Eric Turner's lifelong dream had always been to become a chivalrous hero, so naturally, from a young age, he had looked up many books and materials about martial arts, internal energy, and inner strength. But to his disappointment, almost all real-world sources denied the existence of inner strength. Although there were indeed real martial arts, they were nothing more than training the body—training the skin, the flesh, the tendons, the bones. When physical training reached the level of penetrating the bones and blood, that person would already be a grandmaster in reality. And because the true secrets of internal energy and inner strength were never obtained, real-world martial arts described inner strength as "hidden force," which was not true inner strength at all.

(That's right, inner strength is energy, while "obvious force" and "hidden force" are physical powers, the manifestation of strength produced after physical training. These are completely different types...)

With the help of the Investiture of the Gods, Eric Turner skipped decades of physical training in one leap and directly sensed the flow of energy in his blood. He went even further, feeling the consumption of heat emitted by his body and the energy transported within. At this point, the most difficult step in cultivating internal energy had already been completed by him, and he felt extremely fortunate. He quickly followed the cultivation method of the "Sovereign of the Eight Desolations and Six Directions" technique, circulating the sensed energy through his body in a certain pattern. At first, it felt a bit awkward, but now he could completely sense the existence of this energy, as if seeing an object with his own eyes and then reaching out to touch it. Although his finger movements were still a bit clumsy, the energy actually began to move slowly according to his will. After several cycles, a portion of the energy that should have been consumed and dissipated was actually retained, and the quality of the energy improved even further—condensed many times over compared to the previous thin energy. Although it was only a tiny wisp, this new energy now truly existed in his dantian.

The new energy did not dissipate. On the contrary, it naturally controlled the consumption and dissipation of energy within his body, slowly circulating according to the previous pattern. Strands of new energy were continuously produced, gradually filling his dantian. He didn't know how much time had passed until Eric Turner's stomach started to growl with hunger, and he was jolted out of this nearly introspective state. Suddenly, the feeling of inner vision disappeared. Except for the new wisp of energy inside him, which he could still sense, everything else felt like a dream.

Eric Turner was startled. He quickly tried to sense the new energy within his body. Fortunately, this new energy still responded to his will and continued to circulate according to that pattern, not ceasing to obey him just because the inner vision state had vanished. This new energy felt just like his own body—he could sense it completely.

"Luckily, the inner strength I cultivated hasn't gone out of control... Now I understand why inner strength needs to be circulated in a certain pattern. This pattern includes the heart, stomach, large intestine, liver, and many other organs. These organs are the body's major energy consumers—the more they consume, the more extra energy is lost. So-called inner strength is actually the condensation of energy that would otherwise be lost within the body, and the circulation pattern of inner strength is the route for condensing this energy... So that's how it is."

A sudden realization dawned on Eric Turner, and he suddenly thought of another question. Since inner strength and internal energy truly exist and can be explained scientifically, then in even more ancient times, in the legendary era of immortals who could kill with flying swords and soar through the air—those cultivation methods even more fascinating than inner strength—could they also truly exist? And could they also be explained by science?

Thinking of this, Eric Turner's curiosity was truly unstoppable. But unfortunately, there were no more karma points left on the Investiture of the Gods. Even if he wanted to know all this, there was nothing he could do. And now that he thought about it, earlier he had gone over three thousand karma points into the negative on the Investiture of the Gods just to quickly gain qi sense. Why did the karma points suddenly become zero? Could it be that karma points could be used in the negative like a credit card? If that's really the case, what would happen if he didn't pay back the karma points on time...?

As Eric Turner thought of this, he stood up. His stomach was truly starving, and looking out the window, he saw that it was already completely dark. Who knew how much time had passed while he was condensing inner strength? It was too late to cook now, so he might as well treat himself to a nice meal outside for once, as a reward for gaining inner strength and getting one step closer to his dream.

With this in mind, Eric Turner headed to the bathroom. He was covered in foul-smelling sweat—perhaps the toxins expelled from his body after condensing inner strength. In any case, the smell was truly unbearable. He planned to take a shower before going out to eat. Conveniently, he entered the bathroom, took off his clothes, and stepped into the bathtub. Water sprayed down from above, bringing a cool but not cold sensation. Just as he was rubbing shampoo into a head full of lather, the plastic shower curtain suddenly fell with a swish—the rope holding the curtain snapped in the middle, and with a soft snap, the broken rope whipped toward Eric Turner.