Chapter 221: Leaving the Martial Arts School

After Chen Lingxin left, Lin Xiao also exited the room. He bid farewell to Old Master Chen and Chen Tianxing and prepared to leave.

The students had already completed their daily training and were gathered in small groups, chatting. When they saw Lin Xiao, they immediately stopped talking, stood up straight, and greeted him loudly.

Lin Xiao smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

Only after seeing Lin Xiao leave the Martial Arts Hall did the students resume their conversations.

“Master Lin truly has the demeanor of a great master. The whole Jiangnan Province martial arts community is buzzing about him, yet he is so calm. If it were me, I’d be too excited to handle it.”

“You? Keep dreaming. In your dreams, anything is possible! Just focus on breaking through to the Clear Energy stage first. Otherwise, you can’t even call yourself a true martial arts practitioner.”

“Ah, it’s tough. I don’t think I have a chance. I wonder how Master Lin practices. He’s about our age, maybe even younger, but he’s already reached the Dark Energy stage.”

Hearing this, everyone fell silent. They were considered prodigies, each with their own pride.

Only core disciples could practice here, about ten out of over a hundred students at Chen’s Martial Arts Hall. They were the elite, selected from millions in Jinghai City.

“Ah, forget it. You can’t compare people. Sometimes the gap between people is greater than the gap between a person and a pig.”

Unaware of the students’ thoughts, Lin Xiao left the Martial Arts Hall and headed back to Maple Leaf Street in Yongnan District.

Yuan Yu was diligently working on her homework. She perked up her ears as she heard footsteps coming from the staircase. Her beautiful face instantly lit up with joy.

“Big Brother Lin is back.”

She put down her pen and ran to hide behind the security door, waiting for Lin Xiao to open it.

As soon as the security door opened with a click, Yuan Yu jumped out from behind it, waving her hands and making a funny face, trying to scare Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao, holding his keys, looked at Yuan Yu expressionlessly.

Yuan Yu was so pretty that even her funny face was not frightening at all, instead, it made her look even cuter.

“Little Yu, what are you doing?” Lin Xiao asked helplessly.

Yuan Yu’s face turned red as she retracted her hands that were flailing in front of Lin Xiao’s face.

“Nothing, I just wanted to scare you. But why aren’t you scared at all?”

“…”

Lin Xiao looked at Yuan Yu, who was smiling like a flower, resembling a little elf who had fallen into the human world.

‘Who are you trying to scare like this?’ Lin Xiao thought to himself.

He raised his hand to ruffle Yuan Yu’s hair and walked her into the living room with an arm around her shoulder, closing the security door behind them.

“How did you know I was back?”

“Heehee, because I heard your footsteps, Big Brother Lin.” Yuan Yu pointed to her ears. “My ears are very sharp. I can recognize your footsteps right away.”

“Good girl,” Lin Xiao smiled gently. He never held back his warmth when it came to Yuan Yu. “How was your day?”

“Not great. The teacher gave us too much homework. I still haven’t finished it yet,” Yuan Yu pouted, furrowing her delicate eyebrows. “And we’re going out to play tomorrow, so I have to stay up late tonight to finish it all.”

“No worries, I’ll stay up with you,” Lin Xiao said, patting Yuan Yu’s slender shoulder. “Let’s eat first, don’t go hungry.”

“Okay!”

They quickly put together a simple meal, and after eating, Lin Xiao took it upon himself to do the dishes, allowing Yuan Yu to get back to her homework.

“Little Yu, you go ahead and do your homework. I’ll take care of this.”

“Okay.” Yuan Yu nodded obediently and returned to the table, picking up her pen to continue her work.

After cleaning up the dishes, Lin Xiao took a shower. When he returned to the living room wearing an army green t-shirt and shorts, he saw Yuan Yu deeply engrossed in her studies and didn’t disturb her.

About two hours later, it was already very late, and Yuan Yu finally finished her homework. She stretched out with a long yawn, walked over to Lin Xiao, sat down next to him, and leaned her head on his shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Big Brother Lin, I’m done.”

“Good, then get some rest.” Lin Xiao gently patted her head, feeling a twinge of concern for how tired she looked.

“Mm, oh, and Big Brother Lin, Caixing and I are meeting at nine in the morning.”

“Don’t worry, I got it.”

“Yay! We can have so much fun tomorrow.”

Yuan Yu was filled with excitement and skipped off to her bedroom.

Watching Yuan Yu’s graceful, lively figure, Lin Xiao felt a deep sense of peace.

***

The next day.

Lin Xiao got up early, washed his face with cold water, and, following his usual routine, went to the nearby park to start his training.

In recent times, Lin Xiao had continually engaged in battles with strong opponents, accumulating a wealth of combat experience. He had also received the true teachings of the Chen family’s martial arts from Old Master Chen.

Although it was impossible to immediately compensate for the deficiencies in his techniques, Lin Xiao has seen significant improvement.

As long as he could fully integrate and make these techniques his own, his strength would undoubtedly advance further.

The focal point of Lin Xiao’s study was naturally the Chen family’s martial arts.

Before this, although Lin Xiao believed that the Chen family’s martial arts, with its century-old heritage, must have unique qualities, he hadn’t paid too much attention to it. After all, while their Martial Arts Hall was well-known in Jinghai City, the world was vast.

In Jiangnan Province, at least, it was known by everyone, but within the broader martial arts community, the Chen family’s martial Arts Hall was rather insignificant. Therefore, Lin Xiao assumed that the Chen Family’s martial arts weren’t particularly exceptional.

However, after receiving the true teachings from Old Master Chen yesterday, Lin Xiao realized that he had likely underestimated it.

The Chen family’s martial arts were created by the Chen family ancestor, who integrated the strengths of many different schools, summarizing and creating it from his extensive experience. At the time of its creation, the Chen family ancestor’s cultivation level was likely at the peak of the Dark Energy stage.

Although Lin Xiao was a Grandmaster at the Flowing Force stage, his contact with the martial arts community had been brief, and he had mostly been working behind closed doors. Previously, he focused on improving his cultivation level and was not particularly skilled in techniques.

The Chen family ancestor, on the other hand, spent his entire life practicing martial arts and created this set of techniques from a lifetime of accumulated experience. In terms of techniques alone, the gap between Lin Xiao and the Chen family ancestor was immense.

The fighting style of the Chen Family’s martial arts was quite similar to the Thunderbolt Fist that Lin Xiao practiced. Both were “hard” styles. When mastered to a high level, both are extremely fierce, capable of tearing apart tigers and leopards with bare hands.

However, there were obvious differences between the two.

Not just in techniques, but even in the way energy was exerted. The Chen family’s martial arts emphasized a ferocious and explosive force, with strikes as sharp as a drawn bow and as powerful as thunder.

Although the Thunderbolt Fist was also fierce and explosive, it emphasized the unity of heart and mind, intention and breath, resonating with the Thunderbolt Decree, providing a continuous, storm-like barrage of attacks.

From these points, it was clear that the Chen family’s martial arts excelled in explosive power, while the Thunderbolt Decree’s strength lay in its sustained energy.

Combining the two in actual combat would be incredibly powerful, a prospect even Lin Xiao found hard to imagine.

However, merging two advanced martial arts was not something that could be achieved overnight.

Throughout history, Lin Xiao was surely not the only one with this idea, but he had never heard of anyone succeeding. Nevertheless, Lin Xiao was confident.

The Thunderbolt Decree he practiced was extraordinarily profound. While Thunderbolt Fist was the accompanying technique for the Thunderbolt Decree, it could incorporate a multitude of styles.

One could say that the Thunderbolt Fist Lin Xiao practiced now was not the original Thunderbolt Fist. Long ago, he had integrated military combat techniques into the Thunderbolt Fist.

Countless thoughts flashed through Lin Xiao’s mind.

He took a deep breath and began practicing the Chen Family’s martial arts repeatedly.

Although the Thunderbolt Fist could integrate the essence of the Chen family’s martial arts, Lin Xiao first needed to become thoroughly proficient in the techniques.

It was similar to a mathematical formula. If he didn’t fully understand it, how could he apply it?

Punch after punch, Lin Xiao practiced the Chen Family’s martial arts.

Each punch hitting the air produced a crisp sound.

After about half an hour, Lin Xiao exhaled deeply, a glint of understanding in his eyes.

Even though he had only practiced for half an hour, he felt he had gained significant insights, developing a new understanding of the Chen family’s martial arts.

It was clear that once he fully comprehended the Chen Family’s martial arts, he would be able to integrate them into the Thunderbolt Fist.