With their plan settled, Huang Rong immediately gestured for Lu Chen to pay.
Lu Chen took out a stack of Huizi from his robe, counted out fifty strings of cash, and handed them to Master Mo—
At this time, Mongolia had only just unified the north and had not yet attacked the Jin Dynasty. The Jin Dynasty had not yet turned around after being beaten by Mongolia and sought compensation from the Great Song Dynasty. Great Song was still peaceful and prosperous, trade flourished, and the imperial court had not yet recklessly printed paper currency to cover enormous military expenses. Huizi still held its value and was quite useful.
Master Mo accepted the Huizi, checked their authenticity, then immediately invited Huang Rong and Lu Chen into the martial arts school's main hall for tea with a beaming smile.
But Huang Rong had no patience for that. She waved her little hand.
"Forget the tea. Master Mo, start teaching me swordplay now."
Yes, Huang Rong intended to learn the swordplay herself before passing it on to Lu Chen.
In her eyes, Master Mo's level was far too poor. He had not even properly mastered his own swordsmanship. If a beginner like Lu Chen learned from him, who knew how long it would take before he learned anything worthwhile?
So she decided to learn the swordplay first, figure it out completely, and then teach it to Lu Chen.
In any case, with something as commonplace as Maiden of Yue Swordplay—a technique she had never thought highly of before—her talent would let her master it quickly as long as she took it seriously.
Seeing how eager she was to learn, Master Mo did not refuse. Wealthy patrons came first, after all. He immediately invited Huang Rong and Lu Chen to the training ground, said, "Excuse my poor display," and personally stepped out with a Wooden Sword to demonstrate the entire set from beginning to end.
The widely circulated Maiden of Yue Sword had thirty-six forms in total. Its moves were proper and conventional, with nothing particularly remarkable in their variations. With Huang Rong's memory and comprehension, one viewing was enough for her to remember all thirty-six forms, along with their matching footwork, with perfect clarity.
Of course, learning the sword forms and footwork alone was useless.
Without the accompanying breathing and energy-circulation method, one could never cultivate Internal Energy.
No matter how elegant one's swordplay looked or how proficient one was with the forms, it would only be flashy but impractical empty technique.
That was precisely why tuition for the breathing and energy-circulation method was so expensive—
Even if the Internal Energy cultivated through Maiden of Yue Swordplay was ordinary and weak, it was still Internal Energy.
It was certainly nowhere near enough in front of true experts, but after ten years of hard practice, it was enough to throw one's weight around before ordinary wandering martial artists and become a local strongman in a small town.
After Master Mo finished his demonstration, he was about to break down each move for Huang Rong when she said,
"As you explain the movements, tell me about the breathing and energy-circulation method that goes with each form as well."
Hearing that, Master Mo felt that this young lady was being a little too ambitious.
She had not even learned the moves yet. She had only watched him perform them once, and she already wanted to learn the breathing method?
Martial arts were not so easy to learn!
Still, wealthy patrons came first. Since he had accepted the money, he had to meet the patron's demands.
Thus, Master Mo showed no dissatisfaction. As he broke down each movement one by one, he also explained the rhythm of breathing and energy circulation while wielding the sword.
Huang Rong pursed her rosy lips and kept a serious little face as she listened intently. At the same time, she used her own martial knowledge to determine whether Master Mo was withholding anything or teaching her improperly.
Fortunately, Master Mo's professional ethics—or rather, his business ethics—were quite solid. Since he had taken the money, he truly did the work. Even by Huang Rong's standards, there was nothing wrong with the breathing and energy-circulation method he taught.
There were some minor flaws, but they were likely because Master Mo himself had not mastered it fully, not because he was deliberately trying to mislead her.
Since that was the case, Huang Rong was naturally satisfied. And thanks to his sound business ethics, Master Mo avoided a bloody disaster.
The breathing and energy-circulation method paired with the thirty-six forms of Maiden of Yue Swordplay was not difficult for Huang Rong either. Its complexity was far below that of Peach Blossom Island's external martial arts.
With her martial foundation and clever mind, she remembered everything perfectly after Master Mo explained it only once.
Still, to avoid any mistakes, Huang Rong asked him to explain it again after he finished. Master Mo had abundant patience for wealthy patrons, so he readily went through the entire method from beginning to end once more.
Comparing the two explanations, she found them exactly identical. Once she confirmed that there was no issue with the method, Huang Rong nodded with a smile.
"Very good. Thank you for your instruction, Master Mo. That will be all for today. I'll come back another time to try your family's medicinal soup."
With that, she waved her little hand and led Lu Chen away.
Watching Huang Rong's departing figure, Master Mo shook his head. He thought that Miss Huang clearly did not have the proper attitude for learning martial arts. She was probably only acting on a passing whim, playing around for a few days before losing interest.
But Master Mo did not care.
What did it have to do with him if a rich family's young miss wanted to throw money away?
He had earned his money, after all.
Even if Miss Huang failed to learn the swordplay and never paid the remaining fifty strings, he had already made a huge profit.
After leaving the Mo Family Martial Arts School, Lu Chen finally spoke.
"Rong'er, have you already learned it?"
"Mm-hm. I remembered everything."
"Rong'er, your memory is incredible!"
Lu Chen sighed in admiration. He had watched the entire lesson too, but he did not have a photographic memory. He had only remembered a fifth of the sword forms, and after hearing the more complicated breathing method twice, he could now recall barely a tenth of it.
At that moment, he felt like a mere background character who could only shout praises before a heaven-blessed young lady.
Huang Rong clasped her hands behind her back and walked with light steps. Pride gleamed in her eyes, and the corners of her lips kept rising, though her tone remained casual.
"It's nothing worth mentioning. Don't worry. With me teaching you personally, I'll definitely be far better than that Master Mo by who knows how much."
Lu Chen smiled and nodded.
"I firmly believe that."
The two chatted and laughed all the way back to their residence.
They had rented the residence through a broker when they first entered the prefectural city. It was a small courtyard house.
The main house had east and west wing rooms on either side, with three buildings enclosing a spacious courtyard. There was also a great tree in the yard, thick enough that two people could barely wrap their arms around it. Beneath it stood a stone table carved with a chessboard, where they could enjoy the shade and play chess in their free time.
Huang Rong naturally occupied the main house, while Lu Chen stayed in the east wing. Seeing that it was getting late after they returned, Huang Rong went straight into the kitchen in the west wing to cook, while Lu Chen continued practicing his corrected basic sword forms in the courtyard.
That evening, Huang Rong made stir-fried dishes. Her astonishing cooking once again had Lu Chen praising every bite.
"I'll study it a little tonight, then start teaching you tomorrow morning."
"Mm, I'm not in a hurry. But Rong'er, how long do you think it will take me to cultivate Internal Energy through this swordplay?"
"That... is hard to say."
After pondering briefly, Huang Rong explained the essentials of this method of cultivating from the outside inward.
Cultivating Internal Energy through external martial arts was not as complicated as internal cultivation methods, and its requirements for one's temperament were also lower.
After all, not everyone could quickly still their mind and enter meditation while sitting quietly.
Many martial artists could not even subdue their restless thoughts. The moment they closed their eyes, distracting ideas surged through their minds and their thoughts ran wild, making it impossible for them to enter a meditative state for a long time.
That was why internal cultivation placed greater demands on one's mental aptitude, while external martial arts were much simpler. One only needed to supplement movement-based practice with breathing and energy circulation, and the risks of disrupted energy flow or cultivation deviation were much lower.
Of course, this "simple" was only relative to internal cultivation methods.
Maintaining special breathing rhythms while stepping through footwork and performing sword forms was not easy either.
Beginners often neglected one thing for another. If they focused on their sword forms, their footwork became a mess. If they focused on both hands and feet, their breathing rhythm fell apart. If they focused on their breathing, their hands and feet became disordered again.
Therefore, even though cultivating from the outside inward was comparatively easier, ordinary martial artists still needed to practice persistently for a long time. Only after gradually forming habits and ingraining the skill into their bones could they unite hands, feet, and mind, attending to forms, footwork, and breathing all at once.
After explaining all that, Huang Rong said seriously,
"Your comprehension is good enough. It shouldn't take long for you to learn the forms, footwork, and breathing method. But how long it will take before you can master them all together and cultivate Internal Energy—that I can't say for sure!"
Lu Chen was full of confidence.
"It's nothing more than hard practice. My recovery is strong, so I can train from morning to night without any problem. And with a fine teacher like you guiding me personally, it shouldn't take long to master it."
At his words, Huang Rong immediately perked up and patted her chest in guarantee.
"Don't worry. I can definitely teach you Maiden of Yue Swordplay in the shortest possible time."
That night, Huang Rong returned to her room to study Maiden of Yue Swordplay, while Lu Chen continued practicing the basic sword forms she had corrected for him. He trained until midnight again and only returned to his room to rest when he was nearly drained of strength.
The next morning.
Huang Rong officially began teaching Lu Chen Maiden of Yue Swordplay.
Originally, she had prepared herself for a long campaign.
But once she truly began teaching him, Lu Chen gave her an enormous surprise.
He could not memorize everything at a glance. Each sword form, along with its corresponding footwork and breathing method, had to be taught several times before he could learn it.
But once he learned it, he could immediately coordinate all three. His sword moved in his hand, his feet followed the footwork, and his breathing matched the method perfectly. The three blended together without the slightest confusion.
After discovering this, Huang Rong was no longer merely happy that her Immortal Realm Journey had finally shown a glimmer of hope. She also felt the excitement of personally uncovering a rare, uncut gem.
If Lu Chen achieved success in martial arts in the future, became renowned throughout the martial world, and perhaps even shone brilliantly at the Mount Hua Sword Conference, then wouldn't she, Huang Rong, become famous across the land through her reputation as a fine teacher, without relying on her father's prestige?
By then, even her father might look at her with newfound respect.
Just thinking about it made her a little excited.
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