A Setback, a Growth

Leaves withered several times in one night!

For the camphor tree in the courtyard, though it was warm spring, it was effectively a cold winter.

Early the next morning, Lin Chen got up and went to the courtyard. Looking at the ground covered in fallen leaves and the camphor tree where a small portion of branches were already bare, his mouth twitched.

The camphor tree was originally lush with branches and leaves, looking like a canopy from afar.

However, the camphor tree in his courtyard now looked like someone with several bald spots on their head; it was indeed not very aesthetically pleasing.

"Apologies, Tree Brother, you're only slightly bald now, not completely bald."

Glancing at the System Panel [Clear Wind Palm: Proficient (3/10)], this Tree Brother truly deserved credit.

After comforting the camphor tree, Lin Chen continued his cultivation.

However, he didn't cultivate Clear Wind Palm now. Instead, he chose to cultivate Water Cloud Palm.

Clear Wind Palm had reached a stage where diligent practice alone was useless. He needed to gain deeper insights during each cultivation session.

At night, with the bonus from [Black to the End], it was more suitable for cultivating insights into Clear Wind Palm.

The progress bar for Clear Wind Palm from Proficient to Minor Accomplishment was only 10 points, which said it all.

Calming his mind and spirit, he began cultivating.

[Water Cloud Palm: Not Yet Initiated (1/100)]
[Water Cloud Palm: Not Yet Initiated (2/100)]
[Water Cloud Palm: Not Yet Initiated (3/100)]

After a morning passed, Lin Chen found that his proficiency in Water Cloud Palm had actually soared by thirty.

This meant that if he wanted to, it would only take him three days to initiate Water Cloud Palm.

"It should be due to the principle of 'one technique leads to many.' Since I've cultivated Clear Wind Palm to Proficient, cultivating Water Cloud Palm won't be as difficult as cultivating Clear Wind Palm was."

Lin Chen pondered for a while and made a judgment in his heart.

Water Cloud Palm and Clear Wind Palm were both palm techniques. Before reaching Proficient, the difference was essentially only in the stances. Naturally, cultivating them would yield twice the results with half the effort.

Afternoon.

Lin Chen changed out of his Martial Arts Hall uniform, picked up his mask, and headed to the Martial Garden.

The Martial Garden was even livelier than yesterday!

The closer it was to the end of the month, the more Martial Artists came.

When Lin Chen stepped onto the first arena again, the Martial Artists who were there yesterday recognized him, and many of them showed surprised expressions.

"Why is this person still getting on the arena? Yesterday he was defeated by Qiao Yi in two moves. He has no hope of becoming the arena master this month."

"Perhaps this person wants to come up and spar with others on Martial Path techniques to improve his combat ability."

"Impossible!"

A spectating Martial Artist denied the previous person's guess, snorting, "Look at this person's Clear Wind Palm cultivated to Proficient, but his realm is still at two apertures. Clearly, he's another one who focuses solely on Martial Path technique proficiency and gives up on advancing his Martial Path realm. You're telling me such a person wants to improve his combat ability?"

The man's face showed disdain. There were many such Martial Artists in the Martial Garden, especially between the first and second arenas. Those arena masters had long given up on pursuing the Martial Path, focusing solely on Martial Path techniques, and only doing so for the monthly arena master prize money.

"That makes sense. Then, brother, can you explain the purpose of this person getting on the arena?"

"That I don't know. People's hearts are varied. Perhaps this person is just acting on a whim."

On the arena, Lin Chen also heard the discussions of the surrounding Martial Artists and secretly chuckled in his heart. He was indeed here to improve his combat ability. The reason these people couldn't guess was simply because they didn't think of him as a new disciple of the Martial Arts Hall.

Thinking about it, it made sense. For a new disciple of a Martial Arts Hall to be able to cultivate a technique to Proficient, they must have cultivated Essence Energy early on and opened their apertures, gaining access to the technique several months in advance. It was impossible for them to still be at two apertures opened.

Soon, an opponent stepped onto the arena.

A large-framed man with a full beard, his steps were extremely steady.

Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. This person not only practiced leg techniques but likely also some Hard Qigong.

A disciple of Quaking Mountain Martial Arts Academy?

"Martial Arts Hall disciples, I hate you Martial Arts Hall disciples the most. You only know some flashy moves and have no combat ability."

The man grinned. As his body stretched, the layers of fat on his body were visible even through his clothes, clearly undulating.

Fear the fat in a fist fight!

Lin Chen had heard this phrase from Lu Yongfeng. Those who practiced Hard Qigong, like the disciples of Quaking Mountain Martial Arts Academy, were all covered in fat. At first, Lin Chen found it somewhat difficult to understand. Logically speaking, shouldn't those who practice Hard Qigong be full of muscle?

Later, he realized that muscle was far less resistant to blows than fat.

A body full of muscle cannot dissipate force, relying purely on physical strength. However, if one is covered in fat, when subjected to external force, the fat can absorb and dissipate a lot of the power through vibration.

The disciples of Quaking Mountain Martial Arts Academy were all large and stocky with bodies full of fat. The further they cultivated, the more this was the case, earning them the moniker of "walking meat mountains."

A saying circulated in Poyang County's Martial Path circle: The strength of a disciple from Quaking Mountain Martial Arts Academy depends on how burly their build is and how much fat they have on their body.

But the person in front of him should not be from Quaking Mountain Martial Arts Academy, otherwise he wouldn't have said he hated Martial Arts Hall disciples the most.

"Please guide me," Lin Chen said calmly.

The fleshy man spat, then his massive body charged forward. Despite his bulk, he wasn't slow, moving like a charging meat mountain.

Lin Chen frowned, sidestepped to dodge, and with a swift movement, struck out with his right palm, landing precisely on the opponent's arm.

Slap!

A crisp sound echoed throughout the arena. Lin Chen could even feel the fat on the opponent's arm jiggling, indenting like a spring before bouncing back quickly.

The man's expression turned fierce after taking the blow. He swung his body sideways and directly rammed into Lin Chen.

Bang!

Lin Chen stumbled back a few steps, his Qi and Blood surging.

"Get lost!"

Before Lin Chen could regain his balance, the man charged again, this time a direct frontal assault. Lin Chen took a deep breath, suppressed his surging Qi and Blood, and didn't back down, striking out with the Clear Wind Palm once more.

He refused to believe this person's head was also so hard that it could withstand the power of his Clear Wind Palm.

However, just as Lin Chen's palm was about to land, the man suddenly looked up, a playful smile on his face. In the next instant, his massive head retracted sharply like a turtle's, his hands spread wide, and the fat on his shoulders swelled, forming a concave area just enough for his head to pull into.

I fell for it!

Lin Chen immediately tried to retreat, but it was too late. Before his palm could reach the opponent's head, the man's body collided with him. The terrifying impact this time directly sent him from the center of the arena to the edge.

His feet hadn't even found stable ground at the edge of the arena when he saw the man preparing the same move again. Without hesitation, Lin Chen jumped off the platform.

He conceded!

He came to participate in the arena matches to improve his combat skills, not necessarily to fight to the death with his opponents.

Until he figured out how to counter the opponent's Hard Qigong, conceding wasn't shameful.

After getting off the arena, Lin Chen stood to one side. With a mask covering his face, no one could see his expression, much less know that he wasn't frustrated by losing this match.

At this moment, he felt fortunate for this battle.

Fortunate that he had discovered another combat flaw of his.

He had been tricked by his opponent.

From the beginning, he had fallen into the opponent's trap.

After the man got on stage, his first sentence was to belittle Martial Arts Hall disciples. Subconsciously, Lin Chen felt dissatisfied, which was why he chose to clash head-on when the opponent charged directly.

That sentence had affected him!

In battles between Martial Artists, emotional fluctuations can also affect performance. If one's emotions are stirred by the opponent's words, especially subconscious emotions that even one hasn't noticed, it's easy to fall into the opponent's carefully designed traps.

A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. He had learned this trick.

From yesterday to today, he had lost two matches in a row. Lin Chen didn't go back up to the arena. The Martial Garden had a rule that once a Martial Artist lost a match, they were not allowed to challenge again on the same day.

If he couldn't challenge, he would watch.

The challenges on the various arenas were in full swing. The onlookers' interest in Lin Chen's match only lasted for ten breaths before they turned their attention to another arena.

The world was like this. No one would pay special attention to the battle between two Aperture Opening Martial Artists. Many young Martial Artists, especially Martial Arts Hall students, felt embarrassed after losing a match and couldn't bear to stay at the scene. This was entirely because they took themselves too seriously.

At the second arena, which was for Aperture Opening three and four Martial Artists, Lin Chen saw many Martial Artists wearing masks like himself. These were likely the top students from the new batch of the Martial Arts Halls.

Seeing these people leave the scene after losing, Lin Chen also sighed. Young people were still thin-skinned and took themselves too seriously.

Iron Collapse Fist, Seven Stars Fist, Mantis Fist...

In the span of an hour, Lin Chen witnessed the signature Martial Arts techniques of the eight major Martial Arts Halls. He hadn't recognized them originally, but he couldn't help but hear the discussions among the onlookers by the arena.

After more than twenty matches, the one that left the deepest impression on Lin Chen was a Martial Artist from the Mantis Martial Arts Hall. When fighting his opponent, this person, in addition to using Mantis Fist, also had a set of extremely agile footwork.

Listening to the discussion of the onlookers below, this set of footwork was not a Ranked Martial Arts Technique but just an ordinary martial art.

"Martial Arts Hall Instructors tell students to focus on cultivating one technique because for students, realm is the most important thing. And Ranked Martial Arts Techniques are difficult to cultivate in themselves. If they cultivate other techniques, it's easy to get distracted, and in the end, it will only result in low proficiency with the Ranked Martial Arts Technique and no notable achievements in other techniques."

"Instead of being mediocre at every technique, it's better to cultivate one technique to mastery first. And sparring among Martial Arts Hall disciples is not as intense as in the arena. When everyone is only learning one technique, there's not much difference."

"This year is different. With the major Martial Arts Hall competition in three months, if my realm can't keep up with those opponents, then I can only improve my combat ability. Clear Wind Palm and Water Cloud Palm are just palm techniques. If I can also improve my leg strength, I can catch my opponents off guard."

Thinking of this, Lin Chen didn't continue watching the arena matches. He turned and left the Martial Garden.

PS: Extra chapter delivered, asking for double monthly votes. The editor hasn't replied, so it's probably not going to be listed for another week. That means tracking is incredibly important. Please, everyone, from now on, absolutely do not save chapters to read later. Please!