Morning Practice and "Demonstration of the Dao"

Chapter 41: Morning Exercise and "Demonstration of the Dao"

The morning light was faint, thin mist like gauze gently veiling the small courtyard.

Chen An pushed open the wooden door of the stone house and took a deep breath of the crisp air.

The tender seedlings in the vegetable patch were adorned with dewdrops, refracting crystalline light under the early sun.

He stretched his limbs, joints emitting faint pops—a habit he'd developed since crossing over. Every morning, he had to move around a bit, both to dispel the lingering chill of the Primordial Wilderness night and to cope with the pressure of survival.

He walked to the open space in the yard and stood still, feet shoulder-width apart.

His arms slowly rose, palms facing upward, as if lifting the morning sun. Then, his left arm arced forward, his right arm extended back, and his body turned sideways in a smooth, flowing motion. This was the first section of the broadcast calisthenics—Stretching Exercise.

"One, two, three, four..." Chen An counted silently in his mind, his movements precise and deliberate.

This set of exercises, etched into his bones from his school days, had now become his only connection to his past world—a connection tinged with the warmth of everyday life. He was focused and didn't notice the pair of eyes that had quietly opened on the straw mat.

Ji Meng (Little Black) lay on the straw mat, his brown-black pupils suddenly contracting!

The moment Chen An raised his arms, he keenly sensed that the gentle, circulating spiritual energy within the Safe Zone was being stirred as if by an invisible hand!

Where Chen An's palms pointed, spiritual energy converged into barely visible whirlpools. When his arms extended and his body turned, the airflow swirled along with them, causing the leaves of the vegetable seedlings in the corner to rustle without any wind!

What shook Ji Meng's very soul was this—every seemingly ordinary stretching movement Chen An made was subtly aligned with some profound trajectory!

Arms lifting upward: In Ji Meng's eyes, this was unmistakably the opening stance of "Star Power Infusion"!

Where Chen An's palms pressed down in the air, spiritual energy poured in like the Heavenly River cascading backward, flooding into his limbs and torso through the Baihui Acupoint.

Sideways body turn: His spine twisted like a dragon, and as his shoulder blades opened and closed, they triggered resonance among all the acupoints in his body!

Ji Meng's Primordial Spirit trembled faintly, as if he saw the "Myriad Stars Array" flickering and dimming in sync with the movements.

Stamping step and closing stance: The tips of his toes lightly tapped the ground, sending ripples of spiritual energy spreading outward like "Earth Vein Return to Origin," gathering all the dissipated energy back into his dantian!

"A supreme Body Refining Technique!" Ji Meng's heart surged with towering waves.

This was by no means an ordinary calisthenic. It was a sage, in the guise of Returning to Simplicity, performing the ultimate method for tempering the flesh and communicating with heaven and earth!

Every movement pointed directly to the source of power. Though seemingly simple, it contained the ultimate truth of "The Great Tao is Simplest"!

The "Hidden Meaning" of the Movement Names

Chen An finished the Stretching Exercise, paused briefly, and began the next section: "Chest Expansion Exercise, one, two, three, four..."

"Chest expansion?" Ji Meng pricked up his ears to listen, his heart shuddering violently! "Expand" meant to open up, and "chest" referred to the middle dantian at the Shanzhong acupoint—this signified "opening the middle palace to contain the universe"!

He focused his gaze. As Chen An extended both arms flat and pulled them back, his chest expanded, drawing the spiritual energy of the Safe Zone into two faint golden air currents. These currents entered through the Mingmen acupoint at his lower back and surged straight toward the Shanzhong! Where the air currents passed, Chen An's pores opened wide, and a faint golden glow faintly emanated from his skin!

"The sage is using his mortal body to trigger 'Golden Essence Body Tempering'!" Ji Meng nearly prostrated himself on the ground.

Such physical refinement phenomena, he had only ever seen when the Demon Emperor Eastern Emperor Tai Yi used Solar True Fire to temper his body!

Imitation and "Epiphany"

An intense urge drove Ji Meng. He struggled to stand up from the straw mat, his bandage-wrapped body still swaying unsteadily.

He mimicked Chen An's posture, lifting his front paws slightly and straightening his hind legs, trying to copy the "Star Power Infusion" stance.

His movements were clumsy and twisted. Lifting his front paws pulled at the wound on his neck, making him bare his teeth in pain. Straightening his hind legs threw off his balance, nearly causing him to topple over. But he gritted his teeth and persisted, a nearly fanatical determination burning in his brown-black pupils.

"The sage is demonstrating the Dao—a rare opportunity!" he roared inwardly.

Even if he only grasped the form, it would far surpass the myriad body-tempering secret arts of the Demon Court!

Chen An finished the last section, Cool-Down Movement, and exhaled as he closed his stance.

Turning his head, he saw Little Black awkwardly lifting his paws and kicking his legs, looking both ridiculous and earnest. He couldn't help but laugh: "Little Black, you want to exercise too?"

He walked over and rubbed Little Black's head: "Come on, follow me."

He slowed down his movements and started the Stretching Exercise again: "Like this, raise your paw... That's it, take it slow."

Ji Meng's entire body stiffened. The sage was personally instructing him! Suppressing his excitement, he focused and followed along. When Chen An gently lifted his front paw to help adjust its angle, a warm, gentle energy transmitted from Chen An's palm, instantly soothing the stabbing pain at his wound. It even stirred the dormant Chaos Qi deep within his demon core, causing it to tremble faintly!

"Boom—!"

A thunderclap seemed to explode in Ji Meng's mind!

The force transmitted from the sage's palm was no ordinary mortal strength!

It was clearly using the body as a bridge to ferry me across the Great Dao!

In the morning light, a man and a dog stood in the yard. Chen An patiently helped Little Black "correct" his movements, merely amusing himself by playing with his pet. But in Ji Meng's heart, towering waves had already risen—this morning exercise was the closest moment in his demon life to the Great Dao!

(End of Chapter 41)