The Correct Way to Use Foundation Establishment Fist

Chapter 50: The Correct Way to Use Foundation Establishment Fist

Song Shuhang nodded seriously and reopened the second image of the Vajra Foundation Fist, first committing its contents firmly to memory.

Then he watched it again, effortlessly immersing himself in the world of the Vajra Foundation Fist.

It was the same emerald grassland, the same muscular man, and the same repeated display of the Vajra Foundation Fist. The only difference was that the fist technique being performed had changed.

Song Shuhang watched with his blood boiling, wishing he could immediately spread out his stance and perform the fist and foot techniques shown above!

The special space formed by hypnosis seemed to last a long time, but in reality, each session only lasted about one or two minutes.

Medicine Master had given Song Shuhang a time limit of two hours. Song Shuhang had used only a little over an hour to experience the remaining seventeen forms of the Vajra Foundation Fist, as well as the True Self Meditation Scripture, and commit all their contents to memory.

He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples vigorously. This little over an hour made him feel even more exhausted than when he had spent four hours refining the Body Tempering Liquid. His head felt swollen.

Medicine Master asked, "Finished watching?"

"Finished. Shall we find somewhere to try it out?" Song Shuhang opened his eyes and said excitedly. Although his mind was somewhat fatigued, merely recalling the Vajra Foundation Fist made him itch to try it immediately.

"Let's go to the grass below. It's spacious there, so you can move your arms and legs freely." Medicine Master pointed at the grass not far from the men's dormitory.

"Practice the fist technique in a public place? What if someone secretly learns it?" Song Shuhang asked doubtfully. Medicine Master had previously said that secretly teaching cultivation techniques was forbidden. If someone learned the technique and it was treated as though he had taught it, wouldn't he suffer a huge injustice?

More importantly, practicing fists on a grass field where people constantly came and went was embarrassing.

Even if he was practicing an authentic cultivator's Foundation Establishment martial art, the students of Jiangnan University Town didn't know that.

In their eyes, Song Shuhang had definitely watched too many wuxia movies, gone mad, and was practicing martial arts on the lawn.

"Haha, if a fist technique used for Foundation Establishment could be learned just by watching its forms, then why would it need cultivation formulas? Do you think that string of words beside the technique is really only there to hypnotize you? That is the true secret that cannot be passed on." Medicine Master laughed.

"I still think it would be better to find somewhere more private. There's a large open space on the roof of our dormitory building, and hardly anyone ever goes up there." Song Shuhang felt he still had to make one more attempt.

"You're quite demanding for a young fellow." Medicine Master was very casual about it. "Fine, then let's go to your rooftop."

Song Shuhang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He had escaped a disaster and no longer had to perform an embarrassing show in front of everyone.

The rooftop was a wonderful place. Flirting with girls, getting intimate with boys, and watching meteor showers—it had once brought many couples together in Jiangnan University Town.

Unfortunately, too many people had recently taken a liking to rooftops. Many of them enjoyed imitating the protagonists of Titanic, spreading their arms outside the rooftop railing and savoring the wind rushing against their faces. Perhaps they enjoyed it too much, because people often ended up accidentally leaping from the rooftop...

Therefore, for safety's sake, a large padlock had been added to the rooftop of the men's dormitory.

Of course, that padlock was no challenge to Song Shuhang.

He calmly took a spare key from his pocket and opened the padlock. When the dormitory management teacher had needed the lock purchased at the start of the school year, he had asked Song Shuhang's roommate Tubo to help buy it. Given Tubo's personality, how could he possibly not have had several spare keys made while he was at it? Every roommate had one.

The rooftop was divided down the middle by the stairwell, so Song Shuhang and Medicine Master casually chose the left side.

Medicine Master began explaining to Shuhang, "The Vajra Foundation Fist has eighteen moves in total. Normally, once you complete the entire set from beginning to end, your Blood Qi will become abundant until it is overflowing. Then, you can sit in meditation and circulate the True Self Meditation Scripture, refining the Blood Qi and storing it in your heart aperture."

Shuhang nodded and closed his eyes, mentally meditating through all eighteen moves of the Vajra Foundation Fist from beginning to end.

Then, he assumed the starting stance of Foundation Fist One.

It had to be said that the fatigue-inducing bombardment of instruction in the illusion space had been highly effective. At this moment, whenever Song Shuhang assumed the starting stance of the Vajra Foundation Fist, a sense of familiarity surged into his heart, as though he had practiced this fist technique countless times. His body naturally began to move, and the three forms of the first move flowed out as smoothly as floating clouds and flowing water.

It was very easy, with barely any difficulty. After being purified by the Body Tempering Liquid, Song Shuhang's physical flexibility was comparable to that of a yoga master. Even bending his head backward and threading it out through his crotch would have been no problem. The movements of the Vajra Foundation Fist could not trouble him at all.

He smoothly completed everything from "Foundation Fist One" through "Foundation Fist Eighteen." It was so easy that it felt like he had merely done a round of broadcast exercises.

However, strangely enough, after finishing the entire fist routine, he had not felt anything called Blood Qi at all. He certainly hadn't felt it overflow.

What was going on? Song Shuhang was puzzled and looked toward Medicine Master.

Seeing Song Shuhang staring at him, Medicine Master asked, "What is it?"

"Senior Medicine Master, I finished an entire fist routine, but I didn't feel any Blood Qi!" Song Shuhang said gloomily.

"You finished an entire fist routine? When? Why didn't I see it?" Medicine Master's eyes widened.

"Senior, were you distracted?" Song Shuhang said. "Didn't I just go from 'Foundation Fist One' all the way to 'Foundation Fist Eighteen'?"

"..." Medicine Master said, "Weren't you just familiarizing yourself with the forms of the Vajra Foundation Fist? Then, before practicing, you were going to familiarize yourself with the moves?"

"No. I seriously completed the Vajra Foundation Fist from beginning to end just now." Song Shuhang answered seriously.

Could Senior Medicine Master secretly be a black-bellied person?

Medicine Master's face twitched, and then he burst into loud laughter. "Little Friend Shuhang, a cultivator's Foundation Establishment body-tempering method isn't as simple as arranging a fancy-looking routine. Didn't I tell you before? Even if someone learns the fancy forms, they won't have any effect. The most important thing is the fist formula!"

After laughing, Medicine Master explained, "Try again. Don't only focus on putting on a fancy display. You need to softly recite the fist scripture formula and adjust your breathing along with it. Use your strength when throwing your punches! Don't look like some weak little girl. Perform it from beginning to end once more!"

So he had been using the wrong method just now? No wonder the Vajra Foundation Fist had felt so ordinary, like broadcast exercises.

Also, could Senior Medicine Master be naturally black-bellied? Had he watched him practice the fist forms like a monkey show without saying a word to remind him?

Shaking his head, Song Shuhang mentally meditated through the Vajra Foundation Fist once again.

Immediately afterward, he began silently reciting the extremely profound classical Chinese fist scripture formula. When he threw his punches, he no longer focused only on the forms. Instead, he recalled the force with which the blurry-faced man had thrown his punches.

In the illusory world, when the blurry-faced man performed the three forms of Foundation Fist One, he could be incomparably fierce and forge bravely ahead; he could also combine hardness and softness, exerting seven parts strength while retaining three, making his fists travel in curves while seeking straightness within those curves.

Song Shuhang needed to temper his body now, so he naturally had to unleash his full strength with every punch and every form, squeezing out his body's potential in order to achieve the effect of body tempering.

The three forms of a move from Foundation Fist One unfolded in his hands once more.

"Let the eyes be the guiding principle; all movement and stillness stem from the waist... The body is a bow; the feet release force... The fist moves like a mountain collapsing."

His eyes fixed on the front, his feet stepped out, and his waist exerted force. As Foundation Fist One circulated, his fist shot out like a cannon, carrying immense power and crushing momentum.

His fist struck!

With a hum, Song Shuhang felt the booming sound of a great bronze bell ringing beside his ears.

As he continuously recited the fist scripture formula, an invisible and intangible energy that nevertheless truly existed seemed to gather from the world around him. That force pressed heavily against his body, wrapping around the fist he had thrown.

When this punch struck out, Song Shuhang felt as though even the air before him had been blasted apart.

At the same time, his body grew hot. The muscles in his shoulders, waist, and feet began to throb faintly with soreness. It was as though the punch he had just thrown had not been a single punch at all, but the result of performing Foundation Fist One hundreds or even thousands of times in succession!