Chapter 27: 27: Sometimes, Cultivation Really Does Resemble A Pyramid Scheme…

Sweat. 

With the warm lights of the training center shining down onto them, the new disciples accepted into the Starlight Lake Sect were training as hard as they could. These disciples were the direct and inner disciples of the sect, and, with the sect being Starlight Lake, these disciples were nothing to frown at. 

Not mentioning the direct disciples, the most talented of the talented, the inner disciples alone were already considered rare, high-end talents that most sects would be honored to have. 

Among the training field though, as the teacher of the class, Jiang Yonghang, looked down at the field from a second floor platform, taking some small notes about his students. 

From above, it was obvious, there was a noticeable difference between the four direct disciples and the rest. 

Lu Qiang, who Jiang Yonghang had noticed struggled a bit to follow the classes, seemed to be a fish in water, a racoon in a trashcan, he was learning it as if he had already learned it once in the past. 

Cai Yufei, although not as naturally talented as these body-only type arts, was also learning at a rapid pace. Jiang Yonghang took a moment, noting down Cai Yufei’s work-ethic, taking special notice to his strict routine. 

Yan Mingqing, who had a background Jiang Yonghang made a separate note of, seemed to be learning at a fast but not ridiculous pace. However, Jiang Yonghang did notice that Yan Mingqing seemed to be very casual, familiar with everything, but just wasn’t interested in the technique, so she wasn't putting in much effort to learn it quickly... 

The last of the four direct disciples was Lin Songmei. Jiang Yonghang had also made a note of her background, out of the entire class, she had come from the worst circumstances. Because of Songmei’s background, Jiang Yonghang wanted to be there to help out with getting adapted to the cultivation world if Songmei needed it. 

During this training though, Jiang Yonghang noticed that even though Lin Songmei had no martial arts foundation of note, she was still keeping pace with the other direct disciples by only using the pictures in the packet. 

Shifting his attention away from the direct disciples though, Jiang Yonghang, who was looking forward to teaching this promising batch, began taking notes on the inner disciples, most of which he had already gotten to know over the break. 

As Jiang Yonghang was taking notes though, Songmei was... unaware to say the least. Feeling like a lost wanderer stranded in dense fog, Songmei wasn’t paying much attention to her surroundings. 

She had stared at the panda diagram pictures for so long she felt like she could burn a hole through it. 

At least they were cute... 

Going through the motions, Songmei, though confused, was still feeling progress. The end goal for these students was to be able to punch out while expelling a cold mist from their fist, but as of now, she was still at the stage of feeling Qi rush through her arm as she launched a punching motion. 

Furrowing her eyebrows, her lips pressed into a thin line, Songmei ignored the fatigue she was feeling, pushing through pain to learn the technique. Using her shirt to wipe her sweat, Songmei felt a sense of... responsibility. To do well. With all the care that she had gotten after arriving at the sect, although she didn’t have something to really work towards at the moment, she had decided she'd work hard out of gratitude until she found something. 

Unknown to Songmei and the rest though, this technique, although innocuous and quite useless outside of being an introductory technique, did its job quite well. 

By mastering the technique, the disciples would gain a better feel for the Qi flowing through their body, understanding the flow and how to direct it more. Moreover, they’d not only learn how to reinforce their body using their Qi, a basic skill that everyone needed, but would also learn how to expel Qi from their bodies. Lastly, this was a good foundational skill that could lead into many better skills if one chose to stay with a weaponless fighting style. 

Songmei reviewed the packet once more, looking up to the panda projection in the center of the training field to fill in the gaps between the pictures. 

Step, step, shift, punch. 

W... wait what?

Frozen in place, Songmei felt a number of eyes on her as she saw a small frosty mist descend towards the ground after being expelled from her hand. 

Damn... 

Songmei felt like a lost traveler stuck in dense fog who had accidentally found a mountain of gold... 

The inner disciples around her though could only curse in their hearts, was this the feeling of being outclassed in terms of luck??

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However, even with a faint frosty mist being expelled from her hand, Songmei knew she still had a long way to go. The mist she had generated was far too small and was more like someone’s sneeze rather than a true mist. Other than that though, Songmei also felt that the Qi that had rushed through her arm didn’t strengthen her at all, instead just... escaping. Obviously that wasn’t what was supposed to happen. 

Stare at the panda... 

Stareee... 

Alright. 

Step, step, shift, punch. 

Songmei had closed her eyes to concentrate on what was going on inside. Reminding herself that, no, this wasn’t some weird multi-level marketing scheme that promoted spiritualism and alternative medicines, but instead just her focusing on her internal Qi. 

Instead of letting it all just travel out from her arm, Songmei tried her best to let some of it diffuse through her arm while letting the rest follow the same path as last time, being expelled out of punch. 

Whew... 

Songmei moved her arm in a windmill-like rotation, alleviating some of the fatigue in her arm before trying again. 

She felt that her arm was getting stronger but there was now a larger issue... 

She couldn’t get enough Qi flowing in her body!

The pain of just being bad... 

Songmei knew that this problem would be alleviated through just gathering more Qi in her body or opening some of her meridians, but... that was much easier said than done. 

Stuck in her own thoughts, thinking about how she could address the issue, Songmei was dragged out of her own little world as a commotion broke out on the other side of the training field. 

Jogging over, Songmei was shocked as a small empty circle formed around Lu Qiang. 

In the center of the circle, demonstrating for everyone to see, was Lu Qiang performing the technique. Everytime he punched, Lu Qiang expelled a fair bit of mist, his mist more water-like and less frost-like than Songmei’s. In his own world, dedicated to executing the technique, Songmei also noticed that every time Lu Qiang leapt forward with a punch, the force of it would generate a little bit of wind. 

Not much to take note of, but it was still stronger than what was generated from a normal punch. 

Impressive. 

Songmei didn’t know much, but she still admired Lu Qiang’s achievement. 

All those martial art forms Lu Qiang would do on a whim in the middle of the street really had paid off!

Studying his form a few more times as Lu Qiang ran through it, Songmei turned back, returning to the area she had been practicing in and focusing once more on learning this technique. 

Why were people referring to it as a fisting technique though...  

Everyone knew what the innuendo was... no need to make it... really. 

Shaking her head, Songmei tuned out the voices of the joking disciples who had then decided to have an impromptu duel, focusing back onto her own technique.