Chinese Martial Arts: My Super Beast Clone

The night wind blew through the alleyway, swirling up a few withered leaves and making a rustling sound.

Lin Hai stood in the shadows, like a stone statue, motionless.

Through their mental connection, he could clearly sense the dragon-snake lizard's condition. It lay in the stone flower bed opposite the dormitory building, blending into its surroundings, breathing deeply, as if it were a real stone.

Silent all night.

There were no suspicious figures or unusual noises.

Those people never appeared again.

As dawn broke and the sky began to lighten, early risers started taking down their storefronts, and a few scattered sounds filled the streets.

Lin Hai walked back along the street, and paused for a moment when he passed the alley where Zhang Yuanshan's house was located.

The courtyard gate was tightly closed, but the lights were on inside the house.

He didn't go over and knock on the door; at that moment, he felt somewhat unable to face Zhang Yuanshan and his wife.

When he got home, Lin Wan was already up and boiling water in the kitchen. Seeing him return, she paused, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes, but didn't ask any further questions.

"Xiao Hai, there's porridge cooking in the pot," she said softly.

"Um."

Lin Hai returned to his room, changed into the black short jacket embroidered with a tiger's head on the chest, and stuffed the empty suitcase back under the bed.

It was not yet dawn, and the sky was still early, but he was already on his way to the Fuhu Martial Arts School.

……

Fuhu Martial Arts School.

In the center of the inner courtyard stood a row of wooden dummy posts, next to which were weapon racks, filled with swords, spears, and halberds, gleaming coldly.

Sun Datou had already arrived and was gesturing at a wooden dummy, his fists striking the dummy with dull "thump" sounds. When he saw Lin Hai enter, he grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Junior Brother Lin, you've arrived."

Lin Hai nodded.

The two didn't talk much, each finding a corner to practice standing meditation.

Lin Hai quickly immersed himself in this state, feeling the soreness and trembling of his leg muscles, and his blood and qi flowing slowly through his body, cleansing his bones and muscles. The anxiety and unease of the previous night were gradually suppressed during his cultivation.

After some time, a familiar smell of tobacco wafted over.

Lu Zhengchuan was already standing in the courtyard at some point, still wearing that gray cloth long gown, with that brass pipe in his mouth.

"You two, come here."

Lin Hai and Sun Datou put away their stakes and walked up to Lu Zhengchuan.

"Master."

Lu Zhengchuan exhaled a puff of smoke, which swirled around him.

"Give me a punch and let me see."

Lin Hai took a deep breath, lowered his waist and stood up straight, clenched his right fist, exerted force from his waist and back, twisted his spine, and threw a punch.

"drink!"

He gave a low shout.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

The wooden dummy swayed slightly before returning to stillness.

Lin Hai withdrew his fist, the knuckles of which were slightly red.

Lu Zhengchuan's face remained expressionless; he simply tapped the pipe against the sole of his shoe and emptied the ash.

"How much effort do you think you used?"

"Perfectly." Lin Hai frowned.

"What a load of rubbish!" Lu Zhengchuan retorted without any politeness. "You're lucky if 70% of the force of your punch actually reaches your fist. The remaining 30% either leaked out through your shoulder or scattered through your waist. A bunch of loose sand, and you dare to call yourself powerful?"

He looked at Lin Hai and the other person and said.

"What you're doing now is using 'clumsy force.' It's like a bag of copper coins; it looks heavy, but you can't hold onto it. Once you let go, they roll all over the ground. The first step in training strength in martial arts is to melt this bag of scattered copper coins into a single copper ingot!"

"This is 'whole-body strength'!"

Lin Hai's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly understood.

He had always wondered why his panel showed a strength of 500 jin, but his actual punching power was less than 400 jin. Now he understood: the number on the panel was the maximum strength his body could generate, but he simply couldn't use 100% of that strength.

"Master, how can I train my brute strength into whole-body power?" Sun Datou asked.

"Two methods," Lu Zhengchuan said, holding up two fingers. "One is stance training, and the other is practicing boxing."

"Standing meditation is like taking root, stabilizing your lower body and smoothing your qi and blood. This is 'defense'. Practicing boxing is about releasing the power you've developed, twisting all the muscles, bones, and skin of your body into a single rope. This is 'application'. Only by combining defense and application, stillness and movement, can you truly activate this clumsy strength."

As he spoke, he walked to the center of the courtyard.

"Today, I will teach you the fundamental fist technique of the Fuhu Martial Arts School, the Fuhu Fist."

Lu Zhengchuan stood still, and his entire demeanor suddenly changed. If he was just an ordinary old man with a pipe in his mouth, now he was a fierce tiger entrenched in the mountains and forests. When he moved, it would be earth-shattering.

"Tiger-Taming Fist emphasizes 'capturing the essence, not the form.' The moves are static, but the essence is dynamic. What you need to learn is not those few movements, but the tiger's posture and spirit!"

"Its core lies in simulating the pounce, scissors, shove, collapse, and ram of a tiger. It takes the eight-character principle of 'rising and falling, advancing and retreating, moving and traversing, movement and stillness' as its general guideline."

"When exerting force, it should be like a thunderbolt, fierce and unparalleled. When withdrawing the force, it should be like a tiger guarding a mountain, calm and restrained."

"The entire set of boxing techniques consists of twelve movements. Watch carefully, I'll demonstrate it once!"

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Zhengchuan made a move.

He stomped his feet hard on the ground, the bluestone slabs emitting a dull thud. He shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.

First move: Tiger Emerges from the Forest!

This lunge was devoid of any fancy moves, just a simple forward punch. But Lin Hai could clearly see that the moment Lu Zhengchuan stepped forward, his joints emitted subtle cracking sounds, his waist and back arched and sprang back. The power didn't come from his arms, but from the ground beneath his feet, from his twisting hips, from his taut back, from every corner of his body, finally converging on his fist!

The fist didn't hit anything, but the air in front of the fist made a clear popping sound!

Snapped!

Lin Hai's pupils suddenly contracted.

Ming Jin!

This is Ming Jin! The power manifests outwardly, and its sound is like the crack of a whip!

Lu Zhengchuan launched his attack without pausing. He turned his body, his arms moving like scissors, opening and closing in a sharp, swift motion.

The second move: Tiger Crouching in the Mountains!

Immediately afterwards, he lowered his body, his hands forming claws, as if he wanted to tear his prey to shreds.

The third move: A hungry tiger pounces on its prey!

……

Every move was bold and expansive.

Lu Zhengchuan's figure moved nimbly in the courtyard, sometimes like a tiger descending the mountain, its aura overwhelming; sometimes like a hungry tiger searching for prey, its killing intent restrained; and sometimes like a trapped tiger breaking free of its cage, its power exploding.

He didn't fight fast, but every punch and kick was full of explosive power. It wasn't just muscle strength, but a holistic, internal force.

Lin Hai and Sun Datou were dumbfounded.

Soon, the twelve moves were finished.

Lu Zhengchuan finished his stance, slowly exhaling a breath of stale air, and stood still, like a tiger returning to its forest. His face was not flushed, and he was not out of breath, as if the powerful punches he had just used had not taken any toll on him.

"Lin Hai, you go first." He said to Lin Hai.

"Yes."