Mastering the Passive Skill: Skillful Force!

Ye Xiao stared at the old man, only half understanding what he meant.

Just then,

the old man walked up to Ye Xiao and stopped in front of a training post.

He raised his right hand, made a simple fist, and lightly tapped the post in front of him.

The next moment,

the entire training post exploded!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The noise was so loud

that it carried all the way to the third floor of the Gravity Training Tower!

It caught the attention of countless students who were training.

The old man, meanwhile, acted as though nothing had happened.

He said, "This training post isn't very sturdy. Go get another one to practice on."

With that,

the old man left.

Ye Xiao was left standing there alone, dumbfounded.

What had he just seen?

An old man had simply clenched his right hand into a fist and lightly tapped the training post.

There had been almost no visible sign of him exerting any force.

And yet the training post had blown apart?

Ye Xiao was stunned.

He knew

because he'd tried his hand at punching a training post himself!

He knew firsthand just how sturdy the things were!

When Ye Xiao punched one, it didn't even wobble!

But the old man had barely touched it,

and the thing had blown to pieces!

"That's not a problem with the post's quality! He's clearly some kind of hidden master!" Ye Xiao muttered frantically to himself.

He watched the old man's retreating figure as he returned to the area outside the entrance.

Ye Xiao himself gradually calmed down.

He closed his eyes and began thinking through every moment of the old man's punch.

He replayed every image, every detail, every movement, every angle... in his mind.

Five minutes later,

Ye Xiao opened his eyes, a sharp, confident gleam in them!

He threw a punch at the training post. It swayed slightly.

But it swayed more than it had before.

And

Ye Xiao had used much less strength, yet the result was remarkable!

[You completed a punch. Force of this punch: 25%!]

[Realm advancement failed.]

"Not bad!"

A smile appeared at the corner of Ye Xiao's mouth.

At the same time,

outside the entrance to the Gravity Training Tower,

the old man suddenly remarked,

"Bright boy. He learns quickly."

Ye Xiao kept pondering every movement the old man had made when he punched.

At the same time, he thought about how he could make use of this "Skillful Force."

Time flew by.

Ye Xiao kept practicing how to punch using "Skillful Force."

More shallow dents appeared on the training post, and some even had blood seeping out of them.

Ye Xiao's fists were already soaked with sweat and blood.

Every punch he threw landed with a dull thud.

It was pure brute force—his punches were fierce, but seven or eight tenths of the force was wasted in the recoil. Less than three tenths actually reached the post.

"No. This isn't right."

He stopped to catch his breath and looked at his swollen knuckles.

"Still not right!"

"I'm always just a little off!"

"Again!"

He knew he was just forcing it.

A true Martial Path expert could throw a punch with force that pierced like a needle into cotton, leaving the surface untouched while shattering everything within.

But he couldn't do that.

Every time he punched, the force was like water splashed out of a bucket, scattering everywhere.

But Ye Xiao didn't lose heart.

He firmly believed that he could do it.

Ye Xiao closed his eyes and recalled the path of each punch he'd thrown.

Power started from the soles of his feet, twisted his waist, turned his hips, drove his shoulder, then extended into his fist... Each stage consumed energy.

It was like a leaky pipe. By the time the water reached the end, barely any remained.

By contrast, the old man's punch had barely involved any big movements.

Yet the efficiency with which he transferred the power of his body far surpassed anything Ye Xiao could imagine!

He began to slow down his movements.

He wasn't throwing punches. He was feeling.

Feeling the power rise from the soles of his feet and travel upward, one bone at a time.

His ankles, knees, lumbar spine, spine, shoulder blades... Every joint was a checkpoint where power was diminished, deflected, and dispersed.

"If..." he murmured to himself, "if I could make these joints into channels instead of checkpoints?"

He took up his stance again.

This time, he stopped pursuing speed and power. Instead, he focused on "flow."

He let the force move like water, starting at his feet and passing through every joint without resistance or obstruction, flowing naturally onward.

His first punch was still scattered.

His second was a little better.

His third—

Smack!

The sound was different!

It wasn't the dull impact he was used to. It was a crisp, brief sound, like the crack of a whip.

He froze.

The surface of the post was undamaged, but a fist-sized dent had appeared in the wall behind it.

The force had penetrated through.

He lowered his gaze to his fist. There wasn't even a red mark on his knuckles.

"So this is... Skillful Force."

Only then did he understand. True strength wasn't about how much force you could unleash, but how much of it you could send where it needed to go.

[Ding!]

[You completed a punch. Force of this punch: 45%!]

[You gained 3 Martial Value!]

[Your realm has advanced!]

[Current realm: Mud Embryo Realm, Level 26!]

[Current realm: Mud Embryo Realm, Level 27!]

[Current realm: Mud Embryo Realm, Level 28!]

"It's here! Three consecutive leaps in realm!"

Ye Xiao was drenched in sweat, and the backs of his hands were covered in a mixture of sweat and blood.

His body ached terribly.

But he couldn't suppress the thrill coursing through him!

After nearly an hour of hard training,

the moment he successfully mastered "Skillful Force,"

Ye Xiao felt that every bit of effort had been worth it!

[Ding!]

[Congratulations! You have successfully mastered the passive skill: Skillful Force!]

[Skillful Force (Passive): When you throw a punch, the strength you need to exert is reduced!]

That wasn't all.

Ye Xiao had also gained a passive skill!

It was his first passive skill, too!

The arrival

of "Skillful Force"

would undoubtedly greatly accelerate Ye Xiao's rate of realm advancement!

Ye Xiao had only grasped the basics of "Skillful Force."

Next, he needed to keep practicing it and improve its effects even further.

"A genius!"

The old man was outside the Gravity Training Tower.

He glanced at the time. Only an hour had passed.

He had only given Ye Xiao a little guidance,

yet Ye Xiao had already fully grasped how to use "Skillful Force."

"It's a pity he's a Martialist, the weakest profession of all."

"With talent like that, if he'd chosen any other profession, he could become a Transcendentalist someday!"

"But he just had to be a Martialist!"

The old man let out a long sigh, deeply regretful.

Meanwhile,

Ye Xiao was completely caught up in his rapidly advancing realm!

He threw a punch, using up two-tenths of his strength.

[Realm +3!]

"Looks like I can cut down the amount of strength I use even more."

He threw another punch, using up one-tenth of his strength.

[Realm +3!]

"It feels like I've entered power-saving mode." Ye Xiao's lips curved slightly upward. "As long as I meet the conditions for advancing, there's no need to waste too much of my strength."

"It seems that learning to use my strength as efficiently as possible is something I'll have to keep practicing, too."

Then he threw another punch, using up 0.9 tenths of his strength.

[Realm advancement failed!]

He threw another punch, using up one-tenth of his strength.

[Realm +3!]

After gradually feeling his way through it, Ye Xiao finally found the threshold.