Practicing Combat Techniques, Improving Fate

Practicing Combat Techniques, Improving Fate

Practicing Combat Techniques, Improving Fate

Though he was only a Registered Disciple, he had entered the sect at last and still needed to pay his respects in the courtyard.

In Martial Master Yang Yun's courtyard, Xu Changfeng brought Lin Mo before him and respectfully offered him a cup of tea. Yang Yun merely took a light sip.

Looking at the Registered Disciple before him, he was not particularly interested and had no impression of him.

It was only because his Personal Disciple, Xu Changfeng, thought highly of this person. Taking in one Registered Disciple was neither here nor there.

His rough, callused hand felt him over. After only three or five touches, Yang Yun released him again.

"Your bone structure is below average. Train diligently, and you may have a chance to reach the second training stage in this lifetime. At least you will have no trouble making a living."

"Thank you, Master, for examining my bones. I will remember your teachings and train diligently."

Combat techniques were the first lesson after sensing one's qi and blood. Yang Yun had Lin Mo demonstrate the stance training first. Only after confirming that he was proficient in White Ape Stance Training did he begin demonstrating the combat techniques.

He came to a smaller patch of yellow earth. Plum Blossom Stances stood close together in the middle, like a miniature version of the training ground in the Stone Wall Courtyard.

"Lin Mo, watch carefully. I will demonstrate this only once. If you are confused in the future, seek guidance from your Senior Brother Xu."

"All disciples under me must learn a combat technique called the White Ape Eight Section Fist. It is one of the basic combat techniques I derived from White Ape Stance Training. It can only be considered a low-grade human-tier technique. It may not possess the wondrous qualities of other families' combat techniques, but it is undoubtedly the best fit for this stance training!"

Yang Yun gave a brief introduction, then motioned for Xu Changfeng and Lin Mo to step aside. He shook his body, and the force in his brows and eyes condensed.

His feet spread apart, his waist sank, his shoulders dropped. Fixing his gaze on a wooden post before him, his eyes narrowed.

His body swayed as he stepped forward, closing in. As his waist twisted, Yang Yun's withered frame flashed with a fist shadow, and the air exploded with a piercing crack!

With a boom, the wooden post burst into four pieces, countless splinters flying in every direction.

Lin Mo's ears rang for a moment, and he sucked in two sharp breaths.

"This is called the White Ape Cannon Fist! It is also the simplest move in the White Ape Eight Section Fist..."

Yang Yun's mouth did not stop, nor did his hands and feet. His posture shifted once more.

He settled into his stance training, his arms hanging and swaying slightly. With his waist sunk, shoulders dropped, and strides wide, he truly resembled a great ape walking with its arms dangling.

He leaped and sprang. His steps were deliberately much slower, yet his speed was astonishing. In the time of a breath, he had crossed several more meters.

When he leaped again, he was like a monkey plucking peaches, soaring into the air with both hands reaching straight for the wooden post...

In only a short while, Yang Yun had finished demonstrating the White Ape Eight Section Fist. Lin Mo was left with nothing but shock.

When practicing fist techniques and stance training in ordinary times, how could one ever witness such ferocious, tyrannical combat techniques? Every move bared its killing intent.

Xu Changfeng smiled and called into his ear twice. "Junior Brother Lin, Junior Brother Lin, Master personally demonstrated it for you. You must have benefited immensely, right?"

Only then did Lin Mo come back to himself. He nodded heavily. Without Xu Changfeng needing to say more, he knew such treatment was rare among the Registered Disciples of the other two masters.

"Junior Brother Lin, under Martial Master Yang, most of his disciples are away from home, and you are his only Registered Disciple. There are not many miscellaneous duties, so you will have ample time to train."

Xu Changfeng led Lin Mo around the small courtyard and found a room in a corner for Lin Mo to rest in. "Usually, only you and I, martial brothers, are in this courtyard. In the mornings, you can come with me to the Stone Wall Courtyard to train. There is an atmosphere for cultivation there, and you can also help me practice."

"When others learn combat techniques, they have to wait until a Personal Disciple has time to teach them. Our branch simply gives you the combat technique manual. If you have questions, just ask."

Xu Changfeng spoke at length, but Lin Mo could feel the sincerity in his words. He expressed his gratitude earnestly.

When he had free time, Lin Mo sat on the bed and read through the White Ape Eight Section Fist cultivation method, making plans in his heart.

Now that he had sensed qi and blood and entered the beginner stage of skin tempering, he could begin considering his future cultivation.

"If I can improve my fate, cultivation will become much easier."

He sank into his mind and examined the Jade Talisman.

[Lin Mo]

[Age: 17]

[Fate: Healthy and Strong (White), Observe People and Their Aura (White)]

[Fortune: 7]

After half a month of giving alms, gathering bits and pieces here and there, he had managed to scrape together another five points of fortune. He was not far from the ten points needed to improve his fate.

But in the long run, Lin Mo needed a more stable way to obtain fortune.

Killing evildoers was too far beyond him. If the authorities caught him, the loss would outweigh the gain.

"Spending money over the long term to be a good person and giving alms definitely won't work. On one hand, it is too slow and unstable. On the other, I do not have that much money on hand..."

As Lin Mo calculated inwardly, Senior Brother Xu's words about going to the Stone Wall Courtyard for morning practice suddenly surfaced in his mind. He quietly pondered them.

"If giving away a little food can slowly earn fortune, then teaching stance training to apprentices who have just begun—wouldn't that be much faster?"

The next morning, dawn had only just broken.

Lin Mo and Xu Changfeng arrived together at the Stone Wall Courtyard. There were many apprentices in the yard. Quite a few had seen Lin Mo break through and be taken away, never expecting him to return here after only one day.

Many apprentices did not understand what was going on, but their form of address changed unconsciously. They cheerfully greeted them, "Greetings, Senior Brother Lin, Senior Brother Xu..."

Once they learned that Lin Mo had come to train alongside them, the fervor in their hearts grew even stronger. One after another, they put on eager faces and begged for guidance on the tricks and details of stance training.

"Senior Brother Lin, how should I practice the third form of White Ape Stance Training? Why can't I ever stand steadily?"

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, once White Ape Stance Training is mastered, can one sense qi and blood?"

"Senior Brother, here..."

Many apprentices shamelessly pressed him with questions. Lin Mo remained patient. While practicing the White Ape Eight Section Fist himself, he also took time to answer them.

As a result, after only half a morning lesson, the Jade Talisman in his mind trembled, and more fortune arrived.

[Teaching stance training diligently, fortune gathers +1]

Half a day had earned him one point of fortune. That was much faster than giving away a little food.

In merely three or four days, he had gathered enough fortune to improve his fate again. As before, he first improved the fate related to his foundation, for that was the key to cultivation.

[Fortune breaks the limit. Consumed *10. Healthy and Strong—Sturdy Bone Structure]

The feedback from improving his fate again was sufficiently intense. Lin Mo could clearly feel the qi and blood he had cultivated over the past few days instantly grow one or two times thicker.

His body also became much sturdier. The bones and sinews throughout his body crackled like popping beans, and it even seemed as though he had shot up another inch or two.

After calming himself, Lin Mo could sense that the next improvement to this fate would be azure. Unless something unexpected happened, it should be one of those well-known, named bone structures.

For example, he had heard from the apprentices yesterday that Chen Qing, who had gone to Martial Master Wang's side some time ago, possessed [Golden Bone Jade Tendon].

Bones as strong as gold, tendons as warm and smooth as jade—no matter what cultivation method one practiced, one could adapt to it extremely quickly.

Among the tens of thousands in Changhe County, this was a top-notch martial bone.

Presumably, when he had looked at Chen Qing's fate above his head, the Azure Mist that had swirled around it and concealed it was this very fate.