Rumble—
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, thunderous energy surged, and summer rain lashed down. Fine white mist rose from the ground that had been scorched by the daytime sun.
Li Changqing stood in the open square. Fallen leaves carpeted the ground, gathering under the guidance of his fist wind into a Tai Chi Yin-Yang Fish.
Several seconds later, only after the cloudy white breath he exhaled gradually dispersed did the rain finally begin to fall.
"I... broke through?"
Feeling the brand-new Tai Chi Fist in his mind, Li Changqing found it hard to believe.
In just one night, Old Technique Tai Chi had successfully broken through. With the aid of heaven and earth's thunder, he had entered a state of Heaven-Man Resonance and actually completed a new fist art.
Not only that, his physique, agility, and will had all been enhanced.
The previous two times he had gained boosts to his three attributes had been when he broke through his limits and when he created an entirely new Old Technique Tai Chi.
Compared with physique, which could be improved through training, agility and will were far more difficult to raise.
The former required improving technical Combat Techniques, such as the Tai Chi Throwing Style and soft force.
As for the latter, aside from viewing Artistic Conception Scrolls, Li Changqing could not find any way to temper it at this stage.
"So, bringing a cultivation technique's proficiency to completion and transforming it can also enhance agility and will?"
Agility could improve his body coordination and reaction time in battle, while will was directly tied to the use of Artistic Conception.
Confirming a workable method for allocating points was undoubtedly a cause for great joy.
His heart grew increasingly fervent. Closing his eyes, he focused on the Tai Chi Yin-Yang Fish deep within his mind.
Tai Shang Gan Ying Pian (Human Immortal Department).
This was absolutely a heaven-sent opportunity. Li Changqing did not yet even qualify to cultivate it, yet merely a trace of the Artistic Conception it leaked had already benefited him so greatly.
He could not help imagining what realm he would reach by the time he truly qualified to cultivate this technique.
A High-Rank Martial Artist, or a Psionic User who had completely ascended and transformed?
The future was beautiful, and the present was bright.
Li Changqing assumed his stance once more. He wanted to see how many techniques he could break through today.
Tai Chi Initiation.
The instant he formed the opening stance, Li Changqing immediately sensed the changes Heaven-Man Resonance had brought to his fist art.
His left hand was yang, his right hand yin.
As his stance took shape, his vitality instantly split into two halves, divided by the great dragon of his spine.
Yin and yang complemented each other; dragon and tiger, water and fire.
Li Changqing no longer needed to worry at all about how effectively his vitality tempered his physique.
So powerful!
Li Changqing's gaze turned sharp. His muscles relaxed completely, every shred of force perfectly contained within each and every cell.
Whoosh—
The wind howled.
The fallen leaves on the ground were swept up once more, scattering through the sky. Li Changqing paid them no heed. He stepped on the seven stars, and a fierce wind arose of its own accord.
Rain drifted down, but before it could touch the ground, it was drawn into his movements as Li Changqing unfolded his fist art.
As he practiced, the temperature across Li Changqing's body steadily rose. White mist slowly steamed from the clothes that had just been soaked.
Before long, his body heat had forcibly dried the damp garments.
Yet the rain above his head could not fall. As he punched, Li Changqing remained dry from head to toe, untouched by dust.
Rumble—
Thunder suddenly cracked overhead.
The stirring of insects at Awakening of Insects.
Boom!
Almost at the same time, vitality within Li Changqing roared, somehow producing the sound of thunder, tigers, and leopards.
His bones resonated with the sound waves, driving his kung fu into the marrow of his bones.
Tai Chi divided yin and yang; wind, rain, thunder, and lightning followed in its wake.
Sinews and bones rang together, tiger roars and thunder tones tempering his body.
Physique +1
Powerful strength poured little by little into his flesh. The transformed Tai Chi was far more effective than Li Changqing had imagined.
He could feel his body transforming after every completed move.
The longer Li Changqing practiced, the more excited he became. All the vitality in his body burned completely.
"Ha!"
He threw a one-armed punch. Wind and thunder followed, leaves fluttered wildly, and Li Changqing's fist stopped an inch before a willow tree.
Crack—
The gale was like an invisible steel blade. Mixed with rainwater and fallen leaves, it actually left fine scratches across the bark.
Human strength had its limits, but heaven and earth were boundless.
Li Changqing finally understood what Heaven-Man Resonance was. Fist arts no longer relied solely on one's own vitality.
Between heaven and earth, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning were all sources of aid.
At this moment, he was not only tempering his body with fist arts and vitality, but with heaven and earth as well.
Li Changqing mobilized every last drop of his vitality, using all his strength to squeeze each cell of his body to its utmost.
Unlike other Martial Artists, Li Changqing could rely on breaking his limits to gain power, so he did not need to worry about damaging his body through excessive development.
Limits, breakthrough, physique points.
As long as he could endure it, this was an infinite cycle—a perpetual-motion machine.
The sudden downpour grew fiercer and fiercer.
The pitch-black sky was repeatedly lit up by lightning.
The energy between heaven and earth grew increasingly dense, and Li Changqing's body tempering reached a crucial juncture.
His vitality surged, washing over his flesh along with his fist art.
Physique +2
Fist art, vitality, and the aid of heaven and earth.
Under this triple tempering, Li Changqing's physique once again broke through its limit.
Vitality Concentration: 19%
The vitality originally consumed in tempering his flesh, replenished after he broke through his limit, not only returned to its peak state but even surpassed it.
As Li Changqing practiced Tai Chi,
his vitality was divided into two forces, one yin and one yang, endlessly intertwining and merging while remaining as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers.
Deep within his dantian, they coiled into a yin-yang vortex that continuously fused and transformed.
Finally, as he practiced his fist art, the vitality within him once more reached the limit of a Two-Star Martial Artist.
His skin gleamed like jade, every pore stretched open, and his vitality compressed, expanded, then compressed again.
It reached the final barrier beneath his skin.
A cicada chrysalis trembled, while within it, a pair of dazzling wings fought desperately against the thick cocoon wall.
Li Changqing's eyes shone more brilliantly than ever, reflecting streaks of divine light even in the darkness.
Refining essence into qi; when qi settled, the spirit revealed itself.
His body had already reached perfection.
Li Changqing suddenly raised his head and gazed up at the vault of heaven.
It was time.
"Lord Thunder, aid me!"
Under Heaven-Man Resonance,
Li Changqing's thoughts seemed to truly reach that illusory celestial palace.
Heaven and earth had heard his heartfelt cry.
The night was shrouded in darkness once more.
Even the sound of wind vanished.
In that fleeting moment when all things fell into Nirvana, a divine beam tore open the sky.
The greatest sound was nearly soundless.
Though the world was bright as day, there was not the slightest stray noise.
Li Changqing held an invisible ball between his hands before his chest. The ripples thunder brought to heaven and earth were transmitted into his body through the state of Heaven-Man Resonance.
His physique, already at its limit, had its balance shattered, and from there it became unstoppable.
His vitality completely became a dragon entering the sea.
Crack—
The cocoon broke.
Boom!
The violent thunderclap arrived late, exploding across the heavens.
In an instant, cars in every direction sounded urgent horns.
Li Changqing embraced the origin and guarded the one. The two streams of vitality finally converged.
Yin and yang merged, no longer distinguishable from one another.
Vitality Concentration: 22%
Breakthrough!
Boom!
A muffled thunderous note resonated within Li Changqing's body.
The rainwater and leaves that had originally circled Li Changqing in orderly patterns along with the force of Tai Chi all scattered beneath this power.
The Tai Chi momentum withdrew.
Without heaven and earth's aid,
the rain poured down in sheets.
Yet just as the rain was about to fall onto Li Changqing,
an invisible force bounced every droplet away like bullets.
Li Changqing raised his right arm toward the thick locust tree five meters ahead.
He drew his fist back to his waist and abdomen, his five fingers pressed together.
He punched through the air.
The violent wind stirred by Tai Chi swept up fallen leaves, but after flying some distance through the air, their remaining force could only gently brush over the locust tree's surface.
Five meters was too far.
The wind dispersed, and the leaves fell.
Bang!
A clear fist mark was branded into the center of the locust tree. Cracks spread like a spiderweb, and the tremendous force shook deep fissures into the tree trunk, as thick as an adult's waist.
The invisible attack had nearly snapped the locust tree in half.
Li Changqing still maintained his punching posture, invisible force bursting out through his body.
A curve touched his lips. As vitality flowed within him, his pores opened and closed, and he released force once more.
The falling rain had yet to touch him before it was bounced away again.
Vitality left the body; strike the ox across the mountain.
A Three-Star Martial Artist—achieved!