Health Cultivation Technique Reached Great Accomplishment (Please Bookmark, Please Follow)

As soon as the words fell, Martial Graduate Dan suddenly recalled Wei Tu's background, mentioned by Li Yaozu in his letter, and felt that everything made perfect sense.

A servant of the Li Residence— the martial art he was most likely to have encountered could only have been the commonplace Health Cultivation Technique.

Every superior martial art had clear Lineage Records; they could not be faked.

A martial artist need only name the style of martial arts techniques he practiced, and martial masters could guess which prefecture and which renowned master he had apprenticed under.

The circle of martial masters was neither particularly large nor particularly small.

"Work hard as a long-term laborer first. If you perform well, I'll teach you a few forms of boxing."

"It's getting late."

Martial Graduate Dan glanced at the sky and spoke.

Hearing this,

Wei Tu felt somewhat disappointed, but he did not take it too much to heart.

If Martial Graduate Dan taught him martial arts techniques right now, that would mean truly accepting him as a personal disciple. Wei Tu did not think Li Yaozu's single letter could carry such weight.

If it could, Li Yaozu would not have given this favor to him for nothing.

Then,

Martial Graduate Dan, seated in a straight-backed chair beneath the eaves, narrowed his eyes, pressed his pursed lips to the pipe of the water tobacco pouch, and blew hard.

Ash scattered over his robe. Martial Graduate Dan brushed it clean, lit the tobacco with tinder paper, took several puffs, then limped into the Three-Courtyard House.

Wei Tu was still carrying the stone lock from the earlier strength test. Seeing Martial Graduate Dan leave, he froze for a moment, unsure what he should do.

The Three-Courtyard House was the Shan Family's inner quarters, where the female members of the household lived. The rules of prominent families were all the same: outside men were forbidden from entering and could not go inside without permission.

Before Wei Tu could think further, however, a pretty young woman in her twenties emerged from inside the courtyard gate and greeted him.

Her skin was fair, and she wore a blue cloth jacket and trousers trimmed in black. She had a long oval face, her hair piled high, and silver earrings hanging from her ears. She was dressed with considerable richness.

"My surname is Gao. You can call me Third Mistress."

"Come with me. I'll arrange a place for you to stay. All the long-term laborers in this courtyard are under my care. First Mistress stopped handling affairs long ago."

After Madam Shan briefly introduced herself, she had Wei Tu follow her as she led the way.

Upon hearing that this young woman was Martial Graduate Dan's concubine, Wei Tu immediately lowered his eyes and brows, no longer looking around or sizing her up.

Before long, Madam Shan led Wei Tu to the first courtyard and came to the West Room.

She pushed open the door to the West Room.

A long-term laborer in his forties was already living there. When he saw Madam Shan enter, he immediately climbed down from the earthen kang and called, "Third Mistress."

"Deng An, you came to work for the Shan Family early. Look after Wei Tu a little."

"This year, only you two were hired as long-term laborers. The wheat harvest will arrive in a few days. Rest up these next few days, and don't try to slack off when the time comes."

After giving a few warnings, Madam Shan swayed her waist and left the West Room.

Once Madam Shan had left, the laborer named Deng An climbed down from the earthen kang and hurriedly thrust out his nose, taking several deep breaths where she had just stood.

Wei Tu saw this but remained silent. He neither stopped Deng An nor chased after Madam Shan to report Deng An's disrespectful behavior.

Martial Graduate Dan had taken a young wife in his old age. Madam Shan, barely in her twenties, was like a pretty widow in a village of bachelors—it was only natural for people to pine after her.

Although Martial Graduate Dan was vigorous and clear-eyed, with a steady, robust stride, Wei Tu could still tell that he was likely sixty or seventy years old. It was merely that martial training had kept him from looking old.

After a while, Deng An finally came back to his senses and greeted Wei Tu.

The two exchanged their names and hometowns.

"From Changming Township? That's quite a distance from Sanyuan Township."

Deng An was a little surprised.

It was uncommon for someone from Changming Township to come all the way to Sanyuan Township to become a long-term laborer. Long-term laborers were not wandering harvest hands; they generally worked in their own townships and rarely left their homes.

"Two days' journey."

Wei Tu nodded and answered casually.

He did not tell Deng An that he intended to take the Martial Graduate examination this year.

You could know a person's face, but not their heart.

From that scene alone, Wei Tu knew Deng An was not particularly kind-hearted.

He had to guard against him.

Some people might not be capable of accomplishing anything, but they could certainly ruin other people's affairs.

After putting away his luggage, Wei Tu walked out of the room and began practicing the stance training of the Turtle Breath Qi Cultivation Technique beneath the moonlight.

The journey over the past few days had exhausted him, but diligence led to mastery while idleness led to ruin. Wei Tu did not want his Health Cultivation Technique to fall into neglect.

Besides, the Health Cultivation Technique required "nine practices a day." Wei Tu did not know whether this was a necessary condition for entering the Qi Sensing Realm, but he did not dare gamble on it.

Every day, he had to complete at least nine full rounds of the Health Cultivation Technique.

If he lost that gamble...

Even though those five years had not been wasted and his physique had improved tremendously, the feeling of having all his efforts collapse at the final step would not be pleasant.

In the courtyard, Wei Tu stood in a stance and began with the opening form of the Health Cultivation Technique, moving slowly and with meticulous care.

If Martial Master Ruan had been present, he would certainly have discovered that Wei Tu's movements were exactly identical to those in the Turtle Breath Qi Cultivation Technique manual, without the slightest deviation.

Once.

Twice.

After three or four rounds,

Wei Tu began performing the forms of the Health Cultivation Technique by the inertia of memory, while his mind immersed itself in the essence of its stance training and in the path of every thread of warm current within his body.

Gradually...

Wei Tu's thoughts emptied.

His feet crossed and shifted, and the forms he performed grew faster and faster. He condensed the warm current in his body into a single force, running it from his spine through his leg bones, then back and forth between his chest and abdomen.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

As his fists and feet alternated, the air around Wei Tu trembled and rang with a droning howl, like the thunderous roar of tigers and leopards.

Turtle Breath Qi Cultivation Technique (81/100): Practice nine times a day, and it will be achieved in five years.

"Great accomplishment?"

Half a quarter-hour later, after Wei Tu finished practicing the Health Cultivation Technique, he habitually glanced at its progress.

At that glance, he froze.

The Turtle Breath Qi Cultivation Technique's progress had soared directly from yesterday's 63% to 81%, increasing by more than a dozen points.

In other words, that brief period of practice had been equal to several months of grueling effort.

"It must be accumulated effort bursting forth at once. I wonder whether I can cultivate the Health Cultivation Technique to perfection ahead of time and enter the Qi Sensing Realm before five years have passed."

Joy appeared on Wei Tu's face.

Ever since he began cultivating the Turtle Breath Qi Cultivation Technique, he had never neglected his stance training for a single day. He did not merely practice nine times a day, but more than ten times a day, far exceeding the requirements of the Late Bloomer destiny.

Now, only half of the five-year period had passed, yet he had already reached 81% progress. How could he not be delighted?

"I can't relax!"

"Once the Health Cultivation Technique reaches the later stages, that's when the true difficulty begins. It's possible that I might practice for months without the slightest improvement in its progress. That could happen too."

Wei Tu warned himself.

In every profession, getting started was easy, but becoming one of the best was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.

It meant putting in even more grueling effort.

Becoming a painter was easy, but becoming a great painter was difficult. That was the principle.

It was precisely because the Health Cultivation Technique was easy to learn but difficult to master that martial masters looked down on it, and few people cultivated it.