Hong Yuan did indeed have designs on the Huang Family's holdings. After all, medicinal baths could improve his root bone, but he also knew that achieving his aim was unrealistic.
Killing Huang Shaotang and Huang Guiling would not simply put the Huang Family into his hands. Huang Shaotang was far from Huang Guiling's only son.
Besides, the Huang Family had plenty of clansmen. However he reckoned it, Hong Yuan would never be next in line. Even if he killed every last one of them, other wealthy households and officials would still be eyeing that fat piece of meat!
Spring Water Lane, the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall.
He asked two people for directions along the way and found the place without much trouble. Now he stood outside the entrance, peering in.
The martial arts hall's gates stood wide open, revealing a spacious training ground. Hong Yuan had expected to hear vigorous shouts and see disciples practicing with sabers, spears, staffs, and cudgels, or sparring with fists and feet. Instead, the place was deserted and quiet.
If not for the words "Yang Family Martial Arts Hall" inscribed on the sign above the entrance, he would have thought he had come to the wrong place.
As he stood momentarily dazed, a figure came out to greet him, smiling before he spoke. "Brother Hong, you're here! Come on in."
With a smile on his face, Yang Lie ushered him inside.
Stepping through the gates, Hong Yuan looked around. This was a training ground, with more than twenty jujube-wood posts sunk deep into the earth on the left. Every post bore marks left by punches and kicks.
Stone training weights and weapon racks stood against the wall on the right.
Noticing Hong Yuan's confusion, Yang Lie explained, "We have some important business to deal with, don't we? My eldest uncle sent the apprentices home and told them not to come to the hall for the next few days."
Hong Yuan understood then. What that important business was went without saying.
"Even on an ordinary day, though, there aren't more than twenty apprentices here."
Yang Lie spoke as they walked. "Linjiang Prefecture may be wealthy, but Yangquan County is still just a small county town. The poor can study letters, but martial arts take money. How many people can afford the fees? Besides, the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall isn't the only one in town."
"How much do you charge?"
Hong Yuan's interest was piqued.
Across the courtyard stood four main rooms with blue-gray walls and white roof tiles, clearly a cut above the surrounding homes.
A passage ran through the middle of the main building. Beyond it, two rows of side rooms extended to the left and right, five on each side. The large open space between them had also been arranged as a training ground.
Wu Duxiong wore a coarse short jacket and shorts. His arms were knotted with muscle, his thighs thick and powerful. He punched and kicked the wooden post before him, the relentless thud, thud resounding like a drum!
The post hummed and shuddered, swaying as though it might burst apart at any moment.
Yang Lie found a reclining chair and flopped into it. Only after letting out a comfortable sigh did he answer Hong Yuan's earlier question. "Apprentices pay three taels a month, registered disciples ten. Private instruction costs extra."
With the vast majority of people earning an average of only two tenths of a tael a month, that price was astronomical.
"Why such a huge difference? Do you teach them different things?"
"No! Apprentices and registered disciples learn much the same things." Yang Lie shook his head and smiled faintly. "What do we seek through martial training? Strong muscles and bones, abundant qi and blood! Once your physique is strong and your qi and blood are flourishing, fighting comes naturally."
"You have to strengthen the body and nourish the blood!"
"What can a martial arts hall teach? Stance training, methods for tempering the muscles and bones, and guiding exercises! Apprentices and registered disciples can learn all of those. The hard part is mastering them, and hard practice alone won't do it. You need meat, and you need medicine!"
Yang Lie said evenly, "Without meat, how can you strengthen your muscles and bones or build up your qi and blood? The more you train blindly, the more you ruin yourself. Without medicine, what happens when you get hurt? How do you replenish the qi and blood you've spent?"
"Registered disciples pay more, so the hall provides them with more meat. They get three carefully prepared meals of refined grain a day, three medicinal baths a month, and specially formulated ointments. As for apprentices, never mind their meals—even their medicines are only things like medicinal liquor to promote circulation and remedies for bruises and sprains..."
"Of course, there are always exceptions in this world..." Yang Lie paused and turned his gaze toward Hong Yuan, a trace of envy appearing on his face. "People like you, Brother Hong. Exceptionally gifted, with a naturally powerful physique and abundant qi and blood. Even ten years of training wouldn't give me talent like that."
"Your skill comes from your naturally quick reactions, Brother Hong. You haven't actually learned martial arts, have you?"
"That's right." Hong Yuan nodded.
"I really do envy you!" Yang Lie sighed, then said, "I've practiced martial arts for over a decade, and I can still barely keep my qi and blood under control. I don't dare take the next step lightly, for fear that one careless move will injure me instead. But with a skilled master's guidance, Brother Hong, you could probably catch up to me in no time."
There was a pointed meaning behind Yang Lie's words.
Hong Yuan understood him perfectly. He wanted to draw him into the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall. Why else invite him here, then spend so much breath explaining all this?
Hong Yuan would have no objection to taking Yang Erhu as his master.
And if he did, he probably would not become an apprentice or registered disciple, but a direct disciple instead. After all, others came knocking with money in hand, while he had been invited.
Yang Erhu coveted his talent, while he coveted the opportunity to learn martial arts through the system.
Hong Yuan smiled. "What exactly is this next step you mentioned, Brother Yang?"
Yang Lie clenched his fist and drew a slight breath, making the hairs on his body stand on end. Suddenly, he threw a punch, and his arm gave a sharp crack. Yet he shook his head and sighed. "Strengthen the body, nourish the blood—but no matter how sturdy your body or how abundant your qi and blood, what you strike with is still lifeless strength!"
"That strength is brute force, without any variation. The qi and blood within you are scattered, too!"
"Qi and blood exist within the human body, without form or substance. You can neither see nor touch them. To twist that invisible, scattered qi and blood into a single strand, you must guide them with guiding exercises and bring them under control with a breathing method. Use that breathing method to command your qi and blood, turning them into a force that is real and tangible!"
"Only once you enter force and cultivate 'true force' can you be called a genuine expert, capable of fighting ten opponents alone. Even at fifty or sixty, as long as you can still control your qi and blood, a burst of true force can kill a charging bull with a single punch."
* A breathing method?* Hong Yuan's interest stirred. It seemed this was the core teaching that apprentices and registered disciples could not access.
Hong Yuan did not think fighting ten opponents meant ten ordinary people. With the skills Yang Lie had demonstrated, beating ten ordinary people would be easy. That "ten" was probably figurative, or perhaps meant ten elite soldiers.
And Hong Yuan's starting attributes were already extremely high. If he kept improving his physique and qi and blood, then cultivated true force, he would only grow stronger.
"What realm lies above true force on the martial path?" Hong Yuan was determined to understand the path to supernatural power in this world.
Yang Lie froze. Before he could answer, a side room on the left opened with a creak. Yang Erhu, who had also changed into a short training outfit, entered the training ground and shook his head. "Once you've cultivated true force, if you're still young and strong, all you can do is keep tempering your physique and nourishing your qi and blood. Or, once you reach my age, you can only meditate regularly and maintain control of your qi and blood to preserve your ability to fight..."
Yang Erhu smiled, then sighed as well. "What path could there be above true force? In my youth, I traveled through several provinces, yet never once saw an expert like that. At most, people merely played a few tricks with variations in their force."
As he spoke, he walked slowly toward the center of the training ground with steady steps.
Meanwhile, Wu Duxiong had already stopped striking the post. He inhaled deeply, his chest and belly swelling like a great toad. After a moment, he slowly exhaled a wisp of white vapor. He showed not the slightest fatigue; instead, he looked brimming with vigor.
"Senior brother, it's been seven or eight years since we last crossed hands, hasn't it? I wonder how much of your skill you still have left."
Before you continue