True Skills

"Teach me some real skills?"

Hu Ma was a little surprised, but immediately straightened his back.

Now, amidst this immense unease and unknown fate, nothing could attract him more than this.

"These young people in our village, following me, Second Master, are here to learn the Worship Taisui... to put it bluntly, it's about cutting meat."

Second Master sighed and said slowly, "But actually, my skills have a lineage and a tradition. Not only can I teach people to ignite the furnace and avoid being overwhelmed by Evil Spirits, but I also have methods to expel evil and defeat enemies."

"And the most important part of these Skills is teaching you how to draw out the fire within your body..."

"...How are you doing with the Skills I had Zhou Datong teach you before?"

"..."

"Skills?"

Hu Ma thought seriously and said, "I studied very diligently. I remembered every movement."

"Do you think I don't know if you're studying diligently or not?"

Second Master frowned, recalling Hu Ma's usual laziness and cunning, and said, "Show me by doing one set."

"Okay."

Hu Ma immediately got up and performed the set of Skills in front of Second Master.

His movements were round and orderly, his footwork powerful, and each move and stance was indeed practiced perfectly.

"Huh?"

Second Master was surprised, "You really didn't slack off, kid?"

Little did he know, Hu Ma had only avoided grueling physical training like running mountains, fighting, and lifting stone blocks, as well as activities to vent excess energy, to avoid wasting the furnace fire.

But he also knew the importance of self-preservation, so he studied cultivation techniques and old Skills with utmost seriousness. He paid close attention to how others practiced, replayed it countless times in his mind, and slowly practiced his footwork when he had free time.

To others, this slow pace looked like slacking off, but by slowing down, he could better grasp the details of the Skills.

After all, he had been a lead dancer for square dancing in his past life, so he did have some athletic talent.

"This is the difference between a smart kid and a dumb kid..."

Second Master shook his head with some helplessness, lamenting, "If only you were a bit more diligent."

"That's Zhou Datong you're talking about, I'm different..."

Hu Ma thought silently but didn't interrupt Second Master, just listened to him continue.

"Do you feel like these Skills are strange? Neither like fist techniques nor like saber techniques?"

Second Master cleared his throat and said earnestly to Hu Ma, "Actually, these Skills are another method of cultivation technique."

"When you usually cultivate, drawing fire energy into the furnace, that's practicing internal energy."

"And these old Skills are actually for practicing external energy, which is to draw out the fire energy from your furnace to strike evil and break spirits."

"Of course, I, Second Master, only teach you what I know."

"Actually, these young people in our village will never use external energy techniques in their lifetime. Even their fire control is left to wait until they get married and have children before it's wasted. So I just let them practice for fun and don't teach them the real thing."

"..."

No wonder...

Hu Ma finally understood why Second Master taught the Skills but not how to use them to fight.

When he usually taught people to fight, he just let them fight amongst themselves, and they learned by doing it a lot.

"In the early stages of igniting the furnace, you only seek to make the furnace fire as strong as possible. You absolutely dare not draw it out externally..."

At this point, Second Master continued, "So, my Skills are usually taught only when the fire control has reached the right level. But ordinary young people, with low talent and insufficient Blood Food, practicing for three to five years won't reach that level."

"They'll just ruin themselves by practicing. Even your generation, with good food and eating Tai Sui Meat every day, it's impossible to reach this level of fire control in less than a year or two."

"As for you..."

"..."

Second Master suddenly found himself unable to continue.

He had initially planned to teach Hu Ma these true Skills. After all, who else had the condition to eat Green Ganoderma every day?

So he had estimated that within about a month, he would test Hu Ma, and if his fire control was ready, he would teach him.

But who would have thought that in just over ten days, not only was his fire control ready, but also...

...Second Master felt a bit down again.

"In conclusion, your current fire control has also reached the level."

Barely recovering some dignity, Second Master perked up and said, "So, now is the time to teach you these true Skills..."

As he spoke, he stood up, performed a step and a fist stance, demonstrating, "Look at the first stance of our Skills. The hands are loosely clenched, and the footwork is like a fist. This is actually simulating holding a saber with both hands. Of course, you can clench it tightly and use it as a fist, that's not important. What's important is your posture."

"As this punch moves forward, exhale and shout, the furnace rises and the fire strengthens. At the same time, by reversing the Talisman technique, you can draw a stream of fire energy from the furnace and release it with this punch."

"You can't use this cultivation technique, so this punch is just brute force."

"Once you use this cultivation technique, not only will your strength increase, but it will also ignite your furnace fire."

"It doesn't matter if it's Evil Spirits or a ghost-ridden person; if they get hit by this, they'll be injured if not killed..."

"The reason you could knock Cui Xie'er unconscious with one punch was that you unintentionally ignited your furnace fire. Of course, for a normal person to ignite their furnace fire with a punch, it requires arduous training, but you... alas, your furnace fire is too strong; it just burst out with your fist unexpectedly."

"..."

"So that's how it is?"

Hu Ma watched, already a little excited.

That's right, this world is full of Evil Spirits, so people naturally can't just rely on igniting their furnace fire for passive defense.

They needed means for proactive offense as well.

Seeing Hu Ma's eyes sparkling with surprise, Second Master felt a surge of pride.

So this kid wasn't completely unwilling to put in the effort...

When he was learning literature and characters, his mind was sharp, and when he learned these true Skills, his expectant look was clearly not fake.

So, was the kid just unwilling to exert himself foolishly?

But basic Skills were also very important; the more strength you exerted, the stronger the furnace fire became...

...No!

As soon as this thought arose in Second Master's mind, he thought of Hu Ma's strong furnace fire and deflated again.

"This punch I just told you about is called Mountain Splitting."

He suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart and continued with a hint of reverence, just like his old master had taught him back then:

"If you use your fist, it's called the Mountain Splitting Fist; if you use a saber, it's called the Mountain Splitting Saber."

"The second move follows the same principle, but the cultivation technique is different. From left to right, this is called Block and Strike."

"The third move is to turn around and hook upwards, from bottom to top. This is called... Monkey's Hard Peach Pluck!"

"..."

Hu Ma, who was listening intently, couldn't help but chuckle.

It's fine if you pluck a peach, but why "hard pluck"?

Second Master's face turned slightly red, and he stopped his movements. "That's just how the names are. The master I met taught me the same way. Don't mind if our names sound a bit odd; they are all solid, practical skills."

"With this Mountain Splitting, Block and Strike, and then a Hard Peach Pluck, combined with the True Yang Arrow I told you about earlier, these are all the foundations by which Second Master relies on to establish himself..."

"Mhm, mhm!"

Hu Ma adjusted his state and continued to look at Second Master with admiration: "Anything else?"

"No more."

Second Master slowly retracted his stance, hands behind his back. "That's all my old master taught me back then."

Hu Ma was surprised: "Looking at the practice method for this set of Skills, there should be more after this?"

"There is?"

Second Master's cheeks flushed. Fortunately, the room was dimly lit, and his skin was dark, so it wasn't visible. He stubbornly said, "I only learned these."

He absolutely couldn't mention that his master only taught him these three moves because he thought he was stupid back then.

"That's enough."

Hu Ma immediately changed his tune. "One move is enough to conquer the world. We already have three moves, isn't that enough?"

Saying that, he stood up, excited. "Teach me!"

"Such an impatient fellow..."

Second Master was very pleased with Hu Ma's "one move is enough to conquer the world" remark. He chuckled and kicked away the small stool.

"Come!"

"..."

Originally, Second Master just wanted to tell Hu Ma that the timing was right and prepare to teach him, but there was no need to teach him so late at night. However, now that both the old man and the young man were in the mood, they truly began to learn earnestly under the oil lamp.

Second Master patiently explained to Hu Ma, bit by bit, how to punch and how to cultivate. If he were using his fists, how to imbue the stance with spirit; if he were using a saber, what he should pay attention to.

As one explained and the other learned, it unknowingly went on until the sky turned fish-belly white.

Hu Ma had already memorized the crucial points Second Master had explained; all that was left was for him to ponder and practice.

Second Master even felt a bit reluctant to part. Seeing that there was truly nothing more to say, he reluctantly let Hu Ma go back.

My body is cold, but I ate too much Blood Ganoderma. My internal fire is deeper than others.

Lying back on the bed, Hu Ma was still thinking silently: Once I master the Skills Second Master taught me, won't I be able to help Grandma?

Although he knew clearly that Grandma was only trying to save her grandson, and if she knew his true identity, let alone the Taisui, she might turn against him.

But thinking of such an old woman, still in this Old Yin Mountain, working hard every day to gather Taisui for him, he felt a bit uneasy. He was living under the guise of her grandson and enjoying these benefits, but he couldn't feel completely at ease.

Besides, helping the Old Woman is essentially helping myself, isn't it?

Meanwhile, in Old Yin Mountain, beneath a large tree, Xiao Hong Tang trembled as she recounted the troublesome incident.

The Old Woman sat before the bonfire, her expression shifting between moods.

Upon hearing that Hu Ma had injured the young master of the Cui Family for disrespecting her, she sighed deeply after a long pause. She then stroked Xiao Hong Tang's head and softly lamented:

"He was always so careful before, but now he's done something so reckless. It just goes to show he cares about me..."