Embrace Origin, Guard Unity, Immovable

Shen Qing continued, "As I just said, breathing is a pump. And the stake stance is a lock—a lock that traps your qi and blood firmly inside your body."

"Through this extremely twisted, highly tense static posture, you forcibly compress the wild and scattered qi and blood deep into your skin membrane!"

"Only this way can you forge a true Body Without Leak!"

"Come, follow my movements!"

Jiang Yue put down his water bottle, nodded, and walked to the center of the training ground. He immediately mimicked Shen Qing's posture, bending his legs slightly and holding his arms as if embracing emptiness.

Yet, the moment he actually tried it, Jiang Yue realized the terror hidden in this seemingly simple stance.

The All-Rounder Stance's demands on spinal extension, pelvic tilt angle, and the inward-clamping force point of the knees were harsh to the point of being perverse.

It completely defied the human body's conventional physiological habits of exerting force and skeletal structure.

It was ruthlessly squeezing the deep, stable core muscle groups that were normally never trained—or even felt—in daily life.

He had only held the stance for less than three minutes.

"Hiss..."

Jiang Yue's brows twisted tightly together, his teeth grinding audibly.

His powerful thighs, strong enough to kick curved special alloy with a single blow, now uncontrollably began to shake violently.

Muscle fibers trembled like strings on a zither. A tearing pain, as if thousands of steel needles were simultaneously stabbing into his deep muscles, surged through his nerve endings and engulfed his entire body in an instant.

Thump!

By the fifth minute, Jiang Yue's core muscles had completely given out.

The center of gravity he had forcibly maintained collapsed with a roar. He lost his balance entirely and slammed heavily onto the hard alloy floor, producing a dull thud.

Sweat immediately pooled into a puddle on the ground.

"Don't lose heart."

Shen Qing slowly withdrew from his stance and offered words of comfort from the side. "The All-Rounder Stance trains the hidden sinews and bones. There's no shortcut.

Back when I was young, I soaked in herbal baths to nourish my body, and my elders still whipped me with thorny vines for a full six months before I could barely stabilize my center of gravity..."

"No shortcut, then I'll use the stupidest method."

Jiang Yue didn't listen to Shen Qing's consolation. He pushed himself up from the ground with one hand and wiped away the cold sweat seeping from his forehead due to the excruciating pain.

He lifted his head, and in the depths of his dark eyes flashed a terrifying ruthlessness—one that was harsh on others, but even harsher on himself.

Since he lacked the heaven-defying comprehension to grasp the essence of force exertion with a single glance, he would use the simplest way to carve this anti-human posture into every inch of his bones and flesh!

The stake stance was all about training one's own skeletal structure and internal qi flow. He stood up again, took a deep breath, and once more assumed the All-Rounder Stance.

If his posture deviated even slightly, or if the force point shifted, his deep muscles would immediately punish him with a tearing pain.

Jiang Yue stood amidst this pure physical agony, letting sweat cascade down his body like a waterfall.

Time and again, he collapsed from exhaustion; time and again, he rose expressionlessly.

And within this hellish, self-torturing trial-and-error process, the hidden trump card beneath Jiang Yue's panel finally revealed its terrifying endurance.

On the first day, he fell over three hundred times.

On the second day, he fell over a hundred times.

Each day, Jiang Yue trained in the Extra Training Room until his deep muscles were extensively torn, his legs so swollen he couldn't even stand normally, dragging himself along just to move.

And each night, he dragged his battered body onto the hard board bed. Without any need for medicinal aid, he instantly triggered the [Calm Spirit] trait.

He fell into an absolute deep sleep in seconds, transferring one hundred percent of his remaining energy to the damaged cells.

In just a few hours, those torn core muscles healed under extreme repair, growing thicker and tougher.

A thousand collapses, ten thousand reconstructions.

No skill involved—pure physical asceticism.

For three whole days, Jiang Yue shut himself in the Extra Training Room day and night, engaging in this near-masochistic, frantic correction.

On the morning of the fourth day.

When Shen Qing, as usual, pushed open the heavy metal door of the C-grade Extra Training Room, his casual gaze instantly froze.

In the center of the training room.

Jiang Yue stood bare-chested, eyes closed.

His legs were slightly bent, his arms held as if embracing emptiness.

No shaking. No heavy panting.

He stood like an ancient bronze statue that had weathered millennia of erosion, rooted to the alloy floor—steady as Mount Tai!

The faint morning light struck his skin membrane, and Shen Qing could clearly sense that within Jiang Yue's body, a primordial beast seemed to be lurking, ready to pounce.

The heavy pressure radiating from his utterly condensed center of gravity even made Shen Qing, standing at the doorway, feel an inexplicable palpitation.

"The stake stance... is complete!"

Shen Qing swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the overwhelming shock churning in his chest, and spoke with a somewhat dry voice.

"You've managed to keep your center of gravity stable under this extreme muscular compression, which means the static, dead stake has been thoroughly branded into your muscle memory."

"But that's not enough. In real combat, no one's going to stand still and let you hit them."

Shen Qing took a deep breath, his gaze sharpening once more. "Next, you have to train the 'Living Stance'!"

"Living Stance?"

Jiang Yue slowly opened his eyes, his chest rising and falling steadily as he exhaled a scorching, drawn-out breath of white vapor.

He gradually withdrew his posture, and a series of crisp cracks, like popping beans, burst from his bones.

"Right!"

Shen Qing walked up to Jiang Yue and said in a low voice, "Perfectly integrate the unshakable center of gravity of the All-Rounder Stance into the dodges and footwork of Ancient Martial Arts."

"You need to achieve this: during extreme high-speed movement, your center of gravity doesn't scatter, and your qi and blood don't leak! Only when you've mastered the Living Stance can your Inch Power deliver the deadliest penetrating damage from any extreme position!"

A glint of genuine admiration flashed in Shen Qing's eyes. "To have pressed your center of gravity firmly into your lower body in such a short time, letting your qi and blood condense inward without dispersing under extreme tension—"

"This dead stake of your Ancient Martial Arts, the [All-Rounder Stance], has taken its initial form."

Jiang Yue didn't reply. He knew well how much mental energy it took to maintain this state.

Opening his mouth to speak would release his breath, and the stake stance would collapse.

Shen Qing naturally understood this, and he continued in a deep voice, "The essence of the All-Rounder Stance lies in 'embracing the origin, guarding the one, standing unmoved like a mountain.'"

"It's the foundation, the gate that locks in your surging qi and blood. But you can't stand on a platform or battlefield like a wooden post, waiting for someone to hit you."

"So, once the foundation of the dead stake is laid, you must begin training the Living Stance."

Shen Qing's body sank slightly, and his casual posture instantly turned heavy. "The Living Stance within the Six Harmonies Method is called the [Roaming Dragon Stance]."

"Its essence lies in 'balancing motion and stillness, interweaving the real and the illusory.'"

"In simple terms, it demands that during extreme high-speed movement, dodging, and even striking in combat, you still maintain the absolute center of gravity of the All-Rounder Stance—that 'embracing the origin, guarding the one'!"