Aperture Points

Early the next morning, Lin Yi pushed open the wooden door of his stone house. A beam of morning light had yet to enter before it was completely blocked by the three figures standing at the door.

The old village chief stood at the very front, his hands habitually tucked into his sleeves. His wrinkled old face tried hard to maintain an expression of "I'm very calm," but the expectation in his eyes nearly overflowed, shining like two lanterns.

Behind him, Biao and Xiao Hu stood side by side, one on the left and one on the right. For once, father and son were both keeping silent.

Biao's thick arms, capable of bearing eighty thousand jin, hung at his sides. His fingers unconsciously rubbed at the seams of his trousers, making him look exactly like a big fool waiting for candy.

Xiao Hu's eyes, meanwhile, rolled restlessly. His lips were pressed tight, and from time to time he rose onto his tiptoes before lowering himself again. One look was enough to tell that he was holding back a bellyful of words he did not dare say.

Lin Yi was briefly stunned by the sight. He blinked. "...What are you all doing?"

Seeing Lin Yi look toward Biao and Xiao Hu, the village chief explained with a genial smile, "The two of them wanted to come knocking at dawn, clamoring to see the diagram you drew. I was afraid they'd disturb your rest, so I gave them a few simple words."

Lin Yi looked at Biao standing obediently in the back, not daring to make a sound, then at Xiao Hu's embarrassed expression as he tried to speak but forcibly swallowed the words back down. He understood at once.

The village chief's "few simple words" had probably come with a few "loving caresses" as well.

Biao sensed Lin Yi's gaze and winked at him, silently mouthing a few words: Don't mention it.

Holding back a laugh, Lin Yi cleared his throat and picked up the beast-hide scroll he had finished drawing last night from the stone table behind him. He offered it to the village chief with both hands. "Village Chief, I've finished the martial technique diagram."

The village chief extended his withered hands. When his fingertips touched the edge of the beast hide, they actually trembled slightly.

He accepted the scroll with utmost care, as though he were holding a piece of freshly fired porcelain. Even his breathing grew lighter.

The old man slowly unfurled the beast hide in his hands. The moment those clear aperture point markings and blood-red Divine Markings lines entered his sight, his eyes stuck to them completely. Inch by inch, he examined every line and every vermilion circle, his mouth slightly open as no sound came from him for a long while.

Lin Yi waited quietly at his side. Only after the village chief had taken in its general layout did he speak. "I labeled the name of every aperture point. I also drew arrows for the sequence of the Divine Markings' path. With the mnemonic explanations below, you should be able to try Mark Condensation on your own by following the diagram."

After studying it for a long time, the village chief raised his head, but a trace of confusion appeared on his face.

"Little Friend Lin, what is this... 'Aperture Point'?"

Lin Yi froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.

He had observed how the clansmen trained back on the Bluestone Grounds. When they worked out, they had no concept of striking aperture points at all. They simply picked out a roughly suitable area, lifted a stone, and smashed it down—wherever it landed, it landed.

Let alone the exact locations of aperture points, these people had probably never even heard the term "Aperture Points."

"Let me explain." Lin Yi picked up a thin branch, crouched down, and drew two parallel lines on the ground. "The meridians of the fleshly body are like river channels, and qi and blood flow through those channels.

"Aperture Points are like reservoirs and sluice gates beside the channels. They control the volume of water, regulate the speed of the current, and guide its direction."

He indicated several intersections on the lines. "When qi and blood pass through different Aperture Points, they produce different effects.

"Pounding the fleshly body to stimulate the circulation of qi and blood is, in essence, using external force to activate certain Aperture Points.

"But before, you didn't know the exact locations, so your efficiency was low, and it was easy to inflict hidden injuries. If you precisely know where every Aperture Point is and what it does, your cultivation speed can multiply several times over."

After hearing this, the village chief's gaze moved back and forth twice between the beast hide and the simple diagram on the ground. The confusion on his face gradually melted into the clarity of sudden enlightenment. "So that's how it is... There is such exquisite structure within the fleshly body.

"For generations, we only knew to pound away with brute force, never knowing the crux of it." He let out a long sigh, and his gaze at Lin Yi became even more complicated.

"You've only been here for a few days, yet what you've seen is deeper than our decades of groping."

Biao had long been itching with impatience. The bloody patterns on that beast hide were like a magnet to him, drawing out every bit of his battle instinct until it clamored throughout his body.

Gathering his courage, he stepped forward and asked in a rough voice, "Um... Village Chief, can you let me take one look?"

The village chief glanced at him, then unceremoniously folded the beast hide and tucked it into his robes. "What are you looking at? You're just a big brute, all clumsy hands and feet. What if you damage it?"

Biao's face immediately flushed red. "How much strength could I possibly use? It's not like I'd tear it."

"When you cultivated the Blood-Transfusion Method back then, it was I who used bluestone to hammer out the direction of your Aperture Points. How many locations have you recognized in full?" The village chief did not even raise his eyelids.

"You wouldn't understand this diagram. If you want to see it, wait until Little Friend Lin teaches you hand in hand. Then just watch and learn properly."

Biao was rendered speechless by the scolding. His mouth opened and closed twice, yet he could not squeeze out a single word of rebuttal.

Those enormous hands of his, capable of tearing savage beasts apart alive, now hung at his sides. His fingertips rubbed even faster, and he looked as aggrieved as could be.

The village chief ignored him entirely. Tucking the beast-hide scroll away, he slowly turned and left. After taking two steps, he looked back to remind Lin Yi, "Little Friend Lin, these people are clumsy and awkward. You must be patient with them."

Once the village chief's back disappeared at the end of the dirt road, Lin Yi finally could not hold it in any longer. "Pfft! Hahahaha! Brother Biao, I never thought you had this side to you!"

Xiao Hu covered his mouth beside him, his shoulders shaking as he tried desperately not to laugh aloud. He knew that if he did, his father's "loving slap" would greet the back of his head the very next second.

Biao's face went green, then red. In a fit of embarrassed anger, he reached out with a palm the size of a cattail fan, scooped Lin Yi around the waist, slung him over his shoulder, and strode away.

"Hmph, what the hell do you know, kid? I'm respecting the old and cherishing the young—I can't be bothered to lower myself to his level! Enough nonsense. Go, go, go! We're heading to the training grounds. Teach me martial techniques!"

Jostled over Biao's shoulder until his insides seemed to shake loose, Lin Yi shouted, "Hey, hey, hey! Put me down! I can walk by myself!"

He struggled twice, driving his qi and blood to activate the Savage Bull Diagram. Forty-five thousand jin of force surged upward—but Biao stood as steady as a mountain, his steps not trembling in the slightest.

Eighty thousand jin against forty-five thousand jin—the gap was right there. After flailing twice, Lin Yi gave up and resigned himself to hanging upside down over Biao's shoulder, watching the road retreat beneath him.

Xiao Hu scampered along behind them, his little face brimming with excitement. "Brother Lin, you're going to teach us martial techniques!"

In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the Bluestone Grounds. Biao put Lin Yi down. Rubbing his ribs, which had been squeezed sore, Lin Yi looked up—and his whole body paused.