CHAPTER 126: CHAPTER 126: WEIGHING THE OPTIONS

"Your explosive power is not enough. From heel to ball to toe, you need to apply force continuously, with a stepping action, all in one go!"

"Step aggressively, look straight ahead, imagine there’s an enemy you hate right in front of you."

Chen Shouyi bent over, sitting on the sofa, occasionally chiming in with some advice.

Watching the swaying thighs and the flying hem of the skirt in front of him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit restless inside.

He’s only seventeen, at the age when teenage hormones surge, just seeing white thighs makes him think of nudity, and thinking of nudity leads to thoughts of unspeakable things.

Especially with his powerful body and extremely abundant energy, it brings even stronger desires.

"Uh, let’s call it a day. Practice well when you get home." Chen Shouyi hurriedly interrupted, thinking he didn’t know what he might do if this went on!

"Oh, thank you, senior. I feel I’ve made a lot of progress." Song Tingting, covered in sweat, stopped, panting slightly, her T-shirt soaked in sweat tracing out the shape of a young girl’s curves.

Chen Shouyi averted his gaze and said, "Next time..."

"Senior, what about next time?" Song Tingting asked.

Chen Shouyi had initially intended to say wear more clothes, avoid skirts, and wear thicker T-shirts, but his thoughts shifted, realizing saying it would be revealing, so the words changed to: "Bring your own wooden sword next time."

"Okay, senior, then I’ll leave first."

"Mm, I won’t see you off," Chen Shouyi replied.

Song Tingting walked out the door, recalling her senior’s awkward attempt to cover up his embarrassment, she covered her mouth and chuckled, walking happily to her front door. She took a deep breath, rubbed her face, and pressed the doorbell.

Her mom opened the door: "Why did it take you so long, see you’re all sweaty, what were you doing?"

"Practicing martial arts in the neighborhood."

"Oh, working so hard today, hurry and take a bath, don’t catch a cold," her mom said, seeing her drenched with sweat, and happily added.

Originally, apart from the school’s specialized martial arts class, martial arts lessons weren’t a necessity for others, merely meant to exercise students’ bodies. However, recently, the Ministry of Education suddenly elevated martial arts lessons to mandatory status.

Though they don’t count towards college entrance exam scores, passing them is now necessary for graduation.

This absolutely worried her.

She wasn’t concerned about academics—her daughter’s grades would easily guarantee entry to at least a decent university even if it’s not an elite one.

The key issue was her daughter had always been pampered and spoiled, never having experienced hardship.

Martial arts had never been seriously practiced, except during school lessons where she’d merely coast through them.

Seeing her daughter’s rare dedication, she couldn’t help but feel overjoyed: "What would you like to eat tomorrow? I’ll buy some for you?"

"Grapes!"

"You’ve eaten them for two days straight and a lot too, be careful not to upset your stomach."

"Mom, I just want to eat them!" Song Tingting pouted.

"Alright, alright!" At this point, her mom looked at Song Tingting’s empty hands and immediately asked, "By the way, where’s your fruit bowl?"

"Uh!" Song Tingting widened her eyes, suddenly realizing: "Seems like I didn’t bring it over, I’ll go get it now!"

"No need! It’s dark outside."

...

Early the next morning, Chen Shouyi woke up and instinctively scratched his chest.

As a result, a large scab was ripped off. He quickly sat up and looked down to find that apart from the skin being somewhat tender at the exposed area, the inside was completely healed.

"I seem to be becoming less human!" he sighed softly.

Then, he peeled off all the scabs, tossed them into the trash bin.

He opened the wardrobe, casually picked out a set of clothes to put on.

Taking advantage of the fact that Shell Lady was still asleep, Chen Shouyi turned on the computer and logged into the martial artist internal trading network.

He then clicked on the categories for weapons and miscellaneous items, searching for war bows.

Soon, a list of war bows appeared.

Mostly martial artist level war bows. After filtering for war bows over a thousand pounds, only five pages remained.

Among them, the one at the top of the list had a draw weight of two thousand pounds.

Is this some company’s display item to showcase their technological prowess?

Chen Shouyi looked surprised.

A pound is approximately 0.9 kilograms, meaning one must have at least 1800 kilograms of strength, or 900 kg, to use this bow.

Chen Shouyi’s current arm strength is about 580 kilograms, and while it appears to exceed his strength by just over three hundred kilograms, to draw it, the arm strength must be at least 900 kilograms, and this is merely for drawing the bow. Practical use would require at least 1200 kilograms, or even more.

Chen Shouyi looked at the price tag—18 million.

He wasn’t too surprised at the price; those capable of pulling such a bow wouldn’t lack money for it.

Below this war bow were ones with draw weights of 1900 pounds, 1800 pounds, 1700 pounds. Chen Shouyi flipped to the last one, finally finding a war bow with a draw weight of 1000 pounds.

Actually, even a thousand pounds is apparently too heavy for his current strength; his arms would likely tremble, greatly reducing accuracy. Eight hundred pounds would be more suitable.

However, his strength was still growing. If, as with the previous bow, it became unusable just a month after purchase, that’d be quite awkward.

The cold weapon companies on the martial artist internal network are state-owned, offering much better prices than those on commercial websites outside.

The cheapest costs 3.8 million, only 1.9 million after discount.

His savings had already increased to more than 3.5 million, enough to afford it.

Chen Shouyi spent a long time choosing, settling on a bow priced around 3 million—a composite war bow made of nano-carbon fiber. After reading reviews and descriptions, he was satisfied with every aspect; it was far better than his second-hand war bow.

Just when he was about to click buy, his hand paused, and a thought flashed by, suddenly dispelling the urge to purchase.

"The Pantheon Incident is still fresh in the news, and any transaction on the martial artist internal network requires real-name registration and is processed. As a newly passed martial artist within a month’s time, buying such a large martial artist level war bow would definitely stand out!" he mused to himself.

"Passing the martial artist apprentice and martial artist tests successively can be attributed to long-term accumulation and exceptional talent. But advancing from martial artist to major martial artist in under a month will inevitably be scrutinized under a magnifying glass.

How would one explain it?

Talent?

From childhood until now, I’ve just been a daydreaming slacker.

Hard work?

At least before acquiring the Book of Knowledge, hard work had little to do with me.

Resources?

From start to finish, I’ve only purchased one vial of Divine Marrow.

"Some things can’t withstand careful investigation or deep scrutiny and might even invite trouble!" he locked his eyebrows, weighing his options.

Soon his brows relaxed.

Why take the risk?

When an event can go well or poorly, without a doubt, Chen Shouyi opts not to let the event occur.

...

He purchased another vial of Divine Marrow and shut down the computer.

He gently picked up the still-sleeping Shell Lady.

"#@￥’s giant!" It seemed she dreamt of something unpleasant, she muttered, wriggling her arms and legs.

Chen Shouyi snorted unhappily, stuffed her into his briefcase, zipped it up, grabbed a wooden sword, and left the room.