Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 39: Deadly Demonstration

Anji woke up feeling sore from yesterday’s training. She spent the whole afternoon in bed, only getting up to eat dinner. After her second bath and Lizi’s expert massage, she fell asleep again. The morning brought some relief, her muscles aching less than before. However, Zhao Wanting was adamant that Anji should not engage in any physical activities without Doctor He’s approval. Anji could only watch as her mother demonstrated the most basic martial art forms.

"Let’s review the horse stance from yesterday," Zhao Wanting smiled. "The key to a stable footwork is controlling your centre of gravity."

According to her mother, there were six different basic stances that applied to every martial arts routine. They were — horse, bow, cat, empty, cross and single-leg stances.

"Combine these stances with any variation of hand movements. You can create an endless string of movements. The most important thing in Taiji Fist is to maintain your flow of movement. You must be as flexible as water and never trap yourself into a position that blocks your ability to counteract."

Wanting demonstrated the five basic techniques with Lizi as a sparring partner, teaching Anji how to curl her hands into a proper fist.

"Never tuck your thumb inside your fist," she pointed out. "You will break your thumb bone if you punch someone like that. The impact of a punch should come from the flat bones of your fingers between your knuckles and your curled joints. Remember always to keep your wrist bone straight when you throw a punch. Crooked wrists will bend upon impact, and you could end up breaking it."

After correcting her fist-gripping method, Wanting showed Anji the simplest movement of throwing a straight punch. At first glance, it seemed simple. Even Anji could replicate that while sitting on a stool. However, when Lizi reappeared with several bricks, Anji questioned her common sense.

Pow!

In one punch, the brick Lizi held up was shattered into dust in the middle. Anji had to hold onto the table and close her eyes to avoid getting blown backwards by the powerful gust of wind conjured by her elegant mother. Although Zhao Wanting did not use any qi in her punch, her physical condition after many years of tampering and cultivation far surpassed that of soldiers who had been conscripted into the army.

Seeing how her daughter’s jaw hung open as wide as the size of a tangerine, Zhao Wanting chuckled.

"You can do this too, with enough practice," she grinned. "The trick is to gather all your weight into your waist and use it to unleash the force in your punch when you swing. Don’t overthrow it past your shoulder line. Always keep the centre of gravity near your spine. Overextending past your toes will alter the angle of a straight punch, creating an opening your enemy could take advantage of."

Although Anji trusted that her loving mother would never use this destructive force to harm her, a new level of terror and respect grew in her young heart for her gentle mother. Although Anji wanted to believe in Wanting’s words, she knew her body better. No matter how many years she trained, Anji would probably never be able to pulverise a brick with one punch. She silently prayed for the soul of the brave brick’s sacrifice for this deadly demonstration.

Continuing her lesson, Wanting showed Anji how to kick, block and strike.

"Grappling involves throwing and joint locking in most cases," she explained and glanced at Lizi who immediately paled when she understood what she had to do.

"Yes... Madam..." Lizi wanted to cry. The lady’s excitement in teaching was too dangerous. The maid prayed that she wouldn’t be the one visiting Doctor He later.

Introducing some basic locking techniques, Anji cringed as Lizi cried out in pain when her mother showed Anji how to do a basic wrist lock.

If an armed attacker comes at you with a dagger, you can disarm them with this wrist lock," Wanting explained seriously, indicating the key points. "You have to twist the elbow so it cannot be bent forward and lock it in place with the shoulder joint rotated backwards before you trap the wrist backwards. Even if you’re not strong, the opponent will be immobilised in this position. It takes time to get the angles right, but you’d be able to do it easily with more practice."

Nodding vigorously, Anji begged her mother to release Lizi, who had long given up protesting in pain.

"Oops!" the enthusiastic Madam quickly released Lizi. "Are you okay? I got too carried away. Sorry!"

With her soul halfway to heaven, Lizi smiled serenely and shook her head. "It’s alright, Madam. I see my grandmother on the other side of the river calling to me..."

Alarmed, Anji urged Lizi to remain awake while Wanting called for the nearby servants to escort Lizi to the clinic. With such a huge commotion caused by her carelessness, Zhao Wanting concluded the martial arts lesson for the day, much to Anji’s relief.

Although there were accidents and many shocking revelations, Anji learned many things from her mother, who bequeathed an expensive sprain ointment to Lizi. Under Doctor He’s advice, Lizi was to take the rest of the day off. Zhao Wanting apologised to the maid, who might have developed a slight phobia of the Madam. Anji did not blame Lizi. After all, she developed a similar phobia of her own.

"I’ll find one of the inner disciples to be my demonstration partner tomorrow onwards," Wanting apologised. "It’s been a long time since I practised martial arts, so I had no idea how much strength to use."

Laughing it off uneasily, Anji consoled her mother. To ease the worried mother’s mind, He Qiu told her that he would oversee the rest of Anji’s rehabilitation in his clinic with the help of other servants.

Leaving to attend to her work, Wanting kissed Anji goodbye and promised to see her for dinner later.

Once Zhao Wanting left, Anji collapsed bonelessly on the physician’s sickbed.

"I had no idea Mother would be as powerful as a tiger," she trembled at the memory of the powderised brick.

Stroking his beard, He Qiu only hummed. He had no idea if he should tell Anji that her mother was already holding back a lot. For a cultivator of her level, blowing down an entire castle wall with a single punch was nothing. Seeing Lizi and Anji’s traumatised faces, the kind doctor decided to keep that knowledge to himself. Ignorance was bliss.