3: Chapter 3 Introduction to Martial Arts!

The woman's expression flickered with a moment of daze.

She stood at the doorway, as if afraid she was seeing things, hesitating to enter.

She simply stared at Lu Cheng, stared at his starting stance which he hadn't yet had time to drop, and stared at his chest, which was rising and falling slightly from repeatedly attempting the Guiding Technique.

"You... are practicing the Guiding Technique?"

Her voice was very soft, with a hint of fear in her tone.

Lu Cheng was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Yeah."

The plastic bag in Chu Mu's hand trembled slightly.

She naturally knew that Lu Cheng had always wanted to practice martial arts.

It was precisely because she knew that she understood even more clearly just how heavy those two words were for her son.

After that incident in his childhood, Lu Cheng's meridians had become blocked.

The flow of his blood-qi was obstructed.

It was difficult to guide Qi, making it almost impossible for him to truly embark on the martial path.

They had sought out many famous doctors, and everyone said more or less the same thing: this child would likely be useless for the rest of his life.

Chu Mu had heard this too many times over the years; by the end, even she dared not hold onto any hope anymore.

But now, what was she seeing?

He was actually able to guide Qi smoothly!

"Mom."

Lu Cheng naturally didn't know the original owner's problems.

However, at this moment, looking at the woman at the door who was shivering from the night wind yet still forcing herself to stand straight, his chest felt as if it had been lightly pressed by something.

That wasn't his own emotion; it was a bit of instinct left behind by the original owner.

Guilt, evasion, and a bit of inability to face her.

The woman came to her senses and forced a smile; as if not wanting the atmosphere to become too awkward, she first gently closed the door.

Her voice was very soft, "Are you hungry? The factory gave out two steamed buns today. I heated them up again and saved one for you."

Lu Cheng's throat moved, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

In his mind, there were fragmented memories regarding this woman.

To support the original owner's studies, she accepted almost any work—altering clothes for people during the day and working overtime at a sewing factory at night, until she was too tired to stand up straight.

Yet, the original owner not only didn't appreciate it but often complained that she was too controlling and felt she was embarrassing.

There were even a few times when they argued intensely, and he had thrown things.

Thinking of this, Lu Cheng's heart sank.

Seeing him not speak, the woman at the door thought he was disgusted, so she hurriedly pulled the plastic bag back behind her, forcing a constrained smile on her face.

"It's okay if you don't want to eat; Mom was just asking."

"It's not that."

Lu Cheng spoke almost subconsciously.

The moment the sound left his mouth, even he himself was stunned.

The woman was also stunned.

Lu Cheng paused, his gaze falling on the plastic bag in her hand, his voice lower than before.

"I'll eat it."

The room was silent for two seconds.

The woman seemed not to have expected him to say that; a hint of surprise clearly flashed in her eyes, and then she nodded hurriedly: "Okay, okay, eat a little. You can't have an empty stomach after practicing."

The meal was very simple.

A plate of stir-fried green peppers and meat brought back from the factory, with pitifully little meat and mostly green peppers, a bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup, and two steamed buns that had already become a bit hard.

But Chu Mu was clearly in an excellent mood today; even when she was picking food for Lu Cheng, the corners of her eyes still carried a lingering smile.

"Eat more. Now that you can practice, you need to nourish your body."

"Yeah."

"Tomorrow, I'll go ask around for you to see if I can find a cheaper channel for blood-qi potions."

"No need, Mom, don't spend that money yet."

"Why not? Whatever other people's children can have, you should also..."

Halfway through her sentence, Chu Mu suddenly paused.

As if remembering the situation at home, the smile on her face faded slightly.

Lu Cheng naturally could see it.

The original owner's family was poor—truly poor.

After his father passed away, Chu Mu supported this home alone, doing odd jobs during the day and working overtime at the sewing factory at night, wishing she could split herself into two people just to barely keep the mother and son alive.

Things like blood-qi potions were not cheap for ordinary families, let alone in their situation.

It seems I need to find a way to get more money.

Lu Cheng took a bite of the steamed bun and smiled deliberately: "Didn't I just start guiding Qi? Let me practice on my own first; maybe I'm a late bloomer."

Chu Mu was amused by his words and smiled.

"You're just glib."

She didn't insist anymore.

But those eyes were much brighter than usual.

After the meal, Chu Mu went to wash the dishes, and Lu Cheng returned to his small room.

Once the door was closed, the relaxed look on his face vanished.

"I can't afford blood-qi potions, and I shouldn't even think about martial arts halls."

"Then I can only rely on the system."

As a martial artist, having blood-qi alone is not enough. Without martial techniques and movement skills, one is just an empty shell that only knows how to take a beating.

The school did teach two D-rank cultivation techniques. Although it was just a rough demonstration and explanation, it was enough for Lu Cheng.

One is an offensive martial technique, "Three Styles of Crushing Fist". It is bare-handed, requires no weapons, and focuses on stacking burst damage—each punch stronger than the last.

The other is a movement skill, "Wandering Step", a basic evasion movement skill that emphasizes center-of-gravity shifting and short-distance changes in direction.

Soon, a series of dull footsteps and sounds of air being broken echoed in the room.

Failure. Failure. Still failure.

But Lu Cheng became more and more excited as he practiced.

The biggest problem with practicing martial arts is that it's hard to quickly gain a sense of achievement; monotony and boredom are the core of practicing martial arts.

He was different; every time he failed, he could see the numbers on the panel jump up.

This feeling was simply like using a cheat... Oh no, he was using a cheat.

He practiced until midnight before Lu Cheng stopped, his whole body aching.

He leaned against the wall, his chest heaving violently, sweat having completely soaked through the clothes on his back, and even his arms were trembling slightly.

But his eyes were frighteningly bright. On the light blue panel in front of him, two lines of numbers had quietly approached the end.

[ "Three Styles of Crushing Fist" Experience: 98 / 100 ]

[ "Wandering Step" Experience: 98 / 100 ]

Just one last time.

Lu Cheng licked his somewhat dry lips, his breathing involuntarily softening a bit.

"The last one..."

He closed his eyes, forcing his chaotic breathing to calm down slightly.

A few seconds later, he stood straight again, stepped forward with one foot, lowered his shoulders, and according to the force-generating method in the video, tried to mobilize the Guiding Technique he had just started, guiding the weak blood-qi inside his body toward his right arm.

Then! Twist the waist, drop the shoulders, throw the punch!

Bang! The fist cut through the air, emitting a dull sound much clearer than before.

But the next moment, his movement still deformed because the connection of force wasn't smooth enough, his punch deviated by an inch, and his center of gravity almost tilted forward with it.

In normal times, this would still be a failure.

However, at this very moment, the panel flashed suddenly.

[ "Three Styles of Crushing Fist" attempt failed. ]

[ Experience + 2 ]

[ "Three Styles of Crushing Fist" Experience full. ]

[ Redeeming... ]

Hum! In an instant, Lu Cheng felt as if a long segment of action memory that had been repeated countless times was poured into his mind.

How to connect the shoulder, elbow, and wrist when throwing a punch.

How to twist the waist and abdomen to generate force.

How to borrow force from the ground under his feet, sending the power all the way from his lower body to the fist.

Even when throwing the first style, when muscles should tense and when they should relax became incredibly clear at this moment.

That wasn't empty theory, but something that had grown into his body's instinct after practicing hundreds or thousands of times.

The prompt appeared again before his eyes.

[ "Three Styles of Crushing Fist" (Entry): Each punch is heavier than the last; the third punch has the power to shatter stone! ]

Lu Cheng's pupils contracted, and he almost instinctively assumed the stance again.

This time, he didn't overthink it.

Simply following that sudden sense of familiarity in his body, he threw another punch.

Twist the waist, drop the shoulders, push the hips, throw the punch!

Bang! The moment this punch was thrown, a short, sharp explosive sound actually burst in the air.

Although it wasn't exaggerated, compared to the soft, brute-force punches from before, it was already completely different.

Even Lu Cheng himself was stunned for a moment.

He looked down at his fist, then clenched it slowly, feeling the lingering vibration in his arm muscles, and the corners of his mouth curled up bit by bit.

"It's done!"

The excitement in his eyes was almost irrepressible, and even the fatigue was largely washed away.

But soon, he shifted his gaze to the other martial technique, "Wandering Step".

If Crushing Fist is frontal burst, then Wandering Step is the key to life-saving and kiting.

No matter how strong the attack is, it's useless if it doesn't hit.

With his current amount of blood-qi and foundation, if he really encountered someone powerful, taking one hit would be enough to cause trouble.

Lu Cheng took a deep breath, dragging his sore and swollen legs to a small open space cleared in the center of the room.

Calling it an open space, it was actually just enough for him to barely move a few steps forward, backward, left, and right.

He recalled the key points of the movements in the video, slightly bent his knees, exerted force gently with his soles, and tried to perform the action of using center-of-gravity changes to complete short-distance evasion.

Move left, failure. Retreat right, failure. Step forward and change direction, failure.

After practicing continuously for so long, his body was actually already near its limit. The muscles in his legs felt as if they were filled with lead, and every movement brought soreness, numbness, and stinging pain.

But precisely because of this, this last failure came especially naturally.

The panel flashed gently.

[ "Wandering Step" attempt failed. ]

[ Experience + 2 ]

[ "Wandering Step" Experience full. ]

[ Redeeming... ]

The next second, Lu Cheng felt as if his legs, waist, hips, and ankles were all gently adjusted by something at the same time.

An extremely subtle sense of balance emerged from deep within his body.

The truly important thing about "Wandering Step" is not "speed," but "lightness."

You cannot stomp your feet firmly, your center of gravity cannot be nailed down, and your waist and hips must always have room for maneuver, like a bamboo bent slightly, ready to spring in another direction at any time.

[ "Wandering Step" (Entry): Master basic evasion footwork, can complete small-range center-of-gravity switching and short-distance direction changes. ]

Lu Cheng's breathing hitched, and then he stepped out almost subconsciously.

Swoosh. The moment this step was taken, his whole body seemed to suddenly become lighter.

The originally clumsy and stiff movements now had an indescribable sense of smoothness.

Another step. His body swayed diagonally, and his center of gravity suddenly shifted to the other side.

When the third step was taken, because his blood-qi was exhausted, he crashed directly into the table nearby.

"Damn! That hurts..."

Lu Cheng turned and collapsed onto the bed; it was time to sleep.

The next morning. Before it was fully bright, Lu Cheng woke up.

He first practiced the Guiding Technique a few times, then performed the "Three Styles of Crushing Fist" and "Wandering Step" once, stopping only when he was slightly sweating.

Morning light fell into the room through the gaps in the curtains. He could clearly feel that his body was changing bit by bit.

Just at this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door outside. Bang, bang, bang.

It was knocked somewhat urgently, and also a bit weakly.