"I'm afraid of you!" The child, whose collar was being grabbed, readily revealed the ending of this scene.
"Xiong Yong, this is the same story, not a single word is different!" A slightly older-looking child, clearly a farmer's son, came over from the side, a fawning smile on his honest face.
"Hmph, Chen Zhiquan, you should learn from this. From now on, be like Zhang Lei!" Xiong Yong removed his hand from Zhang Lei's body.
Speaking of Xiong Yong, although he wasn't very tall, he was a formidable fighter. At such a young age, he could mimic even the most difficult combat moves from the military, supposedly learned from his older brother who had joined the army. His second brother, Xiong Meng, was even more renowned. This junior high school student had managed to beat up so many thugs that they didn't dare to mess with him. With his second brother protecting him, Xiong Yong's words carried more weight than the teachers' in the elementary school.
The other person who was working with him was Zhang Lei, a timid and cowardly child who was afraid of Xiong Yong, who was not very tall. He would repeat the above-mentioned lines almost every few days. If he misspoke even one word, he would really get beaten up. However, Zhang Lei was always quite well-behaved, especially in front of Xiong Yong, so he didn't seem to have actually been beaten up yet.
Zhang Lei used to be favored by his teachers because of his good grades. However, a new homeroom teacher, who had come from a teachers' college, came to take over. During a test review, Zhang Lei's teacher corrected his mistakes several times, and the new teacher held a grudge against him. From then on, Zhang Lei couldn't get a kind look from his teachers. Perhaps in his eyes, Zhang Lei, who had embarrassed him, was now the worst student.
From then on, school lost its only source of joy for Zhang Lei, but at just over ten years old, Zhang Lei was far from having the courage to skip school.
In terms of innate physical qualities, Zhang Lei should be considered a prodigy. He is naturally stronger than his peers in both intelligence and physical strength. However, compared with his classmates, he is even more superior in intelligence, but somewhat inferior in physical strength.
This is because Zhang Lei started school a little early. He started first grade at the age of four and a half, while other children his age were still in kindergarten. His superior intellectual development ensured that he could keep up with the primary school curriculum, but his physical fitness was far behind that of children who were more than two years older than him.
The difference between a six-year-old and an eight-year-old is not as simple as two years; it's a quarter of a year. While there is still a difference between sixteen and eighteen, it's not as noticeable.
Perhaps gifted children can transcend the limitations of age at this age, but unfortunately Zhang Lei is not one of them. He is only slightly better than the average child of the same age, and has not reached that extraordinary level at all.
…………
"Zhang Lei, let's go home together!" the two children said in unison as they walked together.
"No, my mom wants me to go back with them!" Zhang Lei turned a corner and walked towards a three-and-a-half-story building in front of the elementary school. It was called three and a half stories because there was a third floor above the entrance hall, but that was all there was.
Zhang Lei attends a primary school affiliated with a power plant. The building in front of the school in the same campus is the power plant's affiliated middle school. Both of Zhang Lei's parents teach at the middle school. Zhang Lei's mother simply lets him go to the office after school and then they go home together after get off work, so that the child won't run around outside and cause her worry.
Originally feeling gloomy, Xiao Zhanglei revealed a smile at the office door that made everyone want to pinch his cheeks. Adults who weren't familiar with him often couldn't tell Xiao Zhanglei's gender because of his extremely cute smile.
"Mom, listen to me, Mom, listen to me! I kicked a ball during PE class!" Zhang Lei said, swinging his arms around the neck of a slightly plump middle-aged woman.
"Really? You hit the ball today! Little Zhang Lei, you're so great!" The mother's hands were still scribbling on the homework as she casually replied.
As Zhang Lei clung to his mother, acting spoiled, he recalled the only time he kicked a ball in PE class that day. For Zhang Lei, who was two years younger than his classmates, this was quite an achievement. If there hadn't been a shortage of players, Zhang Lei wouldn't have even had the chance to play.
"Get out of the way, Zhang Lei, how dare you steal my ball!" Xiong Yong's two small eyes widened in shock, and Zhang Lei felt an immense fierce glint emanating from them. He quickly kicked the ball back, allowing Xiong Yong to complete a beautiful shot with the help of an opposing player. This was the only time Zhang Lei touched the ball.
Before transferring here, Zhang Lei, despite his young age, did not feel bullied. Not every school has students who particularly enjoy bullying others.
When he first transferred here in the second grade of elementary school, he used to play with Xiong Yong. One day at noon on the way home from school, on the short distance between the two buildings, Zhang Lei couldn't remember why he was looking for Xiong Yong, but it probably wasn't for hide-and-seek.
"Little bear, stop hiding, I see you! Huh? What are you doing?"
“I’ll play with you, we can joke around however we want, but you can’t insult my parents, you know?” Xiong Yong grabbed Zhang Lei’s collar and shoved him against the wall.
"What? When did I ever curse your parents!" Zhang Lei felt really embarrassed when he recalled it. He was completely terrified at the time. But if it were now, Zhang Lei felt a little self-deprecating. He was probably even more pathetic after all these years of accumulated power.
"If you call me a little bear, then you're saying my mom is an old mother bear, my dad is a husband bear, and my brother is..."
Zhang Lei now understood that it must have been a show of force. From that moment on, he was completely under Zhang Lei's thumb. Although all the boys except those from his gang were subject to his whims, Zhang Lei was probably the one who was bullied the most and dared not put up any resistance.
Zhang Lei had tried to change the situation. Once, after visiting his grandfather in Shanghai, he claimed that he had learned martial arts there. Unfortunately, he only managed to lie for a little over half a month. These curious children, who spend all their time together, are very good at getting to the bottom of things. How long can a child's lie last?
Clearly, Zhang Lei's situation worsened after this incident, and it naturally became a laughing stock for him.
"I must master it!" Zhang Lei had a magazine spread out in front of him, which recorded the great wisdom of the Chinese people. The page he opened to had the words "Bagua Soul-Absorbing Palm" written in large bold letters on the side, which was said to be an extremely powerful qigong.
If you turn to the first page, you'll see it's titled "The Essence of Chinese Martial Arts, Third Edition." To be honest, many of the grappling techniques and counter-grappling methods in it are quite authentic. As for the internal energy cultivation methods described there, only children would believe that. Although you won't develop any internal energy by following it, nothing bad will happen no matter how you practice. It's just something to give those who like martial arts a little hope.
At this point, Xiao Zhang Lei pinned all his hopes on this. Looking around the book, only the Bagua Soul-Absorbing Palm had the lowest requirements. For a child, things like the Red Serpent, Iron Sand, and Iron Bagua were still very difficult to obtain. Only the Bagua Soul-Absorbing Palm, though described in a mysterious way, had relatively low requirements.
However, the midnight hour (子时) is in an open space facing the rising sun, making the "five-body facing the sun" exercise quite difficult. Little Zhang Lei doesn't do much physical activity, and he doesn't have much academic pressure; reading is his main source of enjoyment. While he doesn't know the exact times of the twelve earthly branches (子, 丑, 寅, 卯), he does know that midnight is the middle of the night.
Facing the sun at midnight means facing the other side of the earth, and to have one's entire body facing the sun is even more difficult. Zhang Lei searched many places before he understood what "five bodies facing the sun" meant. Moreover, asking a child to run to an open space in the middle of the night and lie on the ground in the dead of winter is a bit too difficult.
In comparison, the Nine Harmonies and Eight Desolations Technique has much lower time requirements, but the necessary items are so numerous that even an adult, let alone a child, would have difficulty acquiring them. Perhaps the authors deliberately wrote it this way so that people wouldn't be able to collect all the required items, which would explain why they couldn't master the flying, wall-climbing, rock-breaking, and gold-splitting skills described in the book.
Zhang Lei, being young and fearless, pieced together a jumbled mess of things, some seemingly fabricated, from different sources. He had considered going into a state of demonic possession, but he knew that going into a state of demonic possession on TV didn't necessarily mean becoming dead; it just meant becoming a bit evil, with the strong being the most powerful. Deep down, Zhang Lei probably hoped he would have the chance to go into a state of demonic possession himself.
Actually, it's nothing unusual. Many kids who yearn for the magical martial arts techniques seen on TV go through a phase like this, and there's no such thing as practicing qi deviation or going into qi demonic possession. Going into qi demonic possession requires internal energy; someone without any internal energy wouldn't be able to do it even if they wanted to.
As society has developed, it's impossible to say that no genuine internal energy cultivation methods have been passed down from those ancient schools; at the very least, simplified versions with somewhat diminished effectiveness will certainly exist. Why do so few people achieve anything significant? One reason is the uniquely Chinese tendency towards secrecy. Another is the lack of a master's guidance; few people have the confidence to persevere. It's not just a matter of willpower, but also the lack of hope. After practicing for several days without any results, anyone would begin to doubt, and doubt makes it even less likely to be effective.
Few people can persevere in something where there is no hope. If there is a mentor to guide them or a role model, that's fine. But if they are reading books on their own and there are no successful role models around, they will most likely give up.
But Zhang Lei is a little different. There are some people in this world who are born with special abilities, and Zhang Lei is one of them, though he himself is unaware of it.
He was unaware of it because his superpower was practically nonexistent in the external world. His ability affected himself; it didn't enhance or alter him, but simply allowed him to completely monitor his internal state. Frankly, even if he told others about this ability, they wouldn't believe him because it was impossible to prove. In fact, most people's superpowers fall into this category—those that are difficult or impossible to prove. Moreover, Zhang Lei at this point had no idea that this was a superpower; he probably thought everyone could do it.
Another reason is that activating superpowers also requires internal energy. For those who haven't cultivated before, it consumes their own vital energy. Although vital energy can slowly regenerate on its own, the natural regeneration rate is too slow. Even the lowest level of superpower for an ordinary person would take at least two hours to fully recover. If Zhang Lei hadn't wanted to see if this mixed qigong had any effect, he wouldn't have activated this superpower, which he didn't even know was a superpower.
Such a subtle airflow would be imperceptible to an ordinary person. If Zhang Lei hadn't activated his self-monitoring ability, he wouldn't have sensed it either. Self-monitoring can detect internal dynamics, even those hundreds of times smaller.
Although the energy flow had no effect at all, Zhang Lei was still overjoyed. This proved that he had really made the right start. Of course, there wouldn't be much effect on the first day of cultivation, and Zhang Lei understood that. Back then, Zhang Lei hadn't been exposed to online novels and didn't know what a prodigy was. He didn't know that others could destroy the world after just one day of cultivation, and he was still excited about his little bit of energy flow that he didn't know what effect it had.
The self-examination also has a time limit. During the two hours that the self-examination can operate, Zhang Lei carefully guides the flow of energy according to the route he has set in advance. He will also modify the branching direction of the airflow because of meridians that have not been discovered before.
Although Zhang Lei was young, he had a big heart. Once he discovered the meridians, he didn't intend to let them sit idle. As for the principles of energy cultivation, they were all derived from those messy martial arts books and these seemingly plausible summaries. In reality, these summaries were just a hodgepodge of ideas.
No matter what the book is about, the first thing it teaches is to open up the meridians or absorb the essence of heaven and earth. Zhang Lei felt that there were no meridians in his body that needed to be opened, so he decided to absorb the essence of heaven and earth. Although he didn't know exactly what the essence of heaven and earth was, he figured it must be internal energy. Everyone talks about the dantian, which is a vortex in the lower abdomen that draws in essence from the outside.
This is obviously messing around. Although it's not about having casual relationships, no one can say for sure what the consequences of messing around like this will be, especially with something as reckless as this. I doubt any martial arts master in the world could predict what the consequences would be.
For several days in a row, Zhang Lei would do this for two hours every day after returning home. Because he was afraid his parents would find out, he naturally couldn't use the standard cross-legged sitting posture. Although he hadn't felt any effect yet, the airflow was obviously much clearer and thicker than at the beginning, and a vortex had indeed formed in his lower abdomen, Dantian. Even when Zhang Lei wasn't practicing, the vortex didn't stop, because Zhang Lei could feel the slow movement of the vortex as soon as he started self-examination.
With something to look forward to, Zhang Lei naturally became much happier and more confident, and even his walking posture changed.