Chapter 2: Great Power and Firm Steps

  The next day, as soon as it was light, Wang Chen and the others were woken up to have breakfast. After finishing their meal, Wang Chen was led away by a young man in a hurry.

  On the road, a young man with a somewhat sly appearance hastily walked towards the youth in front of him, clasped his fists and said "I'm Wu De, I've just arrived, big brother, what should I call you? Please take care of me, big brother!" The robustly dressed youth saw Wu De's flattering smile and didn't like it, but also clasped his fists and said "No need to be polite..." Then the two people started chatting.

  Two people's conversation was not intentionally hidden, and Wang Chen also heard it. It turned out that they were going to the Cang Wu Pavilion, which, as its name suggests, is a place where martial arts secrets are collected. Upon hearing this, Wang Chen's heart couldn't help but burn with excitement, as he had also heard about martial arts from other young men over the past few days. Normally, people who practice martial arts are mostly from wealthy families and can handle two or three ordinary people, but if they were to face a true martial artist, it would be a different story. A crucial aspect of being a true martial artist is having a strong foundation in martial arts principles. However, outside of the major powers, there are hardly any places that teach these principles. Those who have learned martial arts principles, unless they are foolish, will generally be much stronger than ordinary people.

  Wang Chen knew that martial arts manuals were hard to come by and beneficial to himself, and this trip to the Cangwu Pavilion was a rare opportunity.

  The young men's hearts were filled with anticipation, and they quickened their pace without realizing it. After about a quarter of an hour, a pavilion appeared before them. The pavilion was built on the side of a mountain, entirely made of cedar wood, revealing its grandeur. On the wooden pillars, there were carvings of floral patterns, a dragon and a tiger, vivid and lifelike, as if they were about to run out from the pillars.

  The crowd followed the young man into the attic. The attic was very spacious, with only a few weapon racks around it, but nothing else. However, this place did not seem empty at this time. The boys lined up in pairs and moved forward slowly, surrounded by heavily armed guards, who were majestic and powerful. Wang Chen and several others also quickly lined up behind the team.

  It wasn't long before they arrived at Wang Chen. Through the previous few people, Wang Chen also knew about this test called "Mogu". Mogu was a simple method of judging a person's martial arts talent.

  Knowing that people are born differently, some people have an exceptional talent for learning martial arts, while many others do not. Those with good innate abilities can practice for two years and surpass others who have practiced for five or even ten years, so innate ability is a very important aspect of learning martial arts. Of course, factors such as perseverance are also crucial, after all, the qualifications for practicing martial arts can be changed, but perseverance is difficult to change. In fact, Wang Chen later learned that the three major factions have different emphases on the conditions for practicing martial arts. The Dragon and Tiger faction emphasizes perseverance, and passing the first test of climbing a mountain is enough to qualify, while the other two factions emphasize qualifications, and only those with lower qualifications can enter the faction.

  A pair of hands touched Wang Chen's head and neck for a while, making Wang Chen feel uneasy in his heart. His body was about to tremble slightly, but fortunately, years of wandering had made Wang Chen more determined, so he took a deep breath to calm down.

  Medium

  Wang Chen's eyebrows relaxed as he heard the voice, and he let out a breath of air. As long as there was martial talent, it would be fine. He took over the token with his hand and curiously examined it. The wooden token had a dragon and a tiger carved on it, with two characters "Zhong Deng" engraved below.

  As the boy who had finished his massage walked inside, he found himself on a somewhat secluded path. The walls around him were made of a bluish-green stone, and even the back of the pavilion was made of stone. Occasionally, patches of bluish-green moss would appear, further proving this point. It seemed that the Dragon Tiger Sect had actually hollowed out part of the mountain to serve as the Hidden Martial Pavilion.

  "What a big tone" Wang Chen secretly admired, his eyes kept glancing around.

  Everyone walked forward, and every few steps was a pillar made of fine iron supporting the cave. The young people were curious to look around, and their hearts were filled with admiration for the Dragon and Tiger Society.

  After a moment, an iron gate appeared in front of everyone. In the front were two factions' guards. The young men were checked one by one for their tokens. "Those with superior and special qualities can follow me to the second floor; others will choose secret skills on the first floor." A middle-aged man led several people with excellent qualifications to the second floor after finishing the check.

  The atmosphere on the scene suddenly became depressed, a group of children around ten years old, just coming in and being pulled away by others, naturally feeling unhappy. However, this does not include Wang Chen. Seeing these elderly people walking out from inside, constantly comforting a group of children.

  "Everyone's innate talent is unique and can be determined by a simple bone reading." The old man's calm words lifted the mood of the group of children, "It's possible that some of you have talents that surpass those who have already entered." The children listened, their emotions stirred up, as if they really did have better talents than others. Wang Chen secretly shook his head, although he wasn't sure if the old man's words were correct, but people with such talent would definitely be rare, otherwise bone reading wouldn't be used to judge martial arts talent.

  In fact, Wang Chen guessed correctly. Sometimes, bone reading can make mistakes, but this situation is rare and only occurs on some relatively rare physical qualities that are almost negligible.

  Although the old man's words did not convince Wang Chen, this was Wang Chen's only source of news about martial arts practice, so he naturally had to listen carefully.

  "Although you can't choose a profound technique, for your current stage, a foundational basic technique is better. The old man finally finished speaking after rambling on for a long time, and the young men also rushed into the Cangwu Pavilion."

  Inside the house, four rows of bookshelves appeared before everyone's eyes, with thousands of books on each row. If sold outside, these skills could be worth hundreds of millions of silver coins, truly astonishing. The young men's eyes lit up, and they rushed to the bookshelves in a hurry to flip through them.

  "Clouds and Fog Disperse"

  "Snake Coiling Power"

  Green Cloud Sword

  "Guillotine"

  ………

  The young men were all flushed with excitement, flipping through the book back and forth. Just then, the old man who had just spoken walked over, dressed like a scholar rather than a martial artist. The old man held a ruler in his hand, and with a few slaps, the heads of the young men were slapped to one side, their bodies moving as if possessed by ghosts, and no one saw how the old man had made his move.

  "Master, your martial arts skills are absolutely not low." A strange light flashed in the corner of Wang Chen's eyes. "If that's the case, then many of the old man's words just now should be correct, after all, with his identity, there's no need to deceive people without any grievances or grudges."

  The young men all quieted down, and the old man said: "A group of stinky brats, Cangwu Pavilion also has rules, can't choose randomly." As he spoke, the old man began to speak in a soft and gentle voice, like a teacher.

  The Zong Wu Pavilion has many martial arts secret books, divided into: internal skills, swordsmanship, knife techniques, staff techniques, body techniques and other weapon secrets. Each book is also divided into levels, with a total of four levels: not entering the flow, three flows, two flows, and one flow. Each level is further divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Of course, only the top grade has three-flow secret books, and those in the second grade cannot enter. At the same time, the old man also warned them that each person can only choose two secret books, and if they want to choose again, they must wait until five years later.

  Other youngsters were all checking out the secret recipes, and some people even almost got into a fight over one recipe. Later, they were each slapped by an elder and didn't dare say another word. "Anyone who continues to fight will be disqualified from viewing the secret recipes," he said. This one sentence made the crowd of youngsters much quieter. After all, there were so many secret recipes here; it wasn't worth fighting over just one recipe and losing their qualification.

  Wang Chen did not look at the secret book like others, but silently thought in his heart. The old man's words had already been very clear, and it was best to choose basic skills rather than high-level ones at the beginning. However, if he chose basic skills, he would definitely be no match for others within five years. This was a difficult choice. After a few minutes, Wang Chen made up his mind and walked straight to the bookshelf with "Internal Skills, Not Popular" written on it. Since there was still a long time ahead, Wang Chen thought it was better to choose basic skills after all.

  "Majestic Bull Technique, learned from the Majestic Bull's bloodthirsty nature, can emit palm force to cut through wood and split stone. When practiced to the extreme, it can possess the strength of five bulls. However, its weakness is a slow body shape."

  "Monkey Spirit, obtain the spiritual nature of the Monkey King, cultivate to the extreme and become like a monkey spirit, see high mountains as flat ground, weakness is lack of strength."

  ……

  Wang Chen flipped through the introduction of the secret book, and then put it down again, his heart couldn't help but feel a little anxious. The Mengniu skill was powerful, but too slow, while the Linghou skill was agile, but too weak. Since he was laying the foundation for learning advanced skills in the future, he certainly couldn't have obvious shortcomings.

  As he flipped through the pages, "Huh!" Wang Chen suddenly found a box on the second layer of the bookshelf, far to the left. He opened the box and a yellowed, ancient-looking book caught his eye. "Great Power Technique" Wang Chen couldn't help but feel another wave of disappointment. The name alone made it clear that this book wasn't very good. Still, Wang Chen flipped to the next page... "I have read through all the martial arts secrets in the world, combining my medical skills to create this extraordinary technique. I hope future generations will spread and glorify it."

  Wang Chen was very curious, and in one breath, he read several pages of a book. It turned out that the creator of this powerful technique was someone without martial arts talent, who loved martial arts but had no achievements. Later, he switched to studying medicine and pharmacy, becoming a legendary doctor. In his later years, from a medical perspective, he looked at martial arts and believed that although there were many differences in techniques, they all increased one's internal energy.

  This strange doctor thus created this skill. Later, the skill was lost outside and obtained by the Dragon Tiger Sect, but it was later discovered that the first layer of the skill had no other effect except for being slightly stronger than ordinary people, and it was difficult to practice the second and third layers. The book also said that the founder only practiced the first layer, so the Dragon Tiger Sect threw it into the Cangwu Pavilion. After finishing the whole book, Wang Chen thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, took the Dahli Gong in hand, and walked away in another direction.

  After a moment, between the two bookshelves, Wang Chen stood in the middle with a slightly furrowed brow, holding a box and looking left and right. The bookshelf on the left was labeled "Body Techniques" and the one on the right was labeled "Sword Techniques". Originally, Wang Chen had wanted to learn sword techniques, but years of wandering had taught him that life was most important. If he could run fast, he would have an advantage, and others wouldn't be able to catch up to him. After a moment, Wang Chen walked towards the left bookshelf. There were still many books on it.

  "Seven Stars Step"

  "Spirit Snake Steps"

  Wang Chen looked at each one, hesitating for a moment. Each of the several methods had its advantages, but after considering for a moment, Wang Fan picked up a book with two words written on it: "Jing Bu".

  Jinbu, not entering the flow level. Strictly speaking, it is not considered a body method, and general body methods require simple auxiliary internal work and some profound boundaries. Jinbu is just a stepping technique that combines many small techniques of stepping, such as how to use the least force to run faster, and how to conserve physical strength. Although Jinbu may not sound as mysterious as other body methods, it excels in practicality, and more importantly, the book records that this step method is determined by the individual's physical condition. In other words, if a person has good physical foundation, this step method will not be inferior to general stepping methods.

  After selecting the Gong Fa, Wang Chen went out from the entrance. When he went out, the guard took back Wang Chen's token and warned him that it was not allowed to pass on the Gong Fa to others, and he had to return within a month; if anyone was found to have leaked the secret book, they would be killed. This warning made Wang Chen feel that the sect might not be as sacred as he had imagined, and it could be even more dangerous than the outside world.

  Back in the courtyard, a steward assigned a room to each of the young men, saying that they couldn't be disturbed while practicing their skills. The young men were more than happy and hastily entered their respective rooms, trying out their martial arts.

  Inside the room, there was a bed and a table, clean and simple. Wang Chen didn't mind. He sat on the bed with his legs crossed, his body straight, in a standard meditation posture. His mind sank into his body to feel what was called "qi". After a long time had passed, he still hadn't found the qi sensation described in the book. Wang Chen couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment: internal strength wasn't that easy to cultivate after all.

  In the afternoon, Wang Chen and others were gathered together for a lecture.

  The lecturer is a slightly refined middle-aged man.

  "It's right that you can't find the feeling in a short time. Even if you're a once-in-a-century genius, it'll take several days to find the feeling."

  "Expel distractions, concentrate your mind, relax your breathing, feel the Qi in the meridians, and store it in the Dan Tian - only then can you be considered a third-rate master."

  "Strengthen your body and exercise more to better feel the energy, energy is inner power, exercising more can accelerate the growth of inner power."

  "Internal skills enhance physical functions, but the specific degree of enhancement depends on the qigong method you choose. Different methods have different focuses, and in the future, you should pay attention to experiencing them with your heart."

  "Internal strength is relative to external training of muscles, bones and skin. Internal strength first needs to find the feeling of qi, then manipulate the internal qi, circulate it in the meridians, and finally store it in the dantian. The human body has eight extraordinary meridians, most internal strength flows through a part of these eight extraordinary meridians, while only some internal strength passes through all eight extraordinary meridians."

  The cultivation of internal power is not easy, especially the first step of finding the feeling of qi. Many people can't find the feeling of qi in their lifetime and can only become a mediocre martial artist.