--

’Did you do your stretches properly? If not, stop and do them again.’

’Have you stretched today, sweetheart? ’

’Always remember to warm up with stretches before practice and cool down with stretches after practice.’

’Do your stretches. Do them very well, and you eliminate at least 90% of the risk of injuries during your practice.’

’Stretch in the morning. Stretch after lunch and stretch before you sleep, just in case.’

Stretches, stretches, and more stretches...

In the whole 16-plus years that Ren had lived in this world, he had heard the word ’stretching’ and all of its tenses and adjectives probably millions of times at this point.

Okay, that might be an exaggeration. The point is, he has heard it so much that he has grown tired of hearing it.

But regardless of whether he’s truly tired of it or not, he still has to do them, and he has to do them well each time, because everything they saw about it was true.

Even back on earth, athletes are always told to do their stretches properly. In fact, some of them pay more attention to their stretches more than their actual exercises. And there is a very good reason for that.

It’s not so different here. In fact, the importance of a proper warm-up and cooldown stretches had more emphasis here because of how demanding martial arts practice was to one’s physique.

Even if you had a Sacred or Mythic Grade Martial Physique, you still have to do your stretches. There’s no escaping this.

Stretching had become some sort of an art form in this world. Some even use them in place of meditations. The wonders it does to the body of a martial artist are nothing short of miraculous for something so...mundane.

It’s for these reasons that you hear it a lot here. It’s being said everywhere. Everybody’s being reminded of it at every possible moment.

If someone were to tell Ren that this turns out to be propaganda by the government, he’d probably believe it. And it’s not the bad kind of propaganda either. There were countless proofs and experiments that revealed the value of stretching. There are so many that they’re practically impossible to refute.

And honestly, Ren wasn’t really surprised. The original story went on pages upon pages explaining how ’stretching’ was so important to the life of a martial artist. The author droned on and on about it, as if he were trying to indirectly reveal something about himself through his storytelling.

But, enough about all this...

The reason why Ren set his sights upon stretching was because of its immense impact on the martial world. And he had this incredible idea.

An idea that he had thought even before he got transmigrated to this world.

In his previous life, Ren had a penchant for skimming through novels. Mainly fantasy and chinese novels. He had a particular attraction towards the Chinese martial arts and/or immortal cultivation novels.

Actually, this very world he’s in now was heavily inspired by that genre. And because of that, he thought of something that’s potentially life-changing.

What if he took inspiration from the life-preservation techniques he had read about in immortal cultivation novels and applied the concept in this world?

The techniques he’s referring to are the ones that prolong or extend the practitioner’s lifespan. It usually had add-ons like life-saving energy that could only be triggered when the practitioner’s life was on the line or a veil of energy that hid their actual cultivation level. It could even have something that allows them to maintain their youthful looks and glow. Others even had effects like restoring their reproductive ability, allowing really old practitioners to have more descendants again.

At first, Ren dismissed the idea. He thought that he was thinking too highly of himself. The rules of martial arts in this world from those he read online were completely and vastly different.

He didn’t think that his idea had merits or that it was even possible. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

But recently, he changed his mind.

Ren hadn’t been idle since he began his martial practice. He practically read everything available in the clan’s library. Sure, he hasn’t gone to the upper floors of the Martial Hall yet, but the upper floors only contained high-level martial arts. They offer no random knowledge; all of those were located on the 2nd floor and below, ones that Ren already cleared.

He had also referred to online forums and discussion platforms. Ones that weren’t scams. Ones that actually had notable theoreticians, professors, trainers, etc. sharing bits and pieces of their knowledge with the public.

These sites are rich with information. Sure, most of them clashed with each other, but perspectives matter more to Ren than definite results. He valued these people’s train of thought. This isn’t to say that he doesn’t think too highly of their research. He does, but most of them are just theories, ones that hardly anybody’s willing to stake their futures for.

From these sources, he learned more about martial arts than all the years he spent studying at the prep school. Well, to be fair, the prep school’s jon was to only prepare children to enter the dangerous world of martial arts. Once the children are out of their gates, they’re on their own.

But after gathering enough theory and reading through several posts and pondering over concepts for the span of many nights, Ren slowly but steadily built something that might just work.

Ren wasn’t aiming for a miracle. That was never the point. He didn’t even think, nor was he willing to entertain the idea of making a miracle.

He’s not thinking of creating a life-preservation martial art that would extend someone’s lifespan. Certainly not something that could restore someone’s youthful glow or reinvigorate their reproductive abilities. Hell, it might not even be able to hide someone’s chakra fluctuations at all.

Those were the kind of miracles that Ren was thinking about. He can’t do them. Not even with his Unparalleled Comprehension cheat...at least, not for now.

What Ren actually wanted to create was an actual ’life-preserving’ martial art.

One that could generate a gentle, warm, and slow-healing chakra through the use of mundane stretches, one that was similar to yoga or Pilates.

The emphasis was on the ease of how to practice. Really, all one has to do to learn and use this technique is to follow a set of stretches, you know, the very same thing that everybody and their mothers tell everybody to do every single day and every time in their martial practice?

Yeah, those.

In this world, martial arts are motion. If you’re not moving, you’re not practicing martial arts. And if you’re not practicing martial arts, you’re dead. That’s the simple and fundamental truth of this world.

Through the simple, slow, and deliberate stretches, Ren aimed to make a chakra conversion formula that would create a unique chakra signature that is warm, gentle, and soothing and could slowly but persistently heal the practitioner’s body, even those injuries that had been deeply entrenched in their physique.

A gentle healing chakra that would slowly but surely, very persistently, scrub away at those injuries until they’re healed and restored to how they should be.

But to make something like this was obviously going to be a challenge. Some things had to give way. In exchange for this slow but very persistent healing, Ren sacrificed volume or intensity.

He can’t make something that others could use to convert all of their chakra just to heal and restore their bodies. They could only convert a certain amount of it every day. Which wasn’t already bad given how easy it is to practice this.

So long as they dedicate a few minutes of their everyday to practicing this technique, which isn’t difficult at all because this technique could already replace their usual stretches, then eventually every injury they have or had will be healed and restored.

It’s slow, yes, but it’s very persistent. This technique had the potential to heal even the most troublesome injuries that no healer could reach.

Of course, it can’t magically regenerate limbs or bring back someone who’s already half-dead. The most it could do is to keep them stable and functioning until a real and proper healer finally arrives.

Like what was mentioned earlier, Ren wasn’t aiming for a miracle. He never even entertained the idea.

He wanted to make something useful. Something that actually ’preserves’ the life of the practitioner. One that they could have simply by diligently doing their stretches every day.

Most importantly, he wanted to make something that would keep martial artists healthy. Since a martial artist’s whole foundation was their body, taking care of their physique was paramount to their career.

The slow but persistent healing chakra that Ren’s creation would bring, although not huge, explosive, or miraculous, was aleast stable, consistent, and permanent.

Its potential value was immense.

And most importantly, this technique won’t compete with their actual martial arts. It won’t force them to develop a bias. It won’t stain their chakra. It won’t have any harsh side effects.

Even somebody who’s practicing the most self-destructive and violent martial art could practice this technique, and they won’t have to be afraid of getting weakened.

There are only benefits to this technique; its downsides are almost negligible, really.

And to commemorate this inspiration, Ren decided to name this technique the

[Green Lotus Core Technique]