## AST: Chapter 10 – Solitary Rapid Fist

His senses had grown much sharper. Qing Shui’s little visage creased into a happy smile. At this instant, there seemed to be even more information gushing into his mind! Could this be an effect of reaching the 2nd layer? After calming down, he scrutinised the new information in his mind and exclaimed in surprise!

Qing Shui was thunderstruck… “This.. this is the hidden weapon techniques!” What appeared in Qing Shui’s mind was the art of hidden weapons technique.

Today, was a great day, a day of two simultaneously happy events, through this past year, he had been struggling to break through to the 2nd layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique and had finally achieve a breakthrough today.

Not only did his power increased tremendously, he now could also study the art of hidden weapon techniques! From his accumulated knowledge, Qing Shui knew that in this era of cold weapons, hidden weapons were the most terrifying of all weapons.

Especially, an expert of the hidden weapons technique, they could be said to be almost invincible in the killing arts; as the saying goes “Any weapon out in the open can be dodged easily but an hidden arrow is hard to defend against”, and also not to mention that the might of hidden weapons were incomparable to the bow and arrow.

The best thing was that hidden weapons could catch an opponent off guard, if cultivated to the pinnacle, it could be said that it was even possible to kill your opponents with leaves and petals, not to mention using a darts or stones. A hidden weapon expert could use anything as his weapon, and that was the most terrifying thing about hidden weapon experts.

After breaking through the 2nd-layered heavens of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, Qing Shui understood that this was only the basics. Only by cultivating and breaking through to the higher layers of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, would he be able to acquire more powerful and ultimate skills.

Although Qing Shui could be said to be a 20+ years adult in terms of mentality, he was after all just a normal highschool student in his previous world, there was no difference at all if one compared him to a weak kitten. Now, even though he was just a child, he could already lift a 800 jin heavy rock 1 year ago! Not to mention that currently, he could even lift gigantic rocks weighing more than 1000 jin.

After he broke through to the 2nd-layered heavens of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, and feeling the boundless energy circulating his body, he felt that his 1000 jin strength prior to breaking through was actually considered to be quite pitiful. Looking at the corner of his basement, he targeted an enormous rock and send a fist flying at it.

“Peng.”

The enormous rock shattered into fragments. After Qing Shui executed the punch, he had managed to use up some of the explosive energy circulating in him, and thus he felt much more comfortable now. He was immensely satisfied with the power of his earlier strike. The might that it displayed, far exceeded his expectations.

As he thought back to earlier, where information about the hidden weapon techniques and ways to cultivate them came to him, there was another set of fist techniques that was unlocked. This set of fist technique could train one arms to be fast and nimble. The set of this fist technique was named Solitary Rapid Fist.

“What a strange name.” Qing Shui exclaimed, even in his previous life, he had never heard of this technique before.

The Solitary Rapid Fist only had 1 strike, but when mastered to the peak, one could execute this technique to terrifying heights. 1 into 2, 2 into 4, 4 into 8 and all the way until the peak where the changes are near infinite.

Qing Shui thought of his previous world where there was an expert who specialised in the use of flying daggers. Just with a flying dagger in hand, he could strike fear in the hearts of those who opposed him. From this, one could see the might of hidden weapon techniques.

As Qing Shui clumsily practiced the 10 initial stances of the Solitary Rapid Fist, although the form was there, the essence was not. Qing Shui trained slowly, trying to reach an understanding of the underlying concepts behind it.

A slight rumbling noise sounded from his stomach, he had been absorbed in his cultivation for almost 2 whole days. Despite practising for whole of the morning, Qing Shui only managed to gain a slight wisp of insight from the Solitary Rapid Fist, a very elementary understanding of the concepts lying behind it.

Feeling much more comfortable after bathing, he ate his lunch and proceeded to walk out of the room.

“How lacklustre my life is, other than cultivating there was nothing else for me to do, i couldn’t possibly mingle around with the other 10 years old just to fool around.” Qing Shui said dispassionately.

Because Qing Shui was unwilling to interact with people of his age (9-10 years old), and he could not go wild by exhibiting his full powers for fear of attracting suspicions from the adults, he gained the reputation of being an arrogant and cold person. There even were still some who called him trash.

After all, among the 3rd generation disciples, reaching the 2nd level of Blue Lotus Art wasn’t anything to be glamorous about; he was still ranked at the back, still considered to be relatively weak. And, on the surface, he was one of the oldest clan member in the 3rd generation who is still stuck at the Martial Student realm! Even Qing Hu had already broken through to the Martial Warrior Realm. After all, as long as you have not cultivated for a period of 3 years or more, you will be considered as a Martial Student. From this, one could see how pitiful Qing Shui was thought of by the other 3rd generation disciple.

“Forget it, I shall not care about this mundane things too much, as long as I am certain of the path i want to walk and forge on with determination, there would definitely be a day where I reign supreme.” However, Qing Shui knew that the path ahead was still very long and arduous.

“Qing Shui.”

Qing Shui turned his head as he heard someone calling his name. The person was none other than QIng Hu’s father, Qing Hai.

“Ah, 4th uncle.”

“Why didn’t i see you at the training session this morning, are you unwell?” Qing Hai asked with concern in his voice..

“Oh, I’m alright, please do not worry about me 4th uncle, due to over practising last night, i fell asleep and could not wake up on time today. I will make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Qing Shui shook his head as he smiled embarrassedly.

“It is good that you are fine, pay more attention to your body alright, the path to cultivating is a long one and requires constant effort to be put in daily.” Qing Hai said.

Qing Hai was actually very proud of the amount of efforts which Qing Shui had expended in this 1 year. He was secretly glad that this nephew of his had changed for the better as compared to a few years ago. In the past, Qing Shui’s personality was ice cold and ignored everyone except for his mother Qing Yi, now after he had recovered; he was more lively and thus opened up to more people.

“Yes, I understood, thank you 4th uncle!”

After bidding his goodbyes to Qing Hai, Qing Shui walked out of the Qing Mansion. Even when he was walking, Qing Shui was constantly moving his fist in accordance to the principles of the Solitary Rapid Fist, trying to gain more insights.

The Ancient Strengthening Technique had already strengthened and made his body more flexible and agile. Consequently, some of the moves that others would have trouble executing was demonstrated by Qing Shui effortlessly. He had even attained the state of divided concentration, where he could be focused on 2 things at a single time. As he practiced, his movements, breathing as well as the multitude of stances, slowly began to synchronise into one..

After 1 year, due to practicing the Ancient Strengthening Technique, Qing Shui had managed to transform his body into something as tough as steel and also filled with savage strength.

However, up till now, he had not managed to have the chance to learn martial techniques, if he were to fight with an opponent; he could only depend on his brute strength. Martial techniques could be said to be the amplifier of brute strength. Despite so, one absolutely cannot look down on Qing Shui.

After all, his brute strength originated from the tempering and refinement from the Ancient Strengthening Technique. Although Qing Shui had a very high regard for the Ancient Strengthening Technique, he knew that he could not forsake the cultivation of other martial techniques. In a real bloody fight to the death, martial techniques could be utilised to kill his opponents as efficiently as possible.

Gradually, Qing Shui’s hand movements got more adept, people who gazed at him would be bewildered as their eyes would not be able to follow his hands movements. The more he practiced, the more he felt that the Solitary Rapid Fist was similar to some of the clamping martial techniques (e.g. Dragon Capturing Hands from Shao Lin) back in his previous world, only this was at a much higher level. It was somewhat similar to the super-close range bunting attacks of Wingchun..

Maybe it was due to practicing both the Blue Lotus Art and Ancient Strengthening Technique, or during the process where the gates of knowledge opened and flooded him with information, Qing Shui had an understanding regarding his body meridians and acupoints that could only be described as godly. He even knew the uses of hitting each acupoints and exact weaknesses of them.

“Solitary Rapid Fist, since it is a fist technique, it should be able to hurt people, after all fist could also be considered as a weapon.” Qing Shui deeply pondered.

“Yup, other than being able to train the flexibility and nimbleness of my arms, it could also be used in a way that targets and attack the weaknesses of acupoints, energy channels and sensitive nerves of my opponent.” Qing Shui excitedly exclaimed after obtaining more insights into the Solitary Rapid Fist!

The stances of Qing Shui subtly changed in accordance to his insights. He had already reached an incredible state whereby he was one with his fists. He had closed his eyes, opting to use his heart to feel each movement, the neurons in his brain were firing at a rapid rate, analysing the pathway of imagined attacks, defense and retreat.

Suddenly, Qing Shui gradually slowed down and entered a state of contemplative silence.

~Enlightenment~