Why do I have so many masters?

"Beep—Please, young hero, find a comfortable environment. The vast world of Jianghu will now open for you..."

Accompanied by the crisp, pleasant female voice, the scene before Wang Anfeng's eyes shattered bit by bit. In an instant, he transitioned from the medicinal-scented side room of the pharmacy to inside the Shaolin Temple atop lofty mountains. Indeed, the sky had darkened, and the inky dome above was strewn with stars. Inside a neighboring monk's quarters, the light from a single oil lamp flickered uncertainly. Then, the door to the quarters creaked gently open as Ci Yuan, dressed in gray monk's robes, stepped out slowly, looking at Wang Anfeng with slight surprise:

"Anfeng? The hour is already so late; why have you come now?"

Seeing his Master, Wang Anfeng's eyes brightened, and with a youthful eagerness to impress an elder, he cheerfully exclaimed in a low voice, "Master, Master, I sparred with someone today!"

Ci Yuan's mouth twitched slightly upward. He raised a hand to beckon Wang Anfeng to his side and, placing a hand on the youth's dark hair, ruffled it encouragingly as he said with a warm smile:

"Was it with those ruffians?"

Wang Anfeng's expression briefly froze, and he scratched his head, saying, "You, you already know..." The tone carrying a trace of helplessness and regret. Ci Yuan chuckled and replied, "Although your teacher is confined within the walls of Shaolin Temple, I still know a little of what you've experienced. However, I thought that given your temperament, you would only come to tell me about it tomorrow, heh... I had forgotten that you are still a young boy."

His Master's words left Wang Anfeng feeling a bit flushed with embarrassment. Then he heard Ci Yuan say, "I was going to discuss this with you tomorrow, but since you've come today, now is as good a time as any. Come, Anfeng, attack your teacher in the same style you used against those ruffians today."

Wang Anfeng paused for a moment, then saw Ci Yuan had already descended the steps of the monk's quarters and was standing in the courtyard with his right hand gesturing invitingly and a calm expression. Clearly, he hadn't misheard the previous statement. Although Wang Anfeng was simple and straightforward by nature, he was not stupid and understood this was an opportunity for his Master to instruct him in the martial arts. He stepped down the steps quickly, trying to contain his excitement. First, he bowed to Ci Yuan, then slowly assumed the stance of Shaolin Changquan.

Once his stance was formed, all mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety in his heart flowed away like water. His Inner Qi moved slowly, and the slender young body began to exude an aura as steadfast as a mountain. After saying, "Please be careful, Master," he suddenly stomped his foot and charged at Ci Yuan using the Vigorous Step Technique, with the wind whistling by. When he was three steps away, his right foot powerfully stamped the ground and his left foot stepped forward in sequence, his left palm sweeping outward while his right hand pushed up at an angle.

His spine twisted to generate power, and as the enlightenment from today's bout rose in his mind, he infused the force from the Vigorous Step Technique into this Even Heart Palm move. The technique was significantly more robust than usual—as fierce as a leaping tiger and swooping eagle, with extraordinary momentum—and as he struck out, he felt utterly exhilarated. But just as his power reached its peak, Ci Yuan lightly retreated a step, bending his left knee with the tip of his foot touching the ground. His right fist was placed at his waist, and his left arm, which had rested on his right fist, swung down in a hammering motion to strike precisely on Wang Anfeng's wrist.

The young man let out a pained cry but was somewhat shocked inwardly, thinking, "This move from Master is the Shaolin Fist's retreat step elbow chase, a defensive counter-attack. The next move will surely be the left elbow returning in defense and the right fist striking out in the Broken Elbow Stance." Feeling a bit anxious inside, he knew that he should not continue with the follow-up Reverse Elbow Break, which would be even more forceful. Instead, he hastily stepped to the side to retreat, consequently breaking off his brilliant move, feeling regret yet relieved that he had narrowly avoided his Master's next strike.

However, just then, Ci Yuan's elbow strike, which had been meant to guard and counter, subtly altered. The left elbow, poised in front of his shoulder for defense, dropped down and he twisted his body, turning the elbow in the exact Broken Elbow Stance Wang Anfeng was prepared to use. And because of the change in the move, instead of aiming at the waist and abdomen to sever the opponent's momentum and capture them, the strike was now directed straight at Wang Anfeng's temple. The bent elbow was as lethal as a heavy spear thrust fiercely by a roaring general on the battlefield. The sound of cutting the air was piercing and ferocious, almost preventing Wang Anfeng from breathing. His mind went blank for a split second.

It wasn't until several breaths later that the young man gradually regained his senses, his legs involuntarily going soft. Ci Yuan slowly withdrew his move and shook his head, saying, "Just now, I used only the same martial skills and Inner Strength as you, yet I was able to defeat you effortlessly."

Wang Anfeng, still in his youthful years and having won a bout for the first time, felt a surge of dissatisfactions upon hearing those words and exclaimed,, "Master, you are clearly being unfair. After the eighth stance, Retreating Step to Catch Elbow, the next move should be the ninth stance, Hanging Elbow at Noon, but Master, you used the third stance, Reverse Elbow Break!"

Master Yuan Ci shook his head and countered with a question. "Who decreed that our Shaolin Thirty-Two Stances must be performed in that exact sequence?"

The young man paused, then executed a Retreating Step to Catch Elbow followed by Taking Advantage with Hanging Elbow at Noon, practicing the sequence before speaking. "As you see, each movement in a martial sequence connects with the next. Following the momentum makes the movements more fluid, and the circulation of Inner Strength is quicker, making the power greater. The way you just fought, Master... it's not only disjointed, introducing a lot of openings, but it also seems to waste several breaths' time."

While talking, he connected the Retreating Step to Catch Elbow with the Reverse Elbow Break and, after a defensive position to gather strength, he should have burst forward but ended up awkwardly stopping in his tracks. He looked at his Master with a puzzled expression on his face.

Yuan Ci, seeing the confusion on his disciple's face, was not annoyed but instead nodded with approval. "In merely a hundred days, for you to have come this far on your own is indeed commendable. But did you see any openings in your Master just now?"

The youth was briefly startled and recalled the sudden and powerful killing move that still left him in fear, and he honestly shook his head. "No, Master, your last move not only had no openings, but it was even more powerful... However, why is that? I truly don't understand."

Master Yuan Ci smiled and said, "That is the essence of our Shaolin Changquan."

"Our Shaolin has a thousand years of history, and countless masters have all begun with this set of Shaolin Changquan. Thirty-two simple stances, yet they have been refined to the pinnacle by generations of monks. The so-called leading and finishing stances, as well as the transition between them, can all be adjusted at will. If you thoroughly understand the technique and strength behind each stance, then you can naturally connect and transition between them at will."

"When that time comes, even if there are only Thirty-Two Stances, you will be able to perform a hundred continuous attacks, an endless cycle, and it could be regarded as three hundred and twenty stances, or even three thousand stances. Only then will your Shaolin Changquan be considered barely competent, and you may start learning other techniques."

"Continuous hundreds of attacks, an endless cycle."

Wang Anfeng murmured these eight words softly, as if seeing a vast and distant world in them. He was deeply moved, and the small pride he felt from his recent victory was instantly dispelled. He clasped his hands together, bowed deeply to Yuan Ci, and turned back to practice the Shaolin Changquan set with only Thirty-Two Stances, this time with the same earnest devotion he had when he first began learning martial arts. Yuan Ci stood quietly, observing his disciple, his eyes shimmering with an expectant light. He murmured something softly, but it was crushed by the sound of the fist slicing through the air and scattered with the night breeze.