Chapter 10: One Can Only Rely On Self
“Wolf Fist may not look good, but it’s very practical. Senior Brother Li teaches things that are all useful. I don’t know why the martial arts school has so few people.”
“Even if talent is average, as long as you persist, after learning something, you can at least protect yourself.”
Chen Wujun limped away from the martial arts school, grimacing in pain, still thinking about this question.
There were traces of blood seeping through at the knee of his pants, staining the pants red.
“How did you hurt your leg?” Chen Hanliang saw him and immediately stepped forward to check.
“From martial arts practice! It’ll naturally get better in a few days!” Chen Wujun dodged a bit.
In the afternoon, he helped out at the dentistry for a while, with a foreigner from the residential area coming to see a dentist.
The dentistry in the Walled City was priced at only one-third, or even one-fourth, of other places, so many people from other places would come for dental care, even those sailors would come specifically to the Walled City for dental care.
After the guest left, he stood to one side with hands supporting the guard wall, knee raised, feeling the sensation of exerting force.
His father Chen Hanliang saw him practicing martial arts intently, with a complex expression, hesitating to speak several times.
“What do you want to say?” Chen Wujun noticed his father’s expression and asked.
He guessed in his heart that it was probably related to his eldest brother or the loan shark.
Chen Hanliang sighed after a long pause: “You know the family situation. That wastrel borrowed a loan shark debt. I’m planning to borrow money to pay it off, but the borrowed money also has interest…”
“So I can’t go to the martial arts school next month?” Chen Wujun immediately understood.
Chen Hanliang was silent for a moment before saying: “The martial arts school isn’t going anywhere. Go again in half a year.”
“The family’s current situation requires us to tide over the difficulties together. I want to find a job for you, 1500 a month, you give 1000 to the family. That way the debt can be paid off sooner.”
As a father, Chen Hanliang felt very bad saying this.
“I got it!” Chen Wujun said expressionlessly.
“Sigh, Second Son, you’re the most sensible, sorry to trouble you!” Chen Hanliang sighed, seeing Chen Wujun agree so simply, feeling even worse in his heart.
“But I’ll find the job myself, and give 1000 to the family each month.” Chen Wujun added.
Chen Hanliang didn’t say much more. As a father, he felt very awkward now and naturally didn’t want to interfere with Chen Wujun.
He planned to let Chen Wujun try. If it didn’t work, he would help find a job.
Chen Wujun turned around and began to assume the Golden Rooster Stance.
Although his surface was calm, his heart was not calm at all.
If his eldest brother appeared in front of him now, he would definitely cripple his eldest brother Chen Wuhong.
After standing Golden Rooster Stance for another hour, Chen Wujun picked up his bag and left the dentistry, thinking to himself as he walked.
“Sure enough, no one can be relied on. You can only rely on yourself in life.”
“But that’s fine too!”
Chen Wujun felt that taking home 1000 a month was not difficult.
Making money isn’t as hard as many people think.
As long as you have a bit of courage, you can make money anywhere.
Not long after leaving the dentistry, he found a stairwell, changed into clothes from his bag, put on a hat, and took out a dagger to tuck into his waist.
He also took out two fist-sized bags from the bag and stuffed them into his pockets, making his pants pockets bulge.
The two bags contained lime powder, which was everywhere. He had collected some from a nearby construction site.
Then he stuffed the bag into a corner of an alley near his home and went to squat near the alley where the loan shark was located.
But after the whole afternoon, there was no gain.
The other side would go to collect money every day, but not every day they could collect it, and small money he also looked down on.
After all, there was only one opportunity.
……
After eating dinner at home in the evening, he returned to his room first, lifted his pant leg, and immediately drew in a sharp breath.
He saw that the knee area was all bloody and mangled flesh.
He had endured it for a day, and now the blood had stopped, before applying ointment on it.
This ointment was given to him by Senior Brother Li. After applying it, he immediately felt much cooler, and the burning pain on his knee lessened a lot.
Then he went to the rooftop, saw the family drying clothes with flashlights, so he lay on the guard wall looking at the distant lights, enjoying the breeze on his face.
The sea breeze also dispersed the lingering stench around the Walled City, making the air on the rooftop refreshingly clear.
Standing here, Chen Wujun felt his heart open up a lot.
After the people drying clothes left, he pressed his hands and climbed onto the guard wall.
He first stood straight, with the toes of one foot gripping the wall tightly, took a deep breath, and slowly lifted the other leg.
He had already started adapting to standing meditation here. Yesterday he stood Charge Stance for half an hour in one go, and he felt he should be able to stand Golden Rooster Stance now.
Almost as soon as he lifted it, his body began to sway slightly, making his heart race and cold sweat break out on his forehead.
Chen Wujun immediately put down the other foot, planting both feet firmly on the guard wall surface to steady his body.
Standing meditation on the 30 cm wide guard wall at the rooftop edge was far more difficult than on flat ground, and standing Golden Rooster Stance was far more difficult than Charge Stance.
In a situation where falling would mean shattering to pieces, what was usually natural now was as hard as climbing to heaven.
Chen Wujun slightly bent his legs, lightly patted his thighs with his palms to relax himself, and after a moment stood straight again, took a deep breath, and lifted one leg.
He paid no attention to everything around him. At this moment, he concentrated all his spirit, putting all his mind and intent on his own body.
Sweat kept sliding down from his forehead.
In just a few minutes, it felt like years had passed. Just as he was about to come down from the guard wall, his supporting leg gave way, and his whole body instantly toppled to the side, making his face change drastically.
In that instant, Chen Wujun grabbed the guard wall tightly with both hands, his whole body falling outside the guard wall, then struggled back up, rolling onto the rooftop, lying on the ground gasping heavily.
“Just now it was so close, so close to falling down.” Chen Wujun was soaked in sweat, his heart pounding violently, unable to slow down.
After a long time, he got up, hands on the guard wall, looking at the abyss below, feeling a bit scared in his heart.
But he quickly adjusted his mentality.
“If even this little danger is feared, what can be done? Spend life as a stinking maggot?”
Thinking this way, his heart filled with strength again. After climbing onto the guard wall and steadying his body, he slowly raised his knee, concentrating all his mind to the highest, blocking out everything external.
A gust of wind blew, constantly pushing at Chen Wujun. This time his body swayed slightly and immediately steadied.
After a long time, Chen Wujun felt his state declining and immediately jumped back to the balcony.
Glancing at his electronic watch, this time he persisted for ten minutes, immediately filling Chen Wujun with a sense of achievement.
Last time it was only five minutes, this time ten minutes.
As long as he spent some time, it would be like on flat ground.
At ten in the evening, Chen Wujun returned to his room, looked for a moment at the Vivian Chow poster on the wall, then climbed into bed to sleep.
……
The next morning, Chen Wujun got up at five, ate something casually, and went to the martial arts school.
Today the martial arts school’s door opened very early. Usually it was 6:30, but today it opened at five.
When Chen Wujun arrived, only Senior Brother Li was inside hitting the stakes.
Seeing Chen Wujun come two hours early as he said, Senior Brother Li nodded slightly.
What made Senior Brother Li value Chen Wujun, besides talent, was his willingness to endure hardship.
From his progress, it was clear he had practiced bitterly after going back.
Assuming “on the verge of a great enemy” was talent, but other progress could only be achieved through bitter practice.
While Chen Wujun was doing standing meditation, he wiped sweat with a towel while standing beside Chen Wujun watching.
“Eh?” Senior Brother Li raised an eyebrow.
Every day watching Chen Wujun do standing meditation, he could feel Chen Wujun’s progress was extremely fast.
However, besides the progress, he also felt something different about Chen Wujun.
He had pondered it for a long time in the previous days, and today Chen Wujun’s change was particularly big, so he immediately understood what was different.
An unstoppable aura.
Chen Wujun did standing meditation daily at the abyss edge, tempering between life and death. As long as he fell, he would shatter to pieces, so after a period, he tempered an unstoppable, fearless of life and death aura.
It was just that the feeling was weaker before, so he hadn’t distinguished it.
“How did this guy practice?” Senior Brother Li’s eyes showed surprise.
How could a sixteen-year-old boy, practicing punching for less than twenty days, cultivate such an unstoppable, fearless of life and death aura?
He could never imagine that Chen Wujun had figured out stealing heavenly secrets himself, then extremely boldly went directly to the rooftop.
Thus the progress was astonishingly fast.
“What a good seedling!” Senior Brother Li thought to himself.
After Chen Wujun changed from Charge Stance to Golden Rooster Stance, he silently stepped forward and kicked the ankle of Chen Wujun’s supporting leg.
However, although Chen Wujun’s body swayed, he stood as if nailed to the ground.
“He actually held steady!” Senior Brother Li’s eyes were full of surprise.
Although he didn’t use much force, it was already not small for an ordinary person.
Supporting the body on one leg in Golden Rooster Stance, resisting his sudden kick was especially difficult.
Toe strength, sole strength, ankle strength, stability, balance, concentration—all indispensable.
Then he sighed in his heart again:
“What a good seedling!”
Every time he saw Chen Wujun, he wanted to take him to show the master.
In the morning, when others came outside the martial arts school, they heard “thud thud” sounds from inside.
Pushing the door in, they saw Chen Wujun shirtless in front of the wooden stake, assuming Golden Rooster Stance, then his knee heavily smashing onto the hemp rope outside the wooden stake.
Then the other leg did standing meditation, the original standing leg striking.
Alternating left and right like this, the hemp rope was stained with a layer of blood.
That sixteen-year-old boy, sweat on his forehead, eyes focused, even though each knee raise brought bone-piercing pain—others would have stopped long ago.
But he showed no retreat, each time using full force to smash his knee onto the hemp rope outside the wooden stake.
This scene surprised many in their hearts.
Even the jealousy in their eyes lessened a lot, then they saluted Senior Brother Li and hurriedly went to change clothes.
Senior Brother Li stood not far from Chen Wujun, holding a thermos cup in one hand, and said at the same time:
“When you smash the hemp rope to pieces and hammer pits into the wooden stake inside the hemp rope, your knee can be considered to have minor success!”
