When the sword is inseparable from the body, style and the body both blossom.
While this was something Father Chen had made up, it wasn’t something he randomly said: after all, parodies shouldn’t be nonsense, and adaptations shouldn’t be groundless recreations 1.
In senior high school, sword skills and body techniques were taught as part of the PE class under the direction of PE teachers, while the university curricula was more comprehensive.
In the Alliance of Ten Thousand Cultivation Schools’ study plan, students had to master the basic use of a weapon before senior high, and that weapon was a sword.
All “swords” were the same in essence, and being able to master sword fighting would also help in the use of some other weapons.
The assessment of sword skills had always been very important prior to entering university. Conversely, there were various types of weapons one could learn in university. Sword fighting was no longer a compulsory course, except for students who chose the sword fighting department.
Sword fighting assessments began in the second year of primary school.
Although Super Chen was only four years old, he still had to master the necessary basics, especially since he was a child of an ancient martial arts family. Wang Ling could imagine how strict Father Chen was with Super Chen’s training. After all, not everyone was like Wang Ling, who could do everything as soon as he was born.
Wang Ling hadn’t learned swordsmanship in much detail and also didn’t have a foundation in it, but he did know the deepest profound truth and prowess of Sword Dao… The advantage of comprehending the profound truth was that there was no need for Wang Ling to hold a sword at all, and he could practically fight automatically. Thus, Wang Ling wasn’t keen on using a sword each time he fought, because it didn’t give him any fighting experience at all. As soon as he used the sword, it was just like grinding in local mobile games, and was a pain in the ass.
In contrast, slapping was a lot more satisfying.
That evening, at Father Chen’s kind invitation, Xiaoling’s mom stayed at the dojo and had dinner there. That very night, she went back to the shabby room she rented to pack up Xiaoling’s clothes and bring them over. These were all old clothes, some of which were secondhand. Xiaoling’s mom said there were also diapers used by the Little Dragon Maiden; who knew if this was true or not.
The clothes in his hands, Father Chen was a little touched. Xiaoling’s mom got along well with the people in the neighborhood. Except for some unreasonable ones like the Liang family, basically no one gave Xiaoling and Xiaoling’s mom a hard time.
“I’ll take good care of her, Xiaoling’s mom. You can come by anytime if you miss Xiaoling.” Father Chen smiled.
Xiaoling’s mom felt teary and her heart was moved. There were a lot of things she wanted to say, but in the end, she couldn’t open her mouth, and could only bow deeply to Father Chen. “I will have to trouble you to take care of her.” What Xiaoling’s mom worried about the most was that no one could look after Xiaoling at home when she went out to recycle rubbish for money. Because of their financial difficulties, Xiaoling couldn’t go to school and hadn’t even been to kindergarten.
Xiaoling was going to be old enough for primary school soon.
With one stroke, Father Chen’s help had solved the mother and daughter’s desperate situation.
Of course, Father Chen wasn’t just a do-gooder. He did pity Xiaoling and her mother, but part of the reason in fact was that Xiaoling had a pretty good root bone! Father Chen had discovered this on the way back from the hospital.
While Father Chen’s realm wasn’t high – only at the Foundation Establishment stage – he had been the head of a body techniques dojo for many years, after all, and so was able to discern Xiaoling’s talent.
It was just that Xiaoling hadn’t received any structured training before, like her mother said, and would definitely be on the losing end if she fought Super Chen for real.
But Father Chen already had a plan to tackle this problem.
…
The next day, Father Chen prepared two 20kg sports wristbands for Super Chen which would increase the weight on him. They looked small, but were in fact very heavy. Super Chen wasn’t prepared when he received the wristbands, and he pitched forward, almost toppling over.
“Dad, what are these?” Super Chen asked.
“Weight bands, made of very highly dense material. They look light, but are in fact very heavy. You’ll wear these in your training with Xiaoling later, which will level the playing field,” Father Chen said.
“Do I really have to fight her…” Super Chen felt a little awkward.
“Do you think your father is the Holy Mother or a living Bodhisattva? Like I said yesterday, Xiaoling’s root bone is quite good, and you have zero foundation in swordsmanship, so she’s the perfect opponent for you.”
With that, Father Chen handed Xiaoling and Super Chen two plastic swords. Wang Ling knew that these were special training swords for Sword Dao beginners. During practice, when the sword touched the body, it would promptly turn as soft as jelly, so there was no need to worry about hurting the other party.
But this kind of special training sword wasn’t cheap. Wang Ling had inspected the storeroom in Father Chen’s dojo before, and everything inside had been nothing but wooden swords. These two training swords looked very new, and Father Chen must have bought them just recently.
Wang Ling thought Father Chen was a man who lived up to his name. He was loyal, kept his promises, and knew how to conduct himself 1. Wang Xiaoling had had a miserable life, and it was her good fortune to be able to run into Father Chen.
And Wang Ling felt that Super Chen had definitely inherited his father’s personality in some way. There was no need to take a paternity test to confirm that they were one hundred percent father and son…
But Wang Ling was especially curious: How did Super Chen come by his “blessed mouth”?
…
In the dojo, Father Chen had Super Chen and Wang Xiaoling stand facing each other. They gave a Dao salute before bowing to each other.
With a wooden sword in hand, Father Chen started giving instructions from the side. “Sword skills and body techniques are the same, yet not. They both rely on strength and nimbleness. However, body techniques emphasize strength, while swordsmanship stress nimbleness.”
Super Chen and Xiaoling exchanged dismayed and bemused looks.
Super Chen wasn’t wearing the wristbands yet. Standing where he was, Father Chen looked at Super Chen. “Come, Super Chen. Attack me with all your strength.” He deliberately didn’t call Super Chen “son,” both to demonstrate how serious he was and to take Xiaoling’s feelings into consideration.
It had to be said that Father Chen was truly a warmhearted man.
“Hai yah!”
Super Chen grit his teeth and raised his sword high before slashing down at Father Chen. The sudden yell startled Wang Ling, but it had to be said that this indeed was Super Chen’s hot-blooded style.
Without moving from his spot, Father Chen calmly blocked the blow with the wooden sword, and then, with a bang, Super Chen’s training sword was directly sent flying by Father Chen’s “Swimming Dragon Raising Its Head” move.
“Look at the dial on your sword,” Father Chen said.
Super Chen checked.
The hilt of the training sword was fitted with a dial which could show how much force the sword had used just then.
Super Chen’s dial read: “10kg.”
Of course, this wasn’t all of Super Chen’s strength.
“Super Chen, Xiaoling, look at mine.” Father Chen handed them the wooden sword, which was also fitted with a dial.
The sword had actually only used 50g, which was about the weight of an egg, to send Super Chen’s sword flying…
Super Chen was in some disbelief. “This…”
“To use a sword, brute force alone is not enough,” Father Chen explained with a smile.
Super Chen and Xiaoling nodded hard at that moment.
Of course, it hadn’t been Wang Ling’s idea to nod his head.
He had possessed Xiaoling’s body, but if he didn’t move, Xiaoling’s body would move on its own according to Super Chen’s memory.
For Wang Ling, it was as if he was now going through a first-person game with a movie storyline.
During this boring summer break, it was something pretty interesting to experience.
“Come, Xiaoling, it’s your turn. Come and experience the advantage of being nimble.” At that moment, Father Chen suddenly turned his head to speak to Wang Xiaoling.
Footnotes:
Another quote by Zhang Jinlai in the so-called “The Sixology Scripture.”
His first name is ‘义’ which means righteousness.
