Chapter 84: Choosing the Shortest Among the Tall
Liu Yi's eyes grew brighter as he watched, especially when he saw Zhang Beixing's punch swing out, the powerful fist wind directly smashing the falling leaves to pieces. And he still had strength to spare, continuing his attack without any decrease in power.
"Great!"
Liu Yi suddenly slapped his thigh and stood up from the sofa. Watching the video, his eyes were full of admiration.
This kid... this kid...
This kid actually managed to comprehend the true essence of the Yue Family Boxing in one month!
He wasn't just bragging when he was at the Chen Family's place!
As he spoke, Liu Yi didn't even realize that his voice was trembling. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered if he had noticed, because he was truly shocked!
He vividly remembered his time at the Chen Family's. Elder Chen had asked Zhang Beixing about his current level. Zhang Beixing had claimed he had achieved Integration, that his lower body was as powerful as a dragon, and that he had some understanding of the true teachings of the Yue Family. At the time, Liu Yi had thought Zhang Beixing was boasting, but now it seemed he had been too modest!
Was this simply understanding a thing or two?
As a man who had cultivated Yue Family Boxing to its peak, Liu Yi could naturally tell that the set of Yue Family Boxing Zhang Beixing performed was exquisitely masterful. It was apparent he had practiced it to a certain level.
That was truly inconceivable.
One must know, even when Liu Yi himself was practicing Yue Family Boxing back in the day, it took him many years to reach a certain proficiency. But what about Zhang Beixing? He had only been training for a mere month!
Good lad, so you've not only mastered your lower body techniques in half a month, but you've also broken through in boxing as well? Liu Yi murmured while watching the video. If you'd told me about this skill of yours earlier, then why did I bother going to the incident with Ma Feitian the day before yesterday? You could have handled it yourself; you really kept it deeply hidden!
Considering Zhang Beixing's performance in the video, if he performed normally, none of his peers in weaponless sparring would be his match—not a single one! Even if they faced Zhang Beixing while armed, as long as he had enough experience, they could still be thrashed if they weren't careful.
The Integration level of Yue Family Boxing was no joke! Even Liu Yi felt that Zhang Beixing might not be far from achieving Great Accomplishment in Yue Family Boxing!
Afterward, he finished watching the remaining video. He saw Zhang Beixing step off the steel wire and land unharmed, and then steaming sweat began to emanate from his body.
With Liu Yi's discerning eye, he could naturally tell that this was due to the pores closing, the sweat being suppressed within the body, and ultimately being released. This took him by surprise.
Liu Yi could see that at Zhang Beixing's current level, he obviously hadn't cultivated any internal martial arts. Nor did he know any internal martial arts breathing techniques. So how did he manage to produce steaming sweat?
It struck him as a bit peculiar, and he naturally couldn't fathom that it was all due to the System's excessively vigorous addition of Ability Points.
Lifting his hand, intending to take a deep drag on his cigarette, he found that it had already burned to ash while he was watching the video. Seeing this, Liu Yi couldn't be bothered to light another.
He merely sighed.
He sincerely reflected, "No wonder Zhang Beixing walked onto the martial bridge this afternoon so easily and even handled my and Elder Chen's tricky tests with ease."
Now it seems... he can even perform boxing on a steel wire without issue, so what's so hard about a mere martial bridge?
It's really just like his video title claims: 'Lower body as powerful as a dragon'!
It looks like I need to bring out all my hidden skills to be worthy of my title as his master.
With those words, Liu Yi walked into the bathroom. He took off his clothes and looked at his corpulent body, covered with ferocious scars, in the mirror. His gaze became unfocused for a moment, then it turned firm.
He had only become decadent, not dead! As long as one is alive, can't everything change? To meet an exceptionally talented disciple like Zhang Beixing in his lifetime... Even if it means giving it his all, so what?
"Starting now, lose weight!" Liu Yi declared.
Then he pulled out some tight clothing he hadn't worn in a long time, which was several sizes too small. After squeezing his corpulent body into it, he went downstairs to run.
「At the same time, on the other side.」
Zhang Beixing was feeling a bit overwhelmed reading the comments. He had been browsing for ten minutes now.
The good news was his earlier guidance had indeed made those netizens somewhat more restrained, bringing him many suggestions. But the bad news was, even though they were restrained, these suggestions were ridiculously outrageous!
In those ten minutes of reading, he couldn't find a single suggestion below A-grade! However, although there was nothing below A-grade, he did find a few above A-grade that seemed somewhat reasonable.
[Suggestion: Weight-bearing mountain climbing, difficulty A, carry 50 pounds, continue for five days, hike one of the Five Great Mountains each day (up and down), reward 3 Ability Points]
[Suggestion: Weight-bearing swimming, difficulty A, carry 50 pounds, swim ten kilometers, reward 3 Ability Points]
[Suggestion: Do or die, steal the secrets of fate! Difficulty A+, with no protective measures, carry 50 pounds on one side, perform Yue Family Boxing on the edge of a rooftop, reward 4 Ability Points]
While these tasks were also very challenging, overall, they were within an acceptable range. They weren't like the previous suggestions, which were basically trying to torment him to death. It was like picking the least terrible option.
Among these, weight-bearing mountain climbing felt like the easiest to Zhang Beixing! Its only two problems were the significant expense and the long duration of the task—it would take a full five days to complete.
Never mind. If it really can't be helped, I'll look for better suggestions in a couple of days. If I find something better, I can replace these. If not, I'll just make do with them for now, Zhang Beixing muttered to himself.
Then he chatted with Lin Siqi for a while and headed to the cafeteria for a meal. After all, he had followed Teacher Liu around all day, and the amount of food he had eaten couldn't be considered ample. It was just a makeshift meal. At least it didn't worsen his Qi and Blood Deficiency status. Otherwise, Zhang Beixing would have really suffered!
Just how do I replenish this Qi and Blood Deficiency? he wondered. I've stopped training these past two days, so why hasn't it changed at all? Should I ask Teacher Liu about it tomorrow?
Zhang Beixing mused that Liu Yi, having practiced martial arts since childhood, must have far more knowledge in this area than a half-baked practitioner like himself.
Yeah, that's what I'll do! Zhang Beixing mumbled to himself.
Then he buried his head and immersed himself in the joy of eating. After stuffing a day's worth of food for others into his stomach, Zhang Beixing burped contentedly. Amidst the horrified stares of the other students, he then grabbed a few more servings to go and swaggered out of the cafeteria, back to his dorm room.
He tossed the food to his three hungry dorm mates.
After freshening up, Zhang Beixing turned on his computer, launched Maya, and quickly created a few humanoid models. He started adjusting the figures based on the scenes he had witnessed today. After getting them roughly correct and running a test, which matched his memory, Zhang Beixing glanced at the time.
Good heavens, it was already the wee hours of the morning!
So he quickly climbed into bed and, before long, fell asleep.
「May 9th, 8 a.m.」
It was Tuesday. As expected, the unexpected happened again.
It was still an early 8 a.m. class. Dorm room 203 still had someone sleeping like a log, yet they were unceremoniously carried to class by the other three students. Only yesterday, it had been Zhang Beixing being carried to class. Today, it was Zheng Jituo's turn.
After finishing the early morning class, there were no more classes for the rest of the morning. Zhang Beixing checked his schedule and saw that Liu Yi didn't have classes until the afternoon, so he didn't disturb him.
Instead, he put on his weighted clothes and went to the sports ground to continue setting up their stall with Lin Siqi.
Truth be told, after these days of vending, the two of them had worked out a combo. Whenever Zhang Beixing took a break, he would stop by Lin Siqi's little cart. Those who exercised with Zhang Beixing, after finishing, would be panting and parched. All they had to do was turn around to buy water from Lin Siqi.
And, under the endorsement of Zhang Beixing, the 'professional running partner,' those who bought water generally chose the more expensive sports drinks to replenish their energy. Lin Siqi, in turn, whenever others came to her for water or snacks, would promote how great Zhang Beixing's running company was.
As a result, many people jokingly called them the "couple combo." This "husband-and-wife team" seemed up to no good, relentlessly targeting their classmates, not stopping until they had fleeced them of every last coin.
At first, both of them might have tried to explain. But later on, they simply gave up on clarifications. One reason was that such matters were impossible to explain clearly. Second, they found that their business became even more booming after people started calling them the 'couple combo.' There were even people who came over on purpose to see what this 'couple combo' was all about.
So, Zhang Beixing and Lin Siqi kept busy until three in the afternoon.
[Detected host has completed suggestion: Weight-bearing running.]
[Suggestion reward has been distributed. Current Ability Points held by host: 3.8]
[Rhythmic running progress has been refreshed. Current progress 0.01KM/10KM]
Hearing the System's voice, Zhang Beixing felt that his day had been quite fulfilling. Then, as he was preparing to go with Lin Siqi to the small grove to re-tie the steel wire they had left from the day before yesterday and continue his training...
DING-DONG—
A crisp sound emanated from Zhang Beixing's phone in his pocket.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Beixing checked his phone and saw a message from Teacher Liu.
Teacher Liu: "In ten minutes, at the school gate. I'll take you to the martial arts training ground I used to go to and teach you 'Yue Shatters the Army.'"
Seeing this message, Zhang Beixing immediately perked up. So he quickly replied with an 'OK.'
After explaining to Lin Siqi, he walked towards the school gate.
In a short while, at the entrance of Shi University, Zhang Beixing arrived and waited for a bit. Soon, he saw Teacher Liu drive up slowly. Teacher Liu rolled down the window, called out to Zhang Beixing, and gestured for him to get in.
Was it his imagination, or had Liu Yi changed today? He couldn't quite put his finger on what was different.
Adhering to the principle of not dwelling on things he couldn't figure out, Zhang Beixing pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He approached the car, opened the door, and naturally sat in the passenger seat.
After he fastened his seatbelt, Liu Yi stepped on the accelerator, driving Zhang Beixing towards the martial arts training ground.