High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

Xu Wuyi put away his spear, stood up, and walked into the house.

A few snacks and a pot of freshly brewed tea sat on the living room coffee table. Mrs. Xu was on the sofa, a half-knitted sweater in her hands.

”Come, have some tea to warm up,” Mrs. Xu said, pouring him a cup. ”It’s cold outside. Don’t catch a chill.”

Xu Wuyi took the teacup and sat down beside his mother.

It was a local mountain tea from Red River. The taste was slightly bitter, but it left a strong, sweet aftertaste. He sipped it slowly, watching the sweater in his mother’s hands.

It was dark gray, a simple design.

”Knitting that for Dad?” he asked.

”Mhm.” Mrs. Xu smiled. ”Your dad’s been wearing that old sweater for years now; the cuffs are completely frayed. I have the free time, so I figured I’d knit him a new one.”

In truth, the family hadn’t been short on money for a long time, but Mrs. Xu still couldn’t sit still.

The needles wove back and forth between her fingers, making a soft, swishing sound.

Watching his mother’s focused profile, Xu Wuyi suddenly recalled his childhood. Money was tight back then, and his mother had knitted all of his sweaters, one stitch at a time.

He’d worn those sweaters to school in the winter. They were unfashionable, but incredibly warm.

Later, he went to Star Martial and wore the school-issued training uniforms. After that, it was military combat uniforms.

’It’s been a long time since I’ve worn anything Mom knitted.’

”Mom, could you knit one for me, too?” Xu Wuyi said suddenly.

Mrs. Xu’s hands paused. She looked up at him, a flicker of pleasant surprise in her eyes. ”You’d wear it?”

”Mhm.” Xu Wuyi nodded with a smile. ”I’d wear it at home. It’s comfortable.”

”Okay, okay.” Mrs. Xu nodded again and again, her smile deepening. ”I’ll go buy the yarn tomorrow, then. What color do you like?”

”Dark blue would be nice.”

”Dark blue is a good choice. It doesn’t show dirt easily.” Mrs. Xu put down the sweater, stood, and pulled a measuring tape from a cabinet. ”Come, let Mom get your measurements. You’ve gotten so much bigger than before; it’ll have to be larger...”

Xu Wuyi obliged, standing up and spreading his arms.

His mother’s hands were a little rough, but her touch was gentle. The tape measure wound around his shoulders, chest, and arms, each contact bringing a familiar warmth.

”There.” Mrs. Xu jotted down the measurements, sat back on the sofa, and picked up the half-finished sweater again, but the smile never faded from her face.

Xu Wuyi smiled, too.

’This simple, everyday warmth is more comforting than any medal of honor.’

...

For the next several days, Xu Wuyi continued this peaceful, routine life.

He spent his days in Cultivation and his evenings with his parents.

The Lin Family’s affairs had completely faded from his mind. Occasionally, he’d see news reports about the Lin Group’s continually falling stock price and its assets being seized, but he’d only glance at them before scrolling past.

He no longer cared what fate awaited the Lin Family. His focus now was on refining his Heart Image.

In his sea of consciousness, the Dark Gold Mountain Body remained majestic. At its peak, the Golden Crow Illusion stretched its wings each day, the Flame runes on its feathers growing ever more corporeal.

Around the mountain, the ”lines” representing the Gravity Rules were no longer chaotic. Instead, they were gradually wrapping themselves in an orderly fashion around the mountain’s surface, intertwining with the Flame.

Xu Wuyi could feel his Heart Image undergoing a subtle change.

It wasn’t an increase in power, but a structural adjustment.

It was like a building where the main frame was already complete. The task now wasn’t to build it higher, but to optimize the internal structure so that every ounce of power could be utilized to its absolute limit.

...

「Late January, five days before New Year’s Eve.」

That afternoon, Xu Wuyi was in the backyard practicing his spear as usual.

He wasn’t using any Martial Arts Techniques, only the most basic thrusts, parries, sweeps, and chops. His movements were slow, each one carrying a unique rhythm, causing the Gravity Field around the spear’s shaft to ripple in response.

On his three-hundredth repetition, he suddenly stopped.

He wasn’t tired. Rather, he had a premonition—a sense that something was falling perfectly into place, that a change was underway.

In his sea of consciousness, the Dark Gold Mountain Body trembled slightly.

It wasn’t the familiar rotation, but a kind of... melting.

The rock on the mountain’s surface began to soften, slowly flowing downward like wax scorched by intense heat.

The Golden Crow Illusion let out a clear, sonorous cry. It spread its wings, and a torrent of dark gold Flame poured down, merging with the melting rock.

Xu Wuyi immediately sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and turned his focus inward for Introspection.

The transformation of his Heart Image was still ongoing.

The mountain body dissolved completely, becoming a viscous, dark gold liquid that mixed with the Golden Crow’s Flame. The Flame was no longer pure crimson but was now tinged with a dark gold luster, and faint fluctuations of Gravity could be felt within it.

The Earth that had once supported the mountain also began to change.

The soil softened, transforming into murky water. But this was no ordinary water—every drop was incomparably heavy, as if it bore the weight of the entire mountain.

’Water of Gravity.’

Understanding dawned on Xu Wuyi.

His previous understanding of the Gravity Rules had been too complex. He’d wanted to simultaneously master multiple aspects—”heaviness,” ”pull,” ”direction,” ”force field,” and more—but had only ever scratched the surface of each.

Now, he had discarded all those branching concepts, leaving only the single, core principle: Heaviness.

As heavy as a mountain, as heavy as the Earth, as heavy as a star.

All of his epiphanies, all of his understanding, were condensed into this single concept.

And so, his Heart Image transformed in response.

The mountain dissolved because ”Heaviness” no longer needed a physical form to be expressed.

The Golden Crow turned dark gold because the Heart Fire had absorbed the concept of Gravity.

The Earth became a great swamp because the essence of ”Heaviness” is to sink, to condense, to return to the earth.

In his sea of consciousness, a vast, dark gold swamp slowly spread out.

The swamp’s surface was placid and still, each drop of ”water” so heavy it could crush the ground beneath. Above the swamp’s center hovered the dark gold Golden Crow Illusion. Its wings were lowered, and the Flame runes on its feathers flickered with a subdued light.

The Trinity structure was gone.

In its place was a symbiosis between the Golden Crow and the great swamp.

The Golden Crow represented Heart Fire, standing for incineration and purification. The great swamp represented Gravity, standing for heaviness and acceptance. The two were intertwined, each containing the other.

’When the Golden Crow and the great swamp finally merge into one, perhaps that will be the moment I step into the Grandmaster Realm.’

Xu Wuyi opened his eyes, this sudden enlightenment filling his mind.

’That will be true Heart Image Perfection. Still, this is already tremendous progress.’

The backyard was still the same backyard. The old locust tree swayed gently in the winter wind, and the sound of children laughing drifted from a distant street.

But the world he saw was no longer the same.

He could ”see” the lines of Gravity in the air, ”feel” the Earth’s gravitational field, and even ”touch” the formless, intangible, yet very real ”weights” that existed all around him.

He lifted his hand, his will stirring.

The air three inches above his palm suddenly grew viscous, as if an invisible body of water were condensing there. It wasn’t an increase in Gravity; rather, the very ”concept of weight” in that area had been manifested.

It was like projecting a single drop of water from the great swamp into reality.

After three seconds, Xu Wuyi withdrew the Power of his Heart Image.

The air returned to normal.

But he knew his Heart Image had just undergone a qualitative leap.