Chapter 48: Finally Able to Copy the Prajna Palm!

In a corner of the martial arts training ground, five sophomore students and Zhao Rui, a freshman, stood in a single straight line with their hands clasped behind their backs, listening attentively to the instructions of assistant coach Zeng Hongyi.

The martial arts team had three assistant coaches, all of whom had previously accompanied the formal team members to other regions for competitions. Having now returned, they naturally took over the training of the younger members.

Wang Zhanshan was the second head coach and also the de facto head coach, primarily in charge of the major operations of the martial arts team. During the last martial arts competition, because Elder Ge went to meet a friend, Wang Zhanshan led the team to the tournament, which was why he had been left behind.

"The so-called saying goes: boxing without internal strength lacks refinement, and internal strength without boxing lacks agility; to engage in armchair strategizing is ultimately to practice for nothing... Practical combat is the sole criterion for testing cultivation..."

Zeng Hongyi lived up to his name; he was upright and righteous in character, and in teaching, he favored earnest and persuasive guidance that moved others through words. However, to this group of sophomores, it was undeniably a bit wordy. Who didn't understand these grand principles?

After lecturing for ten-odd minutes until his mouth was dry, Coach Zeng instructed everyone to begin practical combat drills.

Zhao Rui and Zhang奎 (Zhang Kui) needed to take turns engaging in practical combat sessions of no more than ten minutes each with the four sophomore team members present. During each combat session, the other personnel had to observe from the sidelines, identify the strengths and weaknesses of both combating parties, and synthesize and summarize them in relation to themselves.

"Zhang Kui, you'd better pull your punches later!" A sophomore said to Zhang Kui with a slight eyebrow twitch and a mocking tone in his voice. Both were sophomores who had originally entered the martial arts team together, but now that Zhang Kui had become a sparring partner, the speaker naturally felt a sense of superiority.

Hearing this, Zhang Kui remained silent, but the gradually reddening tone of his skin betrayed that his mood was not as calm as his exterior suggested.

"Brother Zhang, let me go up later, you rest for a while!" Zhao Rui naturally overheard the exchange between the two and hastily spoke up.

Just as Zhang Kui was about to refuse, he caught sight of Zhao Rui's sincere and resolute gaze, causing him to change his words: "All right."

"Oh, it's just sparring, not a tournament, are you shy? Oh, I forgot this is your first time being a sparring partner." The young man's lips curled into a sneer, clearly intending to provoke Zhang Kui into sparring with him.

Zhang Kui still remained silent.

"All right, let's begin. First match, Cao Guannan. Which of you from the sparring group is going up?" A moment later, Coach Zeng, who had finished organizing the sparring testing equipment nearby, checked the time and asked aloud.

"Teacher, I'll go!" Zhao Rui hurriedly answered and stepped forward, afraid that Zhang Kui might change his mind.

Seeing that it was not Zhang Kui stepping up, Cao Guannan, who had been making provocative remarks earlier, cast a sidelong glance at Zhang Kui, followed by a contemptuous shake of his head.

"Junior brother, please enlighten me!" On the combat stage, after a standard mutual bow, Cao Guannan crossed his palms and stepped in a staggered stance, squatting slightly as he assumed the opening posture of the Prajna Palm, staring directly at Zhao Rui.

"Senior brother, please!"

As soon as the words fell, moving as swiftly as a rabbit startled or a falcon stooping, Cao Guannan suddenly lashed out with a palm strike aimed at the vital points on Zhao Rui's chest.

Zhao Rui had kept his shoulders lowered and his body hunched, guarding against any attack. Seeing the opponent close in, he hurriedly retreated and countered with a palm strike of his own, employing the exact same Prajna Palm technique.

As the palms of the two collided, their bodies simultaneously shuddered, both realizing that the opponent's palm force was by no means weak.

However, far from being alarmed, Cao Guannan's face lit up with joy. He had heard that a few monstrous talents had emerged among this year's freshmen, attaining the seventh or eighth grade at a tender age, with strength comparable to sophomores and juniors. He had assumed that Zhao Rui, a sudden newcomer among the freshmen, belonged to this category.

Yet upon their initial exchange, he discovered that while the opponent's cultivation was not bad, it still fell a fraction short of his own, meaning he could hardly be any martial arts prodigy. Consequently, his heart greatly settled. Executing a fluid set of Prajna Palm techniques, every single move directly targeted Zhao Rui's vital spots.

Seeing him press the attack aggressively, Zhao Rui relied on the combination of illusion and reality inherent in the Prajna Palm. After barely managing to parry a few moves, he hurriedly switched to the "Cloud Hands Plucking Stars" technique to hold off the opponent's endless stream of fatal attacks. After all, he had only recently learned the Prajna Palm and was far from reaching the stage of effortless execution.

"Junior brother, a bit slow. Faster!" Cao Guannan shouted as he pressed his attack, his arrogance gradually swelling.

Among martial artists, there are all kinds of temperaments—just as there are reserved ones, there are naturally these flamboyant ones. You could not simply call such people stupid or lacking in cleverness; the path of martial arts places greater emphasis on cultivating the mind. Only when martial arts and the inner self align can one unleash the greatest destructive power. This was the true reflection of his internal state during combat.

Power is born from the mind, and breath arises from spiritual intent! Only then can one achieve the state of the person and the technique becoming one!

Zhao Rui ignored his provocations, continuing to stubbornly resist the storm-like cascade of palm force. He retreated while circling the training ground with agile leaps and bounds, evading the opponent's lethal blows.

"Prajna Palm replication progress: five percent... six percent..."

Watching Cao Guannan attack with such fervent effort, Zhao Rui truly wanted to say, "Senior brother, keep it up!"

The two exchanged nearly fifty blows in an instant. Although Zhao Rui was struck by a few palms, he managed to deflect them away from his vitals, rendering them harmless.

Seeing that he could not secure a victory after a prolonged assault, Cao Guannan's expression darkened, and a flash of ruthless intent crossed his eyes. His body, which had been swinging a palm, suddenly paused its steps on the ground and leaped into the air. Twisting his body mid-air, he propped himself up with a single hand while launching a powerful, weighty side kick with both legs suspended.

This sudden shift was entirely beyond the scope of the Prajna Palm.

A sharp gleam flashed in Zhao Rui's eyes. With a pressing hand technique, he forced down and parried the opponent's side kick, then instantly assumed the character-two clamping-sheep horse stance, utilizing and diffusing the force to neutralize the surprise attack.

"Beep!"

"Cao Guannan, foul!"

Zeng Hongyi, observing from the side, immediately blew his whistle to halt the match.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Cao, I couldn't control myself for a moment." Cao Guannan hurriedly put on an expression of having made an accidental mistake, lowering his head to apologize to Zeng Hongyi.

"Couldn't control yourself? Go down and practice the Prajna Palm ten more times!" Zeng Hongyi was hardly a fool and immediately ordered Cao Guannan to step down from the platform.

On the stage, Zhao Rui secretly suppressed the slight tremor in both arms and also jumped down from the platform.

This fellow's kicking technique was unexpectedly fierce. Even with his fifteen years of cultivation, receiving it had taken a heavy toll.

"The Great Strength Vajra Leg, I'll take that!"

Stepping off the stage, Zhao Rui checked his system panel while regulating his breath.

The Prajna Palm progress stood at eight percent, while the Great Strength Vajra Leg, having just been clicked, sat at zero.

The harvest was decent; it was just that fully mastering this Great Strength Vajra Leg might require some effort and opportunity.

"Zhao Rui, excellent performance, outstanding adaptability, smooth transitions between moves..."

"Cao Guannan, has your Prajna Palm training reached such perfection? What? Can the teacher no longer teach you?" Zeng Hongyi's expression darkened as he scolded Cao Guannan, who was practicing the Prajna Palm by the side of the stage.

"Teacher, I was wrong!" Cao Guannan stopped his movement, stood at attention, and lowered his head in admission of guilt.

"Striving for victory is not unacceptable; if you showed this competitive mindset in an actual tournament, the teacher would actually be pleased." Zeng Hongyi reprimanded him a couple more times before signaling the next group to continue.

This time, the one stepping onto the stage was a female student named Qin Rui. She had a petite figure, wore a purple martial arts uniform, and sported a long, braided ponytail resting over the slender right shoulder of the young maiden.

"Coach, I want to fight him! He knows Wing Chun!" Before even stepping onto the stage, Qin Rui suddenly pointed at Zhao Rui and spoke up.

Upon hearing this, Zeng Hongyi realized the situation and hurriedly nodded, saying, "Zhao Rui, please trouble yourself once more."

Zhao Rui was utterly bewildered. What about Wing Chun? Was there something special about it?

However, since the teacher had instructed him, he naturally had no reason to refuse. Moreover, being a sparring partner was his original purpose all along.

Pulling back the elastic safety barrier, Zhao Rui bowed as he slipped into the arena, stood face-to-face with the female student, and gave a slight cupped-fist salute: "Hello, Senior Sister!"

"Hehe, you must use Wing Chun, you're not allowed to use anything else." A slight smile bloomed on the senior sister's fair face, revealing two tiny dimples on her cheeks that looked playful and cute.

"Uh! All right, Senior Sister!"

Zhao Rui bent his knees slightly inward to form a "clamping" shape, sank his center of gravity, placed his fists in front of his chest along the centerline, and tucked his elbows inward to protect his ribs. It was the official opening stance of Wing Chun—the Character-Two Clamping-Sheep Horse!

Filled with delight, Qin Rui leaped forward and unleashed her Prajna Palm techniques.

Zhao Rui parried her moves as they came, and the two immediately engaged in combat.

"Prajna Palm progress ten percent, fifteen percent..."

Zhao Rui leisurely fed moves to the senior sister, and by now he had figured it out. The Wing Chun martial arts path was originally a specialized technique of the Emei Sect; although both men and women practiced it, female practitioners were noticeably more numerous.

Presumably, Qin Rui had encountered opponents who used Wing Chun during past competitions. Therefore, in the eyes of this senior sister right now, wasn't he simply the ultimate sparring partner?

Their exchange this time differed from the previous one with Cao Guannan; the last bout carried a somewhat combative edge, whereas this time, the element of feeding moves was far more prominent.

Five minutes flashed by in the blink of an eye. Qin Rui still looked unsatisfied as she said, "There are still two variations I haven't used yet. We'll go again in a moment!"

To this request, Zhao Rui could only indicate that it suited his intentions entirely!

"Qin Rui, your Prajna Palm has improved somewhat, but it's still not enough. You need to ponder it more diligently to achieve the state where intent reaches the power, and power turns with intent..."

"Zhao Rui, your performance was great. While I only have a superficial understanding of Wing Chun, I saw that your parrying and adaptability were exceptional, as if you had received true guidance. Do not slack off in the future; you must practice diligently!"

As usual, Zeng Hongyi provided a critique of the two sparring participants while instructing the observing team members to contemplate the process, imagining how they would break the opponent's moves if they were in that position.

The flourishing of martial arts did not mean the proliferation of manuals; rather, it was the flourishing of martial arts exchange.

Watching from the side, Zhang Kui saw Zhao Rui listening to the teacher's encouragement with a countenance as calm as still water, entirely unruffled, which prompted him to inwardly reflect.

When Teacher Wang told him to let himself settle, what was it that needed settling? Was it to be as composed in the face of matters as Zhao Rui? Or was it to shed his habit of getting carried away and showing off?

All sorts of thoughts surged into his mind in an instant.

Half an hour later, the team members, having finished analyzing the two matches, resumed a new round of sparring.

Having already participated in two consecutive matches, Zhao Rui naturally had to rest. Although he wasn't tired, others assumed he was. Stopping Zhao Rui from stepping back onto the stage, Zhang Kui said, "I've adjusted myself. Let me take it!"

Seeing this, Zhao Rui had nothing more to say and could only helplessly watch as Zhang Kui stepped onto the platform.

Among the sophomores, there were actually no exceptionally prominent standout students. Upon entering the school, the strongest was only at Cao Guannan's seventh-grade level.

Now, after half a year of tempering, they were barely touching the threshold of the eighth grade. Zhang Kui's level was roughly on par with the remaining sophomore students, or even slightly superior.

This was precisely the reason Coach Wang had assigned him to be a sparring partner for a period—to temper his mindset.

With nothing to do, Zhao Rui sat quietly to the side, watching Zhang Kui spar with an upperclassman on the platform.

Right at that moment, a figure slipped up from behind and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Junior, you're fighting me next!"

The speaker was a short-haired senior sister with hair cut level with her ears. She was dressed in a unisex style and her mannerisms bore quite a boyish charm.

"This..."

"I'll introduce you to a girlfriend later, and she'll be a great beauty!"

"Uh..."

"It's settled!"

With that, the girl slipped back to her original seat.

A moment later, after Zhang Kui's group finished their bout, the short-haired girl leaped onto the platform and shouted to Zhao Rui, "Get up here!"

Zhao Rui glanced at Zhang Kui, and amidst the latter's astonished gaze, returned to the combat platform.

"Senior Sister, please enlighten me!"

"Don't worry, Junior, I guarantee she'll be pretty!"

"..."

Did you have a quota to fulfill?

Without further ado, the true measure of skill lies in fists and feet. Naturally, the arena witnessed yet another duel between Wing Chun and the Prajna Palm.

Although Zhao Rui's grade was lower than theirs, his advantage lay in his eclectic cultivation methods and profound internal energy. While inferior in some respects, the gap was not wide. Since it was not a life-and-death struggle, they naturally fought to a standstill with neither gaining the upper hand.

"Prajna Palm progress twenty-five percent!"

As the whistle blew, Zhao Rui's replication progress for the Prajna Palm halted at twenty-five percent.

"Li Xinran, you've improved..."

The short-haired girl was named Li Xinran. Her name sounded quite pleasant, but her attire and demeanor were truly at odds with it.

Practical combat drills typically consisted of two rounds of sparring in an afternoon. After the first round, the coach and members would conduct an analysis, followed by one-on-one guidance from the coach to the students. The second round was mainly to test the effects of the analysis and adjustments—to see what improvements and issues remained after the guidance, leaving them with things to ponder and drill upon returning.

After a brief rest, the second round of sparring proceeded as usual.

In light of Cao Guannan's "past misdeeds," his sparring partner was changed to Zhang Kui. The two were already on bad terms, and under the intense exchange of blows, they almost sparked genuine fury. In the end, both were penalized by Zeng Hongyi and sent off the training ground to reflect outside.

Consequently, Zhao Rui became the sole remaining sparring partner, and he "happily got his wish" to fight for over half an hour more, directly boosting his Prajna Palm progress to fifty percent!

Following these two rounds, it was basically time for the team training session to end.

Zeng Hongyi was extremely satisfied with Zhao Rui's performance today. After the training concluded, he deliberately kept his phone number, telling Zhao Rui that he could consult and discuss with him anytime he encountered martial arts issues in the future.

Bidding farewell to Teacher Zeng, Zhao Rui packed his backpack and turned to leave the training ground. Just as he stepped across the threshold, he heard Li Xinran's voice from beside him.

"Junior Zhao!"

"Senior Sister Li? Do you need something?"

Zhao Rui was slightly startled, not expecting Li Xinran to be waiting for him at the entrance.

"Yeah, didn't I say I was going to introduce you to a girlfriend?" Li Xinran tossed her head back dashingly, giving off the vibe of a dashing idol group member from the past generation.

Really now...

One is Le Bin, and the other is Li Xinran—could the two of you swap bodies!

Zhao Rui muttered inwardly, then smiled and said, "Senior Sister, it was just a joke. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving first!"

With that, Zhao Rui began to walk away.

However, before he had taken two steps, Li Xinran grabbed his arm directly and said, "How could what I said be a joke? What do you mean? I've already arranged it."

"..."

"Um, I didn't bring any money!"

"My treat!"

"My standards are high!"

"It doesn't matter if you don't like her."

"All right then!"

Zhao Rui readily agreed. Such a good thing shouldn't be turned down; at worst, he would get a free meal out of it.

Hearing Zhao Rui agree, Li Xinran laughed out loud and boisterously slung her arm around his neck, giving his body a hearty tug like a man would, and said, "That's more like it, why are you so indecisive!"

Goosebumps erupted all over Zhao Rui's body, and he genuinely worried whether this senior sister might have some chromosomal anomaly!

"Senior Sister, let go for a moment. I want to ask you about something! Something serious."

Hearing that Zhao Rui had serious business, Li Xinran finally released her arm and looked at him briskly, saying, "Go ahead, what is it?"

"In our martial arts team, can we only learn the Prajna Palm during the early stages?" Zhao Rui asked.

"Not necessarily, but biting off more than you can chew leads to indigestion, and Teacher Wang doesn't let everyone learn too much. Basically, after the third year, he stops interfering. Books and audiovisual materials in the scripture pavilion can be viewed freely."

"Oh! Do we only spar with the Prajna Palm normally?"

"Not necessarily. Well, um, my batch has relatively weak strength and a relatively shallow foundation, so we've always focused mainly on the Prajna Palm..."

Listening to Li Xinran's explanation, Zhao Rui finally understood.

Walking and chatting as they went, after ten-odd minutes, they arrived beside a tower-like structure about five stories high.

"I arranged to meet at the cafeteria!"

With that, Li Xinran stepped onto the steps and walked inside the tower-shaped building.

Zhao Rui looked up and read the sign: "First Cafeteria!"

It turned out to be the renowned independent cafeteria of the Martial Arts Academy.

He was in for a culinary treat.

Zhao Rui hurriedly quickened his pace, following her footsteps into the cafeteria.

From the outside, this cafeteria resembled a wide, slightly flattened high tower, but its interior was constructed in an extremely modern fashion, giving off the impression of a star-rated hotel.

The two followed a corridor, turned a corner, and entered the doorway of a spacious dining hall.

"Sichuan-Chongqing Flavors!"

A plaque with gold characters on a black background hung high above the entrance, inscribed with the four ancient-style characters: "Sichuan-Chongqing Flavors!"

"Can you handle spicy food?"

"I guess so!"

"What kind of man says 'I guess so'?"

Li Xinran took the lead and walked inside, scanned the main hall, found a table by the window, and sat down.

"Wait a moment, she hasn't arrived yet." Li Xinran motioned for Zhao Rui not to rush.

"I'm not in a rush!"

Zhao Rui smiled and turned his head to observe the restaurant's environment.

The daylight was still bright at this moment. Naturally, martial arts students were few in number, and even fewer students had come to eat at this hour. There were only about three or four tables of customers scattered about.

The two sat facing each other across the table, chatting idly. After a short while, Li Xinran's phone rang.

Hanging up the call, Li Xinran stood up, looked around in all directions, and waved toward the entrance.

Following her gaze, Zhao Rui was instantly stunned.

He saw a petite girl with bright eyes and white teeth standing at the entrance, a familiar long braided ponytail still resting diagonally across her shoulder.

Wasn't this Senior Sister Qin Rui?

Only, this time Qin Rui had changed into a light, silk-like long dress and wore light, delicate makeup.

"Hehe, all the good fat shouldn't flow into outsiders' fields!" Seeing Zhao Rui spot Qin Rui, Li Xinran's face immediately broke into an expression of wicked success, smiling quite smugly.

Right at that moment, Qin Rui had already walked over.