After devising a high-speed assassination route for Xiao Wu's spirit ring, Xiao Lin stopped concerning himself with her.
Let Tang San, the simp, teach her and pass on some of Xiao Lin's martial soul philosophy.
At the moment, Xiao Lin was sitting cross-legged in the Blue Silver Grass field, motionless. While circulating the Indestructible Vajra Divine Art, he meditated and contemplated ways to train his physical strength.
The weight of the Qiu Long Staff could indeed help strengthen his body, but Xiao Lin still didn't know how much weight or length he could handle.
The longer the Qiu Long Staff, the longer the lever arm — and the greater the torque. If not controlled well, Xiao Lin not only wouldn't improve at the Eight Trigram Staff Technique, but could also end up injuring himself.
Currently, Tang San wasn't familiar with the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Technique, so he didn't dare teach Xiao Lin out of fear of teaching it incorrectly.
So Xiao Lin had to come up with a better training method on his own.
He wasn't going to imitate a certain master and run with a rock on his back. He needed something better than that.
After sitting for about two minutes, Xiao Lin finally came up with a suitable method — self-restriction.
He would keep the Qiu Long Staff at the length that matched his current height and wouldn't increase its weight for now.
But he planned to temporarily cut off his soul power connection to the staff.
This meant he would fully bear the weight of the Qiu Long Staff himself and allow his soul power to drain rapidly.
Xiao Lin, being the Innate Qiu Long Staff Holy Body, could make the staff lighter or heavier at will when using his soul power to connect with it.
This wasn't good for training — when he reached his limit, his body might instinctively make the staff lighter without him realizing it, which would make his training inefficient.
By severing the soul power connection, Xiao Lin would summon the Qiu Long Staff just like how Tang San summoned the Clear Sky Hammer — consuming a large amount of soul power.
Once his soul power was depleted, the base stats granted by the Qiu Long Staff would weaken too.
This way, his training would rely almost entirely on his physical strength.
Xiao Lin called this method self-restriction.
Of course, as a strategy that took him a whole two minutes of precious thought time, self-restriction was more than just that.
Xiao Lin decided to let his body handle all the training while his mind focused on meditation — circulating the Indestructible Vajra Divine Art, channeling all absorbed soul power solely into widening his meridians, and focusing it into the external spirit bone at his temples — the Small Bull Horn.
Lastly, he would release all the soul power.
Like turning on a faucet while keeping the drain open — the soul power would pass through his body without staying.
This would train his soul power recovery rate, expand his meridians to store more energy, and improve his ability to control multiple things at once — enhancing his mental strength.
Most importantly, as someone born with the Qiu Long Staff Martial Soul, Xiao Lin was naturally talented at using the staff.
The human body is mysterious — by letting his body instinctively use the staff, he'd only deepen his connection with it.
Genius!
Even though Xiao Lin thought his method was a bit rough, it was definitely more useful than Yu Xiaogang's outdated theories.
If this wasn't genius, what was?
Once the training session was over, he'd ask Tang San for a Blue Silver Rebirth Bracelet for a little spa time.
Perfect!
Absolutely perfect!
Just thinking about it made Xiao Lin buzz with excitement!
If he had the right resources, he would've implemented gravity training, a hyperbolic time chamber, or even the One Punch Man training method.
Xiao Lin stood up — now that he had a plan, it was time for action.
Noticing Tang San still trying to teach the dumb bunny Xiao Wu how to hold a horse stance, Xiao Lin shook his head and walked away, afraid that her low IQ might be contagious.
Once far enough from the two, he no longer had to worry about accidentally hurting Tang San while training the Eight Trigram Staff Technique.
Xiao Lin activated the Qiu Long Staff.
Severing the soul power connection, he summoned the staff. Both hands suddenly felt the heavy weight.
This time, Xiao Lin didn't reduce the staff from its standard 2.5-meter length, so it was still manageable.
After burning through about 60% of his soul power, the summoning succeeded.
A bright silver Qiu Long Staff landed in Xiao Lin's grip — weighing around 50 jin (~25 kg).
For a typical six-year-old, that was a heavy object that would be hard to even lift.
But for Xiao Lin, it was still within the bearable range.
Before his soul power ran dry, he could complete two sets of the Eight Trigram Staff Technique. That would serve as his warm-up.
After that, once his soul power depleted and his base stats dropped, the real training would begin.
Luckily, the Qiu Long Staff was designed for dual-handed techniques. Otherwise, he might've had to shorten the staff to make it usable.
Even without the soul power link, the deep bond between Xiao Lin and his staff remained.
After finishing two rounds of the Eight Trigram Staff Technique, he found that his palms didn't chafe or blister from the friction — the staff and his hands were so in sync, it was like they were one.
As his soul power depleted, the training gradually grew more intense.
On the other side, after confirming that Xiao Lin had fully entered his training state, Tang San finally managed to get Xiao Wu to properly hold a horse stance.
Actually, Xiao Wu wasn't dumb — her posture was quite standard.
She just lacked endurance and wanted to give up easily, becoming distracted and unable to meditate properly.
To help her, Tang San drew a spiral symbol on her forehead and told her to focus on it during meditation, helping her concentrate. With that trick, she finally managed to stick it out.
As for holding the stance for long periods — that was still too difficult for her.
Tang San secretly placed a Blue Silver Rebirth Bracelet on her hand to help her endure longer.
Once Xiao Wu got into the right state, Tang San sat down cross-legged, instantly entering a deep meditation state to practice Xuan Tian Art.
At the same time, he connected with the surrounding Blue Silver Grass to help absorb soul power from the environment.
Meanwhile…
Yu Xiaogang, who had just arrived in Soto City, was being led by Flender to Shrek Academy.
Looking at the place — shabbier than even Nuoding Academy — Yu Xiaogang already felt a bit of regret.
Was Flender serious?
This was Shrek Academy?
"Xiaogang, you've finally come around! With your theoretical expertise, our Shrek Academy is sure to reach new heights — maybe even produce another Qin Ming!"
Flender was all smiles, very pleased about Yu Xiaogang's arrival.
Shrek Academy was his lifelong dream — if one day it could become famous across the continent, he could die without regret.
"You're really letting the kids live in these conditions, Flender? Eating plain steamed buns with no meat?"
Yu Xiaogang's expression was dark, not hiding his displeasure at all.
If this was the academy's standard, he didn't think his disciple could beat Tang Hao's son.
That Xiao Lin kid could push people over with a flick. Could any of these students here even survive that?
Faced with Yu Xiaogang's scolding, Flender scratched his neck awkwardly.
"Xiaogang, I didn't want this either. I'm the only one earning money for the whole academy. It's hard, man."
"Hard? Did you even try?"
Yu Xiaogang snapped back, "Forget it. From now on, I'll be in charge of instructing the students. They all need better meals and proper nutrition."
"And the older students — send them into soul fights. You've got a good eye, right? Gamble smart and win more money."
The moment he arrived at Shrek Academy, Yu Xiaogang took over the students' training.
Then he even asked Flender to fire some teachers to save on expenses.
But Flender stopped him there.
Every teacher here was at least a Soul Emperor. Even if they went to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, they'd be treated with respect by Emperor Xue Ye himself.
Because of that request, even Flender started thinking Yu Xiaogang had lost his mind.
(End of Chapter)