Chapter 12: Touching
Yang Tong looked in the direction Feng Xiaobo was pointing and was instantly shocked. He asked softly, "Are you sure you're pointing at the right person?" Because his friend was pointing at a mountain of flesh, to describe it accurately. That person was a head taller than him, and he estimated her weight to be at least three hundred kilograms!
"Definitely, I swear!" Feng Xiaobo raised his hand solemnly, then grinned mischievously. "Otherwise, the boys of class eight wouldn't be known as the shame of their male peers. I bet if the boys from class eight walk down the street now, they definitely wouldn't dare admit they're from class eight, hehehe..."
Yang Tong put himself in their shoes and thought that if it were him, he would probably die of shame.
"Then how much do you know about my opponent for tomorrow?" he asked.
"Qin Tianyue? Compared to that one, she's a hundred times better, and she's actually quite good-looking. But I heard her strength is definitely not weak, so be careful," Feng Xiaobo answered with his head down.
Yang Tong rolled his eyes, speechless. Wasn't that obvious? Could anyone who made it into the graduation tournament be weak?
"I'm off, going home to rest." He turned and waved goodbye to Feng Xiaobo.
When he got home, it wasn't dinner time yet since he returned early. He went to the courtyard, faced the strength tester, and threw a punch with a boom.
The strength tester actually showed a 1.8-fold increase.
"How is this possible?" He couldn't believe it himself. He had tested it just three days ago, and it was only a 1.3-fold increase. How did it grow to 1.8 in just three days?
He deleted the data from the strength tester and re-measured his standard power delivery.
He threw a lunge punch at the strength tester. The machine showed his standard strength as 392 kilograms—just a tiny bit away from reaching the strength standard of a Level Four Apprentice Martial Artist. Subsequently, he tried a few more times; the data wasn't wrong, with only some minor fluctuations.
What surprised him the most was how his strength had surged by dozens of kilograms in just a few short days.
He thought carefully about his experiences over the last few days. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except for his neural reflexes suddenly increasing threefold, and his practice of the Tai Chi Thirteen Forms to adapt to it.
"Could it be..." he seemed to realize something.
He stood in the center of the courtyard and slowly began practicing the Tai Chi Fist. He performed the Thirteen-form Tai Chi Fist over and over again until the tenth repetition, stopping at the move Apparent Close.
He squatted in the courtyard in a strange horse stance, his hands forming a circle with palms facing inward, as if he were holding a ball.
He was completely entranced, experiencing an indescribable feeling, as if he were merging with heaven and earth.
Just then, his father returned from outside. "I'm back. Why did you start cooking so early today?"
"Brother Tong, you're back," his mother's voice came from the kitchen. "Our son is back, so I'm cooking early for him."
"Oh, where is he? I heard from a friend that our son did very well this time and even made it into the graduation tournament." His father was in a good mood.
"Of course, our son is naturally extraordinary. He's in the courtyard practicing his fist techniques," his mother answered proudly. Her son was successful, which was naturally something to be happy about.
"You keep cooking, I'll go see him." His father changed into casual clothes and walked to the backyard. As soon as he stepped into the yard, he saw Yang Tong standing there foolishly in a strange horse stance.
His father was about to speak when he suddenly sensed a strange state in his son. He was clearly standing there, yet it was as if he didn't exist. Closing his eyes and sensing with the perception of an Apprentice Level Nine Martial Artist, he couldn't feel his presence at all. He quickly shut his mouth. After observing carefully, his face showed both confusion and excitement. He thought, could his son have already touched that level? He suppressed his excitement and quietly backed out of the courtyard.
He rushed into the kitchen with an excited face and said happily to his wife, "I just went to see our son. Guess what I saw?"
"What did you see?" his wife asked while washing vegetables.
"I saw our son in a meditative trance," he said excitedly.
"What's so strange about a meditative trance?" She didn't think much of it. Even the most elementary martial artist could enter a meditative trance.
"But it's definitely not an ordinary meditative trance. An ordinary meditative trance is just a way for a martial artist to quickly recover from physical and mental fatigue. It definitely doesn't produce that miraculous feeling of existing yet not existing. Our son seems to have already touched that level," his father said with immense excitement.
"What... really?" She jumped in surprise, her voice peaking before instantly dropping back down.
"I don't know if it's true because I haven't even felt that level myself yet, but there's no other way to explain his current state," he replied.
"Then, then, then..." She was too excited to know what to say.
"Whether it is or not, it's definitely a good thing. It's a pity our son is still young. If he were an advanced apprentice martial artist, he might be able to completely break through that level and achieve a talent awakening." His father sighed after suppressing his excitement. With his experience, he naturally knew that with his son's strength as a Level Three Apprentice Martial Artist, the hope of breaking through even if he touched that level was very slim.
"Regardless, this is definitely a good thing. Even if he can't break through this time, it doesn't matter. As long as he can touch that level, it means he has the opportunity and talent." His mother was also a Level Seven Apprentice Martial Master, so she naturally understood this. Not being able to break through this time wasn't scary; what was scary was not being able to touch that level at all.
His father thought for a moment and nodded. "True. As long as he can touch that level, it's a good start. Our son is still young; he'll have plenty of opportunities in the future."
His mother said happily, "Once our son's talent truly awakens, we can move to the city and won't have to worry about savage beast sieges anymore."
Yang Tong stood there until nightfall. When he woke up from his meditative trance, he was startled. He had returned home around four in the afternoon, and in the blink of an eye, it was dark.
Stepping into the house, he saw his parents sitting on the sofa, chatting.
"You're awake. You haven't eaten yet; I'll go heat it up for you." His mother smiled lovingly and walked into the kitchen.
"Come, son, sit down." His father beckoned.
"Uh, I didn't expect it to be this late either," he said as he sat down.
"That's a small matter. Did you have any special feelings during your meditative trance?" his father asked rather nervously.
"Well... nothing special. I just feel comfortable all over and full of energy, and..." He stopped there and moved his body.
"Huh?"
What was going on? There seemed to be an indescribable sense of power within his body.