Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

She suddenly looked up, her beautiful eyes wide as she stared fixedly at Chen Cheng.

"You... What did you just say?"

Her voice was clearly trembling, and her delicate frame, even her eyelashes, quivered along with it.

"...I’ve already reached Entry Level."

Chen Cheng’s tone was calm, a faint, casual smile playing on his lips.

To Zhuang Zhen, however, that smile was like a clap of muffled thunder, jolting her so badly her body went numb and her mind went blank.

She simply couldn’t believe it was true.

But she knew what kind of person Chen Cheng was. He would never joke about something like this.

At this thought, an irrepressible look of admiration and awe filled the beautiful eyes she kept fixed on Chen Cheng.

At the same time, there was an urgent, almost tangible craving.

After hesitating for a long moment, her throat bobbed as she swallowed. Her pearly teeth bit down hard on her lip, so hard it turned white, and her tone was practically a plea.

"Can... can you teach me?"

"I can."

Chen Cheng’s answer was crisp and decisive, without a hint of hesitation.

In his view, he hadn’t really helped much when Zhuang Zhen overcame her Heart Demon.

He felt he didn’t deserve the Four Gods Profound Body he had received from her.

If he could repay this enormous favor to Zhuang Zhen by teaching her, he would consider the karmic debt settled.

Only with a clear conscience could one’s mind be truly free.

"Good... That’s wonderful... Thank you, thank you..."

Zhuang Zhen was so excited she nearly lost her composure. It was as if she had to use all her strength just to suppress the volcanic emotions about to erupt.

Once she had calmed down a little, Chen Cheng, as if he had prepared for this all along, took the small, rolled-up beast skin inscribed with the God Taming Chapter of the Four Gods Profound Body from a Secret Pocket in his sleeve and discreetly passed it back to her.

GONG—!

She had been about to say something else to Chen Cheng, but her thoughts were completely shattered by the sound of a gong, as loud as a sudden clap of thunder.

Immediately after, the sound of drums surged like a tidal wave.

It was as if countless drum mallets were striking at once—as dense as a sudden downpour, as urgent as galloping horses, as heavy as muffled thunder, as mighty as a raging torrent...

In an instant, the entire street began to tremble, shaking the dust from the cracks between the bluestone slabs.

With a great clamor, the crowd fell back, clearing the entire main street.

No one gave orders, no one shoved. The moment the sound of the drums bore down on them, everyone instinctively moved to the sides, like a tide cleaved in two by a Battle Saber.

「The next moment.」

A battle formation of a hundred or so people abruptly appeared at the far end of the long street.

Their crimson robes were like a spreading wildfire. As the fabric billowed, it resembled a solid bank of burning clouds pressing down the street.

Every step they took landed squarely on the beat of the drums.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The sound of their footsteps merged with the drumming, a force that shook the entire street, made the shop banners on either side rustle, and sent a numbing vibration through the onlookers’ feet until they could barely stand.

The faces of those in the formation were covered with white cloth, their features outlined in blood-red patterns and their soul rings depicted in gold.

Only through the narrow slits for their eyes did a gaze burning with fervent battle intent shine through, as if something was about to burst forth from within.

Their arms were spread wide, long sleeves cleaving the air like blades. Their bodies twisted, spines bent like fully drawn war bows. Their faces blurred, as if heroic spirits and living men were overlapping.

Every leap seemed aimed at the heavens. Every landing seemed poised to shatter the netherworld.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized, yet wild and untamed.

It was a dance, and also a battle formation; a ritual, and also a march to war.

The square formation of a hundred or so men pressed down the long street like a toppling mountain range.

Behind them, it was as if an army of thousands, of tens of thousands, followed, all rushing towards some unseen battlefield ahead.

In days past, where the royal army marched, mountains and rivers would bow their heads.

Today, where the red robes pass, the whole city turns out to watch.

People stopped to gaze in reverence. What they saw was a dance, a battle—and the majestic spirit of the Great Shang’s eight-hundred-year reign!

The drums shook the heavens, and their footsteps were like thunder!

In that instant, the biting cold wind was transformed into a scorching heatwave!

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