Days passed, and the manuscript Zhou Yuanjue was writing grew ever longer.

This time, the treatise within his manuscript was exceptionally detailed. He started from the fundamentals of the Martial Dao, drawing conclusions from his own experiences and countless case studies.

He posited that from its very inception, the Martial Dao was a process of battling instinct to ultimately gain control over the body.

The first stage of the Martial Dao is Outer Cultivation, which is the honing of External Skills. The daily practice of standing stances, physical conditioning, and practicing forms and routines certainly has the objective of strengthening the physique. However, its deeper purpose is actually to temper the will, train one’s control over the body’s muscles, joints, and ligaments, and battle the body’s instincts—its preference for comfort and its fear of pain, fatigue, and so on.

When Outer Cultivation reaches a certain level, a Martial Artist naturally enters the next stage: Inner Cultivation. This involves practicing breathing techniques, training the heart, lungs, and five viscera, and even circulating qi and blood. They learn to mobilize the body’s fundamental Energy to fortify themselves, rapidly increasing their physical strength until they finally reach the realm of Mastery of Fist Techniques, possessing Power far beyond that of an ordinary person.

For an ordinary person, controlling their internal organs, let alone circulating their qi and blood, is utterly impossible—like something out of a fairy tale. But why can Martial Artists achieve this? It’s because Outer Cultivation lays the foundation for them, forging a powerful Spirit and allowing them to overcome some of the body’s instincts.

The internal organs are of paramount importance to the human body and operate solely according to the inherent laws of instinct. This is a form of self-preservation. Only those with a powerful Spirit can slightly intervene in this instinctive operation to make the body even stronger.

After Inner Cultivation comes the realm of Holy and Bright, where one’s Heart’s Desire Bursting Forth. To a certain extent, this allows the Heart Intent to merge with the body, emitting a Life Magnetic Field that can influence others. In reality, this so-called fusion of Heart Intent and body is just a mystical concept. At its core, it is still a process of the Spirit suppressing instinct.

The human body possesses a self-preservation instinct that protects it from external magnetic fields. After achieving Mastery of Fist Techniques, a Martial Artist’s Spirit becomes even stronger, allowing them to slightly disable a small part of this instinct. This enables them to emit a certain Life Magnetic Field, albeit one that is too faint to be observed by the material world and can generally only influence another person’s Spirit.

The subsequent stage, Awaken and Guard It, is a process of continuously strengthening the Spirit to unlock more "permissions" over one’s instinctive magnetic field.

Here, Zhou Yuanjue used himself as an example to illustrate this point.

Before reaching Saint Awakening, he had practiced the Hundred Acupoints Returning to Origin Technique, merging his will with his Acupoints. In doing so, he awakened a certain ability similar to a Celestial Eye, which allowed him to perceive the "Glazed Jade Color" of the human body.

At that time, in his eyes, an ordinary person’s body was a murky cloud.

For a Martial Artist in the Outer Cultivation realm, this murkiness had somewhat receded.

For someone in Inner Cultivation, the murkiness gradually faded, and by the stage of Mastery of Fist Techniques, their body was completely clear.

And upon reaching the Holy and Bright realm, the body would begin to radiate "Glazed Jade Light" to a certain degree.

During the process of Guardian Dao, this Glazed Jade Light would grow increasingly intense. When it completely permeated every part of the body, leaving no blind spots, that was the moment the human body broke through its limits and achieved Saint Awakening.

This Glazed Jade Light was, in fact, the physical manifestation of the Spirit suppressing the body’s self-preservation instinct regarding its magnetic field.

In the process of suffusing his entire body with the Glazed Jade Light, what left the deepest impression on Zhou Yuanjue was the Niwan Palace at the center of his brow.

Regardless of the Secret Technique, the final step before reaching Saint Awakening had one thing in common.

The most difficult part to "ignite" was always the Niwan Palace.

For this reason, within mystical concepts, it is known as the "Life and Death Mysterious Gate."

Throughout countless ages, this barrier has stumped an unknown number of prodigious talents. Since ancient times, there has been no specific method to break through this pass. The methods passed down in ancient texts are often summarized with vague phrases like "between life and death," "forging ahead with no return," or "inverting life and death." They are called methods, but in reality, they are merely summaries of the experiences of those who came before. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

But everyone’s breakthrough experience is vastly different, and no one can say how useful that prior experience truly is. Consequently, countless people have gone down the wrong path.

This was the most critical juncture.

Writing up to this point, Zhou Yuanjue couldn’t help but pause his brush and begin to think.

He couldn’t write from the perspective of personal experience, as that would only represent his individual circumstances.

However, his personal experience could offer him inspiration.

He closed his eyes again, recalling the scene of his own breakthrough, while also reviewing the many scenes and Data from the Secret Inspection Bureau detailing the breakthroughs of other Saint Awakening practitioners.

’If I frame this barrier within the system of instinct, it seems an explanation can be found.’

The Niwan Palace represents the human brain, the seat of the mind.

And the brain and the mind are the areas least understood by humanity today.

Suddenly, Zhou Yuanjue’s expression flickered, and he opened his eyes.

’The brain is the central hub of the body, the repository of consciousness. Because of this, we often habitually assume the brain is the most "rational" organ in our body.’

’But in reality, the brain conceals the most voracious instincts. It is also the organ most difficult for our self-will to control.’

’That profound Niwan Palace represents the brain’s endless instincts.’

’So, how did I conquer the brain’s instincts back then?’

Zhou Yuanjue did his best to recall the moment of his breakthrough, reconstructing how he had felt at the time.

Under the impact of Tang Chen’s heroic self-sacrifice, the intense shock of the scene had instantly elevated his Spirit. The image seemed to freeze in time, and everything around him came to a standstill.

His mind was profoundly shaken, yet his brain and body were incredibly calm. If a brainwave monitor had been present, it would have likely shown his brainwaves approaching zero in that instant.

It was an ethereal state, like the one that exists between life and death.

A kind of Nirvana.

For a single moment, his brain died or shut down, but his consciousness was exceptionally clear. In that instant, he ignited the Niwan Palace and broke the final magnetic shackle set by his brain.

He picked up his brush and continued to write:

"The brain also possesses instincts that we normally find difficult to perceive. Suppressing these instincts is the key to breaking through to Saint Awakening."

"Based on my personal experience, there are several currently viable methods for suppressing the brain’s instincts."

"One: Intense spiritual stimulation to force the brain into a temporary shutdown state. During this time, emotion and Spirit, in a state of inertial expansion, can maintain magnetic Control Power for a moment. Use this window to apply a reverse stimulus and thereby release the brain’s magnetic shackles."

"Two: A state akin to Nirvana. This might be achieved through repeated attempts to make brainwave fluctuations gradually approach zero, while trying to maintain a form of inertial cognition during the process, thereby releasing the brain’s magnetic shackles."

"More possibilities for breakthroughs will require extensive discussion, research, and experimentation from everyone."

Finally, Zhou Yuanjue offered two feasible options based on his own experience, hoping they would serve as a starting point to encourage more discussion.

After all, his abilities were limited, and he never intended to be completely exhaustive in this work.

But as long as he provided a general framework and direction, he believed that the world’s great minds would fill in the details in the shortest possible time. They might even summarize a method for suppressing the brain’s instincts that was more practical than his own. This was the very reason for the existence of the Donghua Martial Arts University and the soon-to-be-established Human Life Research Committee.

Having finished writing the main text, Zhou Yuanjue slowly exhaled. He had not described the parts after Saint Awakening in great detail, as they fell outside the scope of the framework he intended to establish this time.

He closed the thick volume of Data he had worked on day and night. He believed this framework was enough to inspire the world. Next, he would hand this Data over to Ning Muqing to be organized into a proper document.

He looked at the blank cover of the Data, mused for a moment, and then, with a flourish of his large hand, the title of this book—which would become renowned in later generations—appeared on the paper:

Instinct Theory.