Chapter 22 – Selecting A Weapon
“The [Tiger Bone stance], can be split into eight stances. Within the [Eight Divine Stances], it is the training method most suited for training your bones. Refining your bones is different from refining your skin or muscles, you must pair it up with a mantra*. Watch closely…”
Under the sunlight, the burly teacher Wen Wan was topless. Every time he performed a stance, his muscles would bulge and there would be the faint sound of a tiger’s roar coming from his body.
Apart from the movement of these eight stances, he also taught Ye Qingyu and the others a mantra that was meant to be used alongside the [Tiger Bone stance].
This mantra was surprisingly similar to the nameless breathing technique that Ye Qingyu had always insisted in training in. It was also trained through meditative practice.
“So this is what a mantra is… then the nameless breathing technique I was training in was also a mantra? Ye Qingyu speculated.
But normally speaking, mantras were always paired up with a suitable set of martial stances. Only by combining the two could the greatest effect be produced. So why did his father not pass on a suitable set of moves along with this breathing technique?
This thought passed through his mind.
But Ye Qingyu did not think too deeply, concentrating in his training.
The [Tiger Bone stance] compared to the [Serpentine stance] and the [Bear stance] was more complicated. Ye Qingyu had already trained for an entire day, and could only barely produce the sounds of a tiger’s roar when he performed the stances.
This already made Wen Wan extremely astonished.
From within the memories of the burly teacher, the most exceptional in the history of White Deer Academy took them at least half a month to achieve this result.
Time, amidst the shedding of sweat in the practice grounds, rapidly passed.
In the blink of an eye, four days had passed.
Ye Qingyu had finally trained till he reached the grandmaster level in the [Tiger Bone stance].
In his every move and every stance, a thunder like roar would emit from his body. This was the result of the bones in his body vibrating. His entire skeleton, through these continuous vibrations, gradually became like steel.
As for the mantra that Wen Wan had taught him, Ye Qingyu had long abandoned.
Because he discovered that when compared to his nameless breathing technique, the [Tiger Bone stance]’s mantra was too rough and simple. The effects of it in refining the bones was by far not comparable to his own breathing technique.
Hence, Ye Qingyu decided to use the nameless breathing technique to match with the [Tiger Bone stance]; as expected the results were even better.
Apart from training the [Tiger Bone stance], Ye Qingyu would also stealthily practice the [Nine Moves of Soul Stealing Fist and Talon].
This was the only battle technique he possessed, and was also the only hidden trump card that the other students were not aware of.
According the Wen Wan’s evaluation, the proficiency of Ye Qingyu in the [Nine Moves of Soul Stealing Fist and Talon] had already exceed Liu Lei. If he had the opportunity to exhibit his prowess, he would definitely shock the entire first year.
……
Time passed quickly through these hard training sessions.
Not only Ye Qingyu, but the other students also did their utmost during training.
Everyone understood, that the four years spent in White Deer Academy would decide their futures. No one showed any signs of laziness, everyone utilizing every second of every minute to train hard.
Ye Qingyu’s lifestyle became very simple.
Every day he would have breakfast, training, lunch, training, dinner… then it was training as usual.
Because the nameless breathing technique was able to relieve fatigue and restore his energy, he often did not sleep at night to rest, instead spending it training instead.
Of course, there were things that did not follow this routine. Sometimes the little loli Song Xiaojun would come to converse with Ye Qingyu, complaining about the boredom of training and other small things.
The little girl had complete trust in Ye Qingyu, making him feel slightly touched. She treated him with near blind worship and admiration. Every time they talked, she would reveal the training progress of the geniuses in the list of ten.
Several times, the little loli again used different methods to tell Ye Qingyu the cultivation methods head teacher Wang Yan had given her. She would even sometimes bring him some of her cultivation resources like spirit stones or pills, but every time she would be firmly refused by Ye Qingyu.
The incident of Liu Lei being heavily hurt also caused a stir among the first years, with many people re-evaluating Ye Qingyu’s strength and the threat he posed.
But because Liu Lei and his group pulled the bow but did not release**, and there were not any further developments, this incident quickly passed.
Ye Qingyu also felt surprised that the retaliation of Liu Lei and his gang did not happen.
In the blink of an eye, since the beginning of the academic year, twenty days had already passed.
On the twenty-first day, head teacher Wang Yan announced in the assembly of the entire year something that made all the freshmen feel very excited.
The freshmen’s first wildness training would begin!
According to the tradition, after the freshmen were slightly prepared, they would be split up into different groups. These groups would then be placed in the wilderness of differing danger levels and battle with the dangerous wild beasts, experiencing five days in the wilderness.
This was an extremely good opportunity to win academic points.
White Deer Academy was a school that had an academic points system. In the academy, money was not the only denominator of wealth—
In reality, there were many cultivation techniques and cultivation resources that money could not obtain. But, if you managed to save enough academic points, you could use these points and exchange it for these rare resources.
The reality was, that the truly wealthy people of the academy, was those who possessed high academic points.
For the freshmen’s perspective, after experiencing a somewhat boring twenty days, to have an exciting opportunity to obtain academic points would make anyone feel motivated.
Before departing, nearly all the students were in the midst of preparation for the wilderness test.
Within the limits set by the academy the students could prepare different kinds of weapons and tools, and other things they felt like they would need. These were all done in order to obtain a good result within the training.
Within White Deer Academy, there was a commercial area. Somewhat famous weapon shops with a long history would sell various types of weapons and armours with runes carved on it.
These runes could activate automatically, absorbing the energy in Heaven and Earth. Even people who were of the ordinary martial stage and could not yet control the energy in Heaven and Earth, could challenge those of a higher strength through activating these weapons.
For Ye Qingyu, these high class weapons were not part of his consideration at all.
One reason for this was because he was far too poor and could not afford to have such high class equipment.
The other reason was because he had absolute confidence in his own strength. He had always firmly believed that a truly strong person was made step by step though sweat and blood and always relied on his own strength. If he relied on outside equipment from the start, then there would be no way that this training would have its intended effects.
Of course, going without a weapon was out of the question.
After all, in this world, many battle techniques needed a suitable weapon to be performed effectively.
In this area, White Deer Academy was very generous. It would provide some weapons for commoners, free of charge.
This evening.
After Ye Qingyu had finished training for the day, he went to the canteen to stuff his stomach. Then, he went to the public free armoury to select his weapon.
Because the time was comparatively late, the majority of poor students had already selected their weapon and left. Those who were still in the process of selecting were not many.
Ye Qingyu carefully observed for a bit.
“These types of weapons provided for free, although they aren’t spirit swords by any means, their craftsmanship is good and is made from high quality steel. Compared to what you would find in the market, the quality is a lot better…”
His eyes fell on a sword with a thick back.
On the body of the sword were two grooves that were one-inch-thick grooves for the blood to flow and it had a long handle. It made the blade look slightly sinister. It was extremely brutal and straightforward, matching with Ye Qingyu’s personality. Interested, he grabbed the sword.
“Eh? This is not right… this is too light!”
The sword with a thick back was around sixty pounds of weight. In Ye Qingyu’s hands, it was as light as a straw. He casually swung it around, as if it was a blade of grass in his hands.
Returning the blade to its original position, Ye Qingyu resumed his selection.
Originally, he did not have a clear idea of what he wanted for his weapon. But after trying the sword once, he suddenly had a plan – he must find a weapon that was suitable for his herculean strength, a weapon that could exhibit his battle prowess fully.
Hence there was only one attribute that he needed from his weapon.
Heavy!
After a while, Ye Qingyu’s gaze again fell on a bronze staff, around a hundred pounds, emitting a fierce aura.
But when he placed it in his hands and twisted his wrist swirling the staff around, he found that the staff was like a noodle being swung. Ye Qingyu shook his head with disappointment, returning the weapon.
It was not heavy enough.
In the next fifteen minutes, he tried axes, cudgels, cavalry swords, and hammers… everything that looked like heavy weaponry, he would give it a try.
But it was still not enough!
The weapons that the other students could barely lift, for Ye Qingyu, was still too light!
“Fine, if I really can’t find anything, then I’ll take this pair of hexagonal hammers!”
Ye Qingyu was slightly disappointed.
Together, the hammers weighed over three hundred and twenty pounds. He stood there carrying it, not exerting any effort at all. The nearby students around him were all staring with blank expressions. This kind of strength was too terrifying, far exceeding the strength of the ordinary martial stage.
Just when Ye Qingyu was about to leave in disappointment, a familiar figure appeared in front of him.
“What? Why do you have a face like you have constipation? Have you not chosen a suitable weapon yet?” The burly teacher stood at the entrance with a smile.
“Old Wen, don’t tease me, I’m in a bad mood,” Ye Qingyu said, grinding his teeth.
Wen Wan began laughing loudly. He waved his hands. “Hahaha, I know why. Come, follow me.”
Saying this, he turned and walked towards the backyard of the armoury.
Ye Qingyu hesitated for a bit, then quickly followed.
The two arrived at the backyard.
The area of the back was not too large, not exceeding three acres. There were a few tiled roof houses and a small practice grounds. In the grounds, there were a few young people with bare arms training, not looking like White Deer Academy’s students.
A tall and slim black-bearded middle-aged man was standing at the side supervising.
“Old Cao, the master has come. Quickly bring out your treasure.” As soon as Wen Wan arrived, he began shouting at the black-bearded middle-aged man.
The black-bearded middle-aged man turned his head to look.
His gaze ignored Wen Wan entirely, noticing Ye Qingyu immediately. He carefully evaluated him, as if he was judging something. Finally, only when his gaze landed on Ye Qingyu casually carrying those huge hammers did he imperceptibly nod his head.
“Follow me.”
*So when I say mantra, it means mental cultivation method. Something used to train your inner ki.
** Idiom