Chapter 200: Chapter 190: Punching Power
"You are Zhao Lin?"
In the courtyard, under a banyan tree, upon a large rock.
A bald man in a dark red robe sat there. He looked to be about forty years old and was of medium height, but his broad shoulders gave him a towering presence.
Seeing Zhao Lin enter, the bald man spoke first, not waiting for him to open his mouth.
His voice was deep, powerful, and full of vitality.
"This is Director Yang," Hu Xuancheng reminded him.
"Disciple Zhao Lin, greetings to Director Yang."
As Zhao Lin bowed, he quickly swept his gaze over Yang Lin’s face.
Yang Lin had thick brows, round eyes, and a handlebar mustache with ends that curled upward, all of which was paired with a gleaming bald head.
He had an incredibly intimidating presence, like a master villain who had stepped right out of a scroll painting.
Zhao Lin had heard of Yang Lin’s deeds and knew this man was no simple character.
Yang Lin had been exceptionally talented since childhood and possessed a combative nature. By the age of twenty-two, he had become the head disciple of the Inner Court.
He participated in the Grand Martial Tournament a total of three times. The first time he made the top eight, and in the following two, he fought his way into the top four. His record was the best Great Yue had seen in fifty years.
For this achievement, he was granted the title "Marquis of Martial Merit" by Great Yue and was said to have a fief in Yan Province.
Originally, he was solely focused on pursuing the Martial Way and paid no mind to the sect’s affairs.
However, because the Xingyun Sect had performed poorly in the Grand Martial Tournament in recent years, he had come out of seclusion at the Sect Leader’s repeated pleas to serve as the Head of the Inner Court.
Besides Yang Lin, there were three other instructors in the courtyard, named Liu Shengnian, Zhou Qing, and Wei Hong, all between thirty and forty years old.
After Hu Xuancheng made the introductions, Zhao Lin went forward and greeted each of them in turn.
"I’ve heard all about you. Your talent is impressive."
Yang Lin nodded slightly. "Let me ask you a question. Do you know why many unparalleled geniuses ultimately achieve less than those with merely above-average talent?"
"In other words, as the saying goes: ’Brilliant as a child, not necessarily great as an adult.’"
Zhao Lin should have, by rights, said, "This disciple does not know." But he had no intention of answering that way. After a moment of thought, he said, "This disciple knows a thing or two."
"Oh?"
Yang Lin raised an eyebrow. "Let’s hear it."
Zhao Lin chose his words carefully. "There are three reasons. The first is arrogance. Those with exceptional talent learn everything faster than others. Something that takes others ten days to learn, they can master in three."
"To prove their superiority and set themselves apart, they’ll never practice a day longer than they have to."
Yang Lin nodded. "Continue."
Zhao Lin went on, "The second is a lack of perseverance. Whether studying literature or practicing martial arts, the most important things are persistence and a willingness to endure hardship."
"But because talented people learn everything so quickly, they have never experienced the need for long-term dedication and find it hard to settle down and focus on one thing."
"The third is a fondness for cutting corners. Because they’re smart, they like to find tricks and take shortcuts. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts on the Great Path. In the long run, they end up falling behind those who take one steady step at a time."
Hu Xuancheng glanced at Zhao Lin in surprise, not having expected him to articulate such principles.
He didn’t know, of course, that these were lessons Zhao Lin had learned from the experiences of his past life. This was also why, despite possessing the Spirit Beast Scroll, he never relaxed his standards for himself, cultivating day in and day out.
Yang Lin said approvingly, "Since you understand all this, I won’t lecture you with grand principles. I hope you can practice what you preach and not make these mistakes."
"In recent years, Great Yue’s record in the Grand Martial Tournament has been hard to put into words, and the Xingyun Sect’s isn’t any better. Things must change!"
"This old man may have participated three times, but I never took first place. It has always been a deep regret of mine. I hope someone can fulfill this long-cherished wish for me."
With that, he looked at Zhao Lin with a burning gaze.
"I will do my best."
"Not ’do your best,’ but ’give your all’!"
"Yes."
Yang Lin laughed heartily and stood up. "Hearing is but hearsay; seeing is believing. Let me see what level you’ve reached in your training."
With that, he strode out of the Hongrong Pavilion, leading everyone to the Inner Court’s training grounds.
Under a covered walkway in the northwest corner of the training ground stood a large Eight-legged Tripod.
The body of the tripod was jet-black. Thick iron legs extended from the front, back, left, right, and each of the four corners, buried deep in the ground.
In the center of the Eight-legged Tripod stood an iron stele wrapped in thick beast hide, apparently something meant to be struck.
Zhao Lin followed the others for a closer look and saw that above the Eight-legged Tripod was a three-foot-long Crystal Pillar.
Interestingly, the Crystal Pillar was marked with gradations, and at its base was a sphere containing a silvery liquid.
It looked like a giant thermometer.
"Do you know what this is?"
Seeing the confused look on Zhao Lin’s face, Hu Xuancheng asked with a smile.
"It looks like a punching target."
Zhao Lin guessed.
"Correct. But this isn’t an ordinary punching target. It can also measure punching power."
Hu Xuancheng explained, "When a fist strikes the iron stele, it shakes the mercury in the Crystal Pillar. The stronger the punch, the higher the mercury will rise."
"That’s how we can estimate the power of a punch."
As he spoke, he walked to the Eight-legged Tripod and threw a casual punch.
The Eight-legged Tripod emitted a low hum. The mercury in the transparent Crystal Pillar churned and shot upward, stopping only when it reached the seventy-three mark on the scale.
A moment later, the mercury flowed back to the bottom.
At this point, Yang Lin began to speak. "The Martial Way has developed in countless ways, but the fundamentals never change. What determines one’s strength is still power, speed, technique, and Cultivation Technique."
"Among these, power is especially important in the Grand Martial Tournament. Do you know why?"
Zhao Lin thought for a moment and replied, "One force conquers ten skills. With great strength, you can’t go wrong."
Yang Lin chuckled. "That’s part of it, I suppose. But there’s another reason. Power determines your ranking in the Grand Martial Tournament!"
As he said this, he glanced at Hu Xuancheng.
Hu Xuancheng immediately understood and said, "The Grand Martial Tournament has over a hundred participants each time, with varying levels of skill. If we were to divide them into groups for direct competition, the strength of the groups would likely be very uneven."
"For example, you might happen to put several of the strongest people in one group, while another group is full of nobodies. The result would be that the weak advance while the strong are eliminated, which is naturally very unfair."
"So, before the real competition, we conduct a power test. Then, we rank everyone by the results and create balanced groups with a mix of strong and weak participants."
"Although power doesn’t entirely represent one’s overall strength, the two are related. It’s much fairer than grouping by age or drawing lots, wouldn’t you agree?"
"That makes sense," Zhao Lin agreed.
In truth, he understood immediately. It was very similar to the cup-style tournaments from his past life, where rankings were determined before the competition and "seed" players were established to prevent two high-ranked competitors from meeting too early due to the luck of the draw.
’It seems power really is crucial.’
Yang Lin picked up the thread, "In the past, we only focused on practical combat ability. We didn’t realize that if your power is insufficient, your ranking will be low, and you’ll have to fight tooth and nail against strong opponents right from the start, putting you at a great disadvantage in the Grand Martial Tournament."
At this, he looked at Zhao Lin. "You throw a punch. Let’s see just how much power you have."
