Stake Standing

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Stake Standing
Original Name	桩功
Alias(es)	Stake techniques; stance techniques 7 55 56
Type	Martial cultivation methods, distinct from combat-oriented martial techniques 7
Occupation/Role	Building qi and blood, tempering the body, and establishing a foundation for martial advancement 7 55
Known Practitioner	Li Jinshui 1 2
Foundational Method	Basic Stance Technique 1 7
First Appearance	Chapter 1 1

Power Progression

The following milestones document Li Jinshui’s cultivation of Stake Standing. Stage terminology varies in the supplied passages; the later “Proficient” milestone is explicitly associated with becoming a Second-rate Martial Artist 11 31.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Basic Stance Technique — Not Initiated, 84/100	2	Practicing during a brawl accelerates his progress; a flying plastic stool leg strikes him while he maintains his stance.
Basic Stance Technique — Not Initiated, 90/100	3	Gains six proficiency points while enduring attacks. Accelerated growth stops when the danger disappears.
Basic Stance Technique — Initiation	6	Reaches 100 proficiency in the guard booth. The breakthrough fills his weakened body with abundant qi and blood.
Basic Stance Technique — Proficient, 0/300	11	Exotic beast meat fills the previous 200-point bar. Opens eighteen key acupoints on the Ren Meridian.
Basic Stance Technique — Minor Mastery, 0/500	15	A D-Grade Supplement Potion drives the breakthrough. Opens the Du Meridian and connects it with the Ren Meridian, forming the Small Heavenly Circuit; the panel identifies him as Third-rate.
Basic Stance Technique — Later “Proficient” stage; Second-rate Martial Artist	31	Six meridians open together after four days consuming sixteen jin of E-Class exotic beast meat.
Basic Stance Technique — Great Success, 90/2000	34	The first nine catties of D-Grade beast meat reach the stage; another three add ninety points. Six of the Twelve Standard Meridians are open.
Basic Stance Technique — Perfection; First-rate Martial Artist	35	Opens all Twelve Standard Meridians and connects them with the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. The panel displays a further 0/1 requirement.
Basic Stance Technique — Extreme: Deduction	35	Completes the additional proficiency point and obtains four graded stake methods derived from beast meat he has consumed.
Iron-Skin Stake — Minor Accomplishment, 0/5	35	Surges through three stages using his already-cleared meridians and abundant blood energy. The rapid transformation causes painful skin shedding.
Iron-Skin Stake — Proficiency	36	After direct blood-energy infusion stops producing progress, ten catties of Iron-Skin Beast meat per day add one point; reaches the next stage in five days.
Iron-Skin Stake — Perfection; Flawless Realm	36	Reaches perfection over the month. The panel identifies him as a First-rate Martial Artist in the Flawless Realm.
Iron-Skin Stake — Extreme: Copper Skin	36	Consumes another twenty catties of corresponding beast meat after perfection, unlocking Copper Skin.
Hundred-Tendon Stake — Initiated, 0/2	56	Thirty percent of his qi and blood is insufficient. Using his full reserves to temper all 485 major tendons initiates the technique and leaves him exhausted.
Hundred-Tendon Stake — Proficient, 0/3	56	Corresponding beast meat advances the technique. His physical strength increases by at least a thousand jin, with a noticeable speed increase.
Poison-Flesh Stake — Initiation and Proficiency	56	Trains with corresponding beast meat. His body temporarily turns green, then the coloration recedes beneath his skin.
Blood-Spike Stake — Beginner / Entry	57	Consuming two jin of Blood-Spike Worm meat nearly doubles his qi and blood, but causes internal injuries and uncontrollable blood spikes.
Hundred-Tendon Stake and Poison-Flesh Stake — Perfection	57	Perfects both in eight days. His physical force exceeds a thousand jun, although the panel still displays First-rate Martial Artist (Flawless Realm).
Hundred-Tendon Stake — Extreme: Power Storage	58	Unlocks a trait that appears capable of active use; he postpones testing it.
Poison-Flesh Stake — Extreme: Immune to a Hundred Poisons	58	Unlocks a passive poison-immunity trait.

Cultivation Mechanics

Stance, Breathing, and Circulation

• Stake Standing combines a stationary posture with controlled breathing and repeated qi-and-blood circulation 1 11.
• Li Jinshui’s basic posture includes sinking his legs, lowering his waist, and tightening his abdomen 2.
• Unlike martial skills, which coordinate circulation with changing movements, quiet techniques can be practiced by remaining still and repeatedly circulating energy 11.
• Minor Mastery of the Basic Stance Technique establishes an internal circulation that continuously generates fresh blood energy, greatly improving sustained martial-skill use 15.
• Cultivation level directly affects blood-energy quality and strength, but blood-energy test results need not match the realm displayed by Heaven Rewards Diligence: Li scores 508, assessed as Second-rate, while his panel still identifies him as Third-rate 15.

Conventional Advancement

• Most practitioners stop the Basic Stance Technique at Minor Mastery, establish a Third-rate foundation, and redirect their resources toward graded methods 7 30.
• A Ninth-Grade stake technique at proficiency provides a route to Second-rate cultivation. At the same rank, its blood-qi value exceeds that of a practitioner relying on the basic method 30.
• Later stages become increasingly costly. Ordinary cultivation may require decades of practice or substantial quantities of dietary and medicinal supplements 7.
• For a First-rate martial artist, completing four additional Ninth-Grade methods, two Eighth-Grade methods, or one Seventh-Grade method offers a chance of reaching the Thousand-Jun Realm 55.
• Completion alone does not guarantee thousand-jun strength. Poor bone structure or comprehension can leave a practitioner behind a “martial arts bottleneck,” also called a “genetic lock”; an extremely expensive genetic serum can forcibly open it 55.
• Huang Lichen advises Li to cultivate Ninth-Grade methods first, warning that Eighth-Grade methods normally belong to Thousand-Jun cultivation and that Seventh-Grade methods are unsuitable for his current level 55.

Heaven Rewards Diligence

These accelerated effects are documented for Li Jinshui’s panel, rather than established as ordinary Stake Standing practice.

• Dangerous environments: His initial routine produces two points per ten-hour day. Nearby fighting and direct attacks sharply increase that rate 2 3.
• Weak Devouring the Strong: Consuming exotic beast meat while standing grants proficiency. Iron-Skin Beast meat stops triggering this effect after the Basic Stance Technique reaches its earlier Proficient stage 11 12.
• Gathering Spirit from the Mundane: A D-Grade Supplement Potion grants ten-point increments until Minor Mastery. Its remaining energy no longer advances that stance technique, although it can still improve his Basic Lightness Skill 14 15.
• Extreme Realm traits: Advancement beyond perfection produces additional effects, including Deduction, Copper Skin, Power Storage, and poison immunity 35 36 58.
• Tailored methods: The deduced stake techniques match Li’s circumstances, but require unusually large blood-energy reserves. Their accessibility to ordinary practitioners is doubtful 36 56.

Types of Stake Standing

Advanced stake methods fall into five core categories 55.

Category	Primary Function
Sinews / Tendons	Greatly increases physical force by strengthening tendons 55.
Bones	Greatly increases physical force through bone cultivation 55.
Skin	Emphasizes surface defense and resistance to blows 55.
Blood	Directly replenishes qi and blood 55.
Flesh	Improves both physical force and defense, but specializes less strongly than tendon, bone, or skin methods 55.

Known Techniques

Basic Stance Technique

• An unranked foundational method, used for enlightenment and preparation before graded martial cultivation 7.
• Its complete edition contains six volumes: Entry, Proficient, Minor Mastery, Mastery, Great Mastery, and Perfection 7.
• Li’s Extreme Realm version gains Deduction, generating complete graded training methods from the essence of exotic beast meat he has eaten 35.
• His suggestion that higher-grade meat could yield First-Grade methods remains speculation in the supplied passages 35.

Iron-Skin Stake

• Grade: Ninth 35.
• Source: Iron-Skin Beast meat 35.
• Tempers skin and membranes without increasing blood-energy volume 36.
• Perfection produces Iron Skin capable of deflecting ordinary bullets; its Extreme Realm trait is Copper Skin 36.
• Rapid early advancement makes Li shed his skin and nearly lose consciousness from pain 35 36.

Hundred-Tendon Stake

• Grade: Eighth 35.
• Source: Hundred-Tendon Rat meat 35.
• Repeatedly damages and regenerates 485 major tendons, making them tougher and thicker 56.
• Improves physical strength and explosive speed; at perfection, the tightened tendons hum like drawn bowstrings 56 57.
• Its Extreme Realm trait is Power Storage, whose operation is not tested in the supplied passage 58.

Poison-Flesh Stake

• Grade: Eighth 35.
• Source: Poison-Tumor Frog meat 35.
• Strengthens and compacts the flesh while improving both offense and defense 56 57.
• Stores poisonous heat within the body; Li can draw it outward as a red-and-green blood-poison mist. Its toxicity is not established 56.
• Its Extreme Realm trait is Immune to a Hundred Poisons 58.

Blood-Spike Stake

• Grade: Seventh 35.
• Source: Blood-Spike Worm meat 35.
• Mutates qi and blood, nearly doubling Li’s reserves at the entry stage 35 57.
• Produces needle-like blood spikes from his pores, which initially erupt without his command and cannot be withdrawn freely 57.
• Its violent energy exceeds his incompletely tempered body’s tolerance, causing cracks in muscles and tendons, internal injuries, and partial loss of control 57.
• Completion remains a future goal in the supplied context 62.

Wild Ox Stake

• A top-tier Ninth-Grade manual valued at 200,000 yuan, supplied by Huang Lichen as a proposed replacement for the Basic Stance Technique 30.
• Primarily increases blood-energy volume; many of its cultivation routes overlap with Blood-Spike Stake 36.
• Li does not cultivate it. He keeps its registration code unused and considers reselling the manual 36.

Manuals and Access

Manual / Edition	Listed Price	Student Price
Basic Stance Technique — Complete edition	10,000 yuan 7	5,000 yuan 7
Basic Stance Technique — Individual volume	2,000 yuan 7	1,000 yuan 7

• Basic martial arts are unranked. Ranked manuals run from Ninth Grade, the lowest, to First Grade, the highest 7.
• Li’s initial school-issued manual covers initiation only. After reaching that stage, his panel stops displaying further proficiency until he obtains subsequent training methods 6 7.
• He buys the complete edition at his school library and activates its authorization code under his real name 7.

Background and Social Role

Martial artists and martial techniques existed before the World Gates appeared. A Weihu Security executive attributes most newer techniques to Dahan Martial Research and denies a connection between stake methods and the six King-Class beast lineages. Li remains unconvinced because his own methods were deduced from exotic beast meat 61.

• Security employment: Li must reach entry-level Basic Stance Technique before his Security Squad’s end-of-month assessment to retain his job 1.
• University admission: Minor Mastery can secure an undergraduate martial-academy place; an additional initiated Basic martial skill supports entry into a key undergraduate program 7.
• University graduation: The stated requirements are Minor Mastery in Stake Standing and introductory mastery of one martial skill 13.
• Delivery work: Station Master Chen offers Li a delivery job once he initiates Stake Standing, but other riders warn that entry-level cultivation alone makes the profession dangerously lethal 3 13.