章節 8: Power of Sword Pierce
Chen Shouyi silently opened up his attributes panel.
"Willpower: 11"
He opened his eyes wide in disbelief. He had already checked his stats in the morning. At that time, his willpower attribute was only at 10.0. However, in a short span of one afternoon, it had actually jumped to 11. This was also his first attribute to reach 11.
Chen Shouyi thought back to the martial class. He seemed to have gained a victory over his deeply entrenched cowardice and self-inferiority when he had courageously walked out for the demonstration. He thought back to the smooth interactions between him and his classmates, and how quick his thinking was…
Now that he thought about it, he felt somewhat incredible, as though he was a changed man.
So, this was willpower!
He thought about many things.
He was truly different now.
He felt his body that was habitually shrinking his chest and bending his back suddenly straightened up. He lifted his head, looking ahead...
Sun Xin at the side didn't discover the subtle change that came over Chen Shouyi. He scratched his scalp, causing dandruff fragments to fly. After that, he wiped his oily hands on his pants and asked his two friends, "What are you two planning to do this weekend?"
"Sleep and play games. What else can we do?" Zhao Yifeng replied.
"I have not decided yet. But I might register and attend a tuition class," Chen Shouyi replied after thinking a bit.
The martial atmosphere wasn't that strong in Dongning No. 5 High School. The martial lessons were mainly taught just to get students to train their bodies, and the content was pathetically little. Just the Bow Stance Pierce alone was taught for an entire year, and other than that, they only included sprinting and some strength training. There was basically no way for the school to satisfy personalized requests.
Also, his current Bow Stance Pierce was on the right track, and the only thing lacking was the speed of his muscle responses. He still needed several thousands of times of repeated practice to improve himself.
To harmonize the muscles in his body so that they could work together to unleash greater strength and to imprint the Bow Stance Pierce into his muscle memory—these two were something that couldn't be accomplished in a short time.
He felt that it was time for him to learn other basic sword stances.
"The two of you are so boring!" Sun Xin rolled his eyes.
….
It was unknown why, but today, Zhao Yifeng was unusually quiet. He didn't say anything on their way back. However, Chen Shouyi also wasn't any meticulous person; thus, he didn't discover anything wrong.
Their houses didn't lie in the same direction. After Chen Shouyi walked to the place he had parked his bicycle, he left soon after.
…
"Father, mother. I'm back!"
After placing his bicycle in the garage, he entered the restaurant, yet no one replied to him. His parents were both in the restaurant watching the television. On the side, there were many other store owners here as well.
"What's going on?" His heart thumped.
He quickly glanced toward the television. The news was currently on it, and the beautiful host had an extremely solemn look on her face. "According to the information understood by this station's reporters, an ominous bird from the Other World has entered the Earth from the large-scale wormhole number 13541 that's 15 kilometers wide. It broke through the firepower lockdown of the army and flew for a few hundred kilometers with injuries. Fighter aircrafts that rushed over managed to shoot it down, and it ultimately fell into the Ming Street of Ning Province City.
Chen Shouyi felt shocked when he heard that. The Ning Province was a prefecture-level city that belonged to Dongning. It was only several tens of miles away from here.
He glanced at the television, and the scene on the screen was trembling intensely. A malevolent-looking bird was flailing unceasingly on a bustling street. Countless people in the surroundings were fleeing in fear. Screams also filled the area.
This was a gigantic bird, just its body size alone could occupy the space needed for two cars. The Earth never had a bird as large as this. Even for the largest land animal, the African elephant, it was unworthy to be mentioned in the same breath as this gigantic bird.
It was heavily injured. Many wounds could be seen on its body and fresh blood was flowing out from them. However, such terrifying injuries seemed to stimulate its ferocious nature even more. It continuously attacked the fleeing crowd, leaving behind human corpses after human corpses.
…
Twenty years ago after Earth and the Other World had fused, there had been more and more occasions where all sorts of vicious beasts and barbarians had broken through the army blockage.
The gravity of the Other World was three times that of earth. Even an ordinary creature there would become incomparably dangerous when they arrived on earth, and they would cause widespread terror and panic among humans every time.
In truth, the most dangerous things weren't these creatures, but the viruses and germs from the Other World.
In the first few years, there were over a dozen fatal infectious diseases, and this resulted in the unnatural deaths of a billion people. Some tiny countries were even completely eradicated.
Luckily, during these few years, as human medical technology grew increasingly developed and in addition to the human body gradually producing the relevant antibodies, such large-scaled deaths due to diseases gradually vanished. It was very rare to hear of such cases now.
...
A few minutes later, maybe the scene was too gory, but the news station quickly cut it off. The crowd in the restaurant also dispersed after some discussion.
"You are back." Mother Chen who was somewhat pale only noticed Chen Shouyi now.
"Mhm."
"Don't think too much about it. Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? I'll cook it for you." Chen Dawei acted like nothing had happened and off the television, squeezing out a smile as he asked.
Chen Shouyi opened his mouth and initially wanted to ask some questions, but he could feel that his parents didn't wish to bring that topic up.
"Mn, some green vegetables and pork ribs rice!"
After speaking, he paused and continued, "I wish to register for a tuition class this Saturday."
Upon seeing this rarely-seen scene where her son wanted to improve himself, Mother Chen involuntarily glanced over happily despite being disturbed by the news earlier. "As long as it is useful for your college entrance exam, your father and I will definitely support you. Why do we work so hard to earn money every day? We simply wish that you two can have a good job in the future and would be able to enjoy a more relaxed life."
"But the tuition class I wish to register for is a martial tuition class!"
Mother Chen was startled when she heard that. Earlier she was still laughing, but her expression changed instantly after she heard that.
"What? You are already in your final year. Why are you still practicing martial arts? It's fine to set aside some time a day to train one's body, but one absolutely can't treat it as their main job.
"This is something that requires talent. If you have the talent of your younger sister, I won't say anything and will immediately agree to let you learn. Although our family cannot be considered very rich, we don't lack that money either. It's just that can you really afford to waste your time?"
Chen Dawei was at the side; he didn't say anything. Evidently, he also didn't support Chen Shouyi's idea of wasting his time on martial arts classes. If his son worked hard in school, he might still have hope to join a college. But he completely had no hope in the martial path.
Chen Shouyi fell silent. If it was in the past, under the tyrannical abuse of authority from his mother, he would silently accept it despite not wanting it. But today, there seemed to be a strong thought in his mind compelling him to prove something.
"Mother, I have never let myself relax in terms of studies. During these days, I've been seriously working hard. I only want to squeeze some time out to train in the martial path, so I can have two strings in my bow. This is especially so because I felt myself improving greatly recently. My body has also become stronger. In the martial lesson today, my teacher even specially named me for a demonstration as he commended me. I feel that my hope of pursuing martial dao is very great."
"Father, mother. I've always obediently listened to your opinions since I was young. If you all want me to head east, I will never head west. I also know that you guys want what's best for me. But today, I hope that the two of you can give some consideration in my opinion."
Mother Chen's mouth became wide open when she heard that. She mutually exchanged a glance with Chen Dawei; both of them could see the surprise and shock in each other's eyes.
Was this still their habitually reticent son?
"Tell us then why did your martial teacher commend you?" Mother Chen's attitude relaxed, but she still felt some disbelief. She understood her son the most. From the time he was young until now, he had never done anything well before.
"Because my Bow Stance Pierce is the best in the entire class." Chen Shouyi felt somewhat complacent as he spoke.
In order to prove it, he used a single chopstick on the table as a sword.
It was rare for him to perform before his parents. Therefore, it was inevitable for him to feel a bit excited. He didn't even think twice and pierced toward the wall.
From his feet on the ground, his strength flowed upward through his entire body and channeled to his arm as he pierced out. Everything was done in the span of a single breath. His movement was as quick as lightning, and his form was as standard as the textbook example.
Puchi~
At the next instant, the wooden chopstick penetrated the ceramic tiles and half of it entered the wall.
"Eh!" Chen Shouyi was in a daze. He didn't expect his Bow Stance Pierce to be able to unleash such a powerful might. He initially thought the chopstick would directly break. After all, the wall was formed from ceramic tiles and was extremely tough. According to his usual thinking, how could a wooden chopstick penetrate it?
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