Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 258 Pencil Case

In the city on Dongtu Island, the gaslights on the streets are turned off after nine o'clock at night. As for Xuan Chong, his physical training in the Prince's Mansion stopped after reaching a certain point.

After Xuan Chong's fourteenth birthday, the martial arts master in the Prince's mansion suggested to him that he should take medicinal baths and undergo steps such as skin tempering, muscle tempering, and bone tempering.

Xuan Chong smiled and declined. He vaguely remembered that his history teacher in the "Great Yao" plane had mentioned "moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education," with physical education focusing on healthy development.

Xuan Chong: As long as they develop healthily, there's no need to take it too seriously. — Once you take it too seriously, your energy will be diverted, preventing you from doing anything else.

We live in the age of technology now, and the cost-effectiveness of practicing martial arts is not high. If you want to further your martial arts training, you will need precious herbs such as "tiger bone" and "whale incense." After using these precious herbs, you will have to undergo more rigorous training, and during the training process, you will inevitably come into contact with all sorts of different circles.

Xuan Chong didn't want to get involved in those circles.

In the Dongtu Prince's Mansion, Xuan Chong's daily life as the heir apparent appears peaceful to outsiders; however, many powerful forces are eager to draw him into their circles.

Just like those princes from wealthy families in my previous life, their daily lives seemed to consist of dancing and eating camel feasts to outsiders; but who wouldn't want to take advantage of this rich fool?

Xuan Chong: "I get beautiful women to meet me every week when I go out to work. Now my mentor is being overly enthusiastic towards me. He's trying to recruit me!"

…The road of life is long and arduous…

As the world entered the modern era, ironclad warships replaced sails, and railways linked cities together. Railway stations replaced the old palaces surrounded by city walls, becoming the new centers.

The martial arts sects still exist, and to some extent, this is an era in which chivalrous heroes roam freely.

Xuan Chong: There's a saying from my past life that the people of the East are the most hardworking and resilient; in fact, this is the result of education under a long-standing civilization system.

The ultimate goal of Confucianism was to guide people from all walks of life to self-discipline and follow the proper etiquette, becoming Puritans. For example, the requirement for men was to settle down and establish a career; they were not to pursue any other path, otherwise they would be considered "prodigal sons."

The teachings, or rules, subtly encompass everyone under their rule.

The Han dynasty was conservative, with scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants each content with their lot. Well-established rules and regulations had long been in place.

Of course, the rules and regulations within the system are not inviolable for everyone. In the top-level structure that created the teachings, there are always some cunning individuals who take advantage of information gaps to go against the rules and sneak into loopholes in the system, such as corrupt officials and wealthy but uncharitable clans.

The chivalrous use of martial arts to break the law, transcending the rules and the law to punish those corrupt officials who exploit loopholes.

Lacking official status, these chivalrous individuals drifted along like water, adapting to whatever came their way. And these itinerant people, when gathered together, became known as the "jianghu" (江湖, a term referring to the martial arts world).

The martial arts master who helped him regulate his body in the Dongtu Prince's Mansion was a famous "bandit" in the martial arts world before he was twenty years old.

He was a disciple of the Huashan Sect. In his early years, he and a former Tang Sect disciple blew up eight gold vaults in Jingzhou and Hunan provinces in one night. The money exchange behind these vaults owed money to the local laborers. After destroying the vaults, he gave a portion of the money to the gangs that the laborers were affiliated with, leaving behind leaflets that proclaimed the money as "ill-gotten gains."

Then, after dividing the remaining money with the local guild members, they made a dashing departure under their cover. The message "The righteous one, xxx" was even painted on the bricks and tiles in whitewash.

Because the poor man who received a portion of the money believed it to be "ill-gotten gains," the local government had no way to recover the money.

Such behavior angered the local authorities, leading to him being wanted across several provinces. Even his former classmates were hired by the government to arrest him.

In his youth, he was impetuous and didn't care about going anywhere in the world; but as his health declined, his impetuousness faded. He hid in Dongtu, registered under the Prince's name, changed his household registration, and disappeared without a trace.

In the Prince's mansion, he was just an instructor, without any additional title, and still had one foot in the martial arts world.

Those in the underworld need to leverage interpersonal relationships to make connections, bring others into their circle, and establish unique personal relationships.

This head instructor of the Prince's Palace really hoped that Xuan Chong would turn his master into a teacher.

However, Xuan Chong didn't care. He simply adhered to the most routine physical training every day and had no interest in those secret martial arts techniques.

…Candy can lure children, but Xuan Chong is not a child…

This martial arts master also made Xuan Chong realize that "divine skills" existed; he could step onto the roof of a speeding train head-on. He could also pierce through an earthen wall ten meters away with a pencil. Furthermore, he could create a cage with his true energy, preventing birds from fluttering in his palm.

Through this, Xuan Chong also realized that "true qi" did indeed exist in this world.

Xuan Chong explained: This is like a "magnetic flow of air" that is stimulated from the acupoints, then flows into the body and out of the body.

In contemporary China's academies of physiognomy, there is a special research area for "qigong".

Through the study of a series of martial arts corpses containing condensed true qi by veteran scholars, it was discovered that their bones had been magnetized, and it was this magnetization that produced the effect known as "true qi." However, it is currently unclear what medium enables "true qi" to exhibit mechanical properties outside the body.

Note: The most active researchers of the warriors' remains were some old eunuchs; they wanted to complete the missing parts of their own bodies. Of course, the remains didn't originate from the Celestial Empire's large-scale roundup of warriors, but rather from the bodies of many grandmasters of yoga who were killed after the invasion of India. Modern Han Chinese warriors, upholding righteousness, were suppressed by the court and dared not be killed.

As winter turned to spring and all the fat on his body was completely gone, Xuan Chong practiced a set of breathing exercises to cultivate his qi, but then stopped after only a brief dabble.

As for the food, they did not use any readily available and expensive medicinal materials, but instead ate "pork", "mutton", "fish" and grains!
The physical education syllabus given by the history teacher included the following dietary principles related to physical training: food sources should not be unusual; they should be produced in a stable environment that is compatible with human production activities.

For example, grains and livestock are produced in areas of human activity, which have been regulated by humans for at least thousands of years and have long since formed a stable ecosystem.

Although Xuan Chong didn't possess the "Precise Sports Perception System" from his previous life, he accepted the theory. Steady development, with his physical energy rising in daily fluctuations, was enough.

Having witnessed the depth of a sports "system" in the previous dimension, Xuan Chong subconsciously placed the pursuit of master tutoring at a lower level.

Xuan Chong knew very well that once he followed the instructor's plan for medicinal baths and elixirs, he would not only be indebted to him, but he would also have to share the precious medicinal herbs with him. Of course, more importantly, he was also involved with the Huashan Sect, and he needed to use his resources to cultivate relationships with them.

Xuan Chong, who is extremely calculating, thought: "Do you think my family's money comes from thin air? Or that our resources come from the ground up? My family is also responsible for the karma of the local people."

...the abacus clicked and clacked...

The petty Xuan Chong said, "Otherwise, why would he or the church try to drag me into this? Is it really because I'm exceptionally talented and admired by everyone?"

He had been led into this path by him, expending far too much energy and time. It was just like getting hooked on a mobile game. Xuan Chong glanced at the "junior brothers" and "senior brothers" who had accompanied him in martial arts training, speaking politely but inwardly thinking, "They're not on the same path in the future."

Xuan Chong knew himself very well; once he expended too much energy and time, he would get carried away! In his previous life, he suddenly had an epiphany in his studies, which meant he devoted enough time and energy to studying mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and that's why he got carried away.

It's easy to get carried away, and that makes you prone to gambling.

Xuan Chong's self-analysis: He admitted that he had poor gambling etiquette and couldn't handle losing. Once he lost, he suspected someone had set him up. If he was certain someone had set him up, he couldn't swallow his anger and wanted to overturn the table. This internal conflict between "thinking about the consequences of overturning the table" and "suppressing his anger" led to him achieving nothing.

Xuan Chong couldn't help but recall scenes from Jin Yong's martial arts novels that he had read in his previous life.

What if, by any chance, one day, after being led into this world as a paying player, this mentor suddenly brings in a junior disciple with exceptional talent who rapidly surpasses him in cultivation? He himself expends a great deal of effort, only to be outshone by the junior disciple and unable to gain any significant influence within the circle.

Xuan Chong gasped: I really will, I really will break down!
Even after being reborn, Xuan Chong still chooses to study hard and strive for excellence, squeezing through the fierce competition for limited opportunities instead of choosing other paths that seem to offer an advantage.

Even if you gain the upper hand, what then?
Even if you enjoy temporary glory, can you really handle interpersonal relationships well with your petty and calculating nature?
Xuan Chong's answer was to not join those small circles.

So every day at the appointed time, Xuan Chong would go to the training room. One hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon; thus, to the astonishment of the martial arts masters, Xuan Chong's body was full of vital energy, but he stood steadily outside the door, unable to enter.

Xuan Chong's "aptitude" is excellent—his nutritional status surpasses that of 99% of beginners in the world;
Xuan Chong has an excellent temperament and is meticulous in his daily studies—how could he not be strong? He inherited the memory of the commander of the Great Yao plane, and his planning, execution, and decision-making are all first-class.

The martial arts instructor was completely baffled: Why wouldn't they take it a step further and enter the inner sanctum?
As for the martial arts instructor, he was actually trapped by his own limited perspective on the martial arts world—in his view, the martial arts world was the biggest.

...Traveling through time is definitely not about becoming a chivalrous hero...

In the fifth month after his journey, Xuan Chong arrived at the shooting range and began to try to learn marksmanship.

The weapons used by martial arts heroes these days are no longer swords and knives, but guns.

A new saying circulating in the martial arts world goes like this: You never know the caliber of a swordsman's weapon hidden in his sleeve.

The most common weapon in the martial arts world today is the Mauser pistol, which can fire in rapid succession and has tremendous force.

Xuan Chong continued his calculations: compared to the various tiger bones and ginseng consumed in the medicinal baths, the bullets and barrels for shooting practice were industrial products; he could afford to supply them, and he wasn't worried about his instructor finding a few practice partners. Xuan Chong very "generously" stated: there would be enough bullets. As for the instructor finding those disciples to take medicinal baths, he would have to use his own connections to exchange them from the Prince's warehouse; he couldn't just take the medicine without keeping track, relying on the fact that "Liu Haoxing is also using it." —Xuan Chong wasn't Jia Baoyu, calculating and petty.

That day, while Xuan Chong was practicing rifle shooting at the shooting range, he asked his master to demonstrate. However, in order to win back Xuan Chong's heart in the end, the martial arts master also revealed his hidden skills.

The master said to Liu Haoxing and the other disciples at the shooting range, "Watch closely, this is the most basic skill. If you can enter the state of sensing qi, you can master it in a few months."

The master aimed at the target fifty paces away, and in a flash, a gun barrel appeared from his sleeve. He raised his hand and fired, the movement so fast that only a blur remained. Then, all six targets on the shooting range were hit.

Xuan Chong only felt that the angle at which he raised his hand was a little off, but he still managed to hit the target.

Out of boredom, Xuan Chong took out a protractor from his pocket and held it to his eyes. This item in the pencil case was something Xuan Chong had brought from his previous life, kept as a memento.

He didn't intend to do anything, but the moment he picked up the protractor, Xuan Chong saw several dotted lines through it—the trajectories of the bullets that had just struck him. Among these lines, there were several distinct turning points.

Xuan Chong abruptly put down the protractor. Regardless of how this master master managed to bend the bullet, Xuan Chong roughly guessed the reason for the bend: it was probably due to the attachment of true qi, causing the bullet to spin and deviate from its target after leaving the barrel.

The most important thing is figuring out how to see the "trajectory" using this protractor!
This "protractor" was an item I used before the exam. Because it was rounded, it could be put in my pocket, while I still kept those sharp triangles at home.

The dotted lines on the protractor were very clear to him, but the others around him, seeing his astonished reaction, also looked curiously at the ordinary protractor. Xuan Chong quickly put the protractor away.

…After returning from the firing range, Xuan Chong hurriedly went back…

Back in his room, he hurriedly opened his schoolbag, his hands trembling slightly. He opened his pencil case, hesitated for a moment, and took out a ruler.

Holding the ruler, he paused, then slapped his own cheek. Hmm, it didn't hurt; it looked like an ordinary ruler.

Then he measured the ground again, and there was nothing there. After confirming that there was nothing there, he accidentally pulled the ruler, and in his field of vision, the ruler suddenly appeared longer. Xuan Chong rubbed his eyes sharply. He realized that, in his vision, "a line" had appeared directly in front of the ruler.

This line is like a computer-generated image that can be directly copied and pasted into reality.

After silently chanting "May all my wishes come true," Xuan Chong's ruler returned to its original state. Xuan Chong breathed a sigh of relief: "I must have been seeing things."

Xuan Chong paused for a moment, then walked to the window, pointed the ruler at the distant chimney, and then slid his finger forward on the ruler. In an instant, the ruler extended and touched the chimney directly. In that instant, Xuan Chong knew the distance between himself and the chimney!
6454.3456 meters. A straight line stretched from him to the distant chimney; this time, Xuan Chong was certain he wasn't seeing things.

And in an instant, the view shifted to the chimney, where the dust patterns on the bricks were clearly visible.

The sudden appearance of such a long ruler, accurate to the millimeter, startled Xuan Chong, who quickly put it away. A servant serving afternoon tea beside him asked, "Young Master, what's wrong?"

Xuan Chong, holding a ruler, watched as his servant obliviously approached the "dotted and solid lines" he had drawn in the air, and asked, "Didn't you see it just now?"

The servant looked at Xuan Chong with suspicion, and then said, "You were just holding a ruler in front of your eyes."

After a round of questioning, Xuan Chong confirmed that the extension of the ruler could only be seen by himself.

Then, Xuan Chong thought for a moment, then took out a pencil and an eraser from his pencil case.

Once again, Xuan Chong made a slight stroke, but this time the pencil slid along the ruler's line, and an actual line connected him to the cup of tea.

Xuan Chong stared at the line with trembling eyes, then raised his finger and touched it lightly. The line shifted and knocked over the teacup. A servant wiping the table nearby turned around and saw the teacup had fallen. Xuan Chong was six meters away. The servant rushed over to wipe the table, apologizing, "I'm sorry, young master, I didn't put it down properly."

Xuan Chong asked, "Didn't you see this line?" Xuan Chong pointed to the ruler in his hand, "drawing this ruler line in the air."

The servants were surprised, but Xuan Chong pushed the lines in front of them, and at that moment the whole table shook.

The servant quickly took a few steps back.

Xuan Chong took a deep breath and said, "Alright, it's nothing. Don't talk about it. I was just a little confused while practicing qigong."

As Xuan Chong spoke, he slightly moved the eraser in his hand and wiped away the thread!

(Xuan Chong already understood that only he could see the changes in the stationery, but the effects were real and tangible in this world.)

The servant seemed to realize something, his face lighting up with delight, and then he flattered, "Young master, the clan always said you couldn't do it; how could they know your talent? You can control objects from a distance with just one glance. It's truly a blessing from our ancestors."

Xuan Chong, puzzled, smiled, then picked up a rag and wiped the table himself. He then said to the servant, "Well, from now on, I'll clean my own room."

…the servant left in a hurry…

After the door closed, Xuan Chong fiddled with his pencil case.

Xuan Chong muttered to himself habitually, "What is this system?"

At this moment, the system, which had been absent for a long time, reappeared and sighed, "You're too slow to realize you can use this."

Xuan Chong's lips twitched: "Aren't you going to tell me?"

System: "During the exam, students are not allowed to ask the examiner questions about content unrelated to the exam."

Xuan Chong: "Wait, you're not a teacher too, are you?"

The system did not provide a response.

Xuan Chong was in his room. He picked up his pencil case, then paused, and the novel "The Fierce Soldier" fell out of his bag. He flipped through the book, then paused slightly, the name "Yao Sangu" seeming to shimmer under his gaze. Immediately afterward, Xuan Chong couldn't help but pick up a pen, write a few strokes on the name, and it disappeared.

Xuan Chong felt a sudden stirring in his heart and looked toward the west. Although it was thousands of kilometers away, he could vaguely sense that "she" was also here.

…The perspective shifts to Longzhou…

Across the ocean, in an underground technology facility, Benjamin (Xie Ming) and Green are sitting in a Volkswagen Beetle-style car, with a large cabinet-like gas generator on its back. Even this kind of car is a luxury item here. The metal spokes of the rubber wheels are plated with silver, and atop the hood is a "little golden man"—no, a totem pole.

The two arrived at the state-of-the-art electrical laboratory. It was purely electric, a place of science fiction for other contemporary scientists, but for modern people, it was still a uniquely "punk" space of this era.

Throughout this underground base, exposed copper structures and rings of electrical switches can be seen everywhere.

In the underground power distribution rooms of the 21st century, everything consisted of square cabinets, with motors stored inside. It was far simpler and more organized than this "advanced" power base we have today.

After summarizing the current findings of the technology survey, Benjamin told the student, "I don't know what will happen next."

Grimm, who was already wearing the suppressor helmet, said, "Oh?"

As required, Green is now establishing the "Academy of Superpowered Individuals," codenamed X, to replace the current overly barbaric "Ancestral Awakening" organization.

Green: "Weren't you the one who took over the war mission?"

Benjamin: "Yes, other people came in, and someone scored higher than me on that exam. By the way, tell me about your investigation."

Green: "This is the core of the extraordinary system in this plane, which is divided into five levels, but the characteristics are slightly different; some can twist steel, some can communicate with the dead, and some can control the minds of the living."

At this point, Green looked at Benjamin and asked, "The seven classmates I've contacted so far?"

Benjamin: "None of them are war-oriented."

Green: "What is the War Department?"

Benjamin: "This is the era of technology equivalent to the First European War; however, certain military equipment in this world is outstanding, such as the 'ion shield.' Currently, in the most cutting-edge military fields, the superpowers on each continent have mastered ion layer technology that allows warships and airships to become invisible. Do you think the emergence of these elements is for you to play with superpowers?"

Xie Ming said slowly, "During the exam, you must carefully read the questions."

(End of this chapter)