Capítulo 24: Club Fair
Yan Guang's recovery was gradual. Over the course of two days, he managed to regain his mobility and was finally fit enough to recover from bedrest.
During this time, he had been fed many nourishing medicinal soups by his senior sister that aided his recovery. Yan Guang felt that without such supplements, it would've likely taken much longer.
On the noon of the second day of his recovery, his teacher finally called him in for a chat.
After both of them sat down at the lunch table, Wei Shun began speaking, "You did good, kid. Not many at your age can achieve Bodily Harmony, performing at 100% efficiency, but... you still have a long way to go in terms of being a true member of the Seventh Courtyard."
"Understood, teacher.", Yan Guang succinctly replied.
"Good that you know. Next, I will assign you two goals. First, replicate your feat of Bodily Harmony without relying on the forms of your martial art. Second, take first place in the newbie contest in the martial arts club. If you can achieve these two things, then I will give you a surprise. What do you say?", Wei Shun asked.
Yan Guang was a bit unsure if he could truly accomplish both tasks, but answered anyway, "I will try my best, teacher."
"Alright then. By the way, you can leave the courtyard now. Don't come back to this courtyard until you've accomplished one of your two tasks!", Wei Shun shouted.
Yan Guang felt a bit shocked in his heart, but decided to leave anyway. If his teacher wished for him to explore the school, then so be it.
As he strolled across the well-walked paths of the White Tiger School, he observed many other disciples out and about for the first time. He had never had any free time in the last week, so such an experience was new for him.
The first item on Yan Guang's list of priorities was returning to his dorm. Due to his extensive training of his fundamentals, Yan Guang had neglected training any of his new martial arts. Although this was fine for the two he had mysteriously received, he still hadn't forgotten that he had rented an auxiliary martial art for a month.
He now only had around 3 weeks remaining to glean whatever he could from the Rising Blood Breathing manual before he had to return it to the library.
Upon returning to his dorm, Yan Guang immediately noticed some major changes. Apart from his own bag and supplies, there was another pile of items belonging to his roommate.
"So Lin Sheng moved in, huh.", Yan Guang muttered to himself.
Finding the three manuals he had hidden under his bed, Yan Guang pulled out the one containing the Rising Blood Breathing technique and began to read.
Whereas he had previously taken only a cursory glance, his comprehension of the technique after this session was much more in-depth.
Rising Blood Breathing encouraged the user to manually take the deepest breaths they could as well as boosting the power of the lung to expand and contract by using internal force.
Once one was able to execute the technique, their stamina reserves and even strength would increase by around 20 to 25%.
An increase in strength by any percentage was not to be underestimated. Even the minutest difference in power could be the difference between a win or a loss, or even worse, life and death.
Flipping through the manual once was enough for Yan Guang to memorize most of its words, gathering the essence of what he was meant to do.
The initial step of the technique was locating one's own lungs and diaphragm with internal force.
While this seemed simple, it was in actuality quite difficult. While martial artists had a greater understanding of their own anatomy than the common person, it was still impossible to know the precise location of one's own internal organs.
Even with Yan Guang's soul introspection and qi sense, such a physical introspection was almost impossible. He could only circulate the internal force around his body and hope for it to discover the correct location after a few cycles.
Thankfully, Yan Guang had the help of the manual. By relying on the insights of past practitioners of the same technique, he was able to pick up a few tricks about finding the location of his lungs.
After an hour, Yan Guang was able to shift internal force to his lungs on command. It felt like he had just unlocked a new location within his own body.
The implementation of the technique was actually quite simple. Similar to how internal force was able to add extra force to his fists, it was also able to aid the function of other parts of the body.
By infusing internal force into his lungs and breathing in a specific pattern outlined in the technique, Yan Guang was able to quickly feel the benefits of the technique.
It felt like there was suddenly a surplus of energy in his body that was being distributed to all parts of his body.
Remembering his brief knowledge of high school biology, Yan Guang was quickly able to formulate a reason. More oxygen meant an increased rate of respiration, which created more ATP, the energy required to make the human body function.
This was the same principle that caused people to breathe heavily after exercise.
Now that he was able to utilize the technique, it meant he had already reached the beginner-level. From now on, it was simply a matter of increasing his proficiency by using it constantly. His ultimate goal was being able to passively breathe using the martial art, taking full advantage of the technique.
As Yan Guang was sat on his bed contemplating Rising Blood Breathing, light trickled in through the doorway. His roommate had arrived.
"It's been a while, Yan Guang.", Lin Sheng said as he walked into the room.
Yan Guang, who had now been dragged out of his martial arts practice, replied, "It certainly has."
Yan Guang watched as Lin Sheng placed down some books he was carrying, likely the ones given by the librarian before once again preparing to head out.
"So, are you going to stay huddled up in your room and miss the club fair?", Lin Sheng asked.
Yan Guang seemed puzzled, before remembering there even was such a thing. He had completely forgotten although he had read it in some page of the school guide he was given.
"Oh, I completely forgot there even was such a thing.", Yan Guang casually commented.
"Then, would you like to come with? As martial artists from the same town, we should stick together after all.", Lin Sheng suggested.
Yan Guang realized it wasn't a bad idea to make some friends and be on good terms with his roommate, so he responded, "Sure."
Thus, Lin Sheng and Yan Guang set out for the club fair situated at the plaza, a central field at the south of the compound.
On the way, Lin Sheng asked quite a few questions out of curiosity such as what Yan Guang had done for the last four days, or where his hometown was.
Yan Guang found the last question quite tricky, eventually recalling the name of a random village from nearby he had seen on his map and using it in his answer.
Lin Sheng's thought process was quite simple. As long as Yan Guang wasn't from another powerful family and was a lone martial artist, he could be recruited! The main reason he had gone out of his way to be friendly to Yan Guang was because of his value as an unaffiliated and rather talented person.
Yan Guang, who was rather unfamiliar with the politics that were inevitably present in martial arts, simply went with Lin Sheng because he was familiar. Their motives were very different in nature.
Eventually, both arrived at the plaza, at which point Lin Sheng suggested they split to join their respective clubs.
After a little wandering, Yan Guang was eventually able to find the first club he wished to join: the Wilderness Exploration Club.
The club itself was quite popular with the new students, as it allowed them to have a little bit more freedom in terms of where they were allowed to go. Members were allowed to venture outside of the compound and hunt beasts, gaining combat experience.
Moreover, beasts and other natural resources that were gathered by the members could be traded in for chances to learn more martial arts.
Yan Guang waited in the queue for around 10 minutes just to finally arrive at the front desk, where he promptly registered as a member and was provided with a card to verify his status.
Next, he walked to the area of the martial arts club, the most popular one by far. It was not a stretch to say that almost every single student would sign up for the club at one point.
Looking at the even larger queue of almost 30 people in front of him, Yan Guang sighed.
Almost all of the new recruits this year had lined up here. As for how there were so many, apparently, the school recruited not just from Guming town but from multiple others, not to mention the fact that the exam was conducted biannually.
While it had been just a week since he had arrived, it had already been six months for others. That was part of the difficulty in winning the newbie contest!
Looking around, Yan Guang noticed two members standing on each side of the queue, making sure no one was skipping the line. He walked up to one of them and flashed the token his teacher had given him with the number 7 on the front.
Upon seeing the token, the man's face immediately turned respectful as he gestured for Yan Guang to follow him in cutting the line.
This token was actually quite useful, huh, Yan Guang thought to himself.
The guard and he quickly reached the front of the line, and Yan Guang was able to get his second membership card of the day with no difficulty.
I should've been using this token all the time!, Yan Guang remarked to himself. It certainly made the bureaucracy more bearable.
Judging from the man's reactions, it seemed that this token granted him some level of respect in the sect. As Yan Guang expected, being a member of the seventh courtyard was more special than it seemed at first glance.
While Yan Guang took his leave and returned to the dorm, Lin Sheng remained at the plaza, chatting with some of his acquaintances in a private room owned by the martial arts club.
Such was the advantage of being the scion of an aristocratic clan. Even before he had taken the exams, the matter of which school and even club to join had been predetermined for him. His family's connections in the sect overall and its various sub-factions let him have an easier time when he joined.
Suddenly, a man walked in with a sense of urgency, which was evident from his behavior. It was the very same man Yan Guang had shown the token.
"President Hei, I have seen a new student of the Seventh Elder's lineage!", the man announced.
A tall, imposing man who seemed to be in his early 20s stood up from his seat and asked, "Where? Who is he?"
"He's a new disciple, and his name is Yan Guang! He showed me the token of the Seventh Elder to cut the line to join our club!", the man hurriedly told.
"A new disciple from the Seventh Courtyard. I thought he would never take a student again...", uttered President Wei, the leader of the martial arts club. As a man of great influence in the school, he naturally had to be updated on all the happenings and goings-on, including any news about new students.
Murmurs echoed as people discussed the implications of such a matter between themselves.
Lin Sheng was dumbfounded by this situation. How had Yan Guang, a villager of little renown, managed to get recruited as the student of the Seventh Elder?
However, he had to put all jealousy aside and consider the facts of the situation. He was now roommates with a student of the Seventh Courtyard. If he managed to properly curry favor with an elder's disciple, his status would also shoot through the roof!
Yan Guang, meanwhile, was completely unaware of the storm his mere existence had caused in the school. He was simply pondering which martial art to learn next.
Estado de energía semanal
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