Chapter 12 – Blood Qi

Facing his father’s childlike eyes full of curiosity, Su Hao didn’t keep him in suspense and directly gave the answer: “A blind person!”

“Why can’t a blind person see a doctor?” Wu Cloud-sky looked puzzled.

“Because blind people can’t see, so naturally they can’t see a doctor.” Su Hao explained helplessly.

Wu Cloud-sky was silent for a long time after hearing this.

Su Hao couldn’t help but worry if his father was suspecting himself of being an idiot!

…

Wu Cloud-sky and Su Hao sat cross-legged facing each other, one big and one small, a stark contrast.

After contemplating for a moment, Wu Cloud-sky slowly said, “If you want to learn martial arts, you must first understand what martial arts are. For the next six months, I will slowly teach you the fundamental principles of martial arts. Once you have a solid mastery of your body, we will begin training.”

“Humans are different from Ferocious Beasts. The strength of Ferocious Beasts is their innate talent, a kind of instinct. But the strength of the Human Clan is not. The strength of the Human Clan relies on wisdom. Our ancestors, in their long struggle against the Ferocious Beasts, discovered the secret to their strength, which is Blood Qi. Thus, our ancestors developed various Blood Qi training methods, allowing the Human Clan to begin to have the strength to confront the Ferocious Beasts head-on. These Blood Qi training methods are what we call Blood Qi techniques, or Blood Qi scriptures; their functions are largely the same, with little difference.”

“As for what Blood Qi is…” Wu Cloud-sky paused here and looked at Su Hao, who was listening attentively, seeming to consider whether his young son could understand at this age.

At this moment, Su Hao looked up and asked, “What is Blood Qi?”

Wu Cloud-sky chuckled self-deprecatingly and no longer hesitated, saying, “Xiang Wu, raise your hand.”

Su Hao did as he was told and raised his hand.

Wu Cloud-sky then asked, “I ask you, why can you raise your hand?”

Su Hao answered without hesitation, “Because when the muscles in my arm contract, they pull on my forearm, and my hand is raised.”

Wu Cloud-sky didn’t ask Su Hao how he knew this, but continued to press, “Why can muscles contract?”

The Pinball Space immediately auto-searched for an article describing muscle contraction, but Su Hao knew his father wasn’t asking about that, and uncertainly said, “Because there’s energy inside the muscles?”

Wu Cloud-sky praised Su Hao’s understanding of energy as Thought-power and nodded, “That’s right. Not only do muscles contain energy, but every part of our body possesses energy. With this energy, we can walk, jump, and grasp.”

As he spoke, Wu Cloud Sky pointed to a basketball-sized rock in the distance and said, “Xiang Wu, go and move that rock over here.”

Su Hao took one look and his eyelids twitched. He then looked at his own skinny arms and legs, thinking he might not be able to move it. But he said nothing, got up, and jogged to the big rock. He first tried to lift it, but failed. Then he went behind the rock, used both hands to heave it up, expended all the primal power within him, and pushed the rock until it rolled to his father’s side.

Wu Cloud Sky then told Su Hao to sit down. He casually picked up the rock, tossed it in his hand, and asked, “Is the rock heavy?”

Su Hao looked at his father’s muscular arms with envy and honestly replied, “Heavy.”

“Very heavy for you, you can’t lift it, but it’s very light for me.” Wu Cloud Sky said, tossing the rock again. It traced an arc and rolled back to its original position. He asked, “Why?”

Su Hao was suddenly speechless. He thought the rock rolling from afar had some special purpose, but it was just thrown back? If you want to ask, just ask, why make me do this useless work?

Su Hao had no choice but to obediently answer according to his thoughts, “Because my arms are weak, and Father’s arms are strong. It’s equivalent to my arm energy being small, and Father’s arm energy being large.”

He didn’t answer about age, because he knew that’s not what his father was asking.

Wu Cloud Sky nodded and said, “That’s right, because my arms have a lot of energy, and your arms have little energy. So, let’s give a name to this energy, call it Blood Qi. We can say that the Blood Qi in your arms allows you to lift the rock. The stronger the Blood Qi, the heavier the rock you can lift.

“Yes,” Su Hao nodded in understanding.

Wu Cloud Sky finally showed a smile, a rare sight for Su Hao. He continued, “Now that you understand this, let’s get to the main topic.”

He paused and then said, “Our so-called Blood Qi training method, in essence, is a way to increase the body’s energy. The more Blood Qi energy accumulated in the body, the stronger the martial artist becomes. When the body’s energy reaches a certain level, one can even shatter a mountain with a single punch.”

Isn’t that a nuclear bomb? Su Hao looked at his father in shock and asked, “Father, have you ever seen such a martial artist?”

Unexpectedly, Wu Cloud Sky shook his head and said, “No, that’s just what the legends say.”

Seeing Su Hao’s disappointed little face, he explained, “I just want to tell you that humans, through training, have the opportunity to reach such a level. It is said that the strongest Ancestor-Level martial artists can achieve this.”

Su Hao just nodded. Wu Cloud Sky then asked, “Then Xiang Wu, one last question, we exercise a lot every day, where does the energy for exercise come from?”

Su Hao blurted out, “Eating!”

“Correct!” Wu Cloud Sky nodded and explained, “We eat a lot of food every day, and we get energy by converting that food. So, Xiang Wu, eat more in the future.”

Wu Cloud Sky was uncharacteristically gentle as he said, “Xiang Wu, you are the smartest child I have ever seen. Even at the age of 6 when you start martial arts, not everyone understands these principles from the beginning. I hope that in the future, you can truly become a powerful martial artist of the Human Clan! I hope you… can break the shackles of martial artist bloodlines.”

Su Hao asked doubtfully, “What are the shackles of martial artist bloodlines?”

Wu Cloud Sky shook his head and said, “You’ll understand later. Let’s get back to the topic of energy acquisition from food.”

“Do you recognize Little Fatty from the outpost?”

“Yes.”

“Good that you recognize him. The food we eat, besides providing us with the energy for normal activities, also has a lot of surplus. The surplus part is eventually converted into energy. There are two conversion directions: one is what I just mentioned, Blood Qi, this energy is highly active and can directly increase strength; the other is fat, which is stored, making people look fatter.”

“However, the default conversion direction for our human body is to store it as fat, because fat is stored for a longer time. The so-called Blood Qi training method, in essence, is to intercept the energy that would be converted into fat and make it convert into Blood Qi, which is then stored in the body.”

“And Little Fatty is an example of a failed transformation. Meaning, if you start practicing martial arts too early, but fail the transformation, you will…”

“Get fat!”

Su Hao’s brow twitched again. There was such a risk. The thought of potentially becoming a chubby kid later on sent a shiver down his spine.

At this moment, Wu Cloud Tian took out a booklet from his embrace and handed it over, saying, “Go back and memorize this book first. Once you’ve memorized it, I’ll help you understand it.”

Su Hao took it and read – “Nine Palace Blood-Stanching Scripture.”

“The name is okay.”

(End of Chapter)