Chapter 15
“Watch my movements closely! Follow my lead!” He said to Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan, “Your feet need to be rooted! With your five toes, you must leave five marks on the floor! But keep your upper body relaxed!”
Seeing both of them assume similar stances, he continued, “Breathe with me! Exhale, inhale!”
As he inhaled, the muscles in his upper body rolled like wheels, transforming his chest and abdomen into a large sphere.
When he exhaled, a long breath flowed from his throat, turning into a clear and melodious crane's call.
Zheng Fa tried to follow along, but he felt awkward no matter how he adjusted.
Xu Jiaotou circled around him a few times, his hands constantly patting Zheng Fa’s body.
“Pull your back in, but don’t overdo it!”
“Your belly, your belly!”
“Pay attention to the rhythm of your breathing!”
Under Xu Jiaotou’s guidance, Zheng Fa seemed to find a hint of feeling—a warm current flowed with his breath, coursing through his entire body.
After practicing for a while, Zheng Fa felt sore all over, unable to maintain the stance.
Gao Yuan beside him was also grimacing.
“Coach, this ‘Song He Zhuang’ is so hard!”
“It’s hard because it’s powerful!”
“Powerful how?” Gao Yuan pressed for more.
Xu Jiaotou glanced at the two of them, spread his arms wide, and suddenly soared into the air like a bird.
This muscular man, who looked incredibly strong, moved with such lightness that he seemed to float on the wind.
When he landed, he surprisingly leaped over a distance of five or six zhang!
“Can… can you fly?” Gao Yuan gaped.
“Of course, you can’t fly, but once you master the Song He Zhuang, you’ll be the best light-footed master in the mortal realm,” Xu Jiaotou said proudly. “Moreover, Song He Zhuang is said to come from a legendary method that grants immortality. When practiced to perfection, it can…”
“Immortality?” Gao Yuan exclaimed, excitement bubbling over.
“Get real! It just extends your lifespan!” Xu Jiaotou rolled his eyes.
“Then… how long do I need to practice to reach the peak?” Gao Yuan asked, a bit deflated.
“For someone like you, maybe thirty years,” Xu Jiaotou shot him a look.
“Then how many extra years will I get?”
“Twenty years?”
“... Isn’t that just losing ten years?”
The math whiz Gao Yuan commented.
---
**Chapter 17: Ghostly Scribbles**
Zheng Fa struggled to pretend he hadn’t seen Xu Jiaotou’s dark expression.
“You don’t know anything!” Xu Jiaotou scolded Gao Yuan. “The martial arts from those schools outside may seem impressive, but once practitioners reach middle age, they lose their vigor. If you don’t practice well, it could even shorten your life!”
Zheng Fa understood what Xu Jiaotou meant.
The same martial arts, when practiced well, could enhance one’s skills.
The additional buff of the Song He Zhuang, which could extend life, was naturally very precious.
He also had a thought in his mind—if Gao Yuan needed thirty years to extend his life by twenty years, then with his own talent, which Xu Jiaotou had assessed as superior to Gao Yuan’s, wouldn’t he need less time?
More importantly, he could traverse to the modern world!
If he practiced in the modern era, he would have double the time.
According to Gao Yuan’s simple math, he might not even lose out.
---
Perhaps irritated by Gao Yuan, Xu Jiaotou taught them for a while longer before leaving them to continue on their own.
Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan stayed behind, diligently practicing the Song He Zhuang stance.
Even Gao Yuan, who had initially been dismissive, was now taking it very seriously.
Zheng Fa couldn’t help but compare his peers in the Xuanwei realm to those in the modern world. Most of the classmates he encountered in modern schools would likely be a bit lazy.
In this world, peers like Gao Yuan, despite coming from a servant background, had status and wealth, and were not from ordinary families. They cherished opportunities even more.
After standing in the posture Xu Jiaotou taught for a while, Zheng Fa felt the warm current within him becoming more pronounced, making his bones tingle and his breathing gradually calm and lengthen.
When Xu Jiaotou saw Zheng Fa’s state, he nodded in satisfaction. “I told you, you have good talent; you’re picking it up quickly!”
Zheng Fa noticed that Gao Yuan’s movements had stiffened slightly, as if he were feeling anxious.
Xu Jiaotou seemed to sense his restlessness too, but he merely glanced at him without offering praise or reprimand, and slowly walked away.
Watching Xu Jiaotou’s retreating figure, Gao Yuan’s face showed clear disappointment.
During their first encounter with the Song He Zhuang, Xu Jiaotou didn’t make them practice for long. After about half an hour, he began to send them off.
“Take it step by step! The worst thing in martial arts is being too eager!”
Zheng Fa could hardly hold the stance any longer. As he left the training ground, he felt a rumble in his stomach, starving to the point where the blue stone slabs on the ground looked like matcha cake, and he almost wanted to take a bite.
He had been struggling to get enough to eat in this world, and starting martial arts made him realize that Xu Jiaotou’s saying—that the more you practice martial arts, the more you need to eat well—was a very simple truth.
Once back at their quarters, Zheng Fa sat on his bed, feeling faint.
Gao Yuan, seeing his expression, immediately understood. “Hungry?”
“Yeah, how do we get food?”
“According to the rules of the manor, since we’re under the Seventh Young Master, we should wait for his maid to serve us our meals.”
“Do you think they’ll actually serve us?”
Zheng Fa shot Gao Yuan a soul-searching question.
“Well, they might not… but it’s possible they didn’t prepare any for us. I’ll go to the big kitchen!” Gao Yuan, being the son of the second house’s steward, showcased his connections. “The lady provided a portion for us, so they wouldn’t dare refuse me!”
With that, Gao Yuan hurriedly stood up and headed outside, calling back, “Wait for me! I’ll bring your food too!”
Watching Gao Yuan’s departing figure, Zheng Fa smiled.
His roommate had some ordinary person’s little thoughts, but honestly, he wasn’t bad.
---
Gao Yuan took nearly half an hour to fetch the food. By the time he brought the food box back, Zheng Fa was so hungry that his stomach was in knots.
“The people in the big kitchen said the lady didn’t give any orders! They were trying to cheat us out of our meal money!” Gao Yuan said indignantly. “I had to get my dad involved before they finally told the truth!”
Hearing this, Zheng Fa looked up and thanked Gao Yuan, “I really need to thank your dad; otherwise, I wouldn’t even get this meal.”
“No problem! This is what we’re entitled to!”
Gao Yuan waved his hand dismissively.
The food box was indeed quite full.
The top layer held two large bowls of meat and a big bowl of vegetables.
The middle layer was packed with rice.
It didn’t look particularly appetizing, but the portions were generous.
Zheng Fa picked up his chopsticks and began to devour the food.
As he stuffed his mouth, his gaze inadvertently swept over the bottom layer of the food box.
It was supposed to be empty, but he noticed a piece of paper—well, a corner of a paper—wedged between the layers.
Gao Yuan seemed to catch his glance, suddenly retracting his hand as if he didn’t want Zheng Fa to see.
Zheng Fa then realized that this guy had probably done something private during his long absence.
He lowered his head and took another mouthful of rice, pretending nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Gao Yuan was fidgeting, clearly distracted even while eating.
---
The next two days, Zheng Fa lived a very regular life.
Every morning, he would stand in the Seventh Young Master’s courtyard, and accompany him to Mr. Shen’s lessons.
In the afternoons, he would go to Xu Jiaotou to learn the Song He Zhuang.
Zheng Fa’s learning speed was indeed a bit faster than Gao Yuan’s, but Xu Jiaotou had also told them that while Zheng Fa learned quickly, he started late. Without special opportunities, mastering the Song He Zhuang would still be difficult.
In the evenings, after dinner, they would each do their own things.
Zheng Fa was quite busy at night.
Besides memorizing the classics discussed in Mr. Shen’s class, he also had to recall knowledge from modern textbooks.
He even set aside half an hour each day to practice calligraphy.
But Gao Yuan was different:
As soon as he returned to their quarters, he would sneak into his room, looking at something mysterious.
Zheng Fa occasionally caught a glimpse of him holding several sheets of paper.
They looked very much like the ones hidden in the food box that day.
Gao Yuan often hid the papers from Zheng Fa, quickly tucking them away whenever Zheng Fa entered the room.
But sometimes, when he was engrossed, Zheng Fa would inadvertently see what was written or drawn on the paper—complex lines that didn’t resemble any discernible patterns.
Even with just a glance, Zheng Fa felt a bit dizzy.
Gao Yuan, who spent all day with those sheets of paper, was clearly even more overwhelmed.
That night, when Zheng Fa walked into the room, he found Gao Yuan sprawled on his bed like a salted fish.
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