The Spiritual Pivot of Mortal Cultivation

A mountain breeze swept through, and banners and horns fluttered in the wind.

Shi Jian has already left the game.

The man stood on the bluestone, like a piece of black iron carved from the mountainside, broad-shouldered and thick-backed, exuding a powerful and imposing presence. Even the gray robes covering his body could not conceal his imposing and robust aura. Before he even raised his arms, the muscles and bones in his sleeves were already creaking softly, clearly indicating that he had put in a lot of hard work in both external martial arts and heavy punches.

Such people are the most difficult to deal with.

The weakness of the fast-paced approach lies in its "speed"; the problem with the horizontal approach lies in its "solidity".

With abundant qi and blood, a solid foundation, and muscles as strong as armor, once a boxing stance is established, ordinary methods of parrying and borrowing force will mostly be at a disadvantage. If it were any other outer disciple encountering an opponent like Shi Jian, nine times out of ten they would have no choice but to take the blow head-on, and then it would come down to who has the tougher bones and the stronger will.

But Bai Xuanxin never liked to compare herself with others in this respect.

He stood in the middle of the field, his expression still calm, but he had already figured out the nuances of this situation.

In the last match against Gu Sanhuai, he only showed his footwork.

What shines is the "Luo Yan Step," the skillful maneuvering, the use of momentum, and the exploitation of blind spots. What the instructors were supposed to see, they have seen; what the outer disciples were supposed to remember, they have remembered. If this performance is still just about dodging and weaving, then his standing in everyone's eyes will already have diminished by half.

—This kid has some skill in movement, but I still dare not get close to him.

This impression cannot be retained.

But on the other hand, he must not overextend himself.

At the very least, we can't reveal all our true foundation right now.

So in this match, what he wants to show is not his "cultivation level", but his "technique".

This shows that his inner strength may not be the deepest.

But once you get close, this person is extremely cunning, extremely steady, and extremely difficult to defend against.

Bai Xuanxin lowered his gaze slightly, focusing on Shi Jian's shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees, his eyes as calm as an ancient well.

Traditional Chinese medicine talks about meridians, tendons, acupoints, the rise and fall of qi and blood, and the mechanism of opening and closing of joints throughout the body.

Western medicine anatomy examines bone points, ligaments, and superficial nerves to see where the body's strength originates and ends.

In Bai Xuanxin's eyes, the two were originally the same thing.

No matter how thick your shoulders are, there's always a moment when you raise your fist, with your acromion pressing down and your shoulder socket opening and closing.

Even with a stable elbow, when generating force, the force must always pass through the superficial side of the ulnar nerve.

Even with a heavy wrist, the force of the punch cannot escape the deflection of the pivot point.

No matter how strong your knee is, when you step and put weight on it, there will always be a line of force between the patellar fascia and the external ligament of the knee.

Physical training can protect the skin and flesh, but it cannot protect the "secret mechanism".

You can't fight Shi Jian for his flesh; you have to fight for his bones. You can't fight him for his skin; you have to fight him for the finest "key" in the transition of his energy.

The deacon waved his arm.

"start!"

Shi Jian made the first move.

His movement was completely different from that of fast-moving figures like Gu Sanhuai. It wasn't a pounce or a snatch, but a step-by-step advance. His steps weren't fast, his punches weren't flashy, but rather heavy, steady, and powerful. With the first step, his soles touched the bluestone with a very low thud; the second step followed, his shoulders and back slightly lowered, and his whole body pushed forward like a wall.

Immediately, a punch was thrown.

That punch was perfectly aimed.

No fancy moves, no tricks, no probing. He simply presses straight down from the center, the wind of his fist already pressing in before the fist even arrives. The most terrifying thing about Shi Jian is this—his skill lies not in its unconventionality, but in its "wholeness." His waist, hips, back, shoulders, elbows, and fists are like a thick, heavy iron chain, tightly interlocked, creating a solid wall of fists when pushed out.

Some discerning disciples on the sidelines had already taken a quiet breath.

"This is an attempt to forcefully suppress them."

"Shi Jian isn't even planning to try; he's going to crush Senior Brother Bai's steps directly."

Bai Xuanxin, however, did not back down.

They didn't answer.

With a slight shift of his toes, he seemed to be swept away by the wind, veering half a foot to the side. It wasn't a leap, nor a sudden retreat, but a slant, slipping past the edge of Shi Jian's fist. The angle was perfectly chosen, avoiding the most powerful point of the punch, and even his gray robe was only slightly lifted by the wind from the blow.

Shi Jian's punch missed its mark, but his eyes remained completely unmoved.

The left arm has been extended.

Horizontal seal.

This attack, though slow, was more powerful than the previous punch. If the first punch was a pressure, then this arm was a lock. Bai Xuanxin had just slid half a foot to the side, and normally should have escaped from the right, but Shi Jian neither chased nor pounced, instead using his left arm to completely block that escape route, as if he had known Bai Xuanxin would dodge in this way.

A series of low gasps of surprise suddenly rose from the sidelines.

A slight light shone in Bai Xuanxin's eyes.

it is good.

If Shi Jian were just a barbarian, he would be rather boring.

If there's brains involved in the punches, then this fight was worthwhile.

Bai Xuanxin's originally gliding steps suddenly stopped, his arches rolled slightly, his knees and hips sank, and his body actually cut diagonally into the gap between Shi Jian's right fist and left arm that was about to close.

All of this was extremely dangerous.

They didn't go out from the outside, they went in.

At that moment, many people on the sidelines felt their hearts tighten – Shi Jian's arms were like a door, his fists were powerful and oppressive, and if Bai Xuanxin's thrust had missed by even half an inch, he would have been grazed by that heavy, horizontal punch.

But he just happened to cut in.

Like a wisp of gray shadow, it brushed past the edge of the fist.

In the instant they brushed past each other, Bai Xuanxin raised two fingers of her right hand together, without poking or pointing, but simply scraped very lightly across the outside of Shi Jian's left elbow.

The movements were so light they were almost casual.

However, Shi Jian's left arm, which was blocking the attack, suddenly faltered slightly.

It's not pain, it's numbness.

That spot was right next to the tendon behind the elbow. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it's said to be the side where the Shaoyang and Taiyang meridians of the hand intersect, and it's most dangerous to apply heavy pressure or cut obliquely there. From an anatomical perspective, it's also where the ulnar nerve runs very close to the skin, offering no protection whatsoever. No matter how much physical training Shi Jian has, he couldn't reach such a fine detail. Bai Xuanxin's scrape, seemingly without much force, actually tore open a line in the otherwise smooth and powerful energy path of his left arm.

Shi Jian finally frowned slightly.

Just this brief moment.

Bai Xuanxin had already slid about ten feet away from his fist and arm, and retreated back to his side.

The entire room fell silent.

The instructor in the green robe under the eaves narrowed his eyes and finally sat up straighter.

This isn't simply a matter of dodging.

It's a hand.

It's a very subtle and delicate hand.

Shi Jian's face darkened.

He ignored the source of the tingling sensation, simply lowering his shoulders and taking a half-step forward before unleashing a second punch like a muffled thunderclap. This punch was heavier and more direct than the previous one. Clearly, he was determined to use his own internal energy and physical strength to force Bai Xuanxin to stop getting too close.

Bai Xuanxin still did not accept the offer.

He turned his body slightly, but didn't take a long step, only circling around Shi Jian's right side in a very small arc. That arc was extremely narrow, as narrow as the turning edge of a knife. Just as Shi Jian's fist reached its peak and his old strength was about to dissipate, Bai Xuanxin suddenly raised his left hand and gently pressed down on the outside of his wrist.

The point I pressed was Yangchi.

But this press doesn't target the acupoint, it targets the "axis".

Shi Jian's punch originates from his feet, travels through his knees, hips, spine, shoulder, and elbow, and finally reaches his fist at the wrist. The wrist is the final outlet of this punch. Bai Xuanxin's press, seemingly landing only on the outside of the wrist, actually shifts the force axis by half an inch. In traditional Chinese medicine, this is described as a disruption of the Qi mechanism around the Waiguan and Yangchi acupoints; in Western medicine, it's described as a slight misalignment of the wrist bone's rotation axis, causing the punch's power to leak outwards.

So, Shi Jian's punch was still powerful and heavy, but the fist was no longer as round and smooth. It was like a taut iron spear that had been slightly bent at the end.

A glint flashed in Bai Xuanxin's eyes, and he pressed himself against her.

This time, he didn't just "hide".

His right hand slid up along Shi Jian's arm bone, the movement extremely steady and slow, yet as cold as the back of a knife slicing through bone. When it reached his shoulder, his five fingers suddenly snapped together, right at the line where the shoulder blade met the upper arm; at the same time, his left hand had already flipped in from under his elbow and lifted him outward.

One tap, one lift.

It wasn't about throwing or picking up.

It's unloading.

The shoulder is the gateway to opening and closing. Shi Jian's punch had already landed, the old force not yet exhausted, the new force not yet generated, his right shoulder was at the juncture of opening and closing. Bai Xuanxin's snap lock locked the bone joint; this lift borrowed the momentum of his own forward thrust. As the two hands came together, the thinnest energy path between the shoulder and elbow was forcibly torn apart.

There was only a very soft "click".

Shi Jian's right arm slumped slightly; his fist was still there, but his momentum had already dissipated.

Finally, someone on the sidelines fell silent:

"Dismemberment?"

"It's not like dislocating the bones... it's more like they've removed the strength from Shi Jian's arm!"

Shi Jian's heart skipped a beat. He roared and used the brute force of his waist and back to straighten his right shoulder again. The most common thing among disciples of external martial arts training is this kind of fierce determination to hold on to something. If it were anyone else, at least half of their body would have gone limp after that, but Shi Jian only paused for a moment before lunging forward again.

Bai Xuanxin felt even more at ease.

He's already figured it out.

Shi Jian's physical training is so tough that you can't hit his skin; it's pointless. But if you can find the right spot in his shoulder, elbow, wrist, and knee joints, you can gradually loosen this tough guy.

In the next ten or so moves, the scene became extremely strange.

Shi Jian's fist was as imposing as a mountain, pressing forward step by step. The wind from his fist swept past, even causing Bai Xuanxin's clothes to flutter loudly. An ordinary disciple would most likely have been forced into a state of disorder by this overwhelming pressure.

Bai Xuanxin, however, was more like a shadow.

Don't stray too far, but don't cling to the same thing forever.

He always slid half a foot away before Shi Jian's punches were at their heaviest, and then always cut back half an inch just as that force was about to wane.

Moreover, he was extremely gentle with each switch back.

Sometimes it's like scraping a finger across the numb vein behind the elbow;

Sometimes the edge of the palm cuts across the anterior shoulder bone suture;

Sometimes it involves lightly tapping the pulse point on the outside of the wrist with the knuckles;

Alternatively, one could lightly touch the stone with the toe to the outside of the knee, causing the heavy force in his lower body to shift slightly.

These movements, taken individually, aren't even particularly attractive.

But every single one of them was incredibly accurate.

Bai Xuanxin was so accurate that he had already dissected Shi Jian's body ten or eight times in his mind, knowing which tendon would tighten first, which bone would turn first, and which pulse point would become disordered, and the entire fist technique would have to loosen accordingly.

Traditional Chinese medicine talks about tendons and muscles, meridians, joint opening and closing, and the rise and fall of qi and blood;

Sifari examines nerves, ligaments, bone points, and the power chain.

Bai Xuanxin's hands combined these two techniques, specifically targeting areas that "cannot be protected by skin and flesh, nor can be trained by external force."

Shi Jian felt increasingly awkward the more he fought.

At first, I only felt a slight heaviness in my right shoulder.

Later on, my left elbow went numb, and my wrist joints were not as flexible as before.

After about twenty moves, even the outside of his knees felt slightly hollow, as if with each step, the power in his legs had to loosen up a bit first.

He finally understood why he felt increasingly frustrated the more he fought.

Bai Xuanxin wasn't actually "fighting" with him.

They are demolishing it.

Break his fist.

Dislocate his shoulder.

To dismantle the powerful, integrated strength that underpins his body's formidable fighting style.

What's most chilling is that none of this was a sudden, decisive move, nor a desperate attempt to win. Bai Xuanxin remained extremely calm from beginning to end, as calm as a craftsman dismantling a mechanism. Every time you moved, he observed; every time you threw a punch, he traced the line, searched for the bone, and severed the force behind it.

The outer disciples on the sidelines felt a chill run down their spines.

Finally, someone couldn't help but mutter a curse under their breath:

"Is this still considered normal martial arts from the Seven Mysteries Sect?"

None of the disciples nearby responded.

Because everyone knows that the person wasn't asking "whether it's similar or not," but rather "why can they still fight like that?"

Under the eaves, the instructor in the green robe finally spoke softly:

"It's not evil."

A deacon nearby couldn't help but ask, "What's that?"

The instructor in the green robe stared at the arena for a long time before slowly uttering a sentence:

"That's taking the human body too literally."

The sound wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for several people nearby to hear clearly.

In the arena, Shi Jian had been pushed to the limit.

The more someone trains to use heavy punches, the more they fear this situation. If they are allowed to suppress their power in one breath, their footwork and skillful techniques will mostly be crushed. But once they can't suppress their power, they will be gradually dismantled from their shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. The further they go, the more they feel like they are sinking into the mud. They still have strength, but they can't use it effectively.

Shi Jian took a deep breath, his eyes turning slightly red.

He simply ignored the minor numbness and tingling in his shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees, and instead steeled his heart, suddenly sinking his feet and crashing into Bai Xuanxin like a mountain collapsing. He threw out both fists with force, intending to rely on his last bit of physical strength to crush Bai Xuanxin.

That collision was truly vicious.

Before the fist even landed, the remaining water stains on the stone surface were already splashed everywhere.

Gu Sanhuai's expression changed as he watched from the sidelines. If it were him, being hit by that attack would probably have left him half-dead. But Bai Xuanxin's eyes finally lit up.

What we were waiting for was this final collision.

Shi Jian had suffered too many injuries from the previous treatments, and his shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees were all stiff. Now he was going all in, relying on sheer willpower, but his composure had also crumbled the most.

Bai Xuanxin advanced instead of retreating.

The Luo Yan Step under his feet suddenly changed. The first three turns were no longer as light and elusive as when he faced Gu Sanhuai, but instead had a more oblique and heavy feel. His left foot landed, the arch of his foot rolled slightly, first removing the remaining wetness and slipperiness from the bluestone; his knees and hips relaxed, his waist and spine arched, and his whole body cut hard into the middle of Shi Jian's fists that were about to close.

All of this was fraught with peril, hanging by a thread.

If it had been just half an inch off, Shi Jian's blow would have swept into his chest and ribs.

But Bai Xuanxin's quick movement wasn't due to her leg, but rather her judgment.

The moment he entered, he used two fingers of his right hand, like a cone, to strike Shi Jian's right shoulder in front and below.

This is not the flesh.

It's a bone seam.

That area in front of the shoulder is the transition zone between the acromion, clavicle, and humeral head. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it's considered a meeting point of meridians and tendons in the anterior shoulder, and it's especially important to avoid applying excessive pressure or force to this area. Anatomically, it's the superficial surface where the anterior shoulder joint capsule and nerves and blood vessels pass through. Even the strongest physical training can protect the outer skin, but it can't protect this very gap.

As the needle fell, Shi Jian's right shoulder was the first to be hit.

At the same time, Bai Xuanxin's left hand pressed against Shi Jian's elbow line from the inside of his left arm and flipped outwards.

This turn is not for injury, but for severance.

The force of the punch that severed his left arm.

With shoulders hollowed out and elbows broken, the frame has already largely collapsed.

But Bai Xuanxin did not stop.

He turned his feet again, his body followed his hips, his shoulders and back sank, and he almost pressed himself into Shi Jian's arms. He gently pushed forward with the outer edge of his left knee, landing right on the point where the fascia on the outer side of Shi Jian's right knee was most taut.

Outside Yangling Spring.

Slanting backward from the knee.

At the intersection of muscle bundles.

Traditional Chinese medicine says that this area is governed by tendons.

From a Western medical anatomical perspective, the lateral knee ligament and iliotibial band are the most vulnerable to stress.

This one is still not heavy.

It is sufficient to address shoulder gaps and elbow breaks.

Shi Jian felt his right shoulder slip first, then his left arm stiffen, and the heavy weight in his lower body seemed to be pried open. The impact that should have been like a mountain collapsing and a sea crashing down shattered into pieces in that instant. His massive body involuntarily leaned forward, his right knee bent, and with a "bang," he half-knelt on the bluestone.

The entire venue was deathly silent.

Bai Xuanxin had already taken two steps back, his gray robe fluttering as he breathed steadily, as if the previous sequence of taps, flips, and tops was merely a casual way of closing a door.

There were no dramatic, sweeping movements.

There is no external release of true qi.

There wasn't even any impressive momentum.

But that's precisely why it sends chills down one's spine.

Everyone saw it—

Bai Xuanxin is not incapable of fighting head-on.

He just didn't want to fight like that.

When he actually gets close, his hands are finer than a knife and more cunning than a needle. He won't just hurt your skin and flesh, but break your joints; he won't just sever your tendons and bones, but first sever the path through which your energy flows.

Shi Jian braced himself on his knees, panting heavily. He felt that the soreness and numbness in his right shoulder, left elbow, and outside his knee had not subsided.

He lost.

And they lost clearly and decisively.

If this were a life-or-death situation, Bai Xuanxin's final move might not have required him to only kneel on one knee.

Shi Jian remained silent for a long time, then finally stood up, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a muffled voice:

"I lost."

The moment those three words were uttered, the entire venue erupted in cheers.

"Is this still considered normal martial arts from the Seven Mysteries Sect?"

"He actually managed to break through Shi Jian's formidable martial arts skills!"

"Is Senior Brother Bai practicing fist and foot techniques, or some kind of insidious, bone-dislocating, tendon-splitting technique?"

The deacon bowed his head and made a heavy note on the roster, then looked up, his expression quite different from before.

"Bai Xuanxin wins!"

With that shout, Bai Xuanxin truly made a name for himself in the outer sect.

It wasn't because his punch was heavy.

It wasn't because he had deep internal strength.

Instead, everyone remembered it:

This person's moves are cunning, steady, and meticulous.

Moreover, it is extremely difficult to defend against.

Bai Xuanxin, however, did not feel the slightest bit smug because of the commotion. He simply returned Shi Jian's greeting and then retreated to the side of the arena, standing with his hands at his sides, as if the previous match was nothing out of the ordinary.

But the gazes cast around him were completely different from before.

For the first time, the outer disciples looked at him with genuine fear.

The indifference in the teacher's eyes has been replaced by scrutiny and memory.

Further away, Li Feiyu, who had been leaning against the shadow of a pillar, finally straightened up.

He originally thought that Bai Xuanxin's medical theories were accurate and his footwork was quite skillful.

Now that I've seen this performance, I truly understand—

This person was hiding his true intentions far more deeply than I had imagined.

His dagger was indeed sharp, but if Bai Xuanxin's hands really got close, he might not necessarily gain the upper hand.

Bai Xuanxin stood on the sidelines, her expression calm, but in her mind she had already reviewed what she had learned from this match.

The instructor remembered.

The outer disciples have taken note.

Li Feiyu, it's time to re-evaluate him.

This is what he wants most today.