Manager Liu looked at Jiang Feng's expression and couldn't help laughing. "Kid, you certainly have high ambitions. However, I've heard that reaching a certain realm indeed allows one to gather souls for others. As for how it's done, I have no idea. All right, stop thinking about such nonsense; you're still a million miles away from all that."
"Besides, your physical foundation is simply too terrible. If you can't temper your physical body, everything else is just floating clouds. Practicing martial arts requires: fists like shooting stars, eyes like lightning, waist like a winding snake, and legs like spinning drills. Come on, let's start by practicing the horse stance to train your lower-body foundation."
"I know how to do the horse stance; my grandfather taught me," Jiang Feng mumbled, though he secretly resolved in his heart, "I must become strong."
"Oh? Go on then, show me a stance."
With that, Jiang Feng confidently assumed the horse stance just as he used to do. Before long, his knees began to ache, his legs started trembling, his waist grew sore, and then his whole body heated up as sweat slowly broke out on his forehead.
Manager Liu walked over to him, poked a finger against his chest, and gave a light push. Jiang Feng immediately stumbled backward several steps and fell flat on his backside. Manager Liu looked down at him with a smile, leaving Jiang Feng burning with shame and embarrassment.
"Kid, don't look down on this basic skill. Mastering it will benefit you endlessly. Waist like a winding snake, legs like spinning drills..." Seeing the pensive look on Jiang Feng's face, Manager Liu chuckled. "Have you ever ridden a horse?"
Jiang Feng shook his head.
"The horse stance is a body-tempering technique comprehended by our predecessors from fighting on horseback. When cavalrymen gallop on horseback, their bodies rise and fall with the horse's movements. Therefore, when practicing the horse stance, you must also rise and fall together, as if you were truly riding a horse underneath you."
"Imagine I'm riding a horse?" Jiang Feng asked, puzzled.
"Right, but not just relying on imagination. The rising and falling momentum a person has on a horse comes from the horse's own movement, so that doesn't count as skill. But the horse stance is different; your rising and falling momentum is equivalent to seamlessly integrating a horse into your own body out of thin air."
"If you stand completely motionless while practicing the horse stance, placing your center of gravity entirely on your knees the whole time, something will go wrong with your knees sooner or later. You won't understand even if I say more; thinking a lot is worse than doing a lot. Watch how I practice."
As he spoke, Manager Liu also assumed a horse stance. His body could be seen gently rising and falling, just like tiny ripples stirred across the surface of the water by a gentle breeze.
Seeing Manager Liu set an example, Jiang Feng consciously began to follow along.
"When rising, grip the ground with your toes, which will engage the bones and muscles of your calves. Straighten your knees, tense your thighs, lift your waist, and draw in your abdomen."
"When sinking down, relax your five fingers so your knees relax naturally, loosen your thighs, drop your waist, and bulge your abdomen."
"Pay attention: along with the rising and falling, you must constantly shift your whole body's center of gravity. Only in this way can you prevent the center of gravity from always landing on the same spot and causing damage to your joints."
Jiang Feng nodded repeatedly, feeling that the more he listened, the more sense it made.
From then on, Jiang Feng practiced the horse stance meticulously every day, pondering it intently. The slightest slackness would earn him a severe reprimand from Manager Liu.
A month passed. This month's training was exceptionally grueling for Jiang Feng; every day he was tortured with soreness in his waist and legs to the verge of collapse, but he never gave up. Fortunately, this hardship did not go to waste, as the strength in his legs was visibly increasing.
Two months passed. Jiang Feng truly grasped the inner essence of the horse stance. Aside from training hard in the backyard, even when eating or drinking tea, he would hover slightly over his seat, gently rising and falling while shifting casually, just as if he were truly riding on the back of a galloping horse.
Five months passed. Jiang Feng's horse stance proficiency had improved tremendously; he could easily hold the stance for ten hours straight in a single day, and with a single bound, he could leap over a zhang high. Even without moving his stance, he could freely shift his body's center of gravity between his two feet, displaying formidable leg strength and extraordinary physical coordination.
"Ah, not bad! At your age, to have trained your horse stance to this level is already quite impressive. It seems you really have quite a bit of talent. Starting next month, I will train your upper-body skills. Today I'll give you a day off to relax in town by yourself; I have some preparations to make." With that, Manager Liu smilingly stepped out and left.
No sooner had Manager Liu departed than Jiang Feng hurried back to his room to fetch the small change he had saved up back at Daqing Mountain, then rushed excitedly out the apothecary's front door.
He had been cooped up for far too long; ever since stepping through the doors of this apothecary a few months ago, Jiang Feng had not once been outside.
By now, the main street was already bustling with people, cries of hawkers rose one after another, and the shops along the street were all open for business.
Having gone through these past few months, Jiang Feng had recovered from the sorrow of losing his grandfather. After all, he was still a boy under fifteen years of age, and his playful nature had not been entirely extinguished. He shuttled back and forth cheerfully along the street, stopping and going, filled with curiosity about everything.
As noon approached, Jiang Feng prepared to head back to the apothecary. When he turned a corner, he spotted a little beggar sitting at the entrance of an alley, staring fixedly at the steamed bun shop across the way.
Jiang Feng's heart gave a jolt. Drawing closer, he saw it was a young girl of about ten years old, dressed in rags and covered in grime, clutching a broken bowl in her hands. Seeing Jiang Feng approach, the little beggar panicked and grew flustered, shrinking back again and again like an isolated little rabbit in distress.
Jiang Feng immediately backed away from the little beggar, turned around, and ran swiftly toward the steamed bun shop. He spent every last coin he had on steamed buns and mantou, gently placed them before the little beggar, and then turned and fled without even daring to look back.
Lying on his bed, Jiang Feng's eyes welled with tears. Sharing the same misfortune, the heart feels a kindred sorrow! If he hadn't been taken in by Uncle Liu this time, he feared he would have ended up in the exact same plight. And if his grandfather hadn't taken him in back then, he feared Jiang Feng would no longer be alive in this world. Dwelling on these sorrowful thoughts, Jiang Feng drifted into a deep sleep.
At dinnertime, Manager Liu looked at Jiang Feng's absent-minded expression and asked, "Kid, what's wrong with you? You look like you've lost your soul."
Hesitantly, Jiang Feng recounted what had happened during the day. Manager Liu clapped his hands in approval and smiled. "You possess a kind heart, and that is a rare thing. In a while, go to the kitchen to grab some food, and I'll go with you to take a look."
After finishing dinner, Jiang Feng packed up some leftover food and led Manager Liu to the spot where he had encountered the little beggar earlier. No one was there. Jiang Feng looked around anxiously for a moment, then set the food down in disappointment. "Uncle Liu, let's go back. She must have gone somewhere else."
"Alright." Manager Liu glanced traceably toward a certain spot, then turned and left together with Jiang Feng.
After the two of them departed, a stirring sound came from a dark corner not far away, and a thin, frail figure slowly emerged. It was none other than the little beggar from the daytime. She looked at the food left on the ground, then gazed at the backs of the two departing figures. A trace of bewilderment flickered in the little beggar's eyes, as if she were struggling to recall something, yet could remember nothing at all.