Chapter 202: Chapter 192: Footwork Hexagram Diagram
Zhao Lin took a few deep breaths, gradually calming down.
Killing hundreds of Spotted Tail Bees in one go while rapidly dodging their pursuit was quite physically draining.
Although the Spirit Beast Scroll had absorbed the venom, the places where the Spotted Tail Bees had stung him were still a bit numb and itchy.
Yang Lin walked over and said in a low voice, "You may have killed all the Spotted Tail Bees, but you relied on your poison-resistant constitution. Your actual performance was not good."
"Your footwork was a mess, and you didn’t leverage your speed advantage. Haven’t you practiced the Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Leg? Did you only train your leg strength and not the footwork?"
"You need to understand that leg techniques aren’t just for kicking people. Footwork is the key!"
Yang Lin’s tone wasn’t harsh. Zhao Lin was only eighteen, so he couldn’t be expected to be an expert in everything, but his problems still needed to be pointed out.
Zhao Lin hurried to say, "I have learned my lesson."
When Elder Water Mirror taught him the leg technique, he had also taught him a set of footwork. However, Zhao Lin had felt his speed was already sufficient and that footwork wasn’t very useful, so he never studied it in depth.
’Now I see it really is my shortcoming. I was too shallow in my thinking before.’
"Footwork is the most easily overlooked martial art. You have a good foundation, so it won’t be difficult for you to practice."
A smile touched the corner of Yang Lin’s mouth. He turned to an instructor and said, "Wei Hong, you teach him."
"Yes," Wei Hong replied.
"That’s all for now. We’ll do this again in a few days."
After speaking, Yang Lin left with the other three instructors.
"Junior Brother Zhao, would you like to rest for a bit?"
Wei Hong was built like a bear, with large hands, feet, and ears, broad shoulders, and a thick neck, waist, and legs. He was the very definition of a burly man.
He spoke slowly and methodically, his tone gentle, which was a complete mismatch for his rugged appearance.
The four instructors of the inner courtyard each had their own specialty; Wei Hong’s was leg techniques.
"Thank you for your concern, Instructor Wei, but I don’t need to rest," Zhao Lin said.
"Alright then. Let’s go to the training room specifically for practicing footwork."
Wei Hong led Zhao Lin out of the courtyard, through corridors and past paths, until they arrived at a stone chamber.
The stone chamber was spacious and bright. It was empty save for the floor, which was rather unusual. It was composed of many bricks of various sizes and colors, pieced together to form an Eight Trigrams Diagram.
In the center of the pattern was a Yin-Yang Fish. The outer layer of cyan bricks was engraved with Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui, each pointing in one of the eight directions.
Extending outward layer by layer, the color of the bricks changed to a reddish-brown, and they were inscribed with characters like Lü, Ding, Yi, Xie, Ji Ji, Ming Yi... and so on.
Zhao Lin silently counted and found there were sixty-four reddish-brown bricks in total.
"This diagram is called the Step-Hexagram Diagram. It’s used for practicing footwork. The characters on it are called hexagram positions, and they represent direction and location."
"Don’t be fooled by the mere sixty-four hexagram positions. They can produce infinite variations," Wei Hong explained earnestly.
"First, memorize the diagram. You need to get to the point where as soon as I call out a hexagram position, you can react instantly and move to it."
Zhao Lin said, "Okay," and walked closer to examine the Step-Hexagram Diagram carefully.
His hearing was far superior to that of an ordinary person, and he often had to process large amounts of information. Over time, this had trained his mind to be agile and his memory to be exceptional.
In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had committed the entire diagram to memory.
"Instructor, I’ve memorized it." Zhao Lin walked to the central position where the Yin-Yang Fish was.
Wei Hong nodded and called out softly, "Da You."
Without looking down, Zhao Lin took a step and landed squarely on the brick for Da You.
A satisfied look appeared on Wei Hong’s face as he continued, "Qian, Gui Mei, Lin, Wu Wang..."
He rattled them off in one breath, only stopping at the eighteenth hexagram position, "Zhong Fu."
Zhao Lin froze, seeing Wei Hong looking at him with a grin.
He looked down at his feet and discovered he had made a mistake, landing on the "Lü" position next to Zhong Fu.
"Instructor..."
Wei Hong chuckled. "No matter. You’re already learning very quickly."
Zhao Lin thought quietly and quickly figured out the cause of the problem.
’Although I memorized the diagram, my perception of the size of each hexagram position is still off.’
’The positions are larger toward the center and smaller on the outside, becoming more densely packed further out. When I was stepping just now, I subconsciously assumed every space was the same size, which naturally led to mistakes.’
Realizing this, he began to circle the Step-Hexagram Diagram repeatedly, moving from the inside out, using his feet to measure the distance between the hexagram positions.
After walking for a while, Zhao Lin looked up at Wei Hong and said, "Instructor, I’d like to try again."
"Ben, Tai, Tong Ren, Zhen..."
Wei Hong called out more than twenty hexagram positions in a row, and Zhao Lin didn’t make a single misstep from beginning to end.
"Very good."
Wei Hong offered his praise, then took out a book more than two fingers thick from his robes.
"Footwork isn’t actually that hard to train. Practice makes perfect, that’s all. Since you’ve already memorized the positions, just follow the sequences in this book to practice."
On the cover were three words: Hundred Steps Collection.
Zhao Lin opened the book and saw that it recorded various types of footwork, with every page densely filled with hexagram positions.
"Instructor, I can just practice on my own. Please don’t let me keep you."
Wei Hong smiled. "Teaching a disciple like you is so easy. In that case, I won’t stay with you." He then left the stone chamber.
The first footwork style in the Hundred Steps Collection was called "Feisu Step," and it involved over two hundred hexagram positions.
Holding the book, Zhao Lin paced around the stone chamber, reading aloud as he walked.
After reading for a while, he felt a sense of enlightenment.
’How marvelous! These hexagram positions are like musical scales, and the footwork is the melody. When applied in actual combat, every step secretly conforms to the broader principles of the eight trigrams, and the laws of Qimen and the Five Elements.’
’Thinking about it now, the footwork of the Six Harmonies Fist is similar, but its variations aren’t nearly as profound.’
After about a quarter of an hour, Zhao Lin had memorized the Feisu Step and began to practice it.
"Da Chu, Jie, Fou, Xian..."
After more than one hundred and twenty steps, Zhao Lin felt something was wrong. He looked down and discovered he had made a mistake again.
’What’s going on? I’ve clearly memorized every position, yet I’m still making mistakes.’
Refusing to give up, Zhao Lin went through it again. This time, he deliberately stopped at the seventieth step and saw that he was standing on the "Da Zhuang" hexagram position.
Although the position was correct, almost half his foot was on the crack between the bricks, spilling over onto the "Gui Mei" position.
Understanding suddenly dawned on him.
’The Feisu Step has over two hundred positions. It doesn’t allow for the slightest deviation.’
’If each step is off by even a fraction of an inch, the error will accumulate over dozens or hundreds of steps, growing larger and larger until it causes a complete displacement!’
’So that’s how it is.’
Having figured this out, Zhao Lin calmed his mind and began circling the Step-Hexagram Diagram again.
He needed not only to carve the diagram into his mind but also to make his body remember every single brick.
He repeated this process, losing track of how many times he circled the diagram. Finally, Zhao Lin successfully completed the Feisu Step, returning accurately to the final "Minor Offense" position.
"That wasn’t easy. I finally did it once!" Zhao Lin exclaimed to himself, overjoyed.
Recalling the path he had taken, he suddenly understood why this footwork was called the Feisu Step.
The path connecting the hexagram positions he had walked overlapped vertically and crisscrossed horizontally, just like weaving cloth. No wonder it had been given that name.
Zhao Lin’s spirits lifted, and he was about to continue practicing when a rooster seemed to crow in his belly. He was suddenly ravenously hungry, so much so that he felt too weak to muster any strength.
Stepping out of the stone chamber, he found the sky was dark. He had been so engrossed in his practice that he had completely lost track of time.
