Southwest Military Region.
On the vast parade ground.
More than eight thousand soldiers stood in neat ranks.
They carried no heavy artillery, and even their rifles were slung behind their backs.
Yet every one of them radiated a murderous intensity and sharpness that ordinary people could barely face.
These were the marks left by the cleansing of aura.
They were all reservists who had successfully sensed aura, with one foot over the threshold of becoming a First-Order Martial Artist!
"Attention!"
A thunderous shout rang through the night sky.
Eight thousand men snapped their legs together at once, their combat boots striking the concrete with a deafening thud.
Zhao Dingbang, Commander of the Southwest Military Region, strode onto the reviewing platform.
He took no microphone, instead circulating the true qi that had only recently formed within him.
"Troops train for years to be ready for one crucial moment!"
"The country let you cultivate so you could serve, not so you could play wandering heroes and pick fights!"
"You all watched the News Broadcast just now."
"Tomorrow at ten in the morning, the Breathing Method will be released to the public!"
"From this moment on."
"You are no longer merely ordinary soldiers!"
"You will sow the seeds of martial arts throughout Dragon Country, and stand as the pillars safeguarding social order!"
"You will be split up and assigned to police stations, fire departments, hospitals, and even major state-owned enterprises in cities across the country!"
"Teach them!"
"Equip them!"
"Do you understand?"
Eight thousand soldiers roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.
"Understood!"
"Board the trucks!"
Rumble—
Hundreds of military transport trucks started up at once.
Like a long steel dragon, the convoy drove through the military region's gates and sped off in every direction.
Inside the trucks.
The soldiers sat ramrod straight.
They tightly gripped their field packs.
Inside those packs were the Basic Breathing Technique Training Manual and the Martial Artist Discipline Regulations, printed and distributed by the state overnight.
They knew perfectly well.
They were setting out to serve as sparks.
They would spread the sparks of martial arts throughout Dragon Country.
The night was dark as ink, thick clouds obscuring the starlight.
Shu Capital.
Third Firefighting Squadron.
Squadron captain Li Gang stood with his entire team in formation beneath the training ground's floodlights.
The night breeze was slightly chilly.
Yet fine beads of sweat dotted the foreheads of the dozens of young men.
Half an hour earlier, they had received strict orders from their superiors to assemble and welcome a special instructor dispatched by the military region.
Soon.
A piercing screech of brakes rang out.
A military jeep stopped at the edge of the grounds.
Chen Feng opened the door and stepped out, his leather boots landing on the concrete with a dull echo.
"Shu Capital Third Firefighting Squadron."
"Thirty-five personnel expected, thirty-five present!"
Li Gang hurried forward and raised his hand in salute.
Chen Feng returned the salute.
Without exchanging pleasantries, he swept his sharp gaze across everyone present.
"My name is Chen Feng."
"Starting today, I will take charge of your daily training."
The firefighters exchanged glances.
One troublemaker could not help muttering under his breath.
"We're firefighters, not a field army. What's with all the fuss?"
Chen Feng's ears twitched slightly.
His hearing was now sharp enough to pick up a mosquito ten meters away, let alone a voice at that volume.
He walked straight up to the troublemaker.
Casually raising his palm, he slapped a discarded steel plate beside him.
Bang!
A dull impact rang out.
The steel plate, a full two centimeters thick, now bore a distinct palm print!
The air around them seemed to freeze.
Every firefighter's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
The troublemaker's legs went weak with fright, and he swallowed hard.
"Did you see that clearly?"
"The beast tide was only the beginning."
"To face the crises ahead."
"You frontline personnel who protect the people must become stronger first."
"Starting now."
"I will teach you the Basic Breathing Technique."
"Whether you can seize this opportunity will depend on you!"
Chen Feng withdrew his hand.
He looked at all the firefighters and spoke in a solemn tone.
At his words.
The firefighters' breathing immediately grew heavy.
They had all watched the News Broadcast.
They knew they could obtain the Basic Breathing Technique at ten the next morning.
They had never imagined.
They would get access to something this confidential before ordinary citizens!
In that instant.
An unprecedented sense of duty and pride burst inside every one of their chests.
A district police station in Magic City.
Two military instructors transferred from the theater command stood at the front of the conference room.
The officers below sat bolt upright, barely daring to breathe.
"Comrades."
"The spiritual energy revival is a crisis for all humanity, but it is also an opportunity for Dragon Country."
"You are the foundation of public order."
"If mutated ferocious beasts appear in society, or criminals use martial strength to cause trouble."
"You must have the strength to suppress them!"
One of the instructors tapped the blackboard.
A complex diagram of the human meridians had been drawn on it.
"The Basic Breathing Technique is your first stepping stone toward the Transcendent Realm!"
"The state is prioritizing resources for you because you shoulder greater responsibilities."
"Now, follow my instructions. Everyone, sit cross-legged!"
The officers quickly obeyed.
No one harbored doubts. They were filled with fervor.
The same scene unfolded simultaneously in many places across the country.
This was a benefit reserved for those working within the state system.
The country would never neglect those who stood on the front lines.
The next day.
There was still half an hour until ten in the morning.
The internet across Dragon Country had already crashed completely three times, only to be forcibly restored each time.
Countless ordinary citizens set aside their work.
Some took leave; others simply skipped work.
Everyone stared at a phone screen or computer monitor.
On the Martial Arts Research Institute's official website, the blood-red countdown kept ticking.
[Time until the Basic Breathing Technique is fully released: 29 minutes, 14 seconds.]
Every major social platform was already in an uproar.
"Guys, I bought a huge pile of Korean ginseng last night. Time to give my blood and qi a serious boost!"
"Are you an idiot? Martial artists absorb aura. What the hell is eating ginseng going to do?"
"I've already written my resignation letter. Once I become a First-Order Martial Artist, the first thing I'll do is smash my boss's desk!"
"Keep dreaming. There's only one genius like Major General Lin Yuan in all of Dragon Country. We'll be lucky just to get healthier and stronger."
The entire nation was gripped by frenzy.
Everyone dreamed of flying on swords and pummeling ferocious beasts.
Ding!
Ten o'clock sharp.
The countdown hit zero.
The download channel was instantly flooded.
Countless streams of data raced through Dragon Country's fiber-optic network.
In just thirty seconds.
The PDF of the Basic Breathing Technique was downloaded more than five hundred million times!
A university dormitory in the Imperial Capital.
"It's downloaded!"
"Roommates, prepare to enter the world of immortal cultivation with me!"
Zhang San gripped his mouse excitedly, his fingers trembling slightly.
He double-clicked to open the file.
All four of his roommates leaned in, their eyes wide as saucers.
However.
When they saw the text and illustrations in the file.
The dormitory suddenly fell deathly silent.
Five young faces gradually twisted, grew bewildered, and finally settled into expressions of pure, innocent stupidity.
"Sink qi to the dantian, keep your focus on the mysterious gate?"
Zhang San stumbled through the first line and scratched his head.
"Where's the dantian?"
"Three cun below the belly button? How long is three cun?"
"And this mysterious gate..."
His chubby roommate beside him chimed in.
"I keep a shoe cabinet by my entryway. Am I supposed to stare at it while I cultivate?"
"Get lost! Is your shoe cabinet inside your stomach?"
Zhang San snapped at him, then kept reading.
"Guide the flow of qi down the hand taiyin lung meridian, then into the hand yangming large intestine meridian..."
"Chongyang acupoint, Xiangu acupoint, Zusanli acupoint..."
"Pass through the Ren and Du meridians to form a Small Heavenly Circuit..."
The entire text was filled with obscure terminology.
The densely packed acupoint chart was covered in hundreds of black dots and connecting lines.
How was this a martial arts Cultivation Technique? It might as well have been written in an alien language!
"Zhang San."
"Can you tell the Shaoshang Acupoint from the Fish Border Acupoint?"
"Hell, I can barely tell left from right half the time, and you want me to find acupoints?"
His chubby roommate swallowed and pointed at a dot on the chart.
Zhang San slammed his hand on the desk in despair.
"Was this thing really written for modern people?"
"I feel like a hopeless illiterate!"
"..."
The internet erupted too.
People saw the several-thousand-word Basic Breathing Technique.
Most of Dragon Country's citizens were left speechless, their resolve crushed.
"Help!"
"I practiced it for ten minutes, and instead of sensing any Aura, I let out three loud farts in a row!"
"To the person above: that was your gut moving, not True Qi circulating!"
"Isn't this asking way too much?"
"What the hell does Five Hearts Facing Heaven even mean?"
"I tried turning my palms and the soles of my feet upward, and I threw out my back!"
"I'm convinced this was designed to weed out those of us who slipped through nine years of compulsory education without learning a thing!"
"Don't panic, guys. I sent the chart to my grandpa. He's practiced Tai Chi for thirty years, so he'll definitely understand it!"
Cries of anguish were everywhere.
Everyone discovered a brutal truth.
Even when the government put the Cultivation Technique right in front of them,
without enough cultural knowledge and a foundation in traditional Chinese medicine, they couldn't even find the starting line!
But soon,
a storm called the "Traditional Chinese Medicine Craze" swept through major cities across the country, and nothing could stop it.
Before you continue