"Mountain-Sketch."
Andrew Han placed both palms before his chest, shifting from ceaseless rotation to complete stillness.
Buzz—
As a mysterious frequency reverberated, Presented Liquid Internal Power flowed back and forth, vibrating through his palms and gradually forming the faint outline of a towering mountain.
The mountain was pitch-black throughout, its weight unfathomable.
If an ordinary person were present, they would be scared half to death. How could a human of flesh and blood conjure such a phantom out of thin air? It was utterly inconceivable, as unrealistic as grasping the moon’s reflection in water.
"Mm."
Andrew hummed softly, his tone carrying a hint of expressive emotion.
He saw everything clearly—the pitch-black mountain floated between his palms. At the same time, the immense weight pressing down on his body receded like a tide; the burden of a Mount Tai vanished without a trace.
It was the feeling of weightlessness, of being light as air.
"Not bad."
"Now that I've reached the First Mountain Realm, I won't need to leave my dorm or look for a secluded grove to practice the stance anymore." Andrew nodded to himself, slowly relaxing out of the Mountain-Sketch Pillar Stance and slipping on the plastic slippers by his side.
Previously, he avoided practicing in the dorm, afraid of collapsing the floor.
But now, with the First Mountain Realm mastered, he could perfectly control the weight, concentrating it between his palms instead of letting the stance’s pressure disperse through his whole body.
"First Mountain Realm!"
Andrew walked to the edge of the dimly lit path, stretched his well-proportioned arms, and gazed up at the star-filled sky, a sense of lonely contemplation in his heart.
The Mountain-Sketch Pillar Stance was finally mastered. Perhaps by the end of the year, he could break through to the Martial General Realm.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The autumn night wind spread and swept in.
Andrew shook his head, pulled out his phone, tapped the screen twice, and sent Monica Zhang a WeChat message: What are you up to?
A couple of seconds later, Monica Zhang replied with a Grass Mud Horse emoji and a melon-eating sticker: "Applying a facial mask."
"Didn't you just use one yesterday?" Andrew typed as he walked toward the dorm: "By the way, that men's mask you recommended is way too expensive—ten credits for a single sheet!"
Four or five seconds later.
Monica finally replied, speechless: "There are different types of masks... And the one I recommended is a name brand! You know what that means?"
"Yeah, name brands are expensive."
Andrew replied with a familiar phrase, blinking as he felt he'd said it before.
"Forget it, I'll just buy them for you! Shunfeng Express, you'll have them tomorrow~" Monica said cheerfully, cradling her pink phone and exiting the Taobao app.
"No words can express my gratitude—I'll just have to cling to your leg from now on." Andrew chuckled, thrilled to have saved over a hundred credits.
In the dorm room.
Monica rubbed her smooth, pale legs under the covers, spacing out for a moment before slowly replying: "No need to thank me—just take me to a movie."
"There aren't any good movies lately." Andrew couldn't bear to refuse, so he added, "They say there'll be good ones at the end of the year. I'll take you then."
...
Monica replied with half an ellipsis, then ruffled her hair and flopped onto her soft pillow.
Does it really matter what movie we watch?
So clueless!
Monica huffed angrily, glared at her phone, and saw Vivian Xu grinning mischievously at her. Her cheeks flushed: "What are you looking at?"
"Hehe, nothing." Vivian Xu dabbed on some hand cream and smiled. "Midterms are coming up. How's your review going?"
"It's alright," Monica said, pursing her lips.
After midterms, the class had an autumn outing planned, supposedly to a resort near Greenfield City.
......
Early the next morning.
Andrew Han got up methodically, made his bed, and practiced the Mountain-Sketch Pillar Stance.
Listening to birds chirping outside the window, feeling the autumn wind at dawn, and watching the clear sunlight pour into the dorm, his mood settled into tranquility—his mind as pure as a mirror-like lake.
Huff, huff.
Andrew's eyes seemed as deep as mountains.
With each heavy, mysterious exhalation, his blood flowed powerfully within him, like a mountain stream—dense as lead, fluid as mercury, and even faintly radiant.
Buzz!
Between his palms, a faint shadow of a mountain appeared.
Mastering the first Mountain Realm of the Mountain-Sketch Pillar Stance greatly refined his blood, tempered his bones, and polished his Presented Liquid Internal Power.
His gains from stance training far surpassed previous results.
"Now I've reached the Upper Martial Artist tier."
"I've mastered the first Mountain Realm of the Mountain-Sketch Pillar Stance, but can't break through again so soon. On the other hand, my techniques are lagging behind."
Above the Transcendent tier lies Fusion Mastery.
So far, only Raging Downpour has reached Fusion Mastery. Fortunately, with Martial General still far off, he had time to refine his other techniques.
"Southern Thousand-Mile March, and Cascade of Three Thousand Streams."
"Both have reached the Transcendent tier. There's also Daylight Ascent, Forest Wildfire, Skin-Shedding, and a few more. Plus, I can't neglect the Reversal Art."
Andrew pondered for a moment, sorting out his thoughts.
Before advancing to Martial General, he absolutely couldn't spend all his days just on stance training.
Of the three Martial Arts Realms, Internal Power is crucial, but techniques are equally indispensable. Among Martial Generals, those who master Fusion-level techniques are always stronger.
Thinking this over...