Secretly Learning the Cui Family's Martial Arts

After entering the Cui Family, Chen Ye quickly settled in.

For the first few days, Cui Xijun didn't assign him any work. She only had him follow Cheng Defu around each day to familiarize himself with the estate.

Chen Ye wasn't in a hurry. He didn't bring up martial arts again, patiently waiting for an opportunity.

Five days passed like this.

At dawn that day, just as it turned five, Chen Ye woke up right on cue, his body clock precise.

He felt around for his clothes in the dark, put them on and tied them, then rinsed his mouth with a willow twig. As usual, he waited outside the Back Courtyard.

By the time the sky had brightened a little, Cui Xijun was already dressed and ready. She came out with two maids, including Hong Ling.

The clothes she wore today were rather androgynous: a long-sleeved, straight-cut jacket with a cross-collar, worn open, its lines subtly outlining her figure.

"I'm going to the private school today to teach the clan's children their first lessons. Let's go."

Chen Ye nodded in assent and asked nothing, simply following behind her.

By the estate's rules, he kept his eyes on the ground and didn't rudely stare at anyone.

Chen Ye followed them through two covered walkways in the inner courtyard of the Cui Family, heading for the west side courtyard.

Soon, they arrived at the private school inside Cui Mansion.

As a second-rank noble household, the Cui Family had many clan children living in the Capital City. The estate had a private school built specifically for them.

Chen Ye had assumed the school was just a single room, like a study. When he arrived, he found that the private school at Cui Mansion was actually a separate two-story building.

The Cui Family kept a very strict household.

As soon as Cui Xijun entered, the few boys and girls who had been whispering to one another fell silent at once and properly returned to their seats.

It was a world of difference from what Chen Ye had seen at the Gao Family.

He glanced around. A dozen or so low desks had been set out in the classroom, each supplied with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. The students were Cui clan children, from seven or eight years old to twelve or thirteen, and there were more girls than boys.

Cui Kan sat in the middle of the front row. When he saw Cui Xijun enter, he suddenly straightened his back.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he spotted Chen Ye following behind her. His attempt at a serious expression was tinged with curiosity.

He snuck a few glances at Chen Ye but didn't dare say anything, doing his best to maintain the posture of a student listening attentively.

Just then, the sun rose, and the sky grew bright.

Cui Xijun sat down at the lectern. Without any unnecessary pleasantries, she opened her book.

"Today, we'll study the 'Benevolence' chapter of the Analects of the Sage."

"The Sage said: 'Those without benevolence cannot remain long in straitened circumstances, nor can they remain long in comfort. The benevolent are at ease with benevolence; the wise find benevolence advantageous.'"

This meant that people without benevolence could neither hold out for long in hardship nor remain at ease for long in comfort.

The benevolent were at ease with benevolence, while the wise knew how to make good use of it.

"It's the same principle as martial arts. Those without a solid foundation become restless and conceited when things go well, then collapse when things go badly. Only those with something real within them can stay calm no matter what changes around them."

She spoke plainly, without showing off her learning by citing one classic after another. Instead, she patiently broke down every sentence so that even the youngest students could understand.

When she reached "The benevolent are at ease with benevolence," she asked a few of the older students to give examples.

When she came to "the wise find benevolence advantageous," she shifted gears and focused on explaining it. "What does it mean to 'find benevolence advantageous'? It doesn't mean using benevolence to take advantage of others. It means knowing what is right and having the means to make the right thing happen.

"When you go out into the world one day, a good heart alone won't be enough. You'll also need skill, discernment, and decisiveness.

"Otherwise, people will mistake your benevolence for weakness."

Chen Ye stood quietly in the corner and listened.

Perhaps it was because he had lived two lives, but his memory was excellent.

He was able to memorize these lessons in their entirety after only a short while.

The classroom grew quieter and quieter. The only sounds in the entire Mind-Clearing Hall were the wind outside and Cui Xijun's voice as she explained the classics.

After teaching for half an hour, Cui Xijun closed the book and began testing the students one by one.

When she called on Cui Kan, the little fellow stood up and recited smoothly, but stumbled when asked to explain "finding benevolence advantageous."

He stammered for a long time, unable to get a single sentence out.

Cui Xijun didn't scold him. She simply said, "Copy it three times and hand it in tomorrow."

Cui Kan bowed his head and accepted his punishment dejectedly.

"Take a break for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Then we'll go to the Martial Arts Arena."

The students breathed a collective sigh of relief. Cui Kan even sprang up from behind his desk, grabbed a fellow student by the sleeve, and dashed outside.

"Third Sister, I'll head over first, or Second Sister will get tired of waiting."

Cui Xijun was used to this. After a while, she led Chen Ye and the others toward the Cui Family's Martial Arts Arena.

The Cui Family's training ground was right behind the Mind-Clearing Hall, an open space paved with bluestone slabs.

Weapon racks, stone locks, sandbags, wooden posts, and all sorts of training equipment stood along both sides.

It was much more spacious than the courtyards of most Aristocratic Clans.

Just then, a stern reprimand rang out from the middle of the grounds.

"Straighten your back! Sink lower!"

"The Sage spoke to the ruler of what is true: the root of life has always lain in the true breath!"

"Remember, the foundation of cultivation lies in the point where breath truly stills—that is, in the space connecting this breath and the next!"

Chen Ye followed the voice and looked over. The woman wore a black short jacket, cinched tightly at the waist. She was as nimble as a female leopard, and her features bore some resemblance to Cui Xijun's.

He realized she must be the estate's Second Miss.

Cui Yingtang stood in the middle of the grounds with a bamboo switch in hand, correcting the children's stances one by one.

On her own turf, she was like a general on the battlefield, issuing commands left and right, rewarding and punishing without favor.

One student stood incorrectly while holding a stance. She walked over and struck him with the switch, making him grimace in pain.

Chen Ye suddenly realized that this was where the Cui Family's children practiced martial arts. It involved the family's own teachings.

As an outsider, it seemed inappropriate for him to be there, so he hurriedly prepared to withdraw.

But Cui Xijun didn't seem to mind that he and the two maids, including Hong Ling, were present. This made him wonder.

Since Cui Yingtang hadn't asked him to leave, it clearly wasn't any important secret. There was no need for him to make a fuss.

So he boldly remained to one side, listening and committing everything to memory.

Chen Ye's calm gaze swept across the stances of the Cui Family's children.

He didn't deliberately stare at anyone. He simply observed their figures bit by bit from the corner of his eye.

Their stances, the way they breathed.

Cui Yingtang finished giving instructions to most of the students, then turned and walked over. After looking him over for a moment, she asked, "You're the one who saved my Third Sister, right?"

Chen Ye quickly put aside his thoughts and replied respectfully, "I'm Chen Ye. Greetings, Second Miss."

Cui Yingtang said with interest, "Come spar with me sometime."

Cui Xijun knew her sister's combative nature had flared up again, and stepped in at once. "Second Sister, he has other things to do for me. How could he have time to spar with you? Besides, you're a Dragon Elephant Martial Master, and all of Capital City knows your reputation. Why bully a mere attendant?"

Cui Yingtang smiled and didn't press the matter.

"Second Sister, we're here."

It was probably another incense stick's time before Cui Kan finally came over with a group of Cui Family children.

When he saw that Cui Xijun was already at the Martial Arts Arena, he froze in place, dumbstruck.

"Third Sister, you haven't left?" Cui Kan shrank his neck and asked cautiously.

Cui Xijun stared at him, her half-smiling expression making his heart tremble.

"Why aren't you getting over there to practice?"

Cui Kan hurried over to report to Cui Yingtang.

As soon as he arrived at the training ground, he put on an obedient act, completely unlike the struggling student he'd been in class.

Cui Xijun called out to him, "Go hold your stance. Yesterday, you only lasted half an hour before complaining your legs hurt. Make up for it today."

"Oh!"

Caught red-handed, Cui Kan obediently stood in front of the bluestone slab where he usually practiced, assumed his stance, and looked utterly bereft.

Cui Yingtang went over and corrected his posture, then turned to all the students on the grounds. "The Return to Origin Art I taught you a while ago is meant to build a foundation. It's balanced and steady, without any fancy flourishes, and it nourishes the body. Once you've practiced it well, you'll find it much easier to learn the Household's martial arts later. Pay attention and learn it properly."

Cui Xijun watched for a while longer. Seeing that Cui Kan wasn't trying to wriggle out of it again, she didn't linger and left the Martial Arts Arena.

A busy day began.

The Liu Family matter still needed a great deal of work to sort out.

Chen Ye stayed by Cui Xijun's side until evening. After finishing his duties, he returned to his quarters.

There was no one around now.

Chen Ye closed his eyes in the courtyard and tried to recall what he had seen. He began to relax his body, setting his feet shoulder-width apart, bending his knees slightly, lowering his center of gravity, and imitating the Cui Family children's stances.

In his mind, he pieced together a rough method of cultivation from Cui Yingtang's scattered remarks.

At first, his movements were a little stiff. But as his breathing gradually settled into a rhythm, he felt a faint warmth rise from his lower abdomen and slowly travel up his back.

As he cultivated, Chen Ye compared the technique with the Foundation Cultivation Technique he had practiced so hard before.

He was astonished to discover that the Cui Family's martial art had a more complete circulation route than the Foundation Cultivation Technique.

The Foundation Cultivation Technique focused only on channeling the feeling of qi into the dantian. Once the qi reached the dantian, it was like entering a dead end, sitting there in a stuffy knot until the body slowly refined it on its own.

But the Cui Family's martial art began at the dantian, traveled up the spine, branched into the eight extraordinary meridians, then returned to the dantian, cycling endlessly. It had a complete method for circulating the sensation of inner force.

It was like the Dragon King scattering rain, then all rivers flowing back into the sea—a wondrous cycle.

Chen Ye focused all his attention and kept trying.

A moment later, the Pawn System panel abruptly appeared in his field of vision.

[Name: Chen Ye]

[Current Martial Arts: Foundation Cultivation Technique (Perfected), Return to Origin Art (Not Yet Initiated)]

Chen Ye's expression stiffened.

Had he actually managed to secretly learn it?