Chapter 8: Leopard Drills the Forest

Seeing Zhao Mu enter, Li Chong had no choice but to suppress the displeasure in his heart and cast a sharp, piercing glare at Duan Rong beside him.

Zhao Mu walked in, his gaze sweeping over the eight Miscellaneous Disciples before him; seemingly indifferent to the number of people present, he said in a deep voice, "Seven days from now, on the eighth day of the fourth month, is the assessment day. Today, I will teach you the final move before the assessment: Leopard Drills the Forest."

"This move is different from the previous Antelope Offering Food, which balances both offense and defense. This Leopard Drills the Forest is a killing blow."

"Watch me closely."

Zhao Mu leaped with both legs and suddenly thrust his saber out, as swift as lightning.

"Watch carefully: jump with both feet, switch steps left and right, and land in a left bow stance."

Zhao Mu performed it again in slow motion, explaining as he practiced, breaking down this killing blow in great detail.

"At the moment of landing, twist the hilt and thrust the saber straight forward with your right hand!"

"Extend your left palm behind you!"

All eight Miscellaneous Disciples opened their eyes as wide as copper bells, terrified of missing any detail.

In this day and age, learning martial arts is not easy, let alone having someone break down the moves for you in such detail.

Duan Rong's thoughts turned like lightning, verifying the reflections in his mind against his experience; his understanding of the subtleties of this Martial Technique seemed to be deepening further.

"Come, everyone perform it once, let me see."

After finishing his demonstration, Zhao Mu said to the group of Miscellaneous Disciples.

Duan Rong pulled a discarded saber from the weapon rack and stood there in a daze for a moment, seemingly pondering some vague ideas he had just had.

After a few breaths, as if to verify those vague thoughts, Duan Rong suddenly thrust out a saber strike.

Zhao Mu walked among the Miscellaneous Disciples, watching them each perform the Leopard Drills the Forest, and he could not help but shake his head.

Although Kong Bin performed it with some semblance of meaning, he was still stuck within the routine.

Zhao Mu walked up to Duan Rong and was just about to walk past him when Duan Rong suddenly thrust out a saber strike.

Zhao Mu's heart skipped a beat; this strike from Duan Rong had subtle changes compared to what he had taught.

A move is merely a routine; once a person is proficient in the routine, they must stand upon the routine and leap beyond it—in other words, they must digest the move and make it their own.

What Zhao Mu taught these Miscellaneous Disciples was naturally the most primitive routine, but Duan Rong's strike just now was shockingly similar to the Leopard Drills the Forest that he himself had gradually realized through actual combat later on.

This move, Leopard Drills the Forest, is a killing blow, characterized by rapid advancement and rapid thrusting.

The original routine is to jump with both feet, switch steps left and right, and only after landing, thrust the saber.

But in Duan Rong's strike just now, the saber had already been thrust out at the same time as the jump.

In all the martial arts under heaven, only speed cannot be broken; such a strike naturally highlights the word "kill," but the disadvantage is that it is prone to missing, and for a beginner, thrusting like this is reckless.

Zhao Mu's face suddenly flushed red with the anger of seeing his own trump-card treasure being trampled underfoot as junk by someone who didn't know its value.

"Practice according to what I taught!"

"You haven't even learned to crawl yet, and you want to run for me!"

Duan Rong was immersed in his own world and was startled by Zhao Mu's roar, but he immediately realized the reason.

He had indeed not practiced according to the routine Zhao Mu had just taught, but had performed it according to the version he had digested in his mind; he had been pondering the difference between the two, and he hadn't expected that a roar from Zhao Mu would cause his train of thought to fly away.

Almost subconsciously, Duan Rong thrust out a saber strike according to the routine Zhao Mu had just taught.

It would have been better if he hadn't; once this strike was made, Zhao Mu was even more shocked!

Regarding the previous strike, Zhao Mu had still felt that Duan Rong was a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse, performing it randomly.

But at this moment, this strike was performed completely according to the routine!

Moreover, this strike by Duan Rong was the best among all the Miscellaneous Disciples.

This move, Leopard Drills the Forest, is simple if you say it's simple: it's just rapid advancement and rapid thrusting.

However, when the other Miscellaneous Disciples performed it, they all had a slight pause after jumping and switching steps before thrusting the saber.

Even Kong Bin only had the shortest pause.

But Duan Rong's strike just now was thrust out rapidly the moment the jump and step-switch were completed.

Zhao Mu's Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber had, after all, reached the entry-level realm, so he knew very well what was required to achieve this.

That is, it requires a profound realization of this strike; the purpose of jumping and switching steps is to thrust this saber, and at the moment you jump, even if the saber in your hand has not yet been thrust, the saber in your heart has already been thrust.

Only in this way can you manage to thrust the saber in a flash of lightning at the moment of landing.

Only in this way can you unleash the lethality of this killing blow!

The essence of Leopard Drills the Forest lies in speed! If it is slow, the killing blow becomes a feint.

In the improvement of a Martial Technique, while natural talent is important, what is even more important is how you understand the combat methods of the technique in your mind.

As the saying goes, a miss by a hair is a loss of a thousand miles!

"Come over, Duan Rong, practice here! Demonstrate it for everyone!" Zhao Mu suddenly beckoned to Duan Rong and said with some excitement.

Hearing this, Duan Rong was slightly startled and stood in front of everyone with an expressionless face.

"Perform that Leopard Drills the Forest move again!" Zhao Mu looked at Duan Rong and ordered.

Duan Rong performed the Leopard Drills the Forest move as swiftly as a shooting star.

Zhao Mu said excitedly, "You all saw it, right? You must have killing intent, you must unleash the lethality!"

The group of Miscellaneous Disciples were all confused; he had just been scolding Duan Rong for wanting to run before learning to crawl, so why was he suddenly praising him again?

Kong Bin and Zhang Zheng exchanged a look.

The most resentful was Li Chong, who gritted his teeth with a face full of anger.

"Alright, go down and practice well. The master leads you through the door, but the cultivation depends on the individual." Zhao Mu patted Duan Rong on the shoulder and let him return to the ranks.

Next, naturally, was practicing the Hunyuan Stance again.

Seeing that Duan Rong's posture for the Standing Stake was actually quite standard, Zhao Mu wanted to reach out to help him adjust it, but his outstretched hand stopped in mid-air.

Because he discovered that Duan Rong's posture for the Standing Stake was already as standard as his own.

"This..." Zhao Mu's heart was not a little shocked.

He recalled slightly, only to realize that in this past month, apart from Kong Bin, Zhang Zheng, and Li Chong, he had paid almost no attention to the other Miscellaneous Disciples.

"It seems this kid has finally caught on..." Zhao Mu thought silently to himself.

Back when he was a Miscellaneous Disciple, he had also been inconspicuous at first, but after a month or so, it was as if he had suddenly grasped the essence, instantly breaking through that layer of window paper, and the feeling of being "separated" from martial arts seemed to vanish.

Many things he previously could not understand were suddenly clear to him.

"It seems this kid is just like me, a fellow who is inwardly talented but a late bloomer," Zhao Mu evaluated in his heart as he watched Duan Rong performing the Hunyuan Stance.

Zhao Mu walked past Duan Rong, stood in front of Li Chong, and adjusted Li Chong's Standing Stake posture slightly.

After Zhao Mu walked away, Li Chong looked at Duan Rong with a provocative gaze.

The meaning was, don't think that just because you practiced one move, you are now a promising talent. When it comes to Standing Stake, he still didn't adjust your posture, did he?

If he doesn't adjust your posture, the effect of your Standing Stake won't be as good as others, which shows he still doesn't think much of you!

After Zhao Mu adjusted the Standing Stake postures of Kong Bin, Zhang Zheng, and Li Chong, he left the place, leaving only these eight Miscellaneous Disciples in the courtyard to practice their strength through Standing Stake.

If Li Chong knew that the reason Zhao Mu did not move to help Duan Rong adjust his Standing Stake posture was because Duan Rong's posture was already very standard and he simply could not adjust it any further, one wonders what he would think?

(End of this chapter)