Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Mixed Element Stance

Five minutes later, Fu Juemin followed Li Tong to a spare room.

The room was sparsely furnished, with some miscellaneous items piled in a corner, but the floor was clean, a clear sign it was swept often.

"From now on, this will be the Young Master’s training area."

Li Tong glanced around the room. "I’ll have someone tidy it up a bit more later."

Fu Juemin nodded. He then heard Li Tong say, "I will teach the Young Master a Pile Method. As long as you practice it diligently for an hour or two every day, it will be more than enough to strengthen your body."

Fu Juemin had expected a lecture on the principles and common knowledge of Martial Arts first. Instead, Li Tong had him get straight into a posture similar to a Horse Stance, then began making various detailed adjustments.

Things like his feet should be shoulder-width apart, parallel, with the toes pointing slightly inward.

And how his knees should be slightly bent, as if sitting but not quite, with his center of gravity between his feet...

As Fu Juemin mentally noted Li Tong’s words, he let the man position his limbs. He suddenly thought of the two Nursing Home staff who were being punished by standing in the rain earlier and couldn’t help but ask, "Uncle Tong, is this Pile Method you’re teaching me the same kind they practice in the back courtyard?"

"Of course not."

Li Tong adjusted his elbow. "Some of them already know a few Pile Methods, and some learned the Iron Bridge Stance from me. What I’m teaching you now is called the Mixed Element Stance."

Although Li Tong didn’t explicitly say which Pile Method was superior, Fu Juemin could tell from his tone and demeanor that the one he was learning now was likely much more advanced than what the average Nursing Home staff knew.

At this point, Li Tong removed his hands from Fu Juemin’s body and said, "Alright, hold this position and don’t move."

Fu Juemin quickly shut his mouth and tensed his entire body, afraid of losing the posture he had worked so hard to achieve.

The seconds ticked by. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Fu Juemin felt as if he had returned to standing at attention during military training at his university in his past life. Of course, holding a Stance was much more grueling than standing at attention.

He held on until he absolutely couldn’t anymore before finally relaxing his posture.

"HUFF—PANT—HUFF—"

Fu Juemin didn’t collapse to the floor, but his whole body felt sore and numb. He instinctively looked at Li Tong, awaiting his evaluation of this first attempt at holding a Stance.

"Your constitution is a bit weaker than the average person’s..."

Li Tong didn’t show any disappointment, simply stating flatly, "Starting from a lower point is fine. As long as the Young Master persists with the Stance, your depleted body will eventually recover."

Fu Juemin had just been secretly timing himself and knew he had only held the pose for about a minute. He couldn’t help but ask, "Uncle Tong, how long do I have to hold a Stance in one go to be considered Entry Level?"

"The most important thing in holding a Stance isn’t how long you hold it, but the ’stance sensation’."

Li Tong said, "Finding the ’stance sensation’ makes one session more effective than ten or even a hundred ordinary sessions."

"What is the ’stance sensation’?"

Fu Juemin looked bewildered.

Li Tong thought for a moment and explained, "Relaxed, but not slack. Tense, but not rigid."

"When you suddenly feel that holding the Stance isn’t so tiring anymore, that’s when you’ve found the ’stance sensation’."

Fu Juemin asked again, "Then how long does it take for an average person to find it?"

"A fast learner might stumble upon it in one or two tries. For a slow learner, it could take ten days, half a month, or even several months."

"But finding it once doesn’t mean you can find it every time. Only when you can find it in more than half of ten attempts can your Pile Method be considered to have formally reached the Entry Level."

’Is it that Profound?’

Fu Juemin rubbed his slightly sore shoulders. Suddenly remembering something, he quickly narrowed his eyes.

In his vision, the faint red character panel frame appeared again.

The panel was unchanged. The [Cultivation Technique] section was still empty. ’This must be because I haven’t found the ’stance sensation’ Uncle Tong mentioned,’ he thought.

"Young Master, rest for a while. Later, I’ll teach you how to regulate your breathing while holding the Stance."

Afterward, under Li Tong’s hands-on guidance, Fu Juemin practiced holding the Stance again and again, alternating between practice and rest, until just after six in the evening.

A servant ran over to call for him, "Young Master, the Master and Madam are waiting for you for dinner. The two young ladies are back as well. They’re all in the front hall."

By now, Fu Juemin was being driven half-mad by the Mixed Element Stance.

He had taken off his suit jacket long ago. His silk shirt was almost completely soaked with sweat, and his trousers were wrinkled and stuck to his thighs. His entire body ached, swelled, and he even felt a bit nauseous and dizzy.

Fu Juemin’s birth mother passed away early. When Fu Guosheng was forty, he remarried a female university student fifteen years his junior. After marrying into the Fu Family, she gave him two daughters: the elder, Fu Shuyao, and the younger, Fu Shuxin. Normally, the five of them would eat together as a family.

In his current state, Fu Juemin had no desire to attend any family dinner. So, with a wave of his hand, he said he wouldn’t go and had the servant prepare a separate meal for him, to be served in the pavilion in the back courtyard.

The daytime downpour had stopped. The lawn in the back courtyard was soaked, and a pleasant feeling came with the evening breeze.

Dinner was six dishes and a soup. Fu Juemin and Li Tong sat at the same table.

Fu Juemin lounged in his chair while two servants massaged his arms and legs. A timid, pretty young maid stood by his side, feeding him one bite at a time—the very picture of a pampered Young Master from the Republic era.

It wasn’t that Fu Juemin was indulging in pleasure; his arms were truly so sore he could barely lift them. His hands would tremble just holding chopsticks.

"Young Master, don’t practice anymore tonight. Get a good rest. Holding a Stance requires patient, grinding effort; it’s not something that can be mastered in a single day."

Li Tong picked up a piece of vibrant green water spinach and spoke to Fu Juemin in a slow, deliberate manner.

Fu Juemin swallowed a bite of food fed to him by the maid and grumbled, "Uncle Tong, is all martial arts training this agonizing?"

"Agonizing?"

Li Tong shook his head. "This is nothing. A true Martial Artist trains through the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. Skin Polishing, Bone Forging, Blood Refining... among all the hardships involved, holding a Stance is the most trivial."

"But you are only doing this to strengthen your body. You don’t need to, nor is it necessary for you to, endure those hardships..."

"Skin Polishing, Bone Forging, Blood Refining..."

Fu Juemin mumbled the three terms Li Tong mentioned, committing them to memory. He then pressed on, "Uncle Tong, can you tell me about the realm divisions in martial arts training?"

Li Tong said, "No matter who learns Martial Arts, they must first pass through the three stages of Skin Polishing, Bone Forging, and Blood Refining."

"After Blood Refining, one will encounter the first major hurdle in Martial Arts, commonly known as the Blood Barrier."

"Although many people are used to calling all martial arts practitioners members of a Martial Family, in reality, only a Martial Artist who has passed the Blood Barrier is truly worthy of being called a member of a ’Martial Family’."

"And a member of a Martial Family who has broken the Blood Barrier, what are they generally capable of?"

"They can easily lift three to five hundred jin with their arms. Their speed, reflexes, stamina, and recovery... will all be many times greater than that of an ordinary person."

"Can they block bullets from a foreign rifle?"

Fu Juemin blurted out subconsciously.

Li Tong’s chopsticks paused. He glanced up at the spot over Fu Juemin’s heart on his left chest, then shook his head.

Just as Fu Juemin felt a pang of disappointment, he heard Li Tong continue, "A Martial Artist who has just broken the Blood Barrier can’t block bullets. But after reaching Blood Refining Great Success and entering the Tongxuan realm, they can release their Vitality externally. Then, bullets from an ordinary foreign rifle won’t pose much of a threat to a Tongxuan Martial Family member, unless they’re shot in the same spot multiple times in a short period..."

SWISH!

Hearing this, Fu Juemin instantly sat bolt upright in his chair. The sudden movement nearly scared the servants attending him.

At that moment, Fu Juemin felt all the soreness in his body vanish. It was as if a brilliant, golden gate was slowly opening before him.

—

’Holy crap! The Martial Arts masters of this world can actually block bullets with their bodies?!’