Strengthen the Body, Nourish the Blood, Enter Force

Hong Yuan truly had designs on the Huang Family's holdings. After all, medicinal baths could improve one's innate physique—but he also knew that achieving his goal was unrealistic.

It was not as though killing Huang Shaotang and Huang Guiling would hand the Huang Family over to him. Huang Guiling had more than just Huang Shaotang for a son.

Moreover, the Huang Family had many clansmen. No matter how one counted, it would never fall to Hong Yuan. Even if he killed them all, other wealthy households and even officials would still be eyeing this juicy piece of meat!

Spring Water Lane, Yang Family Martial Arts Hall.

After asking two people for directions along the way, he found the place without much trouble. He now stood outside the entrance, peering inside.

The martial arts hall's gates stood wide open. Beyond them lay a spacious training ground. Hong Yuan had expected to hear vigorous shouts, to see disciples wielding sabers, spears, and staves, or sparring with fists and feet. Instead, the place was deserted and cold.

Had the plaque not borne the four words "Yang Family Martial Arts Hall," he would have thought he had come to the wrong place.

He had barely paused in surprise when a figure came out to greet him, smiling before he spoke. "Brother Hong, you're here. Please, come in."

Yang Lie greeted him with a smile and led him inside.

Once through the gates, Hong Yuan looked around. This was a training yard. On the left, more than twenty jujube-wood posts had been driven deep into the earth, each one marked by the traces of countless fists and kicks.

Stone locks and weapon racks stood in the corner by the right-hand wall.

Noticing Hong Yuan's confusion, Yang Lie explained, "There was an important matter, so Uncle sent the apprentices home and told them not to come to the hall for the next few days."

Only then did Hong Yuan understand. What important matter it was went without saying.

"Still, even at ordinary times, there are never more than twenty apprentices in the hall."

As they walked, Yang Lie said, "Linjiang Prefecture may be prosperous, but Yangquan County is still only a small county town. The poor study literature, the rich practice martial arts—how many people can afford the tuition? Besides, the county has more than just the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall."

"How is the tuition charged?"

Hong Yuan was interested.

Past the courtyard stood four main rooms, their walls gray-green and their tiles white. They were clearly of a higher grade than the surrounding residences.

A passageway ran through the center of the main rooms. Beyond it were two rows of side rooms extending left and right, five rooms on each side. The broad open space in the middle had likewise been arranged as a training ground.

Wu Duxiong wore a short brown jacket above and shorts below. The muscles on his arms knotted like coiling dragons, while his thighs were thick and powerful. He punched and kicked the wooden post before him, each bang! bang! ringing out in an unbroken stream like beating drums.

The post buzzed and trembled, swaying without stop as though it might burst apart at any moment.

Yang Lie found a reclining chair and collapsed into it, letting out a comfortable breath before answering Hong Yuan's earlier question. "Apprentices pay three taels a month. Registered disciples pay ten taels a month. If they want special instruction, there are additional fees."

When most people earned only two qian a month on average, such a price could only be called astronomical.

"Why is the difference so great? Do they teach different things?"

"No. Whether apprentices or registered disciples, they learn roughly the same things." Yang Lie shook his head and smiled faintly. "What is martial arts training for? Is it not to make the sinews and bones strong, the qi and blood abundant? Once the physique and qi and blood are powerful, one can naturally fight."

"To strengthen the body, to nourish the blood!"

"What can a martial arts hall teach? Nothing more than stance training, methods for tempering the sinews and bones, and guiding techniques! Apprentices and registered disciples can all learn these things. The difficult part is mastering them. That cannot be achieved through blind hard training alone. You need meat, and you need medicine!"

Yang Lie said calmly, "Without meat, how can you strengthen your sinews and bones or increase your qi and blood? The more blindly you train, the more likely you are to train yourself into ruin. Without medicine, what happens when you are injured? How do you replenish the qi and blood you expend?"

"Registered disciples pay more, so the hall provides more meat. They eat fine grains and carefully prepared food three times a day, receive medicinal baths three times a month, and get specially formulated medicinal ointment. As for what apprentices eat, there is no need to mention it. Their injury medicine is nothing more than blood-activating medicinal wine and remedies for bruises and sprains..."

"Of course, there are always some exceptions in this world..." Yang Lie paused, then shifted his gaze to Hong Yuan. A trace of envy appeared on his face. "People like you, Brother Hong—born with extraordinary talent, naturally possessing a powerful physique and overflowing qi and blood. With such talent, I could train for ten years and still not compare."

"Brother Hong, your skills are good because your reactions are naturally quick. But you have never truly studied martial arts, have you?"

"That is indeed the case." Hong Yuan nodded.

"I truly envy you!" Yang Lie sighed. "I have trained for more than ten years and have only barely managed to grasp my qi and blood. I do not dare rashly set foot on the next stage, for fear that one careless move will injure myself instead. But if Brother Hong received guidance from a renowned master, you would likely catch up to me before long."

Yang Lie's meaning was plain enough.

Hong Yuan naturally understood. Yang Lie wanted to draw him into the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall. Otherwise, why invite him here, then spend so much effort explaining all this?

If he could take Yang Erhu as his master, Hong Yuan would not object.

And once he became a disciple, he would likely not be some apprentice or registered disciple. He would become a direct disciple outright. Others came to the door bearing money; he had been invited.

Yang Erhu coveted his talent, while he coveted the system's opportunity to learn martial arts.

Hong Yuan smiled. "What is this next stage Brother Yang speaks of?"

Yang Lie clenched his fist and drew in a slight breath. The hairs on his body stood on end. Then he suddenly threw a punch, his arm cracking sharply with a crackle! Yet he shook his head and sighed. "Strengthen the body, nourish the blood—but no matter how strong the body or vigorous the qi and blood, what you strike out is still only dead strength!"

"That kind of strength is brute force, without any transformation. The qi and blood in the body are scattered as well!"

"Qi and blood exist within the human body, formless and intangible, impossible to see or touch. To twist this formless, scattered qi and blood into a single strand, one can only use guiding techniques to direct it, breathing methods to control it, and breathing methods to command the qi and blood—turning it into a force that is real and true!"

"Only upon entering Force and cultivating 'True Force' can one be called a true expert. One can fight ten enemies alone, and even at fifty or sixty, so long as one can still control one's qi and blood, an eruption of True Force can kill a charging bull with one punch."

"Breathing methods?" Hong Yuan's heart stirred. It seemed this was the core that apprentices and registered disciples could not access.

He did not believe fighting one against ten meant ten ordinary people. With the skill Yang Lie had displayed, defeating ten ordinary men would be easy. This "ten" was likely a rough figure—or perhaps ten elite soldiers.

Hong Yuan's starting attributes were already extremely high. If he continued improving his physique and qi and blood, then entered True Force, he would only grow stronger.

"Then what realm lies beyond True Force on the path of martial arts?" Hong Yuan was determined to understand the extraordinary path of this world.

Yang Lie froze. Before he could answer, a side room on the left opened with a creak. Yang Erhu, likewise changed into training clothes, walked into the training ground and shook his head. "Once martial arts reach True Force, if one is still young and strong, one merely continues tempering the physique and nurturing the qi and blood. Or, when one reaches this old man's age, one can only cultivate meditation at all times, control the qi and blood, and preserve the strength for a battle..."

Yang Erhu smiled, then sighed as well. "What path could there be beyond True Force? In my youth, I traveled through several provinces and never encountered such an expert. At most, people merely played a few tricks with the variations of force."

As he spoke, he walked with steady steps toward the center of the training ground.

At the same time, Wu Duxiong had already stopped striking the wooden post. He took a deep breath, his chest and abdomen swelling as though he were a great toad. After a moment, he slowly exhaled a wisp of white vapor. There was not the slightest trace of fatigue about him; instead, he seemed bright and full of vigor.

"Senior Brother, it has been seven or eight years since we last exchanged blows, hasn't it? I wonder how much of your skill you still retain?"