High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices-Chapter 61: The Ceiling of the Martial Disciple Stage

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: The Ceiling of the Martial Disciple Stage

After resting for about half an hour and feeling some of his stamina return, Xu Wuyi struggled to his feet.

He didn’t force himself to continue practicing the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace*. He understood the principle of not overdoing it; both his body and spirit needed time to recover.

Instead, he began practicing the *Basic Body Refining Technique*, which he already knew like the back of his hand.

As he performed the incredibly familiar movements and his Qi and Blood circulated along a smooth and gentle path, Xu Wuyi was surprised to feel a sense of ease.

Compared to the arduous and complex *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace*, the *Basic Body Refining Technique* felt as natural as breathing.

Now that his Qi and Blood had been refined, it flowed even more smoothly and efficiently through the familiar meridian pathways. After each movement, its nourishing effect was also noticeably stronger.

’So they complement each other...’ Xu Wuyi mused.

The foundation laid by the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* seemed to be feeding back into the practice of his other Martial Arts.

This was undoubtedly good news.

[Standard Practice Sessions Completed Today: 1]

After the familiar prompt, the proficiency, which had been stuck at Minor Achievement (41.5%) for a long time without budging an inch, finally ticked upward on the panel:

[*Basic Body Refining Technique* Current Realm: Minor Achievement (41.6%)]

Seeing the number tick up on the panel, Xu Wuyi was elated.

A 0.1% increase might seem insignificant, but it was the step that broke through his bottleneck.

"Looks like choosing the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* was the right call," he murmured.

"It improves the very fundamentals, the soil itself. When the soil is fertile, the trees growing in it can naturally absorb more nutrients."

This discovery strengthened his resolve to focus his main efforts on practicing the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace*.

However, resolve was one thing; putting it into practice was another. The hardship involved far exceeded Xu Wuyi’s imagination.

Over the next few days, Xu Wuyi gave it his all, yet he could only manage to complete three to five Standard Practice Sessions in a single day.

After each one, he was left utterly exhausted, drenched in sweat, his muscles trembling uncontrollably.

He didn’t rush to tackle the remaining twenty-eight movements, focusing instead on the first form.

His current proficiency was nowhere near high enough, and he knew not to bite off more than he could chew. The *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* inheritance itself stated that the practitioner should not be hasty.

One should practice each form until it becomes instinctual, only moving on to the next when the refining effect on one’s Qi and Blood has noticeably diminished.

Xu Wuyi’s current goal was crystal clear:

He needed to complete one hundred effective practice sessions of *Furnace Initial Burning* in a single day to activate the "Hundred Repetitions" Enlightenment privilege of the *Martial Arts Diligence Record*.

’I’m sure the Enlightenment from this B-Level Body Refining Technique will yield far greater rewards than the *Basic Body Refining Technique*,’ he thought.

And so, in the days that followed, Xu Wuyi’s life once again became intensely focused.

His life became a straight line between two points: home and the school’s Martial Arts Dojo.

He invested nearly all his time in Body Refining, leaving only a little for daily Spear Technique practice to keep from getting rusty.

His evening practice of the Visualization Method, however, was an ironclad routine. Since reaching its Second Layer, the *Mountain Shifting Technique* had replaced his need for sleep, so it didn’t take up any of his daily training time.

He practiced that single movement over and over, thousands upon thousands of time.

[Incorrect form. Qi and Blood circulation path slightly deviated. Practice terminated.]

The prompts from the *Martial Arts Diligence Record* were as precise as ever, pulling him back from the brink of error time and time again.

Xu Wuyi wasn’t the least bit impatient. He treated every interruption as a learning opportunity, carefully analyzing the cause of his failure.

Then, he would compare his attempt with the information in the Inheritance Jade Scroll, making adjustments and optimizing his form, little by little.

As the days passed, his body gradually adapted to this high-intensity ordeal. Muscle memory began to form, and his control over his Qi and Blood grew increasingly precise.

The number of sessions he could complete, which started at three to five per day, slowly but steadily increased.

Five days later, he could consistently complete ten sessions a day.

A week later, that number rose to twenty.

Ten days later, he could already manage forty effective practice sessions per day!

...

It was time for the intensive class’s ranking challenges again.

Xu Wuyi, who had been in secluded training, reappeared in public, but this time, no one challenged him.

After his performance in the joint exam—especially the reveal of his True Intention of Martial Arts—students like Zeng Bonan and Hu Haobo had abandoned any thought of trying to catch up.

The gap was too wide.

However, despite not fighting at all, Xu Wuyi still managed to astonish the entire class.

During the Life Energy Level test, he registered an astonishing 11.9—a full 0.3 increase since the joint exam.

That rate of progress was even faster than that of many students below Level 11.

After the challenges concluded, Wang Wenhai found Xu Wuyi again. He asked about both his progress with the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* and his Life Energy Level.

"Well... Teacher Wang, I’m not actually sure why myself."

Xu Wuyi scratched his head. He had been focused solely on practicing the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* lately, and his proficiency had already reached Beginner 4.8%.

Although he could feel his Qi and Blood growing more refined, he hadn’t tested his Life Energy Level, so he hadn’t expected this much progress.

Teacher Wang pondered for a moment, then said, "Refining one’s Qi and Blood does indeed significantly increase one’s Life Energy Level, but that’s something that should be happening after Level 16..."

"I didn’t expect that practicing the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* ahead of schedule would have this kind of effect. It seems you’re making rapid progress."

As a B-Level Body Refining Technique, the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* was extremely difficult even at the Beginner Stage, so Xu Wuyi himself wasn’t sure if his progress was fast or slow.

Teacher Wang, who was also unfamiliar with this Cultivation Technique, could only speculate based on his own experience.

He thought for a moment before asking, "How is your progress with the *Basic Body Refining Technique*?"

Xu Wuyi answered truthfully. "My progress had all but stagnated before. But after practicing the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace*, my Qi and Blood became more refined. Now when I practice the *Basic Body Refining Technique*, my proficiency has started to slowly increase again."

Wang Wenhai nodded in understanding. "That explains it. If you hadn’t practiced the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace*, it would be nearly impossible to reach the Great Success realm in the *Basic Body Refining Technique* during the Martial Disciple Stage."

Xu Wuyi was taken aback. "Why?"

"Because of the limitations of your Life Energy Level," Wang Wenhai explained calmly.

"During the Martial Disciple Stage, there’s a ceiling on the total volume and quality of your Qi and Blood, as well as the depth of control you have over your body."

"Although the *Basic Body Refining Technique* is fundamental, its Great Success and Perfection realms involve tapping into a much deeper level of the body’s potential. This requires a more powerful life essence to support it."

He looked at Xu Wuyi and continued, "Let me put it this way: proficiency in a Martial Art is knowledge, and your body is the instrument used to study it."

"With the naked eye, you can see the anatomy of an animal. With a magnifying glass, you can see the internal structure of an insect. But if you want to observe microorganisms, you absolutely need a microscope."

"If your instrument isn’t advanced enough, you can’t grasp more profound knowledge. The only exception is learning from someone else’s direct mental experience—speaking of which, you haven’t used your experiential session for the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* yet, have you?"

Hearing Teacher Wang change the subject, Xu Wuyi quickly shook his head. "No. The inheritance says it’s best to wait until I’ve learned at least the first five forms before using the first experiential session for maximum effect."

"Good," Teacher Wang nodded.

"It’s not just the *Basic Body Refining Technique*. For the vast majority of Martial Arts, reaching the Minor Achievement realm is the limit during the Martial Disciple Stage."

"To reach Great Success, one usually needs to break through Life Energy Level 20, become an Official Martial Artist, and complete a qualitative leap in their life’s foundation. Only then is it possible."

Xu Wuyi fell silent for a moment, digesting this information.

He thought of his *Basic Body Refining Technique* and *Wind-Settling Spear*. Both had hit a bottleneck after reaching Minor Achievement. ’So that was the reason,’ he realized.

But then he thought of the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace* and couldn’t help but blurt out, "So only B-level or higher Martial Arts can break this limitation?"