Unsheathed

If Chen Ping’an were on his own, he would’ve been able to traverse around 50 kilometers of mountain path in a day without much difficulty, even if he were carrying a load. On their journey, they had to negotiate a variety of terrains, such as bodies of water and rugged cliffs. Hence, due to the fact that he had to cater to Li Baoping, this was turning out to be a very leisurely trip for Chen Ping’an, so he decided to make use of his time to practice walking meditation.

With Li Baoping by his side, he refrained from practicing the fist technique that required full focus and exertion. Instead, his movements were more languid and natural, and he even had to intentionally slow down in his walking meditation and shorten his strides so that Li Baoping could keep up. He had only just begun to find his way in his practice, but due to these self-imposed restrictions, all of his movements were feeling quite strange and awkward again.

At this point, the two of them had already traveled around 10 kilometers, but Li Baoping was still raring to go, not displaying any signs of strain or exhaustion. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand as she asked, “Are you practicing fist techniques, Junior Uncle?”

“That’s right,” Chen Ping’an replied with a nod as he paused in his walking meditation.

Li Baoping then asked, “Do you know what the key acupoint of this set of fist techniques is?”

Chen Ping’an was very perplexed by this question, and he asked, “What does that mean? All I know is that there are many acupoints in the human body. The majority of the characters I’ve learned come from memorizing the names of these acupoints, but what do they have to do with fist techniques?

“I haven’t had a chance to ask anyone about this. There was a girl by the name of Ning Yao who once looked at my fist techniques guide, but she didn’t tell me anything about this. All she said was that there were no shortcuts to practicing fist techniques, and that consistent hard work was the only way to make solid progress.

“Ruan Xiu told me that as a swordswoman, the qi circulation route passed down in Ning Yao’s clan must be kept secret from outsiders, and that’s why she didn’t delve too deep into this subject with me at the time.”

Chen Ping’an had thought that he was destined to spend his entire life in the town, so there would’ve been plenty of time to ask Ruan Xiu these questions, and that was why he hadn’t been in a hurry to find out these things.

Li Baoping’s eyes widened with incredulity as she exclaimed, “Junior Uncle! Do you know how dangerous it is to be practicing fist techniques without this knowledge? Practicing fist techniques willy-nilly could easily result in severe repercussions!

“Practicing martial arts is just like a fengshui master searching for desirable locations, except as opposed to searching for the acupoints of mountains and rivers, martial artists search for the prized points in their own bodies.

“Even after finding those points, you still have to adopt a correct method, and only then can you be considered to have truly embarked on the path of martial arts cultivation. You can’t keep going like this, Junior Uncle. I have to teach you about all of this before you can continue practicing your fist techniques!”

Chen Ping’an could see that Li Baoping was quite serious about this, and after some consideration, he decided that this wasn’t a bad thing. There just so happened to be an old willow tree with a crooked trunk up ahead, and most of the trunk was leaning over the surface of the creek, making it resemble an incomplete bridge.

Hence, he led Li Baoping over to lean against the trunk of the tree for some rest, but she insisted on sitting on the tree. Hence, Chen Ping’an could only lift her up onto the tree trunk, while he stood off to the side to catch her if she fell.

Li Baoping sat casually on the tree with an animated expression, looking much like a little schoolteacher teaching her first lesson. She cleared her throat as she prepared to give Chen Ping’an a good lesson, lest he strayed down the wrong path and ruined his own body through the use of incorrect cultivation methods. If that were to happen, then she would be kicking herself with remorse.

With that in mind, she put on a serious expression as she said, “I have a rough understanding of some concepts related to martial arts because there’s a servant in our clan by the name of Zhu Lu. Our patriarch could tell that she possessed an aptitude for studying martial arts from a young age, and I’m very close with her. She really likes to keep to herself and doesn’t speak to anyone much aside from me, and she’s the one who told me everything I know about martial arts.

“One time, I was following along behind Big Sister Zhu Lu in secret while she was training by walking over a bunch of wooden poles. The tallest poles are almost as high as the rooves, and it was super fun! However, one time, I accidentally slipped and fell. I was fine, but our patriarch still handed down a severe punishment to Big Sister Zhu Lu because of this.

“After that, Big Sister Zhu Lu never brought me along when she practiced martial arts in the morning and at night, or when she hid in her room to bathe in medicinal concoctions.”

Chen Ping’an was feeling a little guilty upon hearing this. There was a good chance that the Big Sister Zhu Lu that Li Baoping was referring to was the very same female servant he had struck with a pair of roof tiles on that day, one in the chest and one to the head. At the time, he had snuck into the Li Clan’s manor and used his slingshot to smash the two food containers in the birdcage.

The servant protecting that little girl from Sun Scorch Mountain had discovered him first, and she quickly sprang onto the roof before leaping toward the rooftop that he had been standing on. Even now, as he recollected this sequence of events, he still couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration for her.

Even though Chen Ping’an remained reluctant to acknowledge himself as Li Baoping’s junior uncle, she was still keen to tell him everything that she knew, nonetheless, and she continued, “Let me give you an example: Shi Chunjia’s family owns a shop, and business has always been booming for the shop, making it a very lucrative source of income.

“This is why their shop is one of the oldest and most well-established shops in our town. However, if all they do is spend money on making products without bothering to attract customers, then they’ll quickly run out of money and be forced to close down the shop, isn’t that right?”

For a money-obsessed little miser like Chen Ping’an, this analogy was perfect, and an enlightened look instantly appeared on his face as he said, “So what you’re saying is that each person has some savings, and if they can practice fist techniques well, then they’ll be able to grow their wealth, and vice versa. What if someone doesn’t practice martial arts at all? Are they essentially just preserving their savings?”

Li Baoping thought about this for a moment, then nodded in response. “That sounds about right. Junior Uncle, have you heard of the saying that practicing fist techniques is a surefire way to ruin your life? This is particularly true for the fist techniques that claim to be able to grant the practitioner exceptional power in a short time. Those fist techniques appear to be extremely powerful and badass, but in reality, they’re extremely damaging to the users.

“That’s because the practitioners of those fist techniques haven’t found the key to cultivation at all, so they’re training completely incorrectly. Many of them will end up with a multitude of injuries and illnesses at a young age, and it’s hard to say whether they’ll even be able to live until their old age. Even if they do, they’re always in terrible condition.

“That’s because from the very first day they began practicing fist techniques, they’ve been wasting money without making any earnings, so they’re constantly whittling down their savings.”

In the words of the Li Clan’s patriarch, Li Baoping was born without a butt, so she was unable to sit and was always darting around.

Sure enough, she became more and more excited as she spoke, and she was just about to stand up on the trunk of the old willow tree, but sheepishly refrained from doing so after receiving a stern look from Chen Ping’an, then continued, “Hence, you have to be careful, Junior Uncle. You have to make sure to find the true key to practicing fist techniques.

“There are countless types of fist techniques in this world, and one of the most important factors that will decide how far one can go is whether they can find the bonded acupoints of their fist techniques, of which there are at least two per fist technique. After you find those acupoints, the next thing to do would be to find the best qi circulation route to nourish as many acupoints along the way as possible, like nourishing the earth with spring rain.

“Even if the fist technique you’re practicing isn’t of a very high caliber, as long as you take the right path, it’ll still strengthen your body and extend your lifespan. On the contrary, if you go down the wrong path, the more advanced the fist techniques you practice, the more detrimental they’ll be to your health.”

A contemplative look appeared on Chen Ping’an’s face. He could feel the existence of the qi within his body. It was like a lost little fire dragon, wandering around aimlessly in a massive furnace. In the past, this fire dragon was like a headless chicken, stumbling around without direction and turning around whenever it hit a wall.

At this point, the area in which it was active was becoming larger and larger, but ultimately, it would always return to somewhere near the acupoints in the abdomen, where it would roam around in an indecisive fashion. It was like a child that had gone out to play, and the child wanted to return home after growing tired, but they couldn’t find the true entrance back to their home.

This extremely profound burst of qi had never caused Chen Ping’an any pain or discomfort. Instead, it gave him a very warm and comfortable sensation, like basking in the warmth of the sun during winter. From a very young age, Chen Ping’an had always been very sensitive to the sensation in his own internal organs, so if something went wrong in his body, he would be able to quickly detect it.

Back when Cai Jinjian of Dawn Cloud Mountain told him that he didn’t have much longer left to live, perhaps she had thought at the time that Chen Ping’an would’ve merely taken that as a joke, but in reality, Chen Ping’an immediately knew that she was telling the truth.

Seeing as he couldn’t sense the burst of qi negatively affecting his body in any way, he allowed it to do as it pleased, and deep down, he was quite curious to see which acupoint it was going to ultimately choose as its home.

Li Baoping was swinging her little legs back and forth as she crossed her arms and said, “I heard that the key to training martial arts is a concept known as qi dispersion, which is completely different from the qi development and qi refinement pursued by cultivators.

“In contrast with qi development and qi refinement, which provide you with more benefits the more you practice them, training in martial arts involves finding that initial burst of qi, then breaking through one obstacle after another, eradicating all of the auras originally residing in your acupoints to convert them into that initial burst of qi.

“At the end of this process, you’ll be able to control your qi as an extension of your will, circulating it over hundreds of kilometers in an instant, or even in excess of 1,000 kilometers once you reach the ninth tier. In doing so, you’ll be able to instantly tap into all the potential in your body, like a general commanding a vast army at will.

“The resulting power that you’ll be granted will naturally be immense, and it’ll be no less impressive than cultivators using their qi to soar through the heavens. Big Sister Zhu Lu told me that for master martial artists, they can run over walls and rooftops with ease, and they can even take flight like cultivators.

“If you can go even further than that and reach an even higher level of mastery of the martial arts, then you’ll be able to kill those arrogant cultivators as easily as if you were snapping the necks of helpless chickens.”

Chen Ping’an smiled as he asked, “It would naturally be a good thing if practicing martial arts can make me that powerful, but why is it that the standard for measuring one’s power is based on how easily they can kill others?”

Li Baoping faltered slightly upon hearing this, then shook her head as she replied in a truthful manner, “I’ve never thought about that. This is just what Big Sister Zhu Lu told me, and when she was telling me about all of this, I could tell that she really aspired to reach that level, just like how I dreamed of catching a fish every single day.”

After a moment of contemplation, Li Baoping continued, “But now that I think about it, according to what Big Sister Zhu Lu told me, it seems like martial artists and cultivators are natural enemies. Cultivators like to look down on martial artists, regarding martial arts training as a lowly pursuit that only those who were lacking in cultivation aptitude would resort to.

“Hence, they regard martial artists to be inferior to them, denouncing them as lap dogs of the mortal empires. Similarly, martial artists feel like all cultivators are extremely arrogant and conceited. They think it’s extremely unfair that martial artists are regarded as heathens and criminals, while cultivators get to lay claim over countless desirable places and blessed lands, even though they only make up a tiny percentage of the overall population.

“On top of that, they conceitedly refer to themselves as immortals, attaining immortality through the cultivation of mystical abilities, and they think that they deserve to be revered and worshipped by mortals and martial artists.”

An amused smile appeared on Li Baoping’s face as she remarked, “But there’s no need for you to pay any heed to these conflicts, Junior Uncle. They’re extremely boring and pointless.”

A hesitant look then appeared on Li Baoping’s face, and it seemed that a thought had occurred to her, but she was reluctant to articulate it, as if she were feeling guilty about something.

In the end, she really didn’t want to deceive Chen Ping’an, so she decided to come clean, and a distraught look appeared on her face as she said, “Big Sister Zhu Lu and her father, Uncle Zhu He, were supposed to come with us to the southern border, but I was worried that you wouldn’t like them, so I lied to them and told them to go and wait for us at the town’s eastern gate. If Uncle Zhu He were with us, he would be able to instruct you in your fist technique practice.

“Big Sister Zhu Lu has been practicing martial arts under her father’s tutelage from a young age, and our patriarch once told me in private that even though Uncle Zhu He’s aptitude for practicing martial arts is rather limited, he’s very good at instructing others in martial arts training, so he’s definitely worthy of being referred to as a brilliant teacher.

“Even in the affluent clans in the Great Li Empire’s capital city, he would be treated as an esteemed guest, but because of me, we don’t have neither Uncle Zhu He nor Big Sister Zhu Lu with us…”

Chen Ping’an hurriedly consoled, “It’s alright. I may not have a master to instruct me in my fist technique practice, but I have a training guide. At this point, I don’t even know all of the characters in the training guide yet, so I definitely can’t just keep training blindly. From now on, all I’ll do is practice walking meditation and standing meditation. I’ve already confirmed that those practices are safe and will only nurture my body.

“If I want to truly make some progress in my fist technique, I’ll probably have to learn to be able to read the entire guide by myself first, but I’m not in any hurry. My goal for practicing fist techniques wasn’t to become a powerful martial artist to begin with. All I want is to be able to live longer, and I don’t have any aspirations beyond that.”