The Whole Village Laughed at Me, but I Mastered Steadfast as a Mountain

Whoosh!

A wooden stick swept toward him from behind.

Dong Jian had barely heard it cutting through the air when a sharp pain struck his lower back.

Bang!

He was sent flying off the wooden post and landed heavily on the stone platform.

Before he could get up, two more sticks came crashing down at his shoulders, one from each side.

"Again?"

Dong Jian's expression changed, and he hurriedly rolled out of the way.

The two sticks brushed his clothes as they fell, striking the ground with dull thuds.

The next moment, all nine wooden posts began to turn.

Sticks came at him in succession from different directions.

Dong Jian could only scramble to dodge them.

But with the Panda Martial Soul possessing him, his weight had more than doubled.

Movements he could usually perform with ease had become unusually sluggish.

He had just dodged an attack from the left when the post beneath his feet suddenly tilted.

Dong Jian lost his balance and fell again.

Bang!

A familiar thud rang out on the stone platform.

The Body Refining Hall fell quiet again.

Dong Jian lay facedown on the ground without moving for a long while.

The golden words from the stone stele still hung in midair.

Only by keeping your balance even amid attacks can you truly stand firm.

"Easy for you to say."

Dong Jian pushed himself up from the ground.

"With nine sticks attacking at once, how could anyone stay standing the whole time?"

The Black and White Panda at the entrance was holding a stalk of bamboo, leaning against a stone pillar.

When it saw Dong Jian fall again, it raised a paw to cover its eyes.

But its two black ears twitched slightly.

Dong Jian stared at it for a while.

"Are you laughing?"

The panda lowered its paw, looking innocent.

"Then you try."

Dong Jian pointed at the wooden posts.

"What good does it do to just stand there watching?"

The Black and White Panda bit through the bamboo and tossed the remaining piece aside.

It waddled to the center of the trial grounds and bent its legs slightly.

Whoosh!

Its round body leaped up and landed easily on the highest wooden post.

The mechanism activated again.

All nine wooden sticks rose at once.

The first stick came crashing toward the panda's left side.

It didn't dodge.

Just before the stick hit its body, the panda drew its shoulder back and turned its waist slightly in the direction of the attack.

The stick struck its shoulder.

The blow pushed the panda's body through half a turn, but it didn't fall off the post.

The second stick immediately swept toward its back.

Using the momentum of its previous turn, the panda lifted one foot.

Its body turned again.

The stick swept past its belly.

The third stick came straight at it.

The panda suddenly reached out with both paws and caught the stick.

It didn't try to forcibly stop the attack.

Instead, it crouched down, following the force of the stick as it moved backward.

The wooden post tilted with it.

Using that force, the panda swung itself sharply.

Its round body flew off the post, somersaulted through the air, and landed steadily back where it had been.

Dong Jian watched, dumbstruck.

The panda hadn't avoided every attack.

The first stick had indeed struck it.

But it had channeled most of that blow's force into the post through its shoulder, waist, and legs.

It had dodged the second stick using the momentum from the first turn.

And it had even used the third stick to gain leverage.

It hadn't resisted with brute force.

Nor had it simply dodged every attack.

Instead, it had received, redirected, and then used them.

Dong Jian's eyes gradually lit up.

"I understand."

He had always treated the sticks as attacks he had to dodge.

Whenever a stick came close, his body instinctively tensed up.

The more nervous he became, the stiffer his movements grew.

The panda, meanwhile, had remained relaxed from beginning to end.

When force came at it, it let that force flow through its body.

When it couldn't avoid an attack, it found a way to reduce the damage.

It could even turn an enemy's strength into its own.

"Is this how the Panda Martial Soul fights?"

The Black and White Panda jumped down from the post and reached out to pat Dong Jian on the shoulder.

Its expression seemed to say:

At least you're not hopelessly stupid.

"Again!"

Dong Jian let the Panda Martial Soul possess him once more.

The heavy force descended again.

He leaped onto the shortest wooden post.

The mechanism activated.

The first stick came crashing straight toward him.

Dong Jian fought the urge to dodge.

Only when the stick neared his chest did he turn sideways, moving his shoulder backward in the direction of the attack.

Bang!

The stick still hit him.

The pain was worse than he had imagined.

Dong Jian nearly fell straight off the post.

But this time, he didn't meet the force head-on.

His right foot slid backward along with the wooden post.

His knees bent.

His waist turned.

The force of the stick traveled from his shoulder into his waist and abdomen, then down his legs to his feet.

The wooden post shook violently.

But Dong Jian didn't fall.

"I took it!"

Before he could celebrate, the second stick came at him from behind.

Dong Jian didn't have time to look back and could only judge its direction by sound.

He lowered his body forward.

The stick struck his back.

The powerful blow sent his whole body pitching forward.

Dong Jian gripped the post tightly with his toes and bent forward with the force.

The third stick swept over his head.

He had dodged it!

Dong Jian straightened up again.

The fourth stick.

The fifth.

The nine sticks attacked in turn.

He still fell.

He still made mistakes in judgment.

Sometimes he tensed up so much that he had no time to redirect the force.

Sometimes he focused so much on dealing with an attack from one side that he forgot another stick had already reached his back.

On his first try, he took only two blows.

On his second, three.

On his tenth, seven.

On his twentieth try, he finally made it through the first round of attacks from all nine sticks.

But the mechanism didn't stop.

The sticks spun faster and faster.

The directions of their attacks also began to lose all pattern.

Dong Jian fell again and again.

Mental and physical exhaustion continued to build.

If he had been in the real world, he would probably have been covered in wounds long ago.

Though the Divine Dragon Secret Realm kept his body from truly being injured, it preserved every bit of the pain.

Dong Jian even suspected that this was the most terrifying part of the so-called trial.

His body wouldn't break.

But a person would give up of their own accord because of pain and exhaustion.

After he had fallen who knew how many times, Dong Jian stood on the post without the strength to make any unnecessary movements.

A stick came crashing from the side.

He merely turned slightly.

Bang!

The force struck his shoulder.

His body turned.

The second stick came straight at him.

Using the momentum of his turn, Dong Jian stepped back half a pace.

The stick swept past the tip of his nose.

The third stick came down toward his knee.

Rather than lift his leg to dodge, he relaxed his knee and leaped with the upward force of the stick.

As he landed, he just avoided the fourth attack.

His movements were no longer as frantic as they had been at the start.

His breathing gradually steadied.

Even the sounds of the nine sticks around him seemed to become clearer.

Behind him to the left.

To the right.

Overhead.

Before each attack arrived, his body made slight adjustments in advance.

Dong Jian suddenly realized that he was no longer deliberately thinking about how to respond.

The soles of his feet, his knees, his waist and abdomen, and his shoulders and back could already work together naturally.

The sticks grew faster and faster.

Yet his body never left the wooden post beneath his feet.

One hour.

Two hours.

In the final half hour, all nine wooden posts lit up with golden light at once.

The attacks suddenly grew more powerful.

The first stick landed on Dong Jian's shoulder.

His entire arm instantly went numb.

The second stick struck his lower back.

His body almost flew off the post.

Dong Jian gritted his teeth and stamped down hard with his right foot.

He wasn't resisting with brute force.

Instead, he combined the force of the two attacks and drove it down his right leg into the post.

The post sank abruptly.

Then it sprang high into the air.

Dong Jian used the rebound to leap into the air, avoiding the encirclement of the remaining seven sticks.

As he descended, he landed back in the center of the post.

The final moment passed.

Dong-

A long bell toll rang through the Body Refining Hall.

All the sticks stopped at once.

Dong Jian stood on the post, his chest heaving.

Both his legs were nearly numb.

But he hadn't fallen.

The words on the stone stele gradually faded.

New golden words appeared.

First trial complete.

Ability acquired: Center of Gravity Perception.

Two streams of light, one black and one white, flew out of the stele and merged into Dong Jian's body.

A cool sensation spread upward from the soles of his feet.

He suddenly felt that the whole world had changed.

His right foot bore sixty percent of his weight.

His left foot bore forty percent.

His body leaned slightly forward.

When he breathed, the rise and fall of his chest caused subtle shifts in his center of gravity.

All these things, which he had once needed to consciously judge, now appeared clearly in his awareness.

Dong Jian tried taking a step.

His body didn't sway at all.

The extra weight from the Panda Martial Soul was still there.

But it was no longer as difficult to control as before.

He even felt that, if he wished, he could concentrate his entire weight on one foot at any time.

"Center of Gravity Perception."

Dong Jian murmured the name.

It wasn't a Soul Skill.

It wouldn't directly increase his strength, nor could it injure an enemy.

But for him now, this ability was more important than an ordinary offensive Soul Skill.

Only by controlling his own body could he truly use the Panda Martial Soul.

A stone wall deep inside the Body Refining Hall slowly opened.

A second stone stele rose from the ground.

Second trial: withstand every attack from nine wooden figures without leaving the circle.

Nine humanoid mechanisms holding wooden sticks opened their eyes at once.

The smile vanished from Dong Jian's face.

"That's enough for today."

As soon as he finished speaking, he left the Divine Dragon Secret Realm.

Early morning.

Dong Jian opened his eyes in bed.

The sound of hammering iron was already coming from outside the window.

Only one night had passed in the real world.

Yet he felt as though he had trained for several full days in the secret realm.

His mind was exhausted.

But his body bore no injuries.

Dong Jian walked to the center of the courtyard and summoned his Panda Martial Soul for possession.

A heavy force descended.

This time, he neither bent over nor staggered.

Both feet stood firmly on the ground.

His body sank only slightly before he fully bore the weight brought by the Martial Soul.

"What good is standing so straight?"

Dong Shan's voice came from behind him.

Before Dong Jian could turn around, a rough palm pushed against his shoulder.

Dong Shan hadn't used Soul Power.

But the strength of an adult was still beyond what a six-year-old could match.

Dong Jian stepped half a pace back with his right foot.

His shoulder turned backward with the force of the push.

The force passed through his waist and abdomen and was directed into his right leg.

He didn't fall.

A flicker of surprise crossed Dong Shan's eyes.

"Again."

This time, he used more strength.

Dong Jian still retreated only half a step.

The third time, Dong Shan drew on a small amount of Soul Power.

The instant the palm touched his shoulder, Dong Jian felt a force far greater than before surge toward him.

He didn't take it head-on.

His knees bent.

His body moved backward with the force.

His right foot traced a semicircle on the ground and found firm footing again.

Dong Shan's force was redirected to one side.

Dong Jian turned halfway around and stood straight once more.

There wasn't a single wasted movement in the entire sequence.

Dong Shan was utterly stunned.

"Who taught you that?"

"My Martial Soul."

Dong Jian had already thought of an answer.

"Last night, when I tried to cultivate, my Martial Soul passed some instincts on to me."

Dong Shan frowned.

Beast Martial Souls could indeed pass some of their combat instincts on to their Soul Masters.

But what Dong Jian had shown was clearly more than ordinary instinct.

"You should be learning to meditate first."

Dong Shan said in a grave voice:

"Soul Power is the foundation of a Soul Master."

"Without Soul Power, no matter how good your technique is, you can't truly defeat a Soul Master."

"If you can't even control your body, the stronger your Soul Power is, the greater the burden will be after Martial Soul Possession."

Dong Jian refused to yield an inch.

Father and son looked at each other for a moment.

Dong Shan suddenly raised his hand and pushed at Dong Jian again.

This time, he used nearly a tenth of his Soul Power.

Dong Jian's expression changed slightly.

He planted both feet firmly with a stamp.

The instant the palm landed on his shoulder, his body sank backward.

A shallow crack opened in the dirt beneath his feet.

Dong Jian took two steps back, but he never fell.

Dong Shan withdrew his hand.

The gravity in his eyes gradually turned to surprise.

"One night..."

"And you trained to this level?"

Dong Jian was just about to answer when someone suddenly knocked on the courtyard gate.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Excuse me, is Dong Jian here?"

A girl's clear voice came from outside the gate.

Dong Shan opened the courtyard gate.

A girl in a long cyan dress stood outside.

She held a package of medicinal herbs in her arms, her long black hair falling neatly behind her shoulders. She was about Dong Jian's age, but her expression was much calmer than an ordinary child's.

The girl first glanced at the marks beneath Dong Jian's feet.

Then her gaze fell on the black-and-white Soul Power that had yet to dissipate completely.

"As expected, it's different from ordinary bear-type Martial Souls."

Dong Jian frowned.

"Who are you?"

The girl set the medicinal herbs down beside her.

"Li Man."

"I'm from the Li Family Pharmacy in Nuoding City."

"My father once researched mutated Beast Martial Souls."

She paused for a moment and lowered her voice slightly.

"Yesterday, after your testing crystal shattered, someone went to Nuoding City overnight."

"Early this morning, a man claiming to be a Martial Soul scholar came to Iron Bamboo Village."

"He's been asking the villagers about you."

Dong Shan's expression darkened instantly.

"Someone from the Spirit Hall?"

Li Man shook her head.

"No."

"At least, he wasn't wearing the Spirit Hall's insignia."

She looked at Dong Jian.

"But the first question he asked was-"

"Can Dong Jian's Black-and-White Bear Martial Soul leave his body and act independently?"