Chapter 7: Third Training Session with Zhang Wei

Two days passed away in the blink of an eye. It was yet another Sunday. Yulian’s third training session with Zhang Wei had arrived.

“Not only has your strength has broken through the boundary of 500 kg, even your sword technique has reached the peak of the ‘Basic’ level… Your talent has already surpassed the limits of a genius! I spoke with Jack Whitney and he told me that he isn’t your father. He refused to give up further information about you… Are you some Wargod’s son? Or perhaps the child of an Existence above a Wargod?” The Warlord Zhang Wei had a mystified expression on his face.

Yulian certainly couldn’t blame him. His speed of progress was certainly high enough to leave most people in disbelief.

“Hmph, in any case, I don’t need to know anything about you. All I have to do is train you so that you can fully express your potential!” Zhang Wei let out as a light snort as he spoke. Meanwhile, Yulian sighed in relief. He was really reluctant to reveal information about himself.

“Teacher, now that I have reached the basic level of proficiency with the sword… can we get started with the heavy sword? I think my strength is enough to wield a heavy sword!” Yulian needed to train with a heavy sword! A heavy sword was a weapon which was extremely appropriate for physical training!

“Now that you have reached the basic requirements set by me, I’ll begin teaching you! A heavy sword is a weapon which emphasizes more over strength than skill! That said, it is still a sword, and training with it is more difficult than other heavy weapons like maces, hammers, axes, etc. Since you are planning to train in the Nine Stage Thunder Blade in the future, it would be extremely suitable for you!”

Zhang Wei immediately picked out a 4.5 foot long heavy sword for Yulian. The weight of the sword was around 20 kg. Yulian picked up the sword with some difficulty.

“To begin with, let me show you how to properly grip the blade.” Zhang Wei gently shifted the position of Yulian’s fingers. To Yulian’s surprise, he found out that the weight of the heavy sword bearing down on him had greatly lessened!

“Now, I am going to demonstrate the basic sword forms. Watch me and reproduce them!” The heavy sword in Zhang Wei’s hands started dancing! Zhang Wei’s heavy sword technique was perfectly recorded by Yulian’s eyes, who strived to reproduce it.

As Yulian swung the heavy sword, he found it extremely difficult to reproduce Zhang Wei’s graceful technique. Zhang Wei corrected him more often than not. Even so, he persevered.

Yulian circulated the Genetic Energy within him with the ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique as he trained. This slightly alleviated some of the strain over his muscles!

After only 20 minutes of swinging the sword, Yulian was tired to the bones! He immediately began circulating the Genetic Energy within his body to alleviate himself.

“Training with the heavy sword is really exhausting!” After this remark, Yulian did not waste a moment and began swinging his heavy sword! Yulian was extremely determined to train his heavy sword technique. This was the third day of his four days training session with Zhang Wei! He would be extremely regretful if he did not milk this for all it’s worth!

…

Two hours later…

‘My arms are sore from swinging the sword… The exhaustion I feel now is even greater than when I trained the Nine Yang Thunder Fist with the weighted skinsuit and electronic cigarette!’ Yulian idly thought this as he concentrated on absorbing Genetic Energy. His entire body felt like it had been dipped in a cool, healing stream as he was immersed in the feeling of becoming one with the world.

Slowly yet steadily, he siphoned some energy from the universe, absorbing it into his own body. He circulated the Genetic Energy through his energy channels and meridians, allowing it to settle into his body.

Two minutes later, Yulian opened his eyes. Like always, he had cultivated for around two minutes. Yulian got up and stretched his body. He felt extremely refreshed. The Genetic Energy had wiped away all the stress his body had gone through!

“So you got up. Whenever we train together, you never lie down for more than 5 minutes…” Zhang Wei complained as he watched Yulian stretch.

“Every minute is important. Jack paid 10 million dollars for four training sessions, you know? Every minute wasted is money lost.” Zhang Wei laughed as he heard Yulian’s answer. Even though the boy’s voice was childish, his words were tinged with adult wisdom. Perhaps this was the natural effect of being a prodigy?

“So do you need my guidance for anything? If you don’t, it’s time to end this training session.”

After pondering for a moment, Yulian answered, “ I… think I have reached a bottleneck in my Nine Yang Thunder Fist technique. Can you show me your Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique? It might be helpful.” Since he had broken through the limit of 500 kg fist strength, whenever he practiced the Nine Yang Thunder Fist, he noticed a slight disharmony in his movements.

“So you have reached a bottleneck in your technique, huh? Well, let me demonstrate my technique. It will certainly help you increase your understanding.” Zhang Wei immediately stripped off his shirt, exposing his bulging muscles. The Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique concentrated over the body’s muscles! Thus, if Yulian wanted to gain insights into the Nine Stage Thunder Blade, he would have to concentrate on Zhang Wei’s exposed muscles!

“Let me demonstrate to you… the First Stage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique!” Saying this, Zhang Wei immediately drew his sword and began performing the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique!

Whoosh! Zhang Wei’s sword made a sharp noise as it cut through the air. Every time the sword struck, the air seemed to vibrate! He gracefully maneuvered his sword. Behind his every slash was an elegance which came from years of practice!

However, Yulian did not pay the slightest attention to Zhang Wei’s sword technique. His eyes were glued onto Zhang Wei’s roiling muscles!

The Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique relies on a special way to exert force.

When a regular person swings their blade, you could say they use 100% of their strength! But in the Nine Stage Thunder Blade training, only 70% of their strength is used in a swing. After unleashing the first stage of their attack, they'll force themselves to unleash another stage, also at 70% of their strength. Two of these stages added together equals to 140% strength!

Expand, Contract! Expand, Contract! Zhang Wei’s muscles ceaselessly expanded and contracted as he practiced the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique.

…

Yulian watched every movement of Zhang Wei’s body. The muscles expanding and contracting, the sweat building up and dropping off Zhang Wei’s body, the skin gradually reddening… Yulian saw it all. He even saw the changes in Zhang Wei’s breath, and through it, the circulation of Genetic Energy in Zhang Wei’s internal body!

As he concentrated on Zhang Wei’s movements, he slowly gained some understanding into the Nine Yang Thunder Fist technique!

Five minutes later, Zhang Wei finished demonstrating the First Stage of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique. Meanwhile, Yulian’s understanding of the Nine Yang Thunder Fist had risen by a great margin!

Zhang Wei watched as his young student‘s eyes suddenly glinted. At that moment, Zhang Wei knew that Yulian’s Nine Yang Thunder Fist had improved!

“I got it! To think that I was making such a simple mistake…” By watching Zhang Wei’s demonstration, Yulian’s understanding of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade rose by a great margin!

Zhang Wei watched with astonishment as Yulian trained. The Nine Yang Thunder Fist Technique Yulian was demonstrating now simply could not be compared to the Technique he had been demonstrating before! T he difference was larger than the divide between Heaven and Earth! It could be said that before this, Yulian was simply flinging his arms and feet in an unsightly manner!

That was only natural. Before this, Yulian was simply training the ‘Nine Yang’ breathing technique and ‘Thunder Fist’ barehanded technique simultaneously, and thus, there was no harmony when he trained the techniques! But now, Yulian had finally grasped the essence of the technique, and began training the two together! Thus, the large increase in Yulian’s skill was no surprise.

Two minutes later, Yulian stopped showing off the fist technique. “How is my technique for now?” Yulian’s childish voice was filled with inquisitiveness as he asked Zhang Wei.

Hearing Yulian’s questions, Zhang Wei was simply tongue tied! Finally, he managed to summon his gruff voice. “Let’s see your fist strength for now.”

Yulian rushed to the Fist Testing Machine with Zhang Wei following behind.

This time, he immediately used the Nine Yang Thunder Fist technique to strike the Fist Testing Machine with a fierce punch! ‘536 kg!’

…

Seeing the fist strength displayed on the machine, Zhang Wei was secretly shocked. ‘Heavens! This child… I knew that Yulian was talented in martial arts, but I never thought his talent would be so shocking!’

This time, he had to exert some effort to keep up his stoic expression.

Seeing Yulian’s face, Zhang Wei understood his unspoken question. ‘How did my fist strength rise by such a high number?’ Without any prompting, he answered.

“Your strength has increased by a large margin, simply because you gained insight into the Nine Yang Thunder Fist technique. This is because the Nine Yang Thunder Fist technique has hints of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade’s component techniques.

The Nine Stage Thunder Blade Manual is composed of the Blade technique ‘Thunder Blade’, the agility technique ‘Flowing Light’ and the Body Refining technique ‘Pure Yang’! The core of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade Manual is the Body Refining technique, ‘Pure Yang!’”

“The core of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique is the Body Refining Technique, Pure Yang? Wasn’t the Blade technique Thunder Blade the core of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade Manual?” Yulian was rather surprised after finding out this information. Before this, he believed that the core of the Nine Stage Thunder Blade Manual was the Blade technique, Thunder Blade. After all, the name of the Technique Manual was Nine Stage Thunder Blade!

“The Nine Stage Thunder Blade technique operates by controlling the muscle exertions of the body. Obviously, it is impossible to train your muscles to the point that you can fully control them by simply training in a blade technique. The Body Refining Technique, Pure Yang refines the strength and control of your body’s muscles by infusing them with Genetic Energy!” Zhang Wei sounded rather annoyed when he was interrupted by Yulian. Nevertheless, he carefully answered Yulian’s question.

“As I was saying, the breathing technique ‘Nine Yang’ is an abridged version of the ‘Pure Yang’ body refining technique. The Nine Yang Thunder Fist, when used perfectly, manipulates the innate Genetic Energy in your body by circulating it throughout the body and gathering it at the core. During the process, your body’s muscles and other internal organs are repeatedly strengthened by the continuous circulation of Genetic Energy! Like this, your body’s strength will rapidly increase!”

“Of course, this technique is only useful for training people who wish to become Fighters. For someone like me who can use the Wu Xin Xiang Tian technique to cultivate Genetic Energy, the Nine Yang Thunder Fist is pretty useless! Any random Dao Yin technique will be ten times effective than the Nine Yang Thunder Fist!”

After hearing this, Yulian reaffirmed that the Nine Yang Thunder Fist was the best technique suitable for him to train in! A technique which manipulated the innate Genetic Energy inside the body to refine the body… such a technique was many levels above ordinary kickboxing or karate!

“Not only are you extremely talented, holding great potential in the path of martial arts, you are also extremely diligent in your practice! If you keep on training, I guarantee that you will certainly become a great Fighter!” Zhang Wei unreservedly praised Yulian.

“Next week, it would be our final training session. After that, I will be leaving on a long term mission! So for this week, train hard! If you have any queries, next Sunday will be the last time you will be able to consult with me!” After saying these words, Zhang Wei left.