I practice martial arts by adding skill points in modern city
Chapter 25: 【024】Lightweight Skill Overview

Chapter 25: 【024】Lightweight Skill Overview

"Overview of Lightweight Skills, Brief Martial Arts":

A martial artist’s lifetime, is aimed at the two words ’martial arts’.

Martial is skill, arts is nourishment.

During the era of Pre-Qin alchemists, the thoughts and schools of various philosophers were mixed, and people insisted on the existence of techniques for immortality.

Thus, alchemy and qigong flourished, and alchemists pursued the methods of immortality.

The concept of nurturing health emerged from the divergence of immortality techniques, although it could not grant everlasting life, it greatly strengthened the physique and strength of the human body.

During the Pre-Qin time, what was the background, war and chaos coexisted, and nations needed to engage in battles.

Those who learned health preservation needed to participate in battlefield combat, needing to kill enemies, thus transforming the health-preserving techniques into battlefield killing skills.

The origin of martial arts was for killing, martial arts not meant for killing is not true martial arts.

Besides the killing techniques, another skill also emerged from health preservation.

The book "Wu Zi" has a record that in Pre-Qin times, military strategists, based on soldiers’ physical qualities, formed different armies, among them were those who ’leap high and far, light-footed and good at running’, who were the most special, could stand alone as a team, sharpening their skills for the army.

In Du You’s "Comprehensive Classics" from the Tang Dynasty, in the Talent Collection Chapter, there is mention of a troop in the army that ’sprints swiftly as flying, leaps over walls and trenches, moves in and out stealthily’, successfully exploring military situations.

By the Ming Dynasty, in He Rubing’s "Soldier Green", it was written about ’being able to leap high and extremely far, in and out of housing without traces, light-footed and swift runners, returning three hundred miles without reaching evening, selected as top-class, named: Speedster, used for probing army situations and reporting ambushes.’

This, is lightweight skill,

Lightweight skill is not the technique of flying in the sky as people imagine, but rather through special training, enhancing one’s jumping power, body suspension, balance, explosive force, and other strengths.

To achieve astounding feats like leaping over two meters high, hovering in the air for two or three seconds, standing on a rope steadily as if on flat ground, and jumping several yards in one stride.

Among many martial skills, practicing lightweight skill is the hardest, with many methods, but the core is steadfast practice of over ten years, starting from a young age to avoid ineffective results and potential disabilities.

After finishing reading the thirty-six-page pdf sent by the senior monk, Wang Longhu gained a general understanding of lightweight skill training in his mind.

First, the beginner stage of training—running in the mountains.

Requires running twice daily, morning and evening, with the front soles of the feet, heels not touching the ground, running downhill in the morning and uphill in the evening, when capable of running 10 kilometers without stopping, moving on to the next project—brick tapping.

Laying twenty bricks on the ground, tapping with toes, running swiftly without touching the ground, when able to step silently without error, stand the bricks upright, tap the narrow side and continue training.

After this step comes, wall climbing.

Place a wooden board at the wall side, forming a steep slope, the trainee needs to sprint and step on the board then leap to tread the wall in successive steps until able to touch the ceiling.

The proficient tread the board silently and without force knocking it down, successful practitioners can jump horizontally across the wall, reminiscent of the legendary roof and wall walking.

Once all these are mastered, the advanced stage arrives, practicing top skill and pole running.

Pole running has many kinds, horse pole, nine palace pole, plum blossom pole, etc., letting one train standing on poles taller than a person, although with many categories, the training aims uniformly to strengthen body balance and stability below.

Top skill trains force, trainees need to stand upright, arms hanging down, bouncing with front soles, keeping legs straight without bending, imagining a force of soaring sky in their mind.

When train to connect mind to qi, guiding qi with mind, straight-knee jumps an inch, bend-knee can then jump a foot, straight-knee jumps a foot, bend-knee can then jump a yard.

When one’s top skill trains to a straight-knee jump of a foot, this person’s lightweight skill is considered to have greatly achieved.

And during the process of practicing lightweight skill, an indispensable environment is the ’Iron and Tin Stele’.

After initial effective training, trainees need to wear clothing and shoes with lead and iron, collectively called Iron and Tin Stele, for greater breakthrough.

Iron clothing initially set at seven pounds, adjusted monthly with one pound increments after habitual wearing.

When iron clothing reaches twenty pounds, each leg wears additional four ounces sandbags, adjusted monthly with four ounces increments, until a leg’s sandbag reaches ten pounds, returning focus to iron clothing increments.

Still monthly, until reaching forty pounds, when can wear forty-pound iron clothing plus twenty-pound leg sandbags withstand long walking without fatigue and exhaustion.

Coupled with greatly achieved top skill, that might be the means of legendary immortals.

"Overview of Lightweight Skills" describes training steps in great detail, the handwritten copy in bold, while some original text has hints marked in red by someone.

What Wang Longhu felt most concerned about was among them one sentence:

’Does Internal Boxing have lightweight skill training methods? Legend says an Internal Boxing Grandmaster once leaped thirty-six steps away to kill an enemy ten meters afar.’

Wang Longhu stroked his chin, neglecting self-grooming these days, stubble growing long and hard: "Is Internal Boxing’s lightweight skill different from normal lightweight skill?"

However, this kind of question is not something he, as someone not yet initiated in lightweight skill, needs to consider; thinking too much would be a waste of time.

The practice of lightweight skill requires Iron and Tin Stele, this, he doesn’t worry about, having already ordered weighted equipment on Taobao earlier, sufficient for practicing Beng Fist and lightweight skill.

Many steps of lightweight skill training align with Wang Longhu’s daily workout plan without conflict, enriching his training plan, killing two birds with one stone.

If able to demonstrate proficiency in lightweight skill, believe it will draw more viewers during live streams.

By then, raking in currency wouldn’t be beyond his reach.

Feeling delighted, Wang Longhu stood up to practice prisoner fitness in the yard.

Among the three currently mastered skills, basic fitness is closest to upgrade, before the binding sandbags for legs arrive, Wang Longhu plans to quickly upgrade basic fitness to level 3, earning 0.08 potential points.

... Voiceover ...

Writing this Chapter on lightweight skill suddenly reminded me of my high school days.

At that time, a few friends and I would secretly climb the campus wall to go to the internet cafe.

The wall in the small woods of the school was about three meters high, ordinary people climbed by first climbing the nearby big tree, then stepping from the treetop to the wall top, sliding down.

A guy from the neighboring class, claiming to have attended martial arts school for four years, this guy every wall climb,

would sprint directly, tread the wall in steps reaching the top, leaving us wall climbers amazed.

He said he learned it in martial arts school, called Cloud Ladder Ascension.

I always thought he was bragging, now suddenly recalling, feels practicing lightweight skill truly has some truth to it.