Chapter 196: The Things Lacking in Kicks and Punches

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Shengjing Military Camp...

Qin Fen was quietly lying on the bed, slowly operating the Rejuvenation Art in his body.

Owing to which, all the injuries that he had suffered during the fierce battle in the daytime were healing bit by bit. The meridians that had been clogged were also clearing bit by bit.

The three moves of Buddha’s Vanquishing Devil Palm that he had acquired by trading with Lin Liqiang had given him a lot of ideas. At the same time, he couldn’t help but sigh on his depreciating view of world heroes.

The three styles Five Fingers Illuminating the Heaven, Evil Dragon Reverse Cut, Withering Mountain River Palm were a system on its own. In other words, each style could be separately used as a finishing move or combined together to create a set of finishing moves that could be cast continuously like a surging Huanghe River.

As he was physically exhausted, Qin Fen could only stimulate the three moves of Buddha’s Vanquishing Devil Palm in his mind. Although it was worse than practicing with his own body, it was still a lot better than practicing nothing at all.

From Song Jia, he came to know that there were still many powerful experts among his peers in the Federation. As such, Qin Fen dared not slack off in his cultivation even more so.

Song Wendong’s words were not a joke. Although martial artists like Shangguan Chuanqi and Young Hades would not be the first to challenge, they were always a big threat. Only by constantly improving his martial strength could he cope with the possible strong enemies in the future.

God knows how many times he had stimulated the three moves of the Buddha’s Vanquishing Devil Palm, but in this time, most of Qin Fen’s injuries had already healed. Nonetheless, he was somewhat mentally exhausted and knowingly or unknowingly had entered sleep.

In the strange dark dreamland space, the theoretical master gradually made his way out of the endless darkness.

“Greetings, Master.”

Qin Fen arched his waist as he respectfully greeted this teacher-like elder.

As usual, the master lightly nodded his acknowledgment before arriving in front of Qin Fen and waving his arm.

Immediately after, a mirror-like projection appeared in this dark dreamland space, displaying the images of Qin Fen’s fight with the suitors in the Song Family compound.

Qin Fen didn’t talk. He just quietly stood next to the master, watching the blood-seething battle.

As the participant of the battle, watching the battle from the spectator’s point of view was quite different. The integration of two different kinds of feelings gave him a whole new understanding.

Having finished watching the battle, the master looked to Qin Fen. “What do you think?”

“The Soaring Cannon is still not perfect...” Qin Fen muttered in a low voice. “The firmness and ferocity are still insufficient. If my strength improves by a bit, the Soaring Cannon’s power...”

“Do you think your opponent won’t grow as well?” The master cut off Qin Fen. “You aren’t the only martial artist in this world. You alone won’t be improving. There are others as well, they too would improve. If your Soaring Cannon’s power improves, won’t they improve as well? What are you going to do then? Your Soaring Cannon would still not be able to finish the battle.”

Qin Fen was taken aback for a moment at first before he sunk into silence.

Owing to Qin Fen’s rapidly growing strength and his astonishing frequency of surpassing others around him over these days, he was under the wrong impression that only his strength was growing by leaps and bounds, while others’ strength seemed to be stagnated.

“In this world...” Master lightly shook his head and continued, “There will never be a lack of geniuses. If you regard yourself as the most talented among the geniuses, then you are not far away from your doom.”

In the face of Master’s teaching, Qin Fen could only nod. As a rationalist, he himself knew that he had slowly grown impetuous because of the recent winning streaks.

And this kind of impulsiveness had never appeared when he fought first.

Calmness had always been one of his most proud specialties. However, with his recent winning streaks, he had almost lost this specialty unconsciously.

This reminded him of what Squad Leader Hao had once said: “When someone is having a smooth sailing, he or she would unconsciously throw away the qualities that ultimately helped him have the smooth sailing. When those qualities are completely discarded, the smooth sailing will also come to an end.”

Noticing Qin Fen’s reflecting attitude, the Master lightly nodded in satisfaction.

A talented martial artist wasn’t difficult to find, what was truly difficult to find was someone who could, even after having easy winning streaks, listen to other people’s suggestions and in the shortest time possible, conduct a self-reflection. This was not that easy.

After a long time, Qin Fen slowly raised his head, looking at the Master, “My punches are lacking a bit.”

Master broke into a smile. Qin Fen had indeed carried out a serious self-reflection.

“Yes, what are you lacking?” Master smiled and asked, “Tell me what you are thinking.”

“It’s lacking firmness and ferocity.”

Just as Qin Fen’s words exited his mouth, Master smiled once more.

If other people heard Qin Fen’s reply, they would surely think that Qin Fen was talking nonsense.

Anyone who had seen Qin Fen’s fight would only have one impression: that not only this young man’s kicks and punches were firm and fierce, his body was as firm and fierce as a tank’s as well.

Master, on the other hand, nodded and smiled in complete satisfaction as he continued to listen to Qin Fen’s explanation. “My firmness and ferocity is just an idea, it’s lacking a thing. If you hadn’t told me, I would have kept on pursuing the firm and fierce road, and in doing so, would just appear very firm and fierce. However, I won’t be able to truly understand the essence of the firm and fierce road.”

“Very good, it’s already very good.” Master repeatedly praised Qin Fen. “I believed that you would be asking me to give you the directions, but I had never thought that you yourself would be able to realize it.”

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Qin Fen heaved a long sigh as he continued, “The true firm and fierce way should be the one which no one can block. A punch that can shatter the sky itself. A kick that can pierce through heaven. Watching my previous fight, I always believed that I was not strong enough, and I will be able to shatter the sky when I am stronger. But now it seems...”

Qin Fen’s pursed his lips into a self-deprecating smile. Today, the words he had spoken to those young men during the fight were too arrogant. Qin Fen could not help but wonder whether Butler Hou and his prospective father-in-law Song Zhenting were laughing when they heard his overconfident words.

“So, now, do you know how you should progress?” Master faintly smiled, looking at Qin Fen.

“I know, there are two methods.” Qin Fen nodded as he replied in a very peaceful manner, “First, I rely on myself to slowly comprehend. I believe I can definitely comprehend, I can get to the bottom of what I am missing.”

Master nodded in agreement; he was very much in favor of this. Qin Fen had a strong will that few people of his age had. It would not be too much to describe that perseverance of his as stubbornness. In addition, he was pretty talented as well. It was just a matter of time for him to grasp what he was lacking.

“There is another method: ask your advice.” Qin Fen looked at Master in a very earnest manner. “Please tell me what am I honestly missing?”

Hearing this, Master’s eyebrow twitched as he curiously asked, “Don’t you want to comprehend yourself? Perhaps you will be enlightened more deeply.”

Qin Fen smiled once more. As always, Master liked to constantly test others. It was as if if he didn’t do this, he could not thoroughly prove his identity as the Master.

“I have already comprehended, and that is my kicks and punches aren’t firm and fierce enough.” Qin Fen shrugged his shoulder. “As for what I am lacking, even if I have comprehended it, it still would not be in deep. If I came to comprehend it, I would still be lacking. It would just be a waste of time. Having been enlightened, I have come to realize I have flaws. But if I know there is a ready-made improvement method and if I don’t use it, then it would not be self-improvement but a foolish endeavor. Standing on the shoulder of giants, there isn’t any wrong in this sentence.”

Master lightly clapped his hands. Nevertheless, he didn’t openly indicate what Qin Fen was missing but rather, he started displaying a set of punches on his own.

Qin Fen had seen these set of punches.

He might not be familiar with them, but any three-year-old kid in the Federation would quite possibly snort in contempt upon seeing these punches.

Tai Chi! This was regarded as a very powerful martial art among the paleo martial arts. It had a true energy flowing method of its own as well as own unique way of wielding the energy.

Although it was hard to say that there was anything wrong with the Tai Chi Fist that Master was practicing now. It was just that this was the Twenty-four Simplified Tai Chi Fist that even the elderlies of the Federation had stopped practicing.

If one said that Arhat Fist and Hong Quan were fitness exercises. Then Master’s Twenty-Four Simplified Tai Chi Fists were even worse than the fitness exercise.

This set of fists could barely be regarded as a fitness exercise. Even when Qin Fen was destitute, he believed that this set would not really make that big of a difference and had instead chosen to learn Arhat Fist and Hong Quan.

Today, when he saw Master practicing this set of fists, Qin Fen was also at a loss.

The speed of Master’s fists wasn’t that slow. Those punches of his had a rhythm of its own; quiet as a virgin and swift as a hare.

Gradually, the expression on Qin Fen’s face also began to change from the astounded look at the beginning to that of watching with rapt attention.

The same Twenty-Four Simplified Tai Chi Fist appeared entirely different in Master’s hands.

Qin Fen even had an illusion that Master wasn’t even standing before him but rather a slowly rotating Tai Chi Yin and Yang fish.

God knows how many times Master displayed it but Qin Fen too started following Master unconsciously and started practicing the very same Twenty-Four Simplified Tai Chi Fist that he had decided not to learn back then.

Wild Horse’s Mane Parting, White Crane’s Wing Spreading...Cloud Hands...Single Whip...

Two people, just like this, practiced it for the entire night.

Only when the sky lit up did Master stopped his activity and asked, looking at Qin Fen, “Do you understand?”

Qin Fen scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. “Slightly...”

“Very good.” Master brought his left and right palm before his dantian and drew a circle with each, “Seeking softness from hardness and finding hardness in softness. If you don’t understand what softness is, how are you going to understand the hardness?”

Qin Fen repeatedly nodded. He somewhat regretted the day when he chose his fist techniques. How could I forget that it was better to do things together than to do it alone? In any case, I would have learned both the fitness exercises and Twenty-Four Simplified Tai Chi Fists that others didn’t learn.

If I had been practicing it for so many years, I believe I would have comprehended more than what I have comprehended last night. Perhaps, I simply would not have to use the Raging Berserker Tide to knock Ge Bing out.

A bugle call resounded as Qin Fen woke up from the dreamland.

This was what was good about a military camp. No matter which military camp it was, it surely would have this reveille thing.

Pushing the door and looking at the bright sky, Qin Fen decided to eat breakfast first before going to the gravity chamber. The equipment of Shengjing gravity chamber was better than that of recruit camp.

I should be able to realize more by practicing Tai Chi Fist under the special gravity, right?