Breaking Through The Self

The next day, just as the sky was barely light, Chen Shouyi was already awake.

The muscle memory of the Lunging Straight Sword from the night before was still vivid and sharp in his mind. As soon as he got up, he couldn't wait to grab his wooden sword and start practicing, fully expecting to grasp the essentials of the Forward Lunge Stab with ease.

But when he actually began to train, he found it was nothing like that at all.

Memory was, after all, just memory.

He felt his muscles were stiff and clumsy, extremely difficult to control.

This was different from practicing the optimized Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms. The optimized version didn't change much from the original—just some tweaks in the details, and the power generation followed a normal person's habits.

Chen Shouyi had only practiced it a few times before he quickly adapted, even able to execute it smoothly.

But the Lunging Straight Sword was like forcibly converting a crude, low-power machine into a high-power one with tightly integrated components. Not only did every muscle need precise control, but they also had to coordinate fluidly to unleash the full force of the body without loss.

Fortunately, compared to others, he had the memory of the Martial Arts Teacher's Forward Lunge Stab. This was a huge advantage—like someone who already knew the move, just practicing it again in a new body.

That meant he didn't have to take detours.

Day after day passed. For Chen Shouyi, life was plain yet fulfilling.

His appetite grew better and better, his body stronger day by day. His thin, bony chest began to gradually fill out.

On the third day, his Constitution and Willpower attributes each increased by 0.1. On the fourth day, Strength also gained 0.1. Then came Agility...

Don't underestimate a mere 0.1 increase. Considering the baseline of 10 for common attributes, it might seem trivial.

But in fact, each major point in the Book of Knowledge's attributes multiplies by a factor of 1.5.

Strength at 10 points is roughly 100 kilograms, so 11 points would be 150 kilograms, and 12 points would be 225 kilograms.

An increase of 0.1 on a baseline of 10 amounts to about 5 kilograms.

And this was just a few days' work.

What's more, it was nearly a full-spectrum growth in attributes. With each attribute complementing the others, it could boost a person's combat power by several tens of percent or more.

Another day of martial arts class came.

The Martial Arts Teacher paced back and forth among the crowd. When he saw Chen Shouyi practicing, his eyes lit up. He clapped his hands and said loudly, "Chen Shouyi's Forward Lunge Stab has already reached a decent level. Come up and demonstrate for everyone."

With the Martial Arts Teacher's loud praise, countless gazes immediately turned toward him.

Those looks were like focused sunlight, making Chen Shouyi's face flush with heat and his hands and feet feel clumsy. Especially when a few pretty girls cast curious glances his way, it made his chest tight and his breath short.

He had been timid and self-abasing since childhood, always afraid of being exposed to the crowd's attention. Even answering a question would make him blush and stammer, let alone this.

"Classmate Chen Shouyi is a bit shy!" the Martial Arts Teacher said with a kind smile. "If you're learning martial arts, you can't be too timid."

A burst of laughter followed.

The classmates' laughter stabbed into his fragile heart like sharp swords.

Chen Shouyi lowered his head, clenching his fists tightly, his sharp nails digging deep into his palms. He roared inside:

"What are you afraid of? Chen Shouyi, what the hell are you afraid of?"

"These are just classmates. What's there to be scared of?"

"Even if you embarrass yourself or do poorly, what can they do to you?"

"All your life, these people have never truly cared about you, never thought highly of you. Even if you lose face, they'll forget it in a blink!"

Under the constant self-hypnosis, a fierce impulse seemed to charge and crash inside him. Chen Shouyi suddenly said, "Yes, Teacher!"

The moment the words left his mouth, it was as if he had broken free from the shackles of self. Everything before him seemed different.

The air in the indoor basketball court felt fresher.

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves outside, passed through the glass windows, and scattered sparse patches of light.

Chen Shouyi walked forward step by step. At first, his head was still slightly lowered, his chest hunched and back bent, his face flushed red. But as he walked forward, he slowly raised his head, his steps grew firm, his body straightened, and the redness on his face gradually faded.

"I didn't realize Chen Shouyi was so tall!" a girl whispered, as if discovering a new continent.

"Me neither. I never noticed before!" Another girl chimed in softly, as if finding common ground.

"I bet he's going to cry in a bit!" That was the silent thought of his best buddy, Zhao Yifeng.

Watching Chen Shouyi, who seemed to have become somewhat unfamiliar, he felt an instinctive discomfort.

After all, they had both been mud on the ground, no one mocking anyone else. But when someone tried to climb out of that pit, intense jealousy and inferiority made him subconsciously want to stop it.

Sun Xin said nothing, just silently pursed his lips. As his deskmate, he could clearly feel Chen Shouyi's change.

These days, Chen Shouyi studied hard every day, more diligent than anyone else. Sometimes he even wondered if the guy had been triggered by something.

Chen Shouyi stood still in front of the model the teacher had set up for demonstration.

"You can begin now!" the Martial Arts Teacher said.

"Yes, Teacher!" Chen Shouyi replied respectfully.

He gripped his sword. Under the gaze of all fifty-three classmates, his heart was utterly calm, his eyes sharp and confident.

His swordsmanship had finally reached the entry level six days ago.

For him, the hardest part of swordsmanship was the beginning. Once he took that step, with the Martial Arts Teacher's muscle memory to draw on, he improved by leaps and bounds. In just a few days, the Forward Lunge Stab grew smoother and smoother, until he could execute a standard thrust almost without thinking.

The next moment, he moved. His body flowed like water, like mist, and the Long Sword cut through the air like a storm-piercing petrel.

Boom! A loud crash!

The sword tip struck the model squarely between the eyes, tilting it thirty degrees from the floor and shifting its base nearly half a meter.

Silence fell around him, followed by gasps.

Of the fifty-four students in the class, including himself, no more than five had achieved swordsmanship entry. But not one had done it so perfectly, while also shifting the model nearly half a meter.

When he came back from the demonstration, he noticed the change. He had gone from a nobody, a piece of air on the sidelines, to suddenly the center of attention.

Many people were sneaking glances at him, including quite a few girls.

When he looked back, those gazes immediately darted away.

"Hmph, women. Nothing special."

A strange thought crossed his mind. The slight nervousness he'd felt earlier slowly settled.

"Didn't know you were that good at martial arts!" A classmate punched him in the chest, grinning.

He remembered the guy's name was Huang Kai, a consistent top-ten student in the class. Before, they'd belonged to completely different circles, and Huang Kai had never spoken to him. Now he acted as close as an old friend.

Chen Shouyi paused, then quickly said, "I've just been practicing a lot lately."

He thought he'd be flattered, but in the end, he replied with unusual calm.

He really had changed.

On the way back from martial arts class, Chen Shouyi instinctively moved to join his trio of friends.

Instead, he was surrounded by a crowd.

"Chen Shouyi, how do you train? Got any tricks?"

Many people might never pass the Martial Apprentice exam in their lives, but as teenagers, who didn't love martial arts?

Tricks? Sure, but you couldn't use them. Chen Shouyi thought to himself, but what came out was a piece of martial arts advice he'd read online: "Break the movement down into steps, practice each one, and once you're comfortable with all of them, combine them into a smooth sequence."

"I train like that too, but it doesn't do much," a classmate questioned.

"It varies from person to person. What works for you is best, but first you need patience. Without patience, nothing gets done." Chen Shouyi said, his face not reddening, his heart not racing.

"Patience really is the most important thing. I just can't settle down," the questioning classmate nodded in agreement.

Chen Shouyi found himself sharp-witted and articulate today. Every casual word he said had listeners who nodded along.

Excitement filled him. He liked this feeling of being noticed, of being valued—not the invisible nobody who could be ignored without consequence.

Back in the classroom, Chen Shouyi walked to his seat.

Sun Xin grabbed him in a rough hug, his face full of envy.

"Did you pop some aphrodisiac today? That was insane!"

"I told you, I'm definitely getting into the Martial Arts Academy!" Chen Shouyi whispered smugly.

He'd expected the usual sarcasm and put-downs.

He was still far from being a Martial Apprentice, separated by a deep chasm. Even Chen Shouyi himself wasn't confident he could pass the exam in just one year.

But that didn't come.

"When you make it big, don't forget me, alright?" Sun Xin said, grinning shamelessly.

At the start of the semester, Sun Xin had heard similar words. Back then, it felt like friends shooting the breeze—take it seriously and you'd lose. But today's eye-popping performance in martial arts class made Sun Xin instinctively believe it might really happen.

"You actually believe that? I don't even have that confidence myself." Chen Shouyi opened his mouth, stunned.