Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 59: Lu-Style Animal Form Fist

“Holy crap, a demon!” Meng Jingzhou shrieked, swinging his arms and ready to strike.

Nobody could blame him for having such a reaction. The backyard was originally supposed to be where Lu Yang was practicing his fist techniques, but he had now vanished, and a tiger had appeared instead. It was easy to assume that the tiger demon had revived and devoured Lu Yang.

The “tiger demon” uttered human words, sounding exactly like Lu Yang, “Demon your grandfather; it’s me!”

“It even has the same voice as Lu Yang!” Meng Jingzhou was horrified.

One human and one tiger leaped into the air. Stupefied by the voice of the “tiger demon,” Meng Jingzhou, he couldn't react in time and was swatted to the ground by Lu Yang’s paw.

Lu Yang snorted coldly. There aren't even traces of a struggle here in the courtyard, so how could I have been eaten by the tiger demon? This brat clearly recognizes me but is deliberately playing dumb.

Meng Jingzhou clicked his tongue. Lu Yang hadn’t really hit him just now. Besides, his skin was coarse and thick enough that it didn't hurt at all.

He stood up and dusted himself off, looking at Lu Yang suspiciously. “What on earth is going on here? Weren't you comprehending Animal Form Fist? Why did you learn the Shapeshifting Technique instead?”

“Hold on a bit, let me figure out how to turn myself back.” The “tiger demon” Lu Yang scratched the back of his head but realized that his paw couldn't reach. He had to sit down then use his hind paw to scratch... Forget it, I won't scratch; it's too detrimental to my image.

Lu Yang bared his teeth. He truly hadn't expected that practicing fists could lead to so many bizarre troubles.

Now that I think about it, only my sword technique is considered normal.

Should I say that I live up to the expectations of a Sword Spirit Root?

Meng Jingzhou scampered up the stairs and called Man Gu to come down.

“What’s the deal? I'm monitoring Qin Yuanhao right now.”

“I have something fun to show you.”

Meng Jingzhou dragged the confused Man Gu to the backyard where they saw the familiar “tiger demon.”

“Demon, give my Brother Lu’s life back!” Man Gu bellowed and charged at Lu Yang without any hesitation. As he still hadn't fully processed what was going on, he didn't hold back.

Seeing how the situation had escalated, Meng Jingzhou quickly hugged Man Gu by the waist, imploring the Barbarian Tribe big guy to calm down. “Don't hit, don't hit him! This is Lu Yang.”

The two tiger-henchman ghosts who were skewering heard the commotion in the backyard. Out of curiosity, they secretly ran over to peek at what was happening, only to be frightened out of their wits.

The tiger demon has really revived this time!

“Tiger demon” Lu Yang rolled his eyes, ignoring this group of people. He instead focused on how to turn himself back. Closing his eyes, he silently recited “Return to normal” thrice.

By the time Lu Yang opened his eyes again, he had already regained his original appearance.

After all that chaos, the trio could finally sit down and ponder over what had happened just now.

The two tiger-henchman ghosts also heaved a sigh of relief and went back to skewering. Tonight’s business will definitely be better than yesterday’s; we have to prepare more skewers.

“So, here’s what happened, I was practicing Animal Form Fist just now...” Lu Yang began to elucidate slowly.

When Man Gu heard Lu Yang mention that he was practicing Animal Form Fist, he felt as if he suffered a traumatic blow to his worldview. He blurted out, “Is this Animal Form Fist or Animal Shapeshifting Fist?”[1]

The sages were right—reading ten thousand books isn’t enough, a thousand li of travel is also necessary. Where would you find something like this in a book? I should stick closer to Brother Lu and Meng Jingzhou in their travels.

I have truly broadened my horizons.

Meng Jingzhou’s reaction was not much better than Man Gu’s. He stared at Lu Yang with an odd expression.

I thought you were practicing a spell, yet you’re telling me that you were practicing fists just now? Who on earth can achieve results like yours from practicing martial arts?

Originally, Meng Jingzhou had already found it weird enough that Lu Yang’s ghost commandment technique ended up with his soul leaving his body. He hadn’t expected that something even more peculiar could have happened.

Lu Yang was confident with his words as he shared his unique insights into Animal Form Fist. “Think about it, isn’t the essence of Animal Form Fist imitating animals? Tiger Fist, Monkey Fist, Crane Fist, and so on, don’t they all mimic tigers, monkeys, and cranes?”

Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu nodded.

Lu Yang pressed on, “Precisely! In that case, the better the imitation, the better the effects and the stronger the power are, am I right?”

Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu nodded.

“I just had a close exchange with the tiger demon, so I’m the most familiar with Tiger Fist. Naturally, I picked it up the fastest and learned it the best, right?”

Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu continued to nod.

Lu Yang continued, “With that in mind, I practiced fists, and as I became engrossed in practicing, I suddenly turned into a tiger. That makes perfect sense, right?”

Meng Jingzhou was just about to nod when he caught himself just in time. “What sense?! They’re poles apart!”

Man Gu still nodded dumbly.

Lu Yang spread his hands in exasperation. I’m the one feeling the most helpless here. I was just practicing according to the manual but with a teeny bit of my own comprehension. “Why don’t you two also give it a try? Who knows if you might learn the Shapeshifting Technique this way?”

Excitement sparkled in Meng Jingzhou’s and Man Gu’s eyes. It would be amazing if we could learn the Shapeshifting Technique through practicing fists. Although it’s said that the Shapeshifting Technique is used by those shady cultivators, learning an extra skill can’t possibly hurt. Who knows if it might come in handy one day?

With Lu Yang, the fist technique master, guiding them, the two quickly picked up Tiger Fist, their moves as mighty as a tiger.[2]

However, they just couldn’t figure out the most pivotal shapeshifting aspect.

While the two practiced, Lu Yang didn’t let himself be idle. As he watched their movements, another idea sprouted in his heart.

Animal Form Fist is a fist technique that imitates, so why do we have to limit ourselves to animals? Why can’t we imitate humans?

This unstoppable idea took off like a wild horse free of its reins.

The prerequisite for Animal Form Fist was to be very familiar with the subject of imitation. Lu Yang’s eyes lit up as he saw the two people occupied with practicing fists.

Aren’t they the best examples? I have already mastered the core tenets of Animal Form Fist. It’s time for innovation.

“Only by weeding out the old and bringing forth the new can there be improvement; to advance, one must innovate!”

Lu Yang acted on his thoughts right away. Closing his eyes once more, he recalled Man Gu’s actions, and his body began to move.

In the midst of his practice, Man Gu noticed Lu Yang’s movements, finding them uncannily familiar, but he just couldn’t place a finger to it.

“Isn’t that...me?” Man Gu was swift to realize, but he didn’t understand what Lu Yang was up to.

The person in question was again immersed in wondrous comprehension. His body changed gradually until he actually turned into Man Gu!

“Haha, I’ve succeeded! I knew my theory was correct.” Lu Yang guffawed with Man Gu’s face, which gave off a very queer and contradictory vibe.

Exclamation marks were shooting out of Man Gu’s head. What just happened? How did he turn into me in the blink of an eye? Why is it different from the Animal Form Fist I know? You can use Animal Form Fist to imitate people too?

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“Brother Man Gu, I didn’t know you could laugh like that... Holy crap, two Man Gus?” Meng Jingzhou was in the middle of practicing when he heard a different kind of laughter. Instinctively finding that something was off, he turned to look.

Dang, one real and one fake Man Gus?!

“Wait, the new Man Gu is actually Lu Yang!”

Meng Jingzhou sized up Lu Yang. He does look like Man Gu in terms of appearance, but the expression and demeanor are way different.

It’s obvious at one glance that Man Gu is a straightforward and honest person. The Lu Yang version of him looks like a bad egg with plenty of nasty tricks in his mind.

He had already given up on learning Animal Form Fist. Even if he had originally wanted to learn it to pick up shapeshifting, seeing Lu Yang like this made him realize that he definitely couldn’t master it.

This already has totally nothing to do with Animal Form Fist.

After Lu Yang mastered the technique, he switched from Man Gu to Meng Jingzhou fairly smoothly.

“This is really the Shapeshifting Technique right?”

“This is Lu-Style Animal Form Fist.” Lu Yang clasped his hands behind his back and gazed up at the sky at an angle of forty-five degrees, looking the part of a fist technique expert.

(Don’t ask why Lu Yang still had his clothes on after turning from a tiger demon back into human form—this is a proper novel.)

1. In the original text, the name of the two techniques differ by only one word. I am using “Animal Shapeshifting Fist” here for the effect, but I will be defaulting to only “shapeshifting” hereafter. ☜

2. The original plays on a Chinese idiom that includes the character “tiger.” ☜