Chapter 35: Form Transformation Second Layer: Mutual Benefit Of Hardness And Softness, Freely Control
Wind whistled by his ears, and his clothes fluttered loudly.
His hair danced wildly as Hong Yuan dashed force across rooftops and courtyards, his figure swift as a tiger or leopard, nimble as an agile ape.
In just a few breaths of kung fu, Hong Yuan had left all the cries and screams of Huang Mansion behind.
He still did not stop running.
Even his direction was a straight line, passing through streets and alleys, flying over eaves and rooftops, climbing high and leaping down.
Even if he crashed into those noble clans’ great families’ walls over ten feet high, he merely touched the wall with his toes for leverage, his body shooting up like an arrow, his palm lightly gripping the wall top, and he lightly landed in the courtyard.
If there happened to be people in the courtyard, before they could react, Hong Yuan would leap onto the eaves again and dash away.
In the eyes of ordinary people, it looked like a gray-black bolt of cloth rapidly shaking past, impossible to see clearly.
In no time, the city wall came into view.
Qingxu County Town’s city wall was about two zhang high.
Hong Yuan came straight on like a gale, about to crash headfirst into the wall.
Whoosh!
His body suddenly rose into the air, parallel to the ground.
The wall instantly became a flat path; he dashed up it in just two or three steps, without even needing to grab with his hands for momentum this time, ascending to the wall top as if walking on flat ground.
Guarding this section of the city wall were merely two old soldiers with graying temples, still dozing off.
Hong Yuan did not stop his pace; with a flap of his arms, he resembled a great bird spreading its wings to fly, suddenly leaping into the sky.
He looked up at the sky, warm sunlight spilling down, its glistening glow entering his eyes.
A cool breeze penetrated his body.
In an instant, his whole body felt refreshed.
Hong Yuan laughed heartily, finally understanding why so many people in his previous life loved parkour, unstoppable even by disability or death.
This feeling of the road under his feet, as if he could go anywhere, was truly wonderful.
Moreover, in this life, with the existence of “force,” human limits were raised by an unknown amount.
As his figure fell downward, flying mosquito small text floated up before Hong Yuan’s eyes, swaying with his gaze.
Bang!
Hong Yuan’s feet landed, and while dashing forward, he diverted some mind to check the sudden message.
（Slaying the enemy, mind cleared, will tempered… Comprehension +1 wisp.）
（Fierce battle and slaughter, blade cutting the foe, muscles and bones forged… Root bone +1 thread.）
In that instant—
An inexplicable warm airflow flowed through his body.
A cool breath rushed straight to the crown of his head.
Suddenly, from body to the depths of his soul, Hong Yuan seemed to undergo a cleansing, bursting with new vitality.
Qi and blood surged wildly within his frame, ready to burst forth.
Hong Yuan’s breathing and exhalation rhythm changed.
Tiger Roaring Breathing Method began to command the qi and blood in his body.
He used the breathing method to even out his qi and blood, sensing the arrival of some opportunity; his feet kept running, surrounding trees and wild grass flashing past.
Soon he had run over ten li, when suddenly a rumbling sound arose.
Not far away was the surging Jade Belt River.
This was a rapid section.
In the river center, scoured by waves year-round, a small sandbar had formed; river water on both sides crashed against it and was pushed back, waves pounding waves, extremely turbulent.
Amid that rumbling sound of waves crashing, it was like breaking through some thin membrane; Hong Yuan shouted, his figure shifting from rapid running to sudden stop, his palms turning into claws, five fingers like hooks.
Sizzle!
A large tree by the riverside had its trunk pierced, instantly penetrated by five fingers, leaving five deep holes.
With another lift, large swathes of bark were peeled off.
Hong Yuan exhaled a wisp of white qi; the swift claw momentum became soft, the claws turning into a floating palm, slowly pressing onto the trunk.
The trunk was unharmed, but with a gust of the swift river wind.
The spot hit by Hong Yuan’s palm immediately shed cotton-like wood chips rapidly, soon revealing a palm print over an inch deep.
Balance of hardness and softness!
Hong Yuan had suddenly reached the second layer of force transformation, “freely control”!
A smile appeared on his face; he took the wine pot from his waist and gulped it down noisily, then casually tossed it away without manners, dashed dozens of steps, and leaped into the air.
Splash!
Amid the splashing waves, he had plunged headfirst into the turbulent river.
As his body sank into the water, Hong Yuan immediately felt the currents from all directions: some wrapping with strong force to sweep him away.
Others were continuous tearing forces.
Or rotating whirlpools circulating around his body, dragging him forward to pull him into some vortex.
Hong Yuan only used his powerful physical fitness to tread water, maintaining his body’s balance.
In these waves that were full of peril for ordinary people, his mind was very calm.
True Man Li’s manuscript mentioned that hardness and softness push each other to produce changes…
Thus, balance of hardness and softness was the foundation of all force transformations.
No matter air transmitting force, bone penetrating force, silk twining force, diamond force…
Even Tiger Subduing Sect’s “Tiger Fiend Mountain Splitting Strength”…
Their essence was all derivatives of hardness and softness force transformations.
Above “freely control” was “microscopic level”; usually, only after reaching microscopic level could one cultivate air transmitting, bone penetrating, spiral, and such forces.
Very simple.
Compared to hard force, air transmitting force, spiral force, and other such forces were far too complex in transformation.
It required controlling qi and blood within one’s own frame to form force, then projecting it out to injure others.
Without “force like drawing silk” microscopic-level control, the force might not go out but instead burst inside one’s own frame!
Failing to injure the enemy but injuring oneself first, harming one’s own life.
If Tiger Fiend Mountain Splitting Strength were complete, Hong Yuan could just follow the predecessors’ path and cultivate upward.
First reach microscopic level force transformation, then cultivate those forces.
But True Man Li died suddenly, and the core secrets of Tiger Fiend Mountain Splitting Strength were lost.
“Lost is lost then…”
Hong Yuan only felt a slight regret; his skin sensing the surrounding whirlpools’ suction and pull, he sighed involuntarily.
Nature was the greatest master in this world; in this river water, those fine dense water currents coalescing into undercurrents forming whirlpools—wasn’t that another form of “spiral force”?
If one day his strength could rival this “spiral force,” he would truly be invincible under heaven, right?
Hong Yuan let his thoughts wander aimlessly, soaking in the river water until he exhausted his breath, then with a burst of force from his feet, stirred up a wild tide that pushed him out of the whirlpool.
Swimming to the shore, Hong Yuan shook his body, flinging water everywhere, when suddenly his expression shifted.
“No, other martial artists comprehend ‘microscopic level’ force transformation before cultivating spiral, silk twining, and such forces, but I seem able to try early.”
“Other martial artists, even if they practiced external kung fu, only tempered muscles and bones, skin and flesh, not reaching inside; their foundation floats on the surface, very shallow…”
“But I built it step by step, point by point added!”
“Each root bone improvement is a full-body reinforcement, not just skin and flesh, muscles and bones, but even organs and meridians!”
“Foundation incomparably solid!”
With that thought, Hong Yuan checked his own information.
