Talent

Chen Shouyi couldn't help putting himself in the examiners' shoes. He had no idea if he'd pass, but he realized he could actually do better. His body was more agile than those being tested, and his Basic Footwork had gradually reached the point where he could move and stop at will.

The Robot's reactions always had a slight delay, which meant it wasn't invincible.

As long as he kept his body in constant high-speed motion without lingering too long in one spot, he could easily close in on the Robot.

"Next up, number 102, Chen Xingyue, for the test."

Chen Xingyue stood up immediately.

"Don't be nervous. You've got this," Chen Shouyi reassured her.

"Go for it!" Lu Shuyuan and Zhang Qianru also cheered.

"Mm!" Chen Xingyue nodded firmly and walked toward the arena.

Without hesitation, she took a deep breath and stepped into the sensing zone.

"Test begins."

Chen Xingyue picked up the Wooden Sword and slowly circled along the edge of the attack zone. As she kept moving, the two mechanical arms followed her movements.

Chen Shouyi stared intently at his sister. This was the first time he'd seen her fight, and he couldn't help feeling a bit anxious for her.

Then Chen Xingyue made her move. She took a light step forward, entering the Robot's attack range.

The next moment, the mechanical arm moved instantly, the spear thrusting toward her with a sharp whoosh as it cut through the air.

Fortunately, she seemed prepared. She tilted her body slightly, easily dodging the spear. Then she suddenly accelerated, following the spear's direction, crouching low as she sprinted forward.

Her petite frame, leaning close to the ground as she ran, made her look just like a charging Spirit Cat.

The spear retracted; Chen Xingyue advanced!

At that moment, the Robot's other Wooden Sword thrust quickly.

In the midst of her high-speed movement, Chen Xingyue seemed to foresee it. She rolled to her left, narrowly evading the Wooden Sword.

Chen Shouyi broke out in a cold sweat watching, but he soon realized her movements were completely premeditated, as if she'd rehearsed them countless times in her mind. This direction led straight to the mechanical arm holding the spear—just as it retracted to prepare its next attack, it was the Robot's blind spot.

With a clean, crisp roll, her body went from motion to stillness in an instant as she stood back up. At the same time, her Wooden Sword shot out like lightning.

"Smack!"

The Wooden Sword shattered, and the Robot stopped instantly.

"Test passed!"

"Yay!" Upon hearing the result, the two girls immediately jumped up in excitement.

Chen Xingyue let out a breath, dropped the Wooden Sword, and turned to walk off the arena.

As she passed Chen Shouyi, she kept a calm face, trying hard to act as if it were no big deal.

But she was still just a fifteen-year-old girl. Facing her classmates, she couldn't hold back her joy for long. The corners of her mouth kept creeping up, and soon she was hugging her friends, hopping and bouncing, letting out her excitement.

After Chen Xingyue called her parents with the good news, the group quickly found a relatively upscale restaurant to celebrate.

"Brother Shouyi, what's your WeChat ID? Let me add you," Zhang Qianru, sitting next to him, leaned in during the wait for food.

"Add me too. We can chat sometime," Lu Shuyuan said, her face slightly flushed.

"I don't use WeChat," Chen Shouyi said.

He found his sister's two friends way too enthusiastic, which made him, a virgin who rarely interacted with girls, a bit uncomfortable.

They didn't quite believe him. Who didn't use WeChat these days?

"My brother uses an old phone that can't support the new version of WeChat," Chen Xingyue explained beside him. "Mom's really strict about it."

"Then how come your phone is new?" Zhang Qianru asked, puzzled.

Chen Xingyue's expression froze for a moment. She thought, That's because I got a special admission to First High. My brother never stood out before, so of course he didn't get one. But she couldn't say that directly—she needed another excuse.

Before she could figure out what to say, Chen Shouyi smiled and said, "I don't really need it. I focus on studying. For me, as long as I can make calls, that's enough."

Chen Xingyue gave him a complicated look. Maybe she'd been too used to her brother being ordinary and unremarkable before. She hadn't noticed how much he'd changed lately. He seemed more confident, and when faced with other girls, he didn't blush easily or embarrass her anymore.

After lunch, everyone went home.

When the car dropped them off at the door and they got out, Chen Xingyue called out to him.

"Brother, wait. I have something to ask you."

"What is it?" Chen Shouyi turned around, a bit surprised to see Chen Xingyue hesitating.

That wasn't like her.

"Brother... are you already a Martial Apprentice?"

At his sister's question, Chen Shouyi felt a bit baffled. "Are you talking in your sleep? How could I be a Martial Apprentice?"

"Then have you already refined all your muscles with Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self?"

Chen Shouyi froze, then asked in confusion, "How do you know?"

He really had tempered all the muscles in his body, but that was just a crude imitation that only had the form. To reach true Muscle Refinement was still far off. Even so, it had still benefited him greatly—sword practice felt easier, Basic Footwork was simpler to grasp, and sometimes his movements flowed naturally without needing conscious thought.

At the same time, during this period, his perception had increased by 0.5 points, reaching 108.

Then, Chen Shouyi listened as Chen Xingyue immediately explained it all.

So that was it, he realized with sudden clarity. But this wasn't the effect of his Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self, or rather, his knockoff version wasn't powerful enough for that.

The real reason was that he often immersed his mind in his tutor's body as a side effect. Over time, his muscles would subconsciously mimic the movements in his daily actions.

But naturally, he couldn't explain this to his sister. Chen Shouyi hesitated for a moment, glanced around, and said in a low voice, "It's not what you think. This isn't the place to talk. Let's go home."

Fortunately, when they got home, their parents were still busy. They only asked a few excited questions before letting them go.

Soon, the two arrived in the living room.

"There's a secret I've wanted to tell you for a long time, but I never found the right chance," Chen Shouyi said, organizing his words silently in his mind.

Of course, he had no intention of telling Chen Xingyue about the Book of Knowledge. That kind of thing was no small matter—the fewer people who knew, the better.

"What secret?" Chen Xingyue's curiosity was piqued by her brother's mysterious demeanor, and she immediately leaned in.

"I discovered a trick to Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self. That's how I was able to easily temper all the muscles in my body."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Xingyue's eyes went wide, her face full of disbelief.

Chen Shouyi was startled. He had never seen his sister make that expression before.

But he quickly composed himself and went on to describe the optimized method of Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self.

If it had been the optimized version of the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms, he wouldn't have dared to bring it out at all. That method had been altered too drastically—no way he could pass it off as some ancient manual found in a corner.

The Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms were backed by the national Martial Arts General Bureau, hundreds of related laboratories, even thousands worldwide, and the collective wisdom of tens of thousands of researchers.

No matter how brilliant a person was, even if they spent their whole life, they couldn't create a more optimized version—let alone an ordinary person like him.

But Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self was completely different. In terms of specific movements, the optimized version had almost no changes. It was still about entering tranquility first, then refining the body's muscles. The only difference was the subconscious thought process during the refinement—purely abstract concepts.

"That's it?" Chen Xingyue opened her mouth after listening.

"Simple? No, it's not simple at all!" Chen Shouyi thought for a moment and immediately denied it. Lately, he had been searching online for information about Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self and had read some concepts about the brain's subconscious. Even if he was slow, he now understood how much the Book of Knowledge had changed it.

Its optimization was far from superficial.

"First, you have to enter a very deep state of tranquility and be able to control your subconscious, knowing exactly what you're going to refine next."

"It's like learning swordsmanship..." Chen Shouyi suddenly didn't know how to describe it.

"Twisting a person's natural habits!" Chen Xingyue said after a moment's thought.

"Exactly. Normally, when you perceive your body, the subconscious perceives it as a whole. But this method forcibly twists that instinct, making it perceive the outline instead." Chen Shouyi realized with a start.

Chen Xingyue looked astonished. This was far harder than twisting a person's movement habits. The former was intuitive—though difficult, with effort it could eventually be mastered. But the latter was extremely abstract, completely intangible.

Soon, a huge doubt rose in her mind, and she asked directly, "Then, big brother, how did you learn it?"

Chen Shouyi felt his face flush slightly, but he quickly steadied himself and said calmly, "Maybe it's my talent. I was born able to control my subconscious."

Watching his sister leave with a skeptical look, Chen Shouyi breathed a sigh of relief.

Facing the doubts of a clever sister was truly a huge pressure.

If only she could be a little dumber.

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