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Chapter 17: Mastery
Chapter 17: Mastery
Experience points increased by 3.
Jiang Cheng looked at the information on the panel and felt a little disappointed.
He had expected a gain of five or six points, after all, it was a combination of twelve techniques.
However, upon further thought, many of the movements were repetitive, and most importantly, his speed was not fast.
But without a doubt, this combination, whether used to improve proficiency or applied in actual combat, was highly effective.
After a short rest, Jiang Cheng began practicing again.
The old woman beside him watched with concern.
After practicing for about ten minutes, exhaustion overwhelmed him.
Jiang Cheng put down the short stick and rested for a while.
Checking his experience points, they had already increased by 3.
"It seems that reaching the next proficiency level will be much faster than expected."
Jiang Cheng felt a little relieved.
The slum was not peaceful, and with those two people possibly seeking revenge, he dared not let his guard down. He had to improve his proficiency with the short stick as soon as possible.
Then, he noticed the old woman beside him, saw the worry in her eyes, and hurriedly said with a smile, "Grandma, don't worry, I'm doing this to strengthen my body, not to fight with others."
In fact, he meant what he said sincerely.
If the area was peaceful, and the gangs, thugs, and hooligans didn't cause him trouble or oppress him, he really wouldn't want to pick up weapons and fight with them.
But, this was unrealistic.
"Grandma understands," the old woman sighed, "I'm just worried that you'll encounter those guys and act impulsively."
"That won't happen," Jiang Cheng said. "Even if I'm very skilled, I'm still just one person. How could I possibly be their match? If I fight them, wouldn't I be asking for trouble?"
Hearing this, the old woman's expression became relieved, and she nodded, "It's good that you understand. It's getting late, go to sleep early."
"I'll practice a bit more, I'm not tired yet," Jiang Cheng replied.
After feeling some recovery of his stamina, Jiang Cheng started practicing his footwork.
Although he could improve his proficiency through the twelve-stick combination and master it, his understanding of footwork would also increase.
However, it was hard to say if a fight would occur in the next day or two, so familiarizing himself with footwork was a good idea. In combat, footwork might be even more important than attacking techniques.
Inch step, padding step, flash step, fragmented step.
Jiang Cheng kept moving back and forth, left and right.
Within a few minutes, he was out of breath and exhausted.
Checking his experience points, they had increased by less than ten.
"This footwork might not be exclusive to the short stick," Jiang Cheng thought as he drank some water.
Another hour passed, and Jiang Cheng was completely drained. Even if he wanted to continue practicing, his stamina couldn't support him.
In this state, forcing himself to practice would only result in deformed movements and wasted energy.
[Short Stick: Proficiency (102/800)]
Jiang Cheng checked the panel and went to take a shower, then to bed.
The next day, Jiang Cheng woke up early, finished breakfast, and practiced the short stick for another hour, increasing his experience points to eighty or ninety.
At this time, the old woman had also finished washing the sweet potatoes.
With the old woman's repeated instructions, he pushed the tricycle towards the street.
As a precaution, he also brought a lunch box, which he could place directly on the oil drum to heat the food inside, just like roasting sweet potatoes, so that Grandma wouldn't have to make a trip and risk being watched.
Upon reaching the stall, Jiang Cheng quietly waited.
Unlike the previous day, he didn't take out the stick to practice flourishes.
Firstly, the situation yesterday was urgent, and he had to improve his proficiency with the short stick as soon as possible.
Secondly, as his short stick proficiency increased, practicing flourishes no longer provided much experience, as they were meant for beginners or those who had just started.
Stick technique, definitely can't be practiced here, the killing aura is too heavy, it's scary.
Practicing footwork is also weird, people who don't know might think he has some serious illness.
If he's not careful, he might attract the attention of those people from the Dragonstride Martial Arts Academy again.
So, he simply lay down and decided to sell sweet potatoes honestly.
"Maybe next time I can bring a book."
Jiang Cheng thought to himself.
After all, it's better than doing nothing.
Time passed quickly, and by noon, he heated up his lunch box and looked at the roasted sweet potatoes. He gritted his teeth, remembering the money he earned yesterday, and asked himself, "Can't I even afford a roasted sweet potato?" He then decided to peel and bite into one, filling his mouth with a fragrant and sweet taste.
Perhaps it was his eating that attracted passersby, who couldn't resist and bought two to satisfy their hunger.
Not long after finishing his meal, Lu Zicheng pushed his cart and walked over.
Jiang Cheng smiled and greeted him.
Lu Zicheng was taken aback, nodded, and then looked at Jiang Cheng's hand, noticing he didn't have the short stick from yesterday, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the atmosphere was obviously a bit stiff.
Jiang Cheng didn't say anything further, understanding the other's actions. If he were in Lu Zicheng's shoes, he would also feel uncomfortable about yesterday's incident that might have attracted the attention of the martial arts disciples.
It wouldn't look good if their relationship soured with their stalls so close together.
But that was all there was to it.
The entire afternoon passed peacefully.
Even when they returned in the evening, they didn't encounter any trouble.
In the blink of an eye, another two days had passed.
A piece of good news, the proficiency in roasting sweet potatoes had reached the Mastery level.
And after Mastery, there was another proficiency level.
The required experience points were 2000.
The experience points for the short stick had also reached over 600, and at most, one more day was needed to reach the Master level.
Correspondingly, the time it took for Jiang Cheng to complete the twelve-step stick combo had also been shortened to over 5 seconds, and he could even do it in under 5 seconds when in good condition.
That morning, Jiang Cheng took the money from the cabinet, pushed the tricycle, and went out onto the street.
He first went to the grocery store and bought several dozen pounds of sweet potatoes.
He didn't dare buy too much, fearing suspicion, because after returning, he had to repay Chen Aunt's money.
He also bought two pounds of eggs and two pounds of meat, spending over a hundred.
Half of it was for his own consumption. In the past few days, aside from the day he crossed over and had a meat meal, he hadn't had any meat for the following days, occasionally eating an egg or two.
The other half was a token of gratitude for Chen Aunt's care.
Life wasn't easy for the two of them, and from Lin Yue's behavior that day, it seemed they didn't eat much meat either.
Including the 300 yuan he had to repay later, he had about fifty or sixty left from the money he took from those two thugs.
If you count the thirty or forty pounds of sweet potatoes he bought, he would need to use the money he earned from selling sweet potatoes in the previous days.
He would also need to buy several dozen pounds of charcoal.
The charcoal at home had run out.
"Money is really hard to come by."
Jiang Cheng sighed.
When will he be able to live a life of abundance?
Pushing the tricycle filled with goods, Jiang Cheng walked in the alleyway during the day. With the short stick in hand and the bright daylight, he wasn't too worried about encountering robbers.
Moreover, those two hadn't shown up in the past few days, probably too scared to cause him trouble again.
Perhaps they were still nursing their injuries in bed.
However, what he didn't expect was that as he turned a corner, three people blocked his path.
(End of Chapter)
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