Wang Bowen's eyes widened and he gasped. He thought to himself, "To be able to do this on his first try, could this guy be a talent that Master nurtured outside of the school?"
When he first joined the academy, his physical strength was much greater than his peers. Practicing for one day was equivalent to two days of practice for others. Even so, it took him three months to gather the force within his body without letting it dissipate.
"Senior Brother, the force just now might have been too comfortable. It was like stretching my back. It went through my body from the bottom to the top. I don't know if I did it correctly," Chen Yiming sheathed his sword and asked humbly for guidance.
Wang Bowen tried hard to control his expression and said calmly, "It's not bad. In the future, you should just practice like this. Just take note of the duration of your training and stop when your movements start to lose form. Otherwise, you might injure yourself."
He noticed that Chen Yiming was about to ask more questions, so he hastily stopped him.
"Train by yourself first. I'm drenched in sweat, so I'll go and change first."
With that, he ran indoors, leaving Chen Yiming behind in a state of confusion.
He was a little shocked. If he wasn't a talent that his master had nurtured outside, junior brother Chen's understanding of martial arts was truly extraordinary.
Just by practicing the basic moves that were freely disseminated to the public, he could already grasp how to gather the force. If the speed of his body's tempering was also high, there might soon be another core disciple.
Chen Yiming watched Senior Brother Wang leave and struck himself in the head.
"I can't trouble my senior brother and ask him too many questions at once. I have to know when to stop."
Of course he understood such a simple principle. His senior brother did not have any prior relationship with him, and it was already very fortunate that he was willing to guide him personally. He could not ask too much of him.
He thought about it carefully a few more times before resuming his training by following the murals on the wall.
With the help of the small figure in his mind, he quickly filled in the missing parts of the Mantis Snake Sword Technique.
During this process, he unintentionally discovered that the level of the Mantis Snake Sword Technique was completely within the grasp of a Level-1 swordsmanship talent. He only needed to look at it once to easily master it.
He practiced it for another three or four times. Only when his body felt numb from the tempering, and his muscles began to tremble slightly did he stop to rest.
Chen Yiming knew that this was an instinctive reaction of his body to protect itself after he suddenly increased his strength. It was an exhilarating feeling. If it wasn't for the limits of his physical body, he would have continued training.
…
Around 9 am, the other trainees started to arrive at the courtyard one after another. Including the newcomer Chen Yiming, there were a total of 14 people — 9 males and 5 females.
The management style of the school was just to provide guidance for the trainees, and there were no strict requirements. The trainees usually trained in the school for one to two years, and the school fees were 30,000 yuan per year.
During this period, those who had no hope of becoming a core disciple would leave the martial arts school to find a job, which was equivalent to graduating. Only core disciples formed the foundation of the martial arts school. They would receive the attention of the head and be trained personally by him, and could get free training resources from the school.
"Hello, newcomer. My name is Zhang Youde."
Seeing a new face among the trainees, Zhang Youde walked over to greet him.
He had a mechanical watch on his wrist and was wearing a white shirt paired with jeans, instead of the training robe issued by the martial arts school. It was clear that he came from a special background.
"Hello, I'm Chen Yiming."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Chen Yiming found out that Zhang Youde came from a small martial arts clan. He had already undergone two transformations, and there was an expert in his clan who had undergone six transformations.
In East Lake City, other than the warriors at the very top in terms of power, those who had undergone six transformations would already be considered above average. This was enough to secure them a high-level executive position in a large corporation.
Wang Bowen took a headcount. After confirming that everyone was present, he announced that the morning's cultivation class would begin.
The morning cultivation class started at 9 am and ended at 12 pm, lasting for a total of three hours. This was the time when the core disciples led the students to train together.
Wang Bowen had arranged for Chen Yiming to sit by the side and observe the training for his first day.
This was a process that every newcomer had to go through. All the other trainees had the same experience.
Soon, under Wang Bowen's lead, the trainees practiced the Mantis Snake Sword Technique from start to end.
Chen Yiming was surprised to discover that only a small number of trainees were able to execute the Mantis Snake Sword Technique properly. Most of the trainees made mistakes during their training, and were not even comparable to him, a newcomer on his first day.
This gave him a new understanding of the martial arts trainees' abilities.
Although it was only his first day in the school, if he was only using the Mantis Snake Sword Technique as a comparison, none of the trainees were better than him — at least in the eastern branch school.
…
He took a nap for an hour at noon.
When Chen Yiming woke up, he realized that his body had miraculously recovered. The soreness and aches from his morning training had completely disappeared. He was amazed.
The Level-1 swordsmanship talent not only greatly enhanced his understanding of sword techniques, but also greatly improved his body's adaptability to swordsmanship training.
The trainees were all resting on the couches indoors.
Training for an entire morning was very taxing on the body. Coupled with the cool weather, everyone wanted to sleep a little longer.
Wang Bowen grabbed his watch and urged everyone to get up at exactly three o'clock.
The afternoon cultivation class lasted for three hours, from three in the afternoon to six in the evening, just like the morning session.
After the group was organized, he started with a demonstration.
The first stance — Emerging from a cave, the second stance — Fleeting Shadow… the twenty-fourth stance — Unstoppable.
Occasionally, a thunderous sound filled the air, and the falling leaves were crushed into bits as the force swept by.
The longsword in his hand moved as swiftly as a viper's attack. Only an afterimage of the sword could be seen, and his body moved lightly, as though it was a blade of grass. He could advance and retreat at will, completely unlike what would be expected from his strong, muscular body.
Wang Bowen finished a complete set of movements and steadied his breathing before saying, "It's your turn now."
The trainees were still sleepy and did not show much interest. Many of them did not put in any effort, and their sword thrusts were soft and weak, relying only on the strength of their arms.
Such demonstrations were performed once every afternoon. Sometimes it was Senior Brother Wang Bowen, sometimes it was Senior Brother Zhang Xingfeng. What needed to be understood had already been understood, and what remained was to work hard at training.
However, the vast majority of people had average talent. They would soon reach a bottleneck in their training. After that, they would be unable to progress for a long time.
After losing the freshness of a new experience, coupled with the stagnation of their level of cultivation, most of the trainees' treated their cultivation classes as a chore and carried out their training perfunctorily
On the other hand, Chen Yiming automatically joined the group after his body had fully recovered.
The wooden sword in his hand moved as nimbly and naturally as his arm would. Every move and stance was 99% similar to Wang Bowen's. Other than the loss of power caused by the difference in their physical strength, no one could find any fault with it.
Most importantly, as Chen Yiming trained, the special rhythm also started to pulse through his body.
An invisible force was weighing down on his body, and every movement of his was trying to to break through the imposing restraints.
This was a sign that he had grasped the essence of the Mantis Snake Sword Technique. Under this rhythm, his body would be thoroughly tempered.
After executing the whole set of moves from the Mantis Snake Sword Technique, the training robes on his body were completely drenched in sweat. His whole body was flushed red and his skin felt hot to the touch.
This effect meant that every part of his body had been thoroughly tempered.
Due to their improper forms and movements, the other trainees could only temper the easy-to-reach parts of their bodies, even with repeated practices. Some of the harder-to-reach parts were not fully tempered.
Therefore, they were stuck at a bottleneck and the level of their body's tempering had stagnated and not improved.