Chapter 87: Little Master
If Chen Ping'an were alone, even carrying a basket into the mountains, he could easily cover a hundred li of mountain paths in a day. Of course, this would necessarily mean crossing streams and rivers, climbing cliffs and gripping walls. So this time, with the little girl in the red cotton jacket by his side, Chen Ping'an walked very leisurely. So much so that, having nothing better to do, he began practicing walking on stakes. Because Li Baoping was with him, he didn't use the full force and focus of his fist technique, but rather went relatively naturally. In fact, to accommodate Li Baoping, he deliberately slowed down his stake-walking pace and shortened his stride. This made Chen Ping'an, who had finally found the knack of it, feel as if he had been knocked back to square one, becoming awkward again.
They had now covered about twenty li. Li Baoping still had energy to spare and didn't seem to be suffering. The little girl just wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand and asked, "Little Uncle Master, are you practicing boxing?"
Chen Ping'an stopped walking on stakes and nodded. "Yep."
Li Baoping asked again, "Then do you know what the foundation of this set of boxing techniques is, and where the source qi mansion is?"
Chen Ping'an was completely puzzled. "What do you mean? I only know that there are many acupoints on the human body. The reason I was able to recognize several hundred characters was mainly to remember the names of those acupoints. But I haven't yet asked how they relate to practicing boxing. A Miss Ning looked at my boxing manual but didn't tell me. She only said that when it comes to practicing boxing, there are no shortcuts; you have to endure bit by bit through hard work. That Sister Ruan you know said she practices swordsmanship, and her family's method of circulating qi is not something to be passed on to outsiders, so I didn't discuss it in depth with her at the time."
In fact, back then, the straw-sandal-wearing youth felt that he would spend his whole life in the town, so he had plenty of time and opportunities to ask Ruan Xiu.
Li Baoping's eyes widened in disbelief. She emphasized, "Little Uncle Master! You don't even know this, yet you dare to practice boxing? Do you know that practicing boxing recklessly, especially external boxing, can easily damage the fundamental vitality? Practicing martial arts is actually similar to a geomancer searching for dragons and locating acupoints. It's just that geomancers look for mountain and river acupoints, while martial artists seek and excavate the treasures of their own bodies. After finding them, you also need to do it correctly to truly enter the hall of martial arts. No, no, Little Uncle Master, I must straighten this out for you. Once it's clear, you can learn boxing properly!"
Seeing her determined expression, Chen Ping'an thought it over. It wasn't a bad thing. Up ahead, there was a crooked old willow tree, leaning mostly over the stream, like an unfinished arch bridge. He pulled Li Baoping to rest against the tree trunk. The girl was lively and insisted on sitting, so Chen Ping'an had to lift her onto the trunk while he stood nearby to prevent her from falling.
After she sat on the tree trunk casually, she was like a little master giving her first lecture in a private school. Beaming with spirit, she coughed once and planned to explain things properly to this Little Uncle Master, to prevent him from going astray. If he really hurt his body, wouldn't she be heartbroken with regret? Li Baoping said seriously, "The reason I know some general things about martial arts is because there's a maidservant sister named Zhu Lu in my family. She was recognized by our ancestors from a young age as having martial talent. I'm very close to her, and Sister Zhu Lu is a quiet person who only likes to speak her heart to me. So I know quite a bit about martial arts. Unfortunately, when I was six years old, I secretly followed Sister Zhu Lu when she was practicing something called 'Ground Ox Stakes.' It was so fun—the tallest stakes were almost as high as the roof. But one time my foot slipped and I accidentally fell. I really wasn't hurt much, but Sister Zhu Lu was punished severely by our ancestors because of me. After that, every time she practiced martial arts in the morning and evening or soaked in a medicinal bath in her room, she never took me along anymore."
Chen Ping'an felt a bit guilty. The "Sister Zhu Lu" the girl mentioned might very well be the agile girl who had taken two tiles to the chest and head that day. At the time, when he secretly broke into the Li family mansion and used a slingshot to shatter two ceramic bird-feeding jars, it was that maid guarding the little girl from Zhengyang Mountain who first spotted his traces. She quickly climbed over the wall onto the roof and then leaped toward the roof where he was. Every time Chen Ping'an recalled it afterward, he still thought she was very formidable.
Li Baoping, eager to tell this person who always refused to admit he was her Little Uncle Master everything she knew, said, "For example, take that coward Shi Chunjia's family. They have a shop. If they do business well, they can make money multiply, and wealth pours in. That's why Shi Chunjia's family's shop can be one of the oldest established shops in our town. But if they only spend without earning and don't know how to attract customers, they'll soon be stretched thin, and the shop will definitely have to close, right?"
Hearing talk of business and making money, the money-loving Chen Ping'an immediately "caught on" and understood: "Everyone has some family assets. If you practice boxing well, you can make money multiply. If you practice poorly, it's a losing business. If you don't practice martial arts at all, then you're just guarding the ancestral property?"
Li Baoping thought for a moment and nodded. "Something like that. Little Uncle Master, have you ever heard a saying? 'Practice boxing and invite evil,' especially those external boxing techniques that claim to graduate in three years and kill people outside the door. The fist force is fierce, with big chops and big swings. It looks imposing and impressive, with shouts of 'heng ha' when hitting people, but it actually hurts the body the most. Because they never find the pulse gate—they don't get the correct method. Many people end up with a body full of ailments by middle age. It's uncertain whether they even have a later life, and if they do, it's very bleak. Because from the first day they practice boxing, they aren't nurturing qi and body; they're being prodigal sons, squandering the ancestral estate."
In the words of Li Baoping's family ancestor, this girl was naturally born without a tail (restless). When the red-cotton-jacket girl got excited, she wanted to stand up from the old willow trunk, but a look from her Little Uncle Master pressed her thought back. Grumbling, she continued: "So, Little Uncle Master, you must take this as a warning. You must find the true method of practicing boxing. There are tens of thousands of fist techniques in the world. The reason some achieve high or low accomplishments, with big or small futures, depends on whether you can find at least two life-bound acupoints of each fist technique. After finding them, the next step is to see if you can find the best route to nourish the most acupoints along the way, like spring rain moistening all things. Even if the rank of the fist manual is not high, as long as it's the right path, it can still strengthen the body and prolong life. But if you go astray, the better the manual, the easier it is to ruin things."
Chen Ping'an fell into deep thought. He could feel the presence of that qi, like a homeless little fire dragon inside his body, wandering randomly through a great furnace. Earlier, this dragon was like a headless fly, crashing everywhere and turning back when hitting a wall. Now its range of movement was increasing, but eventually it would return near those qi mansions in the abdomen, lingering uncertainly, like a child who goes out to play and wants to go home when tired, but hasn't found the real front door yet.
This mysterious flow of qi had never brought any discomfort or pain; instead, it gave the boy a warm feeling like basking in the winter sun. Chen Ping'an had been extremely sensitive to the perception of his internal organs since childhood, so he could quickly detect any problem. Cai Jinjian of Cloudy Mist Mountain had said in Clay Bottle Alley that he wouldn't live long. She probably thought the alley boy took it as a joke, but Chen Ping'an immediately confirmed that her statement was correct.
Since he didn't detect anything wrong, Chen Ping'an let the qi flow freely, and deep down, he was even a little curious to see which acupoint it would choose as its residence.
Li Baoping dangled her legs, arms crossed over her chest. "It is said that the foundation of martial arts is the concept of 'dispersing qi.' It's extremely domineering, completely different from the qi-nurturing and qi-refining of cultivators. The latter is the more the merrier, haggling over every tiny bit. Martial arts is different. When you find that initial qi, it's like you have to attack and kill through pass after pass, completely eliminating the qi that originally resided in the acupoints and qi mansions, converting them into that earliest breath of qi. Finally, your entire body, with a single thought, completes it in one breath. In an instant, the qi flows hundreds of li. In the Ninth Realm, it can even reach a thousand li, instantly mobilizing all the body's potential. Like a general commanding a thousand troops with the crook of an arm, the power is immense, no less than a cultivator riding qi and flying through the air."
Li Baoping continued, "Sister Zhu Lu said that martial arts grandmasters—leaping over roofs and walking on walls is nothing to them. They can also travel far with the wind, just like cultivators. Further on, once they reach the Ultimate Realm grandmaster, slaughtering those arrogant cultivators is like wringing a chicken's neck—killing with a flick of the finger, effortless."
Chen Ping'an smiled and asked, "If practicing martial arts is really that powerful, that's certainly good, but why is power measured by how easy it is to kill people?"
Li Baoping was stunned. She shook her head honestly and said, "I haven't thought about that. Sister Zhu Lu said those words. When she said them, she was very yearning, much like how I dream every day of catching a fish."
The girl thought for a moment and then said, "But thinking about it carefully, according to Sister Zhu Lu, it seems that martial artists and cultivators are naturally at odds. The latter like to look down on the former, thinking martial arts is a lowly profession, for poor wretches who lack the talent to cultivate. So they see them as lower-class, cursing martial artists as the watchdog of secular dynasties. The former feel that those cultivators are arrogant, looking down on everyone, not good people. Why should martial artists struggle through the world, only to be called 'chivalrous men who break laws with force'? And those cultivators, clearly a tiny minority, occupy countless famous mountains, great rivers, and blessed lands, preening themselves, claiming to be mountain immortals who cultivate longevity with spells and divine powers. They think it's only natural that the mundane people and martial artists admire and support them."
Li Baoping suddenly laughed. "But Little Uncle Master, you don't need to worry about these disputes. They're not interesting."
Li Baoping hesitated, as if remembering something, but found it hard to speak, feeling guilty. Finally, she decided to be honest, unwilling to deceive her Little Uncle Master. With a mournful face, she apologized: "Sister Zhu Lu and her father, Uncle Zhu He, were originally supposed to go with us to the southern border of Great Sui. But I was afraid you wouldn't like them, so I tricked them into waiting for us at the east gate of town. If Uncle Zhu He were here, he could teach you martial arts. Because Sister Zhu Lu has been learning from her father since childhood. Our ancestor told me in private that although Zhu He's martial talent is limited, he is excellent at teaching others—a true 'wise master.' Even in those high-ranking mansions in the Great Li capital, he would be a guest of honor. Now Uncle Zhu He is missing, and Sister Zhu Lu is missing..."
Chen Ping'an quickly comforted her: "It's okay, it's okay. I practice boxing without any master, only a manual. And I haven't even recognized all the characters in the manual yet, so I dare not practice blindly. I only practice walking on stakes and standing on stakes, and I've confirmed that it can nourish my physique without harming me. As for how to achieve real results, I'll have to wait until I can read the manual myself. That can wait. I'm not practicing boxing for any realm; I'm just doing it to stay alive. I don't think that far."
But Li Baoping had clearly gotten fixated on her own train of thought, and her mind had wandered thousands of miles. The more she spoke, the more guilty she felt. Her mouth turned down, and she looked like she was about to cry. "When a martial artist learns to fight, the master leads you in, but the practice is individual. The master is very important. The threshold of that first door can be high or low. And after the master leads you through that first door, whether he has to let go because of his limited ability or can take you all the way to the back door is completely different. So the master must be a wise master, not just a famous one."
The girl sniffled, tears about to spill from her eyes. "Little Uncle Master, you are a martial arts prodigy that appears once in a hundred years, once in a thousand years. If I ruin your chance to become a master, what should I do?"
Chen Ping'an had already stopped worrying about how she came to the absurd conclusion that he was a genius. The urgent matter was to stop her from crying. When the little girl was sad, it felt genuinely heartbreaking, not like the usual childish tantrums. Chen Ping'an had a sudden inspiration. He raised his hand, placed it in front of the girl, gently made a fist, and loudly said one word: "Stop!"
Li Baoping, being a quick-witted and clever child, froze, and the tearful torrent stopped. "Little Uncle Master, what are you doing?"
Chen Ping'an shook his fist and laughed. "See? Your Little Uncle Master is amazing, right? Made you stop crying instantly."
To comfort the girl, Chen Ping'an was willing to go all out, and for the first time, he formally acknowledged that he was her Little Uncle Master.
The little girl immediately went from tears to laughter.
She felt it wasn't that she wasn't sad anymore, but that happiness had outweighed the sadness.
Chen Ping'an sighed in relief. Supporting himself on the old willow trunk, he shifted his body and sat down beside the girl.
Beneath their feet were two baskets, one large and one small.
Li Baoping said softly, "Uncle Zhu He often told Sister Zhu Lu: 'Practice boxing without truth, and in three years, a ghost will possess you. Practice boxing and find truth, and one punch can kill a god.' When a martial artist gets sick, it's much more difficult to treat than ordinary people. Sister Zhu Lu almost didn't survive twice. The first time, it took her about half a year to recover. During that time, she was like a sickly person, unable to even lift a bucket. The second time was even worse. I heard the commotion, carried a small stool over, and secretly poked a hole in the window paper. I saw Sister Zhu Lu writhing in pain on the bed, and no one could hold her down. Finally, she tore open her fingernails, bleeding profusely. It was pitiful. In the end, our family had to ask the shopkeeper of the Yang Family Pharmacy to bring medicine. Only then did the pain stop, and she gradually calmed down. But our ancestor stood at the entrance to the courtyard, didn't go in, shook his head, and turned away. He seemed a bit regretful and disappointed. When I asked later, the ancestor only said that her little life was saved by the medicine, but the hope of reaching the Eighth Realm was lost. There was no need to give Sister Zhu Lu too much training anymore, or it would harm her instead. If she were extremely lucky, she might enter the Seventh Realm; if not, even the Sixth Realm would be uncertain."
Li Baoping turned her head, looking worried. "Little Uncle Master, you must never get sick like that. I don't understand anything; I'd be completely lost!"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "That won't happen. But even if it did—I'm just saying hypothetically—don't be afraid. I can endure pain very well. I'm not bragging."
Li Baoping was skeptical. She reached out and pinched his arm lightly. "Little Uncle Master, does it hurt?"
He patted her head and looked back at the path they had come from. "Do you want to know when I felt the worst it ever got?"
The girl shook her head like a rattle drum.
Chen Ping'an propped himself on the tree trunk, crossed his legs, and swung them idly like the girl. Squinting, he said softly, "It was the second time I went into the mountains alone to gather herbs. I was a little over four, not yet five. When I left home, I thought I would pick the most herbs, so I deliberately chose the biggest basket. But before I even left the town, I was exhausted. When I got out of the town and could see the mountains, it was a sunny day. The ropes of the basket were burning my shoulders, and my back was even worse. The pain wasn't the worst part. What made me feel hopeless was that the mountain looked so far, far away, as if I would never reach it in my lifetime. Plus, it hadn't been long since my first trip into the mountains, so the blisters on my feet soon rebelled. And then your Little Uncle Master, I bit my teeth and walked while crying, and kept asking myself: 'I haven't even reached the foot of the mountain, maybe I should go home. I'm young, the basket is big, the mountain road is long. Going home isn't shameful. Mum won't blame you.'"
Li Baoping listened intently. "Little Uncle Master, did you finally give up?"
The straw-sandal boy smiled and shook his head. "No. I suddenly thought: no matter what, just get to the foot of the mountain, and then I'll turn back. So I really did get to the foot of the mountain. While sitting on the ground crying, I thought: Why not go up the mountain, pick one medicinal herb, and then go home? So I started climbing. As I climbed and saw those herbs, I suddenly felt full of strength. Strange."
Li Baoping exclaimed, "Wow! Little Uncle Master, you must have filled the whole basket with herbs before going down the mountain, right?!"
The little girl's face was full of shared pride.
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "No. By the time the sun was setting, the herbs hadn't even covered the bottom of the basket, so I went down. First, herbs aren't so easy to find—it's hard. With such a small body and a big basket on my back, walking the mountain path was actually harder than picking herbs. Second, I was really tired. And third, I thought if I didn't leave, I'd be alone on the mountain after dark. At that time, I was very scared. But what I feared most..."
Li Baoping waited a long time, but the rest didn't come. Curious, she asked, "What does Little Uncle Master fear most?"
"Nothing."
The straw-sandal boy shook his head gently. "Later, I wasn't afraid anymore."
The girl wisely didn't press further.
Chen Ping'an snapped back to the present. He turned to her and smiled. "I'm telling you this not to show you how amazing your Little Uncle Master is. In fact, all the poor children in town go through the same thing. It's nothing special. I'm saying this because I think what you told me today about the ins and outs of martial arts was very well said. It reminded me of when I used to sneak into the schoolhouse and see Teacher Qi teaching. You said there are no female teachers or masters. I think when you get to the Mountain Cliff Academy and have read enough books, you might become the first female teacher there."
The little girl in the red cotton jacket, hearing this from her Little Uncle Master, suddenly burst with fighting spirit. She raised her fists and shouted, "Li Baoping, you can do it! Definitely!"
Chen Ping'an silently observed, thinking that if Teacher Qi were still alive, he would also be very happy.
But then the girl said something that made the boy's head ache: "Because Li Baoping has the most amazing Little Uncle Master in the world!"
The boy pretended not to hear.
In this beautiful season of lush grass and orioles singing, the boy and the girl sat side by side, each harboring beautiful wishes.
---
On the other side of the stream, in a hidden spot, a man and a young girl sat cross-legged, eating dry rations.
The girl, with sharp eyes, said in a displeased tone, "Dad, with that simpleton following Miss, can she really make it safely to our Great Li border? I heard there's often fighting there, and many soldiers have turned bandits. It's not peaceful."
The man teased. "Did you forget who gave you a lesson? Your first real fight after learning martial arts—lost, and lost so embarrassingly."
The girl huffed, "That's because Dad didn't allow me to circulate my qi recklessly, fearing I couldn't bear the pressure. Now I can flip that Clay Bottle Alley fellow with one hand."
The man smiled. "Are you sure about that? You, a Second Realm martial artist?"
The girl stressed loudly, "Dad, Peak Second Realm!"
The man took a sip from his water jug and shook his head. "You can't beat him. Unless it's a sparring match with agreed rules, then you'd have a chance."
The girl obviously didn't believe it. That boy was barely entering the door of martial arts. When they faced off on the roof of the Li mansion earlier, he only succeeded because of the terrain.
The man teased, "You're just ungrateful. When you faced him in the mansion and he hit you to the ground, he even pulled you back to soften the fall. If it were me fighting an enemy, I wouldn't add a tile to your head—that would already be generous."
"So he's stupid," the girl sneered coldly. "A martial artist with womanish mercy. People like that don't live long!"
The man looked surprised. "A little girl like you, not skilled in martial arts, not high in realm, yet you have so many big principles. Who taught you? I certainly never said those things."
The girl raised her chin. "Second Young Master said so! Although Second Young Master is a scholar full of strategy, he never spouts benevolence and righteousness. He only says that compassion cannot lead an army; one must be decisive in killing."
The man frowned, about to teach this naive girl some proper principles, when he suddenly stood up. "Cross the river!"
The girl stood up too. "Dad, what's going on? Weren't we just supposed to follow Miss quietly?"
The man's tone was not relaxed. "Someone's coming. Be careful!"
The father and daughter sped across the river and dashed away.
---
Chen Ping'an and Li Baoping had just left the old willow tree and resumed their journey when they saw a figure appear at the edge of their vision.
Chen Ping'an first set down his basket, then made Li Baoping stand behind him.
If they encountered anyone east of the town, even gods, immortals, demons, or ghosts, Chen Ping'an wouldn't have been surprised.
But on this southbound route, where the road would soon disappear entirely, he couldn't let his guard down no matter whom he met.
In the distance.
A man, not tall or particularly sturdy, was approaching Chen Ping'an and Li Baoping. He led a white donkey, wore a bamboo hat, carried a cloth bag slung diagonally, had leggings wrapped around his legs, held a bamboo staff, and hung a green... bamboo-sheathed long sword at his waist.
The man stopped about five or six paces away and didn't come closer. He took off his bamboo hat, revealing an unremarkable face, and smiled. "You are Chen Ping'an, right? Hello, I'm A Liang. 'Liang' as in 'nice.'"
Finally, the man added, "I'm a swordsman."