Chapter 19: The Desire to Learn the Strength Refining Technique (Please Favorite, Please Follow)

Xiao Jiu did not come the second day.

Zhou Ping'an's Tidal Breathing Technique still hadn't stopped.

He didn't feel tired at all.

He had spent a whole day and night taking all eight Duangu Pills he had pilfered from the Fiery Flame Messenger.

And he felt his bones breaking and reassembling piece by piece.

The bone tempering was underway.

He had purposely found an iron rod as thick as a child's arm and gradually increased his strength, striking it against the bones throughout his body.

In the end, when he struck his bones with all his might, he only heard a clanging sound like steel colliding and felt no pain whatsoever.

Especially when all his bones emitted a series of firecracker-like explosive sounds…

His body shuddered, and with just a gentle sweep of his leg, the bark of the sturdy gingko tree in the courtyard dented, leaving a three-inch deep mark.

Wood chips scattered everywhere.

His leg was like a razor blade, hard and impervious to injury.

And so, Zhou Ping'an understood.

Just comparing the quality of skin, flesh, and bones,

He had already surpassed those muscle-bound fighters who sweated and fought to the death in the ring.

Those people would often break bones, and their faces would swell up like pig heads.

Yet Zhou Ping'an felt that his bones might not be so easily broken.

What is meant by "skin and flesh like iron, bones tempered into steel"?

Now he knew.

Kicking through wood as thick as a thigh, smashing stones as big as a head…

He felt he wouldn't have any problem doing that.

Even without injuring his skin at all.

…

Xiao Jiu did not come the third day.

When Zhou Ping'an had taken all seven Muscle Transforming Pills and his entire body was interwoven with large, thick veins forming a giant net,

For the first time in this world, he felt at ease.

That faint sense of crisis began to fade away.

"All unease and fear stem from a lack of firepower,"

Zhou Ping'an couldn't remember who said this phrase.

But he felt there was some truth to it.

Because only after all the large tendons throughout his body were thoroughly refined did he truly feel his own strength.

And he had the confidence to face any danger.

After the transformation and arrangement of his sinew network,

Only then did he understand why in external refining, muscle refining came before bone and skin tempering.

Not to mention the saying that an inch of tendon elongated added ten years to one's lifespan.

Just consider that after achieving great success in muscle transforming, a new thick layer would form again between the body's flesh and bones.

A wall.

A layer of armor both visible and invisible.

It could generate immense strength, integrate the flesh, protect the organs, and allow for flexible stretching, perfectly balancing softness and hardness.

Just like how Zhou Ping'an at that moment, with the back of a knife and using seventy to eighty percent of his strength, gave a heavy chop to his chest.

He could clearly sense,

Without even thinking about it,

The skin first tightening and taking on the toughness of old ox leather, followed by a faint sound like a bowstring being pulled, ringing out simultaneously.

The tendons storing energy for a rebound, the myofascial forming a solid armor... absorbing the force of impact and penetration, and then rebounding it.

The actual force reaching the muscles and bones was minimal, let alone damaging the internal organs.

After four layers of defense, there was no impact whatsoever.

Instead, Zhou Ping'an's hand that swung the knife felt a strong reverberating force.

The back of the knife bounced.

All this feedback was an automatic response from his body, without the need for the brain's command or any efforts to hold his breath and surge his qi-blood.

Zhou Ping'an put down the knife, posed in the Xingyi Tiger Form, and pounced a few times…

Only to hear a constant ringing from his bones and an ongoing humming from his tendons.

When he threw a punch, the wind roared like a tiger howling in the hills.

With a slight tap of his toes, the ground gently sunk, and his body dashed left and right like an arrow, with each movement of hands and feet casting a trail of afterimages.

"This is reaching the 'Dragon's Chant and Tiger's Roar' level in fist technique."

Actually, what dragon's chant?

And what tiger's roar?

It was merely a symphony created by the vibration of the tendons, the expansion of the myofascial, and the compression and explosion of air by the skin, flesh, and bones.

When he truly launched an attack,

More haunting than a real tiger.

The records stated that when Master Dong threw his punch during the Wenshan case, it was as if a dragon's chant and a tiger's roar combined with the thunder of the Five Organs.

To put it precisely, it would mean that external refining was complete, the blood boiling and agitating, with muscles and bones chiming in unison...

"That is to say, if it were me, I could achieve the same level as him."

"Facing over thirty people, killing a dozen armed thugs, throwing punches at will, not even bulletproof vests could withstand the massive impact."

...

Zhou Ping'an picked up a stone.

He clenched his fist.

He didn't even need to strike a pose to attack.

Just a gentle shake forward.

The upper half of the stone shattered into powder, exploding into a flurry of fragments.

They sprayed out forward in a fan-shaped scatter.

"Has my strength reached over a thousand jin?"

Zhou Ping'an carefully pondered for a moment.

Yet, he found that he had completely lost count of his true strength.

"According to Tang Lin'er, after achieving mastery of muscles and bones, the next step is to gather strength into power."

"Strength without power... Unleashing power with jin operation yields greater might and more potent lethality, turning one part strength into several parts effect.

Just, what is the trick to it?

It probably involves integrating all the strength of the body together, refining it into another, more efficient form of generation of force."

Thinking this,

Zhou Ping'an had a hunch about what exactly Wave-Cleaving Sword Jin was.

Ordinary people chopping water with a sword would leave no mark, as the water would be just as it had been, showing no evidence of the cut.

It is said that Lin Ziqi, known as the 'Wave-Breaking Sword,' could cut water and leave a lasting impression, preventing the waves from closing immediately.

To achieve this, mere strength was not enough.

One needed both a formidable lateral shock force and a strong frontal penetrating power.

Just like a high-caliber sniper bullet.

Striking a flat surface, it would create a vast cavity from the impact.

There would be both the damage from penetration and the injuries from the explosive effect.

This involves the principles of air compression, the method of force transmission...

Zhou Ping'an knew these theories, but as for application, devising a method behind closed doors, he could not figure it out yet.

The various fist techniques and sword technique routines he had learned had been modified after thousands of years by superintelligent computing and then revised by so-called "experts" specialized in studying human anatomy and artistic appreciation.

Naturally, they proved utterly useless in a fight.

But to say they were entirely without merit wouldn't be correct either.

After all, they were the product of many "great minds" and had been validated through countless movies and videos.

In terms of imagination and aesthetic beauty, they reached the ultimate.

However, when it came to generating force, they were essentially, well, nothing.

They didn't even compare to the much simpler, straightforward, and power-packed punches and kicks of others.

In plain terms, those routines were made for watching, not for fighting.

Nearly two thousand years of modern technological development, and nobody relies on sheer physical prowess or fists to kill or fight anymore...

To do so, one would have to be incredibly foolish.

Of course, no matter the trend of the times,

There will always be some "fools" who keep the ancient legacies alive, unchanged in their original intentions.

It's not that they aim to possess formidable killing capabilities, but rather, they hold onto a heritage, unwilling to let go, much like calligraphy or painting.

To say that these arts have no use would be incorrect...

The benefits of immersing oneself in calligraphy or painting for cultivating one's temperament and maintaining peace of mind are undeniable.

As long as it's enjoyable, that's enough.

Happiness is what matters most...

But to say it has substantial utility, to stake one's life and soar on these skills, would definitely be inaccurate.

As for the martial arts strength refining technique, perhaps it existed in ancient times, and many claimed it still did...

But in a real fight, you would realize, aside from Turtle Fist, there would be nothing else.

Therefore, Zhou Ping'an had not learned the Strength Refining Technique.

Thus, he was all the more unwilling to miss out on learning the "Chopping Wave Knife."

What he wanted to learn was not the technique, but the jin, a unique secret of harnessing strength.

...

Looking at the sky, the dawn was breaking.

Zhou Ping'an counted the days.

"Today is the five-day trial period Wei Dazui mentioned, so it's not to be missed."

"No matter what others think or see, learning the skill is what's most important."