Martial Arts Sparring

Rain Water washed over the bluish-gray tiles, gathered between the ridges, and cascaded down the eaves.

"After the Awakening of Insects, the weather warms up and there is more Rain Water. It is best to use oil soot for grinding, not pine soot."

"On rainy days, the air is humid, and so is the paper. Beginners using pine soot ink are prone to ink drying or difficulty in Water Control. Using oil soot ink is much easier to control."

A faint scent of ink wafted through the room, mingling with the Rain Water outside the window, as if the Rain Water was washing away not the dusty roof tiles, but the body's internal organs.

Liang Qu took a deep breath, picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and scraped the ink three times, the fragrance spreading across the Xuan paper.

Si Hengyi stood behind Liang Qu.

Compared to the dog crawling two months ago, the progress is very fast.

Liang Qu never expected that his Martial Dao Talent would double, which would also help him practice calligraphy. He had extremely precise control over the strength of his fingers and wrists. Although he had no personal style, he made rapid progress in imitating calligraphy.

Even those who are not calligraphy connoisseurs would agree that Liang Qu has excellent handwriting.

After finishing a calligraphy piece, Si Hengyi said, "I thought you weren't coming today."

"What makes you say that, Mr. Si?"

Si Hengyi chuckled, "It's causing quite a stir throughout Ping Yang County. Everyone knows about it. It seems you're very confident. Can I look forward to hearing good news tomorrow?"

Liang Qu immediately understood that Si Hengyi was talking about the martial arts competition at the Martial Arts School, and humbly said, "It's not as exaggerated as being completely confident, but I do have some confidence."

"Then I'll have to head over there tomorrow to take a look."

"We await Mr. Si's return."

Si Hengyi nodded and paced over to check on the other students.

Liang Qu twirled the Wolf Hair, puzzled.

Did the news spread that far in just one day? Does everyone in the academy know about it?

The guy who sent the invitation really went all out to promote it, as if he wanted to tell the whole county that he was here to challenge the best Martial Arts School in town.

Was he absolutely certain he would win? Liang Qu was starting to look forward to it.

After the Rain Water stopped, he packed his things and went to the stable. A group of students were marveling at Red Mountain. They were all young people of sixteen, seventeen or eighteen, and the most rare and wonderful horses were the horses.

Some people wanted to touch it, but they were all deterred by Red Mountain's fierce gaze, their hands itching unbearably.

Without a doubt, anyone who dares to touch it will be kicked hard.

With Red Mountain's speed, a person can't fly; they'll just end up with a big hole in their body.

"This must be Dragon Blood Horse Dragon Blood Horse, right? Two years ago, when my father and I went to Huaiyin Prefecture, we saw a Dragon Blood Horse on the way, but that one was black and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Now that I look at it, the red one is much better looking, more majestic, and more attractive."

A young man in fine clothes opened his folding fan, the chill of spring seemingly having no effect on him. "Not so, not so. If you're going to ride a horse, you should ride a white horse. White clothes, white Ma San silver sword—that's the epitome of elegance and sure to attract the attention of girls."

"You're so vain, you've got several sachets hanging on you, they're making me pick my nose from the stench, how disgusting!"

"Bullshit, I'll just hang up today, okay? You're just jealous of me."

"Such a big horse must cost a thousand taels of silver, right?"

"A thousand taels? Come, come, where did you buy it? I'll have my dad pay two thousand taels, double the price! We can eat as many as you want!"

"Hey, stop arguing, they're here."

Liang Qu was five feet five inches tall, half a head taller than the scholars, and his demeanor was also completely different.

Those who practice martial arts have extremely developed core strength, and their walking and standing postures are significantly different from ordinary people. They naturally exude confidence, high morale, and are full of masculinity.

Although the group wasn't in the same class and didn't know each other well, they subconsciously felt that Liang Qu was the owner of the Dragon Blood Horse, and their temperaments matched, so they all made way for him.

Such politeness was met with a bow in return. Liang Qu mounted his horse and was about to pull the reins to leave when a young man in blue called out to him.

"Brother, please wait!" The young man in blue stepped forward and blocked the horse's path, bowing respectfully. "May I ask, brother, is this horse Dragon Blood Horse?"

"Yes, a fifth-grade imperial Dragon Blood Horse."

Hiss! Everyone present gasped.

Fifth rank!

Imperial gift!

Liang Qu is about the same age as everyone else. Normally, he would either be studying or practicing martial arts. He would usually be at the level of a scholar or Martial Master. How come you were the one who received the imperial gift of the Dragon Blood Horse? Are all outsiders so powerful?

Could it be that his title was inherited from his ancestors? Everyone looked up to him with great admiration. Most of them had never seen Liang Qu before and thought he was Dragon Crossing the River from another county.

The young man in blue then asked, "May I ask your name, sir?"

"Liang Qu Yi Xing Town Yixing Town is the ninth disciple of Master Yang. If any of you are interested in learning martial arts, feel free to come and join us! Yang Martial Hall welcomes every student. I have other matters to attend to, so I won't stay any longer. Goodbye!"

With a pull of the reins, Liang Qu caused Red Mountain to turn around and leap off, leaving the crowd staring at the horse's rump.

"So you're a martial artist. No wonder you felt different."

"Yang Martial Hall? I heard this morning that they're having a martial arts competition today?"

"It's Wu Hour One Quarter, just in time for lunch break. Why don't we go see what's going on?"

"Let's go together!"

Liang Qu rode his horse through the street. After walking about half a mile, he loosened the reins with one hand and slowly touched Fubo was hanging on the side.

With his right leg lightly resting on the horse's belly, Red Mountain understood and turned into the alley, the horse's tail disappearing behind the wall.

Liang Qu silently counted three breaths, then reached out to scoop up the Fubo.

The wind stopped abruptly, the spear swept across the semicircle, startling the birds on the wall into flight. The Black Gold blade pierced the afternoon sunlight, splitting the air in two, the spearhead reaching the chest of the attacker.

The whistling sound of the hundred-pound spear stunned the enemy.

"Look up!"

The gun was raised, forcing the newcomer to look up in surprise.

The medicine packet fell to the ground, and Lan Tai raised his hands in surrender. The shock on his face had not yet faded. He had not expected that he would be discovered so easily.

Liang Qu leaned against the wall, shrouded in shadow, saying nothing, just staring coldly.

Lan Tai couldn't hold back any longer and quickly apologized. "Sorry, sorry, I just couldn't help myself. I saw you yesterday afternoon, riding that crimson horse, and I was so envious."

I only realized you were Master Yang's ninth disciple, and my junior brother's sparring partner, when I came back from buying medicine today. Please forgive me.

Lan Tai went to the clinic to get medicine. On his way, he passed by the academy and overheard Liang Qu saying that he was the ninth disciple of Master Yang.

When the others came out, he realized that the man riding the chestnut horse yesterday afternoon was the one his junior brother had challenged.

Liang Qu raised an eyebrow. "Was it you who sent the visiting card yesterday?"

"It was my Master wrote the visiting card, and I was the one who delivered it. My name is Lan Tai." Lan Tai chuckled and twisted his arm, revealing a small cloth bag. "I was Earthly Dao to do this. There are more than ten taels of silver in this bag. I'll give it all to the young master as an apology."

It was all because I was bewitched and too curious.

If word gets out, people who don't know the situation will think he's spying on the enemy for his junior brother, and even if he wins, it won't be honorable.

Why can't I control my legs? Lan Tai wanted to slap himself.

The Liang Qu was thoroughly inspected.

The man was as thin as a monkey and behaved strangely, just like the person the apprentices had described that morning who had come to submit his visiting card.

Looking again at the dozen or so large medicine packets that Lan Tai had dropped on the ground, with the words "Changchun" written on them, he reluctantly believed what the other party said and withdrew Fubo.

Lan Tai breathed a sigh of relief, not because he was afraid of Liang Qu, but because he didn't want the other party to misunderstand.

He quickly took off his money pouch and offered it. "Here are a dozen or so taels of silver."

"Keep it for yourself."

It's shameful that Yang Dongxiong's ninth disciple would even take such a small amount of money.

Liang Qu pulled on the reins, turned around, and left without looking back.

"That's great." Lan Tai happily put away the money bag, picked up the medicine packet from the ground, dusted it off, and looked at Liang Qu's back with admiration, "He's definitely been taught by the Master. His demeanor is different, and even the horse he rides is handsome."

We arrived at the Evergreen Medical Hall.

Liang Qu led his horse into the backyard, found Shopkeeper Chen, and gestured with his hand. "Was there a man just now, about this tall, wearing gray clothes, looking like a skinny monkey, who came to buy medicine? A lot of him."

Shopkeeper Chen recalled briefly and nodded, "There was one. He bought mostly health-enhancing products, about a dozen packs. He must have been a martial arts practitioner."

Liang Qu nodded, "That makes sense."

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just ran into some trouble on the way and came to ask. Don't worry, Shopkeeper Chen." Liang Qu rolled up his sleeves. "Where's Physician Zhang? Are you learning from him today?"

"Yes, a patient with a broken forearm just came in, and Physician Zhang said he wants you to try your hand at it."

"Okay, I'll go now."

The Martial Arts School competition did not disrupt Liang Qu's study plan.

In the morning, I went to the river to cultivate, search for treasure with the four beasts, and refine my bones once.

At noon, I went back to the Martial Arts School to spar with Senior Brother Hu and Senior Brother Xu to improve my martial arts skills and undergo another bone-strengthening exercise.

In the afternoon, I went to the academy. I had basically finished learning to read. The main task was to study the allusions in the books. Many Cultivation Method use allusions, and it is difficult to understand them without some cultural knowledge.

In the evening, Liang Qu went to the clinic. He could easily handle simple fractures on his own and was now studying some basic medical books.

Before falling asleep at night, I will perform the third bone-refining exercise, making sure not to leave Blood Qi for the next day.

Yang Dongxiong said that Liang Qu was diligent and conscientious.

The next morning.

After doing some simple warm-up exercises, Liang Qu waited at the Martial Arts School, without even doing any bone-strengthening exercises to ensure he was in peak condition.

The atmosphere in the entire Martial Arts School was one of barely suppressed excitement.

A challenge to a competition? That's a rare occurrence.

After Ping Yang Town became Ping Yang County, its population increased, and consequently, the number of new Martial Arts School students also increased.

There are now nearly a hundred people, and the entire backyard can't accommodate them all, so we've hired about ten craftsmen to expand the area.

When Yang Dongxiong established the Martial Arts School, the entire Ping Yang County was still a township, and he was already building it on a large scale. Unexpectedly, twenty years later, it was still not enough.

Yang Dongxiong plans to expand the Martial Arts Field, ideally dividing it into two sections.

One piece is for apprentices to use and exchange ideas with each other, and the second piece is for Martial Artist.

Noon.

The villagers gathered near the Yang Martial Hall, peeking over the wall to watch the excitement, and the crooked trees next to them were also crowded with people.

Some people even snatched up the best spots and sold them to others for three copper coins.

"So expensive, have you no shame?"

"Buy it or don't, it's up to you!"

"Hey, I've got a short temper, I'll cut down your tree!"

"Stop arguing, they're here, they're here!"