Chapter 10

As Chen Hai stood at the entrance of the classroom, he took a deep breath and firmly held the letter containing the secret that his mother had given him.

In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

In the next moment, Chen Hai recalled the posture of his body at that time, repeatedly trying until two days ago. When Chen Hai crossed another mountain ridge, for a moment, his body stretched out like a long bow, and the essence and energy in his body surged like a boiling spring, instantly pouring into the main meridians of his feet.

At that moment, Chen Hai felt the strength in his body being drawn and poured into his feet. The puppet body in the Blood Cloud Wasteland also maintained the posture of a stretched bow, with a radiant green light emanating from its feet.

In the next moment, Chen Hai felt a buzzing sound in the center of the puppet's forehead, as if a mysterious space had suddenly opened. The posture of Chen Hai's true body, stretched like a bow, instantly transformed into an eternal painting, reflecting into the mysterious space in the puppet's forehead, filled with profound Daoist principles and spiritual essence.

Although this bow-shaped posture quickly faded in the mysterious space in the puppet's forehead, the shock that surged in Chen Hai's heart could not dissipate for a long time.

At that moment, Chen Hai lay on the grass by the mountain path. Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi thought that Young Master Xing had finally lost his temper, but they did not know that Chen Hai's heart was filled with excitement, shock, and confusion!

Fortunately, after Yao Xing was expelled from the Yao clan, a large part of his memory was erased. Despite his depressed will, he still made efforts to cultivate again. Chen Hai sorted through Yao Xing's fragmented memories and found that although there were no profound cultivation techniques, the basic knowledge of cultivation was not lacking.

However, the basic cultivation knowledge derived from Yao Xing's memory did not match the current situation, which was the most confusing part for Chen Hai. But he was not worried. He remembered that Zuo Er had said that with the snake bracelet and the puppet body, he did not need profound martial arts to lay the foundation for his cultivation.

This meant that everything before him was related to the snake bracelet and the puppet body, and the preciousness of the snake bracelet and the puppet body could not be measured by ordinary standards.

As he had expected, the mysterious space in the puppet's forehead was the ancestral aperture sea that only cultivators at the Enlightenment stage could open. It was the abode of the primordial spirit and the bridge for communicating with heaven and earth, directly sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

Unfortunately, Chen Hai's soul and consciousness were too weak to directly sense and mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the Blood Cloud Wasteland through the puppet body. No wonder Zuo Er said that he had to reach the Spirit Opening stage to truly unleash the potential of the puppet body.

But why did the ancestral aperture sea of the puppet body imprint the posture of his body stretched like a bow?

With a slight movement of his mind, the posture of his body stretched like a bow floated out from the ancestral aperture sea of the puppet body, visible to his consciousness...

This should be called "imprinting."

Cultivators at the Enlightenment stage could use their divine consciousness to condense sounds and images in others' minds, but to imprint sounds and images deeply into the subconscious of others required a higher level, even the Dao Pill or Dao Fetus stage...

Chen Hai thought that the puppet body made from the Raksasa ghost corpse retained some of its soul's abilities from its lifetime. But what was special about the posture of his body stretched like a bow that it could be automatically imprinted into the ancestral aperture sea of the puppet body?

The special thing about the posture of his body stretched like a bow was that when he assumed this posture, the essence and energy in his body surged like a boiling spring.

It was said that in martial cultivation, one had to reach a certain level of martial arts to mobilize the essence and energy in the body. Could it be that the so-called "certain level" was simply mastering this specific posture?

Could this be the shortcut to martial cultivation that Zuo Er and Cang Yu mentioned?

With a thought, the image of his body stretched like a bow always floated in the consciousness of the puppet body.

Next, Chen Hai compared this posture and repeatedly tried it on the way. After struggling for half a day, he successfully mobilized and circulated the essence and energy in his body again...

At that moment, Chen Hai was so excited that he wanted to hug and bite Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi. However, Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi thought that Young Master Xing had finally lost his mind.

At this moment, Chen Hai deeply understood why the old man Zuo Er said that with the snake bracelet and the puppet body, the low-level martial arts techniques that Dao Bing disciples could cultivate in Taiwei Sect were more than enough for him to lay the foundation.

Indeed, as long as he mastered this basic posture, he had a direct reference for cultivation, unlike other Dao Bing disciples who, even after hard cultivation of the most profound martial arts techniques, might not truly enter the threshold of martial cultivation.

At this moment, Chen Hai truly recognized the profound and powerful nature of the puppet body in assisting martial cultivation.

That moment, the posture of his body stretched like a bow could be called a martial secret posture.

Yes, it should be called a martial secret posture.

Once Chen Hai's thoughts were clear, everything became clear. He quickly guessed that various martial secret postures were contained in many profound martial arts techniques. Talented disciples who diligently cultivated these techniques and reached a state of perfection could naturally unleash all their potential and use the techniques to defeat enemies.

Zuo Er did not explain this to him beforehand, probably thinking that it would not be difficult for him to understand.

If he could not even figure this out, Zuo Er would probably have even less hope for him.

That old man!

Chen Hai couldn't help but curse in his heart. He soon realized that mastering martial secret postures could mobilize essence and energy to circulate in the meridians, refine muscles and skin, and only when essence and true energy circulated in the meridians could one perform powerful martial arts techniques. However, martial secret postures would not be limited to one type.

Clearly, it was unrealistic for Chen Hai to try to comprehend all the martial secret postures through this method.

He thought that since martial secret postures were contained in profound martial arts techniques, as a Dao Bing disciple of Taiwei Sect, he would be able to access the most basic martial arts techniques at Iron Stream Ridge. Then, through the puppet body, he could break down and cultivate various martial secret postures, which would be much more efficient than ordinary disciples.

Although Chen Hai's body was pushed to its limits and his feet were severely injured, with the skin and flesh torn, the tearing pain in his head caused by the soul and body's mutual rejection had slightly eased.

This indicated that martial cultivation could indeed promote the integration of the soul and body. Moreover, it further confirmed that mastering martial secret postures was truly the threshold of martial cultivation.

At this moment, Chen Hai could see the hope of survival waving at him, and he was extremely excited. However, he only thought about surviving first and did not dare to have more expectations.

******

Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi originally planned to leave Young Master Xing at the foot of Iron Stream Ridge and not care about his life or death. However, Young Master Xing's endurance and perseverance on the journey made them no longer dare to treat him lightly. After leaving Taiwei Mountain, they hired a carriage and insisted on taking Young Master Xing to the Iron Stream Ridge supervisor's office to complete the handover procedures before leaving.

Iron Stream Ridge, as an outer sect academy of Taiwei Sect, had a supervisor named Zhao Ruhui, whose cultivation had reached the late Enlightenment stage, making him almost as powerful as Chen Lie. However, he was already old, and his cultivation had passed its peak. Unless he encountered a rare opportunity, he would not be able to break through to the Dao Pill stage before his remaining lifespan ran out.

Zhao Ruhui could no longer remain in the inner sect as a true disciple to cultivate diligently. At his age, he had no chance to lead the elite forces of the Wuwei Army and resist the Western invaders, so he was assigned to manage the affairs of Iron Stream Ridge.

Chen Lie, as a young and promising true disciple with the potential to reach the Dao Pill stage, was at the peak of his career in the inner sect of Taiwei Sect, with a very high status. The Chen clan also had significant influence in Taiwei Sect and Hexi Prefecture, but Zhao Ruhui did not need to flatter a mediocre side-line disciple of the Chen clan.

When Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi escorted Young Master Xing to Zhao Ruhui's courtyard to deliver the letter, Zhao Ruhui did not even bother to be polite. He called a young disciple named Zhou Jun to lead Chen Hai and the others away.

Zhou Jun was around twenty-three or twenty-four years old, short and sturdy, lacking the elegance of a Daoist disciple. He wore a purple-green robe and carried a black giant sword on his back, with a sharpness in his eyes that was rare among young disciples.

Chen Hai could not tell how high Zhou Jun's cultivation was, but seeing how the other disciples in the academy respected him, he knew that although Zhou Jun had not yet qualified to enter the inner sect of Qingxi Peak or become an academy official, he still held a significant position in Iron Stream Ridge.

Iron Stream Ridge had over two thousand Dao Bing disciples, but even among them, there were different ranks.

In the past, Yao Xing had been depressed and did not care much about the outer sect academy. However, as Chen Hai observed the academy with Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi, he noticed that most of the Dao Bing disciples wore sky-blue, black, or purple-green robes.

Based on the number of disciples in different robes, Chen Hai could determine that the purple-robed Dao Bing disciples had the highest status, possibly not exceeding one-twentieth of all Dao Bing disciples.

From the discussions of Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi, Chen Hai learned that these purple-robed disciples had at least opened three main meridians, even if they had not yet opened the spirit sea.

These people, even if they had not yet entered the inner sect of the seven peaks, could be considered quasi-inner sect disciples. Their status in Iron Stream Ridge would not be lower than that of ordinary academy officials, and if they were willing to serve in the military, they would have a good starting point.

The next rank was the black-robed Dao Bing disciples, who made up about one-third of the total number and were the backbone of Iron Stream Ridge. They were also the reserve officers of the Wuwei Army and would be assigned to the lowest military ranks after a certain period of cultivation.

These disciples would only have the opportunity to become higher-ranking purple-robed disciples or inner sect disciples of the seven peaks if they achieved military merit in the army or made further breakthroughs in cultivation. Otherwise, the military camp would be their best destination in life.

Or, like Zhao Shan and Qian Wenyi, they could become retainers of a noble family, which was also a good choice.

The remaining majority were the blue-robed Dao Bing disciples, who were new to the academy and had no cultivation foundation. If they could not unblock their first meridian and successfully cultivate true energy within a certain period or before a certain age, they would be expelled from the academy and directly assigned as ordinary soldiers in the Wuwei Army.

Chen Hai had not initially expected that the outer sect of Taiwei Sect, with its many academies, would have so many levels, essentially functioning as a military officer training school. Seeing that Zhou Jun, who was not much older than him, was already a purple-robed disciple with at least three main meridians opened, he secretly felt that Zhou Jun's talent and bone structure must be first-rate.