The surname Miao was rare.
But there was a Miao family in this county that was very famous.
"Isn't that so? They're from Huashi Bridge. The Miao Family practices martial arts. My Dian Dian doesn't have a bit of femininity in her, always likes fighting, and she's especially close with that Miao Ruolan..."
The Miao Family. Miao Ruolan!
A ripple stirred in Lin Xiaosu's heart...
The Miao Family was an Ancient Martial Arts Family.
There were not many Ancient Martial Arts Families left in Great Xia. One could even say there were extremely few.
Why?
Because Ancient Martial Arts Families had always been a source of great suspicion throughout history.
In ancient times, there was a saying: "Martial heroes defy the law through force." Martial arts were synonymous with violating prohibitions.
And after Great Xia entered the civilized age, governing by law became the absolute main theme. This was no longer an era of fighting and killing, and martial arts gradually lost their purpose.
Those Ancient Martial Arts Families had also become very restrained. They would never boast everywhere about knowing martial arts. On the contrary, they deliberately downplayed their martial arts heritage and blended into the masses as much as possible. Otherwise, every one of their children would become a key target of attention from all sides. How could they live their lives then?
For a long time, the Miao Family had lived the quiet life of an ordinary household in Huashiqiao Village, no different from regular villagers.
It was also by chance that this Ancient Martial Arts Family had surfaced.
Thirty years ago, Miao Ruolan's father, Miao Sanqiang, had a conflict with a local village tyrant. Relying on being a native, that tyrant bullied the Miao Family, a household of immigrants—the Miao Family had moved here from Xiaoxiang Province seventy years ago—and brought over a dozen of his men to drive them out of Huashi Bridge.
Miao Sanqiang had still been young then. In a fit of youthful hotheadedness, he stepped forward. Before the eyes of many villagers, he put on a martial arts spectacle. Those hooligans wielding clubs and knives were tossed one by one into the stinking ditch ten meters away. When the village tyrant tried to sneak up on him from behind, Miao Sanqiang caught his wrist with a backhanded grab and gave it a light squeeze, shattering the man's wrist bones.
That squeeze truly shook the entire county.
To crush an adult man's wrist bones with one hand—how much grip strength did that take?
Because of that squeeze, he paid the village tyrant's family a pig for medical expenses. But because of that same squeeze, no one ever dared bully the Miao Family again.
Lin Xiaosu suddenly became interested in ancient martial arts because of his own peculiar circumstances.
Everyone knew that physical fitness was Lin Xiaosu's weakness.
Number 88 knew. Chang Ye knew. Even Xinyue knew.
Naturally, he himself knew it even better.
Back at 101, he had considered whether he should take the path of Gene Modification.
Before, even if he had wanted to, it would have been useless. The cost of Gene Modification was astronomical—he did not know the exact figure, but even with his toes, he could guess that a few vegetable plots could never support it.
But after entering Hidden Dragon, everything became possible.
As long as he performed brilliantly enough, Hidden Dragon might even provide him with Gene Modification for free.
However, after he had closely studied the Profound Emperor's Inner Canon, he began to waver.
The Profound Emperor's Inner Canon viewed the human body in a manner that was too advanced and too mysterious.
In that system, the human body was like the universe. Every meridian, every breath of qi, and every organ was a component of that cosmic system.
All kinds of intricate and subtle organs operated flawlessly, together forming an almost perfect human body.
Its original purpose was to expound its medical theories.
But Lin Xiaosu focused more on the foundation of that theory: the human body itself was complete. So long as one developed the body, one could naturally break through all kinds of limitations and amplify human potential step by step.
The principles of genes, however, ran counter to that theory. They were completely different paths.
It did not develop oneself. It used foreign genes to stimulate the human body.
Therefore, Gene Modification had fatal flaws.
Because it broke the balance. It damaged the natural evolution of the human body.
If one accepted the basic theoretical framework of the Profound Emperor's Inner Canon—that "the human body is inherently complete"—then one should not allow such foreign substances to be added recklessly.
Lin Xiaosu's theory had not yet taken shape. He could not judge which of the two theories was superior, so he wanted to wait and see rather than blindly follow the trend.
Not following the trend meant that, at this stage, he rejected Gene Modification.
Yet rejecting Gene Modification also meant that the weakness of his physical body would remain impossible to improve.
And now, a new method of improvement had appeared...
Ancient martial arts!
Ancient martial arts were internal martial arts. Without damaging one's own genes, they could maximize physical strength and power.
He did not need an especially powerful body. He only needed it not to become an obvious drag on his eyesight and reaction speed!
"Second Aunt, I'll go tomorrow. I'll talk to her. Besides, I need to make a trip to the county seat anyway," Lin Xiaosu said.
"That would be wonderful. My mind's been a complete mess lately, and weeds have grown all over my vegetable plot. I need to get busy for a few days too." Second Aunt was delighted. Setting aside her worries for her daughter, she went home.
The next day, Lin Xiaosu went to the county seat.
At the Southern City Development Zone, he arrived at the familiar Fighting Gym.
It happened to be the weekend, and children were having classes at the Fighting Gym.
The old gatekeeper was very polite. He opened the side door and offered him a cigarette. "Xiaosu, Curator Zhou has mentioned several times that he wants to treat you to a meal someday. Since you're here today, this is perfect."
"You know me, Uncle?" Lin Xiaosu declined the cigarette, somewhat surprised.
"Wasn't there a child who got abducted last time? Thanks to you, that child was rescued. I was there that day." The old man casually tucked the cigarette Lin Xiaosu had refused behind his ear.
"Uncle, you have quite a memory. It's been so long."
"Hehe, that's a gatekeeper's skill. To be honest, standing on this street every day, I remember pretty much everyone who passes by..." The gatekeeper flashed a mouthful of nicotine-yellowed teeth, looking very pleased with himself. "Pretty much" was local slang, meaning roughly or more or less.
"Uncle, has that teacher named Miao Ruolan come today?"
"She has! I'll go take a look and see if she's teaching a class..."
"How about I go in and take a look?" Lin Xiaosu said.
The uncle chuckled. "Others definitely can't, but you're different, Xiaosu. You're the hero who rescued that child. You certainly wouldn't harm the kids..."
Lin Xiaosu went inside.
The place was somewhat different from an ordinary school.
Ordinary schools taught books, and classrooms had desks and blackboards.
This place taught people how to fight, and the classrooms had only training equipment.
The wide outdoor sports field largely served as the classroom.
More than thirty children stood in a circle. Inside that circle was a girl who somewhat overturned Lin Xiaosu's expectations.
She was Miao Ruolan?
Lin Xiaosu had never seen Miao Ruolan, only heard of her. He had heard that she was a direct heir of ancient martial arts.
A valiant and heroic female figure naturally formed in his mind.
At the very least, she should have been like Hu Ya to live up to the title of a direct heir to ancient martial arts, shouldn't she?
Yet upon seeing her now, his expectations were completely overturned...
She was only a little over one and a half meters tall, extremely thin and frail, with two braided pigtails. Her face seemed not to have fully shed its childishness. Her features were very ordinary. Judging by looks alone, she was at most a six out of ten, the kind who would disappear into the sea of people the moment she was thrown onto the street...
"Students!" Her voice was soft too.
The children standing in a circle were laughing and playing. Her voice was like a mosquito's buzz.
The children did not hear her, and she blushed instead. Raising her voice slightly, she said, "Students, listen to me!"
The children quieted down a little, though there was still plenty of noise.
Miao Ruolan said, "Today, I'll teach everyone to practice the horse stance. The horse stance is crucial to martial arts training..."
One child interrupted her. "Teacher, Teacher Li used to teach us fighting!"
"This is fighting too—the foundation of fighting." Miao Ruolan's face reddened further. "Watch my demonstration!"
Her toes lightly swept across the ground, and she settled into a horse stance.
Lin Xiaosu's eyes abruptly widened, and his heart began pounding...
Such a light movement appeared utterly breathtaking in his eyes.
Her toes glided over the ground like water flowing across the earth, incomparably natural and incomparably light.
As her toes swept past, the dust on the cement ground drifted up as well, just as light as her movement.
Yet the moment her horse stance formed, that dust, like wisps of cloud emerging from a valley, suddenly fell and formed a taiji pattern.
This was not the dust falling naturally. It was under her control. Put more mysteriously, the moment she assumed that horse stance, everything within a three-meter radius became her domain! Within that domain, even the air had to obey her.
What kind of attainment was that?
This movement, which made heavy things seem light and light things seem heavy, struck him even harder than a Gene Person had.
"Curator Zhou, this teacher of yours... won't do!" A woman's voice came from the office beside them.
Lin Xiaosu shifted his gaze toward the window. This was Old Zhou's office. He and a well-dressed young woman sat across from each other at a tea table by the window.
"She... she's an heir to ancient martial arts. Her family taught her this way too." Old Zhou looked a little embarrassed.
"We sent our children here just to get them moving and build their bodies. We didn't intend for them to learn martial arts. You call this a Fighting Gym, yet instead of exercising, they stand still like idiots. What kind of nonsense is that?" The young woman said, "If you keep doing this, I'll take my child back. The East City Fighting Gym has approached me several times already."
"This... to be honest, I also think there are some issues with this. Isn't the situation special right now? Li Diandian hasn't returned..."
"Curator Zhou, we're old acquaintances, so I'll be frank. I don't think Li Diandian was any good either! If she was no good, then replacing her with someone surnamed Miao is even worse! Forget it. I won't make things difficult for you. I'll take my child and leave!" The young woman stood up.
Old Zhou panicked.
This woman was no ordinary customer.
She was highly influential in Fengcheng. At least half the students in this Fighting Gym had come because of her.
If she left, half the students would be gone in the blink of an eye.
As long as word spread, even the remaining half might not stay.
Without students, his Fighting Gym would truly go under.
"Ms. Sun, Sister Sun... sit down! Please sit!" Old Zhou hurriedly rose to his feet. "I've already contacted a new teacher. We haven't settled the salary yet. How about I have him come tomorrow?"
"Oh? What kind of teacher?" Ms. Sun asked.
"This teacher is incredible! He's genuinely well-known nationwide. His fighting has been featured on provincial television. Look, this is his profile..."
From ten meters away, Lin Xiaosu clearly saw the name Old Zhou showed Ms. Sun: Li Gang.
His hand moved, and he searched for Li Gang on his phone.
The results appeared quickly.
Li Gang, male, thirty-six years old, technical instructor at the Jiangcheng Fighting Gym, postgraduate of the Jiangcheng Fighting Academy, ninth place in the National Fighting Competition, special commentator for the Jiangcheng Television Sports Channel...
Before you continue