Cried

Cried

A short while earlier, in the training ground, Zheng Fa stood with his eyes closed, not even knowing how long he had been standing there.

While holding the Pine Crane Stance, that faint, elusive current of energy within him would flow through his body from time to time. He felt it most clearly from the roots of his thighs to his toes, and along the insides of his shoulder blades. Whenever the current passed through, those places felt as though they itched from bone to skin.

Zheng Fa seemed utterly unaware of it. He remained motionless, constantly recalling the postures of birds from those documentaries, especially movements similar to those in the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture.

Strangely, whenever a similar movement surfaced in his mind, the current within him would tremble, giving him a marvelous sensation of coolness.

"Visualization technique?" A guess arose in his mind, and the current in his body stopped stirring.

He quieted his mind once more and did not dwell on it further.

His shoulder blades and pelvis grew increasingly itchy, enough to drive one mad. Zheng Fa could barely maintain the form of the Pine Crane Stance.

When the itch reached its peak, it suddenly vanished. At the spot between his shoulder blades, where the itch had been worst, it felt as though he had gained an organ he had never possessed before.

Zheng Fa suddenly realized that he had grown wings, crane feet, and feathers all over his body!

Or rather, the images of flying birds he had visualized earlier gradually merged with himself. He had become the strange bird-man from the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture!

And his consciousness seemed to enter that bird-man's body.

Though his eyes were tightly shut, the darkness before them was shattered by an uncanny sight:

He was flying! He beat his wings, sliced through the azure sky, and soared straight into the clouds, as though he meant to climb to the very ends of the blue heavens.

An endless sea of white clouds surged and rolled beneath him. His feathers reflected the crimson sun at the horizon, their edges stained with golden radiance.

Those currents within him, constantly trembling and growing stronger, became ever more restless. They crashed left and right until they broke through his throat and transformed into a clear, resounding cry.

The cloud sea parted, the great sun sank, and Zheng Fa slowly opened his eyes. Before him was still the familiar training ground; everything just now had seemed like a dream.

The sky had already darkened. Instructor Xu, still clothed, leaned against a stone bench nearby with his eyes closed, asleep. Seemingly awakened by Zheng Fa's crane cry, he rubbed his eyes and looked over at Zheng Fa, his gaze somewhat bewildered.

"What was that sound? Huh, you're finished practicing?" His gaze slowly dropped to Zheng Fa's feet, and he looked a little astonished. "Your Pine Crane Stance has reached mastery?"

Zheng Fa looked down and discovered that the blue bricks beneath his feet had shattered inch by inch, forming lines of cracks. This was precisely the sign of the Pine Crane Stance reaching mastery.

The Pine Crane Stance manual said: "The body is like clouds of the Ninth Heaven; beneath the feet are roots nine layers deep."

Once this stance technique was trained to its limit, a light press of the big toe could crush bluestone blocks like those beneath Zheng Fa's feet.

During his comprehension of the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture, he had unknowingly brought the Pine Crane Stance to mastery. This showed that the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture truly was the core of the martial art known as Spirit Crane Body.

"How long was I asleep?" Instructor Xu surveyed the darkened sky, as though confirming that he had not, like in a storybook, dreamed for a thousand years. Upon seeing the familiar surroundings, he turned and stared intently at Zheng Fa, his brows deeply furrowed as he muttered, "No, no matter how gifted you are, you couldn't reach mastery this quickly!"

He recalled the crane cry he had heard just now. His gaze trembled slightly as he looked at Zheng Fa. He opened his mouth, wanting to ask, yet not daring to.

He seemed to have a thought in mind, but the expression on his face told Zheng Fa that even he himself did not dare believe the conjecture.

Just as Zheng Fa was about to explain, Instructor Xu suddenly leaped up. He moved like a galloping horse, his fist like a shooting star, striking straight at Zheng Fa's face.

Zheng Fa had no time to speak and instinctively raised a hand to block.

Though they had the substance of a master-disciple relationship, they had actually exchanged blows long ago. Zheng Fa's talent was outstanding, but it could not overcome Instructor Xu's lifelong martial skill. Thus, while they called it sparring, it was mostly stopping at the right point. Instructor Xu had likely displayed less than a tenth of his true strength, merely feeding Zheng Fa moves.

But Instructor Xu was unlike his usual self today. His fists carried the force of shifting mountains and pushing seas—he was actually attacking with all his strength.

The moment Zheng Fa moved, he discovered that he too was no longer the same. Though the current within him remained thin and weak, it had become unbroken and brimming with vitality. It coursed everywhere with his movements, granting him an extraordinary responsiveness he had never possessed before.

He felt as though he had just walked out of the sea onto shore, with the exhilaration of breaking free from a cage and gaining freedom.

Most importantly, he felt that some strange power had appeared in the space around him, flowing with his movements and greatly increasing the might of every technique he made.

This had never happened before.

In this state, Zheng Fa not only did not fall into a disadvantage, he exchanged rapid blows with Instructor Xu and appeared evenly matched.

Instructor Xu's tiger eyes gleamed. His movements suddenly changed, and Zheng Fa could only respond accordingly.

After two or three exchanges, Zheng Fa abruptly realized that the moves he was using were the Spirit Crane Cloud-Piercing Hand from the fourth volume of Spirit Crane Body!

That was it! Instructor Xu was still feeding him moves, except he was deliberately guiding Zheng Fa to use the Spirit Crane Cloud-Piercing Hand. Though he had not mastered Spirit Crane Body, he had immersed himself in this martial art for twenty years and knew every stance and move like the back of his hand.

"You've mastered it!" Seeing that Zheng Fa's Spirit Crane Cloud-Piercing Hand was still unfamiliar, yet every strike carried immense force, enough to leave even him flustered and unwilling to meet it head-on, Instructor Xu knew it would be impossible without the support of the Spirit Crane Heart Scripture.

Far from feeling dejected, he threw back his head and laughed, repeating, "You've mastered it! You've mastered it!"

His laughter shook the night sky, then gradually sank lower, faintly tinged with a choke in his voice.

The corners of his mouth rose, his grin baring two rows of large teeth. He laughed so hard that he nearly forgot himself.

Yet at the same time, two streams of scorching tears rolled down from his eyes.

Outside the training ground, Gao Yuan and Instructor Xu's nephew came walking toward it with their arms around each other's shoulders, carrying meal boxes.

Instructor Xu's nephew was still apologizing to Gao Yuan. "I never imagined things were so hard for you. As your senior brother, I misunderstood you."

"Senior Brother, you have no idea what it feels like to be beside a genius. I've experienced it deeply. Sigh, I thought I'd gotten used to it long ago." Gao Yuan spoke with frustration. "But upon meeting someone as understanding as you, Senior Brother, I simply have to pour out these grievances."

"It's fine!" Instructor Xu's nephew patted Gao Yuan's shoulder. "Zheng Fa may be talented, but I have a way to untie the knot in your heart."

"Senior Brother, teach me!"

"Who am I?" Instructor Xu's nephew patted his chest. "I am your instructor's beloved disciple, his personal disciple! What's more, I'm his nephew, the Xu Family's only male descendant of the next generation!"

"What do you mean?"

"I plan to speak with my uncle. Since Zheng Fa is such a genius, his standards should be higher and the demands on him stricter. From now on, let Zheng Fa train more. As for us, they should encourage us more. Most importantly, they should stop comparing us to him!"

"This... isn't that too unambitious?" Gao Yuan looked conflicted. "Shouldn't we strive to emulate the worthy?"

"No, this is called keeping our feet on the ground!" Seeing his expression, Instructor Xu's nephew smiled. "What good does it do Zheng Fa to compare him with us? Isn't that an insult to his talent? Are we worthy?"

"..." Gao Yuan opened his mouth but could not say anything.

"Compared with him, what can the two of us gain besides being unable to sleep peacefully every day?"

Hearing this, Gao Yuan could not help nodding. Clearly, he felt the same way and found it rather convincing.

"So the problem isn't the two of us. It's your young master and my uncle! They're the ones using Zheng Fa's standards to demand things of us!" Seeing Gao Yuan agree, Instructor Xu's nephew patted his shoulder and said, "From now on, we should persuade them not to compare the three of us!"

"Seems there's no need to persuade them." Gao Yuan suddenly said.

"Hm?"

"As long as Instructor Xu isn't insane, he won't compare us with Zheng Fa anymore."

Instructor Xu's nephew looked at Gao Yuan in confusion, clearly not understanding why he said that.

"He... was beaten to tears by Zheng Fa." Gao Yuan pointed at the two people exchanging moves in the training ground, paused, then added, "Yeah, he cried really miserably."

(End of chapter)