"Senior, how are you doing that?"
Sol stood at the edge of the lake and stared at the old man’s feet curiously.
"Do you know the difference between a Martial Art and a Skill?"
Sol nodded.
"A Martial Art involves the movent of one’s physical body, and a Skill involves the movent of Aether in one’s body."
The old man had to pause when he heard Sol’s answer. He thought for a mont then said.
"I’ve asked countless children your age this question, but this is the first ti I’m hearing the answer being phrased like that. Interesting..."
The old man gave Sol a once over before he asked again.
"Then do you know what happens when a Martial Art and a Skill is combined?"
"That’s called a Martial Skill or a Martial Arts Technique, it’s when the movent of the physical body and the movent of Aether is used at the sa ti."
The old man nodded.
"Watch my movents closely."
The old man then started to take steps further into the lake.
Sol watched as he took his first step and instantly moved eight ters. Then another sixteen ters for his second, then thirty-two for his third, sixty-two for his fourth. This went on until the old man was several hundred ters out in the lake. Almost reaching the other end.
It had only taken a split second for him to reach such a distance.
Sol had no problem seeing the old man’s movents from his position since he discreetly used his Heavenly Eyes.
However, it was rather strange that the old man went that far out into the lake even though he knew Sol might not see him from his position. Or did he know he could sohow?
Sol placed this at the back of his mind and focused on the old man’s movents wholeheartedly.
What he also noticed aside from the increased in distance traveled by each of the old man’s steps, was how the water was completely still. Not a single ripple was present in the lake as the old man walked.
The old man soon returned, and he said nothing as he looked at Sol who had his head down in thought.
Only after a few minutes did Sol raised his head, and the old man began explaining.
"Almost all, if not every Martial Skill is created while using the twelve main ridians as a base. They’re stronger, and they are the sa for everyone so anyone can use the Skills created. This is common knowledge, but my Movent Skill is slightly different."
The old man left the lake as he continued to say.
"I was able to move Aether to my legs and increase my speed in an instant. But this is not sustainable and even if I wanted to do it successively, my twelve main ridians would get damaged or completely burst with prolonged usage. However, by using additional smaller ridians, I was able to move Aether to my legs and have that explosion of speed continuously. Going further, I could double the distance I travel with each step by continuously increasing the Aether to my legs."
Sol listened closely to the old man’s words. Afterward, he turned and suddenly took a step forward. However, he imdiately fell flat on his face with his butt sticking up.
Sol embarrassingly got up and said.
"You made it sound so simple, but it’s really hard to do."
"You were able to copy the Wudang Clan’s Eight Trigrams Palm Martial Art Skill from that youth, so you should be able to learn this quite easily."
Sol smiled bitterly at that.
"Senior, that ti is different."
"Oh? How so?"
The old man said with an amused look on his face.
The bitterness Sol was feeling increased because the old man knew full well why he couldn’t copy his Movent Skill.
"Senior, you aren’t making you’re breathing pattern obvious."
"Oh? Why do you need to see my breathing pattern to copy the Movent Skill?"
Sol smiled wearily then went into a cross-legged position before he patiently explained.
"To copy a Martial Art is very simple, you just need to learn the movents of the person’s physical body. However, to copy the ’Skill’ aspect of the Martial Skill one has to know the circulation path and how the person moves the Aether through their twelve ridians. But it’s practically impossible to figure out this pathway without inspecting soone’s body while they’re using the Martial Skill."
"Oh? Then how were you able to copy it if it’s impossible?"
Sol scratched his head.
"I... Uhh, all I did was study the pattern of his breathing. Since one’s Aether flows through the body the sa way as air does, I just have to mimic the way how the person breathes during each movent and move my Aether accordingly."
After Sol explained this, the old man smiled and nodded.
"This isn’t sothing a normal child could do, perhaps if you had studied nurous Martial Skills, you could copy a person’s Martial Skill sowhat."
"I... I’ve never learned a Martial Skill before that."
The old man’s smile grew wider.
"If any genius had heard you now, they would be shocked."
A slightly awkward smile couldn’t help but appear on Sol’s face as he glanced at an unassuming rock several ters away.
However, the old man didn’t address his expression or the rock. He only continued by performing the Movent Skill once again this ti his breathing pattern was clearly visible for Sol.
It would be simpler if the old man just told Sol the circulation pathway, but it looked like he wanted to give Sol a challenge.
Indeed, it was slightly challenging for Sol.
He realized that despite knowing how to circulate the Aether in his body, there was a timing to when he should connect his steps.
He would take one step and move eight ters, but as he took his second step he would fall flat on his face.
This happened repeatedly with the old man watching off to the side.
After nearly an hour of Sol thodically falling down and getting right back up, a breakthrough happened.
When Sol took his second step, he suddenly moved another sixteen ters. Not getting distracted by his success, he tried to take his third step, but he imdiately fell onto his face.
"Pupu..."
Sol spat out the grass that had gotten into his mouth. However, he quickly jumped up and yelled.
"I get it!"
"What did you get?"
The old man asked, but Sol didn’t respond, he rely focused on trying the Movent Skill once again.
The Aether in his body moved through his twelve main ridians towards his legs using a particular pathway, and with his first step, he moved eight ters.
Then, using his smaller ridians—along the pathway his acupoints were opened—he sent Aether into his legs once more.
He made sure to chain the explosion of Aether of his first step with the second, and he was able to move sixteen ters with his second step.
Sol didn’t waste ti and as he took his third step, Sol moved the Aether using his main ridians this ti.
He moved an additional twenty-four ters with his third step.
What Sol realized was that he didn’t only have to get the timing right by chaining his first step with his second step and so on, he realized that he should switch between using his main ridians and the smaller ones.
It was less taxing on his ridians if he used the ones that led to the acupoints he opened.
However, that essentially ant that learning this Martial Skill success relied on the number of acupoints one opens as well as how they strengthen their ridians, more than most Martial Skills.
It was universal knowledge that a person’s ridians were just as important as their acupoints since this is what carries Aether through one’s body.
When opening an acupoint and widening their ridians, one needed to strength those ridians as well to make it easier for Aether to circulate.
If Sol hadn’t opened any acupoints in his legs and widened his dians, he wouldn’t have been able to use this Martial Skill since his ridians would be too weak to handle the speed and the amount of Aether he was circulating to his legs.
However, as Sol tried taking his fourth step, he suddenly fell onto his face; failing once again.
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