Destiny is ashes

Chapter 7 Formal Training
Without any notice, one morning, when the instructor was supposed to lead everyone in martial arts practice, it suddenly turned into the lecturer giving a lecture in the hall.

This lecture has nothing to do with the Huangtian Sutra that everyone has recited in the past. They are talking about some very practical training techniques.

For example: breathing methods that save energy; using the correct muscles to exert force; techniques to protect joints. And so on.

Most people were a little confused. They had all experienced the long escape from the northern border and had their own set of ideas about how to save energy and protect themselves.

What does it mean that Xuanmingzhuang teaches these most basic skills so seriously?
——What does it mean? It means the good days are over!

Only a small number of people, including An Jing, became alert, knowing that this was a signal - An Jing carefully wrote down all the skills taught by the instructor. It didn't matter even if he had learned them before. There was always something to learn by checking and filling in the gaps.

That afternoon, everyone, including An Jing, experienced the power of "formal training".

The one-eyed instructor was leading the team today: "We at Xuanming Manor have always upheld the creed of selecting the best from the best, and the formal disciples we grant inheritance to are more about quality than quantity. Physical strength and endurance are the foundation of our martial arts, so it is very important to conduct a complete physical training to test everyone's limits."

"Now, let's go up and down the mountain ten times."

After he finished speaking, he took the lead and ran in front of the team. As the default leader of the team, An Jing could only follow.

Now, he finally understood that the relaxation in the previous half month was just to allow these disciples to recover physically, nourish their spirits, and cultivate their initial sense of community.

In essence, it is to lay the foundation so that you don’t urinate blood when you practice, or die suddenly when you increase the intensity!

To be honest, most of the sons of disaster who had experienced the frost disaster and were specially selected by Xuanming Manor had good talents, strong endurance and will, and definitely strong physical strength.

The half-month rest did not reduce their physical strength, on the contrary, it greatly enhanced it.

The physical fitness of these carefully selected boys and girls even exceeds that of ordinary adults.

But Xuanmingzhuang is located between mountains, and the slope of the road going up and down the mountain is about twelve to twenty degrees, and in some places it is even so high that it is almost steep.

The round trip mountain road is more than five miles long and is extremely rugged.

It's so difficult, and you have to run ten times back and forth...the intensity is a bit exaggerated no matter how you think about it.

More importantly, they must run at the instructor's pace and cannot slow down, as they will fall behind.

Sure enough, before four rounds, some people had already slowed down or even fell behind and could not run anymore.

After six or seven rounds, more than half of the people lay down.

"The passing standard for the test is probably to be able to run half the distance, right?"

An Jing still had a lot of energy left at this time.

After all, he had learned martial arts, so walking fifty miles on the mountain road was at most tiring. The breathing method and skills he had mastered were enough to make him persevere more easily than others. He even had the heart to look back and observe those "potential" companions.

At this glance, he saw several familiar faces.

First, there were two people who shared a dormitory with An Jing, one was Zhang Ying and the other was Ye Xiuyuan.

Zhang Ying's family used to be hunters in the mountains. He followed his parents in the mountains since he was a child, so he had good physical strength. Although he looked out of breath, his steps were still quite steady. He was quite simple and was not convinced by An Jing's identity as the "senior brother" and "leader". On the second day of coming to the manor, he challenged An Jing to a strength contest. After An Jing pressed him with one hand and almost made him kneel down, he recognized him as his elder brother and followed An Jing all the time.

Ye Xiuyuan's family was once a family of poetry and literature. He has a rather gloomy personality, but he is very smart.

An Jing knew that Zhang Ying had talked to a group of people before coming to challenge him to a competition of strength, and the leader of that group was Ye Xiuyuan.

After testing with Zhang Ying, Ye Xiuyuan directly acknowledged An Jing as the boss. If he had not often taken the lead in expressing that everything would be done according to An Jing, the "big brother", and served as a support to highlight An Jing's authority, An Jing might not have been able to sit firmly in the position of the "senior brother" so easily.

Ye Xiuyuan's physical strength was not very good, and his body was quite thin after recuperating for half a month, but he carefully wrote down all the skills taught by the instructor. He kept trying them out before and after lunch, and he actually persisted and followed An Jing.

In addition to these two, there was another girl following An Jing.

Her name was Gu Yeqi, and she was from An Jing's hometown, and she was the one who was cured of frostbite. She was one year younger than An Jing, and she had seen An Jing bargaining with the one-eyed teacher and selling his body for his mother. She admired him very much and followed him in everything.

Gu Yeqi's family used to be a large family. The entire family served a medicine shop and had a set of family martial arts. Although they were not strong, their foundation was solid. Like Zhang Ying, although his breathing was unstable, he could still hold on.

Noticing An Jing's gaze, she smiled widely.

Of these three people, Ye Xiuyuan's eyes rolled back and he passed out when he ran the seventh and a half rounds, while Gu Yeqi managed to run almost to the ninth round. If Zhang Ying hadn't tripped herself, she could have finished the race with An Jing, but falling down at this point was basically the same as passing out.

At this moment, they completely understood why Zhuang Ming was in danger.

After an hour, out of more than 200 people, only fourteen were still standing after completing the course.

"so much?"

The one-eyed instructor was also quite surprised. His running speed was not slow, and he even accelerated later. In less than an hour, he ran more than 50 miles of mountain roads, half of which was uphill and half was downhill. This speed and difficulty were definitely beyond the limits of ordinary people in Dachen.

Only truly 'special' children can complete the race.

He couldn't help but laugh. "You guys are really talented. Most of you have completed half the race, and there are still fourteen who still have energy left. The number of disciples from the past ten years combined is not as high as yours this time."

But then, he was quite troubled and asked: "How can we choose the best team leader?"

As soon as these words came out, An Jing stood still, his brows slightly raised, with a subtle expression, but the other thirteen boys and girls who had completed the whole process all turned their heads and focused their eyes on him.

The one-eyed instructor also looked at An Jing, his lips curled up, and he waved his hand and said, "Continue! Go back to the village and lift the stone lock two hundred times!"

The three men fell down after lifting the stone lock, but there were still two hundred long stick dances, two hundred horse stance punches, and two hundred squats with the stone lock... Before falling down, An Jing fell into deep thought: "Will I have to practice this every day in the future?"

Even he felt a little panic when faced with this primitive training method which was even more terrifying than modern leg training.

But soon, An Jing had no time to think about these things.

Because on the third day, a total of ten people applied to challenge An Jing's position as the 'senior brother'.

(End of this chapter)