Chapter 10: Chapter 10: The Acting Method
At dawn, the sky was just beginning to brighten. Sunlight pierced through the hazy mist and streamed into the room.
As the dull toll of a bell echoed throughout the Tiger Slaughter Sect, Fang Can rolled out of bed.
He let out a soft yawn and was surprised to find that his fists, which had been bleeding profusely the night before, had now stopped bleeding and scabbed over.
’Is this the effect of Talent 2? The lower my health, the faster I heal. I wonder what the limit of this talent is,’ Fang Can mused.
After washing up with the daily necessities he had purchased yesterday, Fang Can headed straight to the mess hall. He grabbed a quick bite and then returned to the training hall.
Unlike the boisterous scene from the day before, the training hall was exceptionally peaceful this morning.
It wasn’t that the hall was empty. Rather, all the Disciples were sitting cross-legged on the floor in an orderly fashion, like students waiting for a lecture.
’What’s going on?’ Fang Can froze for a moment before blending into the crowd and finding a random spot to sit down cross-legged.
"Hey, buddy, what’s going on?" Fang Can asked, lightly tugging the sleeve of a refined-looking, approachable fellow disciple next to him.
"You just joined? And you don’t even know this?" The man beside him looked at Fang Can in surprise. Although Fang Can had a youthful face, one glance told him he was past the ideal age for starting serious martial arts training.
"Yeah, I’m Fang Can. I just joined yesterday," Fang Can admitted openly.
Despite his surprise at Fang Can’s age, the man still replied, "A few days ago, Head Instructor Yang informed us that a steward who graduated from the training hall would be coming back to give us a talk."
"And he’s a steward who’s on the verge of breaking through the Shedding the Mortal Body Realm! If he truly sheds his mortal coil and enters the second realm of the Martial Dao, he’ll be qualified to become a Hall Master."
The speaker’s eyes burned with fervor. Clearly, for martial artists, the allure of higher realms of the Martial Dao was immense.
Hearing this, Fang Can could only suppress his urge to train and wait quietly with the others in the training grounds.
As more Disciples arrived, the bluestone plaza of the training grounds filled up until over a thousand people were seated, all quietly waiting for the so-called steward to appear.
They didn’t have to wait long. Just over ten minutes later, a sudden spiritual tremor arose in the hearts of everyone present.
Fang Can felt as if a giant hand was squeezing his heart. His breathing grew heavy, like he was being targeted by an apex predator.
"He’s here. This has to be the external manifestation of a Heart Image from someone about to break through the Shedding the Mortal Body Realm," Fang Can heard the refined disciple beside him mutter to himself.
Noticing Fang Can’s confused gaze, the disciple explained with a hint of showing off, "The so-called Heart Image is what happens when, as you gradually shed your mortal body, your thoughts and will begin to merge with your newly-formed flesh and blood."
"When that time comes, you won’t even need to make a move. A single glance can freeze someone in a lower Realm with terror, or even scare them to death."
As he spoke, a middle-aged man of about thirty-five, clad in martial attire, slowly strolled toward them from a distance.
CLACK! CLACK!
The moment the man appeared, he became the center of attention. Everyone’s eyes were unconsciously drawn to him.
It was the subconscious inability to ignore an apex predator, a terror akin to seeing a Tyrannosaurus Rex walking straight toward you.
Trembling, fear, shivering...
Almost everyone present felt their bodies begin to tremble uncontrollably, as if they were sitting on pins and needles.
Their subconscious screamed at them to flee, even creating the illusion that they would drop dead on the spot in the next second.
"AHHHHH!!!!"
Someone let out the first shriek, and it was like a starting pistol had been fired. Hundreds of people turned and fled as if they had seen a ghost.
In their extreme terror, these experts, who could normally traverse meter-high plum blossom poles as if on flat ground, couldn’t even control their own bodies.
Dozens of them fell helplessly to the ground, then scrambled backward on all fours, desperate to create even a little distance.
Amid the chaos, Fang Can clenched his teeth, his hands gripping his ankles tightly, forcefully suppressing the urge to flee.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid. Rather, he knew he wasn’t in any real danger. His "Reversal of Fortune" talent hadn’t triggered, meaning the feeling of imminent death was just an illusion created by his brain.
The entire training hall was in utter chaos, but then the terrifying aura abruptly vanished. The clamorous screaming ceased just as suddenly.
Everyone stared blankly at their panicked companions. The shadow of death that had just been clouding their minds was gone, as if it had been nothing but a hallucination.
’So this is a Heart Image?’ Fang Can let out a slow breath, his back drenched in cold sweat.
The middle-aged man scanned the several dozen people who had not moved from their spots.
These were the ones who had begun to integrate their will into their flesh and blood, which allowed them to largely counteract the subconscious fear their bodies felt.
As his gaze swept over them, it fell with surprise on a seated eighteen-year-old youth.
With his sharp eyes, he could naturally tell that this person had almost no signs of martial arts training, yet he had remained completely still. He was enduring it all through sheer willpower.
The middle-aged man nodded slightly. ’He’s a bit old, but his willpower makes him a promising talent. With three to five years of training, he could catch up to his peers. He might even have a hope of shedding his mortal body within twenty years.’
Watching the Disciples slowly recover and return to their original spots, he announced in a clear voice:
"I am the steward Head Instructor Yang invited to speak with you. My name is Gu Shuqi. You can just call me Steward Gu."
"My time is limited, so let’s get straight to the point. Today, I’ll be talking about how to nurture your spirit and place yourself in an invincible position."
Steward Gu looked out at the crowd. "For us martial artists, sparring is a common affair. But in every match, there is a winner and a loser. No one can guarantee victory every time."
"The fortitude of your mind dictates the speed of your cultivation. If you lose a match, your spirit will be tarnished for a considerable time, and your training will be hindered."
"Meanwhile, the opponent who defeated you will find their spirit perfected, and their cultivation speed will double."
"As one waxes and the other wanes, the strong grow stronger, and the weak stay weak. It’s a winner-take-all situation."
Gu Shuqi spoke at an unhurried pace, giving everyone time to think. The crowd in the training grounds recalled their own past spars and felt a deep sense of resonance with his words.
To maintain their sense of spiritual superiority, the strong had always humiliated the weak, and the weak, in turn, humiliated those even weaker than them, creating a vicious cycle.
Seeing everyone nod in agreement, Gu Shuqi smiled. "Therefore, today I will teach you how to avoid this downward spiral into weakness and instead achieve a win-win situation."
"I call this the ’Acting Method.’"
As he spoke, Gu Shuqi pointed to a Disciple in the front row. "You. I order you to thoroughly humiliate the Disciple to your left."
’Huh?’ The chosen Disciple looked at his peer, hesitating for a moment.
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