Mountain-Breaking Stance

Biodata

Power Progression

The following records Jiang Fa’s proficiency and breakthroughs, as shown by his cultivation panel and training results.

Origin and Transmission

The Mountain-Breaking Stance originated as an outer-disciple cultivation technique of the Earth Xuan Sect in Qingyang Prefecture. Zhao Zhong learned it during his time there; he explicitly states that he did not create it. After leaving the sect and returning to Qingshan County, he founded the Zhao Clan Martial Hall, where the stance became its signature cultivation method 46.

At the martial hall, newcomers receive the first level immediately. They must perfect it and reach Ming Jin within three months to remain and become formal inner courtyard disciples. Zhao Zhong teaches the second level after their admission and passes the third-level mental method to Jiang Fa after confirming his An Jin breakthrough 3 19 45.

Abilities & Skills

First Level: Sinking Jin

The first level directs the practitioner’s strength downward, rooting the body while gathering Qi and tempering blood, sinews, bones, skin, and flesh 3 19.

• Rooted footing: Zhao Zhong describes perfected practice as making the feet take root so that no push can move the practitioner 19.
• Combat stability: Against the Azure-Maned Jackals, Jiang Fa channels sinking force through both legs, depressing the earth beneath his feet and anchoring himself before counterattacking 31.
• Ming Jin breakthrough: Perfection produces abundant blood and Qi and develops martial force that can be projected outward or applied through the fists 3 18.

Second Level: Lifting Jin

The second level builds on sinking force by training its upward movement. Its posture lowers the center of gravity further and bends the knees more deeply than the first level 19.

• Controlled rising force: Zhao Zhong’s annotations instruct practitioners to use the dantian as the pivot and raise force slowly rather than forcing it upward 24.
• Preparation for penetration: Both the first and second levels establish the foundation required for the third level’s Penetrating Jin 46.
• An Jin breakthrough: Perfecting the second level enables force to penetrate beneath a target’s surface, leaving the skin unharmed while damaging the interior 19.
• Demonstrated result: After completing it, Jiang Fa snaps an oil lamp’s wick without touching it 42.

Third Level: Penetrating Jin

The third level refines the penetrating force already available upon entering An Jin. Zhao Zhong distinguishes crude internal destruction from the finer ability to transmit force through intervening objects 46.

• Selective internal damage: Jiang Fa cracks a tea bowl’s base while leaving its contents undisturbed 47.
• Transmission through weapons: Zhao Zhong flicks one face of a steel saber and breaks a stalk of grass resting on its spine 46.
• Bypassing protection: At third-level perfection, force can pass through weapons and armor to attack an opponent’s sinews, bones, and internal organs 46.
• Creator’s reported feat: According to Zhao Zhong, the senior who created the technique shattered an enemy’s heart through an iron shield three inches thick 46.
• Realm endpoint: Third-level perfection is stated to lead to Transforming Force; Jiang Fa has only begun this level in the documented training 3 46 47.

Relationship to the Mountain-Breaking Fist

• Stance develops force; fist technique releases it. Zhao Zhong explains that stance training strengthens the lower body and tempers the body, while martial skills gather that force into a point and unleash it 10.
• The paired Mountain-Breaking Fist is also Mid Yellow Grade, but its central principle is “burst,” distinct from the stance’s initial emphasis on “sink” 4 10.
• Remembering either method does not replace physical practice: Jiang Fa knows the stance’s details through his panel but initially struggles to coordinate his breathing and posture 3 4.

Training Method and Limitations

Posture and Breathing

• Base position: Feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent and pressed outward, waist lowered, hips settled, and back straight 4 7.
• Upper body: Shoulders lowered, elbows slightly bent, and hands loosely curled into fists at the waist 4.
• Breathing: Abdominal breathing, with the dantian expanding on inhalation and contracting on exhalation 4.
• Common errors: Knees extending beyond the toes, knees buckling inward, a sagging lower back, raised shoulders, and uneven weight distribution disrupt the stance or misdirect force 4.
• First-level duration: Wang Shi gives one hour as the standard. Beginners are doing well if they can initially last the time needed to drink a cup of tea 4.

Conditioning and Resources

• Primary demands: Jiang Fa identifies bodily coordination and muscular endurance, rather than exceptional raw strength, as the stance’s main physical challenges 4.
• Nourishment requirement: Insufficient nutrition slows the development of blood and Qi. Forcing excessive practice can overdraw the body, damage its foundation, and leave hidden problems 5 12.
• Medicinal support: Blood Strengthening Powder and Blood Condensation Pills substantially accelerate Jiang Fa’s progress when combined with practice 15 26 28.
• Recovery between sessions: Wang Shi instructs exhausted beginners to loosen their muscles and joints rather than lie flat, warning that sudden relaxation will worsen soreness when practice resumes 5.

Notable Practitioners and Instructors

• Zhao Zhong — Learned the technique at the Earth Xuan Sect, established its transmission at his martial hall, and personally teaches its higher levels 19 45 46.
• Wang Shi — Demonstrates the first level and corrects the newcomers’ posture and breathing. He recalls needing two or three days to reproduce its framework when he first learned it 3 4.
• Jiang Fa — Uses his cultivation panel to learn the method, perfects its first two levels, and begins the third after reaching An Jin in less than a year 3 18 42 45 46.
• Qin Xuan — Reproduces the first level after one demonstration, learns to engage and release it at will in under a month, and later breaks through to Ming Jin while holding the stance 3 7 16.

Notable Quotes

“Sink your shoulders, sink your elbows, sink your Qi, sink your force. All the strength in your body must go downward and root itself in the earth.”
— Wang Shi 4

“The earth is the bow, the body the arrow. The deeper you sink, the farther you shoot.”
— Zhao Zhong’s annotations on the second level 24