"Power originates from the hips, strength is emitted from the waist, energy channels through the arms, and force reaches the fist's edge."
"Weapons are extensions of the body; one must practice until the weapon is like limbs, strength penetrates through energy and blood, and intent unifies the body, to glimpse the marvel of 'harmony between man and weapon' in martial arts."
In the training ground.
Cheng Ye paced back and forth like the wind, muttering the mantra taught by Liu Bi while swinging the blade in mock strikes.
Unfortunately, the imposing blade technique of Liu Bi seemed more like cutting vegetables when performed by him, apart from larger movements.
Soft and weak, with no force transmitted.
Thunk.
The short blade struck the ironwood dummy and bounced aside, leaving a barely visible nick.
"The bloodthirst and killing instinct of modern people have long been dulled by civilization; I have to watch short videos for half a day to muster the courage to kill a chicken. As for wielding a blade to kill..."
Cheng Ye couldn't help but shake his head, "If I were to rely solely on self-study, without daring bravado, I'm afraid even after a year or so, I wouldn't be confident to handle a regular Infected Body."
"But fortunately, I have other paths."
Cheng Ye sheathed the short blade, walked to the corner, and mentally opened the panel.
[Collector: Cheng Ye]
[Current Rank: lv.1 Intern]
[Life Level: 0]
[Skills: Empty, Empty, Empty (Equippable: Beast Intuition, Basic Power)]
"Equip, Basic Power!"
A thought flashed through his mind.
Buzz.
Cheng Ye felt as if his brain was fiercely hammered, stars danced before his eyes, and his temples throbbed.
It seemed like an invisible large hand lifted his skull and forcibly crammed a memory that didn't belong to him.
Slashing, thrusting, upward swinging...
In the vague sea of consciousness, a dark-skinned man wielded a long blade, swinging clumsily yet with a fierce, wild force.
It seemed like a moment, yet also a month, a year, several years!
When Cheng Ye regained his focus, the man had vanished, leaving only the short blade in his hand slightly raised.
"This feeling..."
Cheng Ye instinctively swung the short blade lightly. Though the movements were still stiff and awkward, the power transmission was entirely different from before.
From the hips, to the waist, to the arms, and finally to the weapon!
The imagined line of force connected, Cheng Ye felt that each slash was like running, gaining more strength and familiarity!
"Marvelous, absolutely marvelous!"
"This slash's power isn't just a downward force; it's drawing the hips with the waist, lifting the arms with the waist, turning the whole body into a lever for a heavy hammering force."
Liu Bi taught a total of three moves.
Downward chop, thrust, diagonal swing.
Each move was lethal upon execution. Cheng Ye initially thought these moves lacked intensity, but now, wielded with the muscle memory from skill fusion, they truly embodied a murderous intent.
Bang.
The short blade struck the wooden dummy heavily, sparking.
Cheng Ye looked down, pupils slightly contracted. This slash far exceeded expectations, creating a two-centimeter deep cut, surpassing the minimum requirement for field melee combat at the checkpoint.
"Unfortunately, while the technique is sufficient, physical fitness has become the shortcoming."
"If I had Brother B's strength, the power of this slash could increase to at least five centimeters... even six centimeters."
After making an assessment, Cheng Ye began trying another skill.
But first, he chose to unequip Basic Power from the skill bar.
The tide of muscle memory receded rapidly; the short blade, which had just become more proficient in hand, swung clumsily again.
The fluid power lines connecting the Three-Style Blade Technique vanished together.
Thunk.
Aiming for a downward chop, the blade struck the ironwood dummy.
Cheng Ye sheathed the blade for close inspection, as expected, the initial slash left barely visible shallow marks, but this time there was a noticeable cut, about seven to eight millimeters deep.
"If that's the case, the three skill bars are absolutely sufficient for my early use!"
Cheng Ye nodded slightly, delighted inside.
The skill's equipment not only brought power experience but also accompanying muscle memory.
Once the skill was unequipped, the muscle memory faded, but the power experience remained intact.
To put it more plainly.
Equipping a skill is akin to a master passing on skills, instantly gaining a high realm and corresponding inner power.
Upon unequipping, the inner power is withdrawn, but the realm and comprehension remain.
"I've already attained sufficient realm, know how to practice, how to exert force, and can equip skills at any time to find my practice errors. This is even better than hands-on teaching by a Martial Arts Master."
Cheng Ye was immersed in joy.
Liu Bi was indeed a top-notch fighter in combat, but his teaching was simply terrible.
He starts by saying to learn anger and ends by saying to abandon reason.
It's only due to his strong learning and imitation abilities that he wasn't found lacking a genetic gap.
"Wait, am I not supposed to be transmigrated? Logically, I should possess both the modern mind and the Wastelander's combat abilities..."
Cheng Ye pondered, attributing the reason to his previous genetic incompatibility with this era; otherwise, Cheng Long wouldn't have sent his son into the high walls for nurturing without imparting any combat skills.
Re-equipping Basic Power, the familiar muscle memory returned.
This time, Cheng Ye only trembled slightly before fully reintegrating the muscle memory into his body.
"It seems that equipping a skill for the first time must be in an absolutely safe environment. After equipping once, the impact of re-equipping is greatly reduced."
Cheng Ye noted this down, then quickly clicked to equip Beast Intuition.
"Hmm?"
Already prepared for the memory impact, Cheng Ye was surprised after a few seconds.
Strange, why is there no sensation at all?
Unequipping and re-equipping, still no difference felt.
"Could it be... a passive skill?"
Cheng Ye frowned in thought.
Just then, the Defense Communication device placed on the ground buzzed.
[Liu Bi: I'm at the door, come out for dinner]
To feel the changes brought by the skills, Cheng Ye came straight to the training ground without eating after clocking out from work.
Initially focused on practicing with the blade, he didn't notice, but upon seeing the message, he suddenly realized his stomach was rumbling like he hadn't eaten for days.
"It must be the newly added muscle memory consuming a lot of energy."
Inserting the training short blade into the groove on the knife rack, Cheng Ye walked quickly to the exit and saw Liu Bi in the distance waving at him with a bag in hand, standing at the usual spot.
"Brother B, you struck it rich? Didn't you say just bringing some nutrient paste would be fine?"
Cheng Ye took the bag and opened it, and was instantly stunned.
Inside were two whole bags of synthetic jerky and three palm-sized pieces of lye bread.
Even though there were some mold spots on the corners of the bread, in the current wasteland era, in Happiness City, even in the Inner City, this was a rare delicacy!
"The jerky is compensation from Garcia for you, and the bread... Old Ding gave it."
Liu Bi replied sullenly.
As his words fell, Cheng Ye noticed that Liu Bi's mood seemed off today, despite forcing a slight smile, there was still a gloomy shadow in his eyes.
"What's going on?"
"I hung Garcia up and gave him a beating, he's still in the clinic getting emergency treatment."
Liu Bi spoke in a flat tone, like he was talking about something completely unrelated, but Cheng Ye's eyelids twitched.
Brother, you beat someone to the point of needing emergency treatment, how come it sounds like you were the one beaten?
No way, why did you beat Garcia? Was it cause I got him to give us 5 contribution points?
Can't be, right?
"Wait... it can't be because of me, right?"
"A little bit related, but not entirely because of you." Liu Bi shook his head lightly, "Switching inspectors is permitted within the rules, but that old codger insisted on causing trouble at clock-out time, spreading gossip that you, a snot-nosed kid, are using my name to threaten him, and he even blatantly claimed that the Eastern Faction was full of nobodies, what a joke."
"Not to mention Brother Long saved Garcia's dad's life on a mission back in the day, just look at how fiercely the Eastern and Western Factions are clashing now, he shouldn't have poked his head out."
"Did Old Ding tell you to make a move?"
Cheng Ye started to understand, his brows slowly knitting together.
The good mood he had from the boost in strength turned calm suddenly.
Logically, this was a small matter, but with the internal strife between the two factions, everyone became pawns for Ding Yishan and Harlem.
The Eastern Faction was weaker, his card wasn't stronger than Garcia's, losing its momentum, so naturally, Ding Yishan needs to play a bigger card to reclaim the initiative.
"Let's not talk about it, eat, then train, no scheme can beat real strength."
Liu Bi waved his hand.
The two squatted by the bus stop, Cheng Ye ate quickly, devouring two bags of jerky and two pieces of rock-hard lye bread before stopping.
Poor scholars, rich warriors, without enough energy replenishment, the body only grows weaker with training.
"The appetite's gotten this big, looks like the training's working."
Liu Bi was a bit surprised, but even more surprised after entering the training ground was Cheng Ye's performance.
As for spear technique training, that's a slow skill; even sharpshooters need a large volume of bullets to practice.
In close combat, yesterday Cheng Ye was the attacker, and Liu Bi defended; today, the sequence reversed, Liu Bi attacked and Cheng Ye defended.
"Here I come!"
Liu Bi shouted, full of momentum, yet his striking arm was only putting in a fraction of its strength.
Thump.
A dull thud sounded, Cheng Ye took the hit hard with his elbow, using the momentum to sink his shoulder and drop his elbow, his entire arm whipping down like a whip.
"Nice!" Liu Bi's pupils contracted slightly, not dodging, he met it head-on with his forearm to feel the force.
Slap!
The dark skin on his arm, after being whipped by Cheng Ye, turned slightly red.
Although the hard bones blocked most of the impact, the remaining force pierced into the ulnar nerve like a fine needle, bringing a sensation of pain.
Finally, there's some power!
Liu Bi squinted slightly, Cheng Ye couldn't even break his defense a few days ago, but today he actually made him feel some pain.
This enormous progress can't just be called surprising, it's downright shocking.
"Get ready, I'm going to get serious!"
Despite what he said, Liu Bi only increased the force from one to two parts.
It didn't sound like much, but it was a doubling of strength, and suddenly made Cheng Ye feel immense pressure.
"Brother B has been wrestling on the brink of life and death for over twenty years, the infected bodies he's taken down have long exceeded five figures, he's too strong."
"But today I'm... no slouch!"
Chop, smash, block, fling, the force-exerting methods brought by basic power output were practiced through fists and forearms.
A momentum like a beast rose from Cheng Ye's body.
Liu Bi was slightly startled, unconsciously adding another half, and half, and half to the force on his hand...
Slap.
Cheng Ye flew out, slamming into the wooden dummy with such force he almost spat out the jerky he ate earlier.
"Dammit!"
Liu Bi's face changed drastically, shooting over like an arrow to catch Cheng Ye urgently.
He didn't know why, but just now he briefly felt like he was facing a mutant beast, which made him instinctively ramp up the force to forty percent!
This one punch might equal twenty years' worth of a regular person's effort, how could Cheng Ye withstand it?
"Brother B... as a sparring partner, you must... deduct pay!"
Cheng Ye dry-heaved twice, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.
It wasn't until he suppressed the turbulent blood in his chest that he managed to grumble.
That punch, truth be told, really felt like getting hit by a truck on the highway, he was entirely powerless to resist and just got launched.
What technique, what force, what beast intuition...
No, it should be called beast mode instead.
Recalling the state just now, Cheng Ye felt like he was possessed after the exchange began, attacking and defending exactly as Liu Bi had instructed earlier, relying entirely on instinct and intuition instead of thought.
"My bad, my bad."
Liu Bi apologized repeatedly, his eyes filled with excitement, not a trace of the previous gloominess, smiling broadly:
"Brother Long really tricked me again, your talent definitely surpasses mine!"
...