Skills [Martial Arts Knowledge] (Seeking Follows)

At noon, the fragrance of food drifted from the teahouse at the entrance.

The proprietress called the students to eat, while Li Xiuwen stayed in the room to study alone.

"New guy, aren't you eating?" A Zhen asked.

"I brought my own dry rations." Li Xiuwen smiled.

The daily expenses at Four Seas Martial Arts Hall were divided into three parts: monthly fees (tuition), meal fees, and overnight fees.

He had no spare money for meal fees, so he always brought his own food.

At the dining tables, the students chatted and laughed, while Old Chen was once again reciting classical jargon, holding forth with great eloquence.

Silly Qiang wolfed down three bowls of fish ball noodles in a row.

Huang Sihai patrolled with his hands behind his back; whenever he saw someone wasting food, he would slap them and grumble about fines.

Li Xiuwen gnawed on a dry rice cracker and sipped cold water, diligently studying the martial arts structure of the human body.

Fortunately, he did not need to perform strenuous physical exercise for the next few days, otherwise, these rations certainly wouldn't keep the hunger at bay.

In the blink of an eye, it was evening.

Li Xiuwen had to return home before dark.

The security in the Walled City was too poor, and there were many monsters and demons out at night.

"New guy, see you later."

A Zhen put on her coat, and after greeting everyone, she didn't forget to say goodbye to Li Xiuwen.

"See you, Sister Zhen."

"Not leaving yet?"

"I don't live far away, I'll study a bit more."

"Where do you live?"

"Longjin Road."

"I'm in Dragon-Tail Alley, not far."

"Let's practice boxing together when we have the chance."

After A Zhen left, big Silly Qiang gnawed on a sesame seed cake, looking at the studious Li Xiuwen.

"How is it? Did you memorize it?"

"It's alright, not too difficult."

"That's great."

Big Silly Qiang was envious. It wasn't hard for him to throw punches or exert strength, but distinguishing bones and finding acupoints was far too difficult.

It had taken him a whole week just to barely memorize the human body common sense required for the Three Passes of Martial Arts, which counted as his initiation.

Not long after, the martial arts hall became cold and desolate.

Only those who had paid the overnight fee returned to their living quarters.

These were iron cage beds stacked layer upon layer in the corner of the practice field.

Each iron cage was a dormitory.

Old Chen held a Daoist classic titled Commentary on the Upper Clarity Grand Mystery, shaking his head as he read like a schoolboy, then opened a cage and moved inside.

"Brother Chen lives here?" Li Xiuwen struck up a conversation.

"Yes." Old Chen lay in the cage, sipping tea and reading his book. "How is your studying going? You can ask me if there's anything you don't understand."

Li Xiuwen scratched his head and laughed, "I do have a few points of confusion."

Old Chen immediately became interested, opened his cage, and smiled, "Then you've asked the right person."

"What is the use of the Longevity Acupoint three inches below the knee? I don't see it written on the chart. How does it relate to our martial arts practice? Can it prolong life?"

Upon hearing this, Old Chen stroked his beard, held his head high, and laughed, "The Inner Canon says: 'The Zusanli Acupoint is earth, the confluence of the stomach.'

The stomach is the sea of water and grain, the source of the generation and transformation of qi and blood. Once you start practicing pole-standing, and through specific techniques, you strike it daily..."

After the old man finished his long-winded lecture, he didn't forget to add, "As the saying goes: 'Regular moxibustion on Zusanli is better than eating an old hen,' that is the logic!"

Clap, clap, clap!

Li Xiuwen applauded and joked, "Wonderful! Wonderful! Brother Chen is truly the wise star of our Four Seas Martial Arts Hall!"

Old Chen blushed and coughed, "Brother Li, you flatter me."

He was happy from the bottom of his heart. In all his years at Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, this was the first time he had felt such sincere recognition from someone like Li Xiuwen!

A soulmate!

If he was Boya, then Li Xiuwen was Ziqi!

If he was Wolong, then Li Xiuwen was Fengchu!

Li Xiuwen was also genuinely happy.

After Old Chen resolved the confusion in his heart, an incense burner appeared out of nowhere above the incense.

Wisps of blue smoke curled around it, and the gold-plated characters on the surface of the incense burner flowed.

[Li Xiuwen]

[Martial Arts: Beginner Martial Arts Knowledge: Initiation (1%)]

[Stage: None]

"Martial Arts Knowledge? Does this count as a martial art?"

"Well, it makes sense. An illiterate person can only practice wild styles and street brawls. A true martial arts master must be proficient in medical theory and well-versed in classics..."

"Learning various martial arts knowledge and theories can improve it, and it doesn't look at so-called 'root bones.' This skill must have its own wonderful uses."

Li Xiuwen looked at Old Chen, finding him more and more pleasing to the eye.

Who wouldn't want a "Wang Yuyan" by their side?

This was the "experience pack" for his Martial Arts Knowledge skill.

"Brother Chen, how do you know so many principles?" Li Xiuwen asked.

Having found a soulmate, Old Chen took a sip of tea and smiled, "Don't look at me as a down-and-out old man now, all alone and forced to lodge in a martial arts hall.

My parents were once genuine descendants of a martial arts noble family from the previous dynasty. All this knowledge was mastered when I was a child."

"So that's how it is. If I want to systematically study martial arts theory, does Brother Chen have any books to recommend?" Li Xiuwen asked.

"There are... but these books, like boxing techniques, are the secret traditions of various schools. You generally won't be able to collect them in the outside world." Old Chen shook his head.

Li Xiuwen nodded. The martial arts knowledge of this world was a set of systematic methodologies independent of science.

Even if he could find them outside, he wouldn't dare learn them without knowing if they were genuine.

"Brother Li is also a book lover, which warms my heart. I have an ancestral copy of Miscellany from the Martial Tomb that you can borrow from me while you are at the hall," the old man smiled.

Li Xiuwen thanked him, took the book, and scanned it.

This was a reprint of a martial arts classic that a martial arts scholar had obtained from a thousand-year-old tomb.

It contained no boxing techniques or martial arts to practice.

It only held a vast amount of martial arts common sense, cultivation experiences, notes, and miscellaneous discussions.

The old man cautioned, "Brother Li, Miscellany from the Martial Tomb has 12 volumes in total. Much of the knowledge involved is quite profound.

You should start by reading the Arts and Anomalies Scroll and the Three Corpses Scroll. These two volumes discuss some basic martial arts theories and the structural theory of the human body in martial arts.

However, some of the principles within have been overturned by later martial artists, so you must verify the ancient with the modern, study dialectically, and do not believe everything!

As the saying goes: 'To believe everything in books is worse than having no books at all!'"

Li Xiuwen gave the old man a thumbs up: "I admire you!"

"I don't deserve such praise. I'm going to bed; Brother Li, you should head back early."

The praised Old Chen scratched his head like a child, smiled, returned to his cage, and began to read.

"See you later." Li Xiuwen turned and left.

Old Chen sat up and said:

"Brother Li, you are the only one in all my years at the martial arts hall who has been willing to discuss these things with me.

Young people today are too impetuous; they all want to start throwing punches and become invincible under heaven immediately.

Little do they know, boxing techniques are never mastered just by practicing moves.

Boxing theory is equally important.

The ancients said, 'It is easy to change one's root bones.'

This means that as long as one has power and influence, one can always obtain miraculous medicines to alter their root bones.

But 'it is hard to change one's comprehension.'

My father said that comprehension is not just an ethereal inner talent, but also the long-term accumulation of a person's vision and knowledge base.

It is a pity that many people do not understand this logic.

Even those who run martial arts halls in the Walled City don't know much about it.

Live and learn; knowing is easy, but doing is difficult."

Li Xiuwen nodded and left the martial arts hall.