58 Training

Li Wei was curious, what could have happened for them to act this way? But Bright Sun and Cai Wenji already disappeared in one of the adjacent streets, leaving the 3 members of the Cai Family standing there.

Coincidentally, the 3 were standing on the street where Li Wei needed to go. He quietly walked that way towards the Training Center but did not inquire about what happened. He was not familiar with them and as far as he was concerned, it might just be some family conflicts.

But as he walked past the group of three, he faintly heard them speak,

"Let's not worry about it, she is a diligent person and loyal family, she will eventually agree to it."

"Sigh... She should consider herself lucky to have been chosen."

"Really? Would you not have made a mess if he chose you instead?"

"..."

...

It did not take long for Li Wei to arrive at the Training Center. He quickly entered and asked the receptionist to access a private room: "Hello, I would like to use one of the private training rooms of the Fleeting Clouds Sect please!"

"I am sorry but all the private rooms are being used right now! You can only choose to go to the shared one or rent one for some gold" answered the receptionist.

"Every room is already taken? Strange, wouldn't people usually be hunting at this time of the day? ... I might as well take the opportunity to watch others train again," said Li Wei to himself.

"In that case, I will choose the shared room!"

"No problem!"

...

Li Wei quickly entered the room and sat in a quiet area. Many players were already present using their own training techniques that Li Wei did not recognize. He observed for a moment trying to see if he could learn these techniques just from watching. He tried it at first when he last came to the shared room but he failed, now that he was more experienced with training techniques, he thought that he might be able to understand one thing or two but in the end, he obtained nothing.

"Nevermind, let's practice the Gliding Steps for now," said Li Wei to himself.

30 minutes later, he finished his cycle and his Gliding Step's mastery advanced by 16 points. Following that, he summoned a mannequin and started practicing his moves. After more than a week, he already became quite proficient at the dual sword style. However, he was nowhere close to the Red Bandit Leader when he was at level 15.

While there were a certain flow and harmony in his movements, he was well aware that it was not enough. He mercilessly attacked the poor mannequin from different sides as he usually did. He could clearly see that the damage he was dealing was quite high. However, he was not satisfied, he felt like something was missing.

He kept practicing and tried different moves but still did not find what he wanted. Eventually, he settled down and watch some players practice their swordplay and finally, Li Wei's eyes brightened. He finally realized that what he was missing. While he could continuously strike the target 4-6 times in a series of strikes, it would always leave a bland aftertaste. The damage was quite high, especially with the two new swords but that was it, to create a feeling of satisfaction, what he really needed now was a way to end his combo, in other words: a finishing move that could be incorporated in his combos.

"This should be the next technique I acquire! I have quite a lot of contribution points now, I wonder how much such a move will cost," said Li Wei to himself.

"Oh yeah... I forgot to check if Rising Dragon transferred his Contribution points! There should be something around 3000. I did not check the prices but a good skill at the Warrior Association costs about 3000, it should not be too different," thought Li Wei as he stood up to leave the shared room.

He still had to train the [Clarity of the mind] but chose to have a look at the techniques he could acquire first. With the fatigue generated, he was still able to train only one technique and since [Clarity of the mind] only gave wisdom, he would rather train the other one if he found a suitable one.

Li Wei quickly went out, he was about to leave the Training Center when he saw a familiar figure walk out of the corridor leading to the private rooms; it was Bright Sun.

"It does not matter, you should go back brother, I am just a bit disturbed but you should not worry about me, go train a little more," said Bright Sun.

Behind her, Cai Wenji appeared, "don't worry about that, it's just one day. It's more important to make sure you don't do something crazy."

Bright Sun sighed as she walked towards the exit but then, she saw Li Wei looking at her from the entrance. She still did not look in a good mood but forced a smile upon seeing him,"hi Seven."

"Hello! Congratulation for your Time Attack, last time I've seen your party was tenth on the leaderboard," greeted Li Wei.

"Oh that, I am just a priest and did not do much. Anyway, I should get going, I'll see you later," said Bright Sun as she walked towards the exit.

Cai Wenji quickly followed her and looked at Li Wei," Sorry about that, something happened and she is not in a good mood right now, we'll talk later."

"Ah Cai Wenji wait! I wanted to ask you about the techniques I can choose from, I have some contribution points now and it would be good if I can get a second one," said Li Wei.

"You can just go to the Headquarters for that, you will get access to all techniques available for exchange," said Cai Wenji in a hurry.

"mmm" Li Wei nodded, he already knew that he could look at them at the headquarters. However, he was hoping to get some more advanced techniques from Cai Wenji. He was well aware that the best techniques were not available for exchange to the outer members, for example, the Gliding Steps was something reserved for Core members of the sect but he obtained it through Bright Sun when he joined the sect.

"I know what you are looking for but things are different now, we could give you the Gliding Steps when inviting you to join the sect, but we cannot give you everything as you remain as an outer member. Although we do have the authority to take some actions, we are still bound by the rules of the sect" said Bright Sun who stopped when she heard Li Wei.

"But don't look down on the techniques available for exchange! You might find some buried treasure there! While most techniques there are relatively weak, many of them are simply incomplete versions of strong skills," continued Bright Sun.

"Alright, I understand," answered Li Wei. He was disappointed but it was something he was already told when he chose to join as an outer member. Bright Sun and Cai Wenji were about to leave when Li Wei opened his mouth:

"By the way Bright Sun, you remember what I said about the Gliding Steps?"

The two quickly stopped and looked at Li Wei. Bright Sun was confused at first but she quickly recalled what happened, "Yes? Did you find something?"

"I am not sure but I thought a bit about it, I believe that by changing the movements a bit, it would be more adapted for women," calmly said Li Wei.

"Really? What are you changing precisely?" asked Bright Sun with curiosity. She hardly believed that Li Wei was able to come up with some upgrades so quickly but she politely inquired about it.

"If you have time, I can show you directly!" said Li Wei.

Bright Sun hesitated for a moment, she knew that right now, she did not have the right mindset for training due to some recent event. But seeing Li Wei's confidence when he spoke, she could not help but become even more curious. Eventually, she chose to listen to him, it would not take long for her to judge the changes.

"Fine, let's go back to the training room," finally said Bright Sun.

Hearing that, Cai Wenji let out a smile. He was happy to see his sister think of different things, what she really needed right now, was some form of distraction.

...

Inside a private training room, Li Wei sat down and took out a piece of paper, "I am not a hundred percent sure but I believe that if we change the 3rd movement, the 8th movement, the...."

"Here, positioning the leg at this angle and here lower the body a little bit more..."

Li Wei continuously spoke as he drew on a piece of paper, making some vague illustrations of the moves he was describing. Next to the piece of paper, was a copy of the original manual he used to learn the Gliding Steps. There was not a lot of differences in the drawing, his were obviously not as refined but he compensated for it by adding some labels and descriptions at specific places.

"What are all of these? How did you come up with these changes?" asked Bright Sun who was curiously looking at the drawings.

"I wanted to study medicine after high school so I took some time to learn a bit about the human body. There are some differences between men and women when it comes to the legs and hip joints so I just thought that this would make the technique better. As for how I know which changes to make? I am not too sure either, it was as if I instinctively knew what changes to make," answered Li Wei.

"Looking at the human body from the modern medicine point of view? It is true that most of these techniques were derived long ago and at that time, there was limited technology... The changes you've made might be correct but we won't know until we try. Fortunately, I did not train in the Gliding Steps yet," said Bright Sun.

She grabbed the piece of papers from Li Wei and studied them with great interest.

On the side, Cai Wenji brought Li Wei a few meters away to allow his sister to calmly study and said; "So, it might be rude to ask but what are your origins? It is strange for someone without any contact with martial arts to derive so many changes in such a short period of time especially considering the detailed explanation you gave."

Gliding Steps was not a technique Cai Wenji used so he had no idea of the effect of the changes. But being someone who used several manuals, he knew that making changes to a refined technique was not easy. Therefore, seeing Li Wei easily propose so many changes, especially when his sister seemed to approve them, he could not help but wonder if Li Wei was a spy.

"Me? I am just an orphan, I don't even remember my parents or my family. All I know is that I was involved in a car accident causing me to lose all my memories before that. The earliest I recall was when I was 11 and I was at the hospital and after that, I was sent to the orphanage. I was never contacted by any family member after that so I can't really tell you anything," replied Li Wei.

He did not mind sharing some information about himself. He really got involved in a car accident a few years earlier and that was the furthest he could recall. As for the rest, there was nothing he needed to hide.

"In that case, can you tell me your real name?" asked Cai Wenji. He was visibly not satisfied with Li Wei's answer.

"My name is Li Wei."

"Mmmm, never heard of it," replied Cai Wenji. He was still suspicious but when observing Li Wei, he did not seem to be lying or hiding anything.

"So? What happened earlier for your sister to act this way?" asked Li Wei.

"Ah this... Just some personal matter... It would be impolite for me to tell you about it" replied Cai Wenji.

At the same time, Bright Sun stood up and placed down the papers, she quickly got into position and started moving according to Li Wei's instructions. But not even one minute later, she already reverted back to the original movements. It was something ingrained in her, having practiced this technique for years, she was already used to a specific set of movements and had some muscle memory. Since there were no big differences, it was normal for her to step back into her old habits.

"No no, you are doing the usual move! " said Li Wei as he noticed the change.

"Ahh Sorry about that," replied Bright Sun as she corrected her position. The new moves were clearly harder than the previous ones. The new ones put more pressure on her legs and joints causing her legs to tremble a little as she moved.

Another minute went by, "No, you are again going back to the usual move, lower your hips more but don't bend too much and spread your legs more, it will be harder to maintain your balance so you should use to arms for that," said Li Wei.

Bright Sun flushed upon hearing the instructions but she still listened and adjusted her body.

"Umm, maybe you should phrase your instructions better!" commented Cai Wenji. He was standing to the side watching his sister train. He was very curious about what the results would be but he did not have high expectations, as long as it was a distracting his sister, he would be satisfied.

"Ah Sorry about that..."

...

40 minutes went by as Bright Sun finally sat down. She was exhausted, the training cycle took longer than normal, partly because she had to often readjust her movements but also because Li Wei's instructions made the cycle longer.

"So? How was it?" asked Cai Wenji.