Chapter 1 The Body Refined

In a small room, An Qisheng slowly practiced his boxing.

His skin was flushed, and the air flowing from his mouth and nose was like steam after intense burning, raising the temperature of the entire room.

Whoosh~

An Qisheng felt as if a fire ignited from his internal organs, spreading throughout his body, every part aching and burning.

This fire was so intense that he felt like he was about to be burned to a crisp.

At the same time, he could feel torrents of heat mixed with inner force surging through every part of his body at an unimaginable speed.

Wasn't this efficiency more than ten or a hundred times greater than usual?

Gurgle~

As the fist techniques flowed, thunder rumbled within An Qisheng's body, and the force traveled from his spine to his entire body. Under the high-speed vibrations of his muscles, inner force and heat were forced, drop by drop, into his bone marrow and internal organs.

An Qisheng felt both mentally stimulated and somewhat weary.

How much energy was expended by forcefully suppressing the heat that wanted to burst out from every pore in his body?

Even he felt a bit tired.

But he couldn't relax.

He knew very well that once he relaxed, countless streams of heat mixed with sweat would burst out, severely depleting his body.

If he wasn't careful, he would suffer from the five fatigues and seven injuries.

If he released it slowly, he would waste most of the medicinal power of the ginseng.

At this moment, An Qisheng felt as if he had become a pill furnace, refining his internal organs, bones, and skin.

Visibly, the muscles all over his body trembled involuntarily. As the inner force moved, it was as if countless little mice were trying to squeeze out from within him.

"No, I can't suppress it anymore... With the inner force causing trouble, I can't contain this breath..."

After an unknown amount of time, An Qisheng felt like he couldn't hold on any longer.

In the history of Profound Star, there had never been a boxing master with inner force who had achieved the Embracing the One (bao dan) realm. The inner force of the Ever Floating World (Jiu Fu Jie) certainly had an incredible effect on strengthening the body, but it also greatly increased the uncertainty of achieving bao dan.

Swish~

The sound of surging blood burst forth, surging like a great wave.

An Qisheng clenched his teeth, maintaining a constant breathing frequency while silently chanting in his heart:

"Dragon returns to the source sea, yang lies dormant in yin. People call it the hibernating dragon, but I hibernate my heart..."

Entering a state of deep sleep again!

Whoosh~

The fist techniques continued to flow from An Qisheng's fingertips, the movements unchanged, but his own mind had sunk into deep sleep.

The body sleeps, but the mind does not!

Gradually, his fist techniques slowed down, and his heartbeat also slowed down. The only thing that didn't change was that the sound of his blood flow grew louder.

Thump~

At a certain moment, An Qisheng sat down cross-legged, falling into silence.

And the pores on his body gradually opened up, spontaneously exchanging air with the outside world like mouths and noses.

A faint, foul odor gradually spread through the room during this exchange of air.

"Pfft!"

An Qisheng opened his mouth, and a mouthful of pitch-black, extremely foul-smelling blood was spat out of his throat.

It landed on the bluestone floor with a 'hissing' sound, as if it were a deadly poison.

This was not marrow cleansing, but rather the expulsion of some 'dirty things' from the internal organs and bone marrow through the movement of qi and blood, including medicinal toxins and some necrotic blood.

The warriors of the Ever Floating World were naturally blessed, and the efficiency of inner force strengthening the body was incomparable to that of Profound Star, but because of this, the details were far inferior to those of internal martial arts.

In the end, the warriors of the Ever Floating World strengthened their bodies in order to receive the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to generate true qi, while on Profound Star, physical training was the only path.

A comparison of the two revealed this effect.

An Qisheng slowly opened his eyes, and a gleam of light seemed to flash in the dim room.

He didn't move, just quietly experiencing it.

The powerful beating of his heart, the murmuring sound of blood flowing, the peristalsis of his stomach, the stretching of his muscles, the opening and closing of his pores...

He could 'hear' the movement of any organ in his body.

Force reaches the ends of the hair, power penetrates the whole body.

With a single thought, his heart could beat wildly or slowly, his bone marrow could accelerate blood production to replace old blood, and necrotic blood could be spat out with a single breath.

This control of force could even be specific to every inch of skin, every hair!

The skill of bao dan lies in the condensation of qi and blood at one point, and then bursting forth.

Able to conceal and release!

The deeper the concealment, the stronger the eruption!

Feeling the control of force that he had experienced countless times when he entered dreams, joy arose spontaneously in An Qisheng's heart.

Bao dan! (Embracing the One)

He had truly succeeded!

"Master, aren't you getting up yet? It's time to practice boxing... Ugh~"

At this moment, Jiang Tingting also pushed the door open. After saying just one sentence, she immediately turned around and ran out, vomiting violently.

It was too臭 (chou - stinky)!

An Qisheng shook his head slightly and was already out of the house without any visible movement.

"Ugh~"

The poor little girl almost threw up her bile, her little face pale.

That smell was the waste gas that had accumulated in An Qisheng's body for an unknown amount of time. Once it was released, the smell was not much different from a biogas pool.

How could this little girl have ever seen this?

Snap~

An Qisheng's palm landed on her back, and with a gentle vibration, he stopped her nausea and dry heaves.

"Master, it's too stinky..."

Jiang Tingting said half a sentence with tears in her eyes, her expression suddenly freezing.

Pointing at An Qisheng, she stammered:

"Ma, Master, you, you..."

Jiang Tingting was stunned.

She saw that the master standing beside her had a smooth and unwrinkled face, and his eyes were as clear as mountain spring water. His hunched body was as straight as a spear.

Apart from his white hair, he looked like he had become sixty years younger. Just looking at his face, people might believe he was only in his twenties or thirties!

This was not just glowing with health, it was simply reversing aging!

"My kung fu has had a bit of a breakthrough."

An Qisheng smiled slightly. With the successful formation of bao dan, his vitality was once again exuberant. Given time, his white hair could turn black, and his lost teeth could grow back.

"Master..."

Jiang Tingting was once again dumbfounded.

Because as her master smiled slightly, his straight body hunched down again, his smooth skin became loose and wrinkled again, and his clear eyes became cloudy again.

In the blink of an eye, he had returned to his original appearance.

What kind of immortal magic was this?

"Tingting, don't tell anyone about this, okay? Master will buy you candied hawthorns."

An Qisheng smiled and patted his disciple's little head.

The transformation of inner force lies only in concealment and release. The more restrained it is, the more rapid and fierce the eruption will be.

In the history of Profound Star, there were many boxing masters who were usually like frail, old scholars, but once they started fighting, they would become ferocious, like great demons wearing human skin.

That was the reason.

It wasn't to trick people.

Jiang Tingting nodded blankly. What happened today had caused great stimulation to her young mind.

Next, An Qisheng burned a large pot of water. While taking a bath, he was still experiencing the changes in his body after achieving bao dan.

Breakthroughs in reality were not achieved overnight, nor were they a meteoric rise.

Even with the formation of bao dan, there would not be any exaggerated changes like a complete transformation, but as long as the nutrition was sufficient, his body could surpass its limits and enter another realm within a hundred days at most.

His body had no odor, nor was it dirty. On the contrary, it had a faint medicinal fragrance.

After washing casually, An Qisheng changed into a Daoist robe and walked out of the house.

At this time, the sky was bright, and the sunlight shone for thousands of miles, reflecting on the snow and sparkling.

The weather was as good as his mood.

In the yard, the two little ones had already begun practicing stances, the Xingyi Santishi (Three-Body Stance).

The practice of internal martial arts was not as immediate as inner force. Stance work could not be stabilized without three to five years, and it was impossible to achieve great success. Many famous martial artists in their seventies and eighties still practiced stances every day.

Seeing this, An Qisheng nodded slightly.

Although these two little ones didn't have good aptitude and their comprehension was average, they were diligent enough. Under his guidance, even if they didn't become experts, surpassing the previous Old Taoist Wang Quan shouldn't be a big problem.

At first, he wanted to teach these two little ones internal martial arts first, without teaching inner force. Later, after thinking about it, these two little ones had average talent and no foundation. If they only practiced internal martial arts,

they might not be able to achieve anything significant in ten or twenty years.

It would be better to take a two-pronged approach, teaching both internal martial arts and inner force.

Suddenly, Zhang Hao Hao's body in the courtyard shook, and he stopped his movements. After a pause, he shouted with ecstasy:

"Master, I, I have cultivated the Boy's Skill (Tong Zi Gong)! I have cultivated inner force!"

"Not bad."

An Qisheng stroked his beard and nodded slightly.

With his current insight, he could hear the low murmur of mosquitoes and flies within a hundred steps, and observe the movement of snakes and rats. Naturally, he could perceive Zhang Hao Hao's changes.

However, it took two months to cultivate inner force. His talent was indeed average.

Fortunately, he took a two-pronged approach. If he only taught internal martial arts, he might not be able to cultivate anything in three to five years.

"Ah? Senior Brother has cultivated inner force."

Jiang Tingting also stopped her movements, her mouth pouting high, her little face full of unhappiness.

Children were competitive, and seeing her senior brother being praised by the master, she felt a little sad.

An Qisheng saw through her thoughts and cheered the little girl up with a few comforting words.

Afterwards, he called Zhang Hao Hao into the house, pointing out and correcting some of the mistakes and common knowledge in his Boy's Skill.

After his improvement, this Boy's Skill was no longer the original Boy's Skill. It could be practiced by both men and women, and there was no need to maintain a virgin body.

But there were still other taboos.

Snap~

He gently placed his finger on Zhang Hao Hao's wrist, closed his eyes, and felt the changes in Zhang Hao Hao's body.

After more than two months of inner force cultivation, he had a good understanding of the martial arts system of the Ever Floating World.

Inner qi is generated, travels throughout the body, through the skin, muscles, bones, internal organs, and marrow. This is the combination of qi and body.

The process of qi entering the muscles and bones is external refinement, and the process of qi entering the internal organs, marrow, and blood is internal refinement of the three elements. This process is not achieved overnight, but requires a long period of nourishing and gradual change. However, whether one can enter the next realm has little to do with the amount of inner force.

Some people can achieve great success in marrow refinement at twenty, while others may still be stuck in organ refinement, or even skin and muscle refinement, at seventy or eighty.

"Hmm?"

Feeling Zhang Hao Hao's inner force aura, An Qisheng's heart suddenly trembled, and he thought of Kong San:

"Qi enters the marrow and blood, and the process of blood exchange takes a hundred days, also known as the Hundred-Day Barrier! Kong San has disappeared for nearly three months. He is going to exchange his blood!"