I'll write a manual called the Sunflower Manual, and the entire martial arts world will turn in

Seven days later.

early morning.

As the morning sun rose over the rows of houses in Wuqiao Town, it shone on the Jingsi Garden of Yongsheng Martial Arts School.

In the meditation room, Xie An, who had been taking medicinal baths for two days, opened his eyes.

The medicinal water in the bathtub had cooled completely, and a thick layer of frost covered the roof tiles outside the window. Xie An, however, did not feel cold at all; on the contrary, he felt extremely hot.

His muscles bulged out, revealing the contours of his body.

With a slight exertion of force, the muscles in his arms bulge out like gnarled steel bars, gathering a powerful force as fierce as a tiger or leopard.

With a slight twist of the waist, the muscles and tendons throughout the body snap and spring, power flowing through the limbs and bones in a continuous stream.

"So this is the power of training the tendons... It's truly incomparable to training the skin."

After two days of medicinal baths, I finally broke through the muscle-strengthening barrier.

Training the skin joints only makes the skin tough and resilient, less prone to wear and scratches. Training the tendon joints, however, is the level at which strength and skill are truly increased.

Ordinary people can heal minor injuries with a simple bandage. However, if a tendon or ligament is injured, it can take more than a month to recover. The saying "a hundred days to recover from a broken tendon or bone" illustrates the importance of tendons and bones to the human body.

"From now on, I will also be a martial artist of the Copper Tendon Realm."

Xie An got up, dressed, and looked at himself in the bronze mirror beside him.

Not only did he become stronger, but he also grew a little taller.

Previously, he was about 1.8 meters tall, but now he is about 1.83 meters tall.

He opened the panel and checked the basic values.

【Strength: 4.5】

【Spirit: 2.85】

【Speed: 2】

Xie An knew very well that this number was already quite exaggerated. Although he had only just broken through to the Copper Tendon Realm, he could kill a martial artist at the Great Perfection of the Copper Tendon Realm with just three or five punches.

Having practiced martial arts for so long, I'm confident in my abilities.

Xie An stretched his limbs briefly, performing the Hammer Support and Dragon Subduing Stances respectively.

Compared to the previous awkwardness, there is now a natural and seamless feel to it. Various postures and power techniques are no longer conscious; they have become instinctive muscle memory, and waving the hand is a standard posture.

Xie An then picked up a Tang sword from the side and casually brandished it twice.

Now that the Crouching Tiger stance has been mastered, he has begun to practice the second stance, the Sinking Pressure stance.

【Red Sun Blade Technique (Tiger Subduing Stance Perfected), Tiger Subduing Stance: 8/100】

A short while later, Xie An concluded his mission.

"With my current combat strength, it should be difficult to find an opponent within the Copper Tendon Realm. I just don't know if I can put up a fight against a martial artist in the Iron Bone Realm of the Third Pass."

"But strangely, most of the heat flow in the first level of the Sunflower Manual has still not been unlocked..."

"Alright, alright. Let's first see how many doses of Tiger Tendon Essence Soup were used to break through this barrier."

Xie An looked at the table beside him.

It was discovered that the mulberry bark paper used to wrap the Tiger Tendon Soup on the table had been taken away.

Ok?

Xie An opened the door and walked out of the room, only to see Zhan Ping and Li Shengnan fighting in the courtyard.

Upon seeing Xie An leave, the two immediately stopped.

Li Shengnan looked Xie An up and down. "Congratulations, Junior Brother, you've broken through to the Copper Tendon Realm."

Zhan Ping smiled and said, "Congratulations, Junior Brother Xie An."

Xie An bowed and thanked him, then asked, "Senior Brother Zhanping, where did the mulberry paper on the table go?"

Zhan Ping smiled and said, "A cleaning maid came by just now, and I asked her to take it all away."

"I wonder how many doses of Tiger Tendon Essence Soup I used to break through this barrier?"

"Two sets." Zhan Ping waved his hand calmly.

Two sets?

Xie An naturally did not believe it.

Zhan Ping didn't give Xie An a chance to ask any more questions, and said directly, "If you feel bad about it, add the thirty-six taels you owe me from practicing skinning, that's a total of fifty-two taels. Just leave it for now, and you can pay it back slowly in the future. Come, let me assess your physical foundation."

Zhan Ping stepped forward and examined Xie An's qi and blood, nodding repeatedly: "Your foundation is solid. You're much stronger than Ma Tie and Wu Wei were when they broke through to the Copper Tendon Realm, and you're not inferior to Wei Dian after consuming the Treasure Fish. You haven't learned the third move of Bajiquan, Subduing the Tiger, have you? I'll teach you. Watch carefully."

Zhan Ping didn't give Xie An a chance to interrupt and started practicing right away.

Xie An could only watch patiently.

Zhan Ping stepped forward with his left leg into a lunge stance, and then pressed his palms down sharply, as if a giant god were pressing down on a struggling beast. His entire weight seemed to be pressing down on those two palms, creating a downward gust of wind.

"This is the force used to press a cow down to drink water. If the opponent lunges forward, or if you raise their center of gravity, you use this hand to press them down and 'nail' them to the ground."

"The first three moves of Bajiquan each have their own principles and can be combined with each other. The Supporting Hammer strikes from the front, the Subduing Dragon pries open the gate, and the Crouching Tiger presses down the head. These are the three axes for a hard-hitting and forceful attack. The moves are fixed, but the 'energy flow' is flexible. The 'jump' of the Supporting Hammer, the 'drill' of the Subduing Dragon, and the 'press' of the Crouching Tiger can all be flexibly combined and adapted to the situation."

Remember, Bajiquan emphasizes root-joint power. The feet are the root, the waist and hips are the joints, and the fist is merely the tip. If the tip moves one foot, the root joints must move ten feet. When you feel the ground pushing you forward when you throw a punch, rather than your arm pulling you, then you've truly grasped the basics of Bajiquan.

Xie An finally saw something new today. He had seen the martial arts of other martial artists in town... but they were all miles inferior to Bajiquan.

Zhan Ping said, "You've only been practicing martial arts for a short time, so don't be greedy. First, familiarize yourself with the postures of these three moves. Show me your moves. Don't move until I tell you to stop."

Xie An nodded in agreement and patiently began the rehearsal.

……

Around noon, the three of them had lunch at Jingsi Garden.

Xie An then left Jingsi Garden with Li Shengnan.

As Li Shengnan walked, she said, "Junior brother, you are truly blessed. Zhanping treats you so well. I saw Zhanping take away a thick stack of mulberry paper himself."

A thick stack...

That would probably cost at least a hundred taels of silver.

If it weren't for Zhan Ping, my martial arts training would probably have been delayed for a long time.

I owe this person a huge favor.

Soon the two arrived at the martial arts arena of the Central Courtyard.

Since both of them were formal disciples, they naturally did not need to go to the apprentice training ground in the front yard.

Compared to the training ground in the front yard, the training ground in the middle yard had far fewer people.

Only about ten disciples were practicing.

This included Wei Dian, Ma Tie, and Wu Wei, who were acquainted with Xie An.

These three started training their skin around the same time as Xie An. Now, with the blessing of the precious fish, Wei Dian was the first to start training his tendons. Wu Wei and Ma Tie, each with the support of Mai Qiuyan and Liu Jiang respectively, also started training their tendons a few days ago.

Li Shengnan pointed to the young man in the center of the field who was teaching everyone martial arts, "See that young man? His name is Shen Lie, and he's already a Ming Jin martial artist. A year ago, he was taken in as a personal disciple by the master. His father, Shen Guhong, is the county magistrate of Baiyun County."

Xie An sized up the young man named Shen Lie. He was over 1.8 meters tall, with a dignified bearing and a refined air.

"The son of the county magistrate of Baiyun County has also come to our town to learn martial arts?"

Li Shengnan said, "Our master is a master of the Dark Force, and he's only in his early forties. There are only a handful of Dark Force martial artists in the entire Baiyun County, and our master is the youngest among them. He has the potential to break through to the Transformation Force in the future. Transformation Force masters, if they accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty, can directly take the special imperial examination and be granted the title of Martial Scholar. If they perform well, they can even become Martial Arts Graduates. There are only about ten Transformation Force masters in the entire Huanglei City."

The five basic stages: Ming Jin (manifest strength), An Jin (hidden strength), Hua Jin (neutralizing strength)...

Xie An secretly kept these things in mind.

Reaching the level of "Transformation of Internal Strength" (化劲) allows one to directly participate in the imperial examinations and be awarded the title of "Martial Arts Scholar" (武秀才). This means exemption from taxes and the ability to refuse to bow to officials—truly a matter of bringing glory to one's ancestors.

Li Shengnan patted Xie An on the shoulder, "The path of a martial artist is still long. The five basic levels are nothing. Only when you step into Ming Jin can you be considered to have truly embarked on the path of a martial artist. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to cultivate Ming Jin. Among ten martial artists who have reached the Great Perfection of the Blood Flow Realm, it would be good if one of them broke through to Ming Jin."

Xie An said, "Thank you for your explanation, Senior Sister."

Li Shengnan said, "I won't say anymore. You should go back early. Our river management office has a very important task tomorrow morning. It's the annual River God Festival."

This was the first time Xie An had ever heard of such a thing: "River God Festival?"

Li Shengnan said, "It was the Dragon King Gang who led the gentry and elders of Wuqiao Town to the banks of the Huai River to worship the Dragon King."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: Thank you to Xiao Liu for the donation and monthly pass! There will be an extra chapter tonight. Tuesday's reading time is extremely important, it's a matter of life and death for this book, so please, all you readers, don't let the book sit idle!