Breathing

The next morning.

Chen Feng carefully tucked the money pouch inside his clothes, shut the door, and set off early toward the Inner City.

After weaving through several alleys and circling around a few streets, he found a courtyard house near the Inner City.

The door stood slightly ajar. Cries rang out from within, along with the dull thuds of fists and feet striking wooden stakes. The sounds carried even over the courtyard wall.

Chen Feng looked up at the wooden plaque above the door: Dragon Walk Martial Arts School.

This was the place.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Chen Feng stepped forward and knocked.

After a while, the wooden door opened. A hulking man, eight feet tall and thick with muscle, came out and gave him a cold-eyed once-over. When he recognized Chen Feng, his expression softened a little.

Chen Feng had come before to ask about the prices. He'd been earnest and had slipped the man a few Copper Coins, so the man remembered him.

"Saved up enough?"

"Enough."

"Come in."

The man turned, and Chen Feng followed him into the courtyard.

Inside, more than a dozen men were bare-chested, lifting Stone Locks to build their strength.

The man who had opened the door led Chen Feng down a corridor, talking as they walked.

"You know the fees: two liang to start, seven liang with room and board, and ten liang with medicinal soup included. All are for six months. How much you learn depends on you. Which tier do you want?"

"Two liang will do."

At the payment desk, Chen Feng gave his name and age for the register, then took the two liang in Silver Shards he'd prepared beforehand from his pouch and handed them to the Accountant.

After weighing the silver and finishing the records, the Accountant quickly gave Chen Feng a Wooden Token. His name and the date of payment were engraved on it.

Once the six months were up, the token would be invalid, and he would have to pay his tuition again.

[You witnessed the process of the martial arts school recruiting disciples... Experience +100]

Chen Feng froze. Even this could earn him Experience?

"From today on, you're a disciple of the Dragon Walk Martial Arts School. My name is Zhao Shanyue, and this month I'm in charge of instructing new disciples."

"Senior Brother Zhao." Chen Feng saluted.

Zhao Shanyue nodded.

"Turn around."

Chen Feng did as he was told. Zhao Shanyue gently placed a hand on his shoulder, pressing down slightly with his fingertips as he felt along the bones—shoulders, spine, knees and ankles—unhurriedly.

Chen Feng felt a faint numbness seep into his bones.

[You underwent a Gen Gu assessment... Experience +100]

"Hmm... Slightly Superior Gen Gu. Train diligently and stick it out for a few years. When the right opportunity comes, you might become a Martial Artist."

"Yes."

Chen Feng sighed inwardly. He'd still clung to the hope that he had extraordinary talent, thinking that as a transmigrator, he couldn't possibly be too bad. He hadn't expected this.

A few years... With talent like his, it was truly hard to stomach.

Chen Feng had asked around. Gen Gu was extremely important in the Martial Way. For instance, there was a man in Pingcheng who had been born with incredible strength, able to lift a heavy cauldron even as a child.

He'd started at the finish line for most people.

The consoling tone in Zhao Shanyue's voice clearly meant that Chen Feng had little hope of making a name for himself through martial arts.

But he'd already paid. There was no way to get a refund.

"All right, come with me. I'll teach you the Breathing Method first. Once you've got the hang of it, you can start training alongside it."

Chen Feng followed close behind Zhao Shanyue to a training yard paved with blue-gray stone slabs.

A row of wooden training dummies stood in one corner, along with Stone Locks and Stone Shoulder Poles of various sizes. The largest were several Giant Rocks, each as tall as a man.

Unlike the men he'd seen earlier, the people training here were all boys. Yet the strongest among them could already lift a Giant Rock and do squats with it.

"Come, stand here. Watch me."

Zhao Shanyue walked slowly in front of Chen Feng and demonstrated the breathing posture. His feet were shoulder-width apart, his back straight and centered, and the crown of his head seemed suspended by a thread.

"Draw breath to gather; release it to strike. In through the nose, clear; out through the mouth, turbid..."

Chen Feng listened closely, not daring to miss a single word.

[You listened attentively to the instruction... Experience +200]

"All right."

Zhao Shanyue straightened and handed him a slip of paper.

Chen Feng took it and quickly scanned the words: Tuna Gong.

"Can you read?"

"Yes."

The Original Owner had attended school for a few years and could read.

"Good. Study it yourself, and call me if you don't understand something. The posture is the one I just showed you. The breathing principles are written on the paper. Once you've got the hang of it, I'll teach you the rest."

With that, Zhao Shanyue turned and left to instruct the other students in the yard.

Chen Feng gave the Breathing Method in his hand a quick once-over.

It was covered in dense writing, but it matched Zhao Shanyue's demonstration exactly.

But he smiled discreetly. This paper recording the breathing technique was already useless, because...

With a thought, lines of text appeared before his eyes.

[Tuna Gong]: Initial Glimpse (0/200)

While Zhao Shanyue had been demonstrating, the Experience System had already recorded the Breathing Method. Now all Chen Feng had to do was spend points.

[Experience: 12675]

"Shen Lan! Add points!"

Chen Feng's thought stirred, and the numbers on the panel changed rapidly.

[Tuna Gong]: Minor Success (0/200)

At once, Chen Feng felt a warm current well up inside him, flowing along his meridians and washing through his body. He brimmed with vitality and wanted to find something to punch, to let it all out.

"Keep going," Chen Feng thought.

[Tuna Gong]: Enter the Hall (0/200)

Having reached the Enter the Hall stage, Chen Feng stopped adding points, worried that too high a level of proficiency would make the change too obvious.

When he'd maxed out Tai Chi Fist earlier, his body had changed abruptly and startled the people around him. It had taken quite a bit of fast talking to smooth things over, so he'd learned his lesson.

He did this to keep from standing out too much and arousing suspicion. In times like these, the tallest tree caught the wind.

With every breath, Chen Feng could feel the surging vitality within him. The urge to vent had eased somewhat, and the warm current inside him had grown thicker.

"Great!"

Chen Feng cheered inwardly. The Breathing Method was truly miraculous. He felt that if he'd known it during the fitness test in his previous life, he could've run a thousand meters without even breaking a sweat.

Chen Feng didn't call Senior Brother Zhao over right away. Instead, he stayed where he was and practiced the posture several times, pretending to be a beginner and making his movements look clumsy.

"Hmm, not bad."

Zhao Shanyue, who was instructing other disciples nearby, was gratified to see Chen Feng grasping the technique so quickly.

This junior brother might have only average Gen Gu, but he had a good deal of insight.

But then Zhao Shanyue was stunned. Chen Feng's movements were growing more and more practiced, more and more fluid, and his breathing was becoming increasingly rhythmic.

"He's clearly got the hang of it! This kid's got incredible insight! He's already reached Minor Success in such a short time!"

A flicker of surprise crossed Zhao Shanyue's eyes. After finishing his instruction with the student before him, he went to Chen Feng's side.

"Senior Brother Zhao." Chen Feng bowed respectfully.

"You've done very well. You've got talent. I couldn't even master Tuna Gong within the time it takes an incense stick to burn."

"Thank you for your praise, Senior Brother."

A trace of admiration flickered in Zhao Shanyue's eyes. Chen Feng was neither arrogant nor servile, and so polite that it was hard not to like him.

The other students nearby saw Chen Feng's talent and began whispering among themselves.

"Hey, who's that guy? He's got such good insight."

"Dunno. Never seen him before. Must be from an ordinary family."

"You need to start martial arts young. Someone who joins halfway through, practically grown up already, won't get far. I don't have much faith in him."

"Listen, when I came over earlier, I saw Senior Brother Zhao testing his bones. Guess what? Slightly Superior Gen Gu!"

"Slightly Superior Gen Gu? What's that? Isn't Gen Gu divided into upper, middle, and lower grades?"

"Ah, you don't get it. Senior Brother Zhao puts things gently because he's afraid of discouraging people and having them make a fuss and demand their money back. Slightly Superior Gen Gu means Zhong Xia Gen Gu."

"Zhong Xia? Not even middle grade?"

"That's right, that's right. But it's still better than lower-grade Gen Gu. Better than spending a lifetime without even seeing the threshold of becoming a Martial Artist."

"How long do you think that guy will take to develop Qi Blood?"

"Ha! Zhong Xia martial bones? Just wait. In six months, he'll be slinking away with his tail between his legs."