BANG!
"Fuck!" Within the same forest which he had been knocked unconscious once, Qingxuan now stood in front of a large tree, attempting to train his martial techniques. Not having trained a day in both lives, this concept of training and techniques was an almost foreign concept to someone like Qingxuan.
The Severing Shadow Kicks, wasn't just a martial technique, it was a Body Tempering Art that focused on Explosive Hip Rotation, Tendon Elasticity and Bone hardening through repeated tempering. The technique itself was supposed to be advanced, yet it was incomplete, and only consisted of sixteen moves instead of the original thirty two.
Gathering one's own body strength from the core of the being and exploding into kicks that should incapacitate opponents.
Qingxuan had already learnt the basics. In fact, having his God's eyes, the name he had given to his wondrous eyes, he had already began analysing and deciphering the remaining sixteen techniques of the skill.
Now all he needed to do was put it into practice. The first steps to even learning the skill was to practice one thousand kicks every single day.
So he came here to begin. Shin and Heel training in conjunction with the planned one thousand kicks. He needed his shin and heel to be as durable and tough as metal, otherwise, trying to kick opponents with incredible durability would just end up hurting himself.
Taking a deep breath, he blasted out his leg and struck the tree trunk once more.
THUD!
The tree trunk was covered in a thick bark that continuously tore into his skin whenever it made contact.
By the fifth strike, his feet were already bleeding and he stopped and leaned back against the tree, taking in deep breaths. He needed strength. Strength to protect himself. This was the way. The only way. He took out a pouch from within his sleeves and chewed on a piece of ginseng root to heal his wounds.
And then he tore off his shirt, wrapped it around both legs to reduce the bleeding and then around his fists and went back to training immediately.
THUD!
THUD!
He gave his all. Kicking and even punching till his limbs ached and his heart couldn't take the load anymore and the he collapsed in a puddle of sweat. It'd been almost an hour, and he had yet to even cross the 300 mark.
Unwrapping the upper part of his face, his godly eyes stared at the sky. His chest heaved up and down as if his heart and lungs were going to burst out of his chest.
He grabbed a jug of water he had brought, along with a bag of food and drank, before sitting up.
Chewing on another piece of ginseng root, he took out several pieces of Yuan stone. He knew exactly how much Yuan power was contained within each stone, but renewed his focus, placed them between his palms and began to absorb them.
For about 10 whole minutes, he sat there, pulling onto the tiny specs of Yuan Power that his eyes identified and absorbed them all. Each Yuan stone he absorbed turned dim and broke down into dust immediately after absorbing.
And by the 11th minute, heard a sound from deep within..
KA-CHA!
His brows raised in surprise, as he felt the newfound power coursing through his veins. "I've reached the peak of the second stage?" He couldn't help but ask himself, and then the surprise turned into joy. He picked up a nearby rock and tossed it with one hand.
WHEW!
The rock flew about 500m before embedding itself fully into a tree.
He quickly rose to his feet continued practicing his kicks. Low kicks, front kicks, round houses that hurt his groin, hook kicks, he practiced every variation until he was eventually worn out.
He headed back to the courtyard at night, so as not to worry Aunt Lin, freshened up, ate with her and the slid back into the forest to continue practicing his kicks.
This his routine for the next six days were as follows, wake up, train, cultivate till night fall, go back, eat, spent time with Aunt Lin and back to training.
The last six days had impacted not just his physicality, but his mindset.
Six days later
Qingxuan stood calm under the sun in a stance. Legs bent, arms positioned at inclined angles to the body, just like the modern world's Jeet Kune Do. His eyes were closed, his breathing was controlled and regulated, while his form dripped with sweat that sizzled whenever it dropped to the ground.
Even with his eyes closed, every thing within a 200m radius was under his perception. Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward and began to bounce lightly on his feet, while his arms still bent, moved in tandem with his body. This was the Bai Jong stance, popularized by Bruce Lee. It was a light springy footwork that emphasised control of the muscles, rapid entry and exit and less telegraphing of techniques.
He leapt forward in a split second, and the world slowed down in his perception.
BANG!
BANG!!
BANG!
A low front kick snapped the lower part of the tree, and then morphed into a roundhouse that bent the tree to the side with incredible strength.
"Shadow Whip Kick!"
Qingxuang spun on his feet and unleashed a kick with his heel that blasted the tree into splinters.
The normal eye would never have been able to track how fast, Qingxuan's kicks had moved. One moment he was bouncing on his feet, and in the next, the tree was blown apart. All that in a matter of seconds. He got back into the springy stance almost instantly and opened his eyes, before sighing and calming himself down.
"It's been six days. I'm still not fast enough.."
He sat down and ran a hand through his hair in disappointment. While the Shadow severing Kicks emphasized strength, it relied on speed above all. He should be able to unleash deadly combos within seconds at the peak of the technique. Faster than anyone could even track. Also there should be absolutely no time wasted within intervals of his kicks, otherwise a faster enemy would be able to counter almost instantly.
He shook his head. "Maybe I'm being a little greedy." It'd only been six days since he started practicing the technique.
The current him could be said to have achieved lesser mastery in the technique.
He probably didn't even know how monstrous such a feat was. Achieving lesser mastery in a Grade 2 within less than a weak.
Only a freak like him would even have the nerve to complain.
Qingxuan smiled bitterly. He owed it all to his godly eyes. Without his eyes having analysed the circulatory pathways for the internal force and bodily strength within, he wouldn't have even been able to master the technique in a month.
He stood up and dusted himself. While the main priority of his training was to learn the Shadow Severing Kicks. He had spent quite a while analysing the Sky Trace Phantom Steps.
And to his surprise, it'd been easier to figure that one out than the Shadow Severing Steps. Taking a deep breath, his eye turned sharp for a moment and then he moved.
He blitzed through the forest at inhumane speed, corkscrewed over the fallen tree and leapt onto another, running along its sides like a Ninja from an anime he watched in his previous life.
His body was as fast as an arrow and light as a feather. He flipped himself, executing multiple acrobatic techniques that would put modern day parkour artistes to shame, as he leapt from tree to tree. At times he felt weightless, and if someone were watching from behind, they would think he was walking on the air itself.
Leaping off one tree, he grabbed a vine and swung from that tree to another, like a spider incarnate, then he kicked off, spun gracefully in the air and dived into a river.
SPLASH!!
Qingxuan took a deep breath as he leapt out of the river and landed at the banks. Jumping from tree to tree at the speed and at the height brought a rush of energy to his head that manifested as a wonderful feeling.
He turned around, about to leave, when the silver crescent in his dark black left eye glinted for a split second. Qingxuan's eye darted to the side and his brows raised in shock and then he felt it.
A baleful, vicious aura, that made him sick to his stomach. He saw it almost instantly. A tiger. Larger than what he called tigers on Earth. With long sharp claws and teeth, that could probably rip him apart in a moment.
Qingxuan nearly froze on the spot when he saw it slowly approaching him, camouflaged by the thick blanket of leaves and trees.