Holy Fist

Chapter 45: 045 Effort ultimately has its limits, so…
 

July 5th, 10:00 AM.

White Bird Training Base, gymnasium, area three.

The ten members of the elite class had already assembled, with Instructor Liu Yang standing at the front of the class, his gaze sweeping over everyone. He particularly looked at Chu Ming.

His left cheek was swollen, bulging high.

As if he had been viciously punched by someone.

“Chu Ming, what happened to you?”

Instructor Liu Yang asked directly, calling him out by name.

Chu Ming’s gaze flickered, and from the corner of his eye, he seemed to glance at Bai Xiao before ultimately saying, “Instructor, it’s nothing. I was sparring with my brother at home, got distracted, and he landed a punch on me. It’s not a serious issue…”

In the crowd, Bai Xiao’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

For some reason, Chu Ming didn’t admit that it was his own doing. But, it was probably because of that bit of pride. Admitting in front of everyone that he had provoked Bai Xiao only to be knocked down by a punch would be too embarrassing.

Of course, it’s also possible that Chu Ming still felt a bit resentful.

He wanted to temporarily cover up the issue, preserve his face. Then, during the sparring matches, he would challenge Bai Xiao again, striving for victory to turn the page.

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In the crowd, Bai Xiao remained silent, not intending to expose the truth.

He had said that he would crush Chu Ming’s pitiful illusions without the slightest mercy…

If once wasn’t enough, then it would happen again.

Until he became Chu Ming’s inner demon…

Making Chu Ming lose even the courage to challenge him for the top spot!

About this, Bai Xiao had immense confidence.

In the gym, Instructor Liu Yang glanced at Chu Ming and then said after some thought.

“Here’s what we’ll do, you come with me to the warehouse to get some medicine. My White Bird Martial Arts Hall has various secret remedies for repairing bodily injuries. As long as it’s not a particularly severe injury like limb amputation, they usually take effect very quickly…”

“With your face swollen like this, you can’t proceed with the upcoming training.”

Thus, the two of them left.

Meanwhile, the nine elite class students, following Instructor Liu Yang’s instructions, began practicing their combat skills. Don’t think that starting to learn the mysterious martial arts of the Fierce Bird Sect means that basic combat skills are no longer useful. On the contrary, the better one’s foundation in combat skills, the quicker one can master the martial arts of the Fierce Bird Sect. The movements and techniques of the human body are interconnected at the fundamental level!

Therefore, in the elite class, practice of combat movements is also required, two to three hours daily. Foundations are referred to as such because they are the materials for building structures. Whether it is a small building or a skyscraper hundreds of meters tall, they all need to be built brick by brick.

About ten minutes passed, and Liu Yang and Chu Ming returned. Chu Ming’s left cheek was coated with a blackish ointment and seemed much better.

Until lunchtime.

After wiping off the ointment, Chu Ming’s swollen face had almost completely healed.

In the afternoon, after reviewing the Dao Jing Ceremony once more, Instructor Liu Yang finally began to teach the elite class about various cultivation, practice, and killing methods in their entirety.

Nurturing methods: exercise frames, breathing techniques, Visualization Boxing Manual, herbal medicine.

Practice methods: combat movements, combination routines.

Killing methods: Burst Skill, combat awareness.

In the initial stages of the elite class, the content related to practice and killing methods is relatively less. The majority is nurturing methods, so Liu Yang mainly introduced nurturing methods.

First was the breathing technique.

“To cultivate the White Bird Breathing Technique, the most important thing is to find that unique frequency of your breathing. This frequency varies from person to person. Since your lung capacity, height, and body type differ from others, so does that special frequency. For instance, my breathing frequency goes like this: breathe out three times, breathe in once; breathe out twice, breathe in twice; breathe out once, breathe in three times, and so on in a loop…”

“But yours will be different. The key is to find that sensation of resonance in your chest cavity. This requires the help of the Dao Jing Ceremony to clear your senses, allowing you to hear the subtle resonance inside your body. Through continuous correction, you’ll gradually find that unique frequency…”

Then there’s the exercise frame.

“The Blackbird exercise frame consists of six postures, each representing one of the six different forms of a bird of prey. Each movement is associated with a specific muscle group in your body. Maintaining the posture will exercise the muscles targeted. Especially when combined with the breathing technique and the ointment, the muscles are stimulated by the medicine and resonated by the special frequency…”

“They will gradually become tougher and stronger, even exceeding their limits.”

Instructor Liu Yang personally demonstrated the movements of the Blackbird exercise frame, indeed resembling a humanoid bird of prey. The overall posture is particularly difficult; normal people maintaining it for seven or eight seconds would be impressive, probably only dancers with great flexibility could manage it.

Next is the Visualization Boxing Manual.

“Visualizing the Boxing Manual requires not only a strong physique but also remarkable willpower. I can’t show it to you right now, but I can give you a brief description. It’s roughly a pattern, full of blurred and chaotic lines, like a child’s scribbles. But in reality, the pattern is actually a collage of demonstrations for twelve different fist skill movements.”

“Once you grasp one, that fist skill movement will be imprinted in your memory. When you want to perform it, it will be as quick as a muscle reflex!”

“Boxing Manual Visualization is very, very difficult. You only need to grasp three types of fist skill movements to pass. Four is good, five is excellent, six is genius. As for six and above, you can be called a monster. In the Fierce Bird Sect, which has nearly thirty years of history, the record holder for the Visualization Boxing Manual is this session’s senior brother, who mastered an astonishing ten types.”

“So, after officially joining the Fierce Bird Sect, the senior brother progressed rapidly in learning various fist techniques and quickly became a leading figure…”

Last are the medicinal materials, also known as the Medicine Ointment and Bath Method.

This elite class doesn’t need to be taught this; everyone just needs to know how to use them.

When practicing the breathing technique, you use a small green pill with a mint-like refreshing sensation that moisturizes your lungs. When doing the exercise frame, you use a light black ointment that brings a certain sting, numbing and tingling.

The green pill is called Heart Clearing Pills, and the black ointment is called Body Refining Ointment.

The gymnasium, in the center of the field.

After the introduction, Instructor Liu Yang led everyone to practice the breathing technique.

Green pills were distributed, one for each person.

Everyone sat cross-legged, performed the Dao Jing Ceremony, then all took the mint-like Heart Clearing Pills and began their first practice of the breathing technique.

Bai Xiao sat alone on the far right, maintaining a single cross-legged position.

He closed his eyes, breathed evenly, and following Instructor Liu Yang’s instructions from before, he tried step by step to find his own special frequency. Bai Xiao did not use his innate talent; he wanted to try and see if he could succeed through his own efforts.

However, twenty minutes passed and Bai Xiao felt nothing.

It was just like closing his eyes to rest for a while; he felt good mentally.

A laughable effort, with no talent at all.

It seems hard work does have its limits, so…

Pure Heart! Activate!

Suddenly, an effect a hundred times stronger than the Dao Jing Ceremony enveloped Bai Xiao, as if he had entered another isolated world where only he sat in silence.

Instantly, he entered the zone.

His spirit and will slowly sank as if he were at the bottom of the water.

Under the water, the waves rolled at their own frequency, repeating over and over. Bai Xiao slowly merged into them, drifting with the flow.

“Huff… huff-huff… huff-huff-huff…”

He found his frequency, seemingly without realizing it.

In the moment he touched the White Bird Breathing Technique, he had mastered it!