Chapter 7: Iron Body Realm
The human figure in the painting twisted like a gnarled pine clinging to a boulder, shoulders and back arched, knees and elbows bent backward. Every joint and bend was marked with dense, tiny annotations explaining how to regulate breathing, channel force, guide qi with intent, and vibrate specific muscles and bones.
Forcefully practicing this stance without a Hundred-Day Foundation would tear tendons at best, or severely injure the internal organs and leave behind hidden ailments at worst.
Chen Lingxi stared at it for a long time.
Outside the window, evening clouds hung low. Another snowfall seemed imminent, and the daylight was as dim as dust-covered glass.
No lamp was lit in the room, and the handwriting gradually blurred. Yet, he felt as if those nine postures had come alive, breaking down and reassembling one by one in the gloom to engrave themselves into his mind.
'Let's give it a try.'
The words floated up silently from the bottom of his heart, filling him with inexplicable excitement.
He pushed the door open and stepped out.
The independent courtyard was spacious. Though the snow had been swept away, solid ice remained wedged between the stone crevices, and the chill seeped up through the soles of his feet.