Whizz whizz whizz!
Lu Yan stood up, pulling the bow and arrow, as smooth as flowing clouds and water, firing three arrows consecutively, two of which hit the third ring, and one hit the fourth ring.
A substantial improvement over before.
"In just less than three days, it's comparable to a common person's diligent cultivation for a year."
Lu Yan murmured, the joy on his face difficult to hide.
This was even under the circumstances of lack of food. If he could eat meat for all three meals a day, or have a constant supply of food energy to keep the Archery Clone in a state of cultivation at all times, the progress would be even more astonishing.
The wonders of the Dao Book were beginning to reveal themselves.
Whizz whizz whizz...
Lu Yan continued to practice, and soon there were over a dozen bamboo arrows embedded in the target. Lu Yan went over to pull them out and began practicing anew.
The Archery Clone wouldn't stop practicing due to the lack of energy, but he himself couldn't waste time. His own practice could also speed up the progress, enhance the comprehension of archery, and exercise his body to build up physical strength.
He practiced until evening before returning.
At night, there was still meat as before. About a pound and a half of meat was cooked, of which Lu Yan received at least a pound.
"Eh, this time the archery progress only increased by 15% before stopping."
Lu Yan frowned. Previously, a pound of meat had increased it by 30%.
But he soon understood.
As archery entered the "Slight Achievement" level, the difficulty of improvement would naturally increase, and the energy consumption would inevitably be greater.
It was normal for the same amount of Martial Energy to produce a significantly reduced increase in progress.
The Dao Book seemed to have some wisdom, not consuming all the food, but leaving a little to maintain the body's basic expenditure.
Days passed, and half a month passed in a blink of an eye.
Lu Qingshan would go hunting in the mountains every day. Although not every day yielded results, there was generally enough to sustain one meat meal a day.
A pound of meat, along with other foods, such as wild sweet potatoes, coarse rice, wild vegetables, etc.
Therefore, Lu Yan's archery skill made steady progress each day. After half a month, it crossed the "Integration" stage and reached the fourth level of archery, Mastery.
Clone, Basic Archery, Mastery (5%).
In just around twenty days, he had achieved Mastery, comparable to a common person's diligent cultivation for a decade.
At this point, Lu Yan was able to hit the bullseye from thirty meters away with almost every arrow, with very few misses.
He guessed that Lu Qingshan was probably at this level too.
At this time, Lu Yan decided to go hunting in the mountains with Lu Qingshan.
His current goal was to save silver coins to go to the city for martial arts training.
In addition, as archery continued to breakthrough, the energy consumption had become bigger and bigger. Now, eating only one pound of meat could only raise the archery progress by 3.75%.
In order to let the Archery Clone continue to improve rapidly, more food and meat must be acquired, but relying solely on Lu Qingshan was too slow, and it was not enough.
However, when Lu Yan proposed this, Lu Qingshan directly refused.
"Yan'er, you've only been practicing archery for a short while. Those wild beasts are very alert. If you miss with one arrow, they will flee immediately. Your father will bring you into the mountains after a few more years of practice."
Lu Qingshan said.
"Father, I feel that my archery has greatly improved during this period. I can hit the bullseye every time. I should be ready for hunting."
Lu Yan explained.
In order to participate in the hunt and save money for martial arts training as soon as possible, Lu Yan didn't plan to hide his progress in archery.
After all, it's only basic archery. Even if his progress was astonishing, it should not be a problem.
"You can hit the bullseye every time?"
Lu Qingshan was clearly skeptical.
He knew very well that being able to hit the bull's eye every time meant that his archery skills had reached Mastery. He'd been hunting for many years and just reached this level himself. And how long had Lu Yan been practicing archery?
At most over twenty days.
"Father, let's try it out."
Lu Yan said.
The two of them went to the bamboo grove.
Lu Yan pulled the bow and arrow and fired five arrows in a row, all hitting the bullseye. This left Lu Qingshan dumbfounded.
After a good while, Lu Qingshan came back to his senses, his face full of joy, and said, "Really Mastery! In just over twenty days, Yan'er, could you be a martial arts prodigy?"
Lu Yan, with a thick face, replied, "Father, I'm not sure. I've found that since I started practicing archery, it goes smoothly, and I'm progressing rapidly."
"That's it, that's it..."
Lu Qingshan said hesitantly, "Yan, since you have such a talent, we cannot let it go to waste. From today onwards, I will teach you martial arts."
This time it was Lu Yan who was startled: "Martial Arts training? Dad, do you know martial arts? Are you a martial artist?"
Instantly, Lu Yan came to a conclusion.
Could it be that Lu Qingshan was originally a martial arts master, a peerless warrior, who had to hide in the mountains to escape from his enemies, hence not allowing him to practice martial arts so as not to be discovered by the enemy?
Obviously, Lu Yan was overthinking.
"Sigh..."
Lu Qingshan sighed, as if recalling, "Your father was once a disciple of the Iron Thread Martial Arts School in Wo Ye City, practicing Iron Thread Fist. But I was young and impulsive then, and in a fit of bravado, I got into a fight and had my meridians broken by my opponent. My qi-blood was blocked and I lost all my martial arts skills. Disheartened, I moved to Lu's Village to live as a hunter."
"Because of this lesson, I did not want you to practice martial arts. Instead, I wanted you to focus on your studies and achieve academic success. I didn't want you to repeat my mistakes. But now, seeing your talent with archery, I've decided to teach you Iron Thread Fist."
"So that's how it is."
Lu Yan nodded, finally understanding why Lu Qingshan had previously focused only on his studies; he was afraid that his son would be too bold and reckless.
At the same time, Lu Yan was excited. He had originally planned to earn money by hunting in order to learn martial arts. Now, with Lu Qingshan directly teaching him, he was relieved of the time and money that he would have had to spend.
"Father, how is the strength and skill of a martial artist determined? Are there levels?"
Lu Yan asked.
As a street-writer author, he had naturally read a lot of novels. The martial arts in those novels were always divided into levels. Now having the opportunity to experience the transcendent powers of this world, he couldn't help being curious.
"Of course, there are levels in martial arts and martial arts are also categorized."
"According to the Martial Arts Guidelines, the human body has infinite potential which is sealed by the 'sealed doors'. The human body has five 'sealed doors'. Practicing martial arts means to transport qi-blood through martial arts, accumulating qi-blood, and then using qi-blood to break the 'sealed doors', breaking the limits and releasing one's potential."
"Every time a 'sealed door' is shattered, the qi-blood in the body increases significantly, and so does the strength. Naturally, your martial power increases as well."
"Back in my heyday, I had shattered two 'sealed doors' and was known as a Second limit-breaking Martial Artist."
Lu Qingshan explained very carefully, and Lu Yan also listened carefully, not wanting to miss a word.
"Limit-breaking Warrior?"
Lu Yan murmured.
"Yes, there's an interesting story about the term 'limit-breaking'. It was originally called 'door-breaking', but the later generations felt that the term was not elegant enough, so they changed it to 'limit-breaking', meaning to break through one's limits."
"Now that we've talked about the Martial Arts levels, let's talk about the hierarchy of martial arts. Each martial art, based on the progress of cultivation, is divided into seven levels: Initial Understanding, Slight Achievement, Integration, Mastery, Reaching the Peak of Perfection, Transcendent, and Unity of Man and Martial Arts."
Lu Qingshan continued.
"Isn't this similar to archery?"
Lu Yan wondered, "I understand this point. The higher the level of the same martial art, the stronger its power."
"Yes, but it's not entirely correct."
Lu Qingshan explained, "The martial arts level not only determines the strength of the power, but also impacts the cultivation speed. Moreover, it greatly aids in breaking the 'sealed doors'."
"Any martial art, at the beginning, requires constant practice to sense the qi-blood in the twelve main meridians. When you can sense and transport the qi-blood in the twelve main meridians, you can be considered an entrant, that is, at the Initial Understanding level."
"Once you progress further to the Slight Achievement level, you will be able to open smaller branch meridians, letting the qi-blood pass through the main and branch meridians. The finer, deeper distribution of the branch meridians within the human body allows the qi-blood to penetrate deeper into the body, leading to more thorough tempering of the body. Thus, your speed of accumulating qi-blood also increases."
"The higher the martial arts level, the more branch meridians can be opened. As the power increases, so does the speed of accumulating qi-blood, and the tempering of the physical body."
"Generally speaking, a Third-rate martial art can open up 18 branches when it achieves Slight Achievement. When it reaches the Integration stage, it can open 36 branches. By the time it reaches Mastery, it can open up 72 branches, and so on."
"Third-rate martial arts?"
Lu Yan heard another new term.
"Yes, martial arts also have levels. The Iron Thread Fist that I'm going to teach you is a Third-rate martial art. At Slight Achievement, it can open 18 branches and can potentially break three 'sealed doors', becoming a Triple limit-breaking Warrior."
"It is said that a Second-rate martial art can open 36 branches when it reaches Slight Achievement. Both its cultivation speed and the quality of cultivated qi-blood are higher than the Third-rate martial arts. At its peak, it can break all five 'sealed doors', becoming a Fifth limit-breaking Warrior."
Lu Qingshan explained.
"Then, are there First-rate martial arts above this?" Lu Yan asked.
"Yes, it is said that a First-rate martial art can open 108 branches when it achieves Slight Achievement. It can also refine the qi-blood, attuning the bones for a higher bone strength, creating a physique with iron-like muscles and copper skin. It can slay a general in the midst of thousands of soldiers and is known as Martial Marquis. The feudal lords, like the Liu Family, certainly have a Martial Marquis who has achieved bone strength among them."
"But First-rate martial arts are mainly in the hands of noble houses and are inaccessible to ordinary people. For now, you don't need to think too much about this."
"So, above the Fifth Breakthrough is bone strength, right?"
Lu Yan remarked quietly, giving him a preliminary impression of the martial arts world.
"Dad, what level are the martial soldiers of the Liu Family at?"
Lu Yan asked.
He remembered the martial soldiers of the Liu Family, towering at more than one meter and ninety centimeters, their aura more terrifying than a ferocious tiger. With a shake of their long spears, they could tear apart an adult's body. Even thinking about it now, he found it horrifying.
"The Liu Family is just a low-level Martial Marquis house, so their martial soldiers should be between the First Breakthrough and Fifth Breakthrough. But as the core elite of a noble house, they should be practicing Second-rate martial arts. Their combat strength should be considerably stronger than those who practice Third-rate martial arts."
"Alright, you now have a basic understanding of martial arts. As for the specifics, you need to experience them during your cultivation. Now, I will start teaching you Iron Thread Fist. Like archery, martial arts are easy to learn but hard to master. You need to practice diligently and persevere."
Having said that, Lu Qingshan began teaching Iron Thread Fist.