Chapter 3: Reaching the Apex, the Ancestral Long Fist

【Zhao Family Long Fist (Pure Mastery): 1724/2000】This book is first published on Tiantiankan Novels -> 𝚝𝚝𝚔. 𝚝𝚠, providing you with error-free chapters and an out-of-order-free reading experience

【Horse Stance (Peak Perfection): 829/1000】

Seven days flew by in a flash. During those seven days, aside from the necessary eating and sleeping, Feng Zi devoted every waking moment of his time wholeheartedly to martial arts training.

That state of total concentration bordering on madness even made Feng Fu and Feng Mu suspect for a time that he had already trained himself into qi deviation.

The old couple had even planned to invite a physician over to take a look at Feng Zi.

But seeing that Feng Zi could still eat and sleep, and aside from his crazed martial arts training, everything else was as normal — this state truly didn't look like qi deviation — only then did they dismiss the thought.

Bang!

The solid wooden stake, weighing well over three hundred catties, split clean in two at the sound. Swept up by the fist wind, the courtyard was filled with splinters bursting outward.

In the past seven days, this was already the third wooden stake Feng Zi had split open.

Long since used to this sight, Feng Zi said nothing. He merely picked up the two halves of the split wooden stake and casually chopped them into firewood with an axe.

Then he walked to the corner of the courtyard again and calmly hauled out another solid wooden stake weighing four or five hundred catties.

It was called a wooden stake, but in reality it was a withered tree stump chopped in half at the waist, with the trunk and branches above serving as extensions of the stake.

With his Horse Stance having already reached the realm of Peak Perfection, the stability of Feng Zi's lower body had reached what could only be called an abnormal degree:

Power erupting simultaneously from his waist, abdomen, and lower body caused the force of Feng Zi's punch to instantly surge tenfold—

That solid wooden stake, which had previously withstood thousands upon thousands of his punches, also split clean in two under the force of this single blow.

Under Feng Zi's current fist strength, every punch he threw would leave a deep, sunken fist imprint on the wooden stake, which weighed a full four or five hundred catties.

Although he hadn't conducted any formal test, judging by the talent display, Feng Zi estimated… that the force of his full-strength punch could reach at least five hundred catties.

Feng Zi's strength had recently improved extremely quickly, but correspondingly, his appetite had also surged to a startling degree.

He had long been mentally prepared for this — the faster one's strength advanced, the greater the energy gap that needed to be replenished.

Feng Mu cooked an entire pot of thin porridge, plus half a pot of wild vegetables, and Feng Zi ate every last bit of it before his stomach was barely seventy percent full.

Seeing this scene, Feng Fu and Feng Mu were also startled by his astonishing appetite. Coming back to their senses, they naturally cared deeply about Feng Zi's health.

But seeing him, as if nothing were the matter, continue to hold water-filled buckets in Horse Stance and practice his punches against the wooden stake, the worry in their hearts finally settled.

The old couple had both witnessed with their own eyes the progress Feng Zi had shown over these past few days.

Suddenly, an unbidden thought arose in Feng Fu's mind: perhaps, his son really could win first place at the Martial Assembly Grand Competition?

However, this thought only lingered in Feng Fu's mind for a moment before he dismissed it himself—

It was simply too unrealistic.

These past few days, he had specifically made inquiries. Compared to previous years, the Martial Assembly hosted by the County Government Office this year was exceptionally lively:

The participating Martial Artists were not only disciples from the several major martial arts halls, including the Zhao Family Martial Arts Hall — rumor had it… even the County Magistrate's eldest son would be participating.

One had to know that the County Magistrate's eldest son had been hailed as a martial arts prodigy since childhood, and had been tutored by renowned masters from a young age.

Compared to a Martial Artist like Feng Zi, who came from an ordinary commoner's family, the gap was simply too vast — so vast that even looking up at the other felt impossibly out of reach.

With his stomach seventy percent full, Feng Zi had even more drive when practicing his punches. In an extremely short time, the food in his belly transformed into nourishment for his body.

In just seven short days, Feng Zi's body had visibly grown sturdier by a ring.

Bang!

A punch exploded outward, the wooden stake shook violently, and a deeply sunken fist imprint appeared starkly upon it.

【Zhao Family Long Fist (Pure Mastery): 1840/2000】

"Hah." Feng Zi slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, his gaze burning as he stared at the progress bar before him:

He was only one final step away from practicing the Zhao Family Long Fist to the realm of Peak Perfection.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night!

Feng Zi's talent on the martial path was indeed hard to put into words, but with the 【Diligence Compensates for Clumsiness】 talent to make up for it, as long as he was diligent enough—

Any defects in innate talent or comprehension could all be compensated for, allowing him to forge ahead without any obstacle!

Persistence brings reward — this is the gift bestowed upon those who persevere!

One punch…

Five punches…

Fifteen punches…

Every time Feng Zi threw a punch with all his might, the progress bar grew accordingly.

Seeing his training progress drawing ever closer to the great threshold of two thousand, his originally restless heart gradually calmed, until his mind was utterly placid as he continued to throw punches.

Every single punch was Feng Zi squeezing the absolute limit out of himself.

【Zhao Family Long Fist (Pure Mastery): 1929/2000】

At the same time, Feng Zi could clearly feel every single bone in his body creaking and cracking, every fiber of muscle sending waves of excruciating, aching discomfort.

For Feng Zi at this moment, it was as if he had gone through broken bones, rebirth, broken bones again… over and over.

Even though his mind was now as hard as iron, under the torment of this endless cycle of Broken Bone Rebirth, he couldn't help but let out a muffled groan, sweat cascading down his forehead like a waterfall.

The night breeze was cool, but Feng Zi's body was burning hot beyond compare.

Despite enduring the agony of the unbearable Broken Bone Rebirth, Feng Zi gritted his teeth and persevered.

The young man's body sank down, waist and horse merged as one, all his strength concentrated in one place — he threw a punch!

Continue throwing punches!

【Zhao Family Long Fist (Pure Mastery): 1999/2000】

On the final punch, Feng Zi felt as if his body no longer belonged to him, as if every bone inside him was about to shatter into dregs.

But even though his teeth had bitten his lips until they bled, his eyes were bloodshot, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably, he still endured the heart-piercing, bone-rending agony—

Throw… throw the punch!

【Zhao Family Long Fist (Pure Mastery): 2000/2000】

【Zhao Family Long Fist (Peak Perfection): 0/3000】

The next moment:

The bones in Feng Zi's body, which had fractured countless times, were driven by the Qi and Blood Power surging within him and instantly reassembled as before, their hardness now as unyielding as metal.

Even his skin had become as tough as stubborn stone — even a sharpened blade would find it nearly impossible to wound him in the slightest!

Just as Feng Zi's comprehension of the Zhao Family Long Fist reached the realm of Peak Perfection, he finally broke through the boundary of Martial Artist:

【Martial Master (Initial Glimpse): 0/1000】

Seeing this, Feng Zi tried mobilizing the strength throughout his body and threw another punch at the wooden stake.

This punch used no more than half his strength, yet it directly blasted that wooden stake — weighing a good four or five hundred jin — into fine powder!

Afterwards, Feng Zi tried the remaining wooden stakes as well, and the results were just as expected without surprise — every one of those wooden stakes was smashed into dregs with a single punch.

As Feng Zi threw punches again and the progress bar continued to slowly climb, in his heart a deeper insight into the Zhao Family Long Fist also took shape.

When he threw his fist once more, his body instinctively unleashed a new set of moves:

One punch aimed straight at the throat, one punch driving straight at the chest and belly!

The more he continued to deduce new moves, the deeper Feng Zi's grasp of this entirely new Fist Technique became in his heart.

After fully comprehending all thirty-two forms of this new Fist Technique and running through them once, before Feng Zi's eyes, the name and progress bar of this complete Fist Technique slowly emerged:

【Taizu Changquan (Not Yet Entered): 1/500】