Breathing Stance

Lu Cheng let out a long breath and slowly withdrew from his stance.

Before opening his eyes, his consciousness swept through his Consciousness Sea.

[Twelve Forms of the Black Hawk Stance]

[Grade: Low-Grade Human Tier]

[Realm: Minor Achievement (1/300)]

The Mystic Eagle Stance Technique had reached Minor Achievement.

Early Stage of Strength Refining!

Nine days—one day earlier than expected.

Lu Cheng slowly opened his eyes, feeling the various changes coursing through his body. A flicker of joy flashed through his gaze.

He lightly drew in a breath, swayed his waist and back with force, and strength began spreading from his body's core toward his limbs.

Downward, it passed through his waist and hips into his thighs, then traveled to his calves.

Upward, it surged along his arms and poured into all ten fingers.

As the strength traveled, the muscles throughout his body rapidly trembled several times as well.

More than half the beads of sweat covering his skin were instantly shaken away.

"What incredible control."

His physical strength had not increased by much, yet the Lu Cheng of now and the Lu Cheng of nine days ago were as far apart as heaven and earth.

His current body gave him a sense of control that far surpassed anything before.

If he encountered that Young Gang Leader and Shi Da again, even without an iron fork in hand, he could easily kill them both.

Time to test his fists and feet!

Lu Cheng pushed off hard with his feet, and his body shot forward.

With a whoosh, he crossed a distance of over fifteen feet and flashed before a wooden dummy.

He then inhaled and gathered strength, slapping out a palm like lightning.

Boom!

The wooden post did not budge.

Yet the sound it made was no longer the crisp crackle of flesh striking wood.

Instead, it was deep and profound, like a stone dropping into a secluded spring.

The wooden post seemed to have become hollow, while the force transformed into a flying stone that collided and echoed within it.

Only after the sound gradually weakened and faded did the wooden post let out a hum and begin trembling.

Such a reaction meant that the force of Lu Cheng's palm strike had not landed on the surface, but had penetrated entirely inside.

If it struck a person, their exterior would remain unmarked, while their tendons, bones, and internal organs suffered grievous damage.

What formidable force transmission.

What a fine Early Stage of Strength Refining.

He looked around. Most people had already gone to eat lunch.

Only a handful of disciples remained on the training ground.

Once he confirmed that no one was paying attention to him, Lu Cheng calmed his mind and steadied his breathing. He extended his right hand in an eight-shaped palm and slowly reached toward the wooden post.

When his hand was less than three inches from the post, he suddenly changed his palm into a claw. Strength erupted throughout his body and gathered at his five fingers.

Crack!

The wooden post beneath his claw gave a crisp sound. Lu Cheng tore off a chunk of wood from the bowl-thick post with a single claw strike.

Looking at the broken post, Lu Cheng tossed away the splinter with satisfaction and headed toward the dining hall.

During the past few days in Feng Zhan's courtyard, he had either practiced active exercises such as gripping jars and swinging sandbags.

Or he had practiced still exercises, such as the direction and trajectory of his attacks, as well as the force and breath involved in changing his hand into a claw.

This was Lu Cheng's first time using the Seven Strikes of the Black Hawk in actual combat.

The results were truly not bad.

If that claw strike landed on someone's chest, it would surely leave their guts spilling and belly torn open.

"Hey, who has nothing better to do than gouge out a wooden dummy?"

"Isn't this pure nonsense? How are people supposed to train with it now?"

Behind him, passing disciples saw the palm-sized gouge Lu Cheng had clawed from the wooden dummy and complained indignantly.

They looked at Lu Cheng, who had not gone far, then looked at the wooden dummy. Shaking their heads, they found their fleeting suspicion just now ridiculous.

That afternoon, Lu Cheng returned to the training ground and continued practicing.

Reaching Minor Achievement in the Mystic Eagle Stance did not make Lu Cheng slack off in the slightest.

On the contrary, since he needed to set aside time to practice the Seven Strikes of the Black Hawk, he would have to seize every moment from now on.

After witnessing the might of the Seven Strikes of the Black Hawk, Lu Cheng's thoughts became more ambitious.

For now, staying alive truly no longer seemed to be a problem.

But if survival was all he sought, that would be far too lacking in aspiration.

Apart from the precious quota that already belonged to the Long Wind Escort Agency,

Lu Cheng also coveted those vast resources immensely.

Shen Yi had only said that three people would be sent out to compete. He had never said one person could not defeat all three in a row.

Therefore, within three months, he had to reach the Late Stage of Strength Refining.

And bring the Seven Strikes of the Black Hawk to Minor Achievement!

There could not be the slightest compromise on this goal.

Train!

After reaching Minor Achievement in Stance Training, he needed to add the three Breathing Stances to his practice.

Lu Cheng slightly closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into his Consciousness Sea.

The pillar of light marked [Heavenly Mandate] stood in the depths of his Consciousness Sea as usual.

Its dark golden glow was still as water, without the flickering brightness and dimness it displayed when deducing martial arts.

Yet it carried another kind of mysterious, boundless aura.

Within the pillar stood two black silhouettes, side by side, one on the left and one on the right, practicing different martial arts.

The silhouette on the left practiced Stance Training, its posture steady as a mountain.

The one on the right leaped, shifted, and flipped, claw shadows flying everywhere.

Lu Cheng locked his consciousness onto the [Twelve Forms of the Black Hawk Stance].

In an instant, the scene before him abruptly changed.

The silhouette on the right rapidly shrank like a receding tide and faded into the distance.

In the blink of an eye, it became a blurry black dot far away.

Meanwhile, the figure practicing Stance Training on the left suddenly zoomed closer, filling Lu Cheng's entire field of vision.

Every subtle change in the figure's joints and muscles was visible down to the finest detail, as though it stood only three feet before Lu Cheng.

Every movement of the figure was utterly perfect. Compared to it, Lu Cheng could clearly feel the gap between them.

However, compared to when he had first begun training, he had already improved greatly.

At a thought from Lu Cheng, the Stance Training figure immediately changed.

The practice motions discarded the other nine forms, leaving behind only the three Breathing Stances.

As the figure practiced, its limbs and torso no longer bent, stretched, rose, and fell in large movements.

Instead, its body made only small, forceful tremors along with the subtle expansion and contraction of its chest and abdomen.

"Hng," "ha," "hum," and "sss" sounds of expelled breath continuously emerged from its mouth and nose.

Lu Cheng assumed the same stance as the figure.

His feet stood apart, his shoulders sank, and his elbows dropped.

His entire body was as still as an ancient pine.

The figure's chest slowly expanded.

Lu Cheng also drew in a deep breath with a whoosh.

The breath slowly entered through his mouth and nose.

It passed through his throat and reached his chest.

Then it sank all the way into his dantian.

Throughout the process, the organs and meridians along its path were stirred accordingly.

Only when his lower abdomen slightly swelled under the natural infusion of breath did Lu Cheng stop inhaling.

Afterward, the figure clenched its teeth, pressed its tongue against its upper palate, and slightly parted its lips.

As a faint "sss" of exhalation sounded,

its chest began slowly deflating.

Lu Cheng exhaled as well.

The breath rose from his dantian, passed through his chest and throat, and slowly left through his nose.

The organs and meridians within his body underwent another kind of tempering.

Between each inhalation and exhalation, Lu Cheng could feel all kinds of subtle changes within himself.

It was not deliberate exertion.

Rather, his breath guided his body's natural opening and closing.

This was the mystery of the Breathing Stance.

Use breath to guide qi, use qi to draw strength, use strength to refine force.

The figure continuously repeated the three forms.

After following it through the forms three times, Lu Cheng felt a warm current slowly spread from his dantian, flowing along his meridians through his organs and into his limbs.

It was unlike the soreness and swelling from practicing the first six forms of Stance Training, nor was it like the fierce might of claw techniques.

It was instead a nourishment that moistened all things in silence.

Understanding immediately dawned on Lu Cheng.

This was the method of refining strength in the middle stage of the Force Refining Realm.

The human body's internal organs and meridians were frail. They could not be treated as crudely and domineeringly as the limbs, waist, and back.

Using breath to guide strength and slowly temper them was the proper path.

Lu Cheng grew more and more proficient. With each round of practice, his proficiency slowly rose.

[Twelve Forms of the Black Hawk Stance]

[Realm: Minor Achievement (3/300)]

[Twelve Forms of the Black Hawk Stance]

[Realm: Minor Achievement (5/300)]

[Realm: Minor Achievement (11/300)]

Two hours later, the sun began slanting westward, tinged red.

Lu Cheng withdrew his stance and rose.

After two hours of practice that afternoon, he had gained only ten points of proficiency.

Yet Lu Cheng was not anxious.

For one thing, the Breathing Stances were considerably more difficult than the first six forms.

For another, Lu Cheng had only just begun practicing them.

He believed that once he corrected every flaw and omission, his progress would speed up greatly.

Lu Cheng opened his eyes and shook away the sweat.

Only then did he realize that quite a few people had vanished from the training ground.

Especially around him.

Astonishingly, only Thin Bamboo Pole and Hu Er remained.

Something was off.

It was not even time to eat yet. Why had everyone disappeared?

And Fatty Liu Guicai, as well as the brothers Hu Liang and Hu Guang.

An entire afternoon had passed, yet they had never appeared.