High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

The moment the thought formed, the breathing of the Great Marsh suddenly accelerated!

Not in its entirety, but in the small region where he focused his intention.

In an area covering about one percent of the entire Great Marsh, the degree of contraction suddenly intensified!

The dark-gold Heavy Water collapsed inward, rapidly condensing from its originally flat surface into a shrinking sphere.

Ten meters in diameter... five meters... one meter... half a meter...

Finally, it stabilized at the size of a fist.

It was a perfectly round, dark-gold sphere of water. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, and an undercurrent seemed to swirl slowly within it.

It levitated silently in his sea of consciousness, a stark contrast to the vast Great Marsh surrounding it.

But Xu Wuyi could clearly sense that the ”weight” of this fist-sized sphere of water was completely identical to that of the water body that had previously covered one percent of the Great Marsh.

Its density had increased by far more than a hundredfold.

”So this is... fully compressed Heavy Water.”

Xu Wuyi opened his eyes and raised his hand, making a grasping motion in the air.

The Power of his Heart Image circulated, and a dark-gold sphere of water, identical to the one in his sea of consciousness, slowly condensed three inches above his palm.

Physical materialization!

The moment the sphere formed, the air in the Meditation Room suddenly grew heavy.

It wasn’t an increase in Gravity, but the Mental Realm of ”heaviness” carried by the sphere itself, which radiated outward naturally.

The floor let out a faint groan. The ground within a three-meter radius of Xu Wuyi sank slightly, forming a shallow depression.

Xu Wuyi could feel the ”weight” above his palm.

It wasn’t mass in the physical sense, but ”heaviness” on a conceptual level.

It felt like holding a miniature mountain; the solid, contained quality, as if it could collapse space itself, was startling even to him.

With a slight shift of his will, he gently tossed the sphere of water toward the testing post in the corner of the Meditation Room.

It was a specialized piece of testing equipment from Black Stone Academy, designed for instructors and capable of withstanding the conventional attacks of an Innate Martial Artist.

The sphere of water flew out silently, moving in a straight, unhurried trajectory.

But along its flight path, the air distorted visibly, like looking at a landscape through a heat haze.

THUD.

The sphere of water lightly struck the testing post.

There was no explosion, no deafening sound.

The Energy Shield on the testing post’s surface, which was strong enough to withstand a full-power attack from a level 45, popped silently like a soap bubble.

Immediately after, the body of the post, forged from a high-strength alloy, began to collapse inward and deform from the point of contact.

It wasn’t pierced through; it was crushed.

It was as if an invisible giant hand had seized the testing post and squeezed. The alloy let out a cringe-inducing groan as it was instantly compressed into an irregular lump of metal, deeply embedded in the wall behind it.

Throughout the process, the dark-gold sphere of water quietly dissipated, dissolving into motes of light that returned to Xu Wuyi’s sea of consciousness.

Xu Wuyi stared at the lump of metal embedded in the wall, silent for several seconds.

’The power... is far beyond what I expected.’

’And this was just my first attempt, compressing only one percent of the Great Marsh’s Heavy Water. If I could fully compress all the Heavy Water from the entire marsh and concentrate it into a single attack...’

’How terrifying would its destructive power be?’

’This is already the prototype of a new martial art.’

Xu Wuyi was certain.

Just as his *Golden Crow Burning Heart·Raging Fire* had evolved from the Traits of his Heart Fire...

...this current application of ”Heavy Water Breathing and full compression” could likewise be solidified into a complete Martial Arts System.

’If I can get the Star Realm Research Institute to help again, to optimize the framework and solidify the pathways, and then use the *Martial Arts Diligence Record*’s ”Enlightenment” function to accelerate my Cultivation...’

’I have to go to the institute again.’

Xu Wuyi made his decision.

But before that, he needed to completely stabilize this newly comprehended Realm.

...

For the next two days, Xu Wuyi remained in seclusion.

He politely declined all requests for visits and gave only brief replies to calls from Chen Zhang and Fang Fu, explaining that he was in seclusion to consolidate his gains.

Inside the Meditation Room, he repeatedly practiced ”Heavy Water Breathing” and ”full compression.”

From one percent of the Great Marsh, to five percent, and then to ten... each attempt was a test of his control over his Heart Image.

The higher the compression ratio, the more the difficulty increased exponentially.

At one percent, he could still handle it with ease.

At five percent, he could already feel a significant strain on his Heart and Spirit, and the compression process became sluggish.

At ten percent... he tried three times and succeeded only once. Moreover, the sphere was extremely unstable after forming, collapsing on its own in less than three seconds.

’My limit is probably around eight percent,’ Xu Wuyi assessed. ’Going any higher would require more refined control, or for the Heart Image itself to be strengthened further.’

Even so, the power at eight percent was already astonishing.

He ran another test, compressing eight percent of the Great Marsh’s Heavy Water into a fist-sized sphere and striking a second testing post with it.

This time, the testing post, along with the half-meter-thick reinforced wall behind it, was crushed into a pile of rubble.

”I’ll call it ’Heavy Water Sphere’,” Xu Wuyi said, naming his newly comprehended ability.

Although it was just a prototype, it already had a complete internal logic for generating power:

Use the rhythm of the Heart Image’s breathing to induce the Heavy Water to contract and condense, compressing the wide-ranging Mental Realm of ”heaviness” into an infinitesimally small point to produce a terrifyingly piercing and crushing effect.

On the morning of the third day, Xu Wuyi finished his final meditation.

In his sea of consciousness, the dark-gold Great Marsh breathed steadily. The Golden Crow Illusion bobbed in the heart of the marsh, the Flame on its feathers swaying gently with the marsh’s rhythm. The two had achieved an unprecedented harmony.

He got up, washed himself, and changed into a clean black Martial Arts Uniform.

Then he placed a call to Fang Fu.

”Instructor Fang, sorry to bother you,” Xu Wuyi said. ”I’m preparing to leave the Northern Lands today and wanted to bid you farewell.”

On the screen, Fang Fu appeared to be preparing for a class, a desk piled high with books visible behind her.

She looked up at his words, unsurprised. ”Made some progress?”

”I’ve made some small gains,” Xu Wuyi nodded. ”And I have to thank you for your guidance over the past few days, Instructor Fang.”

”The accomplishment is your own,” Fang Fu said calmly. ”My master will return in about half a month. I’ll notify you then. If you still wish to speak with him, you’re welcome to return.”

”I certainly will,” Xu Wuyi said earnestly. ”Your ’Static Water’ path has been of great benefit to me, Instructor Fang. If I have more questions in the future, I may trouble you again.”

”You’re welcome anytime.” A rare, faint smile touched Fang Fu’s lips. ”The path of Martial Arts is long. We can only go further by corroborating our insights with one another.”

The call ended.

Xu Wuyi then contacted Chen Zhang to inform him of his departure.

Chen Zhang soon arrived at his residence. Upon learning that Xu Wuyi was heading to the Star Realm Research Institute, he immediately offered to arrange a private transport.

”Martial Artist Xu, although your time in the Northern Lands was brief, you guided many Martial Artists and left behind many inspiring stories,” Chen Zhang said with emotion.

”Senior Yan Song sent a message yesterday. He said he had a breakthrough in his seclusion—his saber domain has gained a wisp of ’frigid life force,’ and his bottleneck has mostly been broken. It’s all thanks to you.”