Back to Stake Training!

"Ascend the stakes..."

While Shi Zhong and the others looked on in bewilderment, the Young man surnamed Li who had spoken simply tapped the ground with his foot. As though breaking free of gravity, he soared lightly onto a wooden stake, like a feather taking flight.

Whoosh—

The sight left Shi Zhong and the others gaping below. Even Lin Yin's eyes gleamed.

The wooden stakes standing in the courtyard were at least three meters tall, and they stood three or four meters from the platform. Just that single leap had an otherworldly, dreamlike quality.

"Ascend the stakes. What are you standing there for?"

The Leading Disciple frowned and urged them on. Shi Zhong, Wan Qing, and the others hurried toward their respective stakes.

Unlike Li Xing, they couldn't lightly leap onto stakes that stood far taller than they did. One by one, they climbed or jumped, looking both comical and awkward.

On his stake, Li Xing stood with his hands behind his back, silently watching how they fared.

One person fell halfway up. Another, eager to show off, drove a knife into the stake and used it to vault up with ease. Yet another simply asked someone else for help.

Li Xing's gaze wandered over the first few to climb onto their stakes, then suddenly settled on a figure in the corner at the back.

"..."

Lin Yin wrapped both arms around the stake before him and, legs tensed slightly, climbed toward the top at an even pace.

He wasn't as quick as Shi Zhong and the others, but he was steady. Compared with everyone else's flustered scrambling and haste, he showed no sign of hurry.

Once his hands reached the top of the stake, he pushed up and easily swung himself over.

Looking around, Lin Yin noticed the gaze coming from afar and lowered his head slightly.

Time trickled by. As more and more people climbed onto their stakes, one person still couldn't make it up.

Frantic beneath his stake, he shouted and begged the others for help.

"All right. You can leave."

A calm voice rang through the courtyard. The boy who had been shouting and pleading for help instantly turned deathly pale.

"Wait, Senior Brother, I can climb..."

"Are you leaving, or do I have to send you off?"

Looking at the burly, fierce-faced man standing before him, the boy froze, shrinking his head and not daring to speak.

Watching the boy being led away, those standing on the stakes wore troubled expressions. Some were relieved; others were filled with dread.

As I thought, the examination has already begun...

Lin Yin watched the young man standing ahead with his hands behind his back and an indifferent expression.

His guess had been right. Even the initial task of climbing onto the stakes was one stage of the examination.

"All right. Next, I'll demonstrate a set of movements. You'll each perform them once. I'll decide whether you stay or go based on how you do."

Li Xing clearly wasn't concerned with Shi Zhong and the others' feelings. Those who had made it here surely didn't have very good bone structure.

"Watch closely!"

At his sharp command, the disciples present instantly grew solemn, their eyes fixed on Li Xing.

After what had just happened, none of them dared to be careless. Even Lin Yin watched the man with unusual focus.

Li Xing stamped one foot and leaped toward a stake ahead. His left foot landed on it, and his right leg shot out like a bolt of lightning. The movement was swift and fierce, yet he abruptly halted in midair, his body poised motionless atop the stake.

"Hiss—"

Shi Zhong and the others stared in astonishment. They couldn't even manage that leap, let alone strike a pose balanced on one leg.

Li Xing paid no heed to their thoughts. In the next instant, he drew in his leg and planted himself on the stake, then swept out his fists: his left arm curved across his chest while his right palm thrust sideways. In a flash, his figure darted and spun among the stakes.

For a moment, Shi Zhong and the others could only feel that an ethereal butterfly was flitting before them.

For well over two minutes, that figure moved before suddenly coming to a halt, feet together, both palms slowly pressing downward.

"This is the Cloud Settling Stake Technique. Master the essentials of three sets of movements and you may enter the manor. Master the entire set and you may enter Lingyun directly!"

His sharp voice exploded through the courtyard like a thunderclap, jolting Shi Zhong and the others from their entranced gaze at his dragonlike movements.

"What? Three sets of movements?"

"Aren't there usually only two?"

"Master them all and enter Lingyun? How could anyone master them all just by watching once?"

Shi Zhong and the others cried out in alarm, but Li Xing's next words put them at ease.

"To demonstrate a basic grasp, you only need to strike poses that roughly resemble the movements. That proves you have at least a little bone structure. If you can't even imitate them, there's no point wasting any more of your time."

His calm voice left no room for argument.

Shi Zhong and the others fell silent and began imitating the movements on their stakes.

Most of them chose the simpler sets from Li Xing's demonstration.

Almost no one began with the first set.

As everyone on the platform began practicing in earnest, Li Xing watched each person with an impassive expression, though his gaze lingered more often on the corner.

The disciple leading the group noticed.

"Senior Brother, that disciple was admitted as an exception. I think he's just here to muddle through."

He offered his opinion, assuming Li Xing disapproved of such a scrawny person being in the courtyard.

Li Xing merely shook his head.

"He looks slender, but his arm strength is decent. He's neither arrogant nor impatient. If he does well from here on, he may turn out to be the best of them all."

"Huh?"

The Leading Disciple gaped, then instinctively looked away from the burly Shi Zhong and the others, who were busy punching and demonstrating their moves.

At the same time, Lin Yin felt a jolt as he sensed two gazes settle on him.

[Heaven rewards diligence, and diligence will surely bring success]

[Cloud Settling Stake Technique: Beginner (1/100)]

In his memory, he instantly grasped every essential detail of Li Xing's movements. Yet in the real world, Lin Yin remained composed and began imitating them methodically.

The moment he started, Lin Yin knew he could perform all eighteen movements of the Cloud Settling Stake Technique at once—and do far more than simply imitate them.

But he didn't show what he could really do.

Watching Lin Yin practice the same third set as Shi Zhong and the others—the Crane Head Pecking set—Li Xing remained expressionless. The disciple beside him, however, chuckled and shook his head.

"This fellow really knows how to pick."

Even so, he nodded.

"He may look frail, but his form isn't bad."

Watching Lin Yin strike three movements on the platform, each one looking "difficult" but convincing, Li Xing withdrew his gaze once he'd met the basic requirement.

"I'll leave what comes next to Junior Brother Xu."

After saying only that, he turned and left.

He was no longer interested in what happened afterward.

Li Xing's departure caught Shi Zhong and the others' attention. They breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, Senior Brother Li had been rather intimidating.

Meanwhile, Lin Yin also relaxed a little. Mastering the Cloud Settling Stake Technique at a glance would have been far too shocking.

What he wanted was the martial arts school's resources, not to become the one who stood out.

Especially in Langshi Town, where the world was growing more chaotic by the day.