Chapter 41: Mutations and Basic Lightness Skill

After a fulfilling day of cultivation, he looked up to find the stars already filling the sky.

Zhou You returned to his room from the martial arts training ground, boiled a pot of water for a bath, and washed away the filth while easing his fatigue.

He sipped hot tea, feeling the subtle tearing pain throughout his body; the training was bringing significant results.

Practicing Yanxing Quan from the beginning with the Jinli Level felt like looking down from a high vantage point—a truly refreshing sensation.

It is well known that the process of practicing martial arts, aside from increasing skill proficiency, involves the strengthening and improvement of the physical body.

Zhou You had developed Jinli through the Tiger-Subduing Fist, and his three physical attributes had generally risen to 22 points; he had passed the physical threshold.

The remaining task was to familiarize himself with the techniques of Yanxing Quan and increase his proficiency.

"Pecking Ground Leap Step Lv3, Yanxing Quan Lv2."

In just one short day, he had already gained an initial understanding, performing Yanxing Quan with great vigor.

But this progress was not enough; filled with a sense of urgency, Zhou You knew he had to raise Yanxing Quan to the Jinli Level in a short time.

He had to deal with Tu Laosan in secret and needed to make use of the Lu Zhigang persona.

"Consume Experience Points to increase Yanxing Quan proficiency."

Zhou You soaked in the large wooden barrel, surrounded by rising steam.

He raised his hand to pinch and knead the web between his thumb and index finger, feeling the thickness and direction of the muscle fibers, then worked his way up, kneading and massaging his arms and shoulders.

Martial arts emphasize the combination of movement and stillness, hardness and softness, often compared to the tension and release of a bow and arrow.

Practicing punches during the day is active exercise and hard Jinli, while massaging and kneading the muscles and bones at night is the corresponding passive exercise and soft Jinli.

Many farmers and wild practitioners only know how to punch blindly without understanding how to relax, hardening their fist muscles like stone; they can break tree trunks and punch through stone slabs with their bare hands, yet the fine details of their bodies become necrotic, and their lifespans are short.

The martial arts hall's cultivation system is very comprehensive, using massage and manipulation techniques to relax muscles and tendons, promoting blood circulation and the healing of minor injuries.

Originally, this kind of massage and manipulation work is best done by helping one another as training partners.

After all, human joints have limitations, and there are blind spots on the body that one cannot reach.

With training partners helping each other, one can achieve twice the result with half the effort, and if hidden injuries are discovered, they can be pointed out in time.

The martial arts hall's system of establishing training partners is quite reasonable, but the key lies in the human heart.

Training partners must be intimate and inseparable, with requirements even higher than those for blood brothers, which many people cannot achieve.

Zhou You and Li Hao were such a pair, each harboring secrets they did not want the other to know, so they each practiced their own martial arts.

At night, Li Hao also returned to his own room, with no intention of coming over.

"Is the Thousand Armies Breaking Evil Fist really that formidable, worth him guarding against it so strictly?"

Zhou You shook his head at this thought and continued to knead the sore spots on his body.

Once at the Jinli Level, the effect of Tiger Bone Paste was negligible, yet he still applied it with his fingertips to the sore areas, slowly absorbing the medicinal power.

According to the system's feedback, his drug tolerance was becoming stronger and stronger; 10 patches of Tiger Bone Paste could barely increase one attribute point.

This progress was too slow.

The next day, Zhou You practiced the Tiger-Subduing Fist as usual, followed by the Imperial Cleaving Hand and the Square-Circle Step.

"Imperial Cleaving Hand Lv9 → Lv10, Experience Points +90."

"Skill has reached perfection; subsequent practice will no longer increase Experience Points."

"Square-Circle Step Lv9 → Lv10, Experience Points +90."

"Skill has reached perfection; subsequent practice will no longer increase Experience Points."

Experience Points +180; two basic skills had reached max level, meaning the cultivation related to them had come to an end.

Zhou You sighed lightly, counting on the Tiger-Subduing Fist and Yanxing Quan next, when he suddenly heard there was a follow-up.

"Square-Circle Step skill reached perfection, triggered skill mutation, converted into Basic Lightness Skill Lv1/Lv?."

This question mark was quite bizarre; does the Basic Lightness Skill not have level divisions?

Or does the Basic Lightness Skill, mutated from the Square-Circle Step, belong to an evolvable skill without level restrictions?

Zhou You felt strange, guessing that the triggered mutation was very likely due to also practicing a second footwork, the Pecking Ground Leap Step.

The Pecking Ground Leap Step is the foundation of Yanxing Quan, and wild geese are birds, which have a great connection to Lightness Skill.

"That must be it; once the Pecking Ground Leap Step is cultivated to perfection, perhaps the Basic Lightness Skill will have further changes."

Zhou You glanced at his Experience Points, which were already over 900, and decisively ordered the panel to strengthen it.

"Pecking Ground Leap Step Lv3 → Lv4, Experience Points -30."

"Pecking Ground Leap Step Lv4 → Lv5, Experience Points -40."

"Pecking Ground Leap Step Lv9 → Lv10, Experience Points -90."

"Pecking Ground Leap Step has reached perfection, triggered skill mutation, Basic Lightness Skill Lv2/Lv?."

"Name: Zhou You.

Strength: 22.

Speed: 22.

Defense: 22.

Experience Points: 402.

Occupation: Martial Arts Apprentice.

Level: Initial Jinli.

Skills: Imperial Cleaving Hand Lv10 (Perfected), Tiger-Subduing Fist Lv10, Basic Lightness Skill Lv2/Lv?, Yanxing Quan Lv1.

Trial Project One (Two-Star): Break through the Qi-Blood barrier, become an Inner Court Disciple of the Jian Xiong Martial Arts Hall.

Trial Project Two (One-Star): Kill Tu Laosan, eliminate future trouble.

Trial Project Three (Four-Star): Perfect the Basic Lightness Skill."

The panel showed that after the two footwork skills, Square-Circle Step and Pecking Ground Leap Step, reached perfection, they mutated and converted into the Basic Lightness Skill.

The Trial Project also added an extra item: perfecting this Basic Lightness Skill, which seems to be a long-term task.

Zhou You guessed that the key to perfecting this skill was to collect more footwork techniques and adopt the strengths of various schools.

However, the martial arts of every martial arts hall are not passed on to outsiders and are strictly guarded; even basic footwork is very difficult to obtain.

Wanting to get the footwork of various schools, when it comes down to it, costs money and effort, and also requires opportunity.

Secret Medicine requires money, and buying skills also requires money; the financial deficit is huge!

"Two level 10 perfected footwork techniques only exchanged for a level 2 Basic Lightness Skill; this shouldn't be a losing deal."

Although the prefix "Basic" sounds a bit low-end, according to the panel's evaluation, this Lightness Skill must be extraordinary.

Zhou You tried to take a step and suddenly felt his body become light, the soles of his feet as silky and smooth as if smeared with oil.

Swish—his vision went dark, he vanished from his original spot, and by the time he reacted, he was about to crash into the wall.

The distance that originally required four or five steps was now crossed in a single stride.

During the process, factors affecting speed such as wind resistance and ground friction were significantly weakened.

Zhou You even noticed that when operating the Basic Lightness Skill, his body weight had truly and tangibly changed.

The footprints left on the ground were much shallower than usual, further corroborating his idea.

"Sharp!"

Zhou You's heart thumped; this Basic Lightness Skill was simply a great weapon.

Lightening the body and increasing speed—these two auxiliary functions have great practical value, whether in martial arts duels or in getting things done.

Just imagine, if he relied on the speed of his Lightness Skill to attack enemies wantonly, while the enemies could never hit him, wouldn't he be in an invincible position?

Who could have imagined that footwork used for building a foundation would undergo such changes when cultivated to perfection?

It is highly likely that this is a benefit brought by the panel.

The panel in front of Zhou You changed again; a piece of data jumped a few times before finally stabilizing.

"Speed 30."

In other words, after Zhou You cultivated the Basic Lightness Skill to level 2, his speed attribute increased by 8 points in one go.

Skill techniques and physical attributes are, as it turns out, in a symbiotic relationship of mutual reinforcement.