67: Chapter 67 "It turns out my horse stance was wrong all along"

Dew still clung to the bluestones of the training hall as gasps of astonishment erupted one after another from the alley entrance. Over thirty people in training robes surrounded a wooden dummy, gesturing at a live stream replay on their phones. Every face looked as if it had been struck by lightning—the details of the Three-Body Stance Chen Wu taught yesterday had suddenly made them realize the Horse Stance they had practiced for over a decade was entirely wrong.

"The knees have passed the toes!" A young man wearing glasses held up a slow-motion video from the Global Martial Arts System. On the screen, Chen Wu's knees and toes formed a perfect right angle, while his own knees had long since crossed the line. "No wonder my legs hurt after squatting for just three minutes; my Foundation was crooked from the start!" The Scarface behind him was even more dramatic, bowing directly to his phone as the fat on his lower back trembled with the movement: "No wonder I always felt like I couldn't exert force—my waist never sank down!"

When Chen Wu pushed open the courtyard gate, he happened to see the Flower Girl using a bamboo pole to measure her posture. The girl's shoulder pressed against the pole as she struggled to keep her spine vertical, causing the white magnolias in her basket to spill all over the ground: "Master Chen, look, does my tailbone count as 'being like a plumb weight' this way?" Her knees were still wobbling slightly, and the Qi Energy traces on the bluestone were crooked and twisted, like a struggling little snake.

Lin Mo's tactical tablet suddenly popped up a System notification. Over twenty million users worldwide had uploaded their Horse Stance videos, requesting "Tomb Guardian Correction," causing the servers to half-paralyze due to the massive traffic. "The Special Incident Response Department sent people to maintain it," the boy said, running over with the tablet. The top comment on the screen was highlighted in red: "This post 'Turns out my ten years of Horse Stance were in vain' has been shared eight million times!"

Grandpa Wang's dry tobacco pipe tapped out a rhythm in the crowd. The old man walked behind a burly man practicing Sanda, his pipe bowl lightly touching the man's lumbar vertebrae: "This is what you call a 'Zombie Squat.' It looks stable, but in reality, your whole body is tensed up." When the burly man relaxed his hips as the old man instructed, the bluestone suddenly emitted a faint hum—his Qi Energy smoothly sank into the ground for the first time, stirring up a circle of tiny ripples. "Feel that? The Horse Stance must be alive, like a stone in water; it looks heavy, but beneath it, there are undercurrents."

The black sedan of the Special Incident Response Department parked at the end of the alley, and the Chief of the Execution Division walked over holding a strange instrument. A holographic projection on the metal stand could analyze Horse Stance data in real-time. She scanned Scarface, and the screen immediately popped up a red warning: "Center of gravity leaning forward by 3.7 cm, gluteus maximus engagement error, recommended adjustment of hip angle to 110 degrees." The instrument suddenly buzzed; it turned out Officer Zhang was also mingled in the crowd. His stance was rated by the System as the "Most Standard Police Version," with an added note: "Suitable for long-duration duty, less prone to fatigue."

Chen Wu's gaze fell upon A-Ming at the edge of the crowd. This modified human, who was in a wheelchair just yesterday, was standing today on crutches within a specialized balance frame. Sweat dripped from his chin onto the bluestone, yet he stared fixedly at the Qi Energy tracks on the ground: "My sister said my knee is off by 0.5 cm. Master Chen, could you demonstrate one more time?" His sister held up a phone to record; on the screen was the Global Martial Arts System's "Modified Human Exclusive Horse Stance Tutorial," which Chen Wu had specifically recorded in the early hours of the morning.

As Chen Wu stood firm in the center of the courtyard, cyan-gold Qi Energy suddenly wove into a 3D grid on the ground. Every node was marked with pressure values; as his center of gravity shifted slightly, the grid rippled like the surface of water: "Look, everyone, the pressure distribution of a standard Horse Stance should be like a tripod—the heel, forefoot, and knee each bear one-third." He deliberately leaned his center of gravity forward, and the node representing the knee instantly turned red. "Exceeding five seconds will damage the meniscus; this is why many people develop arthritis from training."

The live stream suddenly cut to a CT room in a hospital. Elder Zhou held up two scans for comparison: "On the left is a knee after ten years of incorrect Horse Stance, showing severe cartilage wear; on the right is one after three months of practicing according to Master Chen's method, showing significant repair effects." Doctors in the bullet comments began flooding the screen: "This is what we call 'Mechanical Rehabilitation'!" The Global Martial Arts System's point mall immediately listed "Horse Stance Correction Insoles," selling out fifty thousand pairs in ten minutes.

The most shocking demonstration came from Grandpa Wang's "Ancient and Modern Comparison." The old man had Lin Mo pull up a digital model of a Ming Dynasty martial arts manual and overlapped Chen Wu's Horse Stance with it. The skeletal angle overlap was as high as 98%: "The manual I saw in the Forbidden City in 1956 was drawn at this exact angle." He used his pipe bowl to point at the perineum of the model, "This is the true drop point of the center of gravity, not the Dantian, and certainly not the chest—so many people have been training the wrong core power point!"

Scarface suddenly let out a muffled groan. He adjusted his center of gravity as Chen Wu had instructed, and the fat on his lower back miraculously tightened. As the Qi Energy sank down along his spine, it suddenly cleared his clogged Meridians: "Master! I can feel the Qi!" His palms unconsciously moved into the starting position of the Cross-Strike, and the Qi Energy traces on the bluestone connected into a complete line for the first time. "So the reason I always felt it was stuck in my waist was that the power point was wrong!"

The Special Incident Response Department's instrument suddenly emitted a rapid alarm. Detections showed a large amount of Qi Energy fluctuations coming from the direction of an abandoned factory in the west of the city, matching the characteristics of the Gray Shadow Organization's "Instant Horse Stance"—a wicked technique that used drugs to forcibly lower the center of gravity. It could boost explosive power in the short term but would accelerate genetic collapse. "They are teaching modified humans to practice a suicidal Horse Stance!" the Director's roar came through the Section Chief's communicator. "Chen Wu, you must release the counter-method as soon as possible!"

Chen Wu's Qi Energy suddenly formed a dynamic model in the live stream. On the left was Gray Shadow's wicked Horse Stance, with the skeleton showing eerie distortions and labeled with "100% Genetic Collapse Rate in Three Months"; on the right was the standard Three-Body Stance, with cyan-gold energy flows moving through the gaps in the bones, accompanied by Elder Zhou's annotation: "Can repair minor genetic damage." When the two models were played in comparison, the Global Martial Arts System's reporting channel was instantly overwhelmed, receiving seven hundred thousand leads within two hours.

The Flower Girl's basket suddenly fell to the ground. She looked at the projection of her own Horse Stance and found her pelvic angle was off by eight degrees from the standard, which was exactly why she always felt back pain: "So it was an old injury from childbirth!" Chen Wu's Qi Energy traveled along her tailbone, gently adjusting it by two degrees. The girl suddenly cried out: "It doesn't hurt anymore! Is my ten-year postpartum ailment cured?" Mothers in the bullet comments immediately exploded, clamoring for the opening of a "Postpartum Rehabilitation Horse Stance Class."

Officer Zhang's body camera recorded an interesting scene. Several police officers who had just finished their shifts ran over to ask for advice. They converted the weight of their bulletproof vests into Horse Stance loads. With a bit of guidance from Chen Wu, they found an angle that could maintain a vigilant posture while saving energy: "This will let us stand for an extra half hour during standoffs." When the news reached the police station, "Chen's Horse Stance" was immediately added to the training subjects for the city's patrol officers, reportedly increasing police efficiency by 20%.

The afternoon teaching was interrupted by a sudden alarm. A drone from the Special Incident Response Department captured the Gray Shadow Organization holding a "Ten-Thousand-Person Instant Horse Stance Convention" in a square. The participants were all modified humans, and everyone's eyes glowed with an abnormal red light. In the live stream, their coach whipped the students: "Squat lower! The Genetic Medicine can hold it!"

"That's the 'Blood Sacrifice Horse Stance'!" Grandpa Wang's pipe almost fell to the ground. "I saw it in North China in 1943; Japanese spies used this trick to train suicide squads, and they'd be completely spent in three months!" The old man suddenly pulled open his collar, revealing a scar on his left ribs, "I was wounded by someone practicing this wicked technique, and it oozed pus for twenty years!"

Chen Wu's Qi Energy instantly connected to the global live stream System. Cyan-gold energy flows displayed a massive warning box over Gray Shadow's stream, accompanied by real-time physiological monitoring data: "Heart rate exceeds 180! Muscle lysis risk 90%!" He shouted at the camera: "Adjust your center of gravity immediately, use the Turtle Breathing Method to cool down! Remember, exert force from the heels, lift the anus and tuck the buttocks!"

The modified humans in the square hesitated but complied. As the first person shifted their center of gravity back, the red light in their eyes faded a bit, causing a domino effect through the crowd. The Gray Shadow coach stepped forward with a whip to stop them but was surrounded by the suddenly awakened modified humans—they used the standard Horse Stance they had just learned to form a defensive array, and the Qi Energy fluctuations actually forced the coach to retreat repeatedly.

The most thrilling scene happened to A-Ming's sister. The young girl discovered on the hospital surveillance that a Gray Shadow member disguised as a nurse was trying to inject other modified humans with a "Horse Stance Enhancer." She suddenly remembered the "Alarm Stance" Chen Wu had taught and deliberately stood in a messy Horse Stance with her knees two centimeters past her toes—this incorrect movement exactly triggered the Special Incident Response Department's monitoring alarm, and SWAT arrived on the scene within three minutes.

Chen Wu's teaching stream suddenly switched to a "Global Horse Stance Relay." From New York's Chinatown to martial arts halls in Paris, people of different skin tones stood before their cameras, using the standard Three-Body Stance to form a virtual human wall. The cyan-gold Qi Energy connected across continents on the screen. When the numbers surpassed one hundred million, the bronze light screen of the Global Martial Arts System suddenly lit up, popping up a holographic image of his grandfather: "In 1987, I taught the Tomb Guardians the Horse Stance in the Qinling Mountains, and I said these very words—the Righteous Path may be slow, but it can go the distance."

Grandpa Wang's tobacco pipe tapped out Morse code. On the encrypted channel of the Special Incident Response Department, the Chief of the Execution Division was deploying a roundup: "Modified humans at all Gray Shadow strongholds are adjusting their Horse Stance according to Chen Wu's method; their genetic collapse rate has dropped by 70%!" On the tactical map, green dots representing successful rescues were spreading frantically, each marked with the same note: "Self-protection successful using standard Horse Stance."

Scarface suddenly rushed into the pharmacy at the alley entrance. Using the "Emergency Horse Stance" posture Chen Wu had taught, he pressed his lower back against the edge of the counter and actually forced open the back door that had been locked by Gray Shadow spies. This thug, who was being threatened by modified humans just yesterday, was now using a standard Three-Body Stance to protect three trembling clerks, Qi Energy forming a faint barrier around him: "Don't be afraid! Follow the breathing method Master Chen taught!"

As the last ray of sunlight swept over the tiled eaves of the training hall, Chen Wu's teaching stream set a new record: the number of simultaneous online users worldwide surpassed 800 million, exceeding last year's World Cup final. The automatically generated "Horse Stance Influence Report" showed that 127 countries had already incorporated the standard Horse Stance into their primary and secondary school physical education curriculum, and the recovery rate for modified humans in the Special Incident Response Department had risen to 63%.

When A-Ming and his sister were picked up by the Special Incident Response Department's car, the young girl suddenly gave Chen Wu a standard Horse Stance bow: "The doctor said my brother can ditch his crutches next month!" A-Ming held up his "Best Progress Award" certificate issued by the Global Martial Arts System; the watermark on the certificate was exactly the crooked Qi Energy track from his first day of practice: "I'm going to frame this to tell all modified humans that the Righteous Path is more powerful than wicked arts."

Lin Mo's tablet received an invitation from the International Martial Arts Federation. They hoped Chen Wu would serve as the chairman of the "Traditional Martial Arts Standardization Committee" to incorporate Horse Stance mechanical principles into international combat rules: "Look, this is a video from a UFC champion; he says after adjusting his center of gravity according to your method, his KO rate increased by 15%." The boy suddenly pulled up a trending topic: #So the Special Forces' Combat Stance was Wrong# had been discussed five hundred million times, and the Ministry of Defense's official account was seeking Chen Wu's opinion.

Grandpa Wang distributed newly carved peace locks to everyone. Each lock piece was engraved with the mechanical parameters of the Horse Stance, and a new strand of tobacco was tucked into the old man's pipe: "In 1950, I taught the soldiers this, and they said they could hold a bayonet for an extra half hour." He looked at the crowd still practicing extra in the alley and suddenly smiled at Chen Wu, "Your grandfather always said the Foundation of traditional martial arts isn't how well you can fight, but how well you can stand—if you stand firm, no one can push you down."

The Chief of the Execution Division's encrypted message carried a bronze-colored warmth. The Director had approved the "National Horse Stance Plan," and the Special Incident Response Department would install intelligent correction devices in communities, with data directly linked to the Global Martial Arts System: "Those rescued modified humans want to establish a 'Horse Stance Mutual Aid Association' and want you to be the honorary president." At the end of the message was a photo of the head of the Gray Shadow Organization in an interrogation room—this genetic expert, who once mocked traditional martial arts as "flowery showmanship," was now standing against the wall in a standard Three-Body Stance. It was said this was his own requested "way of repentance."

Chen Wu stood on the bluestone, watching his own Qi Energy tracks overlap with those of countless others. From the Flower Girl's flower-scented Horse Stance to Officer Zhang's upright police version, and then to A-Ming's struggling but determined tracks, these different imprints formed a complete pattern under the moonlight, like a constantly blooming lotus. He suddenly understood that correcting a wrong Horse Stance was actually reshaping everyone's Foundation—not just the physical Foundation, but the Foundation of belief.

Just like the current homepage recommendation of the Global Martial Arts System, it wasn't a collection of thrilling fights, but a cross-border group photo: an old man from China, a policeman from America, a child from Africa, the modified human siblings... everyone was standing in a standard Three-Body Stance, with the same sentence written in different languages in the background: "It turns out a correct Horse Stance can make the world stand more steadily."

When the bronze lock of the training hall clicked shut, the alley still echoed with the sound of rhythmic breathing. Those who only today realized "the Horse Stance was wrong" were using new postures to lay the most solid Foundation for themselves, for their families, and for this world once shrouded in the shadow of the Gray Shadow—this perhaps is the most moving power of traditional martial arts: not using fists to conquer anyone, but using the correct posture to teach everyone how to stand firm.