Chapter 22

Heaven and Earth's Hunyuan, the Single Character "Contend"

In January, the days of visiting relatives and friends everywhere quickly came to an end.

That night, Qi Yu returned to his residence, bathed, changed clothes, and lay down.

Amidst the utter silence, abrupt footsteps sounded along the corridor.

Qi Yu suddenly sat up.

A knock of "rap, rap, rap" followed closely.

Qi Changshun's voice sounded: "It's me."

Qi Yu opened the door.

Outside the door, Qi Changshun's figure melted into the night: "Yu'er, change into training attire and come with me."

With that, he added an extremely solemn warning: "Everything you see today must not be questioned with a single word, and must be kept in absolute secrecy."

Qi Yu nodded heavily, then quickly changed his clothes and silently followed behind his father.

Upon reaching the study, Qi Changshun went to the bookshelf and slowly pulled out seven books in a certain order. The mechanism clicked softly, and the floor slid open silently, revealing a descending stairway plunging into darkness.

He lifted the candle from the desk and probed into the gloom.

Qi Yu followed closely behind.

As they went deeper, the temperature plummeted, and Qi Changshun's pace slowed down. The candlelight dispelled a small patch of darkness, illuminating a fairly large underground secret chamber of the Qi Family.

A figure was lying flat on a rocking chair. As the candlelight encroached, that swaying rocking chair came to an abrupt halt.

The man had his hands folded over his abdomen, and his face looked particularly terrifying in the dim, yellowish light. His cheeks were crisscrossed with scars, rendering his original appearance unrecognizable.

Qi Yu's pupils shrank slightly, and at a glance he saw the startling data above the man's head: 30~71 (91~202).

This meant the other party had suffered heavy injuries and almost completely lost his martial prowess, yet before losing that prowess, this man's strength had reached a quite terrifying level.

The moment the man moved, the clinking of chains echoed.

His limbs were actually bound.

However, the chains were very long and did not hinder his movement.

Qi Changshun spoke with a respectful tone: "Call him Uncle Yan."

Qi Yu bowed and said: "Uncle Yan."

Qi Changshun explained further: "Uncle Yan's hand and foot shackles were put on by himself. Approaching him is not dangerous."

Qi Yu nodded.

The man stopped the rocking chair from swaying, slowly sat up straight, sized up the young man before him in the candlelight, and got straight to the point: "Execute a set of fists for me to see."

Qi Yu nodded, took a few steps back, settled his waist and planted his stance. His fists suddenly clenched tight, and a layer of faint black metallic luster instantly surged up, covering the skin of his fists, poised for action.

The very moment he was about to begin, Uncle Yan suddenly raised a hand: "Wait, come closer."

Qi Yu immediately halted his stance, relaxed his fists, and approached as told.

Uncle Yan stared at his hands and said: "Clench them harder."

Qi Yu complied, and the faint black metallic luster surged over both fists once more.

Uncle Yan leaned forward, brought his face close to that pair of fists, and observed closely.

Time seemed to freeze, and during this effort, Qi Changshun had already walked a circle around the surroundings, lighting the candles in the secret chamber.

A circle of candlelight lit up, accompanied by the quiet crackle of flames.

Qi Changshun waited nervously on the side.

After a long time, Uncle Yan slowly straightened up and turned his gaze to Qi Changshun beside him: "Changshun, this child... can be taught."

Qi Changshun was overjoyed. He knew very well just how harsh the strength and vision of the person before him were, and bringing his son today was merely harboring a one-in-a-million hope. If it didn't work out, he would just ask him to formulate medicine to assist his son, but never had he expected... it actually worked out?

He was actually willing to teach his son?

Qi Changshun said with a trembling voice: "Yu'er's talent..."

Uncle Yan said: "His bone structure is poor, but his talent... is quite good."

"Brother Yan, then I will withdraw first."

"Alright."

Tap, tap, tap...

The footsteps faded away briskly, disappearing at the end of the stairway.

Uncle Yan spoke again: "Execute a set for me to see."

Qi Yu took a deep breath and once again assumed the stance of the Spirit Serpent Skill.

Though he had only just entered Great Accomplishment, his foundation was flawless. Every movement and style flowed like moving clouds and running water, his fist wind whistling, and his vital energy churned and spiraled within the room, actually whipping up gusts of small whirlwinds.

Uncle Yan stood up, with his hands behind his back and dragging his chains, and silently paced back and forth, muttering to himself: "You cannot learn my cultivation method; you will run into trouble the moment you learn it. Then..."

He hesitated for a long time, seemingly recalling the faint black metallic luster on the fists he had just seen, as well as the fist techniques the youth had just demonstrated.

Suddenly, a look of resolute determination appeared on his face. He stopped and retrieved an object from his bosom.

It was a golden page.

Treating it like a treasured possession, he solemnly extended it forward: "Take a look at this."

Qi Yu received it with both hands.

The paper felt icy cold and heavy to the touch, and upon it were depicted extremely bizarre, contorted postures.

Every single one of their postures looked like several stake-holding stances combined together.

And the postures on this golden page numbered in the dozens, which indicated that there were... at least three or four hundred stake-holding stances contained within it.

These stake-holding stances were all different and bizarre beyond compare.

Yet beyond this grotesqueness, there was also a mighty, majestic, and nearly sacred sense of oppression that rushed toward him through the dazzling gold.

Qi Yu only felt as though his mind and soul were being drawn in; the postures on the paper were no longer mere graphics, but rather resembled divine statues upon various shrines, exuding an aura that made one's heart palpitate.

Before entering earlier, his father had already told him that everything he saw today must not be questioned with a single word, and must be kept in absolute secrecy.

Therefore, even though he harbored doubts deep in his heart, he said no more.

At this moment, Uncle Yan spoke: "When a martial artist exerts force, a single cultivation method can only attend to one kind of power. For example, although your Spirit Serpent Skill is said to train the whole body's blood and qi, its core lies solely in the hands...

I heard from your father that you are still trying to practice other stake-holding stances. Have you also noticed that after practicing those other stances, you always feel a different kind of force rising within your body?"

Qi Yu nodded: "That is indeed the case, Uncle Yan."

Uncle Yan said: "That is because there is still blood and qi force inside your body that has not been mobilized.

Yet as a martial artist, if you want to reach the absolute pinnacle, how can there be any logic in abandoning and not using your strength?

The stake-holding stance recorded on this golden scroll is a secret technique named Hunyuan Contending Force.

Contending force contends with everything—the limbs and skeletons, large and small joints, there is nowhere it does not contend.

If it does not contend, then it is left idle, meaning it cannot be unleashed.

The mountains, rivers, and stars of heaven and earth contend everywhere; the four limbs and skeletons of the human body contend every moment... The Hunyuan of heaven and earth is nothing more than a single character: contend."

With that, he fell silent for a moment and said: "Try practicing it. This method is either you can do it or you cannot.

No matter whether you can do it or not, never mention to anyone that you have learned Hunyuan Contending Force.

If you manage to learn a fraction of it, during a clash, unless you can completely eliminate the opponent and leave no survivors, do not use your full strength either, lest others see the clues... As for the rest, do not ask more. Practice."

Hearing this, Qi Yu cast aside distracting thoughts, collected his mind and quieted his spirit, and began to imitate the first posture on the golden page.

Barely half-way into the posture, he felt a certain small patch of muscle in his arm begin to ache faintly.

This was merely a static stake-holding stance. If a single posture alone could make the muscles ache, it meant this patch of flesh had simply not been trained at all.

Yet logically speaking, he was already at the Eighth Rank, and such a situation was utterly impossible to occur...

Moreover, every single step of his Spirit Serpent Skill had been trained to the point of perfection.

Therefore, this was not a problem with his own practice, but rather the inherent limitations of the Spirit Serpent Skill itself, or perhaps the terrifying nature of this Hunyuan Contending Force.

He gritted his teeth, sweat instantly oozing from his forehead, and forcefully endured to straighten out this posture.

The moment he maintained it for a fleeting instant, a strong sense of heart-palpitating dread violently seized him.

Deep within his body, countless microscopic qi bubbles seemed to burst among his flesh and blood, with every single annihilation bringing about aching pain.

Uncle Yan held a heavy iron weighing pole and stared at him.

"Sink your shoulders an inch lower!"

Smack!

The weighing pole heavily lashed against Qi Yu's slightly raised left shoulder, and a burning pain exploded.

"Waist and back like a bow, sink it down!"

Smack!

Another strike landed on his slightly slack lower back.

Two hours, amidst endless aching pain, sweat, and the lashes of the weighing pole, dragged on like years.

Qi Yu felt that practicing the stake-holding stance this time was even more exhausting than when he first began, by who knows how many times.

An unprecedented wave of exhaustion swept through his entire body, his muscles feeling as though they were being completely dismantled and reassembled.

Yet, amid this pain and exhaustion, he also felt the formidable might of this page of stake-holding stances.

Uncle Yan looked at him and said flatly: "Starting tomorrow, your Blood Activating Secret Soup will undergo some minor changes."

Qi Yu nodded.

The next day...

Qi Yu hastily caught up on a short sleep, then once again plunged into bitter cultivation.

Sparred with Eighth Rank security guards, and continued practicing the Spirit Serpent Skill; then came the nourishing methods for the Five Plum Blossom Fist, Rooster Fist, and Mystic Tiger Fist...

Compared to the Hunyuan Contending Force stake-holding stance, this originally exhausting cultivation actually felt much easier.

Once he finished running through a set, he habitually drank the Blood Activating Secret Soup.

Today's soup seemed to carry a strange fragrance more than before, resembling a sweet and fishy scent.

He tilted his head back and drank a large mouthful. The taste was indeed much sweeter and smoother than yesterday's.

If yesterday it tasted like berries, then now it tasted like sweet fruit.

It was actually quite pleasant to drink.

However, the very next instant...

Boom!

It was as if a ball of raging fire had exploded within his internal organs, instantly sweeping through his entire body and all his limbs!

Qi Yu jerked to his feet!

He felt every single inch of his flesh and blood burning frantically, a violent energy rampaging back and forth within his body, anxiously seeking an outlet to vent!

The majestic, grotesque, and "contention"-filled divine and demonic postures from yesterday's golden page instantly burst open in his mind!

Driven by this boiling power, his body moved entirely out of control, assuming the stake-holding postures within the Hunyuan Contending Force.