Basic Stance Technique Complete Edition

"Damn it, Li Jinshui, you beast!"

Outside the main gate of Green Osmanthus Garden.

Captain Liu watched helplessly as Li Jinshui sat inside a heavily armored sedan and sped away.

His defenses shattered on the spot. He chased after it for dozens of meters, pointing at the taillights and spraying curses everywhere.

He had calculated everything, yet failed to account for that brat having money to call a ride-hailing car!

What infuriated him most was that the brat had clearly gotten into the car long ago, yet insisted on waiting by the roadside until Captain Liu came out. Then, right before his eyes, he slowly rolled up the window and had the car drive away.

Who could stand that?

"Hello, sir. Someone is chasing our vehicle from behind. Would you like us to stop?"

Inside the armored sedan, the burly accompanying bodyguard in the front passenger seat glanced at the rearview mirror, then turned to ask Li Jinshui.

"No need. That guy was my Lineage's old butler. I kicked him out because he served food with his left hand. He got a little emotional when he saw me and merely wanted to beg for mercy."

Li Jinshui adjusted his posture and crossed one leg over the other.

"I've always been a man of my word. If I softened up and let him come back, what would happen if the other servants followed his example? Many people say I'm too aloof and cold, too lacking in human warmth, but who knows the pressure of taking charge of such a vast Lineage at such a young age? The moment I open my eyes each day, hundreds of billions are flowing through my hands!"

Li Jinshui sighed, turning to gaze out the window with deep, melancholy eyes.

In the streets and alleys outside, Drifters had already emerged and were chasing people down with blades.

"..."

The bodyguard had nothing to say. He silently turned his head back, like a statue.

The driver beside him had his mouth twitch twice. His formidable professional discipline allowed him to barely squeeze out a smile. "You're right, sir."

"You understand me." Li Jinshui was deeply gratified and immediately prepared to recount his miserable life as a young master.

Beep—

At that moment, the intelligent voice from the car's central console sounded.

"Dear passenger, based on the platform's credit assessment, you are not entitled to pay the fare upon arrival. Please pay the full fare immediately. Otherwise, the vehicle will be unable to continue serving you, and your door will be ejected open in one minute."

"..."

The atmosphere inside the car abruptly fell silent.

"My apologies for letting you two witness that."

Wearing a calm, faint smile, Li Jinshui elegantly raised half his backside and pulled out his phone from his pocket. "I usually ride my family's private airship. This is my first time taking this sort of commoner ride-hailing car. By the way, I just need to tick this tip option, right?"

Before the driver and bodyguard could reply—

Beep—

The central console sounded another notification. "Passenger payment successful. Fare: 1,080 yuan. Tip: 0 yuan..."

"Hello?"

Li Jinshui started making a call and spoke loudly.

"I just got in the car. I'll be there soon, so go ahead and eat first. Don't wait for me... Mm-hm, all right, goodbye."

He nodded at thin air and made a motion as though ending the call, only then looking at the two men in the front seats. "Sorry, I had to take that call. What were we talking about just now?"

"Sir, you were just talking about tips." The driver's smile had frozen.

"Oh, right, tips. Let me tell you, when I was little, my family kicked me out to work. They said it was to train me in society, but I never accepted tips while I was working. Why?"

Li Jinshui gently patted his own face, his words ringing like metal striking stone. "A real man needs his dignity!"

Amid Li Jinshui's animated chatter, the car sped onward.

With the name Dart Dart Ride behind it, no Drifters dared block the road. The vehicle eventually arrived safely before a school gate and came to a steady stop.

"Sir, you have arrived at your destination. Please take your belongings with you, and later, please leave a rating for our service on your phone..." the driver reminded him.

"Mm."

Li Jinshui resumed the aloof bearing of a Lineage heir, pushed open the door, got out, and strode away.

Bang!

The door slammed shut again.

"Damn it..."

The driver finally could not hold back any longer. He viciously slapped the steering wheel, then turned toward the accompanying bodyguard. "Money's hard to earn, shit's hard to swallow! Where the hell did this lunatic come from? If I weren't getting fined for one more bad review this month, I'd have hammered him already."

The burly bodyguard silently sighed, stretched out his muscular arm to wrap it around the driver's shoulders, and puckered his lips as the beard on his round face brushed against him. "All right, little bear. Don't be angry. Let's go eat hotpot."

Darong City No. 51 Martial Arts High School.

Whether in his previous life or this one, school had long been a distant place for Li Jinshui. Yet every little detail of campus remained vividly etched in his memories.

Standing before the familiar yet unfamiliar school gate, he looked toward the broad campus road ahead and its dim yellow streetlights.

The outlines of the towering teaching buildings and martial arts halls in the night resembled black greatswords returned to their sheaths.

In the dormitory buildings farther away, a few windows still glowed warmly. Those were probably students still burning the midnight oil.

Such a vibrant campus, brimming with striving ambition, filled Li Jinshui with endless emotion.

Sure enough, choosing not to repeat a year had been the right choice.

Before he had even entered, he was already unable to stop himself from recalling his days locked in a psychiatric hospital.

"I had no freedom, lost freedom, heartbroken tears flowed on. I took the wrong step, crossed the wrong step, this meal broke my heart through~"

Humming a wildly popular song from his previous life, Li Jinshui took out his student ID under the watchful gaze of the school security guard on duty, pressed it against the gate scanner, and passed through smoothly.

Without his security job at Green Osmanthus Garden, he naturally no longer had a free and safe dormitory.

Hotels with strong security were outrageously expensive.

After thinking it over, school was still the safest place. More importantly, it cost nothing.

Thank you, student ID!

Praise the student ID!

Of course, school was not one hundred percent safe either. After all, a poisoner was hiding here.

Li Jinshui had no clue about the matter. Back then, aside from being handsome, he had been utterly ordinary in his class.

His relationships with his classmates had been equally ordinary. He had made no enemies, nor had he been especially close to anyone.

That was why the poisoning made no sense to him.

"Could it be that someone poisoned me just because I'm too handsome?"

Li Jinshui halted and took a deep breath.

Mm, he had never considered that line of thought before. It was a new direction.

But the chances were still very low.

After all, Li Jinshui's experiences and template clearly belonged to the protagonist of the world.

Perhaps it was not that both his parents had died, but that both his parents were kings. Maybe they were trapped somewhere for some reason, and their enemies had seized a tiny opening to... poison him?

"Tsk. I wouldn't read this sort of formulaic wish-fulfillment novel, but since I'm the protagonist, I suppose I can accept it."

Muttering all the way, Li Jinshui made his way through the tree-lined path with practiced ease. He found a clean bench and lay down on it.

The school had long since stopped keeping a dorm bed for him, so he could only make do for the night.

Watching the scattered stars in the night sky, he slowly fell asleep.

The next day, the sky was bright.

When Li Jinshui woke up, students had already begun appearing around campus.

He pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was past seven in the morning, and the library was already open.

He immediately got up and hurried over impatiently.

The library was nearly empty in the early morning, making it exceptionally quiet.

Li Jinshui checked the directory. The first floor contained cultural books, while martial arts manuals were distributed across the second and third floors.

Martial arts manuals fell into two major categories: cultivation methods and martial techniques.

Cultivation methods were similar to internal cultivation arts from Earth's wuxia novels. They were a martial artist's foundational methods. Stake Standing, along with various stillness arts that raised Qi-Blood and tempered the body, all belonged to this category.

Martial techniques, as the name implied, were practical techniques for exerting the body and Qi-Blood in conjunction with fighting moves.

Li Jinshui's target was clear, and he headed straight for the second floor.

He planned to buy a Basic Stance Technique first. If his budget allowed, he might also buy a martial technique.

After all, although he had entered the door of Stake Standing, he did not know a single martial technique.

His current strength had only just reached that of a Quasi-Martial Artist. His physical fitness far surpassed that of ordinary people, and his fists and feet could easily kill an ordinary person, but if he encountered a martial artist of the same rank who had mastered martial techniques, he could very well be toyed to death.

"Basic-level martial arts are all in Ding Zone on the second floor..."

Li Jinshui swept his gaze around and quickly walked forward.

Whether cultivation methods or martial techniques, both used the same quality grading system.

The most widespread Basic martial arts were compulsory studies for every martial artist before entering the path. They were for enlightenment and laying foundations, and did not count as ranked.

As for ranked martial arts manuals, they were divided into the lower three grades, middle three grades, and upper three grades.

There were nine grades in total, from ninth grade at the bottom to first grade at the top.

However, in an ordinary martial arts high school like this, it was impossible to find middle-grade or upper-grade manuals.

Even on the top floor of the library, there were only a scant few eighth-grade manuals, and they were basically for teachers to purchase.

After all, it was already very difficult for a high school student to cultivate the Basic Stance Technique to minor mastery over three years. That was enough to secure a place at an undergraduate martial arts academy in advance.

If one could additionally master a Basic martial technique, getting into a key undergraduate program would be a sure thing.

Still, some students mastered ranked martial arts before the college entrance examination. But those people were outstanding from the crowd, blessed with top-tier talent and aptitude. More importantly, their families possessed vast fortunes, allowing them to endlessly supplement themselves with food and medicine every day.

Li Jinshui did not envy them.

They had vast family fortunes, while I had Heaven Rewards Diligence. We were all on the same starting line, competing fairly. There was nothing to envy.

Soon, Li Jinshui found the Basic Stance Technique in Ding Zone on the second floor.

However, the entire bookshelf was sealed behind glass. Several hundred copies of Basic Stance Technique sat inside, and a small interactive screen stood beside the shelf, making it look like a large vending machine.

Li Jinshui stepped forward and tapped the screen. The price of Basic Stance Technique appeared.

The complete edition was priced at 10,000 yuan. Students received a fifty-percent discount, bringing it to 5,000 yuan.

He could also choose to buy the volumes separately. There were six volumes in total: "Entry, Proficient, Minor Mastery, Mastery, Great Mastery, and Perfection." Each volume was priced at 2,000 yuan, with the same fifty-percent student discount.

So buying the complete edition was certainly more cost-effective than buying separate volumes.

But almost all martial arts had one thing in common: the farther one progressed, the harder they became to cultivate.

To break through in the later stages, one either had to spend decades grinding away like water wearing down stone, or consume massive quantities of food and medicinal supplements.

Thus, most martial artists only cultivated the Basic Stance Technique to minor mastery. Once they had built a solid Qi-Blood foundation, they stopped and invested their time and resources into ranked martial arts.

Li Jinshui had thought the same way back then, so in his first year of high school, he chose to buy the separate volumes. Over three years, he only needed to spend 3,000 yuan, and three volumes would be enough.

But things were different now.

With Heaven Rewards Diligence at my side, how could I settle for cultivating only half of it?

Basic Stance Technique at Perfection—that was the standard configuration of a martial arts genius, the makings of a future Martial Saint.

"The complete edition!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Jinshui decisively took out his phone, scanned the code, and paid.

The track inside the bookshelf moved, dropping out a brand-new manual.

Li Jinshui bent down to retrieve it, tore off the outer wrapping, opened the back cover, and scratched away the line containing the genuine authorization code on an inner page.

Every martial arts manual came with such a genuine authorization code. Buyers needed to bind and activate the code with their ID on the official website before they were legally qualified to use it.

Of course, large quantities of cheap pirated manuals also circulated on the black market.

But those things were extremely risky!

It was said that companies selling genuine manuals printed huge numbers of pirated copies with altered circulation routes every year and tossed them into the black market. Countless martial artists greedy for bargains had been tricked into Qi deviation and paralysis.

Even if one learned the correct version from a pirated copy, once they displayed it outside and were captured by the ubiquitous surveillance cameras, they would immediately be placed on the wanted list.

At that point, they either paid a fine ten times the price or signed a contract selling themselves.

If they refused both, they could only carry the identity of a wanted criminal for the rest of their lives, hide in lawless territory, and become a drifter whose life could vanish between sunrise and sunset.

"Fight piracy, starting with me!"

Li Jinshui proudly took out his phone and activated the authorization code under his real name.

The future of his Stake Standing was settled. It was time to get himself a martial technique that looked cool and could fight.