Chapter 5: Second Training Session with Zhang Wei

A week passed before Zhang Wei returned to train Yulian. In that week, Yulian had kept up with his martial arts training. The coordination level of his Nine Yang Thunder Fist increased by a large amount!

Zhang Wei and Yulian once again faced each other in the Training Arena.

Zhang Wei had brought a bag with him. From that bag, he took out a black box and a small packet.

“In our previous session, I told you that I would help you increase your strength. These objects will help you train your body and your breathing technique!”

Zhang Wei immediately began describing the objects he had brought with him.

“This is a Grade E skinsuit manufactured by the HR Alliance. When you put it on, your body will be weighed down by 15 kg! Since your fist strength hovers around 175 kg, I believe that a weight of 15 kg will not be detrimental to your body. This skinsuit has a zipper on it. By pulling it down, you can instantly take off the skinsuit! If you use it properly, this will help you to rapidly increase your strength!”

“Meanwhile, this is a Electronic cigarette! Before the Grand Nirvana period, cigarettes were the scourge of mankind! Smoking these cigarettes would have adverse effects on your lungs! Back then, if you took too many cigarettes, you might have even contracted cancer! Oh, cancer was a dangerous disease back before the Grand Nirvana period. Since 2014, there have been no cases of cancer in the world. Anyway, smoking this cigarette will accumulate ‘tar’ in your lungs. By using the ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique, you will be able to remove the ‘tar’ from your lungs. This will train your body’s internal passages.”

“This cigarette… won’t they have an adverse effects on my lungs?” Yulian was wary of smoking cigarettes. He was after all, a person from year 2015. The adverse effects of smoking cigarettes had been hammered into him from long ago.

“It is impossible for this cigarette to harm you! In reality, these cigarettes cannot even harm a person who does not practice any martial arts! Even if you do not practice your breathing technique, the ‘tar’ will be destroyed by your immune system!”

“Training with both of these objects is viable only as long as your strength is below ‘Elite’ level! Once you step into the ‘Elite’ level (750 kg fist strength), these objects will be useless to you! Using both these objects while training in the ‘Nine Yang Thunder Fist’ will help in training your body inside-out! Of course, your current strength isn’t high enough to be able to do that. For now, alternate between using them.”

Yulian suddenly remembered that Zhang Wei had paid for these items from his own pocket. With a casual expression, he asked, “These items… how much did they cost?”

“Nothing much, actually. In the end. these items can only be used to train new fighters. Using my connections, I was able to get these items for nearly free.” Zhang Wei dismissed Yulian’s query. He showed Yulian the silvery Electronic Cigarette. “Now, let me teach you how to smoke this cigarette! To begin with, press this button here. It turns on the…” Yulian carefully listened as Zhang Wei explained how to operate the cigarette.

…

After listening to Zhang Wei’s concise explanation, Yulian began smoking the electronic cigarette. In 2014, electronic cigarettes were used to suppress tobacco addiction. On the contrary, this electronic cigarette was created to deposit toxic fumes into the lungs for the purpose of training!

5 minutes later, Yulian decided that enough tar had been deposited into his lungs. He immediately sat down in a crossed legs posture and began operating the Nine Yang breathing technique. For twenty minutes, a black mist was released from his nostrils!

“So how was it? Were your internal passages tempered by the cigarette?” Zhang Wei asked Yulian.

“This method of tempering internal passages is very effective. Generally, I can operate the ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique for more than three hours! However, this cigarette forced me to conclude my ‘Nine Yang’ training after only twenty minutes!”

“Rest for a few minutes and recover yourself. After this, put on the skinsuit and train yourself with the added weight of 15 kg!”

…

A zipping sound rang out as Yulian put on the 15 kg. skinsuit. After putting on the suit, he immediately lost his balance and fell down! The 15 kg. pressure suddenly exerted on his body made it difficult for him to get up from his fallen posture!

“Haah!” After a loud shout, Yulian finally stood up from the ground. He immediately began using the ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique to circulate the Genetic Energy inside his body. A slight amount of the pressure on his body lessened, allowing him to walk with an extremely slow speed.

With painstaking effort, he walked all the way up to the training dummy. Carefully lowering his body, he picked up his blunt sword off the ground and began training his basic blade technique.

His every motion was painstakingly slow. With every punch, he could see and feel his muscles coil and loosen. With that, Yulian’s understanding of his musculature increased. The insights he had gained regarding the Nine Yang Thunder Fist… could be put to practice at this moment!

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Slowly, but surely, the speed and strength behind Yulian’s strikes increased. After every strike, he felt the desire to keel over, but he ignored the urge and kept on striking the dummy!

Fifteen minutes later, he finally stopped striking the dummy. Yulian instinctively knew that if he pushed himself further, he might cause himself internal injuries. He unzipped the skinsuit and idly fell on the ground. Before he fell unconscious, he felt a pleasant sensation all over his body, as if he had fallen into a cool stream of water.

…

Just when Zhang Wei was going to ask Yulian to stop striking the dummy in fear of internal injuries, Yulian stopped striking and stripped off the skinsuit. Overtaken by exhaustion, Yulian was lying on the floor in an uncomfortable posture. Zhang Wei walked up to him and shifted his body to a more comfortable posture.

“Heh, I thought that the weighted skinsuit was a bit overkill, but it was certainly effective…” Zhang Wei thought about how Yulian’s blows suddenly gained in speed and strength midway.

Zhang Wei looked at the sleeping Yulian and said, “Well, I ended up training you for only 45 minutes today, but I’ll let you take a break for now. After all, since you made a sudden breakthrough, you earned it.” Zhang Wei took his bag and walked in the door’s direction.

Just then, Yulian got up and stretched around a bit. Crackling sounds replaced the silence in the room, making Zhang Wei stop. His prodigious pupil had woken up. “Ah, I took a bit of a rest. I hope you didn’t mind, teacher.”

‘A bit of a rest? You weren’t even down for 5 minutes?!’ Zhang Wei wanted to scream this out, but restrained himself.

Instead, he said, “Have you recovered your strength? If you have not, you can rest.” Yulian casually stretched his body and replied, “No, surprisingly, I feel rather refreshed.”

Indeed, it was rather amazing. Yulian felt surprisingly refreshed after the extremely strenuous 20 minutes of training! For a moment, Yulian circulated the Genetic Energy inside his body. To his amazement, his Genetic Energy had increased by a slight amount!

“To suddenly feel refreshed, after engaging in such strenuous training… could it be…” Zhang Wei quietly muttered these words. “Yulian, I wish to confirm something. Can you try out the Fist Testing Machine?”

Yulian realized that Zhang Wei probably knew why he felt so refreshed. He quickly ran up to the Fist Testing Machine and aimed a firm punch!

‘192 kg!’ Yulian was astounded by the sudden increase in strength. He hadn’t even circulated Genetic Energy to his fists!

This time, Yulian used the ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique and circulated Genetic Energy to his fist before letting out a punch! ‘216 kg!’

“How did my Fist Strength increase by this much?” Yulian asked this question to Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei, with a mystified expression on his face, began speaking. “During the Grand Nirvana Period, humans gained the power to absorb Cosmic Energy from the universe and refine it into Genetic Energy by cultivating the ‘Wu Xin Xiang Tian’ Genetic Energy cultivation technique. Of course, it isn’t the only way to absorb Genetic Energy. Sometimes, when a person trains to his limits through physical exercise, his body automatically refines Genetic Energy by absorbing it from the world. I believe that your body must have been driven to its limits by your training, allowing you to absorb a sliver of Genetic Energy from the world. This is the most likely reason for your increase in strength.”

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Hearing Zhang Wei’s words, Yulian decided that it made sense.

Smiling, Zhang Wei continued his explanation. “Cultivating Genetic Energy by training in martial arts is rather difficult. In reality, the Nine Yang Thunder Fist is included among the best Foundation Martial Arts, simply because while training it, the probability of absorbing some Genetic Energy from the world is extremely high!

Most people find it impossible to cultivate Genetic Energy before becoming a Fighter! Such ordinary people simply train the physical strength of their body until they break through the barrier of 900 kg. fist strength! If you rigorously practice any martial art, even the E-rank techniques like karate, etc., the strength of your physical body will slowly increase. At the age of 25, when the growth of the human body reaches its peak, their fist strength breaks through 900 kg! At this point, they gain the ability to cultivate the ‘Wu Xin Xiang Tian’ Genetic Energy cultivation technique, and rapidly increase their strength! This is why most people become Fighters at the age of 25!”

Yulian was astounded when he heard this. ‘That’s right! In the world of Swallowed Star, there are no preteen martial arts prodigies! Even Luo Feng, the protagonist of Swallowed Star, broke through 900 kg. fist strength at the age of 18! Could it be that I am even more talented than him?’

Seeing Yulian’s distracted expression, Zhang Wei tapped Yulian’s forehead.  “Pay attention to me!”

Yulian scratched his forehead for a moment. “What were you saying?”

“I was saying that absorbing Genetic Energy while training is a sign of great talent! However, you shouldn’t get complacent! Keep on training!”

Hearing Zhang Wei’s words, Yulian felt like crying. ‘Of course I’ll have to keep on training! My damn Spirit Force will certainly kill me if I stop!’

Keeping his thoughts within his head, Yulian confidently spoke. “Of course! I certainly won’t let up on my training! I’ll quickly break through 900 kg. fist strength and become the youngest Fighter in the world!”

Zhang Wei, hearing Yulian’s words thought that despite his great talent, Yulian was still a child.

“Well spoken! Now, since you have made such great improvements, I’ll say that today’s training session has concluded! Concentrate on training your sword technique! If your sword technique improves, next week, I’ll train you in wielding a heavy sword!”

…

After Zhang Wei left, Yulian went to the kitchen-cum-dining room. As expected, the beautiful maid Martha was cooking fresh monster meat for breakfast. By the way, the owner of the house, Jack Whitney was enjoying his beauty sleep. As Yulian entered inside, he was greeted by her.

“Good morning Yulian! How was your training session?” Martha smilingly asked as she deftly roasted fresh monster meat.

“Very successful! I broke through the bottleneck of 200 kg. fist strength!” Yulian happily replied to Martha’s question. Today, Yulian had found out a way of quickly raising his strength! As long as he trained to his limits, he might be able to absorb some Genetic Energy! Every little bit of strength he could gain would help him survive the eventual awakening of his Spiritual Force!

“That’s amazing progress. As for myself, I am stuck on the bottleneck of 863 kg. fist strength!” Martha’s smile slightly shifted as she spoke.

 “863 kg. fist strength, huh… That’s extremely close to the bottleneck of 900 kg. fist strength. My teacher told me that most Elite Fighters breakthrough to become Fighters at the age of 25, when their physical strength reaches the peak of 900 kg.! What’s your age?”

“Didn’t anyone teach you that asking for a girl’s age is rude?”  Martha smiled as she saw Yulian’s face redden in embarrassment. “That’s a cute expression! By the way, I am 23 years old.”

‘23 years old, with fist strength of 863 kg… I suppose that means that Martha is talented in martial arts! If I get her to spar with me, it’ll certainly prove beneficial to me!’ As Yulian thought about it, Martha served him breakfast.

In his previous life, eating an excess of meat was considered unhealthy. But in 2055, meat was the preferred dish for breakfast, lunch, supper and dinner! This was mostly because of the Grand Nirvana calamity. After the Grand Nirvana calamity, a fundamental change occurred in human DNA and genes. The base physical strength and resilience of the human body increased, the 5 senses were sharpened by many times, and humans gained the ability in further augment their strength by cultivating Genetic Energy! Another change was that the preference and taste for meat increased!

“Martha, which Foundation rank cultivation technique do you practice? I train in the A-Rank technique, Nine Yang Thunder Fist!” As he ate, Yulian casually asked about Martha’s training technique.

“I train in the A-rank Foundation technique, Dance of Myriad Shadows!” Martha quickly replied to Yulian’s question.

“Oh, both of us train in A-Rank sword techniques, huh? How about a spar?”

“Are you sure you want to spar with me? After all there is a large difference between our physical strengths!”

“As long as both of us wield bamboo blades, there will be zero chance of any great physical damage. How about it?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll have a spar with you. Now, quickly finish your breakfast or it may get cold!” Martha smiled as Yulian scrambled to finish his breakfast.

…

After finishing his breakfast, Yulian and Martha went to the large Fighter Training Arena. Martha picked out a bamboo sword with a longer blade while Yulian picked out a bamboo sword with a comparatively shorter blade.

Both of them faced each other, bamboo swords drawn. Martha smiled upon seeing Yulian’s small figure holding the short wooden blade.

“I’ll repeat the rules for our spar! First of all, our fight is based on one rule: first strike wins! Attacking the vital points like eyes is forbidden! The aim of this fight is to improve your agility, reaction speed and sword technique!” Martha’s eyes glittered as she explained the rules. Yulian clearly knew that due to the large difference in strength and experience between him and Martha, this was likely to be a one-sided fight! However, without actual sparring, it would be very difficult to train his sword technique! In exchange for a few bruises, gaining some valuable experience was a fair trade!

After listening to Martha’s explanation, Yulian immediately attacked! His sword was swung chaotically as he tried to strike her! Yet, everything was fruitless! Yulian could not hit Martha even once!

Adjusting his breathing, Yulian quickly struck out with the wooden sword! But no matter how many times he attacked, Martha effortlessly glided away from his blade! Martha did not attack Yulian a single time, she simply kept on dodging!

Finally, Yulian stopped attacking. He regulated his breathing, circulating the ‘Nine Yang’ technique to recover his energy. After he recovered himself, he took up a defending posture. Now that he had finished attacking, it was Martha’s turn to attack!

Without even a word, Martha struck out with her long bamboo blade! Yulian, sensing that he was not fast enough to dodge, pushed out his bamboo blade to block the strike!

Smash! Yulian was pushed back by a few feet by the single sword strike! Quickly stabilizing himself, he backed away to dodge yet another strike!

Yulian was pressured by many rapid attacks. Nevertheless, Martha wasn’t ruthless enough to actually strike him. The speed of Martha’s attack was just enough to strain him.

‘If she really wanted to hurt me, I wouldn’t have lasted a moment against her! Thank God she is holding back!’ Yulian thought this as he dodged Martha’s relentless strikes.

Like this, Yulian continued to fiercely train himself. To survive the awakening of his Spirit Force, he was willing to risk everything!