Chapter 10: Sense of Breath

"Previously, I taught you these one form at a time. Now, I will connect these six forms together and demonstrate them for you once."

Zhao Mu looked at the few of them, began the routine, and while performing, shouted: "This is Wild Deer Views the Moon."

"Fierce Tiger Leaps the Ravine."

"White Tiger Gazes at the River."

"Fierce Tiger Pounces on the Sheep."

"Antelope Offering Food."

"The final form, Leopard Drills the Forest."

Zhao Mu thrust his blade out, retracted it quickly, stood sideways, looked at the group, and said: "These six forms are a small system; when performing the routine, you must bring out its wholeness."

"How much of the knack you can see, and how much you can learn, depends on your own comprehension."

"Explore it yourselves, and perform it for me to see."

Kong Bin, Zhang Zheng, and Duan Rong stood apart and began to practice individually.

Zhao Mu lingered in front of Kong Bin for several breaths, watching him practice carefully for a while, but when he reached Zhang Zheng, he only stood for a moment before walking past.

The moment Zhao Mu walked past, a look of disappointment clearly appeared on Zhang Zheng's face, though he suppressed it instantly.

As Zhao Mu walked past Zhang Zheng, he caught sight of Duan Rong and was immediately stunned, lost in a moment of distraction.

"This is... a sense of breath?" Zhao Mu was slightly shocked in his heart.

The so-called sense of breath when performing a routine means that the pauses between moves have rhythm and conform to the principles of exerting force.

The force of the whole body, in the process of contracting and expanding, is just like breathing; this is what is called a sense of breath.

A sense of breath is a very important threshold in martial arts training; it does not directly bring an increase in power, but it is a sign of having talent for martial arts.

Only by thoroughly mastering the moves, and thoroughly mastering the transitions and connections between the moves, so that every release and contraction conforms to the principles of exerting force, can one produce a sense of breath.

This is a profound understanding of the wholeness of a martial technique routine; some Martial Artists spend their entire lives without ever crossing this threshold.

Zhao Mu himself only suddenly realized it three months after being selected as an Apprentice, but he did not expect that Duan Rong, merely a Miscellaneous Disciple, would already be displaying a sense of breath.

"I almost misjudged... this kid... he is a martial arts prodigy!"

When teaching the Leopard Drills the Forest move, Zhao Mu had already discovered that Duan Rong's understanding of moves was unusually sharp. And today, when teaching the wholeness of the routine, it verified this point even more.

Being able to deeply understand move routines is a talent more important than innate bone structure.

Martial arts training, in essence, relies on the brain.

Simple-minded and strong-limbed, one will absolutely never become a master!

Zhao Mu looked at Duan Rong with a faint smile, a touch of joy welling up in his heart.

He had originally thought Kong Bin was the promising one, but now it seemed Duan Rong was even more formidable than that Kong Bin.

One must know, for every Miscellaneous Disciple selected as an Apprentice, he, as the teaching Escort, receives a reward of two taels of silver.

If both Duan Rong and Kong Bin could be selected, that would be four taels of silver.

In this day and age, who isn't short on money?

"Kong Bin, come over, look at how Duan Rong is performing!" Zhao Mu suddenly turned his head to look at Kong Bin and said.

Kong Bin was slightly startled, stopped the routine in his hands, and walked over with an expressionless face.

"Do you see? You must dare to pause. Your problem is that the pauses between moves are too short; you only care about superficial fluidity and lack the contraction and release of force."

"When you should pause, you must pause; when you should be fast, you must be fast! Do you understand?"

Kong Bin remained silent, his fists clenching secretly.

Zhao Mu glared at Kong Bin and said: "Alright, for the next few days, you will practice on your own. On the eighth day of the fourth month, gather here at the hour of the Dragon; any absence or tardiness will be treated as forfeiting the qualification for the assessment."

After Zhao Mu finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Li Chong and said: "The blade, is it wiped clean?"

Blood kept flowing into his mouth from his bitten lip, but Li Chong did not feel the saltiness in his mouth at all; he just stood up blankly, returned the blade to Zhao Mu, and said: "It is wiped clean."

Zhao Mu snorted coldly; he drew the blade to look and found that only one side of the blade had castor oil, but he did not pursue the matter with Li Chong, simply closing the blade and walking out of the courtyard gate.

Once Zhao Mu left, Duan Rong immediately stopped performing the routine.

He had no interest in performing for others, and the focus of his practice was not on routines at all, but on Standing Stake to train force.

Duan Rong barely delayed before taking up the Hunyuan Stance.

Kong Bin was slightly taken aback; in his view, Duan Rong was afraid of him seeing the knack, so as soon as Zhao Mu left, he stopped performing the routine and began Standing Stake.

Kong Bin said nothing, turned, walked to the side, and began to explore it himself.

As Kong Bin practiced, he pondered what Zhao Mu had just said about daring to pause.

Just then, Li Chong suddenly jumped over with a crazed expression, faint bloodstains at the corners of his mouth, and pointing his blade at Duan Rong, said: "Duan Rong, if you have any guts, go a few moves with me. I want to see if you really practice better than me?"

Duan Rong had been standing in his stake perfectly well, and being disturbed by Li Chong like this, he immediately felt a bit impatient.

I just want to practice and prepare for the exam in peace, why are there so many idiots looking for trouble with me?

Duan Rong turned his head to look at Kong Bin; he knew that among the three of them, Kong Bin's words still carried weight.

But Kong Bin just stood there expressionlessly, without the slightest intention of playing peacemaker.

Clearly, Kong Bin was probably even more eager than this Li Chong to see his true caliber.

Duan Rong sighed in his heart; it has always been this way since ancient times—the King of Hell is easy to deal with, but the little devils are hard to handle. If he didn't show some strength, these flies wouldn't be driven away.

Duan Rong picked up the chipped, discarded blade at his feet, looked at Li Chong, and said: "Little baby, with just those two tricks of yours, you dare to come looking for trouble? How embarrassing!"

"What did you say?" Li Chong was so choked by Duan Rong's words he nearly vomited blood, his eyes instantly turning red like a rabbit's.

In a fit of rage, Li Chong jumped forward with his left leg, his center of gravity leaning forward, lifted his right leg, pivoted on his left leg, and swept his right-hand blade across with his arm, slashing horizontally at Duan Rong's waist.

This strike could be called powerful and heavy; Li Chong used his full strength the moment he attacked.

The reason Li Chong dared to challenge Duan Rong was that he reckoned his own cultivation of force was better than Duan Rong's.

After all, for the three of them, every time they practiced Standing Stake, Zhao Mu would adjust their postures, and he had gritted his teeth every time to persist until he finished the session alongside Kong Bin.

Over these two-plus months, his force had already begun to show some initial results.

Duan Rong is merely good at performing routines, and it was only in the last two days that Zhao Mu noticed him; furthermore, he has never received any guidance on Standing Stake.

Therefore, Li Chong believes that in terms of force, he can definitely overpower Duan Rong.

Thus, the moment he made his move, in order to maximize his advantage in force, he went straight for the Fierce Tiger Leaps over the Ravine technique.

Once this move was unleashed, Duan Rong would certainly be unable to block it and would have no choice but to retreat.

As long as Duan Rong retreated, his footwork would inevitably be thrown into chaos, and Li Chong would lunge forward to unleash his killing move—Leopard Drills the Forest; at this moment, Li Chong felt ruthless in his heart, and even if he were to stab and injure Duan Rong, he would not care.

"Let you look down on me!" A hint of madness leaked from Li Chong's reddened eyes.

In fact, Li Chong has some talent for martial arts; the fact that he can combine Fierce Tiger Leaps over the Ravine and Leopard Drills the Forest into a combo shows that he has already mastered the routines of these two moves thoroughly.

This is also the reason why Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng are willing to be with him; sometimes Li Chong's insights into routine moves are quite profound, providing the two of them with no small amount of inspiration.

(End of this chapter)