Beginning the Path of Scientific Research

With sufficient funds and his release from the Ninja Academy, combined with his strength reaching the level of an average Chunin, Neji could finally put some things he previously couldn't do onto his schedule—such as building his own scientific research laboratory.

Neji planned to build his first laboratory in the basement of his home. He made a rough estimate: his house and courtyard covered about 600 square meters, nearly a mu of land. Excavating a portion of the underground area would be enough to build a decent-sized laboratory, sufficient to meet his current experimental requirements.

The more troublesome issue was how to transport the excavated soil out. However, as he thought about it, Neji couldn't help but laugh. Building a laboratory wasn't the same as conducting human experiments right now; he could simply claim he was building a cellar. He could do it openly and honestly without needing to be too secretive.

Having figured this out, Neji found a construction team that afternoon and explained his requirements. The team promised to provide a preliminary blueprint by tomorrow; if there were no issues, they could start construction. The cellar would have two floors, totaling 800 square meters, with six rooms, two halls, and other functional areas. Including renovations, the cost was five million, and they promised to finish within two months. Neji didn't quibble over the details, paid the deposit, and signed the contract. For the next two months, his home would become a construction site, making it somewhat unsuitable for living. After thinking it over, he rented a small courtyard nearby for 200,000 for two months. Once he moved his important belongings to the new place, Neji immersed himself in training again.

During this period, Neji ordered a batch of laboratory equipment, including small centrifuges, microscopes, petri dishes, culture tanks, separators, and other common equipment and experimental supplies. Another five million was squandered away. He suddenly realized his funds were getting a bit tight again. Fortunately, there were no major expenses for the time being, or else it would have been a real headache.

Another troublesome matter was that, currently, he was basically relying on himself and his Shadow Clones to cooperate; he didn't have any real helpers or assistants. It seemed that if the opportunity arose, he would need to cultivate some confidants or subordinates. However, his young age was also a problem—who would work for a seven-year-old brat?

Setting these problems aside, the core priority now was to improve his strength and accumulate knowledge. Improving strength was a gradual process.

The accumulation of knowledge had now entered its second stage. Over the past two years, Neji had already read, memorized, and understood all the books on ninjas, ninjutsu, medicine, and biology that could be found on the market. More advanced knowledge was either treasured by various clans, required certain conditions to be borrowed, or necessitated joining certain factions to access. For the current Neji, none of these were viable options. That was why Neji chose to build his own laboratory: to conduct his own research based on existing knowledge, discover new insights, and slowly move step-by-step toward the "Gene Completion Plan."

He picked up the manuscript his father had left behind again. It contained advanced knowledge of the Gentle Fist Art, including Rotation, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, and Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. Neji had already mastered Rotation, but he had always found the Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms difficult to understand.

His father had introduced the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms like this: using the 360-degree all-encompassing Byakugan, one places the opponent within the Eight Trigrams Formation and strikes the sixty-four major acupoints on their body to seal them.

The core of this martial art was undoubtedly the "Eight Trigrams Formation." If it were just a matter of tapping an opponent sixty-four times, it would be no different from ordinary Gentle Fist Art.

However, the Eight Trigrams Formation was also recorded in Neji's previous life, where it was said to be a more profound formation derived from the Taiji diagram. There was a saying: "Taiji generates the two poles (Liangyi), the two poles generate the four symbols, and the four symbols generate the Eight Trigrams."

In practice, the most famous use of the Eight Trigrams Formation was by the Shu strategist Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. By utilizing the movement and shifts of the soldiers forming the array, he caused the formation to constantly open and close, changing the positions of the generals and the power within the array. This caused enemies who broke into the formation to lose their judgment and fail to observe the situation calmly, thereby achieving psychological pressure and reducing the enemy's combat effectiveness.

Thinking of it this way, Neji suddenly had a moment of clarity. The core of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms was indeed the Eight Trigrams Formation. By emitting Chakra from his feet into the surrounding area and controlling that Chakra to form the pattern of the Eight Trigrams Formation, he could use the power of the formation to disrupt the enemy's mind, cloud their perception, and bind their movements, all while coordinating with the Gentle Fist Art to injure or kill them.

The strength of the Chakra output from his feet and his level of understanding of the formation determined the strength of his control over the enemy. In the original work, it seemed he hadn't seen the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms achieve any particularly outstanding battle records.

As for the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, it was one of the few long-range attacks of the Hyuga Clan. Its principle was roughly: place the opponent within the Eight Trigrams Formation, use the Byakugan to perceive the opponent's position, and release high-strength, high-density Chakra blocks through palm strikes to attack distant targets. It was quite similar to an air cannon.

Once Neji had a preliminary understanding of the Eight Trigrams Formation, the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm fell into place naturally; it was merely a matter of the power behind the vacuum palm he emitted.

However, wanting to use the Eight Trigrams Formation proficiently and flexibly was not something that could be done in a short time. It required long-term accumulation and study, especially regarding the changing nature of the Eight Trigrams Formation.

With this, his mastery of the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist Art and its advanced techniques was essentially at a preliminary graduation level. What followed would be constant polishing and deepening.

As for Steel Fist, Neji's current physical weight load had reached 400kg. If Neji didn't use Chakra to assist his movements, he would basically sink into the mud with every step.

At this stage, Neji's Steel Fist training was still primarily aimed at tempering his body. As for so-called "techniques," Neji would only chuckle. In his view, "great strength creates miracles" and "the only way to be invincible in martial arts is speed" were the only truths.

When your strength is great enough and your speed is fast enough, everything else is just trash!