Hold fast to the dantian to practice inner cultivation; the two breaths of hum and ha possess marvelous and boundless power.

Master Chen Jue, I can see this is your first time handling this lead-mercury sphere, and you do not yet understand its mysteries. Let me show you how it is played. Seeing Chen Jue tossing the heavy sphere enthusiastically but relying entirely on brute force, Li Wei stepped forward, caught the sphere as it bounced off Chen Jue's shoulder, and slowly squatted down while holding it in both arms.

Recognizing that the other man had assumed the posture of the Tai Chi Hunyuan stance, Chen Jue closed his mouth and watched quietly alongside Li Xiang.

The bald-headed martial artist, whose culinary skills perhaps even surpassed his martial arts, stood holding the sphere. The gentle and approachable aura he had exuded earlier underwent a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree transformation!

"Humph!"

A muffled grunt—resembling the secret technique of the Baji school's humming andha exhaling and inhaling for marrow-washing and organ-cleansing—vibrated from deep within Li Wei's chest. Though his entire body initially appeared relaxed and loose, he suddenly unleashed a burst of power. His bones and tendons cracked together like a string of firecrackers, and he violently twisted the massive sphere in his arms. The sphere spun rapidly within his embrace, and a buzzing, whirring sound rolled outward from deep inside the lead-mercury ball.

Following a sharp shout of "Ha!", he pulled his arms apart. In that split second, the one-hundred-and-eight-jin lead-mercury sphere seemed to defy gravity, bouncing straight up from Li Wei's arms into the air to a height of a full five or six meters!

In Chen Jue's eyes, this posture of using a lead-mercury sphere that simulated the elixir of immortality to practice authentic ancient Tai Chi perfectly embodied a line from the classic Tai Chi chants: "Grasp the Dantian to practice internal martial arts, the twin breaths of humming andha hold infinite wonder."

Yet this sphere-tossing training posture was not yet finished. Seeing the heavy sphere plummeting downward at high speed, Li Wei did not dodge. With a rising and falling movement of his body, rather than letting the heavy sphere crash into the ground, he reached out into the air. It looked as though he were not catching a one-hundred-and-eight-jin lead-mercury ball at all, but rather gently handling a piece of cotton candy with a soft touch. This was the Cloud Hands technique of Tai Chi, executed as if plucking clouds directly from the sky.

With a flick of his five fingers exerting force, countless beads of sweat flew off the sphere's surface where it made contact. Li Wei unleashed open and hidden forces simultaneously, neutralizing the downward smashing momentum of the heavy ball and rolling it smoothly back into his embrace. At the same moment, the buzzing sound generated by the mercury liquid inside the sphere finally subsided into silence.

This was top-tier kung fu that harmonized hardness and softness, demonstrating that Tai Chi had been cultivated to the extraordinarily profound realm of a Hua-jin Grandmaster.

"Master Li Wei, magnificent kung fu!" Chen Jue, who had observed the entire process, could not help praising aloud.

His own martial arts had not yet reached the realm of Hua-jin where open and hidden forces merge. If Chen Jue had been left to catch the falling lead-mercury sphere purely on his own, he likely would have had to rely entirely on his own explosive physical strength to take the impact head-on, unable to handle it with such effortless lightness as Li Wei.

"Haha! I have made a fool of myself!"

"With your level of kung fu, Master Chen Jue, playing with this lead-mercury sphere should be effortless." Li Wei rolled the heavy sphere in his arms and gently tossed it to the ground by his feet.

He reached up to wipe the sweat from his forehead—evidently, the earlier sphere-tossing posture had been extremely physically demanding—and then led Chen Jue and Li Xiang into the villa.

The interior of the villa was uniquely styled and constructed with exquisite materials. Particularly striking was the large floor-to-ceiling glass wall on one side; although it stood right next to a waterfall, not a single sound of rushing water penetrated inside, creating a serene and secluded atmosphere amid the bustling surroundings.

"It seems Master Li Wei is not only peerless in both culinary and martial arts, but also someone who knows how to enjoy life and possesses exceptionally refined tastes." Chen Jue surveyed the environment within the villa and seated himself on a plush leather sofa.

Once Li Wei had brewed a pot of tea and brought over a plate of prepared pastries, Chen Jue stated the purpose of his visit: "Master Li Wei, I would like to study Tai Chi with you for a few days. Would that be possible?"

"Although my hidden force kung fu can shoot out energy like a needle, I am unable to transform hardness into softness. After witnessing your fist postures, Master Li Wei, I realize how much I am lacking."

Master Chen Jue, I can see this is your first time handling this lead-mercury sphere...

"Of course, I do not expect to learn for free. I can see that both you martial brothers have cultivated your martial arts to the realm of Hua-jin, and your next step is the critical period of forming the elixir, settling the hips, and undergoing the hundred-day foundation-building blood-cleansing trial."

"Although Master Li Wei, you have also practiced some Daoist inner elixir arts of capturing the white tiger, causing you to lose your hair, without a high master of alchemy by your side to guide you, it is easy to make mistakes."

"As it happens, I am well-versed in this path and have already formed the golden elixir. In an exchange of arts, I can guide your subsequent cultivation toward forming the elixir. I wonder if the two of you might be interested?"

Hearing these words from Chen Jue, both martial brothers wore expressions of profound shock.

"What?"

"Master Chen, you have already formed the golden elixir?" Li Wei's hand shook as he poured the tea, stunned that the young grandmaster before him was actually an enlightened adept of alchemy who had already formed the golden elixir!

Even Li Xiang was immensely startled, muttering to himself: "No wonder! No wonder when I sparred with you earlier, Master Chen, your physical foundation and strength felt so immense! It turns out you have already formed the elixir, shed your mortal shell, and undergone a metamorphosis—you are already an immortal among men!"

"I merely took a shortcut through Daoist inner elixir arts, forging an unconventional path. The two masters need not be overly surprised." Chen Jue glanced at the two men and smiled slightly, revealing forty snow-white teeth.

From the perspective of his celestial perception, both martial brothers were currently experiencing inner turmoil, clearly deep in thought.

Naturally, Chen Jue was not asking them to teach him for no reason. His current perceptions were exceptionally acute, allowing him to sense that both Hua-jin grandmasters possessed a "sincere devotion" to martial arts—what is commonly referred to as being "martial arts obsessed."

Furthermore, their conduct and character were upright, and their mental imprints were profound, clearly rooted in the foundational principles of the Baji boxing stances. As the martial arts classic puts it: "To see the boxing style is to see the person." This was precisely what that meant.

Yet upon witnessing the physical traits of Chen Jue, an adept who had formed the golden elixir, the two martial brothers stood in mutual silence, exchanging looks laden with shock.

After a long silence, Li Wei finally nodded and agreed: "Very good! I agree! To be able to exchange techniques with a Daoist adept like you, Master Chen Jue, is also an opportunity for us martial brothers!"

"There are plenty of empty rooms in this villa. Master Chen Jue, and you as well, Junior Brother, please feel free to stay. I will have the farmhouse restaurant send meals over regularly."

"We can simply close our doors, put our techniques to the test, and see just how far we can advance our martial arts!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xiang nodded as well, clearly looking to his senior brother as the pillar of support and growing eager to begin.

Chen Jue smiled faintly. Seeing that both martial brothers were moved, he knew he had chosen the right people this time.

...

After chatting for a short while, the three men went to their respective rooms to change into practice and sportswear before gathering in the courtyard of the villa.

Listening to the sound of the waterfall, basking in the mellow afternoon sunlight, and feeling the cool, refreshing mountain breeze, it was the ideal time for martial arts training.

Chen Jue initiated the session by offering a modest prelude, executing the momentum of the dragon-tiger intersection and elixir formation he had mastered right there in the courtyard. In an instant, sounds resembling the roaring of a tiger and the chanting of a dragon echoed throughout the courtyard.

Such impressive momentum naturally left Li Wei and Li Xiang marveling in admiration. They had never imagined that these two external conditioning techniques of the Wudang Taihe Sect could be combined in such a wondrous manner upon reaching the pinnacle of mastery, transitioning from the external to the internal, which truly broadened their horizons.

"Master Chen Jue, I can see that you have cultivated your martial arts to the realm of cleansing the organs and transforming the marrow."

"This combination of the tiger's roar and the dragon's chant shares the same underlying principle as the twin breaths of humming andha in our Baji boxing. We two shall not embarrass ourselves by attempting to match it."

"My junior brother concurrently practices the Cheng-style Bagua Zhang, which excels in flexibility and adaptability! As for myself, ever since mastering Baji boxing, I have primarily practiced the Chen and Yang styles of Tai Chi, while also supplementing it with a bit of Daoist inner alchemy training."

"If you wish to quickly master the changes of hidden soft force, the best method is to practice pushing hands with me. Come! Let us try pushing hands!" Li Wei remarked from the side, stepping forward to stand right in front of Chen Jue. He assumed his stance, extended his arms, and held his hands level.

Chen Jue nodded in acknowledgment without saying much, extending his own hands to touch and match the thick, flexible palms of his opponent.

Immediately, Li Wei began to channel and exert his force, sending a wave-like surge of open, hidden, and soft power rolling layer after layer toward Chen Jue along their connected arms.

In the old days, martial arts masters who took on disciples often favored this method of "transmitting skills through physical contact" to quickly enhance their disciples' martial arts and help them refine their power.

Figures like Yang Luchan, renowned as invincible across Beijing, once hired strongmen at six silver dollars a month so that his grandson could practice Tai Chi pushing hands with them and repeatedly refine his power.

The descriptions in wuxia novels of masters transferring internal energy palm-to-palm actually drew inspiration from this very principle.

However, the application of Tai Chi pushing hands to refine power was even more straightforward and direct for Chen Jue: he discovered that the proficiency of his Tai Chi stance on his attribute panel began to increase at an astonishing rate of +1, +1. The efficiency was vastly superior to even his deep-sea training sessions during typhoon weather!

An extra chapter is delivered tonight; this is the second bonus chapter for breaking one hundred thousand collections!

Author Pianfeng has indeed caught a cold and is feeling rather unwell, so I will rest early tonight. I will see if I can feel better tomorrow and update more for everyone (bows deeply).