The next morning, at the training grounds.
"Bajiquan is like a collapsing bow in motion and a thunderclap in release," Kanzaki said, his voice steady. "It requires tempering the shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, knees, feet, and every other part of the body to their absolute limit, allowing power to flow in all eight directions."
He stood at the center of the field, his aura contained yet heavy, like a volcano holding back its eruption.
"This set of fist techniques has no interest in flashiness. It is about hard opening and hard hitting, with no blocking or parrying. For those with weak bodies, it not only lacks lethality but can easily injure the practitioner instead."
He looked at the three women standing in a row before him.
"Your current physical strength already far surpasses that of ordinary people. Once you master this fist technique, you will be able to kill even a Borisin in a single strike, despite their powerful regenerative abilities."
Jingliu, Hanya, and Xueyi listened in solemn silence.
"Watch closely."
Kanzaki's figure blurred. In an instant he crossed several yards, his right shoulder slamming heavily into a nearby specialized alloy post.
Clang!!!
The post, designed to withstand high-speed star skiff impacts without a scratch, dented deeply under the blow and was rendered useless on the spot. The resulting shockwave sent the three women's hair whipping about their faces.
Even though they had all seen death on the battlefield, the sight still drew instinctive gasps from them. The Artisanship Commission did not use this specialized alloy lightly for testing standard Cloud Knight weapons. It was simply too easy to humiliate the tester.
None of them had expected it to be destroyed by a single strike. If any of them had taken that blow instead, their bodies would likely have shattered on the spot.
"This move is called the Close-Body Lean," Kanzaki said, withdrawing his stance. "In later generations, to better emphasize its power and momentum, it became more commonly known as the Iron Mountain Lean."
He continued teaching without pause.
From that day onward, the three women began a hellish regimen of Bajiquan training.
"The lower body must be as steady as bedrock."
"Power must not rely on brute force alone. It must flow through the entire body as one connected force."
Kanzaki moved among them, correcting their postures whenever needed. Their talents were all excellent. Hanya's steady personality gave her a stable foundation, and her strikes landed with heavy, solid impact. Xueyi possessed terrifying explosive power, her movements carrying a ruthless edge. Jingliu, however, had the greatest comprehension and progressed the fastest.
Within two months, all three had grasped the basics.
Bang!
Jingliu's Heart-Piercing Elbow shattered the wooden post in front of her. As beginners, they were still far from destroying specialized alloy posts with their bare hands.
Once their foundations were solid, it was time for actual combat sparring.
Time passed amid sweat and collisions. In the blink of an eye, the three-month period came to an end.
"All three of you, come at me at once," Kanzaki said calmly from the center of the field.
The three women exchanged glances and quickly spread out, surrounding him in a triangular formation.
Hanya struck first. A Collapsing Punch shot straight toward Kanzaki's abdomen. At the same time, Xueyi dropped low, targeting his lower body. Jingliu used the other two as cover and brought a palm strike down toward his head. Their combined offense sealed off every path of retreat. Against anyone else, even a Cloud Knight vanguard would have been forced into a defensive scramble.
Kanzaki gave a slight nod. His footsteps shifted in an unpredictable pattern, evading Xueyi's attack while his left hand shot out like lightning, seizing Hanya's wrist. With one smooth pull and push, he sent her flying toward Xueyi.
At that exact moment, Jingliu's Ferocious Tiger Climbing the Mountain reached his head.
Kanzaki did not retreat. He advanced. His right shoulder jerked upward violently.
A dull thud rang out.
Jingliu felt an overwhelming force explode from her palm through her entire body. She was sent flying backward, tumbling twice in the air before she managed to adjust her landing and stagger several steps to disperse the remaining impact.
She understood clearly that in a true life-or-death battle, that force would have been many times stronger.
"Continue," Kanzaki beckoned.
The sparring dragged on until the setting sun dipped below the horizon. The three women rushed him again and again, yet none of them could break through his defensive stance. Eventually Xueyi and Hanya collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, unwilling to move even a single finger as they lay there panting.
Only Jingliu still had strength left. A faint, lingering desire shone in her eyes.
Kanzaki read his disciple's thoughts with ease, but he did not indulge her.
"That is enough for now."
"Master, the Martial Arts Examination begins tomorrow. I want to practice a little more. Is that all right?" Jingliu pressed.
"Mhm. As you wish."
Seeing her persistence, Kanzaki said nothing more and simply turned to leave.
Jingliu's lips had barely begun to curve upward before she watched him walk away. Xueyi and Hanya supported each other as they rose and followed after him.
Only then did she understand what "as you wish" truly meant.
He was letting her practice alone.
Jingliu could not help the deep resentment that flashed through her eyes. With her master's strength, he had not even been flushed or out of breath after an entire day of sparring. He was not tired. He simply no longer wished to spar with her.
It's fine… It's fine…
Watching the three of them disappear around the corner, Jingliu forced her emotions down and turned her gaze toward the nearby specialized alloy post.
Before long, sounds different from the striking of wooden posts echoed across the training grounds. Jingliu's already crimson pupils now carried a faintly terrifying light. It was as if she were venting something through her training, completely ignoring the pain each time her fists and elbows crashed into the post.
Perhaps the contestants who faced her in the Martial Arts Examination tomorrow would suffer quite a bit.
After another hour of practice, the faint irritation in her heart finally eased. She picked up her discarded shirt and returned home. As she prepared to wash her face, she noticed someone had used the bathroom not long ago.
Normally she would not have thought much of it. But now she was extremely sensitive to her master's scent. Even from a distance or after time had passed, as long as it had not been deliberately erased, she could detect it.
Her master's scent lingered in the bathroom, mixed with two other familiar scents belonging to Xueyi and Hanya.
Master and them… Could the three of them have…
If not for the sound of running water from the faucet, time in the bathroom might have seemed to stop entirely.
The highlights in Jingliu's pupils quietly faded. Unbidden, certain imagined scenes from forbidden biological textbooks surfaced in her mind.
No… Those weren't textbooks…
She looked up at her reflection in the mirror and was startled to find the same lingering images still playing behind her eyes. She slapped her forehead hard.
Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!
In the Xianzhou, such daily life was not uncommon. As long as it did not violate the Family Planning Laws and both parties had passed the Adulthood Exam, who would care how many people were in someone's private affairs?
Seemingly convinced by this reasoning, Jingliu took a deep breath, turned off the water, and went to her room to retrieve her loungewear for a bath.
But as she passed Hanya's room, she once again heard those suppressed moans. The sound was very familiar. It had left a deep impression on her decades ago.
Calm down. Calm down.
Jingliu selectively blocked some of her senses, pretending she had heard nothing, and silently comforted herself.
This is all human nature.
That was right. Human nature. The seniors were human too. Her master was even more so, rather than a Mara-Struck who had lost his mind and knew only slaughter.
She herself was also human. It was not strange for her to feel jealous over these things.
Her master and the seniors were all perfectly normal. There was no problem.
The only one with a problem was her, for actually falling for her own master and feeling bitter because his tenderness never fell upon her.
What she did not understand, she at least knew how to seek knowledge of.
In various literary works and Illusory Dramas of the Xianzhou, those who fell for their master were called Rebellious Disciples.
In reality, no such thing as a Rebellious Disciple existed. Doing it for real would easily invite criticism.
So in the end, it still came back to the same conclusion.
She was the one with the problem.
But in her world, only her master remained.
Therefore, asking her master to help solve his disciple's problem was perfectly reasonable, was it not?
Master… Master…
Jingliu cupped her flushed cheeks with both hands, her expression unreadable.
===
T/N: Yep, you're cooked