Chapter Five: Strange Sensation

  Ning Chong was shocked, he had never felt this way when practicing martial arts before, it was a strange and indescribable feeling.

  He scratched his head and studied for a while, Ning Chong lowered his head to look at his legs in a horse stance, only to feel that the terrible feeling became even clearer - Ah! This terrible feeling came from the horse stance itself! And this terrible feeling made him unbearable, with an urge to change it immediately!

  What's going on here?

  "Zama step", this basic martial arts movement, Ning Chong practices for a considerable amount of time every day, and has been practicing continuously for over ten years.

  So Ning Chong's horse stance was much more solid than that of ordinary martial artists, and he himself dared not say it was perfect, but at least it was familiar to the point of being unable to be more familiar, reaching the realm of "entering the hall".

  The basic knowledge of martial arts, the level of Gongfa and Wujiquan training can be divided into seven levels: entry, initial completion, small completion, entering the hall, great completion, perfection, and intention realm.

  The boundary of gongfa and wuqi is very important. Often, upgrading a boundary will result in a qualitative leap, with power and efficacy jumping up. Even if it's a low-level gongfa or wuqi, if cultivated to a high boundary, its efficacy can even surpass that of ordinary high-level gongfa and wuqi.

  However, generally speaking, great success and perfection are too difficult to achieve through hard work alone.

  As for the highest state of mind, it is necessary to have corresponding enlightenment and profound accumulation, plus the epiphany under the opportunity and luck. Even if one is a martial arts genius, only a few people can cultivate certain skills or techniques to this supreme level.

  So as long as one can cultivate the gongfa and wuqi to the "small success" realm, in the world of martial arts cultivation, it is considered to be mastered; while cultivating to the "entering the hall" realm, it is considered to be fully mastered, with some understanding, enough to be proud of.

  Ning Chong was able to cultivate the basic movement of "Ma Bu" to the realm of "Deng Tang", although other martial artists didn't even bother with such a basic movement, he himself was quite satisfied with it. Just the solidity of his horse stance alone allowed him to surpass the vast majority of people.

  But this perfect horse step, which he had been practicing for many years and was proud of, even having his own understanding and characteristics, how did it suddenly feel extremely bad at this time?

  And why is it that I never had such a terrible feeling before, but today it suddenly popped out and was so strong?

  No matter what, this terrible feeling made Ning Chong really unbearable, and he mysteriously started adjusting his horse stance.

  After several attempts in a row, that terrible feeling only fluctuated with the adjustment of posture and did not disappear.

  Ning Chong carefully thought it over in his heart, constantly improving until he relaxed both legs, with the left and right kneecaps slightly leaning towards the middle, the five toes of his feet slightly separated, grasping the ground. Only then did that terrible feeling completely disappear, replaced by a pretty good one.

  He let out a long sigh of relief, still feeling inexplicably puzzled and unsure what this sensation was all about. But with this stance, Ning Chong clearly felt his body become more stable, his legs sinking solidly and powerfully.

  There is a common saying in the martial arts world: "One root underfoot, two gates in hand."

  At this moment, under the adjusted horse steps, Ning Chong deeply felt the feeling of "growing roots on his feet", which is vividly described by this common saying.

  A slight joy in his heart, Ning Chong began to punch in the wind and further adjust his horse steps.

  With both fists clenched at his waist, Ning Chong was about to practice his fist technique. As soon as he made a slight movement with his body shape, he threw out his fist and immediately affected the horse step posture, that terrible feeling once again descended upon him, making Ning Chong feel like he had swallowed a fly.

  It seems that the static solution was resolved, but once it started moving, it didn't work again. This time, Ning Chong had experience and quickly cooperated with punching while relying on that strange feeling, adjusting his horse step posture bit by bit.

  But this is not easy, as the wind is strong and weak, and when punching, there will always be power pulling on the body, affecting the horse's posture.

  He didn't do what he wanted, but instead focused on gathering his energy and clearing his mind of distractions. He continued to practice, relying on this strange feeling to correct his posture bit by bit, and deeply imprinting the details of the good posture in his mind.

  Bit by bit, Ning Chong was immersed in a wonderful atmosphere, completely unaware of the passage of time. He could feel himself making rapid progress and his motivation became even stronger.

  "This feeling... the person is alive, and this horse stance is also alive. When doing the horse stance, the legs cannot be stiff, use 70% of your strength and reserve 30%, the soles of the feet cannot be completely stuck to the ground, they must be lively and absorbent on the ground, in this way, you can control the lightness and heaviness of the force at will..."

  "No... no! It doesn't feel right!"

  "It still doesn't feel right! I'll make some changes!"

  ……

  Like a madman, Ning rushed forward, muttering to himself as he practiced his horse stance over and over again. He not only adjusted his body posture but also paid attention to the huge impact of breathing, sinking energy, and circulating energy on his horse stance, which were things he normally wouldn't notice. These new discoveries further deepened his obsession with it, and he followed that feeling as he made fine adjustments in all aspects to match his horse stance.

  "Ah! Ah! That's it! That's the feeling... Haha!"

  After an unknown number of hours, practicing with a forgotten sleep and food, a good feeling finally arrived. This time, no matter how Ning Chong moved, the good feeling basically didn't change, which shows that Ning Chong has basically mastered the adjusted posture movements.

  Ning Chong let out a gentle breath and smiled. This good feeling was truly comfortable, and the revised horse stance was clearly more stable and powerful, more solid, as if his feet had rooted firmly to the ground, improving by several times compared to before!

  Such progress, even surpassing decades of daily diligent practice, this strange feeling is truly wonderful and unimaginable!

  Just as Ning Chong was overjoyed by his rapid progress, he suddenly heard a loud and fierce sound rushing towards him. A strong gust of wind swept across the ground, lifting up stones the size of human heads into the air. Some weak trees were even snapped in two!

  Ning Chong was startled. He often came to this cliff and knew that the wind here had been very strong for a long time, occasionally there would be a gust of wild wind blowing over.

  It's precisely because of this that some young members of the family occasionally come to this area near the cliff. Like Ning Chong, they choose a place where the wind can blow but is relatively safe, stabilize their feet and body shape, and practice stabilizing their posture and balance in the face of strong winds. Of course, what they are practicing is not the basic horse stance that Ning Chong practices, but rather more advanced martial arts movements such as "Iron Chain Across the River" and "Supporting Heaven Step", which are much stronger than Ning Chong's horse stance.

  This sudden gust of wind was far more intense than any he had encountered before, and it caught him completely off guard. In the past, when faced with winds much weaker than this, Ning Cheng would be blown to the ground, rolling around like a tumbleweed; while other cultivators from aristocratic families would at least stumble severely, and those who were less capable would be directly blown to the ground, not much stronger than Ning Cheng.

  Ning Chong was very certain that this gust of wind was too strong, even the most powerful family disciples would be blown to the ground and rolled around in it. If he were to be blown into reality, he would definitely turn into a kite!

  If you're not careful, you'll get swept away and fly up into the air, only to fall miserably off a cliff, and by then it's too late to even cry!

  Ning Chong was shocked in his heart, but under the urgent circumstances, he had no other choice and could only harden himself. He concentrated, clenched his fists at his waist, sank his breath, and firmly planted his legs in a horse stance, directly facing the fierce wind.

  Sigh——

  A strong gust of wind blew by, and Ning Chong only felt a sharp pain on his face, as if he had been cut by a knife. His hair was pulled so hard that it hurt, and the violent wind force instantly pulled Ning Chong's body with all its might, trying to sweep him into the sky.

  With a clear mind and no distractions, focus solely on the horse stance, following the extremely good feeling that has been cultivated through long-term training, steadily grasp the horse step.

  Under the fierce gust of wind, Ning Chong's body shook violently several times, his horse stance and posture on the verge of collapse, as if he was about to be blown away by the wild wind. At this moment, Ning Chong, who was focused on maintaining his horse stance, felt that strange sensation in his heart again. He quickly followed the guidance of that feeling, his feet rooted to the ground like roots, his toes gripping tightly, his internal energy sinking, firmly absorbing onto the surface of the earth, while his legs and body cleverly swayed with the wind force, shaking several times.

  At first it was a bit awkward, but in just an instant, he became more and more adept, and incredibly, he miraculously transferred most of the power of that gusty wind to underground!

  In the midst of the raging wind, Ning Chong only felt himself becoming more and more attuned, his movements becoming smoother and more instinctive.

  He couldn't help but laugh out loud, and he could feel that in the midst of the raging wind, under the guidance of his intuition, he didn't need to understand or comprehend too much, just follow his instincts and he would naturally grasp it. In a short period of time, he had already grasped the subtleties of "using softness to overcome hardness" and "using four ounces to move a thousand pounds", and could easily deflect the wind's force without moving his feet.

  The longer the time, the more he can play against this rare storm of several decades, and the whole person is like a roly-poly, still blowing in the wind, but not falling.

  Calamity and fortune are intertwined, and it comes suddenly. A crazy wind that hasn't been encountered in decades has elevated Ning Chong's "Zhuā Mǎ Bù" boundary to a rocket-like level with the help of that strange feeling!

  Sigh...

  The fierce wind grew weaker and weaker. After a while, the gale finally stopped, and everything gradually calmed down.

  On the empty ground, trees were broken and branches were torn off, grass was uprooted, stones rolled on the ground, it was a complete mess, only Ning Chong stood quietly in the middle of the scene, almost unscathed.

  Couldn't help but burst into laughter again, Ning Chong's mind was rapidly summarizing the insights he had gained, and he was more certain than ever that his basic horse stance had reached the realm of "perfection"! And all of this was due to that strange feeling!

  Although this is still related to the decades of foundation Ning Chong has laid with his Horse Stepping Technique, it's not just a matter of having a good foundation. This kind of "Great Success" and "Perfection" realm that can't be sought after but only encountered by chance, he actually managed to leapfrog two levels in just a few hours and reach the highest realm! This is really astonishing!

  To know the difficulty of practicing Gongfa and Wugong techniques.

  If we say that the realm from entry to mastery can still be reached through hard work and accumulation of time, then the realms of great accomplishment and perfection are accidental and cannot be sought. To reach these last two realms, in addition to arduous effort, one must also have a sudden flash of insight, a moment of enlightenment, to break through and attain them.

  It is often the case that a martial artist spends his whole life practicing one skill, yet only reaches the level of "small achievement" until death. Such examples are also common stories in the martial arts world.

  But Ning Chong was able to achieve this arduous task, as if guided by that strange feeling, and not only reached it, but also jumped two levels in one day!

  No one would ever believe such a thing if it were told!

  This strange feeling is so miraculous that it can't be described in words!