Inhale~ Exhale~
The habit of over a decade of stance practice allowed him to quickly adjust his breathing and enter the state.
Coordinating with the breathing method inherent to the stance work, Lin Qi soon felt waves of heat emanate from his waist, surging rapidly through his body.
Strands of Qi and Blood coursed through his body. The muscles, bones, and blood vessels—his entire body—came alive, tempering his muscles like a furnace.
He recalled the key points of the Hunyuan Stance in his mind. His muscles trembled, his chest heaved with his breath, and his whole body grew hot, his skin turning red.
Fatigue, soreness, numbness...
The stuffy air and the discomfort of his body tortured Lin Qi's spirit.
Drip! Drip!~
Sweat dripped like beads from his forehead, soon soaking through his T-shirt.
Persevere, persevere!
Lin Qi gritted his teeth, a creaking sound escaping.
He was now like someone in a long-distance race, holding on entirely by a single breath.
If he gave up now, all his previous efforts would be for nothing.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Lin Qi's consciousness grew blurry, and he held on by willpower alone.
On the panel, the template column had also changed.
[You have undergone an effective training session. Template progress has reached 100%.]
[Template: None (99.9% + 0.1%)]
...
The moment the progress reached 100%!
Boom~
In an instant, Lin Qi's mind went completely blank.
"Ah!!"
His consciousness plunged into a sea of darkness, entering a void of nothingness where only a tattered, golden-yellow banner rested in silence.
But at this very moment, the tattered banner suddenly began to tremble. It burst forth with a magnificent golden light, illuminating the entire space of his consciousness.
Golden patterns flowed across the tattered banner, exuding an endlessly mysterious aura, brewing a power that could destroy all things.
Boom~
The tattered banner trembled again. In a flash, dozens of dazzling golden light clusters were shaken out, circling around the banner.
A moment later, one of the golden light clusters shot out and transformed into a massive scroll painting.
Verdant mountains and magnificent stones, strange forests and bizarre trees.
A cold and stern youth strode forth. His features were like jade, his figure formidable and majestic, like a celestial god.
He was clad in battle armor, wielding a divine weapon, with a divine eye on his forehead. He commanded an eagle and a dog, blocking the path ahead and behind, launching a campaign to search the vast mountains and vanquish demons.
The scroll continued to unfold, the golden light spreading, enshrouded in a mysterious aura: Searching the mountains to vanquish demons, capturing dragons and slaying flood dragons, splitting the mountain to save his mother...
It narrated one legendary tale after another.
An unknown amount of time passed. The cold and stern youth abruptly raised his head, stepped out of the scroll, and his body expanded. Amidst the endless golden light, the divine eye on his forehead shot out a beam of golden light.
Boom!!
Lin Qi's consciousness was instantly struck by the golden light...
[Template: True Lord Erlang · Yang Jian (Fusion Rate 1%)]
"This is..."
Lin Qi came back to his senses and looked at his panel, which had undergone a massive change. In the template column, "None" had turned into "True Lord Erlang."
Following it, the words "Fusion Rate 1%" appeared.
In the next second, a torrential amount of information rushed into his consciousness.
"The higher the fusion rate, the higher the martial arts talent. At 100%, you will completely possess the talent of True Lord Erlang."
Lin Qi sorted through the information, a trace of understanding appearing in his eyes.
At the same time, his heart was shaken. Erlang Shen?!!
Erlang Shen, a figure from mythology, folklore, novels, comics, and film and television productions.
He had countless titles: True Lord Erlang, True Lord of Purity and Wondrous Dao, Lord Emperor of Sichuan, the Hunting God...
Extraordinarily gifted, immensely powerful, boundless magical abilities, an indestructible primordial spirit, and having attained sainthood through his physical body...
He was powerful in every aspect, a hexagonal warrior.
Lin Qi found it difficult to suppress his excitement. This was Erlang Shen, an immortal, the strongest of the third-generation disciples under the Primordial Lord of Heaven in mythology.
Even just 1% of his talent would make him a genius in the eyes of others.
"Ah!!"
Just as he was getting excited, a mysterious energy poured into his body. In an instant, an intense pain exploded from within him.
Crack! Crack!~
The bones in his body fractured in an instant, the pain twisting Lin Qi's entire face.
This was the transformation from the template's talent!!
Lin Qi reacted. The process of talent fusion was also a process of remolding and reshaping his body.
Afraid of worrying his parents, he struggled to pull out his dirty martial arts uniform from his backpack, twisted it into a ball, and bit down on it.
Crack! Crack!!
"Ahhh!!"
Painful, it was too painful!
Bones shattering, muscles tearing, numbness, itching... the pain from stance training was practically a pleasure compared to this.
Genetic optimization. His entire body was being reshaped; his tendons, bones, muscles, and constitution were undergoing a world-shaking metamorphosis.
Lin Qi was like a caterpillar, writhing and struggling on the ground, his sweat mixing with the dust.
He didn't know how long he held on before he lost consciousness.
Three hours later, at eleven-thirty.
Whir! Whir!~
Amidst the stuffy heat and the whirring of the fan, Lin Qi slowly opened his eyes.
The scene from before surfaced in his mind, and he felt a lingering fear. It was too painful, truly worse than death. The Ten Great Tortures were likely nothing more than this.
Hooo~
It was finally over.
As he climbed up from the ground, he looked at his reflection in the mirror on the wardrobe. He was covered in dust, and the sticky sweat made him feel uncomfortable.
Growl~
In the next second, a sound came from his side, and an intense hunger surged into his mind with the speed of a thunderclap.
"Water, food!"
Lin Qi quickly opened a drawer and took out the few remaining red Qi and Blood capsules, swallowing them all. He followed them with pieces of compressed biscuits, which were the snacks he usually used to fill his hunger after training.
He ate them one mouthful at a time, and in a moment, they were all gone.
He opened the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of a beverage, and began to drink it frantically. After downing three bottles, he continued to eat.
Seeing the fruit and leftovers in the refrigerator, he began to wolf them down.
After he finished eating, Lin Qi felt a wave of satisfaction.
But a strange smell suddenly drifted through the air.
Sniff~ Sniff~
"What's that smell? Ugh?"
Lin Qi smelled a foul stench, like filth from a sewer that had been sealed for several years.
And it was emanating from his own body. Looking down at himself, he saw dust, sweat, and streams of a black liquid. It was the waste that his body had metabolized and expelled.
Ten minutes later.
Lin Qi walked out of the bathroom, feeling comfortable all over, and lay down directly on the bed, feeling as if he had been completely reborn.
"I'm alive again!"
Looking at the ceiling, he felt the satisfaction of having eaten and drunk his fill.
Lin Qi felt that his entire body was light, as if it had undergone a complete muscle and marrow cleansing.
Before he could think about it in detail, fatigue and sleepiness washed over him, and he fell into a deep sleep.
...
The next day, September 2nd.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Lin Qi opened his eyes and, as usual, turned off the alarm and sat up in bed.
The first thing he did was look at his panel.
[You have awakened the Erlang Shen · Yang Jian template. The higher the fusion rate, the higher the talent.]
[Having fused with the talent of Erlang Shen, your body has transformed, and your talent and comprehension have been enhanced.]
[Your stomach's digestive ability has been strengthened.]
...
[Name: Lin Qi (17)]
[Class: Martial Artist]
[Template: Erlang Shen · Yang Jian (Fusion Rate: 1%)]
[Qi and Blood Value: 5.3 → 5.4]
[Techniques: Hunyuan Stance (Great Accomplishment), Tiger Form Fist (Minor Accomplishment), Basic Spearman ship (Minor Accomplishment) ]
[Fist Technique: First-Order 80%]
[Spear Technique: First-Order 60%]
[Movement Technique: First-Order 57%]
...
Lin Qi silently looked at the "Erlang Shen" in the template column. Even with his calm heart, he found it difficult to suppress his excitement.
Fusing with Erlang Shen's talent, just 1% of it, had strengthened his physical talent and comprehension.
He stood up and moved his body, feeling an endless supply of energy welling up from within.
Although his Qi and Blood had only increased by 0.1, he felt that it was due to a lack of resources.
If he could consume enough resources like Qi and Blood potions, his Qi and Blood value would increase like crazy.
At the same time, he discovered that his body had become lighter, and the fatigue and soreness were completely gone.
Lin Qi clenched his fist, power transmitting from his waist. The feeling was unprecedentedly good.
The fusion of the talent not only reshaped my body—in novel terms, it's a muscle and marrow cleansing.
"And it also relaxed my muscles. I don't need to go for therapy anymore, which saves a large sum of money."
After muttering to himself for a bit, he went out and entered the bathroom to wash up.
Swish! Swish!~
While brushing his teeth, he looked at himself in the mirror, and Lin Qi was surprised.
"I think I've grown taller!"
Lin Qi was surprised to find that his height and body shape had undergone subtle changes.
His shoulders were broader, and the lines of his muscles had become clearer.
After washing up, he came to the living room and checked against the height marks on the wall.
"One meter seventy-eight!"
He had grown two centimeters. Lin Qi was delighted.
In this era, with sufficient nutrition, the average height of martial artists was ten to twenty centimeters taller than it had been decades ago.
The average height for male martial artists had even broken one meter ninety, pulled up by some martial artists who were over two meters tall.
"Little Qi, you're up. Come eat breakfast."
Fang Huiyi brought out steamed buns and placed them on the table.
"Mom, your body hasn't recovered yet. You need to rest more, you know?"
Lin Qi said as he prepared his black coffee and sat down.
"It's nothing, I know my own body. Don't worry, you eat more."
Fang Huiyi said nonchalantly.
Lin Qi looked at the portion on the table, which was twice the usual amount, and began to feast.
He was truly starving.
A few minutes later, all the buns on the table had been eaten by Lin Qi.
"I'm leaving for school."
"Be careful!"
Fang Huiyi watched Lin Qi leave. Her face grew tired again. She glanced at the bedroom: "Let Ah Zhen sleep a little longer."
Then she turned and went back into the kitchen to prepare Lin Zhen's breakfast.
...
(End of this chapter)