Immediately, Li Weigang spoke seriously again:
"However, let's keep things separate. You can use the Martial Artist level gym equipment in the hall for free, I won't charge a penny.
But the private striking lessons definitely come with a fee, no one works for nothing."
He pointed to the side and continued:
"There's a price list of some striking instructors on the wall, and as for myself, it's three thousand for half an hour.
I don't do any of those gimmicks like free lessons with membership or anything like that.
It's a one-time price, for convenience, and you can buy multiple lessons if you want."
Meng Chuan nodded in understanding. Chen Tie had already told him about this, and he had made a big decision to come here.
[Iron Immortal · Li Weigang], one of the few Martial Artist level Hard Skills masters in Yong'an City.
Combining four hard skills, double striking is six thousand each time, not expensive!
Meng Chuan gritted his teeth in frustration. Just the striking and Five Elements Soup, plus the Bone Tempering Blood Formation Ointment and Medicinal Paste, cost him over twenty thousand a day...
"If this continues, I might have to ask my mentor's wife for money..."
Meng Chuan could only pin his hopes on the Supernova tournament, he really didn't want to open his mouth unless he had no choice.
Coming back to his senses, he followed Li Weigang inside.
After passing the reception area, they entered the gym hall, filled with heavy gym equipment suitable for Martial Artists to use.
People in the area were training, measuring up Meng Chuan's new face, without the slightest underestimation, as his muscles were veritably solid.
"Try out the equipment here, how do you find it?"
Li Weigang said to Meng Chuan with a tone of pride.
In the whole of Qindu District, his is the only gym catering to Martial Artist level users!
"Alright."
Meng Chuan casually grabbed a huge dumbbell the size of a grindstone from a custom pressure-resistant rack.
Testing it with one hand, he did a few bicep curls, admittedly quite weighty.
But for someone with four hard skills and enhanced by [Heavy Strike] like he was, it was still too light, he needed at least several times the weight to feel any pressure.
"Not bad, I see your arms, you practice Western Region Hard Qigong, right? I do too."
Li Weigang could instantly tell from the look of Meng Chuan's impressive arms.
With exertion, the muscles were taut, veins entwining the reddish-yellow muscle lines, exuding intense power.
With the completion of Doma Iron Arm, Meng Chuan's arms had already returned to nearly normal skin color.
Only his legs were still lagging behind, looking as if they'd fallen into an ink vat.
Li Weigang then flicked the muscles on Meng Chuan's arm.
With the tapping, ringing sounds like iron and stone clashing were heard.
Surprised, he asked:
"Perfected?"
Li Weigang looked at Meng Chuan, who appeared young, unsuspectingly deep with hidden potential.
"Yes."
Meng Chuan nodded, a sharp pain struck from the flicks just now.
Truly a Martial Arts master, he wondered if he could endure the striking later, it might feel even stronger...
"Who do you buy the Esoteric Ointment from?"
"Foreigner Street, the innermost shop that sells miracle oil."
"Mustache? That guy is a black market dealer who sells everything, I have connections here that are much cheaper than his.
From now on, let me help you with the medicine purchases, just at cost price. You're already paying for striking, so I won't make money off your medicine."
Meng Chuan was pleasantly surprised, not expecting a bonus from coming here for striking.
"Thank you, Master Li."
"Just call me Brother Gang."
...
The two walked through the equipment area into the private striking room.
Diverse specialized support instruments filled the room, giving off a highly professional look at first glance.
Back at Ping'an Middle School, Meng Chuan stood in place like a target.
When striking areas like the calves, he had to let Teacher Chen Tie lie down to hit them, which was inconvenient.
"First, tell me about your situation. What skills do you practice?"
"Doma Iron Arm, Iron Leg two Western Region Hard Skills, Wudang Body Armor, Shaolin Iron Cloth Shirt."
After hearing this, Brother Gang's mouth twitched, as he had also practiced Iron Cloth Shirt to Perfection long ago.
He was now tackling, True Skill level Shaolin Hard Skill [Weituo Mountain Carrying Skill].
"You… practice four skills at once?"
From Wudang to Shaolin was already outrageous, blending East and West further pushed the limits.
Meng Chuan nodded, revealing some of his situation.
As striking would happen eventually, the other party would know sooner or later.
After listening, Li Weigang walked up, a heavy expression, he knocked up and down Meng Chuan from neck to feet.
Moments later, getting up, he nodded slightly, saying:
"Have you found a true mentor?"
Meng Chuan understood Li Weigang's intent. Innate hard skill sacred body, anyone would covet.
"I have, sorry Brother Gang."
"Oh alright, but I can still offer you some discount. Usually, four skills striking for an hour is six thousand, but for you… let's make it four thousand, alright?"
Considering Meng Chuan's hard skill talent, the thought of such talent made him happy, two thousand less wouldn't hurt.
Meng Chuan nodded with delight, having talent was indeed beneficial, it was welcome everywhere.
Li Weigang, one of the rare professional Hard Skill Martial Artists, three thousand for half an hour of striking wasn't expensive, getting such a discount was an unexpected joy.
"Thanks, Brother Gang, I'd like to buy 30 hours of lessons first."
"Alright, you can register and pay at the front desk later. Afterwards, download the Gangzi Club app on your phone.
Once registered, you can pay and schedule class sessions on your own."
"Got it."
Li Weigang took another look at his build, then put on a pair of professional brown suede gloves.
"My hands are too rough from training. A smack could scrape a layer off your skin, so I need to wear gloves.
Come on, throughout Yong'an, there may be martial artists more skilled in body refinement than me, but you can count them on one hand.
Feel it first, see if it's worth the money before you pay."
"Alright, let's do it, Brother Gang."
With Meng Chuan sitting on a specially designed punching stool, he took off his vest.
Li Weigang extended his gloved hand, carefully searching for Meng Chuan's horizontal training acupuncture points, knowing where they were after a brief moment.
"I'm a martial artist, so even if I try to restrain my strength, it will still be considerable. If you can't handle it, speak up."
"Okay, Brother Gang."
"Did you bring your external ointment? I'll help you apply it to your back after the punch session."
"I brought the Bone Tempering Blood Formation Ointment."
Li Weigang nodded:
"Hmm, with your achievement in hard skills, you can indeed use this. But you must absolutely avoid using Strong Muscle and Body Forging Ointments.
The potency of those two is too strong; your acupuncture points can't take it. Only after breaking through the first limit and undergoing a physical transformation can you use them."
Meng Chuan nodded. Master Luo had also reminded him of this principle.
A martial artist pushes their Qi blood to its limit, and during the transition to the martial artist level, they experience their first physical transformation.
The focus then becomes the transformation of the body's acupuncture points.
"Alright, enough talk, let's get started."
He lightly turned Meng Chuan's waist to an angle.
"Get ready, we'll do it as you said, two sets each."
The first slap landed, and Meng Chuan shivered all over; Brother Gang's strength was intense!
"How's that? I practice the Weituo Mountain Carrying—my shoulders and hands are very strong, hahaha."
"I can take it, Brother Gang, keep going!"
"Okay!"
The familiar sound of punches came again, much louder than what he heard at Ping'an Middle School.
Li Weigang's strength, along with his accurate grasp of acupuncture points, was far beyond Chen Tie's.
With the continuous punch session, Meng Chuan gradually felt a strong sensation of soreness all over his body.
Since his four-door hard skills made rapid progress, he hadn't felt this in a long time.
Body armor applies the technique to the whole body, and when Li Weigang punched Meng Chuan's legs, he clicked his tongue in admiration.
"Great kid, your hard skills are solid. I see your iron legs are almost at perfection."
In fact, he only had a few people coming to him for punch sessions daily; it's not that many. He mainly earns money by taking a cut from the club.
Typical advanced martial artists without a solid foundation in hard skills wouldn't dare come for a punch session.
[Doma Iron Leg: Mastery (26%) → (27%) Awaiting Limit Break]
Indeed, it is not far from perfection. While Meng Chuan gritted his teeth to endure, he remembered another reason for coming.
"Brother Gang, I'd like to ask you, is there a relationship between hard skills and the six organs?"
He knew the punch training mainly exercises acupuncture points, and wondered if it affects the six organs internally.
Li Weigang remained silent and focused on the punch session. After finishing with the calves, the first half-hour session was completed.
Only then did he stand up and say:
"There's a relationship, but it's not much. Just like the Wudang Body Armor you practice, it needs internal and external training combined. Internally, you need to cultivate with Purple Qi.
Even hard skills that don't involve internal training have their corresponding breathing methods, because during stimulation, the internal organs interact with respiration.
And the six organs primarily take effect during recovery after punch sessions, digesting nutrients to nourish the body."
Meng Chuan nodded thoughtfully.
In short, it's best to wait until after the hard skill limit break to understand.
After sipping some tea to soothe his throat, Li Weigang continued:
"Let me explain a bit more about the relationship between acupuncture points and punch training."
"Thank you, Brother Gang."
Meng Chuan nodded happily.
"The human body's ears, nose, mouth, and eyes are the external seven orifices, connecting the five organs and six organs. So do you think these seven orifices can be punched?"
Meng Chuan instinctively shook his head.
"Correct. The area we target in punch training is called acupuncture points; point comes before the orifice, and we're mainly working on points, not orifices.
The body has 720 main acupuncture points and 36,000 minor ones. Each point holds unidentified powers within the body.
The third to first-rate hard skills you are cultivating is actually like a downgraded version of true skill level horizontal training.
It's to help martial artist-level hard skill cultivators, before the acupuncture points undergo the first major limit transformation, to use external power as stimulation, to 'prematurely extract' the mysterious force within the points."
Meng Chuan nodded in understanding.
It seems he definitely came to the right place today; these hard skill principles aren't something he could learn from spending a few hundred dollars watching online courses.
"These aspects are now clear. If hard skills break the limit in the future, and they correspond to a place in the body to take charge, it will surely be the acupuncture points, not the six organs."
The second round of punch training began. Energized by the Rainbow Light Body Transformation, Meng Chuan was full of spirit, causing Li Weigang to click his tongue again in wonder.
"I've never seen this trait before. Impressive."
That's just Meng Chuan with four-door hard skills, able to regenerate and recover, enduring through the session.
Meng Chuan thought to himself:
"But Brother Gang didn't give his all; otherwise, with his first major limit, horizontal training of martial artist's strength.
If Iron Man came, he'd lose his paint; if Ultraman came, he'd light up his red light..."