The Bearing of a Third-Rate Martial Artist (Please Read On)

To be fair, at least in Yuan Guang County, Yang Qianqian truly deserved to be called a "genius."

Even among martial artists who had entered the ranks, there were distinctions of high and low.

Someone like Yang Qianqian, who cultivated internal qi through a mid-grade technique, was considered to have entered the ranks with high quality.

However, while ranked techniques were powerful, they were correspondingly extremely difficult to master.

Many martial artists struggled for years without managing to cultivate a ranked technique. Left with no choice, they could only use an unranked technique to enter the ranks.

But once they did so, the path of martial arts after entering the ranks became all the harder to travel far.

That was why advancing into the ranks through a mid-grade technique was one of the hard requirements for many great sects when accepting disciples.

And after Yang Qianqian arrived, she truly did not beat around the bush. She said she would demonstrate it, and she demonstrated it.

She had practiced the Five-Beasts Stance Exercise as a child.

Though this technique was unranked, it was an exceedingly reliable choice for laying foundations during the earliest stage of martial arts training.

Yang Qianqian was pretty and shapely. Aside from lacking a full bust, everything else was just right and brimming with youthful vitality.

What should have been rather comical stance movements were forcefully turned into something beautiful by her.

At that moment, not to mention the other young men—even Zou Feng, who had visited a pleasure house just last night, stood at full attention as he watched.

It could not be helped. Since Jade-Horizontal Pavilion focused on value for money, its girls were truly not much to look at.

Looking at Yang Qianqian now, her stunning presence was no less than an Autumn Fragrance suddenly appearing amid a pile of crooked melons and cracked dates.

Yet certain stance movements gave the impression that she was wide open, making thoughts such as What a good opportunity occasionally pop into Zou Feng's mind.

He even wanted to poke her with the Passion-Chaos Finger and see how Yang Qianqian would react...

The next moment, Zou Feng vigorously shook his head, flinging those bold thoughts from his mind.

Hadn't the side effects of cultivating the Passion-Chaos Finger all been transferred to Yang Ling? Why was he thinking such messy things?

After finishing her demonstration, Yang Qianqian let out a long breath. "You all understood that, right?"

"When holding a stance, you cannot merely resemble it in form. The most important thing is to embody its spirit!"

"When holding the tiger stance, you must imagine that you have become a fierce tiger!"

In truth, Martial Instructor Zhao, who had previously taught the Five-Beasts Stance Exercise, had already explained all these key points of stance training.

The problem was, knowing was one thing. Actually holding a stance with its proper spirit was far from easy.

"You all practice now. Whoever holds the tiger stance best next will be rewarded with one tael of silver!" Yang Qianqian's final words immediately sent the place into an uproar.

The household servants seemed as though they had been injected with chicken blood, every one of them beginning to hold their stances with the bearing of a fierce tiger.

Then Yang Qianqian personally stepped in and began giving each servant individual guidance.

This was far more detailed than Martial Instructor Zhao's earlier lessons.

Even though Yang Qianqian was certainly only doing this because being confined had left her bored out of her mind.

The servants were still moved to tears with gratitude.

"Your spirit is dreadful. You call that a tiger stance? It is more like a cat stance—a sick cat, at that!"

"...Impressive. How did you manage to turn a tiger stance into a dog stance?"

"Your lower body is floating and weak. Did you not eat, or have you visited the pleasure houses too often?"

Though her guidance was detailed, Yang Qianqian spoke without the slightest restraint.

But no one found it inappropriate. It was perfectly normal for a martial woman to be so forthright.

Before long, Yang Qianqian arrived in front of Zou Feng.

After giving him a few casual glances, she nearly blurted out by habit, "The way you're holding this stance is like... like..."

She stammered for a while, but the more she looked, the more something seemed wrong. She was actually left speechless.

"Like mine!?"

In the end, Yang Qianqian reached that conclusion in disbelief.

But after reaching it, she could not accept it. She immediately circled Zou Feng once, observing him even more carefully.

Yet no matter how she looked, she had to admit it: damn it, what an impeccably standard tiger stance...

There was not a single flaw she could pick out!

How many days had it been since Father decided to let the household servants learn martial arts?

There was actually such talent among the servants of the estate...

Yang Qianqian was genuinely stunned. When she had first brought her tiger stance close to perfection, it had taken her more than ten days.

"You... what is your name?"

"This lowly one is called Zou Feng."

With the Five Poisons Palm at the "entering the hall" realm as his foundation, practicing such basic stance exercises naturally posed no difficulty for Zou Feng.

And he had deliberately intended to "display his talent" so Yang Qianqian would notice it.

All of this was groundwork for him to soon enter the martial ranks openly and honorably, shedding his lowly status.

"You have decent talent. Keep working hard!" Yang Qianqian nodded approvingly, then tossed Zou Feng one tael of silver.

After being surprised for a moment, Yang Qianqian did not pay it too much mind.

The reason was simple.

He was talented, certainly, but he had begun learning martial arts too late. At most, he would become a third-rate martial artist in the future.

Besides, the Five-Beasts Stance Exercise was for laying foundations, the simplest kind of technique.

Though it had taken her more than ten days to master it, she had only been five years old then.

"Have you learned the other four stances as well?" Yang Qianqian asked again.

Zou Feng said, "Martial Instructor Yang taught them all before."

"Then demonstrate the other four stances one by one. Let me see whether they are right!"

Yang Qianqian made this request because she still could not quite believe it. How could a genius who might possess even greater talent than herself appear so casually?

But when Zou Feng demonstrated the other four stances in turn, Yang Qianqian still could not find any fault. Her expression grew rather strange again.

She had indeed come here to guide the household servants in martial arts because she was bored out of her mind and wanted to show off her talent.

Yet now, she had instead been thoroughly shown up by a servant...

The only thing that still somewhat balanced Yang Qianqian's heart was that Zou Feng had ultimately started martial arts too late.

Having missed the best age to practice martial arts, it was truly extremely difficult to go farther.

Unless one took the crooked paths of evil and unorthodox ways...

In any case, under normal circumstances, no matter how far Zou Feng trained, he could not escape the fate of becoming a third-rate martial artist.

He was utterly incomparable to a peerless genius like herself, who was about to enter the Heavenly Origin Sword Sect and possessed a future without limits.

That was right. Why did she have to compete with a servant from her own household?

Thinking this, Yang Qianqian lost interest in staying any longer.

"Passable, I suppose. You still need to practice more!"

With that, Yang Qianqian turned and left without interest.

As the pampered, high-minded eldest miss of the Yang Estate, she had never sincerely wanted to come help these lowly household servants.

Just imagine it: when these bottom-tier servants, who had finally gained the chance to learn martial arts, realized the enormous gulf between themselves and a genius, the shock, envy, and subsequent dejection they displayed...

For the young and high-spirited Yang Qianqian, was watching such varied scenes of human life not a kind of entertainment?

So even after noticing Zou Feng's "talent," she would not truly take it seriously.

Instead, being surpassed by him made her feel displeased.

In her mind, even if she had only been five when she practiced the Five-Beasts Stance Exercise, she still should not have been inferior to a servant of lowly status.

Zou Feng was not surprised to see Yang Qianqian suddenly arrive, then inexplicably leave as soon as she said she would.

Heh. That sort of story where one revealed talent and was immediately appreciated by one's master, receiving better treatment and focused training, only happened in novels.

A household servant was still a lowly servant, not a descendant of the Yang Family.

And this proud Yang Qianqian... she was obviously jealous that I had cheats!