Method to Avoid Calamity (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

"A boat without a rudder is like training martial arts without practicing the fist."

"To practice the Limitless Saber, you must first train your stance..."

"Stance training is the foundation of fist arts. To practice the fist, train the legs first; to train the legs, train the stance first."

"At the end of the day, martial arts techniques come second. A strong body is what matters. If you train your stance until it is solid, your legs like bronze cast and iron forged, your lower body stable, then when others strike you, it will be like a breeze brushing over a mountain ridge..."

Master Ma did not immediately teach Xu Xing the saber forms of the Western Pass Limitless Saber. Instead, he had him hold a horse stance for seven days. Only once his horse stance had taken shape would he begin teaching him the next stance exercise—the bow stance.

"Yes, Master Ma."

Xu Xing did not argue with Master Ma.

Though his body in this life could be considered sturdy, compared to Master Ma's, it was far inferior.

If he punched Master Ma, it would be soft and powerless. But if Master Ma struck him, at best he would be bedridden for days; at worst, he would be left half-paralyzed on the ground and die.

Master Ma had taught him stance training first rather than saber techniques... It was not because Master Ma was being stingy or withholding secrets.

A true teaching took but one sentence; a false teaching could fill ten thousand scrolls.

Stance training under the guidance of a famous master was far more precious than ordinary saber techniques.

In other words—

Stance training was the foundation of martial arts.

Martial arts were passed down as a complete system. It was not as though learning a powerful saber art would immediately place one among the foremost martial experts under heaven.

Without stance training, merely learning saber techniques...

That was just flowery display work, liable to break at the first poke.

The rear courtyard was spacious, and in one corner stood wooden posts of varying heights.

The lower halves of those posts were buried beneath the ground.

Their upper halves rose roughly three to five feet above the earth.

They were precisely the plum blossom posts needed for martial arts stance training.

Following Master Ma's instruction, Xu Xing planted both feet atop the wooden posts and held a horse stance.

As time passed.

The sun blazed fiercely, and before long, sweat was pouring from his bare upper body.

Drip!

Drip!

Bead-like sweat streamed down from his body.

As though he had just taken a hot bath.

His feet gradually became weak and limp, and his head grew light and dizzy, as if he had suffered heatstroke.

Until—

In the next instant, his center of gravity suddenly gave way, and his body tipped backward.

With a jolt, he snapped awake and firmly planted his feet upon the wooden posts once more.

At that very moment, stabbing pain spread through his entire body. It felt as though countless ants were gnawing at every limb and bone, and his legs shook violently.

"Draw in your chest! Straighten your waist! Tighten your abdomen! Tuck your buttocks! Sink your shoulders and drop your elbows..."

"How did I teach you just now?"

Master Ma's gaze was stern as he rebuked Xu Xing.

"As the fist arts say: the hands are like two doors; all power to strike comes from the legs. And the legs are stance training... The Western Pass Limitless Saber emphasizes saber work that opens wide and closes broad. If your stance training is poor, you will never master the Limitless Saber techniques. Once you reach the battlefield, you will be fated only to die..."

After cursing him, he tossed aside the long saber in its black scabbard. With a tap of one foot against the ground, he drifted lightly through the air like a great roc spreading its wings, landing on a plum blossom post beside Xu Xing.

"However long I hold the Golden Rooster Stance, you will hold it for the same amount of time."

"Until you collapse from exhaustion and cannot move..."

Master Ma barked.

The Golden Rooster Stance, also called the Golden Rooster Standing on One Leg Stance, was a stance performed on one foot.

It was considerably more difficult than the horse stance.

Having him practice the horse stance at this stage was simply Master Ma bullying Xu Xing.

"Yes, Master Ma."

Xu Xing nodded and replied obediently.

The ancients respected their teachers and valued the Way.

Whatever a master told his disciple to do, the disciple could not harbor the slightest complaint.

Besides, Master Ma was doing it for his own good.

A little hardship was no big deal.

It was just that... although Xu Xing was still holding his horse stance, Master Ma's words kept repeating in his mind...

[If you fail to master the Limitless Saber Art, then once you reach the battlefield, you're doomed to die.]

"Doomed?"

"Doomed to die a violent death!"

His spirits plummeted.

One month later would be the day Filial Righteousness Hall assassinated Fang Yun, the Governor of Qin Province.

Once they went, there was an eighty-percent chance they would never return.

And if he wanted to change that fate, relying solely on martial arts learned at the last minute would likely not be enough.

No matter how skilled one's martial arts were, they could not withstand foreign guns and cannons.

Fang Yun, the Governor of Qin Province, would surely have a foreign rifle squad at his side, maintaining constant guard.

Perhaps there were people in this instance world who had reached divinity through martial arts, training to the point where they could dodge bullets. But that was clearly not something an apprentice who had studied martial arts for only a month could achieve.

"Wait..."

"Why is it always one month?"

"Just like in my main world, I'm fated to die a violent death—and the timing is exactly one month apart..."

Doubt arose in Xu Xing's heart.

He focused his consciousness, and the Ancient Bronze Mirror in his mind slowly emerged.

Upon its gleaming golden surface were written: [Note: The body descended into by the Mirror Master is the body of another self. Once the alteration of Heaven's mandate is complete, the results obtained by the Mirror Master will be reversed into causes and transformed into the Mirror Master's inherent Dao Fruit, possessed eternally.]

"Altering Heaven's mandate?"

Xu Xing first frowned as he pondered the meaning of those words.

Combining them with his own guesses, he gradually came to understand.

Before long, he had roughly figured it out.

"To alter Heaven's mandate—in other words, to evade calamity!"

"As long as I survive the disaster of a violent death in the instance world within the mirror... my fate will transform accordingly. That means... in the main world, one month from now, I will also escape being executed by the Ministry of Punishments and no longer die a violent death..."

At last, he understood how to use his cheat ability.

He needed to venture through the instance worlds, then avoid disaster and gain blessings in the main world...

After holding on for another quarter of an hour, Xu Xing finally gave in and fell from the wooden stake.

Fortunately, Kid Brother, who had been silently watching them practice nearby, caught him the instant he hit the ground.

"Not bad. You held on for more than two hours."

"Kid Brother, Xu Xing will sleep with you from now on. After you return to the room, apply medicine for him."

Master Ma also dropped his Golden Rooster Stance. He glanced at the exhausted Xu Xing, nodded in satisfaction, then took out a small white jade bottle from his pouch, handed it to Kid Brother, and instructed him.

Late at night.

In a farmhouse near Jingyang County.

In the side room, beneath the light of an oil lamp, Kid Brother applied the secret medicine to Xu Xing's body.

"Thanks."

Xu Xing forced himself upright and thanked Kid Brother.

Courtesy could not be neglected.

When it came to feudal ways, nothing was more feudal than secret societies. They used all sorts of society rules—etiquette—to restrain their members. Compared with other places, secret societies placed even greater importance on propriety.

Those society members who acted high and mighty before others, carried themselves like thugs, and shouted about fighting and killing at every turn were merely small-time hooligans, incapable of accomplishing anything great.

As for the true big shots, which one of them did not call everyone "sir" this and "sir" that?

During that unique period spanning the late Qing and the Republic, most of those big shots from the Heaven and Earth Society (Hongmen) would later become generals and ministers.

Among the various mountain halls of the Qin Province Elder Brothers Society—Great White Mountain, Cage-Carrying Mountain, Qin Phoenix Mountain, Stabilizing Army Mountain, Amber Mountain, Helan Mountain, and Tongtong Mountain—there was no shortage of branches called Alliance Hall...

(The mountain halls were an organizational form of the Elder Brothers Society, with the "mountain, water, incense, and hall" four pillars established beneath them.)

Hearing this, Kid Brother gave Xu Xing a surprised look.

He had the heart of a child and possessed little scheming. It was simply that, at this moment, he felt Xu Xing was very different from the other brothers he usually encountered. At the very least, those brothers would never casually say the word "thanks."

The tough lads of Qin Province were famous for that.

They rarely spoke empty courtesies.

"Mm."

Kid Brother thought for a moment before replying.

He did not know how else to respond. So he gave an "mm," then nodded. That was his response to Xu Xing's thanks.