After days of continuous spring rain in Jiangnan, the sky finally cleared. As the sunlight spilled over the earth, the Qin Mansion's gardens turned dewy and glistening, with a vibrant scene of red and green competing for beauty.
With nothing to do, Qin Yuesheng wandered around the Qin Mansion. He held a bulging embroidered pouch with gold threads, occasionally reaching inside to take out a snow-white piece and chewing on it, seemingly munching on some snack.
Only Qin Yuesheng knew that this embroidered pouch was filled with various sliced and diced tonic herbs, designed to be carried conveniently, as part of his idea to replenish All-Purpose Essence anytime, anywhere.
As he strolled, Qin Yuesheng arrived at a secluded courtyard, hearing the sounds of grunts and shouts from within the red walls and black tiles, as if someone was fighting.
"This seems to be where the Hospital Guards practice martial arts. Let me take a look inside." Qin Yuesheng thought to himself and headed directly towards the cloistered moon gate in the wall.
The Qin family, known as a prestigious family in Cyan Yang City, naturally had a large mansion, which couldn't rely solely on its own guards. To prevent roof-climbers, flower-pickers, Jianghu thieves, and other external threats, the Qin Mansion naturally employed a large number of Hospital Guards to serve as guardians.
Hospital Guards differ from household servants, who are merely male subordinates responsible for daily tasks like going out to buy vegetables, fetching water, chopping wood, repairing house leaks, and heavy labor. In contrast, Hospital Guards' duties are more focused, exclusive to patrolling, fighting, and martial arts training.
Entering through the moon gate, an open area paved with white stone slabs unfolded before him, where dozens of stout men in vigor outfits were diligently practicing their boxing forms in front of wooden stakes.
Nearby, over a dozen aged men moved back and forth with their hands behind their backs, stepping up to give advice whenever they noticed any discrepancies.
Qin Yuesheng's presence quickly caught the attention of others. A well-built, burly man strode over and greeted him in a rough voice, "Young Master, you're up quite early today."
The man's name was Qin Yue, originally a chief escort in one of the Qin family's many enterprises, the Yongshun Escort Agency, later reassigned by Qin Feng to teach martial arts to the Qin Mansion's Hospital Guards.
"Just as well now that it's not raining today. I came out to stroll." Qin Yuesheng curiously observed the Hospital Guards working on the wooden stakes and couldn't help but ask, "What are they practicing?"
"Young Master, it's the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist."
"Oh!" Qin Yuesheng couldn't help but ask, "Is it easy to learn? How long before one masters it?"
"Well, although the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist isn't an advanced martial art, it takes years of hard training to achieve mastery. Though, if it's just for physical fitness, a month or so of practice will suffice." Qin Yue replied casually.
Presently, Qin Yuesheng's body constitution had shown a significant improvement with the help of a super auxiliary device, yet without proper martial skills, merely flailing helplessly would prove useless, failing to unleash full power.
Seeing so many Hospital Guards practicing fervently ignited a desire in Qin Yuesheng to learn himself.
"Then teach me as well."
"That's not really a prob... huh?!" Qin Yue barely finished his sentence before staring at Qin Yuesheng in disbelief.
What day was it today? Did the sun rise from the west? The Young Master actually expressed a desire to train martial arts?
Being the sole heir of the Qin family, during Qin Yuesheng's childhood, Qin Feng had high expectations, hoping he would excel in archery, horsemanship, martial arts, chess, and calligraphy, even aspiring for him to achieve fame someday.
But a doting father tends to spoil the child; Qin Yuesheng was pampered and couldn't endure such hardships. Not to mention studying or training martial arts, he wouldn't even agree to cook his own meal when hungry. Over time, everyone in the Qin Mansion knew that the Young Master was a gourmand and idler.
Yet today, Qin Yue heard him speak of wanting to learn martial arts.
"Young Master, do you truly wish to learn the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist?" Qin Yue asked uncertainly.
"Why, are you not available?"
"Available, available. Young Master, please come this way, I'll teach you right away." Qin Yue nodded hastily.
Regarding martial arts, since coming to this world, Qin Yuesheng had always been quite interested in them. In this world, many individuals traverse Jianghu relying on their martial arts, referred to as knights.
Some knights enjoy robbing the rich to aid the poor, punishing evildoers, gaining fame; others commit despicable acts, murder for money, engage in nocturnal flower-picking, known as flower-pickers.
Cyan Yang City has the Gusu River, with numerous branches both upstream and downstream, leading to frequent assaults by Jianghu thieves on nearby county towns by small boats, fostering a strong martial culture among the populace. Any well-off family would opt to send their children to Escort Agencies, powerful residences, or martial schools to pay for apprenticeships and learn martial arts.
However, for those with limited means, it was comparably sad; the expenses for martial arts training were considerable, not to mention that it costs money to receive martial instruction and guidance from a Martial Arts Master. Furthermore, practicing martial arts increases one's appetite, making larger food intake a norm, coupled with consuming more meat for strength gains, constituting additional expenses.
It can be said that given Qin Yuesheng's status, wanting to practice martial arts is extremely simple. As long as he mentions it to Qin Feng, Qin Feng would immediately find the best martial arts master to teach him privately and purchase various martial arts techniques for him. Yet, this Qin Yuesheng shows no interest in such things, preferring to frequent brothels and gambling dens throughout the years.
Indeed, some die of thirst while others drown.
Upon arriving at an unused wooden dummy, Qin Yue began explaining the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist to Qin Yuesheng.
All external martial arts have forms, which can also be called paths. If your opponent knows the path of the martial art you've learned, they can easily exploit the flaws in your martial art path to defeat you.
Therefore, when you face someone who has learned the same martial art, neither side usually gains an upper hand and can only fight to a draw, because both are too familiar with the art, knowing exactly how to block and break each move in their hearts.
"The Tiger Crane Double Form Fist consists of six moves. It sounds like a lot, but in reality, apart from the first move, the other five are variations improved from the foundation of the first move. For example, the first move attacks the opponent's chest. If it hits, it can instantly compress their chest cavity, leaving them momentarily unable to breathe,
but if this move is dodged or blocked, you must adapt on the fly, choosing which of the subsequent moves to use according to the vulnerabilities exposed by the opponent's current body position—attack left or right, strike up or down. Always keep a flexible mind during combat, dismantle moves as you see them, and adapt accordingly.
Don't foolishly go from the first move to the sixth move in a rigid manner. That would be very silly, young master. Now, let me demonstrate the entire Tiger Crane Double Form Fist to you." With that, Qin Yue raised his arms.
You could see that the shapes of his tightly clenched hands were different. The fingers of his left palm were together, forming a point, with knuckles slightly bent, like a bird's beak.
His right hand was clenched into a fist, with the thumb beneath the other four fingers.
"Qin Yue, what is the purpose of your hand posture?" Qin Yuesheng immediately asked.
To which Qin Yue replied with a mysterious smile, "Young master, you'll understand once I've completed a set of the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist."
Then, in the next instant, Qin Yue's right fist struck the chest of the wooden dummy, after which his left palm quickly tapped the head of the wooden dummy twice. The wooden dummy, affected by the force, spun instantly, and several wooden sticks on the dummy came at Qin Yue.
"The first move." Qin Yue shouted as he demonstrated the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist for Qin Yuesheng.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The wooden dummy spun left and right, battered with a series of bangs. After going through all six moves, Qin Yue finally grabbed a wooden stick, bringing the whole dummy to a stop.
"Young master, did you understand?"
Qin Yuesheng stared intently at the dummy. Besides faintly visible fist marks, there were many circular dents on the side that seemed to have been hammered out. These were created by Qin Yue's left palm with that peculiar grip.
"Such astonishing fingertip strength, and the hardness of the finger bones is also intimidating," Qin Yuesheng thought in surprise.
These dents were all made by Qin Yue's hand with fingers joined, each point forming a pit, clearly showing how impressive Qin Yue's hand strength was.
"The Tiger Crane Double Form Fist is performed with one crane-shaped hand and one tiger-shaped hand. The crane shape is swift, and the tiger shape is forceful. The tiger shape is for frontal confrontation, while the crane shape strikes from the side. That's the reason for my grip, young master. If you want to learn the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist, you need to get used to this dual-hand grip. The grips can also be changed at any time, from tiger shape to crane shape, or from crane shape to tiger shape, allowing you to catch the enemy off guard."
Qin Yuesheng tried to imitate for a moment and nodded, "Okay, I've got it."
"Now, jot down the techniques of the six moves of the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist. Once you can integrate the moves with the grips, you will have made some minor progress."
"Alright, show me a few more times so I can study closely."
In the following time, Qin Yuesheng practiced the peculiar grips of the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist while mastering each move of the six techniques under Qin Yue's meticulous guidance.
Having a teacher makes all the difference. Qin Yue's constant reminders greatly sped up Qin Yuesheng's understanding of the Tiger Crane Double Form Fist, helping him avoid wrong paths he might have taken through blind exploration, and saved him a lot of time.
No matter how simple the martial art may appear, if you merely mimic it without a teacher's guidance, subtle deviations can easily occur. Even if you are exceptionally intelligent and imitate it almost perfectly, those slight deviations can lay enormous hidden dangers for your body, like misaligned breath, cramps, or stabbing pains in actual combat, all of which are common issues and once they happen, the consequences are unimaginable.
This leads to many martial arts being secretly learned, but the martial artists being spied on only get slightly angry and usually don't mind too much. After all, solely relying on learned martial arts paths isn't correct, and the misfortune won't befall them.
"Young master, take your time to practice this set of fists. Once you reach minor success, if you are still interested in martial arts, I will teach you a stance technique next." Observing Qin Yuesheng seriously practicing against the wooden dummy, Qin Yue said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Qin Yuesheng couldn't help but stop his actions, "What is a stance technique?"