Chapter 8

“What about you, Xu Yang?” Luo Dehu pushed Xu Yang, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

Being disturbed, Xu Yang was a bit unhappy.

Before, he had just looked at Luo Dehu with the mentality of watching a clown, but now he was a bit annoyed.

He opened his eyes, swept his gaze over the overly familiar Luo Dehu, and said faintly: “Memorized it all.”

He didn’t hide anything; there was no need to, he just hated people who had no manners.

Everyone wasn’t surprised by this, as his bone structure ranked in the third tier.

“I propose that those who have memorized it completely can give pointers to those who haven’t. I’ve already said it before: we brothers should help each other.” Luo Dehu looked at Zhang Yong and the others.

In fact, he hadn’t memorized the whole Turtle-Snake Great Stance either. This proposal could be said to be entirely for his own benefit.

But he didn’t say this, firstly to save face for his third-tier bone structure, secondly so that everyone wouldn’t know he had selfish motives, and thirdly to buy the hearts of those who hadn’t memorized the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

Sure enough, as soon as his words came out, those people looked at him with gratitude.

“Alright!” Lu Ren took the lead in expressing his stance.

Luo Dehu heard this, and a smile that was hard to detect curled at the corner of his mouth. He had propped Lu Ren up in the morning, and it had indeed paid off.

“Boss Lu Ren is generous!” He gave a thumbs up, and Lu Ren’s face broke into a smile.

“If you want pointers, Luo Dehu, give them yourself. Don’t count me in. I don’t have time to give pointers to others.”

Zhang Yong didn’t buy Luo Dehu’s act, even though Lu Ren had already agreed.

“Me too. If you want me to give pointers, you can, but pay ten wen.”

Zhang Hong said with a smile, sounding like he was joking.

But he wasn’t joking at all; he was serious.

Firstly, he didn’t want to offend Luo Dehu and Lu Ren directly, and secondly, he wanted to make money, because he already knew the importance of money.

“Lu Ren was propped up by Luo Dehu and wants to be everyone’s boss, but his insight is lacking. Zhang Yong’s personality is cold and very rational. Zhang Hong is slick, and Luo Dehu is snobbish and has some schemes.”

Xu Yang listened to their words and analyzed their personalities.

“If you don’t want to teach, then don’t. Why say so much? With Boss Lu Ren, we don’t need you anyway. Besides, Senior Brother Sun Tao will continue to teach the Turtle-Snake Great Stance in the afternoon. I just wanted to deepen the feelings between brothers.”

Having been contradicted by Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong in succession, Luo Dehu was also annoyed. This time, he didn’t ask Xu Yang again.

Xu Yang shook his head inwardly. Talking about brothers, yet they were already having rifts before a day had passed.

Luo Dehu was also a talent. If it weren’t for this jerk jumping around, the relationship between the ten people would never have had problems so quickly. With time, they might have actually become good friends and worked together, but now that was impossible.

Half an hour passed, but Sun Tao didn’t appear, and no one came to remind them it was time to practice.

“It seems Senior Brother Sun Tao won’t come, so we have to practice by ourselves.”

Someone said, his expression very grim, because he hadn’t memorized the whole Turtle-Snake Great Stance, and the few others like him had similar reactions.

If Sun Tao didn’t come to give pointers, how were they supposed to practice?

Luo Dehu felt as if he had been slapped in the face and secretly regretted clashing with Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong. He hadn’t expected Weiyuan Hall to be so perfunctory after spending so much money.

Lin Cheng gave pointers once and left, and Sun Tao only gave pointers three times.

“Ten wen, you can come to me anytime.”

Zhang Hong said happily, got up, and walked into the training ground to strike the Turtle-Snake Great Stance pose.

Xu Yang had rested enough, walked near Zhang Hong, and started practicing. Zhang Yong soon came near the two and struck a pose.

“Boss Lu Ren…” Luo Dehu looked at Lu Ren for help.

“No problem, I’ll teach you!” Lu Ren got up and said.

As soon as this was said, those who hadn’t memorized it were overjoyed and looked provocatively at Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong, their eyes seeming to say: Look, this is the difference between you and a true genius.

Not only was the bone structure incomparable, but the demeanor was also inferior.

Xu Yang ignored them and just practiced with a calm heart, feeling more and more of it.

“Sure enough, I have to eat well and eat a lot.”

In the morning, he had only eaten some brown rice and two slices of pork belly; his stomach wasn’t even half-full. With no food in his belly, the cultivation effect was naturally greatly reduced.

At noon, the meal was better than what he ate during a normal New Year, with sufficient nutrition. When standing in the stance, the effect changed instantly, and he could hold the Turtle-Snake Great Stance for longer and longer.

“You idiots, I don’t care anymore. Practice by yourselves.”

Suddenly, Lu Ren’s voice came. He just threw his hands up and walked away to practice by himself.

Although he had been propped up by Luo Dehu and had the intention of being the boss, he was, after all, a genius with Yi-Upper bone structure, not a fool. If he delayed too long, he knew it would affect his own cultivation progress.

“I thought he would keep teaching!” Zhang Yong laughed.

It wasn’t easy to be a good person. Lu Ren hadn’t seen through Luo Dehu’s little schemes, but he had seen through them at a glance.

“He couldn’t teach it at all!” Xu Yang shook his head.

Although Lu Ren had memorized the whole Turtle-Snake Great Stance, he himself only had a half-understanding. How could he teach others? It was possible that these people wouldn’t appreciate his kindness and would instead think he was holding back.

“Is this guy the Yi-Upper bone structure you were talking about?” A youth approached.

During the rest period, disciples who had entered Weiyuan Hall earlier than them also came to contact and get to know them.

This person was named Zhou Yuan, who had arrived half a month earlier than Xu Yang and the others, and his Turtle-Snake Great Stance had already entered.

Through communication, he also learned that Xu Yang and the others were sponsored by the Huang family to practice here.

“Hmm, that’s him.” Zhang Hong nodded.

“You guys are still clear-headed. If Lu Ren doesn’t wake up in time, it’ll be hard for him to become a martial artist, actually delaying his own time to give pointers to others.” Zhou Yuan shook his head.

Zhang Yong was puzzled: “Lu Ren has Yi-Upper bone structure. Even if he delays a little time, it shouldn’t affect him becoming a martial artist, at most it’ll be a bit later.”

Among the ten of them, whether the others could become martial artists might not be certain, but Lu Ren’s bone structure shouldn’t have any accidents.

Yet, Zhou Yuan in front of them actually said it would be hard for Lu Ren to become a martial artist.

“Haha… a bit later? You don’t think the Huang family will support your training forever, do you? At most three months. If you don’t become martial artists, the Huang family will cut off your money. You really think you can slowly grind away time? Has no one told you this?”

A burly figure walked over, muscles bulging, sweat flowing like raindrops, pouring water into his mouth.

This person was named Zhou Yang, who had also had contact with Xu Yang and the others earlier. He was Zhou Yuan’s cousin.

Zhang Hong and Zhang Yong’s expressions changed. They knew the Huang family wouldn’t support them forever, but they hadn’t expected it to be at most three months.

Becoming a martial artist in three months—if it were that easy, martial artists wouldn’t be so rare.

“Senior Brother Zhou Yang, is there any explanation for this?” Xu Yang frowned slightly.

He didn’t think Zhou Yang had the ability to know the Huang family’s upper-level decisions; the only explanation was that there were things they, who had just come into contact with the Martial Dao, didn’t understand.

Zhou Yang sat down beside Xu Yang, panting, and said: “Martial Dao cultivation starts with stance training. Those with excellent talent can enter in three to five days, and even those with slightly weaker talent can enter in ten days or half a month.

If you can’t enter in ten days or half a month, such idiots should go home early and not waste rice and grain.

Once stance training is entered, you start to nourish qi and blood and temper the body. At the same time, you must start practicing fist techniques to prepare for impacting the first barrier of the Martial Dao.

And from the start of practicing fist techniques, this process will reach the first major barrier of the Martial Dao in no more than three months.

Once you impact the barrier, success means becoming a martial artist, and failure means a sad exit. So the Huang family’s sponsorship for you won’t exceed three months.”

“After failing to impact the barrier, can’t you do it a second time?”

Zhang Hong’s expression was very bad. He finally understood why there were so few martial artists—there were only three months of time.

“You think impacting the Martial Dao barrier is like the imperial examination, where if you fail this year, you can come back next year and take it ten times? The first impact is the peak of essence, qi, and spirit. If you can’t succeed then, you won’t succeed later.

Of course, if your family can take out hundreds of taels of silver to re-nourish your body, then pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Not to mention hundreds of taels, even a few taels were hard for their families.

“Senior Brother Zhou, what is the general success rate of impacting the barrier?” Xu Yang asked.

“The general success rate is about thirty percent!”

Zhou Yang held up a finger: “But you ten… only ten percent.”

He might as well have said that only Lu Ren could become a martial artist, and the rest would fail.

“How come it’s only ten percent for us?”

At this time, Luo Dehu and the others also came over to rest. Although panting, he couldn’t help but speak.

Zhou Yuan glanced at him and said: “Normal people practicing martial arts spend at least dozens of taels of silver in three months to get a thirty percent chance.

Among you, except for Lu Ren, the money spent on martial arts in three months is less than ten taels. Why do you think your success rate would be the same as those who spent dozens of taels?

As for bone structure, those who can enter the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, no matter how bad their bone structure is, how bad can it be?”

None of the ten people spoke, and even Lu Ren was silent.

Others spent dozens of taels, while he only had about twenty, which was also a bit dangerous.

Verifying what Master Lin said earlier, it seemed to make sense.

“The Huang family is also stingy. They want to cultivate a martial artist with a few taels of silver—it’s simply a pipe dream, treating martial arts like child’s play.” Zhou Yuan shook his head.