Chapter One: Strange Happenings in a Small Town

  The winter of 2015 seemed warmer than in previous years, although the first snow of 2015 still existed on the streets of Xinshi. The golden sun brought endless sunshine and warmth to this small town. As the year-end approached and coincided with the weekend, people took advantage of the good weather at noon to come out and shop along the street. The bustling crowds brought a lively atmosphere and festive spirit to this small city.

  In the central part of a small town, there was an old residential area surrounded by two lawns and a single old-fashioned apartment building. On the top floor of this building, a young man in his twenties lay comfortably on the sofa in the master bedroom, leisurely flipping through a tattered book. The book wasn't worn out because it didn't sell well, but rather its content was merely used to pass time in the eyes of the young man.

  Young man named Zhang Ping, a name that suits him. At 1.73 meters tall, he's not exactly disabled, but also has no connection to being tall and majestic. His ordinary facial features are combined in the most ordinary way, and when placed among people, he belongs to the type that you would forget after taking one glance.

  Since he was born in this small town more than 20 years ago, he has been living a peaceful and ordinary life. His family is not well-off, but at least they have enough to eat and drink, and can afford to send him to school. After going through elementary school, junior high school, senior high school and university without any ups and downs, he returned to his hometown with an ordinary diploma. He found a plain job and was ready to continue his ordinary life here.

  As the Spring Festival approaches, Zhang Ping's parents take advantage of the weekend to visit friends. Ostensibly, it's to maintain relationships during the New Year, but in reality, they want to see if anyone has a suitable daughter for marriage, hoping to solve Zhang Ping's lifelong matter. Poor Zhang Ping was taught from a young age not to fall in love early and focus on studying, only to be suddenly pushed by his parents to find a partner and get married after graduation. Now, the Spring Festival has become an annual matchmaking season. Pitiful are the hearts of all parents, pitiful are the feelings of all sons and daughters.

  It's rare that my parents went out today, not staying at home to nag me. And my friends didn't initiate any group activities either. Zhang Ping can be said to have stolen a leisurely half-day. Finally, I can stay at home and openly indulge in idleness, continuing to study my own tattered books and the physical exercise methods that my parents scolded as feudal superstition.

  Because of his mediocre physical fitness, Zhang Ping didn't have any achievements in sports. He couldn't run fast, jump high, and wasn't very strong either. The only advantage he might have was the endurance brought by years of chaotic training methods. But what's the use of having good endurance? Except for the long-distance running competitions that almost all his classmates were unwilling to participate in during their school days, would anyone notice this so-called talent of his?

  Moreover, Zhang Ping's mediocre innate brain quality made his achievements in learning really struggling to make ends meet. From kindergarten to high school, Zhang Ping's grades were always average, barely passing the exams for junior and senior high schools, and finally managed to get into an ordinary first-tier university after re-taking the entrance exam for a year. He thought he could finally stand out, but his mediocre performance and grades in college made him leave Longcheng, the provincial capital, and return to his hometown Xinsi on the day of his graduation from university.

  Because of a flat character, Zhang Ping's life had no bright spots. Over time, he lost interest in mass activities. Soon he became a weirdo in everyone's eyes, because he liked to study some esoteric things, just like the book "Lv Zu Bai Zi Bei" he was holding now. "Nourish Qi and forget words, lower your heart and do nothing... Qi returns to Dan and forms by itself, matching Kan and Li in the pot... Twenty sentences all come together, a ladder to heaven." Zhang Ping had always been very interested in these so-called internal alchemy and heterodox techniques. For ten years, he often indulged himself in them, finding his own happiness and satisfaction.

  Zhang Ping finished his diaphragmatic breathing exercise, also known as the "diaphragmatic breathing method". It's simply a way of inhaling with the belly rising and exhaling with the belly falling. Combined with slow inhalation and quick exhalation, it's a small method to improve one's lung capacity and blood oxygenation ability. Zhang Ping has persisted in this exercise since high school for nearly ten years, although there hasn't been any significant effect, but overall it has kept him energetic and free from illnesses like anemia.

  Recently, he has been studying the Lü Zu Bai Zi Bei, a basic Neidan introductory method, hoping to combine it with his breathing technique to improve training effectiveness. However, the research over the past month or two cannot be said to have yielded nothing, but the gains are also minimal.

  Zhang Ping sometimes thought: "So many years have passed, and I still haven't seen anything mysterious about these internal elixir methods. Wasn't the previous master of Chyun Fist defeated by a practitioner of free fighting, whose ribs were all broken? It seems that the internal elixir methods, internal family fist, and various so-called Taoist magic that I have studied in the past are either passed down from generation to generation as rumors, or they are just deceiving people. Or maybe it's because I rely on books and can never learn the true essence. The old saying goes: 'True transmission is one sentence, false transmission is ten thousand volumes of books.' Without guidance from a superior person, no matter how much theoretical knowledge you have, it's hard to turn it into your own practical ability. In recent years, I've looked for many 'superior people', spent a lot of money, but found that they all seem to be like Uncle Ben Shan's master, with a high level of deception. I should consider combining Western fitness methods and free fighting to train my muscle strength, at least the effect on increasing power will be immediately visible."

  Although that's the case, after nearly ten years of hard work, wanting to completely deny it is not an easy thing for anyone. As a relatively introverted person, Zhang Ping has always had the tradition of being indecisive when doing things. Therefore, he continued his habit of the past decade, stretching his hands, feet, waist and neck separately before starting to practice Zhan Zhuang and Hunyuan Qigong.

  This Zhang Zhong Jing was discovered by him unintentionally on a forum called Yan Long Online back then. Many people who practice Zhang start with Hun Yuan Zhang or even San Ti Shi. Unbeknownst to them, Zhang Gong practices static force, practicing the overall way of exerting force and mastering one's own body. Beginners without guidance find it difficult to grasp the correct way of exerting force, and the frame they practice may have completely opposite effects. Therefore, under no guidance, it is best to start with Zhang Jing first, and first practice the feeling of relaxation and calmness.

  He stood with his legs apart, shoulder-width, and his feet grasped the ground with force, neither inward nor outward. His knees were slightly bent, positioned high, with his kneecaps just above his toes and not exceeding his nose tip. His waist and abdomen were straight, with his buttocks tucked in. His hands hung naturally downwards, as if gripping yet not gripping, as if holding a palm yet not holding a palm, as if relaxed yet not relaxed, as if tight yet not tight, like lifting a thousand pounds, like pressing on silk cotton. His head, neck, and collar stood upright, as if touching the blue sky, his gaze neither heavenward nor earthward, slightly gazing forward. Half an hour later, he slowly inhaled a long breath, as if smelling flowers, gently entering. Then, like a dragon spitting out water, he slowly exhaled.

  After stretching, he sat back on the couch to rest. If days go by like this, he might spend his life in such a monotonous way, day after day, year after year, occasionally doing some exercise and learning. Until he slowly grows old, and then quietly walks to his own end.

  The old clock at home, which had been working for nearly twenty years, was still ticking away. Just as Zhang Ping leaned back on the sofa and rested his eyes, his body seemed to turn into a vague shadow in the heat haze, constantly twisting and blurring. If someone saw this scene, they would surely think they were seeing a ghost in broad daylight. The clock ticked away less than ten times, and Zhang Ping's body was like steam evaporating from boiling water - blurry, drifting, and eventually dispersing into the air as if it had never appeared at all, without affecting anything else except him.

  At this moment, Zhang Ping was in a wonderful state. Sitting back on the sofa, he felt his body getting heavier and heavier, but his head was getting lighter and lighter. The flow of blood throughout his body seemed to be like a gushing spring water, surging and intense. His heart beat slower and slower, but with each beat, it brought stronger blood and nutrients. Every one of his muscles was stretched out, filled with explosive power.

  As a self-taught enthusiast who knows a lot, but has no master or extraordinary encounter. He is very clear that he may not even be able to defeat a street thug, let alone reach any level of martial arts. But now, he feels like the legendary "practicing marrow and brain", reborn from the bones. The subtle feeling of his body and the sensation of getting stronger every second makes him more satisfied than ever, just like an addict indulging in the pleasure of drugs.

  However, when he was about to open his eyes to see if he was sleeping and having a wonderful dream, he suddenly found that he couldn't open his eyes at all. And the changes in his body seemed to be getting faster and faster, his body was like being pressed under dozens of iron quilts, but his head was like a hydrogen balloon constantly floating upwards, with countless blood vessels gathering in his brow, jumping and jumping, as if about to explode. He felt that his blood was becoming thicker and thicker, but flowing more and more turbulent. His heart was like a sun, stationary, eternal, emitting energy, making people feel endless heat and power contained within. And what was originally strong tendons, now seemed to have turned into steel-made spring rings, storing infinite surprising powers.

  Just as Zhang Ping was feeling shocked, excited, fearful and unbelievable about everything on his body. He suddenly felt an irresistible severe pain coming, every single hair on his body seemed to have turned into steel needles, every drop of blood seemed to have turned into boiling water, every tendon was torn apart, and every bone was crushed. As a Chinese domestic drama fan who had been watching various anti-war and spy war movies since childhood, at this moment, the countless great warriors who faced severe torture without yielding seemed to be his motivation and model for action. So, Zhang Ping decisively fainted in less than a second before he could even let out a classic scream like a slaughtered pig.

  At the same time, in another universe outside of this one, a patch of space seemed to ripple like water vapor for an instant, and then returned to calmness, disappearing from sight.