Hi all, in this chapter, I have changed the term "martial arts stances" to "martial arts skills". Basically, Martial Arts Skills is a set of stances/moves. Enjoy!
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Two weeks have past since Muyou and Yiqi met Grandmaster Hong. In these two weeks, under Grandmaster Hong's instructions, Muyou and Yiqi were only to train their inner strength.
They trained and sparred in the day, then went deeper into the jungle at night for their daily hunting missions. In this insane training regime, both of their internal strength grew rapidly and they had grown more proficient in utilising it. If they were to battle a normal wolf, it would not be able to put a scratch on their body.
"Hmmm... I've stayed quite long with these two lads, this is really not my style... Guess I will guide them on their Qi cultivation and a bit on Martial Arts Skills.Then I will depart." After these two weeks with Muyou and Yiqi, Grandmaster Hong started to view them as his own kids or disciples, which was why he took their foundation training so seriously. However, this was exactly what Grandmaster Hong feared. After some life-changing experiences, he was determined to remove all of his worldly attachments.
"Ok you two lads. Now let's move onto Qi and Martial Arts Skills." Grandmaster Hong said. With just these few words, Muyou and Yiqi's eyes lit up. They had been bugging Grandmaster Hong to teach them Qi and Martial Arts Skills, but Grandmaster Hong persistently refused.
Upon seeing their happy faces, Grandmaster Hong smiled.
"Qi is the Essence Energy inside of everybody. Unlike Inner Strength Energy which is constantly circulating your meridian channel, Qi is stored in your Dantians. There are three Dantians, Upper Dantian, Middle Dantian and Lower Dantian. In these, Qi is stored in a pool. To utilise Qi, you have to be able to bring forth it from any of these three pools. Qi is something very hard to grasp and is a major factor which separates martial arts practitioner and a normal person. Now watch me."
Grandmaster Hong raised his two fingers and pointed towards a tree.
*Bang!*
The tree exploded into pieces! This was totally different from the previous time where he use a slap to topple the tree.
Grandmaster Hong glanced at Muyou and Yiqi's shocked faces, and he cleared his throat.
"That was a Qi attack. I have gathered some of my Qi and shot it towards that tree. This is how Qi can be used for battle, you can directly shoot it, infuse it into your weapons or even just release it to overwhelm your opponents. However, if your opponent has a strong inner strength, you have to exert a huge amount of Qi to injure him."
He raised his two fingers again and pointed towards Yiqi.
At this point, Yiqi felt a sharp stab towards his right shoulder, it was like an invisible knife piercing towards his bones. He could his muscles ripping. He immediately circulated his inner strength towards that part.
Yiqi pushed his right shoulder forward and *Bam!*. There were now smoke coming out from his shoulder. The pain had faded and he felt that his shoulder was perfectly fine again.
"Just now I have only shot a small amount of Qi and you have managed dissipate my Qi attack with your inner strength. Remember the Qi in your dantians is limited, if you used up them, you will have to wait for them to rejuvenate. As for how long, it depends on every individual."
Muyou and Yiqi nodded furiously. This was the first time somebody was teaching them about Qi.
"There are three different types of Qi. Blue, White and Formless. Everybody starts with Blue Qi, then breakthrough to White and then Formless. The breakthrough is extremely tough, and you have to do it for all three Dantians. So we would call a person with White Qi in all three Dantians, a Perfect White."
"Now start meditating and focusing your mind on your Upper Dantian point first." Grandmaster Hong threw a piece of paper towards them. On that piece of paper, the positions of the three Dantian points were shown.
Half a day had past and it's night time. Muyou and Yiqi had sat there like a statue for the whole time. Yiqi had sensed a small pool of Blue Qi in his Upper Dantian. Now he was trying to gain control of the Blue Qi, he had only been able to cause the Qi to tremble slightly. For Muyou, he was already able to control his Blue Qi, and was now trying to sense his Blue Qi in his Middle Dantian.
Grandmaster Hong was shocked at their progress, even Yiqi. Most of the sects would not teach Qi to their Outer Disciples. Even for the Inner Disciples, most of them would take years to comprehend and gain a basic control of Qi. People who were able to comprehend their Qi in less than a month, were called prodigies.
Another week had past, other than short mealbreaks, Muyou and Yiqi were focused solely on comprehending their Qi. Yiqi were now able to comprehend his Qi in all three Dantians, but he was still not very proficient in utilising it. For Muyou, he too had also comprehended his Qi in all three Dantians, he was now able to shoot his Qi out.
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*Bang.*
Muyou gathered all of his Qi and shot towards a tree, but it only left a small dent and produced a small banging sound. He couldn't help but sulk, it was such a different result from Grandmaster Hong's demonstration.
"HAHAHA! That is already very good, for somebody who had only learnt of Qi the previous week! It's only natural that your Qi pool is still small!" Grandmaster Hong roared in laughter as he saw Muyou's reaction. He was secretly relieved, that Muyou and Yiqi were still quite "normal" in this aspect. If they were to start with a monstrous amount of Qi, he would be very sure they were not from this World.
"Alright! Both of you are good enough, now let me teach you two how to cultivate your Qi. In cultivating your Qi, you can increase your Qi pool and also increase the quality of your Qi. As you cultivate your Qi, you will find the colour slowly changing from blue to white, although it will be a very slow process. And by slow I am talking from a 50 year old geezer's perspective!"
Grandmaster Hong laughed and threw out a tome. On it was titled "Yin-Yang Qi".
"This is a gem for even the experts, so you two better take care of it! Start meditating the Ying-Yang Qi to cultivate your Qi. I will be in the cave."
With that, Grandmaster Hong leapt off. On his face, was a very bitter smile.
Muyou and Yiqi not noticing the weird expression on Grandmaster Hong, instantly picked up the tome and started memorising it. As they focused on their upper dantian and meditated using the "Yin-Yang Qi", they felt their Qi churning furiously.
Before they knew it, it was already dawn. They had spent the whole night meditating "Yin-Yang Qi", they were too engrossed to even notice the amount of time passed.
"Grandmaster Hong! That Yin-Yang Qi was really awesome! Do you want to test our Qi now!" Muyou shouted as they entered the cave.
But there was only silence.
"Grandmaster Hong?" Yiqi raised his eyebrow, Grandmaster Hong has never slept past dawn. They glanced around, and they could not find Grandmaster Hong's traces. Instead they spotted two tomes and a letter on them.
"Weird, what stuff is he planning now." Muyou muttered as he grabbed the letter.
On the letter was written:
"Dear Muyou and Yiqi,
These three weeks were truly enjoyable for me. However, I really cannot bring myself to stay any longer. Please forgive this selfish old man for his sudden departure.
Before I depart, here is one last mission for the both of you: CONQUER THIS JUNGLE.
Ony after conquering this jungle, then you can venture out into Jianghu. When you are out in the Jianghu, do not bring shame to my teachings! With both of your talents and my guidance, any Sects would readily welcome both of you with open arms. Remember , I am not your master, so you can feel free to acknowledge other masters.
I have also left behind two tomes "Fists of Defiance" and "Spectral Nymph". These are martial arts skills created by me, my two most precious babies. However don't think that I am so nice to give you the whole set haha! They only contain the first Five Stances. After all I can only fully pass down my martial arts skills to my disciples.
Go therefore and rampage through Jianghu! Let the whole world know of your names! Grandmaster Hong
Grandmaster Hong"
Muyou and Yiqi were choking on their tears as they read the letter. Although Grandmaster Hong had never officially recognised them as disciples they had always regarded him as their first master.
As they looked up, they saw some sword carvings on the walls of the cave.
"
Carve your own path,
Defy the conventions,
Create your legacy,
Shake the heavens!
Like a Cloud I come,
Like a Cloud I leave.
-Hong WenQi
"
Muyou and Yiqi kowtowed three times before this carvings. "Grandmaster Hong, we will never forget your kindness towards us. Regardless of how vast the Jianghu is, we will definitely meet again." They clasped their hands and bowed.