"I don't believe it, I'll try again!" Yao Yao saw Chu Qi's ease and pulled out another brick, placing it on the workbench.
This time, she was clearly more serious, her gaze changed, but Chu Qi still reminded her softly, "You can't use internal energy. You have to believe that with your arm strength, you have enough to break a brick!"
Yao Yao nodded, raised her palm high, clenched it, and with a shout, chopped down.
*Crack!* The brick broke instantly.
"Wow, amazing, amazing!" I applauded, quickly flattering the grandmaster.
Yao Yao, like a child breaking a brick for the first time, jumped up excitedly.
Seeing this, Chu Qi took two bricks, stacked them together, "It's really very simple, isn't it? Come on, strike while the iron is hot, try two!"
"Piece of cake!" Yao Yao wiped her nose and chopped again.
However, this time she couldn't break them. The two bricks remained unmoved, but Yao Yao yelped in pain, clutching her palm and glaring at Chu Qi, "You're tricking me! How can it be so simple!"
Chu Qi said earnestly, "This is because you are using the same strength to break two bricks as you used to break one. Of course, you will fail. Try to use your full strength, don't think about it. The eyes of people, especially martial artists, deceive themselves most of the time. They will subconsciously analyze how much strength they should use based on the characteristics of the objects they see or feel. This is the instinctive inertia of the body. You must overcome this inertia. No matter what you face, use your full strength to cultivate courage. Even for a slender girl, her arm strength has the potential to break two bricks!"
Yao Yao nodded, wiped the dust from her hands, assumed a stance, and tried again. This time she jumped to attack. Her waist and stance were aligned, her strength originating from her feet, amplified by her core power, and transferred to her arms. She swung her arm, making her palm chop down at the fastest speed!
However, just as her palm was about to touch the bricks, Yao Yao stopped, her hand suspended in mid-air.
"What's wrong? Scared?" I asked worriedly, afraid this small matter would dampen Yao Yao's fighting spirit!
"No," Yao Yao calmly shook her head. "I recalled the force used to break the first brick and felt that I should be able to break three, but not four. Chengfeng, add two more for me."
"...Didn't you say you couldn't break four?" I frowned, but my body was honest, and I stacked two more bricks on top for her.
"Just try," Yao Yao smiled. Because two more bricks were added, the height of the impact point was different. Yao Yao straightened her waist slightly, exerted her full strength again, and with a roar, chopped down with her palm.
*Crack!* The first, second, and fourth bricks broke, but the third brick from the top did not. However, because Yao Yao quickly withdrew her left hand, it fell to the ground with the other shattered bricks, and the force did not rebound to injure her palm.
Yao Yao shook her hand, "It really hurts. It's indeed three bricks. Three is my limit."
Chu Qi applauded from the side, "As expected of a Ya Balala expert, to be able to estimate your maximum strength!"
"What about yours?" Yao Yao retorted.
"I'm not as good as you. Based on strength alone, I can only break two bricks," Chu Qi said with a smile, admitting defeat.
"...Based on strength alone?" I asked doubtfully. "Besides strength, don't you have internal energy? I thought you had ordinary red qi."
"Of course," Chu Qi smiled. "It's just that my internal energy is a bit different from the true qi that others cultivate. For example, you commonly cultivate the dantian and qi sea, so it can be seen by your qi-sensing techniques. But I cultivate meridians and muscles. The qi is not stored in a fixed location; it can be mobilized when needed, rather than being usable at any time."
"Inner training is breath, outer training is sinews and bones?" I guessed. With this lyric, it should be a recognized saying in the martial arts world.
Yao Yao nodded, "It's actually the difference between internal and external martial arts. External martial arts require more skill in cultivation, so it's harder to reach the realm of a master."
I still didn't quite understand, so I asked them for an example. Chu Qi made an analogy, "You know the NBA, right? Some people there have amazing jumping ability, able to jump over a meter high. If you look at their qi, it's definitely red qi. Their training methods are external martial arts – almost all athletes use this method."
"Then why don't athletes practice internal martial arts, like practicing Qinggong, so they could jump even higher?" I asked with a smile.