Chapter Four: Spring's Radiance Unveiled

At last, noon arrived. Luo Changning returned to Su Qinqin’s grave, standing before it without removing the weights from his body, simply waiting for his master.

After a short while, the man dressed in black flew over, carrying several items. Luo Changning was not surprised; although Qingyang County was small, there were many martial artists. Still, he wished he could learn lightness skills sooner—how splendid it would be to walk on the wind as legends claimed.

The man glanced at Luo Changning and handed him the items. “External martial arts focus on forging the body. You must treat your flesh as iron, hammering it until it becomes steel. For a long time, your training will center on strengthening your body; not a day may be wasted. Martial arts demand wealth—you must eat more meat. Every day, at least five pounds, to accumulate energy for your training.”

“Yes, Master.”

Luo Changning took the lunch wrapped in oiled paper, opening it to find a roasted chicken and a pound of fatty char siu. Just as he was about to eat, his master handed him a gourd. Luo Changning hurriedly accepted it.

“From now on, during your rest, you’ll drink only this. No water during training.”

Luo Changning opened the gourd. A faint aroma of wine drifted out, and his mouth watered involuntarily, but he protested, “Master, this is wine. Aunt said I mustn’t touch it until I grow up.”

Even in his previous life, he hadn’t reached the legal drinking age—now he was only ten!

“Hmph!” The man sneered. “Grow up? From the moment your mother passed, you became an adult. With a blood feud on your shoulders, do you still see yourself as a child? If so, you’d best roll down the mountain and return to your wet nurse. If you don’t even dare drink watered-down wine, you’re a coward!”

“I’m not a coward! I want revenge!”

Luo Changning roared, tilting his head back and gulping a mouthful of wine. His throat burned instantly, but he forced himself to swallow, bulging his eyes at his master to prove he was a man.

“Haha, good, that’s the spirit! Finish your meal, rest for half an incense stick’s time, and resume morning training. At dusk, go home.” With that, the man in black turned and left.

Starving, Luo Changning devoured the fatty char siu, then drank from the gourd. As he ate, he wondered at the faint herbal scent clinging to his master.

He shook his head, tore off a drumstick from the chicken, and gnawed at it fiercely.

After finishing the whole chicken, he cleaned himself briefly at a pond he’d discovered while running. The cool water tempted him, but he swallowed his longing and started running again.

The pond was alluring, but forbidden...

Hmph, the young master doesn't want to drink it anyway!

After a day of body-forging, Luo Changning descended Mo Hui Mountain and headed toward the Su family’s small courtyard. Of course, he left the sandbags, double-headed meteor hammers, and wine gourd halfway up the mountain. His master had told him not to reveal his martial training to his family. If Aunt found out, she might forbid him from continuing.

Alas, with all these injuries, Aunt would surely feel distressed.

He soon arrived home. Su Meng saw the wounds on his neck and wrists and was indeed heartbroken. She sighed, instructing him to know his limits and not rush, lest he damage his body and lose more than he gained. She carefully applied medicine to his wounds.

If she knew about the injuries on his ankles, abdomen, and chest, she would surely shed a few tears in secret.

Su Meng thought to herself: She had kept Ning’er from martial arts to avoid him being dragged into the world of rivers and lakes, or worse. It would be better for him to live safely, as his name implied—a life of peace. Yet now, Ning’er wished to learn martial arts, and regardless of the reason, she should not interfere.

Besides, some things in this world must be done, no matter what.

---

After ten days of such training, Luo Changning felt he was no longer easily sore; his muscles grew firmer, and his running speed increased. His once fair skin had darkened and roughened, prompting Qing Gu to tease him for looking like a country bumpkin.

Ah, how vexing!

He shook his head and slowly climbed a nine-foot-tall tree using both hands and feet, slipping and falling for the fourth time.

Ouch! He had endured ten days of grueling training, only to be stymied by a small tree.

Rubbing his bare backside, Luo Changning grumbled inwardly: His master said the next phase would be tree-climbing, until he could swiftly climb the tallest eucalyptus on Mo Hui Mountain.

Eighty-one feet! A full eighty-one feet!

But that wasn’t the worst part. Why did his master insist he climb naked? Though there was protection for the vital parts, ensuring no harm would come to his root, it was mortifying to have his bare bottom exposed! If a girl passed by and saw him, would she call him a rogue and drag him to the authorities? It was a hot summer, so few people ventured up the mountain, but one never knew...

Luo Changning lamented as he resumed his strenuous climbing.

Two months passed in this manner. Luo Changning became agile as a monkey, scaling the eucalyptus in a flash—even with sandbags tied to him, though the meteor hammers were no longer hung around his neck.

He climbed down, grinning, about to ask his master what the next training would be.

Suddenly, a childish scream sounded behind him, “Ah—filthy rascal!”

Startled, Luo Changning turned, catching only the sight of a pink-clad girl, shorter than himself, darting away. She was skilled in martial arts, running faster than him.

But what troubled Luo Changning most was that a girl had seen him naked, and his face flushed crimson with shame.

“M-master, may I put my clothes on now?”

“Cough, cough, yes, you may.” The man in black couldn’t help but laugh, though he quickly composed himself. “Now that your muscle firmness, balance, and agility are well-trained, it’s time to formally begin practicing martial arts.”

As Luo Changning hastily dressed, he wondered: Why had his master’s laughter sounded so clear and bright, nothing like his usual rough, low voice?

But he dismissed the thought. In his eyes, his master was simply the one who taught him martial arts and helped him grow stronger; nothing else mattered.

Once dressed, he saw his master holding a wooden staff as thick as a grown man’s arm.

“Assume the horse stance, circulate energy in your dantian.”

The human body has three dantian: the lower stores essence, the middle stores energy, and the upper stores spirit.

Internal martial artists cultivate inner strength in the lower dantian; innate martial artists transform worldly energy into true qi in the middle dantian; and those who reach the highest level generate soul power in the upper dantian.

---

Luo Changning obeyed. Circulating energy in the dantian was common knowledge on Yaohua Continent, not just among martial artists. Yet this “energy” was not inner strength, but the body’s primordial vitality—yuan qi.

“Catch!” the man in black barked.

With a thud, he struck Luo Changning’s shoulder. Luo’s body swayed, then straightened again.

Back, waist, hips, collarbone, chest, abdomen, arms, legs... Every part except the head and that third limb, all were struck again and again, for a full hour.

Luo Changning couldn’t help but suspect that his master bore a grudge, venting it under the guise of training.

Time flew. Two years passed in the blink of an eye. Luo Changning had truly become a dark-skinned youth, his complexion shifting from pale to wheat, and now to bronze.

But what vexed him most was his master’s revelation: The past two years had been spent cultivating virgin skill, which could not be broken. If he lost his virginity, at least half his power would be gone!

Luo Changning pouted, aggrieved. “Master, Aunt always said that of all unfilial acts, not continuing the family line is greatest. Teaching me this virgin skill—isn’t it unfair?”

In his previous life, his illness meant he couldn’t be with women, but must he never know the taste of flesh in this life either?

The man in black snorted coldly. “At your age, with a blood feud unavenged, you’re already thinking of marrying and raising children? Has your aunt or cousin left descendants? When you advance to the innate stage, your lifespan will double—why worry about continuing the family line then?”

Thinking of his aunt, unmarried at twenty-five and managing the household daily, Luo Changning felt ashamed. His master was right; with revenge unfulfilled, how could he marry and have children? That would only burden his family and hinder his quest for vengeance.

He must grow stronger and become a true man, to shelter his aunt from wind and rain!

“I admit my mistake,” Luo Changning said earnestly.

“Correcting your errors is the greatest virtue. Furthermore, in a few days, I will leave Qingyang County and may not return for years. Today, I will teach you an inner strength method. Though it’s of the lowest grade, it is better than nothing—it will at least let you become an internal martial artist. How much you digest depends on your own fortune. The strength and quantity of your inner force depends on practice time, but talent is even more important.”

“When your inner strength can flow throughout your body, you may go to Martial Street and buy another method. Remember: Internal martial artists focus on cultivating inner power, but must never neglect body forging. Martial techniques are important as well—where you learn them is up to you. I only bring you into the fold; the rest of the journey is yours to walk.”

With that, the man in black began teaching Luo Changning the Xuanhuang Method.

Luo Changning was highly perceptive and quickly grasped the technique, absorbing the entire method. Instantly, he felt his dantian warm, a faint stream of energy coursing through his meridians in his abdomen, vanishing when it met resistance.

Exhaling, Luo Changning opened his eyes and looked at his master.

The man nodded. “Good, you’re a promising talent. Practice diligently. When that energy can flow unimpeded through all your meridians, you may begin attacking the acupoints.”

Luo Changning nodded earnestly, his head now dark as polished ebony.