6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgc7ZuGMqpjMartial Youth
Seven-Day Training Arc
Day 1: The Flow of Force
The courtyard in the early morning still carried the dampness left behind by the night. The moss in the corner of the wall was dark, and a faint sheen of water had gathered between the gaps of the stone slabs. The streets in the distance had not fully come alive yet. Only occasionally did a scooter pass the mouth of the alley, its sound pressed low by the morning mist.
At the center of the courtyard lay a heavy block of solid wood.
It rested horizontally on two old wooden stands. Its surface was rough, and its growth rings sank deep into the grain, one circle after another. It did not look like training equipment. It looked more like a silent opponent.
Lin Hao stood in front of the wood and looked down at it for a long time. His brow slowly furrowed.
“…What is this for?”
Gu Chengyuan kept both hands in his pockets and circled halfway around the block. The soles of his shoes brushed lightly over the damp stone slabs. He glanced at the thickness of the wood, then looked toward Lin Jing, who was standing beneath the eaves.
“Don’t tell me we’re supposed to carry it.”
Lin Jing stood in the shadow of the eaves, holding a folder in her hand. Her expression was as calm as the morning air. She did not explain much. She only answered with one word.
“Carry it.”
Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan froze at the same time.
Lin Hao pointed at the block of wood, which was nearly half a person’s height, his tone filled with disbelief.
“This thing?”
Lin Jing nodded. Her gaze fell on the block of wood, her voice as steady as if she were assigning homework.
“Within these seven days, show me a gap in it.”
The courtyard went quiet for an instant. Even the distant sound of a breakfast shop’s metal griddle beyond the wall seemed to drift farther away.
Lin Hao looked at her, then looked back at the wood.
“…Huh?”
Gu Chengyuan raised an eyebrow. There was a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, but that smile clearly carried doubt.
“Teacher, are you serious?”
Lin Jing did not answer their question.
She simply walked up to the block of wood. Her sleeve shifted lightly with her movement. She did not take a stance. She did not deliberately gather power. There was not even any unnecessary rise and fall in her shoulders. Morning light slanted down from the edge of the eaves and fell upon her raised hand.
Her palm only touched the surface of the wood lightly.
Tap.
The sound was very small.
So small it did not sound like an attack. It was more like she had casually brushed dust from the wood.
But in the next second, a faint muffled sound came from inside the block.
It was not loud, yet Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan both stopped breathing at the same time. The crack did not burst open from the surface. Instead, it slowly seeped out along the deeper grain of the wood, as if an invisible force had drilled into the wood, then pushed it apart from the inside.
Lin Hao’s pupils widened slightly.
“…Eh?”
The smile on Gu Chengyuan’s face faded as well. He stared at the crack and, for the first time, did not immediately make a comment.
Lin Jing withdrew her hand. Her palm was clean. There was hardly even any sawdust on it.
She turned around and looked at the two of them.
“It is not about using force. It is about letting force enter.”
Her voice did not rise, but those words landed in the courtyard with more weight than the strike itself.
“If you cannot do it, you will end up like this.”
Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan looked at the crack spreading from within the wood. Neither of them laughed again.
The morning wind passed over the courtyard wall, stirring the leaves with a faint rustle and carrying the subtle scent of resin from the wood into the air.
That day, they understood for the first time that when Lin Jing spoke of “force,” she did not mean hitting loudly.
She did not mean striking heavily.
She meant making that force truly enter the opponent.
Day 2: Breaking the Rhythm
Early the next morning, an entire basket of tennis balls had appeared in the courtyard.
The yellow balls were piled high inside a plastic basket, with several old ball bags placed beside it. The sun was a little brighter than the day before. Drops of water still clung to the eaves, falling one by one onto the stone slabs below. The sound was light, yet it made the whole courtyard feel even quieter.
Lin Jing pushed the basket of tennis balls in front of Liu Yeqing.
“Take them.”
Yeqing looked down at the basket, then looked back at Lin Jing.
“…What am I supposed to do?”
Lin Jing pointed toward the block of wood at the center of the courtyard, then looked at Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan. Her tone carried no hint of joking.
“Throw them like you’re trying to kill them.”
The air went quiet for one second.
Lin Hao immediately looked up.
“Huh???”
Gu Chengyuan frowned as well.
“Wait. That doesn’t sound right.”
Yeqing, however, did not hesitate. She bent down, picked up one tennis ball, and lightly rolled it between her fingers, checking its weight and bounce.
“Okay.”
Lin Hao looked at her, even more shocked.
“You agreed way too fast!”
Yeqing ignored his protest. She only held the ball in her palm and looked at Lin Jing, waiting for the next instruction.
Lin Jing stood beside the block of wood and said calmly, “You two will strike the wood while dodging the balls. Your fists cannot stop. Your footwork cannot fall apart. This is not simple reaction training. This is flow.”
The moment her words fell, the first ball had already left Yeqing’s hand.
Smack!
The ball struck Lin Hao directly on the forehead, the sound so crisp that even a sparrow under the eaves startled and hopped.
“Ow!!!”
Lin Hao grabbed his forehead and stumbled back half a step. Gu Chengyuan was just about to laugh when the second ball brushed past his face, hit the wall behind him, bounced back, and dropped into a puddle.
Gu Chengyuan’s expression immediately froze.
Yeqing’s throws were steady and clean.
She did not throw wildly. Every ball was aimed at the moment when the two of them were most uncomfortable. Just as Lin Hao was about to raise his fist, the ball flew toward his shoulder. Just as Gu Chengyuan was about to cut an angle, the ball blocked the path he was about to move into. Sometimes Yeqing threw two in a row. Sometimes she deliberately paused half a beat, making them think the rhythm had slowed, only for the next ball to cut through the air from another angle.
Lin Hao swung his fist at the wood while awkwardly dodging the balls. His foot nearly slipped when he stepped across the damp stone. He clearly wanted to send his force into the wood, but the moment his body tightened, his fist became a hard smash instead. The sound was loud, yet the wood barely changed.
Gu Chengyuan tried to read Yeqing’s rhythm. His gaze stayed locked on her wrist and shoulders. But he soon discovered that Yeqing did not lack rhythm.
She was deliberately breaking it.
She would slow down when he thought she was about to speed up. She would suddenly accelerate the instant he had just adjusted to the slower pace.
Gu Chengyuan turned sideways and avoided a ball. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
“This isn’t rhythm.”
The next ball brushed past his ear, carrying a faint sound of wind.
His eyes sank.
“This is breaking rhythm.”
Yeqing did not answer.
She simply threw another ball.
Smack!
Lin Hao was hit in the shoulder again.
“Do you have some kind of personal grudge against me?”
Yeqing’s expression remained calm.
“No.”
She picked up another ball and tossed it lightly.
“You’re just easy to hit.”
Gu Chengyuan could not help laughing once, but before his laugh could fade, a ball struck him squarely in the chest.
Yeqing looked at him and added calmly:
“You too.”
The courtyard quickly grew lively.
The wood gave off dull thuds under their fists. Tennis balls struck the wall and bounced back onto the ground. Lin Hao’s cries of pain mixed with Gu Chengyuan’s low curses. Lin Jing stood beneath the eaves and watched them. She did not laugh. She did not remind them. She simply allowed the basket of tennis balls to empty one by one.
What she wanted was not for them to dodge beautifully.
What she wanted was for them to find their own force within chaos.
Day 3: Connecting
On the morning of the third day, the block of wood still remained in the same place in the courtyard, but its surroundings were already scattered with the marks left behind by the tennis balls. There were faint smudges on the wall where the balls had struck, and round water stains across the stone slabs where puddles had dried and returned.
Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan stood in front of the wood. There were several bruises on their faces and arms. They looked like they had just crawled out of some strange disaster.
Lin Hao touched his forehead, his expression sour.
Gu Chengyuan leaned against the wall, lightly turning his wrist. His eyes were heavier than usual.
But neither of them complained anymore.
Because they were beginning to realize that they were not completely unable to dodge.
At first, they only moved after seeing the ball fly toward them, so every time, they were half a beat too slow. Later, they began watching Yeqing’s shoulders, the subtle angle of her wrist, and whether the tip of her foot had turned. Before the ball even left her hand, their bodies had already started to know where to move.
Lin Hao stood in front of the wood again.
This time, he did not immediately smash his fist into it. He first planted his feet, let his breathing sink, and waited for Yeqing’s first ball to fly out. When it came, he only shifted his body slightly, letting the ball brush past his shoulder. Then he borrowed that angle and dropped one punch onto the wood.
The sound was not loud.
But the wood trembled slightly.
Lin Hao froze.
“Just now…”
Gu Chengyuan stood beside him, his eyes changing faintly.
“It connected.”
That strike had not truly entered yet. It was still far from Lin Jing’s demonstration. But Lin Hao clearly felt that his force had not scattered like it had during the previous two days. His fist was not merely smashing alone against the surface of the wood. The force had risen from the soles of his feet, passed through his knees, waist, hips, shoulders, and finally landed on the surface of his fist.
Yeqing stopped throwing and looked at the two of them.
She did not praise them. She only tossed the ball in her hand upward and caught it steadily.
She could tell.
The two of them were finally no longer just dodging.
They were connecting.
Connecting with the rhythm of the ball.
Connecting with the reaction of their bodies.
Connecting with the breath that had nearly broken.
Gu Chengyuan stepped forward, but did not punch right away.
He first looked at the ball in Yeqing’s hand, then looked at the position of the wood, as if overlapping the two lines in his mind. When the ball flew toward him, he turned sideways to avoid it. His front foot took a small step to the side, and his fist did not strike fully. It only tapped the side of the wood in a short motion.
The wood trembled again.
This time, it was Gu Chengyuan’s turn to fall silent.
Wind blew in from outside the courtyard, carrying the smell of cooking oil from a breakfast shop and damp earth. The training was still just as painful and just as exhausting, but the rhythm inside the courtyard had begun to change.
They were no longer simply being chased by the balls.
They were finally beginning to find their own position within chaos.
Day 4: The Limit
On the fourth day, the training became heavier.
The weather was humid and hot. The morning mist dispersed slowly, and the courtyard felt as if it had been wrapped in a damp cloth. Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan stood in front of the wood. Their clothes were already soaked with sweat. When their fists struck the wood, sweat dripped from their chins onto the stone slabs and was quickly trampled apart.
The tennis balls in Yeqing’s hands flew out one after another. The angles were still tricky, but the two of them were no longer as frantic as they had been during the first few days.
What truly made them unable to hold on was fatigue.
Their arms felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead. Their shoulders ached so badly that every time they lifted them, it felt like needles were stabbing in. Their legs were so heavy they almost could not raise them. The wood in front of them began to blur. The balls Yeqing threw dragged into pale streaks across their vision.
Lin Hao panted, both hands braced against his knees.
The same thought surfaced in his mind.
Can we stop now?
Gu Chengyuan, unusually, said nothing. He only lowered his head as sweat dripped from his chin, one drop after another. His breathing was still under control, but his fingers had already begun to tremble faintly.
In the next second, Lin Jing’s voice pressed down from the side.
“If you’re not dead, then stand.”
Her voice was not loud.
But it was like a basin of cold water poured down their backs.
Lin Jing walked to the other side of the courtyard.
There stood an old tree. Its trunk was not especially thick, but it was still not something an ordinary person could shake. She stood before the tree and said nothing more. She only raised her hand and dropped a palm strike.
Boom.
The entire tree shuddered violently.
All the leaves above trembled at once, and dew scattered from their tips like a sudden, tiny rain.
In the next instant, a dull cracking sound came from inside the trunk.
It was not the bark bursting open.
It was not being forcefully broken from the outside.
It had broken from within first.
The cracking sound climbed up from deep inside the trunk. At last, the entire tree slowly tilted and collapsed, crashing onto the soil at the edge of the courtyard. The impact made the stone slabs tremble slightly.
Only the wind remained in the courtyard.
Lin Jing withdrew her hand and looked at the two of them.
“A human body can reach this level.”
Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan looked at the fallen tree.
Neither of them spoke.
That had not been showing off.
It was not simply intimidation either.
It was the answer.
If force truly entered, there was no need for a loud sound on the outside.
The inside had already been pierced through.
Lin Hao slowly straightened up.
Gu Chengyuan also stood upright.
Neither of them shouted any passionate line.
They simply walked back to the wood.
Yeqing looked at them and did not immediately throw the ball. Only after the two of them stood firm did she raise her hand again.
This time, when the ball came flying toward them, neither of them retreated.
Day 5: Intent
On the morning of the fifth day, the air in the courtyard finally became a little clearer.
Sunlight fell from the edge of the eaves, making the cracks on the surface of the wood easier to see. The block of wood still had no true gap in it, but several irregular fine cracks had already appeared across its surface, as if some force had been slowly pushing from the inside.
Lin Hao no longer tried to smash it apart with every punch.
Gu Chengyuan no longer tried to calculate every path of Yeqing’s next ball.
Their movements became smaller.
Their breathing became steadier than in the previous days. When their fists landed, they no longer chased loud sounds. When they dodged, they no longer threw their bodies in exaggerated motions. One punch, one dodge, one guard. They looked quieter than before, but more truly connected.
Lin Jing stood beneath the eaves and watched for a while before suddenly speaking.
“Almost enough.”
Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan had not even had time to breathe in relief when Lin Jing seemed to suddenly remember something and said calmly:
“Did I forget to add something?”
Bang.
Two sets of iron weights dropped onto the stone slabs.
The heavy sound made the corner of Lin Hao’s eye twitch.
Gu Chengyuan said quietly:
“I have a bad feeling.”
Lin Jing picked up a tennis ball.
“Put them on.”
The two of them were silent for a moment, but still tied the weights around their wrists and ankles. The iron pressed against their skin with a faint chill, but it was soon warmed by body heat and sweat. Lin Hao tried moving his arm once, and his expression changed immediately.
“This is going to kill us, right?”
Lin Jing did not answer.
She only threw the ball in her hand.
The sound of it cutting through the air was completely different.
Lin Hao’s pupils tightened. His body instinctively shifted aside, but the ball still brushed past his cheek, leaving a burning sting.
“Damn.”
Gu Chengyuan was just about to laugh when the second ball flew toward him. He raised his arm to block it, but his arm went numb from the impact, and his whole body nearly stepped back half a pace.
This was not Yeqing’s ball.
Yeqing’s ball was flow.
Guidance.
It made you find a path within chaos.
Lin Jing’s ball forced you to die right now.
By afternoon, the shadows in the courtyard slowly stretched longer.
The two of them finally began to connect their movements again. The weights prevented them from moving carelessly, because every unnecessary movement consumed more stamina. They could only shrink their motions, steady their breathing, and turn every dodge into the starting point of the next strike.
At last, Lin Jing stopped.
“Rest.”
Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan collapsed onto the ground almost at the same time, as if they had just been pulled out of water. Only their chests continued to rise and fall violently.
Yeqing stood beside them, lightly playing with a ball in her hand.
She was natural and quiet, as if this kind of thing was something her body had always known.
Lin Jing looked at her.
“Demonstrate.”
Yeqing nodded.
She walked to the center of the courtyard, picked up a blindfold from the side, and covered her eyes.
Lin Hao, lying on the ground, barely lifted his head.
“Blindfolded?”
Gu Chengyuan also looked over.
Lin Jing did not explain.
She simply raised her hand and threw the ball.
The ball flew fast.
But Yeqing moved.
She did not see it.
She did not even hesitate.
Her palm flipped, and she directly knocked the ball down. The second, the third, the fourth—each one was accurately intercepted. Her movements were not large. Her steps were not rushed. Yet the balls seemed to throw themselves into her palm.
It was not fast reaction.
It was as if before the ball left the hand, she already knew where it would go.
Lin Jing spoke calmly.
“This is called intent.”
The courtyard fell silent.
“It is not seeing. It is feeling. It is not reacting. It is knowing first.”
Lin Hao slowly sat up.
Gu Chengyuan’s eyes changed as well.
Then it was their turn.
The moment the blindfold covered his eyes, the world went dark.
Lin Hao heard his own breathing.
He heard the sound of Gu Chengyuan’s soles stepping across the stone slabs.
He also heard the ball in Yeqing’s hand being lightly tossed upward and caught again.
The tiny sounds in the courtyard, which had once blended into the background, became magnified in the darkness. Wind passing through leaves. Cloth rubbing against skin. The instant a ball left the hand and cut through the air. All of it became clear.
At first, it was chaos like a disaster.
Lin Hao was hit in the shoulder.
Gu Chengyuan was struck in the arm.
The two of them could barely tell where the balls were coming from.
But Lin Jing did not call for a stop.
Yeqing did not stop either.
One ball.
Then another.
And another.
Slowly, their breathing began to align.
The ball did not appear out of nowhere. It would first leave the hand. It would cut through the air. It would approach with the faintest sound.
The body knew danger earlier than the eyes.
It also found the path earlier than the mind.
Their movements grew smaller.
Their reactions grew faster.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Until, at a certain moment, both of them stopped almost at the same time.
The blindfolds were removed.
Standing in front of them was no longer Lin Jing.
It was Yeqing.
She still tossed a tennis ball lightly in one hand. Her expression was calm, and a few strands of hair near her forehead had been disturbed by the wind.
“Teacher had something to do, so she left first.”
Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan froze.
Yeqing paused, then said:
“She asked me to pass on one sentence.”
She looked at the two of them.
“Do not underestimate your own potential.”
The two of them fell silent.
Only then did they turn back to look at the ground.
Several baskets of tennis balls had already been emptied across the courtyard. Balls had rolled into piles near the corners of the wall. The stone slabs were covered in footprints, water marks, and dust.
They had endured it.
Without even realizing it themselves.
Gu Chengyuan suddenly laughed softly.
“…So that’s how it is.”
Lin Hao did not speak.
He only slowly clenched his fist.
That force had not fully taken shape yet.
But he already knew the direction in which it flowed through his body.
Yeqing looked at them, lightly tossed the ball in her hand upward, and caught it again.
Then she threw another ball.
“Want to keep going?”
Lin Hao looked up.
Gu Chengyuan smiled too.
This time, neither of them retreated.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqw8cVZxVHQ
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