Chapter 34: Bidding Farewell
With a clack, the lights came on. Chen Chuan walked into his room and shut the door before going to the window. The sky was dark, and the moon was up.
He drew the curtains and returned to the bed. After checking his alarm clock, he shut his eyes and overlapped with his second self.
A moment passed before Chen Chuan opened his eyes to check the alarm clock. In order to defeat Zhong Wu, he had used the Soul Jolting Strike in every kick and had overlapped with his second self for quite some time. Yet he still overlapped with his second self for an extra 270 or so seconds, so the maximum amount of time had gone over six minutes.
This was the biggest improvement since his second self’s birth.
Zhong Wu should have been the most dangerous opponent Chen Chuan had ever faced. He had also never wanted to defeat someone as much as he did Zhong Wu.
In the fight, he had attacked Zhong Wu with unwavering conviction and succeeded. This resulted in the strongest resonance with his second self.
Chen Chuan pulled the alarm clock down.
A new beginning was about to start.
The next day, Chen Chuan got up on time.
There were two more days before the start of the new semester, so he wanted to do some things. Once classes started, he would have no free time, so he had to contact the people he was close to right then, which was why he first called Ding Jiao.
Immediately after the call went through, Ding Jiao said, “Hello, is it Chen Chuan? You finally called me! I’ve been going crazy over the past few days! I told all my friends that my deskmate got into Martial Valor University, but those idiots refused to believe me and said that I was just bragging! Brag about what, exactly? Do I look like the type to brag, huh?”
Chen Chuan pulled the phone receiver a little further away. “And then?”
“And then what?”
“About the bragging,” Chen Chuan said with a smile.
“About the bragging? Let me tell you—Wait. You’re just teasing me, aren’t you? Oh! By the way, why did you call me?”
“I passed Martial Valor University’s follow-up exam, so I called. I don’t want you saying that I never tell you anything about myself.”
“You passed the follow-up exam?! Amazing! You’re awesome! Holy cow! I’m... Holy crap! You’re my idol now, Chen Chuan!” Ding Jiao’s voice became an octave higher. It blasted through the phone receiver, allowing anyone within a few meters to hear him, but Chen Chuan had already pulled the phone receiver far away from his ear again.
“By the way, you have to treat me to a meal, hear that? If you don’t treat me to a meal, I’ll be so upset I might jump off a roof. Could you live with that on your conscience?”
Chen Chuan thought about it. It was pretty serious. While Ding Jiao lived in a one-story house, there was a river right next to his house. “I was planning to do just that. I won’t be treating a lot of people, just some of our close friends. Let’s find time and eat at Lost Homeland Bistro.”
“Sure! I’ll call the guys right now! We can discuss the details later!” Ding Jiao hung up excitedly.
After some thinking, Chen Chuan called another number. “Hello, is this Mi Law Firm? I’d like to speak to Gao Ming.”
After a while, he heard Gao Ming’s voice. “Hey, cuz. I’ve been paying attention to news about Martial Valor University’s follow-up exam over the past few days. If you called me right now, that means you passed, right?”
“Yeah, I passed last night,” Chen Chuan replied.
Gao Ming chuckled. “Congratulations, then. By the way, I will only have the time to come back to Yangzhi City in two months. I don’t have the exact date yet, but I’ll talk to you about it later.”
Since Gao Ming was busy, they exchanged a few more words and hung up.
Just then, a bicycle bell rang outside. Someone knocked on the door and asked, “Does Chen Chuan live here?! Martial Valor University’s Chen Chuan?! You have a package!”
The delivery boy was so loud that all the neighbors could hear him.
Chen Chuan walked out and opened the door to see a young man in a gray uniform with a package on his back. Behind him was a bicycle with packages hanging off both its sides. When the delivery boy saw him, he handed an order receipt and a pen. “You’re Chen Chuan, aren’t you? You have an emergency delivery. Please sign the receipt.”
Chen Chuan took the receipt and signed it. The delivery boy took it, went to his bicycle, and handed him a huge package. Clearly envious, he said, “You got into Martial Valor University, huh? You’re amazing. My little brother is going to take the entrance examination next year, but I don’t know whether he’ll pass. Goodbye.”
The delivery boy hopped on his bicycle, rang the bell, stepped on the pedal, and left.
Chen Chuan waited for him to leave before he returned to the house and opened the package. It had two retro-style martial arts uniforms with the right lapels going over the left. One of them was black, and the other white. Each set even came with a matching forehead band.
The package also contained two student uniforms, including hats, shoes, gloves, and socks, a set of casual clothes, a set of winter casual clothes that looked similar to the clothes he was wearing right then, though the materials and color were better. Martial Valor University’s emblem was sewn on all the clothes.
At the very bottom, there was a beautiful envelope with the university’s name on it. The paper felt hard with something like a name card inside.
Chen Chuan checked it and found that it was a new student ID. After he passed the follow-up exam, he was considered part of the elite pool of students the university was going to focus on teaching, so his original student ID was replaced.
There was also a pamphlet and a key inside the envelope.
The cover page had congratulatory words, along with some of Martial Valor University’s rules and important notices. The back of the pamphlet was an ink wash painting of Martial Valor University. Even though it was just a print, it was still beautiful and pleasing to the eye. Some famous artist had to have drawn it.
The key was for the dorm. He would only be able to use it after the new semester started.
After packing up, Chen Chuan went to the courtyard to practice Major Sanshou. Soon, it was noon.
Once he had lunch, he changed into a new set of clothes and ran to the Domain of Fists. On the way, he decided to visit Wei Dong to check whether his friend had passed the follow-up exam.
This time, he did not climb up the wall. That was not the proper way to go up, after all. He circled round the residential buildings and went in through the gate. When he located Wei Dong’s building, he found the staircase and went up. Wei Dong had a poster of a martial artist with his fists clenched on his door. Judging by the style, the poster was from a long time ago.
He knocked on the door. “Hello, is Wei Dong home?”
Heavy footsteps sounded behind the door before it swung open. Wei Dong stood behind it with medicinal patches on his face. He waved at Chen Chuan. “Hey! I didn’t see you yesterday. Someone told me that you were on another exam site, and we nearly got into a fight over it, but the guy didn’t want to fight.”
Chen Chuan laughed. “You were at an exam site. If he had wanted to fight, would you have really fought him?”
“Of course not. I was just trying to scare him. I made a promise to the old guy, and I’m going to keep it,” Wei Dong answered proudly.
“Judging by your expression, you passed the follow-up exam, didn’t you?” Chen Chuan noted.
Wei Dong scratched his head. “The upperclassman was good. He knocked me off my feet with just a few punches, but I didn’t give up. I got back up and continued fighting him. This happened a few times. I think it was around three or four times? Anyway, later, a lecturer told me to stop, and that it would be meaningless for me to continue fighting. He told me to stop wasting time and leave, because I passed.”
Chen Chuan extended his hand. “Congratulations, Wei Dong.”
They exchanged a resounding high five. “Hehe! Congratulations to you too, Chen Chuan. Let’s continue sparring in the future.”
Suddenly, in a more serious tone, he said, “I’ll think of a way to win against you.”
“You’ll have to work hard to do that.” Chen Chuan smiled.
After getting his answer, he stayed for a little while at Wei Dong’s place before heading to the Domain of Fists. He arrived at the school a little past 2 p.m.
Lu Ke was cleaning up the school. When he saw Chen Chuan, he cried out in delight. “Chen Chuan!”
Then, he just stared at him. He knew that Chen Chuan had gone off to take the follow-up exam at Martial Valor University, but he did not know how he fared.
Chen Chuan smiled at him and gave the air a fist bump.
Lu Ke was delighted. He gave him a thumbs up and said sincerely, “You’re amazing, Chen Chuan!”
Then, as if he remembered something, he said, “By the way, Master Yu is upstairs. He’s also waiting for you.”
Chen Chuan nodded. “Let’s catch up later.”
He headed upstairs. On the second floor, he found Yu Gang standing on the balcony corridor while staring into the distance with his arms crossed.
Chen Chuan went over and bowed to Yu Gang. “Mr. Yu, I passed Martial Valor University’s follow-up exam. I’ll be going to the university in a few days. Thank you for your guidance over the summer.”
Yu Gang turned around and uncrossed his arms. “Since you’ve passed the follow-up exam, I will no longer need to train you.”
“Even so, I still have to thank you for teaching me,” Chen Chuan said.
“You’re talented, so you would have been able to pass the follow-up exam one way or another. I’ve now repaid Captain Nian’s favor. If you need any more guidance from me regarding martial arts, I’ll be charging you more than fifty devs.”
Chen Chuan laughed. “That’s fair.”
“You’ll face competition no matter where you go, and Martial Valor University is no different. Sometimes, the competition there may even surpass what you expect. Stay alert at all times,” Yu Gang advised.
“Thank you for the advice. I’ll try my best,” Chen Chuan promised seriously.
He stayed for a while at the Domain of Fists before bidding goodbye to Yu Gang and leaving. Before he did, though, Lu Ke gave him a plastic bag. “Master Yu asked me to pass this to you.”
Chen Chuan took a look. “Black rat’s meat?” he asked in surprise.
Lu Ke nodded. “That’s right. Two kilograms of it. I bought it using your balance. Master Yu wants you to remember to eat it. It’ll last you until the start of your semester.”
Chen Chuan smiled and waved at Lu Ke. “Thank Mr. Yu for me. Bye.”
Lu Ke grunted in acknowledgement.
When Chen Chuan was about to step into the alley leading out, Lu Ke shouted from behind him, “Chen Chuan, come often if you have time!”
Chen Chuan turned around and smiled. “Sure.”
He gave a wave to Lu Ke and Yu Gang, who was watching him from upstairs, before turning around and leaving.
Yu Gang and Lu Ke watched Chen Chuan walk out of the narrow alley. A much broader world awaited him.