The Way of Restraint

Chapter 137: Deaf, Mute, and Dull-Witted

The Minglun Martial Arts Academy looked just like it did a year ago.

However, there were noticeably more people, mostly foreign faces, along with some vibrant young individuals.

Su Jie did not see Gu Yang.

He only noticed many coaches on the playground leading summer training sessions, with some practicing martial arts routines, others running long distances, and some training with martial arts equipment like blades and swords, creating a bustling atmosphere.

Su Jie easily made his way to the massage room inside the school.

He was looking for Uncle Mang.

The massage room had expanded again, now boasting dozens of rooms, where many masseurs were helping students with muscle relaxation, loosening tendons, and eliminating lactic acid, while also recording their data.

What surprised Su Jie the most was that the massage room was equipped with computers and medical devices, making it resemble a hospital and a scientific laboratory.

“This must be Haoyu’s idea; this data is extremely valuable,” Su Jie thought. He knew that the Minglun Martial Arts Academy held many competitions every day, capturing numerous training sessions and collecting a wealth of physical data from many individuals. These things should not be underestimated; they were rare resources.

If one were to ask what was most precious in this era, Su Jie would certainly say data.

Big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence could calculate results that scientists had struggled to determine for thousands of years.

What humanity had calculated over millennia could be surpassed by a supercomputer in just an hour.

“Feng Hengyi probably wants to consolidate this data and sell it to the Typhon Training Camp to earn considerable virtual currency.” Many people were unaware that their data could be sold for a high price.

He arrived at Uncle Mang’s massage room.

The sign still hung there: as long as one could endure, they could receive a free massage.

Just as he was about to knock, the door opened, and Nie Shuang came out. Upon seeing Su Jie, she paused for a moment: “How did your National College Entrance Examination go? Have the results come out? Are you back for further studies? How’s your martial arts practice?”

Faced with Nie Shuang’s barrage of questions, Su Jie simply smiled: “I scored 745; that should be enough for any university. I’ve made some progress in my martial arts, so I wanted to consult Uncle Mang again. By the way, I want to learn how to cook from you; would you be willing to teach me?”

Su Jie had an interest in cooking. He had experimented at home, making the best stir-fried cabbage with meat, but it was still far from the standards of the Nie family’s private cuisine. He was determined to master this skill, as cooking was actually more useful in daily life than martial arts.

Moreover, cooking involved nutrition, which had immense benefits for body conditioning, indirectly enhancing his martial arts.

“745? You might have the highest score in the country, a super scholar! No wonder your martial arts progress so quickly,” Nie Shuang exclaimed in surprise. “You want to learn cooking? I can teach you. After all, some of the dishes in our Nie family’s private cuisine can only be mastered by those with exceptional talent. By the way, you can go in and take a look; Uncle Mang has encountered someone who is no less impressive than you. This person can actually endure his massages and withstand electrical stimulation. During the first stimulation, he remained completely unharmed.”

“There’s someone like that?” Su Jie was taken aback. Only he knew how terrifying that electrical stimulation was; during his first experience, he had even lost control of his bodily functions. Now, hearing that this person could endure it on the first try was definitely impressive.

As Nie Shuang spoke, she pushed the door open again and entered with Su Jie.

Inside, Su Jie saw Uncle Mang operating a machine, with an assistant managing things beside him.

On the massage table lay a young man, around twenty years old, covered in silver needles, with electrical currents stimulating many of his neurons and muscles through the needles.

Uncle Mang switched to another machine, which seemed to output electrical currents with a precision far exceeding the one that had shocked him before.

“This person is actually asleep?” Su Jie observed the young man on the massage table. He was of average build, neither muscular nor thin, looking completely ordinary, with no apparent special qualities.

Yet, under the kind of electrical stimulation that even agents would find hard to endure, he was sound asleep.

Moreover, his sleeping posture was quite strange, coiled like a snake, occasionally moving, resembling a turtle. From him, Su Jie vaguely sensed the shadow of a turtle-snake.

The snake was agile, twisting and turning, able to climb trees, scale cliffs, and burrow into the ground.

The turtle was still, stable, and long-lived, adept at nurturing health.

The spirit of the turtle-snake represented true martial prowess, a symbol of the highest deity in Taoism.

“His name is Kang Gu; he is deaf and mute,” Nie Shuang explained. “He registered at our Minglun Martial Arts Academy last year and has been learning martial arts here for a year. However, he rarely competes; whenever he runs low on money, he participates in a few small Arena Competitions. Other than that, he just practices and doesn’t communicate with others.”

“Su Jie, you’re here?” Uncle Mang heard Su Jie’s voice and said, “Come over here and let me feel how far your martial arts have progressed! How’s your physical condition?”

Before Su Jie could respond, Uncle Mang rushed over, grabbing Su Jie’s arm and squeezing it hard, moving upwards.

“Damn, damn, damn!” Uncle Mang exclaimed three times, “What kind of physique is this? The force is starting to expand, seemingly infinitely, dissipating my strength, yet inside it feels incredibly sharp, ready to rebound at any moment. No, wait… Could it be that this is the Golden Body of horizontal training?”

“Golden Body?” Su Jie suddenly remembered that when he faced Chaoyang’s long howl, he had indeed felt a golden essence within his body, a sense of immortality.

This was a psychological suggestion, an illusion, yet it felt so real that he believed he had truly achieved the Golden Body.

However, if one were to dissect him, his blood was still red, his skin was skin, and his flesh was flesh, no different from an ordinary person, except that his bone density and resilience were extraordinarily high, and his muscle contractions were explosive, with overall coordination and cerebellar balance far exceeding that of normal individuals.

That was all.

But for Uncle Mang to have sensed his “Golden Body” was indeed astonishing.

“What exactly is the Golden Body?” Su Jie asked.

“The Golden Body is achieved through a series of secret exercises, breathing techniques, Qi Gong, medications, flexibility training, internal and external strengthening, psychological suggestion, and mental meditation, combining to push the body’s strength and sensitivity to a certain level. It allows for better elasticity against impacts, just like gold; no matter how much it is hammered, it merely turns into gold leaf, getting thinner and thinner without breaking like iron. Furthermore, the structure of gold is very stable, not reacting chemically with other substances. It represents a body that is also stable, not easily eroded by diseases, with extremely strong immunity. It’s just a metaphor, not that a person’s body is literally like gold,” Uncle Mang explained.

“This kind of physical quality is extremely rare; even world-class professional athletes may not possess it. In short, your body can withstand blows, falls, and hits, recover quickly, and has strong immunity. As long as you don’t overexert yourself, you could live to be over a hundred years old, and even after a hundred, you could still run, climb, and fight with young people.”

Upon hearing this, Su Jie couldn’t help but ask, “Uncle Mang, have you seen anyone else who has achieved the ‘Golden Body’ like me?”

“Of course, but they are few and far between,” Uncle Mang replied. “But don’t go getting yourself killed; you’re still flesh and blood. A blade can still cut you, and a bullet will still create a large wound.”

“I know that,” Su Jie nodded.

Just as he was about to discuss the electrical stimulation further, the machine automatically shut off, signaling the end of a treatment session.

The young man opened his eyes, silently removed the needles from his body.

Then, he stared at Su Jie for about ten seconds before directly pushing the door open and leaving.

He was mute and deaf, unable to speak or hear, so Su Jie wasn’t surprised by his behavior.

“Kang Gu is quite the hidden gem; his martial arts are strong, and he has received specialized training. Although he doesn’t speak, I can tell from a few instances that he has some secret training methods similar to yours,” Nie Shuang said. “I’ve approached him several times to sign with our Minglun Martial Arts Academy, but he refuses, just as you did back then.”

“I need to focus on the National College Entrance Examination and go to university,” Su Jie quickly explained, but deep down, he was curious about this deaf-mute youth, Kang Gu.

The fact that their training methods were somewhat similar made him wonder if he had also been taught by Odell.

Odell, the foreigner, was always looking for talented young individuals to teach, and for him, Su Jie was merely an experiment.

Su Jie was certain that during Odell’s travels, he had taught many students, and the feedback data from these students helped him understand which methods aligned better with human evolutionary patterns.

“Coach Odell initially had me learn the ‘Great Corpse Spreading Method.’ And this Kang Gu seems to practice the ‘Turtle-Snake Sleep Method.’ This is an ancient Taoist sleeping technique; I don’t know the specifics, but it looks quite impressive. I should find a time to exchange ideas with him,” Su Jie thought. “Of course, he might not have been taught by Coach Odell.”

Much of what Odell taught came from the Typhon Training Camp, and some techniques from Feng Hengyi were similar, like the Grey Wolf and Hungry Wolf.

He also had to be wary that Kang Gu might be from the Typhon Training Camp.

“This person has a dull expression, clearly due to being deaf and mute for years, leading to an inability to communicate. Yet, his aura is also wooden, giving off a sense of a pain-insensitive wooden man; it’s hard to tell if he is good or evil,” Su Jie thought, using his knowledge of Physiognomy but unable to discern anything.

“I heard you studied Physiognomy and Feng Shui with Luo Weiji and Ma Fengnian,” Uncle Mang asked. “But they are unwilling to communicate with me, probably due to their relationship with Haoyu, fearing their data will be taken.”

“Uncle Mang, I don’t support Haoyu investing in the Minglun Martial Arts Academy. What do you think?” Su Jie asked.