Chapter 4 - Tri Bovine Style
Panda Novel
On the second day, Su Zimo went to the market early in the morning to buy a few cattle as his food supply for the next few days.
After putting them aside, Su Zimo went to Die Yue’s room, knocking on the door. “Miss Die?”
To Su Zimo’s surprise, the door slowly opened at his knocking.
Although the sky was bright, the room was strangely pitch dark.
“Come in.” Die Yue’s voice could be heard coming from the room.
Su Zimo took a deep breath and stepped into the room.
Su Zimo could not help but feel odd. He seemed to have passed a soft and cold water curtain into another world.
Su Zimo took a look and was startled.
The sight in front of him was no longer Die Yue’s room. Instead it was much more spacious than his mansion. He stood on a green lawn and there was a wooden barrel that was slightly more than half as high as normal humans.
Die Yue sat slanted on a huge green stone, lazing around. Although she had a large blood red robe around her, it could not hide her slim and exquisite figure.
“This is…” Su Zimo opened his mouth slightly.
Die Yue had shown him a lot of incomprehensible prowess within a day. To him, it was strange and fascinating.
“This is to insert the largest thing into the smallest one. You will understand when you reach a certain realm. There is no need to think too much about it right now.” Die Yue replied, leaving no room for doubt. “This is the cultivation field that I have created. You will cultivate here in the future.”
Die Yue jumped down lightly from the green stone. “I will teach you three more styles. These are called the Tri Bovine Style. Practice it in conjunction with the breathing and expiration method.”
“The first style is Plow Heaven Stride. Although there is only one style, it is ever changing. It is the only way to cultivate one’s leg strength.”
While talking, Die Yue walked on the grass.
Su Zimo widened his eyes and concentrated on what she was doing, staring at every step and movement of Die Yue, for fear that he would miss the details.
After a few steps, Su Zimo vaguely grasped what Die Yue was talking about.
There did not seem to be anything fascinating about her steps. But if he observed carefully, he discovered that Die Yue seemed to be making her way through muddy water.
She drew in her chest slightly and erected the back, bending her knees and lowered her center of gravity. She never let her knees bend past her toes, but her strides were very wide!
She seemed to have calculated the distance between each step. It was exactly the same!
Die Yue stopped in her tracks, and turned to look at Su Zimo. “Your turn.”
Su Zimo was not in a hurry to practice. Instead he stood in place for a long time to ponder before he took the first step.
Su Zimo had just taken the first step and he sensed that he had made a mistake.
Die Yue came to Su Zimo’s side without any expression. She extended her leg and gave a slight kick at Su Zimo’s extended leg.
“Psst!”
Su Zimo gasped.
Die Yue’s kick sent unbearable piercing pain down his thigh. He felt as if someone poked his legs mercilessly with needles.
“Hold this position, continue.” Die Yue’s indifferent voice could be heard in the room.
Su Zimo lowered his head and realized that after being kicked by Die Yue, the extended leg had a higher resemblance to Plow Heaven Stride.
“She is helping to correct me.” Su Zimo understood Die Yue’s intentions.
Su Zimo pursed his lips and tried to recall the stance of Plow Heaven Stride, making another stride with his left leg.
“Wrong!”
The sole of the foot had just touched the ground and Die Yue’s voice could be heard again, followed by a piercing pain on Su Zimo’s left leg.
Su Zimo automatically corrected his stances under the stimulation of the pain in his leg.
Su Zimo took a breather before taking another stride with his right leg.
“Wrong!”
He could feel the familiar sting again.
Wrong!
Stinging pain!
He continued to practice and was being corrected over and over again…
In the end, Su Zimo could not even feel his legs. It was numb from Die Yue’s constant kicks.
Su Zimo clenched his teeth, drenched in perspiration. His only thought was that he had to keep walking.
Time passed by without him knowing.
Finally, he no longer heard the word “wrong” being hollered at him. It sounded like a nightmare to him.
Su Zimo also realized that he had begun to understand the crux of Plow Heaven Stride.
“Don’t you remember what I taught you last night?”
Su Zimo suddenly saw the light with Die Yue’s reminder. He began to use the breathing and expiration method that he learned yesterday night as he practiced Plow Heaven Stride.
At the beginning, Su Zimo could not apply both of them together. He could not breathe properly after making a stride.
But with the passage of time, Su Zimo gradually found a way to use the breathing method together with the Plow Heaven Stride.
In fact, this breathing method coexisted with the Plow Heaven Stride. Su Zimo went faster and faster, and he no longer felt numbness in his legs. His flesh and blood seemed to be burning, and he had infinite strength in his legs, his strides became wider as well.
He did not make any movement, but he was able to move five feet wide in a stride!
Su Zimo was thrilled to know that he was learning it correctly.
But Su Zimo could vaguely feel that his Plow Heaven Stride seem to be lacking something.
Su Zimo automatically looked toward Die Yue who sat slanted on the green stone.
Die Yue had a look of disdain on her face, her eyes cynical and morose.
Su Zimo thought to himself, “I am very skilled at using the breathing and expiration method with Plow Heaven Stride. Why does she still look down on me?”
Su Zimo felt angry, hence he deliberately practiced the Plow Heaven Stride, circling the green stone, moving about in front of Die Yue.
Die Yue sneered after a short while. “Do you intend to train yourself to become an ox? This stride is meant to plow the Heaven, it is not for you to plow the land!”
Su Zimo was startled. He stopped in his tracks.
Die Yue floated down the green stone and went outside. She said coldly, “When you can understand the profound meaning of ‘plow heaven’, you will then be able to master the essence of this set of footwork.”
Su Zimo finally realized what was missing in his Plow Heaven Stride.
His every stride was supposed to plow a ravine out of the Heaven!
How much boldness and vigor would one need to do that?
Although he was skilled in this footwork, he lacked the vigor and boldness. Therefore, he could only be reduced to the cattle that plowed the land.
“Plow heaven, plow heaven…”
Su Zimo kept pondering over it, and he gradually saw the light.
Die Yue walked out of the room to the courtyard, with a faint smile on her face. Gone was the harsh and cold attitude that she displayed in front of Su Zimo.
“He could achieve this with one day and one night of cultivation. He seems to be slightly better than me back then…”
The lady’s whispers could be faintly heard under the peach blossom tree. But it was gone with the breeze.
…
For a month, Su Zimo spent most of his time practicing Plow Heaven Stride in the cultivation field. He worked hard in grasping the essence of “plow heaven” and had a deeper understanding of the footwork.
During this period, Su Zimo occasionally went out to buy some cattle and sheep and he vaguely heard some news.
Success was a relative term. It brought so many relatives. The Shen family in Ping Yang Town used to be an ordinary family. But many pugilistic experts worked for the Shen family during this period of time.
In the eyes of all, it was inevitable that the Shen family would rise to success. As long as Shen Mengqi succeeded in her cultivation, even if she made a one-time visit to her family, it was enough to bring success to the Shen family for generations. The pugilistic experts might even have the chance to join the immortal sect. They would not mind even if it was as their servants.
On the contrary, the Su family had been in constant trouble lately.
There were originally three large families, namely the Zhao family, the Lee family and the Yang family in Ping Yang Town. Su family rose to success in recent years. Furthermore, Su Hong was a Connate Expert, and Su Zimo had scholarly honors, therefore, the four families had been living in harmony.
And now, Su Zimo’s scholarly honors had been written off and he had been reduced to an inferior commoner. He also offended an immortal. The three families got restless and could not wait to take over the Su family’s business in Ping Yang Town and there had been several conflicts and clashes between them.
However, Su Zimo did not take these to heart.
There was Uncle Zheng to take charge in the Su family, as well as Liu Yu and other Postnatal Experts to help out. The most important thing was that his older brother was not at Ping Yang Town now. When he was back, given his swift and harsh style, he would be able to suppress those evildoers.
…
This day, Die Yue came up to Su Zimo and said, “I will teach you the other two styles. Afterward, you can practice the three styles together.”
Die Yue paused for a while before continuing. “Most of the styles in The Mystic Classic of the Twelve Demon Kings of the Great Wilderness are killing techniques. The next two styles are meant for killing. Bear that in mind.”
“First style, Bovine’s Moon-gazing.”
Die Yue took a step forward, that was the stance of Plow Heaven Stride. She then leaned forward, her arms suddenly outstretched from the abdomen. She clenched her fists, with her index finger slightly raised. She dabbed her finger and shifted slightly upward.
At this moment, Die Yue seemed to have disappeared right in front of Su Zimo. In replacement was a domineering bovine demon with its horns upraised!
Die Yue’s arms were the horns. The clenched fists with the raised joint of her index finger was the pointed part of the horn.
“Plow Heaven Stride is the foundation for Bovine’s Moon-gazing. Get into the Plow Heaven Stride stance, and exert force at the waist and abdomen, in the meantime throw out your fists. You must be able to charge toward the top as well as to do an upward thrust…”
Die Yue explained in detail while Su Zimo listened attentively.
Even so, when Su Zimo really practiced it, it was still inevitable that he suffered kicks from making mistakes. Die Yue stood by the side with a cold face. She would give him a kick whenever there was the slightest mistake.
In the blink of an eye, a day had passed.
Su Zimo was starving. He rushed to slaughter a cow. He prepared a wok and began to boil a pot of delicious beef.
While waiting, Die Yue picked up the cow tongue that Su Zimo threw aside saying, “Take the knife to stab at me.”
“Ah?” Su Zimo was startled. He did not understand Die Yue’s intention.
Die Yue replied. “I will teach you the third style. There is no way to show you how to do it. You will have to appreciate and understand the moment of change by yourself.”
Su Zimo knew that given Die Yue’s abilities, even if he exerted all his force, he would not hurt her.
Su Zimo gripped the knife and made a stab toward Die Yue’s shoulder, while concentrating on watching her movements.
Die Yue looked aloof. She raised the smooth and tender cow tongue and tapped it gently on the knife.
“Pa!”
There was a brittle sound. leaving Su Zimo gaping in shock.
The cow tongue was intact, while Su Zimo was only left with a handle of the knife in his hands. The blade had shattered into pieces onto the ground!
Su Zimo slaughtered the cow by himself. He knew that the cow tongue was just an ordinary tongue. It could never withstand the blow from the sharp knife.
Moreover, Su Zimo could not tell that Die Yue had exerted any force just now. Otherwise, he would not be holding on to the handle. It would have flown out of his hands.
This was just an ordinary cow tongue, but it shattered the sharp knife into pieces!
If the cow tongue tapped on a man instead of a knife, would the person turn into powder?
“The third style is called Bovine-tongued Saber. It may sound ordinary, but it represents the essence of this style.” Die Yue continued. “You once asked me when would you know that you have made initial success at cultivating skin tempering? Let me tell you now. When your palm has the same force as this cow tongue, you will be considered as having initial success at it.”
