Leaving the chamber of commerce and parting ways with the Five Heroes of Eagle Mountain for the time being, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou returned to the inn. They asked the waiter to fetch a few good dishes from nearby and deliver them to their respective rooms.
"Oh, by the way—no tofu," Lu Yang instructed the waiter before heading upstairs.
"Nothing beats a good bed!" Returning to his room, Lu Yang launched into a flying leap onto the comfortable big bed, bliss written all over his face.
"Right? Sleeping is wonderful." A certain Huang Doudou, whose time of death exceeded three hundred thousand years, wholeheartedly agreed with Lu Yang's sentiment.
Her daily routine now consisted of sleeping inside his spiritual space. If she was in a good mood, she slept a little longer; if she was in a bad mood, she slept a little less.
Gratifyingly enough, she was always in a good mood.
After waiting for quite a while without receiving a response, the Immortal Fairy finally noticed that Lu Yang had already fallen asleep. His mouth was slightly open, and he was sleeping deeply.
Life in the dense forest over the past few days had truly been exhausting. Lu Yang had maintained constant vigilance like a tightly wound bowstring, so the moment he touched comfortable surroundings, his entire being relaxed completely.
Meng Jingzhou's side was much the same; he collapsed and fell asleep immediately as well.
Pampered since childhood, if he wanted stars from the sky his family could pluck them down for him; when had he ever endured such hardship in a dense forest?
"Guest, the meal you ordered has arrived." The waiter tapped lightly on the door.
Worrying it might wake Lu Yang, the Immortal Fairy temporarily took control of Lu Yang's body and went to open the door.
"Shh, keep it down, someone's sleeping!" Holding a finger to her lips, the Immortal Fairy whispered, reminding the waiter that his voice was too loud.
The waiter handed the tray over to the Immortal Fairy, subconsciously lowering his voice. "Right away, guest."
Taking the tray, the Immortal Fairy closed the door, set the food on the table, and maneuvered Lu Yang's body back onto the bed, arranging him in his previous pose as if nothing had happened.
"How boring. I might as well sleep too." The Immortal Fairy yawned and fell asleep in the spiritual space.
By the time the waiter reached the stairwell, he suddenly recalled what he had glimpsed from the corner of his eye inside the room.
Wait, wasn't the guest who opened the door the only person in that room? Who was sleeping?
For reasons he couldn't explain, a chill crept up his back, as though someone were watching him. Subconsciously, he quickened his pace down the stairs.
"Immortals protect me, immortals protect me! I've never done anything against my conscience!"
...
"Ah, that felt great!"
Lu Yang woke up in bed.
"Smells wonderful."
Seeing the table filled with three meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a soup, he was utterly baffled.
Where did this food come from?
He certainly remembered asking the waiter to bring food when he went upstairs, but he didn't recall opening the door.
"Do I sleepwalk?" Lu Yang scratched his head, feeling groggy and a bit confused.
Credit where credit was due: the waiter had quite good taste. The dishes brought up all carried distinct local flair and tasted great—tender, smooth, and delicious. The ingredients were likely Foundation Establishment stage demon beasts, capable of replenishing spiritual energy and restoring vitality.
Lu Yang had originally wanted to ask the Immortal Fairy if she wanted to temporarily take over his body to taste the local delicacies of Demon Quelling Pass, but finding her still asleep, he refrained from waking her.
Having eaten and drunk to his fill, Lu Yang was brimming with vigor, like a completely different person from the night before.
He went next door to find Meng Jingzhou.
"You're saying you want me to teach you Arhat Fist?" Meng Jingzhou was mildly surprised to hear Lu Yang's request.
"I thought it over this morning. I've achieved some success with spells and swordsmanship, but I lack an impressive fist technique to round out my repertoire. The tides of battle shift unpredictably; there might come a time when fist techniques come in handy."
"Don't you know Imitation Fist?"
"And summon Eldest Senior Sister?"
Meng Jingzhou had to admit that was indeed going a bit too far. If you threw punches like that, no one could fight you—it was literally a spirit invocation technique.
Besides, Lu Yang's Imitation Fist was less of a fist technique and more of a transformation technique.
"Is it convenient?"
"Master isn't particularly secretive about these things. Though Arhat Fist is precious, you could learn it from Eldest Senior Sister when you get back anyway. The only difference is whether you learn it from me or from Eldest Senior Sister."
As long as someone knew the name, they could learn it from Eldest Senior Sister.
And if Eldest Senior Sister truly didn't have it, she could just invent an entire set on the spot based on the name.
"That's fantastic." Lu Yang felt a surge of excitement at the thought of mastering another fist technique.
"You'd rather learn Arhat Fist than my Monk Fruit Fist?" The Immortal Fairy stomped her feet in indignation.
This 'Arhat Fist' didn't even sound strong—nowhere near as nice as 'Fairy Boxing.'
"Once you master Monk Fruit Fist, you can go on to learn Sichuan Peppercorn Fist, Star Anise Fist, Cumin Fist, and thousands of other styles! Then you can synthesize them all into Fairy Boxing, and by that time, you'll be invincible under the heavens!"
Faced with the pie-in-the-sky promises the fairy was baking, Lu Yang sighed. "Fairy, if you had just renamed your martial arts, I might have actually learned them."
In battle, others shouted things like 'Bajiquan' or 'Heaven-Shaking Six Forms.' If it came to him and someone asked who his master was and what style he used, Lu Yang couldn't very well say he was using 'Fairy Boxing.'
He would lose half his aura before the fight even started.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou rented an enclosed martial arts arena and began studying Arhat Fist.
"I won't bother reciting the origins of Arhat Fist; it's just rote book knowledge anyway. Look it up in a book when you have time." Meng Jingzhou skipped that part and moved straight to practical instruction.
"The overall routine focuses on breaking low from high, breaking high from low, feigning right while striking left, and making noise in the east while attacking the west, highlighting unpredictability between substance and void as well as swift, versatile transitions. At the same time, you hiss through your teeth using inner breath, voicing shouts like thunder—using sound to bolster presence, and breath to impel power. Like this."
Meng Jingzhou stood upright with his chest out and arms hanging naturally. Staring straight ahead, he stepped half a pace to the left with his left foot and arched both palms upward and outward from below.
"Ha!"
When Meng Jingzhou performed the fist form, he looked thoroughly impressive—like an angry-eyed Vajra, imposing as an inescapable prison, with a resounding roar that carried faint hints of the Buddhist Lion's Roar.
"The sea of bitterness is boundless; turn back to the shore!"
"This is Horse Stance Single Whip!"
"This is Extending Kick Thrust Punch!"
"This is Roc's Sweeping Claw!"
Meng Jingzhou displayed the moves of Arhat Fist one by one, stirring Lu Yang's blood as he watched.
As he ran through the complete combination, Meng Jingzhou brought the true essence of Arhat Fist to life so vividly that it felt as though an actual Arhat had appeared before Lu Yang, subduing demons and vanquishing monsters.
Lu Yang was even more excited when he recalled that Third Elder's signature technique, the Heaven-Shaking Six Forms, had been comprehended from Arhat Fist.
Perhaps he, too, could glean another fist technique from Arhat Fist.
"Speaking of which, did Third Elder ever tell you how he comprehended the Heaven-Shaking Six Forms from Arhat Fist?" Lu Yang asked, wondering if he could take some inspiration from it.
"He did," Meng Jingzhou recalled. "Master said that when he was young, he traveled through the Golden Buddhist Kingdom and ran into an old man skilled in Arhat Fist who called himself the Demon-Subduing Arhat. The guy beat Master like a grandson."
"Master was beaten so badly he scurried away with his head in his hands. To stop getting beaten, Master exploded under desperate circumstances and created his own style, the Heaven-Shaking Six Forms."
Lu Yang: "..."
Why is the process of creating this fist technique so completely different from what I imagined?
"So did Third Elder win against him back then?"
"Nope. The opponent was an entire major realm higher than Master."
Chapter 250