To get that thread-bound ancient book, half of Li Mingshan’s body was already inside the passage. Just then, Li Mingshan gritted his teeth, and his entire self shot rapidly into the passage, which was barely waist-high, just as the iron door slammed shut. From the moment he shot in until the door closed, not even half a second elapsed. Clearly... Li Mingshan had practiced this move countless times.

"Hoo, hoo."

Huddled in the tiny secret room, barely two or three square meters, Li Mingshan finally let out a slight breath.

"Luckily, this old man was prepared. Think he’d dare kill me? Humph." Li Mingshan let out a sneer.

Li Mingshan had long planned for what to do if someone tried to kill him. This small room held his bank cards and many other belongings, meant to distract the assassin while he himself escaped inside.

No matter the time or place, Li Mingshan only trusted himself.

And it was precisely this almost watertight level of preparation that had kept Li Mingshan from falling for over twenty years.

"Buzz~~" Suddenly, the thick, five-centimeter-thick steel plate of the iron door violently flew toward him.

A five-centimeter-thick steel plate—even bullets couldn't pierce it. Even if Teng Qingshan wanted to use sheer brute force to smash through this steel door, he would likely need to gather his energy for the most ferocious 'Tiger Cannon Fist.' However, he didn't need to do that, because... shattering the door latch was a far less difficult task.

A figure suddenly shot inside.

"Brother, you..." Li Mingshan started to speak.

"Pfft." A faint sound, and a bloody hole appeared precisely at his temple.

Li Mingshan’s eyes were wide open, frozen in place, his gaze filled with unwillingness.

Teng Qingshan didn't give him a second glance, turning and quietly slipping away.

Inside the living room of the rented residence Teng Qingshan occupied.

"I wonder what this Chronicles of a Thousand Years actually details. Liu Yan was indeed a grandmaster of the Republican Era; I know that much," Teng Qingshan mused inwardly. Practicing internal martial arts naturally meant Teng Qingshan was familiar with some of the famous figures in history.

Liu Yan had the nickname 'Divine Monkey Liu,' a rare grandmaster of the Monkey Fist school, whose standing back then was equivalent to that of 'Tiger Head Protector' Sun Lutang and others.

Since it was written by Liu Yan, Teng Qingshan naturally possessed the motivation to examine it.

Opening this Chronicles of a Thousand Years, the text inside was in traditional Chinese characters. Since many ancient books were written in traditional script, and Teng Qingshan had been taught by 'Teng Bolie'—who also lived abroad and used traditional characters—Teng Qingshan naturally knew how to read them. Reading this book presented him with no difficulty whatsoever.

"I really didn't know that 'Divine Monkey Liu' belonged to the lineage of the Divine Thief Sect."

Teng Qingshan flipped through quickly, as the initial sections of the Chronicles of a Thousand Years almost exclusively recounted matters concerning the history of the Divine Thief Sect. Reaching about one-third of the way through, Teng Qingshan paused. The title of this chapter was astonishing: The Millennial Evolution of the Martial World.

"According to the historical records of my Divine Thief Sect and the martial world chronicles I have found, I observe that from ancient times until now, the attainment of the Grandmaster Realm has become increasingly rare and difficult."

Teng Qingshan secretly nodded at this sentence.

"Furthermore, regarding the history of internal martial arts, although various sects falsely claim millennia of existence, in reality, the oldest internal art, 'Tai Chi Chuan,' was only created by Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang during the Ming Dynasty, less than a thousand years ago. Our China has five thousand years of history; why did internal martial arts only emerge in the last thousand years? What about the thousands of years before that?"

Teng Qingshan read on, finding resonance in the text.

Xia, Shang, Zhou, the Spring and Autumn period, Warring States, Qin and Han, the Three Kingdoms, the Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang...

In all these dynasties, did people truly fight relying only on brute strength?

Teng Qingshan refused to believe it.

For instance, the mighty generals of the Sui and Tang dynasties could easily swing stone lions weighing a thousand jin. Swinging a stone lion is a vastly different concept from simply lifting one. A normal person might be able to lift a hundred jin of grain, but asking them to hold a ten-jin dumbbell in one hand and swing it freely would feel awkward.

To swing a thousand-jin stone lion, one would need at least the strength to lift ten thousand jin. Even the current Teng Qingshan would require his full strength to wield such a stone lion, and he certainly couldn't sustain it in prolonged combat. The legendary feats of some generals during the Three Kingdoms period, capable of charging into the heart of a massive army alone to slay generals—this seemed incredible. A single person’s strength is limited; how could they ignore thousands upon thousands of soldiers?

"Yes, the last millennium is the history of internal martial arts. But what about the several millennia before that?" Teng Qingshan was equally puzzled and continued reading intently.

"After spending more than a decade gathering materials, I finally arrived at a definitive conclusion."

"My conclusion is this—since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth has been rapidly declining!"

Teng Qingshan felt a profound sense of doubt upon reading this.

"According to many records I have discovered, during the Spring and Autumn period, Warring States, Qin and Han, there was no mention of internal martial arts. The powerhouses of that era absorbed the essence of heaven and earth—that is, the spiritual energy—to 'refine Jing into *Qi,' thus generating internal force within the body. With continued cultivation, the internal force grew stronger, opening meridians one by one until achieving Post-Heaven completion."

"A powerhouse at Post-Heaven completion, with surging internal force, possessing immense strength. When the mysterious Niwangong (Mud Pill Palace) in the mind opened, allowing for the process of 'refining Qi into *Shen' (Spirit),' the person's Shen could merge with the internal force, tempering within the Dantian, gradually transforming into Innate True Essence, thus becoming a powerful Innate expert."

"Innate experts continuously temper their True Essence; the essence is constantly refined within the Dantian. The first stage is the 'Void Elixir' realm. When the True Essence condenses into a physical form, it becomes the second stage, the 'Solid Elixir' realm. This Solid Elixir must undergo multiple refinements to reach the third stage, the 'Golden Elixir' realm. An Innate Golden Elixir expert is the pinnacle of power! Possessing unimaginable strength. The ancient legends of one person charging through thousands of soldiers, or fighting tens of thousands alone, all refer to those who reached the Innate Realm."

Teng Qingshan felt utter disbelief!

How was this possible?

Post-Heaven, Innate? The fusion of a person's Shen and Neijin (Internal Force) could actually transform into 'Innate True Essence.' And this Innate Realm was further divided into three stages: 'Void Elixir,' 'Solid Elixir,' and 'Golden Elixir'?

"In ancient times, the so-called 'Golden Elixir Great Path' referred precisely to this; achieving the Golden Elixir Path meant truly reaching the peak."

Teng Qingshan nodded slightly.

He supposed this was the only explanation, otherwise historical figures like 'Yue Nü' or 'Xiang Yu,' the super-strong individuals, could not be explained. Moreover, many records referred to the cultivators of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era as 'Qi Refiners.'

Presumably, they were also refining the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Teng Qingshan continued reading.

"However, starting from the Sui and Tang dynasties, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth began to rapidly diminish."

"Therefore, the great generals and heroes of the Sui and Tang periods should be the last batch of super powerhouses. Figures like Li Yuanba and Qin Qiong—only by reaching the Innate Realm could they perhaps wield thousand-jin artifacts without tiring." The book’s record resonated deeply with Teng Qingshan.

He himself was at the peak of human capability, yet wielding thousand-jin objects with each hand for prolonged combat, Teng Qingshan admitted he could not do it.

"Moreover, according to the records of various sects, after the Sui and Tang dynasties, powerhouses grew fewer and fewer, until eventually, not a single Innate expert ever appeared again. By the time of the Song Dynasty, even absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to refine internal force became nearly impossible."

Teng Qingshan sighed as he read on.

First, no one reached the Innate level, and later, cultivation became impossible altogether.

"The dwindling number of powerhouses also contributed to the weakness of our Song Dynasty. Since absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and cultivating internal force proved unworkable, the citizens of the Song Dynasty naturally sought other paths."

Teng Qingshan nodded slightly.

"In antiquity, training physical strength was considered the path of the lowest-tier individuals. This is because relying on physical training alone to generate internal force was nearly impossible; 'from the outside in' was simply too difficult."

"But since purely absorbing heaven and earth spiritual energy to cultivate internal force was no longer possible, this led generations of peerless talents to dedicate themselves to other pursuits. As time passed, people gradually succeeded in generating internal force through means like standing post meditation (Zhan Zhuang) and other related techniques. For instance, the Song Dynasty general 'Yue Fei' was a warrior who managed to forge internal force."

"However, during the Song Dynasty, internal martial arts were merely nascent forms; only a select few heaven-favored prodigies could cultivate internal force. As for opening all meridians to reach the Grandmaster Realm, that was utterly impossible."

"After the brief Yuan Dynasty, in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang should be the first to elevate internal martial arts to its peak, opening all meridians and cultivating the strengths of muscle, fascia, and bone to their limits—a true Grandmaster. From this period onward, the system of internal martial arts was finally perfected, and subsequently, styles like Tai Chi Chuan, Xing Yi Chuan, Bagua Zhang... and numerous other boxing forms emerged one after another."

Teng Qingshan read from beginning to end, feeling a profound sense of melancholy.

He could only sigh in wonder—the human ability to adapt to its environment was truly astonishing.

In ancient times, when heaven and earth spiritual energy was abundant, people learned to absorb it, forging internal force, and even reaching the level of Innate True Essence. But as the spiritual energy sharply declined, what was humanity to do?

After several centuries of groping, countless gifted individuals wasting their youthful years, internal martial arts finally came into being!

By the modern era, the cultivation system of internal martial arts was extremely complete. There were even miraculous secret skills like Tiger Form Divine Passage Technique, Black Tortoise Stone Strength, and Fish Dragon Transformation, techniques only Grandmasters could practice.

Could the people of the Spring and Autumn, Warring States, Qin, and Han eras have ever imagined that cultivating 'from the outside in' could reach this level?

"In fact, this cultivation process is the process of 'refining Jing into Qi' and 'refining Qi into *Shen.' In ancient times, the 'Jing' in 'refining Jing into Qi' referred to the essence of heaven and earth, the spiritual energy. But now, this 'Jing' refers to the vital essence and blood within the human body!"

Liu Yan described in the book, "Since absorption from the outside is impossible, one can only absorb the body's essence and blood. Therefore, powerhouses who practice internal martial arts generally have tremendous appetites; it is quite normal for one to consume half a roasted sheep in a single sitting, because they need to metabolize vast amounts of vital essence and blood, thus requiring more food."

Teng Qingshan nodded secretly. Indeed, he himself possessed a remarkable appetite. Cultivating internal martial arts required a strong body and abundant vitality. Only when the vital essence and blood reached a certain saturation point could it gradually be refined into internal force.