Forge a path to success.

Chapter 186 Old Secret Techniques
The next day, early morning.

Chu Hengkong got up earlier than everyone else. After arriving at the safe zone, he resumed his usual routine, getting up early to stretch his muscles.

He practiced a set of Tai Chi—which had no practical significance for him now, but could help him relax—and then practiced some of the more advanced techniques from the three thousand sets. He had mastered these basic martial arts skills by heart when he first became a skilled practitioner, and they were ingrained in his bones, but now he had a completely new understanding of them.

He switched to a new one, which could deform and extend but was heavy; his heart had been modified by Qingxia's blood, and its structure was different from that of ordinary people; traces of mechanical modification remained in various parts of his body, with perfect alloy intermittently integrated into multiple bones from the spine, and several segments of nerves and blood vessels protruding like spikes, intertwined and pieced together.

Even without being a professional doctor, Chu Hengkong could assert that he was no longer "human." In Huilong City, Youyou would produce a detailed report, using various data to demonstrate that he was a fleshy sea urchin in human skin, or something even more disgusting. Yet, his boxing was as agile as when he first ascended to the level of a skilled fighter; his muscles, bones, and heart naturally pulsed with the flow of power, so smoothly that it seemed as if this style of boxing was tailor-made for an alien.

Only then did he understand the concept of martial arts that all races could learn—like a grand path to heaven, its essence remaining constant despite countless variations. The Ethereal Fate Master had incorporated the most fundamental mysteries of life into his fist techniques, creating what he called "beginner's skills." Whether you're a sea urchin or a crucian carp, you can become a master. If you feel "uncomfortable" while practicing, then there must be something wrong with your own body.

The moment he realized this, he began to feel unwell. It was like an old, unhealed wound flaring up, throbbing faintly in the cold, rainy night. His spine was too hard and lacked resilience, his arms heavy and powerful yet decaying and rotten, the temporary structures throughout his body unstable, and his willpower too strong to control. He was like a seemingly gleaming but dangerous building; if things continued like this…

"He's going to die."

Chu Hengkong withdrew his fist, turned around, and saw the old man, who looked like a rabbit, walking over with his cane and jumping onto the steps to sit down.

“Commander Chongming already mentioned it yesterday, but I feel I need to remind you again.” Silaer tapped him with his cane. “Stop acting recklessly. If you don’t address the underlying issues, next time you get into a fight, you’ll be like those rotten, fermenting fruits. The skin will swell up, and then, ‘Bang!’”

Slar clasped its little paws together, then suddenly opened them, mimicking the sound of a fruit exploding. Chu Hengkong smiled at this.

"Please teach me, senior."

The old man was a "newcomer" back then. Newcomers would participate in the Hundred Tales and receive gifts from the old man. The fact that he has survived from the 28th session to the current 35th session shows that he has learned a method to fight against heretics, and he has mastered that method quite well.

Slar pulled back his green robe and winked slyly at him. On the old man's hairy chest was a festering wound, through which one could see another healthy, beating black heart.

"I made a wish to the old man years ago, asking for another heart. For a time, I was troubled by split personality—two selves arguing in my head—until the warrior chief of the settlement taught me a profound secret technique."

This secret technique has been passed down for a very long time. It was taught by Chief Chongming to the ancestors of the village, and then passed down through generations to us. Its core is…”

The old man poked his own black heart with his fingertip.

“Fight yourself,” he said.

"...Huh?" Chu Hengkong chuckled dryly.

“Once external influences merge into your body, trying to separate them is wishful thinking. Whether you accept it or not, it becomes a part of your life; it will affect your personality and change your thinking,” Slar said. “How long has it been since you had any entertainment?”

"I……"

Chu Hengkong originally wanted to mention that he had played games not long ago, but he realized that was before he went to Yingshi Town. After transforming into a Strong Bone cultivator, he spent all his free time cultivating, and his other free time was filled with endless battles. He could relax with "everyone" during his breaks, but he himself hadn't had any entertainment.

Even when he was a detective, he would still play on his phone.

“You see, true mechanical efficiency.” Slar had anticipated this. “After that, you will become lazy and dejected, craving the love of others, because you still have the flesh and blood of the fallen within you. You might even go mad, becoming particularly obsessed with certain meaningless concepts, like some special kind of demon.”

They are the pollution of external paths, and they are also yourself—therefore, if you want to maintain your sense of self, you have to defeat yourself, even harm yourself.

This description is completely different from the "absorbing external things and making them one's own" approach of the Longquan Township lineage; it is fierce, radical, and unorthodox. Chu Hengkong felt it was unreliable as soon as he heard it. Just as he was about to question it, he heard the old man slowly say, "This kind of cultivation method that involves burning oneself with the enemy is the so-called 'residual heart' technique."

"...The practice of a person with a broken heart?"

"Compared to a cultivation method that details every single point, this is more like a guiding 'outline'." Silar took out two scrolls and tossed them to Chu Hengkong: "Give it a try! I was just copying what I learned back then, so I dare not presume to claim any 'understanding'. You might as well consult Miss Qingye. As a young member of the Guangshi family, she knows far more than us laymen."

"Thank you, sir."

“No need, it’s my duty.” The old man touched his cane with his small hand. “Also, there are certain risks in practicing this secret technique. It would be best to have Qingxia watch over you.”

Chu Heng remained silent, while Si Laer sighed repeatedly.

“That child… doesn’t understand what ‘social skills’ means. Concepts like etiquette, consideration, and empathy don’t exist for her. There’s no ‘society’ in the wilderness, I can’t teach her these things… she doesn’t have them…”

The old man paused, seemingly about to say "no harm intended," but for some reason, he swallowed his words. His eyes held a melancholy that Chu Hengkong couldn't decipher.

"Alas," he sighed, "If you have any needs regarding your spiritual practice, please feel free to tell me."

Chu Hengkong thanked the old man again and watched him walk away. It was now "morning," and the residents, having woken up, began to warm themselves up. Young people could be seen sparring and testing their martial arts skills. He returned to his house and took out the scroll to study it carefully. He discovered that this so-called "Remnant Heart Secret Method" was divided into two parts: mind and body, with mind being primary and body secondary. The mind method required entering a meditative state through a unique breathing technique, and in the "One Mind Ritual," defeating the self manifested by the external forces, in order to temper the physical body. Only after completing the "One Mind Ritual" could one practice the body-forging method to subdue the external forces and strengthen the physical body.

Chu Hengkong frowned as he read. This method was fantastical yet intricately linked. The scroll contained few mystical words; each step was described in great detail, making it easy for anyone who could read to understand how to cultivate. Yet, the more this was the case, the more bizarre he found it, because the entire method focused on how to become stronger through unorthodox methods, without a single word describing how to cultivate oneself.

A cultivation method established on the premise of accepting heretical teachings... doesn't it seem like a trap set by heretics? Aren't those with crippled minds afraid of going berserk by practicing this every day?

Just then, Qingye came downstairs with a toothbrush in her mouth, her head topped with a very energetic Fan De. Chu Hengkong unfurled the scroll: "Qingye, give me some advice."

"What? What?" Vande stared wide-eyed at it, clicking his tongue in amazement. "Wow! The Heart-Breaking Technique... So radical?! How old must this version be?"

"An antique from before the integration!" Qingye exclaimed in surprise. "The things I've seen in museums are much more modern than this, and they're at least 400 years old..."

"What do you mean? You're not practicing this set of moves?"

Qingye said earnestly, "Mr. Chu, practicing the pre-integration Heart Remnant Technique will kill people. One hundred people will die if they practice it."

"Wouldn't they all be dead by then?!"

"That's right. Because the cultivation method of separating mind and body depends too much on individual aptitude. If you don't synchronize well, you'll immediately become a heretic." Qingye picked up the scroll and examined it closely. "So later, the patriarch and the other two Martial Venerables joined forces to integrate the modern Heart Remnant Technique, solidifying each stage of cultivation with material points. That's how the Heart Remnant Path, which can be widely practiced today, came about. The mortality rate for beginners has been reduced from 100% to 30%, which is truly a great achievement."

Ji Huaisu, who was coming downstairs afterward, was drinking hot water when he heard this and almost spat it out: "Hey! After all the integration is done, there's still a one-third mortality rate?!"

Qingye scratched the back of his head, laughing sheepishly, "Hehe~"

"I'm not praising you, wake up!"

"There's an old saying on Shura Island: 'To persuade someone to learn martial arts is to be struck by lightning.' It means you have to personally experience the pain of being struck by lightning before you're qualified to teach others how to be a crippled person," Fan De explained considerately. "Buddy, even though you're in critical condition due to the heretical cultivation, there's no need to practice this death-inducing method to commit suicide in fancy ways. I think we should wait until reinforcements from Huilong City arrive, and then we can figure out how to draw another talisman."

“There’s no need to rush even if you have the chance.” Chu Hengkong shook his head. “Qingye, how do people with broken hearts cultivate in modern times?”

All eyes turned to him, curious about the level of skill required to achieve such a high casualty rate. Qingye, toothbrush in hand, slowly explained, "Actually, it's not that difficult… The first essential skill for beginners is 'Flash Finger,' the fusion of skillful hands and the power of glimmering light. At this stage, beginners must learn to draw external power into their bodies…"

Ordinary people do not possess elemental power. Therefore, those with crippled minds who wish to enter the realm of spiritual cultivation need to use a special facility called the "Elemental Pool." The pool is filled with a high concentration of light elements, and the crippled mind, with bare hands, immerses them in the light.

Naturally, without a special constitution, the human body would inevitably be burned to ashes by the elemental forces. Therefore, the cultivation process must be extremely fast. After touching the light, the ten fingers must be immediately withdrawn, and the body must be repaired using a secret method, sealing the light elements that have invaded the body and making them one's own. After repeating this thousands of times, once the beginner can freely use the light elements and has the hand speed to be immersed in light without being harmed, they become a formal "Flash Finger" crippled cultivator.

"...The mortality rate at this stage is actually not high; the injuries are mainly due to the melting of the hands," Qingye said. "See, it's not that terrible, is it?"

Ji Huaisu looked horrified: "Where did your common sense go?! Who would risk losing an arm if they started out as a skilled craftsman?!"

"Sister Huaisu, you're making a big fuss over nothing~" Qingye pouted, "At my current 'sinful bone' stage, the danger has only just begun."

"That's enough, stop talking! I haven't had breakfast yet, and I don't want to lose my appetite!"

Those with lingering remnants of the Sinful Bone stage need to hone their bones using the Reverse Shadow technique to break through to the second level of the material. At this stage, they immerse their entire body in the elemental pool, using their fully honed Flash Finger technique to channel shadow power into their bones and engrave it into their marrow.

The process was like driving gunpowder into the bone; every step was accompanied by excruciating pain, and the slightest mistake would result in the body exploding and the person dying. Once all the bones had merged into the shadows and turned inky black, the Sinful Bones were complete.

"...If you make a mistake at this stage, your bones will separate from your flesh, and you will become a 'Bone Warrior' carrying the resentment of the dead. If you climb the Thousand Sun City at night, you will see many Bone Warriors awakening from the darkness. That is the end for those who have failed in their cultivation..."

"Stop! Stop!!" Ji Huaisu shouted, "This topic ends here for the sake of my breakfast!!"

Qingye looked regretful: "The main event is clearly in the next stage..."

"That's quite impressive! Just from hearing it, I can understand how tough your life has been all this time! I now realize how lucky my dad is to be a martial arts practitioner from Dragon Village!!"

Vande's eye twitched: "What do you say, buddy?"

It was no surprise that Chu Hengkong was buried deep within the scroll, his eyes gleaming with the eager excitement one would expect when facing a formidable opponent.

"Why not give it a try?" Chu Hengkong said.

(End of this chapter)