I am Jinshan Youxia

This kind of gameplay involves actively dissipating one's internal energy, resulting in a permanent loss of true qi. Others may not be able to afford to play this game, but surely Zhang Chengyi can afford to?

He ran back to his room and tried it himself, and it was confirmed to be effective. The targeted movements and a small amount of dispersing energy allowed the true energy to stay in the muscles and bones for a longer period of time.

The enhancement effect is still not ideal. Even if it lasts a little longer, it still dissipates too quickly. Even if it can be enhanced, based on his attempts, it would probably take at least sixty years of continuous practice of specific movements to achieve a noticeable enhancement effect.

But this offers a new perspective.

Regardless of whether a path to truly breaking through martial arts limits can be developed in the future, if there are new ideas and they seem to have some effect, it is worthwhile to study them further.

"You're a fucking genius!" Zhang Chengyi slapped Qiao Feng on the back, his face beaming with excitement. "Good, good, good, you deserve a big credit!"

"Go quickly, we'll discuss this properly when you get back."

Chapter 38 3D Pinball Game

A short while later, in the backyard of the inn.

"A movement that can retain true energy?"

Su Xinghe pondered for a moment, then raised his arm and began to circulate his internal energy.

After a while, he suddenly realized, and his eyes showed a hint of surprise. He said, "As expected of the famous Qiao Feng of the North, this is indeed the way."

As he spoke, he explained to the others how it actually worked.

Qiao Feng's explanation was vague, as he had to go out on business and couldn't possibly go into all the details, but it was enough for a master like him who was very familiar with martial arts.

The so-called specific movements are not about using muscles, bones, or skin to block the true energy scattered throughout the limbs and bones, but rather about using the true energy within the meridians that are circulating the power to resist it.

It feels a bit like playing ping-pong inside the body. The dispersed true energy wants to escape, so through twisting movements, the meridians and acupoints surround the true energy. Actively circulate the energy, make slight collisions, and don't absorb it back. It can indeed lock the true energy in the muscles and bones.

As for the specific movements, they are quite flexible and depend on personal preference.

Theoretically, with sufficient control, it's even possible to keep one's true energy locked within the muscles and bones.

However, this kind of micro-management requires a high level of martial arts skill and exquisite control over internal energy, making it a good way to measure one's martial arts prowess.

The remaining six of the Eight Friends of Hangu tried it out, and the duration varied. Wu, the leader, was taciturn and maintained it for the longest time. He sat there cross-legged, concentrating on controlling his inner energy, and silently locked it for a full half hour.

The others were locked for about ten to twenty minutes.

The worst was Xue Muhua. He was clearly most enthusiastic about all kinds of martial arts and would exchange his medical skills for martial arts with people everywhere, but he could only last for a little over ten minutes before he couldn't hold on any longer.

Of course, the reason why he is not shameful is because there is an amazing master, Zhang Chengyi, who amazed everyone with just a slight move.

He couldn't lock it the first time, couldn't lock it, locked it, locked it...

Everyone originally wanted to mock Xue Muhua, but the presence of such an extraordinary master made everyone's competitive and playful attitude become much more serious.

Zhang Chengyi didn't think much of it. He had only been learning martial arts for two or three months. What level could he possibly have? If learning internal energy cultivation methods required nine years of compulsory education, he wouldn't have even finished preschool. Going into high-tech industries would be a miracle if he didn't injure himself internally.

He tried it several times and found it quite useful for improving his control over his internal energy, but it was a bit too extravagant for others.

His own true energy collided back and forth, and he had to control the force well and try not to make any mistakes in his body posture. The scattered true energy was like a three-dimensional pinball, running around everywhere. If he was not careful, it would break out of his body. After all, no matter how well he was in the posture, there would still be gaps between the meridians. He quickly realized this.

Simply blocking is not enough; you must actively suppress it, using movements to control the scattered true energy as much as possible, just like hitting a tennis ball against a wall—you must control the 'ball' well.

Of course, true qi is still 'qi', and after a collision, some of it may run wild, so it is 'as much as possible' to control it. The actual situation is much more complicated.

Zhang Chengyi treated it like a built-in 3D pinball game and dived right in to play it.

By evening, Qiao Feng returned alone. His skill level had risen sharply, breaking through the one-minute mark, wasting over a hundred points of internal energy, which was quite extravagant.

However, embarrassingly, others were progressing faster than him. Su Xinghe easily maintained his true energy for one or two hours without losing half of it, and they were already starting to figure out which postures could train the muscles and bones the most and were less likely to cause his true energy to dissipate.

Of the eight friends of Hangu Pass, six of them spent more than half an hour on the exercise. Wu Lingjun, with his calm and steady personality, even started to follow his master Su Xinghe and began to summarize the movements together.

Zhang Chengyi was frustrated, but the others didn't know what to praise. While going from zero to one was certainly commendable, the skill level was too low, and praising it would seem like a veiled sarcasm.

He stopped not because Qiao Feng had returned, but simply because he had been messing around for too long and made too many mistakes, which had given him menstrual cramps, no, menstrual pain, and pain in his meridians.

Because the retention time was too short each time, and his physique was too strong, after half a day of effort, there was no noticeable effect at all.

The only gain was a visible improvement in the ability to control internal energy.

However, to reach a normal level, let alone Su Xinghe, even the Eight Friends of Hangu would probably need at least a year and a half.

I feel like I've gone down the wrong track. Is it really worth putting myself through all this trouble for a martial arts world?

Zhang Chengyi was initially very happy with his cheat-like abilities, but when it came time for him to undergo arduous cultivation, the disappointment was quite significant.

[Should I give it a try? Or wait until they've perfected it before I start practicing?]

While he was pondering the creation of the mod, Su Xinghe and Qiao Feng chatted happily, practicing and discussing as they went, giving off the feeling of kindred spirits.

"Since things have come to this, let's eat first."

Zhang Chengyi decisively abandoned his thinking, and the workers worked hard to help their boss drive a Maybach as soon as possible.

He hired a group of people to work so that it would be easier for him. All he had to do was pay (for internal energy) and not think about anything else. Why think so much when you're just playing a game?

Anyway, he didn't have high hopes for the power system of this world, so he just wanted to have fun.

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A few days later, at noon, on the second floor of the inn.

"what happened?"

Zhang Chengyi was eating when he suddenly heard a commotion outside. Peeking out the window, he saw Wu Lingjun, who was in charge of selling the carriage, being surrounded by several men. After exchanging a few words, they left together.

"They're from the Salt Gang." Qiao Feng, who could see them clearly from the other side, frowned.

The Salt Gang's influence in Yangzhou is undeniable. The Beggars' Gang is spread throughout the land and frequently interacts with the Salt Gang, which relies on water transport. As the former leader, he is very familiar with the Salt Gang, and with his meticulous mind and sharp eyes, he can easily distinguish the identities of Salt Gang members from their demeanor, clothing, and speech at a glance.

But why would the Salt Gang buy a horse-drawn carriage?

They sold the carriages because they needed to travel by water from Yangzhou to Taihu Lake, which would definitely be more convenient. The Jiangnan region was mostly "land that was flooded and uncultivated," with sections of low-lying land "no more than five feet deep, and some as shallow as two or three feet." It wasn't until at least the Southern Song Dynasty that these low-lying areas gradually connected to form large lakes.

For example, Xue Dian Lake, which became famous in later generations.

Given the terrain, it was too strenuous for horse-drawn carriages to travel, and horseback riding was rare. Most people traveled by boat, and even the poor had a small sampan to get around.

That's why they had to sell the carriage.

The salt merchants rely on water for their livelihood; is it possible that they would buy a horse-drawn carriage?

Qiao Feng keenly sensed that something was wrong, but Zhang Chengyi didn't care at all. Seeing that his own people hadn't suffered any losses, he retreated back and said while eating, "Let's set off when Lao Wu comes back."

Chapter 39 Murong Bo

In a pavilion in Yangzhou City.

"My lord, they bought a boat this morning and I heard they're going to Taihu Lake. Should we..."

The portly man bowed and spoke.

The gray-robed monk sitting in the main seat shook his head and said, "You may leave now." After saying that, he strolled to the railing, where he could see the inn where Zhang Chengyi and his party were staying. He frowned and pondered.

His surname was Murong, and his given name was Bo. He was a descendant of the royal family of the Great Yan Dynasty, and his ancestors had all left a will to restore the country.

Years ago, after faking his death, he called himself the Murong Clan of Gusu and appeared in the Huaihe River area. He used martial arts, coercion, or bribery, and used the Black Swallow Flag Token as proof to subdue heroes of the martial arts world and secretly expand his power.

He naturally had informants and influence in Yangzhou, and many of his men were among the salt gang members.

The Salt Gang originally had nothing in common with him, who intended to rebel, but the Song Dynasty court had gone too far in recent years, causing many people within the Salt Gang to have ulterior motives.

The root cause lies in the fact that in previous years, in order to alleviate the financial pressure, the imperial court introduced a salt certificate. The court could sell the certificate and collect profits without wasting manpower and resources. A large number of salt certificates were issued to earn real money. Merchants also speculated on the salt certificate, and the salt gangs, which were deeply tied to salt, naturally followed suit and made a fortune.

Just like the speculation surrounding ordination certificates, salt notes also had artificially inflated prices for a period of time, but the market operated normally.

However, the imperial court issued too much salt, almost completely replacing real money, which immediately led to the devaluation of the salt certificates. Many merchants engaged in speculative trading. In order to revive the salt certificate market, the government implemented a system of price stabilization, whereby the government purchased salt certificates to stabilize prices, but the government itself did not contribute any funds.

The misunderstandings that arose between the Song Dynasty's high-ranking officials and local government officials, after a series of actions, actually caused the entire market to plummet to its lowest point.

The Salt Gang, which was most deeply involved, suffered greatly and naturally had other ideas. After being threatened with force and given a grand promise, along with the opportunity to invest a sum of money passed down from their ancestors, some people naturally joined the Yan Gang.

Getting back to the main point, when he was infiltrating the Shaolin Temple, he had already heard about Zhang Chengyi's story, how he transformed overnight from a hunter who knew nothing about martial arts into a peerless master with immeasurable internal strength.

This story was widely circulated among the monks of the Hui generation at Shaolin Temple. At first, he thought it was a rumor, but later, when Zhang Chengyi killed Yao Bodang (according to rumors in the martial arts world), injured six members of the Shan family, and kidnapped Elder Xu of the Beggars' Clan, he seriously ordered his men to investigate.

You wouldn't know unless you checked, and once you did, you'd find that about 80% of the rumors were true.

He was also present at the Gyeongbokgung Temple Heroes' Gathering, but he did not show his face. He observed from the shadows. After witnessing it firsthand, he was overjoyed, but then became worried.

He was delighted that someone could actually become a peerless master overnight, and wondered if he could do the same.

The worry is that Zhang Chengyi is far too strong, so strong that he simply doesn't know how to deal with him. Moreover, Zhang Chengyi has an eccentric and strange personality, making him difficult to win over using ordinary means.

Just as he was about to leave, he overheard Zhang Chengyi telling Shaolin Temple to spread the word throughout the world that 'Murong Bo' and 'Xiao Yuanshan' should wait for him at Shaolin Temple so that he could bring Qiao Feng and Murong Fu there.

Upon hearing this, he immediately fled in panic. Only after hiding did he realize that the person had not noticed his presence.

After calming down and thinking it over, one can come to the conclusion that Zhang Chengyi seems to know what happened back then, and that Xiao Yuanshan, whom he framed at Yanmen Pass, is actually alive!

The series of explosions forced him to stay at home for several days, but he had to go out again.

Whether it's stealing the secret to becoming stronger, finding an opportunity to deal with this powerful enemy who could hinder the restoration of the kingdom, or rescuing his son Murong Fu, he has to follow along.

However, Zhang Chengyi and his entourage were almost completely unresponsive, and even if others were to travel with them for a while, they had no chance to get close to them.

Along the way, he had his men conduct many probes, but they never found an opportunity. When he arrived in Yangzhou, he ordered his men to go and try to gather information, just as he always did.

[Taihu Lake, Taihu Lake, could it really be a search for Fu'er?]

Murong Bo sighed heavily, deep in thought. Perhaps it was time to go back.

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"Did I forget something?"

Sitting at the bow of the boat, Zhang Chengyi muttered to himself. He had originally planned to rest in Yangzhou for a few more days before continuing south.

However, due to Qiao Feng's new discovery, he decided to return to the main storyline and finish it as soon as possible.

Heading south, we definitely have to go to Mantuo Manor. Wu Yazi's daughter and granddaughter Wang Yuyan are there, and there's also the Langhuan Jade Cave, which contains all the martial arts techniques collected by Wu Yazi and Li Qiushui. It might be helpful for breaking through in martial arts.

I won't go into too much detail about Wang Yuyan.

While we're at it, let's also bring Murong Fu along. Don't let his somewhat weak character in the novel fool you; he's still on par with Qiao Feng, so his talent is definitely not lacking. Plus, he can be used as leverage against Murong Bo. We should capture him.

However, after he severely impacted the plot, who knows if Murong Fu is still in Jiangnan.

That is also a problem.