Chapter 27: Rapid Progress in National Martial Arts, Joining Forces to Fight the Bloodthirsty Wolf
Early the next morning, gentle sunlight filtered through the dense forest, waking many Spirit Beasts from their slumber.
After a simple wash, Tang Shan activated his Martial Soul Possession. A thousand-year spirit ring lit up around his body, the flowing halo exuding a heavy, oppressive pressure.
Standing in the open meadow, his mind seemed to merge with heaven and earth. He raised his legs and threw punches at will; though the movements appeared casual, they contained immense power.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
His legs kicked up sharp gusts of wind, and his fist shadows streaked through the air; every single Move contained power that could not be underestimated.
"I didn't expect that a thousand-year spirit ring would allow my National Martial Arts cultivation to enter the fast lane, bringing about a heaven-defying transformation in my strength. Future cultivation will surely also be rapid."
Tang Shan felt the precise control over his body between his punches and kicks, and he couldn't help but feel amazed.
If creating fist techniques and practicing Ming Jin - A Stage previously counted as mastering the level of "Technique," then now, using his Spirit Ability to control his body and practicing with the momentum of dimensional reduction strikes, he had touched the Realm of "Law."
As his control over his body leaped forward, the fist techniques he had created before now seemed full of errors. Even simple standing postures or horse stances contained many subtle flaws.
These subtle deviations didn't seem to matter much in the short term, but over time, they would inevitably evolve into internal hidden injuries, planting hidden dangers.
Now, relying on his superb control over his body, Tang Shan had corrected all these hidden dangers, and his movements became increasingly rounded and unified.
Crack, crack, crack!
With a simple shake of his hands and stretch of his legs, crisp cracking sounds echoed from his whole body. Lively Qi and blood awakened from every limb and bone, slowly circulating within his body, with a warmth spreading throughout.
Tang Shan did not deliberately control it, letting the Qi and blood circulate autonomously. As the Qi and blood surged, the spirit power in his Dantian also instinctively fluctuated, echoing each other.
As he raised his hands, his Moves were unleashed; his fists were like heavy hammers breaking the wind, his palms like broadswords cleaving the air, every exertion precisely matching the rhythm of his Qi and blood.
The circulation of Qi and blood in his body gradually sped up, his heart contracted faster, pumping abundant energy to all parts of his body, and his muscles and bones were full of vigorous vitality.
Whoosh!
The faint sound of surging Qi and blood emanated from Tang Shan's body. His skin gradually flushed red, and his spirit power finally escaped the shackles of his Dantian, following the body's instinct to circulate autonomously.
The spirit power first flowed downwards to connect the large intestine meridian, then turned back upwards to cross the diaphragm, directly connecting to the lungs; with the lungs as the core, it flowed to both arms, finally converging at the tips of his thumbs...
This was exactly the path of the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian.
Feeling the brand-new circulation path of his spirit power, Tang Shan's expression was calm, neither happy nor sad.
He had long anticipated that after obtaining his First Soul Skill, his research on the Meridians would surely have a Breakthrough. He just hadn't expected that the result would not come from active exploration, but from the path struck out by his spirit power's autonomous circulation.
Let nature take its course, success comes when conditions are ripe...
Remembering the clearly visible circulation route just now, Tang Shan gave up the idea of actively researching the Meridians.
The human body is inherently an exquisite whole. The spirit power circulation route derived by the body itself might not be the strongest, but it is certainly the most suitable for oneself. There is no need to gild the lily; forced intervention would be counterproductive instead.
Streams of Qi and blood circulated repeatedly within his body, nourishing his muscles, bones, and organs, making every inch of his body increasingly tough.
National Martial Arts cultivation is divided into three levels of training: changing the tendons, changing the bones, and changing the marrow, corresponding to the tempering of the body by Ming Jin, An Jin, and Hua Jin.
With my current control over the human body, actively exercising the major tendons is enough to increase the power of Ming Jin - A Stage; although I have not yet mastered An Jin and Hua Jin, with the Seeing God level of body control activated by the Spirit Ability, it is not difficult to temper the bones and nourish the bone marrow in advance.
From the perspective of the human body as a whole, what needs to be tempered is far more than this. True, complete Body Refining needs to cover many levels, including skin, flesh, tendons, bones, organs, viscera, marrow, blood, etc...
Skin, flesh, and tendons are close to the surface and can be polished with Ming Jin - A Stage; bones and organs are deeply embedded in the body and are highly dangerous, needing to be nourished with the soft, Yin-like An Jin; marrow washing requires the overall resonance of the body, which can only be reached when Ming and An are unified and the force enters the Hua stage; the final Realm of blood changing requires the essence, Qi, and Spirit to be unified, holding the pill and sublimating, and only by raising the quality of Qi and blood to a new level can it be achieved.
In this way, my Body Refining system, or rather, my path of National Martial Arts cultivation, is completely unified: by borrowing the power of the Spirit Ability, before holding the pill, the control of force is a smooth path; with the addition of force, I can further polish my body and dig out my potential, and there will be no Bottleneck before blood changing.
Continuing to develop in this way, perhaps I can really trigger a secondary Awakening of my Spirit, just as I guessed.
Tang Shan stopped his movements and stood still. At this moment, his whole body was as red as a cooked shrimp, all caused by the extreme tempering of his skin, flesh, and tendons during his fist practice just now.
The cultivation had just stopped, and the blood gathered on the surface had not yet completely faded.
"Little brother, you're up early."
Su Yuntao lifted the tent and walked out, stretching his waist and yawning, his eyes still carrying lingering sleepiness.
Tang Shan sensed the faint soreness coming from his body but didn't care at all—ordinary exercise would cause muscle soreness, let alone his Body Refining method tailored specifically for skin, flesh, and tendons with the attainments of a pseudo-Seeing God Martial Artist. The development of potential was even more thorough, so this bit of soreness was not worth mentioning.
"Big brother, cultivation lies in persistence. If you slack off for too long, it's inevitable that your skills will rust."
Tang Shan reminded him softly, and Su Yuntao nodded in agreement upon hearing this.
"That makes sense. Well, your big brother is awake now, so I'll start standing in a horse stance to practice force."
After speaking, Su Yuntao wrapped his hands as if holding a ball, kept his head upright, and firmly set a stance, his posture upright.
Tang Shan smiled and didn't say much.
In his previous life, practicing dance, training through the three nines of winter and the three fus of summer was the norm; without diligent practice, physical fitness would decline and Moves would become rusty.
But Douluo Continent is different. With extraordinary energy like spirit power, even if you don't exercise for a long time, your physical fitness will not decline.
As for Moves becoming rusty, not to mention that powerful Spirit Masters have strong mental force and can accurately remember Moves, just in terms of understanding Moves, no amount of deliberate training can compare to a life-and-death battle.
A moment later, Su Yuan and Su Haichao also walked out of the tent. After the four of them had a simple breakfast, they stepped back onto the road of hunting wolves and spirit rings.
"Big brother, this Spirit Beast is good. A Bloodthirsty Wolf with thousand-year cultivation, it's just that the Spirit Ability isn't very outstanding."
In the dense forest, Tang Shan's eyes were sharp, a faint Killing Intent lingering around his body as he locked onto the target in front.
The four of them had wandered in the Soul Hunting Forest for nearly a week. During this time, Tang Shan had experienced dozens of fierce battles, from ten-year Spirit Beasts to hundred-year Spirit Beasts. From the unfamiliarity and restraint in the first battle to the decisiveness and ruthlessness later, he had completely shed his greenness.
He fully utilized the advantages of his Body Martial Soul and First Soul Skill, always charging at the forefront of the battle. The lingering womanly benevolence from his previous life was also completely extinguished in the repeated life-and-death clashes.
This is the Douluo Continent where the strong are respected. Order is built on strength. Without sufficient strength, one is not worthy of being protected by order.
"A thousand-year wolf-type Spirit Beast, let's choose this one."
Su Yuntao looked at the gray giant wolf that was two meters long and nearly one meter high at the shoulder, with blood-red eyes, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Then should we two go up and restrain it?"
Su Haichao and Su Yuan were about to step forward, but were stopped by Tang Shan with a raised hand.
"Big brother, for this Spirit Beast, you and I will attack together."
"No problem."
A ferocious smile appeared on Su Yuntao's face, his Martial Soul instantly possessed him, and the aura around him changed suddenly.
Boom!
Mud splashed under his feet, Tang Shan's figure suddenly expanded, his muscles bulging, every inch of lines containing terrifying explosive power; Su Yuntao's wolf claws extended from his fingertips, his eyes glowed with dark green, and his whole person was like a giant wolf walking upright, with a fierce and vicious aura rushing towards them.
The Bloodthirsty Wolf, which was tearing at its prey, sensed the approach of the two Spirit Masters. It looked up and let out a long howl, kicked off the ground with its four limbs, and rushed towards the two.
The purple spirit ring under Tang Shan's feet lit up. As he approached at high speed, his legs expanded again, his shoes were burst open by force, and immense power poured into the earth from his legs.
Crack, crack!
Fine cracks appeared on the ground under his feet. While increasing his speed by another notch, he tightened his control over his legs and turned to gather the power into his hands.
His fists were bluish-black, shaped like heavy iron hammers, and swept towards the gray wolf with the momentum of breaking the wind.
Rip!
The wolf claws grabbed hard on the fist surface, but it was like hitting tough rubber, leaving only a few shallow white marks; the next second, the immense power of Tang Shan's fists exploded, directly flipping the Bloodthirsty Wolf onto the ground.
Su Yuntao followed closely, his wolf claws swiping across the gray wolf's chest, leaving five wounds deep enough to see bone.
Boom!
The gray wolf rolled and dodged in a panic, barely avoiding Tang Shan's fists that smashed into the ground, creating two deep pits and sending gravel flying.
The gray wolf, having rolled over to stand up again, no longer attacked rashly. It circled the two cautiously, its blood-red eyes becoming more intense.
"Every time I see Tang Shan's Spirit Ability, I can't help but be amazed. All-around amplification, it is truly extraordinary."
On a tall tree, Su Yuan looked at Tang Shan's expanded palms, his eyes bright as torches, full of shock.
"It's not just that the Spirit Ability is powerful; the Body Martial Soul's control over the Spirit Ability seems to be much easier than for us Beast Spirit Masters."
Having watched Tang Shan fight many times, Su Haichao had already seen some clues, "Look, his amplification could have covered his entire arm, but now it is only concentrated on his forearm and elbow, and the remaining amplification is all used to protect vital parts. Such precise control, if it were us Beast Spirit Masters, we would need years of polishing to achieve it, but Tang Shan is different. Even with his extraordinary talent, this growth speed is too astonishing. Excluding talent factors, the remaining possibility is that the Body Martial Soul itself has extremely strong control over the Spirit Ability."
Before he finished speaking, the battle situation below changed again.
The Bloodthirsty Wolf, having failed to test them several times, completely lost patience and activated its trump card Spirit Ability—Bloodthirst.
Blood-colored flames enveloped its whole body, without any temperature. Its fur was dyed scarlet, the ferocity in its eyes faded, leaving only crazy Killing Intent.
Its speed soared suddenly, its figure leaped to dodge Su Yuntao's side sneak attack, and it pounced on Tang Shan with a thick smell of blood.
Thump!
Tang Shan reacted very quickly, decisively falling to the side, letting the Bloodthirsty Wolf pass over him; seeing that the wolf's body was about to completely cross over his head, his entire left arm suddenly expanded, accurately resisting the hind limbs the other party was grabbing down with, and the strength of his arm suddenly exploded, making the Bloodthirsty Wolf's forelimbs touch the ground and its hind legs lift high.
His right hand expanded accordingly, tightly gripping the wolf's hind leg, and the fierce power was transformed into Yin-poisonous force through exquisite technique, and he squeezed it gently.
There was no crisp sound of bone breaking. When Tang Shan let go, only a mass of bloody, fleshy mixture remained in his palm.
The defeat was set. The Bloodthirsty Wolf let out a miserable howl that echoed through the forest, having no power to resist anymore. Waiting for it was only destined extinction
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