Mountain Collapse Fist

Lu Yang, Zhou Lin, and Zhang Kehan left.

As they departed, they seemed to find it a great pity for Yang Jing, as though missing the chance to curry favor with Senior Sister Qi tonight was an enormous loss for him.

Yang Jing watched the three leave the courtyard with a smile, then shook his head slightly.

Wherever there were people, there was society.

Whether in this world or his previous life, weren't there people in his previous life who spent all day orbiting their big brothers? In this life, there were people orbiting their big sisters. They wanted nothing more than benefits and protection.

What those people failed to understand was that one's own strength was the foundation.

Without strength of his own, even if he fawned over someone every day, they might not spare him a second glance.

The original owner was a vivid example. He had given so much, yet that Senior Sister Qi could not be bothered to look at him twice.

Damn it, you owed the debt, but I'm the one paying it back. Yang Jing cursed inwardly.

Next, Yang Jing began practicing the Mountain Collapse Fist.

Tempering Qi and Blood earlier had merely been a warm-up, allowing him to enter a martial arts state more quickly. The Mountain Collapse Fist was the true core.

Sun Yong, the head of the Sun Clan Martial Arts School, had established his footing through the Mountain Collapse Fist and possessed no small reputation throughout Yuhe County.

Before beginning his fist practice, Yang Jing willed it, and a line of small words visible only to him appeared before his eyes.

[Mountain Collapse Fist Initiation (31/200)]

This was the cultivation progress of the Mountain Collapse Fist.

When Yang Jing had first transmigrated here, the original owner had already joined the Sun Clan Martial Arts School for over two months, yet his Mountain Collapse Fist progress had been only 22/200. Only after Yang Jing recovered his body and began cultivating gradually had he raised the Mountain Collapse Fist's progress to its current point.

Though the original owner had poor innate talent, he truly had been lazy as well.

Yang Jing walked up to a hanging sandbag. He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. As his eyes closed and opened, he adjusted himself to his optimal state.

He spread his feet shoulder-width apart, bent his knees slightly, and planted himself firmly in a horse stance. As he drew a deep breath, his chest swelled high. Then he sank his abdomen and exhaled sharply, his right fist blasting forward like a cannonball leaving the barrel. The muscles in his forearm tightened, veins rising one by one along his arm, as though he were concentrating all the strength in his body onto a single point at his fist's edge.

As the punch landed, Yang Jing bent forward with the motion, and his left fist immediately followed, smashing into the sandbag.

A dull bang rang out.

The sandbag was sent flying backward.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Yang Jing threw punch after punch. Every swing of his arm carried the force of splitting wind, while his sweat-soaked hair clung to his forehead.

From noon until nightfall.

Apart from brief rests in between, Yang Jing continuously Tempered Qi and Blood and practiced the Mountain Collapse Fist. Even when he felt exhausted to his very limit, he still gritted his teeth and held on.

Yang Jing, who had once been rather lazy, had suddenly become so hardworking that many disciples were astonished and found it strange.

"What's gotten into him?"

"Has Junior Brother Yang been pumped full of chicken blood?"

"Who knows? He probably won't last long. He might not be able to keep it up tomorrow."

A few disciples whispered among themselves.

Yet in the days that followed, Yang Jing's performance greatly exceeded many people's expectations.

From morning until night, aside from eating and taking brief rests, Yang Jing spent all his remaining time Tempering Qi and Blood and practicing the Mountain Collapse Fist.

On one hand, Tempering Qi and Blood served as a warm-up for practicing the Mountain Collapse Fist. On the other, practicing fists while one's Qi and Blood was active yielded twice the result with half the effort, making cultivation a few points faster.

One day, two days, three days.

Before he knew it, half a month had passed.

The small stir Yang Jing had caused in the martial arts school gradually settled with time.

As for Yang Jing's madness, the other disciples went from initial surprise to eventual acceptance, growing accustomed to his change.

During this time, Senior Brother Lu and the other two invited Yang Jing several more times, but Yang Jing politely declined every invitation.

After being rejected repeatedly, Senior Brother Lu and the others finally sensed the distance Yang Jing was putting between them.

From then on, Senior Brother Lu and the others never sought Yang Jing out again, and the way they looked at him became much colder.

Many disciples, including Senior Brother Lu, were quite disdainful of the change in Yang Jing.

If hard work were useful, if hard work alone could cultivate Inner Force, they would have long since trained in martial arts with their lives on the line. Why would they waste their energy currying favor with disciples who possessed Inner Force?

In Senior Brother Lu and the others' eyes, Yang Jing was still too young. Once he discovered that no matter how hard he worked, he would struggle to break through the bottleneck and cultivate Inner Force, he would understand that all his efforts had been in vain. But by then, their circle would no longer accept Yang Jing.

One morning.

Chengping Ward, Sun Clan Martial Arts School, front courtyard.

Yang Jing was practicing the Mountain Collapse Fist in an open area.

After half a month of diligent cultivation, the lines of Yang Jing's muscles had become exceptionally clear. The veins in his forearms bulged with every punch, brimming with explosive power, while the muscles around his waist and abdomen were taut as iron plates, without the slightest hint of slackness.

With a thought, Yang Jing summoned the System Panel before his eyes—

[Mountain Collapse Fist Initiation (76/200)]

After half a month of hard work, Yang Jing had raised his Mountain Collapse Fist cultivation progress by a great deal—more than doubling it from before.

At this rate, in a little over a month, I should be able to push the Mountain Collapse Fist to Minor Achievement and step into the Bright Strength level. Yang Jing thought to himself.

Martial arts had three major realms: Bright Strength, Hidden Strength, and Transforming Strength.

Whether one could cultivate Inner Force was the dividing line between ordinary people and true martial artists.

Without Inner Force, no matter how diligently one trained, one would merely become somewhat stronger than usual, not much different from an ordinary person.

But once one cultivated Inner Force, one had truly stepped over the threshold of martial arts and could be called an "expert."

If Yang Jing could cultivate Inner Force and step into the Bright Strength realm, then not to mention a mere Feng Lei, even the powerful Ning Family of Wazi Township behind Feng Lei would no longer dare casually pressure him.

"Stop for a moment. Master is coming out. Line up properly."

At that moment, a voice rang out in the courtyard.

The more than twenty people in the courtyard who were Tempering Qi and Blood and practicing fists hurriedly stopped and headed toward the open space at the center of the courtyard.

Yang Jing stopped practicing as well and followed the others over, taking his place at the back of the line.

Twenty-six or twenty-seven people formed an uneven square formation. At the very front stood several of Sun Yong's formal disciples: First Senior Brother Xu Hong, Second Senior Sister Qi Yun, Third Senior Brother Zhao Wenzheng, Fourth Senior Brother Liu Maolin, and the others.

Not long after everyone had taken their places.

An elderly man in black robes, his hands clasped behind his back, emerged from the inner courtyard.

"Greetings, Master."

"Greetings, School Head."

Once the elderly man in black came close, the disciples all bowed in salute.

According to the rules of the Sun Clan Martial Arts School, only those who broke through to Bright Strength could become Sun Yong's formal disciples. Only formal disciples could call him Master and remain at the martial arts school indefinitely.

Those disciples who failed to cultivate Inner Force within half a year could only leave on their own. They were not permitted to flaunt Sun Yong's name outside as his disciples; at most, they could say they had once studied martial arts at the Sun Clan Martial Arts School.

The elderly man in black was none other than the founder of the Sun Clan Martial Arts School—School Head Sun Yong.

Though he was already over sixty, he was full of vitality. His expression was stern, his back straight. Aside from his somewhat grizzled hair and beard, he showed little sign of age. Simply standing there, he exuded a fierce, valiant aura that rushed straight at them.