Domineering Fist, that was the name written on the book in front of me, the Martial manual in front of me didn't have much of an issue, other than the fact that this name was quite familiar to me .
After all, it was very much the same name of one of the books that swindlers back in my past live was trying to sell, i wanted to burst into laughter, but couldn't, one it would be quite improper to do so, two even though i grow a backbone, i still had no intention of courting death by doing something like this and displease Guardian Lu .
The book cabinet in front of me had 2 shelves in it, there were dozen of Martial Arts books, each had a paper note stuck to them, on the note, basic information were given about the Martial Art inside each book, its strengths and weaknesses, it also included their names and also grades .
I finally beginning to have a clear idea about the side effects that Senior Brother had mentioned earlier, for an example the Domineering Fist was a Yellow High-grade Martial Skill, that gave its practitioner the ability to strike stronger than the opponent .
But it also had quite the severe weaknesses, it made the Practitioner quite short fused, so there was a warning on it, people who are weak-willed shouldn't practice, people who still aren't Martial Apprentice shouldn't practice .
" Senior Brother Fu, I'm at loss here about the difference between Martial Art and Martial Skills, i ask for your guidance on this matter .
Oh, your question is quite simple and also not, Martial Arts is divided to two, Techniques and Skills, the Martial Techniques are what we Martial Practitioners use to cultivate our strength, the process is steady and sometimes even slower than crouching, but it guide the Martial Artist to his path through the different Realms of Martial Arts .
But Martial Skills are graded in the same way as the Techniques, but completely different in the concept, those were skills used in combat to gain an advantage over the opponents .
By using special attacks and postures and unique ways to move Blood Qi inside the body, all for the sake of achieving victory, some may even give you a huge advantage in strength over others .
But after meeting a certain kind of conditions, of course, like comprehension, level of proficiency in the said skill, some skills even required a certain items or weapons to work, but even though the increase in the strength that those skills brought was real, it was in the end temporary increase, most of those skills had mild effects or none at all on Tempering The Body of the Practitioner .
For an example the book you were glancing at earlier, the Domineering Fist Martial Skill, it gave a huge increase in strength and the speed of its practitioner, but at the cost of making him a short-tempered, it also required the existence of Blood Qi, otherwise the skill will burn the vitality of the person who try using it forcefully, but it has almost negligible effect on increasing the Martial Realm of the Practitioner .
Just to make everything easier for you, you won't be able to gain anything from currently practicing Martial Skills, once you enter the Martial Path by successfully entering the Flesh Tempering Realm first layer and as long as you are still a disciple of the Dojo, then you would be eligible to come here and pick a Martial Skill by then, the period you can stay at that time will completely depend on you, but for now you should really focus all your mind on the Martial Technique .
He said the last part with a mysterious grin on his face, he seemed to be already anticipating something happening in the near future .
Unusually, you today seem to be quite talkative for someone who had the title of the Aloof Wanderer .
Out of nowhere, i heard the man still sitting a bit distance away from us saying this, still closing his eyes, his words made me look on the senior brother Fu in a new light, while also wondering about the reason to why he was nicknamed as such, that guy seemed both friendly and easy-going, i can't see why he was having the word Aloof in his nickname .
I never wanted to be nicknamed as such as well, but it just stuck with me I guess and it's not like every day i can meet the guy who caught the attention of Uncle Lu .
Just as he said the last part, i saw the man suddenly opening his eyes and i can swore that i saw some sparks coming from his eyes as he opened them, he once again sized me up and down then surprisingly said :
You can stay in Scripture Pavilion for twice the period allowed, you can also browse most of the Low-grade and Mid-grade Marital Skills, but don't dare take even a glance at the High-grade ones, you can also pick only one Martial Technique, once you choose one, you can't browse any of the other Techniques .
At his words, i was completely stunned for a few seconds unable to stop my mouth from getting wide opened, I can tell that what he was giving me was quite a precious gift, a privilege even, just from the fact that he keep guarding here, already told me a lot about how precious all the books here were .
So him allowing me to take a look in them was already something quite amazing, all that happened, after instructor Lu name was mentioned, i was completely aware of that, i hurriedly cupped my fist and bowed but no longer out of fear, but out of gratitude and said :
" This junior will carve the favor that senior had given him in his heart, I'm truly grateful to you Senior .
He nodded his head at me and continued to say :
It's a small thing, but whether you able to take advantage of it is completely up to you, i believe Lu San already told you this, knowing more doesn't always benefit you .
" Junior will carve both seniors advice in his mind, thank senior for guidance .
He nodded at me one last time and returned to how he was before closing his eyes and breathing peacefully, i turned towards the senior brother Fu and saw that the man face was also opened wide, i tried to call him in a lower voice, so to not disturb Guardian Li .
But to no avail, he seemed to be completely caught in trance, i went to him and was about to try and shake him but stopped at the last minute, after all the guy in front of me, could punch me in any moment out of instinct and i would be done for .
Just as i was wondering what should i do, i saw Guardian Li suddenly clapping his hand, sending deafening sound waves echoing in the calm room, i then saw the eyes of the Senior Brother beginning to regain some clarity to them .
He directly bowed down and thanked Guardian Li for his help, i was unable to comprehend what he was doing exactly, was awakening him from his trance really that important, i can't help but wonder .
He then met my eyes and i saw that his eyes were gleaming at me and had a smile as he said :
Talk about an impact, you already got a privilege like that on your first visit, here try to see if this fits you .
He seemed to be sincerely happy for me, he then handed me a dark bronze colored sleeveless robe with a few lining of silver on it, the size was a bit off, but by only by a little, so i decided that it was suitable for me to wear and accepted it with gratitude .
I will leave you to check on the Marital Skills you wanted later, but for now, as i mentioned before you should first choose a Martial Technique first, in the Cabinet, there are 3 Martial Techniques, all of the Yellow-Grade .
He found a seat for himself and pointed towards where those techniques were, i couldn't help but be a bit conflicated once i looked at the second shelf and 3 books in right end of the rows of books, I looked at the three and fell into thought, the reason was due to the fact that there was three techniques only and the fact that the grades between the three techniques varried greatly .
The first technique was called Green Sword Technique, the note left on it mentioned that its grade was Low, it required a sword and the the Practitioner need to be focused on the Way Of The Sword .
The Technique Strengths were that it gave the Practitioner the ability to temper his body through sword moves and swings and also through increasing his understanding of swordsmanship, also giving the Practitioner a bit of insight Into The Way Of Sword, i didn't even know what that meant, so without even looking at the Weaknesses, i dropped the option to choose this technique for now .
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The next technique was called Fiery Steps, it was a Mid-grade Marital Technique, it focused on Tempering, The abdomen area and all that were below, Strengths was that it allowed the Practitioner to have explosive speed and strong leg muscles that can allow you to triumph over your opponent and allow you to escape from dangerous situations .
Weaknesses of this technique laid mostly in the fact that due to it focusing on training the abdomen area and below, it completely neglected the upper body, making it vulnerable to the attack of the opponents and need to take a special herps bath after crossing 3 layers, trying to alleviate the strained muscles in the leg, otherwise it might result in a backlash .
So that technique too was dropped, i didn't know what kind of backlash we were talking about here, but it was most likely quite severe, if there was a need for a special herps bath, even though i was quite interested in the increase of speed and strength of the legs, i believe that I'm currently incapable of choosing to practice such an extravagant Technique .
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It all came to the last yellow book on the shelf, it was the Marital Arts manual of the Dojo, the Solid Rock Fist manual, Yellow High-grade Martial Technique .
The book Strengths were that it focused on tempering the Practitioner's upper body, it was allowed to be used as a Marital Skill as well as Martial Technique, allowing even those who barely started their Marital Path to gain some strength, even in the first Realm of Tempering The Flesh .
Weaknesses were that it required quite the diligence and precision in executing the movements inside the manual, or else it might cause some hidden injuries inside the body, it also required the use of Medicinal Herp baths, to negate the hidden effects of practicing this Marital Technique constantly .
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That technique caught my eyes and even though it wasn't much different than the Fiery Steps techniques, it didn't had the word special herps in it, so i believe that it was still manageable, it was the last technique being displayed on the shelf, there was no other option, not to mention that it was the only High-grade Yellow Technique that i had seen .
I also took a bit liking to the fact it had on increasing the strength of the Practitioner even in the Flesh Tempering Realm which normally focused more on increasing the defensive capabilities of the Practitioner, so that peculiarity also caught my attention, not to mention that it was the Dojo Core Marital Technique, so i might be able to ask others for guidance and getting started with it quickly .
I took the yellow book cover and it seemed that Senior Brother Fu already expected this to happened, he said :
Being aware of your own circumstances is a remarkable quality to have, if you had picked any of the other books, i would have began to doubt the vision of Uncle Lu, if you had picked the first choice, only second senior Brother Bai Ming might have been able to give you some guidance in your training, he is the only one dappled with swordsmanship, among us disciples .
And the second choice was even worse, due to fact that with your current net wealth you want be able to buy the ointments or the herps needed to make them, since Legs Techniques cost more heavily, the Dojo can help you issue the task, but can't help you in funding this kind of extravagant training, so you have indeed picked the right choice .
I nodded my head at his words and even though i felt a bit bad about tempering my upper body alone instead of my whole body, i was still glad and quite excited about acquiring my first Martial Technique .
I sat down on the ground and opened the book in front of me, the second i opened the book, i got called out by the senior brother standing beside me, the moment i looked at him wondering why called me suddenly, he said :
You need to calm yourself down a little, also i just want to see you wasting a few seconds of your time .
He then had a grin on his face as he finished saying this, i appreciated the heads-up, as i was indeed a bit hasty with my actions just now, i then heard the last part and almost throw the manual in my hand at him out of frustration, but i soon calmed myself down and cleard my mind, then began to browse the book in hand .
I finally understood why the time limit that was given described as neither long nor short, the book in front of me had 30 yellow pages in total, it was written by hand, the booklet consisted of both words and inscriptions of a man doing different kind of postures and movements, the booklet words were describing the moves of the guy in the inscriptions to a great detail .
Telling the rhythm of breathing, the coordinates of the right postures to make so to not damage my body, the way to move my body from one posture to another to gather my Blood Vitality and move it successfully around my body .
It also explained in the last parts of it how to gather your strength and gush out a strong punch that had quite the power in it, but that punch was like a special attack that without Blood Qi, it won't be possible to use for more than 3 times, before the person lose consciousness due to the severe loss in his Blood Vitality, so using two times was the written limit .
It was also showing me how to circulate my Blood Qi and keep it in sync with the rhythm of my breathing for the best effect of Tempering The Flesh, the Punch was effective in driving the strength inside my body to affect the Flesh outside, i was beginning to understand what the instructor was trying to tell me, before .
The insides of the human body was indeed a treasures trove, i was also finally able to understand why those who i witnessed practicing Martial Arts had their bodies take a shade of red as they practiced, it was an indication of their Blood Vitality and Blood Qi being activated after they successfully Punch or Kick .
I didn't count the time it took me to absorb all of this info in, but i unconsciously closed my eyes and began to find the right rhythm of breathing then i stood up and began to execute the postures that i just saw in the booklet recklessly without thinking .
Just as i finished executing the 4 posture out of the 15th, a loud noise suddenly rang in my head making my whole body ran cold, i thought i was going crazy when suddenly a message appeared on my mind, saying :
( Strains, Fractures, Scarring, Bone Enlargement were detected due to poorly execution of Martial Arts, Strains,Fractures, other detected negative effects, all removed ) .
What in the world were you trying to do, crazy junior brother ? .