Water Ink Panel: Starting with Bow Technique to Hunt the Sun and Patrol the Skies

In the following days, Shen Qing went deep into the mountains, spending most of his time hunting and practicing the movement technique of Wind Facing Finger.

As his Bow Technique and hunting skills progressed, his hunting ability improved significantly.

He never returned from the mountain empty-handed, always bringing back small game like rabbits, pheasants, and badgers, and even a deer, which piled up at home.

However, strangely, some of the larger game he used to encounter frequently, such as wild boars, elk, and goats, were now seldom seen.

It even made Shen Qing wonder if his hunting skills had improved so rapidly that he had almost depleted Shicheng Mountain.

It was less than a month until the onset of spring.

Shen Qing could only sincerely hope that the small animals in the mountains could endure a little longer.

Hang in there, winter is almost over.

...

In the bamboo forest behind the house, Shen Qing squatted down, picked up a stone from the ground, and easily grasped it in his palm.

Dressed in short clothes, his arms were exposed, the veins faintly visible.

Suddenly, Shen Qing exerted force, his muscles tensed on his arms, and the veins bulged.

Cracks appeared on the surface of the stone, and then with a "crack," it shattered into several pieces in his palm, the fragments scattering on the ground.

He dusted off his hands and stood up, his gaze calm.

"Now that I have achieved Great Perfection of Qi and Blood, my arm strength has increased significantly, far surpassing ordinary people. Five or six men can't stop me, and I can even crush a stone if I exert my full force. So why can't I puncture a simple wooden board with my fingers?"

Shen Qing looked towards the other side, at a broken wooden board full of marks.

These days, he had been secretly pondering and trying a few times like Ouyang Tiezhu had, but he had not succeeded.

Li Linfeng's hard skill, it seemed, did not depend solely on the strength.

There was a self-consistent logic and training method involved.

Shen Qing had asked around in Linfeng Hall, and Li Linfeng had once used this unique skill to counter-kill four Bone Refining Realm martial masters and became famous in the county town in one battle.

These Bone Refining Realm martial masters, on the other hand, could easily subdue five or six individuals achieving Great Perfection of Qi and Blood like him, and eighteen or nineteen sturdy men couldn't even get close to these martial masters.

He dared not imagine how strong Li Linfeng, now in the Qi Cultivation Realm, might be.

Indeed, the county town was a place where crouching tigers and hidden dragons lay, not to be underestimated.

I must continue to train hard.

Shen Qing put aside these distracting thoughts and walked to an old oak tree, treating it as if it were a Wooden Dummy.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and went over the actions of the Three Person Stance and the Five Person Stance, which he had replicated in his mind countless times.

Once he was sure he had remembered all the details, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Immediately, his figure became as agile as a darting rabbit, launching into a fluid series of movement techniques around the old tree, burying himself in practice.

He darted and jumped, lightly tapping the ground with the tips of his toes, leaving almost no trace.

One could almost hear the rustling of his clothes in the air, responding to the cold winds in the bamboo forest.

Time slowly passed.

Even though it was winter and he was dressed in short clothes, sweat gradually soaked the back of Shen Qing's shirt.

Gradually, his breathing became rapid and powerful, his movements more smooth and rapid.

On the rough bark of the old oak tree, there were several spots that, after countless touches and leveraging, had become much smoother, appearing somewhat different from other areas.

Shen Qing continued to practice tirelessly until he was nearly depleted of energy.

In order not to waste time, he would continue to practice stance training and nourish and train his Qi and Blood from Nine Skills to recover his strength.

As he constantly cultivated, Shen Qing's understanding of martial arts increased day by day, and he found some of the martial arts common sense on Nine Skills to be somewhat erroneous.

For instance, the Nine Skills never mentioned stretching or Bone Strengthening, nor did it introduce concepts like Skin Forging and Qi Cultivation.

It merely stated that once the essence blood throughout the body reached the physical limits it could contain and fused the Qi-Blood with one's thoughts, one could cultivate Qi strength. This seemed rather exaggerated and unreliable.

Up until now, he still hadn't figured out what exactly the book meant by "thoughts in the heart."

No wonder this Martial Arts wasn't very famous.

Shen Qing even suspected that when Chen Yuan and the others had purchased this Martial Arts book, they had been significantly overcharged.

But it wasn't as if this Martial Arts was completely useless.

At the very least, the nine major stance trainings recorded in it were truly beneficial, greatly aiding in the nourishing and training of his Qi-Blood.

Shen Qing didn't keep it to himself either; he also taught this Martial Arts to Tian Xiao Hu and Hu Zi, the brothers.

The few of them were vigorous in practicing daily at home.

The three weren't as prodigious as Shen Qing; they were still struggling at the Entry Level.

After a brief adjustment, Shen Qing felt his strength had almost recovered, so he plunged into practice again.

Under the influence of the Water Ink Panel, each time Shen Qing practiced his movement technique, he became more agile and more precise than the previous time.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight days had passed, and the mountain goods of Hongshan Village had accumulated quite a bit; it was time to head to the county town again.

In the bamboo grove, Shen Qing slapped his palm against a tree trunk, completed the last move, and gently exhaled.

He glanced at the Water Ink Panel in his line of sight and his face couldn't help but reveal a hint of joy.

[Skill: Wind Facing Finger (Entry Level)]

[Progress: 92/100 points]

[Status: Unable to Improve]

Through continuous practice, along with the skill boosts from the Water Ink Panel.

Shen Qing was already able to smoothly execute the Two Person Stance, Three Person Stance, and Five Person Stance in succession, achieving a sort of breakthrough.

Unfortunately, an old tree is ultimately not a Wooden Dummy; some movements still differed, and he hadn't perfected them, making it difficult to increase his progress.

He thought of taking this opportunity to visit Linfeng Hall, to fill up this last bit of progress and see if he could break through this bottleneck.

Shen Qing exhaled the last turbid breath, gathered his thoughts, and went back home.

At this time, his elder sister, Shen Fang, had already prepared a barrel of hot water for washing up after training.

After washing up, Shen Qing put on new clothes and went out, making a beeline to Zhang Shuyuan's house to ask him to help with some accounting.

With his current level of literacy, he could handle simple accounts and arithmetic himself. However, the accounts in the village had mostly been done by Zhang Shuyuan for years, and the villagers recognized him.

If he were to do it himself, the villagers might not actually recognize it, and it could instead cause unnecessary complications.

So it was better to be safe and stick with the old ways.

Upon arriving at Zhang Shuyuan's house and explaining his purpose, Zhang Shuyuan, without any embarrassment or the arrogance of a scholar, agreed immediately, as though afraid Shen Qing might change his mind.

As for why Shen Qing hadn't come to study the Thousand Character Classic in such a long time, he didn't even ask, acting as if he had forgotten all about it.

In his view, learning was something entirely dependent on one's self-discipline.

With Zhang Shuyuan in tow, Shen Qing went to a flat area in the center of Hongshan Village.

Tian Xiao Hu had already brought the cart over and was waiting early on; other villagers wanting to sell goods also gradually arrived.

Shen Qing walked over and clapped his hands.

The crisp sound instantly attracted the attention of the villagers on the flatland.

Shen Qing shouted, "Let's start collecting the mountain goods, folks, hurry up."