029 Forum Newbie

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“What does ‘mingjin’ mean?”
Chen Jue replied with one hand while eating, typing out his question. He’d only just started learning martial arts and knew almost nothing about the theoretical side. Now that an expert from the forum had offered a helpful answer, he seized the chance to ask more.
“Looks like the original poster really is a newbie—not even familiar with ‘mingjin’! Haven’t you read any martial arts novels?”
“Master Guo Yunshen, a famous martial artist from the late Qing, wrote a treatise on Xingyi Boxing, dividing its practice roughly into three stages: mingjin, anjin, and huajin.”
“As long as you’re practicing internal martial arts, once your stance training reaches a certain level, you can close your pores, making your stamina last longer. Once you can control the closure of your pores at will, you’ve achieved mastery of mingjin.”
The expert who replied was called “Half-Step Crushing Fist Conquers the World.” His avatar was a willow tree, his forum level was 20, and he was a moderator in the Internal Martial Arts section—quite an active figure across various martial arts forums.
Chen Jue’s username was “Little Training Expert.” He’d only registered recently, with a forum level of 3—a clear newcomer.
“So, is there a way to train the pores to open and close at will?” Chen Jue quickly replied.
After experiencing that magical state of closed pores in the morning, he became deeply interested in achieving that state through practice.
“It’s simple! Do more pelvic floor exercises! Train your stances more!”
“Ever seen a cat’s fur bristle? That’s stimulation at the coccyx, causing all the arrector pili muscles to contract.”
“Or after a hot shower, when a cool breeze makes your skin break out in goosebumps—that’s the same principle. If you can train your pores all over your body to close, you’ve truly mastered martial arts.”
“Of course, if you reach ‘huajin’, when your intent surges forth, you can control every arrector pili muscle at will—you could even crush a mosquito with a wrinkle (humorous).” replied Half-Step Crushing Fist Conquers the World.
“Crush a mosquito with a wrinkle? That’s incredible!”
Chen Jue laughed as he read, then searched online for the theories of mingjin, anjin, and huajin.
He found that the explanations matched what the expert had said, so he decided to try pelvic floor exercises himself.
Thinking about controlling the arrector pili muscles with intent, Chen Jue recalled how, when getting a shave at the barber, the razor scraping sweat hairs on his face and neck would trigger uncontrollable goosebumps.
Perhaps this was the body sensing an external threat—a natural stress response.
After all, those razors are extremely sharp; a careless slip could leave a deep wound. When the razor scrapes, the pores close themselves, which clearly relates to the theory of mingjin closing the pores.
But as for anjin, Chen Jue was at a loss.

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After all, the online material describing anjin and huajin was always vague—‘soft attacks’, ‘force like a needle spray’, ‘hitting like hanging a painting’—all seemed exaggerated.
Mingjin striking flesh and bone was understandable—a direct physical contact causing injury.
But anjin wasn’t some fictional qi technique; how could it penetrate someone’s body to cause internal harm?
He couldn’t figure it out!
Chen Jue was completely baffled.
Having only practiced for a short while, he hadn’t yet formed a full understanding of martial arts.
…
While Chen Jue, the forum newbie, was consulting the experts online, several dozen kilometers away at a military base, the curious Commissar Yao was seeking out the regiment’s hand-to-hand combat instructor to ask about the phenomenon in the video—Chen Jue’s whole body emitting white steam during his cooldown.
“Coach Zou, you’ve got deep family martial arts roots and excellent fighting skills—could you help me analyze the principle behind this video?” Commissar Yao found a tough-looking male instructor in the cafeteria, skin dark, not particularly tall, but with bulging muscles and a sharp, formidable appearance.
“Let me see.”
The combat coach, who was eating, took the phone with enthusiasm, glanced at the screen, then stared as if he’d seen a ghost. He only regained his composure after a while, saying, “Commissar, where did you get this video? This man’s internal martial arts are nearly supernatural!”
“Internal martial arts?”
“Like Tai Chi or Bajiquan?” Commissar Yao’s interest was piqued.
Coach Zou nodded, “Besides Tai Chi and Bajiquan, there are many kinds of internal martial arts. It’s hard to tell just from a video. But this person can run so fast and so far, only releasing his pores to vent steam afterwards. Clearly, his boxing skills are extraordinary—his stamina is phenomenal.”
“We practice military combat, which blends many civilian martial arts into an external style—focused on quick, powerful techniques. For health and longevity, we can’t match these internal martial arts experts.”
“How would this person’s skills compare to yours?” Commissar Yao didn’t understand the terminology, but knew anyone who impressed Coach Zou must be remarkable.
“Well… You’d have to fight to know for sure.”
“Civilian practitioners often lack real combat experience and don’t have that killer instinct—even with great stamina, if he can’t fight in the ring, it’s useless.”
“But to have trained internal martial arts to such a level at such a young age, he must be an exceptional expert.” Coach Zou watched the video several times, hesitated, then replied without committing himself fully.
“What about inviting this expert for an exchange?”

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“Isn’t the whole regiment training next week? I plan to have the commander organize a regiment-wide martial arts exchange competition, and invite some top Taekwondo, Sanda, and Wushu experts from Wen City to boost the soldiers’ enthusiasm.” Commissar Yao’s eyes narrowed, clearly pleased with this idea.
“A martial arts exchange? Then I’d better start preparing! If I lose to one of these civilian practitioners, I’ll never live it down as the instructor.” Coach Zou’s eyes shone with resolve as he quickly finished his meal and planned to head back to train—clearly he was interested as well.
…
The scene shifted. After dinner and a brief rest, Chen Jue simmered a pot of tonic soup at the stove, then left for the reservoir to continue his training once the heat was lowered.
He was close to upgrading his Eight Immortals Stance again, and with a good stock of free attribute points, he planned to push through tonight and raise the stance’s level by one!
Now that he knew his physical attributes rivaled world-class athletes, Chen Jue had no worries—he strapped on all twenty pounds of sandbags he’d bought.
He had originally intended to train moderately, gradually increasing the load.
But the stats panel was so monstrous—it had boosted his physical abilities to an absurd level!
With twenty pounds of sandbags attached, after a few jumps and runs he fully adapted, feeling not the least bit heavy—if anything, a bit light.
Glancing at the brightly lit mountain path under the streetlamps, Chen Jue drew a deep breath and dashed up the mountain at lightning speed, not holding back his stamina at all.
The mountain trail, normally taking over ten minutes for more than a kilometer, took barely five minutes this time to reach the dam!
And most impressively, he was carrying twenty pounds of sandbags—inhuman!
He glanced at the campsite, noticing that the Zhou family who had camped there in the morning were now gone—they must have played enough and left.
After all, Chen Village Reservoir wasn’t a famous scenic spot—a single day and night was plenty to enjoy it fully.
“Why bother thinking about outsiders?”
“Focus on training!”
“Boosting my stats is the real priority!”