"What a shame, what a shame... At A Wen's age, his potential probably isn't all that high." His uncle-in-law sighed regretfully. "If only he'd started learning martial arts sooner."
"Not necessarily. We don't know much about it, but I've read a few newspapers. There are still people who bloom late." His aunt-in-law had already begun to fantasize.
A big house, a big swimming pool, servants from the Southern Kingdom... and more cosmetics than she could ever use.
His uncle-in-law took out a stack of bills. "Take this thousand. Now that A Wen's making progress, we have to help... Too bad I'm out of money. It's been hard to earn lately."
His aunt-in-law smiled. "I'll give it to A Wen. It should cover next month's fee. He needs to eat well now, so I'll try to make something hearty for dinner from now on."
"Learning martial arts really eats up money. Just feeding him feels like it'll bankrupt me." His uncle-in-law was both pained and happy.
"Count your blessings. Plenty of rich people spend fortunes trying to make their children accomplished martial artists, but without the talent, it just doesn't work... Admit it! A Wen's a martial arts genius!"
On his eleventh day at the hall.
Li Xiuwen took leave from Brother Jun and arrived at the Martial Arts Hall early.
He would be learning combat methods today, and he felt a little excited.
Stance training was the foundation, the root of everything, but ultimately, it was only a training method. It could only improve his physique.
How to use strength well, how to kill with the least effort, the greatest efficiency, and the least risk... That was a combat method!
Both were important.
With a well-practiced combat method, there was hope of defeating a stronger opponent and turning a fight around.
In the middle of the first floor stood a shrine containing a statue of the Sea Sand Style's grandmaster.
The statue depicted an old Daoist with a pointed head, dressed in dark robes, broad-backed and long-bodied, standing on a shark and holding a wine gourd.
The old Daoist had a very large mouth. His broad grin looked rather strange, and his air bore a striking resemblance to a shark's.
He was nothing like the ethereal, immortal-like master Li Xiuwen had imagined.
Huang Sihai lit three sticks of incense in the incense burner while Li Xiuwen watched quietly.
"A Wen, come kowtow!"
"Right!"
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Three resounding kowtows made the floor tremble.
"Master, what was the Grandmaster's name?"
"No one knows. All we know is that he was an expert of the Great Ying Dynasty over five hundred years ago, born in Wu Prefecture in Jiangnan. He called himself the Nine Dragons Daoist."
"Since the Grandmaster was such an expert, could he still be alive?"
"Of course."
"What realm would you need to reach to live five hundred years?"
"I mean he lives on in our hearts."
"..."
Only after the ceremony was finished did Huang Sihai say leisurely:
"What I'm teaching you now is the simplest and most practical combat method our grandmaster created.
"All the advanced combat methods you learn later will be extensions of this foundation.
"Its name is... Sand-Turning Palm!"
The name left Li Xiuwen feeling rather helpless.
It really was plain and unadorned.
"A palm technique?" Li Xiuwen asked.
Huang Sihai said, "Correct. Palm techniques are the most suitable for beginners, and the most well-rounded combat methods.
"Fist techniques are more powerful, but you can easily injure yourself.
"Finger techniques concentrate force on a single point, giving them greater destructive potential, but the requirements are extremely high. Only top experts can practice them.
"Palm techniques combine offense and defense, with endless variations. You can push, press, slice, slap, thrust, or sweep upward. They're the most balanced.
"Once you've learned palm techniques, learning fist techniques, finger techniques, and weapon combat later will all be easier."
Huang Sihai took out a booklet. "This is a handwritten copy of the Sand-Turning Palm manual. You're not allowed to take it out of the Martial Arts Hall. Ideally, you should memorize it."
"Yes!" Li Xiuwen opened it and found that the mnemonic consisted of only a few lines in the general principles on the first page.
"Waves Sifting Sand, rounded and flawless.
"Surging Tides, immense force concealed.
"Shark Shadow Strike, exploding on contact.
"Giant Whale Swallows the Sea, Unpredictable Reversal."
The rest consisted of detailed illustrated training instructions, including seemingly complex movement sequences and aperture diagrams.
Huang Sihai said, "Commit these thirty-two characters to heart and combine them with the essentials of the Sea-Sand Stance, and you'll grasp the soul of the Sea Sand Style!"
"I understand, Master."
Then Huang Sihai took a rather finely made little cloth pouch from his pocket and said calmly, "Take this too. It's also the essence of my Sand-Turning Palm."
Li Xiuwen accepted it with both hands and asked, "Master, is this a secret medicine to use alongside palm training?"
"Open it and see," Huang Sihai said.
Li Xiuwen opened it and found a pouch of fine white sand, giving off a faint seawater smell and a sharp, pungent odor.
He gently rubbed some between his fingers but could find nothing unusual about it.
"This is our Sea Sand Style's exclusive hidden weapon, 'Soul-Dissolving Sorrow Powder,'" Huang Sihai said.
"What special uses does it have?" Li Xiuwen looked expectant. He hadn't imagined old Huang had something this good.
"Our Sea Sand Style places the greatest emphasis on practical combat of all the schools," Huang Sihai said. "With cultivation like yours, when fighting someone, you can suddenly fling it at their face as you strike, blinding them. At a critical moment, it can let you defeat a stronger opponent... Of course, don't do this when sparring with fellow disciples or competing in a major tournament."
"Do the rules forbid it?"
"It's embarrassing."
"..."
Li Xiuwen had nothing to say. So you do know what embarrassment is.
Huang Sihai stood with his hands behind his back and chuckled coldly. "Don't underestimate this stuff. I use lime, chili powder, and dozens of other pungent irritants, blended according to our Sea Sand Style's ancestral secret recipe and refined over forty-nine days. This pouch is a newcomer's benefit. If you want more, it's ten a pouch. Someone once bought ten from me in one go."
"Thank you, Master." Li Xiuwen smiled while inwardly cursing the old money-grubber for selling sea sand as gold dust.
"When using the sea sand, make sure you check the wind direction. Don't blind yourself..." Huang Sihai reminded him.
"You're so considerate." Only now did Li Xiuwen finally understand why the Nine Dragons Patriarch had named it the "Sea Sand Style."
It was "sea sand" in the literal sense, plain and unadorned.
Next, Huang Sihai explained a whole pile of Sand-Turning Palm essentials. In short:
"Everything is important! You'll be tested on all of it!"
Li Xiuwen officially began practicing the combat method, studying the manual while following Huang Sihai's demonstrations.
For ordinary people, combat methods were clearly more complicated than training methods.
The difficulty of training methods lay in the slow, painstaking work they required, with greater emphasis on one's innate physique.
Combat methods, on the other hand, contained many profound and mysterious techniques that severely tested comprehension and understanding.
After practicing all day, Li Xiuwen finally more or less mastered the Sand-Turning Palm's moves and sequences before exhausting himself.
Meanwhile, above the incense burner,
a third stick of incense appeared.
[Li Xiuwen] [Martial arts] [Sand-Turning Palm: Entry (1%)]
"Getting started with a combat method isn't hard. The training method took seven days, but the combat method only needed one."
"Reaching entry level in a training method means a qualitative change in cultivation, so it's harder. Reaching entry level in a combat method just means memorizing the sequences. There's no real qualitative change."
"To bring out a combat method's power, I'll need to reach minor mastery at least."
It was late at night.
Li Xiuwen ate three large bowls of Fish Ball Noodles at the Martial Arts Hall, with an extra duck leg.
Having reached entry level in his combat method, he needed to reward his stomach and replenish his nutrients while he was at it.
Another reason his martial training progressed slowly was his poor diet.
With no money, he could only force down carbohydrates for energy. Eating too little meat and fish affected his body's rapid development.
His uncle-in-law had given him another thousand. After deducting next month's fee, he still had four hundred to improve his diet.
Of course, this was no long-term solution. He still had to find a way to earn money.
Now that he had reached entry level in his combat method, Li Xiuwen decided to see Brother Jun in a few days and discuss that matter.
While everyone was eating, Big Liu arrived with his head lowered and his luggage on his back.
Before you continue