Chapter 16: Great Strength Cultivation

  Lyu Yang was extremely shocked when he heard Lyu Yue Yao's words.

  He couldn't help but wonder if he had misheard.

  It's already surprising enough that a noble lady like Fourth Miss would take the initiative to come find him, but what's even more surprising is that her purpose for coming was actually to ask if he wanted to learn martial arts.

  The Daewon Dynasty had extremely strict control over martial arts. If an ordinary person taught martial arts to others without permission, or practiced martial arts in secret, it was called "private teaching" and would be severely punished by the authorities, even to the point of exile or military service.

  A powerful family like the Lü's didn't care about this law at all, they secretly built three large martial arts halls to cultivate loyal and skilled fighters for their own family. However, this was a private operation and not something to be publicly displayed. As a result, as Lü Yang's servant, he had no qualifications to learn martial arts or practice any skills before meeting the Fourth Miss.

  Learning martial arts is a privilege that ordinary people cannot enjoy, let alone a slave-born child like Lü Yang.

  "Fourth Miss actually asked me if I wanted to learn martial arts? What does she mean by asking this, could it be that she has already seen through my innate abilities and mistakenly thinks I'm a born genius, wasting my talent if I don't practice?"

  In Lü Yang's heart, it was like a huge wave had been stirred up, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

  "That's right, it can only be explained this way, she wanted me to learn martial arts because she didn't want to waste talent."

  "Opportunity! My opportunity has finally arrived!"

  Lü Yang was overjoyed in his heart and almost burst out laughing loudly.

  He has been waiting for this day, how many years have passed since he witnessed his parents fighting to the death to protect him, and in exchange for their lives, they got him under the protection of the Lu family. From then on, he secretly vowed that one day he would break free from his slave status, control his own destiny, and no longer be manipulated by others.

  Everyone else said that his parents were loyal servants, who risked their lives to save the legitimate son of the Lyu family, using their bodies to block the assassin's blade. Only Lyu Yang knew that his parents weren't doing it for the sake of the Lyu family heir, but for themselves; they did it for their own future and destiny.

  The master was assassinated, but the slave survived. After the incident, he would definitely be held accountable. The parents knew this point clearly, so they made a move to save their son under the name of loyalty.

  "If one doesn't take care of oneself, heaven and earth will be destroyed! In this world, human nature is inherently selfish, it's an eternal and unbreakable truth. Who would be so stupid as to throw away their own life for the sake of saving their master? If there really are people like that, they're not humans, but puppets without souls or thoughts, just a walking corpse!"

  Lü Yang's heart suddenly felt a dull ache.

  He clearly remembered that on that day, his parents could have hidden under the counter with him and saved their lives, but after a moment of hesitation, they rushed out bravely.

  There are things more important than life itself.

  After his parents passed away, Lü Yang was taken care of by the Lü family and had been living a good life. However, he knew that in this world, there were only two people who truly treated him with unconditional kindness - his biological parents. He was their only flesh and blood, the continuation of their lives, and they loved him because of their own selfish desires. It was this selfishness that made him who he is today.

  "What's wrong, didn't you hear clearly?" Lü Yuèyáo asked as she saw Lü Yáng staring blankly, not responding for a long time.

  "No, I heard it clearly." Lü Yang regained his composure and hastily said.

  Kidding me? Learning martial arts? Who wouldn't want that? Such an opportunity is hard to come by, how can I possibly give it up for nothing?

  However, after some thought, Lv Yang still had some doubts and concerns in his heart.

  "If I were to learn martial arts, of course I'd want to, but as a lowly person with a humble background, how could I possibly..."

  "As long as you have a heart, it's okay, don't worry about your background." Lü Yuèyáo heard the affirmative answer and immediately interrupted his speech.

  "From now on, you will nominally be my brother's follower, but in reality, you will be following me to learn martial arts. Your only task is to focus on practicing and improving your martial skills. If there is an opportunity in the future, I will try to get you a spiritual elixir that can increase your martial power, allowing you to rapidly advance and easily achieve the level of 'Huan Tong Jing' (a high-level realm), becoming a top-notch master of the six realms. As for even higher realms, it depends on fate. If you can break through to the 'Hou Tian Qi Zhong Bao Yuan Jing' (an even higher realm), I will not only help you obtain another spiritual elixir but also heavily reward you. At that time, whatever you want, as long as it's not excessive, I will grant it to you."

  She explained everything in one breath, made it clear to Lü Yang what he had to do now, and promised benefits for the future, showing a style of swift and decisive action.

  "Thanks for your cultivation, Fourth Miss." Lü Yang said.

  Lü Yuèyáo seems to have really taken Lǚ Yáng as a natural martial arts prodigy, and has begun to cultivate him with great care.

  A few days later, Lü Yang put away all his clothes, valuables and miscellaneous items, then under the name of a young master's follower, he was arranged to enter the Lü family's martial arts hall, officially becoming one of the eight thousand white-robed disciples.

  In other words, from now on, he can openly and honorably go to the martial arts school, listen to the master's teachings on martial arts and self-cultivation, and no longer have to sneak around.

  Even the Lü family's secretly transmitted Supreme Mysterious Skill, the Bǔ Tiān Jué, can now be cultivated openly and uprightly.

  "Opportunity should not be lost!" Lv Yang secretly rejoiced, "Although for someone like me, the most I can come into contact with is just the basic version of an ordinary disciple's cultivation, it's not the true transmission. However, it's still more brilliant than the so-called superior methods that are circulating in the world! The mysterious skill formula, the mysterious skill formula, humph, even if it's just a word or phrase, it has an incomparable profound effect, which is not comparable to ordinary skills."

  Moreover, the teaching content of Wudang is very rich. In addition to the basic principles of martial arts, there are also riding, archery, espionage, assassination, military tactics, and many other miscellaneous subjects. This is like the imperial examination, with xiucai, mingjing, shushu... I have been eavesdropping for many years, and finally have the opportunity to learn horseback riding and archery.

  "The more I learn, the stronger I become, and in the future, there will be even more possibilities. To break free from my slave status and gain freedom, only then can I, Lü Yang, truly be myself!"

  He knew that opportunities were hard to come by, so Lv Yang devoted himself to diligent study, and after filling in all the gaps in his martial arts training, he suddenly found that his understanding of martial arts had reached a new level.

  He had long planned to secretly practice martial arts and had taken action, but the path of martial arts is not feasible with just self-study, especially at the beginning. The foundation is unstable, progress is slow, and it's hard to surpass the experience of predecessors. If relying solely on self-exploration, it's unknown how many years and months it would take to reach a high level of cultivation.

  As his mood and feelings changed, Lü Yang suddenly had a slight epiphany, stood up, strode forward with a powerful gait, and began practicing martial arts in the courtyard. At this time, he had made some small progress in his martial way, but what was more important was the use of techniques and routes, the internal and external power between them, and a complete set of "Tiger Demon Fist", "Breaking Array Twelve Styles", "Shaking Heaven God Fist" and other techniques were practiced.

  These martial arts were all collected from various places by the Lü family of Nanling and used to enrich the family's martial hall.

  "Fierce tiger comes down from mountain, Tiger scratches spring, Tiger claws heart, Tiger howls in forest!"

  "The dragon rises to heaven, the horse's momentum bursts forth, and the swallow swoops down to skim the water!"

  "Shaking Heaven Divine Fist - Wind and Cloud Change!"

  "The sky is falling!"

  "Landslide!"

  Lü Yang savored the lingering joy and confusion in his heart, incorporating the momentary relaxation and loss into his fist technique. His moves became more scattered, with only form but no spirit. If a skilled martial artist were to see this, they would surely shake their head and sigh at these "flowery fists and embroidered legs" techniques.

  The move was a clever one, but when Lü Yang used it now, there was only the shell of the move, without any hint of divine intent. It seemed that not only he himself, but also his fist technique and martial arts had fallen into a state of decay and confusion.

  But at this moment, a divine intention that had been stripped and then restored, suddenly burst forth from the deepest part of his mind.