"Wow, a monster!" Meng Jingzhou shouted, swinging his arm as if to strike.
It was no surprise he reacted this way. The backyard was supposed to be where Lu Yang practiced his martial arts, and now that Lu Yang was missing and a tiger had appeared, it was easy to think that a tiger demon had come back to life and eaten Lu Yang or something.
The tiger demon spoke in a voice just like Lu Yang's: "You old monster, it's me!"
"How can it sound just like Lu Yang?!" Meng Jingzhou was shocked.
As the man and the tiger rose into the air, Meng Jingzhou was caught off guard by the tiger demon's voice and didn't react in time, getting knocked to the ground by Lu Yang's paw.
Lu Yang snorted coldly. There were no signs of a struggle in the yard, so how could the tiger demon have eaten him? Meng Jingzhou was clearly pretending to be clueless.
Meng Jingzhou clicked his tongue. Lu Yang hadn't really hit him, and for someone as tough as him, it didn't hurt at all.
He got up, brushed off the dirt from his clothes, and looked at Lu Yang with suspicion. "What's going on? Weren't you practicing the Shape-Form Fist? Why are you learning transformation techniques now?"
"Wait a minute, let me figure out how to change back," the tiger demon Lu Yang said, feeling frustrated. He wanted to scratch his head but realized his front paws couldn't reach it, so he thought better of it—didn't want to ruin his image.
The tiger demon Lu Yang bared his teeth, surprised that practicing martial arts could lead to such strange situations.
Looking back, his sword techniques were the only thing that seemed normal.
Should he say it's because of his sword spirit root?
Meng Jingzhou dashed upstairs to call Man Gu down.
"What’s going on? I’m watching Qin Yuanhao."
"There's something fun for you to see."
Man Gu was confused as he was pulled to the backyard, where he saw the familiar tiger demon.
"Monster, give me back Lu Brother's life!" Man Gu shouted and charged in to attack. He hadn't realized this was a real fight.
Seeing this, Meng Jingzhou quickly hugged Man Gu's waist, urging him to calm down. "Don't hit, don't hit, this is Lu Yang."
Two wandering spirits, who were busy stringing skewers in the hall, heard the commotion in the backyard and curiously snuck over to check it out, only to be scared out of their wits.
The tiger demon really had come back to life!
Tiger demon Lu Yang rolled his eyes, not wanting to deal with these guys and focused on figuring out how to return to his original form.
He closed his eyes and silently repeated the phrase to restore his original state three times.
When Lu Yang opened his eyes again, he had returned to his human form.
After all the fuss, the three of them could finally sit down and think about what had just happened, while the two wandering spirits let out a sigh of relief and continued their work.
Tonight's business was definitely going to be better than last night's, so they needed to make more skewers.
"So, I was practicing the Shape-Form Fist just now..." Lu Yang began to explain.
When Man Gu heard Lu Yang say he was practicing the Shape-Form Fist, he felt his worldview had been shaken. He blurted out, "Is that the Shape-Form Fist or the Transformation Technique?"
The sage was right; reading thousands of books is not enough without traveling thousands of miles. Such things aren't written in books; you really need to follow brothers Lu and Meng around more to learn.
He had seen the world.
Meng Jingzhou's reaction wasn't much better than Man Gu's; he looked at Lu Yang with a strange expression.
He thought Lu Yang was practicing some kind of spell, but now he was telling him he was just punching?
Who could practice martial arts and achieve such results?
Meng Jingzhou had already thought it was strange when Lu Yang had practiced the Ghost-Driving Technique and developed his Yang Spirit. He never expected there was something even stranger.
Lu Yang confidently explained his unique insights about the Shape-Form Fist: "Think about it, the essence of the Shape-Form Fist is just mimicking animals, right? Tiger Fist, Monkey Fist, Crane Fist, they all imitate tigers, monkeys, and cranes, right?"
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu nodded.
Lu Yang continued, "Exactly! The more closely you mimic, the better the effect and the greater the power, right?"
They nodded again.
"I just encountered the tiger demon, so I'm most familiar with Tiger Fist. It's the easiest for me to learn, right?"
They nodded once more.
Lu Yang added, "I was just thinking like that while practicing, and before I knew it, I turned into a tiger. Makes sense, right?"
Meng Jingzhou almost nodded but suddenly stopped himself. "That's ridiculous! The gap is way too big!"
Man Gu was still nodding foolishly.
Lu Yang spread his hands. He was the most helpless one here; he had been practicing according to the manual, just adding a little of his own understanding. "Why don't you guys try it? Maybe you can learn the Transformation Technique this way?"
Excitement lit up in Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu's eyes. Learning the Transformation Technique through practicing martial arts would be the best outcome.
Even if the Transformation Technique was usually used by sneaky cultivators, learning an extra skill wouldn't hurt. Who knows when it might come in handy?
With Lu Yang, the master of martial arts, guiding them, the two quickly learned Tiger Fist, striking with great vigor.
However, they couldn't seem to learn the transformation part no matter what.
As they practiced, Lu Yang didn't sit idle. Watching their movements sparked another idea in his mind.
The Shape-Form Fist is about imitation, so why limit it to animals? Why not imitate people?
This idea was like a wild horse that couldn't be reined in.
For the Shape-Form Fist to work, you need to be very familiar with the thing you're imitating.
Seeing the two of them focused on their practice, Lu Yang's eyes lit up. They were the perfect examples!
He had grasped the core essence of the Shape-Form Fist, and it was time to innovate.
"To make progress, one must push forward with new ideas!"
Lu Yang decided to go for it.
He closed his eyes again, recalling Man Gu's movements, and his body started to move.
Man Gu, who was practicing, saw Lu Yang's every move and felt it looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it.
"Isn’t that me?" Man Gu quickly realized, confused about what Lu Yang was doing.
Lu Yang immersed himself in the profound understanding, and his body gradually changed, actually transforming into Man Gu's appearance!
"Ha ha, I did it! I knew my guess was right!" Lu Yang laughed, wearing Man Gu's face, which felt very strange.
Man Gu: "!!!"
What just happened? In the blink of an eye, he turned into himself?
How was this different from his impression of the Shape-Form Fist? Can it really imitate people?
"Man Gu, you even laugh like this... wait, what? Is this the real or fake Man Gu?" Meng Jingzhou, who was practicing, heard the different laughter and instinctively felt something was off. He turned around and saw two Man Gus.
"Wait, the new Man Gu is actually Lu Yang in disguise!"
Meng Jingzhou looked Lu Yang up and down. He did look like Man Gu, but his expressions and demeanor were completely different.
Man Gu looked like a simple and honest person, while Lu Yang's version of Man Gu looked like someone full of tricks.
He had already given up on learning the Shape-Form Fist. If he had thought about learning to transform before, now that he saw Lu Yang like this, he knew he definitely couldn't do it.
This had completely strayed from the Shape-Form Fist.
After mastering the technique, Lu Yang smoothly switched from Man Gu to Meng Jingzhou.
"This is definitely the Transformation Technique, right?"
"This is the Lu Family Shape-Form Fist."
Lu Yang stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, exuding the aura of a martial arts master.
(Don't ask why Lu Yang changed from a tiger demon back to human form with clothes on; this is a serious novel.)
(End of chapter)