Over the next while, Jia Qingshan finally experienced firsthand what a true genius was.
Every fist technique he taught, Wu Ming memorized after watching it just once. After practicing it a few times, he had mastered every movement.
In the end, it took Wu Ming only half an hour to grasp the essence of the Five Elements Fist. He could exert force seamlessly, integrating strength and power as one, equivalent to reaching major mastery in the fist art.
At this point in Internal Martial Arts, one needed to comprehend force. The force of Xingyi Quan was divided into three stages: Bright Strength, Hidden Strength, and Transforming Strength!
Bright Strength meant coordinating the force of the entire body. With a single punch, one could unleash one hundred percent of the power allowed by one's current physical condition.
This happened to be Wu Ming's weakness. After all, he had never learned any techniques before. Although his physical qualities were extremely high, he found it difficult to fully bring them into play.
When he threw a punch with all his strength, it often only reached seventy to eighty percent of his panel attributes, wasting several hundred kilograms of force for nothing.
But as long as he mastered the techniques of Bright Strength, he would be able to perfectly unleash the limit of the power shown on his panel.
Thus, after Wu Ming achieved major mastery of the Five Elements Fist, Jia Qingshan naturally began teaching him the next stage of Stance Work: the Hunyuan Stake.
Unlike the Three-Body Stance's side-facing combat posture, the Hunyuan Stake required one to stand facing forward, feet shoulder-width apart, arms rounded before the chest as though hugging a large tree.
Through such movements, Wu Ming could sense the changes in the muscles and tendons throughout his body and the feeling of Hunyuan unity. It was a prerequisite stance for mastering force.
Naturally, controlling the details of Stance Work was his strong suit.
He had almost perfectly assumed the stance after hearing Jia Qingshan explain the key points just once. With a slight adjustment to his posture, it became an utterly flawless stance frame.
Even so, Wu Ming stood in the stance for a full hour before finally sensing the changes in his muscles and tendons and understanding the feeling of Hunyuan unity.
He felt that his progress had slowed, unaware that Jia Qingshan beside him had been thoroughly startled. He had grasped the essence of the Hunyuan Stake in an hour? What kind of monster was this kid?!
Back then, Jia Qingshan had stood in the stance for a full half year before sensing the meaning of Hunyuan. He was completely incomparable to Wu Ming.
At this point, the Hunyuan Stake could be considered major mastery, bringing him another step closer to mastering Bright Strength.
After witnessing Wu Ming's progress, Jia Qingshan took a deep breath and began teaching him the advanced Stance Work that followed: the Dragon-Surrendering Stake and the Tiger-Subduing Stake!
The Dragon-Surrendering Stake emphasized twisting like a dragon and trained explosive spiral force. Its core lay in twisting the spine to its limit. Its essence was the same as the Drilling Fist of the Five Elements Fist, except the movement shifted from the arms to the torso itself.
As for the Tiger-Subduing Stake, its essence was heaviness and stability. Its core was sinking one's center of gravity to the utmost, like a crouching tiger gathering momentum. When still, it remained motionless; when it moved, mountains collapsed and earth split.
One of these two stances was dynamic, while the other was still. They tempered the spine, waist, hips, and limbs to the extreme. Once both reached major mastery, they could be linked with the Hunyuan Stake. With the Three-Body Stance as the core, one could then unify all the strength in the body.
By then, reaching the realm of Bright Strength would naturally follow.
Of course, these two advanced stances were far more difficult than the basic stances before them, at least in Wu Ming's view.
He spent the entire morning carefully sensing the force generated by the twisting of his spine.
Yet even after several hours, despite every movement of the stance already being flawless, Wu Ming still could not understand the secret of the Dragon-Surrendering Stake, much less the Tiger-Subduing Stake.
It was not until nine that evening, shortly before the lesson ended, that he finally comprehended the power of the spiral.
"Ha!"
Wu Ming sank his waist and seated his hips. His arms and spine coordinated perfectly as he twisted like a dragon and threw a powerful punch.
A sharp crack rang out from his arm, startling Jia Qingshan, who had been about to turn and leave. He instantly spun around, his face filled with astonishment.
"Major mastery of the Dragon-Surrendering Stake in one day??"
His mind was filled with disbelief. He had spent a full three years practicing the Dragon-Surrendering Stake before reaching major mastery!
Jia Qingshan realized that he was finding Wu Ming harder and harder to understand. He could not help wondering, Just how high is this kid's potential?
"Even if you were born with all your meridians unobstructed, you shouldn't have reached major mastery of Stance Work this quickly."
He even suspected that, even if he truly comprehended Cosmic Energy and underwent a complete Gene Evolution, he might not be able to achieve such terrifying cultivation speed.
But no matter what, Wu Ming's rapid cultivation was partly due to his own talent, while the improvements brought by Gene Evolution were also undeniably real.
At that thought, Jia Qingshan's heart stirred. After saying goodbye to Wu Ming, he immediately returned to his dorm room and hurriedly began cultivating Five Hearts Toward Heaven.
On the other side, after achieving major mastery of the Dragon-Surrendering Stake, Wu Ming did not remain to continue cultivating either. He also returned to his room to rest.
Coincidentally, Jia Yi returned to the dorm at the same time. After the two exchanged a few words, Wu Ming learned that Ruan Qingzhu and the other person had progressed smoothly with their stance practice today, and he nodded slightly.
As for Jia Yi, after learning what Wu Ming had studied that day, his eyes nearly bulged from shock.
He had guessed that his eldest uncle had taken Wu Ming away to give him special instruction, but he had not expected him to teach so much!
Those were the Dragon-Subduing Tiger-Overturning Stances! Even among the younger generation of the Jia Family, not many students learned those two stances.
Anyone who mastered them had almost certainly entered the realm of Bright Strength. They could then complete their training and join the military, where they were bound to become elite soldiers with limitless futures.
This was also because Wu Ming had not revealed that he had already mastered the Dragon-Surrendering Stake. Otherwise, Jia Yi would have been even more shocked.
As things stood, Jia Yi could only congratulate him with a complicated expression and did not press for further details.
After washing up, they both went to bed. As usual, Wu Ming cultivated Genetic Energy and Spiritual Force before sleeping.
Once his body's cells were saturated, he opened his eyes again, a trace of delight appearing on his face.
"One hour and twenty minutes! It increased by another twenty minutes this time!"
Wu Ming was delighted. Because I practiced the Hunyuan Stake and the Dragon-Surrendering Stake today, my absorption limit rose from twice to around 2.6 times.
Once I learn the Tiger-Subduing Stake and combine the Four Great Stances with the Three-Body Stance, perhaps I can raise my cultivation limit to three times or even higher.
Sure enough, Stance Work is a Guidance Technique. The Guidance Technique formed by combining the five great stances of Xingyi Quan should be called the Xingyi Guiding Art.
Whether the stances of other Internal Martial Arts schools possessed the effects of a Guidance Technique would require him to explore slowly in the future.
He glanced at his panel and saw that his strength had increased by 141 kilograms, matching the pattern of linear growth. Wu Ming nodded to himself, then switched to the Spiritual-Martial Dual Cultivation Set and began that day's Spiritual Force cultivation.
The next day arrived. As usual, Wu Ming did not go to the training ground to assemble. Instead, he went alone to the rear mountain and began practicing the Tiger-Subduing Stake.
Jia Qingshan had cultivated Five Hearts Toward Heaven through the night, yet gained no insight.
He was not in a hurry. After assigning lessons to Jia Yi and the other two as usual that morning, he also came to the rear mountain to check on Wu Ming's cultivation progress.
The morning quietly passed, and Wu Ming's understanding of the Tiger-Subduing Stake gradually deepened bit by bit.
By noon, he had finally comprehended the final crucial point.
At the instant he achieved major mastery of the stance, Wu Ming seemed to receive divine inspiration and instinctively shifted into the Three-Body Stance.
But unlike before, he did not stand motionless in the stance this time. Instead, following the movements of the Three-Body Stance, his entire body began to move.
As his movements shifted, the Three-Body Stance gradually transitioned into the Hunyuan Stake, then the Dragon-Surrendering Stake, and finally the Tiger-Subduing Stake he had just comprehended.
After completing all four stances, Wu Ming returned to the posture of the Three-Body Stance. Yet he was not ending his practice. Instead, he twisted his waist and hips, flipped out his right fist, and tore through the air with a crisp ringing sound.
Then came the second punch, the third punch... Every punch boomed explosively, even twisting the surrounding air into wisps of breeze.
Only after throwing thirteen consecutive punches did he return to the Three-Body Stance and slowly finish his practice.
Beside him, Jia Qingshan had unknowingly opened his mouth wide. As a Xingyi master, he knew all too well what state Wu Ming had just entered.
The first realm of Xingyi Quan—Bright Strength!
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