Capítulo 35: Spirit Root Upgrade
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Keep up with the pace, raise the sword to surround yourselves, and turn your body 90 degrees when you turn the sword 90 degrees as well."
Meanwhile, under the old pagoda tree in front of the farmhouse.
Chi Qiaosong had brewed a pot of bitter tea while keeping an eye on the kids as he read. He was instructing them on their practice of the Yu Sword Skill, revitalizing martial arts within the Chi family.
However, these kids were still too young to make anything of it. For now, this was no more than them getting used to the movements and exercising.
The golden age for practicing martial arts was from the age of thirteen to eighteen. At this stage, the body developed rapidly, which allowed the martial arts to be imprinted firmly into the body's foundation.
Those prestigious families with their own martial arts inheritance had laid the foundation since childhood.
Not that they expected a hundred percent success in cultivation, but they had to be well-versed in the techniques and footwork before they could focus on physical fitness and strength.
As soon as they were of age, they started to study and practice so that they could quickly master the martial arts. The goal was to break through the Wrestler Plane as soon as possible, change their physical fitness, and climb to higher heights.
Especially for those who had shown promising talents in martial arts since childhood, their parents always kept a close eye on them. When they notice their children begin to exhibit characteristics suggesting the onset of puberty, they immediately focus on their physical fitness and aptitude. Martial arts itself had been studied and analyzed by scientists, and they believed that it had something to do with the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, but it also had something to do with the practitioner's own hormonal levels; it was far easier to reach their goals when their hormonal levels were elevated.
But this was not something that had yet to be confirmed.
Some years ago, when it was first determined that hormones could affect martial arts, some practitioners started to inject themselves with hormones. The result was that martial arts did not improve much, but many ended up neither men nor women.
Later, with the Daxia government's efforts to continue educating the people, this craze for hormone injections was finally stopped.
But some people didn't want to give up so quickly that they continued to inject hormones themselves secretly. For this reason, many other schools of unorthodox training were formed. Although the Daxia government had been cracking down on these unorthodox cultivators, unfortunately, they were not effectively banned.
The red sun slowly rose in the sky, and the temperature gradually became unbearably scorching.
Chi Qiaosong, under the old pagoda tree, raised his head and scolded, "Wen Ting, why are you not moving?!"
Wen Ting, who was only four years old, stood in the group practicing swords and remained motionless. When she heard Chi Qiaosong's chiding, she burst into tears. "I don't want to practice swords! I don't want to practice swords..."
Chi Qiaosong rolled his eyes.
He didn't know what else to say. He was not good at babysitting, so all he could do was shout. "Moshan, go and calm your sister down."
With disgust on his face, Wen Moshan pulled at Wen Ting's collar and said, "You can stop crying now. You are such a crybaby. Look! No one else is crying except you!"
The more he chastised her, the louder Wen Ting cried.
Chi Xiaoya held her gently and comforted her. "Don't cry, Tingting. The big brother is teaching us martial arts; aren't you the one who most wanted to learn about martial arts?"
Chi Qiaowu played with the wooden sword in his hand and shook his head like a little adult. "Girls just love to cry. They are so boring, big brother. How about not teaching them!"
Before, if Chi Qiaowu had dared to utter such derogatory comments about girls, Chi Qiaosong would have definitely given him a good beating.
But he was pretty confused by Wen Ting's repeated crying. Right now, Chi Qiaosong somewhat sympathized with that overall sentiment. But it was just a little bit. He knew very well that it wasn't because that girl liked to cry but that Wen Ting was too little to understand.
She was only four years old.
Before, when he told his aunt and uncle that girls should also practice martial arts, his original intent was to wait a few more years when the girls in the family were a little older before actually training them. But then, his little aunt sent Wen Ting over and left her with them to live full-time so that she could practice martial arts with the rest of them right now.
"All right!"
Chi Qiaosong said with a serious demeanor, "I now announce that before the age of seven, no one needed to practice martial arts with me. After the age of seven, both boys and girls must practice martial arts with me. Xiaoya, take her home now. "
"But, big brother, I still want to practice martial arts with you," Chi Xiaoya said rather dejectedly.
"Listen to me, you are too young right now, and it's useless to practice martial arts with me. I will teach you when you are seven years old." Chi Qiaosong coaxed the two little girls and sent them away.
Only Chi Qiaowu and Wen Moshan remained. Both of them had been trained to do whatever he asked them to do, so he need not worry too much about these two.
The two boys continued to practice the Yu Sword Skill.
Chi Qiaosong, on the other hand, continued to immerse himself in reading the Cloudy Bookbag Seven Slips. Now he had to read through the Cloudy Bookbag Seven Slips and then try to make some sense out of it to see whether he could make a small red flower on the Saturn peach tree bloom.
Put-put-put.
The sound of a tractor came from down the mountain.
The second uncle and Mr. Chi brought back a carload of materials to build the greenhouse so they could start on the greenhouse for the third acre of land. Although it was at the height of summer right now, it was already September, and the weather would soon cool down.
"Number Two, build the fence first." Mr. Chi was unloading the goods from the bucket.
The second uncle replied, "I got it."
Chi Qiaosong was about to step in when the second uncle stopped him. "Read your book. I'll do the work with your dad."
"It's okay, Uncle. I'm not busy." Chi Qiaosong had read for such a long time that he felt a little dizzy. He thought some physical work would help him to relax.
But in the end, the second uncle could not be denied, and he was ushered to the desk again to continue reading the Cloudy Bookbag Seven Slips. When the fence was finished, and they started the work on the greenhouse, he was also not allowed to help.
Basically, he was now excluded from any work that needed to be done at home.
The second aunt told everyone, "Qiaosong is a Wrestler now. In the past, wrestlers were all big bosses, served on hand and foot by the others. There is no reason for the big boss to work."
That was to say, if the family had the means, they would probably arrange to have maids or servants to take care of Chi Qiaosong.
...
...
...
Three days passed in a blink of an eye.
Finally, by the time he read through the entirety of the Cloudy Bookbag Seven Slips, it was already evening. The greenhouse for the third acre of land had been completed, and the soil was turned over. It was ready for the vegetables to be planted.
Chi Qiaosong walked to the Saturn peach tree and searched carefully, but he did find any small red flowers.
This suggested that either he had not fully understood the Cloudy Bookbag Seven Slips, or this book was not about cultivating internal skills.
"But the Saturn peach tree seems to be a little bigger?" He scrutinized the Saturn peach tree and felt it was bigger than before. Looking at the bay tree again, it, too, seemed to be a little bigger.
Previously, the bay tree and the Saturn peach tree were like fake trees—they did not sprout new shoots or grow any fresh leaves.
Because his own martial arts foundation formed them, Chi Qiaosong did not pay much attention to them and thought that this was how these two spirit roots should behave. He never expected that these two spirit roots would be growing.
"No, that's not right."
He suddenly thought of it. "This is not natural growth. I have been looking at these spirit roots every day. I didn't find any new shoots or new branches; this was a sudden growth."
As for the reason for their sudden growth, he had some vague ideas. "Perhaps it was because the field has been upgraded. The bay tree, as it is right now, is clearly much larger than when I first realized the field."
As the field upgraded, these spirit roots naturally upgraded as well.
But, he was unclear whether upgrading the spirit roots would bring about any benefits. Anyway, the spirit roots being upgraded had to be a good thing, after all.
"I am really looking forward to the day when both trees will be filled with inner and external skills." With a slight smile, Chi Qiaosong suddenly had an idea.
Sitting cross-legged, he silently recited the Purple Cloud Serenity to guide the Qi inside his body when the Qi was the most active.
He stood up suddenly, with his two fingers together, mimicking a sword.
Swing the sword with one hand and stepping into the footwork, his top half corresponded with the Ursa Major, while the bottom half corresponded with the four directions. He moved inside the field with ease with confidence. He was performing the entire set of the Yu Sword Skill.
When the last movement ended with the sword pointing upward, he could clearly feel a breeze washing over him, blowing away all the dust off him.
It was as if some heavy objects had been lifted from him, and a weight had been taken off him.
At this time, he took another look at the bay tree and the Saturn peach tree.
The information about the Yu Sword Skill on the bay tree was still showing complete, but the information about the Purple Cloud Serenity on the Saturn peach tree had been upgraded to complete.
This sudden epiphany was the final step for him to fully comprehend the Purple Cloud Serenity, which delighted and surprised him. He wondered if this wasn't the benefit of the spirit root upgrade.
-- Presente
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