Quickly conquer the martial arts world, and let your fists dominate the heavens!

Chapter 212 Reaching Transformation!

But what's done is done, and whether it's a blessing or a curse, Chen Zhan has to bear it all himself.

At this moment, Xue Dian was enduring immense pain, yet he dared not utter any harsh words.

He was a smart man; he knew that if he spoke again, he would probably lose his life.

I have no choice but to return to Tianjin and make further plans.

After Wang Xiangzhai left with his men, Chen Zhan lost interest.

When someone came up to ask for guidance, Ye Ningzhen took over. Ye Ningzhen was still half a step away from mastering the basics, so guiding a few teenagers whose skills were not yet proficient was more than enough for her.

The sixth day ended hastily.

Everyone who came exclaimed how exciting it was. Chen Zhan and Xue Dian hadn't been fighting for long, but their punches and kicks were so fast and their movements were so fluid that they were almost invisible, making it a very exciting match.

Inside the house, Ye Ningzhen and her two sisters, along with Tian Jingjie, were all present.

“Xue Dian has a different status in Xingyi School. If you cripple him, there will be no shortage of people who will cause you trouble.” Tian Jingjie naturally knew Xue Dian. He was present at the apprenticeship banquet when Xue Dian joined the school.

Li Cunyi was incredibly popular back then. When he accepted a disciple, people from all over came to congratulate him, and famous figures from all over the country attended, making it a very lively occasion.

Tian Jingjie can only be considered a minor character.

Leaving aside other schools, even within the Xingyi School alone, Senior Brother Xue Dian, known as "Iron-Legged Buddha" Shang Yunxiang, is still alive.

Fu Jianqiu and Ma Yutang were also there, but since they had a grudge against Xue Dian, they probably wouldn't interfere.

These are peers.

There were too many elders to count, including Zhang Zhankui, Ye Yunbiao, Xu Zhanao, Wang Xiangzhai, and Sun Lutang.

Whether Xue Dian was crippled or there was infighting among his fellow disciples, Sun Lutang had to step in to assess the situation.

Chen Zhan did not refute, but nodded to himself and said, "I am prepared. This path is not easy, but it must be taken. Back then, my senior brothers faced the Qing government and foreigners in the capital. They knew they would die, but they went without hesitation."

"There's no other way. You'll understand in a while why I'm so radical, even ruthless."

Tian Jingjie wanted to persuade Chen Zhan, but after hearing what he said, she couldn't say anything more.

As his apprentice, Chen Zhan witnessed everything from Fengtian to the capital.

Let alone ruining Xue Dian.

Chen Zhan would never betray his master or ancestors, nor would he defect to the enemy; he would support whatever Chen Zhan did.

He saw in Chen Zhan something that even his senior brother Li Cunyi lacked.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but Chen Zhan possesses a kind of persistence, as if he knows the direction and that he will eventually succeed.

Along the way, he has indeed accomplished everything he wanted to do.

Chen Zhan got up and walked into the courtyard. It was already dark, and it had started to rain. The drizzle was dense and rapid.

"Ningzhen, you're still missing one last acupoint, aren't you? Break through tonight."

Ye Ningzhen also stood up, walked to Chen Zhan's side, and said, "Okay!"

The two entered the rain in tacit understanding. The rain in late spring came quickly, and the fine raindrops hit the bluestone slabs, splashing up light water droplets, which in the blink of an eye wove into a gray rain curtain.

Chen Zhan lightly touched the puddle with his toes without splashing any extra water. His body floated closer as if carried by raindrops, and his right fist slowly pushed out, performing the most basic chopping fist in Xingyi Quan.

Although the punch looked slow, Ye Ningzhen felt as if the raindrops around her were being drawn towards her, forcing her to subconsciously raise her arm to block.

"boom!"

With a muffled thud, the moment their fists and arms touched, Ye Ningzhen felt a gentle force creeping up her arm. It wasn't Chen Zhan's force pressing down on her; instead, it felt like two invisible hands smoothing out the stagnant internal energy in her arm.

She hurriedly tried to pull back her strength, but the warm energy followed her, making her chest feel tight and causing her to stumble back two steps, splashing through the puddles.

"Don't resist head-on. Go with the flow and wait until my strength weakens. Use softness to overcome hardness and break free from the cage."

"Natural force is not 'resisting force'; it's about letting your force follow the rain and your opponent's force. Look at the rain; it scatters and then gathers again when it hits the ground, and it slides away and then converges again when it lands on an umbrella. Why can't your force follow the flow?"

Chen Zhan put away his fist, stood in the rain, and looked at her as he spoke.

Ye Ningzhen bit her lip and resumed her fighting stance.

This time, she didn't rush to throw a punch. Instead, she tried to send her internal energy to her fingertips and loosen her wrists. She felt the energy flowing down her wrist bones, like raindrops dripping into puddles from her fingertips.

Just then, Chen Zhan's fist arrived again, his hand drawing a circle in the rain, pressing down on her shoulder with a gentle force.

Ye Ningzhen's heart stirred. Instead of blocking it as before, she followed the pressing force and turned half a circle to the side and back. The "Ciliao" acupoint, which was originally blocked, seemed to have a small crack. The force slid to her palm along the turning motion. She subconsciously pushed forward, and her palm hit Chen Zhan's forearm.

"That's it!"

Chen Zhan's voice brightened. Instead of withdrawing his strength, he added two points of force to pull back, "Continue, let the energy flow from the dantian. The walking and turning footwork of Baguazhang is also a method of energy flow."

The rain intensified, and fine beads of sweat appeared on Ye Ningzhen's forehead, mingling with the rainwater and running down her face.

She followed Chen Zhan's movements, sometimes retreating, sometimes turning. When she threw a punch, she no longer met it head-on, but instead left some room for maneuver. When she threw a chopping punch, she would retract halfway with the force of the rain. Suddenly, she felt the energy in her dantian like a lit wick, "buzzing" as it flowed upwards along her spine, past her shoulders, through her arms, and straight to her fingertips!
"Crack~!"

A soft sound came from Ye Ningzhen's body, and in an instant, Chen Zhan saw that the raindrops that had just landed on Ye Ningzhen were pierced.

It wasn't just a single drop that was pierced.

Instead, after the burst of energy, the raindrops falling on him were shattered at that moment.

Chen Zhan laughed and said, "Want to try again?"

Ye Ningzhen raised an eyebrow and glanced at Chen Zhan, her provocation growing stronger. Chen Zhan threw a punch, the wind of the punch carrying rain and mist, and with fierce force, it pressed towards her chest.

Ye Ningzhen was no longer flustered. She sank her dantian and pulled her left arm to the side, deflecting the force like raindrops. At the same time, her right fist followed the momentum and shot forward. The punch went out without any hesitation. The internal force wrapped around the raindrops and "slapped" Chen Zhan's arm that he had raised in advance, causing the rain to disperse.

Chen Zhan withdrew his fist, took two steps back, and looked at Ye Ningzhen with a smile in his eyes:
"Your skills are already so refined that they cannot be more refined. As the alchemical text says: 'Hidden strength is like a fully drawn bow, ready to be released; neutral strength is like water flowing without leaving a trace. A fully drawn bow requires strength to support it, while water flows naturally.'"

"Your strength connects with your opponent's strength and the surrounding energy, like this rain, penetrating everywhere and transforming into everything."

"The Tao Te Ching says: 'He who puts himself last will be first; he who puts himself outside will survive.' This concept also applies to the cultivation of internal energy."

"The hidden strength stage requires 'guarding strength,' such as deliberately maintaining 'chest in and back out' to gather strength; while the neutralizing strength requires 'forgetting strength,' forgetting the body's power-generating parts, forgetting the fixed framework of the moves, allowing the mind to be completely outward, and merging with the opponent and the environment."

"Before your opponent makes a move, your body has already sensed and reacted. This is the realm of 'unity of form and spirit.' If one can achieve unity of form and spirit in the transformation of internal energy, one is not far from embracing the elixir. However, you are still far from that point."

Ye Ningzhen nodded to indicate that she understood, and the two returned to the house.

Ruan Zhi and Li Qingsu were both very happy that their eldest sister had reached a high level of enlightenment!

"Big sister, you've become a grandmaster! Hehe, Master will be very happy!" Ruan Zhi couldn't help but say.

"Okay, I'll give him a surprise next time we meet." Ye Ningzhen wiped the rain off her body and went inside to change her clothes.

Even in the capital, there aren't many masters of the Transformation Realm. In remote areas, a master of the Transformation Realm can already suppress a region.

Gong Baotian is one such person, almost universally recognized as the number one in Northeast China.

However, Gong Baotian was no ordinary expert; he was not far from becoming a Grandmaster, but he had lost his edge due to his advanced age.

If he had obtained the "Eight-Section Brocade of Internal Forging Divine Power" back then, perhaps there would have been another grandmaster.

Chen Zhan didn't go inside because his clothes were already dry.

The others no longer cared about his extraordinary abilities; after all, a Grandmaster of Core Formation was probably just that amazing.

“Tomorrow is the seventh day, there are only three days left. I heard that Prince Ping arrived in the capital the day before yesterday, but he’s not in a hurry to come and find me?” Chen Zhan said to Li Qingsu.

Li Qingsu was in charge of some intelligence matters.

"Yes, after Wang Ziping went to the capital, I didn't send anyone to monitor him, so I don't know where he went."

"It's alright, no need to monitor him. He's a man of importance, he wouldn't do anything underhanded. Just wait."

"You think highly of him?" Tian Jingjie and Li Qingsu asked, somewhat surprised.

“That’s right, Wang Ziping, the Great Strength King. Two years ago, when the Central Martial Arts Academy was established, he was in charge of the Shaolin external martial arts, while Senior Uncle Sun was in charge of the Wudang internal martial arts. He dared to directly challenge Senior Uncle Sun.”

"Yes, that's true, but the battle didn't go as planned; Zhang Zhijiang stopped us," Li Qingsu said.

"But the fact that he dared to bring it up means he's not afraid. Although Sun Lutang is old, his qi and blood decline slowly after he reaches the Dantian stage. If he really goes all out, not everyone can withstand a few bursts of power." Tian Jingjie sighed when he learned about this.

He lived in seclusion in Fengtian and knew little about the affairs of the martial arts world. The Central Martial Arts Academy was in Nanjing, which was too far away.

“When Wang Ziping was young, he was also a hero. I once met him briefly in Zhongshan Park. The Russian strongman Kang Tai set up a challenge and was very arrogant. Wang Ziping went up to the ring and used the move 'Five Horses Carrying a Mountain' to throw him off the ring and break his leg.”

"Alas, what a pity, what a pity."

Tian Jingjie recalled that time, but more than a decade had passed, and Li Cunyi was still alive then.

Chen Zhan smiled and said, "If Wang Ziping doesn't come soon, I'll go and visit him. I have to see him eventually."

Both men understood Chen Zhan's meaning: he wasn't trying to kill them, but rather expressing a desire to befriend them. However, they didn't quite understand why Chen Zhan was so ruthless towards his fellow disciple Xue Dian, yet so admiring of Wang Ziping.

Chen Zhan couldn't explain too much.

Wang Ziping.
He was upright and honest throughout his life. Not only was he highly skilled in martial arts, but he was also an extremely skilled doctor. Many years later, he served as a member of the CPPCC and was elected as the vice chairman of the National Wushu Association after its establishment.

He even accompanied the Prime Minister on a visit to Myanmar, serving as the head coach of the martial arts troupe.

He has served as Vice Chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association, member of the All-China Sports Federation, member of the Chinese Wrestling Association, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Traumatology Society, and Director of the Traumatology Research Office of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

He lived for nearly a century, from the Qing Dynasty to the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Beiyang Government, the Nationalist Government, and then to the Liberation.

He even lived into the 1970s and almost witnessed the reform and opening up.

His life was a legend!

It's no wonder he so strongly opposes the distinction between internal and external schools of thought.

Would someone who practices external martial arts, who has lived to be over ninety years old, agree with the claim that they cannot retain their strength and have a short lifespan?
(End of this chapter)