Three Methods of Training the Iron Sand Palm Technique

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After listening to Old Master Wu describe Iron Sand Palm, Chen Jue felt a peculiar sense of wonder.

Ever since he had begun exploring traditional martial arts, he seemed unable to get around the Longmen School.

First came Taiji and stance training. Then came the Thunder Drum Method for strengthening the ears. Now he had circled back to Iron Sand Palm, which enhanced the hands’ defensive power. It truly seemed that fate had brought everything together in a marvelous way.

Of course, Chen Jue was not determined to learn Iron Sand Palm at all costs.

He had plenty of free time now. By exercising methodically and improving his attributes, his physical condition would naturally grow stronger over time.

But when it came to skin toughness and the body’s resistance to blows, modern Western-style exercise alone could not provide any effective improvement.

Chen Jue’s “Ultimate Human Training Program” was meant to make him stronger in every way, inside and out.

He did not merely want strength beyond that of ordinary people. He also wanted defensive ability and impact resistance that ordinary people lacked.

Put simply, Chen Jue wanted to become a well-rounded fighter, not a lopsided strongman who knew only how to lift weights and build muscle.

As for whether training these things would actually be useful, Chen Jue had no idea.

In any case, he was still young. With the assistance of his status panel, he had plenty of time to experiment and learn from his mistakes.

…

After finishing his conversation with Old Master Wu, Chen Jue slung his bow case over his back and walked into the depths of the park.

He first went to the lakeside, assumed a horse stance, and drew his heavy bow as part of his daily strength training. Perhaps because opening the bow the previous day had helped him form a habit and adjust to it, he managed to maintain the second session for a full twenty minutes.

When Chen Jue finished practicing, the status panel popped up with a notification:

———

Ding!

You have completed a high-intensity endurance and explosive-strength workout. Your upper-body muscles have received thorough training.

Strength Attribute +0.02

———

“The efficiency is decent. But I didn’t break through my limits this time. Is it because I deliberately held back?” Chen Jue wondered as he shook his somewhat sore and swollen arms.

Since he had arranged with Li Rui to receive a professional training plan that very day, Chen Jue had deliberately conserved some of his strength while practicing with the bow. He had not drawn it to its full extent.

Otherwise, without any free attributes to allocate, his arms would have needed an entire day of rest to recover fully after drawing the 110-jin heavy bow, relying solely on his body’s natural recovery.

After putting away the bow, Chen Jue checked the time and slipped into the small grove he often visited.

Zhao Jianguo was still leading his Taiji class there. Seeing this, Chen Jue set down his bow case and began practicing Taiji stance a little farther away.

The thousand-yuan tuition fee he had paid had already expired. It would be somewhat inappropriate to continue learning with the class, so he kept his distance to avoid any awkwardness.

When nine o’clock arrived precisely, the Taiji class began to disperse. Only then did Chen Jue approach Zhao Jianguo and strike up a conversation.

“Little Chen, you want to learn our Longmen School’s Iron Sand Palm?” Zhao Jianguo was rather surprised.

It had been some time since he had last seen Chen Jue, and he noticed that the young man had changed yet again.

Not only had his hair grown back, but his physique and even his overall presence had become remarkably upright and self-assured.

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“I’ve been practicing with a bow lately, and the bowstring is pretty hard on my hands, so I thought I’d learn some hand techniques.” Seeing that Zhao Jianguo had asked the reason, Chen Jue told him that he wanted to improve his hands’ resistance to impact.

Upon hearing that Chen Jue had taken up archery, a cold weapon, Zhao Jianguo immediately became interested. He asked to try the black bow and took it into his hands.

“This bow is incredibly stiff!” Zhao Jianguo first gave it an ordinary pull, only to discover that he could barely draw it halfway.

He then settled into a stance and suddenly hissed, sucking in a sharp breath. Chen Jue watched as Zhao Jianguo’s belly swelled, his eyes widened, and his arms trembled slightly. After exerting enormous effort, he finally drew the 110-jin Qilin bow into the shape of a full moon.

“Master Zhao, impressive!” Chen Jue smiled faintly from the side.

Zhao Jianguo shook his head, his face slightly flushed. “What’s so impressive? I’m almost sixty. My stamina is nowhere near what it used to be. I can’t even draw it twice.”

“What? Master Zhao, you’re almost sixty?” Chen Jue was genuinely startled.

After attending Zhao Jianguo’s Taiji class for a month, he had always assumed that the instructor was in his forties, perhaps nearing fifty. He had never imagined that the man was already approaching sixty.

It seemed that practicing Taiji correctly and consistently really did have a powerful effect on longevity.

“I’ll officially turn sixty after the New Year.”

“Once a person grows old, their physical strength declines sharply. I used to draw heavy bows like this all the time when I was with the Longmen School.” Zhao Jianguo returned the bow to Chen Jue. After regulating his breathing, he picked up his thermos and took several slow sips.

Chen Jue glanced inside. It contained ginseng, black goji berries, red dates, and several kinds of Chinese herbs he could not name. At a glance, it was clearly meant to nourish the essence and replenish the blood.

“Then, Master Zhao, have you ever practiced a hand technique like Iron Sand Palm?” Chen Jue asked curiously. He had examined Zhao Jianguo’s palms after the man drew the bowstring and noticed that they had not even been left with a trace of bruising.

“I have practiced Iron Sand Palm. It is one of the secret techniques every beginner in the Longmen School must learn.”

“Iron Sand Palm is merely a general term outsiders use for this category of palm techniques. There are three methods of practice, and three corresponding names.”

“The first is Cinnabar Palm. It is a palm art that moves the qi and blood into the hands. When power is exerted, the hands become congested and turn red. A strike leaves a vermilion plum-blossom mark on the body, which is why it was once also called Plum Blossom Palm.”

“However, Cinnabar Palm is a child-training art. Those who have left home to become priests are unable to practice it.”

“The second is Poison Sand Palm. During training, the venom of five creatures—red snakes, geckos, wasps, toads, and centipedes—is mixed into the iron sand, which is why it is also called Five Poisons Palm. Furthermore, Poison Sand Palm can only be practiced with the hand one does not use for eating. Once mastered, that hand becomes poisonous. It can poison others, but it can also poison its owner, so it must be wrapped in deerskin day and night to guard against the toxins.”

“As for the third, that is the Iron Sand Palm most widely known. It is the orthodox method of strengthening the inside while tempering the outside, and it requires secret medicinal water to nourish the hands.”

“If you want to learn Iron Sand Palm, I can teach you. But first, you must enter our Longmen School as a disciple.” After finishing his explanation, Zhao Jianguo narrowed his eyes and once again extended an invitation to Chen Jue.

“I can only learn it by becoming your disciple?”

“What if I pay more tuition?” Chen Jue asked hurriedly, frowning.

“The reason secret teachings are called secret teachings is to prevent disciples from revealing them.”

“Although Iron Sand Palm looks like a crude and simple technique, there are many principles involved, and every school and lineage practices it differently. Many of those people online who make videos for a living end up deforming their hands. Their hands either swell until they look like bricks, or their skin dies and develops black calluses. They have all taken the crooked path of seeking rapid results.”

“If you refuse to become a disciple, I have no way to pass it on to you. This isn’t a matter of money.” Zhao Jianguo shook his head, clearly touching upon a matter of personal faith and principle.

“But I don’t want to leave home and become a Daoist priest!”

Chen Jue could not understand why Zhao Jianguo and his senior fellow disciple insisted on recruiting him into the school. Could it be because of that so-called “Bright Force” he had developed through stance training?

As for why Chen Jue did not want to become a Daoist priest, it was because he was accustomed to a carefree, undisciplined lifestyle. How could he endure all the rules and prohibitions of the religious order?

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Besides, he was about to begin a sweet romance with Teacher Wu. He did not want to burden himself with another unusual and distinctive identity and allow it to interfere with the important matters of his life.

“Who said you have to become a priest?”

“Why not become a lay cultivator like me?” Zhao Jianguo puffed out his beard and began patiently explaining the conditions for entering the Longmen School as a lay disciple.

The requirements were simple. There were only five:

First, one had to be a law-abiding citizen of China.

Second, one had to sincerely believe in the teachings of Daoism, respect the patriarchs of past generations, and understand the basic principles of Daoism.

Third, one had to study diligently and safeguard the interests of the faith.

Fourth, one had to promise not to break the law after taking refuge.

Fifth, one had to respect the teacher and the teachings, and maintain unity within the religious community.

After hearing the five conditions, Chen Jue was a little stunned. He muttered under his breath, “That’s all?”

“Of course that’s all! Just those five conditions! What did you think, that it would be terribly complicated?”

“Once you have formally become a disciple, received a religious name, been assigned a lineage, and accepted the Five Precepts from me, your daily life will be no different from that of an ordinary believer.” Zhao Jianguo was visibly exasperated.

If he had known that Chen Jue was so afraid of trouble and knew so little about Daoist affairs, he should have laid out these secular requirements plainly the last time he invited Senior Brother Zhiqing over. Perhaps Chen Jue would have agreed then and there.

There would have been no need to beat around the bush and take such a long, winding route only to return to the same point.

“If there are only a few conditions, then I seem quite suitable to be a lay disciple.” Chen Jue scratched his head with an awkward grin. He had not expected the threshold for joining the school to be so low.

…

In order to learn the secret Iron Sand Palm technique and strengthen his hands’ defensive power, Chen Jue was willing to take the plunge.

Besides, he had heard that the Longmen School possessed quite a few secret techniques of this kind. Aside from Iron Sand Palm, there was also the similar Nine Yang Eye-Training Method, which he had long been tempted to learn. He was interested in the Longmen School’s secret Thirteen-Form Taiji as well.

In any case, he had no particular religious faith. Believing in orthodox Daoism did not seem like a major issue.

After accepting Zhao Jianguo’s invitation, Chen Jue discussed the details of becoming a disciple with him in the grove.

He learned that joining the school and becoming a disciple was not something that could be arranged casually. An auspicious date had to be selected for an altar ceremony, offerings, and prayers.

Zhao Jianguo therefore took out his phone, consulted a perpetual calendar, and arranged with Chen Jue to visit the Longmen School and formally become a disciple on December 15.

“There are still more than two weeks to go. I’ll buy a ticket in advance.” Chen Jue looked over the traditional almanac for the day. It listed all sorts of favorable omens, and the date was indeed suitable for becoming a disciple, so he finalized the arrangement with Zhao Jianguo.

The Longmen School had two ancestral holy sites. One was Dragon Gate Cave, where its patriarch Qiu Chuji had attained enlightenment. The other was Changchun Temple, where Qiu Chuji had passed away—what is now the White Cloud Temple in the imperial capital.

After spending so long in Hangzhou, Chen Jue was also thinking of getting out and doing some traveling. Round-trip airfare and high-speed rail tickets were not expensive, so he decided to treat it as a trip to the imperial capital.

Once it was confirmed that Chen Jue would be entering the Longmen School, Zhao Jianguo was delighted. He invited Chen Jue to lunch at an upscale restaurant beside the park, then reported the matter to his senior fellow disciple, Daoist Zhiqing. At last, everything was officially settled.

First update~

I haven’t been in the best shape these past few days, so the writing hasn’t flowed as smoothly and I haven’t been able to increase my speed.

I’ll make some adjustments. Once I’m back on form, I’ll give everyone a flood of updates.

End of chapter.