Lady Lie hesitated for a long time, but in the end still felt she hadn’t done anything wrong. Necessary tests were essential, but now she was starting to feel like things were getting out of her control. She’d have to report back after returning.
When she leaves the Domain tomorrow, she’ll need to investigate. That Su guy—his faction has a lot of powerful zombies. Which supernatural force could it be?
Yesterday, she saw Young Master Su carrying a little zombie, with a black-haired zombie picking him up. This kind of faction is very sensitive, definitely very low-key. It was normal that she hadn’t heard of them.
Once the Domain had been open for a while, she waited for a long time, but didn’t see any newcomers today either.
Lady Lie sighed. In today’s society, supernatural races are already completely suppressed, and with just a bit of "dog food" from the Scorching Sun Department, it’s easy to recruit quite a few.
If they’re not recruited, then just register them—as long as they don’t cause trouble, nobody cares to bother.
And honestly, living mixed in with human society is way more comfortable and convenient than being a recluse away from people.
Even for her, she’s already gotten used to this life. If she really had to find some mountain hollow to hide from the world and cut out modern technology, she wouldn’t be able to take it.
It’s hard to go from luxury back to frugality.
This combo punch has, for better or worse, further split up the already disorganized supernatural factions.
Other than those mentioned above, there are still those who don’t want to register, or don’t want to mingle in human society, or who are hostile to the Scorching Sun Department—whatever you want, there’s always someone.
Without a strong enough existence, trying to consolidate this loose sand is absolutely impossible.
This time is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—the example of the Flame Demon is right there, and now, with the appearance of an obviously stronger Soul Devouring Beast, in the eyes of some supernatural beings, it’s like a light breaking through the darkness.
Lady Lie went down to wait by the pool, and when the time came and the blank-faced Water Ghost appeared, she took the initiative to walk into the pool, got dragged under, and completed the drowned routine.
Meanwhile, after dinner, Wen Yan finished his activities.
He practiced boxing here all day, using some inferior Warm Jade that Old Xi had given him, stimulating the Yang Energy to boost himself, drawing it in while training as the Yang Energy surged and was absorbed during each movement.
If his stance was off somewhere, he could immediately feel a slight stagnation when the Yang Energy flowed. Adjusting himself, he could quickly find the way that suited him best.
Old Xi was spot-on: everyone is different. Even practicing the same boxing technique and guiding method, each person has subtle differences.
You can’t see those differences from the outside. Only if you painstakingly train for a long time, grow completely familiar, until it becomes second nature—then you feel it, and make your own adjustments.
If you’ve got money and enough supplements, letting your Yang Energy overflow, then combining External Skills and Guiding Techniques while practicing, you can feel this state earlier.
Too bad that burns through resources, and it only really works if your Yang Energy is so abundant it’s spilling out on its own.
The average person can only do this once in a while—then they’ll need supplements to recover. It’ll take at least a month to rebuild enough Yang Energy to overflow again.
At most, you use it occasionally to check for subtle mistakes in martial training.
But here’s the problem: if you only train External Skills and not the Guiding Technique, you’ll never need this method anyway.
Only those who possess the Scorching Sun can burn items like Warm Jade for direct Yang Energy blessing, and use it every day.
Not only does it help with martial training, it speeds the process up too.
Wen Yan used to think martial training was like in TV dramas: cross-legged meditation. But Scorching Sun Fist is completely different, with little static practice and almost all dynamic movement. You use the boxing to guide the Yang Energy to nourish the body, letting the Yang Energy flow naturally along a general route.
This is very beginner-friendly. If he was asked to figure out his own meridians and acupoints, pinpoint their locations, how deep under the skin or muscle—they’d never get it in a few months.
Now, every set Wen Yan trains, he clearly feels himself grow just a bit stronger. That gentle warmth seeps into his limbs and bones, and even his mind feels much clearer.
Muscle soreness gets quickly repaired under the nourishing Yang Energy. Painful, but joyful.
If Old Xi hadn’t said Scorching Sun Fist isn’t suited for night training, and is much less effective than daytime, he wouldn’t have wanted to stop at all.
He’s wolfing down greasy, salty, and sugary takeout—three bowls of rice and still going.
Old Xi watched him from the side, looking a bit worried, but also a bit jealous.
He hadn’t slept all day, and the more he watched Wen Yan practice, the more nervous he got.
The external portion of the Scorching Sun Fist may be Fuyu Mountain’s basic entry technique. Even kids can train it—it isn’t too hard and isn’t too intense.
But this boxing technique, as you age, is at best used as a warm-up in the later stages.
You basically can’t practice it repeatedly. One set to activate your energy and blood, loosen the joints.
By five sets, your energy and blood surge, Yang Energy boils—it feels like fighting for your life.
If you can go ten sets in a row, you were born with vigorous energy and strong bones—a martial arts prodigy with natural strength and amazing recovery.
In the last century at Fuyu Mountain, the record-holder was his eldest senior, Qin Kun, who managed thirteen sets in a single go.
But after finishing thirteen consecutive sets, that senior was completely spent, collapsed on the ground, nearly injured himself. Thirteen was already really pushing it.
Qin Kun left the mountain at twenty-three, and in the decade after, he changed the outside world’s impression of Fuyu Mountain from "Maybe their ancestors were rich (debatable), but now it’s just a bunch of disappointing losers who only brag—an out-of-fashion, second-rate sect," to "Yeah, their ancestors had badass Taoists, but nowadays, all they have worth showing off are some martial-arts muscleheads."