148: Chapter 148 White Dragon Body Technique

The next day, Chen Lang arrived.

Lin Tian had just finished patrolling Fish Pond No. 6 and was tying his bamboo raft to the wooden stake on the shore when he saw Chen Lang walking over from the end of the gravel path.

He had changed into a short outfit, with his trouser legs rolled up above his knees, revealing a section of his calves tanned dark by the lake breeze. He was wearing a pair of straw sandals, making a patta-patta sound as he walked.

"Junior Brother Lin, let's go." He stood still in front of Lin Tian and pursed his lips toward the lake surface.

Lin Tian leaned his bamboo pole against the wooden stake and asked, "Where are we going to Cultivate? Right here in Yunhai Lake?"

Chen Lang nodded and raised his finger to point at the stretch of water near the shore of Fish Pond No. 6. The water there was not deep and was clear to the bottom, where one could see the sand and stones and a few clusters of aquatic plants swaying gently with the current.

Several old willow trees on the bank hung their branches over the water. When the wind blew, the willow tips touched the surface, creating ripples.

"Right here. The water is shallow, making it easy to practice."

The two entered the water. The lake water rose over their ankles, over their knees, and up to their waists.

A chill seeped in through his skin; it wasn't bone-piercing, but it was distinct, as if soaking into his body layer by layer. The sand and stones at the bottom were a bit slippery to step on, covered with a thin layer of moss, and Lin Tian had to adjust his center of gravity to stand firm.

Chen Lang stood in the waist-deep water and beckoned to him, "Junior Brother Lin, swim a distance first. Let me see your foundation."

Lin Tian took a breath, leaned forward, and plunged into the water. He knew how to swim—he had learned it at the martial arts hall. It was a breaststroke using both hands and feet; the form wasn't pretty, but it was practical.

His arms parted the water, his legs kicked and clamped backward, and his body surged forward in the water with a bobbing motion.

He swam about a dozen zhang and turned back. When he stood up, water dripped from his hair and flowed down his cheeks.

Chen Lang stood in the water, his expression unchanged. It wasn't disappointment or satisfaction; he was just watching calmly, as if observing something he had already anticipated.

"Not bad," he said. "It's enough for ordinary swimming. But it won't do for fighting someone in the water."

He took off his straw sandals and threw them onto the bank, took a deep breath, and his body sank. The moment the water splashed, he had already disappeared.

Only a few ripples were left on the water surface, spreading out in circles, hitting Lin Tian's legs and breaking apart.

Lin Tian looked down at the water surface. The water was very clear; he could see the sand, stones, and aquatic plants at the bottom, but there was no sign of Chen Lang.

He looked up and searched around, but the lake surface was calm, without even a single bubble.

Suddenly, the water surface a dozen meters away broke. Chen Lang's head emerged from the water, his hair plastered to his forehead, water droplets clinging to his face.

He wiped his face and grinned at Lin Tian.

From entering the water to surfacing, there was almost no sound, and even the splash was minimal, like a fish floating up from the bottom to catch its breath.

Lin Tian's eye twitched. A dozen meters.

If it were on land, he could use his Cloud Shadow Step at full power and appear a dozen meters away in a flash.

But in the water, he simply couldn't do it. Water had resistance; every movement required several times more effort than on land, and the thrust from kicking the water was far less solid than footing on the ground.

When he swam with all his might in the water, he could only surge a meter or two at most. Chen Lang dove in and arrived a dozen meters away without a sound.

Chen Lang took another breath and submerged again. This time, Lin Tian saw it clearly—his body twisted in the water, like a fish grabbed by its tail, suddenly struggling with its waist.

With that single movement, he surged forward. The current slid past both sides of his body, creating almost no resistance, as if he weren't swimming in the water but sliding through it.

His legs were together, his toes pointed, and his body formed a smooth arc as he swept across the bottom. The aquatic plants swayed gently from the current he created, and there wasn't even a trace of turbidity stirred up from the sand and stones.

His speed in the water was even faster than Lin Tian running at full speed on land.

Lin Tian stood in the waist-deep water, watching Chen Lang shuttle back and forth underwater. Not swimming, but shuttling. He seemed to have merged with the water; it was not his resistance, but his aid.

With every twist of his waist and every kick of his legs, he borrowed the current to push himself forward. Where he swam, the aquatic plants only swayed slightly, the sand and stones remained motionless, and there were barely even a few bubbles.

More agile than a fish. Lin Tian had seen the fish in Yunhai Lake; when those Treasure Fish swam, they could surge a long distance with a flick of their tails.

But Chen Lang's speed in the water was even faster than those Treasure Fish. When Treasure Fish swam by, they left a trail of fine bubbles; when Chen Lang swam by, he left nothing behind.

Chen Lang emerged from the water, treading water, with his chest and above exposed.

His breathing was steady, and there wasn't even a hint of strain on his face, as if that shuttling just now had been a post-meal stroll.

"Junior Brother Lin, this is White Dragon in the Waves." He wiped the water from his face; his voice wasn't loud, but every word carried a confidence that seeped from his bones. "My ancestors have fished on the Bailong River for generations; this is a technique passed down generation after generation.

Look at that river; it looks calm on the surface, but there are many undercurrents beneath. If someone who doesn't know this movement technique falls in, they won't be able to come back up once an undercurrent catches them.

People in our family can catch fish at the bottom of the river and shuttle through undercurrents; we rely on this movement technique."

Lin Tian looked at Chen Lang, watching him tread water steadily on the surface, and a strong desire suddenly surged in his heart. If he could master this movement technique, his combat ability underwater wouldn't be much worse than on land.

Divine Turtle Breathing Technique allowed him to stay underwater, and White Dragon in the Waves allowed him to move underwater.

Being able to stay plus being able to move meant the Treasure Fish and the opportunities at the bottom of the water would no longer be things he could only watch from the shore.

"Senior Brother Chen, teach me."

Chen Lang swam back to the shore and stood up from the water, water cascading down his trouser legs. He stood in front of Lin Tian and began to explain the Mind-Cultivation Technique of White Dragon in the Waves.

The core of White Dragon in the Waves is not in the hands and feet, but in the waist. This was the first sentence Lin Tian heard, and it was also the sentence he only truly understood after practicing for half a month. Ordinary people swim by paddling and kicking with their hands and feet.

No matter how strong the hands and feet are, the amount of water they can push is limited. White Dragon in the Waves is different—it relies on the waist.

The waist is the hub of the body's entire strength. Once the waist twists, power is transmitted from the waist to the back, and from the back to the legs, and the whole body whips out like a whip.

The hands and feet are not the points of force; they are the rudder, used to control direction.

Lin Tian followed Chen Lang's guidance, leaned forward, plunged into the water, and tried to exert force from his waist.

The first time, he twisted his waist, but the power dissipated once it reached his back; he just twisted in place in the water and surged forward less than half a meter.

The second time, the power reached his legs, but the timing of the kick was wrong; his body surged out at an angle, and he bumped his head into the hanging willow branches.

The third time, the timing was right, but he forgot to coordinate his hands and feet; he surged out, but the direction was off, and he dove headfirst into a patch of water weeds. When he emerged, his hair was covered with several strands of water weeds.

Chen Lang stood by and watched, not laughing.

His expression was very serious. Every time Lin Tian did it wrong, he would walk over, crouch in the water, and press his hand against Lin Tian's waist, letting him feel the point where the force originated.

"Here, start exerting force from here. Not the shoulders, not the back, but the waist. Feel it; there is an axis here, and the body rotates around this axis."

Lin Tian felt it. His palm pressed on Lin Tian's lower back, at that spot—the depression at the very end of the lumbar spine. Exerting force from there, the power spread upward and downward simultaneously like ripples, transmitting upward to the back and downward to the legs.

The entire body was strung together into a line by this axis; when twisting, it didn't twist section by section, but the whole body whipped out simultaneously.

But feeling it and being able to do it were two different things.

In the following days, after Lin Tian finished patrolling the fish pond every day, he would go into the water with Chen Lang to practice the movement technique.

One day, two days, three days. Four days, five days, six days. His progress was very slow, slower than cultivating any other martial art.

It took a month to enter the Purple Qi Diagram, nine days to enter the Thunderclap Sword Technique, and a month to enter the Dragon Roar Iron Shirt.

But for White Dragon in the Waves, after practicing for six or seven days, he could still only surge two or three meters in the water, and the direction was often off, and the coordination of his hands and feet was always half a beat slow.

On the evening of the seventh day, Lin Tian stood up from the water, droplets dripping from his hair, a somewhat embarrassed expression on his face. He looked at Chen Lang and gave a bitter smile: "Senior Brother Chen, please don't laugh at me. I learn things very slowly. Our Peak Master is very angry about this, and she almost kicked me out."

He was telling the truth.

Peak Master Su Hanyan had taught him the Purple Qi Diagram for five days, to the point where she smashed a cup and walked away.

She taught him the Thunderclap Sword Technique for another five days, to the point where she threw the scroll at him and told him to go back and practice on his own.

His speed at entering the threshold of martial arts was indeed much slower than ordinary people.

Things that others could grasp in a day or two often took him several days or even longer.

Standing in the water, Chen Lang heard these words and smiled.

It wasn't a polite smile, nor was it a perfunctory one; it was a heartfelt smile, one that felt this was nothing at all.

"Junior Brother Lin, you are my savior; how could I laugh at you?" His tone was calm and plain, as if he were stating something that was only natural. "What's there to fear about learning slowly? If once isn't enough, practice twice; if twice isn't enough, practice ten times; if ten times isn't enough, practice a hundred times. You will always learn it."

He walked to Lin Tian's side and pressed his palm against his lower back, specifically on the depression at the end of the lumbar spine. "Come, let's do it again. Exert force from here. Don't rush, take it slow."

Lin Tian took a deep breath and plunged back into the water.

By the tenth day, he could dash five or six meters in the water, and he could basically control his direction, but the coordination of his hands and feet was still a bit stiff.

By the twelfth day, when he dashed across the bottom of the water, the water plants only swayed slightly; they were not knocked about by the current he created. Seeing this scene from the bank, Chen Lang curved the corners of his mouth.

The fifteenth day.

Lin Tian stood in water waist-deep and took a deep breath. He leaned forward and plunged into the water. The power in his waist exploded suddenly, originating from that depression at the end of his lumbar spine, spreading upwards and downwards simultaneously like ripples.

The force traveled to his back and legs, and his entire body was strung into a line by this invisible axis. Then, his waist twisted violently—not twisting section by section, but the entire body was flung out at once.

The water slid past both sides of his body, creating almost no resistance. He wasn't swimming in the water; he was sliding. His hands and feet didn't use force to paddle or kick; they just slightly adjusted the direction, like a ship's rudder.

All the thrust came from that single twist of the waist. The force originated from the waist and traveled along his body to his toes. His whole person was like a whip being flung out, snapping away with a pop.

He dashed ten meters away at the bottom of the water, then his body twisted, and his direction changed abruptly, shifting from moving horizontally to floating upwards.

The surface of the water broke, and his head emerged.

His breathing was steady and calm, his heartbeat neither fast nor slow, as if that dash just now was merely taking an extra step while walking.

He closed his eyes and brought up the proficiency panel.

At the very bottom of the martial arts section, a new line appeared—White Dragon in the Waves, Entry Level, 1-100.

Half a month. Fifteen days. This underwater movement technique had finally reached the Entry Level.

Lin Tian opened his eyes, the curve of his mouth unable to be suppressed. He turned his head and saw Chen Lang standing on the bank, his pant legs rolled up above his knees, his straw sandals stepping on the sand and gravel, grinning at him.

That smile was even wider than Lin Tian's own, like a master teaching an apprentice who finally sees the apprentice have a Breakthrough, happier than if he had achieved a Breakthrough himself.

"Senior Brother Chen, thank you." Lin Tian stood up from the water and solemnly cupped his fists at Chen Lang. "I have achieved the Entry Level."

Chen Lang waved his hand, the smile still hanging on his face, but his tone was nonchalant, as if he had done a trivial matter: "It's good that you've learned it. Now that you've reached the Entry Level, the rest depends on your own practice."

After saying this, he bent down to pick up his straw sandals from the bank, knocked the mud and sand off them against a rock, put them on, and turned to walk along the gravel path.

The setting sun stretched his shadow long, casting it onto the lake surface, swaying gently with the ripples.

In the following days, Lin Tian settled down by the Yunhai Lake.

His daily life was simple and regular. He would wake up early in the morning and first meditate to practice the Purple Qi Diagram for two hours. Then, he would patrol the fish ponds, poling a bamboo raft around the boundary of Fish Pond No. 6, checking the net cages, examining the water quality, and confirming the status of the Treasure Fish.

After returning from the patrol, he would practice sword techniques and palm techniques in the open space in front of the bamboo house. He practiced the Xiaguang Sword Technique and the Thunderclap Sword Technique alternately, and struck the iron-wood stakes with the Great Strength Vajra Palm one strike at a time, making the stakes hum with the impact.

In the afternoon, he would enter the water to practice the White Dragon in the Waves and the Divine Turtle Breathing Technique in the shallow area by the lake, dashing from the bank to the bottom of the water, and from the bottom of the water to the opposite bank, holding his breath as he shuttled back and forth underwater.

In the evening, he would patrol the fish ponds once more, then return to the bamboo house, light the oil lamp, and practice the Flying Knife in the Sleeve. The flying knife would fly out from his sleeve and nail into the wooden target hanging on the wall, the thud-thud-thud sound echoing until late at night.

Half a month later, the Vicious Beasts came again.

This time, the number was fewer than the last time, about twenty, led by several huge black wolves. But not a single member of Team 6 was panicked. Captain Ma pointed his blade forward, and the team members gripped their weapons and charged up, fighting with the Vicious Beasts.

Lin Tian still stood in his old position by the lake, the cold moon bow held in his left hand, an arrow nocked on the bowstring, unleashing the Meteor Arrow Technique with all his might.

The arrows were like meteors, flying over from the rear one after another, each arrow accurately hitting the fatal spots of the Vicious Beasts. Eye sockets, throats, hearts—every arrow found its mark.

This time, not a single team member was injured. It wasn't just that there were no minor injuries; not a single person was touched by a Vicious Beast. Because whenever a Vicious Beast tried to sneak an attack from behind, the arrow always arrived before the beast's claws. The battle lasted less than an hour, and the pack of Vicious Beasts left behind a dozen corpses, tucked their tails between their legs, and fled back into the mountain forest.

Captain Ma sheathed his blade and looked back at Lin Tian standing by the lake. Lin Tian had already hung the cold moon bow back on his back and was crouching by the lake to wash his hands.

The moonlight shone on him, quiet and calm just like last time, his robes clean, without even a drop of blood on them.

Captain Ma didn't speak, but just nodded at him. The meaning contained in that nod was heavier than any praise.

Days passed by like this, one by one.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Tian had already been at the Yunhai Fishery for a full month.

On the evening of the thirtieth day, after he finished patrolling the fish ponds and returned to the bamboo house, he sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, closed his eyes, and brought up the proficiency panel.

Name: Lin Tian. Cultivation: Fourth Rank Middle Stage.

Martial Arts—Purple Qi Diagram, Mastery, 1300-3000. Xiaguang Sword Technique, Mastery, 1260-3000. Cloud Shadow Step, Mastery, 1000-3000. Flying Knife in the Sleeve, Mastery, 860-3000. Meteor Arrow Technique, Mastery, 16-3000. Great Strength Vajra Palm, Mastery, 367-3000. Thunderclap Sword Technique, Minor Achievement, 670-1000. Dragon Roar Iron Shirt, Proficient, 345-500. Divine Turtle Breathing Technique, Proficient, 21-500. White Dragon in the Waves, Proficient, 9-500.

His gaze slowly swept across the panel.

The Purple Qi Diagram and Xiaguang Sword Technique were advancing steadily, the Cloud Shadow Step had just broken through the one-thousand mark, the Meteor Arrow Technique had stepped from Proficient into Mastery, and the Thunderclap Sword Technique had moved a significant step forward in the Minor Achievement Realm, getting closer and closer to Major Achievement.

The Dragon Roar Iron Shirt had broken through from Entry Level to Proficient, with proficiency already over three hundred.

Both the Divine Turtle Breathing Technique and the White Dragon in the Waves had broken through to Proficient; although the proficiency was still low, now that he had reached the Entry Level and started on the path, the rest was just a matter of grinding.

Everything was advancing steadily. Every day he woke up, he was slightly stronger than yesterday. Every time he cultivated, his proficiency increased. This kind of cumulative progress was invisible and intangible, but the numbers on the panel would not lie.

He opened his eyes and was just preparing to continue cultivating when footsteps sounded outside the door.

A guard stood at the doorway, holding a bamboo tablet in his hand. Seeing Lin Tian open the door, he smiled and handed the bamboo tablet over: "Junior Brother Lin, the Fishery Master has notified that you can go and collect this month's Treasure Fish."

Lin Tian took the bamboo tablet. The tablet was palm-sized, with cloud and mist patterns carved on one side, and the character "Yu" (Fishery) and the character "Lu" (Six) carved on the other. Fish Pond No. 6, number Lu.

He gripped the bamboo tablet, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved up. It had been a month; this was the day he had been waiting for.

Treasure Fish, a top-tier cultivation resource on the same level as Treasure Medicine, sold for three thousand taels each on the market, yet was priceless and in short supply. He wanted to taste what this Treasure Fish actually tasted like.