Layered Wave Force

"Master Qin, the family head has sent me to trouble you again."

Sun Chai stood beside Qin Changfeng, his right hand in a cast and hanging before his chest.

For some time now, Sun Chai had come to the courtyard every day, his task being to urge Qin Changfeng to take on a disciple.

"Master Qin, another month has passed. Haven't you made your choice yet?"

Sun Chai asked respectfully, testing the waters.

Qin Changfeng gave a soft scoff and shook his head.

"They're all mediocrities. They've practiced their fist techniques for over a year, yet not one of them understands the core of fist techniques."

Hearing that assessment, Sun Chai couldn't help frowning.

"Master Qin, aren't there a few with fairly decent natural foundations, in my opinion?"

"Sun Qianchuan, Zhao Xiu... Although the natural foundations of these Second Refinement disciples aren't top-tier, they're still above average."

Qin Changfeng wasn't angered by Sun Chai's rebuttal. Instead, he smiled.

"Then tell me—which person in this courtyard should I take as my disciple?"

Sun Chai thought for a moment, then looked toward several Second Refinement martial artists on the training ground.

"Master Qin, in my opinion, Sun Qianchuan is currently the martial artist closest to Three Refinements. Among the younger generation of my Sun Family, his natural foundation and strength are both the best."

Sun Chai wasn't deliberately speaking well of Sun Qianchuan. He was merely stating the facts objectively.

Qin Changfeng nodded. Sun Chai wasn't wrong. If one had to pick a general from among short men, Sun Qianchuan truly was the best choice.

But then he spoke again.

"How much of Sun Qianchuan's strength was piled up with resources by your people? I hardly need to say it.

"If he weren't a son of the Sun Family, wouldn't he still be a mediocrity?"

Sun Chai opened his mouth but couldn't find any words to refute him, so he pointed at another person.

"Zhao Xiu isn't bad either, right? As far as I know, he broke through to Second Refinement half a year ago, and his fist technique is practiced quite well."

"Three days fishing, two days drying nets. He has a little talent, but he's still far from enough."

Sun Chai's brows twisted into a knot as he pointed at Zhang Chi.

This time, Master Qin didn't wait for him to speak before directly giving his assessment.

"He has plenty of petty cleverness, but he's never touched the core of fist techniques. He'll only waste his own talent."

"..."

Sun Chai named several people in succession, all of whom he considered fairly gifted, yet Qin Changfeng picked out all sorts of faults in every one of them.

Qin Changfeng's egg-picking-bones behavior gave Sun Chai a headache.

So Qin Changfeng didn't think any of them were worthy.

Just as Sun Chai was considering how to make Qin Changfeng lower his standards, Qin Changfeng abruptly rose to his feet.

A sharp gleam appeared in his eyes as his gaze fixed on a corner of the training ground.

Bang!

The fist struck the ironwood stake like a heavy hammer. The sound wasn't dull, but crisp.

A fist mark several inches deep was left in the ironwood stake.

"It worked! This is Layered Wave Force—its power really is extraordinary!"

Excitement surfaced on Wei Luo's face. The force behind that punch had flowed smoothly, nearly doubling his punching power outright.

If he completely mastered Layered Wave Force, it might not be impossible for him to break an ironwood stake with one punch.

That was right. Wei Luo had long since deduced Master Qin's condition for accepting a disciple: cultivate Layered Wave Force!

Fist force was the essence of fist techniques, but it wasn't so easy to learn.

Surge Force, Whirling Force, Continuous Force—the majority in the courtyard knew them, but when it came to Layered Wave Force, every martial artist was at a complete loss.

Master Qin was unwilling to teach more, so no one knew it.

But that couldn't stop Wei Luo. After spending several more days, he deduced the cultivation method for Layered Wave Force.

Relying on the Great Thousand Revelation and practicing for over ten days, he had finally stacked his forces together and thrown this punch.

It sounded easy, but was difficult in practice. Without the Great Thousand Revelation, an ordinary person likely wouldn't even touch the threshold of fist force in a lifetime.

"I remember your name is Wei Luo, right?"

Qin Changfeng moved over and stopped in front of Wei Luo.

He felt somewhat emotional. When Wei Luo had first entered the courtyard, Qin Changfeng had seen that his natural foundation was average. Compared with Shen Wu, he was even more utterly unremarkable.

Yet he hadn't expected Wei Luo to be the first to comprehend Layered Wave Force!

"Throw a few more punches. Let me see."

Wei Luo knew this was his moment to shine. After gathering himself for a moment, he used Layered Wave Force again, punching the wooden stake again and again.

Seeing Master Qin personally offer guidance, everyone turned their eyes toward them, their expressions somewhat strange.

"Haha, though your fist force is still immature, you've already made a good start."

"Good! Wei Luo, from today onward, you are my disciple."

A trace of a smile appeared on Qin Changfeng's usually stern face, and his gaze toward Wei Luo carried several degrees more satisfaction.

At first, everyone thought Master Qin merely intended to offer a few pointers. When they heard those words, they were all stunned.

"How could he take Wei Luo as his disciple?!"

"Didn't he just break through to Second Refinement? Why?"

"He's taking him as a disciple just after watching him throw a few punches? That's too absurd, isn't it?"

For a moment, voices rose one after another, envy and jealousy written plainly across their faces.

Not far away, Sun Qianchuan clenched his fists until they cracked. Zhao Xiu looked astonished, while Zhang Chi's face was as dark as water.

No one knew that Wei Luo had secretly already cultivated Layered Wave Force. His fist techniques had long surpassed theirs by far.

Seeing everyone's doubts, how could Qin Changfeng fail to understand what they were thinking? He sneered and walked to the ironwood stake.

"Don't say I haven't given you a chance. Whoever can understand this punch will naturally have a chance to become my disciple."

With that, Qin Changfeng casually threw a punch. It was as if he had struck rotten wood—the ironwood stake snapped in response.

Wei Luo's gaze sharpened. Qin Changfeng's punch looked ordinary, yet Wei Luo could tell that Qin Changfeng had combined three kinds of force into one.

Its power had increased by at least three times!

Yet after that punch, nine out of ten people wore baffled expressions, clearly unable to see what was special about it.

Those clever enough to see something, however, suddenly came to a realization.

Over ten minutes later, in the western courtyard.

"Master, please have some tea."

Wei Luo knelt on one knee and offered the tea with both hands.

Qin Changfeng accepted the tea with a smile and took a sip.

Although the Sun Family had persuaded him to take on disciples, he was still quite satisfied to receive a disciple like Wei Luo, who had comprehended Layered Wave Force on his own.

"Congratulations, Master Qin, on accepting such an outstanding disciple."

Sun Chai smiled and offered his congratulations from the side. With Master Qin having accepted a disciple, he had completed the task assigned by the family head.

Once the simple disciple-acceptance ceremony was over, he said to Wei Luo, "Wei Luo, my Sun Family has long prepared a generous gift."

As he spoke, Sun Chai smilingly handed over a banknote.

Five hundred taels!

It seemed the Sun Family truly was willing to spend heavily.

Wei Luo understood the Sun Family's intention to win him over, but he first looked to his master, Qin Changfeng. Only after seeing him nod did he accept the banknote with peace of mind.

There weren't many people attending the disciple-acceptance ceremony. Besides Sun Chai, there was also "senior brother" Shen Wu.

Though Shen Wu didn't say anything on the surface, Wei Luo could see the disdain in his eyes.

Clearly, he still looked down on Wei Luo.

"Come. I'll take you to see the visualization diagram."

Hearing the words "visualization diagram," Wei Luo's heart grew hot.

There were many crew members in the courtyard, and everyone had fought desperately to become Master Qin's disciple.

Wasn't it all for this visualization diagram?

Without a visualization diagram, fist techniques would be incomplete, and one would have no hope of reaching Force Training.

After nearly half a year, he had finally reached this step.

The moment Wei Luo followed Qin Changfeng into the training room, his eyes were drawn to a painting hanging on the wall.

It was a visualization diagram of enormous waves crashing against the shore, the waves striking the reef and sending sprays of water more than ten meters high into the air.

Following Qin Changfeng's guidance, Wei Luo sat cross-legged before the visualization diagram.

"This visualization diagram is called Layered Waves Shatter Rock. Watch carefully..."

As Qin Changfeng spoke, his left palm struck his right fist, producing three successive sounds like crashing waves.

Wei Luo only felt as though the visualization diagram had come alive...