“The physical condition is really quite good.” Uncle Mang nodded. “I’ll be honest with you. This special ointment and internal-strengthening wine are the best medicines at our Minglun Martial Arts Academy. They’re so expensive that money can’t buy them, and I’ve used quite a lot of them on you. But the Typhon Training Camp has even better medicine, and they also have surgeries to enhance potential, like replacing weak joints with special material joints that are practically indestructible.”
“There’s such a thing?” Su Jie couldn’t accept the idea of replacing his joints with artificial ones. It made him feel like he wasn’t entirely “human.” Of course, if it were for a medical reason, it would be understandable, but doing it just for strength felt off psychologically.
“Of course,” Uncle Mang continued. “In these past few days, I’ve explained a lot about the structure of the human body to you. In fact, the most fragile, easily injured, and irreparable parts of the body are the joints, with the knee joint being the most critical. Many martial artists have knee problems, even those professional fighters who follow the most scientifically advanced training systems. Injury is still inevitable.” Uncle Mang seemed to be reminiscing. “The human body is simply too fragile, you have to be careful everywhere. Practicing martial arts is essentially like crossing a river by feeling the stones along the way. You must cross the river, but you can’t be too aggressive. You need to find the most delicate balance, and it can’t be achieved by hard practice alone. This is the way of moderation.”
“I understand.” Su Jie nodded.
“If there were more time, I could teach you a lot of knowledge about human anatomy and medicine, but time is too tight.” Uncle Mang truly wished Su Jie would become his student.
“Yes, school is about to start. I really need to go back and handle some things,” Su Jie said, already making plans for his future. “I’ll go back and see if I can apply for a leave of absence, then come back here to train. Honestly, the college entrance exam isn’t that hard for me. Even if I took it now, I could still get into a top university. The problem is my parents, older sister, and the school teachers and leaders probably won’t agree.”
“People are always tied down by worldly matters, unwilling to let go of things, and end up running around in circles, like a monkey picking corn. In the end, it gets nothing,” Uncle Mang said with sudden seriousness. “Su Jie, if you don’t have the courage to give up everything and focus solely on the path, don’t even think about reaching the highest realm.”
“I don’t think so,” Su Jie shook his head. “In fact, the world is incredibly complex. A person must exist within it. If you abandon everything in pursuit of something, that’s actually a sign of incompetence. The true highest realm is to navigate through the complexities of the world with ease, handling all kinds of relationships with grace. Both Buddhism and Taoism have such figures—Taoism has Zhuangzi, Buddhism has Vimalakirti. The eight trigrams of the Book of Changes, when combined, form all the manifestations of heaven and earth. As long as you are part of it, you can’t escape. I believe that trying to escape or sever it isn’t really severing. On the contrary, not severing is the true way to break free.”
“Kid, did you come to this realization on your own? You even know the Book of Changes?” Uncle Mang was shocked.
“It’s something I’ve realized myself,” Su Jie nodded. “I believe everything in life must be handled with one’s own wisdom, resolved harmoniously, so that your heart remains in a state of ease and freedom. You’re not influenced by the external environment. Even if all the misfortune in the world falls upon me, aimed at me, I can still turn danger into safety, remain unhurried. This is the true way of a sage.”
“Su Jie, your mindset surpasses mine. I can hardly imagine that this came from your own insight. But you must know, when entangled in a mess, the best method is to sever it quickly with a sharp knife. What you’re choosing to do—untangling it one by one—will be exhausting.” Uncle Mang said.
“I don’t think this is a mess, but water. Drawing a knife to cut the water only makes it flow more. The only solution is to understand the nature of water.” Su Jie truly thought this way deep inside.
After being urged by Odell to study the Book of Changes, which contained China’s ancient and highest wisdom, Su Jie had gained some insight. He then applied that to other ancient books, such as Zhuangzi, Laozi, and even some Buddhist stories. Through this, he developed his own philosophy on life and how to interact with others.
This also helped him form his own worldview and outlook on life.
For many of life’s troubles, he needed to face them actively, solve them one by one, and maintain a state of ease and freedom, rather than abandoning or avoiding them.
Thinking this way, his heart felt at ease, and he always experienced a sense of “freedom” in every moment.
“Not to mention your future achievements, just your attitude toward life already surpasses mine. With this mindset toward life and martial arts, you’ll gain many unexpected things,” Uncle Mang said. “There are only a few days left. Your electrical stimulation has reached a peak, and now I’ll prepare a psychological training course for you.”
“Psychological training?” Su Jie asked, somewhat puzzled.
“Your body has already reached its peak after this period of massage, acupuncture, and electrical stimulation. What’s left now is slow recuperation. However, your psychological endurance still needs further strengthening. Though you can endure pain, there’s still one thing you need to endure to improve your mental resilience,” Uncle Mang explained.
“What is it that I need to endure?” Su Jie asked.
“Loneliness.” Uncle Mang said, “Alright, will you join this training?”
“I’ll join.” Su Jie thought for a moment and nodded. “I want to see what is more unbearable than pain.”
“Actually, there are many things more unbearable than pain—loneliness, despair—they are harder to endure. The pain caused by electrical stimulation is just the first lesson in agent training. What I’m giving you now is the second lesson in agent training. Since you’ve agreed, don’t back out. Put on your clothes and follow me.”
Uncle Mang stood up.
Su Jie wiped his body and followed Uncle Mang outside the school. They arrived at an abandoned warehouse. Inside, it seemed like some things were stored, and the space was very large, with a basement.
The basement was built very solidly, divided into many rooms. It was empty and chilling, like a terrifying location from a movie scene. The dim light only added to the eerie atmosphere.
Bang!
Uncle Mang unlocked a solid iron door with a key. Inside was a room about ten square meters. The room was empty, except for a toilet in the corner. The floor felt soft, as if there was a layer of some membrane, and the walls and ceiling were also covered in it.
The only purpose of this membrane was soundproofing.
Once inside the room and with the door closed, not a single sound could be heard. The only sounds were Su Jie’s own heartbeat and breathing, magnified as if he were the only person in the sealed space.
“This is a true soundproof room. The materials used in the construction can block out any external sounds and absorb internal noise. In here, everything is absolutely silent. Of course, it will also bring about utter loneliness. The training I’ll give you is to lock you in here and make you experience despair and loneliness.” Uncle Mang’s voice became eerie, like that of an evil scientist.
“You can’t be serious, just locking me in here?” Su Jie asked.
“Don’t underestimate it. This is both a psychological and physical torment. You might look fine now, but after a while, you’ll understand how difficult it is.” Uncle Mang’s voice had a sinister tone. “Have you made up your mind? If so, I’ll leave now.”
“Alright!” Su Jie nodded.
Uncle Mang walked out of the room, and as he closed the door, he said, “Su Jie, you need to know, this place is desolate. No one will be able to find the basement. If I leave and don’t tell anyone, you’ll be stuck here and die. No one will ever know…”
Then, the door slammed shut.
The iron door was practically indestructible by human strength.
Su Jie heard Uncle Mang’s words and felt a chill in his heart.
He knew Uncle Mang was just trying to scare him, adding psychological pressure, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the worst-case scenario.
This was an abandoned warehouse, with very few people coming by. Even if someone did enter the warehouse, it would be hard to find the basement. Even if they found the basement, there were so many rooms that it would be difficult to locate his specific room.
His voice couldn’t be heard outside.
If Uncle Mang didn’t come back to open the door, he would truly be trapped here to die.
Once this thought took hold, it grew and spread uncontrollably.
Bang!
The lights in the room suddenly went out. The entire room was plunged into complete darkness. Su Jie couldn’t see anything. Although he had good vision, in a room with no light, he felt completely blind and had to rely on his memory to navigate.
“Calm down,” Su Jie immediately felt a strong sense of darkness and despair rushing toward him.
He wasn’t wearing a watch and didn’t have his phone with him—he had nothing to track the time, which made him even more anxious.
‘Breathe, breathe…’
He simply lay down, using the Great Corpse State to sleep.
Since he had done some stretching earlier, it was already time to rest.
When he woke up, he opened his eyes, and it was still pitch black. He had no idea how long had passed or what had happened outside.
“It should be around 3 AM now, because after practicing the Great Corpse State, my routine is pretty regular, and I wake up on time every day.” Su Jie tried his best to stay calm, realizing that many restless emotions were rising from within him.
There was no light, no sound, no one to disturb him, and Uncle Mang’s words kept fueling his fear and despair, making them spread uncontrollably.
In an instant, he felt like he was going mad.
“No, this is loneliness and despair. It’s truly unbearable, even harder than pain.” Su Jie forced himself to calm down and decided to focus on practicing martial arts.
He started to assume a stance, preparing to practice, but then stopped suddenly. “If I practice martial arts and sweat, there’s no way to wash up here, and there’s no food. If I burn through my energy, that won’t do. If there were enough water and food here, I could spend my life here practicing martial arts without getting bored. But now there’s nothing, so I can’t practice.”
Thankfully, there was a toilet. After he relieved himself, he lay back down and continued the Great Corpse State.
But the anxiety remained, and even the Great Corpse State couldn’t calm him down. His usual calm mindset had vanished.
Author’s Words: I’ve seen many readers ask whether this book will include fantasy cultivation or futuristic technology. I want to tell everyone that this book is realistic. All the cultivation methods will be explained scientifically, using physiology, psychology, and more. All the martial arts moves are based on real concepts, and the cultivation techniques are grounded in reality. As for AI and technology, everything mentioned, like the backflip robot I referenced (you can search “B0ston Dynamics robot backflip” online), exists in our world. The smart dog that opens doors is real, and I believe we’re witnessing the beginning of a new era. In the AI field, AlphaG0 defeating all professional Go players is already well known, and intelligent systems analyzing martial arts movements, sports like basketball, soccer, etc., are already out there. The effectiveness of certain moves is clear and measurable. As for d*ugs, the news of performance enhancers used by athletes is rampant in the world. What will the world look like ten or twenty years from now? I can’t even imagine. Just twenty years ago, my rural home used a rotary dial phone, and the brick-sized mobile phones cost tens of thousands. Who could have imagined today? In short, this book won’t contain anything too far ahead of its time.
Goblin: Unfortunately, C0vid happened and it seemed to have affected the author’s thoughts.
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