of playful complaint.

”If the sparring sessions are too short, there’s no point. We have to keep up today’s intensity.”

Chen Cheng said seriously,

”Just eat more Treasure Fish to recover afterward. You might have a sore back and weak legs at first, but as long as you stick with it day after day, your stamina will gradually improve too.”

”...Alright then. I’ll do as you say.”

Zhuang Zhen nodded, finding herself in complete agreement with Chen Cheng’s reasoning.

’Actual combat is a way to hone one’s Martial Arts. Increasing the duration of our sparring sessions could simultaneously improve my stamina, endurance, Heart Power, combat experience, adaptability, and more.’

’As long as I have enough nourishment to recover, sticking with this for a while will definitely yield better results than just training alone by the book.’

...

「After dinner.」

Chen Cheng took his medicinal bath as usual, completely submerging himself in the medicinal water. He circulated the Wandering Dragon Technique, training his Inner Breath and lung capacity.

After some time, once the circulation of his Inner Breath reached its limit, he sat straight up in the water.

As he took a deep breath, both his hands shot out of the water.

He bent his fingers.

Ejection.

A single drop of water shot from a fingertip on each hand, the two whistling sounds of their passage through the air almost overlapping into one.

The next instant.

The two water droplets struck the wall ten feet away at almost the same time.

In the center of that wall, there were already four distinct, spherical dents, left behind from when he previously honed the Shooting Scripture General Formulas using the Jingyi method.

These two water droplets, however, struck the wall directly above and directly below the four previous dents.

In those two exact spots, two small, straight holes had been blasted into the rammed-earth wall. It looked as if a steel needle had been driven deep inside.

This was another form of Archery recorded in the Shooting Scripture General Formulas, known as ’Bai Shi’.

”When the arrow is aligned with the grip, the draw is full. You must let the thumb feel the arrival of the arrowhead, and only then loose the arrow.”

Thus it is said: If the head does not touch the thumb, the arrow will surely miss. If the thumb knows not the head, it is the same as having no eyes.

This form of Archery trained precision, overwhelming power, and the ability to strike a target’s weakest point, thereby maximizing piercing power.

This was the same form of Archery that Bai Fangshuo had used with his heavy arrows to break through cover.

For the past ten days or so, Chen Cheng had taken the time to practice this during every medicinal bath. Using water as arrows felt a little off, but he knew that if he switched to Flying Needles, the effect of its precision and penetration would be incredibly distinct.

After practicing Archery like this for a while, Chen Cheng lay back down in the medicinal water and continued to hone his Wandering Dragon Technique.

As he progressed bit by bit in his training, his affinity for water also improved imperceptibly.

After his medicinal bath, he trained as usual until late at night.

It was only before going to sleep that he lay on his bed and flipped through the book Zhuang Zhen had given him that day.

It had a black cover and looked quite old. When he opened it, he saw that every page was made of tanned animal hide. They were clearly yellowed with age, and many were even cracked.

The script written inside was of a peculiar shape, completely different from the Great Sorrow Text or the characters of the Red Moon Original Vow Scripture.

But for Chen Cheng, it made no difference what kind of script it was.

The Skill panel for [Broken Character Recognition] beneath his Vertical Eye Mark suddenly flashed with a faint halo.

The halo vanished an instant later.

Chen Cheng now completely understood the meaning of the script before him.

Once he had read through the entire text, his Vertical Eye Mark suddenly grew hot, and information about a brand-new Skill surfaced from the depths of his Heart Spirit.