Yang Jing’s body shuddered, as though some invisible membrane had suddenly shattered.
The Mountain-Crushing Fist techniques that had once been so familiar to him now seemed to undergo subtle changes.
When he threw a punch, it was no longer driven by brute force.
The qi and blood that had long accumulated in his dantian actually began circulating of its own accord through his meridians, flowing into the edge of his fist.
When he planted his feet, there seemed to be a sticky force beneath his soles, binding him more firmly to the ground. Every step carried a steady foundation.
He abruptly halted his fist, and the sounds around him became several times clearer in an instant.
The cries of peddlers and merchants outside the courtyard, the shouts of martial hall disciples practicing their punches in the distance, even the faint rustling of insects crawling in the corner of the wall—all of it entered his ears one by one.
The scene before his eyes also seemed to have been washed clean. The patterns on the bluestone slabs and the cracks on the wooden stakes appeared exceptionally distinct.
What shook him even more was the newly born force within his body.
It was not scorching hot like qi and blood, but carried a condensed, domineering strength as it slowly moved through his meridians.
Wherever it passed, his limbs and bones were filled with an unprecedented sense of fullness.
Yang Jing could clearly sense that if he threw a punch now, this force would erupt along his fist. If an ordinary strong man took it head-on, broken bones and torn tendons would be nothing surprising.
“So this is Mingjin?”
Yang Jing murmured to himself, his eyes bursting with incredulous ecstasy.
He finally understood, and he was certain.
What the panel had said was true. There truly were no bottlenecks in his cultivation.
For others, breaking through required bitter hardship, even gambling with their meridians. For him, it was merely a natural breakthrough that came as water flows where it should.
He tried throwing another punch. Before the wind of his fist even touched the stake, that Mingjin had already surged out first.
With a bang, it actually left a shallow fist imprint on the wooden stake.
Yang Jing stood where he was, staring at his own fist, the excitement in his chest almost overflowing.
Half a year of bitter endurance, countless drops of sweat, and his family’s expectations had finally received an answer in this moment!
Not only had he kept his place in the martial hall, he had also stepped into the Mingjin realm that countless martial hall disciples yearned for even in their dreams!
Yang Jing’s breakthrough was like a stone tossed into a calm lake, instantly disrupting the courtyard’s original rhythm.
Not far away, Hall Master Sun Yong, who was instructing Lin Yue in fist practice, shifted his brow slightly, his gaze locking precisely onto the center of the training ground.
He had practiced martial arts for decades and was all too familiar with the aura of Mingjin.
The force that had just emerged from Yang Jing’s fist was still somewhat raw, but it was undoubtedly Mingjin!
A trace of astonishment flashed through Sun Yong’s eyes, and the hand stroking his beard paused slightly.
This Yang Jing... he remembered clearly. His root-bone aptitude was very ordinary; even among those with inferior root bones, he could only be considered mediocre. Though he had trained diligently for the half year since entering the hall, he had always lingered at the entry level.
By Sun Yong’s estimation, it would already have been rare for him to touch the threshold of a breakthrough within half a year. As for actually breaking through to Mingjin, the hope was extremely slim.
Yet now, this boy had quietly succeeded?
And on his very first try?
“He does have some luck.”
Sun Yong pondered inwardly.
In martial arts, breaking through a barrier depended three parts on talent, six parts on bitter cultivation, and the remaining part on opportunity and luck.
Perhaps Yang Jing had happened to strike that sliver of luck, allowing him to break through to Mingjin smoothly.
After his surprise passed, a faint smile appeared on his face.
No matter what, having one more Mingjin disciple in the martial hall was always a good thing.
Mingjin disciples were the backbone of any martial hall, the ones who could uphold its reputation. It benefited both the hall and the individual, with no downside.
“Yang Jing,” Sun Yong called out. His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly to every corner of the courtyard.
Yang Jing looked up at the sound. Seeing the hall master watching him, he quickly withdrew his stance and bowed respectfully. “Disciple is here.”
Sun Yong nodded. His gaze swept over him for a moment before he said slowly, “Since you have entered Mingjin, you may be considered my formal disciple. From this day forth, all your treatment shall be changed to the standard of a formal disciple.”
This announcement was like a huge boulder smashing into the crowd, instantly causing an uproar.
“What?”
“Yang Jing broke through?”
“He entered Mingjin?”
“How is that possible! With his root bones...”
The moment Sun Yong’s words fell, the discussions in the courtyard surged like a tide. More than thirty disciples all looked at Yang Jing in unison, their faces filled with disbelief.
If those words had not come from the hall master’s own mouth, they would never have believed it no matter what.
A young disciple who had only recently entered the martial hall gaped wide, and the wooden saber in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter. “Senior Brother Yang really did it? I heard Mingjin is incredibly difficult. Plenty of senior brothers have better root bones than Senior Brother Yang, and they still haven’t succeeded!”
Someone beside him swallowed hard, his tone thick with envy. “Who knows what kind of damned luck he stumbled into! With his aptitude, touching the threshold in half a year would already be good enough, yet he actually succeeded in one go? Don’t tell me he ran into something strange when he attempted the breakthrough!”
“He actually developed jin.”
At the back of the crowd, a disciple who had entered the martial hall around the same time as Yang Jing had reddened eyes. He had buried himself in bitter training for more than five months, and believed his root bones were above Yang Jing’s. Last month, he had attempted a breakthrough, only to fail in the end and damage his vital energy. Even now, he was still recuperating.
Zhou Lin and Zhang Kehan stood by the courtyard wall, their faces stiff, as though someone had slapped them hard across the face.
Zhou Lin clenched his fists, his nails almost digging into his flesh.
They had still been waiting to laugh at Yang Jing when he was kicked out half a month later. Yet in the blink of an eye, this man had actually broken through to Mingjin? He had become someone they might not even be able to catch up to in their entire lives?
“This is impossible,” Zhang Kehan muttered to himself, his eyes staring blankly. “He was clearly... clearly inferior to us.”
Even Qi Yun, who had always watched coldly from the side, was stunned for a moment. Then her brows furrowed even tighter.
When she looked at Yang Jing, aside from disdain, there were now a few more complicated emotions in her gaze.
This fellow, whom she had always seen as a fool, had actually stumbled into such outrageous luck?
There were also a few disciples who had once received pointers from Yang Jing, and at this moment, sincere envy appeared on their faces.
A bearded man rubbed his hands together and said in a low voice, “I haven’t been in the martial hall long, only two months, but to be honest, we’ve all seen how hard he’s worked these past two months and more... maybe it isn’t entirely luck.”
But those words were quickly drowned out by even fiercer doubts.
In the eyes of most people, Yang Jing’s success had to be due to some heaven-defying luck. Otherwise, with his root bones, how could he possibly surpass so many disciples with better aptitude and ascend in a single step?
Yang Jing stood in the middle of the crowd, listening to the discussions around him, whether shocked or jealous, but his expression remained calm.
He knew that whether it was doubt or envy, none of it could change the fact that he had already entered Mingjin.
He merely straightened his back and bowed to Sun Yong once more. “Disciple obeys.”
Sun Yong gave a faint hum. “This afternoon, I will personally guide you in the minor accomplishment stage of Mountain-Crushing Fist.”
Once a disciple of Sun Family Martial Hall broke through to Mingjin, he became Hall Master Sun Yong’s formal disciple, and would naturally receive more instruction from Sun Yong.
Yang Jing had just broken through and was about to begin cultivating the minor accomplishment stage of Mountain-Crushing Fist. This was precisely when he needed guidance.
“Yes, Master!” Yang Jing said solemnly.
Before breaking through to Mingjin, he should have addressed him as Hall Master. But now, he could truly regard himself as Sun Yong’s disciple.