Chapter 17

"Wow, Auntie Xin..." Li Pu swallowed hard, "So you're a superhero? This is even more amazing than the double force in Rurouni Kenshin that defies the laws of physics!"

The young man felt a bit discouraged, thinking he was already quite strong, but it turned out he wasn't even a minor player in front of a true master.

"This is the effect of penetrating force. In martial arts, it's called hidden force. However, over a decade ago, I had already cultivated hidden force to permeate every inch of my body. I also have some advantages in physical strength."

Chen Xin said gently, "Actually, the higher level of penetrating force doesn't create such a big commotion. A punch can pass through without any visible damage, secretly destroying the entire tree's fibers and cutting off its life. If you look at it the next day, the bark and leaves will all have fallen off. But if I had used that method, you wouldn't have understood it right away, so I used a more direct approach."

Li Pu took a deep breath, looking at Chen Xin with anticipation, "Auntie Xin, can you teach me this?"

"Since you're my adopted son and a close friend of Xiaoxian, I'll naturally teach you after showing you this. Besides, now that you possess a great treasure, you need some skills." Chen Xin patted the young man's cheek and smiled, "But it's too late today. Xiaoxian is all alone at home, so let's go back first."

On the way home, Chen Xin casually told Li Pu some "common knowledge" he wanted to know.

"Jin is an ancient unit of weight, one jin is about thirty pounds," Chen Xin said, "Your punching power is close to twenty jin, which is about five or six hundred pounds. For your age, that's quite rare."

"Rare? So there are people stronger than me at this age?"

"Of course, you don't think you're the strongest fourteen-year-old, do you? Oh, I remember your birthday is on July 15th, so strictly speaking, you're still thirteen."

Chen Xin tilted her head slightly, her eyes returning to their usual lazy look, even though her words were teasing, they were still gentle, "Your physical abilities are good, but you're still at the manifest force stage. Even with the help of advanced technology to enhance you, you're only about three times stronger than an average adult. Before you found this alien treasure, your innate true energy was only in the top one percent, just a bit higher than ordinary people. If you had nearly twice the innate true energy, you would probably be more than six times stronger than an average person by now."

Li Pu frowned, "Uh, what is innate true energy? Only two or three times higher? That sounds a bit disappointing."

"Innate true energy refers to natural talent in ancient martial arts, which is similar to what modern people call athletic nerves and genetic constitution. Some people are naturally weak, with only a fraction of the physical abilities of an average person, which means their innate true energy is low. On the other hand, those with outstanding innate true energy, even without rigorous training, are much stronger than ordinary people. With training, they naturally achieve twice the results with half the effort."

Chen Xin paused for a moment, as if choosing her words carefully, "For example, my teacher once said my innate true energy is twice that of an average person, which is a rare talent. But my teacher's other three disciples had even more outstanding innate true energy. The best of them had more than four times the physical constitution of an average person. The second-best, a black youth, had more than three times the physical strength of an average person."

"Of course, just having outstanding physical talent isn't enough if you train poorly."

Under the dim streetlights and the cold moonlight, a complex emotion flashed in Chen Xin's eyes. "Two of those three had already mastered penetrating force by the age of fifteen, and they reached the stage of complete penetration by the ages of eighteen and nineteen. The slightly less talented black youth also understood hidden force by the age of twenty-two. But with his gorilla-like innate physique, many masters of complete penetration were no match for him in actual combat."

"So amazing," Li Pu asked curiously, "How do you compare to them, Auntie Xin?"

"Me?" Chen Xin smiled slightly, "My innate true energy is a bit weaker. I understood complete penetration half a year later than the best one, but half a year earlier than the second-best one."

Auntie Xin is quite competitive, Li Pu thought with a smile. He asked curiously, "Is complete penetration the highest level of martial arts?"

"Of course not. While complete penetration can be called a master, even Huang Fei Hong in the movies is only at this level, it's not the pinnacle of martial arts." Chen Xin shook her head gently, "Swallowing a golden pill, one realizes that one's fate is not determined by heaven. Only then can one be called a saint in martial arts. Beyond that, there are even more miraculous skills like indestructibility and breaking through the void. Reaching this level is the initial proof of the great path, and one can be called a true immortal on earth."

"Indestructibility, breaking through the void..." The young man, who had always loved fighting comics and movies, couldn't help but be captivated. It seems that the martial arts tradition of Earth isn't completely insignificant. I wonder what kind of evaluation this strongest human martial force would get in the Extraordinary Species Alliance, where superpowers are common?

The two slowly walked home, and the first heart-to-heart chat between the young man and his adoptive mother came to an end. Before going upstairs, Li Pu couldn't help but sigh, "Auntie Xin, you really have a lot of secrets."

"All of that happened a long time ago," Chen Xin was silent for a moment, a gentle smile appearing on her face, "It has nothing to do with me now."

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Regarding manifest force, hidden force, golden pill force, and even indestructibility and breaking through the void. Excerpt from "The Lost Martial Arts" book: Note: [The chapter "Yang Fire and Yin Symbol Form" from "Baguazhang Studies" is as follows:

The principle of Yang Fire and Yin Symbol (i.e., manifest force and hidden force in martial arts) is a two-stage process. One is advancing Yang Fire (manifest force in martial arts), the other is operating Yin Symbol (hidden force in martial arts). Advancing Yang Fire means returning to Yang from Yin, advancing its robust and strong qualities to restore the innate. Operating Yin Symbol means using Yin within Yang, operating its gentle and compliant qualities to nurture the innate.

Advancing Yang Fire must reach the point of pure Yang, the utmost robustness, to complete the Yang Fire work (the ultimate manifest force in martial arts). Operating Yin Symbol must reach the point of pure Yin, the utmost gentleness, to complete the Yin Symbol work (the ultimate hidden force in martial arts). When both Yang Fire and Yin Symbol are fully cultivated, the robust and gentle are balanced, both qualities are complete, Yang contains Yin and Yin contains Yang, Yin and Yang are one, a perfect unity, round and complete (no deficiency in energy), bright and radiant (sufficient spirit and energy), pure and unadulterated (no impurities), free and unrestrained (unconfined energy), the holy embryo is complete, a golden pill hangs in the vast void, still and unmoving, yet responsive to all, responsive to all, yet still and unmoving, always responding and always still.

The innate knowledge and ability are restored to the innate, a golden pill is swallowed, and one realizes that one's fate is not determined by heaven. Further cultivation involves refining the spirit to return to the void, breaking through the void to release the true self, permanently unchanging, what is called a saint and a mysterious being, advancing to the realm of both form and spirit being wondrous, and merging with the true path.

]

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PS Basic Setting Explanation:

The individual martial arts system in this book is graded similarly to "Dragon and Snake Evolution."

However, "Dragon and Snake Evolution" adds a gangjin (rigid force) level for plot needs. This book leans more towards the original classic grading, so the gangjin level is integrated into the upper level of the golden pill force. Some principles may differ—after all, this book leans towards settings like Warhammer, Orion's Arm, Fire Upon the Abyss, Star Wars, WoW, and even Alita: Battle Angel, etc.

In the world of this book, since the universe is filled with advanced technology and various races with psychic and magical systems, Earth naturally has similar psychic abilities, but they are far rarer than those who practice martial arts.

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