“If you are a man, then you must raise your chest high, welcome any and all challenges, and fear nothing!”
Upon hearing these words, smiles appeared on the faces of all the six and seven year olds. All of them forced themselves to remain expressionless. These words were Hillman’s often-repeated mantra, and he repeated these words endlessly to the children.
“All of you, stand straight. Look at your elders to the south, then look at how you are standing!” Hillman censured them.
All of the six year olds immediately tried to adjust their stance to be more stable.
After a while, the six and seven year olds began to wobble. All of the kids felt that their legs were cramping fiercely, but they gritted their teeth. But after holding out for a short period of time, the children began to collapse and sit on the ground, one after the other.
Hillman’s face was cold and callous, but in his heart, he secretly nodded. He was still very satisfied with the performance of these six and seven year olds.
After a short period of time, some of the ten year olds in the middle group also could no longer hold out, and one by one, they began to fall as well.
“Hold out for as long as you can. I won’t force you. But if in the future, you are weaker than your peers, then you’ll have no one to blame than yourselves.” Hillman coldly said.
“Hmm?” Lorry suddenly stared, astonished, at the northern group.
At this point in time, many of the kids in the middle group had fallen down, but in the northern group, a six year old child had held strong.
“This must be Linley’s [Lin’lei] first day at training. Who would’ve thought he’d be so formidable?” Lorry said, amazed. Next time him, Roger and Hillman also noticed. Looking in that direction, they saw that to the north, a single brown haired boy was still holding firm. His lips tightened, the boy stared determinedly in front, both fists tightly clenched so hard that his fists were white.
A look of pleased surprise appeared in Hillman’s eyes.
“Good kid!” Hillman secretly praised. Despite being just six years old, he could maintain the ‘Qi Building Stance’ for as long as the ten year old kids.
Linley, full name Linley Baruch, was the eldest son and heir to the Baruch clan, which ruled over the Wushan town. The Baruch clan was an extremely old clan. Once, it was extremely prosperous, but after thousands of years, it had only three members remaining. The clan leader, Hogg [Huo’ge] Baruch, and his two sons. The elder son was Linley Baruch, six years old. The younger son, Wharton [Wo’dun] Baruch, was just two years old. As for his wife, when she gave birth to the younger son, she died in the midst of childbirth. Linley’s grandfather also was dead, having lost his life in battle.
Linley’s legs were trembling. Although his willpower was strong, his leg muscles were strained to their utmost and were beginning to tremble uncontrollably. He finally collapsed and sat down.
“Linley, how do you feel?” Smiling, Hillman walked towards him.
Linley cracked a smile, revealing his small canines. “I’m fine, Uncle Hillman.” As captain of the Baruch clan’s guardsmen, Hillman had watched Linley grow up. Naturally, the two of them were very close.
“Well done. You acted like a man.” Hillman patted Linley on the head. Immediately, the hair on Linley’s head became tousled like windblown grass.
“Haha.” Linley grinned widely. In his heart, he felt very happy at being praised by Hillman.
After resting for a while, they continued their exercises. The training regime for the six and seven year olds was a lot more relaxed. But for the teenagers, the training regime was terrifyingly strict.
The large group of children, including the six and seven year olds, were lying down with their heads and their feet each on top of a flat rock, relying solely on the strength in their waists to keep straight.
“The waist and the thighs form a triangular region.” Hillman gestured with his hands to show the area he was describing. “This area is a person’s nucleus. Speed and power all come from this triangular nucleus, making this region extremely important.”
As Hillman spoke, he continued to walk about, carefully inspecting the youths to see if their movements were correct.
“Tighten that up! Your waists need to be straight!” Hillman thundered.
Immediately, the waists of many youths straightened. This was Linley’s first day of training. His tiny head and his feet were both flat on the rocks, but by this point in time, Linley could already feel his waist growing tight and hot.
“Hold, gotta hold. I’m the best!” Linley kept encouraging himself. Linley’s body had always been very strong, even as a baby. He had virtually never gotten sick. Given that he also worked very hard, for him to excel was nothing special.
“Thud!” The first child fell down.
However, the stones they were using as a pillow and footrest were only twenty centimeters high, so although the child fell down, it didn’t hurt much. (In the Yulan continent, the gol