Refining muscles and cleansing marrow, shedding the old and embracing the new.

On internet forums, enthusiasts often repeat the saying, “Ten years of Tai Chi and you still won’t leave the house; half a year of Eight Extremes and you’ll kill a man,” meaning that Tai Chi is easy to learn but hard to master—without ten years, you can’t even think about sparring with others.

But Chen Jue felt as though he was practicing some sort of fake Tai Chi!

It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, and both his Tai Chi and the Thirteen Wudang Stances had already advanced another level to Lv2. The speed of his progress was so startling even to himself.

“Even if I’ve got some kind of buff, this is way too damn fast!”

“Could I be doing something wrong?” Chen Jue was genuinely unsettled by his bizarre rate of improvement.

What he didn’t realize was that, after mastering the art of hidden force, he was already a bona fide martial arts master in his own right—no matter which internal style he tried, he could grasp the essence with ease.

And Tai Chi, as the mother of all martial arts and suitable for all ages, was naturally even easier for him to master. Combined with the status effect of “Pure Yang Lu Zu, Enlightened and True,” the synergy of both put his progress into overdrive. It was as if he were blessed by the gods!

Of course, the breakthrough triggered a powerful siphoning effect, so Chen Jue had to take two more Shaolin Strength Pills, which slightly increased his strength, agility, and constitution.

Besides that, his morning practice netted him another 0.05 free attribute points.

(The efficiency was so high that even readers following along were shouting, “If the power levels rise too quickly, the story is bound to break! This is such a rare, good novel—take it seriously, or we’ll drag you off to the palace if you mess it up!” Only the author, hiding behind his glasses, pushed them up his nose and snickered, “The wise man has his own plans…” Until fellow city readers caught him and hauled him off to the streetlamp for a round of Arubas: “You cheeky four-eyes! Stop padding the word count with meta jokes! It’s still the free period, so we’ll let you off this time—now get back to updating the story!”)

…

Seeing that it was time for lunch, Chen Jue felt a chill down his back (as if countless eyes were watching him through their phones) and thought, “Am I hallucinating from over-practicing?” He hurried to the kitchen, rummaged through the fridge, and made a few hot dishes.

Eating while watching Tai Chi instructional videos, besides the newly learned Thirteen Wudang Forms from the morning, Chen Jue took it upon himself to broaden his horizons, watching demonstrations of every known Tai Chi style: large frame, small frame, old frame.

After a nap in the afternoon, he found his Tai Chi and Thirteen Stance practice had become even more versatile and fluid.

Even his proficiency was increasing a third faster than in the morning!

This was the result of being well-read and able to draw analogies—after studying the various branches of Tai Chi, returning to the mother style made it all the more intuitive.

By four in the afternoon, the proficiency for Tai Chi and the Thirteen Stances had reached [Lv2 (323/500)].

If Chen Jue hadn’t planned to hit the weights for an hour, he might have pushed both skills up another level before dinner!

“Is it really alright to progress this fast?” Chen Jue questioned himself for the second time.

Regrettably, with no expert instructor to consult, and feeling no discomfort, Chen Jue forcibly dismissed the thought.

However, he planned to hit the reservoir again that evening, practicing underwater to use the currents to test his Tai Chi stances’ foundation.

…

Afternoon practice and weightlifting netted Chen Jue another 4 small attribute points, bringing his total free points to 0.50.

Glancing at the skill panel, with several skills not yet maxed out, he decided to set Tai Chi aside for now.

Since both skills were currently improving rapidly, there was no need to waste free points on them—he could just follow his routine and soon level up again.

“Should I upgrade the Twelve Forms of Muscle and Tendon Change or the Shaolin Iron Body first?” Chen Jue hesitated for a long time, unable to decide, so he resorted to a simple method.

What was the simple method?

Just queue them up!

“The Twelve Forms of Muscle and Tendon Change greatly boosts constitution and delays fatigue during training, so I’ll upgrade it first. Iron Body is for fighting, and I haven’t had any matches lately—so it can wait.” With priorities set, Chen Jue maxed out the proficiency for the Twelve Forms in one go.

[Twelve Forms of Muscle and Tendon Change (Perfected)]: Gained the status ‘Tempering Muscles and Bones, Invigorating Blood and Dissolving Stasis.’

[Tempering Muscles and Bones, Invigorating Blood and Dissolving Stasis]: Continuously improves tendons, strengthens bones, activates the blood, and relieves fatigue and bruising.

“It actually maxed out immediately?”

“But this is the legendary Shaolin art!” Chen Jue sighed inwardly, a bit disappointed.

He’d expected such a difficult art to have more than three levels, but, like the other skills, it maxed out as soon as proficiency was full.

Yet as soon as he reached perfection, Chen Jue sensed something was off!

His blood surged, skin flushed red and purple like ripe cherries, and a wave of emptiness far stronger than any before crashed over him.

Startled, Chen Jue hurriedly broke open another Strength Pill, washing it down with a cup of rice wine.

But one pill was nowhere near enough!

Within minutes, even the dregs were absorbed completely!

“Why is this siphoning effect so strong?” Chen Jue felt hot all over; his bones tingled and numbed, reminiscent of breaking his leg as a child and feeling it knit itself back together.

It was as if something was crawling inside his bones!

The sensation was impossible to describe—itchy, tingling, and overwhelmingly comfortable.

Meanwhile, all his major tendons were growing rapidly, thickening and widening, their resilience soaring.

As the sense of emptiness returned, Chen Jue broke open another Strength Pill and swallowed it.

Circling through a dozen more, he finished off the rest of his supply before the siphoning from perfecting the Muscle and Tendon Change finally ceased.

Rising from the final closing posture, Chen Jue ran to the bathroom. In the mirror, his complexion was far rosier than before!

His hair was thick, his eyes bright, and he seemed to have grown several centimeters taller without realizing it.

With lips red as coral, teeth white as jade, and skin as smooth as a baby’s, even women would glance twice in envy.

“Wait… why do I have eight more teeth?” Chen Jue opened his mouth in front of the mirror: his tongue was healthy and red, his teeth neat and white.

He remembered having only thirty-two teeth. Now, after perfecting the Muscle and Tendon Change, eight new, small, pearly teeth had sprouted—four on the upper, four on the lower jaw, all at the very back.

Not wisdom teeth, but brand new teeth emerging! Though not fully grown out, their tips were clearly visible!

Even his old teeth seemed to be loosening a bit.

He left the bathroom and measured his height with a tape: 185 cm—seven centimeters taller than before!

“Holy crap!”

“This really is a rebirth!”