Chapter 15: The Realms of Martial Arts!
Page (1/3)
Tendon-Severing and Bone-Dislocating!
Though it looked incredibly brutal, this bone-loosening technique was so wonderfully soothing that it nearly made one cry out in pleasure. It required extraordinarily precise control of force.
Without the strength of a master who had reached the pinnacle of Bright Strength, it was extremely difficult to perform it flawlessly.
“Hiss—!”
Chen Jie stretched his arm, rolled his neck, and exclaimed:
“Amazing! Every time you loosen my bones, I feel twice as energetic, as if my whole body is filled with strength!”
“I never expected the Tiger-Bone Soup to make the treatment even more effective. I feel as though I possess boundless strength!”
Aunt Thirteen smiled. “It isn’t that miraculous. You simply haven’t even crossed the threshold of martial arts yet. Your sinews and bones remain unopened, so this is merely an illusion.”
Beside them, Liu Baimei declared proudly:
“This is the secret art of our Liu Clan’s Pointed-Foot School—the Tendon-Severing and Bone-Dislocating Hand! It can activate the medicinal properties of the Tiger-Bone Soup and strengthen your sinews, bones, and constitution!”
“Unfortunately, this is only Tiger-Bone Soup, not genuine Medicinal Nourishment. Otherwise, the effects would be even better!”
Chen Jie’s eyes widened in astonishment. “The Tendon-Severing and Bone-Dislocating Hand? Is it really that amazing?”
Then he seemed to remember something and asked:
“Aunt Thirteen, the effects of this Tiger-Bone Soup are already so impressive. If I drank a complete dose of Medicinal Nourishment Soup, could it help me cross the threshold of martial arts?”
Nearby, Liu Qi finished his Tiger-Bone Soup and performed a set of leg techniques.
After hearing Chen Jie’s question, he walked over with a laugh.
“It isn’t that easy. Brother Chen, you passed the ideal age for learning martial arts long ago. Your sinews and bones have already stiffened.”
“At the beginning, Aunt Thirteen’s help in stretching your sinews and bones may have some effect.”
“But after a while, the results will become much weaker!”
Liu Qi’s words made Chen Jie recognize reality at once.
It seemed he had been too optimistic. His heightened spirits and sensation of possessing boundless strength were merely temporary effects.
The Tendon-Severing and Bone-Dislocating Hand was effective only at the beginning. Once his body adapted to it, its effects would gradually diminish.
He sighed. “Does missing the ideal age for learning martial arts mean that I can never cross the threshold?”
Liu Qi smiled but did not answer. Instead, he looked toward Aunt Thirteen.
Seeing the disappointment in Chen Jie’s heart, Aunt Thirteen smiled and comforted him:
“The path of martial arts is a process of awakening the body’s potential. The Great Qian Dynasty has countless schools and innumerable martial arts, each with its own strengths!”
“The great way is simple. Although the techniques of every school differ slightly, they are fundamentally much the same. The farther one advances, the smaller the differences between them become. In the end, all paths lead to the same destination.”
“For martial artists, however, entering the discipline is actually the most difficult stage. Every basic movement must be practiced repeatedly, eliminating the body’s clumsy strength and replacing it with the true essence of martial power—fierce, forceful, and unrelenting!”
“That is why entering martial arts may also be called the process of strengthening the muscles and replacing one’s strength. In common parlance, it is known as Washing the Meridians—!”
“—”
As Aunt Thirteen explained, Chen Jie gained an entirely new understanding of martial arts in this world.
The path of martial arts was divided into:
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
Foundation—Muscle Strengthening!
Entry—Meridian Washing!
Copper Skin—Bright Strength!
Iron Bones—Hidden Strength!
Marrow Transformation—Transformed Strength!
—
As for the realms beyond Marrow Transformation and Transformed Strength, they belonged to the level of grandmasters and above—far beyond what Chen Jie could currently understand.
Liu Qi and Aunt Thirteen had both practiced martial arts since childhood.
Yet Aunt Thirteen was already nearly thirty and had only reached the pinnacle of the Copper Skin and Bright Strength realm.
Liu Qi, meanwhile, was nineteen. Despite possessing exceptional martial talent, he had only just reached the early stage of Copper Skin and had barely grasped the essence of exerting Bright Strength.
Liu Baimei was eighteen and had only just entered the Meridian Washing stage. She had not even comprehended Bright Strength.
It was easy to see how arduous the practice of martial arts truly was. It was not something that could be accomplished easily.
Chen Jie had missed the ideal period for learning martial arts. To achieve anything now would be extraordinarily difficult—practically as difficult as reaching the moon!
There was no hope!
It seemed he had been overthinking things.
Suddenly, Chen Jie remembered something and asked:
“If—I mean, if I were to drink Medicinal Nourishment Soup continuously and take Medicinal Baths, while using the Tendon-Severing and Bone-Dislocating Hand to stimulate the medicine’s effects, could I make up for the disadvantage of my age?”
Aunt Thirteen was startled. “Continuous Medicinal Nourishment and Medicinal Baths?”
She truly had never considered such a question. She and the three Liu siblings could barely afford a bowl of Tiger-Bone Soup once a month.
At the side, Liu Qi could not help laughing when he heard this.
“Brother Chen, stop joking. Do you know how expensive Medicinal Nourishment and Medicinal Baths are? If you took both every day, even a fortune of ten thousand strings of cash would be squandered!”
“One Medicinal Bath costs a silver dollar, while a high-quality dose of Medicinal Nourishment costs nearly five silver dollars!”
“That means six silver dollars would be consumed every day!”
“At your age, you would need at least a month before you could enter the discipline of martial arts! Do the math. How much money would that cost?”
Chen Jie smiled calmly. “So what? It’s only six silver dollars a day. That isn’t very expensive!”
Six silver dollars amounted to only twelve hundred yuan. Over the course of a month, that was merely one hundred and eighty silver dollars—a total of thirty-six thousand yuan.
If it could help him cross the threshold of martial arts, it would be entirely worth it.
Aunt Thirteen smiled.
“What you’re suggesting is indeed possible. But exactly how long you would need the Medicinal Nourishment and Medicinal Baths is difficult to say. Ultimately, it depends on your talent for martial arts!”
“Your natural constitution is actually quite good. I believe that a little over a month should be enough to completely stretch and open your sinews and bones. Your physique might even become stronger than that of ordinary martial artists!”
At her words, a glint flashed through Chen Jie’s eyes.
He had very little money on him—only twenty silver dollars, which was certainly not enough.
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
But with the Blood Dragon Jade in his mind, the problem of money should be solvable.
Whoosh!
Chen Jie drew a deep breath, raised his head, and asked:
“Could you give me a list of the ingredients needed for Medicinal Nourishment and Medicinal Baths? I want to see exactly how much they cost.”
Aunt Thirteen nodded with a smile.
“The ingredients used for Medicinal Nourishment and Medicinal Baths are more or less the same among all schools. They were all passed down from the apothecaries!”
“It isn’t a secret. Besides, Medicinal Nourishment and Medicinal Baths have been inherited and refined over several centuries. Their effects certainly won’t be poor!”
“Baimei, go copy a list for Chen Jie!”
A dozen minutes later, Liu Baimei handed Chen Jie a copied list of medicinal ingredients.
“Half a mace of ginseng, one mace of cinnamon, one mace of angelica root, half a mace of tiger-bone powder, two maces of smilax glabra, half a mace of saffron—!”
Chen Jie glanced at it and immediately felt dizzy and overwhelmed.
There were more than a dozen medicinal ingredients, each with precisely measured proportions. This was something only a professional could understand.
—
Early the next morning.
Liu Qi went out. Chen Jie had given him ten silver dollars and instructed him to purchase a large residence that day.
The previous night, Chen Jie had lain in a room of the ramshackle headquarters of the West Gate Carriage House and had not slept a wink.
The room leaked wind from every direction, while rats darted everywhere!
Therefore, the first thing Chen Jie did after rising early was send Liu Qi to purchase a large residence.
In these times, whoever had money was lord and master!
Although Chen Jie knew no martial arts, he looked every inch a wealthy young master.
Yet Ghost-Foot Seven addressed him as “Brother Chen” at every turn, giving Chen Jie a strong sense of what it meant to be the big brother.
Liu Baimei’s attitude toward him had also changed. She now spoke softly and treated him with considerable respect.
The only one whose attitude had not changed was Aunt Thirteen. She remained as calm and detached as ever.
After finishing his morning exercises, Chen Jie could hardly wait to leave for the apothecary.
At that moment, his heart was filled with anticipation.
Practicing martial arts over the past few days had given him an almost intoxicating feeling.
He wanted desperately to improve!
Although, in Aunt Thirteen’s eyes, he had not even crossed the threshold of martial arts, Chen Jie possessed a certain confidence. With his current physical fitness alone, he was certain he could easily deal with two street thugs.
Whatever happened, he would first go to the apothecary and obtain a dose of Medicinal Nourishment and Medicinal Bath ingredients to see what effect they had!
Page (3/3)