Chapter 136: Qinggong Competition (3)
The moment the two women were about to plunge beneath the rope bridge.
‘Tsk.’
Chui clicked his tongue inwardly.
Although it was wrong to expect skilled wing-flaps from mere chicks in the first place, this was still far below expectations.
Meanwhile, on the side, the cadets were making a huge fuss.
“Aaaaah, what do we do! It’s a disaster! A major catastrophe!”
“Q-quick, go fetch another instructor!”
“What do we do! I can’t look…”
But Chui merely spoke calmly.
“Hold onto this.”
Chui took off his outer robe and threw it to one of the cadets nearby.
The third-class cadet with a name tag reading Murong Maoyao caught Chui’s outer robe and began to jump up and down in absurdity.
“Hey! Y-you were the one who told us to do this practice! H-h-how on earth are you going to handle this massive accident?!”
“I can handle it.”
“By what means?! How can someone like you, who can teach basic Qinggong at best, resolve this accident…!”
However, Murong Maoyao could not finish his sentence.
Bam!
Because Chui, having shed his outer robe, suddenly shot forward at a tremendous speed.
“Han… dle… Ugh!?”
Murong Maoyao had to squeeze his eyes shut because his mouth was suddenly filled with wind.
“Is he saying he can… huh?”
When he opened his eyes, Chui had already disappeared from that spot.
Whoosh…
Chui descended at high speed.
Soon, Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang were visible beyond the clouds and fog.
They seemed to be struggling to keep their balance.
Although they would probably land somewhere on their own even if left alone, there was a risk of suffering a severe injury if things went wrong.
…Clack!
Chui stepped on empty air and lunged forward.
Ever since the beginning, Chui’s realm of Qinggong was at least one level higher than his other martial arts.
His internal energy, currently reaching the tail end of the peak realm, combined with his Qinggong that had reached the pinnacle of the transcendent peak realm to produce a jaw-dropping result.
Whoosh!
Chui approached the two women falling headfirst and wrapped his arms around their waists.
And then spun his body to generate a vortex in the air and turned the two women upright just like that.
After that, he merely took normal footwork steps.
It was just that the speed was at a level difficult to observe with the naked eye.
Thud!
Chui stepped onto the window frame while holding Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The cadets who were watching that spectacle merely kept their mouths open in dazed expressions, regardless of their hall or grade.
“…A deity?”
It was a monologue uttered unconsciously by the third-class cadet Murong Maoyao.
Soon, Chui spoke.
“Namgung Yul of the Blue Dragon Hall. Ho Ye-yang of the White Tiger Hall. Your evaluation grade is ‘Passable’ (Ga).”
The evaluation was over. He had said everything he needed to say.
Chui threw the two women he had tucked under his arms onto the floor.
Splat…
Drenched in the rain, Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang fell to the floor.
The gazes of the two, who wore blank expressions, turned toward Chui.
Chui received their gazes under the identity of Ximen Qing.
Namgung Yul.
The words she had said once rose in his mind.
‘After meeting you, my view of justice was shaken to its core.’
‘I want to see a wider world. To truly develop the eye to distinguish between right and wrong.’
‘Come with me. The Namgung Clan will serve as your backing.’
Those upright eyes that had looked at him.
Right now, she was looking up here with that same gaze as back then.
“…”
Chui took his eyes off Namgung Yul and looked at Ho Ye-yang beside her.
She also had parted ways with Chui once in the past.
‘Are you leaving?’
‘…’
‘You are leaving.’
‘…’
‘Goodbye.’
‘Take care.’
‘…!’
‘Let’s meet again. Definitively.’
Recalling the kiss he had suddenly received that day, Chui’s brow furrowed slightly.
Soon, Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang grasped the situation.
“Thank you for saving us, Assistant Instructor Ximen.”
“We have received a great favor.”
The two cadets bowed their heads toward Chui.
Chui did not give any particular answer.
He merely stood in front of the podium and notified the cadets of the change in class format.
“I understand well. Your level.”
“…”
“There is probably no need for even practice.”
Harsh criticism itself.
However, since Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang, who could be considered the most outstanding among the cadets, received an evaluation grade of ‘Passable’ (Ga), the other cadets had nothing to say.
Standing in front of the podium, Chui spoke toward the cadets.
“You all must receive education on basic skills again. And along with that, we will analyze the cause of the unpleasant accident that occurred earlier.”
The class began in earnest.
The concentration of the cadets engaging in the class was at its peak.
“Did you see just now? Ximen Qing, did they say he is an assistant instructor? What did he do before?”
“It was insane. He grabbed two people in midair and soared upward in reverse. Even most first-class experts can’t do that kind of thing.”
“In the first place, is it even possible to traverse that distance in that amount of time?”
“It was a skill close to divine. Even the elders of our clan wouldn’t be able to do that, I think.”
“No, who called him a rustic playboy? Is that the skill of a rustic playboy? What crazy bastard carried out a sabotage operation to lower our concentration in class…”
Since they had seen the divine might Chui displayed just now, if they wanted to become like that, they had to listen intently to whatever he said.
As expected, the best way for a lecturer to increase the persuasiveness of a lecture was to prove their own skill.
But.
“Each family or sect will have its own unique footwork. The basics of it are simple.”
Chui’s lecture was not of a nature that could be fully understood just by listening intently and diligently.
“Position your feet so that you can receive force well, lean your body inward along a curved path, and explode force when stamping your foot. You must walk with the wind at your back as much as possible and avoid facing the wind head-on. This is the foundation of footwork.”
The cadets listening to those words nodded their heads.
Because they recalled how Namgung Yul had taken a position behind Ho Ye-yang’s back just now to reduce wind resistance.
Soon, Chui’s lecture entered the main subject.
“The reason why walking with the wind at your back is advantageous is simple. Because if the wind pushes your back when you walk, you can receive that much more force. On the other hand, if you walk while facing the wind head-on, you will lose force equivalent to the wind’s resistance. This logic applies exactly the same way to how internal energy is managed.”
Instantly, the glints in the eyes of Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang changed.
The simple logic that moving in a direction where one receives less force resistance is using force efficiently.
But applying that to internal energy felt a bit unfamiliar.
Chui continued speaking.
“All things in the world are imbued with Qi. This Qi does not gather in one place but always flows. Just as water falls from above to below, and a heat haze surges from below to above, the directions in which the Qi of all things flows are different and variable.”
Chui placed his hand on the podium.
Rumble…
The podium loaded with internal energy vibrated faintly.
The gazes of the cadets gathered in one place.
Chui spoke.
“Just as there are deficient parts and excessive parts of Qi in a human body, all things in the world are the same. Everything harbors Qi, and it flows and beats changeably, having deficient points and excessive points. Only when you can observe these ever-changing things and choose only the advantageous points to step on can you become a true master of Qinggong.”
Simultaneously.
Bang! …Bang! …Bang! Crack!
The podium Chui had placed his hand on split vertically like a dried squid.
The wood grains split along the growth rings of the wood, causing the cadets to gape.
“In this way, if you can read the points where the Qi of all things gathers and flows, it is possible to dismantle it with even a very small amount of internal energy. Needless to say during combat, it is also extremely important when performing Qinggong. From now on, I will show you that. I will use only a very small amount of internal energy of your level, about ten years’ worth of cultivation, so look closely.”
Chui slowly raised his internal energy.
Then, he took a step onto the floor.
Swish…
Chui’s body disappeared from the podium in an instant.
No one inside the classroom could follow Chui’s movement with their eyes.
With the sole exception of Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang.
“…”
“…”
The gazes of the cadets shifted toward the spot where the two women were looking.
Chui was already at the very end of the classroom before they knew it.
He had clearly passed through the cadets filling the classroom, yet no one had observed it.
“Did you see?”
What do you mean see? They didn’t see it.
Everyone was thinking that way.
The level of cultivation Chui used in the process of playing with all the cadets like this was ten years’ worth, a level that most cadets who had just entered the Ascending Heaven Academy possessed.
Yet, Chui showcased an unbelievable speed with just that much internal energy, which was not even a handful.
“I merely observed the vessels of Qi flowing on the floor and placed my foot on top. Then, you can kick off the floor with very little force. In the end, it is a logic similar to the wind blowing from behind to push your body.”
If a fish follows a slowly flowing current, it will only swim at an ordinary speed.
But what if the fish follows a rapidly flowing current?
Naturally, the swimming speed will become several times faster.
In this way, Chui regarded observing the flow of Qi running through all things under heaven and stepping on the vessels of Qi flowing in the direction he wished to go as the first principle of Qinggong.
Of course, most of the cadets in the classroom did not properly understand Chui’s words.
“S-so, out of the ocean currents flowing all over the world, you find the current flowing in the direction you want to go and launch a boat there? Did I understand correctly?”
“But how do you find that current? From above the boat, it will all look like the same ocean.”
“If that were possible, I would have been a navigator rather than a martial artist.”
“I still don’t understand. Qi flows through all things under heaven?”
“Then what is stored in your dantian? Isn’t that all gathered from the Qi of all things under heaven?”
“So it means stretch your feet depending on where you lay down… Ah, this is difficult.”
However, a few clever cadets understood Chui’s words and were trying to feel the flow of Qi residing in the surrounding objects.
Meanwhile.
“…”
Namgung Yul. She looked at Chui with a heavily surprised expression.
‘It is a principle similar to how Young Hero Chui acted back then. Young Hero Chui must have grasped the points where the pure essence flowed in the snowy fields of the Ba-Shu Snowy Mountains. That is why he drove the iron stakes in there.’
Meanwhile.
“…”
Ho Ye-yang was also lost in deep thought, resting her chin on her hand.
‘Was it also that logic when Mr. Lucky, who was in the back alley of the marketplace on that rainy night, vanished like a ghost? Clearly, despite Mr. Lucky being in a horrific state covered in blood, he disappeared at a speed that wasn’t even visible to my eyes. Perhaps that was also a Qinggong technique in the same context…’
However, not much leisure was given to the two of them.
“The explanation is over. From now on, it is non-stop practice.”
Hearing Chui’s words, the students snapped out of it.
Namgung Yul and Ho Ye-yang also raised their heads.
Then, they saw Chui’s face standing on the podium.
Though it was difficult to confirm because his face was distorted by burns.
“There is no need to be upset because it is difficult to understand with your head.”
A faint smile was clearly playing on the corners of his mouth.
“…Because once you roll with your body directly, you will understand all of it.”
It was the smile of one who had pushed countless mere chicks into the abyss until now.