Unexpectedly Slow

Lin Xiaotian nodded to Senior Brother Tao, then glanced at the prospective fellow disciples around him before turning his gaze back to Senior Brother Tao.

"Senior Brother Tao, then I'll give it a try, but I can't guarantee I'll succeed in one go."

Senior Brother Tao merely smiled without speaking, watching him with smiling eyes.

Lin Xiaotian knew that Senior Brother Tao had asked him to step up mainly to give these boys some confidence.

Though Senior Brother Tao looked foul-mouthed, his heart was not bad. It was just that this senior brother had far too much faith in him.

He simply believed Lin Xiaotian could do it.

Still, thinking of his performance these past few times, it probably had given Senior Brother Tao boundless confidence in him.

Lin Xiaotian slowly walked forward, and the prospective fellow disciples surprisingly made way for him.

Perhaps his steady footsteps had somehow inspired trust in them, making them instinctively move aside.

It seemed he had no choice but to be the one who stuck his neck out.

All things considered, the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.

At that moment, murmurs from the prospective fellow disciples reached his ears.

"The ones before him all failed. Can he do it? He doesn't look much stronger than anyone else."

"Probably not. Look, he's older than us. The older you are, the more set your bones become, and the harder the Entrance Stake Method is to practice."

"Then why did Senior Brother call him up? To make a fool of himself for us to see?"

"Hard to say. This senior brother has a big mouth and would love nothing more than to watch us embarrass ourselves. Maybe he called this big brother up just to let us know that older people shouldn't come sign up."

Lin Xiaotian smiled inwardly. These little brothers' and sisters' remarks were like wind blowing past his ears—gone as soon as he heard them, never worth taking to heart.

"Senior Brother Tao, I'm starting."

Senior Brother Tao nodded.

Lin Xiaotian pushed off and climbed onto the stakes, steadying himself.

Sure enough, it was different from standing on the ground. There were more variables affecting his center of gravity here.

One misstep, and he would step into empty air and fall.

The demands on his strength were even greater. This seemingly increased difficulty would become a threshold impossible to cross.

"Tap."

He stood firmly on the stake's surface, feeling it out slightly and holding his breath a little. He filtered out the sounds around him and focused entirely on the stake.

After two or three breaths, once he felt accustomed to it, he began the first stance of the Entrance Stake Method.

"Whoosh—"

His foot swung out, stepping forward with extreme speed and tearing through the air with a sharp whistle.

With a smack, the sole of his foot landed on the stake ahead.

An incomparably forceful twisting power surged through him, as if it meant to wrench a piece of muscle right off his body.

A piercing pain shot through him. His brow twitched, and the foot planted on the stake trembled as he nearly lost his balance.

The prospective fellow disciples beneath the stakes cried out in alarm, then relaxed again.

The examples set by the two before him had already accustomed them somewhat to this sight. That unsteadiness was far too familiar.

"Is he going to fail too?" someone wondered inwardly.

"Th-this... don't tell me he can't do it either. Did I misjudge him?" Senior Brother Tao's expression grew complicated as he stared fixedly at the swaying youth.

Whoosh! A surge of blood rushed straight in.

Lin Xiaotian instantly felt his twisted muscles nourished, and more than half the pain vanished with it.

The leg bones that had just been unable to support him because of the twisted muscles suddenly found support and became firm once more.

His tottering body abruptly stabilized as well.

He had held this stance.

"H-he actually held on..." An expression of surprise appeared on one of the prospective disciples below.

"Could this big brother really be able to..."

Senior Brother Tao rubbed his eyelids. "Good. I didn't misjudge this kid."

Lin Xiaotian paused briefly. The small commotion below could not disturb his heart in the slightest.

Then he stepped again.

The instant his foot entered the air, it had to bend in a way that defied all normality.

An enormous resistance and twisting force descended upon him in an instant.

This time, it was not merely the pain of twisted muscles. His entire skeleton felt as if it were being struck over and over.

If he forced himself to step down, his bones would definitely suffer damage.

The first two had both encountered trouble only after their feet landed during the second stance.

The gap between them could already be seen at this moment.

This body's talent for martial arts truly was ordinary, but if he pulled back now, it meant he had failed this attempt.

Lin Xiaotian weighed the pros and cons, then gritted his teeth fiercely and forced his foot down.

Crack—the sound of a bone slightly fracturing.

The sound was not particularly loud, yet in the almost deathly silent training ground at this moment,

many people still heard it.

Terror appeared in their eyes, followed by intense fear.

"Mother of mercy! Can this stake method really cripple someone?"

Many began to waver, wondering whether entering Martial Dao truly was their only path to turn their lives around.

Senior Brother Tao stood closer to the stakes and heard it even more clearly.

His gaze was sharp as lightning as he watched the sweat-beaded youth, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

"Did I misjudge him? This youth can't do it, yet it's admirable that he's forcing himself to endure like this."

The bone had not truly broken; it was a stress fracture caused by the violent twisting.

The pain was actually secondary. The real issue was that after the bone was damaged, it could no longer support his body, much less allow him to perform the movements that followed. He simply could not make any strenuous movements.

One more step!

Boom!

He stamped heavily onto the stake. His body swayed slightly, then steadied.

A faint smile rose at the corner of Lin Xiaotian's lips.

At that hair's-breadth moment, Blood Qi surged in again, nourishing and enveloping the injured area. It healed rapidly, easing his pain.

Moreover, the damaged area was mending at high speed.

By the time he truly planted his foot firmly on the stake, it had already healed by nearly half.

"It works, just as I guessed. Though it isn't as monstrous as absorbing Rift Mist, this Blood Qi is already much higher in quality, and its healing ability has grown stronger."

He was completely reassured now, but he could not perform the sequence too quickly. Otherwise, the healing speed would not keep up.

Senior Brother Tao's eyes widened, then he relaxed. He did not even notice himself letting out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Huh? Why has this big brother slowed down? He's getting slower and slower—three breaths just to perform one stance."

"You're wrong. Look again. I counted ten breaths before he performed one stance. That's way too slow. I turn over in bed faster than he moves."

"Is this big brother here just to make us laugh?"

"Does that count as failing? He's far too slow."

Senior Brother Tao also wore a strange expression as he looked in astonishment at the youth who refused to play by the rules.

All the things this youth had done over the last two days churned endlessly through his mind.

He had arrived and immediately wanted his tuition waived; then he had half-extorted five taels of silver from Young Master Qin. And now this...

"Ah, this youth really is interesting!" Senior Brother Tao shook his head.

"Hahaha, I get it..." A prospective disciple shouted, "This Entrance Stake Method can be passed as long as you perform it slowly."

That sudden outburst nearly made Senior Brother Tao jump.

He looked back at the crowd of prospective disciples below, all bewitched by those words. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he swallowed the curse that had nearly come out.

"These brats will suffer for it later."

An Entrance Stake Method that should have taken less than half the time it took to brew a cup of tea was dragged out by Lin Xiaotian for two full cups of tea.

When he finally withdrew his stance, he was drenched as though caught in the rain, and he let out a long, heavy breath.

He cupped his fist toward his senior brother.

"Senior Brother Tao, I passed, right?"

Senior Brother Tao smiled.

"You were far too slow, but you made it through without breaking the sequence. Congratulations, Junior Brother. You are now a disciple of Huang Family Martial Hall."

One prospective disciple shouted.

"Senior Brother Tao, I want to try too."

Senior Brother Tao looked at the excited prospective disciple. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he ultimately restrained his mocking tone and said steadily,

"Fine, you come!"