"Wow, you're really amazing! What's your name, and how much does this decoction cost?" asked Chen Yi, appearing nonchalant.
"My name is Wang Xiaohu. This decoction costs one tael of silver per pair, hehehe!". Wang Xiaohu looked quite pleased with himself as he looked around. Obviously, among the dozen teenagers practicing the standing stake, only he could drink this decoction like this.
"Also, kid, keep up the good work. If you can train like me and hold the standing stake for half an hour, you'll qualify to be a guardian at my home. By then, I assure you, you'll be well-fed!"
Wang Xiaohu directed this at Chen Yi. The other teenagers looked at Chen Yi warily, as if they were afraid that Chen Yi's natural talent would threaten their positions as protectors of the Wang Family.
Chen Yi found this amusing, but he pretended to be a clueless country boy. He asked many stupid questions, amongst which were some that he really cared to know the answers to. Soon he had a general understanding of the martial arts of the Iron Fist Sect.
Only those who could control their Vitality and Blood within half a year have the qualification to learn Boxing.
Those who could refine their Vitality and Blood into Mingjin within a year were eligible to become formal disciples and then could learn the true teachings.
The difficulty level was quite high. It was obvious that the teenagers practicing the standing stake had no chance. Even Wang Xiaohu, supplemented by two pairs of decoctions each month, would be just about eligible to learn Boxing on a good day.
The world of Martial Arts places great emphasis on the physical talent of the individual.
Chen Yi continued to practice the standing stake, trying to get a feel for the irregular rhythmic breathing technique. He also began to ponder how he could use his previous life's high-quality education to change his current predicament in martial arts training.
In this life, he was ten times more serious about martial arts than he was about the college entrance examination in his previous life!
However, after a little more than two hours had passed, he had already rested four or five times. In the end, when his legs became soft and he could not maintain the Pile Skill pose, he realized that he had reached his limit.
It seems that Yunhu's instruction to have him practice the standing stake for one hour every day knew about the limits of ordinary people.
Aside from Wang Xiaohu, who persisted, the teenagers who practiced the standing stake had left.
It took Chen Yi nearly four hours to walk the over ten miles of the dirt road home, dragging his exhausted body.
His mother and sister had not returned from selling fish. Chen Yi poured himself two ladles of water to drink, then sat in the house to relax his leg muscles.
At this moment, the fan-shaped jade token in his brain suddenly emitted a bright light. Chen Yi focused his mind on the jade token, and astonishingly discovered that the jade token had transformed into a small door.
In his mind, he pushed open the jade door, and what lay inside was a vast and magnificent world!
In the azure blue sky, weird-shaped birds occasionally passed by.
Below was the endless Great Swamp, the ends of which were obscured by rising mists.
The calm water surface was dotted with countless fishing boats.
The perspective rapidly zoomed in, and Chen Yi's thoughts were concentrated on a small unmanned boat drifting on the lake. Looking carefully, the objects on the boat seemed to have been long exposed to the elements, likely a boat that had not been used for a long time.
Chen Yi had an intuition that with just a thought, he could appear on that small boat.
"Is this world my advantage?"
Chen Yi's heart was pounding. After thinking about his current situation, he felt like he had his back to the wall. But it seemed there was no great danger across the door.
He clenched his teeth and thought, "Let's go!"
The next moment, he was directly in that boat cabin.
Just as he steadied himself, Chen Yi took a deep breath and felt a surge of energy from his lungs, to his heart and throughout his body. It was extraordinarily comfortable!
He opened his eyes in disbelief: The air here?!!