Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

The capital city, Chonghua Palace.

"Minister Xue, I have been practicing this method for over a month, yet I have made no progress whatsoever."

Lu Chen asked the middle-aged man standing to the side.

"Your Highness is wise; the techniques I presented were entirely without reservation."

The middle-aged man immediately knelt down, explaining with trepidation,

"All my skills come from practicing this technique."

"How is your practice of this technique progressing?"

Lu Chen turned to look at Tang Zhe and Miao Feng.

"Your Highness, after receiving the training method, I have never dared to slack off and have practiced diligently without interruption."

Miao Feng quickly replied,

"I am truly dull-witted and have yet to perceive the 'qi sensation' that Lord Xue speaks of."

"I feel the same way."

Tang Zhe also chimed in,

"For the past month or so, I have been meditating for several hours every day, visualizing 'qi' originating from the dantian and circulating through the meridians as taught by Lord Xue."

However, to this day, this "qi" remains only in the realm of imagination; the body has not truly felt its existence.

Ever since Lu Chen pretended to take the "Red Lead" elixir and summoned three palace maids to his bedchamber, the Jiajing Emperor was overjoyed and ordered Duan Chaoyong to refine more "elixirs" and send them to Chonghua Palace regularly, which became a routine.

To reassure the emperor, Lu Chen cooperated by pretending to take the medicine regularly and then summoning palace maids for his favor.

As time went by, Lu Chen gradually adjusted his schedule and got used to attending the morning court sessions on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each month.

Finally, I had time to start researching the major discovery I made after crossing over to this dimension: internal energy!

When he was in Chengtian Prefecture, as a prince, the local officials were watching him closely.

To avoid suspicion, Lu Chen did not take the initiative to contact local gangs.

The people in the Prince's Palace Ceremonial Guard only knew rumors about internal martial arts masters, and their knowledge was no more than that of the people in the Linqing Embroidered Uniform Guard Thousand-Household Office.

Now that he has arrived in the capital, as the de facto Prince Regent, no foolish official dares to impeach him anymore.

We can start by investigating the situation of internal martial arts masters from the highest levels of the imperial court.

In Lu Chen's mind, since there was internal energy in this plane, and he had personally met two of them and fought with them, it was understandable.

He even learned some about internal energy from the notorious bandit nicknamed "Ghost's Bane," and learned the difference between "internal martial arts" and "external martial arts."

Logically speaking, among those masters of internal martial arts, there would always be some who would serve the imperial court.

The people from the Linqing Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Ying Prince's Palace Ceremonial Guard had only heard rumors about masters of internal martial arts, because their status and position were insufficient.

Based on what we know, masters with internal energy are formidable in individual combat, but they are not numerous.

If one were to serve the imperial court, the most appropriate place to be would be the capital.

Lu Chen met with Lu Bing incognito, intending to have Lu Bing investigate for him, but Lu Bing directly gave him the answer.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot, two major secret service agencies, as well as the Four Guards of Tengxiang, which belong to the Imperial Horse Administration and are responsible for protecting the palace, have all recruited some highly skilled individuals with internal strength.

The combined number of highly skilled individuals across the three departments is only a dozen or so.

They were referred to as "officials" within the department, holding honorary titles ranging from the sixth to the fourth rank.

These people were all directly under the command of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the eunuch in charge of the Eastern Depot, and the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Horse Administration. Only the top officials of these three departments knew of their existence.

According to Lu Bing, he only knew of these three departments that possessed masters of internal energy, and he didn't know if there were any other places with such masters.

Lu Chen had once asked him why he didn't have the Imperial Guards teach him how to cultivate internal energy. Lu Bing's answer was that they had taught him, but he couldn't master it.

All the offerings said the same thing: cultivating internal energy requires extremely high aptitude, and most people, even if they obtain the cultivation method, cannot cultivate internal energy.

Lu Chen had originally planned that if he really couldn't find any internal martial arts masters to serve the court, he would set up a scheme to trick the three leaders of the Chang Le Society into coming to the capital.

Now that we have it, there's no need for all that trouble.

The man in front of me, Xue Ting, is a master of internal martial arts who holds the honorary title of Vice Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a fourth-rank official.

Upon hearing that His Highness Prince Ying was interested in internal martial arts, this person was clearly very excited.

When he first visited Nan Nei, he used all his skills in the training ground to show Lu Chen his best martial arts.

This person truly lives up to Lu Bing's recommendation; he is the most skilled martial artist among the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) retainers.

He can also use palm strikes from a distance; with the infusion of internal energy, his fists and feet can split stones and shatter monuments, clearly indicating that he practices internal martial arts.

Given Lu Chen's current status, it's impossible for him to fight this person personally again. However, judging from the destructive power this person displayed, his skill level should be similar to that of the Xie man, "Over the Mountain Wind."

We'll only know who's better after the fight.

After being rewarded by Lu Chen, this person immediately presented his cultivation method, which was not only a manual but also had many annotations, all of which were his own insights from his cultivation.

After obtaining the manual, Lu Chen immediately began practicing it.

He also had two copies made and gave them to Tang Zhe and Miao Feng, his two old subordinates who had followed him since Linqing.

During the training process, Xue Ting would provide detailed explanations for any questions Lu Chen encountered.

However, more than a month has passed, and there has still been no progress.

Neither Lu Chen nor Tang Zhe and Miao Feng managed to train anything.

"Qing Xue, how did you master this technique back then?"

Lu Chen didn't believe Xue Ting would dare to deliberately hold back. There were many other masters of internal martial arts in the capital, and with his current status, there were plenty of people willing to curry favor with him.

Since none of the three of them made any progress in their cultivation, the problem must lie elsewhere.

"Your Highness, when I was young, my father ran an inn in a small town. Once, an injured middle-aged man stayed there."

Xue Ting quickly replied,

"Soon afterward, this man's enemies tracked him to the inn, and the two sides engaged in a fierce fight."

Although the middle-aged man killed his enemy, he was also seriously injured and collapsed shortly after leaving the inn.

When I was young, I was unaware of the dangers of the martial world. I was attracted by the martial arts skills this person displayed when fighting his enemies and wanted to become his apprentice.

Behind my father's back, I secretly hid him in the cellar of the inn to allow him to recover from his injuries.

The man stayed in the cellar for more than two months, but his injuries worsened.

Suddenly one day, he became energetic and his eyes sparkled.

At the time, I thought he was finally getting better, but later I realized it was just a temporary resurgence before his death.

During the two months he was recovering from his injury, I kept asking him to teach me martial arts, but he never agreed.

In his final moments of lucidity, he finally agreed. He carefully examined my entire body, praising my exceptional physique and unobstructed meridians, suggesting that I might actually master his martial arts.

He didn't have time to find a suitable successor, so he had to let me try my luck.

Before he breathed his last, he told me where he had hidden the secret manual.

Later, I found the secret manual and practiced according to it. After about a month, I had a slight sense of Qi.

Two or three years later, the Qi sensation gradually strengthened, gathering in the dantian and becoming internal energy that could be used throughout the body.