One Step to Mastery

[Transplant successful!]

More than three hundred Mountain-Suppressing Stance postures—including movement angles, force application, transitions, and combinations... all flooded into Xie An's body, gradually forming a kind of muscle memory.

In a daze, Xie An felt as though he had practiced the Mountain-Suppressing Stance for several years.

But severe adverse symptoms also appeared: physical weakness, nausea and vomiting, cramps in his hands and feet, a splitting headache, and more.

Xie An had Qiu Lan bring him ginseng soup. After downing four large bowls in a row, he finally felt much better.

Yet he still felt utterly exhausted, so he lay down and dozed for a while.

By the time he woke again, dusk was near.

His body had fully returned to normal, and the dizziness and numbness from before were gone.

He opened the panel.

[Ten-Thousand Questions Martial Arts Model Lv1]

[Host: Xie An]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 16]

[Identity: Legitimate eldest son of Xie Zhengtang, salt merchant of Qingwu County]

[Blood and Qi: 0.4]

[Spirit: 1.0]

[Martial Arts Realm: None]

[Talent: None]

His Blood and Qi had recovered to 0.4.

It seemed the recovery effect was pretty good.

There was also an extra line of small text at the bottom:

[Taishan Fist: Mountain-Suppressing Stance (Mastery)]

Xie An abruptly sat upright.

He had directly... reached mastery?

Before this, Xie An had thought Ten Thousand Questions was brain-dead.

Actually... Ten Thousand Questions was not bad after all.

"I'll test the effects..."

Xie An threw back the goose-down quilt and got out of bed, casually moving his limbs.

It truly was different!

His once slack, loose body was now far tighter and sturdier. Every gesture and movement carried an unprecedented sense of solidity.

His feet naturally spread apart to shoulder width, toes slightly turned inward. His ten toes clawed fiercely into the floor, as though roots had sprouted from his soles and driven three feet into the earth.

His knees bent slightly without buckling, like two thousand-pound sluice gates firmly locking down his lower body.

With only a little force, two shallow footprints appeared beneath his feet. This was not caused by exertion, but by the weight of Blood and Qi sinking downward after long practice had brought his stance skill to great accomplishment.

In an instant, Xie An felt like an old tree with roots entwined deep in the earth—an ordinary man could neither push him over nor knock him down.

According to the Mountain-Suppressing Stance formula, the core of stance training lay in footwork, waistwork, and intent training.

This was the sign of footwork reaching great accomplishment.

"Truly marvelous!"

Xie An then tested his waistwork.

As the formula said, the waist was the pillar that reached heaven, the pivot linking the upper and lower body. If the waist was not upright, strength could not reach its destination. If the waist collapsed, the mountain fell.

Xie An sank his shoulders and dropped his elbows, hollowed his chest and raised his back. In an instant, his waist and spine straightened like a mountain ridge, pushing upward section by section from the tailbone to the crown of his head. The force generated beneath his feet naturally passed through his waist into his upper body. The entire process was incomparably familiar, carrying the fruit of several years of bitter practice.

"Not bad. Now let's look at intent training."

As the formula said, intent training was the hardest part to cultivate.

It emphasized: "I am not I, mountains are not mountains; mountains have veins, people have qi. Veins rise from the earth, qi is born from the roots. Qi travels through the Gushing Spring, passes the ankles into the knees, climbs the spine, and scatters through the hundred bones—like earth qi billowing upward, like mountain springs flooding the land. Within stillness lies great motion; within the formless hides the force of collapse."

An ordinary person could forget about comprehending the intent training of Taishan Fist in less than a year.

Xie An closed his eyes and visualized, imagining himself as a mountain. His legs were the mountain's roots, his waist and spine its ridge, his arms its ranges, his head its peak... winds and thunder from all directions could not shake it, and ten thousand troops and horses could not trample it down.

As he imagined it, Xie An immediately found the feeling of being a mountain. It was as though he had truly become one.

From that vast and majestic artistic conception, he could tell that the stance training of Taishan Fist was by no means comparable to the stance training of ordinary martial arts.

Taishan Fist was likewise no ordinary beginner martial art.

After completing the Mountain-Suppressing Stance once, Xie An sat down to rest, wiping the fine sweat from his forehead. "I'll have ginseng chicken soup again tonight. Once my Blood and Qi recover tomorrow, I'll begin transplanting the second layer of Taishan Fist."

Although Uncle Shui had said that one needed to cultivate at least to Dark Force before having even a little ability to protect oneself against ghosts.

And most experts who achieved Dark Force were already old men in their sixties.

But he had Ten Thousand Questions. He did not need that much time.

Xie An planned to lie low until he reached Dark Force first.

Night fell.

Xie Zhengtang returned home covered in travel dust.

The moment he entered the central courtyard, Uncle Shui came forward with a beaming smile and took the sable fur cloak Xie Zhengtang had removed. "Master is in fine spirits today."

Xie Zhengtang strode into the study. "I just met Daoist Li Yunfeng of Returning Dragon Abbey. Daoist Li agreed to conduct a ritual sacrifice and perform rites at the entrance to Li Family Village seven days from now, to pray for blessings and avert disaster for our Xie Household. Though this cost eight hundred taels, it is worth it for peace."

Uncle Shui poured tea for Xie Zhengtang. "The last ritual only cost seven hundred taels, and now it has gone up another hundred. That old Daoist Li is merely a registered outer disciple of Returning Dragon Abbey, yet his appetite is quite enormous..."

Xie Zhengtang sat in the grand tutor's chair, accepted the teacup, and took a sip of hot tea. "Returning Dragon Abbey is one of the inner city's three great powers, with a renowned name. There is no helping it. Let us treat it as spending money to buy peace."

Uncle Shui did not dwell much on the matter of money and provisions, instead asking, "Did old Daoist Li mention any taboos?"

Xie Zhengtang said, "Daoist Li did ask one question. He asked whether Mingxi and the guard Zhao Hu had answered the Grain-Collecting Ghost's words... I thought that since Mingxi and Zhao Hu both returned safely, they surely did not answer any ghostly words."

Uncle Shui nodded in deep agreement. "Once the sacrificial rites are done seven days from now, Master can put his mind at ease as well."

Xie Zhengtang was in a good mood. "By the way, is Mingxi feeling better?"

Uncle Shui said, "Very well indeed. He even came to the training ground during the day and asked me to teach him martial arts."

Xie Zhengtang shook his head and sighed. "If he could settle down and practice martial arts, it would still be better than idling about outside. But martial arts training is hard labor. How could that boy endure such hardship? He has merely read some martial arts storybooks and tales of the jianghu, then developed a dream of becoming a martial arts master. Yet the boy cannot endure hardship. Where in the world could there be such a good thing?"

If Xie An himself wished to practice martial arts, Xie Zhengtang would naturally be pleased. But if Xie An had no such inclination, Xie Zhengtang truly could not bear to force him.

Uncle Shui smiled faintly. "Mingxi himself said it was only a passing whim and insisted on borrowing a martial art to read. So I lent him Taishan Fist, the beginner martial art passed down by my master. I imagine that within two days, Mingxi will return the martial art and never dare mention practicing martial arts again."

Xie Zhengtang could not help twitching the corner of his mouth. "Taishan Fist is the secret transmission of Brother Shui's sect. Even ordinary beginners would struggle to achieve success after spending three to five years on it. Even a heaven-blessed genius such as Brother Shui spent a full year reaching great accomplishment back then?"

Uncle Shui looked slightly embarrassed. "I told others it took one year, but in truth, it took one year and nine months. And I had already practiced other martial arts first, so I had a foundation beneath me. Mingxi has no foundation at all; he likely cannot even find the door. Ah, it truly is hard on him."

"Let him fuss about as he pleases." Xie Zhengtang sighed. "In the end, I have wronged his mother. Fortunately, I am still in my prime and can protect Mingxi. I only truly hope that he can grow sensible soon and stop wasting his years away like this."