To get that thread-bound ancient book, Li Ming-shan had already half of his body inside the passageway. Just at this moment, Li Ming-shan gritted his teeth and quickly slipped into the passageway which was only half a person high. The iron gate closed immediately. From slipping in to the closing of the iron gate, it didnt take half a second. Obviously...this move, Li Ming-shan had practiced many times.

  "Huh, huh."

  Hiding in a small secret room of only two or three square meters, Li Ming-shan finally let out a slight breath.

  "Luckily I was prepared early on, does he think he wont kill me? Hmph." Li Ming Shan sneered.

  Li Ming-shan had previously considered what to do if someone wanted to kill him. This small secret room stored many items such as bank cards, in order to lure the killer inside while he himself escaped.

  No matter what time, Li Ming-shan only believes in himself.

  It is precisely because of this almost watertight preparation that Li Ming-shan has not fallen for more than 20 years.

  "Whoosh~~" Suddenly, that thick steel iron door, which was at least five centimeters thick, flew towards him with a fierce momentum.

  A five-millimeter-thick steel plate iron door, not even bullets can penetrate. Even if Teng Qing Shan wanted to use brute force to break through this steel plate iron door, he would probably have to muster up his most powerful "Tiger Cannon Fist", but he didnt need to do so, because... shattering the door hinges was very easy.

  A figure rushed in suddenly.

  "Brother, you..." Li Ming Shan was about to speak.

  "Pffft." A very faint sound, a blood bubble appeared at his temple.

  Li Ming-shans eyes were wide with a fixed stare, his pupils filled with discontent.

  Teng Qing Shan didnt even give him a glance, turned his head and quietly left.

  ******

  Inside the living room of Teng Qing Shans rented house.

  "I dont even know what this Thousand Years of Events is about, but this Liu Yan is indeed a master of the Republic of China era, which I do know." Teng Qing Shan was curious in his heart. As he practiced internal martial arts, it was natural that Teng Qing Shan had some understanding of famous historical figures.

  Liu Yan, also known as Liu Shen Hou, is a rare grandmaster of the Monkey Fist school, and in his heyday was on par with people like Tiger Head Young Guardian Sun Lutang.

  Since it was written by Liu Yan, Teng Qing Shan naturally had the motivation to take a look.

  Open this "Thousand Years Chronicle", the text inside is traditional Chinese characters. Because many ancient books are in traditional Chinese characters, Teng Qing Shan was taught by Teng Bo Lie, and Teng Bo Lie also lived abroad, so he knew traditional Chinese characters and naturally taught Teng Qing Shan to write in traditional Chinese characters. When reading these traditional Chinese character books, Teng Qing Shan had no difficulty at all.

  "I really didnt know that this Liu Shenyuan was actually a descendant of the Thieving God School."

  Teng Qing Shan quickly flipped through it, because the previous part of "Thousand Years Chronicle" was almost all about some events in the history of the Thieves Guild. When he flipped to around one-third of the book, Teng Qing Shan started to slow down. Because the title of this chapter was actually - The Thousand-Year Evolution of the Martial World.

  "According to the historical records of my school and the martial arts annals Ive discovered, I found that from ancient times to the present, fewer and fewer people have reached the realm of a grandmaster, and its becoming increasingly difficult."

  Teng Qing Shan couldnt help but nod in agreement upon seeing this sentence.

  "Moreover, the history of internal martial arts, although each major school claims to have a thousand years, in fact, the longest history of internal martial arts Tai Chi Fist was also created by Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang in the Ming Dynasty, which is not even a thousand years ago. Our Chinese civilization has a history of 5,000 years, and it wasnt until the last thousand years that internal martial arts emerged. What about the thousands of years before that?"

  Teng Qing Shan also watched and felt a resonance.

  Xia, Shang and Zhou, Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, Qin and Han, Three Kingdoms, Two Jins and Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang...

  In each of these dynasties, did people just rely on brute force in battle?

  Teng Qing Shan did not believe it.

  For example, those fierce generals of the Sui and Tang dynasties could easily swing a stone lion weighing thousands of catties with both hands. Swinging a stone lion is different from lifting it up. Like an ordinary person who can lift 100 kilograms of rice, but if you let him hold a 10-kilogram dumbbell in one hand and swing it freely, he will feel awkward.

  This requires wielding a thousand-catty stone lion, at least having the strength to lift ten thousand catties.

  Its just like the current Teng Qing Shan, who has to use all his strength to move that stone lion, and its still impossible to sustain a long battle.

  During the Three Kingdoms period, some fierce generals were able to rely on their own strength to charge into the midst of thousands of horses and men, killing enemy commanders. This is simply unbelievable - a persons power is limited, how can they ignore the thousands of horses and men?

  "Yes, this is nearly a thousand years of Neijiaquans history, what about the thousands of years before that?" Teng Qing Shan was also puzzled in his heart, and he continued to read on.

  "I spent over a decade collecting materials and finally had a clear inference in mind."

  "My inference is that - since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth has been rapidly decreasing!"

  Heng Qing Shan couldnt help but feel extremely puzzled upon seeing this.

  "According to many materials I have found, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, there was no mention of internal family boxing. The strong men at that time absorbed the essence of heaven and earth, which is the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refined their essence and transformed it into energy, causing internal energy to be produced in their bodies. As they cultivated, their internal energy became stronger and stronger, opening up one meridian after another until they achieved great success in their practice."

  "The day after tomorrow will be a great success for those with strong internal energy, their internal energy surging and extremely powerful."

  "When the mysterious Mudan Palace opens up in ones mind, and begins to refine the breath and transform the spirit, this persons spirit can merge with their inner energy, and through refinement in the Dan Tian, gradually transform into Prenatal True Yuan, becoming a powerful Prenatal Practitioner."

  "The innate strong, constantly tempering the true yuan, the true yuan is constantly tempered in the dantian, the first stage is the hollow dan realm, when the true yuan condenses into a real body, it becomes the second stage real dan realm. This real dan has undergone multiple tempering to reach the third stage golden dan realm. The innate golden dan strong, is the peak strong! Possesses unimaginable strength. In ancient times, it was said that one person could charge through thousands of horses and soldiers, and one person could fight against tens of thousands of great armies, all were strong people who reached the innate."

  Hong Qingshan looked at it and felt utterly unbelievable!

  How is it possible?

  Postnatal, prenatal?

  This persons divine and inner energy combined, actually transformed into Pre-Heaven True Origin.

  This congenital boundary actually has three stages: Void Elixir, Real Elixir and Golden Elixir?

  "In ancient times, what was referred to as the Golden Elixir Great Way was precisely this. Only when one has entered the Golden Elixir Great Way can they truly reach the pinnacle."

  Hong Qingshan nodded slightly.

  Its probably the only way to put it, otherwise some historical figures like "Yue Nu" and "Xiang Yu" would be impossible to explain why they were so powerful. Moreover, there are many records that refer to practitioners of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period as "Lianqi Shi".

  I suppose its also refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

  Teng Qing Shan continued on his way.

  "However, from the Sui and Tang dynasties, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth began to decline sharply."

  "So the many warlords of the Sui and Tang dynasties should be the last batch of super strongmen. Like Li Yuanba, Qin Qiong and others, only by reaching the Xiantian realm can they wield giant objects weighing thousands of kilograms without feeling tired." The book records this, also resonating with Tan Qingyuan.

  He was already at the limit of human capabilities, with a stone lion in each hand, swinging thousand-jin heavy objects and fighting persistently. Teng Qing Shan asked himself if he could do it.

  Moreover, according to some records of various sects, after the Sui and Tang dynasties, such strong practitioners became fewer and fewer, and later not even one innate strong practitioner appeared. By the time of the Song dynasty, it was almost impossible to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refine internal energy.

  Hong Qingshan sighed secretly.

  At first, no one could reach Xiantian, and later on, it was fundamentally impossible to cultivate.

  "The fewer the strong, the weaker the Song Dynasty will become. Since absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and cultivating internal strength is not feasible, then we, the people of the Song Dynasty, will naturally think of another way."

  Hong Qingshan nodded slightly.

  "In ancient times, training physical strength was something only those who were not part of the mainstream would do. Because relying on physical strength to produce internal energy is almost impossible. From outside to inside is really too difficult."

  "However, simply absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate internal strength is not enough. This has led many generations of outstanding figures to devote themselves to it. As time passed, some people gradually developed internal strength through methods such as standing meditation. For example, the ancient Song Dynasty general Yue Fei was a general who cultivated internal strength."

  However, during the Song Dynasty, internal martial arts were only in their infancy, and only a very small number of prodigies could cultivate internal energy. As for opening up all the meridians in the body and reaching the level of a grandmaster, it was simply impossible.

  "After a brief Yuan dynasty, in the early Ming dynasty, Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang should be the first to cultivate internal martial arts to its peak, opening up all the meridians in the body, and cultivating muscle, skin, tendon, and bone strength to their limits. From this period on, the internal martial arts system was finally perfected, and subsequently Tai Chi, Xingyiquan, Baguazhang... and many other styles emerged."

  Hong Qingshan couldnt help but sigh as he looked from head to toe.

  He could only sigh and say nothing.

  Humans ability to adapt to their environment is indeed very strong.

  In ancient times, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was abundant, people learned to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, practiced internal strength, and even practiced pre-heavenly true yuan.

  What will humans do if the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is greatly reduced?

  After hundreds of years of exploration, countless talented people wasted their youth in vain, before the gradual emergence of Neijiaquan!

  Up to now, the modern internal fist training system has become very perfect. Even the "Tiger Shape Divine Technique", "Xuanwu Panshi Jin" and "Fish Dragon Change" - these magical secret techniques that only sect masters can cultivate have also appeared.

  In the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, could people at that time imagine that they could cultivate to this extent from outside to inside?

  "In fact, this cultivation process is the process of refining essence to produce energy and refining energy to produce spirit. In ancient times, the essence referred to in refining essence to produce energy referred to the essence of heaven and earth, referring to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. However, nowadays, this essence refers to the essence and blood of the human body!"

  "Anyway, its impossible to absorb from the outside, only absorbing the essence and blood within the human body. So, these strong practitioners of internal martial arts are mostly very good eaters, eating half a roasted lamb in one meal is also normal, because they need to refine a large amount of essence and blood, naturally they have to eat more."

  Hong Qingshan nodded silently to himself.

  He himself is very capable of eating.

  To cultivate internal martial arts, first the body must be strong and robust, with abundant blood and energy. When the essence and blood are sufficient to a certain degree, they can gradually be refined into internal power.