Internal energy?

Chen Mo controlled that extremely faint wisp of energy, circulating it within his dantian.

Logically, any energy that could remain in his dantian must be inner energy, belonging to a martial artist.

But why he had inner energy within him was something he couldn't fathom.

Inner energy was something for internal martial artists, requiring cultivation through quietude, long hours of meditation, and body conditioning to achieve a perfect harmony between body and spirit before inner energy could be condensed.

This inner energy could help martial artists condition their bodies and extend their lifespans, but it didn't significantly boost their actual strength.

Inner energy nourishing the body could indeed fundamentally increase a martial artist's strength, and inner energy could even manifest various wondrous effects like healing and defense.

However, to reach this stage, it not only required a vast amount of inner energy but also a considerable amount of time.

For external martial arts practitioners, ten years, or even just five, was enough to cultivate a technique to a relatively advanced level.

For internal martial artists, ten years might only be enough to establish a solid foundation, marking the beginning of their formal cultivation.

Unless it was a Boy's Practice, cultivated from the age of eleven or twelve, it was extremely difficult for inner energy martial artists to achieve anything significant.

For martial artists like Chen Mo who started halfway, practicing external martial arts was the best choice; it was simple to cultivate and yielded quick results.

Internal arts nurtured energy, external arts trained the body.

The Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist he practiced was definitively an external hard style, so how could he have cultivated inner energy? It was absolutely impossible.

In his previous life, Chen Mo had heard of some top external martial arts practitioners who could cultivate inner energy from the outside in.

But he had never heard such a saying in this world. Although external and internal martial artists both practiced martial arts, their cultivation directions were completely different.

At least among the martial artists in the military camp who practiced the same Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist as him, he hadn't heard of anyone who could cultivate inner energy.

It could even be said that there wasn't a single personal guard in the entire military camp who had cultivated inner energy. Even those with family martial arts or who had studied under other martial arts masters were all practicing external martial arts.

The reason was simple: practicing martial arts was too expensive.

Even internal martial arts required not only a lot of time for cultivation but also sufficient nutrition. Meat was essential, and nourishing medicinal soups had to be consumed regularly.

This expense wasn't just for a year or two but for over a decade, day after day.

And unlike external martial arts, which showed results quickly, internal martial arts practitioners saw no obvious improvement in a short period.

The personal guards in the military camp, even if they had some wealth before joining, were at most small landlords or wealthy farmers.

They could afford to practice external martial arts for a year or two, and once they saw results, they could immediately convert it into income.

But practicing internal martial arts was not something ordinary families could afford. It was either for disciples of noble families, or at the very least, for wealthy merchants or rich households.

For personal guards like them, mostly from commoner backgrounds, not even considered impoverished, they had no right to practice internal martial arts.

With these thoughts, Chen Mo stood up from the bed and began practicing the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist in the silent, dark room.

He wanted to determine the origin of that wisp of inner energy within him. Was it purely born from the transformation of Mortal Transformation?

Or was it the result of his practice of the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist combining with the Blood Essence generated by this Mortal Transformation?

To verify this, he didn't need any strenuous effort. He just needed to practice the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist and see if the inner energy in his dantian changed.

As he assumed his stance and began the standing meditation, surging Bloodline Power once again accumulated within his body.

Chen Mo's sensation this time was very different. He had undergone another Mortal Transformation, and his internal organs, as well as his Blood Essence, muscles, and bones, had all seen significant improvements.

Most importantly, the improvement in his internal organs brought him a sense of solidity and robustness.

Previously, when he practiced the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist, his progress was rapid, but there was always a sense of floating and unsteadiness.

The Blood Essence within him seemed to be constantly on the verge of agitation or calmness. As he practiced, if this agitated Blood Essence couldn't be fully controlled, further practice would actually harm him.

However, after his internal organs underwent transformation, when circulating the Blood Essence within his body, the agitated feeling completely vanished, leaving only a persistent, robust Blood Essence flowing through him.

He wasn't sure of the exact increase in his physical strength from this Mortal Transformation, as he hadn't tested it yet.

One thing he was certain of was that his physical foundation and even his internal organs had undoubtedly seen immense improvement.

This would naturally lead to faster progress when he practiced the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist and make breaking through bottlenecks easier.

As he gradually completed a set of the boxing routine, Chen Mo could clearly perceive three clusters of Blood Essence gradually forming within him, with a fourth one close to completion.

This indicated that his Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist had reached the perfection of the third level and was striving to break through to the fourth level.

This was clearly not his cultivation progress before the Mortal Transformation. It seemed the Mortal Transformation had directly propelled the progress of the external martial art, the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist, from the initial stage of the second level to the perfection of the third level.

This was not surprising. External martial arts were essentially about cultivating the physical body, especially the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist, which was a top-tier and arguably the simplest external martial art.

As long as the physical foundation was strong, cultivation could be smooth sailing and progress rapid.

The transformation of his physical body naturally drove the progress of this technique along with it.

The condensed Blood Essence slowly dispersed again, merging into the last nearly formed cluster of Blood Essence. However, looking at its progress, breaking through to the fourth level of this technique would likely not be an easy task.

Furthermore, and most importantly, after he finished practicing the entire set of boxing moves, the Blood Essence transformed within him, and a wisp of inner energy was condensed in his dantian.

The quantity was extremely small and faint. It would take at least three to five years of hard work to fill the entire dantian in this manner.

However, this already proved one thing: the wisp of inner energy in his dantian was indeed born from practicing this external martial art.

But why would practicing an external martial art result in inner energy?

This truly baffled Chen Mo. Could it be due to his special constitution after the Mortal Transformation?

Otherwise, if so many personal guards in the personal guard camp practiced, why did no one else cultivate inner energy through this external martial art, with only himself succeeding?

Or was it because their cultivation progress was too low, preventing them from developing inner energy?

However, clarifying this point wouldn't take much effort; he could find an opportunity to ask General Sun later.

General Sun's mastery of the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was definitely above the third level, so he could inquire if he had cultivated inner energy through this technique.

As for himself cultivating inner energy through the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist, he decided not to inform anyone for the time being.

He wasn't sure if external martial arts in this world could also cultivate inner energy when reaching higher levels.

If others couldn't cultivate it, but he could, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.

His dantian housed the Mortal Transformation Pearl, and if anyone discovered he had cultivated inner energy and wanted to examine his dantian, this secret would be exposed.

Even if he wanted to ask General Sun about inner energy, he would have to be cautious, probing indirectly and testing the waters.