Spear Like a Dragon

Chen Jing was delighted, but his expression remained unchanged as he silently checked the panel:

Name: Chen Jing

Realm: Body Tempering (Entry Level)

Martial Arts:

Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique (Minor Accomplishment: 113/500)

Fierce Tiger Stance (Entry Level: 1/100)

Talents:

[Butcher] You are extremely familiar with the Butcher Knife. When holding a Butcher Knife, your attack speed increases by 10%.

A new martial art had appeared on the panel.

His realm had also become Body Tempering (Entry Level).

Chen Jing was exhilarated. These were all solid, tangible improvements.

Seeing that all four had grasped the essentials of the stance, Wang Chong hurried on to teach them the rest.

He took a wooden staff from the weapon rack. "Stance training is the foundation. It strengthens your qi and blood internally and condenses Inner Force."

"But once you're on the battlefield, a foundation alone isn't enough. You need methods for hitting people. Our militia mainly trains with spears and staffs."

"With a staff, you practice chopping and sweeping. With a spear, you practice thrusting and stabbing."

"These two movements are the simplest, but they're also the most useful on the battlefield."

He first demonstrated staff techniques.

Gripping the wooden staff in both hands, he twisted his waist and turned his hips. Power rose from the ground, passed through his waist, shoulders, and arms, and he chopped down with a single strike.

The wooden staff sliced through the air with a low, muffled whoosh.

Then he flicked his wrist. Without drawing back the staff, he borrowed the recoil from the downward chop and swung it horizontally, sweeping out a half-moon arc with a whoosh.

The two movements flowed together in one breath, clean and crisp, without the slightest flourish.

"Did you see that? The key to staff techniques lies in the waist. You can't just swing with your arms. If your waist doesn't turn, the staff will be limp."

He then used the staff as a spear, holding the shaft close to his waist with the tip slightly lowered, assuming a thrusting stance.

Then he gave it a fierce shake. The long staff shot out like a venomous snake, its tip stabbing a point in the air before snapping back like lightning.

The explosive force in that instant made even the shaft of the long staff tremble faintly.

"The key to spear techniques lies in driving with the hips."

"The hips push the waist, the waist sends power through the arms, and the force travels all the way to the spear tip."

"You need to thrust quickly, but retract even faster."

Wang Chong had the four of them each take a long staff and practice chopping, sweeping, thrusting, and stabbing in turns while he guided them from the side.

Chen Jing gripped his long staff.

Yet the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique surfaced in his mind on its own.

Whether slaughtering pigs or wielding spears and staffs, the moves were extremely simple. There were no complicated forms; the key was how force was applied.

Only by gathering the body's Inner Force into one point could one erupt with mountain-shattering might. The principles behind exerting force were all connected.

Chen Jing twisted his waist, turned his hips, and chopped down with one strike.

The moment the staff fell, he felt the force released through his wrist flow more smoothly than before.

The sound of the staff tip tearing through the air was also several degrees heavier. That was the sign that Inner Force had been poured into the end of the staff.

He tried a spear thrust next. The shaft rested against his waist; his waist moved, his arms followed with a push, and the long staff shot out with a swish!

[Basic Spear Technique Entry Level!]

[Basic Spear Technique (Entry Level: 1/100)]

Another skill. Chen Jing was overjoyed.

As the saying went, too many skills never weighed one down.

The more abilities one learned, the more paths to survival one had.

Once the four had become somewhat familiar with the moves, Wang Chong had them join the main group of young men for combined drills.

Over thirty people formed four rows.

At Wang Chong's command, they swung their staffs and thrust their spears in unison.

Wang Chong himself carried an iron spear on his shoulder, weaving back and forth through the ranks to correct their stances.

In the cold wind of late spring, battle cries shook the training ground. Chen Jing could feel that everyone was holding a fire in their hearts.

A whole morning of training passed in the blink of an eye.

At noon, Wang Chong dismissed everyone and assigned the afternoon shifts and patrol arrangements.

The militia's rules were that everyone trained in the morning, then returned home in the afternoon to tend to their own livelihoods. Only the militiamen on duty stayed behind to patrol and stand watch, and another group replaced them at night.

Since Chen Jing and the others were newcomers, they would not join the patrols yet. Thus, they returned to the butcher shop to help in the afternoon, rested at home at night, and came back to the training ground the next morning.

Chen Jing returned the wooden staff to the weapon rack.

He rolled his aching shoulders.

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After an entire morning of stance training and spear-and-staff practice, his arms and legs felt as though they had been filled with lead, sore and heavy.

Yet his spirits were exceptionally high.

He checked the morning's training progress.

Fierce Tiger Stance (Entry Level: 5/100)

Basic Spear Technique (Entry Level: 20/100)

The Fierce Tiger Stance was a slow grinding effort, so its proficiency grew more slowly. Spear and staff techniques, however, consisted of only a few moves practiced over and over, so their proficiency increased faster.

The numbers on the panel gave him solid feedback.

Every bit of hard work could be seen and felt.

The training ground was not far from the butcher shop. It only took crossing two alleys to get there, but as Chen Jing walked, his mind kept turning over the movements Wang Chong had taught.

Stance training, staff chops, spear thrusts.

He went through them again and again in his mind.

His palm unconsciously gestured through the angle of a chopping strike.

Even as he walked, he instinctively matched the force of the stance. He did not walk quickly; his back rose and fell, his steps moved slowly, as though he were wading through mud.

A short distance took him a full half hour.

When he reached the butcher shop, Butcher Zhang was sitting on the threshold smoking a dry pipe. Seeing Chen Jing's absorbed look, he gave him a once-over and snorted.

"Who would've thought I picked up a martial arts fanatic?"

"Get inside and eat. After that, get to work this afternoon."

Chen Jing grinned at his words.

"Got it."

After entering the shop and washing his hands, Chen Jing wolfed down a large bowl of pork noodles. When he finished, he felt strength brimming throughout his body.

That afternoon, he stood before the chopping block again, picked up the meat cleaver and Bone-Carving Knife, and chopped meat and carved bones for customers with a steady thunk-thunk-thunk, raising his proficiency.

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed since the bandits had come to scout the area.

During those five days, Shuang'an Town was remarkably peaceful.

No traces of bandits were found in the surrounding area, nor did any fresh bad news arrive.

But everyone knew perfectly well that the peace might not be real. It could also be the illusion before a torrential storm.

The atmosphere in town remained tense. Neighbors smiled less when they met, and their greetings were quieter. Only the battle cries from the training ground grew louder by the day.

Chen Jing's days, on the other hand, became exceedingly regular.

Every day, he rose at the end of the Hour of the Tiger, first going to the pigpen to slaughter two pigs and earn proficiency.

Then he washed up, ate breakfast, and hurried to the training ground before dawn.

Wang Chong led the thirty-odd young men through an hour of stance training first. Once they entered the Fierce Tiger Stance, their qi and blood surged through their bodies, and they did not feel cold even when the frigid wind blew over them.

After the stance training, they practiced spear and staff techniques for another hour, repeatedly honing chops, sweeps, thrusts, and stabs.

They dismissed at noon. He returned to the butcher shop for lunch, then spent the afternoon at the chopping block, chopping meat and carving bones until nightfall.

He did not idle after dinner either. He stood in the Fierce Tiger Stance for another hour in the courtyard, then practiced the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique for half an hour.

After a day like that, the Fierce Tiger Stance gained 12 proficiency points, the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique gained 25, and Basic Spear Technique gained 20.

It was not a meteoric rise, but he never stopped day after day, gathering sand into a tower.

On the evening of the fifth day, Chen Jing put away his blade, stood in the courtyard, and exhaled a plume of white breath before silently opening the panel.

Fierce Tiger Stance (Entry Level: 70/100)

Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique (Minor Accomplishment: 238/500)

Basic Spear Technique (Minor Accomplishment: 20/500)

These were the results of five days of training. Beyond the steady growth of his stance and blade technique, Basic Spear Technique had broken through to Minor Accomplishment without any obstacle.

After the breakthrough, Chen Jing felt that the spear staff in his hands was no longer a dead object, but an extension of his arm.

Of course, that feeling was still faint. Along with it came that familiar notification.

[Basic Spear Technique Minor Accomplishment!]

[Awakened Talent—Spear Like a Dragon!]

[Spear Like a Dragon: You handle spears and staffs with effortless familiarity. When using spears or staffs, accuracy increases by 10%.]

This talent was excellent.

Accuracy did not sound as practical as speed, but in real combat, an inch's difference could mean the difference between life and death.

Chen Jing had tested it at the training ground, using his spear to thrust at a wooden dummy.

With the support of [Spear Like a Dragon], eight out of ten thrusts struck the wooden dummy precisely in the vital spot at its throat.

Even Wang Chong, watching from the side, could not help praising him. "You brat were born to use a spear."

Zhao Tianli, standing nearby, heard that and craned his neck to look at the marks on the wooden dummy, clicking his tongue in amazement.

Sun Tiezhu merely scratched his head and muttered, "Why can't I hit accurately?" Wang Chong smacked the back of his head and said, "You need to use your brain when practicing the spear," then made him practice fifty more thrusts.

But Chen Jing knew perfectly well that there was no such thing as natural talent. He had ground it all out through the system.