The next day, he rose early.
With the rooster's first crow, Lin Yuan got up right on time.
Two wild boars that had yet to be processed still lay in the yard.
There had originally been six wild boars in total. The Boar King had been sold to Liu Shan, the Han brothers had taken one, half had gone to the Pig Slaughter Feast, half had been sent to Han Fei's family, and those who had come to the mountains to help carry the pork had each received thirty pounds, taking away another small portion. Some had also been scattered among his relatives. In the end, only these two remained.
Aside from the Boar King, these two should have been the largest. They had weighed them yesterday, and each was close to four hundred pounds.
The Han brothers had said they would come over today to help process them. Otherwise, his mom alone would never have managed it.
Professional work was best left to professionals.
Wearing a tracksuit, Lin Yuan strolled out of the house and, as usual, went to the riverbank to practice martial arts.
Martial arts practice was not merely about tempering the body. It also honed one's character and willpower.
Lin Yuan deeply agreed with this.
Although he had a system and could take shortcuts, even if he practiced sporadically, he could still reach a realm beyond the reach of ordinary humans.
But if he did that, he would merely be a lucky man who was powerful on the outside but hollow within.
He might be able to overwhelm others with strength and force the weak to submit, but the moment he encountered someone stronger than himself, that superficial strength would be torn apart, exposing the cowardice within.
That was not what Lin Yuan wanted!
Therefore, from the moment he decided to practice martial arts, he had held himself to the highest standards.
Practice in the hottest days of summer and the coldest days of winter. Do so every day, and every year without exception.
Only after years of this could one forge a powerful heart. Even if he someday faced an opponent a hundred times stronger than himself, he would still be fearless and draw his sword against them!
In martial arts, one should be like a pine, standing firm and never yielding; in life, one should be like bamboo, letting the winds from every direction blow.
As a sliver of dawn broke white on the distant horizon, Lin Yuan assumed a Tai Chi stance.
"Tai Chi's wonders are endless. Ward Off, Roll Back, Press, and Push give birth to the Peacock Tail; with a diagonal step, Single Whip takes the chest; turning back, Raise Hands seals the position..."
After reaching mastery in Yang Style Tai Chi, his understanding of Tai Chi had returned to simplicity. Every movement flowed naturally, and every gesture embodied the principles of Tai Chi.
The five Tai Chi styles alternated freely in his hands without the slightest obstruction, as though they were one family.
After finishing Tai Chi, he began practicing Arhat Fist.
He was swift as the wind and fast as lightning. His fists struck like bells, and his kicks cleaved like mountain-splitting blows. It was a completely different style from what he had just displayed.
External martial arts emphasized overwhelming others with strength and defeating them with speed.
As the Fire Cloud Evil God had said in the film Kung Fu, "All martial arts are invincible, but speed is the only thing that cannot be defeated."
When facing someone weaker, External martial arts could indeed secure victory more quickly.
But when facing someone stronger, if one's strength and speed were inferior, the role of Internal martial arts became obvious.
Internal and External martial arts complemented each other. There was no question of one being superior or inferior. What mattered was how deeply the practitioner understood the principles of boxing.
At present, he mainly practiced Tai Chi.
The deeper his understanding went, the more he appreciated the power of this art.
In fact, for Lin Yuan, it was no longer merely a martial art. It was a path—a martial path, the path of Tai Chi.
Therefore, he did not plan to spend much time on External martial arts in the near future. Instead, he would focus on cultivating the five Tai Chi styles to perfection.
He wanted to see just how extraordinary the system's Zhang Sanfeng's Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi truly was.
Around noon, Lin Yuan opened the system panel.
[Name: Lin Yuan] [Lifespan: 25/60] [Strength: 17] [Speed: 17] [Agility: 21] [Endurance: 21] [Flexibility: 18] [Martial Arts: Yang Style Tai Chi (Blue; Mastery), Wu Style Tai Chi (Blue; Proficient), Chen Style Tai Chi (Blue; Proficient), Wu Style Tai Chi (Blue; Proficient), Sun Style Tai Chi (Blue; Proficient), Arhat Fist (Blue; Proficient), Hun Yuan Zhuang (Purple; Proficient)] [Attribute Points: 8.5]
Over the past few days, whether he had been fighting wild boars on Blind Man's Ridge or carrying the Boar King down the mountain alone as strength training, the system had awarded him a certain number of Attribute Points.
Adding the two Attribute Points he had received from practicing martial arts that morning to what he had left before, he had a total of 8.5 Attribute Points.
Ever since he had spent eight Attribute Points to raise Yang Style Tai Chi to mastery, he had more or less figured out the pattern governing the Attribute Points needed to advance martial arts.
It was binary.
To advance to a higher level required twice as many points as the previous level.
In other words, raising it from mastery to perfection required 16 Attribute Points.
Based on the current progress of the other four Tai Chi styles, he would need 128 Attribute Points to cultivate all of them to perfection.
At present, these 8.5 Attribute Points were practically a drop in the bucket.
At noon, Lin Yuan returned home, and the Han brothers were still in the yard, cutting up the two wild boars.
When they saw Lin Yuan return from outside, they hurriedly greeted him with smiles.
"Xiuqing said you went to the riverbank to practice martial arts before dawn?" Han Housheng asked with a smile.
Lin Yuan nodded.
"No wonder. You have to be like this to develop such impressive skills. When I was young, I was much the same as you, practicing martial arts day and night and forgetting food and sleep. But later, making a living took priority, and I let it fall by the wayside."
"By the way, Uncle Han, is your leg feeling better?"
"It's nothing serious. I don't need to make any major movements."
At that moment, Li Xiuqing came out of the house and called everyone to eat.
After the meal, Lin Yuan, as usual, practiced martial arts in the yard to aid digestion.
Han Housheng moved a chair into the yard and watched Lin Yuan. His expression was somewhat distant, as though he had vaguely recalled his own days of practicing martial arts.
Back then, his grandfather would hold an old leather belt in his hand. Whenever he made the slightest mistake while holding a horse stance, his grandfather would viciously lash him with it.
"Brother, who do you think is stronger, Li Yuanba or A Yuan?"
Han Housheng could not help laughing. "You've been reading too much Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Where would Li Yuanba have come from in history?"
"What about Xiang Yu?"
"I don't know how strong Xiang Yu was, but I've seen what A Yuan can do. I heard that the historical Xiang Yu could lift a seven-hundred-pound cauldron, but didn't you see A Yuan carrying the roughly seven-hundred-pound Boar King through the mountains as if he were walking on level ground?"
"So you think A Yuan is stronger?"
"That's hard to say. I can't exactly dig Xiang Yu up and have him fight Lin Yuan. Besides, judging who's stronger isn't just about strength."
"Hehe, someone like A Yuan could at least have been a general in ancient times."
As they chatted, Han Housheng seemed to think of something.
He suddenly asked Lin Yuan, "A Yuan, have you already mastered Hidden Strength?"
Lin Yuan did not stop moving. He continued performing Tai Chi as he replied, "Uncle Han, do you mean Hidden Strength?"
"When I butchered the wild boar you gave me before, and one of the wild boars here at your house, I discovered that their internal organs had already been shattered."
"Oh, that. I remember using Hidden Strength on two wild boars at the time. No, three—there was also the Boar King."
Lin Yuan spoke casually, as though it were nothing important.
Upon hearing this, Han Housheng's expression immediately grew unsettled, and he stood up from his chair.
"A Yuan, could you demonstrate it for me?"
"What's so difficult about that? Uncle Han, watch closely."
Lin Yuan lightly slapped a tree in the yard. His movements were slow and leisurely, barely different from those of the old men practicing in the park.
At first, the chestnut tree showed no reaction. But a few seconds later, it suddenly began to tremble violently, and the leaves on its branches shook loose and fell all over the ground.
Li Xiuqing, who had just finished washing the dishes in the kitchen, came out as well. When she saw the "good deed" Lin Yuan had done, she immediately scolded him.
"Lin Yuan! If you don't sweep the ground clean for me later, you're going to be sorry!"
Lin Yuan tactically licked his slightly dry lips, then hurried to the corner to fetch a broom and swept the leaves off the ground. He acted as though what he had just done was completely insignificant.
"Brother, brother..."
Han Shusheng nudged his brother's arm, and only then did Han Housheng recover from what he had just witnessed.
Hidden Strength—this was definitely the Hidden Strength his grandfather had often mentioned back then.
His grandfather had once said, "Hidden Strength is the yielding force within a fist. It is not the crude technique of Inch Punch, which goes straight forward while concealing pushing force. Rather, it is like the ripples created when a pebble strikes a lake—a mysterious yet real realm of martial arts."
He had never expected to witness such a miraculous technique today.
Seeing Lin Yuan's unconcerned expression, Han Housheng had wanted to say something, but in the end, the words never left his mouth.
He merely laughed at himself. It seemed he was the one who had been too attached to appearances.
People in this world were different. What you regarded as precious and unattainable might be insignificant to someone else.
Before you continue