Chapter 57 - 48: A Tearful, Crushing Loss

He blinked, and after a moment, the world seemed to grow sharper and clearer.

Chen Jue looked around. The most exciting result of his recent training was the improvement in his eyesight.

If he kept this up, he figured it wouldn’t be long before he could ditch his glasses for good.

He put his glasses back on. Sure enough, everything looked even sharper. But Chen Jue now felt a hint of disdain for the square-framed pair that had accompanied him for years. ’Looks like my prescription has gotten weaker again.’

’I probably can’t wear these for much longer. They’ll make me dizzy if I do.’

This was a normal symptom of a mismatched prescription. Usually, when this happened, one needed to go to an optometrist as soon as possible to get a new, suitable pair of glasses.

However, since he was up so early, the nearby shopping district hadn’t opened yet. Chen Jue could only put off getting new glasses for the time being.

...

He’d gained a tiny bit of Constitution from the eye exercises, and it was only a little after 6:00 AM.

At this hour, most workers were still nestled in their beds, sleeping in.

Chen Jue, however, was already heading to the park for the next phase of his planned training.

’I can still make it to the office by 8:30.’

’That gives me about two more hours to train.’

Chen Jue calculated in his head. This was the benefit of waking up early—you could make use of the extra time that late sleepers missed out on.

Upon arriving at the park, he didn’t go to the lakeside to practice Tai Chi. Instead, he headed for the Tai Chi training class he’d seen before.

Since Chen Jue had already maxed out his [Tai Chi Twelve Forms], to continue practicing Tai Chi at a deeper level as the panel suggested, he needed to learn more Tai Chi forms.

After all, learning from online tutorials meant learning through a screen; many of the finer points of the movements weren’t as effectively conveyed without a real person to guide and demonstrate. That’s why Chen Jue had gotten the idea to sign up for a class.

He looked around the park and found that this hobby class started quite early. Before 6:00 AM, a group of elderly men and women were already practicing.

There were a few middle-aged people in the group, but not a single young person like Chen Jue.

After all, young people today were under a lot of pressure. They were either working or staying up all night having fun. Very few even got up at 6:00 AM for a morning run, let alone signed up for an early morning Tai Chi class.

He went up and spoke a few words with the instructor leading the group, explaining his reason for being there.

When he learned that a young man like Chen Jue wanted to join the class, Teacher Zhao, who had a gentle and serene face, was extremely enthusiastic.

First, he explained the origins of his Tai Chi to Chen Jue. He practiced the Thirty-Three Forms of Wudang Tai Chi, a secret tradition originating from the Quanzhen Dragon Gate Sect, which was distinct from the common versions available to the public.

To learn it, just paying money wasn’t enough; one had to become a Daoist.

This Teacher, Zhao Jianguo, was a Layman who practiced at home. Although he hadn’t formally left secular life, he had been taught this Thirty-Three Forms of Tai Chi from Wudang in his youth.

Of course, one could also learn from him without becoming a Daoist.

However, what he taught in that case were the Twenty-Four Forms and Forty-Eight Forms issued by the General Administration of Sport, as well as the Wudang Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi. These were all very common Tai Chi sets, with countless videos online, and there were no restrictions on teaching them.

As for the fees, they were collected monthly, quarterly, or yearly. As long as it wasn’t pouring rain or in the middle of a typhoon, he would be in the park leading practice.

Chen Jue thought about it and decided to sign up for a month.

He added Zhao Jianguo on WeChat, transferred the 1,000 yuan tuition fee, and joined the practicing group.

"Let me see what kind of foundation you have in Tai Chi."

Zhao Jianguo asked Chen Jue a few questions about his background. Learning that he had practiced a simplified version of the Twelve Forms, he moved to the side and asked Chen Jue to perform a round for him to see.

Chen Jue nodded, took his stance, and performed the [Tai Chi Twelve Forms] at the Perfection level from beginning to end.

But the moment he began his demonstration, Zhao Jianguo’s eyes nearly popped out of his head!

His movements were fluid and practiced, his posture light and imbued with the air of an expert. This was hardly the form of a beginner!

"Student Chen, are you sure you just started practicing recently?" Zhao Jianguo asked curiously.

He had discovered that Chen Jue’s Twelve Forms were practiced to the point where there wasn’t a single flaw in his movements—it was as textbook-perfect as it could be.

Even he, the class instructor, wasn’t sure he could execute such a standard form.

"It’s been a little over a week, I guess," Chen Jue said with a nod.

"A little over a week? You’re truly talented!"

Zhao Jianguo exclaimed in amazement before pondering for a moment. "Alright, how about this: I can see your Twelve Forms are already very well-practiced. The only thing you’re lacking is the Pile Skills."

"I’ll teach you all the movements I can first. Once you’re familiar with them in a few days, I’ll slowly teach you the thirteen corresponding Wudang Tai Chi Stance Methods."

"Practicing the stance methods deeply will give your physical fitness a significant boost!"

Hearing that there were so many Tai Chi routines to learn, Chen Jue felt his 1,000 yuan tuition hadn’t been wasted.

Besides, he hadn’t learned any stance methods when he followed the old folks in his neighborhood to practice the Twelve Forms. He wondered if these Pile Skills were as miraculous as the online rumors claimed, and a sense of anticipation grew within him.

...

He followed Zhao Jianguo, starting with the General Administration of Sport’s Twenty-Four Forms, then the Forty-Eight Forms, and finally the publicly released Wudang Thirteen Forms of Tai Chi.

Probably because of the foundation he’d built practicing the simplified [Tai Chi Twelve Forms], it was a case of "master one thing, understand ten thousand." Chen Jue spent only two hours getting the hang of all these new routines and moves. He even activated them all as skills on his panel, farming an extra 0.01 Free Attribute in the process.

Just then, a new notification popped up on the panel:

——————

[Ding~]

[Detected 4 Skills with highly overlapping movement patterns.]

[Perform Skill Merge on [Tai Chi Twelve Forms], [Tai Chi Twenty-Four Forms], [Tai Chi Forty-Eight Forms], and [Wudang Tai Chi Thirteen Forms]?]

[This merge will consume 0.20 free attribute points]

——————

’Merging costs so much!’

’How long is this going to take to save up?’

Seeing the merge notification triggered by the panel, Chen Jue felt a headache coming on.

Last time, just to merge [Stone Skimming] and [Darts], he had to save up a week’s worth of Free Attributes.

This time, merging four Tai Chi skills would probably take him ten days to half a month.

’Oh well, I’ll take it slow.’

’If I can merge them, I will. If not, I’ll just grind them all to Max Level first.’

’It just makes the list look a bit long, that’s all. It doesn’t affect their use,’ Chen Jue grumbled to himself.

...

A glance at the time showed it was 8:30. Chen Jue said goodbye to Zhao Jianguo and left the park.

But after he had gone, Zhao Jianguo, who had been suppressing his shock, couldn’t help but take a deep breath as he watched Chen Jue’s departing figure. He muttered, "A genius!"

Because just in the past two hours of one-on-one instruction, Zhao Jianguo had discovered that the young man’s ability to learn and his memory were simply outrageous!

He would often demonstrate a move once, and Chen Jue could grasp the key points after practicing it just twice. He could even correct his own mistakes in form.

He had been teaching Tai Chi in this park for over a decade and had taught at least a thousand students, but not a single one had learned as quickly or as well as Chen Jue!

"Other students take several months just to get the hang of it. No wonder he only signed up for one month of the regular class!"

"At this rate, won’t he learn everything I have to teach in less than a week?"

At this thought, Zhao Jianguo’s face couldn’t help but twitch. He suddenly felt that the 1,000 yuan tuition he had just collected was far too little. He’d been absolutely fleeced.