Azure Membrane (Please Keep Reading)

Time flew like a white colt flashing past a crack.

In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.

Li Xiuwen worked at the barbershop in the mornings and went to the martial arts school to practice boxing in the afternoons. His little life was as fulfilling as could be!

That day, after finishing his stance training, Li Xiuwen lay on the martial arts school floor reading Miscellany from the Martial Tomb and chatting with Old Chen.

"So that was it. Thank you, Brother Chen, for clearing up my doubts."

"You're too polite. Have you felt anything from your stance training these past few days?"

"My strength has increased noticeably," Li Xiuwen said.

His arms were visibly a size larger than they had been seven days ago, and his skin membrane had taken on a faint, dull azure sheen. He should be close to getting started.

But those changes were hidden beneath his loose clothing, invisible to ordinary people.

"Looks like you've found the way. That's good. You have hope of stepping into the Membrane Gate, unlike me. No matter how I train, it's hard to make any progress," Old Chen sighed from inside the cage.

"Come to think of it, didn't you practice martial arts in your younger years?" Li Xiuwen asked.

At Old Chen's age, his vitality and blood had declined, pouring away in an unstoppable torrent. It was impossible for him to achieve anything now.

This had nothing to do with talent or comprehension. It was an objective law that could not be defied.

That was why Huang Sihai had said that if one wanted to keep progressing in the martial path, one had to permanently preserve one's peak before vitality and blood declined. Only then could one continue improving afterward.

The age at which one's vitality and blood declined varied from person to person, but generally, it came between the ages of thirty and forty.

Past forty, if one had yet to permanently preserve one's peak, one could only watch helplessly as the years mounted, vitality and blood faded, cultivation ceased advancing and instead regressed, and one grew weaker with age.

"When you are young, you do not know the worth of practicing boxing; only with white hair do you regret taking up martial arts too late. Brother Li, no matter how bitter or difficult it gets, you must persist," Old Chen said dejectedly.

"Mm."

Before leaving the martial arts school, Huang Sihai stopped Li Xiuwen.

"Ah Wen, have you gotten started?"

"Almost, Master."

"Lift your shirt. Let me take a look."

For the first time, Li Xiuwen lifted his shirt in front of someone else.

He was still on the lean side, nowhere near as fat and robust as Brother Ji.

But he was wiry and lean, his muscles compact and well-proportioned, strength lying coiled beneath the surface.

Over the past seven days, he could feel his body changing every day, like bamboo shoots in early spring.

"You are close... Take this and eat it. It should save you several days of hard work." Huang Sihai handed Li Xiuwen an oil-paper packet.

Li Xiuwen opened it. Inside was a white pill, giving off the fishy fragrance of wild blue crucian carp. "What is this?"

"A fish ball. Not the kind ordinary people eat. You can think of it as a medicinal pill. Without its aid, with your kind of bones and aptitude, it'll be hard for you to succeed in crossing the gate."

"Thank you, Master." Li Xiuwen happily accepted it.

In truth, even without the fish ball, he was confident he could successfully cross the gate.

Although the Incense Burner could not directly improve his cultivation, it had one advantage: there was no such thing as a "bottleneck." Breakthroughs succeeded one hundred percent of the time.

It was just that without the fish ball, given his bones and aptitude, it might still take him quite a while to get started.

"This is a newcomer benefit. Your first one is free. If you want more later, pay up. Five hundred yuan per ball." Huang Sihai left.

Li Xiuwen carefully put away the oil-paper packet, thinking, Is this fish ball made of gold?

The fish ball probably did not even weigh one tael. At current gold prices, saying it was made of gold would be flattering gold.

That night,

on the rooftop terrace of Chen's Rice Noodle Factory, Li Xiuwen stayed up late training.

He took out the "fish ball" and swallowed it. Something miraculous happened.

The "fish ball" truly melted the instant it entered his mouth. Before he could even taste it, it turned into a strange warm current that surged into his acupoints, limbs, and bones.

His eyes went wide, blood vessels filling his eyeballs. The skin membrane all over his body swelled, making him look like a dead fish floating on the water, ready to burst apart.

"This fish ball packs one hell of a medicinal punch. No wonder Old Huang treasures it."

He immediately began cultivating according to the posture and breathing method of the Sea-Sand Stance.

In an instant, the acupoints and meridians he had sensed during his previous stance training began echoing in response to one another like the stars revolving through the heavens.

The skin membrane and muscles across his body surged like tides beneath that unique breathing rhythm.

The many secrets and subtleties of the Tidal Stance surfaced in his mind one by one.

Time passed.

A pale fish-belly white appeared in the east, and dawn filtered through the clothes racks, scattering into mottled shards of gold.

Li Xiuwen stood before a puddle and looked at his reflection.

He was taller now, with broad shoulders, flat abdominal muscles, and clean, powerful lines in his legs.

As sunlight fell over him, a faint azure gleam showed beneath the skin of his arms.

His muscles were not as exaggerated as Brother Ji's, but he gave off a healthy, powerful feeling.

He still looked slim in clothes, and with his somewhat youthful face, he appeared no different from before on the surface.

He gently clenched his fist. His sinews and bones rang in unison, as though explosive force were blasting from his pores. With a casual punch, the air whistled sharply.

"This feeling of power... is amazing."

He casually picked up a steel rebar and gave his arm a light strike with it.

"Doesn't hurt much. It feels like I've been anesthetized."

That translucent layer of azure skin membrane had dispersed a great deal of the force.

"I'm already this strong just from getting started? Brother Ji doesn't seem like much either."

Li Xiuwen suppressed the swelling pride in his heart.

He had only practiced methods, not combat techniques.

On top of that, he lacked experience. In an actual fight, he most likely would not be Brother Ji's match.

The man had not clawed and crawled his way through the streets for nothing.

He looked toward the [Incense Burner].

[Li Xiuwen]

[Beginner Martial Arts Knowledge: Getting Started (12%)]

[Sea-Sand Stance: Getting Started (1%)]

[Stage: Azure Membrane (1%)]

"Azure Membrane... Now that I've trained this layer of membrane, I'm a martial artist too."

"The fish ball's medicinal effect lasts so long. It feels like there's still medicinal power in my body that hasn't been used up. I'll keep training. I'm not going to the barbershop this morning."

After another hour of grueling training, the sky had fully brightened.

Feeling the further increase in strength within his body, he looked toward the [Incense Burner].

[Sea-Sand Stance: Getting Started (3%)]

[Stage: Azure Membrane (3%)]

"Looks like my progress in stance training determines the level of my foundation. The two advance in sync."

"Master said the Membrane Gate has three major stages: Azure Membrane, Purple Membrane, and Black Membrane. They correspond exactly to getting started, minor accomplishment, and major accomplishment in stance training."

"Once stance training reaches perfection, the black skin membrane will show red beneath it. That is the limit of the Membrane Gate. Then one can cross the gate a second time and climb to greater heights."

"As the color of the skin membrane deepens, a practitioner's resistance to blows and force will become increasingly monstrous, until they turn into humanoid beasts."

"This is only the Membrane Gate. There are still the Flood-Dragon Muscle Gate and the Tiger-Elephant Gate... I don't dare imagine how amazing it would feel to master them."

"If I ate fish balls every day, even a pig could probably master the Membrane Gate within half a year, right?"

Thinking of how those rich people might train exactly like that, Li Xiuwen felt even more driven to make money.

Grrr—Li Xiuwen tightened his stomach and touched his pocket. "I still have three hundred yuan."

"I trained all night. I'm starving to death. Big Sis probably isn't awake yet... I'll go get some pig blood soup from Granny's place to replenish myself first."

In some tucked-away corner along Longjin Road stood a small shop beneath a ramshackle shed.

One pot, one table, four broken stools, and one white-haired old woman—simple, yet fragrant enough to make one's mouth water.

"Granny, one bowl of pig blood soup."

Li Xiuwen sat down with practiced ease and poured himself a cup of plain water. This was his hidden gem of a little shop.

He often came here to eat after getting off work at night. A bowl cost thirty cents, and the soup could be refilled three times.