Senior Brother Fu kept his mouth at the harsh berating of the Senior in front of us, I already understood from the interaction just now a lot about the Marital Arts world, I get to to know of the existence of skills like the Charging Tiger, I was also aware of the fact that there was some history behind the connection of the two skills .
But it seemed that I will first need to finish reading those two Martial Skill books and hopefully, I will be able to gain something out of those two books, recognizing the connection between the two Martial Skills wasn't also the only thing that I gained from listening to what Senior Brother Fu said .
No, I once again realized what the instructor said before about how severe was the influence and the amount of information regarding Martial Arts that were being monopolized by these families, they weren't really giving the normal people any chance of rising up, other than them joining their families as servants or even slaves, just for that I'm quite grateful for the existence of Martial Arts Dojos .
For now I completely discarded of any distracting thoughts and focused completely on the two books in hand, I took one last look at the incense stick by the window and opened Thunderclap Fist booklet first, the booklet consisted of 10 pages, I was able to store all the information about it in my mind in 2 to 3 minutes, leaving myself a bit more than half the original period of time .
I went through all the details of the skill I just memorized in my mind and couldn't help but exhale a long breath of air, there was indeed something incredible about this Martial Skill, it focused on sharpening the instinct of the Practitioner to be able to launch a quick assault at the right time .
The whole 10 pages were describing the way to unleash that quick assault, all those pages revolves around the instructions of one move, yes this Martial Skill had one move and it was the Thunderclap Fist, but I didn't feel much disappointed about this .
I finally understood why that skill currently can only be used once, the Martial Skill allow the Practitioner to unleash a quick and precise punch by focusing all the Instinct of the Practitioner on that one strike, straining every muscle in his body to unleash it .
After all, this was a Martial Skill that earned the praise of senior brother and I indeed felt how remarkable that simple move was described in those set of pages, I felt myself falling unconsciously in love with that skill, but even though I was once again eager to go ahead and practice it, I forced that thought away and looked at the Crouching Tiger Martial Skill .
Its booklet was thicker compared to Thunderclap Fist, much thicker in fact even if I compared it to the Solid Rock Fist Manual, meaning that it was more than 20 pages in numbers alone, that was already a problem, mathematically speaking I took 3 to 4 minutes to absorb all the information from that book in my mind .
Now with a booklet that had more than 20 papers, I will somehow need to memorize all the content of the booklet in the exact period of time it took me to memorize the Dojo Manual, I felt a nostalgic feeling assaulting me, reminding me of the intensive study sessions I used to make in help of raising my mark a little .
Soon I pushed those thoughts away, I took a deep breath of air and exhaled it through my mouth, I kept absorbing more and more of that calming scent of incense while closing my eyes, trying to reach my peak concentrated form, after feeling that I reached my peak state of concentration, I opened my eyes and engrossed myself in reading the booklet in my hand .
4 minutes later, I heard a rough voice sound in my ears, it was the voice of Guardian Li telling me that time was up, I reluctantly let go of the booklet in my hand and released a deep sigh, seeing me like this senior brother Fu tried to cheer me up saying :
Don't be so hard on yourself, this Martial Skill is one of the most difficult Martial Skills in its grade, it also had quite the profound ideas in it, that even the smartest out of us Close Disciples hadn't still grasped their meaning till this day, most of us even gave up on figuring it out .
I heard him saying this and shook my head and once again sighed before saying :
" I had already memorized that skill booklet as well, I was sighing due to the fact that I wanted to revision it, just to make sure that I hadn't forgot any detail .
As i finished saying this, I saw the Senior Brother beside me raised his hands up and almost hit me in the face, but he regained his composure in the last second, just barely before his fist hit my face, but I still felt the strength that punch contained in it, I felt a terrible life threatening feeling from it .
Ahem, now that you are done with what you came here for, get out .
For some reason Guardian Li seemed to be even more angrier than before, all that happened after senior brother was about to tell me about the connection between the connection the two Martial Skills have, he was currently almost roaring at us .
It seemed that Senior Brother knew why he was acting like that, he bowed his head and cupped his fist then ask me to put back the Martial Art Technique and the two skills back on the shelves then follow him outside .
I did that and cupped my fist at the currently grumpy middle-aged man and thanked him for his help then i too went out, I looked around to see where had Senior Brother go and I heard a whistle from above the Scripture Pavilion, I turned my head to look and saw that he at some point of time was currently sitting in top of the building .
The building wasn't that high, but it will still make me break a bone or two, if I were to simply just jump down from it, but that what Senior Brother Fu did, he jumped on the ground and actually landed gracefully as if gravity didn't exist for him, he landed safely not having even a scratch .
We were currently back on the Courtyard, the moment he pulled the stunt he just did, numerous Disciples began to cheer and clap for him, they only stopped after he gave them a stern look and told them to continue practicing, that stern expression on Senior Brother face was one that i hadn't seen him make quite often back in the Scriptures Hall .
I wonder which was his real character, was this him acting or was his attitude back then was the acting, he told me to follow him and once again we arrived at the Training Hall, as we arrived he told me that he will go out for a few minutes, I nodded my head and as he left, I kept going through the information about Crouching Tiger Martial Skill in my head .
The skill was indeed as mentioned by the senior brother, it work on stringing your back and lower limbs, giving me the ability to increase my speed, the booklet consisted of 33 pages, these 33 pages were covering for the most part of them 2 moves in exact, Tiger's Pounce and Tiger's Lunge .
Both of those two moves can be used as a body movement skills, allowing the Practitioner a short outburst of speed that could allow him to catch his opponent by surprise .
Tiger's Pounce in particular allowed the Practitioner to propel himself towards the enemy in a swift motion, covering a short distance in an instant, if i understood what was written on the booklet correctly, it allowed me to pounce on my opponent like a tiger, leaving him no room to breathe that was the offensive part of that skill .
I was also able to found the way to activate the Tempering effect of this Skill by practicing the postures linked to training those two moves and linking all the postures together, the use of Blood Qi was a necessary to achieve the Tempering effect, so there was no much thinking about it at the moment, my current goal should be to reach the 1st layer of the Flesh Tempering Realm and entering the Martial Path .
As I was thinking of this, senior brother Fu came back from wherever he went, he had a package in hand, there were 10 arm length bamboo sticks sealed by pieces of dark cloth on their two sides, they were stacked over one another and were tied and made to be carried on the back, I looked at him and was wondering what exactly were those things .
Those are the 10 herbal ointments that i promised you, they should allow you to practice without worrying about the side effects of training more than three times a day for 3 months, the amount of ointment in each one of those sticks can be used 2 times, so you can be at ease and practice with all your might .
So these what these things are, I cupped my fists and thanked him, but he once again brushed it all off and just handed them to me, then he asked me to find a place to set down, even though I was unable to understand the reason, i still complied and found a mat to set on .
He then began saying :
You were late for today's guidance session, so i will be showcasing the Solid Rock Fist for you this time, but bear in mind that from tomorrow junior brother Lu Chiang will be the one to guide you, so pay a close attention to my movements .
I nodded excitedly, but soon understood my mistake and quickly calmed myself down and again nodded calmly, he nodded at me as well with an appreciation smile on his face, then directly began to showcase the postures needed to practice that Martial Technique, he seemed to have achieved a great mastery over it .
I stared at him changing from one posture to another with swift and ease and just by looking at his graceful movements, I began to feel that my mastery over the 4 postures I seem to have executed before were far inferior to his execution of them, but soon I discarded those thought from my mind and focused more on inscribing the way he executed the other 11 postures in mind .
After he finished executing all the 15 postures 3 times, I was finally able to see that his body was turning red, but unlike the redness that covered the whole upper body, I saw earlier on the body of the other Practitioners, Senior Brother Fu only had a few red spots that I was able to see on his neck and that was all, he seemed to have reached his limit as his breathing rhythm wasn't as steady as before .
He seemed to be short of breath, so after doing this three times, he sat in a meditative position then I saw sparks of deep red light appear around his body, it kept flickering on his body and he soon regained his calm and steady breathing rhythm, then he opened his eyes and looked at me and said :
I hope you were able to gain something from my demonstration all the postures for you, for now I will till you a few tips that should help you practice more effectively .
He then began telling me that due to the strain that practicing this External Marital Technique cause on muscles, if I were to practice then it would be better for me to apply the ointment to my body then start practicing the 4 postures I already comprehend for now .
I also should try to unlock more postures, but be cautious not to overdo it and the moment I sense a tingling sensation inside my chest, I need to stop .
He once again asked me to be accurate with how I executed the postures and to always keep my breathing rhythm in check or else I might injure myself, he gave me a few advices to improve the postures, I already executed before and he asked me to showcase them in front of him again .
But this time with the special ointment on my body, as to decrease the chances of a problem happening, he asked me to do this to confirm that I'm eligible to practice on my own, he said jokingly that he can't be always there to guide me .
I stood up from my position already unable to contain my excitement and removed the robe and my clothes so that he can be able to put the ointment on my back, the ointment was white in color but actually black like ink, the moment he put a tiny bit on my back, it actually began burn .
But he assured me that this was just how it worked, I still bare chested was then asked to began execute the 4 postures again in front of him, the moment I finished performing the 4 postures, i once again felt heat began to burn inside my body, then without any warning .
( Bone Enlargement were detected due to poorly execution of Martial Arts, other detected negative effects, all removed ) .
The message from before appeard again on my mind, forcing me to completely lose my composure and forcing my heavy breathing rhythm to be broken, i suddenly spat a mouthful of blood and collapsed on the floor .
Senior Brother directly came and helped me up, while yelling, saying :
Hurry up and enter meditation .
I did as I was told and closed my eyes I felt that he sat behind me and began circulate his Blood Qi inside my body, helping me spreading the heat around my upper body parts, soon the ointment also began taking effect, instead of the burning from before, it actually began cooling down my body .
A second later after Senior Brother removed his hands from my back, I felt a mysterious energy began to appear from within my body, it began circling through my upper body, it seemed to be vibrating every part in my chest, the feeling was uncomfortable at first, but a second later, I felt my body yearn for more, that energy were beginning to spread from my chest towards my neck, but then it vanished and disappeared .
It felt like a dream, I was unable to walk away from that feeling for some time, i only woke up from it after I heard the berating cold voice of Senior Brother Fu, telling me how wrong my mistake just now was and how stupid it was for me to lose my breathing rhythm at such a crucial time .
I opened my eyes only to see him saying loudly :
Luckily this didn't happen while you were executing the postures, or you might have actually being severely injured, you should stay sitting for some time, whom I kidding, you probably aren't able to move a muscle anyway .