Shen Qing continued, "As I said, breathing is the pump. Stake Stance is the lock—the lock that keeps your Blood Energy sealed inside your body."
"By holding this severely contorted, tightly braced posture, you force the wild, scattered Blood Energy in your body deep into your Skin Membrane!"
"Only then can you forge a true Body Without Leak!"
"Come on. Follow my movements!"
Jiang Yue set down his water bottle, nodded, and walked to the center of the room. Copying Shen Qing, he bent his knees slightly and held his arms in a loose circle.
But once he tried the seemingly simple posture, Jiang Yue discovered how brutal it was.
The All-Rounder Stance demanded a degree of precision in the stretch of his spine, the backward tilt of his pelvis, and the points where his inward-turned knees exerted force that bordered on absurdity.
It went completely against the body's natural mechanics and skeletal structure.
It pushed deep stabilizing muscles he had never trained—muscles he had never even been aware of—to their limits.
He had been standing for less than three minutes.
"Hiss..."
Jiang Yue's brows drew tight, and his teeth ground together.
His powerful legs, strong enough to bend Special Alloy with a kick, began to shake uncontrollably.
His muscle fibers trembled like plucked strings. Agony ripped through his deep muscles as if thousands of steel needles had pierced them at once, sweeping along his nerves and through his entire body.
Thud!
By the fifth minute, Jiang Yue's core muscles had given out completely.
The balance he had fought to maintain collapsed. He fell heavily onto the hard Alloy floor with a muffled impact.
Sweat quickly pooled beneath him.
"Don't be discouraged."
Shen Qing eased out of his stance and offered some reassurance. "The All-Rounder Stance trains muscles and bones you can't see. There's no shortcut.
"When I was young, I soaked in Herbal Baths from childhood. Even so, my elders had to whip me with thorny vines for a full six months before I could barely keep my balance..."
"If there's no shortcut, I'll do it the hard way."
Jiang Yue paid no heed to Shen Qing's consolation. He pushed himself off the floor with one hand and wiped the cold sweat of pain from his forehead.
He raised his head. A frightening ruthlessness flashed in his dark eyes—the kind he showed others and showed himself even more.
If I don't have the monstrous talent to grasp the essence of the technique at a glance, I'll use the simplest method and carve this unnatural posture into every inch of my flesh and bone!
Stake Stance trained the structure of his muscles and bones and the flow of energy within him. He stood, drew a deep breath, and took up the All-Rounder Stance again.
If his posture shifted even slightly or the point where he exerted force drifted, tearing pain shot through his deep muscles to punish him.
Jiang Yue stood amid that raw physical agony, letting sweat pour down his body.
Again and again, his strength failed and he fell. Again and again, he rose without a trace of expression.
And through this hellish cycle of self-inflicted trial and error, the hidden advantage behind Jiang Yue's panel finally displayed its terrifying endurance.
On the first day, he fell more than three hundred times.
On the second, he fell more than a hundred.
Each day, Jiang Yue trained in the Extra Training Room until his deep muscles tore across large portions of his body. His legs swelled so badly he could no longer stand normally; he could only drag himself along.
Late at night, he dragged his battered body to his hard bed. Without any medication, he triggered [Calm Spirit] at once.
He plunged straight into an utterly deep sleep, directing every bit of his remaining energy to his damaged cells.
Within mere hours, those torn core muscles healed under the intense restoration, growing thicker and tougher than before.
Hundreds upon hundreds of failures. More than ten thousand restorations.
There was no trick to it, only grueling physical training.
For three full days, Jiang Yue shut himself inside the Extra Training Room, correcting his mistakes through this near-masochistic ordeal day and night.
On the morning of the fourth day.
Shen Qing pushed open the heavy metal door of Training Room C as usual, and his casual gaze froze.
In the center of the room.
Jiang Yue stood bare-chested, his eyes closed.
His knees were slightly bent, his arms held in a loose circle.
He was not shaking or gasping for breath.
He stood like an ancient bronze statue weathered by millions of years, rooted to the Alloy floor and steady as Mount Tai!
The faint morning light fell across his Skin Membrane. Shen Qing could distinctly sense a primeval beast lurking inside Jiang Yue, poised to pounce.
The heavy pressure radiating from his perfectly centered balance made even Shen Qing, standing in the doorway, feel an inexplicable stab of alarm.
"The stance... He's mastered it!"
Shen Qing swallowed hard and forced down the shock surging within him. His voice came out a little dry:
"You've kept your balance from breaking under that extreme strain. That means you've etched the stationary stance into your muscle memory."
"But that isn't enough. In a real fight, no one will stand still and let you hit them."
Shen Qing took a deep breath, his gaze sharpening again. "Next, you must train the Living Stance!"
"The Living Stance?"
Jiang Yue slowly opened his eyes. His chest rose and fell evenly as he exhaled a long stream of hot white vapor.
He slowly relaxed his posture, and a string of sharp cracks like popping beans burst from his bones.
"Exactly!"
Shen Qing stepped up to Jiang Yue and said gravely, "You must blend the All-Rounder Stance's unshakable center of gravity seamlessly into the evasive movements and footwork of Ancient Martial Arts."
"Even while moving and dodging at top speed, you must keep your balance steady and your Blood Energy contained! Only when you master the Living Stance can your Inch Power deliver its deadliest penetrating blows from any extreme position!"
Sincere admiration flashed in Shen Qing's eyes. "In such a short time, you've anchored your balance firmly in your lower body and kept your Blood Energy contained even under extreme tension."
"The stationary form of your Ancient Martial Arts stance—the [All-Rounder Stance]—has begun to take shape."
Jiang Yue did not reply. He knew how much concentration it took to maintain this state.
If he opened his mouth and let his breath escape, the stance would fall apart.
Shen Qing understood that, of course. He continued in a grave voice, "The essence of the All-Rounder Stance is 'Hold the origin, guard the one, and stand unshaken.'"
"It's the foundation, the gate that locks your surging Blood Energy inside. But you can't stand like a wooden post in an arena or on a battlefield and let others hit you."
"So once you've laid the foundation with the stationary stance, you must begin training the Living Stance."
Shen Qing lowered his body slightly, and his relaxed posture instantly grew firm. "The Living Stance in the Six Harmonies Method is called the [Roaming Dragon Stance].
"Its essence is 'motion and stillness in harmony, the real and the feint giving rise to each other.'"
"Simply put, even while moving and dodging at top speed—or throwing punches in a fight—you must retain the absolute balance of the All-Rounder Stance: 'Hold the origin and guard the one'!"
Before you continue