I just became the Pirate King, and you're telling me I also time-traveled at the same time.

Chapter 1116 A Clear Whistle

Pigsy wiped the water off his face and patted it again. This time the water gathered a little, but then dispersed.

"Loose your hand a little more."

I took another picture. The water droplets started to take shape, like an incomplete fan rising from the water's surface.

"Yes. Keep the feeling in your wrist, and do five more."

Pigsy patted the water again and again. After the fifth pat, the water finally formed a barely discernible curtain, rising to shoulder height in front of him before dissipating, the water droplets flashing a brief rainbow in the sunlight.

"Rest for a while," Chu Yang said, "then continue running. The second run, before the sun reaches its zenith."

Pigsy plopped down on the rock, placed his rake beside him, and leaned back, hands behind his back. The sun had fully risen, and shimmering gold-like spots floated on the water's surface. The waterfall's mist, bathed in sunlight, formed a complete rainbow that curved from one side of the pool to the other.

"How did you learn these things?" He turned to look at Chu Yang, panting as he asked, "Did you learn them in the desert?"

"No one taught me in the desert." Chu Yang squatted down, dipped his hand into the pool and stirred it, then shook the water off his hands. "I learned when I was being chased. If you can't run, you die, so you have to learn how to run efficiently. If you can't fight back, you die, so you have to learn how to use every bone in your body."

"You were in a much worse situation back then than I am now," said Pigsy.

"Yes." Chu Yang stood up, flicked the water droplets off his fingers, and looked in the direction of the waterfall. "Back then, no one went to ask for my help."

Pigsy didn't reply. He withdrew his gaze from Chu Yang and looked at his own hand. The crack on his tiger's mouth had already scabbed over in the morning light, with tender pink new flesh showing at the edges.

"Second time." He stood up, hoisted the rake back onto his shoulder, and started running along the pool again.

For the next five days, the same rhythm continued every day. He would get up at the crack of dawn, run around the pond, splash the water, run again, and splash again. By the third day, Pigsy's legs no longer trembled after running all morning. By the fourth day, the spray from his splashing water was enough to steadily pass over his head, and when the water droplets fell, they formed a complete fan-shaped curtain of water in front of him.

On the evening of the fifth day, Chu Yang told him to put down the rake and walk to a shallow ditch carved out by the stream upstream of the pool. The ditch was about two feet wide and half a foot deep, with stream water flowing through it, and the bottom was covered with pebbles that had been washed away for countless years.

"Stand inside."

Pigsy took off his boots and stepped barefoot into the stream. The water wasn't deep, just covering his insteps. The stones were slippery and round, and he had to constantly find a foothold to step on them.

"Walk forward. Don't bend your legs too much, and keep your weight on the front half of your feet."

"Walk forward. Don't bend your legs too much, and keep your weight on the front half of your feet."

"Walk again. When your foot lands, let the ball of your foot touch the ground first, and only put your whole foot down after you feel it. The stones will tell you where..."

You can step on it.

Pigsy frowned and took another step. This time, he probed with his foot first, found a slightly flat stone, and then moved forward after making sure he had a firm foothold.

"Yes. Let's go again."

Pigsy walked back and forth in the shallow ditch six times, his trousers completely soaked, and his calves turned white from being submerged in the stream. But when he finally stepped onto dry ground after his sixth trip, his feet were more stable than before. With each step, he would test the ground with the sole of his foot before placing it firmly, and the transition of his weight between the sole and heel was shorter than before.

"Alright," Chu Yang said, "Starting tomorrow, we'll run in this ditch instead."

Pigsy looked down at the narrow, shallow ditch, then at his own two thick pig legs, opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Walk along the ditch, making sure not to splash any water." Chu Yang turned and walked towards the peach grove. "Let's eat."

Starting from the sixth day, Pigsy ran in the ditch every morning. On the first day, he splashed water everywhere, soaking his trousers, which were still wet by noon. On the third day, the splashing began to subside. By the eighth day, when he ran through the ditch, the water only created small ripples at his feet, without a single drop splashing over the edge.

Every evening at sunset, Chu Yang would have him stand in a stance on a flat area beside the pool. He would stand there for half an hour without moving.

"The power you generate comes from your feet, and your feet must be firmly planted on the ground. If your feet aren't firmly planted, the power will be broken." Chu Yang squatted down beside him and drew a circle on the ground with a twig. "Stand inside this circle for half an hour, and your feet cannot leave the circle. When you feel your feet are about to float, sink down on your own. When you can't sink down, just think about one thing."

"What is it?" Pigsy asked through gritted teeth, his legs trembling.

"Think of that gray back when the little fox demon stood in front of you."

Pigsy's legs suddenly stopped shaking.

For the rest of that half hour, he stood steadily in the circle, without moving an inch.

On the twelfth day, Chu Yang began to teach him to turn.

Beside the pool stood a wooden stake as thick as an arm. Chu Yang instructed Zhu Bajie to use the back of his rake to pull the stake. When pulling, the wrist had to rotate, and the moment the back of the rake touched the stake, the wrist should be turned outward at an angle to pull the stake outward instead of pulling it straight back.

Pigsy struck the wooden stake with his first blow, and it wobbled but didn't budge. The second blow moved it slightly. The third blow, however, caused him to twist his wrist too violently, and the rake slipped from his grasp, crashing to the rocks with a thud.

"You didn't get it right." Chu Yang picked up the rake and handed it to him. "Your fingers can't loosen when you're turning it. Press your palms firmly, and at the very moment you turn it, push the rake handle with your thumb. Try again."

Pigsy took the rake and lashed it again. This time, his hand didn't slip, and the wooden stake was pulled to one side by half an inch, causing a crack to appear in the soil at the base of the stake.

"Okay. Remember this feeling."

On the eighteenth day, Pigsy finally pulled the wooden stake out of the ground. The stake flew two zhang away and landed on the muddy ground by the pool, its surface covered with white marks from the back of a rake, some deep and some shallow.

Pigsy bent down, dragged the wooden stake back, buried it in the ground, then looked up at Chu Yang standing beside him and grinned for the first time.

"How is it?"

"Okay," Chu Yang said. "Next time, we'll draw a real person."

On the morning of the nineteenth day, after Pigsy had run three more laps around the pool and splashed water twenty times, Chu Yang told him to stand in the open space. Sun Wukong, who had somehow appeared from the peach grove, squatted on a large rock, fiddling with three peaches in his hand.

"Really?" Pigsy gripped the rake in his hand.

"It's for real," Chu Yang said.

He didn't use a knife. He walked to the middle of the open space with his bare hands, keeping a distance of five or six steps from Zhu Bajie, then raised his right hand, palm open, fingers slightly bent.

"Come."

Pigsy took a breath, spun the rake off his shoulder, and with a flick of his wrist, swept the back of the rake towards Chu Yang. This sweep...

The speed was almost twice as fast as it had been eighteen days ago, and the air was rumbled with a low hum as the rake was driven by its back.

Chu Yang dodged to the side, pressing and guiding the force with his left hand on the back of the rake, diverting it in a different direction. Zhu Bajie was pulled forward and staggered a step, but he quickly regained his footing, twisting his foot half a circle on the rock, shifting his weight back to his feet, and smoothly retracting the rake. He then swung it back towards Chu Yang's waist.

Chu Yang leaped upwards, his feet leaving the ground. The rake's back swept past his feet, the sharp sound of it tearing through the air grazing his trousers. He flipped in mid-air, landing with his right foot two steps behind Zhu Bajie, and gently poked Zhu Bajie's lower back with his right hand, fingers together.

"You're turning too early," Chu Yang said. "Take a look at my feet before you turn."

Pigsy, clutching his aching back, turned around and glared at him. "That poke of yours felt like a needle prick."

"I haven't even used my full strength yet." Chu Yang took two steps back and opened his arms again. "Let's go again. This time, you focus on my right shoulder, and whichever way my right shoulder tilts, you turn."

Pigsy swung his rake again. This time, he didn't turn around immediately, but instead glanced at Chu Yang's right shoulder. Chu Yang's right shoulder dipped slightly to the left, and Pigsy's rake swept diagonally to the left, blocking Chu Yang's dodge. Chu Yang had no choice but to take a step back.

"Yes," Chu Yang said.

The two exchanged seven or eight blows, and Pigsy was covered in sweat, but the corners of his mouth remained upturned. When he made his ninth move with the rake, Chu Yang suddenly advanced instead of retreating, his whole body pressing against Pigsy's chest like a shadow. His right hand gripped Pigsy's wrist holding the rake, and his left hand pressed down on Pigsy's shoulder, twisting Pigsy's arm behind his back.

"A weakness," Chu Yang said. "When you used the rake, your right elbow was raised too high. A master could sneak in from under your ribs."

"Okay, okay." Pigsy grimaced and shook his hand, rubbing his arm that had been pinched so hard. "Be gentle."

Chu Yang released his grip, took two steps back, and observed the range of motion in Zhu Bajie's arm. "We'll continue this afternoon. You need to correct the problem with your right elbow; the moment you raise it, your entire right rib is exposed."

Chu Yang released his grip, took two steps back, and observed the range of motion in Zhu Bajie's arm. "We'll continue this afternoon. You need to correct the problem with your right elbow; the moment you raise it, your entire right rib is exposed."

Sun Wukong finished eating the third peach, flicked the pit into the pool, and it floated and spun on the surface. "Chu Yang is right."

"That problem with your right elbow, I had it back when we were fighting the Bull Demon King at Flaming Mountain. He grabbed your ribs and kicked you, sending you tumbling three times. I helped you up, and you said you hadn't noticed." "How many years has it been and you still haven't fixed it?"

Pigsy's face stiffened for a moment. "That was back then—it was you back then too." Monkey King jumped down from the rock, walked up to Pigsy, and patted the outside of his right elbow. "The moment you raise your hand, that tendon inside tightens, and you can't get any power through. Look at me."

Sun Wukong pulled the golden cudgel from his ear, and with a flick of his wrist, it lengthened. He gripped the cudgel with both hands, his right elbow slightly lowered, and then swept it horizontally. Where the tip of the cudgel swept, the air made a sharp cracking sound, and two blades of grass on the ground were lifted up by the force of the blow, spinning seven or eight times in mid-air before falling back down.

"See that?" Sun Wukong sheathed his staff, the golden cudgel shrunk back to the size of a toothpick and tucked behind his ear. "When I did that, my right elbow was bent, and the force transferred from the elbow tip to the wrist. If you had raised it horizontally, the force would have been blocked in your shoulder."

Watching Sun Wukong's movements, Pigsy stretched out his right arm, mimicked the motion by lowering his elbow an inch, and then made a sweeping motion. Although he didn't have a rake in his hand, just by this posture, he could feel that the tendon between his shoulder and arm was looser than usual.

"Okay." He lowered his hand. "I've got it."

For the next ten days, Pigsy ran through the ditch and splashed water every morning, sparring with Chu Yang in the morning and with Sun Wukong in the afternoon. Sun Wukong's fighting style was completely different from Chu Yang's. Chu Yang would get close and look for weaknesses, while Sun Wukong would maintain distance and launch a fierce frontal attack. Pigsy was so exhausted from being trained by the two of them that he would go back to the tree and fall asleep as soon as he got up, his snoring so loud that peaches in the peach orchard would fall to the ground.

But on the twenty-fifth day, when he received a blow from Sun Wukong's staff, his hand did not tremble anymore.

On the twenty-eighth day, he exchanged nearly thirty moves with Chu Yang before Chu Yang finally managed to grab his wrist.

On the evening of the thirtieth day, Chu Yang had him stand on the largest rock by the pool. The setting sun dyed the entire pool golden red, and the spray from the waterfall formed a semi-circular rainbow in the air.

Chu Yang stood five steps away from him. Sun Wukong squatted on the crooked peach tree next to him, one hand hanging from a branch, his legs swinging back and forth, a blade of grass in his mouth.

"Let's fight one last time," Chu Yang said. "With all our might."

Pigsy took the rake off his shoulder and held it in his hand. The six scratches on the rake handle were still there, but now his hands no longer bled from gripping it so tightly. His palms were covered with newly formed calluses, and each finger gripped the rake handle...

Each section fits perfectly into the curve of the rake handle.

His foot landed on the rock, first testing the texture of the surface with the sole of his foot before firmly stepping down. His weight was on the front half of his foot, his knees slightly bent, his right elbow lowered, and his rake held horizontally in front of him with the back of the rake facing outwards.

Chu Yang moved. He tapped the ground with his right foot, and his whole body slashed towards Zhu Bajie's left side in an arc, his right hand forming a knife, cutting straight down Zhu Bajie's ribs.

As Zhu Bajie turned to the right, his right elbow didn't rise. He used the momentum of the turn to transfer the rake from his right hand to his left, the back of the rake against the outside of his left arm, and met Chu Yang's palm strike head-on. The instant the rake touched Chu Yang's palm, Zhu Bajie's wrist flipped outward at a tiny angle, the back of the rake deflecting Chu Yang's palm from its original direction.

Chu Yang's palm strike grazed past Zhu Bajie's cassock without cutting his ribs.

"Okay," Chu Yang said. Taking advantage of the momentum that had been drawn away, he spun half a circle on the spot, using his left foot as a pivot, and swept his right foot toward the inside of Zhu Bajie's knee.

Pigsy shifted his foot half an inch to the side on the rock, slightly bending his knee to avoid the sweep. He switched the rake from his left hand back to his right, backhand facing down, and swung it in the direction Chu Yang had swept from. This slap was more than twice as fast as it had been thirty days ago, the rake's back cutting through the air with a clear whistling sound.

Chu Yang raised his left arm to block, and the rake slapped his forearm with a dull thud. He slid back half a step, his heel scraping a white mark on the rock, then stopped and glanced at the reddened skin on his forearm.