Boulder Art
Heaven Rewards Diligence: From Household Slave to Supreme Immortal Venerable
Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Boulder Art |
| Original Name | 磐石功 |
| Type | Basic external body-hardening martial art 8 14 |
| Affiliation | Marquis of Zhenbei’s Residence; distributed to its servants 3 |
| Practitioners | Chen Xuan, Liu San, and household guards; available to more than three hundred rear-courtyard menial slaves 12 14 29 |
| Primary Function | Circulating blood and Qi to temper the skin, membranes, muscles, sinews, and bones 13 21 |
| Stated Cultivation Ceiling | An Jin at most 8 12 |
| Highest Documented Proficiency | Chen Xuan: Major accomplishment, 150/1000 42 |
| First Appearance | Chapter 3 3 |
Power Progression
The following records Chen Xuan’s proficiency, enhanced by his Heaven Rewards Diligence fate trait. Technique proficiency and personal cultivation realm are listed separately where the text establishes a breakthrough 3 14 15.
| Stage / Realm / Level | Chapter | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner — 1/500 → 2/500 | 3 | Touching the manual imprints its instructions into his mind. His fate trait corrects the circulation route; the first completed circuit adds one point. |
| Beginner — 90/500 | 4 | Four hours of cultivation heal his whipping wounds without leaving a proper scar. |
| Beginner — 200/500 | 4 | Reached by dawn after his first night of continuous practice. |
| Beginner — 225/500 | 13 | Advances through seated practice and circulating blood and Qi while hauling eighty-jin bundles of firewood. |
| Beginner — 230/500 → 250/500 | 14 | Chores bring him to 230; nighttime training improves circulation and visibly changes his muscles and bones at 250. |
| Beginner — 300/500 | 14 | Expels foul black impurities, revealing a marrow-cleansing effect attributed to his fate trait rather than the ordinary art. |
| Beginner — 390/500 | 14 | Opens all twelve primary meridians, accelerating proficiency gains and sharpening his senses. |
| Beginner perfection — 500/500; Early-stage Bright Force | 15 | Completes a painful full-body transformation and formally breaks through. A test punch leaves a crater more than three inches deep in a rammed-earth wall. |
| Minor accomplishment — 100/1000 | 21 | Simultaneous cultivation with Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang produces mutual acceleration during a morning’s stable work. |
| Minor accomplishment — 145/1000 | 22 | Continues advancing while tending Treading Snow. |
| Minor accomplishment — 180/1000 → 310/1000 | 24 | The extreme strain of restraining the runaway horse sharply increases dual-art resonance. |
| Minor attainment — 348/1000 → 350/1000 | 28 | Checks his gains after the rescue, then resumes cultivating both arts. |
| Minor accomplishment — 350/1000 → 820/1000; Middle-stage Ming Jin breakthrough | 33 | The Blood-Gathering Pill increases dual-technique resonance efficiency tenfold. Both arts advance further before he completes his realm breakthrough; the final Boulder Art counter is not shown. |
| Major accomplishment — counter unspecified | 39 | Explicitly identified at this stage when he uses its blood Qi to massage Xiao Ling’er’s legs. |
| Major accomplishment — 150/1000 | 42 | Recorded while he cultivates both arts on horseback. |
Background & History
The Boulder Art is a commonplace technique issued to servants of the Marquis of Zhenbei’s Residence. Its manual contains written instructions and a Qi-circulation diagram. Chen Xuan retrieves his worn, yellow-paged copy from beneath broken bedboards after awakening in the body of a slave believed to have been beaten to death 3.
The body’s original owner had practiced for three years without producing a detectable change in his blood and Qi, eventually abandoning the manual. The text identifies talent and adequate nourishment as major obstacles for poorly fed servants; Steward Zhao later reports that only about a dozen rear-courtyard slaves had reached Early-stage Bright Force within three years 3 29.
Mastering the art offers a legal route out of slavery. At Ming Jin Perfection, a servant can seek cancellation of their slave registration; Chen Xuan also describes qualifying for the outer-courtyard military officer assessment. The prospect makes the technique valuable despite its limited power ceiling 3 12.
For Chen Xuan, its legitimate household origin also provides cover. He initially prioritizes the Boulder Art because visible progress in a servant’s permitted technique is safer than revealing that he has stolen the Xiao family’s exclusive Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang 12.
Abilities & Skills
Blood and Qi Circulation
Produces a warm current from the dantian and guides it through the body to strengthen physical tissues 3 13.
- Repeated circuits temper muscles, bones, skin, and membranes 13.
- Chen Xuan maintains circulation while carrying firewood and water, cleaning stables, grooming horses, and riding 13 21 42.
- Heavy labor can serve as weighted training rather than interrupting cultivation 13.
Body Hardening and Strength
The ordinary art is described as a crude external method chiefly associated with tougher flesh and resistance to beatings 14.
- After Chen Xuan’s enhanced Early-stage Bright Force breakthrough, Liu San’s ordinary leather whip cannot penetrate his surface protection 17.
- He concentrates less than a tenth of his Boulder Art Qi force into his shoulder to fracture Liu San’s kneecap 18.
- Combined with Yang Gang, its strength helps him stop Treading Snow and later shatter Lei Hu’s refined-steel spiked club 24 50.
- Its protection is not absolute: the reins tear his palms while he restrains the runaway horse 24.
Healing and Therapeutic Control
Circulating the art’s blood and Qi accelerates Chen Xuan’s recovery 4.
- His severe back and chest wounds heal during four hours of cultivation, while obstructed meridians are cleared 4.
- Boulder Art blood Qi and Yang Gang together ease the pain of his scalded hand 10.
- At major accomplishment, he sends carefully softened Qi through his palms into Xiao Ling’er’s calf meridians and Chengshan point to relieve muscle soreness 39.
Force Redirection
Major-accomplishment Boulder Art provides precise control for diverting incoming force 45.
- Chen Xuan contacts the spine of Liu Bazi’s descending saber and guides it downward and sideways.
- The maneuver redirects roughly seventy to eighty percent of a strike described as carrying five hundred jin of force.
- Pulling along the attack’s momentum destabilizes Liu Bazi and creates an opening for a counterpunch 45.
Fate-Enhanced Marrow Cleansing
Chen Xuan’s Heaven Rewards Diligence trait draws out effects beyond the Boulder Art’s ordinary reputation 14.
- At 300 beginner proficiency, he purges congenital toxins and impurities through foul black sweat 14.
- Continued cultivation opens his twelve primary meridians and improves sensory acuity 14 15.
- The beginner-perfection breakthrough tears down and reforms bodily tissues under the fate trait’s golden light 15.
- Chen Xuan explicitly credits these exceptional results to his fate trait, not to the standard technique 14.
Dual-Art Resonance
In Chen Xuan’s cultivation, the Boulder Art and Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang reinforce one another rather than clashing 21.
- Intersection points: Their currents meet at Shanzhong in the chest and Mingmen in the back 21.
- Boulder Art’s contribution: Its dense blood, Qi, and tempered flesh supply the foundation that fuels Yang Gang 21.
- Yang Gang’s contribution: Its scorching force compresses and refines Boulder Art blood and Qi at several times the normal rate 21.
- Further catalysts: Extreme physical pressure and the Blood-Gathering Pill intensify this resonance 24 33.
- Concealment: As the arts merge more deeply under his fate trait, Chen Xuan learns to withdraw their power into his marrow, hiding his cultivation from observation and a pulse examination 29 37.
Limitations
- Low ceiling: The Boulder Art is stated to reach An Jin at most, unlike Eight Desolations Prison-Suppressing Yang Gang, which offers a path toward Hua Jin and peak Gang Jin 8 12.
- Unequal martial quality: Chen Xuan regards it as substantially inferior to the Xiao family’s core killing art at the same cultivation realm 9.
- Demanding ordinary cultivation: Permission to practice does not guarantee success; poor nourishment and limited aptitude leave many servants unable to establish meaningful progress 3 29.
- Exceptional results are practitioner-specific: The corrected route, reliable proficiency gains, unusual marrow cleansing, and demonstrated dual-art synergy occur under Chen Xuan’s fate trait 3 14 21.