Out of nowhere, I got labeled as some kind of hyper-aggressive psycho.
To be honest, Jiang Nian wasn’t too happy about it.
And it messed with his vibe during rehearsals afterward too—he ended up feeling super压抑 (yā yì), like, really suppressed and gloomy.
That made things pretty rough for Zuo Yuanliang, who had just barely managed to get back into a good headspace for their scenes together.
Gosh darn it, Jiang Nian’s vibe during filming yesterday was already scary enough.
But who would’ve thought—today, Jiang Nian’s aura was on a whole other level.
If Zuo hadn’t had the foresight to put on a diaper ahead of time, he probably would’ve been so scared by Jiang Nian that he’d wet himself again!
Zuo Yuanliang was filled with resentment.
On the flip side, there was the director.
Sitting behind the monitor, his face was practically splitting from smiling so hard.
Even though Jiang Nian’s vibe had changed, there wasn’t a hint of overacting in his performance.
Instead, combined with the earlier footage, it added this unpredictable, moody quality to the character “Du Gao,” which made the director absolutely thrilled.
And so, with Jiang Nian holding nothing back and just being his authentic self throughout the filming…
Seven days later.
[Rank Up!]
[Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu “Minor Achievement” (499/500) → Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu “Full Mastery” (Cannot improve further).]
With the system’s notification sound, it meant Jiang Nian had finally maxed out Du Gao’s Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu.
Almost at the exact same moment…
Jiang Nian fell into a state of sudden enlightenment.
But this time, the images he saw weren’t Du Gao’s memories anymore.
It was Du Gao himself!
He was wearing a white robe, shivering as he stood there, his eyes full of curiosity toward all the new things around him, practicing Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu bit by bit.
His moves were clumsy—neither pretty nor powerful, not even连贯 (lián guàn)—smooth or connected.
But every time he threw a move, it would freeze in mid-air, leaving behind a faint afterimage of the technique.
With his memory of Du Gao, Jiang Nian recognized right away that this was from the period when “Du Gao” had just entered the palace.
Then, as time passed under Jiang Nian’s watch, Du Gao’s temperament slowly began to change, and even the style of his clothes shifted along with it.
Under Du Gao’s hands, Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu became increasingly smooth and fierce.
Compared to before, it was like night and day.
And just like before, every move he threw would freeze in the air, leaving afterimages behind.
“Could it be…”
Seeing this, Jiang Nian suddenly realized something and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then, as if to confirm his thought…
Right in front of him, Du Gao’s movements grew faster and faster, his skill becoming more and more refined.
Layer after layer of afterimages kept popping up, more and more of them.
Until finally, as far as the eye could see, Du Gao looked like the Thousand-Armed Guanyin—hands pressed together, his figure fading away.
By the time Jiang Nian couldn’t see him anymore, the afterimages left in the air suddenly rushed toward Jiang Nian and landed right inside his mind.
In an instant, all of Du Gao’s martial arts training memories merged with Jiang Nian’s own training memories.
You were in me, I was in you—no longer separate.
This massive surge of insight drove Jiang Nian, taking his understanding of Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu to an even higher level.
He instinctively clenched his fist and threw a punch.
“ROOOAR!”
The wildness of the primitive age was awakened. The beast hiding in the jungle opened its eyes and let out a thunderous roar, heralding the approach of rolling thunder.
“Was that… Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound?!”
Jiang Nian was startled awake by the sound he had just made. He stared at his own fist in disbelief, his face full of shock.
Over the past few days, he had watched some martial arts-related videos.
In one old, early documentary, he had seen an elderly man practicing boxing and producing such a phenomenon.
And now, the punch he had just thrown—whether in sound or force—far surpassed that old man. It was no different from a real thunderclap or a tiger’s roar!
“Whew!”
Jiang Nian let out a long breath, his eyes filled with the thrill of discovering something new.
But this wasn’t the end of it.
The system’s voice sounded again:
[Rank Up!]
[Congratulations! You have advanced to a Second-Class Martial Artist!]
After more than twenty days, Jiang Nian’s martial artist level had improved once more.
“Looks like this Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound is probably the sign of me reaching Second-Class Martial Artist.”
“But if that’s the case, then what’s the sign of my Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu reaching ‘Full Mastery’?”
Jiang Nian was really puzzled.
His skill had leveled up—surely it couldn’t be that nothing had changed at all, right?
Just as he was thinking about it…
Li Cheng walked over from behind him, looking around for something.
When he spotted Jiang Nian, his eyes lit up, and he hurried over. He reached out, put a hand on Jiang Nian’s shoulder, and said, “Brother Jian—”
He didn’t even get to finish the word “brother.”
Before he could, Li Cheng felt a terrifying force come through his arm. Then, the world spun around him.
Before he could process what was happening, he was slammed onto the ground. And there was a big foot, now heading straight for his head.
“Holy crap! HOLY CRAP!”
Seeing this, Li Cheng was horrified. He quickly raised his hands to shield his face and, using the fastest talking speed of his life, yelled at the top of his lungs, “Brother Jiang, what are you doing?!”
Hearing this, Jiang Nian paused, confused.
How strange. He was just about to turn his head and see who had tapped him, so why was Li Cheng’s voice coming from under his feet?
Bewildered, Jiang Nian looked down.
When he saw that his foot was now less than ten centimeters away from Li Cheng’s head, he got a real scare.
“Whoa, Brother Li, why on earth did you go hiding under my foot for no good reason?”
Jiang Nian quickly moved his foot away and asked, totally baffled.
Upon hearing that, Li Cheng’s mouth twitched. Suddenly, a deep, helpless feeling arose in his heart—the kind you’d get if you came home from work to find your parents placing orders in your “eldest son’s” livestream, your wife making a nine-layer waist tower, your eldest daughter all plump and ready to head to Chengdu in white socks, and your youngest son singing “Apple Scent.”
Li Cheng’s face was full of grief and indignation: “You’re the one who threw me over here! It was you, YOU!”
“Huh???” Jiang Nian looked completely clueless: “Me? When did I— ohhh~”
Suddenly, Jiang Nian realized something. His expression turned strange.
He had heard Li Cheng’s voice when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
But the next thing he knew, Li Cheng was under his foot.
Could it be…?
“Does the change after my Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu reached ‘Full Mastery’ mean it’s become my muscle memory?”
“No, ‘muscle memory’ isn’t quite right—muscle memory still requires reaction time. But just now, I didn’t even have time to react, and my body had already responded automatically in the first instant.”
“This is more like… instinct!”
“Holy crap, did my skill go from active to passive?!”
Realizing this, Jiang Nian was astonished.
And right after that came the excitement.
Because this change was just way too awesome.
It basically meant he now had a fully automatic counterattack ability.
As long as there was the slightest anomaly, he could react instantly.
No more worrying about being ambushed or shot in the back.
But…
“I should be able to control this reaction, right?”
“Otherwise…”
Just imagine—he’s in the middle of stealing a car, and halfway through, he suddenly breaks into an impromptu free-fighting session.
That would turn him into one of those classic sayings from the Gambling Addiction Recovery Forum: “Three or five bottles, a couple of punches.”
