Huff
Huff huff
Swish swish swish
The moon is bright, but the stars are sparse.
The autumn wind blows, making the leaves in the courtyard rustle.
A faint aroma of herbs drifts in the air.
Lin Zheyu sits down on the ground, leaning against the wall, gasping for breath, with his legs trembling uncontrollably.
He has been training for more than an hour, and his feet feel as if they don't belong to him.
"The horse stance doesn't count; it hasn't appeared in the skill bar."
Lin Zheyu looks at the data in his consciousness; there's no information about the horse stance in the skill bar.
He's not disappointed either.
The horse stance isn't a complete martial art, just a foundational training technique.
The first batch of medicinal soup has already been boiled; Lin Zheyu rests for a bit, drinks the soup, and feels warmth in his stomach.
"Boil some hot water and soak for a bit, keep training tomorrow morning."
Lin Zheyu prepares to rest.
If he continues training now, he will reach his physical limit and need several days to recover fully.
During this time, he wouldn't be able to train further.
After soaking in hot water for half an hour, Lin Zheyu feels much more comfortable.
After hours of training, he falls into a deep sleep at night.
Morning.
Once again, he is awakened by the raspy crow of a rooster.
"Hmm!"
Lin Zheyu sits up in bed, making a surprised sound.
Waking up in the morning, there's surprisingly little soreness in his legs and waist.
"Could it be the Qi and Blood Replenishing Soup taking effect?" Lin Zheyu ponders.
...
The storytelling doesn't begin until the afternoon, so he doesn't have other tasks in the morning.
After breakfast, Lin Zheyu resumes his horse stance training.
This time, he managed to persist for about ten minutes before feeling unable to continue.
After a short rest, he gets up to practice again.
If he doesn't manage to hold the horse stance for an hour within a month, Liang Song won't teach him martial arts.
Time passes slowly.
The order within the Inner City is good, unlike the chaos in the White Mountain District of the Outer City.
After moving into the Inner City, Lin Zheyu's life returned to calmness.
Day by day, aside from storytelling, he devotes all his remaining time to practicing the horse stance.
Besides practicing the horse stance, Lin Zheyu incorporates push-ups into his routine as well.
The Qi and Blood Replenishing prescription from Liang Song is effective.
Good things come at a cost.
One prescription can be boiled for three days, drinking a bowl each day, erasing fatigue by the next morning.
...
In the blink of an eye, more than twenty days went by.
With high-intensity training paired with a diet rich in fish and meat, Lin Zheyu's physique has become much sturdier.
Beneath the skin, faint muscle lines can be seen.
In the courtyard.
Lin Zheyu squats with both legs and his body rises and falls like a galloping horse.
For more than twenty days, he's been diligently working daily, training to the point where his legs get sore and tremble.
Gradually, he becomes addicted to standing in the horse stance.
While eating, storytelling, whenever he has time, he stands for a few minutes or half an hour.
Even when walking, he incorporates the horse stance, although it makes his posture appear somewhat odd.
The duration he can stand gets longer, from initially less than ten minutes to half an hour.
Now, he's been standing in the courtyard for nearly an hour.
Sweat soaks through his clothes.
Lin Zheyu breathes steadily, his chest rising and falling.
His legs begin to tremble uncontrollably, large beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.
"Hang in there!"
"Time is almost up."
Lin Zheyu encourages himself in his mind.
His eyes are on the clepsydra in the courtyard, a tool for timekeeping.
It shows that there's less than ten minutes left until he's been in the horse stance for an hour.
Swish swish swish.
The cold wind blows, and the weather is a bit chilly.
With his body's rising and falling, the amplitude of trembling begins to increase, and he's close to his limit.
"Come on, just a few more minutes, and break a physical limit to earn a unit of Source Power."
Lin Zheyu keeps cheering himself on.
Over these twenty-odd days, he's been maintaining a balance, careful not to train too hard, afraid of breaking his physical limit, which could hinder future training.
Until today, seeing himself nearing an hour in the horse stance, Lin Zheyu decides to grit his teeth and push through, breaking his physical limit in the process.
Time flows slowly, another twenty minutes pass.
Lin Zheyu has stood in the horse stance for an hour, yet he doesn't stop.
He's close to breaking his physical limit.
His face turns pale, the trembling of his body grows more pronounced, and his legs begin to shiver.
"Hiss—"
Lin Zheyu's face contorts, appearing somewhat ferocious.
After enduring a few more minutes.
Finally.
He feels as if he's broken through a barrier in his body, with Essence, Qi, and Spirit uniting as one in a sublime transformation.
In his consciousness, Source Power increases by one unit.
[The Heavenly Dao rewards diligence]
Name: Lin Zheyu
Source Power: 2
Skills:
At the moment of breaking the limit, Lin Zheyu releases a breath, collapsing onto the ground.
He looks at the sky, a smile of climaxing satisfaction spreading across his face.
"Finally, I've done it!"
Lin Zheyu is overjoyed.
He has successfully trained the horse stance to last an hour within a month, ready to learn martial arts from Liang Song.
After resting for over ten minutes, with his muscles no longer trembling, Lin Zheyu turns over and gets up, beginning to stretch his muscles.
Once he's finished stretching, he rests for over thirty minutes, then dips into a hot water bath, feeling a whole-body comfort.
Afternoon.
Lin Zheyu shakily makes his way to the tea house.
"Are you all right?"
Seeing Lin Zheyu walk with an odd gait, Mr. Wo expresses concern.
Over more than a month, they have gotten quite familiar with each other.
Thanks to Lin Zheyu, Bidan Tea House's popularity has been rising, almost surpassing Yixiang Tea House. Before long, it might even overtake them.
Yixiang Tea House is the most famous tea house in Songyi City; catching up to them is something Mr. Wo never envisioned.
"I'm fine, just overdid the morning training." Lin Zheyu replies with a smile.
Compared to a month ago, his body is much more robust, full of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, showing no signs of once being a vagrant.
"Can you hold the horse stance for an hour now?" Mr. Wo curiously asks.
He knows about this because Lin Zheyu told him.
"Almost, just need a few more days to recover my body, and I'll make it."
"Congratulations then," Mr. Wo says with a smile, genuinely happy for Lin Zheyu.
The storytelling time arrives quickly.
Amid the enthusiastic cheers of the guests, Lin Zheyu steps up.
Bang.
With a slap on the table, the storytelling begins: "As we said last time…"
...
Time flies, another five days pass.
The body recovers from the tearing sensation of breaking through the limit.
"Luckily, the guests are supportive with their tips, quite generous, otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford it."
Lin Zheyu sighs inwardly.
This past month, the expenses have been like water.
As his popularity rose, Mr. Wo increased his pay to two hundred coins a day.
With daily tips included, he earns nearly five hundred coins a day.
Even so, there's not much silver left, most of it spent on buying eggs, meats, and ingredients for Qi and Blood replenishing.
Knock knock
Knock knock thump
In the early morning, Lin Zheyu knocks on Liang Song's door.
The courtyard gate opens, and Liang Song isn't surprised.
"Go stand in the courtyard; let me see how your training has been going." Liang Song says.
"Yes."
Lin Zheyu nods, walking to the center of the courtyard.
His legs slightly apart, he squats, hands extending forward, eyes looking ahead.
Lin Zheyu's body begins to gently rise and fall, like riding a galloping horse, with the muscles in his waist and legs trembling and driving power, the center of gravity shifting with the movement.
Liang Song observes for a while, nodding in satisfaction.
The posture is very standard.
He doesn't continue watching Lin Zheyu in the horse stance but instead picks up a watering can, beginning to water the flowers and plants in the courtyard.