Breakthrough! A Chance to Make a Name

Li Changqing was stunned. He looked at the muscular giant before him; aside from those avant-garde sunglasses, where was there even the slightest trace of the old man from before?

"Grandpa, what is this?" He swallowed.

Only now did he finally see the gap between a true Martial Artist and an ordinary person.

Even an elderly, frail Martial Artist whose vitality had already declined was not someone a Martial Arts Apprentice like him could hope to challenge.

Birch was also known as Iron Birch, with another nickname: Chainsaw Harvester. Its hard wood had often made lumberjacks suffer greatly in the past.

Yet the old man before him could effortlessly leave a fist print on an Iron Birch.

"Young man, you don't know how to breathe."

Grandpa Chen said the same thing again and let out a soft sigh.

That breath was extraordinarily long, even forming a whirlwind on the ground and sweeping up dust from all around.

As the breath left his chest, the old man's muscles shrank, and he returned to that frail, wind-blown appearance from before.

"Grandpa, may I ask your surname?"

"My surname is Chen, nothing special." Grandpa Chen waved a hand and reached out to tap Li Changqing's chest.

"Now breathe with force."

Li Changqing's heart tightened at his words.

He immediately followed the old man's instruction, slowly drawing in a breath. It took a full second to fill his chest before he slowly exhaled.

"Wrong. What kind of breathing is that?" Grandpa Chen was deeply dissatisfied.

"Didn't your university martial arts instructors teach you?"

"No." Li Changqing shook his head.

"This is the first time I've heard that breathing requires technique."

"Of course breathing requires technique!" Grandpa Chen's eyes widened as he blew irritably at his beard.

"People cling to their broken brooms like treasures. Nowadays, they won't even teach breathing techniques anymore." Grandpa Chen beckoned Li Changqing over.

"Young man, if martial arts schools and universities won't teach you, Grandpa will." With that, Grandpa Chen grabbed Li Changqing's hand and pressed it to his own chest.

"Remember this rhythm."

Hiss—

There came that sharp crack of bursting air again.

Li Changqing pricked up his ears and focused intently on every movement within the wind. At the same time, thanks to the increased agility from practicing the Tai Chi Throwing Style yesterday, the nerves across his skin were extraordinarily sensitive.

Listening to Strength!

If Li Changqing's breathing was a babbling stream, with each improvement to his physique widening its riverbed, then Grandpa Chen's breathing was the roaring upheaval of the Yellow River changing course.

It directly forced open the intensity of his breathing, filling every strand of muscle fiber with oxygen.

"Exhale—"

A flash of insight struck his mind. Grandpa Chen's breathing rhythm became increasingly clear in Li Changqing's heart, and his own breathing rhythm changed as well.

"Put strength into it! Use vitality to assist you and open up your chest cavity."

The moment he began trying, Grandpa Chen's stern shout interrupted Li Changqing's rhythm.

This old man, already past seventy, seemed to have become that powerful military Martial Artist once more.

Li Changqing steadied his mind. The next second, following Grandpa Chen's guidance, the vitality throughout his body surged upward, with most of it protecting his lungs and organs.

"Hiss—"

He heard it!

Though the shrill explosive sound was not as loud as Grandpa Chen's, it had truly appeared.

Li Changqing immediately increased his control over his vitality, opening his chest cavity further.

A great volume of air rushed in.

"Very good. Maintain that breathing rhythm. Next, use your vitality to move the air. Don't rely on the hemoglobin in your blood—what can that tiny amount possibly do?"

Li Changqing nodded speechlessly. While focusing on his breathing, he controlled his vitality to begin transporting oxygen, shifting carbon dioxide, and participating in the lungs' gas exchange.

Exhale—inhale—

After only two or three cycles, Li Changqing felt as though his entire body were about to ignite.

Li Changqing understood that this was the activation of energy caused by the oxidation of every cell in his body.

In this state, his physical qualities could utterly crush his former self.

At the same time.

Military Breathing Technique, Proficiency: 25%

Thanks to a professional's hands-on guidance, Li Changqing grasped the breathing technique quickly, its proficiency surpassing one quarter from the very start.

"Now, begin practicing your fist technique." Grandpa Chen guided him patiently.

Listening to the old senior's instruction beside him, Li Changqing set his stance without hesitation.

Once again, he began practicing his fist technique.

Hiss—

A great volume of air poured into his lungs. Li Changqing smoothly sank into a horse stance, vitality surging within him.

With the use of the breathing technique, cracks slowly began appearing in that invisible shell that locked down his body.

Tai Chi, First Form!

His vitality was like mist and water. As the breathing technique continued, not only did Li Changqing's stamina not decrease, it actually continued increasing along with his practice of the fist technique.

This was an experience he had never had before.

"Could it be that using the matching breathing technique is the proper way to use Old Technique?"

Li Changqing had no time to think. His increasingly excited body drove him to strike out with the next Tai Chi form without hesitation.

His movements grew faster and faster, yet without the slightest flaw. The powerful breathing technique drove his vitality, which in turn tempered his body.

Very soon, Li Changqing completed the nineteenth form of Tai Chi in one breath.

Last time, this was where he had begun to feel exhausted.

Twentieth Form, Invert Yin Overturn Yang!

His vitality surged, and under this movement, more than half of it instantly misted away.

Li Changqing drew an arc with both hands, finally standing with them rounded together before his chest.

This was the movement that had nearly drained him dry before, preventing him from continuing the later forms.

But this time.

Hiss—

A great volume of air entered him, and the vitality that had been consumed slowly emerged once more. His activated muscle cells gave him boundless energy.

Twenty-First Form!

He had surpassed himself, reaching this point in one uninterrupted breath for the first time.

It was not over yet!

Li Changqing's pupils flashed. He saw hope.

Twenty-Second Form!

Even at his peak, such extreme vitality consumption would have made him stagger twice. Even with the breathing technique's assistance, it was far from easy.

He rooted his feet into the ground. Supported by the earth, his swaying body did not fall.

Twenty-Third Form!

His vitality dried up again. This time, no matter how desperately Li Changqing breathed, his activated muscle cells could not squeeze out even a trace more vitality.

Old Technique was humanity's limit.

Those unable to break through their limits could not complete an entire set of Old Technique practice.

Was it over?

Subdue the heart's ape, tether the mind's horse.

Li Changqing's Spiritual Platform became bright and clear, and he seemed to return to the day he had learned Old Technique.

The heart's ape and the mind's horse.

That was it—his vitality had run dry.

The human body had limits, but the mind did not.

Breathing was not merely the body's breathing.

There was also the soul's breathing.

Only when the shell was at its weakest could one comprehend the wonder of the soul.

The motionless Li Changqing moved. His dried-up vitality should have been unable to support his movements.

Even the muscles throughout his body should have gone limp, yet another invisible force pushed his body onward as he slowly but firmly performed the final fist technique.

Twenty-Four Tai Chi Forms.

Completed in one continuous flow!

Boom!

His spirit was listless, his vitality exhausted.

Thunder erupted from nothing within Li Changqing's hollow mind.

A powerful force surged forth from the deepest part of his body. The reward for breaking through his limits had yet to arrive.

Yet his body had already begun to transform.

This was the chasm between humans and Martial Artists. Only by subduing the heart's ape and tethering the mind's horse, relying on the power of the mind, could one break through the physiological barrier of humanity.

Physique +3

Agility +2

Willpower +3

Vitality Concentration: 99% (Awaiting Breakthrough)

Before the gifts brought by his bodily transformation had even ended, another immense energy surged into Li Changqing's flesh and soul.

Marrow Cleansing.

A powerful force washed through his body. Vast vitality filled every corner of him, awaiting only the breakthrough of the final bottleneck. Then he would rise in a single leap, like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, shattering the barren talent of this fleshly body.

More than a full minute passed.

As he withdrew from the Tai Chi stance, Li Changqing slightly opened his eyes and stretched his limbs. Crisp crackles like frying beans spread from within his body.

Looking at the birch tree before him, he raised a hand to his brow, slowly pressed it down, then parted his lips and exhaled a puff of white vapor like smoke, spreading outward in mist.

It was July. Even if the weather had turned cooler, with temperatures still above twenty degrees Celsius, how scorching did one have to be to exhale white vapor?

His sinews and bones rang together, his body like a furnace.

The vitality within him no longer felt empty or floating. It was deep and enduring, yet dense and powerful, reaching this body's peak.

At this moment, he had already touched the ceiling of a Martial Artist Apprentice and reached Chengtian Martial Arts School's standard.

A year? He needed only one week!

And Jiang He, whom the government took seriously, had also reached this stage at the age of twenty-two.

Once Li Changqing completed his bodily transformation and broke through the limits of humanity, he would become a true Martial Artist and enter the ranks of the lower tier.

"When kung fu is practiced to the depths, sinews and bones ring in unison; a breath of white vapor rests in the chest, and the body becomes like a furnace."

"Young man, congratulations. You are about to step into the halls of Martial Artists."

Grandpa Chen looked at Li Changqing, his voice overflowing with praise.

"I never expected your talent to be even better than I believed. You understand at the slightest prompt, far stronger than the soldiers I had in the past."

Grandpa Chen folded his arms and stroked his chin.

"Let me guess your name."

"What is there to guess?" Li Changqing did not know whether to laugh or cry. Why was this old man like an old child?

"Could it be that you know fortune-telling too?"

"Hehe, I really do know fortune-telling." Grandpa Chen put on a show of pinching his fingers and calculating.

"I have it. If Grandpa hasn't guessed wrong, your surname is Jiang and your name is He. You're also a graduate of Qingzhou Psionic University, right?"

Grandpa Chen's face was full of pride, but when he turned his head, he found the young man before him frozen.

"What? Did Grandpa guess right?"

Looking at the smug Grandpa Chen, Li Changqing did not know whether to laugh or cry, but he was also a little curious.

"Grandpa, why did you guess that I was Jiang He?"

"Nonsense." Grandpa Chen blew his beard and glared.

"Our Rong City isn't some huge place. A young man who can learn the breathing technique after watching my demonstration a few times, complete an entire set of Old Technique Tai Chi, and enter the transformation stage."

"Other than Jiang He, who else could it be?"

The more Li Changqing listened, the more delighted he became. Only after Grandpa Chen finished did he grin.

"Grandpa Chen, you guessed wrong. I'm not Jiang He. My surname is Li, and my name is Changqing."

"You're not Jiang He?"

Now it was Grandpa Chen's turn to be dumbfounded.

"And you guessed wrong about something else too. I'm not some genius." Li Changqing spread his hands.

"I only graduated from university last week. I didn't even pass the academy's assessment."

Grandpa Chen rubbed his sparsely haired forehead. "Kid, are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Sigh, I never thought a child as talented as you would attend some diploma mill, where even the simplest assessment could go wrong."

"Take this."

Grandpa Chen stuffed a flyer into Li Changqing's hand.

"What is this?"

"A flyer for the Rong City Youth Cup. Online registration should begin in a few days."

"You brat." Grandpa Chen looked Li Changqing up and down.

"Go see the world. You may not be able to beat those twenty-seven- or twenty-eight-year-olds, but at the very least, you have to take down that Jiang He brat and make a proper name for yourself!"