At noon, the aroma of food drifted from the teahouse by the entrance.
The Landlady called the students over to eat, while Li Xiuwen studied alone in the room.
"New guy, aren't you eating?" A Zhen asked.
"I brought some dry rations." Li Xiuwen smiled.
The daily expenses at the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall fell into three categories: monthly fees for tuition, meal fees, and overnight lodging fees.
He had no spare money for meals, so he always brought his own dry rations.
At the table, the students chatted and joked, while Old Chen launched into another long-winded discourse, peppered with classical expressions.
Silly Qiang ate three bowls of fish-ball noodles in a row.
Huang Sihai patrolled with his hands behind his back. Whenever he spotted someone wasting food, he went over and slapped them, loudly threatening a fine.
Li Xiuwen gnawed on his dry rice cakes and sipped cold water, diligently studying the human body's structure as it related to the Martial Way.
Fortunately, he did not need to do any physical training for the next few days. Otherwise, these dry rations certainly would not keep hunger at bay.
Before he knew it, evening had arrived.
Li Xiuwen needed to get home before dark.
Security in the Walled City was terrible, and all sorts of shady characters came out at night.
"See you, new guy."
A Zhen put on her coat. After saying goodbye to everyone, she made sure to say goodbye to Li Xiuwen too.
"See you, Sister Zhen."
"Aren't you leaving yet?"
"I don't live far away. I'll study a little longer."
"Where do you live?"
"Longjin Road."
"I'm on Dragon-Tail Alley. Not far."
"We should practice together sometime."
After A Zhen left, Big Silly Qiang gnawed on a sesame flatbread and watched Li Xiuwen study diligently.
"How's it going? Memorized it yet?"
"Pretty well. It's not that hard."
"Lucky you."
Big Silly Qiang was envious. Throwing punches and exerting himself were easy enough, but Bone-Differentiation and Acupoint-Finding were far too difficult.
Back when he started, it had taken him a whole week just to barely memorize the basic knowledge of the human body required for the three passes of martial arts and reach entry level.
Before long, the Martial Arts Hall grew quiet and deserted.
Only those who had paid the overnight fee remained, returning to their lodgings.
Those were iron cage beds stacked in layers in a corner of the training floor.
Each iron cage served as a dorm room.
Holding a Taoist scripture titled Commentary on the Upper Clarity Grand Mystery, Old Chen opened a cage and climbed inside, bobbing his head like a schoolboy reciting a lesson.
"You live here, Brother Chen?" Li Xiuwen struck up a conversation.
"Yes." Old Chen lay inside the cage, sipping tea and reading. "How's your studying going? You can ask me if there's anything you don't understand."
Li Xiuwen scratched his head and smiled. "There are a few things puzzling me, actually."
Old Chen immediately perked up. Opening the cage, he smiled. "Then you've come to the right person."
"What does the Longevity Acupoint three inches below the knee do? The diagram doesn't seem to explain it. How does it relate to our martial training? Can it prolong your life?"
At that, Old Chen stroked his beard and raised his chin with a smile. "The Inner Canon says, 'Zusanli belongs to earth and is the stomach's He-Sea point.'
"The stomach is the sea of food and drink, the source from which qi and blood are generated. Once you begin Stance Training, you'll strike it daily using specific techniques..."
After his lengthy explanation, the old man made sure to add, "As the saying goes, 'Regular moxibustion at Zusanli beats eating an old hen.' That's precisely the principle!"
Clap, clap, clap!
Li Xiuwen applauded and joked, "Brilliant! Brilliant! Brother Chen, you truly are the mastermind of our Four Seas Martial Arts Hall!"
Old Chen flushed and coughed. "You flatter me, Brother Li."
He was genuinely delighted. In all his years at the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, this was the first time he had felt such sincere appreciation as Li Xiuwen offered him!
A kindred spirit!
If he was Boya, then Li Xiuwen was Ziqi!
If he was the Sleeping Dragon, then Li Xiuwen was the Young Phoenix!
Li Xiuwen was sincerely happy too.
After Old Chen cleared up his confusion, a stick of incense appeared atop the Incense Burner without him noticing when.
Wisps of blue smoke curled upward, and the gilded lettering on the Incense Burner's surface shifted.
[Li Xiuwen] [Martial Arts: Beginner Martial Arts Knowledge: Entry (1%)] [Stage: None]
Martial arts knowledge? This counts as a martial art too?
Well... of course. An illiterate person could only practice some crude, makeshift fighting at best. A true master of the Martial Way would surely be well versed in medical principles and thoroughly familiar with the classics.
I can improve just by learning all kinds of martial knowledge and theory, without even worrying about this so-called martial constitution. This skill should prove useful.
Li Xiuwen looked at Old Chen, finding him more likable by the moment.
Who wouldn't want a "Wang Yuyan" at their side?
He's an "experience pack" for my martial arts knowledge skill!
"Brother Chen, how do you know so much?" Li Xiuwen asked.
Having found a kindred spirit, Old Chen took a sip of tea and smiled. "Don't be fooled by this old man's current state-down on his luck, all alone, and forced to lodge at a martial arts hall.
"My parents were once bona fide scions of martial aristocratic families under the previous dynasty. I learned all this when I was little."
"I see. If I wanted to study Martial Way theory systematically, are there any books you could recommend, Brother Chen?" Li Xiuwen asked.
"There are... but these books are like fist techniques: every school keeps them secret. You generally won't find them outside." Old Chen shook his head.
Li Xiuwen nodded. The martial knowledge of this world was another systematic methodology, independent of science.
Even if he found something outside, he would not dare study it without knowing whether it was authentic.
"It warms my heart to see that you love books too, Brother Li. I have an ancestral copy of Miscellanies from a Martial Tomb. You can borrow it from me to read while you're at the hall."
The old man smiled as he spoke.
Li Xiuwen thanked him, took the book, and skimmed through it.
It was a reproduced edition of a martial text that a Martial Way scholar had obtained from a thousand-year-old tomb.
It contained no fist techniques or martial arts that could be practiced.
There was only a wealth of basic martial knowledge, accounts of cultivation experiences, and miscellaneous notes.
"Brother Li, Miscellanies from a Martial Tomb comprises twenty-one volumes in total, and much of the knowledge it covers is rather advanced," the old man cautioned.
"Start with the 'Strange Arts Volume' and the 'Three Corpses Volume.' Those two discuss some basic martial theory and theories about the human body's structure in martial practice.
"However, later martial scholars have disproved some of its principles, so you must compare past and present, study critically, and never believe it all blindly!
"As the saying goes, 'Better to have no books than to believe everything in them!'"
"Impressive!" Li Xiuwen gave the old man a thumbs-up.
"You're too kind. I'm off to bed. Head home early, Brother Li."
Praised, Old Chen scratched his head with a childlike smile, returned to his cage, and began reading.
"See you." Li Xiuwen turned to leave.
Old Chen sat
up and said,
"Brother Li, in all my years at this hall, you're the only person willing to discuss these things with me.
"Young people these days are too impatient. They all want to start throwing punches right away and become invincible.
"They don't realize that mastering a fist art has never been just a matter of practicing its moves.
"The principles behind it are just as important.
"The ancients said, 'Changing one's martial constitution is easy.'
"That means as long as you have power and influence, you can always obtain miraculous elixirs to alter your martial constitution.
"But 'changing one's comprehension is hard.'
"My father said comprehension isn't merely some intangible, innate talent. It is also the long-term accumulation of a person's breadth of vision and depth of knowledge.
"Sadly, many people don't understand that.
"Even among those running martial arts halls in the Walled City, few know it.
"Live and learn. Knowing is easy, doing is hard."
Li Xiuwen nodded and left the Martial Arts Hall.
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