Dawn of a New Era - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Entering Meditation to Train The Body

Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
“You wastrel. You could have pierced anywhere else, yet you chose to pierce the wall. Do you know how much it would cost to refurbish it?” After the sound rang out. Mother Chen’s sharp voice rose shrilly.

“Mother, what has elder brother done again?”

At this moment, Chen Xingyue also returned.

The moment she spoke, it caused Chen Shouyi to be so angry that his expression turned black. What did she mean by ‘what has elder brother done again?’”

Although he was really careless this time, who could have thought that his strike would really penetrate the wall.

“Look at the ‘excellent’ thing your bro did,” Mother Chen snorted furiously.

At this moment, the wooden chopstick hadn’t been pulled out yet, still stuck in the wall. Chen Xingyue stared at it closely and exclaimed in shock, “This is something elder brother did?”

“Other than him, who else could it be? He said he wanted to perform the Bow Stance Pierce. After that, his brain must have short-circuited, and he directly pierced the chopstick into our wall.”

Chen Xingyue was filled with shock and puzzlement. As the saying went ‘an expert knows the rope while a layman can only see the drama’. Such a performance had been seen too many times in television programs, and it seemed that those who practice martial arts would surely be able to replicate the feat.

But those who performed on television, how could they be ordinary people?

They completely had no idea how great the difficulty was for a wooden chopstick to penetrate a ceramic wall. This wasn’t something solely strength and speed could accomplish.

The angle of the chopstick had to be absolutely perpendicular to the wall. If there was the slightest deviation, the chopstick would instantly break. Even for her, a student of the martial path, she might not be able to do this a single time out of ten.

But how had her elder brother who was talentless in the martial path accomplished it?

In truth, even Chen Shouyi himself wasn’t clear. In the memory space, he had absorbed the experience from the middle-aged martial teacher. The teacher was only a martial apprentice in terms of strength and might not be able to improve any further in his entire life. Although it seemed like the teacher couldn’t be compared to people like Chen Xingyue who had a bright future in the martial path, he had trained repeatedly day after day for over ten years. How could he be ordinary? This was especially so given the teacher’s job. He solely taught the sword technique Bow Stance Pierce in the school. For this stance alone, he was extremely skilled. It was unknown how many tens of thousands of times he had practiced it. Naturally, it wasn’t something a young and tender martial apprentice like Chen Xingyue could compare to.

“Alright alright. It is merely a hole in the wall. Early the next morning, I will call someone to change the ceramic tile that was penetrated.” Chen Dawei laughed. Compared to spending some money, he was more happy about the change in his son.

“This time, I will make the decision. If you wish to register and attend the martial tuition class, just go ahead. Let me know how much money you need, at that time, your mother will transfer the money to you.”

The financial authority of the family lay in the hands of Mother Chen. Chen Dawei’s pocket was even cleaner than Chen Shouyi’s.

“How generous, after all, you are spending my money.” Mother Chen rolled her eyes, but she didn’t refuse.

Although Mother Chen didn’t say that she agreed to it, how could Chen Shouyi not understand what she was thinking now? He hurriedly spoke, “I wish to register for a high-grade sword technique class. There will be twenty lessons per period, and it costs roughly $6,000 to $7,000.”

His family couldn’t be considered rich. But at the very least, they could be considered moderately well to do.

Their store was completely owned by them, and there was no need for them to pay rent. Their yearly income was about $200,000. That, in addition to personal loan’s interest, that was quite a huge number. Therefore, they were considered quite comfortable in terms of financial position.

“I’ll transfer $7,000 to you at that time. But your allowance for this month will be deducted completely,” Mother Chen coldly snorted.

Chen Xingyue strangely remained silent. Her eyes glittered as she looked at Chen Shouyi, it was unknown what she was thinking.

…

As he was eating dinner, Chen Shouyi secretly opened up his attributes panel. To his joy, he discovered that his Accumulated Energy had finally broken past the 1.0 mark. He quickly finished his meal and was preparing to rush back to his room with some impatience. But just as he opened his room’s door, he was stopped by his younger sister.

“Elder brother, when did you learn the Bow Stance Pierce?” Chen Xingyue asked, her voice was so sweet that it sounded a little sickening.

“A few days ago, what about it?” Chen Shouyi spoke with some impatience. “Do you have anything else you need to talk about? I need to do my homework now. I’m not like you who has gotten a recommendation. I still need to work hard.”

“Oh! Nothing, I asked merely because I’m curious.”

“I’ll head back to my room first.” As he finished speaking, he closed his door straightaway.

Chen Xingyue glanced at the closed door as she silently gritted her teeth. “A few days ago? Who do you think you are lying to!”

…

After he felt his younger sister leaving, he immediately locked his 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 Language (Mastery: 6); Physics (Proficient: 12); Chemistry (Proficient: 11); Biology (Proficient: 10); Mathematics (Proficient: 9); English (Proficient: 6); Computing (Elementary: 6); Culinary (Elementary: 5); Thirty-six stances of Body Training (Proficient: 2); Entering Meditation (Ungraded); Sword Techniques (Elementary: 8); Archery (Ungraded)

Energy accumulation: 1.05

=====

During these few days, not only were his attributes evidently increasing, but even his knowledge and skills were rising. For example, his proficiency in English had also improved by a little.

However, the greatest improvement was still his martial dao.

His Thirty-six Stances of Body Training rose from (Elementary: 5) to (Proficient: 2). At the same time, his sword techniques rose from (ungraded) to (Elementary: 8). And all these were due to him mastering a single sword stance. If he was graded on the Bow Stance Pierce alone, his grading would be proficient at the very least.

He glanced at the attributes panel and felt some hesitation. Next, he was preparing to optimize his knowledge and skills. For things like literature knowledge, he directly eliminated that. It was still far from the college entrance examination, and it wouldn’t be considered late if he were to optimize them a month or two later.

Moreover, his heart was originally more passionate about martial dao.

Next, the idea of optimizing his sword techniques was also eliminated by him.

Right now, he had only learned a single Bow Stance Pierce for sword techniques, and the value of optimizing it wasn’t high. In addition, he could learn it quickly from his memory space. He wouldn’t optimize it unless he had reached the point where he couldn’t improve any further.

And as for archery, it was still ungraded. There was naturally no need to consider this.

Chen Shouyi felt that his body attributes were already not far off from the standard of a martial apprentice. Hence, he decided to continue optimizing the Thirty-six Stances of Body Training.

“The thirty-six stances became so powerful after optimizing them once. I wonder if the effect would be even better if I optimized them a second time.”

Grinding a chopper wouldn’t delay the chopping of firewood. His body attributes had to reach the standard first before he could consider other things. If not, it was useless even if he improved in other aspects.

But who would have known that when he was about to perform optimization, the Book of Knowledge actually sent him feedback saying that the Accumulated Energy was insufficient.

“Optimizing the same thing for a second time actually consumes more energy?”

Chen Shouyi was startled, feeling some hesitation in his heart.

“Should I wait for more energy to be accumulated or optimize ‘entering meditation to train the body’?”

If he chose the former, he wouldn’t know when he would have enough energy accumulated. For the latter, he could expect instant results. Chen Shouyi didn’t consider too much and chose the latter.

He couldn’t afford to waste time. Compared to waiting, he might as well gain something right now.

In addition, ‘entering meditation to train one’s body’ was also extremely important. It could allow him to control his body easier. After mastering his muscles, he would be able to put every bit of energy to good use.

To many people, it was hard for them to gain an elementary skill level in sword techniques. And after attaining the elementary grade, it was also extremely tough to improve further.

The main reason was because they couldn’t perfectly control the muscles of their body. But once their ‘enter meditation to train the body – flesh refinement’ reached the elementary grade, they would master their muscles the moment they learned it. There was no difficulty at all.

At the same time, it was also an important mark of a martial practitioner.

If one said that they could become a martial apprentice through hard work and above-average comprehension ability, in that case, in order to become a martial practitioner, one had to refine and train the entirety of their muscles through ‘entering meditation to train the body’.

Without hesitation, Chen Shouyi instantly chose to optimize the ‘entering meditation to train one’s body’.

At the next instant, the familiar dreamscape appeared again. In the dream, he sat in a position where his palms, the soles of his feet, and his head faced the sky. He sat cross-legged and continued practicing meditation. At the start, his heart was like a frisky monkey and his mind was like a cantering horse. Many distracting thoughts filled his mind. But in the end, he slowly became calm.

It was unknown how many tries he had attempted. His mind grew more and more peaceful, his thoughts seemed non-existent, and his mind was like the void, completely silent.

He was completely isolated from the disturbances of the outside world. Only the sound of his body could be heard, and the sounds were magnified rapidly.

When breathing grew long and slow, his heartbeat was as heavy as a drumbeat. He could even faintly hear the flow of his blood in his veins.

But inside the dream, he possessed a bit of clarity in his thoughts since the start. He focused his mind and blocked out all sounds, turning his attention toward his four limbs.

He started sensing from his toe. At the start, his toe felt extremely blurry. He could easily feel it, yet his toe didn’t seem to have a fixed shape. It felt more like a stretch of chaos.

As a result, his thoughts were drawing close to the point of stagnation, leaving only his subconscious, imagination, and past memories to be isolated.

At this point, he seemed to be stuck. He practiced again and again repeatedly.

In the dream, his thoughts grew increasingly peaceful and gradually entered the deepest level of stillness. A change then occurred all of a sudden.

While he was in a trance, some matter seemed to be formed from the darkness of the void. Countless grey and black criss-crossed and manifested into lines. They interweaved and had the complicated texture of muscles and flesh. They were beautiful yet could stun the hearts of those who saw them.

It was as though that was a signal. After that, these lines began to extend slowly toward the surroundings. The shape of a complete toe gradually formed. And soon after, it was the sole of his feet, both his legs, and his entire body.

And at the same time, more and more details began to appear. Chen Shouyi could see the tiny blood vessels within his muscles. He could even see the tip of each nerve, as well as his lymph nodes.

At the end of the dream, the boundary of his senses began to expand, covering his body. He saw his heart, his skeleton, and his vertebrae…