Sparring Partner

After finishing up matters at home, Zhou You returned to the martial arts school at noon.

Before leaving, he did not forget to tell his mother to have Song Fugui deliver oil regularly, making sure he showed his face often.

This was a warning to the Wild Fox Gang: he was protecting Song Fugui, the oil seller. They had better not think of taking revenge later.

After returning to the Outer Court, Zhou You was No Longer the Same. He was already an official apprentice.

He even encountered several unfamiliar faces on the way. They were new students who had recently paid to enter the school, just like he had been yesterday.

These new students looked around in fascination, filled with confidence in the future.

"So these are the official apprentices who have trained Martial Force. They don't look especially fierce."

Hearing several new students whispering among themselves, Zhou You smiled and shook his head.

Official apprentices had private rooms of their own, spacious and tidy, with servants cleaning them every day.

The room had tables, chairs, and tea sets. When idle, he could push open the window and look outside. The surroundings were pleasant, with trees and bamboo in the flowerbeds.

If he got thirsty in the middle of the night, there was a small stove beneath the windowsill where he could boil water and make tea himself.

Senior Disciple Brother Shen Sijing personally sponsored them, and every aspect of the apprentices' food, clothing, lodging, and travel was supplied with high-quality goods for comfortable use.

The clothes, shoes, and socks for a single season alone came in five or six different fabrics, enough to fill an entire large wardrobe trunk.

If they did not go out, they could have the kitchen deliver meals to their rooms, and someone would even clean up the dishes afterward.

This was far more comfortable than the life of a new apprentice.

What Zhou You cared about more was cultivation. Once he became an official apprentice, would he be able to receive the school master's personal guidance?

After becoming official, much of the martial arts school's information was opened to him.

Senior Disciple Brother Lu Qiang truly was the martial arts school's number-one worker.

Zhou You had originally thought that this senior disciple brother merely served as an introductory instructor for new apprentices. Only after becoming official did he learn that it was merely one of Lu Qiang's side jobs.

Besides guiding new students into the martial path, he also had to instruct official apprentices in their cultivation.

Beyond that, he had to oversee and organize the school master's businesses both inside and outside the city.

It was no exaggeration to say that this senior disciple brother ran more than half the martial arts school, wearing many hats at once.

A story circulated through the school: when the school master had come alone to Gongliang City in those days, Lu Qiang had been the only person he brought with him. Their relationship surpassed even that of father and son.

"Working that hard, can he really take it?"

Zhou You carried this doubt in his heart.

Fortunately, Lu Qiang was a Blood Qi martial artist. Otherwise, with that workload, he would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

Several days later, Senior Disciple Brother Lu Qiang summoned him.

"You have now trained Martial Force and are qualified to enter the gates of Jianxiong Martial Arts School. But remember this well: this is only the beginning."

Lu Qiang appraised Zhou You, astonished by how quickly he had recovered.

Even with half a Mountain Lord Life-Replacing Pill, Zhou You's ability to expel the evil aura of the Void Wraith and restore his bodily functions to normal within only a few days had greatly exceeded Lu Qiang's expectations.

"Senior Disciple Brother, please do not hesitate to guide me on how I should cultivate from here on."

The other official apprentices had cultivated for a long time and possessed considerable experience. They were training elsewhere.

As a newcomer, Zhou You still had to receive his first lesson from Senior Disciple Brother.

"When you first enter the realm of Martial Force, you open the great treasure vault of the fleshly body. You can draw upon your body's potential and unleash strength far beyond that of ordinary people."

"However, that treasure vault is not for you to squander, but to be put to better use upon yourself."

"Martial Force comes from the body's potential. Only by examining and refining every detail—the grain of the muscles, the paths of the blood vessels, the framework of the bones—can you polish your Martial Force until it is complete and effortless."

As Lu Qiang spoke, he pulled an embroidery needle from his sleeve.

The needle was forged from refined steel. Its eye was as small as a sesame seed, and held between his fingertips, it was so fine that it was nearly impossible to see.

The tiny eye was only large enough for a single strand of hair to pass through.

"Watch carefully. Using Martial Force to shatter a stone is no skill. But condensing Martial Force to the thickness of a hair, passing it through a needle's eye without damaging the slender needle—that is when one truly reaches the skill of dripping water piercing stone."

Lu Qiang flicked his index finger. His Martial Force hissed through the air, actually transforming into a threadlike filament that passed precisely through the eye of the needle.

The steel needle fell into Zhou You's palm. He turned it over and over for inspection, yet there was not the slightest mark on it.

With Lu Qiang's strength, a surge of Martial Force could have reduced even a fine needle forged from refined steel to scraps.

From this, it could be seen that his mastery of Martial Force had already reached the point of consummate perfection.

"Senior Disciple Brother, once Martial Force reaches this stage, can one touch upon the threshold of Blood Qi?"

Zhou You voiced his question.

Lu Qiang tapped a finger against his forehead. "Aiming too high, you deserve a beating. Just cultivate in peace."

The meaning was clear: even the Martial Force stage alone would be enough to occupy Zhou You for quite some time, while Blood Qi was still far beyond reach.

Yet Zhou You wondered, was he truly aiming too high?

He had the System Panel. Step by step, he refused to believe he could not meet the conditions for the Blood Qi Gate.

The cultivation of Tiger Subduing Fist from IV10-Lv20 still consisted of the original one hundred and eight moves, but it now included quite a few orally transmitted secrets.

After cultivating Martial Force, how should it be applied to the moves to multiply their power?

Where exactly were the secrets to strengthening and polishing Martial Force hidden among the details? How could one cultivate to achieve twice the result with half the effort?

As the saying went, a true transmission was a single sentence, while a false transmission filled ten thousand volumes.

The martial arts school's instruction generally followed this model, proceeding in order and gradually opening more teachings.

In truth, there was no use in exposing new apprentices who had not even cultivated Martial Force to such things. It would only create needless trouble.

There had once been such a case within the martial arts school.

A new apprentice had once failed to break through to Martial Force for a long time. Seeing the deadline approach, he inevitably developed crooked thoughts. He climbed over a wall to spy on the official apprentices' cultivation and caught a glimpse of a fragment or two.

Thinking he had unearthed a treasure, he copied the gourd and painted the ladle, imitating what he had seen. In the end, he injured his internal organs and vomited blood without stopping. The very night he was carried home, he died suddenly.

Every new apprentice had to study this case upon entering, taking it as a warning.

The contents recorded in Lu Zhigang's cultivation of Wild Goose Formation Fist within the booklet Zhou You carried described in detail the gradual, step-by-step process over the years.

"Oh, right. When polishing Martial Force, the greatest taboo is shutting yourself away to build a cart."

"Sometimes, if you train improperly and your movements become distorted, it is very easy to injure yourself."

"You should spar with a sparring partner and learn from each other's strengths. If you get injured, you can also massage each other and set each other's bones."

Zhou You frowned. Would that not mean he could keep no secrets at all?

He still needed to cultivate Wild Goose Formation Fist and could not let outsiders know. If he spent day and night with a sparring partner, there was no way he could hide it.

Yet he also knew that Lu Qiang's words made perfect sense.

"You have only just become official. I'll assign you a sparring partner. Li Hao, come here."

Upon hearing Li Hao's name, Zhou You thought to himself, What a coincidence!

After Li Hao was called over and heard about the sparring partner arrangement, his expression became somewhat hesitant.

Lu Qiang said to the two of them, "You two became official the latest and your cultivation is still shallow, so you are just right to make a pair."

"Li Hao, look after Zhou You a little. From now on, he will spar with you at the eighth training ground."

In the Outer Court, Senior Disciple Brother's orders could not be questioned!

Though Li Hao was unwilling, he could only cup his hands and agree. "Zhou You, from now on, you and I are Sparring Partners."

Each pair of Sparring Partners shared one training ground. Before Zhou You arrived, Li Hao had the eighth training ground all to himself.

But Lu Qiang assigning Zhou You to him had shattered his private world.

After learning the inside story, Zhou You understood Li Hao's feelings very well.

After all, if it were him, he too would prefer to monopolize a spacious training ground rather than have a sparring partner constantly by his side.