A Martial Saint in Chaotic Times: Starting with Grinding Proficiency

The next day, before dawn, Zhou Yuan arrived at the Qingyang Martial Arts School again.

The courtyard was empty, with only the coolness of the morning air.

He walked to the corner, just as he was about to start practicing the stance, when he found that there was already a figure standing there, in the posture of the Six Harmonies Stance, with a faint white mist rising from his body.

It's Li Dazhuang.

His tall frame stood firmly in place, as steady as a mountain.

Sweat had completely soaked through his clothes, sliding down his bulging muscles and forming a small puddle on the ground.

Zhou Yuan was somewhat surprised.

This kind-hearted senior brother had started earlier and worked even harder than me.

Without making a sound to disturb him, he slowly assumed the stance for the Six Harmonies Stance on the other side of the open space.

The tingling, numbness, and swelling sensations arrived as expected, but he simply calmed himself down and silently endured them.

After some time, a leisurely footstep came from the doorway.

Chen Shaoshang was still dressed in a moon-white silk shirt, which seemed out of place in the sweat-smelling courtyard.

He saw Zhou Yuan's statue-like figure in the courtyard and nodded with a smile.

Zhou Yuan spared a moment of attention and nodded in return.

However, the other disciples who arrived in the courtyard stopped what they were doing and respectfully clasped their hands in greeting when they saw Chen Shaoshang.

"Greetings, Fifth Senior Brother!"

Good morning, Fifth Senior Brother!

The constant stream of greetings made Zhou Yuan's mind flutter.

Fifth Senior Brother?

How could the young man who shared food with me and chatted so amiably have such a high status in the martial arts school?

Only after Chen Shaoshang's figure disappeared into the backyard did Zhou Yuan stop practicing and walk over to Li Dazhuang, who had also finished his standing meditation and was wiping his sweat with a cloth.

"Senior Brother Li."

"Hmm? Junior Brother Zhou, you're here early today." Li Dazhuang smiled憨厚ly.

"Senior Brother Li, that Senior Brother Chen... who is he?" Zhou Yuan asked cautiously.

You mean Fifth Senior Brother?

Li Dazhuang paused, a look of natural awe appearing on his face.

"Senior Brother Chen is a core disciple of our martial arts school, ranking fifth among all his fellow disciples."

"Core disciple?"

"Yes! They're different from beginners like us."

Li Dazhuang lowered his voice and leaned closer.

"I've heard that Fifth Senior Brother broke through the second stage of Body Tempering and entered the Bone Forging Realm a year ago!"

Bone Forging Realm!

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuan was slightly shaken.

He has learned a lot at the martial arts school these past few days, such as cultivation levels.

The cultivation realm is divided into four realms: refining the skin, forging the bones, changing the tendons, and washing the marrow, collectively known as the four realms of body tempering.

Chen Shaoshang didn't look much older than him, but he had already reached the second stage of Body Tempering.

Li Dazhuang continued speaking, his tone full of envy:

"Moreover, Fifth Senior Brother's family background is quite extraordinary."

His family is the young master of the "Chen Family Forging Shop" in the inner city, a well-known and powerful force in our entire Luochuan County!

Many of the weapons used by my fellow students at our martial arts school were bought from his shop.

The powerful families of the inner city.

A master of bone forging.

Zhou Yuan fell completely silent.

No wonder he was wearing an extraordinary silk robe and eating exquisite food. It turns out that the person I had dined with a few days ago was such a person.

Half an hour later, the museum owner, Zhu Xiaowen, appeared in the courtyard.

He glanced at the newly initiated disciples and said expressionlessly, "Standing meditation is the foundation, while fighting techniques are the art of killing. Today, I will teach you the signature fist technique of our school, the Mountain-Shaking Fist."

After saying that, he walked to the center of the courtyard and stood at attention.

"Watch closely!"

Zhu Xiaowen suddenly threw a punch, without using any of his qi and blood, but it brought with it a fierce gust of wind, making a "whoosh" sound as it broke through the air.

His movements were expansive and powerful, each move exuding a fierce and domineering aura, as if he could shake mountains.

After finishing a set of punches, he stood still, his expression unchanged.

"This boxing style emphasizes momentum and power. Practice it on your own and try to understand it."

After he finished speaking, he began to pace through the crowd.

The disciples immediately began to imitate, and a chorus of shouts filled the courtyard. However, most of their movements were weak and powerless, lacking the essence of the movements.

"Your waist and stance are perfectly aligned! Is your waist dead?"

"You need to punch fast and hard! Are you giving a girl a back massage?"

Zhu Xiaowen would occasionally utter a few words of reprimand, causing the disciples who were called upon to blush with embarrassment.

When he walked up to a wiry disciple, he nodded, a rare occurrence for him: "Not bad, quite interesting."

The disciple's face immediately lit up with joy.

Finally, Zhu Xiaowen walked up to Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan was meticulously imitating the boxing stance, striving to make every movement as accurate as possible.

Zhu Xiaowen watched quietly for a few moments, then shook his head slightly, turned and walked away without saying a word.

That silent denial is more painful than any rebuke.

Several disciples around him cast gloating glances his way.

Zhou Yuan, however, seemed oblivious.

Because the familiar panel reappeared the moment he threw his first punch.

Martial Arts Skill: Mountain-Shaking Fist (First Level) (Not Yet Mastered)

[Progress: 1/300]

What does the curator's evaluation matter?

He believes that hard work pays off, and as long as he works hard, he will definitely be able to master this boxing style to its highest level.

Zhou Yuan spent the entire afternoon immersed in practicing the Mountain-Shaking Fist.

He repeated those moves over and over again, from being clumsy to becoming proficient, from merely resembling the form to gradually grasping the essence.

His clothes were soaked with sweat, and his arms ached so much he could barely lift them, but he didn't care.

As the sun set and the martial arts school disciples prepared to leave in twos and threes, Zhou Yuan finally finished his practice.

He raised his hand, looked at his fist, and a sense of fulfillment he had never felt before welled up inside him.

Martial Arts Skill: Mountain-Shaking Fist (First Level) (Not Yet Mastered)

[Progress: 4/300]

This feeling of gradually gaining power through his own efforts gave him a strange sense of peace.

……

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhou Yuan's life became extremely regular, going back and forth between home and the martial arts school.

Aside from eating and sleeping, he devoted all his time to practicing Liuhe Zhuang Gong and Hanshan Quan.

At the same time, Wang Laizi started loitering around his house more and more often.

Those eyes, filled with greed and lust, were like vultures, fixed on his dilapidated wooden door, clearly unable to contain themselves any longer.

Late that night, the mud alley was completely silent.

In Zhou Yuan's small courtyard, a figure was moving about under the moonlight.

call!

Zhou Yuan unleashed a Mountain-Shaking Fist, the wind from which howled, causing the leaves of the crooked tree in the courtyard to rustle.

He slowly finished his practice, his chest rising and falling slightly.

The oil lamp in Zhou Ting's room had been extinguished for a long time.

He brought up the panel and looked at the changes.

[Exercise: Six Harmonies Stance Exercise (Beginner Level)]

[Progress: 80/300]

Martial Arts Skill: Mountain-Shaking Fist (First Level) (Not Yet Mastered)

[Progress: 85/300]

After two weeks of arduous training, the results were remarkable. His progress in stance training steadily improved, and his Mountain-Shaking Fist had acquired real lethality.

He nodded in satisfaction.

But he didn't go back to his room to sleep as usual.

He walked silently to the corner of the wall and pulled a gleaming wood-chopping knife from the pile of firewood.

He carefully tucked the machete into the back of his shirt; the cold metal against his skin brought a chilling sensation.

After doing all this, he walked to the low courtyard wall, braced himself with his hands on the top of the wall, and lightly flipped over, landing silently in the dark alley outside the house.

......