Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self

"You little spendthrift! Of all places, you had to stab the wall? Do you know how much it'll cost to get it renovated?" Mother Chen's shrill voice rang out in the dining room a moment later.

"Mom, what did my brother do this time?"

Chen Xingyue had just come home.

Her first words turned Chen Shouyi's face dark with anger. What did she mean, what had he done this time?

Although he had indeed been a little careless this time, who could have expected the chopstick to pierce the wall?

"Take a look at what your brother's done." Mother Chen gestured toward it, huffing.

The wooden chopstick was still lodged in the wall, not yet pulled out. Chen Xingyue took a closer look and exclaimed, "My brother did this?"

"Who else? He said he was demonstrating a Forward Lunge Stab, but he lost his head and stabbed straight into the wall."

Chen Xingyue was both puzzled and astonished. As the saying went, the layman watched the spectacle while the expert saw the skill. This sort of demonstration was all over television; it seemed like anyone who practiced martial arts could do it.

But nobody who went onstage to perform was an ordinary person.

She had no idea how difficult it was to drive a wooden chopstick into a tiled wall. It wasn't something you could do with strength and speed alone.

The chopstick had to meet the wall at an absolutely perpendicular angle. Deviate by even the slightest degree and it would snap at once. Even she, a Quasi-Martial Apprentice, could hardly manage it once in ten tries.

So how had her brother, who had little talent for martial arts, pulled it off?

In fact, even Chen Shouyi himself didn't understand. The middle-aged Martial Arts Teacher whose swordsmanship experience he had absorbed in Memory Space was only a Martial Apprentice. He might never become a martial artist in his entire life, and seemed incomparable to a promising Martial Prodigy like Chen Xingyue.

And yet, how could a Martial Apprentice who had practiced day after day for over a decade be ordinary? Especially since he taught only the Forward Lunge Stab from swordsmanship at school. In that one move alone, he had long since hammered his skills to perfection, practicing it tens of thousands of times. Chen Xingyue, a still-green Quasi-Martial Apprentice, simply couldn't compare.

"All right, all right! It's just a hole. I'll call someone tomorrow morning to replace that section." Chen Dawei chuckled. More than the cost, he was delighted by his son's change.

"I'll make the decision this time. If you want to attend the Martial Arts Cram Class, go ahead. Tell me how much you need, and your mom can transfer it to you."

Mother Chen handled the family finances. His pockets were even emptier than Chen Shouyi's.

"You sure are generous with my money." Mother Chen shot him a look, but didn't object.

Though Mother Chen hadn't explicitly agreed, Chen Shouyi understood. He hurriedly said, "I want to sign up for the Advanced Swordsmanship Class. It's twenty lessons per term, and costs around six or seven thousand!"

His family wasn't wealthy, but they could at least be considered comfortably well-off.

They owned their storefront, so they didn't have to pay rent. Its yearly income was around two hundred thousand, and the interest from private loans added a considerable amount on top of that. Their finances were fairly comfortable.

"I'll transfer seven thousand to you then. You won't get any pocket money for the rest of the month," Mother Chen said with a cold snort.

Chen Xingyue stayed unusually quiet beside them, watching Chen Shouyi with her big eyes blinking. No one could tell what she was thinking.

At dinner, Chen Shouyi secretly opened the Status Panel and was delighted to see that his Energy Accumulation had finally passed one. He hurriedly finished eating and could hardly wait to return to his bedroom, but as soon as he opened the door, Chen Xingyue stopped him.

"Brother, when did you learn the Forward Lunge Stab?" Chen Xingyue asked, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"A few days ago. Why?" Chen Shouyi said impatiently. "Is there something else? I have homework to do. Unlike you, who's already been admitted through recommendation, your big brother still has to work hard."

"Oh! Nothing. I was just curious."

"Then I'm going back to my room." As soon as Chen Shouyi finished speaking, he shut the door.

Chen Xingyue glared at the closed door and gritted her teeth. "A few days ago? Yeah, right!"

As soon as Chen Shouyi sensed that Chen Xingyue had left, he locked the door.

His heart thumped wildly as he hurriedly summoned the Book of Knowledge.

Name: Chen Shouyi

Strength: 10.5

Agility: 10.5

Constitution: 10.4

Intelligence: 10.3

Perception: 10.3

Will: 11.0

Knowledge: Chinese Language (Proficient 6); Physics (Skilled 12); Chemistry (Skilled 11); Biology (Skilled 10); Mathematics (Skilled 9); English (Skilled 6); Computer Science (Beginner 6); Culinary Arts (Beginner 5); Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms (Skilled 2); Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self (Not Initiated); Swordsmanship (Beginner 8); Archery (Not Initiated)

Energy Accumulation: 1.05

Over the past few days, not only had his physical attributes increased noticeably, but his knowledge and skills had improved too. English, for instance, had gained a point.

But his greatest progress was in martial arts.

The Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms had advanced from Beginner 5 to Skilled 2, while Swordsmanship had gone from Not Initiated to Beginner 8. And that was despite his knowing only one sword move. As for the Forward Lunge Stab alone, his level was at least Skilled.

He studied the Status Panel, somewhat uncertain about which skill to improve next. He immediately ruled out academic subjects. The college entrance exam was still a long way off; he could wait until a month or two before the exam to improve those.

Besides, deep down, he was still more passionate about martial arts.

Next, he ruled out Swordsmanship.

He knew only the Forward Lunge Stab, so improving Swordsmanship wouldn't be very cost-effective. He could also learn it quickly through Memory Space. He would only spend energy on improving it if he hit a wall.

As for Archery, he hadn't even reached Beginner level, so there was no need to consider it yet.

Chen Shouyi felt that his physical attributes were still far from the Martial Apprentice standard, so he decided to keep improving the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms.

"The Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms are already this powerful after one improvement. Wouldn't improving them again make them even more effective?"

Sharpening the axe wouldn't delay the work of chopping wood. Only after his physical fitness met the standard could he think about anything else. Otherwise, no matter how much he practiced other things, it would be useless.

But just as he was about to improve it, the Book of Knowledge informed him that he lacked sufficient energy.

"Will a second improvement consume even more energy?"

Chen Shouyi froze, suddenly hesitating.

"Should I wait until the Book of Knowledge has accumulated enough energy, or improve Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self?"

The former had no set timetable, while the latter would bring immediate results. Chen Shouyi didn't hesitate for long before choosing the latter.

He couldn't afford to waste time waiting. Better to take what he could get right away.

Besides, Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self was extremely important too. It could help him gain finer control over his body, allowing him to manage every muscle and use every ounce of his strength.

For many people, Swordsmanship was extremely difficult to learn, and even harder to improve at after they had learned the basics.

The main reason was their inability to precisely control their muscles. But for someone who had begun to master "Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self—Muscle Refinement," learning the moves would be a breeze. They would pick them up at once, without any difficulty.

It was also one of the key hallmarks of a martial artist.

If a person could become a Martial Apprentice through hard work and decent comprehension, becoming a martial artist required refining every muscle in the body through "Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self."

Without hesitation, Chen Shouyi selected "Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self" and chose to improve it.

The next moment, the familiar dream appeared again. In the dream, he sat cross-legged with his palms facing upward, practicing entering tranquility again and again. At first, his mind darted about, full of distracting thoughts. Gradually, it grew as calm as still water.

After who knew how many attempts, his mind grew quieter and quieter. His thoughts seemed to exist and yet not exist, to be thinking and yet not thinking, as if he had fallen into a realm of absolute silence.

All outside interference was completely shut out. Only the sounds of his body remained, magnified many times over.

His breathing was long and deep, his heartbeat like a great drum being pounded. His stomach churned like a vat of slops. He could even faintly hear blood flowing through his veins.

Yet in the dream, a spark of clarity remained in his mind. He gathered his focus, shut out every sound, and turned his attention to the tips of his body.

He began by sensing his toes. At first, they were vague. He could easily feel them, yet could make out no definite shape, as if they were a formless chaos.

This was because his thinking had nearly stopped. Only his subconscious and imagination remained; his memories had already been cut off.

He seemed to get stuck there, practicing over and over again.

In the dream, his mind grew ever more tranquil, gradually sinking into the deepest state of stillness. Then, suddenly, something changed.

In a daze, a speck of substance seemed to emerge from the dark void. Countless dim, interweaving lines appeared. They split into several strands, crisscrossing and twisting together like the intricate texture of muscles—beautiful and breathtaking.

As if in response to a signal, the lines began to spread slowly in every direction. The shape of a complete toe gradually took form. Soon it was an entire foot, then both legs, and then his whole body.

Gradually, light and shadow appeared among the lines. The dull outlines grew full and three-dimensional, as if a two-dimensional drawing had become three-dimensional.

At the same time, more and more details came into view. Chen Shouyi saw tiny blood vessels between the muscles, as well as nerve endings and lymphatic tissue.

At the end of the dream, the range of his perception began to spread throughout his body. He saw his heart and internal organs, his bones and spine...