I can gain insights into martial arts.

[You activated "Spirit Devouring," initiating a mental martial arts competition. In this competition, you gained a deeper understanding of the Mountain-Crushing Fist.]

【Crushing Mountain Fist: Proficient (44%) → Proficient (55%)】

Chen Mochuan stood there, looking at the corpses of the two ferocious beasts in the distance, savoring and reflecting on the battle that had just taken place.

"Softness contains strength, and strength contains softness... the interplay of softness and strength..."

"This feeling... is this the Transformation of Internal Energy...?"

Teachers Han Zhen and Lin Hong had previously given him a detailed analysis of Hua Jin (化劲). This kind of force can not only combine hardness and softness to deliver a more powerful attack, but also better deflect and defend against attacks that fall on oneself.

When one cultivates the Transformation Force to a high level, the force will spread throughout the entire body, and one's perception and control of the body will become extremely sensitive. Even a light feather falling on the body will be naturally bounced away, and an insect as small as a mosquito will be killed by the force within the body if it touches the skin.

This is the state of being where "not even a feather can be added, and not even a fly can land."

Although Chen Mochuan has only initially mastered the Transformation Realm and is far from reaching such a level, the improvement in combat power is still quite remarkable. He successfully killed two powerful ferocious beasts in a head-on confrontation for the first time, which inevitably stirred some emotions within him.

However, the sharp pain emanating from the wound on his left arm reminded him that he was not unharmed, but rather had suffered a serious injury.

Even though he immediately controlled the contraction of his muscles after being injured to minimize the bleeding from the wound, blood was still flowing. After only a short while, a small pool of blood appeared at his feet.

Although his physical abilities far surpass those of ordinary people, due to the nature of his species, his actual resistance to blows is far inferior to that of a ferocious beast of equal strength.

The current defensive power is far inferior to the powerful offensive power after mastering the transformation of internal energy. In ordinary battles, it relies more on techniques such as dodging, deflecting force, and parrying to avoid attacks, making it somewhat like a "glass cannon".

Although he knew that most martial artists were in a similar situation, he had experienced more than one life-or-death battle in just over three months after awakening "Spirit Devouring," which still made him feel a sense of crisis. Insufficient defense was a clear weakness of his.

"If I possessed a martial art that required exceptional physical strength, the Iron Claw Badger's claw attack wouldn't have caused such severe injuries..."

As far as he knew, there wasn't a single student in the top class who practiced external martial arts.

It's not that external martial arts are weak, but rather that these types of techniques are quite difficult to master and have many limitations:

First, it requires years of tedious and painful physical training, and it also places certain demands on the practitioner's physical constitution and perseverance. Those with ordinary talent often make extremely slow progress.

Secondly, advanced external martial arts are extremely difficult to master, and ordinary external martial arts, if not practiced to a certain level, may not even be as effective as civilian protective clothing that can be bought for tens of thousands of yuan on the market.

Furthermore, the special ointments or medicinal baths required during the cultivation process are quite expensive.

Therefore, fewer and fewer martial artists choose this path.

Chen Mochuan had also considered protective suits, but civilian-grade ones were not very meaningful to him. The protective suits he saw on the military and police intranet through his "City Guardian" privileges, which had performance that suited him, cost at least a million yuan, which he could not afford at the moment.

Most importantly, he had already noticed that among the forty-odd clusters of spiritual light in the teachers' martial arts training ground, there were martial arts insights related to fist techniques, body movements, stance training, and various weapons, but there was not a single spiritual light related to external hard training.

Moreover, he had previously focused his main energy on offensive fist techniques and agile movements, believing that one should not bite off more than one can chew, so he had not yet ventured into external training. However, now that his Thunder Step and Mountain Crashing Fist have made great progress, and his Tiger Fiend Fist has reached perfection, and he has also initially mastered the neutralizing force, it is time to put strengthening his defense on the agenda.

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Chen Mochuan exited the Mind Training Space and immediately started another round.

After several rounds of mental martial arts practice, he had just grasped the essence of internal energy and was not yet proficient in its application. The battles with the two ferocious beasts were still intense, but fortunately, he was able to win each one. His spirit was not subjected to too much of a death shock. However, under the combined attack of the two ferocious beasts, he was still bound to suffer some injuries, large or small.

"I must learn a body-strengthening technique this winter break, no matter what. I'll ask my two teachers about it then."

As he progressed through rounds of mental martial arts practice, he found that as his understanding of the Transformation Force deepened, the pressure from the two ferocious beasts gradually lessened.

He realized that it might not be long before he had to introduce more ferocious beasts into the training space to further increase the difficulty of mental martial arts.

Fortunately, he now has nine ferocious beasts at his disposal, which should be enough for a long time.

Of course, he also knew that his ability to comprehend the Transformation Realm so quickly was not only due to his amazing comprehension, but also partly because he possessed mental strength far exceeding that of martial artists of the same level, making his "observation" of his body more meticulous and his ability to move and mobilize qi and blood more skillfully.

This made him even more eager to break through that mental barrier as soon as possible and obtain spiritual power truly comparable to that of a martial artist.

……

The next day, Friday at noon, the senior class of martial arts students officially entered the winter vacation period under the announcement of their homeroom teacher, Han Zhen, and once again reminded all the students not to forget to inform their families about the parent-teacher meeting at 3 pm.

Most students didn't have much of a burden, except for a few whose grades had dropped significantly, who were secretly lamenting their situation.

After practicing at school for a while, Chen Mochuan arrived at the air station before his parents' flying car did.

Exit.

Chen Mochuan saw his parents from afar. They each carried a bulging backpack and dragged a sizable suitcase. Their faces showed the fatigue of a long journey, but even more so, the anticipation and joy of seeing their son.

The two of them clearly saw Chen Mochuan, and their faces lit up with smiles as they quickened their pace to walk through the crowd.

"son!"

As they approached, Ye Min untied the suitcase handle and rushed forward to hug her son, whom she hadn't seen for months. Her arms tightened around him, and Chen Mochuan returned the hug.

After hugging for a while, Ye Min let go, but still held tightly to Chen Mochuan's arm, looking him over from head to toe. She even gently rolled up his sleeve to check the location of the wound she had seen in the video earlier.

"Thank goodness, there aren't any scars." Seeing her son's skin smooth as ever, Ye Min finally breathed a sigh of relief, but then earnestly instructed him, "But son, you can't do such dangerous things again! Do you understand?"

"Mom, I'll be careful, don't worry." Chen Mochuan smiled and assured her, while glancing at his parents. He noticed that they looked much better than in the video yesterday, indicating that they had relaxed after the project ended and had slept well last night.

"Alright, stop nagging the moment we meet. What's the point of practicing martial arts if you don't experience real combat and hunt ferocious beasts?" Chen Qingyang, more reserved in his emotions, chuckled from the side. Although not as excited as his wife, his gaze towards his son was full of satisfaction and pride, a barely suppressed smile playing on his lips. He clearly missed him terribly. "Son, you're truly amazing!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Min rolled her eyes at her husband, annoyed. "You're always making a fuss. What's wrong with us talking for a bit? You should go back to the company and report for duty!"

Chen Qingyang was unfazed by his wife's sarcastic remark. He glanced at the time and said, "It's 2:20 now. The parent-teacher meeting starts in about half an hour. It'll take a while to get to school from here. If you don't leave soon, you'll really be late."

This time, Ye Min snorted and didn't say anything more, but simply helped Chen Mochuan straighten his clothes.

Seeing his mother release her grip on his hand, Chen Mochuan went over and gave his father a firm hug: "Dad, you've had a long day. I've called a car. Would you like to come with us?"

Chen Qingyang patted his son on the back and shook his head, saying, "No, the company sent a car to pick me up. They should be here soon. I'll wait at the station. You go to school with your mother first, so as not to delay your business."