Copper-Red, Mountain-Crushing Force

Early the next morning, before the hour of the Rabbit.

Chen Lingxi had already awakened from his breathing exercises.

After more than twenty days of practicing the breathing method, he had completely replaced sleep with the pure qi drawn through breathing.

More than twenty days of cultivation had also caused the spiritual qi in his dantian to grow as thick as two fingers held together.

As his spiritual qi grew stronger, more turbid qi surged from the pores across his body whenever he breathed. After a night of cultivation, foul-smelling sweat would often seep from his skin, as though the accumulated impurities of his mortal body had been expelled.

Beyond that, Chen Lingxi had noticed that whenever he cultivated by drawing in pure qi these past few days, a faint azure glow would rise over the skin of his entire body.

As his pores opened and closed, exceedingly tiny spiritual entities seemed to breathe across his skin. It was quite wondrous.

As his spiritual qi strengthened, its ability to assist his cultivation of qi and blood also greatly improved.

After washing up, he went into the courtyard and practiced a set of the Mountain-Winding Stance from the Seven Forms of Ceasing War.

He could keenly sense that after practicing a set of the Mountain-Winding Stance, his qi and blood seeped through his skin, seemingly tempering his flesh, sinews, membranes, and bones.

Even his five viscera and six bowels were being tempered by his qi and blood.

"Once the five viscera and six bowels begin to be tempered, the Iron Body has reached major completion. Only perfection remains."

Chen Lingxi stood still, his eyes bright and his breathing long and steady.

"It is about time. I should go to Silver Peace Court and see Jiang Yuan."

At the hour of the Rabbit in winter, the night had not yet fully faded. The branches of withered trees were like ink strokes against the gray-white sky, utterly motionless, as though even the air had frozen.

Stepping over white frost like scattered salt, Chen Lingxi headed for Silver Peace Court.

Silver Peace Court was the residence of the many retainers of the Baosu Marquis Residence.

The capital region of Great Li appeared prosperous and peaceful, yet the entirety of Great Li was in fact already plagued by chaos.

In recent years, Great Li's Emperor Daye had imposed exorbitant taxes and levies while ordering canals to be dug on a massive scale.

In two years, forty-nine canals had been excavated. Mountains were carved through, valleys filled in, dikes broken, and rivers diverted. No one knew how many bones lay exposed in the wilderness.

Across Great Li, nineteen rebel kings had raised their banners. The strongest among them was none other than Xiao Changlü, who called himself the [Heavenly King Who Severed Evil]!

Amid such turmoil, the imperial court naturally turned a blind eye to the Great Li clans around the capital and the local authorities keeping retainers, martial artists, and household guests.

So long as they did not maintain more than five hundred armored soldiers, the Great Li court would not interfere.

For that very reason, the various families and estates throughout the capital region had become ever more eager to recruit powerful experts.

Silver Peace Court within the Baosu Marquis Residence alone housed more than a dozen retainers of note.

The residence's several martial halls had over a hundred martial artists.

Within Yuan River Prefecture, the Baosu Marquis Residence was not merely prominent in status. In terms of martial strength alone, it could be called a behemoth.

Just as the hour of the Rabbit arrived, Chen Lingxi reached Jiang Yuan's courtyard.

Morning light had only just emerged, and the frost had yet to melt.

Jiang Yuan's courtyard lay on the eastern side of Silver Peace Court, set apart in its own corner. Blue bricks paved the ground, while several ancient pines stood around it, their gnarled branches laden with snow, solemn and imposing.

Jiang Yuan was already standing in the courtyard.

He wore a black fitted martial outfit. The exposed muscles of his arms twisted like the roots of ancient trees. Though he stood motionless, he possessed the bearing of a mountain towering above an abyss.

With his hands clasped behind his back, his aura was long and profound. A faint silvery-white radiance circulated around him—the sign of Silver Marrow qi and blood manifesting outward. Though extremely faint, it forced the surrounding chill to retreat.

Chen Lingxi bowed deeply. "This disciple, Chen Lingxi, greets you, sir."

Jiang Yuan did not turn around. He merely gave a soft grunt from his throat in acknowledgment.

Yet the instant Chen Lingxi straightened, Jiang Yuan moved!

One hand remained behind his back, while the other shot out like an eagle's talon. His five fingers curled slightly as they tore through the wind and snow with a shrill whistle, clamping straight toward Chen Lingxi's right wrist!

His movement was unbelievably fast. That seemingly casual grab had in fact sealed every route of escape above, below, left, and right.

An invisible, formless force, yet as heavy as a mountain, crashed down with the wind of his claw. Chen Lingxi's qi and blood instantly stagnated, and his breathing caught.

"Hm?"

Chen Lingxi's pupils constricted. The qi and blood within his body erupted reflexively. At the same time, his toes instinctively slid half a step back, and his right arm recoiled like a nimble serpent, trying to evade the claw!

But... the gap between him and Jiang Yuan was simply too vast!

Jiang Yuan's hand seemed to have broken free of time itself. The instant the thought arose in Chen Lingxi's mind, his right wrist had already been locked in an iron grip!

"Sir Jiang!"

Chen Lingxi could not help crying out.

The hand gripping him was not as icy and hard as he had expected. Instead, it was warm and smooth as jade.

Yet the next moment, a vast, scorching, terrifying force poured in through Jiang Yuan's fingertips like spilled mercury!

Rather than striking violently, the force was like countless tiny silver needles, racing through Chen Lingxi's meridians and blood vessels, instantly probing his limbs, bones, five viscera, and six bowels.

Just as Chen Lingxi was gripped by alarm and doubt...

"Good!" Jiang Yuan suddenly shouted, releasing his hand.

Surprise and delight intermingled in his eyes.

"Merely an official slave, without delicacies or medicinal baths to nourish you, yet you have raised your body to such a state!

Your Iron Body has reached major completion, and your five viscera have begun to gain the nature of iron. Perfection is already within reach.

When the time comes, your qi and blood will become like lead and mercury, generating their own fire nature and boiling violently. Like kindling lit beneath a pill furnace, you will advance from iron to copper and naturally step into the Copper-Red Realm."

Chen Lingxi understood then that Jiang Yuan had been examining his cultivation.

Suppressing the lingering numbness in his wrist and the shock in his heart, he seized the chance to ask with cupped hands, "Sir, this disciple is dull-witted. May I ask what marvels the Copper-Red Realm possesses? Once qi and blood generate fire, how great is its power?"

Jiang Yuan paced two steps away with his hands behind his back and spoke slowly. "The Copper-Red Realm, as its name implies, is the realm in which qi and blood undergo a qualitative change.

At the entry level, qi and blood develop a fire nature, like glowing embers buried in charcoal, with heat contained within.

At [minor completion], qi and blood become boiling hot. As it circulates, it can scorch the meridians. When driven through fists and kicks and striking an enemy, it not only injures their sinews and bones, but also sends scorching fire force into their body, burning their qi and blood and inflicting lasting internal injuries. This is [Copper-Molten Qi]."

He paused and extended a finger. A wisp of crimson qi-flame suddenly rose from its tip. Though only an inch long, it made the surrounding cold hiss and twisted the air.

"At [major completion], qi and blood ignite into flame, surging and roiling. At the command of one's will, qi and blood can evaporate out of the body and cling to the skin, condensing almost into substance. It is like a layer of invisible qi armor. Ordinary blades and swords can scarcely harm it, and even some of the force from fists and kicks can be dispersed.

This is the [Copperfire Qi Armor]."

Then the qi-flame at his fingertip abruptly contracted, condensing into a dazzling point of bright red, like molten iron within a furnace.

"At the [perfected] stage, one can compress this flaming qi and blood to the extreme and conceal it deep within the meridians and acupoints. It shows no sign in ordinary times, but once it erupts in battle, it is like lifting the lid of a smelting furnace—raging flames burst forth, several times fiercer and more violent than usual.

Every gesture carries the might to melt metal and split stone. This is [Opening the Copper Furnace].

The strength of this fiery nature in one's qi and blood, the subtlety of its circulation, and the timing of its eruption are what create the vast differences in combat power among Copper-Red Realm martial artists. It is far beyond a mere increase in physical strength."

Chen Lingxi listened intently, as though drinking sweet dew after a drought. He bowed and said, "This disciple has been enlightened."

"Mm." Jiang Yuan nodded, his gaze returning to Chen Lingxi. "What stance technique do you practice?"

Chen Lingxi answered, "It is a fragmentary manual called the Seven Forms of Ceasing War, obtained from the Western Courtyard Martial Hall."

"Show it to me."

Chen Lingxi calmed his mind and followed the instruction.

He began by embracing a colossal peak, then turned to press down a raging flood. His spine arched to bear the azure sky, his knees sank like rooted trunks... the nine variations of the first form poured forth in a flowing stream.

Though there was no earth-shattering display, every movement was precise and fluid. His force was contained without leaking, and the qi and blood throughout his body swelled in rhythm with his techniques. An iron-like sheen circulated beneath his skin, revealing an incomparably solid foundation.

Jiang Yuan watched silently. At first, his expression was calm, but gradually his brows lifted. By the time Chen Lingxi withdrew his stance and stood with even, steady breathing, Jiang Yuan's eyes were already filled with amazement.

"What a complex and profound art! This technique appears basic, but it actually fuses stance work, qi-and-blood circulation, sinew and bone stretching, and the agitation of the internal organs into one. It demands extraordinarily high control from its practitioner. Easy to learn, difficult to master—one slight mistake can injure oneself.

An ordinary martial artist who obtained it would need three to five years of arduous practice just to enter the gate. Yet you..."

He looked Chen Lingxi up and down, as though reassessing an unpolished jade hidden beneath dust. "Without anyone's guidance and with so few resources, you not only entered the gate but cultivated it to such mastery, even drawing qi and blood to temper your internal organs... Such talent and comprehension are truly rare."

Jiang Yuan spared no praise, yet inwardly, he found Chen Lingxi all the more regrettable.

"If only he were not an official slave. What a pity..."

He shook his head and walked to an open space in the courtyard.

"Since you have already used this art to establish the foundation of your Iron Body, and it suits you well, there is no need to learn another method and waste your time.

From today onward, I will teach you [Mountain-Crushing Force]!"

Before his words had faded, Jiang Yuan's body suddenly sank, and his entire bearing changed.

The mountain-like stillness he had possessed moments ago became the fury of a volcano on the verge of eruption.

Without any visible preparation, his right fist slowly rose. The motion was so heavy and sluggish that it seemed as though his fist bore a mountain weighing a thousand jun.

As his fist rose, the faint silvery-white radiance around him suddenly blazed. The faint sound of wind and thunder emerged from within his body as Silver Marrow qi and blood surged and roared through his meridians.

"Watch closely!" Jiang Yuan bellowed. The fist that had slowly risen to his chest suddenly became a blurred afterimage, striking through the air toward a waist-high black training stone several steps away!

There was no contact—only a vast and utterly condensed force, invisible and formless, tearing through the air.

The air compressed and split, letting out a strained moan.

The next instant—

"BOOM!!!"

The training stone, which had endured countless strikes and was harder than iron, shuddered violently as though an invisible mountain had smashed into it from above. Fine cracks like a spiderweb instantly covered its surface. At its center was a deep, distinct fist mark several inches deep, while stone dust fell from its edges in a steady stream.

A punch through the air, and stone shattered like powder!

This was the power of Silver Bone perfection and Mountain-Crushing Force!

Jiang Yuan withdrew his fist and stood still. The silver light around him gradually faded, and his aura returned to calm, as though that earth-shattering strike had not come from him at all.

He turned to Chen Lingxi, whose face was filled with shock, his voice ringing like clashing gold and iron.

"The force that crushes mountains lies not in elaborate forms, but in simplicity of intent; not in scattered strength, but in concentrated force.

Gather all the qi, blood, spirit, and will of your body into one fist. Let your intent be as heavy as a mountain, and let your force erupt like a collapsing peak. It can destroy cities, tear down strongholds, and leave all who stand against it utterly defeated.

Your Iron Body foundation is already established. Your physique is strong, and your qi and blood are abundant. This is precisely the best time for you to cultivate this force.

Today, I will teach you the core principles of Mountain-Crushing Force."

The cold wind swept through the courtyard, sending the snow piled upon the pine branches fluttering down.

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath. His gaze was bright and clear as he focused with all his heart.