Heart-Piercing Elbow

"The perfected form of the Heart-Piercing Elbow is to gather all your strength at a single point, compress it to the extreme, then release it in an instant."

"This ironwood table may look like it only has a small dent. Go take a look at the other side."

At his words, Yang Sheng walked around to the other side of the circular depression.

He suddenly discovered that the entire side of the ironwood table was covered in cracks.

Yang Sheng's earlier opinion was instantly overturned. Jiang Tian had still been far too modest.

If he himself had taken that Heart-Piercing Elbow head-on, he would probably have had no chance of survival.

On the surface, it looked as though someone had merely been struck by an elbow, without even any visible external injury.

But in reality, all of that person's internal organs would already have ruptured.

"This is Force Penetration."

Jiang Tian fetched a one-centimeter-thick wooden board and handed it to Yang Sheng.

"Give it a try."

Yang Sheng looked at the wooden board before him and took a deep breath.

In his mind, he repeatedly recalled every detail of Jiang Tian's demonstration.

Several seconds later, Yang Sheng abruptly opened his eyes.

He lowered his stance and planted his feet, spread his arms in a cross, twisted his waist, braced himself, and exerted force. Like a tightly wound spring, Yang Sheng shot forward in an instant.

His elbow pressed tightly against the wooden board, which was braced against the wall.

He explosively released his immense strength.

There was a sharp crack.

A large section of the originally smooth board caved inward.

Where Yang Sheng's elbow had struck, the wood had actually been crushed into powder by his tremendous force.

Jiang Tian picked up the board and blew away the wood shavings.

"Your force was steady, accurate, and fierce. You truly have talent. After watching my demonstration only once, you already grasped the basic essentials of the movement."

"Still, the Heart-Piercing Elbow is ultimately a more difficult technique. Getting the movements right alone is no easy task."

He pointed at the dent in the board.

"The core of the Heart-Piercing Elbow lies in concentrating strength before detonating it at a fixed point. The key is to first build up your power, then release it instantly at the right moment."

"Only then does it count as Force Penetration. Right now, you have merely damaged the surface. You have not touched its interior in the slightest."

Yang Sheng listened intently.

He had never received this kind of instruction before.

He had only ever trained blindly by himself.

When he had just demonstrated the Heart-Piercing Elbow, the Martial God Soul within him had already gained faint insights.

It corrected his movements.

Previously, he would have needed to slowly polish his grasp of the Heart-Piercing Elbow's core principles.

But Jiang Tian had directly pointed out the key areas he needed to focus on.

There was no nonsense, no empty talk—only genuine, practical instruction.

Combined with the insights from his Martial God Soul,

Yang Sheng suddenly felt enlightened.

[Bright Force (65/500)]

This sudden insight directly increased his cultivation by fifteen points.

No wonder some Upper Registry students had only average talent, yet still progressed faster than Lower Registry students.

The importance of guidance from a famous teacher was self-evident.

"You possess excellent aptitude and talent, and you are good at comprehending and analyzing these techniques. But you must still practice diligently. Your grandmaster—my own teacher—spent more than half a month practicing the Heart-Piercing Elbow before he barely mastered its essential movements. As your teacher, I do not expect you to reach that standard. As long as you do not betray your own sweat, that will be enough."

Jiang Tian spoke from the heart.

Yang Sheng said solemnly, "This student will not disappoint Teacher's expectations. I will certainly work twice as hard."

"Practice well."

With his hands clasped behind his back, Jiang Tian strode out of the classroom.

Outside the door, Liu Chang had been waiting for a long time.

"Teacher, why did you come out so late? The school leadership notified us of a meeting at seven tonight. It's already six fifty."

Jiang Tian gave a derisive snort.

"The meeting will be about Class-Divided Cultivation again. Nothing but pointless arguing."

Liu Chang said, "At present, nearly every class has completed the removal of Lower Registry students. The High-Aspiration Class originally had the fewest Lower Registry students, but now it has become the class with the most Lower Registry students in the entire school. The school leaders are waiting to discuss this with you."

"They are trying to completely destroy the foundation of Bay City Martial Arts High School!"

"Weren't Lian Zhantian and Wang Xinghai, who once graduated from here, both Lower Registry students? In the end, both of them became Origin-Star Martial Artists."

Liu Chang sighed. "My father actually shares your views, but orders from above cannot be defied. Yu Prefecture has made Bay City a pilot program this time and is forcibly pushing Class-Divided Cultivation."

"I heard from my father that there will be a school-wide test in one week, specifically for Lower Registry students. Any student who fails the test will be expelled."

Jiang Tian's eyes narrowed.

He immediately smelled a conspiracy behind it.

There was only one month left until the Martial Arts Entrance Exam. Conducting this so-called test at such a critical time was truly suspicious.

Although there had been several joint examinations before, they had all been unified, centralized tests.

But with an internal school test like this, the school itself had the final say in everything.

"It seems the school is determined to expel these Lower Registry students."

Jiang Tian sighed.

Liu Chang asked, "Then is Yang Sheng still worth training?"

Jiang Tian answered without hesitation, "Of course he is."

He had never regretted his choices.

When Li Yan had first enrolled, he had privately asked Jiang Tian to let him join the High-Aspiration Class.

But Jiang Tian had not accepted.

Because he had seen Li Yan's absolute utilitarianism.

To become an accomplished martial artist, one needed long-term goals and ideals.

But one could not be impatient for quick success.

Even though Li Yan had now reached Dark Force, Jiang Tian still held the same opinion.

Just as he could see that Yang Sheng would achieve something in the future.

Liu Chang asked, "Then what do you plan to do?"

Jiang Tian said, "Your earlier suggestion was quite good. This test is aimed at third-year students. Let Yang Sheng attend the second year instead, and then it will have nothing to do with him."

Liu Chang burst out laughing.

"I wonder what expression Yang Sheng will have when he finds out that, while he is currently in his third year, he has suddenly become a second-year student."

At that moment, Yang Sheng, whom Jiang Tian had already decided would become a second-year student, was seriously pondering the essential movements of the Heart-Piercing Elbow on his way home from school.

He first went to Skysea Boxing Gym.

He had previously promised the owner that he would still come work one shift every day.

Besides, there was free medicinal cuisine here.

As usual, after eating two large bowls of medicinal cuisine, Yang Sheng did some simple warm-ups.

He lowered his stance and planted his feet, bent his left arm to protect his ribs, and held his right elbow level with his shoulder.

This was a very standard opening stance.

He twisted his waist, stepped forward, and his body suddenly lunged out.

The point of his right elbow smashed viciously into a wooden board.

There was a dull thud.

At the point where the board met his elbow, wood shavings were ground loose and fell in a flurry.

Compared with the elbow strike at school, this strike covered a noticeably smaller area but penetrated deeper.

[Bright Force (66/500)]

"Again!"

Yang Sheng's expression did not change. After absorbing the insight from that strike, he made subtle adjustments to the way he exerted force.

He struck out with his elbow again.

Another dull thud rang out.

The dent caused by the elbow strike covered a smaller area and went slightly deeper.

[Bright Force (67/500)]

"Keep going!"

His movements continued to improve. This time, Yang Sheng changed the angle of his elbow strike.

After taking his stance, he attacked once more.

Thud!

This time, the sound was crisper and louder.

He blew away the wood shavings from the board and found that the pit left by his elbow strike was growing smaller and smaller, already nearly matching the size of the one Jiang Tian had made.

Moreover, this strike had penetrated more than halfway through the board.

Though it was still at the level of surface damage Jiang Tian had described, Yang Sheng knew that as long as he kept practicing,

reaching the level of Force Penetration was only a matter of time.