Bai Family Technique Really Has Something to It

Although the old man had tried to fake an injury claim against him, the good education and moral character Lin Li had received over the past seventeen years would not allow him to leave the old man without helping him up.

More importantly, the old man seemed to have genuinely pulled something.

"Sir, you managed to pull something just by standing there. You really need to be more careful when practicing in the future. If I hadn't come by today, and you'd been here all alone, the consequences could have been unthinkable." Lin Li helped the old man onto a stone bench, then brought over what was presumably the old man's insulated bag from nearby and earnestly advised him.

Look at that, look at that. The old man had pulled something again just from sitting down! The Martial Arts Youngster's body was far frailer than Lin Li had expected.

Sure enough, even martial artists could not withstand the passage of time.

The old fossil had ultimately become an old fossil.

The human body was still far too fragile.

"You... you..." The old man stared at Lin Li, who was currently letting his thoughts wander into melancholy reflections on life, and was rendered speechless.

You fucking said the consequences would be unthinkable if you hadn't been here. It was because you were here that I got so angry! And now you're spacing out!

"Don't worry, Grandpa Zhou. You don't need to praise me. There are many people like me in this world. If one me disappears, tens of thousands more will step forward." Lin Li came back to his senses. Never one to enjoy praise, he quickly waved his hands modestly.

The old man's name, Zhou Youwei, was written on his thermos, so Lin Li directly started calling him Grandpa Zhou.

Then Lin Li stood and said to the old man, "Grandpa Zhou, since you're fine and your breathing has settled down, I'll be going now."

It was already getting late. He was covered in sweat and still needed to go home for a shower before school. If he did not hurry, he would not even have time to buy breakfast.

"You—"

"You really don't need to thank me. It's what I should do. Bye!"

Hearing the old man call after him, Lin Li waved without turning around. The old man was probably looking at him with gratitude right now.

But real men never looked back.

"—what family are you from?!" The old man's voice still caught up to him, filled with intense emotion.

"Just call me a passing Masked Rider."

Lin Li laughed. He had not expected the old man to want to thank him in person, but that was even more unnecessary.

Good deeds needed no name, and success did not have to belong to him.

Another morning spent moved to tears by his own greatness.

"...It's hopeless. This world is completely hopeless!" Watching Lin Li's departing back, the old man, nearly driven mad with anger, cried out in despair and helplessness.

In the bathroom, Lin Li checked his rewards while showering.

The time-limited Task Four had been successfully completed.

The moment Lin Li read the prerequisites, he had decided to throw the match.

The system had not added qualifiers such as "seriously" or "with all your strength." It only required the match to be "friendly." As long as either side fell and admitted defeat, it counted as completed.

If that was not friendly, what was?

Sure enough, the system had notified him that the task was complete the moment he conceded.

To make the old man feel more accomplished about defeating him, he had even deliberately rolled around on the ground a few times. Such painstaking effort.

Wait.

The old man had not been faking an injury! Lin Li's pupils suddenly contracted. Only now did he understand the truth, and he felt a little guilty at the same time.

The old man had been too excited. How could someone his age handle such a sense of accomplishment? For elderly people, extreme joy and sorrow were both dangerous.

He would have to be more careful next time. He could not let good intentions lead to bad results.

Task Four completed.

Randomly selecting a martial arts-related ability.

Reward obtained: Passive Ability: Empty-Handed Blade Catch.

Empty-Handed Blade Catch: When neither hand is holding an object, you can predict the trajectory of cold weapons with extreme precision.

Li Jing, is that you, Li Jing?

Unfortunately, his ability did not come with "one hundred percent," so it immediately lost its qualifications to become a conceptual god.

He was a little disappointed. After all, Lin Li had hoped for an active ability, something like Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms or Lingbo Microstep.

Then Lin Li turned his attention to the Body Tempering Eight Section Exercise in his inventory.

Come on, immortal cultivation technique, pour all of it into my brain at once. Read! A thick book appeared in front of Lin Li and landed on the floor with a plop, where it was immediately washed by the shower water.

When it came to being unreliable, the system was unexpectedly reliable.

"..."

"My cultivation technique!"

Lin Li hurriedly picked up the book, only to discover that the water on the floor had not affected it at all. It remained perfectly dry, without the slightest trace of moisture.

Lin Li raised an eyebrow and aimed the showerhead directly at the book.

The water droplets slid across its surface as though it were coated in a hydrophobic layer.

After discovering that it could not be torn apart and that he could return it to his inventory simply by touching it, Lin Li nodded in satisfaction. At least it had a little style now.

Unfortunately, when those great experts examined cultivation techniques, a sweep of their spiritual sense was enough to commit everything to memory. He, on the other hand, could only obediently read like this.

Still, it made sense. Right now, he was only an ordinary mortal with a Mosquito Repelling Aura.

After materializing it again, Lin Li opened to the first page and began trying to read.

Fuck.

Classical Chinese. Traditional characters.

A book that shattered the defenses of the illiterate.

For the first time, Lin Li deeply realized that Chinese class was actually useful.

Fortunately, Lin Li was not completely illiterate. Combined with the diagrams of human movements on nearly every page, he could barely make out the general idea.

But something rather strange happened. When Lin Li imitated the movements in the book, he felt a warm current flowing through his body, completely different from the feeling he had gotten while practicing Eight Section Brocade earlier.

It really was good stuff. Otherwise, it would not have produced such a miraculous effect.

Wait, why was there still a warm current flowing through him even after he stopped practicing?

Lin Li thought carefully, then looked up.

He turned off the showerhead above him and tried assuming several of the poses again.

Mm.

The warm current was gone.

Damn it.

—Whether it was actually good stuff still required further investigation.

"No, Lin Li, have you gone crazy? Fine, you're serious during class, but why are you still doing practice papers during breaks?"

Facing Lin Li, who had rejected his invitation to queue up for the bathroom together, Bai Bufan spoke in sorrowful despair.

"It's not a practice paper. I'm watching little people fight."

"Huh?!" Bai Bufan leaned in like a dog that had spotted shit. Lin Li casually pulled out a sheet and tossed it to him.

"They really are fighting? Boring."

After realizing that Lin Li's little people were not the kind of little people he had imagined, Bai Bufan shook his head in disappointment and returned the paper to Lin Li.

What Lin Li was looking at was the Body Tempering Eight Section Exercise, though not the original. Taking it out at school would be inappropriate if someone noticed its unusual traits, such as being impervious to water and fire.

This was a "copy" Lin Li had made by photographing it with his phone and printing the photos at a print shop. It seemed redundant, but Lin Li had been worried that something unexpected might happen if he took the original directly to be copied.

"What even is this? It's in Classical Chinese too. I can't understand any of it." The illiterate Bai Bufan looked completely confused.

"It's martial arts content I found online. I'm using it to practice translating Classical Chinese, and also to see whether I can learn anything from it." Lin Li mixed one truth with nine lies, then performed a few movements.

He actually looked vaguely convincing.

Bai Bufan took a step back, stood straight, and clasped his hands in salute. "Sir Lin, judging by the power in that fist, you're clearly a practitioner. You've already reached the point of mastery. We should spar sometime. I just happen to be the modern inheritor of the Bai Family Technique."

"If you'd ever practiced martial arts, you wouldn't have only beaten me by two seconds in the thousand-meter run. We're birds of a feather." Lin Li sneered.

Could Bai Bufan ever say anything decent? Lin Li knew him too well.

"You're questioning my Bai Family Technique?!" Bai Bufan's eyes widened. "I swear on my Optimus Prime that the Bai Family Technique is definitely more awesome than your little no-name technique."

"You're betting that big?" Lin Li raised an eyebrow.

Thinking about it, the surname Bai did sound pretty impressive. There really might be some sort of inheritance, so Lin Li asked, "What technique does your Bai Family have?"

"The Scar Light automatic rifle."

"..."

"Say something, hater! Is the Bai Family Technique better, or is your unknown technique better?!"

"Fuck your CrossFire!"