In the familiar quiet room that afternoon,
a strong medicinal aroma lingered in the air. Casio was applying a black ointment all over his body. That's right, according to the teachings of the Wind Elephant Secret Martial Art, he could not miss any place. Even though it was a bit embarrassing, he still adhered to it strictly.
After a moment, Casio's entire skin had turned a faint black. A refreshing feeling instantly flooded his mind. It was soothing to the senses, but the smell was particularly foul, reminiscent of the black mire dug out after the water recedes from a riverbed.
It was potent and carried a strong earthly smell.
"Are you done?" Lixia's voice suddenly came from outside the door.
"Teacher, hold on, I haven't put on my clothes yet!" Casio quickly picked up his light yellow training suit from the floor and put it on.
"I'm ready!" he called out.
With a creak, Lixia pushed the door and walked in.
"Open the window and let the room air out for five minutes. Otherwise, you won't be able to maintain your concentration when practicing the breathing method later."
"Yes." Casio immediately complied.
A cool breeze blew in from the window. Five minutes later, the foul smell was gone from the room and from Casio himself.
"Starting from today, as your master, I will officially teach you the Wind Elephant Secret Martial Art." said Lixia, "Tsk, why are you standing so far away from me? Come closer. Everyone goes through this, there's no need to feel embarrassed. By the way, have you applied it everywhere?"
"I... have covered... everything…" Casio, with a completely black face, stretched the corner of his mouth. It felt increasingly cool as if he had applied Mentholatum.
"Is the medicinal effect starting to take effect? Then let's not waste any time and start with the special movements of the breathing method."
Lixia quickly bypassed all superfluous chatter, produced a book that recorded the secret martial arts from her bosom, and began to explain the maneuvers and essentials to Casio.
Fifteen minutes later, in a corner of the quiet room.
Casio was half-squatting, his body leaning forward while standing on tiptoes, his head slightly drooping down.
His hands were clasped together, as if he was engaged in devout prayer.
"Huff...huff...huff…"
The tempo of his breathing rose and fell regularly, with the frequency of exhaling and inhaling divided into: "three-one, two-one, one-one."
Thus began the cycle, looping consistently.
At this moment, Casio felt as if his whole body was immersed in a hot spring. The originally cool ointment was now radiating a warmth, that penetrated the skin, spreading into his muscles, skeleton, and meridians. The heat seemed to create a large source of warmth.
"Huh?"
He suddenly realized that the heat on the surface of his body, which formed countless stars, was suddenly gathering towards his heart. In the moment it formed a vortex, a burst suddenly splashed out.
Boom! Casio only felt a buzz in his head, as his vision darkened and he blacked out momentarily. When he woke up, he found himself still in the original position.
However, two streams of red blood flowed from his nostrils.
"What is…"
Casio looked up in confusion, the words in the upper right corner suddenly jumped.
「Elephant Soul Secret Technique Fragment: Spike 5%（Total of three layers）」
The progress directly jumped to five percent of the first layer! And, what does this fragment behind the Elephant Soul Secret Technique mean?
Casio sensed a little and received the residual information.
Fragment, as the name implies. The Elephant Soul Secret Technique is not complete, there are three states, Spike, Insect Bite, and Burning Wind.
First layer Spike, complete. Second layer Insect Bite, complete.
The third layer Burning Wind, incomplete. Completion degree 55%.
"Is it to prevent the leakage of crucial levels? A way to maintain the loyalty of the core disciples. Or, does the Wind Elephant Gate only have two and a half layers of the Elephant Soul Secret Technique, and the core inheritance is incomplete?"
Casio quickly went through many thoughts in his mind.
"How was it? The stimulation of practicing the Elephant Soul Secret Technique for the first time is the strongest, and you can also gain great benefits. From the first day of practice to the tenth day is a period of rapid progress, cherish this time." Lixia said as she approached.
Casio stood up, his expression still a little dazed.
"Alright, wipe your nosebleed, let's go eat."
"Yes." Casio made his way to the washroom to wipe his nosebleed, only to realize that the ointment on his skin was surprisingly gone.
Only a faintly scented, transparent layer remained.
Much like the sun protection cream that beauty-conscious girls in his previous life would apply, you wouldn't notice the thin film unless you looked very carefully.
"Quite convenient..." Casio muttered to himself.
He took off his upper body clothing, standing in front of a clear and smooth mirror. Chest muscles, abs, obliques, biceps.
Rugged but not exaggerated, prominent but not protruding. Overall, there's a streamlined sensation, muscles firm yet elastic.
From a skinny bamboo pole to a body as refined as a cheetah.
All in all, Casio took roughly six months.
Using his hand to tap his sturdy chest, he felt the muffled thumping. He had a realized a mysterious confidence in the face of crisis.
"No one can take my life."
"Li Wei!"
"Sigh, here we go!"
...
Days went by, just as Lixia had said, the first ten days were the fastest phase in cultivating the Elephant Soul Secret Technique.
During these ten days, Casio was progressing at a rate of one percent a day. Every night, he could dream of his bones growing snap by snap; every day, he could feel his muscle lines getting tighter. His physical quality improved bit by bit.
In the meanwhile, Lixia taught Casio the Wind Elephant Fist, the secret martial art of the Wind Elephant. It was explicitly the advanced version of the Wind Elephant Basic Combat Technique, all the basic movements could be found in the martial art.
However, the moves of the Wind Elephant Fist were more complicated and of a higher rank, heavy with explosive techniques. Without a body unlike ordinary humans, its use was impossible.
So, the Elephant Soul Secret Technique is the root and the Wind Elephant Fist is the branch.
The priority is usually Elephant Soul Secret Technique first.
Casio trained hard and in a blink of an eye, fifteen days passed.
'Elephant Soul Secret Technique: Spike 15.5% (total three layers)'
'Wind Elephant Fist Broken: Gale 5.6% (total three layers)'
As expected, being a fighting system, the Wind Elephant Fist was as incomplete as the Elephant Soul Secret Technique, lacking a part of the third layer.
However, this had no effect on Casio, who just began his cultivation.
As the sun set, there was incredibly stunning rosy clouds hovering in the sky. For an instant, the sky was dyed deep red; the slow moving clouds were like a vast Red Ocean.
In front of the cafeteria, on the neat empty ground.
"Little Wei, we decided, in half a month we will ask for leave to go home, we will visit our mother." Li Chu sighed and added, "I wonder if someone is watering the Chinese parasol tree at home..."
"Okay." Casio stood next to Li Chu, his shadow stretched out.
"Little Wei, it seems like you have already grown taller than me." Li Chu lifted his hand and measured the height of the two with surprise.
"Seems so." Casio lifted his head, his face glowing in dull red.
"Little Wei..."
The two of them just walked, one asking a question and the other answering it.
Until they reached an intersection, then they stopped.
"Little Wei, do you have anything bothering you today? You can tell me, don't keep it all to yourself, it feels terrible." Li Chu looked up, a worried expression on her pale face.
"Sis, there's nothing. Can I hug you?"
"Sigh... Of course."
Li Chu was taken aback, then she opened her arms and embraced Casio, her right hand patting Casio's back from time to time, just like a mother comforting a crying child, warm and gentle.
At the same time,
Casio also patted Li Chu's back: "I'm sorry."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
Both of them separated and walked towards different paths.
Li Chu waved and laughed in his direction: "See you tomorrow."
With his back to Li Chu, Casio lifted his fist: "Goodbye..."