Grueling Training

A large amount of Soul Power enveloped Zhou Liang, but he was not injured. His mind was also exceptionally clear. Just as he was about to get up, though—

A foot extended beside him, then flicked upward, hooking him into the air. Instructor Wang Hu grabbed one of his feet, leaving his entire body hanging upside down.

The sensation of dangling in midair made Zhou Liang dizzy, but he still forced himself to focus and kicked at Instructor Wang Hu's face.

Seeing this, Instructor Wang Hu flicked his hand and sent Zhou Liang flying.

Zhou Liang used Soul Power to protect himself. He rolled across the ground twice before steadying himself.

"You can stop for now. Your foundation is terrible." Wang Hu shook his head.

"Instructor, my physical condition is very strong, but I don't know what's going on. After facing you, I can't bring out any of it." Zhou Liang sounded confused.

"Your physical strength is decent, but your fundamentals are far too poor. You have no sense of balance at all, your lower-body stability is terrible, and your sense of danger and control of combat positioning are both awful," Wang Hu told Zhou Liang.

"At first, I saw that your physical condition was good and assumed you had received some basic training in these areas, so I immediately began practical combat training with you. I never expected that you had not trained your fundamentals at all. That was my mistake. We'll start over now." Wang Hu frowned slightly.

"Instructor, isn't basic training just physical conditioning?" Zhou Liang asked doubtfully.

"No. The basic training I mean is the foundation of practical combat. The first part is balance. You must keep yourself balanced under any circumstances. Only then can you ensure that you can steadily unleash your maximum strength." Wang Hu walked over to Zhou Liang.

"If you cannot use one hundred percent of your strength, then you will always be weaker than someone at the same level. At the same time, it will be very easy for others to weaken you." As Wang Hu spoke, he demonstrated.

He threw a punch, and the sound of tearing air rang out. Then he leaped up, deliberately losing his balance and falling at a slant. During the descent, he threw another punch. The sound of tearing air was just as loud, and the sense of power had not weakened in the slightest.

Then, with a bang, Wang Hu slammed straight into the ground. Zhou Liang stared at the scene in shock. Wang Hu had truly allowed himself to completely lose his balance just now.

"Even in that state, I could still unleash one hundred percent of my strength. That means that no matter how unfavorable my environment is, I can still unleash one hundred percent of my power. And that is the foundation of surviving desperate situations." Wang Hu instantly rose to his feet.

"Second, you must always keep control of the overall situation. Although I lost my balance just now, I still controlled my field of vision. I could observe everything around me and gather all the surrounding information. Once you regain your balance, you must escape danger as quickly as possible and regain control over the distance between yourself and your opponent." Wang Hu raised his second finger.

"Why does this sound like a cat? No matter what, it has to land on all four feet and be ready to deal with any sudden situation at any time." A certain experiment involving cats surfaced in Zhou Liang's mind as he continued listening to Wang Hu.

"The last thing is the distance between you and your enemy. You must know the range in which you can attack effectively, and beyond what distance you can still counterattack or escape regardless of what attack your enemy uses. What is the limit of that range? Three meters? Five meters? Or ten meters? You must be twelve times as vigilant toward anyone who enters that range, because they already have the ability to hurt you." Wang Hu raised his third finger.

Zhou Liang nodded.

"Good. We'll begin with the first training exercise: your sense of balance and lower-body stability." Wang Hu nodded.

"Wait here. I'll be right back." After saying that, Wang Hu headed toward a nearby room.

After being inside for a while, he came back carrying something strange.

It was a thigh-thick cylinder roughly a meter long. One end had a handle, while the other was tied to a rope less than half a meter long, with an iron ball attached to the other end of the rope.

"This is a tool for training balance. The entire cylinder is cast from iron. A rope is tied to its end, with an iron ball attached to it. This gives it a fixed center of gravity and a moving center of gravity. You must use this iron rod to complete a set of movements within a specified time. Once you do that, you will have completed balance training." Wang Hu introduced the strange object.

"So this thing is called a Balance Staff. I chose this model based on your strength. Its weight is close to the limit of what you can hold level in front of you. It can train your strength, your balance, and the stability of your lower body." Wang Hu handed it to Zhou Liang.

Zhou Liang reached out and took the Balance Staff. His hand immediately sank under its weight. It was indeed close to his limit.

"Now I'll demonstrate a basic set of movements. You'll train using this set." Wang Hu began demonstrating after he spoke.

He first picked up a wooden staff, then slowly squatted down into a horse stance. Gripping one end of the staff with both hands, he extended his arms straight forward, then slowly turned to the left. As he turned, the wooden staff remained balanced. It moved behind him in a full circle before returning to the front.

"This is the first movement. First, learn how to do this without falling. Then I'll teach you the other movements." Wang Hu looked at Zhou Liang.

Zhou Liang nodded. He assumed a horse stance where he stood, gripped the Balance Staff, and raised it level in front of himself. He instantly felt an enormous pulling force from the front. His center of gravity shifted forward, and only then did he avoid losing his balance.

He then slowly turned to the left, feeling the shift in force and the resulting displacement of his center of gravity. It left Zhou Liang swaying on the verge of collapse. When the staff reached the side of his body, he instantly lost his balance and fell straight to the ground.

"Carefully sense that feeling of your center of gravity shifting. You need to adapt to it and learn how to use it," Wang Hu instructed from the side.

Zhou Liang nodded and continued his balance training. This time, he carefully sensed the shift in his center of gravity, adjusting his own strength to maintain his balance.

But just as the Balance Staff turned behind him, the extremely displaced center of gravity instantly caused Zhou Liang to lose his balance. He fell backward onto the ground.

Fortunately, the instant he fell, Zhou Liang used Soul Power to protect himself, sparing himself any physical pain.

Zhou Liang quickly got to his feet, picked up the Balance Staff, and continued training.