Swallowing the Stars: Reboot, The Eternal Serpent!

Chapter 8 Practical Assessment!

The feeling of becoming stronger is captivating!

"Right now, I'm just figuring out how to generate power physically. When I finally comprehend the laws, I can't even imagine how exhilarating that level of advancement will be!"

After having lunch in the underground cafeteria of the martial arts hall, Jiang Zhe was about to return to the fifth floor to continue training when his second brother pressed the button for the ninth floor instead of the elevator.

Jiang Zhe cast a questioning glance at him.

Jiang Wu grinned and said, "Xiao Zhe, you've done great. The practical assessment is a piece of cake for you. Don't be so tense. You need to learn to balance work and rest. Come on, let's go upstairs for a nap, or go to the media room to watch some videos... We'll go downstairs to learn some new things after two o'clock."

Jiang Zhe thought about it and agreed.

Since my second brother can no longer teach me in the [Eagle and Bear Joint Training], let's just let this part pass and spare this unlucky guy who's about to be crushed to dust.

After the elevator reached the ninth floor, Jiang Zhe went straight into the audio-visual room.

Jiang Wu and his sister shrugged helplessly as they watched their cousin's retreating figure.

People who are more talented than you work even harder than you; they're truly "tough guys".

The video recordings stored on the computer in the media room were more complete than the copy he had.

Jiang Zhe was dazzled by the folders named after the secret manuals, with the seven core manuals mentioned by his second brother pinned to the top.

The Six Harmonies Dragon Spear!

"White Tiger Calls the Wind Blade"!

The Black Tiger Whip Technique!

"Chicken-Shaped Steps"!

The Bear King's Shield!

Eagle Claw Kung Fu!

Thunder Sound!

The folder below contains a collection of individual videos that teach some martial arts techniques.

The "Eagle and Bear Joint Training" is among them.

Jiang Zhe's goal was clear: to focus all his efforts on the "Bear" and "Eagle" dual forms during this period.

The video has started playing.

In the center of the screen, there was a gaunt old man, about 1.7 meters tall, with a cold and aloof air, who seemed very difficult to get along with.

He is Jiang Lie, the patriarch of the Jiang family, a powerful figure who once earned the title of "Invincible War God".

He's actually a very easy-going and kind old man.

A rectangular shield flew in from outside the screen.

After catching it, the old man began to practice martial arts routines. Despite his thin and frail body, he displayed the domineering aura of a giant bear charging around.

After completing the twenty-four moves, he changed his moves, and his aura suddenly changed drastically.

It soars and falls like a hawk hunting its prey.

The square shield swung up and down like a swung axe.

Decisive! Fierce! Ruthless!

Clearly, the second brother's understanding of the "Eagle and Bear Combined Training" was to emulate his grandfather.

First came the "Bear King Shield," then the eagle-shaped power generation was incorporated into the shield technique, perfectly integrating the two power generation techniques. The rise was like a bear, and the fall was like an eagle, forming a seamless whole without any flaws.

The video recording did not end there.

After finishing the Eagle Form, the old man threw down his shield, assumed the "Three-Body Stance" boxing stance, and began practicing Xingyi Quan in a serious manner.

This is his revised version of Xingyi Quan.

It was still the eagle and bear training together, and their movements impressed Jiang Zhe in just a few moments.

"Amazing! That's incredible!"

"His entire body is a master of power generation techniques!"

"The old man truly lives up to his reputation as the last inheritor of ancient martial arts from the old era; he perfectly demonstrated the power of force with just a few punches."

"No wonder he wears an unladylike white tank top and beach shorts; he wants to expose his muscles and joints to better demonstrate the secrets of his power."

As the video ended, Jiang Zhe was still immersed in the punching techniques, feeling as if he had been enlightened.

After regaining his senses, and thinking back on his second brother's teachings, Jiang Zhe's lips twitched slightly.

"One dared to teach, and the other dared to learn... They ruined my foundation."

"I need to go back and take a look at the original versions of 'Bear King Shield' and 'Eagle Claw Kung Fu'."

Move your mouse, open the folder above, and start learning the basics again.

……

Two hours later, Jiang Wu knocked on the door of the audiovisual room.

Jiang Zhe walked out of the room, and his strange state startled Jiang Wu.

His eyes were vacant and unfocused, as if he were in a daze.

Without even greeting him who was blocking the doorway, she mechanically walked down the corridor toward the elevator.

"Hey, what hit you?"

Before Jiang Wu could finish speaking, Jiang Sisi raised her hand and covered his mouth.

Jiang Sisi lowered her voice and reminded him, "Brother, why are you so clueless? Can't you see that Xiao Zhe is thinking about something? Don't disturb him."

After Jiang Sisi removed her hands, Jiang Wu covered his mouth with both hands and nodded repeatedly.

The two quietly followed Jiang Zhe into the elevator together.

The elevator is going down.

Until the sound of a "beep".

We've reached the fifth floor.

Jiang Zhe's eyes regained their sparkle, and an eager expression appeared on his face.

He has gained a lot in the past two hours and is now eager to verify it.

"Xiao Zhe, did you find something?"

"Haha, Sisi, just wait and see, it will definitely surprise you both."

The elevator doors opened, and Jiang Zhe ran into the martial arts hall, went to the punching power testing machine, and turned it on.

A powerful punch landed on the punching bag like a cannonball.

— "12665kg!"

As soon as they entered the training hall, Jiang Wu and his sister could see the bright red numbers on the monitor from a distance.

The two exchanged a glance, somewhat used to it, having become mentally prepared, and showed no surprise; they were simply puzzled—

Xiao Zhe, where is your limit?

Jiang Zhe was still immersed in the video clips in his mind, analyzing the differences between himself and his grandfather.

"Almost there, let's try again!"

— "13578kg!"

"Pay attention to using your waist and hips to generate power, and keep your shoulder swings to a minimum. There shouldn't be any problem with the flow of energy between your extremities."

"Again!"

— "14668kg!"

— "15889kg!"

— "17664kg!"

— "17856kg!"

……

The punching force eventually stabilized within the 17-ton range.

Jiang Zhe stopped trying, realizing that he had reached his current limit.

The power he unleashed through his technique was already on par with his spiritual cultivation level.

As is well known, after a mentalist awakens in the early stages, before the potential of their brain's breadth is fully realized, their cultivation level is two minor levels higher than that of a martial artist.

Without using any power-generating techniques, his punching force reaches 5 tons, placing him at the third level of a high-level warrior/apprentice. His mental cultivation level is equivalent to the fifth level of a mid-level general/apprentice.

"3.4 times the power!" Jiang Wu took a breath, his face contorted in a ferocious grimace. "There's something dirty inside, isn't there?"

Jiang Sisi also said quietly, "The perfect power exertion of the Eagle and Bear combined training is 3 times, but that's Grandpa's limit, not Xiao Zhe's limit..."

She paused, then continued, "I'm really looking forward to Grandpa's reaction when he comes back to teach Xiao Zhe."

"Haha, I also want to see Grandpa scratching his head in frustration. Unfortunately, I have to go to the elite training camp in early August."

Jiang Zhe turned off the punching power testing machine, turned around and waved, saying, "Second Brother, didn't you say you were going to teach me something new this afternoon? Let's begin."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wu's face visibly fell.

What reached his ears was—"Hey, jailer, come quick, sit down!"

With a bitter expression and heavy steps, he walked towards Jiang Zhe as if heading to the execution ground.

In a few steps, Jiang Wu remembered something.

His bitterness turned into a malicious smile. He loosened his muscles as he walked, then changed course and went to the weapon rack by the wall to grab his horse-slaying sword.

"Xiao Zhe, our afternoon lesson is practical combat. Go get a shield; your task is to block my blade!"

The sight of the gleaming, 5th-level sword made Jiang Zhe's heart tremble.

Confirming his second brother wasn't joking, he said awkwardly, "Second brother, even though it's supposed to be live-fire training, we don't need to use real weapons, do we? I'm feeling really pressured!"

"How can you improve without pressure?" Jiang Wu said with a stern face. "Xiao Zhe, trust your second brother. I will try my best to control the force of my attacks. Even if I accidentally make a mistake, we have the Water of Life on hand, so it's not a big problem."

Jiang Zhe: "..."

Jiang Sisi covered her mouth and chuckled to herself, finally seeing her cousin get the short end of the stick.

Jiang Zhe, a martial arts trainee who has been in the industry for less than two and a half days, is forced into action, and a clash between sword and shield is about to break out.

I'm currently reading the error-free version! This is the first time I've published this novel.

Then... Jiang Zhe was dumbfounded by his second brother, who was full of pent-up resentment.

The swordsmanship, approaching the realm of artistic conception, poured forth, one strike after another, continuous and uninterrupted, like a whirlwind sweeping across the land.

Holding the round shield, Jiang Zhe felt like a small boat in a storm, swaying precariously and leaking air everywhere.

The overwhelming, frenzied onslaught left him on the verge of suffocation.

The White Tiger Wind-Calling Blade truly lives up to its name!

Each group's actual combat lasts for twenty minutes, with ten minutes reserved for Jiang Zhe to rest. Once the time is up, he gets up and continues to be attacked.

Two hours passed, and after four sets of training, Jiang Zhe gradually gained the ability to defend himself.

His high level of comprehension allowed him to transform through repeated fierce battles, making him wield the shield with ease.

His powerful calculation abilities, granted by his identity as a mentalist, helped him calculate the trajectory of his second brother's sword moves;

……

However, it was still severely damaged.

The same anticipation for mealtime has been replaced by a different person, truly a case of fortunes changing.

The classes after dinner were taken over by Sister Sisi.

The explanation of body movement mainly focuses on the stability of the "chicken-shaped step".

The origin is the independent stance of the chicken form in Xingyiquan, which strives to be rooted to the ground and paired with a shield, like an unyielding mountain.

Next, we will discuss the key points of basic body techniques, and the characteristics of subtle and perfect body techniques.

For a spiritual practitioner, physical techniques are a strength, and Jiang Zhe is adept at learning this skill.

After quickly mastering the basic movement techniques, he tried them a few times on a high-end neural reaction testing machine and demonstrated the subtle movement techniques.

—It can exert extremely subtle control over strength and the body, making the most exquisite evasions with minimal cost, and its various movements and dodges are as if they have been calculated by a computer.

It's not difficult at all, and there's nothing to brag about.

Here's a joke: the universe doesn't even have this level of hierarchy.

To put it bluntly, it's just showing off micro-management skills, but it hasn't really gone beyond the scope of basic body movements.

Jiang Zhe felt that figuring out how to generate power was more difficult than that.

Of course, true microscopic movement techniques still need to be tested by monsters.

Just like his identity as a martial artist, he still needs to go through a formality in the actual combat assessment before he can be recognized by the public and officially step into the circle of Earth's martial artists.

The advancement from the Microscopic level is the Perfect level.

However, the latter requires a specific environment; Jiang Zhe certainly couldn't achieve that in the training hall.

Less than an hour into the class, Jiang Sisi's teaching career ended prematurely, leaving the self-proclaimed teacher somewhat displeased.

"Feeling like you haven't had enough?" Jiang Wu chuckled. "You haven't finished teaching us yet, have you? There's still the power generation technique for the Chicken Step. Go back and continue teaching us."

"Heh, that's not teaching, that's humiliating yourself."

……

Late at night, before leaving the martial arts hall, Jiang Zhe went to the audio-visual room on the ninth floor again.

This time, I watched a video recording of "Chicken Step" and tried to memorize the power generation techniques of the chicken form.

Back in his courtyard, he went into the primordial core and carefully studied the divine crystal.

After gaining divine crystal blessings, Jiang Zhe clearly realized a problem.

"My body lacks a core of power..."

It's still the same "tip theory".

Of the three sections of the human body, the root section is the legs and feet, and the tip section is the arms and hands. The middle section is missing, which makes it impossible to coordinate and resonate the force from all parts, and to allow the power to flow through the tip section and the whole body to move smoothly.

The boxing manual says: "If the upper body is not clear, the hands will be too forceful; if the lower body is not clear, the feet will be too prone to stumbling; if the middle body is not clear, the whole body will be empty."

Therefore, even with the blessing of the divine crystal on his comprehension, Jiang Zhe could only achieve about four times the power by integrating the power-generating techniques of the three true forms of chicken, bear, and eagle.

Based on the flashes of inspiration that kept popping into his mind, he made major revisions and minor repairs, eventually achieving a power output of 5 to 6 times.

The exact value will depend on the readings from the punching power testing machine.

"I've already mastered three of the Six Arts of Xingyi. Once I complete the Dragon Body, Tiger Embracing Head, and Thunder Roar, my power multiplier should surpass that of Thor, right?"

"Hehe, we'll create a secret manual and release it globally to interfere with Luo Feng's future choices. Doesn't he want to learn the best?"

After absorbing cosmic energy to nourish the cells in his body, Jiang Zhe drifted off to sleep with a wicked sense of humor.

……

On the 28th, Jiang Zhe arrived at the Chuanwu Hall early.

Following the power generation techniques summarized last night, I delivered a powerful punch to the punching bag.

— "27884kg!"

"About 5.3 times the power, not bad."

Because of the rapid improvement in his footwork, today's lesson only consisted of practical combat.

In the afternoon, Jiang Zhe was able to defend against Jiang Wu's attacks with a round shield, making him as solid as an iron tortoise and leaving Jiang Wu with no way to attack.

By evening, the turtle had evolved into an alligator snapping turtle and become aggressive.

If Jiang Zhe hadn't restrained his strength, and with his power increased by 5 times, he would have been close to the upper limit of a mid-level warrior. A simple "lazy bear crashing into a tree" move could have knocked Jiang Wu over.

On the 29th, a real-world confrontation took place, with Jiang Wu imprisoned.

On the 30th, Jiang Zhecai began learning the techniques of using the iron whip.

Since he hadn't decided on his main weapon yet and wasn't particularly fond of the iron whip, Jiang Zhe didn't bother with the "Black Tiger Whip Technique."

I only learned three basic moves—a horizontal sweep, a vertical slash, and a thrust!

On the 31st, a truly real combat confrontation took place.

Jiang Zhe fought his second brother, Jiang Wu, with a whip and a shield, in a real battle.

In the morning, Jiang Zhe was beaten up and looked quite disheveled.

If the left and right hands don't coordinate well, they're likely to start fighting each other before even facing the enemy. As soon as things get chaotic, Jiang Wu will seize the opportunity to unleash a flurry of attacks.

In the afternoon, Jiang Zhe got used to the fighting style of using a shield on the left and a whip on the right, and then Jiang Wu started his prison sentence.

……

On August 1st, the martial arts combat assessment began.

This is something every martial artist must go through. There are only two events each year, in February and August. If you miss one, you have to wait half a year, which is a huge waste of time.

Jiang Zhe and his cousins ​​who came to accompany him to the exam did not receive any special treatment and traveled to the Southern Military Region by train with the other prospective martial artists.

We had lunch at the military region, and in the afternoon we received our combat uniforms and equipment.

The military region only provided the equipment of the 2nd series, and Jiang Zhe was not satisfied with either the quality or the weight. He swung the iron whip, which weighed more than 100 kilograms, a few times, fearing that he might break it in the battle.

More than a thousand prospective martial artists were led by military guides for half an hour before finally arriving at Monster Town, where the practical combat assessment was to be conducted.

"Xiao Zhe, this is your first public appearance. A lot of people are watching you. Good luck!"

Speed ​​it up! Speed ​​it up!

Next, we'll work on the genetic level, then the power amplitude, then advance to the planetary level, and then leave Earth.

Hurry up! Hurry up!

(End of this chapter)