Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Lunging Thrust with Sword
Early next morning, Chen Shouyi opened his eyes and stared blankly for dozens of seconds before he finally recalled yesterday’s strange encounter.
Though he was fully awake, after a night’s rest, everything felt like a dream, and he experienced a strong sense of unreality.
He cautiously tested, calling out to the "Book of Knowledge."
It wasn’t until the illusory attribute panel flashed in his mind that he completely breathed a sigh of relief.
"This is real, not a dream. I am truly different now!"
Silently chanting a few phrases, his chest seed to be filled with overflowing power, and his entire body was charged with boundless energy.
At this mont, he noticed the energy on the panel had increased. After optimization yesterday, only 0.2 points of energy were left, and just after one night’s sleep, it increased to 0.24.
Perhaps in a few days, he could optimize again.
He reached out for the phone on his bedside table and checked the ti; it was only five-thirty.
At this ti, previously, he would have continued to sleep for a little longer, until enduring until six-thirty when his mom would wake him up, and he would rise reluctantly and groggily.
But at this mont, he was completely awake.
He quickly sat up in bed.
"Ah!"
In the next mont, he felt sore muscles all over his body, but this soreness brought a smile to his face.
As a rule, soone like him, who practiced the Thirty-six Body Conditioning Forms several tis almost every night, rarely experienced excessive lactic acid secretion. The only reason for this condition was that the practice involved many muscles that had never been exercised before.
This was undoubtedly a good thing, indicating that the optimized Body Conditioning Thirty-six could more thoroughly exercise the body’s muscles than the standard version.
He gritted his teeth and endured the soreness, walked into the bathroom, and took a shower.
After showering, while brushing his teeth, Chen Xingyue walked in wearing pajamas; her eyes half-squinted, and she looked drowsily towards the toilet, ready to undress to use the bathroom.
Seeing this, Chen Shouyi quickly coughed.
Chen Xingyue instantly opened her eyes, looked at Chen Shouyi, her gaze sharp with a subtle presence, until she realized it was her brother, and then instantly returned to her original expression, exclaiming, "Brother, you’re so annoying, you scared !"
Chen Shouyi was actually scared by her, his heartbeat still pounding under such formidable presence, he felt like a harmless little white rabbit before her, as if he could be crushed at any mont.
Fortunately, she was just his sister, giving Chen Shouyi enough psychological advantage to quickly collect himself and retort, "You bla
for this; couldn’t you check before entering the toilet?"
"Who told you to be so lively today, waking up so early. And really, you’re just in your underwear in front of your own sister and don’t feel ashad?"
Chen Shouyi subconsciously glanced at his underwear, his chest tightened, feeling montarily speechless.
His sharp-tongued sister, who seed more obedient and cute yesterday, just one day later revealed her true colors.
Ultimately, the tongue-tied Chen Shouyi could only respond with a cold huff, quickly finished brushing his teeth, snorted, and returned to his room.
...
"Dad! Mom! I’m off to school."
While grabbing the morning buns Mrs. Chen bought, stuffing them into his mouth, he pushed his bicycle and headed out.
"Be careful on the road!"
"Got it!"
After devouring the four at buns, he still felt hungry, thus had to buy five more midway from a snack shop to finally feel full.
...
Sun Xin entered the classroom, already complaining, "You weren’t here yesterday, really pissed
off. I finally reached the gold rank, but got matched with grade schoolers, now I’m dropped back to silver."
Chen Shouyi kept reciting English, casually saying, "What’s there to be mad about, it’s just a ga, just climb back up again."
Mrs. Chen was strict; he seldom played gas, nor had the conditions to do so, like his family didn’t even have a computer, and even his phone was an old model discarded by his parents, only capable of browsing the internet and making calls, to prevent him from going astray.
"You have no common ground with you," Sun Xin said frustratedly, at that mont discovering sothing "Huh, today why so diligent, got stimulated."
Compared to him usually, Chen Shouyi although diligent, wouldn’t go to such lengths, conversing with him yet multitasking, reciting English words.
"Now it’s senior year, if I am not diligent, it’ll be too late!" Chen Shouyi replied without turning his head, he was filled with energy, and he was motivated.
Whether passing the Martial Artist Apprentice examination or getting into college, he had to achieve at least one goal.
Sun Xin chuckled, put down his backpack, unconcerned.
He had heard such words from Chen Shouyi plenty of tis, each lasting only three minutes of enthusiasm, before reverting soon enough.
...
Afternoon, at Dongning No. 5 High School’s basketball gym.
Dozens of rubber human figures were neatly lined up in two rows.
One by one, boys and girls in school uniforms, holding wooden swords, continually executing thrusts against the human figures.
The sound of "pop pop" was constant.
A robust middle-aged man in sports attire walked amongst the crowd, occasionally correcting the actions.
The cold weapon examination for Martial Artist Apprentices required archery as a must, while the choice of short-range weapons wasn’t confined to swords; any weapon like a knife, sword, spear, or even a dagger could be used, but swords were predominant, and coupled with their class’s PE teacher being skilled in swordsmanship, their Martial Arts Class cold weapon training exclusively taught swordsmanship.
Chen Shouyi seriously executed thrust after thrust, leaving the human figures swaying precariously.
The models’ upper body was structured like a human, yet with no feet, standing on a semi-spherical base filled with several tens of kilograms of tal, resembling a roly-poly toy, impossible to topple regardless of force.
"Every standard lunge thrust represents the synergy of all body muscles."
"Don’t use brute force for lunge thrusts; it’s not about being bigger or better. Truly experience your power output, see if your muscles synchronize, and find the rhythm of muscle synchronization."
"From the pressing of the left foot on the ground, up the legs and buttocks, to the waist, to the chest, then the arms and fingers, see if every muscle is exerting force, and if every joint is involved in power output."
"The human body is full of levers, how to use the least force to leverage the greatest power, amplifying force layer by layer from the base to ultimately burst through to the sword tip!"
"If everyone’s ’quiet ditation, refining oneself’ has reached a certain level, achieving this step will be relatively easier, if not, incessant practice is the only way."
The PE teacher’s discussion on thrusting requirents was often repeated, Chen Shouyi could already recite them fluently.
In the internet age, knowledge was inexpensive; with a slight motion of your finger, you could gather a heap of teaching materials, videos, and texts.
But knowing versus achieving were worlds apart, and nearly impossible, the majority including himself couldn’t perfect the lunge thrust, the most fundantal swordsmanship move.
Entry into swordsmanship proved extrely difficult, nurous individuals with qualified physical conditions were ultimately barred at this juncture.
As for "quiet ditation, refining oneself," that was even more challenging, Chen Shouyi struggled even with achieving re quiet ditation, let alone sensing "refining" the body amid a chaotic mindset.
Yet compared to others’ relatively smooth movents, Chen Shouyi’s muscles seed so rigid it was pitiable.
Nonetheless, he continued to seriously execute thrusts, earnestly feeling the body’s exertion, striving to align his moves closer to the standard.
Luckily, he found solace in Sun Xin’s even clumsier attempts nearby, and Zhao Yifeng at the front.
A class quickly concluded.
The trio gathered once more to return to the classroom.
"I’m exhausted! This Martial Arts Class is incredibly boring, I’d rather be in lecture." Zhao Yifeng panted complaining, his plump face glistening with sweat.
"You should lose weight," Chen Shouyi glanced, unable to resist saying, "Girls don’t seem to like overweight guys."
"Speaking as if you have soone who likes you," Zhao Yifeng retorted.
Chen Shouyi: ...
Chen Shouyi remained inconspicuous in this class, like a transparent figure, except for endless chatter with his two endearing friends, he was often quiet and reserved, sotis even blushing when girls greeted him.
"What do you think a woman tastes like." Nearby, Sun Xin curiously chid in.
"That’s easy, just spend so money." Zhao Yifeng replied sleazily, "I know a decent place, quite safe. Want to go together one day?"
"I’ll pass, I’m not going to such places," Chen Shouyi quickly declined in fear.
He absolutely dared not go, the thought of such places leading him to envision sexually transmitted diseases, then police, and then disappointnt from parents along with disdain and ridicule from his sister.
Particularly at the end, imagining that scene made him couldn’t help but shiver.
Perhaps, the end of the world would be much like this.
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