Era of Mist

Chapter 244 -243: Martial Arts Inheritance: Hard Qi Technique

After a sharp “Attention!”, the man fell silent, staring intently at Shi Tiexin. His gaze was like a lion’s, heavy and oppressive. It felt as though the slightest imperfection in Shi Tiexin’s posture would unleash his thunderous wrath.

Shi Tiexin, in turn, stood his ground, unmoving at attention. He obeyed the command subconsciously, snapping into the most textbook-perfect stance as if by instinct.

Head straight, neck erect—Shi Tiexin was all too familiar with this routine, a habit forged during his time as a security guard. Back then, a single shift on the guard platform lasted eight hours, so holding a standard posture for an extended period was no challenge at all.

Except…

‘It’s so hot.’

The scorching sun beat down on the sand and gravel. His knowledge of physics and natural science told him that sand has a very low specific heat capacity—a fact that now proved to be unerringly accurate. The sand was so hot that, even through his rubber-soled shoes, the heat became unbearable after standing for a long time.

Beads of sweat formed, dripped into the sand, and instantly evaporated.

So hot.

It was really so hot.

‘Come to think of it, why am I listening to his command? Why am I just standing here like an idiot?’

Doubt flickered in his mind, but he suppressed it. Shi Tiexin looked at the man across from him, who remained perfectly still, his posture flawless.

‘Fine, if we’re in this together, then I’m seeing this through to the end! I’ll stand for as long as you do. And you, old timer, you’ll have to stand for as long as I do! Let’s see who breaks first!’

The sun hung high in the sky.

Heat.

Heat.

Heat.

And it was mind-numbingly dull.

Maintaining the strict, standard posture was exhausting. Shi Tiexin felt that his stamina wasn’t what it usually was, and his physical conditioning felt poor. Like a tender, untempered sprout in a harsh environment, his energy drained rapidly.

But mentally, this bit of hardship was nothing.

As long as he didn’t let it get to him mentally, the physical strain would seem less severe.

‘You stare at me, I’ll stare right back. You look for my flaws, I’ll look for yours.’ They were locked in a staring contest, standing motionless under the blazing sun for a long time.

He stood there so long his mind started to wander, thinking that standing barefoot here for a while would surely cure any case of athlete’s foot.

He stood there until it finally dawned on him, and he began to feel like an idiot. ‘This place, like that dream classroom from before, isn’t real.’

‘Perhaps it was a memory, or perhaps a fabrication of his consciousness. In any case, the man before him wasn’t real. Just like the math and literature teachers from before, he wasn’t a real person, but a phantom here to grant him some kind of boon.’

‘Why am I getting so worked up over a phantom?’

‘Besides, is this boon just a lesson on how to stand at attention?’

‘That would be completely meaningless.’

Despite these thoughts, Shi Tiexin held his ground. A strange emotion welled up inside him; he didn’t want to give up. He didn’t want this man to look down on him.

After an unknown amount of time, his stamina hit rock bottom, only for him to break through his limits with sheer willpower.

After another unknown stretch of time, he hit bottom again, and again he broke through.

And after yet another eternity, he hit bottom once more.

This time, even Shi Tiexin’s will was on the verge of collapsing. After all, willpower wasn’t omnipotent.

But just then, the man across from him finally spoke. “At ease.”

Instantly, Shi Tiexin felt his completely depleted stamina miraculously replenish. The sun no longer seemed so vicious, and the overall comfort of the environment went up a notch.

Perhaps because Shi Tiexin’s performance had been acceptable, the man’s expression softened for a moment before turning stern again. “Today, I will teach you a true fundamental skill. If you want to join the Third Battlefront, this is a foundational technique you must master. Watch closely!”

The man walked over to a tall poplar tree. It was lush and vibrant, with no signs of disease or decay—clearly a healthy tree. He stood before it, sank into a low stance, and gathered his energy, focusing his strength. His five fingers curled like iron hooks.

Suddenly, the man took a sharp breath, and his hand shot out like an iron claw, fast as lightning.

With a sound like tearing fabric, RRRIIP, a huge gash appeared on the living poplar tree. In the man’s hand was a large piece of fresh bark he had torn off with nothing but his five fingers!

Shi Tiexin was stunned. The man showed no signs of cultivating essence energy, yet this feat of tearing bark from a living tree was incredible. Poplar bark was tough and fibrous; an ordinary person might not be able to rip off a piece like that even with real iron hooks, let alone do it barehanded with such a clean, instantaneous tear.

Shi Tiexin knew he couldn’t perform such a feat.

Even in his strongest timeline, where he was approaching the Primordial Pill Realm, he still couldn’t do it. It had nothing to do with breaking limits; he simply had never trained in this type of technique.

The man tossed the bark aside. “Want to learn?”

“I do.”

“Wanting to is useless. Your muscles and bones aren’t strong enough, and your skin isn’t tough enough,” the man bellowed. “Those who aim too high are useless! Only those with their feet planted firmly on the ground have any worth. The technique I’m teaching you today is called the Hard Qi Technique! It is the most basic of all foundations, but it is also the most practical skill. Listen to the incantation, get into your stance, and start training!”

Without giving him any time to adapt or much room to understand, the man immediately began teaching by demonstration. He made Shi Tiexin suffer greatly through this physical instruction before finally offering any verbal explanations.

“If you want to learn to fight, you must first learn to take a punch! If you can’t even do that right, one hit will knock you out, and you’ll be stuck in bed for half a month. You won’t make a damn bit of progress with your fighting skills no matter how much you train!”

THWACK, THWACK, THWACK! The man struck Shi Tiexin with a small wooden stick, forcing him to perfect his stance.

“The better you are at taking a hit, the more confident you’ll be. With that confidence, your mind won’t descend into chaos or confusion. You’ll be able to observe your enemy, understand your enemy, and defeat your enemy with a clear head!”

THUD, THUD, THUD! Large sandbags hanging from ropes swung in from all directions, striking Shi Tiexin so hard he nearly coughed up blood.

“The Hard Qi Technique isn’t about turning yourself into a rock. No one can make every inch of their body indestructible. The essence of the Hard Qi Technique is active defense! It means training your weak points until they are no longer weak and your strong points until they are even stronger. Then, you use the most scientific and meticulous methods to protect your relatively weaker areas!”

In the midst of their back-and-forth exchange, every one of the man’s moves was ruthless. Shi Tiexin defended carefully, feeling the man’s unyielding offensive style and the unusual, penetrating force behind his attacks.

“The Hard Qi Technique can be used for both offense and defense. The key is whether you can truly master it. If you haven’t, you can only stand there like a wooden post, gathering your qi and taking a beating. Once you’ve mastered it, you can rip the bark from living trees and be unstoppable in your attacks. Then, when you go on to train in grappling and combat, you’ll pick it up with ease and excel at every turn!”

Time was meaningless in the dream, but Shi Tiexin committed everything the man taught him to memory.

“Alright, that’s all for today. Remember, the Hard Qi Technique isn’t about learning, it’s about practicing. The principles behind it can be explained in a few sentences, but to master it, you must put in bitter, back-breaking effort!” the man bellowed once more. “Dismissed!”

Just like that, the man vanished, true to his decisive, no-nonsense personality, leaving Shi Tiexin without even a chance to thank him.