RBCT Chapter 5: Show Off Your Skills!
Chapter 5: Show Off Your Skills!
Over the next two days, Lin Fan took the Returning Mountain Fist to another level.
The first level is the realm of mastery.
From mastering the basics to achieving mastery, there is a threshold that many people cannot cross in their entire lives.
The ability to "master the subtle" means being able to precisely control the flow of Qi and blood in every meridian of the body, while "mastery" means turning this control into an instinct.
There's no need to consciously perceive it or pre-emptively mobilize it; the body will naturally achieve optimal circulation of Qi and blood.
With a single punch, the qi and blood flow as freely as an arm or finger.
The second level is characterized by fist techniques as powerful as mountains, reaching a state of profound subtlety.
The second level of the "Subtle Entry" realm means that Lin Fan can not only integrate his fist techniques into his blood and qi, but also precisely control the strength, direction, and coverage of these techniques.
If you want to crush your opponent's spirit, you can crush their spirit; if you want to intimidate without harming them, you can intimidate without harming them.
The third level, the Nine-Fold Back Mountain, represents a minor achievement.
Three days ago, he could barely unleash nine levels of power, intermittently, with a success rate of less than 30%.
Now, having reached the minor completion stage of the Ninefold Returning Mountain technique, he can maintain a success rate of over 70%, and the explosive power of the ninth level is more than one level stronger than before.
The improvement in one's realm is directly reflected in the increase in one's power.
Lin Fan didn't go to the strength testing room to measure the specific values, but he could feel that his strength had increased significantly compared to two days ago.
With each punch, the whistling sound of the fist cutting through the air was sharper than the day before, and as the fist slammed into the trunk of the old locust tree, more and more leaves were shaken down.
If I continue practicing at this pace, I'll master all three levels of the Returning Mountain Fist in no time.
……
On Friday after school, Zhao Xiaoyue called out to him.
"Lin Fan".
Lin Fan stuffed his textbook into his schoolbag and turned to look at her.
Zhao Xiaoyue let her ponytail down today, her long hair draped over her shoulders, making her look less capable and more gentle.
Her expression was hesitant, as if she was carefully choosing her words.
"Could you... come to my house tomorrow and tutor me in my academic subjects?"
After saying that, she quickly added, "It'll only be one day, it won't take up too much of your time."
Lin Fan was stunned for a moment before he remembered that there were only half a month left until the college entrance examination.
Zhao Xiaoyue's goal is Wuhan University in Shanghai.
Shanghai Wuda University is one of the top five martial arts universities in China, with extremely strict admission standards. It requires not only outstanding martial arts performance but also passing grades in academic subjects.
Zhao Xiaoyue's martial arts performance is excellent. She possesses the Xuan-level superior martial soul, the Ice Phoenix Feather, and has a strength of 1300 jin, placing her among the top ten in the entire Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.
However, her academic studies are a major weakness.
I barely passed Chinese, and my history score was a complete mess. In the last mock exam, I only scored 270 points in the humanities section, while the minimum admission score for Wuhan University in Shanghai last year was 320 points.
They were a full 50 points behind.
So she got anxious.
"Okay, no problem." Lin Fan nodded.
His martial spirit was able to awaken entirely thanks to the Bodhi seed from Zhao Xiaoyue.
Although Zhao Xiaoyue herself was unaware of this matter, Lin Fan remembered this favor.
I'm helping them with tutoring as a way of returning the favor.
"Great!" Zhao Xiaoyue's eyes lit up immediately. "Then come to my house tomorrow morning, and I'll ask my mom to cook a few more dishes."
……
In the evening, Lin Fan practiced boxing at his usual spot in the neighborhood.
The Returning Mountain Fist has three layers, each layer refined and polished.
When the first level of mastery of the fist technique is unleashed, the force is restrained and seemingly unremarkable, but only the thing that is hit knows how terrifying the force is.
Lin Fan tried punching a fist-sized rock. The surface of the rock was intact, but the inside had been cracked by the triple force.
The second level of subtle fist concentration allows him to compress the fist force to within three inches of the front of his fist.
In this way, the penetrating power of the punch is at least 30% stronger than when it was spread out.
He practiced the third level of the Ninefold Returning Mountain Technique, punch by punch, constantly adjusting the rhythm of the nine layers of force stacking.
Lin Fan is now certain that Zhang Heng's theory in class that "the intervals between the nine layers of force should be completely consistent" is not entirely correct.
The ninth layer of force, as the final explosive point, does indeed need to be spaced slightly longer, about 0.03 seconds apart, so that the potential energy accumulated from the previous eight layers of force can be fully released.
Lin Fan practiced until after 11 p.m. before finally returning home, completely soaked in sweat.
Zhou Lan was too lazy to scold him anymore, she just pointed to the kitchen: "The milk is in the refrigerator, get it yourself."
Lin Fan drank a whole carton of milk, took a shower, and fell asleep as soon as he lay down on the bed.
……
The next morning, Lin Fan woke up at six o'clock.
My biological clock has been completely switched on; I wake up at the appointed time, even more accurately than an alarm clock.
Instead of rushing to Zhao Xiaoyue's house, he went downstairs and practiced boxing for two hours. Morning exercise is more effective than evening exercise, as blood and energy are most active in the early morning, making it much more efficient at tempering the body than at other times.
Lin Fan practiced until nine o'clock in the morning before stopping, going home to take a shower, changing into clean clothes, and heading to Zhao Xiaoyue's house.
This was his second visit to the Ziyuan Villa District.
The security guard at the gate already recognized him; Zhao Xiaoyue must have given prior notice, because he was allowed to pass directly.
Zhao Xiaoyue was waiting for him at the villa entrance. When she saw Lin Fan arrive, she quickly came to greet him: "You've come at the right time. My mom just cut some fruit."
In the living room of the villa, Zhao's mother came out of the kitchen carrying a fruit platter. When she saw Lin Fan, she smiled kindly.
"Xiao Lin is here? Please sit down, please sit down. Yue'er has been talking about you these past few days. She says she can't concentrate on her studies and she's really worried about it."
"Mom!" Zhao Xiaoyue's face flushed slightly.
Zhao's mother smiled, put down the fruit plate, and tactfully went upstairs, leaving the living room to the two young people.
Lin Fan sat down on the sofa and took out his notes on humanities subjects from his bag.
This was a notebook he spent an entire night compiling specifically for Zhao Xiaoyue, condensing all the frequently tested points, answer templates, and easily mistaken knowledge points for both Chinese and History into one book.
"Read this through first, and feel free to ask me if you don't understand anything."
Zhao Xiaoyue took the notebook, opened the first page, and her eyes widened.
The text was densely covered with handwritten words, but it was extremely well-organized. Each point of knowledge was marked with a different colored pen to indicate its importance, and there were also concise examples and explanations next to it.
"Did you organize this yourself?"
"Well, I need to study anyway, so it's just something I can do on the side," Lin Fan said casually.
Zhao Xiaoyue lowered her head, stared at the words on the notebook for a while, then took a deep breath, tied her hair into a ponytail, opened the textbook and began to study seriously.
Lin Fan spent the entire morning explaining humanities to Zhao Xiaoyue.
He explained everything in detail, from templates for appreciating classical Chinese poems and prose to a universal resource library for essay writing, from summarizing major historical events to answering formulas for essay questions. Zhao Xiaoyue listened attentively.
Occasionally, she would look up and ask a question, and Lin Fan could explain the knowledge point in just a few words.
Zhao Xiaoyue noticed that Lin Fan's way of explaining problems was different from others.
The teacher explained the problem according to the standard answer, but Lin Fan explained it in the opposite way.
He first told her what the question setter wanted to test and where the traps were, and then told her how to avoid the traps and get the points.
This method is extremely efficient.
By noon, Zhao Xiaoyue had finished the multiple-choice questions on three sets of humanities comprehensive mock exams, and her accuracy rate had increased by nearly 20% compared to before.
"Let's eat first," Zhao's mother said, coming downstairs and inviting the two to the dining room.
Lunch was plentiful, consisting of four dishes and a soup, all home-style dishes, but they tasted great.
Zhao's father was not home; he was said to have gone to the provincial capital to attend an exchange meeting for martial arts masters at the prefecture level.
After finishing their meal and resting briefly, the two continued.
They ate until 3 p.m., and Zhao Xiaoyue's head started to throb, while Lin Fan also felt his throat was a little dry.
"Take a break." Zhao's mother brought over another plate of cut fruit, watermelon, cantaloupe, and dragon fruit, all neatly arranged.
Zhao Xiaoyue slumped on the sofa, took a bite of watermelon, and let out a long sigh: "I feel like I've crammed more stuff into my head than I have in the past month."
Lin Fan smiled and took a slice of watermelon as well.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Zhao's mother went to open the door, and there was a group of high school students standing outside, boys and girls, about seven or eight people.
The leader was Sun Hao.
"Hello Auntie, we've come to play with Xiaoyue." Sun Hao had a polite smile on his face and was carrying a box of pastries that didn't look cheap.
One doesn't hit a smiling face, especially one who brought gifts. Zhao's mother greeted them with a smile and welcomed them in.
Zhao Xiaoyue sat up from the sofa, saw Sun Hao, her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but she didn't say anything.
She and Sun Hao weren't particularly close, but they also had no grudges against each other. Since he brought a group of people with him, she couldn't very well just kick them out.
Sun Hao walked into the living room, glanced around, and then stopped on the sofa.
Lin Fan was sitting there, holding a slice of watermelon in his hand.
Their eyes met briefly in mid-air.
"What are you doing here?" Sun Hao's voice turned cold.
Lin Fan placed the watermelon rind on a plate, wiped his hands with a tissue, and said in a calm tone, as if he were saying that the weather was nice today: "I'm giving Xiaoyue some academic tutoring."
Sun Hao's gaze grew even colder.
Seeing this, Zhao Xiaoyue stood up and said, "I invited Lin Fan to tutor me. My humanities scores are too low, and I want to improve my academic performance to meet the minimum requirements for Shanghai Martial Arts University."
"Tutoring?" A follower behind Sun Hao sneered. "He's a martial arts failure, so he can only find some sense of existence through academic subjects."
Zhao Xiaoyue's expression changed, and just as she was about to speak, Lin Fan stood up.
"That's about enough for today, I'm heading back now."
He looked at Zhao Xiaoyue, his tone calm.
Zhao Xiaoyue shook her head: "Wait, I want to eat a little more. I'll have my dad's driver take you home later."
"Alright, I'll go take a walk in the yard first," Lin Fan said, turning and leaving.
The space was left for others.
Lin Fan went into the courtyard and wandered around. He saw a testing device.
He's been practicing the Returning Mountain Fist for the past couple of days. I wonder how strong he is now?
Thinking of this, he prepared to throw a punch and see what would happen.
He immediately unleashed his strongest punching technique.
The Returning Mountain Fist, and at the third level at that.
It hit the testing instrument directly.
The tester lit up.
Soon, a number appeared: 1506
Breaking 1500, not bad, not bad, Lin Fan was very satisfied.
This score would place you in the top three in the entire school.
It seems like he'll have no problem getting into Wuhan University, or even a pretty good one.
On the other side,
Zhao Xiaoyue chatted with her classmates for a while.
These people were naturally talking about martial arts.
As they talked, Sun Hao said, "I already have the strength of 1500 jin (750 catties)."
The people around looked shocked. Really?
1500 jin
Even Zhao Xiaoyue looked astonished.
However, there was a hint of disbelief in her eyes.
When Sun Hao saw these people questioning him, he immediately said, "If you don't believe me, I'll show you my power."
"That's fine," Zhao Xiaoyue said, "we have a testing device at home."
"Let's go," she said, leading everyone out of the room and towards a corner of the courtyard.
The villa's yard is indeed very large.
Not only are there meticulously manicured flowerbeds and artificial hills with flowing water, but there is also a specially designated area paved with smooth bluestone slabs, with a military-grade force gauge placed on the side.
That was bought by Zhao's father specifically for Zhao Xiaoyue, so that she could test her strength at home at any time.
When Sun Hao and the others arrived at the area and saw the force measuring instrument, their eyes lit up.
"Holy crap, the military's latest K9 model? Each of these must cost two or three million, right?"
"Zhao Xiaoyue's family is really rich."
"Nonsense, her father is a Earth-level martial artist, what's twenty or thirty million to him?"
Sun Hao walked up to the force measuring instrument, patted the silver-gray metal device, and felt the cool touch from his palm.
The K9 model is at least two generations more advanced than the old, retired model at the school. It can not only measure strength, but also analyze the speed, angle, and number of layers of force in a punch.
He lowered his waist and hips, brought his right fist to his waist, and his internal energy surged.
The phantom of the Xuan-grade superior martial soul, the Blazing Flame Blade, appeared behind him. It was a long blade burning with crimson flames, with intricate patterns flowing across its surface, radiating a scorching aura.
The surrounding temperature rose a few degrees.
Several henchmen instinctively took a half step back.
Sun Hao took a deep breath, his pupils reflecting the light of the flames.
Then--
He threw a punch.
boom!
The force plate of the force gauge vibrated violently, emitting a dull, extremely loud bang.
The numbers on the display screen jumped rapidly before finally freezing.
1498 pounds.
"Two pounds short." Sun Hao frowned, but quickly relaxed.
1498 jin, rounded up, is 1500 jin, there's not much difference.
Just as he was about to turn around to accept his companions' praise, he suddenly caught a glimpse of another number on the force gauge screen.
The K9 model force gauge has a function that automatically records the previous test data and displays it in the upper right corner of the screen.
That number is—
1506.
Sun Hao's smile froze.