Tieu Lan thought for a moment, then nodded.
"It really is simpler."
"Simple doesn't mean easy."
Hao Nhien said.
"The fewer the movements, the fewer places there are for mistakes to hide."
He pointed down at his feet.
"If your stance isn't stable when you throw a straight punch, the force scatters."
He raised his arm.
"If your hips don't follow an elbow strike, your own arm takes the impact."
Then he lowered his center of gravity slightly.
"And if you lose your balance during a low sweep, you may be the one who falls first."
Tieu Lan nodded seriously.
"Then Young Master will have to practice for a very long time."
"Mm."
Hao Nhien looked down at the white sand beneath his feet.
"A very long time."
But he was not afraid of taking a long time.
What he feared was walking the wrong path without realizing it.
From that day onward, Hao Nhien no longer practiced the entire fist art in the old way.
He kept the breathing formula of the Body-Soul Fist Art.
He kept the method of guiding true qi that Quan Bach had passed down.
But he simplified the movements themselves.
Some mornings, he practiced nothing but the straight punch.
Some afternoons, he practiced only the elbow strike beneath the waterfall.
On some days, nearly all his time went into low sweeps, until his knees and hips ached.
Wrong.
Correct.
Then try again.
After watching him for long enough, Tieu Lan gradually became used to it.
She no longer asked why Young Master practiced only a few simple movements.
She simply prepared more liniment for his tendons and bones, warm water for soaking his feet, and whenever he looked too exhausted, quietly placed a bowl of water beside him.
One day, after Hao Nhien had practiced low sweeps until even sitting down made him frown, Tieu Lan suddenly spoke.
"Young Master."
"Mm?"
"You don't look like a divine dragon anymore."
Hao Nhien was drinking water. He looked at her.
"Then what do I look like?"
Tieu Lan thought for a long time.
"Like… a blacksmith."
Hao Nhien paused.
"A blacksmith?"
"Yes."
She nodded very seriously.
"One hammer strike."
"Then another."
"Again and again."
"It doesn't look very beautiful… but every strike feels like you're trying to forge something."
The smile on Hao Nhien's face slowly faded.
A blacksmith.
Not as beautiful as a divine dragon.
But far more accurate.
He was forging something.
Forging this body.
Forging these meridians.
Forging each clumsy movement into something that might help him survive.
Hao Nhien set down the bowl of water.
"Then I'll keep forging."
Tieu Lan's eyes curved with a smile.
"Yes. Young Master forges the fist."
She lowered her gaze toward the bundles of medicinal herbs in her basket.
"And I'll forge the medicine."
Hao Nhien laughed.
"Forge the medicine?"
"Well… I have to make better medicine too."
Tieu Lan answered with complete seriousness.
"If Young Master keeps training harder and harder, the old medicine probably won't be enough anymore."
Hao Nhien looked at her for a moment.
"All right."
"Then each of us will forge our own thing."
Tieu Lan smiled.
Behind them, the Thanh Van waterfall continued pouring down without pause.
After some time experimenting, the limits of this new direction gradually became clear.
The shorter the movement, the more concentrated the force.
But the burden on his own body also became greater.
The straight punch placed more strain on his shoulder and arm.
The elbow strike demanded extremely precise coordination between his hips and upper body.
With the low sweep, even a slight shift in balance immediately placed pressure on his knee.
The direction was not wrong.
His body simply had not caught up yet.
The second layer of Qi Condensation was only the beginning.
If he wanted these three strikes to become something he could truly use in combat, his meridians had to become sturdier.
His tendons and bones had to become stronger.
His body had to be able to withstand the force it generated itself.
Otherwise, a punch might land on his opponent and the backlash could injure him as well.
Hao Nhien looked down at his fist.
The path he had chosen was not easier than before.
If anything, it was harsher.
Because once everything unnecessary had been stripped away, mistakes had nowhere left to hide.
But Hao Nhien was not disappointed.
At least now, he knew what he needed to forge next.
After reducing the Iron Body Fist to three basic movements, Hao Nhien did not allow himself to feel pleased for long.
The fist art had become cleaner.
The force had become more concentrated.
But a fist could not stand on its own.
To throw a straight punch, he had to know how to bring himself into the correct range.
To use an elbow strike, he had to know how to close the distance without placing his own body in danger.
And for a low sweep, neither his balance nor the position of his feet could be wrong.
He had simplified the fist.
So his footwork had to be simplified as well.
That morning, on the white sand beside the lake, Hao Nhien did not begin by throwing punches.
He simply walked.
One step forward.
Stop.
One step back.
Stop.
One step sideways.
Stop.
Then start again.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Tieu Lan occasionally look up from the bundles of medicinal herbs beside the rock.
To her, today's training probably looked even duller than yesterday's.
No fist wind.
No flying sand.
No imposing forms.
Only forward.
Back.
Sideways.
Yet Hao Nhien practiced with complete seriousness.
In the memories left by the former owner of this body, the footwork accompanying the Body-Soul Fist Art had never been simple.
There were continuous shifting steps.
Turns used to evade incoming force.
Even several sequences that looked quite elegant when combined with the fist forms.
Hao Nhien did not believe they were useless.
Perhaps at a higher realm, or when the inheritance was still complete, each of those movements had served a purpose.
But for him right now, too many variations meant too many things to remember in a dangerous situation.
Lose the rhythm for even a moment, and the three strikes he had just simplified would lose their meaning as well.
For now, he needed only three directions.
Forward.
Back.
Sideways.
Simple enough for a child to understand.
Yet the more he practiced, the harder they became.
Step too far forward and his center of gravity rushed after his body.
Too short, and his fist could not reach.
Retreat too far and he gained distance but lost the chance to counterattack.
Too slowly, and the opponent would strike before his foot even left the ground.
Step sideways at the wrong angle, and the twisting force immediately reached his knee.
There were no extra movements to hide mistakes.
Wherever he was wrong, his body paid the price.
Hao Nhien began putting the movements together.
One step forward.
Straight punch.
Half a step back.
Withdraw the fist and hold the stance.
One step sideways.
Low sweep.
Then return.
Repeat.
It was not beautiful.
Nor did it resemble some profound movement art.
The sand beneath his feet gradually filled with crossing tracks.
Sweat soaked through the back of his clothes.
His calves grew hot, then began to ache.
But Hao Nhien added nothing else.
If it was difficult, then practice.
Do not make it more complicated simply because it was difficult.
If the direction was right, the rest was a matter of teaching the body to become accustomed to it.
Near midday, Tieu Lan came over carrying a bamboo tube of water.
"Young Master, take a break. You've been walking back and forth all morning."
Hao Nhien stopped.
His breathing was heavier than usual, but his mind remained clear.
He accepted the bamboo tube, drank a mouthful, then looked at the web of footprints covering the sand.
"What do you think?"
Tieu Lan followed his gaze.
"I don't really understand footwork."
"Just tell me how it feels."
She thought for a moment.
"Yesterday, when Young Master practiced the fist, you looked like a blacksmith."
Hao Nhien looked at her.
"And today?"
Tieu Lan lowered her gaze toward the sand covered in footprints.
"Like… someone learning how to walk all over again."
Hao Nhien paused.
Then laughed softly.
"That's exactly what I'm doing."
Tieu Lan smiled as well.
"Then Young Master can keep learning. I'll go prepare the medicinal water."
"Mm."
She took several steps before stopping again.
"But don't learn until your legs can't carry you back to the boat."
There was a hint of teasing in her voice.
But the concern beneath it was far too obvious.
For a brief moment, Hao Nhien found the tone strangely familiar.
As though someone, somewhere very far away, had once spoken to him in that same half-scolding, half-concerned way, trying to pull him back from his own stubbornness.
He did not allow the thought to go any further.
He only nodded.
"I know."
That afternoon, Hao Nhien entered the lake.
This time, he did not practice only his fist art.
He practiced his footwork as well.
It had already been difficult on the sand.
Underwater, it was harder still.
Every step was pulled off line by the current.
The resistance slowed his movements while magnifying errors that might have gone unnoticed on land.
Step too far forward and his body immediately lost its center.
Retreat too quickly and the water struck his back, breaking his breathing rhythm.
Step sideways at the wrong angle and the strain reached his hip and knee almost at once.
But because of that, Hao Nhien could see more clearly.
Forward did not need to be far.
Only enough to bring him into the correct range.
Back did not need to be deep.
Only enough to preserve both distance and stance.
Sideways did not need to look elegant.
It only needed to change the angle.
He practiced each step beneath the water.
Small ripples constantly spread around his legs.
Whenever he released force, the thread of true qi within him followed the movement to support his body.
The moment his breathing lost its rhythm, his true qi fell out of step as well, and every movement immediately became heavier.
By the time the sun began leaning toward the west, Hao Nhien stepped into the water beneath the waterfall.
Water crashed down onto his shoulders and back.
Heavy.
Relentless.
But this time, he did not simply stand there and endure it as he had in the beginning.
He began to move.
One step forward.
Straight punch.
Boom!
The water struck his arm and forced the punch away from its proper line.
Stop.
Again.
One step sideways.
Pain flashed through his knee.
Hao Nhien stopped immediately, regulated his breathing for several breaths, then adjusted the position of his foot.
Again.
The waterfall showed no mercy.
It did not tell him where he was wrong.
Nor did it give him time to feel satisfied when he was right.
The slightest mistake, and the force of the water exposed it at once.
Hao Nhien liked that brutality.
Because it was real.
By the time he stepped out of the lake, he was soaked from head to toe.
His shoulders and back were red.
His legs felt so heavy they barely seemed to belong to him.
Every step toward the shore brought a dull ache from his calves all the way to his hips.
But his eyes were bright.
He knew he was moving in the right direction.
Not because he had become much stronger today.
But because he could see more clearly where he was still weak.
Tieu Lan hurried over, holding a dry cloth in one hand and a bamboo tube of warm water wrapped in cloth in the other.
"Young Master, dry yourself quickly. You've been training all day. If you stay in the water any longer, the cold really will seep into your bones."
Hao Nhien accepted the cloth.
"Thank you."
The words came out so naturally that even he paused.
Over the past few days, there had always been a faint distance in the way he spoke to her.
But just now, perhaps because he was too tired, or because her concern had become too familiar, that distance had slipped away on its own.
Tieu Lan lowered her head at once.
The tips of her ears turned slightly red.
"It's… it's nothing. Young Master should dry off first."
Hao Nhien was silent for a moment.
He did not correct himself.
He wiped the water from his face and pulled his outer robe over his shoulders.
Tieu Lan opened the small wooden box beside her and took out a bowl of hot porridge.
The smell of minced meat and ginger rose with the steam.
"I added a little more ginger today. Young Master should eat first and warm yourself up."
Hao Nhien accepted the bowl and sat down on a rock beside the lake.
The porridge was nothing special.
But when his body felt almost completely drained, every warm spoonful sliding down his throat quickly eased some of the exhaustion.
He ate slowly.
Tieu Lan sat beside him.
After a while, she spoke.
"Young Master was much stronger today."
Hao Nhien looked up.
Tieu Lan hesitated before continuing.
"But you frightened me more too."
"Frightened you how?"
"I'm afraid that if you keep training like this… one day your body won't be able to endure it."
Hao Nhien set down the bowl.
"I still have a very long way to go."
"I know."
Tieu Lan looked at him.
"But a long road doesn't have to be crossed in a single breath."
Hao Nhien fell silent.
The words were soft.
But they went straight to the thing he was most likely to forget.
He looked at Tieu Lan.
She did not avoid his gaze.
There was concern in her eyes.
There was trust.
Whether there was anything else, Hao Nhien did not want to think too deeply about it.
He looked away first.
"I'll remember."
Tieu Lan pressed her lips together.
"Young Master always says that."
"This time I mean it."
She watched him for another moment.
Then smiled faintly.
"Then I believe you."
Hao Nhien did not answer.
He simply continued eating his porridge.
By the time the sky began to darken, the two of them finally packed up and returned to the boat.
Hao Nhien's body was so sore that every step felt heavy.
But in his mind, the three directions continued to repeat themselves.
Forward, to bring pressure toward the opponent.
Back, to preserve distance and stance.
Sideways, to change the angle.
For now, that was enough.
Three strikes.
Three steps.
Not much.
But enough to begin connecting them together.
That night, after Tieu Lan finished cleaning up and returned to the forward cabin, Hao Nhien sat alone on the deck.
A thin moon hung above the Thanh Van River.
The water below was dark.
The old boat rocked gently with the current.
Hao Nhien did not immediately begin breathing cultivation.
He allowed the exhaustion from an entire day of fist and footwork training to slowly settle through his body.
Yesterday, he had reduced the fist art to three movements.
Today, he had reduced his footwork to three directions.
The more he practiced, the more clearly Hao Nhien understood something.
What was unnecessary did not exist only in techniques.
Sometimes, it existed in the way he cultivated as well.
Over the past several days, he had constantly thought about guiding qi.
Drawing spiritual qi into the body.
Retaining it.
Refining it into true qi.
Guiding true qi through each obstruction.
Opening one.
Then opening another.
That method was not wrong.
It had helped him reach the second layer of Qi Condensation.
But opening an obstruction was not the final goal.
Neither was breaking through to another realm.
If this body was truly going to travel far, what mattered more was that it became accustomed to true qi.
So that every circulation no longer felt like an act of force.
So that true qi could gradually become a natural part of the body itself.
Hao Nhien closed his eyes.
He began to breathe.
He still used the breathing method of the Body-Soul Fist Art.
But this time, he did not force every trace of energy to follow a rigid route.
He only observed.
Where spiritual qi touched, he knew.
Where his muscles ached, he knew.
Where his meridians were tense, he knew.
Before long, spiritual qi began to seep inward.
Not as forcefully as when he had tried to open the obstruction.
Not as violently as water being driven through a crack in stone.
It was more like night mist sinking into soft earth.
Tiny traces passed through the qi-entry points and entered his body.
A portion was retained and slowly settled into true qi.
Hao Nhien did not urge them to move faster.
He simply allowed the newly formed true qi to merge with what was already there.
At his right shoulder, still sore after hundreds of punches, the cooling sensation became clearer.
At his knees and hips, strained all day by sideways steps and low sweeps, the flow moved more slowly than elsewhere.
The meridians that had been stretched during his previous breakthrough also responded more clearly.
They were not being "repaired" in an instant.
His body simply seemed to be accepting that energy with less resistance than before.
Hao Nhien observed for a long time.
Slow.
But because it was slow, he could see more.
And because he was no longer forcing the true qi to move quickly, his body seemed to retain it more naturally.
After a while, several familiar areas along the path of circulation trembled faintly.
Around the bridge of his nose.
Below his throat.
At the center of his chest.
A few days ago, Hao Nhien might have immediately driven true qi toward one of them to see whether another obstruction could be opened.
This time, he merely took note.
The path already existed.
There was no need to rush.
If a road was meant to carry him far, it first had to be strong enough.
Hao Nhien continued breathing.
The true qi within his body did not increase suddenly, but its circulation grew smoother.
The tension in his shoulders, back, and knees also gradually eased.
Hao Nhien exhaled one more long, slow breath.
Then opened his eyes.
The moon was still there.
The river was still there.
The old boat still rested quietly beside the bank.
There was no new cultivation realm.
No astonishing transformation.
But Hao Nhien was not disappointed.
Instead, his mind felt calmer.
He could see the next direction.
Not to immediately break through another obstruction.
But to make his current foundation more stable.
Hao Nhien looked toward the Thanh Van Mountains, now swallowed by darkness.
Perhaps he should rest tomorrow.
The thought surprised even him.
But after only a moment, Hao Nhien realized it made perfect sense.
A bowstring kept drawn forever would eventually snap.
If he wanted to travel far, he had to know not only when to draw the bow—
but when to release the string.
The night wind passed over the river.
Hao Nhien remained seated for a little longer.
Then he said quietly,
"Tomorrow, I rest."
From the forward cabin came the faint sound of Tieu Lan turning in her sleep.
Perhaps she was not sleeping deeply.
Hao Nhien glanced toward the cabin.
His gaze softened slightly.
"Might as well let her be happy for a day too."
He stood, returned to his cabin, and closed the door.
Outside, the Thanh Van River continued flowing beneath the moonlight.
He had not reached another cultivation layer.
But the road ahead had become a little clearer.
And tomorrow, for the first time in many days he would not train.