Half a year passed like a white horse glimpsed through a crack, gone in the blink of an eye.
Once prominent, a vast shadow looming over the world's underworld,
the Golden Club had long since vanished like smoke, becoming a bloody, indistinct footnote in the pages of history.
The criminal empire, having lost its core leadership and numerous key members, was like a giant beast whose innards had been hollowed out.
Though its skeleton remained, it had completely lost its soul and strength and could only collapse to the ground,
leaving the factions of Southeast Asia and even the world, who had been eyeing it like tigers, to swarm in and carve it up.
The old order had collapsed, and fresh chaos was brewing,
but the suffocating colossus that had once occupied the summit was gone for good.
Li Qingshan, who had single-handedly brought about this earthshaking upheaval, was now far from all the clamor and turmoil.
Three months earlier,
he had grasped the fist beneath the sea, and Gang Jin had formed on its own.
It had come naturally, like water flowing into a channel, without the slightest obstruction.
He could clearly feel that the Jin flowing ceaselessly through his body had undergone a complete transformation,
dividing into two levels, inner and outer, both profoundly wondrous.
Inner Gang was the manifestation of his own Jin, highly concentrated and refined to its utmost. It could leave his body and strike through the air.
Though it could initially reach only an inch beyond his body, that inch was already a difference as vast as a heavenly chasm,
enough to injure an enemy from a distance and shatter their internal organs. It was profoundly wondrous.
Outer Gang, meanwhile, was the natural eruption of Jin throughout his body, connecting with the outside world
to form a protective field that was invisible yet tangible.
It could also pull and draw the air into currents, turning them into invisible Gang Qi of unparalleled sharpness,
capable of both protecting the body and injuring enemies at a distance.
Its power was so fierce and unmatched that it was rarely seen anywhere in the world.
After breaking through to the great accomplishment of Gang Jin and bringing his mind to Primordial Breathing,
Li Qingshan had sought out the greatest masters of the age to test his martial path and hone his cultivation.
He had traveled north to visit North China Prison in secret, where he had made a friend through martial arts with Ba Liming, the "King of Martial Combat."
Ba Liming's Qi and blood were like a dragon, and his fist intent was fierce and violent. He had cultivated external martial arts to their peak.
When he unleashed a Taizu Long Cannon Hammer, his fist Gang split the air, its force enough to shatter monuments and crack stone.
Li Qingshan had neither dodged nor retreated. Circulating his Inner Gang,
he lightly extended a finger. Its force was concentrated like a needle and unstoppable, and though he struck later, he arrived first,
precisely tapping the point where Ba Liming's fist force was strongest.
The two streams of Gang Jin collided in midair with a dull boom like muffled thunder, and a wave of air rolled outward.
Both men swayed slightly, evenly matched.
Ba Liming had laughed heartily, and having felt the subtlety of Li Qingshan's Jin, his own path from external to internal had grown clearer.
Li Qingshan, too, felt that the utterly pure and fierce will in Ba Liming's fist
was greatly beneficial to the refinement of his own Gang Jin.
That same month,
Li Qingshan had found Chang Mei, the leader of the overseas organization "GOD."
By then, the GOD leader had long since entered the realm of "shattering the void, beholding the gods and becoming indestructible."
His body was without leakage, and his fist had reached the divine. He had been the foremost person under heaven before Wang Chao's rise,
and his supreme skill, Planting a Lotus in Fire, was an ultimate divine power of the martial arts.
Li Qingshan had combined the sharpness of Gang Jin with the vastness of Primordial Breathing to meet Chang Mei's supreme fist intent of "my fate is mine to command" head-on.
Their spiritual presences clashed for only an instant, but each had already gauged the other's depth. In truth, it was hard to say who was superior.
Chang Mei was astonished that, though the young man had not reached the True God Realm, his combat prowess was already scarcely inferior.
Li Qingshan, too, sensed the purity and vastness of Chang Mei's fist intent and benefited greatly.
In this exchange, they had met their match and served as whetstones for each other. Both had gained from it.
Now, Li Qingshan was deep in the South China Sea, in a rarely visited area of international waters,
engaged in the purest and most perilous final contest with heaven, earth, and nature.
Thirty meters below the surface, the light had grown dim and hazy.
The immense water pressure was everywhere, enough to crush an ordinary person's internal organs with ease.
Yet Li Qingshan was like an ancient, graceful leviathan of the sea.
His body stretched and moved freely through a magnificent coral forest that concealed deadly peril.
His Qi and blood surged through his body with a low rumble like muffled thunder,
loud enough to drown out even the sound of the deep-sea currents.
Every seemingly simple movement-
a fist slowly extended,
a palm gently sweeping,
or a finger quietly thrust forward-
precisely guided the currents around him, creating subtle yet immensely powerful vortices.
His Transformation Jin had long since reached flawless perfection.
His Elixir Jin was steady as a mountain.
His Qi and blood were contained within him like liquid mercury.
His spirit was tempered like diamond.
He lacked only that final step before the threshold to break through his restraints and enter the supreme realm that had circulated in the world of Guoshu for hundreds of years,
yet existed almost solely in legend: shatter the void, behold the gods and become indestructible!
After attaining Gang Jin, he had chosen this sea as the place for his final secluded cultivation.
On land, it was already difficult to find an environment that could exert enough pressure on him.
Only this vast, boundless, unfathomable sea,
this magnificent natural expanse containing the two extremes of supreme softness and supreme hardness,
could be the ideal opponent for tempering his supreme fist intent.
"The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without contending, yet drops of water can bore through stone, and torrents can destroy cities and nations."
Li Qingshan's mind was completely immersed in the changes of his fist techniques and the currents. In his heart there was neither sorrow nor joy, neither self nor thought.
"Water has no fixed form, changing endlessly with the flow. This is supreme softness;
gathering its force to tower to the heavens, it can destroy anything in its path. This is supreme hardness. The principles of the fist should be the same."
His mind reflected the nature of water like a clear mirror, and he incorporated it into his own fist intent.
Suddenly, his body stilled, and his right fist moved at a seemingly slow pace,
yet one that contained a certain profound rhythm, striking slowly forward.
The punch produced no explosive sound, nor did it carry an earthshaking presence.
Yet in the direction of his fist, the seawater ahead seemed to be forcibly pushed aside by a vast, invisible force!
A spiral vacuum passage visible to the naked eye abruptly formed, piercing more than ten meters through the seawater!
The currents at the edges of the passage spun and shrieked violently, unable to close up at once.
It lasted for more than three full seconds before the immense surrounding water pressure filled it again,
producing a muffled boom and stirring up countless tiny bubbles.
In the instant the vacuum formed and vanished,
the immense Jin within Li Qingshan, which had long since accumulated to its peak, underwent a qualitative leap as well!
An entirely new sense of power arose within him and permeated his whole body!
Transformation in the storm
At that very moment, Li Qingshan's immensely powerful spiritual perception sensed that
the natural energies above the surface were churning violently.
Even thirty meters beneath the sea, he could faintly "hear" the oppressive, violent prelude of a howl from above.
In fact, meteorological satellites from various countries had detected it days earlier:
deep in the South China Sea, a powerful embryonic typhoon was frantically drawing in energy and rapidly growing.
All prediction models showed that a typhoon potentially exceeding force 13 was brewing.
Though its path was uncertain, it was sure to pose an enormous threat to the surrounding waters and even coastal regions.
Yet as Li Qingshan felt this world-destroying might of nature, not a trace of fear appeared in his eyes.
Instead, a blazing, excited light burst from them!
Perfect timing!
He shouted inwardly, bent his legs slightly, and then kicked off fiercely!
The seawater beneath his feet exploded, forming two powerful propulsive currents.
He himself shot upward like a torpedo leaving its tube, or a bolt of lightning streaking in reverse toward the surface, breaking through layer after layer of water pressure
at an astonishing speed!
Boom!
The moment he burst through the surface, a deafening roar slammed against his eardrums like ten thousand thunderclaps exploding at once.
As far as he could see, the whole world had changed color, as though the end of the world had come.
The sky was completely covered in ink-dark clouds, hanging so low they seemed ready to press down on the sea.
The gale howled hysterically, whipping up wave after wave more than ten meters high,
mountainous giants that collided and collapsed with earthshaking crashes.
Rain poured down like a waterfall, its dense drops driven by the gale and striking the body with the force of stray bullets.
Yet before this great natural force, which could tear even an enormous steel ship apart,
Li Qingshan stood steadily atop a wave.
His body rose and fell with the swells, yet he stood as if on level ground, without the slightest sway.
With every step he took, invisible air currents naturally formed beneath his feet,
deftly diverting the impact of the great waves while using the force of wind and water to support his body.
This was the combination of Gang Jin at great accomplishment and the ability to interfere with reality after bringing Primordial Breathing to perfection: all the air currents around him were his to use.
He swept toward the central region where the storm was fiercest.
The closer he came to the center,
the fiercer the wind grew,
and the higher the waves rose,
almost joining heaven and earth.
Terrifying lightning danced like silver serpents, tearing through the pitch-black sky again and again.
Thunder rolled, shaking his Qi and blood into turmoil.
Li Qingshan stood motionless atop a towering wave at the edge of the storm's eye.
He slowly closed his eyes and completely relinquished the defenses of body and mind, leaving only his naturally circulating Gang Qi to protect his vital points,
letting the gale, the rain, the giant waves, and even the static electricity filling the air strike and scour his body furiously.
Under this extreme natural pressure, his spirit instead entered an ethereal, crystalline state.
The course of slaughter over the past half year flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern:
from the pure anger he had felt when he first heard of the crimes and the ruthlessness with which he had struck,
to the calm and indifference with which he had later faced his enemies;
from his fixation on the thought that "I" was performing heroic deeds,
to gradually comprehending the transcendence of "no self" and the composure of simply doing what needed to be done.
"The martial path defies heaven and struggles for one's fate,
yet one must also comprehend the heart of heaven and take nature as one's teacher."
He murmured softly. His voice was swallowed by the storm, yet it was clearly imprinted upon his own heart.
The Qi and blood in his body surged and roared like great rivers, while his spirit and will were tempered like diamond and rock, standing immovable.
His realm of Embryonic Breathing had long since reached the peak of Primordial Breathing. With each breath, its rhythm was profound,
as though it were gradually synchronizing and resonating with the breathing of the entire ocean and the pulse of the storm!
Crack!
An immensely thick bolt of lightning, like a spear of judgment hurled down by an enraged heaven,
tore across the sky and struck with perfect precision toward Li Qingshan atop the wave!
Before the might of heaven and earth, humanity seemed so insignificant.
Yet Li Qingshan neither dodged nor retreated. At that moment, he even deliberately withdrew his protective Gang Qi,
meeting this destructive natural energy with nothing but his pure flesh and blood!
Boom!
The lightning struck the crown of his head squarely!
Dazzling electric light swallowed him in an instant!
Terrifying energy, enough to vaporize steel and melt rock, poured wildly into his body!
Yet the imagined scene of him being reduced to ash did not occur.
The instant the lightning touched him, the newborn Gang Qi within Li Qingshan, connecting his inner body with the outside, began circulating on its own at an unprecedented speed!
It did not forcibly resist the lightning.
Instead, it deftly guided that incomparably violent energy, sending it raging along specific meridian pathways,
tempering every inch of his sinews, bones, skin, and membranes, cleansing his five viscera and six bowels, and finally flowing into the utterly stable Golden Elixir in his dantian!
At that moment, he seemed to have truly become part of the storm,
his will briefly joined with the will of heaven and earth!
Break the void, look within at the divine treasure
Amid this ultimate agony and ultimate transcendence,
beneath the frenzied infusion and baptism of heaven and earth's energy,
all the foundations Li Qingshan had accumulated over so long finally erupted with a roar, breaking through that final, most stubborn bottleneck!
"Hum-"
A peal like the ringing of a great bell seemed to sound in his brain,
yet it also sounded like the shattering of some fetter, broken completely apart!
An indescribably wondrous sensation swept through his entire body in an instant!
His "vision" seemed to extend inward without limit, piercing through flesh, bones, and blood.
He "saw" them!
He clearly "saw" the countless acupoints within his body, as tiny as stars yet containing infinite mysteries!
These acupoints, sensitive and mysterious, were like miniature energy vortices,
governing the workings of human life, like deities within the body presiding over different domains!
The "gods" spoken of in alchemical scriptures and sought in fist arts
were not those elusive immortals and buddhas in the heavens,
but the many sensitive, minute acupoint deities within the body itself!
Break the void, and one could see the gods!
The so-called "void" was not the starry expanse of the universe,
but the boundless mysteries and unknowns within the human body!
At this moment, Li Qingshan's sensitivity in cultivation had reached an unprecedented height.
Perceiving the smallest details, he could truly and clearly sense the existence of every minute acupoint in his body,
their functions, and the roles they played within it!
Having reached this realm, he could use this perception to control his body perfectly,
using Qi and blood, force, and even his mental intent to repair his slightest injuries and hidden ailments,
keeping himself in the most perfect condition at all times!
From then on, his flesh would be flawless, and no illness would take root.
Even if he lived to a hundred, his strength and Qi and blood would not decline!
This was one of the highest realms of physical cultivation: immortality of the flesh in the truest sense!
Just as Buddhist practitioners sought to reach the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss,
and behold a hundred trillion buddha lands and buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.
That land of ultimate bliss was not in the distant west, but within oneself;
those countless buddhas were the deities within one's own acupoints, governing the workings of life!
Li Qingshan slowly opened his eyes.
Deep in his gaze, a brilliant light no longer shone.
Instead, his eyes had become immeasurably deep and serene, as though they contained the birth, death, and evolution of the starry cosmos,
and reflected the laws governing the workings of all things in nature.
He gently raised his hand and threw a seemingly casual punch toward the center of the raging storm ahead.
There was no earth-shaking commotion, no fierce gale that tore everything apart.
Yet in the direction his fist intent pointed, the raging, howling winds, the mountain-high waves, and the torrential rain ahead
seemed to be gently smoothed away by an invisible hand, turning calm in an instant!
They had not been forcibly suppressed or dispersed. Rather, it was as if the laws of heaven and earth there had been briefly altered,
as if the very concept of a "storm" had been erased from existence, leaving harmony and tranquility.
A ray of sunlight even pierced through the thick clouds and fell upon the calm surface of the sea!
The clouds parted, the sun emerged, and the storm subsided!
At that moment, staff at meteorological centers across the world stared in astonishment as they discovered
that the massive cloud formation on their satellite monitoring screens, which had been intensifying furiously
and was about to be named a super typhoon,
had rapidly broken apart and dissipated within mere minutes, in a manner that defied every law of meteorology!
All the abnormal weather readings swiftly fell back to normal, as though everything before had been nothing but an illusion.
The experts held an emergency consultation and repeatedly checked their data models, but in the end could only attribute it to
"an extremely rare and unpredictable small-scale climatic variation."
But they would never know that this was no natural variation,
but a miracle brought about when a human pushed his martial cultivation to its utmost,
and his own microcosm entered into a profound resonance with the greater universe outside!
Li Qingshan had not only broken through his own void and seen the deities within his body,
but had also, to some extent, reached the supreme realm of breathing with heaven and earth and sharing the fate of all things!