Early the next morning, Du Ruo woke up at six o'clock as usual. He had gone to bed a bit late last night; when he was at home in the past few days, he could fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow at nine-thirty.
But here, the small square outside was bustling at nine-thirty in the evening. It wasn't until around ten o'clock that the crowd dispersed, and only then could Du Ruo get a good night's sleep.
Perhaps this is the price of economic development.
Of course, this was not a big problem, at least not for Du Ruo. He slept soundly at night, so sleeping half an hour less didn't matter.
However, today Du Ruo did not practice martial arts in the courtyard after waking up as usual. Instead, he applied medicinal wine in the courtyard, got dressed, and headed toward the back of the village.
Practicing martial arts is important, but the "martial" aspect is even more critical. This is definitely something that cannot be achieved by closing oneself off at home. Even if one sets up many things at home to assist in training, it is not as effective for progress as having a real, tangible fight.
Du Ruo now has a very good grasp of the basics. The skills he extracted appeared in his mind in the form of memories, allowing him to master them to a high degree. However, just because his brain knows them does not mean his body knows how to use them. Therefore, after practicing a few times, Du Ruo decided to adopt a more combat-oriented approach to gain experience.
It is a pity that the times are different now. In this era of peace and prosperity for the country, Du Ruo has to find another way if he wants to engage in real combat.
Du Ruo had already thought of a method to increase his combat experience.
When he first started walking through the village, he could see tourists preparing to take a vehicle to Mount Huang for hiking. It was already past six o'clock, which was not early; if they didn't set off soon, it would be difficult for these people to get down the mountain on the same day.
Du Ruo was also going up Mount Huang, but he was taking a different route. He was not following the planned tourist route up the mountain, but rather starting his ascent from a small path behind the village.
These villages at the foot of Mount Huang have always relied on the mountain for their livelihood. Before Mount Huang became a scenic area in 1982, the villagers, besides farming, would also go into the mountains to gather herbs and hunt, so naturally, there were small paths leading up the mountain.
However, after Mount Huang became a scenic area in 1982, the villagers found other ways to make a living, and their lives improved. Except for some elderly people who still go into the mountains to gather herbs, others are unwilling to take the risk of entering the mountains.
Mount Huang covers 1,200 square kilometers, but the scenic area only accounts for about 160 square kilometers. The rest of the area is well-protected, with a large number of wild animals living and multiplying in the mountains.
Du Ruo was going to Mount Huang today, but not to find wild animals for combat. After all, they are protected animals, and now that Du Ruo does not have to worry about food or clothing, he is unwilling to harm them.
Slowly, Du Ruo saw fewer and fewer people, and the surroundings began to become desolate.
Du Ruo walked along the mountain path. This was the only small path leading into the mountains in the vicinity, but it was rarely used, and now it was overgrown with weeds.
Looking at the small path in the middle of the dense forest, a smile appeared on Du Ruo's face. He loosened up his body, moving all his joints, and then looked around. After confirming that no one was there, Du Ruo turned his back to the morning sun and dashed quickly into the forest.
Du Ruo had already checked; in recent years, there have been no tigers on the mountain, and he rarely heard people mention bears at the foot of Mount Huang. Without these two types of animals, Du Ruo was able to come up with his current training method.
Du Ruo ran quickly along the small path. The path had not been walked on for years, and it was overgrown with thorns, with branches blocking the way from time to time.
Yet, Du Ruo's pace did not slow down. He treated these thorns and branches as imaginary enemies.
His feet moved rapidly, his figure rising and falling. Sometimes he would use the Xing Yi Collapsing Fist to strike the branches, use his palm to push aside the thorns, use the Tiger Form to leap over fallen branches blocking his path, use the Monkey Form to dash through dense foliage, use the Natural Gate Crow-Sparrow Footwork to jump, and use the Low-Crotch Stance to dart out from low areas only thirty centimeters high.
As Du Ruo advanced, the surrounding thorns and branches became denser. Du Ruo treated these branches and thorns as individual imaginary enemies, dodging, blocking, and counterattacking while moving forward at high speed.
Du Ruo's body changed extremely quickly, sometimes like a nimble monkey, sometimes like a fierce tiger, and sometimes like a swallow or sparrow.
Practicing like this is actually only close to real combat. After all, thorns and branches are inanimate, while people are alive. These branches only represent one move, unlike fighting a person, where there might be other changes later on.
Moreover, branches are just branches; even with Du Ruo's running speed, they cannot be as fast as a person's attacks.
However, this is the most effective method Du Ruo could think of that is closest to real combat, especially since the effect will be even better when he goes down the mountain later.
And in Du Ruo's view, this kind of training is already very good. Unlike ordinary people, his physical strength can be enhanced by adding points to his Essence, Qi, and Spirit. Once his physical strength becomes formidable, if he encounters an enemy in the future, the opponent will likely only have one chance to strike.
The Xingyi Twelve Forms are indeed a set of combat-oriented techniques, but if one practices them in a vacuum without knowing how to apply them, there is no difference between that and the Tai Chi practiced by the old men and women in the park. Therefore, Du Ruo's current forest running is also to train his own strikes, simplifying and refining the Xing Yi Quan techniques. Only after becoming familiar with them can they be considered Xing Yi Quan that can be used in real combat.
Of course... Du Ruo's approach was not without a price. After running for only twenty minutes, Du Ruo stopped to rest. The mountain path was a great test for his leg techniques and physical strength, and the consumption of his energy was also very high. He could not be careless at all and had to remain fully focused throughout.
Even so, after twenty minutes on the mountain path, apart from his face, which he had protected quite well, his clothes were already torn with cuts, and there were red marks on his arms and thighs, with blood faintly seeping out.
After all, it was a dense forest. No matter how well Du Ruo could dodge or how much he moved like a dragon, he would still get whipped by thorns and caught by prickly vines. Du Ruo could only minimize most of it and protect his face; injuries elsewhere were inevitable.
However, although the cost was high, the harvest was gratifying. Du Ruo discovered that these short twenty minutes had actually increased his Xing Yi Quan skill and Natural Gate Cultivation Method by two points of experience, in addition to a 0.02 point increase in his physical attributes.
This efficiency was twice as fast as practicing in his courtyard.
Seeing the growth in experience and attribute points, Du Ruo rested and adjusted for a moment, then ran toward the mountain again.
This area was still only the outskirts of Mount Huang, and he was only running on the low hills on the edge. There were very few wild animals here, and although Du Ruo's movements were loud, only the occasional pheasant or bird was startled. As for others, let alone tourists, even the scenic spots were far away from where Du Ruo was.
However, as Du Ruo went deeper, running became increasingly difficult. It was not just that the mountain path was hard to run on, but also because no one had ventured this far for a long time. The original path was almost completely covered, and Du Ruo sometimes had to stop to carefully identify and find the way.
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