Stance Art Mastery

It was the end of the month, night lay deep, and Lin Qing returned to the small courtyard from Fortune Tower.

He did not wash up and rest immediately. Instead, he pulled a small bundle from beneath his bedding. When he opened it, five booklets lay inside—the five stance arts he had bought at the Black Market.

Sitting at the table beneath the gentle candlelight, he carefully leafed through the booklets in his hands. Their pages were white, carrying a fresh scent of ink. Clearly, these techniques were no ancient relics, but freshly copied goods from recent days. It did not matter, though. Any technique that could be practiced was a good technique.

Just as he had expected, whenever he finished carefully reading through a technique, several more words appeared in the recorded techniques section of his mind. At the same time, every key movement and breathing rhythm of those stance arts became crystal clear in his head.

Only after more than an hour had passed did Lin Qing finish recording all five techniques.

He had naturally not wasted the afternoon. The progress of the Bedrock Stance Art had already reached 395 points.

Without any surprises, after training tomorrow morning and afternoon, it would gain another 80 points and reach 475. Only 25 points would remain before mastery. With the support of Earthheart Marrow, that meant just five practice sessions.

Lin Qing naturally would not wait another day. He decided that tomorrow, he would bring the Bedrock Stance Art to mastery!

He washed up and went to sleep.

As the seasons turned, July's fire flowed.

Lin Qing woke from his dreams. A month of regular cultivation had made his waking time exceedingly consistent.

He first ate breakfast outside, then returned to the small courtyard. Reaching the well in the corner, he took hold of a hemp rope secured beside it. With a flex of his arm, he hauled an iron box up from the well.

The box was tightly sealed and hard in texture. Inside was the First Tier ferocious beast meat he had bought from Myriad Beasts Shop.

He carried the box into the kitchen and set it on the chopping board. The moment he opened it, a faint scent of Qi and blood rich with surging vitality rushed toward him.

Lin Qing picked up a kitchen knife and cut off roughly one-fifth of the ferocious beast meat. He took a white jade bottle from the stove, then lit the fire and set a pot over it. He placed the sliced beast meat into the pot, added water, and slowly simmered the chunks over low heat.

Only a slow simmer over low heat could preserve the Qi and blood essence within the ferocious beast meat to the greatest extent, allowing it to achieve the best effect after consumption.

After finishing all that, Lin Qing took out the jade bottle from his chest, poured out a drop of Earthheart Marrow, and swallowed it.

His mind instantly became clear. Lin Qing did not dare delay. He immediately planted his feet in the courtyard, assumed the opening stance of the Bedrock Stance Art, and began practicing the Bedrock Stance Art with his whole heart.

Time flowed on, and soon it was the Hour of the Boar. Stars dotted the night sky. He had already taken three drops of Earthheart Marrow today, while a little less than half the ferocious beast meat remained in the pot.

As he completed the final movement, Lin Qing sensed a change within his body. Just as when he had cultivated the Clear-Mind Life-Nourishing Art to mastery, an unceasing stream of vitality flowed through him. His constitution was steadily, if slowly, improving.

With a thought, he opened the panel.

[Host: Lin Qing]

Realm: Mortal (Breakthrough Time: 200 days)

Fused Techniques: Bedrock Stance Art, Essence-Stabilizing Foundation-Firming Art (Expand)

Recorded Techniques: Drifting Cloud Stance Art (0/400), Qingyun Stance Skill (0/400), Thunderstrike Stance (0/400), Coiling Dragon Stance Art (0/400), Mountain-Suppressing Stance Art (0/400)

As expected, the Bedrock Stance Art had appeared in the fused techniques section of the panel.

At the same time, the breakthrough time after his realm had also changed drastically. It had shrunk from the original ten years to a mere 200 days!

Lin Qing fell into thought. When he had first arrived in the county town, he had heard of the Hidden Dragon Ranking genius Ye Lingchuan at a restaurant. His techniques had reached mastery in three months, and after another year and a half, he had become a Certified Martial Artist.

Judging by an ordinary person's cultivation time, provided they did not lack Qi and blood energy replenishment and had sufficient medicinal baths to restore their bodies—

They would cultivate for two hours each morning, two hours each afternoon, and another hour at night, for a total of five hours. In such a state, Ye Lingchuan had cultivated for a year and a half before successfully joining the ranks of First-Tier Martial Artists.

Now that Lin Qing's techniques circulated automatically, it was equivalent to cultivating twelve hours a day. The estimated breakthrough time was two hundred days.

Reasonable!

Yet this was not Lin Qing's limit. He still had other stance arts in hand. As long as he cultivated each of them to mastery and fused them into his body's instincts, the time needed for his breakthrough would surely shrink even further.

Lin Qing could not help thinking of Sun Shaoping, that outsider from beyond the domain who was only eighteen yet had already reached the Third-Tier Peak. Ye Lingchuan likely would not dare mention the word genius before him.

For someone so young to possess such cultivation, the techniques he practiced were certainly no ordinary ones. Lin Qing probably needed to fuse several more techniques before he could reach Sun Shaoping's level.

However, Lin Qing was confident that he could surpass Sun Shaoping. Sun Shaoping's advanced techniques could bring him only an extremely fast cultivation speed. Lin Qing's system, on the other hand, brought him a cultivation speed that was nearly the limit.

As long as there were enough techniques for Lin Qing to cultivate and fuse, no one in this world would cultivate faster than him.

Suppressing the excitement and lofty ambition in his heart, Lin Qing felt that the medicinal effect of the Earthheart Marrow within him had yet to fade. He immediately drew out the Drifting Cloud Stance Art, which he had recorded into the panel only last night, from his memories. Following its recorded movement essentials and breathing rhythm, he slowly began to practice it.

Just after he finished the second round, Lin Qing felt the clarity in his mind vanish. Having taken Earthheart Marrow many times already, he naturally knew that its effect had passed, so he did not continue practicing.

After the Bedrock Stance Art reached mastery, checking the panel and pondering the cultivation efficiency of geniuses had wasted too much time. Otherwise, he could have practiced the Drifting Cloud Stance Art three times.

After finishing his practice, Lin Qing turned and returned to the kitchen. He ate all the remaining ferocious beast meat in the pot, then washed up and lay down on his bed to rest.

Sufficient sleep was the foundation of efficient cultivation. Even though he was eager to cultivate, he understood the principle of balancing work and rest.