baiyuyi 32: Morning Training

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Chapter 32: Morning Training

The next morning.

Yuan Chenglei felt tired.

Even if he knew there would be no way a ghost would be able to sneak up on THIS bookstore with Laoban around, he had still found it very hard to sleep.

He had eventually fallen asleep, but it didn’t really feel like it when he woke up.

Still, despite the (roughly) sleepless night, Yuan Chenglei still clambered out of his bed at the crack of dawn.

He was a university student after all, so naturally, he had to go to his classes.

Of course, he could mess around and skip classes like some of his friends, but unlike them, Yuan Chenglei did not have the leeway to retake courses.

His parents would tan his behind if they ever found out he wasted his tuition like that!

Not that Yuan Chenglei wanted to – what was the point of going to college if he was just going to mess around? He might as well drop out and start looking for a job if he wasn’t going to go to class.

What about the leave he took earlier? That was a necessary exception, okay?

… Although now that he was involved in the cultivation world, it did feel a bit like school was a bit … unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. Of course, “the grand scheme of things” is regarding the universe and enlightenment, so how that related to him gave Yuan Chenglei very little reason to disregard an education.

Cultivating would give him power, but if he couldn’t handle the culture of the current era, what was the point?

Some cultivators might think that anything that couldn’t be solved through force deserved to be razed to the ground, but that way of thinking felt very non-progressive to Yuan Chenglei.

Since he was born a normal person, he naturally preferred to take a “Serve the People” stance, even if he couldn’t be considered a strong patriot of the nation.

And all of that meant that, despite a hard night of poor sleep, Yuan Chenglei was going to go to attend his classes.

And before going to class, Yuan Chenglei had to do his morning cultivation session. Although he hadn’t begun opening his meridians, so it was more training than cultivating, but regardless, he had to do it today. Definitely.

Since he had basically skipped out on cultivating yesterday.

It may not have been intentional, but after he lost track of time while talking to Daoist Treasure Finder, among other incidents, he had missed out on being able to cultivate in the few hours he had had before his shift in the afternoon.

And then after his shift, Laoban had sent Yuan Chenglei out on that ghost hunt, so he didn’t have much time to cultivate in the evening, either.

It made Yuan Chenglei feel a bit stifled; he had already missed out on his golden years for cultivation, so missing a few sessions here and there wasn’t something he felt he could afford.

There’s no way Laoban wouldn’t be aware of that, so Yuan Chenglei felt a bit confused as to why Laoban hadn’t told him to go cultivate, and instead sent him out to hunt ghosts.

This was no time for ghosts, Laoban! Really!

Actually, Laoban was somewhat strict with Zhao Jinjing, having drawn up a schedule for her for both cultivation and study time, but he had pretty much left Yuan Chenglei to his own devices.

Yuan Chenglei suspected it was because of that stupid, mysterious unique constitution he had.

Thanks to that strange anomaly of his, it kind of felt like he might not break through even if he trained or cultivated harder, and it didn’t seem like Laoban had any idea about how to help it along.

Since that’s the case, Laoban might as well just let him do as he please – well, it’s true that misdirected efforts were as good as no efforts at all, but Yuan Chenglei felt dissatisfied with not doing anything even if there was no clear direction to work towards.

Just sitting around and waiting made him anxious, okay? Geez, give him a break!

Although, if he thought about it, yesterday’s ghost-hunting expedition could be considered a ‘training experience’ of sorts.

If he thought about it like that, Yuan Chenglei could also hypothesize that Laoban was putting priorities on exposing him to more of the cultivation world.

It’s true that he, Yuan Chenglei, had very, very little knowledge of the cultivation world, after all.

… Anyway, if he got a late start on cultivating and had the most cryptic requirements to advance, Yuan Chenglei was convinced that he couldn’t avoid putting in a greater amount of efforts than the ordinary cultivator and would work hard even if there was no clear direction.

OF course, that was how Yuan Chenglei viewed the situation.

As for Laoban, sure, he was concerned about what Little Cheng’s constitution was and just what the requirements would be for him to begin opening his meridians, but other than that, he had a very different view about the situation.

This little disciple is a little too abnormal. If he’s this strong without opening his meridians and channeling qi normally, I wonder if it’s even necessary for him to open his acupoints…

The answer was still probably “Yes, it is necessary,” but it didn’t stop Laoban from performing thought experiments on how someone with unopened meridians could use qi.

Yuan Chenglei couldn’t use qi normally in order to enhance his cultivation, so the qi that was being produced in his dantian was simply being re-converted into a form of pure, concentrated vitality, further enhancing his endurance and physical abilities before the excess simply dissipated.

Although there was a limit to how much vitality by itself could enhance him, Yuan Chenglei could probably go head-to-head with any average First Stage, maybe even a new Second Stage, cultivator. Reaching the kind of body refinement of a Third Stage cultivator with vitality, even this purer, denser form of vitality, would be difficult, though.

Even without being able to master the cultivation method of the Eight Fists technique, Yuan Chenglei could probably compete among pro mortal martial artists without even breaking a sweat, and now that he looked back on it, Laoban was confident that teaching Yuan Chenglei the Shrinking Turtle Breathing Technique was the correct choice.

Although it was more difficult to use it without opening any of your meridians, it was actually excellent in teaching Yuan Chenglei how to retain some qi, as well as diverting the qi into his breath.

In other words, Yuan Chenglei was inadvertently learning advanced qi control techniques due to his strange circumstances.

It’s little wonder that Laoban wasn’t too worried about Little Cheng’s cultivation – one could say that Yuan Chenglei had skipped ahead in the curriculum, and therefore had a harder time learning the advanced skills due to his lack of basics.

That said, when Yuan Chenglei finally broke through, the basics would then be a breeze for him.

And so for Laoban, there were no demerits to whether Yuan Chenglei put in a lot of effort or a little effort right now.

If he put in a lot he’d make his future cultivation easier but his current cultivation harder.

If he put in a little, it would take him longer to advance, but his immediate advancement would be easier.

Laoban was a handsoff kind of a teacher, so he was going to leave it up to Little Cheng.

Of course, he hadn’t actually TOLD Yuan Chenglei about these things, and was purely curious as to which Little Cheng would choose on his own initiative, and was secretly also testing out Yuan Chenglei’s self-discipline.

Luckily for everyone involved, Yuan Chenglei was not on the type to stick to his own decisions, he was actually quite stubborn despite his easy going demeanor.

He had set out on the road to cultivation, so he was going to do everything he could to make it a little further, at least to break through to the First Stage somehow, dammit!

After getting dressed in workout clothing and tromping down the stairs, into the basement, in order to wash his face, Yuan Chenglei stretched a bit before approaching Laoban’s door on the main floor of the store.

The store was silent and dark, with the morning light just beginning to peek in, but Laoban himself wasn’t perched behind the counter as usual.

Yuan Chenglei was a bit surprised, since Laoban rarely left the store’s main area, even at night, but Yuan Chenglei didn’t think about it too hard.

Who was going to tell a Bigshot Senior that he had to inform others about where he was going to be?

Anyway, even without Laoban here, Yuan Chenglei wasn’t going to be inconvenienced.

He had recently been given access to Laoban’s mountainous personal realm.

By circulating qi into Laoban’s room’s door handle, the door would recognize both Yuan Chenglei and Zhao Jinjing and permit them to enter the realm.

Although, since Yuan Chenglei’s qi circulation was still inferior due to his unopened meridians, Laoban had to patch the system. Somehow.

Yuan Chenglei had doubted he would understand even if Laoban explained it to him, so he didn’t bother asking about the details at the time.

Like this, Yuan Chenglei didn’t have to make a nuisance of himself in the neighborhood while looking for a place to train.

Putting both his hands on the handle, Yuan Chenglei took a deep breath and forced his qi out from his dantian and into his breath, clumsily circulating it outside his body.

Kacha.

Seems like he did it correctly; the door recognized him and opened normally, despite being locked, and swung open to reveal the pure, blue skies, tall craggy mountains, and emerald green foliage.

It didn’t matter how many times he opened this door. Yuan Chenglei was amazed every time the door swung open to reveal the open mountain range ‘within.’

He might have experienced many things about the cultivation world these days, but it was still THIS sight that felt the most fantastic to Yuan Chenglei.

Stepping through the door that should lead to an interior room, Yuan Chenglei looked around.

Hm?

He had assumed that Laoban wasn’t in the store because he had already entered this personal realm, but Laoban wasn’t here.

This was technically Laoban’s room, after all.

The pavilion set up at the peak of the mountain with the door didn’t have a door itself, and Yuan Chenglei could clearly see there was no one within, either at the desk, bed, or furnace.

Laoban could be in the rear room of the pavilion, obscured behind a wall, but it didn’t seem like it.

From what Yuan Chenglei could tell, he wasn’t here.

… He’d thought about this before, but Yuan Chenglei wondered if Laoban had another realm or two besides this one.

This wasn’t the first time he’d been unable to find Laoban anywhere, after all.

Even if Laoban wasn’t here, Yuan Chenglei wasn’t alone on the mountain peak.

His ‘fellow disciple’ had already arrived even earlier than he had.

Zhao Jinjing was already training by herself in Laoban’s personal realm.

“Ji -” Although he was about to call out to her, Yuan Chenglei stopped himself.

It’s rude to disturb someone who was desperately concentrating.

But man, it was really early in the morning.

Zhao Jinjing is still young, so wasn’t she overdoing it?

Yuan Chenglei couldn’t help feel like it was at least partially his fault, even though it technically wasn’t his fault.

Since he couldn’t open his meridians yet he could only train his techniques and build up qi, that would then nourish his vitality as the excess disspated, which allowed him to continue to train without even needing to rely on the blood and qi pills.

It wasn’t unusual for him to practice his techniques without rest for hours – but it seemed to spur Zhao Jinjing on to try to do just as much.

Even though Yuan Chenglei thought their situations were very different, so he was worried about whether she was overexerting herself or not.

Um… if it was really bad for her, Laoban would have stepped in to stop her, right?

Yuan Chenglei rubbed the back of his head with some concern as he watched her.

Luckily Zhao Jinjing had already begun to open her meridians, soshe did less repetitive technique grinding and more actual cultivation – like meditating and qi circulation – so maybe it wasn’t too bad…

This morning, too, Zhao Jinjing was performing the daily routine her father had taught her since she was a little girl, and was flitting about the mountain top as she practiced the evasion technique Soaring Gull Disperses Droplets.

It really was quite a pretty technique…

As Yuan Chenglei took some distance so he could train without disturbing her, he couldn’t help glancing back over at Zhao Jinjing.

She was already a very pretty girl, but after so many medicinal baths, pills, and rare ingredients stimulating her yin and improving her physical attributes, she had become quite the beauty.

… Crap. I’m going to have to bash in SO many guys’ knees before she even enters high school.

Although Yuan Chenglei’s resistance to underaged girls was pretty ironclad, he was still a man and he was well-aware about what would go through many the minds of males of all sorts of ages.

All the men in the area that don’t know how to appreciate without touching are going to be his mortal enemy for a while, aren’t they?

Huh? What about the cultivators who don’t know how to appreciate without touching? … Laoban, this Yuan Chenglei will leave it to you!

Thinking silly things like that, Yuan Chenglei settled into his usual spot on the mountain and took a few deep breaths before he emptied his mind and began to train.

“Phew…. Fist of the Creative-!”

—

Later that day found Yuan Chenglei, flopped on a desk in a lecture hall, feeling a bit worn from lack of sleep and his intense morning cultivation session.

“… Chenglei. Are you alright?”

Yuan Chenglei’s good friend Luo Jinwei couldn’t help but wonder.

These days, he just couldn’t tell if his good friend was doing well or not.

On one hand, it was clear that Yuan Chenglei wasn’t getting enough sleep.

On the other, he had never seemed healthier.

“Yeah… I’m fine…” Yuan Chenglei’s response wasn’t particularly convincing, but within the next second, he sat straight up and yelled, “Hey, Brother Nangong! Wait up, did we have homework in second hour?!” before shooting off and chasing after Nangong Weizhang and his girlfriend.

“… Hey, Ah’ling, don’t you think something’s up with Chenglei?” Luo Jinwei asked their mutual childhood friend, Tsu Huiling, as they watched Yuan Chenglei run off, full of energy.

“It’s better not to worry too much about Silly Chenglei. If there’s something wrong, he’ll tell us. If it’s something he doesn’t want us to know but he feels guilty about, then he’ll tell us. Chenglei can’t keep a secret after all,” Tsu Huiling said.

“Is that really true…?” Luo Jinwei said doubtfully.

“… …It should be fine? If it’s something he won’t talk about, then it’s probably something he shouldn’t talk about, right?” Tsu Huiling wasn’t worried at all. She was fairly confident in Yuan Chenglei’s character.

It probably wasn’t drugs, right?

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<a/n: There hasn’t been a lot of the other extra story updates because I’ve been working on another project, which a few of you have already guessed that it’s a webcomic.

I’m going to be a little transparent and say: the prep time before launching a webcomic is an extremely stressful time for me.
That’s because it’s the time where one side of me is getting anxious to launch while another side is anxiously wanting hit the abort button, and they’re duking it out in my head.
(This is the reason why I have a lot of false starts when it comes to webcomics, usually because I eventually decide that telling the story isn’t worth more than the effort of drawing a webcomic.)

And of course, I finally hit on a story I want to do, but I can’t settle on the MC’s design, and because I’ve been waffling around with it for over 6 months, I said screw it, I’ll just start drawing or I’ll never start, but of course it’s taking a lot longer than usual because I have to stop and research/decide/redraw things due to unprepared lack of design.

So basically, once I finish this first run of prologue+establishing pages of chapter 1, I’ll have more mental space available to dabble in the extras and whatnot.

For those curious, the basic premise is a high-school (American) girl who has returned from another world after a long while, only to discover Earth is more magical than she expected.
As for the setting, you could say that the idea of Cursed’s world is a predecesser to this one, and I’m sure there will be some elements from the other originals that crop up simply because they all come out of my head, but… yeah. It’s very much a dual world concept similar to Cursed, but a step away from JLn elements and gods.
>