Chapter 231 - 228: Breathing Celestial Walking Posture

Chapter 231: Chapter 228: Breathing Celestial Walking Posture

After a few messages, his two friends were, at most, a little curious. After asking a few questions, they found out that Ding Yi had actually gone and signed up.

They found it amusing but had no intention of signing up with him. Instead, they treated it like a funny story and asked Ding Yi about the Celestial Traveler’s Hall. When they learned he was planning to go to the Hall for his first morning class before 5 a.m. the next day, they found it even more unbelievable.

They all teased him, asking if the sleep-loving Ding Yi had lost his mind. They made him promise to tell them all about the training course later so they could see what was so magical about it.

After his shower, Ding Yi lay in bed, looking at his two buddies’ jokes in the chat app. He knew they hadn’t paid any attention to his urging them to sign up.

But what he had witnessed today couldn’t be clearly explained with words. That imposing aura he had just seen was difficult to convey in writing if one hadn’t experienced it firsthand. Even if he could, people wouldn’t necessarily believe him. It was clear his two colleagues didn’t.

Usually, he would play games or watch videos every day, not even considering sleep until after midnight. But tomorrow, he had to be up before five. If he stayed up late, he’d surely be sluggish, and he wondered if that would affect the lesson.

A few more chat messages popped up on his phone.

They were from friends, urging him to get online and team up for a game. But he wasn’t going to join them tonight; he just replied that he had to go and was turning in early.

He glanced at the time. It was only a little after eight. But to be more energetic the next day, Ding Yi decisively chose to go to sleep.

The place he rented was relatively close to his office. It was usually just over a twenty-minute walk to work, so it wouldn’t take long to get to the Hall, which was in the office park next to his company’s.

He set his alarm for 4 a.m., turned off the lights, and went to bed.

He thought he’d be too excited to sleep, but his body had been strange lately. Not only was his appetite gradually increasing, but he also found it especially easy to rest. He fell asleep just a few minutes after closing his eyes.

After a night of dreamless sleep, Ding Yi woke up just ten-odd seconds before his alarm was set to go off. He unlocked his phone and waited, ready to turn off the alarm the moment it rang.

"Hah..."

Ding Yi sprang out of bed to wash up.

He was renting the smaller of two bedrooms in a two-bedroom apartment; a couple lived in the other room, so he moved quietly to avoid waking them.

After quickly getting ready, he left the apartment. It was just a little after 4:10 a.m.

The mornings in the Capital were always busy. Even at this early hour, breakfast stalls were already open, so Ding Yi wasn’t worried about finding something to eat.

...

Outside the Celestial Traveler’s Hall, people were already arriving one after another. After getting there, Ding Yi realized he wasn’t the only one who was early.

Seven or eight people were already there.

Everyone was sitting on the rest couches in the training hall. In a room off to the side, you could even make yourself a cup of hot tea.

They waited, idly chatting about what the morning class might entail.

At 5 a.m., Mo Shaoge and Mo Qingxue came down from upstairs. They glanced at the students already seated on the floor cushions, their brows furrowing slightly.

’Thirty people showed up, but eight are missing. That’s a bit surprising. I thought that after last night, only one or two would be absent at most.’

’All the kids are here, though. They probably insisted on coming even if their parents disapproved. There might even be parents dozing off while waiting outside downstairs right now.’

At this moment, everyone below sat up straighter. They saw seven or eight assistant instructors walk over, each holding a clear bag.

"These are the training uniforms. Each one is labeled with your name. The assistants picked them out according to your sizes, and a few have been altered. If yours doesn’t fit, make do for today and bring it up after the morning class."

After he finished speaking, the assistants went to distribute the training uniforms to everyone.

"Alright, everyone head to the locker room and change. The clothes are made with a new type of material, so they won’t feel hot in this weather. They’re also sweat-absorbent and breathable. There’s just one thing you need to be aware of: the clothes will feel a bit heavy."

It wasn’t until they were in the locker room changing that everyone understood what the instructor meant by "a bit heavy."

Before putting it on, it didn’t seem so bad when they held it—it felt about as heavy as a thick book.

But once they put it on, it felt like they were carrying a backpack full of books. Many of them cried out in surprise.

Ding Yi felt the weight. He thought the people around him were overreacting. It had some heft, but it wasn’t *that* heavy or dramatic.

"Whoa, this looks so cool!"

A sixteen-year-old boy next to him exclaimed excitedly.

His shout shifted everyone’s attention from the weight of the clothes to their appearance.

They looked at each other. The training uniform clearly had a tailored design but didn’t feel constricting. Some parts, like the shoulders, sleeves, waist, and knees, were gathered, while others were loose. Some sections were thickened for style, while others were light and soft.

Although it was a bit heavy to wear, it felt very comfortable against the skin.

Using the full-length mirrors in the locker room, they saw handsome figures staring back—stylish and sharp, with an ancient flair. Whether they were muscular or slightly built, everyone exuded a different kind of charisma.

"Wow, this outfit really brings out your charisma!"

"Yeah, I feel like I’ve gotten more handsome! Clothes really do make the man!"

"Damn, I’m tempted to wear this to my blind date next week!"

Suddenly, Ding Yi sniffed his sleeve and the rest of his uniform.

"It seems to have a faint, fresh scent. It’s not like perfume, just a really clean and natural smell. A bit like grass and trees mixed with a hint of delicate flowers."

"Really?"

Someone else sniffed their own uniform.

"There’s nothing there! Don’t mess with us!"

"Yeah, there’s definitely no smell."

Ding Yi fell silent. ’I can definitely smell it,’ he thought, ’but I guess I must be mistaken.’

Zhao Long and Du Heng were even more excited than the others in their training uniforms. They struck a few dramatic poses off to the side, throwing a punch here and a kick there, fantasizing about becoming Martial Arts Masters.

By 5:15 a.m., everyone had returned from the first-floor locker room to the second-floor training hall.

Mo Shaoge looked down at the group, whose demeanor was now completely different, and his expression softened.

These training uniforms weren’t just for looks; the material was special. It was infused with a type of active, living moss.

Baru had been direct and brutal, making the people in his training camp integrate the protective gear under their skin. That was because anyone who could enter the standard Silent Knight training camp was basically an internal member of the Association, so there were no reservations.

The Mo siblings at the Celestial Traveler’s Hall, however, chose to integrate it with the training uniforms. This was necessary for selecting core members in the initial phase.

As long as one wore the training uniform, the important "symbiotic photosynthesis" function during the crucial sunrise and sunset periods would still work. It just wasn’t as efficient as integrating it under the skin, and the density of the moss wasn’t as high as what Baru provided.

"Everyone, follow us."

The morning class didn’t begin with a lecture, as everyone had expected. Instead, the instructor and assistant instructors led them up the stairs to the roof.

The several fighting rings naturally drew their attention, but surely they wouldn’t be made to spar this early in the morning.

And just as they thought, Mo Shaoge led the group to a small, raised platform on the easternmost side.

"This little building is only three stories tall, which is nothing in a city of skyscrapers like Kyoto. But the clever thing is, there are no significant obstructions to the east or west, so it gets great sunlight."

At that moment, the students noticed that the Chief Instructor, Elder Mo, was already standing on a corner of the small platform.

Elder Mo actually felt a little embarrassed about having to learn a "secret technique" from his own grandson. But for a man who had practiced martial arts for decades, the sudden discovery of a method to advance even further was irresistible, even in his twilight years.

Besides, his grandson and granddaughter had said that learning it would make his body stronger and prolong his life.

Mo Shaoge and Mo Qingxue, who knew their grandfather’s temper well, had naturally put on an "if Grandpa doesn’t learn, we’ll just close the Hall and give up" act. So, at his grandchildren’s pleading, Elder Mo had reluctantly agreed.

An elder in the family is a treasure. Although Elder Mo’s strength was far from comparable to Mo Shaoge’s or Mo Qingxue’s—in fact, due to his declining vitality, a couple of fitness trainers could probably beat him up—his decades of martial arts insight were the real deal.

Elder Mo himself couldn’t fully comprehend some of Mo Shaoge’s requests. But with a bit of deliberation and a dash of imagination, when he articulated them, they came out as profound "truths of martial arts."

The thirty-plus students went up onto the platform and formed a line facing east. Even the assistant instructors, also in training uniforms, joined them.

But everyone was all ears, waiting for the instructor to speak.

Elder Mo’s resonant voice rang out.

"The mundane martial arts of today often have form but no spirit, skin but no bone! As a result, the martial arts most people see are soft and powerless. Even for the few who achieve some small success, it takes over a decade of arduous training, and still, two fists are no match for four hands!"

The old man’s teaching bug was acting up again, and he was about to go off on a tangent. But when he saw his grandson checking his watch, he knew he couldn’t say much more.

"The ancients used to say, ’Gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorb the essence of the sun and moon.’ Though it sounds mystical, there is some truth to it."

The sun had not yet risen, but the horizon was already glowing.

As he spoke, the old man spread his feet shoulder-width apart. He bent his legs slightly, knees pointing a little outward, and swung his arms up, placing his hands above his head with fingertips touching and palms facing out.

The lower body stance was somewhat similar to a horse stance, but overall it was very different. It was a Pile Skill posture that the old man and his grandchildren had developed together, best suited for absorbing sunlight.

"This is the Celestial Walking Posture. Everyone, quickly follow my posture and get into position. The sun is about to rise."

Hearing this, everyone quickly watched the old man and copied his movements, while the assistant instructors and the Mo siblings went around making corrections.

But they all had the same thought.

’Is this all we have to do?’

They stood there for two or three minutes. The sun was about to break the horizon, and the answer was finally about to be revealed. At that moment, the old man’s shout rang out.

"Close your eyes!" "Exhale all the air in your belly!" "Hold your breath!"

Unlike his previous calm and gentle tone, his voice now carried a peculiar weight, echoing in everyone’s ears.

Beneath Elder Mo’s feet was a faint Secret Realm Technique. It couldn’t form a full Secret Realm, but it could borrow a sliver of a Sea Siren’s power to create a simple "Sound Illusion."

The old man, however, didn’t know this. He was only thinking about not messing things up for his grandson and granddaughter, his expression exceptionally serious.

With every word he spoke, everyone subconsciously obeyed.

After they held their breath for over ten seconds, the first ray of sunlight broke through the skyline, shining down on the rooftop terrace and bringing a trace of warmth to everyone’s palms.

"Inhale!" "Imagine the light of the sunrise being absorbed into your body!"

Under the influence of his voice, everyone took a deep breath. A warm sensation seemed to flow down their arms and into their bodies along with the sunlight.

"Exhale!" "Imagine the impurities in your body leaving with your breath!"

...

"Inhale!" "Imagine you are a towering tree, gathering the sun’s light and violet energy, photosynthesizing it into power!"

Following the rhythm of the old man’s words, everyone regulated their bodies with deep breaths, their minds collectively visualizing the transformation.

The heavy training uniforms now brought waves of warmth, as if they were the branches and leaves of the great tree in their minds, photosynthesizing along with them.

After a while, the old man’s voice fell silent. Everyone had entered the state.

If Baru were here, he would surely marvel at this magic. If not for the difference in moss density, this method’s efficiency was a cut above his own crude "sun-baking" training.

PS: Chapter one for Tuesday.