From a country cook to a master chef

Inside the Four Symbols Martial Arts School, the disciples stood in a circle, surrounding Lin Jue in the center, praising him unanimously.

"Kobayashi, I didn't expect you to be so skilled. You were able to fight two opponents at once and still hold your own."

"Not only that, it's not just that he's holding his own. Didn't you hear what Senior Sister Ruyan said? Xiao Lin was chasing after the people from Qingshan Martial Arts School and beating them up."

"Yeah, I bet those two kids from Aoyama Martial Arts School have wet their pants, hahaha!"

"Kobayashi is amazing!"

Lin Jue stood among the martial arts school disciples, listening to these words, completely baffled.

At this moment, the owner of the hall, Liu Yue, walked in from the main hall, calmed his breathing, and patted Lin Jue on the shoulder with a reassuring expression, saying:

"As expected of the people from my Four Symbols Martial Arts School! This time, we've shown Li Dakang of the Green Mountain Martial Arts School that even a random cook from our school can beat his disciples senseless!"

"But speaking of which, what kind of martial arts do you actually practice?"

As soon as Liu Yue said this, all the disciples' eyes immediately focused on Lin Jue again, their expressions becoming curious.

"Reporting to the master, I've actually never practiced martial arts before. This time it was..."

Before Lin Jue could finish speaking, Liu Yue hurriedly interrupted, "Truly a once-in-a-century genius! He can deal with ordinary martial arts practitioners just by his physique!"

"The master has decided to accept you as another disciple. Are you willing?"

"Disciple greets Master!"

This time, Lin Jue did not refuse.

Now that he has been targeted by Pan Mang, having a martial arts expert like Liu Yue as his backer would make things much easier for him in the future.

Liu Yue was overjoyed and pointed at Lin Jue with a serious expression, saying, "Alright, from today onwards, Lin Jue is my personal disciple, and also your junior brother."

After sending his disciples to the training grounds, Liu Yue smiled and said, "Come with me, I'll introduce you to some martial arts secrets so you can have a better understanding of the path of martial arts."

"Thank you so much, Master!"

Lin Jue looked expectant. His previous understanding of martial arts mostly came from Master Xu.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that the Zhao family's Blood Saber Kung Fu could not be passed on to outsiders, Master Xu only casually mentioned some common sense about martial arts, but never talked about the methods of martial arts training.

Lin Jue followed Liu Yue, and the two arrived at the bamboo forest of the martial arts school.

"The process of martial arts training is nothing more than five aspects: hands, body, techniques, hands, eyes, and footwork. It involves training each part of the human body to become a weapon, training until one can subdue the opponent in an instant without making a sound.

"Body movement, hand-eye coordination, and footwork?"

"The term 'hand' includes the fist, palm, elbow, wrist, and arm, and there are many intricacies involved within each of them."

Liu Yue strode into the bamboo forest, his punches like cannonballs, snapping a bamboo stalk as thick as a bowl in half with a single blow.

"Our Four Symbols Martial Arts School specializes in boxing, and is famous for its fast punches. We emphasize that the shoulders should not be exposed when punching, and the punch should be delivered in three sections without being visible."

Lin Jue stood outside the bamboo grove, nodding repeatedly.

The saying "don't expose your shoulder when throwing a punch" refers to the old master on Wudang Mountain who advised that when striking an enemy, one should not raise their shoulder but keep it still and throw the punch directly.

If you encounter a martial arts master, and you sway your shoulders, they will see through your intentions at a glance.

"Throw stones at me."

Just as Lin Jue was pondering this, Liu Yue suddenly made a request that put him in a difficult position.

"Master, you'd better be careful."

Lin Jue picked up seven or eight small stones and threw them at Liu Yue at the same time.

The next moment, he caught all the pebbles.

"Of all the techniques of martial arts, the eyes are paramount. To master martial arts, one must train one's eyes to be able to see in all directions, exude an aura of power and might, and intimidate opponents with just a glance."

"Eyes?"

"That's right. As the saying goes, if you train your eyes well, you can gain the upper hand. In martial arts competition, it's all about momentum. If your eyes are sharp and your momentum is overwhelming, you will put pressure on your opponent without them even realizing it, and you will be able to gain the upper hand when you make a move."

"Secondly, training your eyes to see in all directions will allow you to better observe your opponent's movements, spot your target, and find their weaknesses."

Lin Jue nodded and asked, "What about the movement techniques?"

Liu Yue stepped out of the bamboo forest and replied, "In body techniques and footwork, technique refers to secret manuals, footwork refers to speed, and body refers to defense."

"Since you've already fought with someone, you must know what it feels like to land a punch or kick, right?"

"pain!"

Liu Yue shook himself and straightened his clothes, saying, "Among the techniques of movement, hand, eye, and footwork, the word 'body' is especially important. Since you have already become my disciple, today I will teach you the methods of body cultivation in the martial arts school."

Lin Jue bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, Master!"

Liu Yue nodded and led Lin Jue to the main hall of the martial arts school: "The so-called 'body' refers to tempering the physical body; to put it bluntly, it means first learning to take a beating."

"Getting beaten up?"

Lin Jue frowned. This was the first time he had ever heard of learning martial arts by first getting beaten up.

Liu Yue laughed and said, "How will you know where it hurts and where it doesn't if you don't learn to take a beating first?"

Fearing that his newly accepted apprentice might be frightened, Liu Yue continued:

"But it's not really about being beaten up. It's about training your body to be strong, with skin like cowhide, tough and unbreakable, and a body like a wild bull, greatly increasing your strength."

Lin Jue agreed wholeheartedly upon hearing this.

The reason why modern boxing is divided into different weight classes is because differences in physical fitness play an important role in the entire fighting process.

If you punch someone, they're fine. But if someone punches you, you're knocked down.

Liu Yue pulled up a bamboo chair and sat down, saying seriously, "The poor study literature, the rich study martial arts. Learning martial arts is a process of burning money and gambling on the future. For example, my Four Symbols Martial Arts School costs nine taels of silver to enter. In these days, ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of it."

"Even after entering the gate, many people stop here in this first hurdle of tempering their muscles and bones. If they do not use medicine to help them practice martial arts, they will suffer minor injuries, or even face death."

Besides the expenses for medicine, martial artists also pay attention to their diet. Animals have abundant qi and blood, and regularly consuming animal meat helps us cultivate our qi and blood, increase our strength, and improve our overall power.

When the topic of money came up, Liu Yue suddenly hesitated, looking troubled.

Lin Jue has exceptional talent and aptitude, and he wishes he could impart all his knowledge to him. However, he regrets that he currently lacks the financial resources and may have to treat him poorly in terms of medicine and food.

The heavy snow affected not only ordinary people, but also the Sixiang Martial Arts School.

Currently, grain prices have risen in all markets and districts. Although the government is trying its best to curb this, the cost of living for ordinary people continues to increase.

If this continues, chaos will break out in the city sooner or later.

The Four Symbols Martial Arts School is now operating at a loss, and is almost at the point where it has to tighten its belt to make ends meet.

Liu Yue calmly said, "Do you know why I turn away those who want to become my disciples and learn martial arts?"

Lin Jue shook his head.

"We don't know when this heavy snow will stop. In these times of natural disasters, keeping our money is the key to survival."

Liu Yue sighed, got up, took a book from the shelf and handed it to Lin Jue, then walked towards the training ground. "There's no point in saying more. I'll teach you how to use stance training to strengthen your physical foundation first."

Lin Jue flipped through the manual, which contained a mixture of pictures and text. Even those who couldn't read could cultivate by following the order of the pictures.

The physical body is honed through stance training. Liu Yue's Pine Crane Long Fist has eight styles of boxing, each with nine stance training methods, which are further divided into dynamic and static stances, some of which are the same and some of which are different.

"Junior brother, come here, let your senior brother practice with you."

"Don't listen to him, junior brother, let me do it!"

On the training ground, a group of martial arts school disciples surrounded him, all wanting to team up with Lin Jue.

So thoughtful and so warm!

Whether it's the master or his fellow apprentices, everyone speaks kindly and is approachable.

Lin Jue began to like the martial arts school.

It wasn't until Liu Yue personally selected a chubby senior brother, Sun Guo, to spar with him that he realized the Four Symbols Martial Arts School didn't have a wooden dummy.

All of them are real people!

In Liu Yue's words, a wooden figure will not fight back, only a real person knows how to fight.

Under Senior Brother Sun's guidance, Lin Jue spread his feet apart, sat down, bent his knees and lowered his hips, relaxed his waist and tucked in his buttocks.

It is the horse-riding stance from the Pine and Crane Long Fist style.

"Junior Brother Lin, don't be nervous. Relax your body and try to hit me with the first moving stance according to the stance training in the manual."

Peng!

Lin Jue punched Sun Guo, and was immediately thrown back, almost falling flat on his back.

"That's right, that's it. Come on, let's continue!"

Sun Guo nodded in satisfaction, pointing out the key points of Lin Jue's dynamic stance, confirming that there were no mistakes, and that he would only start the next dynamic stance after he was familiar with it.

After two hours of training, through the process of being repeatedly beaten and getting back up, Lin Jue learned a complete set of the Nine Gates Stance Technique, which drew praise from his fellow disciples, who offered to switch places with him.

Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Jue decided to go back to Jiming Lane to rest after dinner.

After a day of standing meditation, he covered a distance that would normally take an incense stick to burn in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The days passed by.

With the help of the martial arts school's specially prepared medicinal bath, Lin Jue's training progressed faster and faster. He mastered all 72 stances of the eight-way Pine Crane Long Fist through his tireless and single-minded study.

The other disciples need three months to complete the stance training.

He only took five days!

It's true what they say, comparisons are the thief of joy.

Sun Guo exclaimed, "Junior Brother Lin Jue, your training speed is unmatched, even by Senior Brother. When Senior Brother returns, he will definitely have to spar with you."

"You'd better hurry up and practice, so you don't get beaten down later."

Lin Jue assumed the stance of standing on one leg like a rooster and said with a smile, "I heard from Senior Sister Ruyan that Senior Brother is a kind and sincere person. He would never be like you guys, always using me as a punching bag."

After a stick of incense had burned, and the static stance was completed, Lin Jue assumed a horse stance and began practicing the stance alone, moving smoothly and effortlessly all the way to the last stance.

"Junior Brother Lin, forget all your stance training and try to attack me."

Sun Guo nodded, set up the Five Elements Opening and Closing Stance, and laughed, "The Pine Crane Long Fist originates from stance training. Junior Brother Lin, bring it on!"

"Um."

Lin Jue responded and, after calming his breathing, he suddenly felt a surge of heat throughout his body as soon as he began to practice, as if a mad bull was rampaging inside him.

"Damn it, it's that powerful energy!"