The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 94 Martial Arts Teaching
The next morning, Wu Chengyu got up early to practice. He was no longer practicing the ox and horse stance, nor the various unique skills he had collected, but a set of basic Taoist guiding exercises, somewhat similar to the Vajra Longevity Exercise.

It has no power whatsoever; it can only slowly loosen up the muscles and bones that have been dormant all night. In addition, it has the effect of calming the mind and spirit. Half a year ago, his martial arts had reached a stagnation stage, and it would be extremely difficult to take another step forward.

Coupled with his inability to apply the Taoist scriptures effectively, Wu Chengyu became extremely frustrated. In desperation, he began wandering around various Taoist temples in Suzhou, seeking answers and solutions from the old Taoist priests. He even donated a considerable amount of money to these temples for this purpose.

Unfortunately, it was no different from before. Each Taoist priest spoke of the Taoist scriptures in a cryptic and confusing way, each holding their own opinion, which only made Wu Chengyu more confused.

Only one old, unrecognizable Taoist priest said nothing, but taught him a set of guiding exercises and told him to go home and practice them, saying that by calming his mind and spirit, he would naturally understand the true meaning.

Several months passed, and Wu Chengyu still didn't understand the true meaning. Every morning when he got up, he would start his morning exercise with this guiding technique. There was no immediate effect, but it did bring peace of mind after he finished practicing it.

After he finished performing a set of guiding exercises, A-Ku finally finished her work. Every morning, her morning exercise consisted of various housework, such as sweeping, mopping, and washing clothes. She did these things with great enthusiasm and interest, and she wouldn't go anywhere until she finished them.

Ah Ku has been persistently demonstrating her presence, or rather, her necessity, in this family. It's impossible to stop her from doing it, and hiring outsiders to manage things is also strictly prohibited.

Whenever this matter is mentioned, A-Ku's smiling eyes immediately become moist, to the point that Wu Chengyu feels a little heartache every time he sees her busy figure.

"Brother, I'm all ready now, let's go to the training ground."

A-Ku, dressed in an apricot-yellow short-sleeved shirt, walked up to Wu Chengyu, naturally took Wu Chengyu's hand, and smiled sweetly, giving off a bit of a cute, clingy vibe.

In recent years, Wu Chengyu has been busy practicing martial arts and reading scriptures, and has rarely gone out with Aku.

The martial arts training ground in Wujiapo is usually located on the west side of the valley, in a square of over a thousand square meters. Under normal circumstances, more than two hundred teenagers practice martial arts here every morning, and there are also some adult disciples responsible for teaching. It covers the direct and collateral branches of the Wu family, as well as some close relatives from other surnames who can be trained.

However, the place Wu Chengyu and Aku went to was a newly opened training ground next to the Wu clan's general council hall in the middle and rear of Wujiapo. It was just as big as the previous one.

On one side of the training ground are traditional stone locks, plum blossom stakes, and sandbags, as well as parallel bars and horizontal bars that Wu Chengyu had someone build, a fake wall for climbing, and an obstacle course for practicing light footwork.

At this time, nearly twenty teenagers had arrived at the training ground early and were already covered in sweat. Except for two who were slightly older than Wu Chengyu, the rest were around 8 to 12 years old. These were all selected from the direct line of the Wu family.

The Wu clan is capable enough to provide resources for more children to train in martial arts, but this is a matter of great importance. Before these children grow up, the news that the Wu family possesses genuine martial arts skills must be kept as secret as possible.

The selection pool is small, the age is suitable, they are willing to work hard, and most importantly, they are trustworthy. It is not easy to pick out these twenty-odd people.

The only person in the Wu family capable of teaching these twenty-odd people is Wu Chengyu.

Throughout history, martial arts practitioners have often only had seven or eight direct disciples, and some even had a single lineage. Teaching disciples is far from simple.

Martial arts practitioners usually teach one-on-one. If there are too many students, they may not have enough energy to attend to everyone and end up neglecting their students.

Or, like Huang Yaoshi, he personally taught only Qu Lingfeng, Chen Xuanfeng, Mei Chaofeng, and Lu Chengfeng, and then lost patience. Later, Feng Mofeng and Wu Mianfeng were mostly taught by Qu Lingfeng, and these two rarely had the opportunity to see Huang Yaoshi. Teaching martial arts is not simply about explaining mental techniques and demonstrating moves.

When cultivating internal energy, disciples must first become familiar with the meridians, understand the true meaning of the method, and accurately grasp the energy circulation path. No mistakes can be made. Before disciples master the feeling of Qi, they should be guided in many ways. After they master the feeling of Qi, their dynamics during energy circulation should be monitored at all times.

This is only internal skill training. External skills, whether fists, feet, or weapons, must be memorized and trained by the disciples. At the same time, their movements must be constantly corrected, and the key points must be explained patiently. The most important thing is to teach the disciples the moves until they truly develop muscle memory of the moves. This is what is commonly known as "kung fu being internalized."

Wu Chengyu has only been in this world for five years. Including the five years his predecessor spent on Peach Blossom Island, he has only actually practiced martial arts for ten years.

Teaching more than twenty people at once is not that simple.

Fortunately, Wu Chengyu has some advantages. With the guidance of the bamboo slips and the internal diagrams formed by his keen five senses, plus the many secret manuals he has obtained, after eliminating the duplicates, Wu Chengyu now knows nearly thirty hidden meridians.

Wu Chengyu wouldn't dare claim to be number one in understanding the human body's meridians, but he'd certainly be in the top three, since he essentially sees them directly with his 'eyes'.

When he accepted this head instructor a year ago, he set his teaching goals for the following year on cultivating internal strength and laying a solid foundation.

At the same time, Wu Chengyu also adopted the model of exam-oriented education in later generations, cramming teaching. In the first month of teaching, students did nothing but familiarize themselves with the meridians of the human body.

Wu Chengyu drew the circuit diagrams of the twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians, as well as the circulation path diagram of the Guiyuan Heart Sutra.

He bombarded the group of more than twenty people, including A-Ku, with questions and quizzes. They not only had to memorize the answers but also draw them accurately. He would test them at any time and ask random questions. If they couldn't answer, they would be given the family discipline given by the clan chief: a rattan cane.

Wu Chengyu's rattan cane wasn't for hitting hands or spanking buttocks. Each time he struck, he would hit the most painful but harmless acupoints on a person's body, or the numbness in a joint. Even though he didn't use much force, Wu Chengyu's acupoint identification was extremely accurate. One strike was guaranteed to refresh the mind of any disciple who made a mistake.

It must be said that this method is simple and crude, but it is also the most efficient and intuitive.

In addition, he explained in detail the different functions of each meridian in the human body, and the reactions that internal energy should have during the circulation of internal energy in different meridians. These all came from his real experience in constantly integrating internal energy cultivation methods, and can be described as insightful. Even those masters outside probably couldn't explain it clearly.

These selected disciples varied in aptitude and comprehension, but most were resolute, hardworking, and knew that the opportunity was rare. Even though they were constantly subjected to family discipline, they dared not harbor resentment. In this way, it took Wu Chengyu more than a month to make them firmly remember the knowledge they were supposed to master.

Of course, A-Ku mastered it in less than half a month. Every day, he would either squat to the side to eat or cultivate silently. With such a role model, the disciples who were working hard to learn and grow more slowly never dared to be complacent.

Of course, rote memorization alone is not enough; next, we need Wu Chengyu's special abilities.

　As you can guess, the next step should be Wu Chengyu developing the Wu family, so these two chapters are essential for outlining the Wu family's martial arts system and teaching methods.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)