Chapter 4: First Training Session with Zhang Wei
It was 6:45 am, in the morning. In the large training arena of Jack Whitney’s mansion, Yulian Starlighter was demonstrating his ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ technique to his new teacher, Zhang Wei.
‘Peng!’ ‘Peng!’‘Peng!’
Small sounds rang out as Yulian’s tiny fists struck a soft pad in the middle of a cupboard sized machine. The machine was extremely famous and used by all the fighters in this age… the Fist Testing Machine! Genetic Energy circulated inside his body as his external body gracefully shifted between stances! As Yulian showed off his skill, numbers flashed on the machine’s display.
‘178 kg!’ ‘182 kg!’ ‘187 kg!’ ‘189 kg!’
Yulian was extremely surprised seeing the results. Unbelievably, his fist strength had risen by 100 kg overnight! However, he did not fail to cover his surprise and hurriedly cupped his hands in a martial salute as he eagerly awaited his new teacher’s opinion.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wei, Yulian’s new teacher, was completely dumbfounded by Yulian’s skill. ‘Is this boy… really a 7 year old kid? Since when has he been training in the Nine Yang Thunder Fist?’ As a practitioner of the ‘Nine Stage Thunder Blade’, Zhang Wei knew that training even in the abridged ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ was extremely difficult!
But somehow, the 7 year old child in front of him had nearly mastered the ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’! At this level, Zhang Wei’s guidance was nearly useless! How was this even possible? Zhang Wei had no choice but to believe that the boy in front of him was a martial arts genius!
In fact, the reason for Yulian’s skill was the high amount of mental energy in his head, a remnant from the failed awakening of Spiritual Force which killed the previous owner of his body! The mental energy increased the cognitive processes of Yulian’s brain, allowing him to even divide his mind!
“Your comprehension of the ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ is extremely high! To speak honestly, at your current level, I believe my guidance will be meaningless!” Zhang Wei honestly stated his opinion on Yulian’s skill.
“If it’s like that… then what can you train me in?” Yulian curiously asked Zhang Wei. Hiring a Warlord-level instructor for 10 million dollars and not having him teach anything would be too wasteful!
“The ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ is an abridged technique of the ‘Nine Stage Thunder Blade’! The ‘fist techniques’ which are a part of the ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’… are in fact, techniques which are helpful in raising the amount of strength exerted while wielding a blade! Since it’s like that, I will be teaching you basic sword techniques which will complement the Nine Stage Thunder Blade! Also I have noticed that even though your comprehension of the Nine Yang Thunder Fist is high, your overall strength is still low! Since it’s like this, I will also help you efficiently train in the ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’!”
“Now, are you willing to have me teach you martial arts? Think about it. With your amazing potential, even if you self-study, you can rise to great heights!” In a cold tone, Zhang Wei replied to Yulian’s question.
“Do you think I’ll actually pass up a chance to learn martial arts from a Warlord-level fighter? Of course, I want to learn the ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ from you!” Not even a second passed before Yulian reaffirmed his choice of training his martial arts under Zhang Wei’s tutelage!
Hearing Yulian’s prompt answer, Zhang Wei was struck by pleasant surprise! In actuality, Zhang Wei certainly didn’t want to pass up on training such a precocious martial arts genius! When Zhang Wei was offered 10 million dollars for training a 7 year old brat, he thought that it would be easy money. He would show up for an hour for a month, force some shitty brat to morning exercise and go home!
The ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ is an abridged part of the ‘Nine Stage Thunder Blade’ technique. Even so, it is ridiculously difficult! Even full-fledged Fighters have difficulty in training in the technique! But somehow, a 7 year old boy was perfectly performing the technique! It was obvious that when he grew up, barring some unforeseen circumstances, he would surely become a legendary Fighter, capable of shaking the land and the seas!
Zhang Wei was a person who prided himself on his honesty. But for the sake of having a chance to be the first martial arts teacher of such a prodigy, he decided to lie!
While the fact that the ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ was a technique created to complement a sword was correct, Zhang Wei’s remark, ‘Yulian’s overall strength is low’ was a blatant lie!
Fist strength greater than 150 was certainly top grade, even among 10 year old children! Most 7 year old children hadn’t even started martial arts training! 10 years of age was considered the proper time to begin training in martial arts.
…
“Now, I will have to ask you… which type of sword do you wish to train in?”
Yulian had already made his decision. “The weapon I want to train in… is a heavy weapon! A two-handed great sword!”
“A two handed great sword? Since you are preparing to train in the ultimate blade technique ‘Nine Stage Thunder Blade’, choosing a heavy weapon which relies on great strength will certainly be optimal for you. To begin with, I will have you learn to handle a regular long sword before having you pick up a great sword.” Saying this, Zhang Wei opened one of the cupboards filled with weapons in the training room, and started searching for an ideal long sword for Yulian to train with.
A few minutes later, Zhang Wei handed Yulian a blunt long sword. He then walked up to a training dummy, drew his own sword from his sheath and took a posture. “This long sword will be perfect for teaching you the basics. Now, I am going to demonstrate basic sword moves on this training dummy! Observe my movements!”
Saying this, Zhang Wei began striking the dummy with basic sword skills. Slash, cut, stab, hack, cleave… These basic sword skills were absolutely fundamental parts of true swordsmanship. As long as you perfect these moves, it possible to use any and all types of swords! Short swords, long swords, sabers, great swords, even knives… all these weapons can be used at a basic level by training in these moves!
As Zhang Wei showed off the basic sword skills, Yulian carefully observed. Every movement made by Zhang Wei was recorded by his eyes. Even the burly Fighter’s breathing did not escape his eyes!
Having finished his demonstration, Zhang Wei glanced at Yulian. There was no need to speak, the meaning was clear! ‘Now that I have shown you the basic forms, what are you waiting for? Practice!’
Yulian immediately attacked a training dummy with his sword. Immediately, he began imitating the sword strikes carried out by Zhang Wei. Slash, cut, stab, hack, cleave…
As he struck the scarecrow with his sword, Yulian found out that most of the times, his sword would lightly veer off from the targeted area. Getting a perfect strike on the scarecrow was surprisingly difficult.
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Yulian asked Zhang Wei the reason why that was happening. With a pleased smile, Zhang Wei answered, “Good question! The reason why you are missing an unmoving target is simple… You haven’t really adapted to using a sword yet! You must perfect your control over your body and train for a long time before you can even hit motionless targets! As for live, moving monsters… the day is far, far off!”
‘I don’t really care about perfecting my blade technique right now… Before everything, I need to raise my strength and breakthrough to become a fighter! After that, I can greatly increase my strength with the Genetic Energy cultivation technique, and withstand the Awakening of my Spiritual Force!’ Even though Yulian was thinking such things, he still continued to repeatedly strike the scarecrow with his blunt training long sword.
…
Like this, Yulian continued training his sword on the dummy, with Zhang Wei observing his movements like a hawk. Whenever Yulian made a mistake, he would be loudly scolded by Zhang Wei’s voice. After some time, he began using the ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique to circulate the innate Genetic Energy inside his body, while simultaneously training his sword on the dummy. This helped Yulian to stave off his exhaustion and train for a longer amount of time.
Of course, The ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique only helped to stave off Yulian’s exhaustion. Three hours later, Yulian was so exhausted that he couldn’t even stand up!
Seeing Yulian’s exhausted form, Zhang Wei felt a sense of satisfaction. His new disciple was a pleasure to teach. Not only was his understanding and comprehension of martial arts astounding, he had extreme willpower and diligence while training martial arts!
Training continuously for three hours, until he couldn’t even move! Which 7 year old child was capable of training like this?
…
Soon after, Zhang Wei left. Yulian went to the dining room and ate some monster meat to replenish his energy.
After that, he returned to his room. Yesterday, Jack Whitney gave Yulian an identical copy of his HR Alliance employee card, which allowed Yulian to browse the HR Alliance Warlord level forums! Yulian decided to immediately use that privilege, searching for videos showing Fighters using the Nine Stage Thunder Blade in battle!
After searching for a while, Yulian found a video of an Advanced Warrior-level Fighter training in the First Stage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade! He quickly clicked ‘Play’!
The video began playing! A black haired Asian man wielding a long sword was fighting an F-rank Soldier class monster, Shadow Panther! No, rather than a ‘fight’ where the two sides were of equal strength, the Asian man was simply toying with the panther! Whenever the panther pounced on the man, the man would dodge with extreme agility! Instead of attacking the panther’s vital points like the neck, the man would simply strike the panther at non-lethal points! Whenever he attacked the panther, his muscles would slightly bulk up, signifying his usage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade! Five minutes later, the panther finally fell unconscious after being one-sidedly beaten! The video ended with the fighter packing up the panther into a black bag!
Yulian was amazed by the Fighter’s prowess! In reality, an F-rank Soldier class monster and an Advanced Warrior-rank Fighter were roughly equal in terms of physical strength! But the Fighter was using the First Stage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique, boosting his muscle strength by 140%! This difference of 40% allowed the Fighter to get a one-sided victory!
Yulian watched a few more videos of Fighters utilizing the First Stage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade. Some of them were Fighters battling monsters, while others were spars between Fighters. Watching those videos, he gaining some understanding of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique, and through it, the Nine Yang Thunder Fist!
Finally, Yulian decided to watch one more video before closing down the computer. To his surprise, the video did not show a Fighter battling using the Nine Stage Thunder Blade! Instead, it showed a Fighter practicing the ‘Thunder Blade’ sword techniques with a great sword! There were 18 sword forms which were a part of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade. All of the looked extremely difficult to perform! At his current strength, Yulian’s control over his body was insufficient to perform even a single sword technique among those 18 sword forms!
This was a jackpot! Most Fighter videos on the internet showed experienced Fighters beating up monsters with their techniques! Also, the battles finished quickly, which made it difficult to observe the techniques!
The reason for this was extremely simple! Technique Manuals were sold for ridiculous prices! If someone could easily steal techniques by watching free videos, it could end up with the destruction of the economy!
Yulian carefully watched the Fighter train in those 18 sword forms. At every swing of the sword, the Fighter’s muscles would be exerted! The core of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique was based on the Fighter’s muscles! Hence, it is no surprise to say that the Nine Stage Thunder Blade is the best technique for training the body’s muscles!
At his current level, Yulian could not train in these sword techniques without adversely affecting his muscles. But when Yulian’s fist strength reached 900 kg, and broke through to become a Prospective Fighter, he would be able to train in some of the forms without destroying his body!
After downloading the video, Yulian renewed his resolve to strengthen himself! Once again, he went to the Training Arena to train on the dummy.
…
9:45 PM. In the manor owned by the HR Alliance Monster Spoils Trader Jack Whitney, the occupants were happily enjoying dinner.
“Today, you have been holed up in the arena training all day long. Seeing that you are showing such diligence at a young age, you’ll certainly become a great fighter someday.” The muscular maid, Martha, complemented Yulian as he dug through plates of food.
“Well, we’ll have to see whether you can keep up the diligence for long.” Jack made a harsh comment as he ate from own plate of food.
Breakfast, lunch, supper and dinner. During these times, Yulian had eaten up an enormous amount of food. Other than that, most of his time was spent in bitter training! Of course, when he was extremely bored, he spent some time watching videos and such. He also searched for some ‘xianxia’ genre novels, but he couldn’t find any.
“Well, I’ve eaten my fill. Thanks for the food.” Yulian thanked Martha and returned to his room.
After doing some light exercise to aid digestion, Yulian immediately went to sleep. Today had been an exhausting day.