Chapter 17 – Terrifying Talent
From the memory of the burly teacher, there were extremely few students, who in their first training of the [Serpentine stance], would be able to perform it so perfectly.
This Ye Qingyu, no wonder he had ninth grade talent and was able to cause the flame flowers on the talent torch to bloom.
The burly teachers gaze was full of compliments, about to say something. But very quickly, his gaze was frozen with shock again!
Because Ye Qingyu started to practice the second stance.
It was another perfect performance.
The burly teacher could even feel the aura of a vicious snake emitting from Ye Qingyu…
“This… he not only has imitated the form, but he seems to have grasped the true essence of the stance!”
The burly teacher, at this moment, was astonished.
This Ye Qingyu, did he study the [Serpentine stance] before? Otherwise how was it possible … Was this really the terrifying talent of someone who activated the nine flame flowers?
Afterwards, when Ye Qingyu started to practice the third stance, other students began to notice his actions.
Ye Qingyu body was like a snake, sometimes hiding, sometimes arching up violently, his body so flexible it was as if he possessed no bones. In this moment in time, it seemed as if he had really transformed into a real snake, moving along the ground.
When he practiced until the six stance, he was like flowing water, completing every move in one breath. It was as if he had practiced this thousands, if not tens of thousands of times before! “[A Viper’s Poison]!” Ye Qingyu loudly shouted.
As his hands moved, hisses started appearing in the air. It seemed as if there really was a humongous viper swallowing prey and spitting poison, causing people to feel fear.
“[Divine Snake Moon]!”
Ye Qingyu performed the last move.
The burly teacher was so shocked he was about to bite of his own tongue.
He had been teaching the basics of training one’s body for over ten years in White Deer Academy. He had seen various geniuses and strange talents, but he had never seen anyone like Ye Qingyu. Someone like Ye Qingyu, who by only observing the [Serpentine stance] of the [Eight Divine Stances] once, and was able to replicate and grasp the true essence of it, this was his first time seeing such a monster.
If this teenager did not practice the [Serpentine stance] beforehand, then this was really too frightening. Did he have an eidetic memory? His ability to understand could be titled as prodigious.
This type of teenager seemed to be born for the martial path.
The gaze of the other teenagers around were also filled with complicated expressions of shock, jealousy and admiration. Several adolescents who possessed incomparable confidence in themselves, when they realized they could not even complete the first stance of the [Serpentine stance], was thunderstruck when they compared their efforts to Ye Qingyu.
The burly teacher gave the teenagers a glare, sternly shouting, “What are you looking at, quickly go practice! Try and understand it on your own, if you have any areas you don’t understand, then come back tomorrow and ask me.”
The teenagers snapped out of their dumbfounded states. Ye Qingyu’s performance stimulated them, making everyone concentrate and work even harder.
When Ye Qingyu finished performing all eight stances of the [Serpentine stance], he felt that his entire body was hot, filled with a type of heat that was trying to escape, his blood boiling.
He slowly inhaled, adjusting his breath.
Then, he started his second iteration of the form.
The burly teacher did not say anything more, silently standing at the sides of the practicing grounds. His gazed seemed to look around at every student, supervising their training, but the majority of his time and attention was focused on Ye Qingyu.
The more he observed, the more shocked he was.
When he practiced the [Serpentine stance] for the fifth time, the burly teacher was certain that the youth had already completely understood the essence of this form. It was as if he was a martial artist that had practiced this skill for tens of years, every move perfect, no matter whether you considered the form or rhythm.
What was even more unbelievable was that as Ye Qingyu continued to perform the [Serpentine stance], under the sunlight, the teenager’s skin seemed to produce a golden reflection.
This was a sign of the first stage of the Ordinary Martial stage!
The burly teacher could not believe the sight before his eyes, he felt his understanding of martials arts being completely broken by this teenager — In the seventh iteration of the [Serpentine stance], he had already managed to achieve some success in the first stage of the Ordinary Martial stage?
Supernatural!
How was this possible?
This could no longer be explained by just natural talent.
Just what of kind of secret was this teenager hiding? ……
Ye Qingyu continuously went through the motions of the [Serpentine stance].
If at the start his body was slightly tentative, then now as time passed, he was already completely immersed in the process of training his body.
As the eight stances became smoother and smoother, Ye Qingyu felt every inch of his body, every muscle and bone, and every inch of skin become activated through the stances of the [Serpentine stance].
Within his body, there was a flame-like thing that was originally buried deep within, but at this moment, it seemed to be stimulated.
Ye Qingyu could feel his body become hotter and hotter, his blood was as if it was burning. He could feel a type of energy that wanted to escape through the pores of his skin.
Ye Qingyu’s mind was extremely clear.
He suddenly remembered the words that that the burly teacher said earlier, the chant for training in the Ordinary Martial stage that was less than a hundred words. The words that was not quite understood, suddenly became clear, his actions becoming more coordinated.
The mysterious energy that wanted to gush out of his body was subconsciously stopped.
A strange feeling spread out through his entire skin.
It was an extremely comfortable feeling, filled with excitement.
Ye Qingyu repeated stance after stance of the [Serpentine stance].
Near the end, he did not follow the order that the burly teacher taught but randomly mixed the sequence of the stances. He moved according to his will, his heart deciding on the order of the stances.
Time, under the shedding of sweat by the teenagers, quickly flowed by.
Ye Qingyu did not know how many times he practiced the [Serpentine stance]. Only when he started to feel strains of fatigue did he stop, his mental state awakening from cultivating.
“Eh? You guys… what are you doing?”
Ye Qingyu only just noticed that the teenagers had already surrounded him, forming a small circle with the burly teacher at the front.
Everyone was staring at him unblinkingly.
Their gaze was as if they were looking at a monster.
The teenagers were speechless.
The burly teacher did not say a word, only walked over and grabbed Ye Qingyu’s right arm, observing carefully. In his eyes, a strange light appeared, and he even carefully felt Ye Qingyu’s exposed skin in detail.
“The first stage of the Ordinary Martial stage, the skin stage you have already full completed… How did you manage to do this?”
The burly teacher reached his conclusion, staring steadily at Ye Qingyu.
Ye Qingyu himself was also slightly confused. He shook his head saying, “I… don’t know!”
The burly teacher was taken aback.
He could tell that Ye Qingyu was not lying.
At this moment, he did not know what to say.
The teenager in front of him, only by training in the [Serpentine stance] for two hours caused his entire skin to clear and smooth, his skin as if it was a layer of pale gold, incomparably soft and flexible. This evidently was the peak of the first stage of the Ordinary Martial stage.
What is monstrous?
This was!
At the start, when the burly teacher saw Ye Qingyu being able to perform the entire [Serpentine stance], he was already extremely shocked, but right now… He was very nearly going numb.
Disregarding Ye Qingyu, the burly teacher took a deep breath to recover. He turned around and look at the surrounding youths.
“After watching for thirty minutes, I’m sure that even the most stupid out of you should be able to see some insights in the stances, and can obtain something from this. Ye Qingyu has monstrous talent, being able to see me demonstrate the [Serpentine stance] once and remembering it all. Instantly learning it is his ability and also your good fortune, to be able see a grand master performing and for half an hour too…”
The teenagers quietly listened to the teacher’s lecture.
“Of course, you don’t need to be impacted by this. Ye Qingyu’s monstrous talent is his own business, you don’t need to compare yourself with him. You only need to remember that every one of you has gone through the strictest of examination before being selected, each of you is a real genius. You are exceptional when compared to your age group and the martial path does not care about who is first or last, only about those who can finish walking this path – right now Ye Qingyu is walking faster than you, but who says you cannot overtake him?”
The burly teacher’s gaze swept across the teenagers who were disheartened from Ye Qingyu’s performance. His tone was filled with encouragement.
The teenagers loudly shouted in reply.
A smile appeared on the burly teacher’s face, then he nodded his head saying, “End of class!”
Then he did not look at Ye Qingyu, directly leaving.
But Ye Qingyu knew, the things that happened here today, the burly teacher would definitely report it to the higher ups of the academy in the shortest amount of time.
Ye Qingyu could feel that the burly teacher was a good person.
The burly teacher did not neglect the other students because of his shining performance. And at the end, the words that he said, partly was to encourage and inspire the students to prevent them from being dispirited, but it was also to help Ye Qingyu, to stop the other students from isolating him.
Within White Deer Academy, there were still good people.
Trash instructors like Liu Heng was still in the minority.
……
After eating dinner at the canteen, Ye Qingyu returned to the dormitory.
He was thinking about what had happened in the afternoon.
He had only repeated the [Serpentine stance] ten times before reaching the peak of the skin stage. This was slightly hard to believe. Even if the [Serpentine stance] was the ideal method to train your skin, but to reach such a level, this could not be the only reason.
For a normal person to reach the peak of the skin stage, not only would they have to cultivate in the correct technique, but they would also have to use medicinal baths. If they were slow, this would take several years, if they were fast, several months. Even a genius needed one or two months to reach this stage, and this was already extremely shocking…
But he himself…
Ye Qingyu had always had unshakeable confidence in his own talent, but the things that happened here today could not be explained by his talent alone. It was too ridiculous.
So what was the reason?
After long thought, Ye Qingyu could identify two reasons as to why this might be.
The first was the nameless breathing technique his father had passed on to him. The second… was the heroic brass badge?
The nameless techniques background was extremely mysterious. He had already trained in it for over ten years, but he could still not see the benefits to him apart from making him have herculean strength.