Chapter 53: Principal Sanshou

On the way back to the dormitory, Cheng Zitong turned the steering wheel and stared ahead as he said, “Even though I really advise you against it, you’ve made up your mind, so I’m going to respect your decision.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cheng,” Chen Chuan said.

“Come on. I already told you that you don’t have to be so polite with me. I’m going to teach you how to practice your chosen refined force next. Speaking of which, while this refined force is just average, only a handful of people practice it, and I’m not one of them. I need to go back and read through the manual. Let’s study it together,” Cheng Zitong said.

The car soon arrived at the dormitory’s entrance.

“Go back first. I need to file a report. We need to keep a record of the refined forces the students choose, no matter what department they belong to, so that the university can review it later,” Cheng Zitong said.

“Okay,” Chen Chuan said. He got out of the car and headed up.

Cheng Zitong drove to the administrative office building. A few minutes later, he parked the car and headed straight to the admission supervisor’s office. The moment he reached the entrance, he saw Yue Hong and Bian Feng waiting inside.

“You’re all here?” he remarked. He took out a filled-out form from his briefcase and placed it on Gao Ping’s table. “He picked his refined force. File it.”

Gao Ping took a glance and asked, “He chose this?”

“Yeah. I told you. He has a mind of his own. He didn’t like the refined force you suggested for him and chose this,” Cheng Zitong said.

Yue Hong was stunned. “Mr. Cheng, Mr. Gao, what refined force did he pick? Isn’t it the Arcane Phase Force?”

Gao Ping pushed the form toward him. “Take a look at it yourself.”

Yue Hong quickly went over and picked up the form. When he saw it, he looked up in surprise. “The All-Encompassing Force? Is there a mistake? Why would he choose this?”

He turned to Cheng Zitong and asked, “Didn’t you explain it to him? This refined force is really mediocre. He’ll only delay his progress by learning it. Why didn’t you tell him to reconsider?”

“There’s nothing to reconsider. I told you, this is Chen Chuan’s own choice,” Cheng Zitong stated.

“But Mr. Cheng, look, he’s just a freshman. He’s lacking in both knowledge and experience. His choice might not necessarily be correct. As lecturers, shouldn’t we correct his path for him?” Yue Hong tried to change his mind.

Yet Cheng Zitong did not want to argue with him. “This is what you high-and-mighty rationality faction people say. I told you, my student is the learn-by-instinct type. You need to trust his thoughts and instincts. Besides, I’m Chen Chuan’s mentor. As long as he’s my mentee, I’ll respect his choices.”

He grabbed the form from Yue Hong’s hands and handed it back to Gao Ping. “Alright, that’s settled. Put your stamp on it, Senior Brother Gao.”

“Shouldn’t we wait a little, Mr. Gao?” Yue Hong hurriedly asked, but Gao Ping ignored him. He put the stamp of the Admission Department on it, and Yue Hong sighed.

Gao Ping stood up with the form and headed to the filing room. After he left, Cheng Zitong did not linger around. He left as well.

Yue Hong and Bian Feng had no other choice but to leave. Yue Hong grumbled, “Lao Bian, why didn’t you try to persuade Mr. Cheng to change his mind just now?”

“Because it seemed like Mr. Cheng was trying to protect his mentee, and that’s fine. He’s a good mentor. We shouldn’t be so demanding of him,” Bian Feng said softly.

Yue Hong shook his head in disappointment. “Why are you acting like this too? Mr. Cheng doesn’t have any motivation to improve and is always off researching bizarre things. We can’t give up just because of one setback and let him ruin his mentee. We have to learn from the lesson we had and protect Chen Chuan.”

“But Chen Chuan has a mind of his own. What are we supposed to do? Force him to take another path? Besides, do you really not trust his choice?

He

had to live for others and the university during the short years of his life, and I felt tired just by watching him. We should be reflecting on our mistakes too,” Bian Feng stated.

“Maybe you’re right. It’s just a pity, though,” Yue Hong said and sighed.

After taking a few steps forward, he remembered something. “Mr. He is showing signs of being willing to come back. Even after going through that, I can tell that he hasn’t given up on his ideals. If Chen Chuan picked the Arcane Phase Force, he would have definitely come back to take a look, but how are we supposed to convince him to return now?”

“Who says we can’t bring him back without that?” Bian Feng countered.

Yue Hong was stunned. After some thinking, he became a little motivated. “You’re right. We have to keep pestering him!”

***

Gao Ping headed to the filing room and wrote his name on the log at the entrance. The lecturer sitting there greeted him with a smile. “Here to file a report, Mr. Gao?”

“For a student,” Gao Ping replied.

“Alright. One moment... You’re registered. Should I open the door for you?”

“I’ll do it.”

Gao Ping went in and opened the door with a key. When he walked in, he was faced with the students’ files. He headed inward through two doors until he came to the first-class students’ filing room.

When he found Chen Chuan’s file drawer, he unlocked it, pulled it out, and checked the form again. In the past, the All-Encompassing Force went by another name—the World-Encompassing Force. Later on, since its name was a violation against the law, they changed the name. There was nothing wrong with that. It was just a mediocre refined force that could not bear the weight of its original name.

Gao Ping put the form inside and pushed the drawer back in before locking it and heading out.

***

Fifteen minutes after he left, two people came over. They were an old man and a young lecturer. When the lecturer stationed at the entrance of the filing room saw them, he immediately stood up and greeted the old man respectfully. “Mr. Gu.”

The old man nodded at him and said, “Open the door. I’d like to check a file.”

“Alright.” The teacher immediately opened the door.

The old man and the young lecturer headed straight to the file drawer Gao Ping had just locked. The old man took out a key from his waist, and the young lecturer opened it, then retrieved the form Gao Ping had placed inside.

The old man took one look before lamenting, “How can they let a perfectly good sword go dull like this? That won’t do.”

“What should we do?”

“The students should do something,” the old man said, as composed as ever.

“Alright, Mr. Gu.”

***

Cheng Zitong returned to Chen Chuan’s dorm and asked Chen Chuan to train first while he read through the All-Encompassing Force’s manual. Since it was published long ago, many parts were written in an old, regional dialect. It was difficult to grasp its meaning.

Fortunately, this was his specialty. After looking through it a few times, he got the general gist of the refined force. Once he gave it some thought, he called Chen Chuan over. “This refined force isn’t too complicated. The key to learning it lies in its training method.

“Most martial artists in the past used fixed stances. The learning methods of the popular refined forces have been modified to use fluid stances. Not many people have researched and modified this refined force, so I thought that you would only be able to practice using its fixed stances, which would be inefficient.

“But as I was looking through the manual, I realized that this isn’t the case. After all, fluid stances use repeated movements to retrain the body’s functions, stimulating mutated tissue to grow and even transform.

“You can learn the All-Encompassing Force through various martial arts techniques and moves. Of course, it’s impossible for you to learn everything. You wouldn’t have the energy to do so, but there is one martial art that can more or less cover everything.” He gave Chen Chuan a smile. “You should be familiar with it.”

A thought popped up in Chen Chuan’s head, and he blurted out, “Principal Sanshou!”

“Exactly.” Cheng Zitong brandished the manual in his hand. “It’s Principal Sanshou. Even its most basic techniques are an accumulation of countless predecessors’ blood, sweat, and tears. It looks simple, but it has been thoroughly refined and covers all aspects of fighting. So, Sanshou can serve as the basis for all striking styles. Learning Major Sanshou alone won’t be enough, though.”

He schooled his face. “I’m going to teach you Principal Sanshou, the Sanshou version that you can only learn in Martial Valor University and will only be allowed to use if you learned it here. This Sanshou version covers all that you need. It trains you to use your fingers, palms, elbows, knees, and every part of your body. It also incorporates takedowns, grapples, parries, chokeholds, and more. With medicine and a breathing technique, you can use it in place of fluid stances.”