Perfection of Mountain-Suppressing Fist

The second level of the Mountain-Taming Fist was divided into five forms:

Opening Form: Mount Dai Descent. Press both hands downward like Mount Tai bearing down from above, sealing off the opponent's upper three routes.

Force-Deflecting Form: Surging Sea of Clouds. Stir both arms like roiling clouds and seas, dissolving the force of the opponent's attacks.

Guarding Form: Pillar Holding Up Heaven. Raise one arm overhead like a sky-supporting pillar, blocking the opponent's attack.

Attacking Form: Yin-Yang Dawn-Split. Chop out with both arms, splitting the force into two streams—one yin, one yang; one for attack, one for defense.

Killing Form: Mountain-Shaking, Peak-Suppressing. Gather all the qi and blood in the body into one fist, striking with the force of mountains collapsing and earth splitting.

By the time he reached this point, Xie An was already deeply captivated.

Profound martial arts possessed a unique allure to begin with.

Below was the general mnemonic for the Mountain-Taming Fist:

One punch strikes, mountains tremble.

Two punches link, seas of clouds churn.

Three punches suppress the earth, ghosts and gods are startled.

Four punches, five punches, heaven and earth collapse.

—See only fists, not the man; behind the fists, the man becomes Mount Tai.

"This Mountain-Taming Fist is grand and imposing, with countless intricate variations. It is far beyond ordinary beginner martial arts. No wonder Uncle Shui, such a peerless genius, still spent a year and nine months reaching mastery even with a martial foundation."

"Giving me something like this, Uncle Shui probably never thought I could actually learn martial arts. He must have taken me for someone with only a three-day burst of enthusiasm, deliberately trying to make me retreat in the face of difficulty."

Ordinary people truly would find it exceptionally difficult to master.

But this was no obstacle for Xie An.

"Ten Thousand Questions!"

"Break down and analyze the Taishan Fist, then transplant all of it into me."

[Identifying martial art...]

[Identification successful: Second level of Taishan Fist, Mountain-Taming Fist]

[Disassembling...]

Watching the changing text, Xie An could not help feeling a little nervous.

He was mainly worried that he lacked sufficient processing power.

Based on his previous experience, if his processing power was insufficient, he would directly cough up blood and grow dizzy, after which Ten Thousand Questions would display a warning about insufficient processing power.

This time, the dizziness came as expected, and his limbs went numb and sore... but the warning for insufficient processing power never appeared.

Presumably, that was because his qi and blood had increased.

Crackle, crackle!

[Disassembly successful]

[Transplanting...]

The processing power required for transplantation was far greater than that needed for disassembly.

Very quickly, Xie An felt as though his entire body had been electrocuted. His hands and feet were unbearably numb and sore, while vast amounts of qi and blood were drawn away to frantically feed Ten Thousand Questions. Before long, nausea rose in his chest, and stars danced before his eyes.

Xie An gritted his teeth and endured it.

Transplanting martial arts was equivalent to taking a shortcut, walking in a single day the path others needed months or even half a year to travel. Paying some price for that was reasonable.

But the amount of qi and blood being drained this time was simply too great...

Before long, Xie An felt his vision blur. He could barely keep his eyes open.

He was too exhausted. He wanted to sleep so badly.

The last thing he heard before passing out was Qiu Lan's cry.

"Young Master..."

He did not know how long had passed before Xie An forced his eyelids open again.

Tired. So tired.

Worn out. Completely worn out.

His limbs were icy, and his whole body trembled.

His mouth and throat were parched, while his scalp tingled and went numb.

After quite some time, Xie An finally adjusted a little and turned to look around.

It was his bedroom.

Snow was still falling outside, leaving everything a vast expanse of white. A horn lamp burned on the bedside table, fueled by camellia oil and giving off the scent of tea wood.

A brazier stood beside the bed, and Qiu Lan was squatting beside it, adding charcoal to the fire.

"Qiu Lan..."

Xie An moved his cracked lips, but even his voice came out weak and limp.

Hearing him, Qiu Lan snapped her head up. The moment she saw that Xie An was awake, she threw herself at him, her voice thick with tears. "Young Master, you're finally awake! You scared me to death!"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Xie An coughed. "You're crushing me. Could you get up first?"

Only then did Qiu Lan realize she had lost her composure. She hurriedly stood and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Xie An watched her for a moment, feeling touched. "How long was I asleep?"

"Young Master, you slept for two full days and nights. The Master was worried sick. He brought in three physicians to examine you and had you drink quite a lot of nourishing medicinal soup. Just now, the Second Madam even brought the Third Miss to visit. The Third Miss cried terribly, saying that if anything happened to you, she wouldn't want to live either..." Qiu Lan said through sobs.

Two days?

That showed just how much qi and blood this transplantation had drained from him.

If not for his good family circumstances and people feeding him medicinal soup... how much longer would he have slept?

Ten Thousand Questions was such an idiot. It only knew how to calculate blindly and did not even know to protect its host's safety.

A tool was still just a tool.

He would have to be more careful in the future.

But there was another problem.

Before disassembling and transplanting a martial art manual, could Ten Thousand Questions not estimate in advance how much qi, blood, and processing power it would require?

If it could estimate that, then he could make plans and avoid risks, could he not?

He would have to try adding that instruction to Ten Thousand Questions later.

Otherwise, there was simply too much uncertainty.

"Qiu Lan, I'm hungry. Go tell the cook to prepare some ginseng soup for me. Add some meat if possible."

"Yes, Young Master. Please wait a moment." Qiu Lan jogged out the door.

Xie An drank four large bowls of ginseng soup, dozed for a while, and when he woke again, he finally felt the comfortable sensation of being restored to full health.

After dismissing Qiu Lan, Xie An rolled out of bed and immediately discovered that his hands and feet had become much more agile and powerful.

Even the strength of his clenched fist had increased by more than fifty percent.

He immediately brought up the panel.

[Ten Thousand Questions Martial Arts Large Model Lv1]

[Qi and Blood: 1.2]

[Spirit: 1.2]

[Martial Arts Realm: None]

[Talent: None]

[Taishan Fist: Mountain-Suppressing Stance (Mastered), Mountain-Taming Fist (Mastered)]

"Qi and blood and spirit both increased by 0.2. The Mountain-Taming Fist... is mastered!"

Ten Thousand Questions truly was impressive, worthy of being Thousand Questions' big brother.

"Let me test out the Mountain-Taming Fist."

Xie An spread his feet and pressed both hands down. In an instant, force rose from the ground, traveled from his toes to his waist, then twisted through his hips and transmitted into his fists before he ferociously struck out.

Crack!

It was like a whip lashing the ground, producing a sharp explosive crack.

Even Xie An was startled. "Such powerful fist force. Is this the strength of the Mountain-Taming Fist?"

Xie An consecutively performed the Opening Form, Force-Deflecting Form, Guarding Form, Attacking Form, and Killing Form. Every movement was incomparably familiar, as if he had trained them painstakingly for more than ten years.

After practicing the fist forms for a while, fine beads of sweat had appeared on Xie An's forehead. Yet he was still not satisfied and felt an urge to find someone for a fight.

He pushed open the door and saw Zhao Hu practicing with his saber in the courtyard.

When Zhao Hu saw Xie An, he hurriedly sheathed his saber and went to greet him. "Young Master, you're feeling better."

Xie An nodded. "Zhao Hu, come practice fists with me."

Zhao Hu's eyes widened as he stared at Xie An in disbelief, thinking for a moment that he had misheard.

This loose and lazy young master playboy wanted to practice fists??

Had the world gone mad?

Zhao Hu scratched his head. "Young Master, please don't joke around..."

Just then, Xie An threw out the opening form of Mount Dai Descent. "Stop talking nonsense. Take a punch first!"

Zhao Hu was about to refuse, but the fist had already come at him. He could only raise his arm to block it. Worried about injuring Xie An, he used only ten percent of his strength, believing that would be more than enough.

But then—

Bang!

After receiving the punch head-on, Zhao Hu felt both arms go numb. He staggered back five or six steps.

Zhao Hu stared at Xie An in utter disbelief, seemingly unable to believe that the former playboy young master possessed such monstrous strength...

At last, Zhao Hu seemed to understand something. He took two more steps back and plopped down into the snow. "Young Master, that was an excellent punch!"