Reborn as Murong Fu: This Time I'm the Protagonist

Chapter 546 Breaking Army Qi
The moonlight, as white as frost, shone on the cliff face behind Lingjiu Palace. The cliff was thousands of feet high, and looking down from the top, it seemed bottomless, as if an invisible giant beast had opened its jaws to devour all those who dared to face it.

For the past month, Xiao Feng had spent almost every moment in the stone chamber. When he was hungry, he would eat a bite of dry rations; when he was thirsty, he would drink a sip of spring water from his water pouch. The rest of the time, he would study the martial arts techniques inscribed on the stone walls of Lingjiu Palace.

During this time, the Old Woman Tong came once to check if he was too engrossed in practicing martial arts and had gone mad. Seeing that Xiao Feng hadn't done anything wrong, she stopped bothering him.

During this time, Xiao Feng also tried some of the martial arts techniques on the stone wall out of curiosity. Although he had enough internal energy to practice them, they were not very effective. Compared to Xiao Feng's mastery of the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, they were only slightly stronger.

Xiao Feng sighed, "If I were to abandon my original martial arts and start from scratch, perhaps I could surpass my current level in ten years. However, looking at all these Taoist martial arts manuals covering the walls, they all follow a graceful and ethereal style, which is completely incompatible with my original style, which is fierce, powerful, and expansive. Even if I start from scratch, I'm afraid it would be like buying the box and returning the pearl, a complete waste of time. It seems I'm going to enter a treasure mountain and return empty-handed this time."

At this moment, Xiao Feng felt like a person dying of thirst in a lone boat on a vast ocean. Although there were endless treasures in the ocean, they were not something he could use.

The stone door slowly opened, and Granny Tong pushed it open and walked in.

Xiao Feng quickly clasped his hands in greeting and said, "Greetings, Senior."

The old woman waved her hand, indicating that there was no need for formalities. Her clear, bright eyes looked Xiao Feng up and down, and she sighed, "It seems that you haven't gained much in the past month. You haven't found any martial arts suitable for you on this stone wall."

Xiao Feng said with shame, "This junior is dull-witted and has failed to live up to your great kindness."

The old woman scolded, "You stupid mule! So many people in this world want to see the profound and extensive martial arts of this stone wall but have no chance, yet you have no understanding of it. You are really making me angry."

"Alright, since you're here, I can't let you leave empty-handed. There is a martial art, extremely dangerous, but it's a good match for your fierce style. However, I must warn you beforehand that even its founder didn't truly master it, and in fact, he died because of it. Whether you want to learn it or not is up to you to think carefully."

Xiao Feng's heart skipped a beat: Could such a martial art really exist in this world? Tong Lao took out a medicine bottle from her sleeve and carefully applied the powder inside to Ding Liu's stone wall. After a moment, another layer of dark red characters appeared on the stone wall—a secret inheritance written with a mixture of blood and minerals.

Xiao Feng was not surprised. This method of secretly passing on martial arts was often used by major sects in the martial arts world. What shocked Xiao Feng was that every martial art here was enough to cause bloodshed in the martial arts world. What kind of amazing and unparalleled divine skill must be hidden in the second layer of martial arts?
The blood-red characters were arranged into a peculiar pattern. Although it was just a sketch, it vaguely resembled a giant dragon being pierced through the head by a long sword. The entire pattern exuded a fierce aura.

Xiao Feng glanced at it and felt his inner energy begin to stir uncontrollably. He felt as if he were being stared at by a ferocious dragon, his whole body was chilled, and his hair stood on end, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Xiao Feng couldn't help but exclaim, "This martial art is incredibly powerful!"

The old woman said, "In the past, Tang general Xue Rengui was a disciple of Li Jing, the great military genius of the Tang Dynasty. Li Jing was exceptionally talented, arguably the greatest in five hundred years. Even if Bodhidharma were to be resurrected, he probably wouldn't be able to surpass him by much. Back when he was still wandering the martial world, he was able to annotate the Yi Jin Jing, which no one in Shaolin had been able to master except Bodhidharma for hundreds of years. If he hadn't been so focused on making a name for himself and hadn't been so indifferent to martial arts, his achievements might not have been inferior to those of Bodhidharma of Shaolin."

Later, Li Jing retired after achieving great success, emulating Zhang Liang, the Marquis of Liu, and lived a leisurely life in the afterlife. He took Xue Rengui as his disciple, passing on his unparalleled martial arts skills and military strategies to him. Later, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the Nine Tribes of the Tiele rebelled. Xue Rengui was ordered to lead the army and decisively defeated over 100,000 elite Tiele troops, pacifying the Tianshan Mountains with three arrows, achieving unparalleled merit. Xue Rengui gained insights from the battlefield and, based on Li Jing's martial arts, created an extremely powerful and domineering internal energy cultivation method. Carved on the stone wall to commemorate his martial achievements. Unfortunately, this martial art was too powerful and domineering; it is said that Xue Rengui himself died in his later years due to the backlash of his internal energy. Before his death, he instructed his descendants to destroy this martial art. However, perhaps moved by its exquisite and profound nature, his descendants couldn't bear to destroy such a peerless martial art, yet unwilling to go against their ancestor's wishes. Therefore, they used a special coating to conceal the martial art, hoping that someone in the future would be able to perfect it.

Xiao Feng reached out and touched the indented characters, a chill emanating from his fingertips, as if a fierce killing intent pierced through time and space and into his palm. His gaze fell on the last few lines of the mantra: "Hardness cannot last, softness cannot be maintained. Dragons fight in the wild, their blood is black and yellow. All laws return to one, destruction precedes construction."

Xiao Feng felt a slight disappointment. He felt that these words were nothing more than the old cliché of combining strength and gentleness, and breaking down the old to build up the new. It was a principle that all skilled martial artists understood. However, it was like how everyone knew that as long as they were fast enough and strong enough, they could be invincible. But the question was, how could one possess the strength of ten thousand jin and the speed of the ultimate?
Xiao Feng felt a sudden urge to laugh. For some reason, he remembered a joke Murong Fu had told before: How many steps does it take to stuff an elephant into a carriage? Answer: Only three steps. Step 1: Open the carriage door. Step 2: Stuff the elephant in. Step 3: Close the carriage door.

I never imagined I'd be facing a situation like putting an elephant in a refrigerator.

Over the years, he had already mastered the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms to a high level, reaching the state of Yin giving rise to Yang. However, in his early years, he focused on the path of force and violence, which had a great backlash on him, leaving him with hidden injuries. When he was young, he was able to feel them because of his strong physique, but in recent years, after experiencing many fierce battles, he has been able to feel the hidden injuries in his internal organs.

Xue Rengui's Po Jun Gang Qi, however, takes a different approach, emphasizing the cultivation of Qi through killing and the refinement of spirit through battle. It focuses solely on the path of slaughter, pushing it to its extreme. Each all-out attack, a head-on clash with the opponent's force, is a tempering of the Qi and blood, provided the practitioner's meridians can withstand this violent cycle. In contrast, Shaolin martial arts, while also incredibly powerful, are ultimately constrained by Buddhist principles and have not reached the pinnacle of slaughter. They always fall short of the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, not entirely in harmony.