Solar-Powered Inner Cultivation

"Little brother, you're still too young in the end. You haven't seen through the troubles of the mortal world. You should know that women's words are dull and their faces are loathsome. It's best to stay far away from them, and only when you truly can't avoid them should you endure them as best you can and pretend to be cordial. Men like women largely because of the influence of human hormones. Once you eliminate that factor, you'll understand the true meaning of 'different genders can't fall in love.'"

Yan Jinghong stepped forward. "Doctor Jiang, if you keep harassing my disciple, I'll have no choice but to report it to the organization and have them send someone else."

Jiang Zhengtai hurriedly said, "Don't! I understand. I won't lay a hand on your disciple. I'll just do my job."

"Your willingness to give way only makes me uneasy," Yan Jinghong said after a moment's thought. "How about this? Let's lay down three rules. You must never try to entice my disciple, never interact with him outside the scope of your work, and never abuse your position for personal gain by tampering with his physical examinations. If you can do those three things, I'll tolerate your staying here."

Jiang Zhengtai tugged at his white coat and said solemnly, "I'll abide by all three, but there's one thing I must make clear. I come from a family of physicians. Although my views on practicing medicine differ from those of my elders, do not question my professional ethics. As a doctor, I would never bring shame upon my medical skills."

Yan Jinghong held his gaze for a moment, then gave a slight nod, accepting his declaration.

Behind him, Si Ming curled his lip. He wasn't about to trust Jiang Zhengtai so easily. His chastity was at stake, after all. Besides, talking complete nonsense with a perfectly straight face wasn't some extraordinary skill. From now on, whenever he had a physical examination, he would absolutely drag someone along to stand guard. For now, though, since his master had spoken, he could only compromise temporarily.

When weak, shelve the dispute; when strong, it's been yours since ancient times. Just you wait. Sooner or later, he'd give him a taste of "don't say I didn't warn you."

Next, Yan Jinghong did indeed show his trust. He didn't go into the medical room with them, waiting outside instead. Jiang Zhengtai didn't betray that trust, recording Si Ming's physical data with complete seriousness and keeping his hands to himself.

Of course, it was also possible that Jiang Zhengtai thought a single wall wouldn't be enough to block a Spirit Transformation expert's senses, or perhaps he was playing the long game to catch a big fish. In any case, that was what Si Ming himself thought.

Physical examinations in the Sea Continent World were very simple. There was no need for a whole array of scientific instruments such as stethoscopes, blood pressure monitors, and X-ray machines. All a doctor had to do was take a patient's pulse and send True Qi circulating through the body, and they would learn everything they should and shouldn't know. How detailed that information was depended entirely on the doctor's attainment in inner cultivation.

As soon as Jiang Zhengtai took his pulse, Si Ming knew this guy really did possess an extraordinary skill. A thread of True Qi brimming with vitality entered his meridians, nourishing his body like a spring breeze bringing rain even as it examined his condition. This True Qi had an innate healing effect. It seemed his claim to come from a family of physicians was no empty boast. Moreover, Jiang Zhengtai's control over his True Qi was superb, at least at the level of tenth-grade inner cultivation.

It took about half an hour before Jiang Zhengtai had organized all the information he'd gathered into data and sent it to headquarters in an email.

When Si Ming walked out of the medical room safe and sound, he found Yan Jinghong talking to a stern-looking man dressed in black. He questioned Pan De with a look, but Pan De indicated that he didn't know anything either.

After a short wait, Yan Jinghong came over with a serious expression, then gave Si Ming an apologetic look. "The nation has assigned me a very urgent task, and I have to leave immediately. Sigh, I've only just taken you as my disciple, yet I can't fulfill my responsibilities as your master. I've failed you as a master."

He took a manual from inside his robes. "These are some of our Dinghu Sect's introductory martial arts. Try to build a solid foundation first. Of course, just practice whichever ones you like. There's no need to force yourself to cultivate the ones you don't. Times are different now. In the past, there was no choice but to cultivate our sect's martial arts step by step. Now you can learn whatever you want, so you might as well choose the techniques that suit you best. There's no need to be bound by sectarian prejudice."

In the past, even a basic technique had to be carefully kept secret for fear that someone might steal it, and a whole host of rules were laid down: passing it to sons but not daughters, to legitimate children but not those born of concubines, and so on. Now, however, Qi Refining Realm martial arts had long been made public and could be bought in bookstores for a few dozen yuan. A great many secret arts that had never been passed to outsiders had become common goods.

A family's ancestral supreme art could be worth less than a little booklet bought by the roadside for ten yuan. The impact of the martial arts revolution had smashed the ancient rules of treasuring one's own worn-out broom to pieces.

Si Ming carefully tucked the manual away against his body. This was the first time he had received a "martial arts manual" in the true sense, satisfying part of his wish to become a great hero, even if the manual might not be as valuable as a textbook.

After all, textbooks were martial arts guides produced by the nation after gathering a host of martial arts grandmasters to discuss them together and revising them several times to weed out the dross and keep the essence. In value and significance, they were no lesser than the "Nine Yin Manual" in Jin Yong's martial arts system.

Si Ming thumped his chest. "Don't worry, Master. Leave the task of bringing glory to our sect to me. The next time we meet, I'll have a surprise for you."

"In this day and age, there isn't much point in bringing glory to the sect. Just follow your own path. If you run into anything you don't understand in your cultivation, you can ask your martial uncle Pan, or put it aside until I come back to answer it. As for cultivating the Blazing Yang Battle Art, follow the Mohist Academy of Science's arrangements in everything."

Yan Jinghong thought for a moment, then added, "You can also go to Doctor Wang Guang, the person in charge of the base. I originally intended to introduce you to him, but he's been busy in seclusion lately, creating a new martial art based on firearms, and happened to have no time. When he comes out of seclusion in the future, remember to go and see him. You might gain something unexpected."

He came in a hurry and left in a hurry. Yan Jinghong always seemed to have an endless stream of things to do.

"...I suddenly understand why Master has never taken a disciple before, and why he took me as one so quickly. He was born to a life of toil!" Si Ming sighed.

Pan De smiled. "A thriving nation on the rise always has many talented people like that. They work hard to push the new age forward, sacrificing their own enjoyment to do so—or perhaps, in their eyes, watching the nation advance step by step is the greatest enjoyment of all."

He reached out and gave Si Ming's shoulder a gentle pat with his big hand, nearly knocking him flat. "All right, you don't need to think about such serious matters yet. What you should give serious thought to is what kind of codename to choose."

Every member of the Mohist Knight Guard could choose a codename for themselves. Aside from the rule against duplicate names, there were no other restrictions. Some people chose names based on the characteristics of their martial arts. "Forest-Piercing Northern Legs," for example, not only indicated that the person specialized in northern-style leg techniques, but also made clear that those techniques excelled in speed rather than brute force.

Of course, some people chose codenames that had little connection to them, or that left others utterly baffled, in order to protect their secrets and conceal the characteristics of their martial arts. "Pitch-Black Blazing Fire Envoy" and "Evil King's True Eye" were examples.

Most people, however, understood the need to "act within their means." If someone of plainly mediocre strength insisted on taking a codename like "Peerless Martial God," they would not only make themselves a laughingstock, but also invite unnecessary trouble. Some people might take offense and decide to teach the brat who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth a lesson. After all, this was different from an online game, where people never met face-to-face and could brag to their hearts' content.

Si Ming asked, "Senior, do you have any suggestions?"

"How about Sun Knight? You're going to cultivate the Blazing Yang Battle Art, so nothing could be more fitting than a name beginning with 'sun.'"

"And then I can throw righteous poisoned throwing knives? Let's pick something else."

Pan De looked troubled. Choosing a name seemed extremely difficult for him, a major challenge to his intelligence, and this made the dark circles under his eyes look even deeper. "Hmm-how about Son of the Sun? It also reflects the fact that you're still a minor."

The instant Si Ming heard the title, a nostalgic yet devilishly catchy song suddenly rang in his ears-

"The son of the sun~ is me, ho ho! My power~ is strong, hey hey! Hey hey!"

He wiped away a bead of cold sweat. "Wouldn't Son of Light be better than that?"

Pan De clapped his hands. "Good, Son of Light it is!"

"Huh? Wait, I said 'better than that.' I didn't mean I wanted 'Son of Light.' Let's discuss it some more. We shouldn't decide on such an important title so casually..."

Chapter 19: Solar-Powered Inner Cultivation

"Blazing Yang Battle Art? What a trash martial art!"

At noon, on the roof of the school's teaching building, Si Ming cultivated the Blazing Yang Battle Art's inner cultivation technique under the blazing sun, bare-chested and wearing nothing but a pair of underpants below the waist.

He absolutely wasn't dressed like this because he had awakened an exhibitionist streak. It was simply the only way to increase the efficiency of his solar energy absorption. Just like the photovoltaic panels in his previous life that absorbed sunlight and converted it into electricity, the greater the area exposed to sunlight and the stronger the light, the more energy was converted.

"This cultivation method is way too scientific. Can't it learn from proper orthodox inner cultivation methods and be a little more mystical?"

It wasn't impossible to cultivate while wearing clothes, but the efficiency would drop to around a tenth, so Si Ming could only practice on the roof at the risk of being mistaken for an exhibitionist.

Of course, his actions had the school's approval. The reason given was that he had contracted a skin disease that would put his life in danger if he didn't get sunlight. Jiang Zhengtai had issued the medical certificate.

The school didn't have many doubts about it. For one thing, they couldn't see what he stood to gain. Si Ming wasn't asking to skip class, but to go up to the roof and sunbathe during the midday break. For another, martial arts existed in this world, and there were all sorts of strange illnesses: people struck by Cold Qi whose whole bodies turned icy, people whose faces were disfigured by cultivating poison arts, people who needed to drink blood after cultivating cold-palm techniques, and even people who drew their blades and castrated themselves. Compared with those, sunbathing was as ordinary as could be. Maybe he was cultivating the Meow Star Divine Art?

The roof of the teaching building was a flower garden, normally closed to the public. That didn't put Si Ming at ease, though. Most students knew lightness skills. Although most could only use them to accelerate on level ground, training their running speed to the point where they could cover a hundred meters in ten seconds, some who specialized in lightness skills could leap over a two- or three-meter railing as easily as turning a somersault on flat ground. If someone really did see him, even with a legitimate reason, he would surely be made into a joke that spread like wildfire through the school.

Just in case, even though Si Ming knew taking off his underpants would expose more skin to the light and be more efficient, he cautiously kept his last line of defense.

Cultivating the Blazing Yang Battle Art didn't necessarily require sunlight. Ordinary lamplight would also work, though considerably less efficiently. In fact, even sunlight wasn't the best thing to absorb, since its intensity changed with location and weather. The Central Mo Science Academy therefore planned to develop a sun lamp capable of achieving maximum efficiency, so Si Ming could conveniently cultivate at home at night. At home, he would no longer need to preserve his last line of defense and could return completely to a state of "original simplicity."