novelapdf Chapter 12 Progress
Chapter 12 Progress
Ten days later.
In the courtyard, a dozen or so porters were already standing in a proper and orderly manner.
Today is the last day of full-day practice. Tomorrow, all the porters will go to work. After work, they can come to this courtyard to practice more on their own, depending on their conscience. They can use the space and the stakes for free, and they will also receive dinner and medicinal oil every three days.
As for how it will ultimately turn out, that's entirely up to you.
The stick in Wu Tou'er's hand was gone, but a whip was wrapped around his waist. He lay comfortably in a rocking chair, crossed his legs, and held a teapot in one hand, sipping tea with relish.
He stared at the crowd, occasionally offering a comment.
"Jiao Ada, are your legs borrowed? Do you even know what a slight squat is? You're sticking your ass out that high, are you trying to poop in the yard?"
"I'm teaching you standing meditation, not squatting!"
"I don't understand. Look at Xiong Shan and Yang Silang. Look at how they practice their stances."
A few soft laughs came from among the porters. Jiao Ada was so embarrassed that his face turned as red as a monkey's bottom. He hurriedly tried to correct his posture, but the more he tried, the more flustered he became.
Wu Tou'er sneered and remained silent, squinting his eyes and ignoring the situation.
The master leads you through the door, but the cultivation is up to you. If you're too stupid, you can't learn no matter how hard you try. Jiao Ada didn't give him any money, so why should he bother to teach him?
The smart ones will figure it out on their own; they don't need to be taught.
For example, Xiong Shan, who is making the fastest progress, has already mastered the flat ground stance and can stand for half an hour. It seems that in another month, he will be able to stand for a full hour and then properly practice the soft-leg stance.
Yang Silang's speed was also good, his stance was well-formed, he rested less, he had good endurance, and he could stand in the stance for a longer time than Xiong Shan.
The problem is that he doesn't feel good on the soft-footed stakes. He can barely manage to carry an empty load, but when he lifts more than ten kilograms, he becomes clumsy and slow. It's not that he has a poor physical foundation, but rather that he can't let go of his inhibitions, hesitant and timid, and lacks a pioneering spirit, which makes people angry.
In addition, their two fellow townsmen, Wang Daniu and Li Erhu, were progressing a little slower, but they were still considered to be doing well among the group.
These disaster victims are really tough as nails.
Especially the first two, if their families were wealthy, they might actually learn something by becoming apprentices at a martial arts school. Unfortunately, they are poor and also a bit too old, so this path is basically not an option for them.
However, someone like myself would be a good candidate to become a main fighter in a gang.
in the crowd.
Concealing his true strength in the stance training, Yang Silang regulated his breathing, consolidating his stance feeling with the rhythm of the rise and fall.
On the panel.
Yang Silang's progress on the three-legged stake has reached 10/100.
Basically, you can advance 1 point per day. The more you practice, the more points you get, and the less you practice, the fewer points you get.
After being added to the skill list, Yang Silang discovered some mysterious aspects.
Firstly, after the skill was included, the three-legged stance seemed to become an instinct as natural as breathing.
These past few days, whenever he squats down while practicing Zhan Zhuang (standing meditation), he immediately loses himself in the moment, his body automatically adjusts to find the feeling of "human bamboo" (a traditional Chinese exercise), and he immediately enters the state of meditation.
Whether his breathing was fast or slow, his muscles tense or relaxed, he did things that the martial arts instructor hadn't taught him, and he didn't know why he should do them, but he did them anyway, and he could stand for longer and more easily.
Secondly, the progress bar shows a steady daily increase, which is very even. He practices diligently every day, and the daily progress bar is moving very evenly.
This isn't a big deal in the early stages of stance training, but it becomes terrifying in the later stages when you need to break through bottlenecks, as it's equivalent to having no bottlenecks at all.
Yang Silang pondered to himself that this skill bar probably had two amazing features.
It's somewhat like the eternal proof in fantasy novels; those who practice it will surely succeed.
But then I thought about how my system came from a mobile game—that makes sense, which hero's skills aren't upgraded by Kuku?
It's possible that you're just not skilled enough to land your ultimate skill accurately, but you'll definitely master the hero's skill; you'll understand it perfectly.
A glint flashed in Yang Silang's eyes—would four months be enough?
Even, aside from the three-legged stance, can I practice legitimate martial arts in this way?
Thinking of these things, he felt excited for a moment, and only after a hard-won calm down did he continue practicing standing meditation.
So, around noon, a servant brought over the food.
It might be the last day; they even sent a jar of liquor today.
Of course, everyone only got a small cup, and most of the wine ended up in Wu Tou'er's stomach, and no one dared to complain.
There was a porter surnamed Xiao who was always clever. He was the one who had asked Wu Tou'er about his copper skin and iron bones and how he could sense the qi and find the acupoints.
Seeing that Wu was in a good mood today, I pointed to the three stakes behind the yard and the large iron vat that several people could hug and asked, "Wu, tell us, what is that iron vat used for?"
After drinking, Wu Tou'er became interested and explained with a smile.
He said that although our three-legged stance is not up to standard, it was created by a proper martial arts master.
It is said that during the previous dynasty, there was a porters' association. During a turbulent time, the association leader happened to save a martial arts master. To repay the kindness, the martial arts master created this three-legged stance in a single day.
It is said that if you grease the iron vat, you can carry a 200-pound load on it as if walking on flat ground, and turn the vat as you walk. That is the true mastery of the three-legged stance.
Everyone gasped in amazement—goodness, they couldn't even walk steadily on the stakes, yet they wanted to walk on the iron vat. The narrow edge of the vat was curved, and with oil applied to it, even a rat would probably fall over.
Xiao Jiling asked curiously if anyone could do that.
Wu Tou'er shook his head with a smile—there had never been such a person in the association before.
The senior members of the association also tried it. It's fine if you don't apply the oil, but if you do, even a god couldn't help you.
Even this story is probably fake. It's possible that our Sanshui Association is just trying to raise its own value. Putting aside other things, other porters' associations also have similar stances. Surely they can't all have been created by the Grand Martial Arts Master?
In addition, the iron vats were melted down to make weapons during the chaotic years of war, and this vat was cast later and used to store water for fire prevention.
Furthermore, as long as you can pass the Zhengjiazhuang (正脚桩) stance, you'll be considered a "hard-footed" (硬脚丁).
Who would bother practicing with an iron vat if they had nothing better to do?
Even if you master it, you'll still just be a porter, won't you?
Everyone laughed.
Yang Silang's heart stirred.
He has already mastered the basics of the three-legged stance on flat ground. In fact, he has been standing in the stance for almost an hour at home at night because the inscription will continuously restore his strength. When he is really tired, he also has the rejuvenating power. His training time is probably twice that of Xiong Shan.
Thus, the progress has barely reached 10, so the legend of the iron vat may not be false.
A day passed quickly.
The sun is setting in the west.
The porters ate their meal as usual, distributed the medicinal oil, and prepared to part ways.
Wu Tou'er coughed and called everyone over.
"Tomorrow, you will need to go to work as usual."
"Actually, everyone's progress has been roughly the same over the past two weeks, except for Jiao A-da..."
Jiao Ada lowered his head in shame among the crowd.
Wu waved his hand and continued, "The progress we've made so far is nothing."
Once you start working, how well you can improve depends entirely on your individual perseverance.
Some people were fine after studying for half a month, but after returning to work, they experienced back pain and leg fatigue, and their practice became half-hearted. Some even stopped practicing in the yard for three to five days.
No matter how quickly you learn beforehand, it will all be in vain.