Eggs and Stones, I'm Always on the Side of the Eggs

"Is this your understanding of the Root Stance!?"

"I've never heard of anyone cultivating the Root Stance like this!"

"Even if you'd broken off a few branches to make a walking stick, I'd count that as effort!"

"Crawling on the ground like a maggot—how did you even come up with that!?"

Facing his Senior Sister's flushed, furious face, Wu Ming's only response was calm composure.

"The first time I fell and got up, I pushed off the ground with my hands, and they didn't slip. That's when I realized the oily slipperiness of this mountain path only targets the feet. So the hands become an obvious loophole. With a loophole, it only makes sense to test it out."

Zhu Ying fumed, "If you had even a shred of understanding of the word 'stance' in Root Stance, you'd realize: crawling with your hands doesn't count as a stance at all!"

Wu Ming explained, "Crawling forward was just one experiment. If it worked, I planned to try walking on my hands next—then the hands become feet, which could be considered a kind of stance..."

"That's even more absurd! This is Immortal Path cultivation, not acrobatics!"

Wu Ming smiled, "Senior Sister flatters me too much. A mere routine exercise hardly counts as acrobatics."

True acrobatics required far more splendid imagination.

For instance, breaking branches—he'd seriously considered it, but not for a walking stick. Instead, he'd thought of snapping thousands upon thousands of branches to pave an anti-slip path over the trail—as a professional deliveryman, road-building was instinct.

Beyond that, he'd also considered crafting grappling hooks to scale the cliffside directly.

Or fully exploiting the ground's smoothness to slide all the way to the finish in one go...

Yet compared to the true heretical speedrun masters' acrobatics, these ideas were nothing.

Acrobatics were not as simple as ordinary people imagined!

But Wu Ming's humility only made Zhu Ying's composure shatter further.

"I wasn't praising you!"

"Oh..."

Wu Ming shrugged, reluctantly setting aside the many ideas in his head.

Since the system hadn't given any rewards anyway, and clever methods were off the table, he'd follow Senior Sister's advice and cultivate this dull skill the dull way.

Having made up his mind, Wu Ming took another step without any flourish, and as expected, slipped on the spot.

Without needing Zhu Ying's reminder, Wu Ming silently got up, stretched his legs briefly, and stepped forward again.

Thud!

Then a third time.

Thud!

Fourth, fifth... Amid the unbroken rhythm of falls, Zhu Ying let out a soft sigh, a trace of nostalgia flickering in her eyes.

Twenty years ago, when she first entered the Gujian Sect, full of rebellion and resentment, it was on this Rootless Path that she'd been thoroughly knocked into sense... Her grit and severity weren't innate gifts; they were forged through hardship before bearing fruit.

Five years later, her master brought back a little Junior Sister. As the first-time Senior Sister, she'd volunteered to guide the girl's cultivation, never expecting that the little one—blessed with extraordinary bloodline and talent—would burst into tears after just one fall and refuse to move another step.

Back then, coaxing Ling Xi had drained Zhu Ying's energy more than ten round trips on the mountain path. And as if in the blink of an eye, that unsteady little thing could now walk the oily road as if on flat ground, growing into a graceful young woman.

And she herself... hadn't become a graceful Senior Sister.

A stray thought stirred in her heart, and she quickly shook her head to dispel the bad luck.

Graceful or not, she was now the Senior Sister of two disciples. She had to pull herself together. What needed her attention now was Wu Ming's cultivation.

How many falls would this slick, clever kid need before he became steady and grounded?

Hah, if he fell enough, would he cry like Ling Xi, too?

Thud!

Another dull impact... heavier than the previous ones. Zhu Ying snapped out of her reverie and turned to look at Wu Ming.

He was slowly rising from the ground. Though his lip was split and his cheek bruised, his expression showed no pain—only growing excitement.

Then, limping slightly, he reached for the cliff wall beside the Rootless Path, not to cheat, but to climb higher... At about two meters up, Wu Ming leaped, attempting to land on one foot.

Bam!

What a heavy thud of a fall!

Unsurprisingly, this suicidal act yielded the expected result—even with his light frame, the impact nearly kept him from standing, yet he seemed to revel in it, letting out a satisfied sigh.

A chill ran down Zhu Ying's spine. She instantly leaped to Wu Ming's side, pulled him up, and reached for his head: "Are you alright?"

Wu Ming said with gusto, "Freaking awesome!"

"..." Without another word, Zhu Ying pressed a Lesser Rejuvenation Formula to his forehead. "Close your eyes and meditate, calm your mind and restore your spirit..."

A cool sensation washed through Wu Ming's head, and all his pain faded at an astonishing speed... He quickly defended himself, "Senior Sister, you misunderstand—my mind's perfectly clear. The 97th digit after the decimal point of pi is 9; from Xianyun Abode to the Sect Leader Temple, I walked exactly forty-one thousand two hundred thirty steps; Master still has a Little Red Stick hidden in her hairpin; Imperial Jade Nectar costs one hundred eighty a cup."

"..." Zhu Ying paused, then raised her hand, condensing a second Lesser Rejuvenation Formula at her fingertip.

"Wait, I'm really fine!" Wu Ming hurriedly raised his voice, "Our sect is so strapped for resources, Senior Sister shouldn't waste precious Mana!"

The words "strapped" and "waste" did strike a chord with Zhu Ying. She hesitated, "A minor technique like this isn't really a waste... Are you sure you're fine?"

Seeing Wu Ming nod emphatically, Zhu Ying finally relaxed, but then her expression hardened again. "Then what possessed you to act like a madman?! You don't think the harder you fall, the faster you learn, do you!? Dull effort doesn't mean deliberately being stupid!"

Wu Ming replied, "Senior Sister, the best way to master a difficult skill is to pile on even more difficulty until the trial-and-error process can no longer accumulate any useful experience. The familiarity gained from high-altitude landings is clearly faster, and for now, I can still afford the falls."

Zhu Ying was stunned for a long moment before she said, "That's how you think?"

Wu Ming answered, "If there's anything wrong, please correct me, Senior Sister."

"Your mind is sharp, always full of wild ideas. I really have nothing to correct, but..." After a moment's hesitation, Zhu Ying couldn't help revealing a bit of the trick. "The Root Stance's training most fears overthinking. The more you exhaust your cleverness, the more it backfires."

Wu Ming broke into a smile. "That only means I haven't truly exhausted my cleverness yet."

"..." Zhu Ying silently studied him for a long time, then finally shook her head, her gaze gradually turning cold. "Suit yourself."

She had long known that making a clever person act stupid was harder than making a stupid person act clever. Wu Ming's reaction was entirely expected.

Yet this Rootless Path had never acknowledged cleverness.

Only when Wu Ming was truly bloodied and battered, even at the end of his rope, might he finally wake up.

But how long would it take to reach that dead end?

The Root Stance's training was never a one-day feat. Even if Wu Ming had set aside his petty cleverness from the start and kept his feet on the ground... to truly stand steady on the Rootless Path would take at least three days, or even longer. And with his current attitude of refusing to turn back until he hit the wall, it was even more distant.

As Qiongzhou's famously grueling basic skill, the Root Stance was excruciatingly hard to start. It was just a single, unadorned step, but without a thousand falls, it could never be mastered.

Twenty years ago, Zhu Ying had taken two full days, falling until she was covered in bruises, before she finally succeeded in taking that first step. That result had even surprised her master, Gu Bai.

Fifteen years ago, Zheng Lingxi, being too afraid of pain, had dawdled for a full five days before she finally steadied her first step—by then, Zhu Ying had been so angry she'd wanted to resort to corporal punishment.

Now it was Wu Ming's turn. He needed the Root Stance even more than his two senior sisters to stabilize his foundation, yet he was clearly ten times more flighty than they had been...

With a hint of helplessness, Zhu Ying decided to leave Wu Ming alone for now. A moment later, she turned her back, clasped her hands behind her, and stepped onto the Rootless Path herself.

While guiding Wu Ming in his training, she couldn't neglect her own... Stuck at the early Foundation Establishment stage for years, it was time for her to start from the basics and hone herself anew.

Though this Rootless Path wasn't suited for multiple people training together—each step taking root could interfere with others—considering Wu Ming's stubborn, impervious demeanor, he shouldn't be qualified to disturb her for a while yet.

So Zhu Ying stepped lightly, moving across the slippery Rootless Path like a dragonfly skimming water. In a flash, she had taken dozens of steps, leaving Wu Ming far behind... until she reached an open space at a mountain bend, where she suddenly stopped and let out a long breath.

"Seventy-six..." the woman murmured softly, shaking her head.

Seventy-six consecutive steps on the Rootless Path was her current limit. Every step beyond that was as hard as when she had first come here twenty years ago. And now, she wasn't ready to take that next step...

Of course, seventy-six steps was an outstanding result. Many cultivators who had formed a Golden Core and become True Persons couldn't manage thirty or forty steps on this path. For Zhu Ying to achieve seventy-six steps in just twenty years of training was impressive even by the standards of Qiongzhou's top body-cultivation sect, the Vajra Sect.

But mere "impressiveness" was far from enough for Zhu Ying.

Because, with a master like Gu Bai, she ought to do better... As the Senior Sister of the Gujian Sect, she had to do better!

At that thought, Zhu Ying took a light breath, calmed her mind, and naturally stepped forward. As she gracefully set her foot down, her qi and blood faintly resonated with the world's spiritual energy. The mountain breeze blew, the grass and trees swayed, as if all of heaven and earth around her were cheering her on, helping her complete this step.

Tap!

Her short boot landed firmly on the mountain path, rattling the gravel and sinking slightly into the soil... Yet the next moment, as if an invisible repulsive force swept across, Zhu Ying's foot slipped, and she involuntarily pitched forward.

But before she could lose balance and hit the ground, Zhu Ying reached out and pushed off the earth, forcefully righting herself. Then, forming a hand seal, she summoned a wisp of breeze beneath her feet, gently lifting her to hover in midair.

Her posture was graceful and effortless, showing no sign of clumsiness. But that seventy-seventh step had ultimately failed to land.

Zhu Ying exhaled a turbid breath, suppressing the irritation rising in her heart, and rode the wind back to the starting point of the mountain path. Then, amid the continuous thuds of Wu Ming's falls, she calmed her mind again and stepped forward.

One, two, three, four... seventy-five, seventy-six.

This time, Zhu Ying still stopped at seventy-six steps. The seventy-seventh still wouldn't land.

The third time, Zhu Ying stopped at seventy-five steps—her result had actually regressed slightly.

The fourth time, Zhu Ying slipped unexpectedly at the seventieth step.

The fifth time, Zhu Ying again managed seventy-six steps, but just before taking the next, her supporting foot suddenly slid.

The sixth time, the seventh time...

Before she knew it, the sky had shifted from early morning to noon. Even with Zhu Ying's extraordinary tenacity, she felt a strong fatigue... Training on the Rootless Path consumed far more energy than it appeared. For an ordinary cultivator unaccustomed to body refinement, a single round would leave their qi and blood boiling and their muscles limp.

Though Zhu Ying had long been used to honing herself and had an exceptionally solid foundation, she could no longer hide her exhaustion now, and her mind began to grow restless. And so... the Wu Ming beside her, who was gleefully playing acrobatics, became especially grating.

By now, he had abandoned his high-altitude landing plan and was instead trying a clearly more difficult front-flip landing—naturally, he fell in a mess. But after falling all morning, his landing technique had noticeably improved. With a smooth roll, he easily got back up, barely even leaving a scratch.

Then, Wu Ming grinned at his senior sister and focused on a new attempt—this time, a backward somersault...

Zhu Ying frowned slightly, her irritation growing.

An entire morning, and he was still "exhausting his cleverness," without a shred of intention to keep his feet on the ground. Though the Rootless Path was specifically designed to counter cunning, Wu Ming's behavior was a bit too "uncunning."

The smarter a person was, the more they tended to cling to their "cleverness." But the more they relied on it, the harder it was to achieve true success. Zhu Ying had already warned him of these principles, but Wu Ming clearly hadn't taken them to heart.

This man was even more stubborn in his "self-styled cleverness" than Zhu Ying had expected.

And so, naturally, he would suffer more than she had anticipated.

With a hint of frustration, Zhu Ying turned her head, ignoring Wu Ming, and stepped past him up the path... But a questioning voice grew clearer in her mind.

Was choosing the Root Stance for Wu Ming really the right call?

Though her master had affirmed her judgment, though Wu Ming had already proven he was no lazy, frivolous brat who couldn't endure hardship, still...

But what if he really did hit the wall and refuse to turn back? What if, no matter how many times he fell, he wouldn't let go of his obsession? What if... Huh?

A ridiculous thought suddenly surfaced in Zhu Ying's mind.

If a clever person insists on trying countless times on an utterly impossible path, succeeding or failing alike, always remaining spirited and undaunted...

Knowing one's mistakes yet refusing to correct them, walking alone against heaven... doesn't that perfectly align with the essence of Root Stance!?

No, no, no, how could that be? If such clowning around could master Root Stance, then her own ten-plus years of grueling training would be a joke.

Reason forced her to think this way, but at this moment, reason, like her utterly exhausted body, began to waver faintly.

The next moment, Zhu Ying suddenly felt her feet go soft and slip, her body tilting involuntarily.

After grinding on the Rootless Path for half the day, she had finally reached the point of depleted blood and qi, unable to sustain herself. With her mind in a daze, her footing grew even more unstable. Thus, in this session, she couldn't even complete the first step.

Just as she was about to fall disgracefully before Wu Ming, Zhu Ying's pretty face stiffened. At the brink of utter exhaustion, she forced out a sliver of Mana, condensing it into a gentle breeze beneath her feet, trying to correct her posture.

Yet at that very moment, a faint tremor suddenly swept up the mountain path, rising from underfoot and rippling through her body, leaving her numb.

"...?"

It took Zhu Ying a moment to realize where this tremor came from.

There was only one thing that could make the Rootless Path tremble like this.

Someone on this path had planted their foot and taken root. When two people landed steps simultaneously, it caused the Rootless Path to resonate.

The Rootless Path was, in essence, a solitary path, unsuited for synchronized training. The resonance's amplitude was small, but it easily disrupted balance, especially by dispersing Mana.

Right now, that insignificant tremor, like a mosquito landing on skin, effortlessly and precisely scattered the breeze beneath Zhu Ying's boots.

The next moment, the wind scattered like a scroll, and the chaotic current pushed the already spent Zhu Ying backward like a falling leaf!

At that moment, at the start of the mountain path, Wu Ming was leaping down from midair, landing on one foot, his body stretching like a swan, his face beaming with an excited smile.

"Axel Jump, landed clean!"

But that smile was shadowed the next instant. Wu Ming looked up and saw only a petite young girl, her face full of shame and despair, descending from the sky, crashing straight into him!

The violent collision plunged the boy into darkness, a brief daze.

After a long while, Wu Ming felt his consciousness slowly return, his vision gradually clearing.

Just now, it seemed a girl had fallen from the sky, soft jade and warm fragrance crashing into his arms. No, from the lingering sensation, especially the pain on his nose bridge, it felt more like hard jade and warm fragrance...

As he thought this, his clearing vision showed the girl from the sky crouching not far away, clutching her chest with both hands, her small face full of bewilderment, as if unable to believe what had just happened... or what she had hit.

The next moment, seeing Wu Ming awake, her dilated pupils gradually focused, and her face flushed red. Yet despite her embarrassment, she forced herself to ask, "Wu Ming, are you okay?"

Wu Ming said, "I'm fine, fine. Senior Sister is so light, how could anything happen to me?"

"Don't casually call people light!" Zhu Ying felt a surge of shame and anger at this, standing up abruptly, her posture proud and unyielding.

"Senior Sister misunderstands. I absolutely didn't mean to mock your development... Of course, if it were Second Senior Sister, I probably would have been in real trouble."

"I think you really are asking for trouble!" Zhu Ying was about to lose her temper, but then exclaimed in surprise, "Your nose is bleeding?!"

Wu Ming was stunned, reached up to touch, and sure enough, his hand came away bloody... He wasn't surprised by this. Though Senior Sister was petite and light, the momentum of her fall was fierce, and there was no cushioning in the collision. A nose bridge against a cliff face was like an egg against a stone... He was lucky to only get a nosebleed.

That said, if it were Second Senior Sister, he probably wouldn't need to bleed... At most, a concussion.

As he thought this, Zhu Ying swept aside her shame and anger, stepped forward, and without a word, checked Wu Ming's injuries. Confirming nothing serious, she cast a Lesser Rejuvenation Formula, then stiffened her face, stepped back, and said coldly, "Hmph, you should be fine now..."

Wu Ming asked, "Senior Sister, are you okay?"

"How could I not be okay?" Zhu Ying shook her head, annoyed. "That was just an accident. Don't overthink it, and don't dwell on it!"

"Don't worry, I've already forgotten everything!" Wu Ming rubbed his nose. "We're as innocent as ever, Senior and Junior Brother!"

"Don't make it sound so guilty!"

Fortunately, before his Senior Sister's anger could reignite, Wu Ming clumsily but timely changed the subject.

"Oh, right, Senior Sister, I just mastered Root Stance!"

"...You!?"