Chapter 306 He was in the Xiao residence, the son of the Fifth Madam Zhou Ruoxi, named Xiao Mo (4000 words)

After returning home, Xiao Mo told his mother about Instructor Huang's offer to take him as a disciple.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ruoxi looked somewhat surprised.

Zhou Ruoxi initially knew nothing about this Master Huang.

However, after her child started learning martial arts under his tutelage, Zhou Ruoxi became worried about her child and wanted to understand the master's temperament, so she would often inquire about him.

It's quite unusual that no one knew anything about this seemingly ordinary master craftsman.

Especially considering Master Huang's attitude towards the First Madam today, Zhou Ruoxi was certain that Master Huang was indeed different from ordinary people.

They are at least somewhat capable.

He even dared to call the prince by his name.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Zhou Ruoxi felt that it was not unreasonable for Mo'er to become his disciple.

If you learn some skills, you'll have a trade in the future.

Even without the protection of the Xiao family, Mo'er can still support her family by working as a teacher or a guard.

"Mo'er, if you want to become Master Huang's apprentice, your mother has no objection," Zhou Ruoxi said to her child, agreeing to Mo'er's decision. "Mo'er, what do you think of Master Huang?"

"Mo'er wants to become his disciple!" Xiao Mo said.

“Okay.” Zhou Ruoxi nodded and smiled. “In that case, let’s visit Master Huang tomorrow.”

"Yes, Mother."

The next morning, Zhou Ruoxi took her child out of the mansion and headed to a small courtyard in the east of the city, following the address given to Xiao Mo by Master Huang.

Before the visit, Zhou Ruoxi took out most of her savings and bought a lot of gifts for Master Huang to express her gratitude.

As soon as Zhou Ruoxi knocked on the door, Master Huang opened it and came out.

"You're here. Come in."

Without wasting any words, Master Huang invited them inside.

"Master Huang, this is just a small token of our appreciation. Please don't find it offensive." Zhou Ruoxi gestured to Cuicui beside her, and Cuicui immediately stepped forward with the gift.

"No need, I accept disciples entirely based on my own will. You can take these things as you please." Huang Shan refused to accept any of Zhou Ruoxi's gifts for becoming a disciple, his tone extremely decisive.

Seeing Master Huang's appearance, Zhou Ruoxi stopped insisting, lest she offend him.

"Alright, enough with the nonsense." Master Huang looked at Xiao Mo. "Kid, become my apprentice."

"Yes, Master!"

Xiao Mo nodded seriously.

In the courtyard, Huang Shan sat on a chair, while Xiao Mo knelt down, kowtowed three times to Huang Shan, and then served tea.

After Huang Shan finished his tea with satisfaction, he led Xiao Mo into the room and together they paid homage to the portrait of their ancestor.

After the formalities were completed, Xiao Mo was officially Huang Shan's disciple from this day forward.

Seeing her child acting like a little adult, Zhou Ruoxi, standing to the side, felt a slight stirring in her heart.

It feels like my child will go very far away in the future, and I can only watch quietly from behind, never able to keep up.

“From now on, I am your master, boy. Call me master and let me hear it,” Huang Shan said with a smile.

"Master!" Xiao Mo called out in a clear, childish voice.

"Hahaha! Good! Good! Good!" Huang Shan said "good" three times in a row.

It's clear that he really likes this apprentice he's taken on.

"Master, do you only have me as your disciple? Do I have any other senior brothers or sisters?" Xiao Mo asked curiously.

“You are my only disciple.” Huang Shan nodded. “In our lineage, although there are no restrictions, we generally only accept one disciple in our lifetime. Of course, if you die, that’s another story, and I will take a second one.”

"Master, what if we all die?" Xiao Mo asked again.

"Even if we all die, the spear technique will still remain. The original spear technique of our lineage has always been kept in the ancestral land, and sooner or later, a destined person will find it."

So when we die, we die.

It's just that our lineage of spear techniques may not be seen in the world for hundreds or thousands of years.

Huang Shan glanced at the kid and then tapped him on the head.

"Hey kid, why don't you think about the good things? Isn't it better to live? Why do you want to die?"

Xiao Mo rubbed his head: "I'm just worried about the continuation of our sect."

"Get lost, get lost. Instead of worrying about this, you should focus on your training." Huang Shan waved his hand. "Go back and get some rest today. Be sure to come to the training ground on time tomorrow."

"Yes, Master!" Xiao Mo clasped his hands in a salute.

"I'm entrusting my son Mo'er to Master Huang." Zhou Ruoxi stepped forward and bowed.

"Don't worry, Madam," Master Huang said heartily. "It's the luckiest thing in the world for this lad to become my apprentice!"

Zhou Ruoxi simply smiled as she listened to Master Huang's self-praise.

Cui Cui rolled her eyes. She felt that Master Huang was just an ordinary martial artist. Had her mistress been deceived?

Zhou Ruoxi brought Xiao Mo back to the Xiao residence.

The next day, Xiao Mo went to the training ground to practice martial arts as usual.

After becoming Master Huang's apprentice, Xiao Mo did feel that his master was paying more attention to him, but what he was learning didn't seem to be much different; everything was mainly focused on building a solid foundation.

The biggest advantage is that Xiao Mo gets his own special meals every day, which are much better than those of the other disciples in the training grounds, and he can eat as much as he wants.

However, Xiao Yang and the others had no objections. After all, this was their older brother. Their older brother was so capable, so what was wrong with him eating well?

In addition, every now and then, Huang Shan would give Xiao Mo a packet of medicinal herbs to give him a medicinal bath to temper his body.

Every time Xiao Mo tempered his body, he felt as if his bones were about to be crushed, which was extremely painful.

But after each medicinal bath, Xiao Mo could clearly feel that his physique had become stronger.

Before we knew it, a year had passed.

Xiao Mo is already four and a half years old.

Over the course of the year, Xiao Mo's gap with the other children widened significantly, and he was no longer on the same level at all.

On that very day, Huang Shan began to give Xiao Mo private lessons.

Huang Shan didn't hide anything from others when teaching Xiao Mo; if other kids could learn it, that would be their own skill.

"From today onwards, Xiao Mo, you will begin learning boxing techniques."

While the other kids were still practicing their basic skills, Huang Shan pulled Xiao Mo aside to an open space and said to him.

"As I told you before, fist techniques are like spear techniques. You must practice fist techniques before practicing spear techniques. Spear techniques are just a further extension of fist techniques. The fist technique I am going to teach you is called the Heaven-Opening Fist! The Heaven-Opening Fist has seven forms! I will demonstrate it for you, so watch carefully!"

When Huang Shan adopted a boxing stance, Xiao Mo felt the surrounding air suddenly sink.

The heavy fist pressed down on him like a mountain, making it difficult for Xiao Mo to even breathe.

When Huang Shan threw a punch, the sound was like thunder, crackling and popping, as if a god was beating a drum!

Xiao Mo thought that it was because his master had completely sealed off his spiritual power.

Otherwise, the thunder might have been heard throughout the entire Qin capital.

The other children were stunned when they saw Master Huang practicing boxing; they thought it was very beautiful and impressive.

But Xiao Mo saw a different scene.

Even though Xiao Mo had never practiced any fist techniques, he could still vaguely sense that the Heaven-Opening Fist could lead to the Great Dao!

And this is just a prerequisite for learning marksmanship in the future!

"Who exactly is my master? And what kind of marksmanship will I be learning in the future?"

Xiao Mo couldn't help but have a question, but since his master didn't say anything, he didn't ask.

After finishing one round of punches, Huang Shan stood up straight.

Some of the other children wanted to imitate Master Huang's boxing style, but they found that even though they had just watched it, they had forgotten everything.

Master Huang looked at Xiao Mo and asked, "After you read it once, how much do you still remember?"

"About 80%?" Xiao Mo said.

"Eighty percent?" Huang Shan smiled, feeling that Xiao Mo was exaggerating. "Show me your boxing skills."

"Oh." Relying on his memory from earlier, Xiao Mo performed the Heaven-Opening Fist once.

Huang Shan was completely stunned as he watched Xiao Mo's every move.

Although Xiao Mo only has the fist form now, the fist form of the Heaven-Opening Fist involves the Great Dao. Whether he can remember it or not depends entirely on his talent.

When my master showed it to me back then, I only remembered half of it.

So this kid actually remembered 80% of it?

"Master, is this how it is?" Xiao Mo stood up and asked after finishing the test.

Even though he had only practiced the fist form once, Xiao Mo was already covered in sweat and panting heavily.

"I'm barely passable, but I can't compare to my master," Huang Shan said, his hands behind his back.

"How much did Master remember back then?" Xiao Mo asked curiously, wanting to know the difference between himself and his master.

Huang Shan coughed a few times. "I won't say it. I'm afraid it will hurt you if I do."

After speaking, Huang Shan tossed a book to Xiao Mo.

"This is the manual for the Opening Heaven Fist. It contains the fist techniques. Go back and memorize it carefully. If you can't read the words, have your mother teach you. Then try to incorporate them into the fist moves yourself. If you don't understand, come and ask me. I recently moved to the Broken Stone Courtyard of the Xiao Mansion."

"Yes, Master!"

After receiving the boxing manual, Xiao Mo thought to himself that he really needed to work harder.

After returning home, Xiao Mo could read the words, but since he had never been to school, he could only pretend not to understand and ask his mother to teach him.

Taking this opportunity, Zhou Ruoxi also began to teach her child to read and write.

Only by reading can we understand the principles of things, and avoid feeling so lost when we encounter problems in the future.

Therefore, Xiao Mo practiced martial arts during the day, and when he returned home, Zhou Ruoxi would teach the child Confucian classics whenever she had free time.

Zhou Ruoxi discovered that her child learned very quickly and had a photographic memory.

As a mother, Zhou Ruoxi was naturally very happy about her child's talent, but she didn't show it.

On the contrary, she kept emphasizing to Xiao Mo not to be arrogant.

No matter what achievements you make in the future, you must always have the mindset of an apprentice and know that there are always people more capable than you and that there is always something beyond your reach.

Xiao Mo naturally kept his mother's teachings in mind.

Every day, Xiao Mo diligently practiced martial arts and read books, and began to correct his fist form by comparing it with each move in the boxing manual.

When he encountered something he didn't understand, Xiao Mo would go directly to the Broken Stone Courtyard to find his master.

The master and apprentice sometimes practiced for an entire night.

Another year has passed, and Xiao Mo is now five and a half years old.

That evening, Xiao Mo practiced the Heaven-Opening Fist alone in the courtyard.

As he practiced, Xiao Mo gradually forgot himself and entered a state of enlightenment.

In the courtyard, Zhou Ruoxi stared blankly at her son Mo'er's fluid and graceful boxing skills.

"Madam? Young Master..." Cui Cui looked at Xiao Mo with concern.

Zhou Ruoxi clenched her small hands nervously and said, "Mo'er... he's about to take that step."

Xiao Mo's punches became faster and faster, until finally, they even produced a thunderous sound.

"boom!"

As Xiao Mo unleashed his final punch, the water vat, which was three zhang away from him, was shattered to pieces by the force of his fist!

Xiao Mo withdrew his fist and felt the spiritual energy flowing within his body, which filled him with joy.

He had actually embarked on the path of cultivation, and in one fell swoop, he had cultivated from an ordinary person to the sixth level of Qi Refining!

Inside the rubble courtyard, Huang Shan, looking in Xiao Mo's direction, smiled and nodded in satisfaction: "This kid is indeed quite good. Once he reaches Foundation Establishment, we can start teaching him spear techniques."

Before we knew it, another two and a half years had passed.

Xiao Mo turned eight.

At this moment, Xiao Mo was only one step away from establishing his foundation.

In fact, if Xiao Mo wanted to establish his foundation, he could have already tried to break through to the next realm.

However, Huang Shan instructed Xiao Mo to continue suppressing his cultivation level and refine it further.

Xiao Mo knew that his master was asking him to build a foundation, so he did as instructed.

When Xiao Mo had already reached the peak of Qi Refining, the other little ones in the training ground had reached the third level of Qi Refining, and the lowest level of Qi Refining had reached the second level.

In fact, the Xiao family members of Xiao Mo's generation are quite talented, being able to embark on the path of cultivation at such a young age.

However, compared to Xiao Mo, they were indeed no match.

In the second month after Xiao Mo turned eight, a eunuch came to the Qin royal palace. He entered the Xiao residence and went to the Broken Stone Courtyard.

"Greetings, Senior Huang."

Li Gonggong, the personal eunuch of the King of Qin, bowed to Huang Shan.

Huang Shan, who was resting with his eyes closed in the courtyard, slowly opened them, looked at the eunuch in front of him, and said slowly, "I wonder what business Eunuch Li has?"

"Reporting to Senior Huang, the Qin Kingdom's hunting ceremony is about to begin. His Majesty wishes to ask if Senior Huang is available and would like to invite Senior Huang to participate," Eunuch Li said respectfully.

"The hunting ceremony, huh?" Huang Shan thought for a moment. "I'm not interested, so I won't go."

"..." Eunuch Li looked embarrassed, but still wanted to try to persuade him.

However, Huang Shan spoke first: "But I heard that your Qin Kingdom's princes and princesses participate in every hunting ceremony and need guards, is that right?"

"Yes, that's right," Eunuch Li nodded.

"I've taken on a disciple, so let him participate. No need to give me face; just let him be a guard." Huang Shan looked at Eunuch Li and said calmly, "Is that alright?"

“Of course!” Eunuch Li nodded hurriedly. “I just don’t know where Senior Huang’s disciple is? This old servant will go and invite him right away.”

"He is in the Xiao residence. He is the son of the Fifth Madam, Zhou Ruoxi, and his name is Xiao Mo."

(End of this chapter)