Karin the Immortal's Training

"You're Mu Yang, right? I can tell you've put a lot of effort into your physical foundation. Few martial artists from the lower realms manage to build their basics as solidly as you have."

Korin said this in a calm tone as he dodged. With his years of experience, he could see through Mu Yang's fundamentals at a glance. A hint of surprise arose in his heart, but he also noticed what Mu Yang was lacking.

He shook his head and said, "While your foundation is perfectly honed, you still can't properly utilize the Ki within your body."

"Because you don't know how to conceal it, your Ki is like a firefly in the night, revealing your actions and intentions from afar. Hmm... this might be due to the overall decline of martial artists in the lower realms, so it's not entirely your fault."

Korin's evaluation was incisive, delivered as he strolled leisurely.

Mu Yang stopped and looked at Korin seriously, impressed by its assessment. Just as Korin said, there were very few schools in the lower world that even understood Ki cultivation, so how could they perfect Ki concealment?

However, this wasn't an unsolvable problem. The rather simple-looking Korin before him was undoubtedly an excellent teacher and friend in this regard. So, he didn't hold back. "Please, Karin the Immortal, teach me the method of concealing my Ki."

"Hehehe, there's no rush. Once you know how to use the Ki within your body, concealing it will naturally follow," Korin said, yawning. It ambled around Mu Yang, nodding. "To be honest, your Tianxin Style Ki cultivation does have its unique aspects. After all, it's a secret technique passed down from ancient times, different from what's practiced now. You just haven't mastered it yet."

"You climbed all the way up Karin Tower from below, so you must be tired. Rest well first and ponder on things yourself. Starting tomorrow, I will officially teach you the methods of cultivation."

With that, Korin waved its hand and walked downstairs, leaning on its cane.

Mu Yang stared blankly, watching Korin descend. It was clear that from the brief probing just now, Korin had grasped his situation. Formal training would begin tomorrow.

This made him a bit excited. After the excitement, a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He simply lay down on the ground and fell asleep soundly, soon letting out soft snores.

Frankly, he was truly exhausted.

The next day, the sky cleared.

Korin took out a bag of dried flour from its stores and had Mu Yang eat a little of it mixed with spring water before officially beginning the training.

Chewing the sticky, tasteless lump of flour, Mu Yang's entire face contorted in bitterness. While the flour could fill his stomach, it was incredibly difficult to swallow. He wondered how Master Roshi had endured three years under such harsh conditions.

He had to admire Master Roshi for that!

After barely filling his stomach and regaining his energy, Mu Yang walked up to Korin.

Korin looked at him. "Oh, you've finished eating. Then let's begin training now."

"Please teach me!" Mu Yang said earnestly.

"Heh heh, you're welcome," Korin said, its eyes narrowing as if smiling.

"I studied your experience last night, so I've decided to divide your training into three steps."

It raised three fingers as it spoke. "Firstly, it's about the errors in your techniques and movements. Since you haven't had guidance from a skilled teacher before, you have many superfluous openings and unnecessary actions. Fortunately, it's still relatively easy to fix these now. Once they become deeply ingrained, they'll be hard to change."

Korin spoke eloquently.

Mu Yang listened intently and agreed. At least he had read the original work and knew that superfluous movements would definitely be a focus of Korin's correction. Mu Yang had prepared for this from the start. In fact, martial arts cultivation was surely a process of moving from complexity to simplicity, reducing unnecessary consumption in combat. Mu Yang had always understood this, but he hadn't encountered a good enough teacher to guide him effectively until now.

Although Aisafu was a decent martial artist and a renowned martial artist, his guidance was still far too inferior compared to the truly "great" Korin. It could be said that few people on Earth had greater insight than Korin.

"Secondly, it's Ki cultivation. The Tianxin Style Ki cultivation is very good and quite ingenious, but you haven't brought out its essence yet, so we'll address this weakness next. Once your Ki cultivation is complete, your strength will naturally increase significantly."

"Finally, Ki concealment."

"This is a rather vague concept. What exactly constitutes Ki concealment varies from person to person. Different people have different sensitivities to Ki. Perhaps you think you've concealed your Ki, but to some people, you're still completely exposed. I won't force this on you."

"No, please train me with the strictest requirements, Karin the Immortal," Mu Yang earnestly pleaded. If he couldn't even meet Korin's highest standards, how could he aim to stand at the pinnacle of power in the future?

His Battle Power consistently failing to break the 100 mark must be due to something missing in his training.

The deficiency wasn't in his movements, but in some special requirement. If the development of his physical body had reached its limit for now, could Ki cultivation, or rather control, elevate a cultivator to an entirely different realm? The Tianxin Style's cultivation methods were different from the Kame Style from the very beginning. He couldn't just blindly imitate the original work because he knew it. Mu Yang hoped to improve under Korin.

A hint of admiration flashed in Korin's eyes. It stroked its beard and nodded. "Alright, I'll grant your wish and train you with the strictest requirements. But I must warn you, my training is quite difficult."

"I'm ready. Please don't worry, Karin the Immortal!"

"Very good."

Korin nodded, looking at the determined young man before it. It then produced a bell from somewhere and tied it to itself.

After doing so, Korin picked up the water kettle from the stone platform with its cane, just like yesterday. "What you need to do next is snatch the water kettle I've hung on my wooden staff. You can do it while I'm asleep or distracted. You can use any means, as long as you manage to steal the water kettle from me, you'll pass."

"Because this is the first stage, I will wear a bell on me. I won't take this bell off. When you can successfully snatch the water kettle from my grasp, you can proceed to the second stage of training. Then, I'll remove the bell and you'll have to snatch the water kettle from me again. After completing that, you'll move on to the third stage."

"As for how the third stage will proceed, we'll discuss that after you complete the second stage. It might take a very long time to even get through the first two stages."

Mu Yang was slightly stunned. This was different from when Korin trained Son Goku. In the original work, when Son Goku snatched the water kettle, Korin wasn't wearing a bell.

Perhaps it was because his strength hadn't reached Son Goku's level in the original work, so Korin had lowered the difficulty of the training.

The first stage hadn't appeared in the original work. The second stage was the training method used for Son Goku in the original work.

"Karin the Immortal, let's begin!"

Understanding Korin's intentions, Mu Yang nodded to it and prepared to snatch the water kettle.