Chapter 13: Cousins

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The effect of his body’s first transformation was akin to increasing his score from 60 to 90 in examinations from his previous life. This allowed him to maintain his passion for cultivation and continue to train without slacking off for even a moment.

Before long, he had been practicing Mantis Snake Sword Technique for a full week.

It was another night where he collapsed in exhaustion, and while asleep, he unknowingly underwent his body’s second transformation.

On the night just before the end of his first month at the martial arts school, his body underwent the third transformation, again while he was asleep.

In just one month, Chen Yiming had broken through three of his body’s shackles and undergone the third transformation. He had become something of an expert and was now impervious to blades and bullets.

The speed of his training was somewhat terrifying. Judging from the information he learned from his daily conversations with other trainees, his training speed was unprecedented among all the disciples in East Lake City.

If this was made public, the entire East Lake City might be shaken by the rise of the talented new star of the martial arts world.

Chen Yiming didn’t dare to let anyone know about it. He didn’t even tell his family the truth. It wasn’t easy to be known as a martial arts genius, and he had to be ready to deal with the potential danger.

He pretended that nothing had happened and continued to be a diligent and hardworking ordinary trainee, sticking to his established routine.

At this point, his original plan had been perfectly executed. There were no incidents along the way, and his cultivation had reached the level of the third transformation.

Chen Yiming

Talent: Swordsmanship—Level 1

Skill points: 3

He did not use the three new Skill Points thoughtlessly, but saved them for his Level-2 swordsmanship talent.

The Level-2 swordsmanship talent required 30 Skill Points, which was 10 times more than Level-1. According to the current speed at which he was acquiring Skill Points, it would take around half a year.

…

The pale white moonlight shone on the ground, illuminating the entire courtyard.

A shadow was dancing on the courtyard wall. The door to the Chen family’s restaurant was wide open, and the neighbors passing by only took a quick glance before hurriedly going on their way.

After dinner, Chen Yiming was practicing diligently in the courtyard. He didn’t want to waste any time.

Now that his body had undergone three transformations, the surface of his skin seemed to have grown an additional layer. Ordinary weapons would only leave a white mark on it.

A typical knife-wielding hooligan would not even be able to break through his skin, so he simply left the door open to intimidate the would-be thieves who were watching him in secret.

Father Chen had just come back from a meal at Second Uncle’s house, where he had consumed a fair amount of alcohol, becoming a little drunk. He was sitting in an armchair and smoking a pipe.

The bamboo armchair was quite old, and quite a few parts had started to come loose. At this moment, there was a creaking sound coming from it.

Mother Chen talked to Father Chen while washing the dishes. They talked about what was mentioned at that night’s dinner — her cousin had been specially recruited as a member of the city patrol.

The city patrol was an enviable job for ordinary people.

Every day, they patrolled their corresponding areas at the allocated time to maintain the security of their assigned area, and to drive away illegal peddlers. There was not much danger involved and they had a stable income.

Chen Yiming learned from the conversation that this time, they were hiring official full-time staff and not temporary workers who could be fired at any time.

This made a huge difference. For an official full-time position, if one did not make any major mistakes, they would be employed till retirement. In the past, there would usually be hundreds or thousands of people competing for such a position. As for temporary workers, they were similar to employees at private companies, and could be fired at any time due to various reasons.

When Chen Yiming finished his training, Father Chen and Mother Chen had yet to come to a conclusion.

Seeing that Chen Yiming had completed his training, Father Chen blurted out, “Yiming, your uncle wanted me to ask you how the city patrol’s work is. Is it alright to do it?”

Now that the world was becoming chaotic, the work of the city patrol had become more dangerous, so his uncle’s family were feeling hesitant.

“Isn’t there a war going on in the west? Why would he suddenly think of joining the city patrol? Isn’t it better to stay at home like Yingying?”

Chen Yiming frowned. His uncle worked in the city department, so he should have known about this.

Father Chen puffed on his pipe, then continued, “This is an official job. Who would have thought that Shaojie would be selected? Although there is a war in the west, your second uncle’s family thinks that if he missed this opportunity, it may be difficult for Shaojie to find a better job in the future.”

Chen Shaojie was a year younger than Chen Yiming. Since classes were suspended, he was staying at home like Chen Yingying.

“There’s no point asking me about this. I am only going between the school and our house every day, so I’m not too sure about other matters,” Chen Yiming replied helplessly.

Hearing this, Father Chen also revealed the true intention of Second Uncle’s family.

“Actually, your second uncle wanted me to ask if you could help your cousin enter the martial arts school as a trainee. If he can get into the school, then he won’t join the city patrol.”

Chen Yiming nearly choked when he heard this.

“How would that work? I’m only a trainee, and I’ve only met the head once. I don’t have the power to admit people to the school.”

Father Chen smoked on his pipe and sighed.

“I said the same thing, but your second uncle insisted that I ask you.”

Mother Chen put down the bowl she was washing and turned to scold Father Chen.

“I told you not to bother. Our son has only joined the school for a month, how could he make such an unreasonable request? If he left a bad impression on the school, your son is the one who will be affected.”

Father Chen quickly tried to appease Mother Chen.

“His second uncle was just asking. If it really doesn’t work out, we can just reject him. Shaojie is younger than Yiming, so it’s only right for him to take care of his younger cousin.”

Hearing this, tears welled up in Mother Chen’s eyes. She brought up a matter from the past, saying, “Why didn’t his second uncle think of helping Yiming back then? Back when Yiming didn’t do well in the middle school examination and needed his connections to pay his way into the top three high schools. I still can’t forget how his second uncle evaded the issue.”

Seeing that the situation was getting from bad to worse, Father Chen tried to defend his brother’s actions.

“Wasn’t there some special circumstances? Back then, it was a critical moment for his second uncle’s career. He was afraid that others would have something to use against him if he helped us.”

Mother Chen wiped her tears and shouted, “Then how did Shaojie get in? Shaojie’s score was lower than Yiming’s by more than 10 points. Stop finding excuses for your brother. If he didn’t want to help, then so be it. Why bother looking for excuses?”

To Mother Chen’s, her son’s future was the most important. Now that her son was successful, their relatives started to ask favors of him shamelessly without considering how her son’s future may be affected.

Chen Yiming looked at his parents who were arguing, and understood the meaning of the saying:

In times of prosperity friends will be plenty. In times of adversity, not one in twenty.

Second Uncle and his family lived in a commercial district in the city center. They had never thought much of Chen Yiming’s family and had never interacted much outside of visiting each other during the Lunar New Year.

Chen Yiming had learned from the memories of his body’s owner that he had grown up in the village in the city. His friends were all children from the village, so he was naturally rather mischievous.

Every time he visited Second Uncle’s family, although the family didn’t say anything openly, he could feel the distance from their expressions.

Chen Shaojie didn’t allow Chen Yiming to play with his toys either. He would always lock his toys in the drawer before the visit.