The Wonders of Blood Essence · Yang-style Tai Chi

Early the next morning, Uchiha Hara woke from his sleep. The room was still dim, leaving him momentarily disoriented and unsure of the exact time.

"Damn, I need a time display."

With a thought, he conveyed this simple request to the Demon Refining Pot. The next moment, a line of small text appeared in the corner of his vision panel: [Sixth quarter of the Hour of the Rabbit · Clear].

As expected of an Innate Spirit Treasure. It could even do something like this.

With another thought from Uchiha Hara, the Hour of the Rabbit instantly changed to 6:30.

Yeah, this was much more familiar.

Uchiha Hara felt that sooner or later, he would turn this Innate Spirit Treasure into a smartphone.

"Six thirty in the morning..." He rubbed his eyes and discovered that the faint fullness brought by the fish's Blood Essence and Soul Essence he had consumed yesterday had yet to fully fade.

"It digests much more slowly than the mouse..." he mused.

"Is it because mice and humans are both mammals, so their life forms are closer? While fish are aquatic creatures, making the differences greater?"

He guessed that the greater the difference between the creature being refined and absorbed and his own species, the longer it would take to digest its Life Imprint and Soul Imprint.

Of course, it might also be because the fish had been so large while the mouse had been so small.

The larger the creature, the longer it took to refine its Blood Essence.

This incompletely digested state seemed to consume some of his body's energy, making his complexion paler than usual and leaving him somewhat listless.

Yet Uchiha Hara was delighted rather than alarmed.

"Wonderful! This is practically natural camouflage!" He had been worrying that his body's recovery would be too fast and draw suspicion. The "side effects" during the digestion period could conveniently help him maintain the appearance of frailty.

However, these "side effects" would only last for a limited time.

Just after seven in the morning, the feeling of fullness completely disappeared. The fish's imprint had been fully digested.

Uchiha Hara calculated the time. He had swallowed the fish's Blood Essence at ten last night and finished digesting it at seven in the morning, for a total of nine hours.

The data on the panel quietly changed as well: [Essence: 1.002] [Qi: 1.002] [Spirit: 1.002].

Logically, it should have been 0.001, yet there was an extra 0.001.

Hara guessed that it was probably the result of this young body's natural growth.

To maintain his frail state, he refined another fish without hesitation and swallowed its new Blood Essence and Soul Essence.

Feeling that familiar, slightly sluggish weakness envelop his body once more, and watching the panel values become [Essence: 1.003] [Qi: 1.003] [Spirit: 1.003], he nodded in satisfaction.

Very good. His sickly mode had successfully been renewed.

After simply preparing rice and pickled vegetables for his lunchbox, it was only seven thirty.

There was still an hour until he had to leave for school at eight thirty.

"Going to school early? Not a chance."

Uchiha Hara decisively rejected that option.

There was no benefit to being a top student. The village chief would keep an eye on you from above, while your classmates would resent you from below.

Since he had spare time, it was perfect for putting his long-conceived plan into practice—Chinese Martial Arts training!

He recalled his memories.

During military training in college in his previous life, his instructor had taught them a simplified version of the Twenty-Four Forms of Tai Chi.

Later, out of personal interest, he joined the school's Tai Chi club. The club president claimed to be a descendant of Yang Luchan, and she had not held anything back, teaching everyone authentic Yang-style Tai Chi.

Yang-style Tai Chi had been created by Yang Luchan, a martial arts grandmaster of the late Qing Dynasty. Its stances were open and relaxed, its movements gentle, and its structure rigorous. It emphasized upright posture, clear distinctions between substantial and insubstantial, and uninterrupted flow, combining combat applications with health preservation.

Back in college, Uchiha Hara had only practiced casually. After all, modern society was governed by law, so there were basically no chances to fight. It was merely a way to stay healthy.

But now that he was in the Ninja World, Tai Chi might truly become the martial art he relied on to survive. Uchiha Hara's attitude immediately became much more serious.

He carefully recalled the core principles of Tai Chi that the senior club member had taught him, then did his best to integrate them into his own form.

This Tai Chi body method emphasized centered balance. Its movements were smooth and harmonious, level and unadorned, progressing from relaxation into softness. Hardness and softness complemented each other, flowing on without interruption like drifting clouds and running water, while also possessing graceful physical beauty.

The movements connected tightly, with the end of one posture becoming the beginning of the next. The whole form was like a mighty river, surging on without end, and its mental method likewise demanded completion in a single continuous breath.

Tai Chi placed immense importance on relaxation, softness, and slowness. This form had eighty-five movements in total. Beginners took roughly twenty-two minutes to perform one set, while the deeper one's skill, the deeper one's understanding of relaxation, softness, and slowness. Those who grasped their true essence could take forty to sixty minutes to perform a single set.

His physical foundation was still weak, so he counted as a beginner. Yet he strove for Precision in every movement and focused his mind completely. One set took him nearly thirty full minutes.

Furthermore, Yang-style Tai Chi emphasized substantial and insubstantial, as well as continuity.

Substantial and insubstantial meant that every move among the eighty-five forms required a clear distinction between the two. Most movements relied on one leg to bear the weight, while the other leg remained insubstantial. If the right leg was firmly weighted, it was substantial and the left leg was insubstantial; the reverse was also true. Apart from the opening stance, Cloud Hands, and the brief horse stance during the transition from Right Strike Tiger to the right front kick, there were almost no positions where both legs were substantial.

The transition between substantial and insubstantial happened gradually through a half-substantial, half-insubstantial state. When stepping forward, for instance, the heel touched down first, followed by the sole, then the toes, until the foot finally became fully weighted. Like the waxing and waning of the Tai Chi yin-yang fish, this ran through the entire form.

Continuity was also called rounded liveliness. "Rounded" meant that the movements followed arcs, while "liveliness" meant that the motion never stagnated. The upper and lower body followed each other; the steps shifted with the body. When the hands moved, the waist moved; when the waist moved, the feet moved; even the gaze moved in unison. When one part moved, nothing remained still. Tai Chi's roundness was like a three-dimensional sphere: touch one point, and the whole thing turned. The movements were closely linked without gaps, like drifting clouds and running water.

There were also all kinds of demanding requirements for the opponent, the eyes, the waist, and force.

When he had practiced casually before, Uchiha Hara had only felt that it was nothing special. Now that Tai Chi had become the martial art he depended on for survival, he suddenly felt that this art contained profound principles everywhere. There was knowledge in every corner of it.

But profound knowledge was good. The more profound it was, the greater the benefit to him.

He was not afraid of difficulty. What he feared was that it would not be difficult enough!

As he finished the form and stood still, he slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

In an instant, he felt his tendons and bones relax, his blood and qi circulate freely, as though every cell in his body were rejoicing.

The tiny hidden injuries left behind by the original owner's blind, obsessive training gave off faint tingling sensations, as if they were being gently repaired.

What delighted him even more was that he could clearly feel the Life Imprint and Soul Imprint of the fish he had just consumed digesting noticeably faster within his body!

"Tai Chi can actually speed digestion, harmonize body and mind, and nourish one's foundation?" This discovery exhilarated him.

As expected of a health-preserving martial art containing ancient wisdom. In this world filled with chakra, it seemed to display a unique adaptability as well.

But thinking about it carefully, it was perfectly normal. Whether on Earth or in the Ninja World, the body was the foundation of everything, and Tai Chi was a method for training the body. Naturally, it was useful in the Ninja World.

Without hesitating, he took advantage of the feeling while it was right and began again from the start, performing another set with complete seriousness.

After two sets, a faint sheen of sweat covered his body, yet he was not the least bit tired. Instead, he felt refreshed and clear-headed.

After taking a cold shower and changing into clean clothes, Uchiha Hara finally headed out for school, his vitality tucked away beneath a calm exterior.

As he walked along the road and looked at the houses lining the way, Uchiha Hara made a slight comparison and had to admit that the house left behind by the original owner's parents, though it looked shabby—mainly because the roof leaked—was actually a three-bedroom, one-living-room home, complete with a kitchen and bathroom. Throughout the entire Hidden Leaf Village, it could still be considered above average.

The original owner had lived so miserably before purely because all his thoughts had been devoted to obsessive training. He had simply had no time to care about his quality of life, to the point that no one had even repaired the house when it broke down.