Exceptional Comprehension

The moment "Li Jichang" was mentioned, Li Ji'an's smile widened.

He had registered under his real name, "Li Ji'an," today, and the other seven instructors had already seen his file.

Yet, none of them had reacted.

Wu Cheng, however, instantly thought of his past life.

"Li Jichang? Who's that? Sounds a bit familiar," one instructor said, prompted by Wu Cheng's words.

"I don't recall," another replied.

"Little Wu, could it be a descendant of an old friend?"

Wu Cheng glanced at his colleagues, seeing their genuine lack of recognition. He said calmly, "It's the 'Old Cripple Li' you're talking about!"

In his previous life, during his ten years at the martial arts academy, aside from Grandpa Huang at the gate, Instructor Wu Cheng, and that little brat who mocked him relentlessly, most people called him Old Cripple Li.

It was because in his past life, he had been crippled by those beasts, resulting in a deformed, outward-turning arm.

"What?"

"A descendant of Old Cripple Li?"

"This..."

"Hiss~ He really does resemble him a bit around the eyes."

"Could he be Old Cripple Li's son?"

"Speaking of which, hasn't Old Cripple Li been missing for five years?"

Regardless, Li Ji'an had been quite famous at the martial arts academy in his previous life.

This immediately sparked a heated discussion.

"That old fellow actually managed to raise a genius?" Old Wan was also momentarily stunned.

He remembered asking Old Cripple Li once, "You're already like this, what's the point of practicing martial arts?"

Old Cripple Li had replied nonchalantly, "There is. My talent is what it is, I'll never achieve much. But perhaps by practicing martial arts, I can improve the bloodline for my descendants. Generation after generation, who knows, maybe one generation will have superior talent."

"How could Old Cripple Li have such a handsome son?" Soon, some apprentices at the martial arts academy were drawn over.

They surrounded Li Ji'an, scrutinizing him.

"Are you really Old Cripple Li's son?"

"Why didn't Old Cripple Li come to the martial arts academy later? Did he give up?"

"..."

Faced with everyone's questions, Li Ji'an merely smiled without answering.

"Alright, alright, whether there's a connection or not, it doesn't matter anymore. Come with me," Wu Cheng realized his unintentional words seemed to have caused trouble for Li Ji'an. He stopped questioning Li Ji'an and hurried him away.

Li Ji'an nodded and followed closely.

"Heh, Old Cripple Li spent most of his life barely touching the surface of the Martial Path, and now he's sent his son here too?"

"Tsk, tsk, he's just like his old man, unwanted, only able to join Instructor Wu's tutelage."

"My dad said long ago, 'A heroic father, a valiant son.' He sells onions, his son sells garlic. If Old Cripple Li isn't good, how can his son be any better?"

A group of apprentices behind them whispered.

After leading Li Ji'an to his instructor area, Wu Cheng looked at him and forced a somewhat awkward smile. "Don't listen to those people talking nonsense. Old Li was very formidable back then; he completely exceeded my expectations. Before him, who would have dared to imagine someone starting martial arts at thirty could achieve perfect Skin Grinding?"

"So, when it comes to the Martial Path, it's never too late to start."

"Moreover, talent only determines your ceiling, not your floor. Even if you have no hope of winning the martial arts examination, practicing martial arts can still strengthen your body.

Also, when practicing martial arts, don't compare yourself to others; just do your best."

Li Ji'an bowed solemnly, "I will strictly follow the instructor's teachings!"

The Martial Path in this world consists of external martial arts and internal energy. External martial arts train techniques and skills for combat and killing.

Internal energy cultivates blood and true essence, refining blood and essence, Skin Grinding, Muscle Compaction, Bone Tempering, Blood Transformation, Marrow Cleansing, Organ Refining, and then Rebirth and Bone Transformation, making blood and essence as powerful as dragons.

However, external martial arts require internal energy as a foundation; otherwise, they are difficult to execute, or even if executed, the power is insufficient, and the speed is not fast, making them no different from flashy but useless techniques.

Furthermore, it is said that the Martial Path here was bestowed by an Immortal Master. Before that, there was no supernatural power; wielding weapons was merely a matter of applying force and practicing forms, with no possibility of fighting multiple opponents.

It's just that the Immortal Master only bestowed internal energy cultivation methods for strengthening the body and forging extraordinary blood and essence, such as the universally practiced Golden Strength Technique, but no external martial arts were given.

Practicing internal energy can make one strong and healthy, generate extraordinary blood and essence power, lead to Rebirth and Bone Transformation, create golden muscles and jade marrow, and render one impervious to blades and spears.

As for external martial arts, only in the past hundred years have a few martial arts prodigies with extraordinary comprehension developed a limited number of techniques to stimulate and utilize the body's blood and essence. Most of these are closely guarded secrets and not openly taught.

The imperial court possesses the most.

Ordinary low-level martial artists have few opportunities to learn them.

In Li Ji'an's previous two lives, he had experience practicing martial arts, and in both, he only practiced the internal energy technique, Golden Strength Technique.

As for external martial arts, in his first life, the martial arts school owner in that town created a set of fist techniques that couldn't even be considered a proper cultivation method.

From Li Ji'an's perspective, with his internal cultivation at the perfected stage in his second life, that set of fist techniques made virtually no difference whether it existed or not; it was essentially just skin grinding, the strength and speed brought about by the physical transformation from muscle compaction.

A month later, Li Ji'an's Stance Training reached a state of complete mastery, and he officially began practicing the Golden Strength Technique.

Internal cultivation methods focus on refining qi and blood, coordinating the movement of tendons and bones with breathing techniques to temper tendons and bones. This cannot be done until tendons and bones have fully developed, otherwise, it could lead to strained or broken bones, resulting in disability and injury. Therefore, before the age of thirteen, Li Ji'an had only mastered the movements and postures.

Furthermore, before practicing the Golden Strength Technique, one needs Stance Training to solidify the foundation and cultivate the origin, which also requires fully developed tendons and bones.

In his previous life, upon entering the martial arts academy at thirty, he barely achieved mastery of Stance Training in half a year.

Li Ji'an reflected on the differences and finally concluded that, in addition to his past experience in mastering Stance Training, the primary reasons were the stronger bones and longer tendons in this life, as well as the improved comprehension brought about by the enhancement of his mental strength.

After all, Stance Training is not static; it's more than just movements and postures. It needs to be matched with one's own tendons and bones, with subtle differences that vary from person to person, and can only be understood through personal comprehension.

If one comprehends it correctly, Stance Training solidifies the foundation faster. Conversely, it can take a long time to achieve complete mastery, preventing one from truly practicing internal cultivation.

"Such good comprehension?" Many people showed surprise upon learning that Li Ji'an had achieved complete mastery of Stance Training so quickly.

Ma Yuan's eyelids twitched slightly as he looked at the "genius" he had snatched up before him.

In the past month, Qingyun hadn't even fully practiced the seventy-two forms of Stance Training.

And Qingyun's petty cleverness, which he had used to fool his father since childhood, made it impossible to tell whether he was truly not putting in effort or genuinely lacked comprehension.

"It's fine, it's fine. Poor comprehension doesn't matter. The most important thing is innate talent. As long as the innate talent is good, even with less comprehension, one can achieve it in another month. Once internal cultivation begins, it's not something those with poor innate talent can compare to," Ma Yuan comforted himself.

At the same time, he decisively extinguished the idea of initially agreeing to fund Li Ji'an with the martial arts academy's exclusive medicinal bath supplies.

If two people entering the martial arts academy together, with the disciples taught by Instructor Wu being more outstanding than his own, especially if his chosen disciple had superior talent, it would have too great an impact on his reputation as an instructor.

Moreover, it was clear that many people in the academy had already started comparing Li Ji'an and Qingyun, and quite a few were looking forward to seeing him make a fool of himself.

"Am I going to let that old cripple's son make me look bad?"

That evening, Ma Yuan spared no expense, moving Qingyun from the disciple's dormitory to a small courtyard next to his own. He was determined to train Qingyun well.