Liang Song sat beside the stone table.
He cradled a cup of hot tea in his hands, leisurely watching Lin Zheyu practice his punches.
When he saw that Lin Zheyu could now coordinate the Internal Breathing Method with his punches, his eyes widened.
"I only taught him the Internal Breathing Method a little over ten days ago, and he's already gotten this good!"
Liang Song was astonished.
Only after comprehending the Breathing Method and putting in a great deal of hard practice could someone incorporate it into their fist techniques.
An ordinary martial artist would need months of hard training to manage it.
A more gifted one could do it in about a month.
Lin Zheyu had managed it in little more than ten days.
"That kid really is a martial arts prodigy!"
Liang Song marveled, feeling a little envious.
When he had first encountered the Internal Breathing Method, it had taken him a full month to incorporate it into his martial arts.
Lin Zheyu had done it in less than twenty days.
To have encountered such a gifted martial arts seedling in a little place like Songyi City was a truly unexpected delight.
"If only I'd put more effort into teaching him from the start."
Liang Song muttered under his breath.
He watched Lin Zheyu's movements closely.
Lin Zheyu stood with his legs slightly apart and his body lowered into a stance. An invisible aura spread around him.
He stamped down hard, the muscles in his legs tensing in an instant.
Power surged from both legs, traveled through his waist, and flowed into his arms. Then his upper body tilted slightly, and his fists shot forward with tremendous force, like a pair of charging bull's horns.
In that instant, every muscle in his body exploded with power. It poured into his arms and became a terrifying assault as his fists drove forward.
Crack—
The moment Lin Zheyu's fists shot out, the sound of his bones and sinews resonating rang through his body.
More than twenty minutes later, he finished a set of the fist technique.
Clap, clap, clap—
"Good, very good." Liang Song clapped in approval.
"But there are a few things you need to pay attention to."
"The Bone Forging method differs slightly from the Muscle Refining method. Don't train with the same mindset you had in the Muscle Refining stage."
"First, when forging your bones, you need to do it here, here, and here..."
Liang Song began offering pointers, explaining what Lin Zheyu needed to improve about his practice.
Without someone to teach them, it would take a great deal of effort to figure out such details and precautions.
As Lin Zheyu listened to Master Liang's explanations, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Without Liang Song's guidance today, Lin Zheyu might have needed to enter that special state again and train for a long time before gradually figuring it out.
"All right, try another set." Liang Song said.
"Yes, Master."
Lin Zheyu replied respectfully.
He walked to the center of the courtyard and silently went over Master Liang's instructions, comparing them point by point with his own experience. His understanding of the Bull Fist deepened.
Thud
Thump, thump
Crack
The sound of Lin Zheyu practicing rang through the courtyard. The cracks of his bones and sinews resonating grew denser and denser.
These were the sounds of bones and sinews colliding and resonating during Bone Forging.
When the sounds grew denser still, until the bones and sinews throughout the body rang as one, that was a sign that Bone Forging was nearing completion.
"Good, good..."
Liang Song kept nodding, growing more and more pleased with Lin Zheyu.
He watched Lin Zheyu train, occasionally calling out to correct him when he did something wrong.
Soon, more than two hours had passed.
"Take a break," Liang Song called.
Lin Zheyu stopped, panting. He sat down beside Master Liang, picked up the tea his master had prepared, and downed it in one gulp.
"You've gotten the hang of the Bull Fist. Next, I'll teach you about real combat."
Liang Song said, slowly filling Lin Zheyu's empty cup.
"Martial arts are killing arts. Training in martial arts is all in service of killing."
"When you fight someone, a higher martial arts realm and greater strength don't guarantee victory."
"In real combat, many things determine the outcome: martial intent, killing moves, martial wisdom, and all the rest."
"To put it simply, real combat is about using your strengths to exploit your opponent's weaknesses."
"Seeing through your enemy's weaknesses quickly and steering the situation in your favor, so that you can use your strengths against their weaknesses—that's real combat."
"Borrowing force to strike back, assassination, ambushes, poison, and so on are all ways to steer the situation toward using your strengths against your opponent's weaknesses. Real combat is utterly brutal."
"When facing an enemy, never show the slightest mercy or hesitation, because you can never know whether what they're showing you is just a false front meant to lure you in."
Liang Song spoke slowly.
Liang Song recounted nearly all the lessons he had learned from a lifetime of real combat to Lin Zheyu.
He didn't care whether Lin Zheyu could absorb it all. He poured out everything in one go, stuffing it into Lin Zheyu's head.
His lessons included dozens of classic combat encounters and analyses of more than a hundred fights.
"Master, could you slow down?"
Lin Zheyu couldn't help speaking up.
Hearing this, Liang Song laughed ruefully. He'd been getting ahead of himself.
It was simply that Lin Zheyu was so gifted that Liang Song wished he could teach him everything all at once.
"That's enough for today. Go back and think it over carefully. Come again tonight, and I'll teach you how to fight an opponent for real."
Liang Song said.
"Master, are you leaving Songyi City?"
Lin Zheyu hesitated, then finally asked the question on his mind.
Master Liang had been acting strangely today, as though he feared he was running out of time and wanted to teach Lin Zheyu everything all at once.
"You figured it out?"
Liang Song wasn't surprised. "I'll be leaving in a few days to take care of some things. I'll be gone for a long time, and I may not come back."
"Is it dangerous?"
Lin Zheyu was worried.
Master Liang could be said to be the person who had treated him best since he came to this world.
Although Liang Song had never formally taken him as a disciple, Lin Zheyu had always called him Master.
"Don't worry. There's no danger."
"I'm just getting old and want to see a few old friends and settle some old grudges." Liang Song smiled freely.
"All right, get going. And remember to close the door behind you."
Liang Song waved him off, then picked up Lin Zheyu's manuscript and began reading.
"'A great hero serves his country and its people.' This kid writes such interesting stories."
Liang Song sipped his tea with a chuckle as he read.
That afternoon.
At the Bidan Tea House.
It was livelier than usual today, with many unfamiliar faces.
"Steward Wu, who are those people? They look unfamiliar. How come I've never seen them before?"
Lin Zheyu asked curiously.
After more than a month, the audience at the Bidan Tea House had become fairly regular.
The same people came and went, and Lin Zheyu had seen almost all of them. But today, there were more than a dozen unfamiliar faces.
"A passing merchant caravan."
"Songyi City's been livelier lately. The wars have affected those border cities, and a lot of merchant caravans have fled from them. They're passing through Songyi City on their way to the central region."
Steward Wu said.
The wars seemed to be spreading, and even Songyi City had been affected.
Gradually, people had become more careful with their money, and Lin Zheyu received far fewer tips each day.
"No wonder they looked unfamiliar."
Lin Zheyu nodded and walked up to the storyteller's platform.
Smack!
He struck the clapper, and the story began to unfold.
As the tale progressed, it grew more and more captivating.
Master Liang sat by the window, listening intently, though every so often he seemed to drift off, lost in thought.
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