Martial Momentum

After wine and food, the night deepened.

During the vigil for the New Year, there was naturally no shortage of firecrackers to ward off evil, invite blessings, bid farewell to the old, and welcome the new.

Soon, Xiao Hei carried out several long strings of red firecrackers and hung them from the bamboo poles that had long been prepared in the courtyard.

"Crackle! Pop!"

The dense explosions of firecrackers, like beans bursting in a pan, rang out without end.

The new year slowly arrived amid snowlight, firelight, and clamor, carrying endless possibilities for the future.

The cold wind had swept snowflakes outside the window and howled through the night, but at last it had finally lowered its banners and fallen silent.

That night, Jiang Qinghe slept deeply and soundly.

His body seemed to sink into soft Warm Jade, his consciousness completely relaxed.

There was no tedium of training, no worries about the future.

There was only pure, long-lost peace.

It had been a very, very long time since he had slept in.

He vaguely remembered that the last time he had so greedily lingered in the warmth of his blankets was when his grandfather had still been alive.

Deep within this body, he instinctively began to miss those who had passed on.

When he was little, before Grandfather left in the morning, he would cook the porridge in advance and cover it with a bowl.

Once he and Ziyue got up, they could take big bites of flatbread while drinking steaming rice porridge mixed with bits of minced meat.

After Grandfather spent a day carrying water for the Magistrate's Manor, he would return, and the family of three could sit together and enjoy the happiest moments of the day.

They would eat while listening to Grandfather tell them interesting stories.

Now, the fragrance of the porridge no longer tasted the same, and Grandfather's smile had forever frozen in the depths of his memories.

Thus, although his muscles and bones were strong, his vitality abundant, and he had long become impervious to heat and cold—

The warmth of mere bedding was truly neither here nor there to his powerful physique.

Yet in his heart, that warmth was a hazy trace of remembrance for his distant childhood and departed loved ones.

Jiang Qinghe took a deep breath, pushed aside the blankets, and struggled to sit up from the bed.

Yesterday, for the first time ever, he had given himself a day off. He had neither practiced cultivation techniques nor pondered martial arts.

When he heard the system prompt that his effort for the day was insufficient and that the Potential Points settled were 0—

An indescribable sense of emptiness and discomfort welled up in his heart.

He had grown accustomed to improving every day, accustomed to accumulating Potential Points. Feedback of zero felt more awkward to him than the exhaustion after grueling training.

"Slacking for one day is the beginning of decline."

Jiang Qinghe murmured, his gaze sharpening.

"From today onward, in the new year, I will continue striving."

As he thought, Jiang Qinghe looked toward the panel.

[Realm: Muscle Tendon Strengthening (Minor Accomplishment)]

[Technique: Tiger Form Muscle Tendon Strengthening Technique (Minor Accomplishment - 25/80)]

[Martial Skills: Levitation Technique (Minor Accomplishment - 4/50), Rock Crushing Palm (Major Accomplishment - 0/30), Wind Shaking Saber Technique (Beginner - 0/5)]

[Potential Points: 30 (0-2 points obtainable daily)]

He had hidden techniques such as the perfected Iron Shirt Skill, no longer allowing them to occupy his view.

The Wind Shaking Saber Technique, which he had practiced intermittently in his spare time, had already reached the entry level.

As for the Fierce Ape Tendon-Stretching Art, Jiang Qinghe temporarily put it aside. He planned to wait until his Muscle Tendon Strengthening reached perfection, then assess his condition before cultivating it.

These days, Rock Crushing Palm remained the primary martial skill into which he had poured the most Heart Blood, consuming a great deal of his time.

But compared to the Minor Accomplishment stage, its progress had slowed far, far too much.

That sensation of changing with each passing day, of visible improvement, had vanished.

Still, that was normal.

One had to know that most martial artists spent their entire lives lingering at the Minor Accomplishment stage in their martial skills.

A very small number, through persistent effort and countless rounds of tempering—

Might perhaps climb a hundred-foot pole and take another step forward, reaching Major Accomplishment.

But that was their limit.

After all, martial skills were unlike body tempering.

At the body-tempering stage, as long as one had sufficient resources to nurture themselves—rare medicinal herbs, guidance from renowned masters—

Even those of ordinary talent could rely on slow, grinding effort and long years of time to forcibly stack themselves upward.

But perfection in martial skills? To ordinary people, that was a legendary realm, far beyond reach.

It was absolutely not something that could be achieved at one stroke merely through Resource-stacked cultivation or burying one's head in hard training.

What it required, beyond sweat, was extremely high comprehension.

And amid the tempering of countless real battles, in struggles amid flashing blades and swords, on the razor-thin line between life and death—

In that instant when adrenaline surged and the mind became intensely focused, between the great terror of life and death, one had to seize those fleeting sparks of inspiration.

Sweat watered the foundation, life and death awakened potential, and comprehension kindled inspiration.

Only when all three gathered and fused could one break through that shackle at one stroke and reach perfection.

"So far, I have yet to train any martial skill to perfection. Why not... try raising this Rock Crushing Palm to its utmost in one go and see what changes occur?"

Once the thought arose, Jiang Qinghe no longer hesitated. With a shift of his mind, he chose to upgrade it.

In an instant!

It was as though an invisible thunderclap exploded in the depths of his mind.

It was not sound, but a pure mental impact that tore apart his tranquil consciousness.

"Buzz—"

Everything Before One's Eyes shattered and vanished.

In its place, countless surging scenes flooded madly into the depths of his consciousness.

They forcibly dragged him into one Completely Different scene after another, each brimming with savage battle.

There was slaughter on battlefields, duels atop mountain peaks, breakouts from desperate straits...

Every scene felt as if he were there in person.

Every immersion was not observation, but a firsthand experience of fear, fury, resolve...

In the end, after experiencing it all, every insight and spark of inspiration condensed into one, seamless and natural.

Jiang Qinghe abruptly opened his eyes. At that moment, his understanding of this palm technique was no longer confined to moves, nor to methods of exerting force.

Instead, it had completely transformed into a kind of instinct!

"Hah—"

As if swept along by that instinct, his body moved of its own accord, casually swinging a palm forward.

This was not any move from Rock Crushing Palm. It was merely an action he had casually made in a flash of inspiration, without even using thirty percent of his strength.

Yet it still carried a wisp of palm wind, causing the scattered snowflakes drifting through the small courtyard to suddenly whirl into spirals, rapidly spreading outward in rings.

"This... this is?"

Jiang Qinghe's heart shook. He could clearly sense that this palm strike, born of his own will, had become more solid and weighty than before.

It seemed to be echoing the Great Earth that bore all things.

Though compared to the momentum of the Great Earth, it appeared exceedingly small.

Still, he had taken the hardest first step, condensing the embryonic form of 'momentum.'

From here on, through persistent insight and tempering—

One day, this 'momentum' could turn from illusory to tangible, from weak to strong, truly Showcasing power comparable to the strength of the Great Earth.

Dozens of martial masters who practiced palm techniques might cultivate bitterly for ten years and perhaps touch the realm of Major Accomplishment.

But those who stepped into perfection and comprehended the existence of 'momentum' were few and far between.

After all, most of their time was spent building carts behind closed doors. How many life-and-death battles had they truly experienced?

Yet now, Jiang Qinghe had entered this level after merely a few short months of martial training.

"It seems that the path of martial arts involves not only the tempering of the body, but also cultivation directed at one's spirit and will!"