Stance Training

"Don't look at me like that. I'm still eating," Miss Qin said. Liu Yuanzhou's gaze made her skin crawl.

Miss Qin was eating. On the kang table sat several pieces of corn bread, a bowl of porridge, and a dish of pickled vegetables. Liu Yuanzhou had brought the corn bread from home, while there was still half a crock of pickled vegetables in Third Master's vegetable jar. Liu Yuanzhou sat across from the table, watching Miss Qin eat.

Liu Yuanzhou's face reddened at her words. He jumped down from the kang and said, "I'm going to fetch water." With that, he fled out the door as if escaping. Since Miss Qin had promised to teach him martial arts the next day, he had been so excited last night that he had not slept well all night.

When he returned with a shoulder pole of water, Miss Qin had already finished eating. As Liu Yuanzhou cleared away the bowls and chopsticks, Miss Qin said, "I'll teach you martial arts in a while."

Liu Yuanzhou's hand trembled, and he nearly dropped a bowl. His movements sped up several notches.

Miss Qin could not help smiling. She had taken the antidote last night, and the poison in her body had been cleared out seven or eight parts out of ten. The reason it had not been completely purged was that she had been poisoned for too long; the poison had seeped deep into her organs. The remaining poison could only be slowly drawn out bit by bit over the days to come, a task of grinding water through stone. Fortunately, it was no longer a serious threat. Even the aftereffects of taking the sect's secret medicine had improved somewhat. When she got up that morning, she had already been able to get off the kang and walk normally, so she was in quite a good mood.

Liu Yuanzhou quickly finished clearing the bowls and chopsticks. He did not forget to boil water and make a pot of tea, setting it on the kang table. He poured Miss Qin a cup, filled one for himself as well, then sat down across from her.

Before learning martial arts, Miss Qin said, "Let me ask you something. How much do you know about so-called martial arts and kung fu? Have you heard of the Ming Jin Realm, Dark Force, and Transformed Force?"

How could Liu Yuanzhou know such things? He answered honestly, "I've heard of martial artists, but I've never heard of Ming Jin, Dark Force, or Transformed Force."

Miss Qin nodded. "That's normal. Unless someone in an ordinary household practices martial arts, they generally do not know much about it." Then she added, "What qualifies someone as a martial artist? Generally speaking, once one enters the Ming Jin Realm through martial arts training, one can be called a martial artist."

"Martial artists also have differences in realm. At present, most sects divide them according to the Six Realms Two Stages. From low to high, they are the lower-stage Ming Jin, Dark Force, and Transformed Force realms, followed by the upper-stage Qi Refining, Condensing Liquid, and Embracing the Core realms. These are also known as the Six Martial Realms."

Only then did Liu Yuanzhou learn that martial artists had so many twists and turns to them. He could not help interrupting, "Does that mean the higher a martial artist's realm, the more powerful they are?"

"Uh, you can understand it that way," Miss Qin said after thinking for a moment. In truth, this involved two aspects. As far as the lower stages were concerned, judging solely by a martial artist's physical qualities—such as strength and reaction speed—and their level of understanding and application of force, the higher the realm, the more formidable they would certainly be. But in an actual fight between two martial artists, besides realm, the techniques they had learned also affected the outcome. There was no need to go into detail about that.

Miss Qin continued, "Back to the point. When we speak of martial arts—that is, cultivation methods—they can also be divided into combat methods and training methods. Of course, this is not absolute; it is merely a matter of emphasis."

"What are combat methods? Simply put, they are cultivation methods used for fighting. Things like this-or-that fist technique, sword technique, or saber technique generally belong to combat-method martial arts."

"As for training methods, they are martial arts practiced to raise one's martial realm. In the lower stages, they are the various stance trainings. The Eight Stance Training Styles most widely spread through the martial world today are the Eight Directions Stance, Nine Merits Stance, Dragon Walking Stance, Three Body Stance, Mimicry Stance, Limitless Stance, and Yin Yang Stance. As for the upper stages, they involve all kinds of Qi Refining Methods, which need not be mentioned."

Miss Qin paused to catch her breath, lifted her teacup for a sip, and looked at Liu Yuanzhou. "Kid, I have a stance training called the Limitless Stance, and a fist technique called the Plum Blossom Fist. Both are genuine martial arts. But as the saying goes, methods are not lightly passed down. Though you have done me a favor, you may choose only one of these two arts. So, which one do you want to learn?"

Liu Yuanzhou pondered for a long while before saying, "I want to learn the Limitless Stance." Stance training was a training method, and training methods could raise one's martial realm. The higher one's martial realm, the stronger one became. It was not a difficult choice.

Miss Qin nodded. "All right. Then I'll teach you the Limitless Stance. Now let me tell you what stance training is."

"The Martial Classic says: 'Practice martial arts without practicing skill, and you will reach old age with empty hands.' That skill refers to stance training. Practicing stance training can keep the blood and vessels flowing freely, relax the sinews and bones, nourish the flesh, clear the meridians, and bring the organs into greater harmony, ultimately achieving balance and free passage within the body's little heaven and earth."

"Practicing stance training is also called standing stances. It consists of the stance framework and a breathing method. Heh, martial arts that only teach the framework but have no accompanying breathing method cannot produce much of anything."

At this point, Miss Qin paused again, refilled her cup, and slowly drank her tea.

Liu Yuanzhou nodded as if he understood, though not entirely. He tried his best to commit everything Miss Qin had said to heart so that he could slowly comprehend it in the future.

After drinking her tea, Miss Qin continued, "After all that, you should have a rough understanding of stance training. Now I'll teach you how to practice the Limitless Stance. I'll demonstrate it once for you, so watch carefully." With that, she stood up and assumed the Limitless Stance right there on the kang, carefully explaining every detail of the movements as she did so.

After Miss Qin finished explaining, she did not relax her stance. Instead, she had Liu Yuanzhou imitate her and stand in the same pose.

Liu Yuanzhou copied Miss Qin's posture. She then relaxed her stance, casually picked up a stick from the kang, and tapped him here and poked him there, correcting the improper parts of his movements.

"All right, keep your posture like this. First stand for... hmm, the time it takes to drink a cup of tea," Miss Qin said. She sat down and slowly sipped her tea.

Is it really this simple? Liu Yuanzhou thought rather dismissively.

The result was that Liu Yuanzhou had greatly overestimated himself. He had stood for less than the time it took to burn an incense stick when his waist and legs grew increasingly sore. His thighs shook nonstop like sieves of chaff. Then three sharp slaps rang out—smack! smack! smack! Liu Yuanzhou immediately felt a burning, stabbing pain in his lower back and both legs. He sucked in a sharp breath with a hiss.

"Is this all you can manage, and you still want to learn martial arts? Stand properly," Miss Qin said, flicking the stick in her hand.

Liu Yuanzhou clenched his teeth tightly and held his breath, refusing to let his posture collapse. He did not want Miss Qin to look down on him. He did not know how long he stood there, but his legs and arms seemed no longer to belong to him, completely numb. Beads of sweat as large as soybeans rolled down his forehead and blurred his vision. Hold on. Hold on, he repeated to himself again and again, urging himself onward.

"All right, relax your stance," Miss Qin suddenly said.

It was as though Liu Yuanzhou had heard heavenly music. The breath in his chest scattered, and he collapsed onto the floor at once. Yet his arms and legs remained locked in their stiff posture.

Miss Qin came over then, raised the stick, and began striking Liu Yuanzhou's body with sharp taps. Before long, feeling returned to his legs and arms. His entire body felt limp and lazy, yet incomparably comfortable. He lay on the kang and did not want to move at all.

Miss Qin sat down by the table, panting, and picked up her tea to drink. Her hand trembled slightly. Clearly, that round of striking had also taken quite a toll on her.

After a while, Liu Yuanzhou sat up and said to Miss Qin with a face full of gratitude, "Thank you."

Miss Qin waved a hand. "How is it? Can you stand?"

Liu Yuanzhou struggled to his feet and took two steps. Everything was normal except that his legs were still somewhat weak and sore. His gratitude toward Miss Qin deepened further.

Miss Qin beckoned. "Sit down. I'll teach you the breathing method for the Limitless Stance."

Liu Yuanzhou hurriedly sat down and pricked up his ears to listen.

"A breathing method is a method of combining the length, speed, and rhythm of exhaling and inhaling. Every stance training has its own matching breathing method. The breathing method for the Limitless Stance is like this." As she spoke, Miss Qin explained the Limitless Stance's breathing method to Liu Yuanzhou in detail.

That breathing method was nothing like the simple stance framework. It was extraordinarily complicated, with rapid and shifting changes, and the order before and after could not be confused. One taught while the other learned, and it took nearly half an hour before Liu Yuanzhou barely became proficient in the set of breathing methods.

"Cough, cough." A fit of coughing rang out, startling Liu Yuanzhou from memorizing the breathing method. He looked up and saw Miss Qin covering her mouth, her face full of weariness. Looking at the table again, he saw that the pot of tea had long since run dry. He immediately remembered that Miss Qin was still injured and ill, and guilt surged up in his heart.

Liu Yuanzhou jumped down from the kang, climbed over to the window, and looked outside. It was already past noon. He returned to the side of the kang and said to Miss Qin, "You must be hungry. I'll make you something to eat."

Liu Yuanzhou went into the outer room and began lighting the fire to cook. Last night, he had already asked his mother, Zhang Shi, in detail about how to cook meat. When he came over that morning, he had even specially brought some seasonings from home, so he was brimming with confidence.

About half an hour later, the meal was ready. Liu Yuanzhou wiped his hands and let out a long breath. Knowing how to do it is one thing, but actually doing it is another, he sighed inwardly.

Liu Yuanzhou brought the food onto the kang table, served Miss Qin a bowl of porridge, and pointed at a basin of food. "This is potato stew with beef that I made. Miss Qin, try it and see how it tastes."

Seeing a sticky, mushy mass in the basin, Miss Qin picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. The taste was not bad, and the meat was not tough. It was more than twice as good as yesterday's. "It's all right. You should eat too."

The stone hanging over Liu Yuanzhou's heart finally dropped. He had been afraid Miss Qin would say it tasted bad. He served himself a bowl of porridge and began eating.

"Didn't you say this was potato stew with beef? Where are the potatoes? Did you pick them all out and eat them?" Miss Qin asked, her face full of confusion, though she was secretly laughing.

Liu Yuanzhou shook his head and hurriedly said, "No, no. I put the potatoes in too early, so they all stewed apart and turned into mush."

Miss Qin burst out laughing.

Liu Yuanzhou scratched his head. Only then did he realize that Miss Qin had been teasing him. With an embarrassed expression, he chuckled along with her.

After the two finished eating, Miss Qin said, "I've taught you both the framework and breathing method of the Limitless Stance. Once you return, practice diligently. If you encounter any problems during training, tell me promptly. Though the Eight Great Stances are the most basic and safest training methods, martial arts themselves are a process of breaking oneself apart and building anew, of constant tempering. There will always be a certain degree of risk, so you must not be careless."

Liu Yuanzhou nodded to show that he understood.

"One full cycle of the breathing method counts as one section. One section of the Limitless Stance breathing method takes about half the time it takes to burn an incense stick. For beginners, standing three or four times a day, with three sections each time, is about right. You must not greedily rush for results and injure your body."

"Understood," Liu Yuanzhou said.

"All right, that is all. You can go back now. You don't need to come make dinner tonight. There's still some lunch left over. I can heat it up and eat it myself."

Liu Yuanzhou said, "All right, then I'll head back first. But I should still come make dinner for you. I said I would take care of you until you recovered."

Miss Qin shrugged. "Do as you please."

Liu Yuanzhou walked out of Third Master's home. The sun outside was bright and brilliant. He could not help squinting, the corners of his mouth slowly spreading into a smile. Then, humming an unknown tune, he ran toward home.

PS: There are differing accounts of how long it takes to drink a cup of tea or burn an incense stick. In this book, "the time it takes to drink a cup of tea" is set at roughly ten minutes by modern standards, while "the time it takes to burn an incense stick" is roughly five minutes.