After Mingfeng had nothing left to teach his brilliant daughter, it was Zhao Wanting’s turn to coach her beloved child.
It had been a while since Anji visited the main courtyard. It was the most spacious place in the estate, but she wasn’t allowed to roam outside in the middle of winter without permission. Hence, she was surprised when Lizi informed her how her mother wanted her to dress in martial robes and wait for her in the main courtyard for their lesson.
What exactly were they going to learn on a freezing winter morning?
"Good morning, darling! You look adorable today," Zhao Wanting giggled, waving to her daughter, who had just arrived.
The first rays of the morning sun had just begun to light the skies, but the courtyard was already bustling with life in anticipation of their young mistress’ arrival.
Unlike her usual garment, Zhao Wanting wore something Anji had never seen her mother use. According to stories from the other servants who had served the sect long before Anji was born, her mother was a cultivator who wore robes of green and white resembling the bamboo grove. Her willowy figure and signature sword style gave her the murim nickname of the Bamboo Fairy. Anji never thought she would see her mother dressed as an actual cultivator because Wanting had long retired from martial arts and cultivating, opting to focus her energy on raising her children and looking after the sect affairs.
"Mother!" Anji hurried over in her martial robes. They were dyed in pink and white, making her appear like a peach blossom fairy. "What are we learning today?"
Seeing how excited her baby was, Wanting grinned. Her husband told her Anji had understood all the basic martial arts theory in just a few weeks. She spent more time learning from Doctor He than with her father. Hence, he thought it was time for Anji to learn basic martial arts. Unfortunately, the men of the clan had no grace and focused more on raw strength. Anji’s frail body would not keep up with the kind of training Bai Dajin gave their third child.
"Have you heard of the Gentle Fist arts?" Wanting smiled as her daughter stood before her. There were no swords or weapons in sight.
Recalling details of her lesson with her father, Anji nodded. The Gentle Fist technique was born from the Five Elements and I-ching philosophies.
"Are we going to learn the taiji fist or the eight trigram palms today?" she asked her mother, who beamed excitedly at the correct answer.
Of the various gentle fist arts, those two were the most prominent and widely taught styles for beginners. Many female disciples trained with the Gentle Fist arts as they cultivated because it did not require much power or stamina. Instead, the Gentle Fist arts focused on understanding balance and reading the flow of movement. With Anji’s natural intelligence, Wanting felt her daughter would master both basic Gentle Fist arts in no time.
"Are you more familiar with the Five Elements Theory or the Bagua Formation?" she asked. "Mother will teach you the basics before we learn the steps."
Anji agreed. Without learning how to walk, how could she learn how to fly? Having a strong basic foundation was important.
"Anji has studied both theories," she replied. "However, I’m more familiar with the Five Elements Theory because I’m studying medicine."
As expected, Wanting had to start with the Taiji Fist. Although there were technically many variations, most children learned the 24-step routine, and many large martial schools used it as a benchmark to see a student’s progress and talents. With this method, outer disciples were promoted to inner disciples. However, before that, Anji had to know the breakdown of basic stances commonly used in martial arts. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N0velFire.ɴet
"Has Ruiting taught you the basic stances used in martial arts?" she asked. Her oldest daughter had been overseeing Anji’s physical training for a while before Yan Ping suggested that Mingfeng take over her lessons.
Shaking her head, Anji wondered what stances were. Seeing her youngest daughter’s clueless eyes, Wanting knew where she should begin her lessons.
Spreading her legs apart so they were slightly wider than her shoulders, Wanting kept her toes pointed forward and her feet parallel.
Obeying, Anji mimicked Wanting’s movements and wondered how standing in a huge side-step was a stance. Then, Wanting bent both knees with her lower back straight until her thighs were as flat as a tabletop, lowering all her weight to her upper thighs. She told Anji to adopt the first basic posture used in martial arts, the horse stance.
"This is the first and most important stance in martial arts," Wanting explained, holding the posture without breaking a sweat. "Without strong legs that ground you to the ground, your opponent can easily sweep you off your feet and throw you off balance. Being vulnerable in a fight is dangerous because it exposes your weak points, which can be fatal. Now, hold this stance without bending forward or arching your back. Keep your tailbone pointed downwards for the next three minutes."
Usually, most students were told to assume this position for thirty minutes. However, Wanting did not want her weak daughter to strain herself. Teachers would normally place heavy vases or bowls of water on both thighs of the students to ensure they did not cheat during the training or slack off. The more brutal coaches would occasionally kick the back of the ankles to test if the foot was rightly grounded. If a student did not diligently put weight on their thighs and ground their feet to the ground without arching their spine, they would fall backwards immediately.
The horse stance was tougher than Anji thought it would be. For the first five seconds, she thought it was alright. However, after twenty seconds, her thighs felt as if they were on fire. By the thirty-second mark, they felt sour and trembled like a newborn calf. She couldn’t control her leg muscles or facial expression as her upper body tried to rebel against the uncomfortable sensation. Her mother easily demonstrated a very firm horse stance, even without the aid of qi. However, Anji did not think she could maintain this posture for three whole minutes without compromising the pose.
Lizi nibbled on her handkerchief nervously as she watched her lady educate the young mistress. The horse stance was a difficult beginner pose to master. For someone who could barely run twice around the courtyard, lasting a minute was already extremely difficult. Yet, Zhao Wanting wanted Anji to endure for three minutes. Even if Anji managed to hold out for two minutes, Lizi felt that her young mistress could not walk to Doctor He’s clinic by herself for the next four days. Would the mistress really make Anji do the horse stance for three minutes on a chilly winter morning?
After one and a half minutes, Zhao Wanting frowned. Did she make a mistake? Anji was sweating too much and breathing too heavily. Her legs were shaking too much, and Anji seemed as if she would faint from how pale she was.
"Stop!" the mistress instructed and immediately helped Anji sit on the floor. "Stretch your legs out, don’t relax immediately, or you will suffer severe cramps!"
Too tired to move her numb legs, Anji collapsed into her mother’s arms bonelessly while catching her breath. Her world spun a little as Wanting helped Anji to stretch.
"Ah!" the little princess cried out in pain when her mother helped her stretch her quad muscles. "Mother, it’s going to break!"
With tears stinging her eyes, Anji begged her mother to stop. The sour and aching muscles from before were bad enough. However, there was a sharp pain when Zhao Wanting helped her stretch. It was a pain that Anji had never experienced before, going from her thighs straight to her head.
Alarmed that Anji was in a tremendous amount of pain, Wanting carried her daughter and hurried over to find Doctor He. She should have made it thirty seconds instead of three minutes. What if Anji’s legs were broken from learning the horse stance? She could never answer her husband!
"Hang in there, Anji! We’ll find Doctor He immediately. It’s all mother’s fault!"