Watching Li Chang leave with a satisfied smile, Zhang Beixing felt speechless, but he soon let go of the matter.
Since Sophia Zhou was also curious about Zhang Beixing’s personal training thod, she spent money to buy an hour of his ti to train with her. In this way, during the training session, the ti quickly reached past four in the afternoon.
Sophia Zhou was left disheveled and breathless by Zhang Beixing’s intense training, her eyes dazed. "No wonder he can set up a stall on the Shi University playground!" she exclaid. "Beixing, you and Siqi really each have your own unique skills! Honestly, at 28 yuan an hour for this quality of personal training, it feels like such a bargain that I feel a bit guilty accepting your coaching. Have you ever thought about raising your prices?"
After buying a bottle of water from Lin Siqi, Sophia Zhou took a sip, rested, and posed her question to Zhang Beixing.
Hearing this, Zhang Beixing was stunned. To be honest, this was the first ti soone had ever asked him to raise his prices during all the days he had been setting up his stall.
She’s really so considerate, it brings to tears! Zhang Beixing wiped away so imaginary tears. Then, looking at Sophia Zhou with a moved expression, he said, "Okay, since you suggest it, from now on, it will be 58 yuan an hour for you!"
Sophia Zhou exclaid, "Eh???"
「...」
Raising the price just for Sophia Zhou was obviously a joke. However, it indeed sparked the idea of raising his prices in Zhang Beixing’s mind. It seed he had been selling his services far too cheaply!
These days, even the sowhat plump aunties in the city’s less affluent neighborhoods charge 50 yuan. And that 50 yuan isn’t even per hour; it’s per session! Compared to them, here I am, young, handso, and in good shape, charging only 28 yuan an hour. It’s far too cheap. It’s practically charity!
I really need to think about this tonight, Zhang Beixing muttered.
Just as he was preparing to take on more clients, DING-DONG—a crisp sound ca from his pocket.
Hearing this, Zhang Beixing checked his phone. He saw that Chen Rourou, the intelligence agent he had dispatched that morning, had now obtained Elder Chen’s martial arts training video and was on her way back to report. As for why she didn’t just send the video over, but instead insisted on a direct data transfer, Chen Rourou had explained it was to avoid exposure. Zhang Beixing thought about it and felt her reasoning made so sense. After all, strictly speaking, this was leaking a Chen Family secret. Chen Rourou being extra careful was not a mistake.
Just... isn’t this a bit too careful? Zhang Beixing thought.
「Ten minutes later, in the small grove where Zhang Beixing usually practiced martial arts.」
He saw Chen Rourou sneaking out from among the trees. For a mont, Zhang Beixing even thought a kidnapper had appeared.
However, Chen Rourou didn’t see it that way. She even took a rare firm stand in front of Zhang Beixing, saying with conviction, "Of course I need to be careful, Beixing... um... Uncle Zhang, you have no idea how much effort and energy I had to expend to get this video of Grandpa practicing martial arts! I was almost trapped and couldn’t leave the Chen Family’s front door. It’s also thanks to my quick thinking and sneaky escape that I’m here today; otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be seeing !"
She seriously recounted the day’s events.
Hearing Chen Rourou’s words, Zhang Beixing raised an eyebrow, sowhat incredulous. Mainly, her story seed overly dramatized. It was just about taking a video, but the way she described it, the danger level was akin to directly stealing the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade secret manual from the Chen Family. Yet, observing Chen Rourou’s expression, it didn’t seem like she was lying. This left Zhang Beixing sowhat confused.
Could Elder Chen really be so harsh about just filming a video? Normal people wouldn’t be able to learn anything from it anyway... Zhang Beixing muttered, reflecting on how exaggerated the situation seed.
anwhile, Chen Rourou, seeing that her narrative had sowhat placated Zhang Beixing, breathed an inward sigh of relief. This might improve how Zhang Beixing treats in the future, she thought. Even if I really offend him later, and he decides to take action against , recalling what I’ve done for him today, his hand... might be lighter... probably.
As for lying, she really hadn’t. She had rely emphasized the final outco, conveniently omitting so of the details in between.
Later, Chen Rourou shared more about her "thrilling encounters" at the Chen Family with Zhang Beixing. When it seed about ti, she transferred the video to Zhang Beixing’s phone and departed.
Zhang Beixing, for his part, felt a bit weary from the exchange. She might have been playing word gas, exaggerating things, he mused.
But he decided not to dwell on it. After all, Chen Rourou had indeed brought him Elder Chen’s martial arts training video. As for his future attitude towards Chen Rourou, it would still depend on whether she behaved herself.
Forget it, why overthink it? Let’s watch the video first, he muttered softly, dismissing the distracting thoughts.
Zhang Beixing sat down right where he was, cradling his phone, and began to watch.
In the video, Elder Chen first bowed respectfully in all four cardinal directions, as if paying homage to the spirits of those quarters. Then, he stood firm in the center of the room. Following that, he raised his fists and began performing the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade.
The Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade was straightforward, consisting of only eight moves in total. Consequently, it took Zhang Beixing only a few minutes to watch the entire sequence.
After watching, he compared it with the techniques already in his mory. Zhang Beixing found that while the video didn’t instantly solve all the issues he previously couldn’t understand, it did provide him with a certain degree of enlightennt.
Adhering to the principle that practice is the sole criterion for verifying truth, Zhang Beixing stood up. He began to practice the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade exactly as Elder Chen demonstrated in the video.
The first move of the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade was "Lifting the Earth to Drag the Heavens and Regulate the Three Focuses." As the na suggested, this move involved bending to touch the ground and then channeling energy while lifting towards the sky. It wasn’t difficult, and Zhang Beixing executed it easily.
Then ca the second move, "Drawing the Bow Left and Right as if Shooting Eagles." The third move followed, and so on, until he had perford "Riding the Horse to Dispel a Hundred Ailnts" from the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade.
Everything went very smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that Zhang Beixing even started to wonder if he was doing sothing wrong.
With this level of difficulty, could this really be the Chen Family’s secret technique, praised so highly by Teacher Liu? This...
I’m not sure, sothing feels off. Let’s watch it again, Zhang Beixing thought, suspecting the problem might lie in his own understanding.
So, he played the video again and watched it very carefully. It was during this second viewing that Zhang Beixing’s confusion deepened. Because he found no issues!
But now, the absence of problems was the biggest problem! As the ultimate skill of the Chen Family, the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade was supposedly simple yet incredibly potent. However, it was still tightly guarded by the Chen Family and not widely known. There had to be a unique secret to it. What Zhang Beixing needed to do now was to discover this secret, decode it, and truly learn the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade for himself.
Therefore, for the next while, Zhang Beixing sat in the small grove, cradling his phone, frantically rewatching the video. He slowed it down, zood in, slowed it down further, and zood in again. Zhang Beixing was on the verge of rushing back to his dorm to transfer the video to his computer and analyze it fra by fra!
It was under such near-obsessive scrutiny that, at 7:30 PM, a startled cry ca from the depths of the grove: "I get it! I understand now! It’s because of this!"
The shout startled the surrounding birds, causing them to shriek and flap their wings in a flurry.
And in the small grove, Zhang Beixing held his phone, his eyes bloodshot and incredibly sore, but he paid it no mind. He just stared intently at Elder Chen performing the Eight Pieces of Brocade in the video, his voice firm with conviction, "It’s the breath!"
After three and a half hours of intense observation, Zhang Beixing finally discovered the subtlety of the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade! He finally understood why he had felt so effortless during his initial practice sessions and why there had been no noticeable change in his body afterward.
It was because he had been practicing it wrong.
Unlike practicing external fist forms like those of the Yue Family, the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade, as an internal martial arts practice, focused on cultivating one’s breath! Its core lay in using that internal breath to open the body’s acupoints, creating connections between the various ridians, thereby enhancing blood flow and accelerating circulation. This was how it was ant to strengthen the body and dispel all illnesses.
Taking the first move of the Northern Eight Pieces of Brocade, "Lifting the Earth to Drag the Heavens and Regulate the Three Focuses," as an example: it required the practitioner to channel that breath to the lower body and then guide it all the way up to the crown of the head, opening all the ridians and acupoints along that path.
Only then was the move considered truly complete.
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