"Master! I have internal energy! I have my own internal energy! I succeeded!"
The second floor of the Wing Chun school erupted with a youthful shout of pure elation. Huang Liang sprang to his feet, energy vibrating off him like a barely contained storm.
His face was flushed with excitement, his fifteen-year-old mind reeling from the discovery of such an utterly extraordinary ability. He felt the faintest, warmest current centered in his lower abdomen—a feeling of power that transcended the simple, brute strength of Wing Chun.
Huang Wen watched him with a calm, paternal smile, but he quickly moved to temper the boy's feverish enthusiasm.
"Alright, alright, settle down, young Master Huang," Huang Wen said, shaking his head gently. "That wisp of energy you've cultivated is the size of a mosquito. With your current output, you probably don't have enough internal force for even one full, successful acupoint strike. You've simply established the foundation. The marathon, my boy, has only just begun."
Huang Wen had to be pragmatic. Unlike the process of cultivation from the Skill Card system, which could instantly grant Huang Wen an optimized, fully grown internal force from a figure like Bai Zhantang, Huang Liang had to start from zero.
Huang Wen had simply provided the seed and pre-widened the pathway. The vast accumulation of Nei Jin—the decades of practice that had brought Bai Zhantang's internal energy near the 'Legendary' rank—that arduous journey now belonged entirely to Huang Liang.
"Don't worry, Master! I will dedicate myself fully! I'll strengthen this internal energy as quickly as humanly possible!" Huang Liang took a deep, steadying breath, the initial childish outburst giving way to a fierce, determined glare.
"I have no doubt of your resolve," Huang Wen nodded, but his smile was knowing. 'A mosquito's worth,' he thought. Bai Zhantang himself had spent years of unceasing effort to achieve his level.
While Huang Liang's genius and the clean starting foundation were advantages, Huang Wen knew the cultivation process was inherently slow and dependent on time, physical constitution, and the quality of the technique.
He decided then and there that he needed to find an opportunity in the near future to replace Huang Liang's basic foundational technique with a superior, accelerated cultivation method. The anonymous Sunflower Sect technique was only useful as a starting point.
"One final, critical detail before you continue," Huang Wen reminded him earnestly. "When you practice this, you must find a place of absolute quiet, and you must never, under any circumstances, allow yourself to be disturbed. A single violent interruption during a major cycle could damage your meridians irrevocably."
"I understand," Huang Liang nodded seriously. Then, a thought crossed his mind—a paranoia born from the dramatic events of the past week. "Master, is there any risk of this technique being... stolen? What if someone sees me performing the circulation? Could they observe and master the skill?"
Huang Wen chuckled, walking over and placing a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder.
"No, that's impossible. Think of it like a very specialized key. Aside from the incredible difficulty in mapping and mastering the exact meridian pathways of the cultivation method—a lifetime's study in itself—the most crucial point is that this specific method can only be initiated by using internal energy of the same lineage. That is why I had to transfer the initial wisp to you, and why I haven't given you a manual. The book alone is useless without the seed. Consider it your secret, self-contained inheritance."
"Alright, go on," Huang Wen gestured toward his personal room, which was usually kept locked. "Go sit in my room. It's quiet. Start familiarizing yourself with the long, slow process of circulating your Nei Jin."
"Yes, Master!" Huang Liang nodded in relief and immediately retreated, sitting cross-legged in the center of the room, ready to begin his grueling, lifelong commitment.
As the door clicked shut, Huang Wen's gaze lingered. 'The only blessing in this concrete jungle is that the air of this world still carries faint traces of spiritual energy. Otherwise, even the best cultivation technique would be completely inert,' he mused internally. The existence of mutants and other powers proved the world was not entirely devoid of mystic potential.
"Uncle Wolf, stop staring at that box! Do you still want to learn your new kung fu?" Huang Wen shouted good-naturedly towards the living room TV.
He had walked downstairs and found Logan in an utterly surreal scene. In a strange, desperate attempt to bond with the silent, formidable Yuriko, Logan had convinced her to watch SpongeBob SquarePants. Surprisingly, the bizarre humor of the cartoon seemed to have actually captured Yuriko's rigid, programmed attention.
Logan's eyes immediately lit up. "Coming! Coming!" he barked, peeling himself away from the nautical nonsense. He tossed a quick instruction to Yuriko. "I'm going with the Teacher for a bit. Don't go anywhere. Just stay put."
"Hmph," Yuriko responded, her gaze firmly fixed on the TV screen, the subtle 'Mmm' being her only confirmation.
At that moment, Bruce Banner and John the Fireman emerged from their secluded upstairs quarters. They had been waiting for days, their anticipation mounting.
"Teacher, when do we get to—" John, the younger, more excited of the two, began.
"Yes, where are we going to train?" Bruce Banner asked, his anticipation guarded by a nervousness born of years on the run.
"Hmm, let me finish gathering the students," Huang Wen pondered aloud, then quickly changed his mind. "Wait, no. We'll leave together right now. We need a place that is absolutely isolated. Xiao Qiang, come up here for a second. Rhys, can you watch the school for me? Make sure no one interrupts young Master Huang."
"Got it, Brother Wen!" Reece replied instantly, taking up a casual but watchful position near the stairs.
"Here I come, Teacher!" Zhong Qiang, the security guard, responded, walking toward the staircase. Before he could take a second step, he, along with Huang Wen, Logan, Bruce, and John, transformed into blurs of light and vanished from the school.
When Zhong Qiang finally regained his senses, he gasped. He found himself standing in a desolate, vast wilderness. Before them stretched an enormous lake of murky water, surrounded by rocky, unforgiving terrain.
"Lake Alkali," Logan immediately recognized the place, his claws twitching involuntarily.
Huang Wen gave Logan a questioning look. He didn't understand why Logan's attention was so focused here. Huang Wen only vaguely remembered this location from a mission log and had no recollection of the cinematic catastrophe that had transpired here—the submerging of the facility and the probable drowning of Jean Grey. He certainly hadn't realized the trauma this place represented for Logan.
"Did... did something happen here? The environment feels deeply disturbed," Huang Wen muttered to himself, activating his powerful senses to scour the entire perimeter.
He searched for the energy signature of the powerful mutant female, but the lake offered nothing but stillness and the cold, damp scent of mineralized water. He could only shake his head. "No trace of any powerful residual energies. Jean Grey is long gone, wherever she is."
Huang Wen quickly refocused. "Is there any place safer than this?" he asked rhetorically, gesturing at the remote, guarded location.
"The base beneath this lake was flooded, yes, but the massive drainage system Stryker built is slowly reclaiming the ground. Once secured and repaired, it will be the perfect place for absolute seclusion—a phenomenal training facility for all of you to safely deploy your unique abilities."
He smiled at Bruce Banner. "Especially you, Doctor Banner. This site was where William Stryker conducted his mutant experiments, but rest assured, there is ample space for you to... stretch your legs without fear of collateral damage."
"Then why are we still standing here in the cold?" Logan asked, puzzled. "Why don't we just head inside?"
'Because I'm not omniscient, Uncle Wolf!' Huang Wen thought wryly, though he didn't voice it. 'I have no idea if the facility below is still a flooded tomb or not. I'm not going to teleport four people into a water prison.'
With a final, decisive thought, Huang Wen activated the next phase. The group once again dissolved into specks of light and instantly reappeared inside the vast, cavernous underground base.
The sight was apocalyptic. The base was a ruin of broken concrete and twisted metal. Puddles of varying sizes covered the floor, the smell of damp, stagnant water was overwhelming, and water still dripped and streamed from countless cracks and gaps in the ceiling. The environment was utterly hostile.
"This is unacceptable," Huang Wen declared, looking around at the wreckage. "A single remaining passage or ventilation shaft is a weakness. My training must proceed in absolute secrecy."
A thought flashed through his mind, powerful and absolute: 'Since I possess the ability to teleport freely, why would I ever need a door or a secret passage? Seal everything. Make it a vault.'
Huang Wen took a deep breath, and his entire body radiated a shimmering, golden aura. He activated the Vajra Indestructible Divine Art, channeling the vast internal energy he had accumulated. Simultaneously, he expanded his mental power, reaching out to control the immense quantities of surrounding metal and concrete embedded in the structure.
Logan's eyes widened, a primal excitement bubbling inside him. He recognized the sheer, unadulterated power—the telekinetic might that could manipulate his own adamantium cage.
This was the power Huang Wen intended to teach him. With this ability, he would finally have a way to counteract the mental dominance of Charles Xavier and, more importantly, the debilitating magnetic control of Magneto!
(Logan did not know that Magneto was currently completely neutralised and struggling to use his own powers thanks to Huang Wen's earlier counter-move, but the desire for self-defense remained the same.)
The task Huang Wen had set himself was monumental. The underground base was not just a simple bunker; it was a complex, multi-layered military facility, severely damaged and water-logged. Sealing it required delicate, powerful control over tons of debris.
Since this was Huang Wen's very first time utilizing his mental power to perform such a large-scale, intricate engineering operation, the process was slow and agonizingly taxing.
Great slabs of broken concrete were levered into place, the gaping holes in the ceiling were pressed shut, and tons of rusted metal were commanded to bend and weld themselves back together, sealing every possible entrance and ventilation pipe. Only a few specific, controlled ventilation conduits remained, filtered by layers of reinforced steel.
The grueling work took an extraordinary toll. Thirty minutes bled into forty-five. Sweat dripped down Huang Wen's brow, mixing with the grime of the base. The golden shimmer of the Divine Art flickered, and his face became visibly strained.
The Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill, in its current phase, could only be maintained for a maximum of one hour of continuous heavy use.
Huang Wen had already burned through nearly three-quarters of his accumulated internal energy simply to perform this act of structural Usurpation and repair.