Chapter 15 - Five Years Later

                                    

                                          


                          
        
                          
In these five years, life was not eventful for me. I stuck to my schedule and did the same thing every day, except that I started to play with my brother and sister often. I guess I am a good brother since my brother and sister are constantly looking for me to play with them and they are learning the martial arts that I practise by imitating what I do during practice. They seem to enjoy imitating my moves to for some odd reason. I guess they view my practise sessions as play time.
                          
I have learnt several new martial arts. The first martial technique I learnt was <Cloud Treading Steps>. I had already wanted to learn this before but I had made the disciple selection a priority so I learnt <Instant Blink> instead. With my mother teaching me how to fight every day, I could also practice this footwork with her and my combat ability has improved a lot...I think. Since I cannot make an objective evaluation of my combat ability as the only person I fight is my mother.
                          
The second skill I learnt is the <Shadowless Kick>. This is the unmodified skill that Liu Bing used to defeat me in the disciple selection. It is a standard kick. Fast, powerful and deadly with a long reach.
                          
I could not figure out how to modify it to become the <Dragon Kick> which Liu Bing used on me but I somehow created an explosive shadowless kick by implementing the swirl in <Drill Punch> into the kick. The system named this kick <Drill Kick>. I guess the system is bad at naming things or just simply could not be bothered.
                          
The third skill I learn is the <Lightning Fist>. This is a set of boxing methods that my mother passed to me. I tried to look for this in the family library out of curiosity but I could not find the manual there. According to what my mother told me, this is a really strong boxing method.
                          
This skill will transform the qi into electricity so only people who already have a huge amount of qi can learn this. This skill seems to be incompatible with how I cultivate as it could not form any suction force to draw the qi out of the spirit stones. The <Lightning Fist> involves close ranged combat and excels when using it with the <Cloud Treading Steps>. It involves quick and light jabs at a person's acupoints and meridians, which will lower a person's reactions, movements and hinder his flow of qi.
                          
I also managed to evolve the <Cloud Treading Steps> into <Lightning Steps> using the theories of qi transformation in the manual of <Lightning Fist>.
                          
One interesting thing is that I was stuck at the initial mastery realm of <Lighting Fist> for a really long time until a verbal slip occurred when I was talking to my mother. My mother called the nature of the transformed qi "lightning" and not "electricity". 
                          
This made me realize that lightning branches out to where there is the least resistance, unlike electricity which is always controlled. I found out that I was stuck because I was controlling where I would go next with <Cloud Treading Steps>, and should have just let my body move by itself when executing <Lightning Fist>. When I tried this, the power of the jabs and electricity became much stronger. That day, I successfully promoted <Lightning Fist> into its second level which is called <<Thundering Fists>>.  
                          
My <Cloud Treading Steps> also became smoother and more fluid as my movements became more natural compared to how it was when I was reacting to the predictions of my opponent that I made.
                          
The next skill was a self created skill. The powerful impact which was caused by my <Spiral Punch> during the disciple selection inspired me and I call this technique the <Onerous Blow>. To be honest, it really is just a strengthened <Spiral Punch> but it has changed so much so I decided to give it a new name. The system did not agree with me however and did not give it a new name.
                          
The <Onerous Blow> is a super scary, highly destructive punch that I created. I tried creating two different spinning swirls of qi during the execution of spiral punch and pushing the spiralling swirls of qi out of my fist when they are almost touching each other to cause a powerful explosion. Right now, I myself cannot withstand the explosion it causes and has to use instant blink to get as far away as I can from the point of explosion. So the Onerous Blow is a suicide skill right now or a skill that I use to create distance between me and my enemy so that I can escape.
                          
The last skill that I had progress with is the <Drill Punch>. I remembered what Chang Qi Yue said about how the cultivators who had formed their core would use a modified <Drill Punch> and tried to experiment with it. The intention that I had in mind was to compress the explosion into a single point. 
                          
I failed miserably, probably because I have no idea how to compress the explosion. I tried many methods, such as adjusting the number of swirls or changing the speed that qi moves when executing the skill but none of them worked. In the end, I tried adding lightning qi to the <Drill Punch> and I created the <Zap Punch> instead.
                          
The <Zap Punch> is a piercing punch and different from the <Lightning Fist>. The Zap Punch delivers an attack that has enough power to pierce through a target completely and is completely different from the light jabs that the Lightning Fist utilizes. When using the Zap Punch, it also creates a high pitched sound as it tears through the air. 
                          
When I showed my mother the skill, she said that it was a flawed assassination technique, the qi would create a bright light, strong enough to light up an entire hall and the high pitch sound will alert the enemy before it lands. In summary, it is a useless technique.
                          
As for the events that took place during these five years, there were not many events that took place. One celebratory event was my brother and sister's thirteen month birthday. This time, however, besides my father's subordinates who came to celebrate, the elders brought along their families and joined in the celebrations.
                          
 It was a much larger party than my thirteen month birthday and I also realized that the cooking here is actually primitive. There is no knowledge of seasoning and nobody use any spices when cooking.
                          
This is not because the people in this world did not like to eat delicious food or were not creative, but there was simply no need! If you recall, I once said that the food was delicious and this is because the meat and vegetables here already taste delicious even if you just steam or fry them without any sauces or condiments!
                          
I later found out that it is because of qi that the produce in this world taste so good, as even the common cattle have qi in their bodies. This is also why nobody cares about those who are not talented in cultivation or have qi in their bodies simply because they are seen as lower than animals! Some people have even spread that the reason why they do not have talent or qi is because God is punishing them.
                          
Another event that happened in these five years is my arranged marriage. Children here normally have marriages arranged by their parents. Parents will approach other parents to arrange marriages once the child reaches 8 years of age. The marriage, however, will not occur until many years later, usually when the child is around 15 years old or older. All I know of this is that my parents arranged a marriage for me and that the opposite family is from the Ying family.
                          
I had also brought some technologies from Earth into this world. As mentioned earlier, I had invented the water tanks which were loved by the servants. The news of the water tanks was spread about the excited servants who suddenly had much more free time and started gossiping. 
                          
Soon the family elders heard of it and they requested that I build it for the entire family estate or teach them how to do it. Naturally, as a young master, I am not going to be a labourer so I just taught them how to make a water tank and how to store and make the water flow and the elders decided to give me 10 more spirit stones a month until I reach 10 years old.
                          
Right before the end of the fifth year, my father asked me again if I wanted to work under him.
                          
"Shi er, my subordinates will be leaving the capital in two months time. One of the travelling judges who was supposed to attend this riding circuit was promoted and could not join this riding circuit as he had to return to his hometown to inform and worship his ancestors as per traditions. Therefore if you want to join this riding circuit, I can appoint you as a travelling judge and let you join this riding circuit." He says with a smile as the appointment of a travelling judge is not a low ranking civil servant.