Practice starts with skill points.

Chapter 25 Iron Mountain Kung Fu

"You want me to teach you to read more in my spare time?"

Master Liu stroked his beard, and there was no sadness or joy in his tone.

"Yes, Master. I want to learn a certain number of characters in the shortest possible time, or at least be able to read and write. This is my tuition." Zhong Lin said in a deep voice.

Master Liu, who was about to scold Zhong Lin, was suddenly choked by the five-liang silver ingot on the table.

Facts have proven that money can solve 99 percent of the problems in this world, and the remaining 1 percent is due to lack of money.

"Since you are so eager to learn, I agree. You can come to see me every afternoon."

"Yes."

Master Liu flicked the table with his hands behind his back, casually and nonchalantly, but the silver on the table had disappeared.

When learning to recognize words in the morning, Zhong Lin discovered something. His calligraphy skill at the maximum level had greatly improved his ability to recognize words.

The writing in this world is similar to Chinese characters, and is also pictographic. The full-level calligraphy allows Zhong Lin to better analyze the strokes and structure of these characters. You must know that comprehension-based memory is much faster than rote memorization. In a day, not to mention ten characters, even a hundred characters can be recognized.

Moreover, he had plenty of time. Zhong Lin was only a painter in the yamen, not a constable. He only needed to report for duty once every morning. Logically, he should have stayed in the yamen, but no one cared about him. Zhong Lin just took this opportunity to slack off and learn to read, but he couldn't do it for long, so he had to complete the task of learning to read in the shortest possible time.

……

"Brother Zhong, this is Old Zhou, a veteran in our yamen. Almost all the constables learned martial arts from Old Zhou. Even Captain Xue has consulted Old Zhou."

Chi Yan pointed at a constable with gray hair and black clothes and praised him.

Old Zhou looked to be in his fifties, with gray hair on his temples, but his posture was extremely upright and his eyes were sharp and bright.

Although there are martial arts secrets in the martial arts pavilion, if you really stick to the book and study it, you don’t know when you can get on the right track. The best way is to find someone to teach you step by step.

So Zhong Lin asked Chi Yan to help find a teacher.

This Old Zhou was the enlightenment teacher recommended by Chi Yan. He was also a constable in the county government office. However, due to his old age, he basically did not catch thieves, but handled some miscellaneous matters in the government office.

"Although Old Zhou is only at the ninth level of the Mopi realm, he has been immersed in the Flying Crane Fist for many years, which is enough for him to be your martial arts enlightenment teacher."

Zhong Lin did not dare to neglect it and bowed and said, "Zhong Lin greets Mr. Zhou. This is just a small gift, not a token of respect."

Old Zhou waved his hand and said with a smile: "There is no such thing as Old Zhou. Just call me Old Zhou. We are all from the government office. Just say it. Forget about the gifts."

"Old Zhou, are you sure? This is the twenty-year-old Huadiao wine that Brother Zhong specially went to Baishanlou to get for you. This jar cost five taels of silver." Chi Yan teased.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lao Zhou's gaze fell directly on the wine jar in Zhong Lin's hand. His eyes lit up and he swallowed unconsciously.

"It's too expensive, too expensive. I won't be polite then."

As he spoke, he took the wine jar from Zhong Lin's hand, broke the seal on it, took a sip, and then said with a satisfied look on his face: "It is indeed the Zui Hua Diao from Baishanlou. Good wine, good wine!"

"As long as you like it, Mr. Zhou."

"I told you not to call me Mr. Zhou, just call me Old Zhou. Come, let me feel your bones first."

"Feel the bones?"

Zhong Lin's face was filled with excitement, wondering if he was the legendary martial arts prodigy. Old Zhou knew what Zhong Lin was thinking from his expression and said with a smile, "I'm touching your bones, not your root bones. I'm mainly looking at your skeletal structure to see which martial arts are suitable for you to practice."

After saying that, he took Zhong Lin's hand and squeezed his wrist bones, shoulders, hip bones, and spine.

After a moment, he stopped and said in amazement, "Zhong Lin, your bones are really good, standard tiger back and wasp waist, but the food you ate before was not good enough, so you didn't develop it well. How old are you this year?"

"Fifteen, almost sixteen."

"That's okay. You can recover. Eat more meat in the future and go to the clinic to ask the doctor to prescribe some supplements for you. Then you will grow taller and at least reach six feet." Xiao Zhou said.

"Mr. Zhou, which martial arts do you think is suitable for me?" Zhong Lin asked.

Zhong Lin had just entered the Wu Pavilion, which contained thirteen kinds of martial arts secret manuals, all of which were complete, but with different focuses.

Sometimes the more powerful the cheats are, the better. Instead, the more suitable they are for you, the better.

Old Zhou smiled and said, "People with your bones are best suited to practicing real-life boxing and kicking. The Iron Mountain Kung Fu is the best for you."

"'Iron Mountain Kung Fu'? Boss Xue had practiced this martial art before. With his pair of iron fists, he was invincible in the entire Heishan County. I didn't expect that Brother Zhong is also suitable for practicing this martial art." Chi Yan said in surprise.

Old Zhou nodded and said, "Light as a willow, deep as the wind. The old ape crosses the sun to support me. This is a martial art that requires great power and might, and it emphasizes the concept of overcoming all obstacles with one force. Zhong Lin, can you read?"

"I recognize some of them, but not all of them. Now I am learning to recognize words from Master Liu in the south of the city." Zhong Lin said.

"It's good to know how to read. There are many formulas in the secret manual. After you learn the characters, you can recite them more and try to understand the profound meaning. As for now, you can practice the moves first. I studied this martial art for a while when I was young. Come, I will teach you."

Old Zhou took off his clothes, revealing a body of muscular muscles that was obviously old but not inferior to that of a young man. He crossed his arms and stepped on Tiangang.

"The purpose of practicing moves is to move the Qi and blood in the body, allowing them to flow more quickly. This is the only way to achieve the goal of tempering the body. The lower three levels of the ninth level of martial arts are all focused on physical training. This is true for all martial arts, but the emphasis is different. For example, the Flying Crane Fist that I specialize in is based on lightness, movement, and body movements."

Lao Zhou practiced every move very smoothly, from simple to complex, with gradually increasing levels of intensity. In the beginning, he only threw punches and kicks, but later on, he even performed difficult moves such as aerial flips.

After about seven or eight minutes, Lao Zhou finally finished his work. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued, "I'm really getting old!"

After Lao Zhou had adjusted his breathing for a while and finally caught his breath, he began to teach Zhong Lin how to perform boxing.

At the beginning, Zhong Lin's movements were very stiff and intermittent, especially those difficult movements which he could not perform at all.

Later on, he managed to perform the entire boxing move by imitating others, and it took him a full hour.

"Okay, that's all for today. It's time to go home."

Zhong Lin also wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a bow, "Thank you, Mr. Zhou."

Old Zhou waved his hand and walked away with the jar of wine.

Chi Yan also sat up from his chair and said without waiting for Zhong Lin to speak, "Brother Zhong, do you have any silver on you? Lend me three taels of silver for an emergency."

Zhong Lin was stunned when he heard this, but he still took out three taels of silver from his pocket and handed it over.

"Thanks."

(End of this chapter)