Beneath the waning moon, a figure emerged from the desolate woods and casually tossed a bloodstained white fox mask to the ground. The youth glanced up at the stars, picked out his direction, then headed toward the village.
On the way back, Su Mu pondered a question, replaying the fight in the woods over and over in his mind.
"Was that scoundrel's strength somehow different from mine?"
Su Mu murmured, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. When he had clashed head-on with the Black Bear Scoundrel, the man's force had been fierce, but there had also been something else about it...
Soft and yielding?
The words suddenly popped into Su Mu's mind.
That was it—soft and yielding. The scoundrel's strength was fierce yet supple, and that supple force was even trickier to deal with. When Su Mu had met the man head-on, some of that force had surged into his body.
It had not only caused a stabbing pain in Su Mu's arms, but also disrupted the strength circulating through his body. There had been no time to think in the fight for life and death, but he had sensed the danger and realized he could not let the fight drag on. That was why he had chosen to overpower his opponent with sheer force.
"Fierce yet supple?"
Su Mu's eyes brightened as he suddenly understood. He and the Black Bear Scoundrel had both been Ninth-Rank Martial Artists, but the man had clearly gone further than Su Mu in refining his strength.
Those who had mastered a path could teach it.
Though the man had died at Su Mu's hands, Su Mu believed that even an enemy had something worth learning from.
"This might be the next stage in cultivating strength."
Under the night sky, Su Mu made it safely home. His trip to the Black Market had been eventful, but it had all been worth it. He had not only obtained two manuals, but also taken more than three hundred taels of silver from the scoundrels. That money had eased his immediate troubles.
"With this money, I won't have to live so frugally from now on... I can buy more meat, milk, and eggs to build up my qi and blood."
Su Mu did not rush to study the two manuals he had acquired. After returning home, he washed up first. A hot bath after the fierce battle loosened his tightly tensed muscles, and he let out a long, contented sigh.
"I'll take a look at the lightness skill first."
After that fight, Su Mu had become even more aware of the importance of lightness skills. With strength behind them, the Deer Play and Bird Play of the Five Animal Frolics could serve as movement techniques, but they were not enough against a Martial Artist of the same rank—or a stronger foe.
Su Mu first lit a fire and started brewing a pot of Three-Complete Body Strengthening Soup. He had prepared the medicinal ingredients earlier, and by now he was well practiced at brewing medicine. While it simmered, he opened Startled Sparrow Steps.
Startled Sparrow Steps was a Ninth-Rank lightness skill. Its creator had watched mountain sparrows evade hunting hawks for half a year before grasping its principles. Its strengths lay in sudden bursts over short distances and evasion; its weakness was that it was ill-suited for traveling long distances.
Su Mu carefully read through the manual once, then quickly went over it several more times. By the time he had begun to grasp its principles, the medicinal soup was ready.
Gulp, gulp.
Su Mu frowned slightly and tipped back a large bowl of Three-Complete Body Strengthening Soup. Then he pushed open the door and went into the courtyard to try practicing Startled Sparrow Steps.
He drew a deep breath.
Su Mu channeled his strength into both feet, focusing it at the tips of his toes. Following the skill's breathing method, he touched his toes to the ground and bent his knees, lowering himself like a mountain sparrow coiling to spring.
The next instant,
Su Mu leaped into the air like a startled bird, then stumbled as he landed a zhang away.
After trying it once, Su Mu's eyes lit up. His exceptional comprehension came into play, and some of the questions that had arisen while reading the manual began to fade. Understanding gradually took shape in his mind.
"Again."
Startled Sparrow Steps had only three forms: Sparrow Leap Style, Branch Bend Change, and Startled Feather Fall.
Su Mu was practicing the first form, Sparrow Leap Style. Once mastered, it would let him leap three or more times in quick succession in any direction. These repeated bursts of movement could dodge attacks and throw off an opponent's judgment of his movements.
In the courtyard, Su Mu imagined himself as a mountain sparrow, constantly adjusting his posture and the way he circulated his strength. Gradually, new insights kept coming to him.
"The Great Way has three thousand paths, but all roads lead to the same destination... Startled Sparrow Steps has something in common with the Bird Play of the Five Animal Frolics."
Su Mu's lips curled slightly. That was one of the reasons he had chosen this lightness skill. He had not expected his guess to be right.
A rooster crowed, and the world turned white.
By the time the roosters were crowing one after another throughout the village, the horizon had brightened to the pale color of a fish's belly.
Startled Sparrow Steps (Beginner 1%)
Su Mu wiped the sweat from his forehead, his lips curling slightly. Startled Sparrow Steps had appeared on his status panel.
With his Five Animal Frolics already close to mastery, his "somewhat promising" Comprehension of 9, and the boost from Three-Complete Body Strengthening Soup, Su Mu had managed to reach the beginner level after just one night of practice.
"Not bad, not bad!"
Su Mu was quite pleased. He was now a Ranked Martial Artist, with far more energy than an ordinary person. After a night of practice, he did not feel tired at all; reaching the beginner level had left him brimming with energy.
"I'm starving... I'll eat something first."
Hunger was the body's signal that it needed energy. Replenishing it promptly helped build qi, blood, and strength. Su Mu went inside, cut a pound of meat, and stir-fried it with chili peppers into a bowl of minced meat topping. Then he boiled all two pounds of noodles left in the house.
After eating a pound of meat and two pounds of noodles in one go, Su Mu let out a long breath. Then he practiced the Five Animal Frolics and Tiger Subduing Fist in the courtyard, as he did every day, rain or shine, before heading out.
"Time to go to the Iron Shop."
At the Iron Shop, Su Mu greeted Zhou Shan, Li Xiaohu, and the blacksmiths. "Good morning."
Along with Zhou Shan, many of the blacksmiths sensed that Su Mu seemed somehow different after returning from his day off. None of them could quite say what had changed, though.
Great transformations came from the brink of life and death.
After surviving the previous night's deadly battle, Su Mu returned to the forge and swung the hammer a few times. Then he paused, his mind drifting back to his thoughts from the day before about strength that was "fierce yet supple."
"Shall I try it?"
Su Mu channeled strength into the Forging Hammer, attempting to feel out that supple force.
Clang!
Zhou Shan, standing nearby, could not help frowning. The sound of Su Mu's hammering was disjointed and chaotic, no better than that of an apprentice at the next forge. He had only missed one day at the shop—being rusty was one thing, but this was ridiculous.
Soon, Zhou Shan was not the only one frowning. Several other blacksmiths in the forge turned puzzled eyes toward Su Mu.
"Let's wait a little longer," Zhou Shan thought.
But when the morning was nearly over, Zhou Shan finally could not hold back. Just as he was about to speak, another clash of metal rang out from the forge beside him.
Zhou Shan stopped in his tracks.
Clang, clang, clang!
The heavy Forging Hammer seemed weightless in Su Mu's hands, dancing and darting over the anvil. Yet every blow made the entire anvil shudder, sending sparks flying.
"The furnace is too cool. You two, get over here and work the bellows. Put your backs into it!"
Zhou Shan immediately called over two apprentice blacksmiths to work the bellows for Su Mu. The furnace roared, its flames lighting up the youth's resolute face. His hammer kept falling, ringing out in a series of wonderfully clear clangs that delighted every blacksmith in the room.
"I can't believe it. The kid was trying out a new forging technique just now... I did him wrong," Zhou Shan murmured.
"Watching Su Mu forge is a real treat. It's downright exhilarating."
"Right? How can the gap between people be this big?"
The blacksmiths all sighed in admiration. Even the youngest among them had spent over a decade immersed in the art of forging, and some veteran smiths had been at it for more than twenty years. Yet they had watched someone catch up to them in a single year—and now he was on the verge of overtaking them.
By the end of the morning, Su Mu's eyes were shining brighter and brighter.
He had begun to feel his way toward the next stage of cultivating strength that was fierce yet supple.
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