Chen Ping'an caught two handfuls of snow, then rubbed his hands together as he made his way back to the cave with a wide smile on his face. He extended his hands over the fire to warm them for a while, then pulled a book out of his basket and began to read it under the light of the fire. This was a Confucian classic that had been gifted to him by the Scholarly Sage. 0

Chen Ping'an had a very good memory, and having read the book so many times along his journey, he had already completely memorized its contents, but he still liked to flip through its pages and quietly read aloud to himself.1

Li Baoping had once told him that the meaning of a book would become clear once it was read many times, and Chen Ping'an couldn't agree more with this saying.0

Hence, whenever he was practicing his walking and standing meditation according to the Mountain Shaking Guide, he would always tell himself that the same principle applied to both reading and fist technique practice. Perhaps after practicing the same fist technique a million times, its meaning would naturally come to him. 0

He was practicing his fist techniques diligently day and night, doing so for around 14 to 16 hours every single day, and it had been very effective for mending his body, which had previously resembled a dilapidated house. 0

In particular, Chen Ping'an could sense that by practicing these fist techniques in conjunction with the breathing method taught to him by Old Man Yang and the Eighteen Stops Qi channeling technique, his physical constitution was gradually improving, so survival was no longer his sole objective.3

At this point, Chen Ping'an wanted a little more. For example, if he were to reunite with a certain girl someday, he wanted to be able to show off his walking meditation to her without drawing the same reaction that she had displayed back in his house on Clay Vase Alley. At the time, she had been staring at him as if he were an idiot, but the next time, he wanted her to give him a thumbs up and praise him for how cool he looked.8

Chen Ping'an slowly flipped through the pages of the book in his hand,...1