Golden Finger, Auto-Training

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Chen Fan emerged from the alley, carefully protecting the Tiger Fist manual in the bundle against his chest before turning to leave.

Inside the alley, the scruffy man rubbed the two pieces of broken silver in his hand, shook his head, and smiled. "Poor kid..."

He wound through the narrow alleys, turning this way and that, before abruptly stopping.

He then looked back helplessly to find a young man in azure robes silently following behind him.

The scruffy man narrowed his eyes and laughed. "Junior Brother, your Shadowless Step has grown ever more profound. I'd say you're already nearing the realm of 'subtle mastery,' aren't you?"

The young man in azure did not answer. Looking at the broken silver in the scruffy man's hand, he sighed. "Senior Brother, you swindled someone again?"

The scruffy man looked embarrassed. "How can that be called swindling? It was a willing transaction, and the manual I sold wasn't fake! Besides, I didn't take out any core manuals from the Flying Tiger Sect..."

Tiger Fist was naturally not fake.

And it truly was suitable for beginners to cultivate.

It simply could not be called rare in the slightest.

In Flying Spirit County, there was not a single major clan, gang, martial academy, or sect whose library did not contain this martial art!

If one enrolled in a martial academy, this kind of martial art manual could even be freely chosen by the students at no cost!

Among most strength-training arts of the same rank, this fist art was not lacking in power and its effects were good, but it could not compare with the core arts of the various factions.

It fell short of the best, yet surpassed the worst.

In the end, martial arts required one to begin nurturing one's health from childhood and strengthen the body, along with a teacher's guidance and a balanced diet...

If one enrolled in a martial academy, the academy would naturally provide instructors, even specialized medicinal soups to aid cultivation.

But without a famous teacher and sufficient means, the existence of a manual itself did not hold much significance.

Every year, disciples from major martial academies and clans cultivated fist arts like Tiger Fist, but not just anyone could master them.

Why did so many people enroll in martial academies? What was truly valuable was the instruction!

Of course, this only applied to basic fist arts. As for certain secret transmissions within a sect, even dozens or hundreds of taels of silver might not be enough to obtain them. The scruffy man would not dare take such things out and sell them casually.

The scruffy man grinned. "I need money to practice martial arts too, don't I? If I can earn a little more silver each month, I'll have more resources for cultivation. If I break through to the fourth level of martial arts, then the next time I go to Yan Capital City for an 'exchange,' I can restore the Flying Tiger Sect's reputation..."

The young man in azure narrowed his eyes. After a long while, he sighed and said no more.

Chen Fan clutched the manual against his chest and immediately returned to the small courtyard at home.

He began reading through Tiger Fist.

He had been born with wisdom from a previous life, and his mind was exceptionally quick. Before long, he had memorized every illustration and precaution.

Chen Fan came to the courtyard and recalled the essentials of Tiger Fist.

Tiger Fist consisted of five forms.

It was a martial art created by imitating a tiger's pounce.

Chen Fan recalled the tigers he had seen at the zoo in his previous life.

His heart stirred restlessly.

He then opened his eyes and threw a punch forward.

After Chen Fan followed the diagrams and performed all five stances of the fist art once, the string of characters before his eyes finally changed.

[Tiger Fist: First Form (Auto-training in progress)]

[Progress: 1%]

Chen Fan froze, then was overjoyed.

So this was what unlocking meant. He only had to perform the stances and moves once!

"Does auto-training mean my martial art progress can improve even if I do nothing?"

Chen Fan silently guessed.

"I wonder how efficient the auto-training is?"

No sooner did the thought flash through his mind than the symbols before him flickered, and another line of information appeared.

[Current Tiger Fist auto-training efficiency: 9.5% per day]

Chen Fan suppressed the urge to try it out. He waited a little over an hour, and the training progress indeed rose to 2%.

At the same time, perhaps it was just an illusion, but he could clearly feel his fist art improving.

"So that's how it is. At nearly 10% progress a day, the first form will be complete in a little over ten days. Tiger Fist has five forms, so I'll master them all in around two months..."

Chen Fan knew nothing about the path of martial arts and had no idea whether this progress was fast or slow.

But he felt deeply exhilarated.

Looking at the strange interface before him,

"I wonder if there's any way to improve my martial art progress and efficiency..."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes.

Then he simply began physically practicing the fist art.

He thought that if his own training and auto-training stacked together, the progress should speed up no matter what.

So he followed the manual once more.

He threw punch after punch.

Unfortunately, his fist art progress was still too low, and his body was somewhat frail. The set of punches remained extremely stiff in his hands. He could barely force out the stances, while his fists were still soft and weak.

Another hour passed. When the fist art improved again and the first form reached 3%, the time did not seem to have shortened by much.

The efficiency before him had not changed either!

Chen Fan awkwardly stopped practicing the fist art.

"It barely increased the progress..."

There were two possibilities.

The first was that martial art advancement was unaffected by Chen Fan himself.

The second was that Chen Fan's natural aptitude was too poor, and his cultivation bonus was so low that no change could be seen...

Either way, there was little point in Chen Fan training bitterly.

Chen Fan was utterly dejected.

Just then, his stomach rumbled, and a fierce wave of hunger washed over him.

Chen Fan was stunned. "I ate breakfast in the county town today. It's only just past noon—why am I this hungry? Could it be that my auto-training martial art consumes energy?"

There was still some time before noon, yet Chen Fan was already so hungry he could barely hold on.

He hurried into the kitchen and ate the two flatbreads left in the pot, but they still could not fend off the hunger.

Afterward, he cooked the leftover meat from last night's dinner, and only then did he finally fill his stomach.

After eating and drinking his fill, Chen Fan could not help narrowing his eyes again. Holding the meat soup, he sighed helplessly in his heart. This is all money.

Soon another hour passed, and Chen Fan's Tiger Fist actually improved again, reaching 4%.

"Being able to auto-train means I don't have to delay my working hours. It really is convenient."

Thinking of work, Chen Fan felt even more helpless.

In this feudal world where ranks were sharply defined, even if he had countless ways to make money in his heart, he had nowhere to put them to use.

His current bookkeeping job, which paid three taels of silver each month—far more than an ordinary laborer's wage—was already extremely good.

Yet he could not spend it all on food. Even eating meat at every meal would be difficult to sustain.

And if he wanted to practice martial arts, he would undoubtedly need even more money to support it.

Not to mention that he wanted to join a martial academy. Even places like White Cloud Martial Academy and the Flying Tiger Sect required quite a bit of cash.

"As they say, scholars may be poor, but martial artists must be rich. It really isn't false!"

He still bore the pressure of the twenty taels owed to Pi Liu, and a trace of ruthlessness suddenly rose in his heart.

After auto-training began, Chen Fan would grow hungry at the drop of a hat.

He spent money to buy many flatbreads, stuffed them with dried meat, and carried them on him.

Whenever he was hungry, he would take one out and eat it.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed. The progress of Tiger Fist's first form steadily increased until it finally reached 100%, and the second form began auto-training!

The second form of Tiger Fist had no difference in efficiency from the first.

The five forms of Tiger Fist were parallel techniques, rather than each one growing stronger than the last.

At first light, Chen Fan practiced the first form of Tiger Fist in the small courtyard.

He sank into a horse stance, his body slightly bent, every part of him matching the posture displayed in the manual.

Crack.

He punched out, and the sound of tearing air rang out.

The punch flowed like drifting clouds and running water, without the slightest delay.

Chen Fan even felt as though his body had formed muscle memory, as if it were a move he had immersed himself in for many years.

"How incredible!"

Though the remaining four forms were still at a half-baked level, this single form made confidence surge within Chen Fan.

It was an extraordinarily wondrous feeling.

He even felt that if he threw a punch with all his strength, he could punch a hole through his own wooden door.

Of course, he did not truly do so.

At that moment, he could not help recalling Li Linliu's seemingly weightless palm strike on the street. All his self-satisfaction instantly vanished without a trace.

The gap was far too great.

"I wonder if I'm a match for Pi Liu and those guys..."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes.

With something as wondrous as martial artists in this world, he could not help feeling greater awe toward the so-called Black Tiger Gang.

Although Pi Liu was not any important figure in the Black Tiger Gang, he might still have learned a trick or two.

"I need to find a way to learn this guy's true capabilities..."

Chen Fan's home was a farmer's small courtyard on the outskirts of the county town, much like a rural homestead.