Chapter 32: Chapter 3: Intensive Martial Training

“Squat lower, I can’t kick you!”

On the martial arts field, Shen Can angrily kicked the burly man in front of him.

Sure enough, with so many people, there were all sorts of oddities.

His method was simple, batch the clan members for assessment, and after a big meal, they practiced the Kui Ox Fist in front of him.

And he would then coach them one by one, seizing the opportunity to teach the essence of the Top-Grade Kui Ox Fist.

Finally, he could select a batch of clan members with the most martial arts talent.

“Ancestral Temple Keeper, doesn’t your foot hurt?”

The kicked Huo Xiong laughed and scratched the back of his head as he spoke.

“My head hurts,” Shen Can replied irritably.

“Getting kicked by a foot, how can your head hurt?”

Huo Xiong was puzzled.

“Practice the Kui Ox Fist ten more times, if you keep making mistakes, then a hundred times.”

He thought he could quickly assess all the clan members, but didn’t expect a small problem with the first batch of three hundred people.

Things like “misstepping,” many clan members had developed bad habits on their own while practicing the inherently flawed Kui Ox Fist from a young age.

Trying to change in a short time, but habit caused their arms not to obey their brains.

Shen Can corrected their punching posture repeatedly, still unable to bring them back on track.

Compared to these minor problems, no clan member doubted how a physically weak witch could guide everyone in cultivating the Kui Ox Fist.

Changing long-held cultivation habits is difficult for most people.

Shen Can eventually chose to use sentiment and the stick.

A teaching stick over a meter long, as thick as an arm, looked smooth from afar, but had knotted bumps up close.

Words were useless, hitting where mistakes were made, and his head no longer hurt.

Finally, the first batch took four days to complete, no martial talent had been seen, but more than half were eliminated.

Then came the second batch.

Anyway, except for the children, the rest had to be assessed, including the women in the clan.

Though the clan’s martial arts teaching for children wasn’t great, both boys and girls were taught during adolescence.

However, as they aged, men and women’s focuses differed, with only a few women becoming Stone-Breaking Realm Martial Artists.

Shen Can taught each clan member sincerely.

Even those eliminated could continue cultivating with his guidance, benefiting from the current clan food supply system.

Apart from the Kui Ox Fist, the clan had absorbed many tribal heritages lately, finding several quenching methods.

Shen Can planned to unify and advance these techniques once the tribe grew larger and he had enough lifespan from the wild beasts he collected.

Currently, his energy was insufficient.

Thus, Shen Can worked busily for half a month, completing the first batch selection, narrowing it down to nine hundred clan members.

Among them were two hundred seventy-seven women.

Including Stone-Breaking Realm and Mountain Opening Realm Martial Artists.

On tiered steps of the martial arts field, Mountain Opening Realm at the top, Stone-Breaking Realm in the middle, regular martial artists at the bottom.

Only three Mountain Opening Realms remained; the others had tasks.

Some patrolled the tribe, others accompanied Huo Shan transporting supplies outside.

This accounted for over a third of the tribe; all could not leave their duties for martial arts.

So, Shen Can planned another half-month for further selection, aiming to keep three hundred members.

These three hundred would form the tribe’s standing force.

Supporting three hundred among two thousand was tough, but a plague wiping out other tribes left plenty of meat.

Those eliminated wouldn’t cease cultivation; the extended training would better engrain the Top-Grade Kui Ox Fist’s essence.

With sufficient cultivation resources, Martial Dao could still advance significantly.

This group would become the backbone of the tribe post-reform, supporting various tasks.

…

“Eating all this meat, and you’re slacking, I’ll beat you to death, you little brat.”

“Seems you’ve forgotten the hunger, forgot the tears when you couldn’t advance as a martial artist.”

Clan elder Huo Yuo wielded the Imperial Whip, walked among the training clan members, and beat anyone slacking.

Not only Huo Yuo, Shen Can also called upon other elders, each with a small stick.

He focused on correcting their Kui Ox Fist technique while leaving discipline to the elders.

The elders were happy to contribute.

The clan’s carefree meat-eating days, with their noisy calls, were gone.

Initially, mastering the Top-Grade Kui Ox Fist essence and ample meat supplemented their training.

Every day, their Qi Strength increased rapidly.

Days narrowed to eat, sleep, and punch.

Now, the cooking pot bubbled nearby, its aroma flooding them, but they had no appetite.

“How can you slack? Acan, though a witch, as frail as he is, leads you in practicing the Kui Ox Fist daily.”

“Are you worthy of Acan or your ancestors!”

At the highest point of the martial arts training ground, Shen Can withdrew his fists, feeling a bit speechless as the clan elders once again brought up the issue of his frail body.

Almost 1.9 meters tall, how is that weak?

His entire body was well-toned.

Sacrificial Master: Shen Can

Sacrificial Artifact: Sacrificial Tripod Cauldron

Martial Arts Realm: Mountain Opening (Power of Twenty Desolates)

For the past two months, he was busy treating the plague first, and then busy pointing out essentials for cultivation, which affected his training.

However, as the big pot of stewed meat was later added, his internal strength increased once more.

After withdrawing his fists, Shen Can walked towards the clan’s treasury with his hands behind his back.

The tribe had always been rather crude in measuring the Qi strength of martial artists.

Youths advancing to the Stone-Breaking realm, Stone-Breakers advancing to Mountain Opening, and so on were all based on feeling and experience.

But the Martial Dao is considered a precise matter, and practicing based on feeling naturally yields results based on feeling.

While the tribe members had no way to measure, Shen Can could clearly perceive his increase in every Desolate Power.

Consequently, after pondering for a few days, he came up with a solution.

To use the tribe’s wooden bows as standard tools for measuring strength.

In the clan treasury, a pile of wooden bows hung or lay scattered, having just been collected from the hands of the clan’s martial artists, including bows from ordinary tribesmen and children.

He started selecting from the small bows, gently drawing them to a full moon shape.

He casually tossed them aside and picked up another.

Huo Yuu watched from the side, somewhat puzzled.

After Shen Can tested all the bows one by one.

He selected three wooden bows.

One Desolate Bow, Nine Desolate Bows, Eighteen Desolate Bows.

The One Desolate Bow, being drawable to full moon shape, represented the entry of Qi strength into the Power of One Wilderness, signifying a Stone-Breaking Realm martial artist.

The Nine Desolate Bows, drawable to full moon shape, meant qualification to advance to the Mountain Opening Realm martial artist.

The selection of the Eighteen Desolate Bows was because Shen Can could now draw it, meaning his Qi strength was twice that of the Nine Desolate Bows.

Although it was unknown how much Desolate Power was needed to advance to the Celestial Vein in the Mountain Opening Realm, he speculated that Qi strength might relate to multiples of nine.

As his Qi strength continued to grow later, he would add the Twenty-Seven Desolate Bows and the Thirty-Six Desolate Bows.

Compared to measuring strength with Black Elemental Stones, having these bows as measuring tools made the process relatively clearer.

Of course, one could use a bow for each Desolate Power.

But the tribe’s bows currently could not achieve such precision and would need to be specially made after the clan’s reformation.

That way, from childhood through each step of advancement to Mountain Opening, a clearer measurement standard would be established for the tribe.

Shen Can knew very well how much seeing his own Qi strength increase clearly contributed to cultivating.

He tossed the selected bows to Ayu to hold, walking off with his hands behind his back.

Who knows where Clan Leader Huo Chang has wandered off to; for so long, he hasn’t found a wild beast. Looks like the surrounding mountains and fields have truly been ravaged clean by plague insects.

Returning to the martial arts training ground, Shen Can continued training martial arts with the clan.

“What, can’t eat anymore? Aren’t you the one who loves meat the most?”

“Go through the Kui Ox Fist, and for each mistake, practice ten more times.”

Shen Can held a small teaching stick, standing on a purposefully built stone platform, conducting spot checks on the tribe members.

“Come, a reward of a bowl of fatty meat overflowing.”

“Acan?”

Huo Yui looked bitter, really unable to eat anymore.

“Call me Ancestral Temple Keeper.”

Shen Can frowned, “Can’t even draw the Eighteen Desolate Bows, yet dare to call yourself a Mountain Opening Realm martial artist.”

“Clan Elders, replace his bowl with a pot.”

…

When the nine hundred had dwindled to four hundred and thirty, Huo Chang finally returned from outside the tribe.

Accompanying him were Huo Shan and other clan members, returning with supplies.

Inside the Ancestral Temple.

“Eight hundred miles east of the tribe, a thousand miles south, and over seven hundred miles west, there are no other tribes, just a scattering of survivors.”

Huo Chang brought back news.

Describing it slightly exaggeratedly, with Blazing Flame at the center, they were left as the only tribe within a thousand miles.

Even worse news, not only were there no people, but even beasts were scarce.

“In a valley within the deep mountains to the north, there is a wetland where a wild beast should be. I watched for a few days but the wetland was too large to tackle.”

“Wetland?”

Upon hearing, Shen Can’s eyes lit up; he was quite adept at Water Technique.

“Clan Leader, is it far?”

“The tribe members have been training martial arts for so long; it’s just the right time for an assessment, selecting three hundred people. It’s time they prepared something for the ancestors to eat.”

“I’ll prepare some Neutralizing Witch Medicine, and when we return from the mountains, the tribe might just undergo a transformation.”

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