One Hundred and Eight Streams of Thunder Fist
Fang Yuan gave Wang Hongjun's words some serious thought, then replied, "Uncle Wang, I might not stay at the martial arts school forever. Talking about my ambitions now might sound like I'm aiming too high, but I really do want to venture out into the wider world."
"It's good for young people to have ambitions. You just haven't understood what I meant."
Wang Hongjun laughed heartily and continued, "I'm not asking you to be an instructor here and clock in every day. To put it plainly, I want you to hold down the fort. As long as your name is here and no one dares challenge the school, that's enough."
"But my Star Power level is only Lv.1 right now. I don't carry enough weight, do I?" Fang Yuan asked.
"Not now doesn't mean not ever. I see a lot of potential in you, kid. Besides, your Uncle Wang isn't too old to lift a blade yet. Man to man, just answer me this: if I teach you Thunder Fist, will you learn it?" Wang Hongjun's voice grew loud and bold.
"Yes!" Fang Yuan agreed immediately.
"Come upstairs with me."
Wang Hongjun headed up the stairs as he spoke, going all the way to the third floor.
He entered a room and switched on the computer and wall-mounted display inside.
Wang Hongjun entered a password on the computer and opened the Thunder Fist demonstration program.
The wall-mounted display began playing a video of Thunder Fist's complete Star Power circulation process.
The video showed a see-through view of an arm.
Blue lines illustrated the routes along which Star Power flowed.
Over a hundred streams of Star Power flowed toward the fist from different parts of the arm.
They then converged in the fist, spinning rapidly like a vortex, before a punch was thrown and its power rippled outward.
"This is the Star Power circulation diagram for Thunder Fist. The entire circulation process takes 0.8 seconds, half of which is spent spinning in the fist to form a Star Power vortex before you throw the punch. Memorize the circulation diagram first. Afterward, I'll explain the details of practicing it and share my insights," Wang Hongjun explained.
"Okay."
Fang Yuan nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen as he began memorizing the Star Power circulation diagram.
While Fang Yuan memorized it, Wang Hongjun explained.
"The moves for Thunder Fist are fairly easy to learn. The Star Power circulation diagram is the key. It's the equivalent of internal cultivation in martial arts. Thunder Fist has a total of one hundred and eight Star Power circulation routes, and each route follows a fixed sequence. In the watered-down versions, the beginner version only has eighteen routes, the intermediate version has thirty-six, and the advanced version has seventy-two. The school doesn't teach the Thunder Fist with one hundred and eight streams of Star Power."
"When you first start practicing, you can separate the Star Power circulation routes and practice them one at a time. Once you're proficient in all one hundred and eight routes, combine them with the others to form a Star Power vortex in your fist."
As Wang Hongjun explained, he gathered Star Power and threw a punch.
Star Power burst with a bang, releasing an immensely fierce blast of fist force.
Fang Yuan first memorized the Star Power circulation process for Thunder Fist.
When the display played it a second time, Fang Yuan began trying to drive the Star Power in his arm along the routes.
The Star Power circulation routes demonstrated on the display were slowed down dozens of times, and progressed from easy to difficult.
Fang Yuan followed the demonstration as he drove his Star Power, and things went very smoothly at first.
In particular, he succeeded in the first eighteen Star Power circulation routes on his first attempt.
When he reached the thirty-six-route section, the difficulty rose a level, and sometimes he needed another attempt or two to succeed.
At seventy-two routes, it became even harder, requiring repeated attempts.
He even had to rewind the video a few seconds and try several times before succeeding.
The final section, with one hundred and eight Star Power circulation routes, was the hardest. Even after more than a dozen attempts, he failed to succeed.
Wang Hongjun was astonished to see Fang Yuan constantly rewinding the video with the remote.
He had noticed that Fang Yuan was rewinding the later section, from seventy-two to one hundred and eight.
"Fang Yuan, you can leave the later part for now. Learn the earlier part first," Wang Hongjun reminded him.
"I've learned all the earlier ones. This later section is harder. I don't know if I can learn all of it today." Fang Yuan's eyes remained fixed on the display.
"You've learned all the earlier ones?" Wang Hongjun pressed, his face full of astonishment and doubt.
"Yes."
"When I say learn, I don't just mean memorizing them. You have to actually be able to drive your Star Power along the routes."
"Right, I succeeded with all of them, but I moved on to the next route after succeeding just once. Succeeding once should count, right?" Fang Yuan replied.
Wang Hongjun was even more astonished. He had originally planned to have Fang Yuan memorize the Star Power circulation routes first, then take his time practicing them later.
By his estimate, memorizing all the Star Power circulation routes today would have been quite good already.
As for successfully mastering the Star Power circulation routes, that wasn't something that could be done in a few days.
Judging by the progress of the school's Awakened students, the first eighteen Star Power circulation routes took about a month to master.
Thirty-six took three to five months.
Seventy-two would take at least a year.
As for one hundred and eight, the school didn't teach them.
Still, Wang Hongjun estimated that fully mastering all one hundred and eight Star Power circulation routes would take at least three years.
Yet Fang Yuan said he had already started learning the section from seventy-two to one hundred and eight.
Wang Hongjun didn't quite believe him, so he reached out, held Fang Yuan by the shoulder, and turned him around. "You say you've learned them. Then show me a Thunder Fist using eighteen streams of Star Power first."
Fang Yuan did as he said, slowly raising his hand while beginning to circulate his Star Power.
The standard Star Power circulation time for Thunder Fist was 0.8 seconds.
However, this was Fang Yuan's first attempt, so naturally, he didn't follow that time standard. Instead, he slowly circulated the streams of Star Power one at a time.
He circulated only one stream of Star Power at a time, sending it along his arm to gather in his fist.
Then came the second stream, the third...
Once all eighteen streams of Star Power had gathered in his fist, he began controlling the Star Power to spin, forming a vortex.
Finally, he threw a punch.
Bang!
His fist struck through the air, producing a faint explosive sound of fist force.
Since this was Thunder Fist with eighteen streams of Star Power, and his first time using it, the fist force was relatively weak.
Even so, Wang Hongjun was astonished. "You succeeded on your first try?"
"Does that count as a success? I circulated each stream of Star Power separately." Fang Yuan wasn't quite sure.
"Judging by the sound, it worked. When you first start practicing, you circulate the streams of Star Power separately. Once you're proficient, you circulate them simultaneously," Wang Hongjun explained.
"Not bad, then. I succeeded on my first try." Fang Yuan grinned.
Wang Hongjun was completely floored.
Fang Yuan was learning far too quickly.
If he hadn't seen Fang Yuan feeling his way through circulating each stream of Star Power with his own eyes, he would have suspected that Fang Yuan had secretly learned Thunder Fist before.
At the same time, he felt increasingly certain that he had made the right decision.
When he had first thought of teaching Fang Yuan Thunder Fist, he had wanted to do his old comrade a favor.
He hadn't been sure how far Fang Yuan could grow in the future.
Now, however, he felt that the young man before him had a bright future. If he had a daughter as well, taking him as a son-in-law and passing the school down to him would have been perfect.