Realm-Hopping Martial Master

On the shimmering surface of the lake, gentle waves rippled.

A small boat sped along.

A figure moved across the water like a galloping horse, spraying up waves and leaving a white trail in its wake.

*He never imagined a cameraman could be like this,* his mouth slightly open, eyes wide, heart drumming fast in his chest.

And yet his hands still held the camera steady, instinctively capturing it all on film.

A long, loud howl echoed as he dashed over the water.

*Was this real footage, not some stunt with wires?*

Jiang Shu, still out on the lake, had no idea how stunned the people on the shore felt inside.

His breathing was tense, legs moving at a speed that pushed the limit.

His blood and qi completed a full circulation, and his speed had already surpassed the limits of any modern-day sprinter—just a few steps put him alongside the small boat, which was already starting to slow down.

Before his body had even fully touched the water, he pulled in a deep breath, pushed off with one foot onto the boat, and then, leveraging that, bounded several more steps across the water, flipping through the air before landing steady as a rock on the shore.

The whole process took just a few breaths.

The water from the lake soaked his socks.

But Jiang Shu didn't care at all; he stood on the shore, looking at the cameraman, who was clearly still dazed, and asked, "Did you get it all on camera?"

"Huh? Uh? Yeah, yeah, I got it."

He quickly clicked save, then looked at Jiang Shu—this time, filled with deep self-doubt.

*After all these years on the job, he thought he'd seen it all!*

He'd even been present when that kung fu superstar leapt from more than ten stories up.

*That scene left a deep impression, but in his mind, it was still within human capability. After all, jumping diagonally from a building—at the end of the day—was about whether the actor had the guts or not.*

There could be safety measures.

You could choose the right camera angle.

*But what was he seeing now?*

*A person running on water, step by step!*

*It wasn't about courage anymore.*

*It was about whether it was even possible!*

*Was this what Martial Arts really was?*

The cameraman's eyes glazed over. He'd started paying attention when Xia Country started promoting Martial Arts, but he'd always thought Martial Arts was just movie-style kung fu.

Just fighting skills—at the very limit, still just brick-breaking.

But clearly, real Martial Arts was nothing like what he'd thought before.

*Just what he'd seen with his own eyes—the miracle of running over water.*

*So what about what he hadn't seen?*

*And this was just a high schooler.*

*What about people who'd trained for years?*

*He didn't even dare imagine it!*

"I finished what I needed to film. Is there anything else you want to shoot? Let's get it done,"

Seeing everyone stunned, Jiang Shu knew he'd passed the test, and couldn't help but feel relieved as he spoke.

"Jiang Shu... did you really just... run back over the water? Your Martial Arts is at that level now?"

Ye Zhenzhen looked at Jiang Shu, her voice trembling as she actually stuttered a bit.

She knew Jiang Shu was strong.

*But running back across the water—what the hell was that?*

"What are you thinking," Jiang Shu shook his head, "Go watch the footage later and you'll see. In the middle I stepped on the boat to give myself a boost—without that, I'd have sunk way earlier."

This had been his first attempt, but even this experiment had taught him that, at the early stages of Martial Arts, people were still just people.

Even though he took just a few steps on the water, his whole body wanted to sink like a stone.

If he hadn't planned ahead and kicked off the boat,

and then used that momentum again,

he probably would have sunk past his knees before getting halfway across.

If you wanted to really walk on water, you'd at least need to become a full-fledged Martial Artist.

With mastery of Famished Tiger Roar Mountain Strength and releasing force outward, covering a few dozen meters with "lightweight water floating" should be no problem at all.

"That's still crazy..." Ye Zhenzhen muttered, suddenly excited, and asked, "Jiang Shu, can you really do all that just by getting your Horse Stance to Perfection?"

She'd just reached entry-level Horse Stance in a little more than ten days.

So would that mean in a month she could reach small success?

And in a few more months, Great Success!

If she'd known it could end up like this, she'd have been way more motivated to train in Martial Arts.

Imagine taking a yacht ride, showing off for your girlfriends!

*She laughed to herself, feeling smug as hell.*

"Probably not," Jiang Shu glanced at Ye Zhenzhen, who was clearly gloating for no reason, and said simply, "I've already achieved Perfection in Horse Stance."

...

In truth,

even if Ye Zhenzhen someday reached Perfection in Horse Stance, she wouldn't be able to do what he'd done today.

After all, his foundation had long since changed to the training, nurturing, and striking methods of the Famished Tiger Martial Hall.

Horse Stance was only one method of practice.

When Xia Country began promoting Martial Arts, they'd planned and calculated everything already.

Even if someone wanted to use Horse Stance to challenge the law, if all they had was training and no striking methods, what could they really accomplish?

A weightlifter might not stand a chance against a regular boxer in the ring.

A Martial Artist with Perfection in Horse Stance would only have about nine hundred pounds of force.

In a one-on-one fight, sure, he'd win easily.

But against machines or even firearms?

The only use for Horse Stance,

was to sense and move qi and blood through the whole body.

If you wanted to learn real Martial Arts from Xia Country,

your only option was to join the school or the military and follow Xia Country's rules.

After another two days filming the Martial Arts promo, Jiang Shu said goodbye to Ye Zhenzhen and left.

He crossed from Xia Country to the Da Jing Dynasty.

Pingling County.

Jiang Shu walked out of the small courtyard straight for the Zhou Family's restaurant.

Over half a month of word of mouth had made the restaurant's name. Before noon, both the private rooms and the main hall were packed.

Outside, customers lined up to get in.

Besides providing salt and MSG, Jiang Shu had also taken time to teach Zhou Yang a bunch of tricks.

Things like how to boost the restaurant's "table turnover rate."

Things like saving space for a "parking lot."

"Brother Jiang!"

One sharp-eyed worker spotted Jiang Shu and immediately hustled to report to Zhou Yang.

A moment later, Zhou Yang came running out from the restaurant.

These past couple of weeks, business had been booming, and his martial training had ground to a halt.

He'd stopped going to Famished Tiger Martial Hall—he was paying his ten silver coins just for show now.

Every day he helped with restaurant work.

Now, there was no one he admired more than Jiang Shu!

"Brother Jiang, heh, let me tell you how our restaurant's been lately." Zhou Yang pulled Jiang Shu into the private room they'd set aside—his chubby face beaming. Salt and MSG had already shocked him.

Jiang Shu's other theories were even more earth-shaking.

Table turnover rate.

Parking lot.

And that membership club idea he'd mentioned a few days back!

He'd only tried it for two days, and there was already more silver coming into the restaurant account than he could count.

Zhou Yang honestly thought that, if Jiang Shu gave up martial arts for business,

maybe all the money in Pingling County would end up in his pockets!

"Brother Jiang, it's a real pity you practice Martial Arts."

He couldn't help but say it again. Pouring Jiang Shu some tea, Zhou Yang said, "Why don't you just join us at the restaurant? We can hardly keep up—if you helped, Zhou Family's place would be twice as booming!"

"With Old Qiu backing us up, the two of us together could match any big family in the county!"

Zhou Yang looked at Jiang Shu, eyes burning.

*And what good was training Martial Arts, really?*

*If you didn't reach the Bone Forging Realm, a normal Skin Grinding Martial Artist was nothing more than hired muscle for the big families.*

*But Bone Forging? That was almost impossible.*

*There were tons of apprentices taken in by the Martial Hall masters, right here in the county.*

*Most of them could reach Skin Grinding Realm and become real Martial Artists.*

*But how many of them ever reached Bone Forging?*

*Without Bone Forging, in the inner city of Pingling County, you were just a slightly bigger ant compared to those big shots.*

He figured Jiang Shu would be better off following Old Qiu and building ties with him.

With Old Qiu there, the Zhou Family restaurant business would flourish forever.

"Zhou Yang, you've got it wrong."

"Martial Arts is the root."

"Do you know that if a Martial Artist doesn't reach the Refining Internal Realm, their qi and blood will start to decline after forty? Old Qiu's state now—how do you think he'd do against a real Bone Forging Realm Martial Artist in their thirties or forties?"

Jiang Shu shook his head and said, "The Zhou Family—Old Qiu can hold down the fort for now. But what if he's gone? A kid carrying gold in the marketplace. What do you think the big families would do then?"

"If you want the Zhou Family to last, for a whole lifetime, you have to become a Bone Forging Martial Artist yourself."

"You can get help on the path of Martial Arts for a while, but you can't rely on others forever."

*It was like a bucket of cold water dumped on Zhou Yang's head.*

Zhou Yang snapped out of his daze.

The mountain of silver had left him dizzy,*

*He'd even neglected Martial Arts, the one thing he could rely on.*

Seeing Zhou Yang was still willing to listen, Jiang Shu nodded and said, "Last time you told me the Yao Family would throw a birthday banquet in about half a month. The birthday gifts will definitely include Luo Family Pharmacy's qi-nourishing medicinal dishes. So, what did you find out?"