Xiao Bai dodged and weaved, retreating with a twist of his waist. The branch chased after him, striking five times in quick succession. Three of the strikes missed their mark, while the other two landed on Xiao Bai's right shoulder and left knee. The tip of the branch barely touched his clothes before retracting, leaving Xiao Bai feeling nothing out of the ordinary. However, with each strike, a small segment of the branch's tip, about an inch long, suddenly disintegrated into powder. It was clear that Xiao Zhengrong's branch contained extremely potent internal energy, which had yet to be unleashed. Otherwise, those two strikes would have pierced Xiao Bai's skin and created two bloody holes.

  Xiao Zhēng Róng put away the branch and slightly furrowed his brow, asking: "Little White, have your left leg and right arm been injured? The injury has healed but the meridians are stagnant and knotted, unable to circulate internal energy, is that so?"

  Bai Shaofeng understood half of what was said, nodded and replied: "I have been in a car accident, my right hand and left leg were indeed injured. But I don't understand the internal energy you're talking about."

  Xiao Zhengrong: "You must have practiced internal foundation gongfu, you are naturally special so your foundation is not bad. Don't think that everyone can exert force so quickly by nature, it's all due to the operation of internal energy."

  Bai Shaofeng: "Let me think, I've learned a set of dynamic and static combined techniques, including meditation and external exercises. It's said to have the effect of unifying body and spirit, but I don't know what internal family foundation work is."

  Xiao Zhengrong nodded and didn't ask who taught him, but beckoned to him: "Come over and sit down, I'll take your pulse."

  Xiaobai obediently walked to the stone table and sat down, extending his right hand for Xiao Zhengrong to take his pulse. After a while, Xiao Zhengrong furrowed his brow and said: "This is not an ordinary injury, it cannot be cured by medicine or stone, nor can it be resolved by ordinary internal cultivation techniques. I'm afraid I also have no way."

  Luó Bīng asked somewhat nervously from the side: "Xiao Xiao, can you still teach him martial arts?"

  Xiao Zhengrong: "Learning is possible, but this situation is a bit special and not easy to teach."

  Xiao Bai felt a bit disappointed and nervous, but Feng Junzi applauded and laughed on the side: "It's better than not learning at all, besides, he's already a master even if he doesn't learn. I've seen him fight with someone before. How about this, aren't you very skilled? Just use your skills to create two new moves and teach them to him."

  Xiao Zhengrong: "How can it be as simple as you say? Which two styles of kung fu did I create?"

  Feng Junzi: "One-Armed Fist and Drunken Immortal!"

  Luó Bīng curiously asked: "What is Duì Biǎo Quán and Zuì Yī Xiān, I've never heard of them before?"

  Feng Junzi: "If Tongbi Boxing only practices one arm, and Zui Ba Xian learns Tie Huan Li, wouldn't that become Single-Armed Boxing and Drunken One Immortal?"

  Xiao Zhengrong let the Wind Gentleman smile: "Who has you talking nonsense, but I understand your meaning. It's indeed possible to learn like this... Little White, since it's the Patriarch who asked me, I couldn't not give him face. You don't need to call me Master, when I have time, I'll point out a thing or two to you. My family's martial arts mainly consist of Bagua Swimming Body Palm and Xingyiquan Linked Ring Gun. Just learn like an ordinary person, don't pursue supernatural abilities, just practice diligently... As for the internal family method, I see that you have another foundation, so you can follow your previous method to practice. As for what needs special transmission, I'll teach you again."

  ……

  Bai Shaofeng did not expect that the martial arts coach brought by Luo Bing was Xiao Zhengrong, and even more unexpected was that Xiao Zhengrong agreed to teach him martial arts so easily. To say that Xiao Zhengrong had been an enemy of Qingchen in the past, but Bai Shaofeng didn't dislike him. All the police officers across the country were chasing after Qingchen, but it couldn't be said that all the police officers were bad people. No matter how much goodwill Bai Shaofeng had towards Qingchen, this was a different matter.

  Later, Xiao Bai came to know that Luo Bing and Xiao Zhengrong were once comrades-in-arms who had gone through life and death together, with a relationship that was not ordinary. Whenever Luo Bing asked for something, Xiao Zhengrong would agree as long as he could. Feng Junzi was Xiao Zhengrong's relative, his wife Xiao Yunyi being Xiao Zhengrong's younger sister. Xiao Zhengrong agreed to guide Bai Shaofeng in martial arts, which had nothing to do with the Luo family and was purely a personal relationship. He was an active military officer, and time was limited, only twice a week, basically around 9 pm, at a clearing in the woods on this small hill in Binhai Park.

  Bai Shaofeng, like many others, had a misunderstanding about martial arts training. He thought it was just like what he saw in movies and TV shows, practicing stances and techniques. But that's not the case at all. If that's all there is to it, then you might as well do radio calisthenics. Xiao Zhengrong first taught Bai Shaofeng a set of footwork, which was very complex! Along with this footwork, there were also special breathing exercises, internal energy circulation, and mental focus training. After mastering the footwork, they moved on to various body methods, breaking them down one by one, and then recombining them with the footwork. Only later did he teach formal palm techniques. This was the Xiao family's traditional Bagua You Shen Zhang, not some street-style technique. It was the sixth-generation orthodox transmission of Dong Haichuan's style.

  A martial art's routine performance, from start to finish, can be completed in just a few dozen minutes. Outsiders only see this excitement. Some people may not understand why a seemingly simple fist method takes several years to learn and master, and some even change their ways to steal from their teachers. In fact, each move and style is not as simple as it looks, and there are usually over a dozen variations when facing an enemy in real combat. In actual hand-to-hand combat, no expert thinks about which move or style to use when taking action; they basically react with the most direct and reasonable response at the first moment, which also comes from long-term strict training.

  The old saying goes, "Practice fists but not internal skills until old age is a waste." Basic skills are the foundation; otherwise, it's just an empty shell. The simplest basic skills include various types of strength, endurance, speed, flexibility, and reaction training. The profundity of martial arts also includes internal skills and mind methods. Xiao Zhengrong taught Bai Shaofeng the standing stake and inner cultivation as auxiliary practices in White Ape Style I Chuan, as well as body method and footwork exercises with mental focus and internal energy circulation during practice. However, he didn't teach him the most basic and important internal training mantra; instead, he told Xiao Bai to continue practicing in his previous way because his original foundation was already very good, and all he lacked was the right timing.

  What did Xiaobai learn before? It was the heart method and oral formula taught by Qingchen, which is said to have the effect of unifying body and spirit. Xiaobai had basically mastered it. The external skill naturally didn't need to be practiced again since learning martial arts with Xiao Zhengrong, but the internal skill of meditation felt like there were still very deep realms ahead, and he was just beginning. However, Qingchen hadn't taught any deeper content, and Xiaobai felt that there was always a layer of window paper that hadn't been pierced. But Bai Shaoliu had a characteristic, which is that even if he couldn't pierce the window paper, he would still persist in practicing, because the power circulating within him according to his thoughts was getting stronger and stronger. So every night, Xiaobai persisted in meditating and cultivating the already-mastered unification of body and spirit.

  Xiao Bai's kung fu training was progressing very "fast" because his eyesight and mental focus were beyond those of ordinary people, so some details didn't need to be slowed down for explanation. Even so, after two months, he still hadn't mastered the basic stances and footwork, let alone the formal fist techniques. Of course, Xiao Zheng Rong had also taught him other things, a set of so-called "gun techniques".

  That was when Xiao Zheng Rong knew that Little White had a special shovel, he used this shovel to teach him the Five Transformations Technique and told him: "If you really want to learn martial arts, it's hard to achieve quick success, but your identity is after all a bodyguard, combat skills are still needed. This is just a cheap trick, it's no problem dealing with ordinary people, but in front of a true master, it's useless."

  Xiao Zhēngróng taught Little White not the art of shoveling, but rather the art of gunplay. As soon as Little White heard "gunplay", he thought of Qingchén's 12-foot-long red-tasseled spear and how majestic it looked when wielded! But how could this small shovel in his hand be used for gunplay? Xiao Zhēngróng told him that this set of gunplay had a rich history, originating from the 108 forms of Shape-Intention Linked-Ring Gun Changes passed down by his master. In those days, Xiao Zhēngróng's master, Hán Mùxiá, simplified the complex forms into five simple killing moves for use on the battlefield, and also simplified the 64 forms of Bagua Swimming Body Palm into four knife techniques for use in large-scale battles. The Five Forms Gunplay that Xiao Zhēngróng taught Little White originated from this, but had undergone changes to be specifically used with this small shovel.