The Lin Family courtyard.
Lin Yan and his aunt had just returned home when Xiaocui arrived at their door.
"Miss Xiaocui, please, come in."
Madam Liu quickly welcomed her inside, while Lin Yan served tea. As for his younger brother, he had been out gallivanting since early morning.
He was at that rambunctious age where a boy simply can’t sit still at home.
After a sip of tea and a word of thanks, Xiaocui said with a smile, "The Master learned that Young Master Lin has begun his training, so he asked me to deliver a gift of money. Consider it a token to wish the Young Master good fortune."
Seeing the silver envelope Xiaocui produced, Madam Liu quickly waved her hands in refusal. "We couldn’t possibly accept this."
"This is a token of the Master and Madam’s goodwill. If you and Young Master Lin don’t accept it, I won’t be able to face them when I return."
Seeing Xiaocui’s firm stance, Madam Liu no longer refused, but she didn’t reach out to take the envelope. Instead, she looked at Lin Yan. "Yan’er, you must remember your Fourth Aunt’s kindness."
"I will take it to heart and train hard in Martial Arts, so as not to disappoint my Fourth Aunt’s expectations."
Lin Yan agreed earnestly, though he was inwardly surprised. Considering how distant the relationship was between his family and this cousin-aunt, her helping him find a Pile Skill was already a great show of face. He never expected her to also send twenty taels of silver coins.
This was the kind of treatment reserved for a true nephew.
Unable to figure out the underlying reasons, Lin Yan decided not to dwell on it. Whatever his cousin-aunt’s motives were for sending the twenty taels of silver, it was undeniably a great kindness to him.
He took the silver envelope from Xiaocui and carefully tucked it into his robes.
"Then I shall take my leave. The Madam is waiting for me to report back."
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Xiaocui departed. Madam Liu walked her to the courtyard gate and intended to go further, but Xiaocui stopped her, adamantly refusing.
"Madam Lin, I am merely a servant. If you were to escort me to the mouth of the alley, the Madam would surely reprimand me if she found out."
At these words, Madam Liu finally stopped. Lin Yan, standing beside her, watched Miss Xiaocui depart and couldn’t help but marvel. ’My cousin-aunt is truly impressive,’ he thought. ’Her way of handling things is impeccable, even her maids are trained to be so astute.’
"Yan’er, I’m heading out to deliver these clothes to the Boss."
After Xiaocui left, Madam Liu went back inside, grabbed the mended clothes, and also headed out.
Now alone in the house, Lin Yan didn’t remain idle. He began to study the Rock Pillar Posture manual.
The Rock Pillar Posture was not complex, consisting of four different stances. The manual provided detailed illustrations for each position.
Additionally, there was a corresponding Breathing Mantra.
According to the manual’s author, the Breathing technique was the very foundation of the Rock Pillar Posture.
"To practice the posture without the breath is to practice in vain."
After memorizing the stances, Lin Yan began to practice. The positions themselves weren’t difficult, and he more or less learned them after a dozen attempts.
However, when he tried to incorporate the Breathing technique as described in the manual, he felt a tightness in his chest after only a few breaths. It became difficult to draw the next one. Simultaneously, his body seemed to hit a breaking point; he could no longer hold the posture and staggered back several steps.
But Lin Yan was not discouraged. If learning martial arts was easy, then Martial Artists who could transcend their social status wouldn’t exist.
He continued to try. Once, twice, three times...
Even after dozens of attempts, he still couldn’t complete a single full breathing cycle.
By now, his body was aching and drained of strength.
’Am I doing the Breathing wrong? Or was I just too confident? I should have swallowed my pride and asked Nursing Director Zhou for a demonstration, even if it meant being mocked.’
Lin Yan gave a wry smile and committed the lesson to heart.
’My skin isn’t thick enough,’ he thought. ’I need to work on that.’
After a short rest, he resumed his Cultivation.
Half an hour passed, then a full hour.
As he finished another attempt at the Breathing, Lin Yan’s whole body shuddered. In the next instant, he sensed something and quickly focused his awareness on the strange tree in his mind.
A tiny, tender yellow bud was slowly emerging from the middle of a green branch on the left side.
Within his perception, the tip of the bud gradually unfurled, forming a half-curled leaf about the size of a fingernail—the beginnings of a new sprout.
At the same time, new information about the Martial Arts Tree surfaced in his mind.
Practice a martial art a hundred times, and its true meaning will be revealed!
Lin Yan’s eyes lit up. He could achieve initiation in any Cultivation Technique, as long as he practiced it a hundred times and received a new sprout from the Martial Arts Tree.
With a mere thought, the tender leaf trembled. An indescribable, cool stream of energy flowed down from his Niwan Palace, located between his eyebrows. It instantly suffused his entire body, reaching into his very limbs and bones, and penetrated the depths of his consciousness.
His vision "brightened," though it wasn’t a physical light. In his mind’s eye, he could now clearly "see" his earlier attempt at the posture—his stance, his breathing, and even the imperceptible flow of Qi Blood within him.
Every subtle error, every lack of coordination between his breath and posture, every tense or lax muscle—all of it was laid bare, illuminated by that cool stream of energy as clearly as stones at the bottom of a clear stream.
Almost subconsciously, he moved into the opening stance of the Rock Pillar Posture.
This time, the angle at which he sank his hips was significantly more natural. His spine was relaxed but not slumped, and the opening and closing of his shoulders and elbows carried a new, rounded fluidity.
Most importantly, guided by this cool energy, he completed a full Breathing Circulation smoothly and without even realizing it!
Lin Yan’s heart pounded, but he dared not let a single stray thought distract him, terrified of breaking this profound state. Following the cool guidance, he practiced again and again.
Before he knew it, dozens of Circulations had flowed by.
The pangs of hunger and exhaustion finally broke through, slowly pulling Lin Yan from his immersive, selfless state. As he relaxed his posture and stood up, he felt a pleasant warmth spreading through his entire body. A faint, almost imperceptible trace of heat seemed to have settled in his Dantian.

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