Chapter 58: Teaching
by DesutranslatorAfter arriving home, Li Si had Yu Hu sit for a while. He took out a food box from home, washed it, and then headed towards the restaurant.
“Teacher!” Halfway there, a voice suddenly called out to him.
Li Si turned his head to see Cao Meng running towards him from not far away, carrying a black sword.
Seeing that black sword, he suddenly remembered he didn’t know where his own sword had gone.
“Teacher, this is your sword. It was kept at Uncle Wang’s house before. I’ve brought it to you,” Cao Meng said as he ran up to Li Si.
“Mm,” Li Si nodded, not taking the sword, and said to Cao Meng, “Come with me to the restaurant.”
With that, he led Cao Meng towards the restaurant.
At the restaurant, Li Si ordered a few dishes and took out some plates from the food box to give to the waiter, asking him to bring the food over.
Because there were three people this time, there was quite a lot of food.
After the food was prepared, he had Cao Meng carry it, as his body was in much better condition than Li Si’s at the moment.
“You say your Uncle Luo asked you to stay at my house to take care of me recently?” Li Si asked somewhat helplessly as they walked.
“Yes, Uncle Luo said your health hasn’t been good lately, so he wanted me to come take care of you,” Cao Meng nodded and then said, “Teacher, don’t worry, I’ll definitely take good care of you.”
Li Si chuckled lightly. He roughly understood Luo Ye’s intention. Recently, there was indeed the reason of his poor health, but there was another reason – to let this boy learn some skills from him.
“Let’s go,” Li Si said, walking in front while Cao Meng followed behind him.
Soon, the two arrived home.
At this time, Yu Hu at home saw Cao Meng and his expression became slightly unpleasant. He and Cao Meng didn’t get along well to begin with, and Cao Meng was the only peer he couldn’t beat.
Fortunately, Cao Meng didn’t fight much, otherwise Yu Hu wouldn’t be able to show off among his peers.
“Go wash your hands, then come eat,” Li Si put the food box on the table, then took the black sword from Cao Meng’s hand and set it aside.
Next, the three ate lunch. Cao Meng and Yu Hu went to wash the dishes, while Li Si hung the black sword in the study and then stayed there to continue reading.
After Li Si had been reading for a while, Yu Hu came into the study and said to Li Si, “Teacher, I’m going home now. If I don’t go back, my dad will beat me.”
Hearing Yu Hu’s words, Li Si looked at him and smiled, “Go on then, remember what I told you earlier.”
“Yes, teacher,” Yu Hu responded with a laugh and left. Whether he had taken Li Si’s words to heart remained to be seen.
After Yu Hu left, Li Si continued reading, and he had already released Xiao Yu.
After releasing Xiao Yu, Li Si felt his thoughts become unprecedentedly clear. Looking at the book, he felt somewhat regretful – if his mind had been this clear in his previous life, he would have gotten into one of the best universities at that time.
Although regretful, in this world with Xiao Yu, he could use this ability to study well, and even take the provincial examination if he wanted.
Although he didn’t plan to take the exam, after all, if he passed the provincial examination, the ghost thing from the Nie family might come looking for him.
After reading for a while, Li Si felt his body becoming stiff, so he got up and walked out of the study. At this time, he saw Cao Meng writing at the desk.
Seeing Li Si come out, Cao Meng stood up nervously.
“Come here, didn’t you want to learn martial arts? I’ll teach you a few moves,” Li Si beckoned to Cao Meng and walked towards the courtyard.
Hearing Li Si’s words, Cao Meng’s face immediately lit up with joy and he followed Li Si.
After entering the courtyard, Li Si began to demonstrate, practicing the “Mystic Tortoise Record” with slow movements. This was the static method of the two practice methods in the “Mystic Tortoise Record”, mainly using slow and gentle movements, which had the effect of nurturing qi. This practice method was just right for Li Si’s current physical condition.
Seeing Li Si’s slow movements, Cao Meng was momentarily confused. Could these movements be considered martial arts?
“This martial art of mine is mainly about using speed to counter slowness, and slowness to counter speed. Like an old turtle on still ground, slow means Jing Shou (jing shou – quiet defense) waiting for the attack, fast means striking like lightning to take life,” Li Si explained while practicing. “What isJing Shou? When the enemy attacks…”
After completing a set of basic practices, Li Si was slightly sweating, and he felt a warm current flowing from his limbs towards his wounds. Suddenly, he felt the pain in his wounds lessen considerably.
At this time, Li Si looked towards Xiao Yu standing under the eaves and immediately understood. Xiao Yu had contributed greatly here – Xiao Yu’s spiritual light skill actually had an effect on his martial arts practice.
Understanding this, Li Si was inwardly delighted, but with Cao Meng nearby, he quickly suppressed his joyful expression and asked Cao Meng, “Did you remember it?”
“I remembered it,” Cao Meng was also somewhat confused at this moment. Why was his brain working so well today, remembering everything the teacher said after hearing it just once?
Li Si didn’t doubt him, knowing Xiao Yu had contributed to this, and said, “These days I’ll teach you this basic practice method, mainly the qi-nurturing method of using slowness to counter speed. Are you willing to learn?”
“I’m willing to learn, thank you, teacher,” hearing Li Si say this, Cao Meng was suddenly overjoyed and immediately wanted to bow down.
Li Si didn’t stop him, letting him kowtow. After all, in this world, teaching him martial arts was almost like acknowledging the master-disciple relationship. A teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime, so receiving a few kowtows was nothing.
After Cao Meng kowtowed three times, Li Si walked to his side and helped him up, smiling, “Then from now on, practice martial arts with me.”
With that, Li Si began to teach Cao Meng the static method. This teaching lasted for about several hours, during which not only did he have to learn the routine of the static method, but also the art of breathing and qi circulation.
The art of breathing and qi circulation combined with the static method routine could be considered the true static method practice.
So even with Xiao Yu present, it took Cao Meng several hours to learn, because if the breathing technique wasn’t integrated with the static method routine, it would at best be twice the effort for half the result, and at worst lead to paralysis.
Li Si also repeated the dangers of practicing to Cao Meng three times, being extremely cautious.
After finishing the practice, Cao Meng also slightly felt the warm current, which made Li Si both happy and disappointed. He was happy that Cao Meng had developed a sense of qi so quickly, but disappointed that he himself wasn’t a one-in-a-million martial arts prodigy after all.
“Knock knock knock…” Just as Li Si and Cao Meng finished practicing, a series of knocks came from the door.
Li Si frowned slightly and pondered for a moment. He couldn’t think of who would be looking for him at this time.
“Is Young Master Li here?” A voice came from outside the door. It was the voice of that Liu Qin, the magistrate’s advisor.”
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