Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Entering Stillness to Refine the Body

“You spendthrift! Of all places to stab, you stab the wall. Do you know how much money it costs to renovate?” A moment later, Mrs. Chen’s slightly sharp voice rang out in the dining room.

“Mom, what did my brother do again?”

Just then, Chen Xingyue also returned.

As soon as she spoke, Chen Shouyi’s face turned black with anger. What do you mean, what did I do again?

Although I was indeed a bit careless this time, who would have thought I could actually pierce the wall?

“Look at what your brother did.” Mrs. Chen indicated angrily.

At that moment, the wooden chopstick was still embedded in the wall, Chen Xingyue took a closer look and exclaimed in surprise, “My brother did this?”

“Who else could it be? He said he was demonstrating a forward lunge thrust, but his head wasn’t clear, and he stabbed right into the wall.”

Chen Xingyue was puzzled yet a bit shocked. As they say, outsiders watch the fun, insiders see the expertise. There are plenty of such demonstrations on TV shows, it seems like any martial artist can do it.

But those who can perform aren’t just ordinary people.

They don’t know how difficult it truly is to pierce a wall with tiles using a wooden chopstick. It’s not just about strength and speed.

The angle must be perfectly perpendicular to the wall. Even a slight deviation would cause the chopstick to break immediately. Even for her, a prospective martial artist apprentice, it’s difficult to succeed one out of ten times.

But how could her brother, who has no martial arts talent, manage to do this?

In fact, even Chen Shouyi himself didn’t know. The middle-aged martial arts teacher in the memory space from whom he absorbed swordsmanship experience, although only a martial arts apprentice and might never become a martial artist, seemed incomparable to someone like Chen Xingyue with a promising future in martial arts.

However, this martial arts apprentice, through over a decade of repeated daily practice, wasn’t something ordinary. Especially since he only taught the forward lunge thrust in swordsmanship classes, this move alone had been practiced countless thousands of times, far beyond what a young prospective martial artist like Chen Xingyue could compare to.

“Alright, alright! But since it’s damaged, I’ll call someone to replace the tile tomorrow morning,” Chen Dawei said jovially. Compared to this little bit of money, he was more pleased with his son’s change.

“This time I’m making the decision. If you want to attend the martial arts tutoring class, you can; tell us how much money you need, and your mom will transfer it to you.”

The financial control of the household lay with Mrs. Chen, and his pockets were even emptier than Chen Shouyi’s.

“You’re acting generous with my money,” Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes at him but didn’t argue further.

Although Mrs. Chen didn’t verbally agree, Chen Shouyi understood and quickly said, “I want to enroll in an advanced swordsmanship class, which includes twenty sessions for about six to seven thousand!”

The family wasn’t wealthy, but they were at least comfortable.

Their family-owned shop didn’t require rent, and the yearly income was around two hundred thousand, plus private lending interests, which was no small figure, making their finances rather manageable.

“I’ll transfer seven thousand to you then, but you won’t have any living expenses this month,” Mrs. Chen snorted coldly.

Chen Xingyue, standing beside them, unusually stayed silent, her big eyes blinking as she watched Chen Shouyi, her thoughts unknown.

…

During dinner, Chen Shouyi secretly opened the attribute panel and was pleasantly surprised to find that his energy accumulation had finally surpassed one. He quickly finished eating and was eager to return to his bedroom. However, as soon as he opened the door, he was intercepted by Chen Xingyue.

“Brother, when did you learn the forward lunge thrust?” Chen Xingyue asked with a voice as sweet as honey.

“A few days ago, why?” Chen Shouyi replied impatiently, “Anything else? I need to do my homework. Unlike you, I’ve not received a direct entry, so I have to work hard.”

“Oh! It’s nothing, I’m just curious.”

“Then I’ll head back to my room.” As soon as Chen Shouyi finished speaking, he closed the door.

Chen Xingyue stared at the door that had just been shut, biting her lip secretly. “A few days ago? Who are you kidding!”

…

When Chen Shouyi felt that Chen Xingyue had left, he immediately locked the door.

His heart was pounding as he hurriedly summoned the Book of Knowledge.

Name: Chen Shouyi

Attributes

Strength: 10.5

Agility: 10.5

Constitution: 10.4

Intelligence: 10.3

Perception: 10.3

Willpower: 11.0

Knowledge: Chinese (Mastery 6); Physics (Proficient 12); Chemistry (Proficient 11); Biology (Proficient 10); Mathematics (Proficient 9); English (Proficient 6); Computer Science (Beginner 6); Cooking (Beginner 5); Body Refinement Thirty-Six Forms (Proficient 2); Meditation Training (Not Started); Swordsmanship (Beginner 8); Archery (Not Started)

Energy Accumulation: 1.05

In the past few days, not only have his physical attributes increased significantly, but even his knowledge and skills have improved, such as his English, which has improved by one point.

But the greatest progress is still in Martial Arts.

His Body Refinement Thirty-Six Forms advanced from (Beginner 5) to (Proficient 2), and at the same time, Swordsmanship moved from not started to beginner (8). This is only the result of mastering one Sword Form, if discussing Spear Foot Thrust in the sword techniques, the level is at least proficient or above.

He looked at the attribute panel, hesitating a bit, planning the next optimization of knowledge skills, excluding learning knowledge classes right away—it’s still far from his college entrance exam, even optimizing one to two months prior would not be too late.

Moreover, in his heart, he is still more passionate about Martial Arts.

Next, he also excluded Swordsmanship.

He only mastered the Spear Foot Thrust in Swordsmanship, optimizing it is not cost-effective, and he can quickly learn it through Memory Space, unless he reaches a level impossible to advance, only then he would spend energy points for optimization.

As for Archery, which is not even started, naturally it doesn’t need consideration.

Chen Shouyi felt his physical attributes were far from the Martial Artist Apprentice standard, decided to continue optimizing the Body Refinement Thirty-Six Forms.

“Optimizing the Body Refinement Thirty-Six Forms again, already so powerful, optimizing it once more, wouldn’t the effect be even better.”

Sharpening the axe will not delay the work of chopping wood, only when the physical quality meets the standards, can other considerations be made, otherwise, practicing other areas more won’t be useful.

Just as he was ready to optimize, he was informed by feedback from the Book of Knowledge that the energy wasn’t sufficient.

“The second optimization would consume more energy?”

Chen Shouyi was stunned, hesitating a bit in his heart.

“Should I wait for the Book of Knowledge to accumulate enough energy, or optimize the Meditation Training?”

For the former, the time is unknown, while the latter would show an immediate effect, Chen Shouyi didn’t consider much before deciding on the latter.

He couldn’t afford to waste this time, rather than wait, he opted for what he could get immediately.

Furthermore, Meditation Training is also extremely important, it helps in easier body control, controlling the usage of every bit of muscle force in the body.

Swordsmanship is extremely difficult for many to start, and extremely difficult to improve after starting.

The main reason is the inability to finely control the muscles of the body, but for someone who has initially completed “Meditation Training—Body Refinement”, it would be effortless, with virtually no difficulty.

Simultaneously, it’s also one of the important marks of a Martial Artist.

If through diligent practice and a good understanding ability one can become a Martial Artist Apprentice, then to become a Martial Artist, one must use the Meditation Training to refine all muscles in the body.

Without hesitation, Chen Shouyi immediately selected “Meditation Training”, choosing optimization.

In the next moment, the familiar dream appeared again, in the dream he sat cross-legged, practicing meditation over and over again, from the initial restless state, with floating thoughts, to gradually becoming calm and serene.

With countless repetitions and attempts, his mind became increasingly calm, subconsciously neither thinking nor thinking, as if falling into a realm of complete silence.

Everything external interference was completely blocked, only the sound of the human body activities was magnified intensely.

Breathing was long and distant, heartbeats were like resonant drumbeats, the stomach stirred like rinsing water, he could even vaguely hear the flow of blood in the vessels.

But in the dream, his mind remained a bit clear, he focused his senses, blocking all sounds, concentrating awareness on the body’s extremities.

He first sensed from the toes, at first the presence of the toes was very vague, he could easily feel them, but without specific shape, resembling chaos.

The reason being at this time, his thinking was near to a halt, leaving only the subconscious mind, imagination as well as memories being isolated.

Here and now, he seemed to be stuck, practicing repeatedly.

In the dream, his thoughts grew quieter, gradually sinking into the deepest meditation, and suddenly a change occurred.

Sensing that somewhere, matter seemed to be born from the dark void, numerous interwoven grey lines appeared, these lines divided into several intertwining strands, resembling the complex texture of muscles, beautiful and quite awe-inspiring.

As if it was a signal, the lines soon slowly began to spread around, the shape of a complete toe was gradually being constructed. Soon it was the whole foot, then the legs, followed by the entire complete body.

Gradually, changes in light and shade appeared between the lines, dull lines became rich and three-dimensional, as if transforming from a two-dimensional illustration to three-dimensional.

Simultaneously, more and more details began to manifest, Chen Shouyi saw small blood vessels between muscles, watched various nerve endings, and the lymphatic tissues.

At the end of the dream, the sensing range started to spread across the whole body, he saw the heart and lungs, saw the bones and spine…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep