Suddenly, there was a sharp strike on James Carter's calf.

James Carter couldn't help but let out a muffled groan, quickly focusing his strength on that area, and only then did the pain ease a little.

Crack! Crack!

Richard Grant kept hitting various parts of James Carter's body with a rubber stick. After a short while, James Carter was already covered in bruises, the intense pain almost unbearable, but he still gritted his teeth and persevered.

"Now, start moving," Richard Grant said. "Attack me with the hoe."

"Okay." James Carter used the move for digging and turning soil, launching a fierce attack, swinging the hoe down with all his might.

But Richard Grant's movements were too fast. No matter how hard James Carter tried, he couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes.

And with every attack James Carter made, he was met with another strike from the rubber stick.

Several times, James Carter wanted to stop practicing—it was too hard, too exhausting. He wanted to throw down the hoe and give up, but a kind of perseverance deep in his bones kept him going.

"Stop!" Just as James Carter felt he was about to faint, Richard Grant called a halt. He applied medicated oil to all the places where James Carter had been struck, then began to massage him.

The massage felt like being cut with a knife, a pain that was almost unbearable.

However, after half an hour of Richard Grant's massage, many of the bruises on his body faded.

"Wherever my hand massages, you should focus your strength there to reduce your pain. This is the secret to hardening training. The so-called 'using qi to resist blows' is actually very simple: it's just using your mind to tense a certain part of your body," Richard Grant said. "You must always pay attention—whenever anything touches a part of your body, that part should tense up immediately. At the slightest movement, you should react at once. This is what the old martial arts manuals meant by 'not even a feather can be added, not even a fly can land,' also called 'respond to every touch.' I'm hitting you to train you to develop this sense, and also to increase your body's sensitivity and resistance to blows. The places I hit are all areas with sensitive neurons. Remember, when practicing with others, you must never train like this, because others don't know how to control their strength and could easily injure you. Only I, as a world-class top-level fighting coach, can control this level of force."

Richard Grant's striking method was also very scientific, seemingly enhancing some kind of circulation function in the body.

"Alright, now let's have breakfast."

Richard Grant took James Carter to the kitchen, where there was hot, freshly kept porridge, buns, milk, eggs, several plates of fruit, jam, fish, and more—a very hearty meal.

James Carter was already extremely hungry, feeling as if he could eat a whole cow.

Still, he chewed slowly and carefully.

After eating, he massaged many acupoints on his stomach according to Richard Grant's digestion method, swallowed his saliva, and half an hour later, he was full of energy again.

"Now let's start strength and body training," Richard Grant said. "Heel raises, planks, jump rope, push-ups, crunches, leg kicks, stretching the ligaments..."

As soon as James Carter heard this, he knew it was another round of brutal training—this was martial training.

In the morning, joint exercises were the 'soft' training, then Richard Grant used the rubber stick for full-body striking, which was the 'hardening' training. Next came martial training, focusing on explosive power and body strength.

All morning, from three o'clock until six, James Carter trained nonstop, only then rushing back to school, just in time for William Clark's training.

Chapter 8: Rising Like Carrying a Load, Bouncing and Stretching Like a Dragon

"James Carter, where did you go this morning? You were up even earlier than me," Scott Miller asked, a bit puzzled.

"I went for a run," James Carter replied—not intentionally lying, but because Richard Grant didn't allow him to say.

"Today is the ninth day." William Clark gathered many people on the sports field and began his speech: "You all came here to learn traditional martial arts. I had you dig for seven days—you may have thought it was useless, but in the future, you'll understand that this is the foundation of all kung fu. Today, I'll teach you another kind of real kung fu!"

As he spoke, he pointed to a corner of the field, where there were many baskets and several carrying poles.

The baskets were full, packed with rice, grain, oil, and salt—very heavy. Each basket weighed about sixty or seventy jin.

"These things are for the school to give to elderly people in need in the countryside," William Clark said, pointing to the grain, oil, and salt in the baskets. "Now, each of you will carry a load and follow me to the countryside. But carrying a load is a skill—it’s not all about strength."

As he spoke, William Clark walked over to the two heaviest baskets, set the pole across them, ducked under the pole, and with a bounce of his waist, the pole and baskets creaked as he lifted them steadily.

"That duck, that lift, that straightening up—there's a knack to it. It's a bit like the force used with a hoe, but the upward force is much greater, like a blade of grass breaking through the earth and toppling a huge stone." Watching William Clark's movements, James Carter was amazed. His understanding of martial arts was gradually deepening, so he could see that this act of carrying a load contained profound martial arts techniques.

If an ordinary person tried to carry a load like that, they'd probably throw out their back immediately.