NABC Chapter 7 Condensing True Qi, Moving with the Grace of a Feather
Chapter 7 Condensing True Qi, Moving with the Grace of a Feather
A hot wind blew in from outside the cafeteria.
The city's lights gradually dimmed, like dusk slowly descending. There was still some time before the nighttime temperature dropped, and small groups of people gathered in the corridors of the mid-floor apartments, having moved chairs and huddled together.
This is an ancient custom of cooling off. Although it is much hotter outdoors than indoors, the main purpose of cooling off is to allow neighbors to gather together and maintain their friendships, rather than actually to enjoy the cool breeze.
Young people often play board games in the corner, arranging various colored pieces on a map and narrating their adventures. Older people don't have that kind of energy; they just hold handheld game consoles and, if they get beaten, they complain to their decades-old friends.
Lin Zhuo rushed through the crowd, hurrying towards the skyrail station.
The surface is suitable for buses and can also support various heavy vehicles, but in the middle layer of the city, the main means of transportation become trains and electric vehicles.
Dense tracks and connecting corridors link one building after another, with hundreds of silver rings and rainbows spanning the sky, tightly binding the architectural complex of Hongshui City, allowing people to quickly travel between communities without having to take elevators down to the ground.
Despite rushing all the way, Lin Zhuo still missed a bus and had to wait on the platform.
It was less than half an hour until six o'clock, and time was running out. He estimated that he would probably be a little late.
While waiting for the train, Lin Zhuo continued to peruse the newcomer's guide.
He was reading "A Brief Discussion on Lightness Skills - From Flying Over Walls to Soaring Through the Void" posted by veteran player [刺王白虹隐侠-随月流].
According to this player, the simplest form of light footwork is to infuse your energy into your legs and feet, thereby strengthening your muscles to increase running speed, jumping ability, and endurance.
However, this method is forever limited by biological limits; even if it can be as fast as a galloping horse, it cannot run swiftly on willow branches or rivers and lakes.
True lightness skill must transform mental energy into [divine movement] true energy. Firstly, it is used to lighten the body, making one as ethereal as a wild goose feather, moving with the wind. Secondly, it propels the body to leap and dart, making it easy to jump onto a rooftop or dodge through a vast army without sustaining any injury.
Transforming mental energy into specific types of true energy does not require circulation in specific meridians and acupoints. Qigong masters do not use this method. Instead, they directly use mental activities such as imagination, memory, and emotions to allow mental energy to express corresponding functions.
For example, if you want to condense [destructive] true energy, you can imagine the explosive roar of gunfire, recall your own powerful punch, or stir up your anger. These methods are all feasible and effective.
Similarly, if one condenses the [Divine Speed] True Qi, one can imagine the body soaring through the air, recalling the feeling of weightlessness when jumping from a height, or immersing oneself in a light and pleasant mood.
This is the similarity between Qigong masters and psychics: both can create miraculous effects through spiritual manifestation. To become a strong Qigong master, extensive experience, sharp thinking, and sincere will are all indispensable.
With nothing else to do, Lin Zhuo began to try to condense the [Divine Speed] True Qi.
He was already quite skilled at refining his spiritual energy, only needing to draw out a small amount of primordial essence to transform into a delicate flow of energy. Therefore, his body did not exhibit any obvious abnormalities and did not attract the attention of the waiting passengers around him.
"Imagine..." Lin Zhuo chose the safest and most rational way to condense his true energy. In comparison, relying on emotions to guide his energy was the most efficient and fastest, but also the most uncontrollable. Strong emotions would interfere with his willpower and judgment, and would be regarded as a wicked dragon or tiger by other Qi masters, needing to be subdued.
He imagined that the energy he had refined had transformed into colorless, cool clouds that filled his body and supported it.
As the mental energy transformed into [Divine Movement] True Energy, a sudden wave of warm and comfortable sensation washed over the entire body.
For a moment, Lin Zhuo truly experienced a dreamlike, unreflective hallucination. He felt as if he had transformed into a bird perched gracefully on a bamboo branch, its bones hollow, its body light, with soft feathers growing from every pore of its body, trembling and fluttering with the airflow blowing across the platform of the skyrail station.
Suddenly, a train pulled into the station, and the breeze it brought made Lin Zhuo sway slightly. He quickly spread his legs to steady himself.
The train doors opened to welcome passengers. Once the platform was empty, the doors closed, and the train began to accelerate electromagnetically. People sitting or standing in the carriages felt the inertial drag, and their bodies swayed and staggered.
Lin Zhuo stood in the aisle, holding onto the handrail but still standing steadily. He felt little inertia because his body mass was partially offset by the [Divine Speed] True Qi. If he were standing on a scale, his weight would probably be about the same as a tabby cat.
The little bit of spiritual energy he had refined was quickly exhausted, and his body became heavy again. No matter how much he imagined a gentle breeze surging within his body, it was no use.
But at least he has successfully condensed his true energy, taking another small step forward on his path of cultivation.
This attempt went unnoticed; everything around him remained as usual, and Lin Zhuo found it delightful and felt quite content.
As the train pulled out of the station, it rushed into the air between the city's skyscrapers, and the view outside the window became instantly refreshing.
Lin Zhuo gazed at the water and gas pipes, fiber optic cables, and fire escape staircases running along the building walls outside the car, the carved decorative windows and the large banners of avant-garde propaganda posters, the towering signal antennas and the scattered lighting fixtures, all of which clung to the building like vines and bird nests.
Building complexes like those in Hongshui City, constructed under artificial domes, have compact and dense spaces. Anyone who has learned a little bit of light-footed kung fu can easily fly and traverse between the buildings.
However, considering the density of surveillance cameras, it would be difficult for a high-speed flyer to remain anonymous here; a big data check would reveal all.
Unless Lin Zhuo can persuade Comrade Chi Jiang to make an exception for him, he cannot emulate the masked vigilantes in superhero movies who can move freely and swiftly.
He dismissed the idea and instead began to think about future training locations.
Unlike internal energy cultivation, the remaining lightness skills, martial arts, hard skills, and special techniques, even those at the beginner level, cannot be practiced in just any room. They require a special venue and professional equipment, such as plum blossom stakes for practicing footwork, sandbags to withstand blows, and cloth hammers to pat the body.
On the online forum, players can spend Disaster Coins to rent training rooms or even open private training grounds. As long as they have money, players can purchase equipment and change the geographical environment to greatly increase the environmental bonus coefficient.
But a penniless guy like Lin Zhuo can only think of ways to make a living in the real world.
Citizens of Hongshui City may encounter tens of thousands of problems in their lives, and they will seek help from Chijiang as soon as possible.
On the one hand, Chijiang AI is indeed versatile and efficient, able to answer even the most bizarre and unusual questions in a presentable way.
Another reason lies in the internet's strict hierarchical confidentiality system, where citizens with low credit ratings often find incomplete information through search engines. Artificial intelligence, which manages internet space, undoubtedly knows everything and can provide citizens with as much information as possible within limited circumstances.
Lin Zhuo asked Chi Jiang on his phone where there was a suitable place to practice martial arts. He immediately ruled out public places such as the city's stadium and school playgrounds.
The only remaining reliable option is the headquarters of folk associations formed by traditional martial arts and combat enthusiasts, which probably offer a certain degree of privacy.
Lin Zhuo planned to conduct an on-site investigation. If that didn't work, he would have to go to the underground level and look for the mines and factories that had been abandoned for many years.