Ambushed

"Come with me to the front courtyard." Huo Shan led Zhao Feng there.

He felt thoroughly pleased. Whatever the circumstances, Hidden Force disciples were a group well worth taking seriously, and the backbone of the martial arts school. Zhao Feng's successful Gate Breakthrough into Bright Strength could perhaps have been chalked up to luck, but breaking through into Hidden Force on his first attempt as well could no longer be explained that way. Even if it was luck, that too was a kind of strength.

"In the First Form and Second Form of Eight Extremes Fist, the way you exert Bright Strength is completely different from how you exert Hidden Force. Bright Strength emphasizes raw ferocity, while Hidden Force is fierce on the outside and penetrating within. Pierce the surface and break what lies beneath! Simply put, you draw on the Inner Force produced by tempering your flesh, sinews, and bones, then unleash it in a sudden burst during combat, driving it into your opponent's body."

"Watch closely!" Huo Shan took his stance and began performing the First Form of Eight Extremes Fist. Alongside the fierce rush of his punches, every strike carried a penetrating force. The air seemed to ripple three inches ahead of his knuckles.

Zhao Feng watched carefully, noticing differences in the fist stances and the punching postures of certain moves.

"Did you spot it?" Huo Shan asked, a hint of appraisal in his voice.

"I noticed that your Hidden Force punches differ slightly from your Bright Strength punches, Master. With Embracing Mountain Bracing Hammer, for example, your arm seems to draw inward an inch, while your shoulder aligns with your hip. This..."

"Good!" Huo Shan burst into laughter. This disciple truly had fine comprehension. His eyes shone as he looked at Zhao Feng. Here was a piece of uncut jade he had overlooked.

"This is how our Eight Extremes Fist exerts soft force. Hardness resides within softness, and hardness taken to its utmost gives rise to softness. Gathering force inward follows the same principle: only by drawing it inward first can you make it penetrate! Remember, drawing force inward and storing it are not the same thing. You were also right about the shoulder aligning with the hip. I'll explain that in detail when I teach you stance training shortly." Huo Shan patiently explained the theory.

"With Hidden Force, one path strikes the surface while the other penetrates within. Use them flexibly, letting hardness and softness work together! Take Scout Horse Splits the Mountain. You need to rotate your palm half an inch, striking and crushing at once! As your Bright Strength hand chop cleaves down fiercely, Inner Force flows through your elbow, using inch force to penetrate the body..."

Zhao Feng listened intently, continually following along with the stances and movements, while Huo Shan patiently corrected him.

His master had never taught him so meticulously, guiding him by hand. Zhao Feng soaked up the knowledge like a sponge. He knew that if he corrected his posture and the way he exerted force, his Eight Extremes Fist progress on the panel would advance faster as well.

Seeing how quickly Zhao Feng grasped the lessons, Huo Shan felt delighted. "Your root bone is ordinary, but your comprehension and perseverance are both first-rate. Those are things outsiders cannot see, and they are your wealth. From what I've seen, your understanding and control of Inner Force are much stronger than those of an average disciple who has just entered Hidden Force. In those moves just now, for instance, you understood its penetrating and soft aspects quite well. If you can properly combine them with the concepts of coiling and storing force that you mastered before, your strength should surpass that of an ordinary Hidden Force practitioner by a fair margin. As long as you remain diligent, you may yet touch the threshold of Transformation Force."

Hearing Huo Shan's words, Zhao Feng remained calm. He neither rushed to rejoice nor asked about Transformation Force. A meal had to be eaten one mouthful at a time, and a road walked one step at a time.

"Very good." Seeing that he was neither arrogant nor impatient, Huo Shan nodded in satisfaction.

"Now I'll teach you the Hidden Force stage of the Eight Extremes Stake Skill. Watch closely!" He leaped onto the Plum Blossom Stakes and assumed a stance. Zhao Feng could sense that this posture differed again from those of the introductory and Bright Strength stages. "Stance training at the Hidden Force stage involves more than cross-sinking force. You must place greater emphasis on six harmonies force. In essence, this means coordinating the shoulder with the hip, the elbow with the knee, the hand with the foot, the heart with intent, intent with qi, and qi with strength, then applying that unity to your fist stances," Huo Shan explained as he demonstrated.

Zhao Feng committed the posture and the key points of exerting force to memory, then jumped up to try holding the stance himself. Huo Shan guided his posture and force exertion by hand, stopping only once Zhao Feng had fully memorized the Stance Training posture and its essentials.

"My disciple, if you have any questions from now on, come straight to me." Huo Shan was in excellent spirits.

"Also, now that you've successfully made your Gate Breakthrough into Hidden Force, you can start preparing in earnest for the Martial Examination. I only just learned something myself. A few days ago, Xu Commandant arrived from the Prefecture City to take charge of military affairs in Big Stone County. He will probably be involved in the County Trial for the Martial Examination as well," Huo Shan said.

Then something else occurred to him, and he took a small bottle from inside his robe.

"These are Solid Foundation Pills, pills I obtained while I was in the sect. I have few left now, only two. You've just made your Gate Breakthrough into Hidden Force, and the upheaval in your qi and blood has drained you considerably. You need to strengthen your foundation, nourish your vitality, harmonize your qi and blood, and stabilize your cultivation."

"Thank you, Master. Your disciple is deeply grateful." Zhao Feng bowed respectfully.

"All right, there's no need for thanks between master and disciple. Come into the rear courtyard for tea," Huo Shan said warmly.

At the martial arts school, those who reached Hidden Force and became Inner Disciples no longer had to pay tuition fees. Of course, Inner Disciples generally offered gifts to their master from time to time. Chu Fan, for example, had given his master half of the hundred-tael silver reward he had received. The other Inner Disciples also often presented their master with money or treasures they acquired. Thus, what he received from Hidden Force disciples far exceeded their tuition fees.

This family banquet had originally been meant to celebrate their master's wife's birthday and Chu Fan's slaying of a notorious outlaw. But with Zhao Feng's unexpected successful Gate Breakthrough, he had now become the center of attention—at least for the latter half.

Once the family banquet ended, they left the martial arts school.

"Well done, Junior Brother Zhao! You've really made us proud. You certainly kept your cards close to your chest." Wei Yuan could not resist giving him a punch.

Aside from their master, he was the happiest of them all. He also secretly counted himself lucky that he had not brought up reducing Junior Brother Zhao's benefits. Otherwise, not only would he have made a laughingstock of himself, all his previous efforts would have gone down the drain.

"I'll still be relying on your support, Senior Brother Wei." Zhao Feng cupped his fist.

"Of course! Junior Brother Zhao, now that you've reached Hidden Force, your basic monthly allowance will rise to thirty taels of silver, two Treasure Fish, and fifteen jin of ferocious beast meat. How does that sound?" Wei Yuan asked. Naturally, he needed to draw such a Hidden Force expert closer, especially when they were already on good terms.

"Then it would be discourteous of me to refuse." Zhao Feng did not stand on ceremony. He had been spending money like flowing water lately, and nearly half of his four hundred-odd taels of silver was already gone.

Naturally, the more financial support, the better.

After parting with Wei Yuan, Zhao Feng headed alone toward his courtyard in Willow Tree Alley. He only needed to cross three streets to get home from the martial arts school, a much shorter distance than before.

So Xu Commandant has come down from the Prefecture City to oversee military affairs, Zhao Feng thought.

As far as he knew, Big Stone County only had some local militia corps and garrison troops stationed there. They were ordinarily managed by the county lieutenant and patrol inspector under the county magistrate. For a commandant to suddenly arrive from the Prefecture City and take over the county's military affairs was intriguing.

Of course, with the recent rebellion in neighboring Bing Province and bands of displaced people and mountain bandits gathering in Qingzhou as well, sending a dedicated military official to take charge was normal. Even so, the county magistrate had undeniably lost a share of his authority.

And this was probably not an isolated occurrence.

Zhao Feng felt increasingly glad that he had not joined that Patrol Squad organized by the county magistrate.

Lost in these thoughts, he had unwittingly reached Arch Bridge Alley, which lay along his route. Zhao Feng stopped. A young man in plain cloth clothes was slowly approaching from the other end of the alley. His eyebrows swept diagonally toward his temples, and he had a sturdy build, broad hands, and large feet. One glance was enough to tell that he was an expert in hard-body training.

"You're Zhao Feng?" the young man asked.

"Who are you? Why are you blocking my way?" Zhao Feng narrowed his eyes. In truth, he had already guessed the man's identity from his appearance.

"Feng Second Tiger, younger brother of Feng Dahu, leader of the Black Tiger Gang. Come with me. I have a few questions for you." As he spoke, Feng Second Tiger thrust out a hand, his five fingers hooked like claws as he grabbed for Zhao Feng's shoulder.

Faint hisses sliced through the air. That claw strike already carried Hidden Force! It was the Tendon-Severing Bone-Dislocating Hand-he meant to dislocate Zhao Feng's arm outright!