Chapter 2 - The Prodigy Brother

At night, Jiang Li came home from school and immediately noticed the thick savoury smell of meat. His nose twitched and he gulped down his drool.“Mum, what meat is this, it smells so good?”

Mum poked a head out of the kitchen, “I just bought this Sha Luo beast meat today, come drink a bowl of soup.”

“This is for you brother.” In the living room, his father, Jiang Zhendong, coughed, “This meat is 600 star coins a kilo.” Star coins was the currency for humans in the galactic era. It was very sturdy, and one star coin was worth one gram of gold.

His parents’ monthly salary together was more than 100 star coins which was enough for the whole family to live a slightly wealthy life. However, it would be inadequate for expensive supplements.

Sha Luo was a type of galactic beast. It was very hard to capture but its meat was a great supplement, and eating it could improve one’s body and increase one’s strength by increasing the muscle density. Compared to Ginseng and other earthly herbs and medicine, its effects were ten times better.

“Dad, I know. Brother needs supplements for life force right now.” Jiang Li shrugged his shoulders. He was very understanding. His brother’s grades were the best, and these extravagant products should be used on him.

Knock knock knock

There was the sound of footsteps. The door opened and a youth appeared in front of the door.

It was his brother Jiang Tao.

He had a very sturdy build with a height of 1.9m. Although he was only 16, he was a head taller than Jiang Li. His body appeared to have explosive power, and his eyes were sharp like that of a hawk. He had an imposing manner and was also one of the well known people in the school.

Jiang Li was now 17 but his height is only 1.75m.

The two brothers were in year 11 and year 12 respectively.

“Dad, mum, brother, I’m back.”

“How was your test today? Did your life force increase?” Jiang Zhengdong could not wait to ask and even his mum working in the kitchen came out.

“My life force test grade was 0.95, I had a breakthrough. I also got a 30 star coin scholarship.” His brother Jiang Tao took out a red envelope.

“Good…… Very good…” Jiang Zhengdong was full of happiness, “Work hard, you must do you best to try and get into Astral University. The whole family’s hope rests on our shoulders. Your mum cooked you some Sha Luo meat, so hurry and eat it.”

“Big brother, you should eat some too.” Jiang Tao looked at Jiang Li, “Your life force grade has constantly been at 0.7. This is because of malnutrition. If you eat some Sha Luo meet, your constitution will increase.”

“That’s unnecessary.” Jiang Li waved his hand, “My talent is a far cry from yours. It would be a waste even if I ate it. Little brother, you should finish the meat first. Otherwise when little sister comes back and wants to eat it, mum and dad will be troubled.”

This was a family of five consisting of mum, dad, Jiang Li, Jiang Tao and a thirteen year old sister, Jiang Xuan.

“Wow, big brother, your life force reached 0.95?” The thirteen year old little girl at the doorway walked in. It was Jiang Xuan.

“I heard there is more than two hundred thousand students in year 11 and big brother is ranked around top ten.”

“Ha, little sister is back.” Jiang Tao grabbed a seat, “Although 0.95 is very good in the school, but it is still far from the score required for Astral University. I will reach 1 sooner or later.”

“Little brother, don’t get yourself too tired.” Jiang Li showed care in his eyes, “Out of the eight hundred thousand students in our school, those with a life force of 1.0 are less than ten. They are all basically children of the wealthy and everyday they eat super supplements. Our family cannot afford that. Training without sufficient nutrition may have the opposite effect.”

“It’s alright.” Jiang Tao didn’t really care, “Big brother, I have already entered the third stage of Deep Sleep. I have already begun Stasis training these few days. I will let those people know that resources will never beat aptitude!”

“What? Stasis training?” Jiang Li was astonished., ”Little brother, you’re not kidding me right?”

“Really?” Jiang Zhendong, their mother and their little sister, Jiang Xuan, were all amazed.

Jiang Tao was a prodigy and soon he showed his talent. Since junior high school, he could enter Deep Sleep every night through training.

And since that time, he slept only one hour a day but was still energetic for the whole day. Meanwhile, Jiang Li had to sleep for eight hours to have energy. How could the two be compared? And now, he was even better. He actually began Stasis training.

The buddhist text “Da Zhi Du Lun” said, “One who achieves stasis cannot be harmed by fire or water and will not have an end to life.” It could be seen from this the wonder of this state. However, according to modern research, in Stasis, the latent potential of the body would be greatly excavated. Internal secretion would change and the body would become stronger and stronger.

Internal secretion was a magical thing. Change in Internal secretion resulted in people who were morbidly giant or dwarf.

[TL Note: (内分泌/Internal secretion): The body’s natural chemical pathways such as hormonal secretions

“Compared with little brother, the really cocky Zhang Yue in our class is trash.”

Jiang Li was gratified. Zhang Yue relied on resources and incense every night and only then could he barely manage Deep Sleep. Meanwhile, Jiang Tao could enter it even in exercise. This was like the ancient [Drunken Fist]. Your spirit is drunk but your will isn’t. Drunk people were immensely strong but [Drunken Fist] wasn’t a fist you punched after you were drunk. It was spiritual numbness. That was the spirit entering Deep Sleep during exercise according to modern research. When exercising in Deep Sleep, the body does not know wariness. It had unlimited power with adrenalin all being controlled.

However, real Stasis was 100 times harder than this third stage of Deep Sleep. It required a strong will and spirit power to remove excess thoughts and prevent them from occurring. The heart was a monkey. It was agile and intelligent, and mastering it into Stasis required great determination. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

In the entire school of 800 thousand students, maybe only one or two people could enter stasis or maybe even none. Jiang Tao would have long reached a life force of 1 if it wasn’t for his lack of resources.

Of course, above Stasis was Fetal Respiration. The state of Fetal Respiration could only be achieved by those spiritual masters and human elites. The so called Fetal Respiration was stopping respiration through the mouth and nose and entering a fake state of death. The cells inside the body breathed automatically and would be incessantly evolving perfectly. In due time, the human body would incomprehensibly strong.

There were even greater spiritual states above Fetal Respiration. However, those are the topics of research by the spiritual masters of the elite sections. Normal students won’t even be able to know about it.

[ED Note: So for confirmation it goes 3 stages of Deep Sleep -> Stasis -> Fetal Respiration and these are the states of the spirit/mind. Not the usual cultivation bs we usually get so wrap your heads around that people. A state of mind and the life force is the “cultivation level” like we usually get so much simpler than other novels. [Just saying as it confused me greatly when I first read this)]

In the human race, there were two types of strong people. One type was the resource type, the offsprings of the rich. The other type was the talent type, and Jiang Tao was this type.

At this time, the hollow projector television was broadcasting today’s news. A beautiful lady was smiling and said, “According to latest statistics, the average life expectancy in the normal human district has reached 100 years old. The average life expectancy of those living in the elite district has reached 180 years old…….”

“Woah…..” The little sister Jiang Xuan exclaimed, “180 years, that is so long, when can we move to the elite district.”

“Don’t worry sister, I will let the whole family migrate to the elite district.” Jiang Tao clenched his fists. His body made cracking sounds displaying his blooming life force, fighting will and iron like confidence.

“The elite district…..”Jiang Zhendong and the mother both looked on with hope.

The environment the humans inhabited were divided up into the normal and elite district. The people inhabiting the elite district were all elites of the human race, high ranking officers, the super wealthy and the super strong.

Inside, the environment, education, medicine, technology were ahead of the normal district by a few decades.

“Brother, I heard there are people in the elite district who can survive in the vacuum of space and ripe apart beasts in the cosmos with their bare hands. Some of them even have life force reaching the three digit figures. Is it really so?” Jiang Xuan discussed avidly, “Isn’t that superman?”

Jiang Tao patted Jiang Xuan on the head, “Of course, the people in the elite district are the heros and powerhouses of the human race. Two hundred years ago, humans still hadn’t left Earth and were lacking resources. Now, we can traverse worm holes and acquire many valuable herbs and medicine. As a result, the life forces of humans started increasing significantly.”

“Yes.” Jiang Li also taught his sister knowledge, “Two hundred years ago, there were still many countries in the human race. The average life force was only 0.5. Now, even you’re stronger than them.”

“To be honest, the humans of Earth are a god blessed race. That time in 2050, an alien aircraft suddenly crashed. Although the countries of the world fought over this and initiated World War Three, the humans united due to this and researched that spacecraft together. It was this that allowed them to acquire wormhole technology. Otherwise, humans would never have developed to this stage in just two hundred years.” Jiang Li recounted history emotionally.

“Getting into Astral University gives us hope in migrating to the elite district. Astral University is the cradle of the elite.” Jiang Zhendong continued, “Eat. These are herbs and chicken soup. This is a Snow Frog, and this is Ginseng. Although they’re all synthetic, but their effects are the same with the wild ones from before.”

The food on the table was abundant. There were many foods with high nutritional value such as Ginseng, Velvet Antler, Snow Frog, Insect Plant…….. They were all artificially synthesised but their nutritional effect were good.

Of course, this was food for civilians. The real wealthy people didn’t eat these stuff.

There was a connection between the average life expectancy in the normal district being 100 years and the consumption of these foods. The food with great nutritional value before could all be synthesised now. However, the real power food were from outer space such as Sha Luo meat. Only those could be served to the wealthy people.

After dinner, Jiang Tao pushed the bowls aside, “Mum, dad and big brother, I’m going to school for Stasis training at night, I need to leave now.”

“Be careful.”

“I know.”

As he was speaking, Jiang Tao moved his body and was already out the door. A [Monkey Shift] was fast as the wind and Jiang Tao disappeared in the blink of an eye. This was equivalent to the martial artists two hundred years ago. Jiang Li couldn’t even see these type of movements, much less do them.

“Going out Jiang Tao?”

“I’m going to school for training, uncle Li and auntie Wang…”

“What rapid speed, Mr Jiang has a good son. Meanwhile, we gave our son a countless number of power foods but his life force is still only 0.7. I’m so angry.”

“Jiang Tao is a genius. He’s a student who could enter Deep Sleep since an early age. Our son can’t even go into Deep Sleep.”

....

The conservation between the neighbours outside sounded and Jiang Zhendong and hi mother both grinned.

“Mum, dad, I’m going out too.” He did the dishes with his little sister after dinner and carried a bucket of prepared cat food.

“Feeding homeless cats again at the park?” Jiang Zhendong frowned but then thought of something and eased his eyebrows. “Go, don’t come back late.”

“Zhendong, is Jiang Li a bit depravated?” Mum walked out, “But don’t blame him, Jiang Tao’s aptitude is better than his so all the resources were used on Jiang Tao from the beginning.”

“The main problem with Jiang Li is that he has no talent. If he could enter Deep Sleep, he wouldn’t be like this. My main concern is that Jiang Tao has too much pressure that it can break him. Afterall, all our hope rests on him. I myself am incapable and I have no choice but to rely on my son to take back what belongs to me…… But Jiang Li…. *sigh*....” Jiang Zhendong sighed.