Chapter 21: Martial Artist Certificate, Postnatal Martial Artist?

  Seal, Cross Hands, Collect!

  In less than five minutes, Chen Xiaoli's hands drew a circle, and a set of boxing techniques finally came to an end. As she slowly withdrew her stance, the withered grass and leaves that had been swirling around her body also lost their momentum at this moment, like dust settling, and suddenly fell to the ground.

  "Ah!"

  A long and deep breath was exhaled from Chen Xiaoli's mouth, shooting out far, far away like an arrow.

  With a calm breath, Chen Xiaoli opened his eyes and turned to walk towards Chen Dasheng, but Chen Dasheng was already staring blankly at Chen Xiaoli, his mouth agape and unable to speak.

  Chen Xiaoli had just stood up, leaving behind a withered branch and leaf-made Tai Chi yin-yang fish pattern, although it was not very complete, but it was vivid and quite magical.

  "Sister, what's this?" Chen Dashi's eyes were filled with extreme surprise. A set of fists could actually stir up such a big commotion, which was something he couldn't do at all.

  Chen Xiaoli waved his hand and led Chen Daxing into the house. After sitting down, he asked, "Do you still remember Third Uncle?"

  "Third Uncle? I remember, it's that blind man from our village!" Chen Dasheng hastily nodded.

  Chen Daxing's old home was in a remote mountainous area of Shu Xi, called Chenjiagou. When he was young, there was an old blind Taoist priest in the village who specialized in doing white affairs for people. Chen Daxing didn't know his name, but according to local seniority, both Chen Daxing and Chen Xiaoli had to call him San Shu Gong. The feudal superstition and various tricks that Chen Xiaoli used were all learned from that blind San Shu Gong, which Chen Daxing still remembered.

  "You stinky kid, don't talk about Third Uncle like that!" Chen Xiaoli slapped the top of Chen Daxing's head, it was clear she had great respect for Third Uncle. "Although Third Uncle is blind in his eyes, but his heart is brighter than anyone else's!"

  "Yes, yes, yes!" Chen Dabai hastily nodded and admitted his mistake, changing the subject to "Sister, what's wrong with Third Uncle?"

  Chen Xiaoli took a deep breath, organized his words and said, "San Shu Gong's real name is Chen Yunhe, he is the successor of Chen-style internal family Tai Chi. The boxing technique I just used is Chen-style internal family boxing, Tai Chi skill."

  "Chen-style internal fist?" Chen Dashi was taken aback, then asked, "Sister, are you saying that Third Uncle isn't a swindler, but rather a high-ranking martial artist?"

  Chen Xiaoli glared at Chen Daxing and said sternly, "Even if Third Uncle is a fake master, he's still a fake master with real skills!"

  "Ah!" Chen Dàshèng dryly chuckled and knew he had spoken too quickly again, offending Chen Xiaoli's taboo.

  Chen Xiaoli said, "You were still young at that time and didn't know anything. I also accidentally saw Third Uncle practicing boxing once, and only then did I realize that he was actually a hidden master. After that, I often went to help Third Uncle, and seeing that my sister and I were lonely and pitiful, he was worried that we would be bullied by others, so he took me as his disciple and passed on all his skills to me!"

  "So that's how it was!" After listening to Chen Xiaoli's account, Chen Dasheng nodded in realization, "So to speak, our family has indeed received a great favor from Third Uncle!"

  Chen Xiaoli nodded and said, "Yes, if it weren't for Third Uncle, I'm afraid we siblings wouldn't know whether we could survive until today."

  "We must find a time to go back and thank Third Uncle properly!" Chen Dabai said.

  Chen Xiaoli shook his head and sighed, "Third Uncle passed away three months ago!"

  "Has he passed away? I thought he was quite vigorous before?" Chen Dasheng looked very surprised upon hearing this.

  Chen Xiaoli gave Chen Dashi a glance, "You, don't know how long it's been since you've returned, the people in the ditch probably won't even remember you."

  Chen Dasheng shook his head, indeed, after coming out to read books, he rarely went back, the place was remote, and the only relatives were in Rong City, there was nothing worth missing, except for those unbearable childhood memories, every year, only on Parent's Day and Qingming Festival would he go back once, now wanting Chen Dasheng to say that there were still people in Chenjiagou, it was really a bit difficult for him.

  "Third Uncle is the master of internal martial arts, although he's already over eighty years old, if it weren't for his chronic illness from past injuries, even if he lived another twenty or thirty years, it would be a breeze!" Chen Xiaoli's face was filled with regret.

  "An old wound?" Chen Daxing looked at Chen Xiaoli with a puzzled expression, somewhat urgently wanting to get to the bottom of things.

  Chen Xiaoli shook his head, avoiding Chen Daxing's question, and instead said, "Now it's your turn to talk. The set of fist techniques you just used is 90% similar to my Chen-style Taiji Quan, yet there's a 10% difference. Can you honestly tell me where you learned it from?"

  "I don't know!" Chen Dajun shook his head vigorously, "Yesterday noon when I woke up, I thought about stretching my muscles in the yard, and then I started practicing the Tai Chi moves that school taught, but those moves suddenly came out of nowhere...and then it just happened like that..."

  Chen Xiaoli looked at Chen Daxing with a mixture of trust and doubt, "Are you telling the truth?"

  "Of course it's true, you're my sister, how could I possibly deceive you!" Chen Dabing's voice suddenly rose by a decibel.

  "Alright, alright, no need to shout, I know you won't deceive me!" Chen Xiaoli gave Chen Dasheng a white eye and asked suspiciously, "Have you met any strange people in the past two days?"

  "What a strange person?"

  Chen Dashi was taken aback and somewhat perplexed.

  Chen Xiaoli explained, "I once heard San Shu Gong say that when internal martial arts cultivation reaches an extremely high level, one can give someone a kind of enlightenment, transferring their own cultivation to another person's body. In ancient times, many seniors who were about to die would use this method to leave behind their legacy. Sister suspects that you have encountered such a situation!"

  "Ah!" Chen Dajie was taken aback, almost blurting out the fact that he had obtained the inheritance of the Giant Spirit Tribe, but swallowed his words at the last moment. After all, what ancient Giant Spirit Tribe, it's really unbelievable to say it out loud.

  "Think carefully, have you ever met such a person!" Chen Xiaoli's eyes were filled with great urgency, because in her opinion, the one who had taught Chen Dasheng must be a Tai Chi master, and might even have some connection to Chen Yunhe.

  Eager eyes, but Chen Daxing's face was bewildered, Chen Xiaoli was somewhat disappointed, but in her heart she firmly believed that a high-ranking person must have passed on the skill to Chen Daxing, it's just that Chen Daxing himself didn't know.

  "Sister, have you been relying on the martial arts passed down by Third Uncle to live a prosperous life in Chengdu for the past three years?" Chen Dabai asked again after a while.

  Chen Xiaoli listened to Chen Daxing's question, put down the various doubts in his heart, stood up and walked towards the bedside, under Chen Daxing's puzzled gaze, he pulled out a red wooden box covered with dust from under the bed.

  Chen Dàshèng recognized the wooden chest, it was brought by Chen Xiǎolì from their hometown, said to be his mother's dowry.

  He opened the trunk, and it was unclear what kind of miscellaneous items were packed inside. Chen Xiaoli rummaged through the trunk for a while before pulling out a brand new, bright red certificate book from the bottom.

  "What is this, a marriage certificate?" Chen Dashi's eyes landed on the golden national emblem on the certificate, and he couldn't help but feel stunned.

  Chen Xiaoli threw the book directly in front of Chen Dasheng and said, "Look for yourself!"

  Chen Daxing picked up the certificate in confusion, which was about the size of a cigarette box and looked like a party member's card, but there was only a golden national emblem on the cover.

  "Post-Heavenly Five Elements Martial Artist?"

  Opening the certificate, several large black characters appeared in front of Chen Daxing. Chen Daxing was taken aback and took a closer look. On it were Chen Xiaoli's name and photo, with a large steel stamp on the photo: Huaxia National Martial Artist Certification Center.

  "Sister, what does this mean? What is a postnatal martial artist?" Chen Dabai looked up at Chen Xiaoli, his eyes full of confusion.

  "A realm of internal martial arts training!" Chen Xiaoli replied succinctly.

  "Uh, sis, tell me, what is internal martial arts and what is realm? Are post-heavenly martial artists really that powerful after level 5?" Chen Dasheng felt like he had too many questions in his mind. The events of the past two days had completely overturned his previous worldview.

  "What is meant by 'external training of muscles, bones and skin, internal training of one breath' is that Internal Family Kung Fu is a method for cultivating internal energy!"

  "Internal energy? Is it the internal strength mentioned in TV dramas?" Chen Dashi asked.

  "It can be said that!" Chen Xiaoli nodded slightly, "According to the Taoist theory, a person's cultivation realm in martial arts can be roughly divided into four major realms: refining essence and transforming energy, practicing energy and returning to spirit, refining spirit and returning to emptiness, and refining emptiness and merging with the Tao. Among them, refining essence and transforming energy is the entry-level realm for martial artists. Now, most of the cultivators on the land of China are wandering in this realm. After entering the realm of practicing energy and returning to spirit, one can be called a postnatal martial artist. Your sister is currently in this realm. There are absolutely no more than 100 people in this realm in China today!"

  At the end, Chen Xiaoli's face was visibly filled with a hint of pride. Chen Dasheng clicked his tongue in amazement. The entire Huaxia had over 1 billion people, yet those who reached the Wu Shi realm were less than 100. This ratio seemed even rarer than that of pandas.

  "What's going on up there?" Chen Dajie was somewhat emotionally stirred, his own sister had silently become a master, it was really hard to believe.

  Chen Xiaoli said, "After refining the air and spiritualizing, it is the pre-heavenly master of refining the spirit and returning to emptiness. San Shu Gong was a strong man in this realm back then. People in this realm are even rarer. As far as I know, after San Shu Gong passed away, only four people remained in Huaxia."

  "What about the realm of refining the void and merging with the Tao?" Chen Dashi couldn't help but ask.

  "Not a single one!" Chen Xiaoli shook his head, "Huaxia probably hasn't produced someone like that in several hundred years. Your sister is just a half-baked goods, doesn't understand much. If Third Uncle were still around, perhaps he would know something."

  Chen Daxing sat on the stool, unable to speak for a long time. From childhood to adulthood, he had always thought that his blind third uncle was a swindler who relied on his divine stick, but it turned out that he was actually a pre-heavenly master of the Refining Spirit and Void Realm, one of the top masters in China, this information was simply too explosive.