CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49 SHORT VIDEO

Wen Yan looked at the booklet Zhang Laoxi gave him. Sure enough, the descriptions inside were simple and easy to understand, even with illustrations. Any terms that might be confusing each had their own special notes.

The boxing technique really did look simple, not that intense. No wonder Zhang Laoxi said even children could learn it.

But further in, there was more on the Guiding Technique, paired with the punch and kick moves of the Scorching Sun Fist, guiding one’s own Yang Energy and refining the self.

This wasn’t the traditional static practice, but a moving guided method. The effects were excellent, but the consumption was huge.

It emphasized that normal people’s Yang Energy isn’t strong enough; they can’t even finish one round of the Guiding Technique. Forcing it would massively deplete their Yang Energy, so they’d need a ton of rare medicinal herbs to replenish it.

Those without talent could easily hurt their very foundations in this cycle of loss and gain, and eventually might not be able to recover at all.

Wen Yan’s expression was odd. Even as a complete newbie, he could tell that this Scorching Sun Fist was a perfect match for his own Temporary Ability, Scorching Sun.

With Scorching Sun, the fatal flaw of Scorching Sun Fist basically disappeared.

"Fuyu Mountain’s thirteenth-generation Ancestor had the divine skill Scorching Sun. Later, the sixteenth-generation Ancestor used that divine skill, and with the groundwork laid by the Thirteenth Ancestor, created Scorching Sun Fist.

It’s just a pity that after that, no one else awakened Scorching Sun, so the external skills of Scorching Sun Fist just became Fuyu Mountain’s basic entry-level boxing technique.

I asked Grand Uncle Master already. You go ahead and learn it."

Zhang Laoxi got this far, but still couldn’t help reminding him.

"You’d best not let people know you awakened Scorching Sun. If you learn Scorching Sun Fist, at least it can cover things up a bit."

"Is there danger with this ability?"

"Not exactly. It’s just that those who once had this ability were extremely powerful—so strong that after a thousand years, there are still records, so this ability really stands out.

Even in Fuyu Mountain’s texts, the records about the Thirteenth Ancestor are few—but at least, nobody thinks they’re pure nonsense.

Because some events from back then were recorded by other major sects and mountains too."

Zhang Laoxi reassured Wen Yan; he genuinely wanted to help Wen Yan keep things hidden, not asking for anything in return. He believed Grand Uncle Master had definitely noticed something too, but didn’t say anything about it.

No need to take a master, no need to join the sect, no titles needed, no pressure at all—he just wanted to do a good deed for the future.

There was no need to explain further; Wen Yan would understand by himself later.

Zhang Laoxi pulled out a small cloth pouch, full of Warm Jade, though the quality wasn’t great—but enough to help Wen Yan practice his boxing.

He took up a boxing stance, guiding Wen Yan through the external skills, move by move.

It was just a simple stance exercise, but within a few minutes, Wen Yan’s legs started trembling, while Zhang Laoxi was still as steady as a rock, breathing calmly.

He’d overestimated his own physique. Unable to help it, he activated the Yang Energy in his body, spreading it all over. With each movement, the Yang Energy began to flow gently throughout him.

The soreness and weakness gradually eased up a bit.

He started to get it: how the moving guiding method worked, different from those mysterious guiding techniques he’d seen before.

It was like, while practicing external skills, you intentionally created little "basins," gently guiding the Yang Energy, just like water naturally flowing from high to low, encouraging the Yang Energy to move on its own step by step.

The downside was low efficiency and massive energy consumption.

But this method was simple, hard to mess up, highly adaptive—even water flow would perfectly suit the individual’s situation.

A bit like carving a channel for the river—once it worked, the rushing river only got stronger as time went on.

But in the process, if you relied just on your own Yang Energy, even with tonics and the like, you’d never finish such a grand project—you’d burn out halfway through.

The only way was to cheat: bring in some extra machinery or external power, attracting Yang Energy even stronger than your own. Only then could you keep it flowing, over and over, blasting through your channels.

In short, you needed a special plug-in and some Krypton Gold power-ups.

After half a day, having used up a piece of mediocre Warm Jade, Wen Yan finally managed to flush both his thighs with energy. At least for step one—the standing stance—he could now hold on.

Zhang Laoxi watched him with envy all over his face.

"When I practiced external skills for Scorching Sun Fist as a kid, if I’d made progress like you—holding a stance steady and easily—I’d have been thrilled! It took me three whole months, and even that was already considered fast."

He led Wen Yan through the full external boxing routine twice more. Once Wen Yan got the hang of it, Zhang Laoxi left him alone—telling him to adjust however felt right.

As the sun went down and practice wrapped up, Wen Yan headed to the second floor, planning to call Sparrow Cat for dinner, only to realize Sparrow Cat was nowhere to be found.

On the second floor, only Sparrow Cat’s mat was left—the mat all crumpled up, phone plugged into the charger and fallen to the side, still playing a video.

"Family, I just found a great camping spot—the environment here is awesome! There’s barely any tourists, the water is super cool and clear—and best of all, it’s free..."

Wen Yan walked up and flipped the phone over, seeing an exaggeratedly smiling woman in the video, standing by a small river, hyping up the spot she’d found.

He watched only a few seconds before realizing the scenery looked incredibly familiar...

In the next moment, he felt something was wrong—his surroundings started to twist and distort, the walls vanishing and woodland scenery appearing in their place.

That jarring sense of dislocation had just set in when Wen Yan’s face changed. He dropped the phone and bolted, shouting as he ran for the stairs.

"Old Xi, the video is the domain’s entrance!"

He barely finished the sentence before stepping forward again—and the crazily morphing environment surged around him like a tide, swallowing him up.

The surroundings changed completely.

He stood on a gloomy rocky shore, the only sound around the murmur of the river, the air filled with the cool, damp air of the mountains. Looking around, the woodland faded in and out like shadows.

He gazed upstream, and a familiar feeling washed over him—wasn’t this just the same picture as the one Feng Yao had given him earlier today?

The very domain they couldn’t figure out how to enter—mixed seamlessly with reality, a category-three domain.

During the day, they’d surveyed this location, but each night they’d immediately be booted out of the domain’s range.

Who would’ve guessed—the way in was through a short video.

Just his luck—thanks to Wen Yan’s special physique, as soon as a domain activated, if he was anywhere in its range, he’d inevitably get sucked inside.

Sometimes, that was an advantage—you held the initiative.

Other times... not so much.

Like, say, right now.

Wen Yan calmed himself quickly, recalling the details from the files he’d studied. At the very least, he was already super familiar with the local terrain—he’d already built the whole map in his head, knew exactly where the landmarks were.

During the day, he’d been thinking about sneaking Uncle Mo out of the funeral home in the next couple days—he was planning to take Uncle Mo along on the trip to Duanzhou.

Go on a field op, check out the domain, and in the meantime see if Uncle Mo could sense whether the Fake Mo Zhicheng was in town.

But he’d never expected things to turn out like this.

He walked off the rocky shore, staying ready to activate the Blood Warm Jade’s power at any time.

After just a few steps, he suddenly glanced aside—inside the bushes in the woods, a cat head lit up like a headlight poked out furtively.

The cat’s head ducked as it whispered in a hush:

"Come with me, quick."