From Beggar to Emperor: My Profession Has Its Own Characteristics

Hearing Zhou Ping's affirmation, Zhu Yuan felt reassured and continued to practice according to this principle.

After practicing for about half an hour, the soles of his feet began to feel slightly hot. It wasn't the pain from the friction of the shoe soles, but rather the soreness and swelling from the deep muscles being constantly stretched and opened.

My calves also started to tremble slightly. Unlike the shaking that occurs when you're standing in a stance and supporting yourself to the limit, this was a feeling of weakness that comes from repeated, subtle control.

But he didn't want to stop.

Because during this extremely focused walking, he experienced something he had never felt before.

As his feet glided gently across the ground, he seemed to be able to feel every tiny line of the blue brick beneath his feet through the soles of his shoes.

The feet were no longer clumsy weight-bearing organs; they seemed to have grown a pair of eyes, clearly reading the information of the earth.

Zhou Ping had been observing from the sidelines. Seeing the focused and enlightened look in Zhu Yuan's eyes, a satisfied smile appeared on his face, and he nodded again.

After Zhu Yuan finished walking, Zhou Ping took two steps closer and spoke.

"Walking is the key to mastering Ming Jin (manifested strength). You find the strength in your body that comes from the earth through Zhan Zhuang (standing meditation), and you make this strength strong through Ba Ma (stance meditation). Now, walking is about teaching you to use this strength anytime and anywhere in motion."

During his regular instruction, Zhou Ping would often explain martial arts knowledge to Zhu Yuan, helping him to learn more.

"The reason why martial artists at the Ming Jin stage are far superior to ordinary people is that they can integrate the originally loose power of their whole body into a complete and coordinated whole force, and concentrate it into a single point to unleash it."

Finally, to help Zhu Yuan understand more intuitively, Zhou Ping gave a simple example.

"Therefore, even if someone is born with superhuman strength, and their strength is one or even two times greater than that of a martial artist in the early stages of Ming Jin, they will still be no match for a martial artist in a real fight."

"Dispersed power versus concentrated power—that's the fundamental difference."

"Alright, you can continue practicing."

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother Zhou." Zhu Yuan quickly clasped his hands in thanks.

"Um."

Finally, Zhou Ping nodded in satisfaction and left to focus on his own cultivation.

Basic stance training, horse stance, and walking steps are inherently a unified whole. However, in order to make it easier for beginners to get started, the martial arts masters of the past broke them down into what they are now.

Similar to basic stance training and horse stance, being able to walk continuously for half an hour is considered entering the basics, and extending that time to an hour is considered minor success.

The morning was coming to an end quickly.

The morning dew on the blue bricks of the training ground had long since evaporated, with only a few traces of coolness remaining in the shady corners.

The sunlight shone on Zhu Yuan, bringing a touch of warmth and dispelling the light sweat from his martial arts practice.

Zhu Yuan's walking practice was almost over. He stopped, exhaled a long breath of warm white mist, and slightly moved his legs and hips, which were a little stiff from focusing on control.

"At this rate, I'll reach the initial stage of mastery in a few days less than Zama," he thought to himself, a confident glint in his eyes.

Just then, Zhao Tiezhu, who had finished practicing basic stance training, walked over.

Compared to a month ago, Zhao Tiezhu was more robust and a little taller, and his honest face now showed more determination from his martial arts training.

When Zhao Tiezhu saw Zhu Yuan stop there, he quickly approached, his face filled with undisguised envy.

"Zhu Yuan, you can start practicing walking now."

Compared to Zhao Tiezhu's changes, Zhu Yuan's physical changes were more significant, and his strength also increased considerably.

As my senior brother Zhou Ping said, his increased strength came more from the physical growth of his age. If he wanted to significantly improve his strength through stance training, he would have to wait until he had mastered the basic stance training.

"Tiezhu, how's your progress?" Zhu Yuan asked naturally with a smile when he saw Zhao Tiezhu coming over.

"Me?" Zhao Tiezhu scratched the back of his head, thought for a moment, and then said, his voice carrying a hint of dissatisfaction with himself, "I'm still a quarter of an hour away from mastering the basic stance, and a quarter of an hour away from mastering the horse stance."

"That'll be soon." Zhu Yuan reached out and patted his arm, encouraging him sincerely, "Hang in there, you'll catch up soon."

"Senior Brother Zhou said I'm a bit slow."

When Zhu Yuan patted Zhao Tiezhu, the smile on his face faded, and his voice lowered, as if he cared a little about Zhou Ping's evaluation.

"Senior Brother Zhou said that to you mainly because of your good physical constitution. Compared to your natural talent, you seem a bit slow," Zhu Yuan comforted Zhao Tiezhu. "So actually, you have an exceptionally good physical constitution."

"Is that so?"

Zhao Tiezhu was taken aback, his eyes widening slightly, seemingly convinced by Zhu Yuan's novel perspective.

"Of course," Zhu Yuan said confidently, guiding him to recall, "You probably haven't seen Senior Brother Zhou say anything like 'So stupid' or 'How can you be so useless' to those mediocre disciples, have you?"

Zhao Tiezhu thought about it carefully. Indeed, some disciples in the martial arts school were progressing very slowly. Senior Brother Zhou Ping mostly corrected their movements and gave them routine guidance. He rarely told them directly that they were a bit slow, like he did with him.

He shook his head vigorously: "No."

"That's right." Zhu Yuan smiled and shrugged.

After thinking about it, Zhao Tiezhu finally understood. The embarrassment on his face completely disappeared, replaced by relief.

He grinned, his smile returned, and he looked very happy.

"Let's go eat," Zhu Yuan said, seeing that he had figured it out. He didn't say anything more.

"Okay!" Zhao Tiezhu responded loudly, his stomach rumbling in agreement.

The two smiled at each other and left the small training ground side by side, heading towards the source of the food aroma wafting from the backyard.

……

three days later.

Zhu Yuan has mastered the basics of walking and can walk continuously for half an hour.

This gave him a clearer understanding of the flow of energy.

At midday, the sun was shining brightly, and the dock was filled with the dampness of the river.

Zhu Yuan's figure approached the dock, preparing to begin his afternoon work.

suddenly.

Zhu Yuan saw six people walking towards him from deep within the dock.

The leader was about twenty years old, tall with broad shoulders and a thick back. He was wearing a dark blue Water Moon Gang short jacket and walked with a sense of competence and efficiency.

His face was six or seven parts similar to Lao Ma's, with the same square face and thick black eyebrows, but his eyes were sharper than Lao Ma's.

Uncle Ma's son?

Based on the information he had gathered from Lao Ma and Li Yinghu's conversation, Zhu Yuan quickly determined the answer in his mind.

A minor leader of the Shuiyue Gang typically has four to six members under his command.

Uncle Ma's son brought all his men with him. What were they going to do?

Zhu Yuan thought to himself, but his face remained expressionless.

As Zhu Yuan pondered the problem, the young man leading the group approached.

He stopped a few steps away from Zhu Yuan, looking Zhu Yuan up and down.