The hour of Mao refers to the time between five and seven in the morning. In ancient times, government offices generally checked their staff members during this period, which is commonly known as 'pointing mao'.
From this, it can be seen that ancient civil servants also had a tough job. Especially for Li Xuan, who served in the Liudao Division, he generally had to work from dawn until the first Gengtian (seven in the evening), or from fisrt Gengtian to point mao, and overtime work was routine. Astonishingly, he had only six rest days a month. At first glance, this is far harder than the lives of modern public servants who work from nine to five, akin to 996.
Therefore, Li Xuan had to get up at the fourth moment of Yin (exactly four in the morning), and then complete the cultivation of the two inherited martial arts before going to work.
When Li Xuan arrived at the training field in the backyard, he found that not only was his father there to supervise, but his elder brother Li Yan was also present. Li Yan stood by, crossed his arms, and looked on with an expression of amusement.
Li Chengji probably worried that Li Xuan had neglected martial arts for many years and was rusty, so he not only personally entered the field and demonstrated, but also stared intensely at Li Xuan, not taking his eyes off him as he completed five repetitions of 'Frozen Blade' and 'Cold Breath Fierce Palm' practices.
The Li family's 'Frozen Blade' has only seventeen moves, and the method is relatively simple, it can be completed in one minute.
What consumes time is 'Cold Breath Fierce Palm', which consists of 365 moves, and is an incredibly complex ultimate technique of Xuanwu. However, only the first thirty-six can be used for combat. The rest are boxing postures for Body Refinement, which can also help him strengthen his Ice Style vitality.
By the time Li Xuan had finished an entire set of 'Cold Breath Fierce Palm', Earl Chengyi looked quite satisfied. Although Li Xuan had grown rusty in these two family martial arts techniques, his movements were all on point and there were not many mistakes.
"That's about it. From now on, you just need to cultivate according to the method. Our family's two martial arts techniques not only can be used to face enemies, but are also the top tier body refinement methods. Moreover, each time after practicing, it can increase the Cold Power in your Zhenyuan. If you plan to achieve something in Martial Law, Xuan, you must cultivate diligently every day."
At this time, Li Chengji noticed that his son looked puzzled: "Is there anything you don't understand? Speak up, don't keep it to yourself."
"There are many places I find strange."
Li Xuan intended to clear up all the questions he had accumulated: "For example, the first move of 'Cold Breath Fierce Palm', 'Loubing Diaoxiu', I have been thinking whether the movement of raising the right hand is redundant? And the third move, 'Huwei Chunbing', why should one lift the leg when striking with the palm? I feel that if these movements are omitted, my Palm speed would be much faster."
Upon hearing this, Li Chengji was somewhat taken aback, but then his eyes showed a look of appreciation: "Asking these questions shows that you are thinking and learning seriously. This direction is also correct. Whether it is martial arts or taoist techniques, speed is always paramount. Only by hitting the opponent at the highest speed can you defeat them."
After thinking about it slightly, he said with a smile: "Explaining would be rather complicated, it's more intuitive to try it directly. Use the twelfth move of 'Cold Breath Fierce Palm', 'Deep Freezing', try your idea first, then use the original version."
Li Chengji looked around and found that all the wooden dummies around had been chopped to pieces by him during his previous sword demonstration. In the end, he could only point to his own chest.
"Aim here, don't hesitate, you must use enough strength to see the effect."
After hearing this, Li Xuan was a little hesitant: "Is this really okay, Senior? What if I hurt you?"
Looking at the opponent across from him, he seemed to have no intention of resisting and was preparing to withstand his two palms.
But the image of Li Chengji as an old rough man was no different from those of the elders in the park. So even if Li Xuan knew that his father was a renowned great expert, he still instinctively felt that this was inappropriate.
Li Chengji then sneered: "What's inappropriate? Do you think your mediocre skills can injure your father? Can the Gang Qi from the tenth house level my body uses be broken by you?"
"Father, you are injured, let me do it."
Li Yan, who had been watching from the side, stood up. He looked at Li Xuan, his lips curled up in a hint of scorn: "Don't worry, if I get hurt by you, then all these years of my training would have been in vain."
For his strong and young brother, Li Xuan had no psychological burden. He began to close his eyes in contemplation, imagining a 'liquid nitrogen' flowing through his body, while thinking about which redundant movements could be omitted. 'Deep Freeze' is one of the more complex moves among all the moves of 'Cold Breath Fierce Palm', so those 'extraneous' branches in his view are thus extra plenty.
It took three whole minutes for Li Xuan to prepare himself. Then he abruptly opened his eyes, "Be careful, older Brother!"
With that statement, his figure darted forward like a panther, his movements exceptionally concise and compact. As a chilly wind blew, Li Xuan swiftly covered a distance of ten feet, precisely stamping his right hand in front of Li Yan, emitting a 'thud' sound.
Subsequently, Li Xuan slightly furrowed his brows, retreating back to his original spot. He found that his older brother had no changes in him, still standing there motionlessly, the same faint smile still on his face, only that it seemed a little paler.
He used the term 'seemed' because Li Xuan couldn't confirm it.
Li Chengji glanced at his eldest son with a peculiar look, only retrieving his gaze after a long time. "Xuan, try it again in the original way."
Li Xuan nodded. For his next palm strike, he completely followed the original method without making any changes, putting all of his effort once again, and stamped it on Li Yan's chest.
The latter was still motionless, yet Li Xuan, unsure whether it was just his illusion, found that Li Yan's face had seemed to turn a bit paler compared to before.
However, at this point, what Li Xuan found more significant was the stark difference between these two strikes. He looked at his own hand, a look of realization mixed with incredulity in his eyes. "I see! So that's how it is!"
"It seems Xuan, you have gained some insight?" Li Chengji asked with a smile, "Can you tell us about it?"
"I've come to perceive that those seemingly superfluous movements allowed my cold power guided into my palm to become more abundant and also saved some consumption of Zhenyuan."
Li Yan didn't notice this when he was practicing his punching, but now when he was truly combatting with someone, adding a process of leaking out Zhenyuan, he could feel the benefits of these redundant movements.
"And also, the speed of me executing this 'Deep Freezing' technique didn't seem to have slowed down? It seemed to be even a bit faster than before. Besides that, there was a sense of bone-chilling wind."
But this was really beyond belief! Was it not abiding by basic physics laws anymore? The same rules that even the great masters like Newton and Einstein felt almost uncontrollable!
"The child is teachable!"
Li Chengji stroked his long beard, seeming even more satisfied. "Actually, these movements are not unalterable. It's just that you are not proficient enough now, it's more appropriate to go by the book. After all, these are our Li Family's ultimate techniques being researched for hundreds of years. Every swipe of their palms has been polished to perfection, at least it is so under the sixth house level."
"How about another try? I felt like I've gained some insights related to Yi and Shi, yet I haven't completely grasped it." Li Xuan raised his hand, looking enthusiastically at his elder brother. Then, he noticed something strange on his brother's face, a hint of panic and resistance emerged at this moment.
"You can try again tomorrow!" Li Chengji cleared his throat lightly, "Tomorrow I will have people prepare some high-quality training dummies for you."
Li Xuan felt slightly regretful but didn't persist. Afterward, he asked Li Chengji many more questions, only reluctantly leaving when it was almost the third moment of Mao.
Right after Li Xuan had left the training ground, Li Chengji looked at his eldest son with a solemn expression, "What happened? Li Xuan's cold palm power can actually freeze you?"
"Yes, I was frozen."
Li Yan spit out a mouthful of frost, then his body began to burn like fire, emitting large amounts of steam. "At first, I was caught off guard due to underestimation, and the cold power from his palm went straight into my body. Afterward, I didn't want to embarrass myself, so I tried my best to withhold it. At that moment, almost half of my organs had been frozen, and I couldn't even channel my Gang Qi. I had no choice but to endure his second attack."
His face was full of helplessness, regret, and disbelief. "However, this cold power is genuinely powerful, and it has a strong penetration ability! A Wu cultivator at the fourth or fifth house level would be frozen by him if they weren't prepared for his first attack. I wonder how he managed to train it to such an extent, could it be a rare talent?"