A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 2: Round Pile

After Zhao Mu handed his weapon to Duan Rong, he stretched and walked to the weapon rack, picking up a useless sword.

Zhao Mu stood in front of everyone, made a sword flower with his right hand, and said, "I will practice this move of antelope offering food for you two more times. Watch it carefully!"

Zhao Mu first performed a quick fight, with his legs jumping and his sword flipping, his movements were as smooth as flowing water, and seemed to have some familiar rhythm. The disciples who were watching were immediately jealous.

"Alright!"

Zhao Mu shouted again, then performed it slowly again, explaining the key points of the movements while performing.

"Step forward with your right foot and land in front of your left foot, then lift your left foot and kick forward!"

"At the same time, swing the knife in your right hand from the front to the lower right, draw an arc, and then lift it forward, with the blade facing upward and the tip of the knife forward!"

"..."

Zhao Mu finished his drill and explained, then turned his head and looked at the confused disciples. He cleared his throat and coughed, then said, "Come on, do it twice, let me see."

After Zhao Mu finished speaking, a group of disciples began to gather around the weapon rack and draw their swords.

Zhao Mu turned around and looked towards the gate, only to see Duan Rong sitting there blankly. Zhao Mu walked a few steps closer and called out, "Boy, have you wiped your knife?"

Duan Rong was stunned for a moment, then raised his head, his eyes seemed to be out of focus, staring blankly at Zhao Mu.

Zhao Mu wanted to get angry. He thought Duan Rong was unhappy about asking him to wipe the knife, so he made such a dull expression on purpose to tease him.

But at this time, Duan Rong seemed to have reacted. Although his eyes were still a little dull, he stood up, put the knife in his hand into the scabbard, held it in both hands, and presented it to Zhao Mu.

Seeing Duan Rong like this, Zhao Mu's anger subsided. He took the knife and put the useless knife in Duan Rong's hand, saying angrily, "Return to the team!"

Duan Rong looked up at the broken knife in his hands. It seemed like it took him a while to react. He held the broken knife and stood back among the crowd of errand disciples.

Zhao Mu looked at Duan Rong's bewildered look and murmured, "Could it be that he had a fever a few days ago and became stupid?"

Duan Rong stood at the end of the team, just standing there blankly. He did not start practicing with the sword like the other chores disciples.

Today is the second day that Zhao Mu has been teaching the antelope how to offer food.

These menial disciples were not stupid and could perform the moves by following the same pattern, but there were only three of them who could really perform them in a fun way: Kong Bin, Li Chong and Zhang Zheng.

After a few days of teaching these menial disciples, Zhao Mu noticed these three people. Among the three, Kong Bin had the best physique and practiced the moves most well, while Li Chong and Zhang Zheng were second and evenly matched.

Zhao Mu only focused on instructing these three people and corrected their subtle movements, while he just glanced at the others.

After everyone finished practicing, Zhao Mu said in a deep voice, "Alright. Go down and practice carefully. Practice makes perfect!"

"Now, everyone, stand still! Since ancient times, you must stand still before practicing boxing!"

"If you don't stand properly, your hands and feet won't be able to generate strength! Without strength in your hands, no matter how good your routine is, it will just be a show and useless!"

All the errand disciples placed their knives at their feet and began to stand in a stance.

The standing practice that Zhao Mu taught these menial disciples was an ancient standing practice called the Hunyuan Standing!
Stand with your feet in a lunge position, hold your hands in front of your chest, and slightly spread your fingers!

When standing in a stance, you need to prepare five bows in your body, namely: body bow, left and right arm bow, left and right leg bow.

The five bows are mainly body bow, with arm bow and leg bow as auxiliary. One body has five bows, and the five bows are combined into one, forming a coordinated and unified whole strength.

Except for Duan Rong who stood there with his sword in hand, without moving, all the other errand disciples stood up.

Zhao Mu continued to only instruct Kong Bin, Li Chong and Zhang Zheng, patted their shoulders and elbows, and adjusted their standing postures.

The other chores disciples were so jealous!
After Zhao Mu finished instructing the three people in the standing meditation, he tucked the oxtail knife in his arms and left without looking back.

The time he spent instructing these menial disciples in their training was only half an incense stick. And Zhao Mu never looked at Duan Rong again from beginning to end.

Duan Rong seemed to be standing there stupidly, but actually his mind was very clear, or rather, he could clearly sense that his brain was becoming dull.

It seemed as if there was a mass of "something" stuffed in my brain, making it so swollen that it couldn't function, just like when one has a full stomach and finds it inconvenient to exercise.

The afterglow of the setting sun poured into the courtyard, illuminating the faces of the menial disciples, who were sweating profusely and had bulging veins.

Some people clenched their teeth and puffed up their cheeks, just trying to hold on to their last breath.

The reason why standing still can generate energy is that it consumes a lot of energy.

When you practice boxing or even fight with someone, muscles from all over your body are mobilized in turn.

If you move in turns, you can take turns to rest, but standing still requires all the muscles in the body to work together, and the energy consumption suddenly increases several times.

However, after only half an incense stick of time, some people could no longer hold on. As their energy was exhausted, their muscles began to ache all over their bodies. After they stretched their bodies, they became limp and could no longer stand.

A few scattered disciples looked at him with envy. Kong Bin, Li Chong and Zhang Zheng shook their heads and sighed, then left the yard with gloomy expressions.

In the midst of the remaining red, one could faintly see a faint heat rising from Kong Bin, Li Chong and Zhang Zheng.

The more standard the posture, the greater the energy consumption. The standing postures of the three of them were adjusted by Zhao Mu himself, and the energy consumption was also the greatest among all the menial disciples, but the three of them could usually hold on to the end.

Seeing people leaving the courtyard one after another, Duan Rong, although slow to react, finally reacted and followed the crowd out.

These menial disciples were all in low spirits, had no desire to chat, and just walked along in silence.

I'm afraid that some of these people will be absent from tomorrow's martial arts training.

These errand disciples walked to the kitchen of the servants' courtyard and began to receive their dinner.

When Duan Rong smelled the fragrance of the food, he suddenly felt hungry. He lined up in the queue and received a bowl of cabbage soup and two cornmeal steamed buns.

Duan Rong ate up all the soup and steamed bread before staggering to where they usually slept.

At this time, it was just getting dark and there was no one on the big bunk bed. Duan Rong lay down directly and fell asleep.

He felt that the "something" in his brain was slowly melting like ice and melting into his soul.

In a remote courtyard not far from Yuanshun Escort Agency.

After dinner, Zhao Mu washed his body with the well water in the yard, then picked up the oxtail knife with his upper body naked.

Zhao Mu's routine was to practice martial arts every night, doing a few routines and standing in a stance for an hour.

He was able to advance from a menial disciple to an apprentice and now a trainee escort. In addition to some talent, diligence is an indispensable quality.

Zhao Mu grabbed the oxtail knife and performed a few moves. Suddenly, he stopped suspiciously and looked at the oxtail knife in his hand in the dim light from the door.

He has been using this knife since he became an apprentice, for two or three years, and he has developed quite an attachment to it.

Even over the past six months, I have felt a faint sense of resonance between man and knife as soon as I started using it.

But tonight, this feeling suddenly disappeared...

"Yes, it's my knife!" Zhao Mu looked at the blade that was shining coldly under the light with a strange look in his eyes.

He weighed the knife in his hand, waved it a few times, and muttered, "What's going on? It doesn't feel smooth at all... It feels like I'm holding a new knife..."

(End of this chapter)