Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist

"You're neither arrogant nor impatient. To reach Entry so quickly, you must have both talent and a sound temperament. You haven't let Zhou Yang and the others influence you."

Lin Cheng looked at the young man before him with approval.

As the head of the martial hall, he naturally knew what had happened in the outer courtyard. But he couldn't concern himself with such things. Anyone who let a few words from others sway him, without any judgment of his own, would find it hard to amount to much.

"I just treated their words as so much farting!" Xu Yang shook his head.

Lin Cheng gave him a meaningful look. "They weren't just farting. Everything they said was true. You've only just reached Entry in the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, so you haven't truly realized how important money is yet.

"In a few days, you'll discover that you don't dare practice the Turtle-Snake Great Stance too much. The food you eat simply won't sustain your training. If your nutrition can't keep up, you'll end up harming your body instead."

Xu Yang had actually noticed this already. After reaching Entry in the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, he had begun getting hungry faster than before.

"If your family can afford it, spend more on food. If not, cut back on practicing the Turtle-Snake Great Stance. Remember, you mustn't harm your own body."

Xu Yang cupped his hands. "Thank you for your guidance, Master."

Lin Cheng nodded and said no more.

He had run the martial hall for many years and seen far too many disciples like Xu Yang. How many could he help?

Besides, in his eyes, Xu Yang's talent was nothing special. He hadn't paid much attention even to Lu Ren, let alone Xu Yang.

All he could do was treat everyone equally and teach them everything he ought to. The rest depended on their own fortunes. A ten-percent chance of success wasn't no chance at all.

"Come with me!"

Lin Cheng rose from his chair and walked outside, with Xu Yang following behind.

"The Turtle-Snake Great Stance is a stillness practice, primarily meant to nourish your blood and vital energy and temper your physique. Fist techniques are movement practices, methods for killing enemies and preserving your life, as well as circulating force, gathering qi, and cleansing marrow. Only by practicing both together can you glimpse the mysteries of the martial path.

"Watch closely. Our school's fist technique is the Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist, a technique of utmost hardness and ferocity."

Lin Cheng suddenly sprang forward and unleashed a fierce, powerful sequence of punches. His joints thundered, and wild gusts surged around him.

The overwhelming pressure felt like a boulder weighing on Xu Yang's heart, forcing him to retreat again and again.

So this is a martial artist? So powerful!

No, an ordinary martial artist wouldn't be as fierce as Master!

Xu Yang inwardly shook his head. Lin Cheng was surely no ordinary martial artist. He had to be among the very best in Qingyuan County.

"Watch carefully, and feel the essence of my fist technique."

After finishing one demonstration, Lin Cheng didn't ask how much Xu Yang had remembered. Instead, he tossed him a fist technique manual.

"Study it for an hour, then hand it to your senior brother Sun Tao. From now on, you may come to the rear courtyard once every seven days to seek my guidance. If you have questions at other times, you can also ask your senior brother Sun Tao."

Xu Yang bowed. "Thank you for teaching me, Master!"

Lin Cheng smiled and nodded. "The Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist places the greatest emphasis on killing and actual combat. Once you reach Entry, spar often with your senior brothers in the outer courtyard. When you have spare time, practice moving on the Plum Blossom Stance posts. Make your footing steady, and you'll have the strength to kill."

With that, he walked straight away.

"Take care, Master!"

After watching Lin Cheng leave, Xu Yang found a shady spot to sit and slowly opened the fist technique manual in his hands.

[Mountain-Shaking Bear Fist · Not yet at Entry (0/10)]

An hour later, Xu Yang rose from the ground and glanced at his panel.

Fist techniques really are much harder to practice than stance exercises. No wonder that group in the outer courtyard spends almost all their time practicing fist techniques, while I rarely see them practicing stances.

He went to the pavilion from earlier, handed the manual to Sun Tao, and Xu Yang returned to the outer courtyard.

Seeing him return empty-handed, Zhang Yong and the others' expressions soured.

"See? The senior brothers and sisters in the inner courtyard think the same way I do."

Zhou Yang couldn't help looking smug and began stirring them up again.

The Huang Family!

"Second Brother, word just came in that Xu Yang has reached Entry in the Turtle-Snake Great Stance too. How much should we increase his training support?"

Huang Jin, the Huang Family's fifth master, sought out the second master, Huang Ping, to report that Xu Yang had reached Entry in the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

"Zhou Shunchang's nephew has decent talent. With more support, he'd have a good chance of becoming a martial artist." A trace of surprise appeared on Huang Ping's face.

Huang Jin nodded. "Reaching Entry in six days is quite remarkable."

Huang Ping said, "Remarkable indeed, but he can't serve our Huang Family."

Huang Jin's expression shifted slightly. "What do you mean, Second Brother?"

Huang Ping sipped his tea and said unhurriedly, "Our Huang Family lacks martial artists, but we can't afford to support so many. A martial artist serving as an Attendant receives a minimum monthly stipend of ten taels of silver. Every additional one means another hundred and twenty taels in annual expenses for the Huang Family.

"For the Huang Family, Lu Ren alone is enough."

Martial training burned money. Supporting martial artists burned even more.

Ten taels of silver was only the minimum. Some lineages paid their martial artist Attendants fifteen taels a month.

The Huang Family's businesses brought in only two or three hundred taels of profit a month altogether, and they still had a large household to support. Supporting one more martial artist would put them under far greater strain.

"Xu Yang is Zhou Shunchang's nephew, so he's practically one of our own. If we nurture him, we can trust him more when employing him."

Huang Jin had already understood Huang Ping's meaning: they wouldn't increase their support for Xu Yang's training. He immediately stressed Xu Yang's connection to them once again.

Compared with Lu Ren, Xu Yang had closer ties to the Huang Family.

"He won't amount to much. His Bone Root is C-Grade Lower. Even if we increase our support and he manages to break through the First Martial Dao Gate by sheer luck, he'll never advance any further. Our Huang Family has no shortage of Qi Gathering martial artists."

"Lu Ren has exceptional talent. I expect he'll successfully achieve Qi Gathering in less than two months. Another seven or eight months at most, and he'll break through the second great barrier of the martial path and become a Marrow Cleansing martial master."

"Do you know how much a Marrow Cleansing martial artist charges to serve as an Attendant? Even the lowest rate is forty taels a month. For a genius like Lu Ren, we'd have to pay at least fifty. That's six hundred taels a year."

Once the accounts were laid out, Huang Jin also felt they didn't need Xu Yang. One Marrow Cleansing expert would already allow the Huang Family to sleep without worry. They really didn't need another Qi Gathering martial artist.

"But you do have a point. Xu Yang is Zhou Shunchang's nephew, after all. Zhou Shunchang has been with our Huang Family since before we rose to prominence. With his nephew showing such talent, we can't fail to make some gesture.

"Here's what we'll do. Go to the Mighty Far Hall and transfer one tael of Zhang Yong's resources to Xu Yang, raising his allocation to four taels."

"If all ten of you became martial artists, the Huang Family would have to pay twelve hundred taels a year in Attendant stipends. Where would they get that much money to support you?

"At first, they might have needed two or three martial artists. But once a genius like Lu Ren appeared, the Huang Family needed only him.

"If they weren't afraid of damaging their reputation, the Huang Family would have swept you all out the door the moment Lu Ren appeared

"."

Zhou Yang spoke with easy confidence. Zhang Hong, Qian Jiaxing, and the others listened with despair written all over their faces. Only now did they understand that everyone had already been abandoned the moment Lu Ren, with his B-Grade Upper Bone Root, appeared.

It was only to save face that the Huang Family had honored their promise and sent them all to the Mighty Far Hall.

Before long, Huang Jin arrived at the Mighty Far Hall. He spoke with Zhang Yong first, who returned with his face ashen, and only then spoke with Xu Yang.

Soon, everyone knew that one tael's worth of Zhang Yong's Body-Strengthening Soup had been reassigned to Xu Yang.

Just as Zhou Yang had said, the Huang Family was unwilling to spend even one extra tael of silver. They were merely redistributing resources among the few of them.