Bai Mo strolled through the Dao Academy building, leisurely returning to his school dormitory after touring all the functional zones.
Back in his dorm, he began collecting data on the general number of Ability Users, embarking on a data analysis project.
"Based on the current rate of evolution and data modeling for the increasing number of Ability Users, it's estimated that within five years, a significant portion of humanity will have evolved their first Spirit Energy Organ through Spirit Qi, thus gaining their first ability."
"Five years... I wonder how far I'll have progressed in five years. At the very least, full-body Spirit Energy transformation won't be an issue, but if I don't employ some means to get one step ahead and stay ahead, my initial advantage will gradually diminish."
"My advantage was initially having a few months' lead in Qi cultivation compared to others, and the awakened ability was also quite suitable for cultivation. However, these advantages are negligible compared to those at the top who, from the outset, can mobilize countless resources and have numerous researchers at their service."
"Thousands of people thinking, massive material support – there's no way they'll be slower than me working alone. So, I can only 'borrow a shell,' climb into the upper echelons, and become one of them to relatively bridge this gap. Otherwise, they'll simply catch up and then pull further and further ahead."
He checked the calendar and found that tomorrow was another day for his gathering with Elder Hua and the others at the National Martial Arts Association.
It had to be said that each of those old men had quite formidable backgrounds. In order to create a martial cultivation body-refining technique that could glorify martial arts, the four elders collectively managed to procure nearly a truckload of reference materials. These included secret martial arts manuals from numerous sects, along with various Daoist cultivation texts and classics, and even many legendary Buddhist body-refining arts. Bai Mo greatly admired their research enthusiasm.
Every week, the elders would ponder over piles of thread-bound books, then share their insights on meeting day, striving to create the first definitive work on Spirit Qi body-refining. Bai Mo, meanwhile, would exchange ideas with them while serving as a voluntary guinea pig, testing the effectiveness of various methods and providing feedback.
During this period, Hua Taishan's granddaughter, Hua Qing, had visited two or three times to play with her grandfather. However, each time she only found her grandfather immersed in martial arts research, leaving her with no choice but to play with Bai Mo.
At first, he had avoided Hua Qing, not wanting the secret of his eyes to be discovered again. Bai Mo knew she had fortunately awakened an ability called "vision sharing".
It wasn't until his Life Field emerged that Bai Mo felt relieved. Moreover, he always detected with his divine sense that Hua Qing was consistently accompanied by two bodyguards, though they never showed themselves unless something happened.
However, none of this truly concerned him. Playing with Hua Qing was merely a form of relaxation; what Bai Mo continuously focused on was solely the completion of the Spirit Qi body-refining technique.
The next day, Bai Mo arrived at the National Martial Arts Association as usual, walking into the reception hall as if it were his own home. Seeing the joyful expressions on the elders' faces, he inquired,
"Why are you all looking so radiant today, sirs?"
"After over a month of exploration and summation by the five of us, the first edition of the introductory chapter of the Spirit Qi Body-Refining Art has finally been completed," Hua Taishan announced.
"Lei Dong and I have personally cultivated this body-refining art. According to the methods written in it—which are the breathing techniques we've been deducing recently—even without your candles, we can still refine Spirit Qi at half the speed we achieve with the candles," Li Legang added.
"From what I observed with my eyes before, using this method indeed accelerated Spirit Qi refinement, and most of the refined Spirit Qi was used to enhance physical attributes. However, the acceleration efficiency was still very low. Have you overcome this problem this time?" Bai Mo asked.
"Yes, after referencing some Daoist classics, we improved the breathing technique. Now, slowness is no longer the biggest issue," Lei Dong said.
"Let me test it too." With that, Bai Mo followed the instructions in the body-refining art, only he modified the nasal breathing method written there, transforming it into full-body skin breathing.
A small breeze swirled around Bai Mo for a moment. He felt a large amount of Spirit Qi surging into his body, a portion of which was absorbed and used for the Spirit Energy transformation of his entire musculoskeletal system.
"I didn't realize you had already reached the Inner Breath stage."
"I truly didn't expect this body-refining art to be so much more effective when used in the Inner Breath state."
"We must also redouble our efforts. We can't lose to this kid who doesn't even know martial arts! I was almost at the Inner Breath stage, but who knew this brat would get there first."
Coming back to himself, Bai Mo was surprised to find that the Spirit Energy transformation of his muscles and bones had accelerated significantly. His Spirit Qi absorption rate was about 1.5 times faster than before using the body-refining art, and most of the excess absorbed Spirit Qi was directed towards strengthening his bones, muscles, and major tendons.
Bai Mo's rapid progress also stimulated the elders, making them eager to step into the Inner Breath stage themselves and experience the true power of the body-refining art.
"My Inner Breath is different from what you traditionally understand it to be," Bai Mo explained. "Mine is the function of Spirit Energy organs that evolved and merged from my skin and respiratory system. The Spirit Qi Body-Refining Art, on the other hand, primarily increases Spirit Qi absorption while prioritizing the Spirit Energy transformation of areas like muscles, bones, and major tendons, to achieve a body-refining effect."
During this period, as the elders taught Bai Mo knowledge about cultivating internal Qi, allowing him to grasp things by analogy, Bai Mo, in turn, shared some of the knowledge he had discovered through his own explorations.
Additionally, Bai Mo also analyzed for the elders exactly which organs had evolved in each of them—though, of course, all this was deduced secretly through his divine sense scans.
This exchange of knowledge broadened both parties' horizons, allowing them to approach problems from new perspectives and ultimately resulting in the Spirit Qi Body-Refining Art.
"Sirs, let's give the Spirit Qi Body-Refining Art a formal name," Bai Mo proposed.
"We created this cultivation method to revive the Martial Path, so let's call it 'The Martial Edict,'" Hua Taishan suggested.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Seconded."
"Mm."
Soon, the name "The Martial Edict" was unanimously approved.
"This is the introductory chapter of 'The Martial Edict.' Next, we'll begin researching what comes after the introductory chapter."
"Bai Mo, we're entrusting the promotion of 'The Martial Edict' to you," the elders said in unison. "You previously mentioned using the internet to spread this. We old men have spent our lives practicing martial arts and don't know much about these modern things. We're counting on you to enable more people to cultivate 'The Martial Edict' and thereby glorify martial arts."
"Mm!" Bai Mo affirmed.
"I'll go back first to plan the specific actions. See you next week, sirs."
"Goodbye!"