Even though Qian Yuya showed almost no expression—Le Yu suspected that both Qian siblings had a genetic case of poker face—Le Yu still always felt like Qian Yuya's words carried a bit of sarcasm.
But since he was no longer needed here, Le Yu went back to the living room to practice Combat Technique and kill some time.
There was a large, open space in the living room with no furniture, the very place where Qian Yuliu trained Combat Technique before heading off to military school. Right in the center of that empty space, the floor showed deep signs of wear—a dent that Qian Yuliu had stomped out over time.
When Le Yu stepped onto the spot, his feet fit perfectly into the indentation, and a flood of memories bubbled up in his mind like foam on water. He naturally fell into the starting stance for the Biting Battle Technique, began practicing, and recalled a lot of knowledge.
Most Combat Techniques could be divided into three parts: "nurture," "application," and "refinement."
"Nurture" was all about caring for the body; practicing Combat Technique strengthened you—but only if you had the full inherited system. Skip the warm-ups, the cooldown stretches, or the off-time massages, and you'd just end up wrecking your body instead of building it.
But any Combat Technique that lasted until today had been honed into a complete version by countless Awakeners over and over. Supposedly, certain old families held secret "Secret Techniques" as their trump cards, but the original Qian Yuliu scoffed at this idea—how could the handful of techniques passed down by a few dozen generations of a single family possibly compete with the Combat Techniques that had been improved for centuries, by hundreds of generations and tens of thousands of people nationwide?
"Application" meant use. Not every Combat Technique was invented for fighting—for example, the Internal View Hand Technique let Medical Officers heal most illnesses just by using their bare hands to massage and seal meridians. And even those Combat Techniques meant for battle didn't mean you could just learn to throw punches and suddenly become a fighter—you still had to study strategy, like what to do if someone fought back in a certain way, how to respond to particular moves, and that kind of thing.
Because all information about Combat Techniques was totally public, every technique came with the "perfect" counter to every other technique, just like in a fighting game where every character had a guaranteed way to beat the rest—like, "if they throw an uppercut, you just duck under their butt and punch them in the nuts," stuff like that.
Of course, knowing all the counters was one thing, actually beating someone else was another—you needed more than textbook moves; your opponent might just be a beast.
So if you wanted to truly master a Combat Technique, you honestly had to memorize way more stuff than for any regular school test.
"Refinement" was all about the spirit—while practicing Combat Technique didn't boost your Spiritual Power, the process let Awakeners draw out their Spiritual Power to the max.
To put it in terms of muscle strength, a regular person could only throw a punch using maybe 50% of their strength, but a trained fighter could control their muscles to push out 80% or even 100% of their full power.
It worked the same way with Spiritual Power. Normal people had about 30–40% efficiency—most of their mental energy just leaked away when trying to handle Light Energy—while Awakeners steeped in Combat Technique for years could push that efficiency above 60%.
Once your Combat Technique pushed your Spiritual Power efficiency past 70%, it meant you finally had true mastery; you made it to the inner gate. For Qian Yuliu, his Biting Battle Technique ran at about 70% efficiency.
"Mu Feihong beat the living crap out of me not just because he had better moves, but because his Spiritual Power efficiency was just a bit higher than mine. But even that tiny bit meant I couldn't even get a shot in..."
As Le Yu practiced, he ran through the morning's battle in his head. Suddenly, some fuzzy points clicked, and a bunch of subconscious habits became crystal clear to him.
By the time he finished the Biting Battle Technique routine, Le Yu had ended up right where he started, standing in the same indentation. His whole body felt warm, his muscles delightfully sore, his breathing smooth, and he was even a bit hungry.
And he had finally understood everything.
His talent in Combat Techniques had a lot of room to improve.
Up till now, he hadn't managed to fully digest Qian Yuliu's entire legacy; he could only get just barely close to Qian Yuliu's level.
"Study? My ass. Better to wait till I survive the 15-day challenge and just level up instantly."
Dong, dong, dong.
"Xiaoyu, are you home?"
A voice came from outside. Le Yu went to open the door and saw a girl in a purple-and-blue school uniform standing there. She had mid-length choppy hair with blunt bangs, a bit of baby fat on her cheeks, and eyes sparkling as she looked at Le Yu.
"You're one of Qian Yuya's classmates, right? Come in and sit down, she's cooking right now," Le Yu said warmly,
Le Yu opened the front door to let her in. The girl quickly said, "Sorry to trouble you," then looked at Le Yu curiously, "My name's Li Ying, I'm in the same class as Xiaoyu."
Li Ying had been to Xiaoyu's house before, but this was the first time she'd seen anyone else here. The young man in front of her seemed gentle and youthful, a little similar to Xiaoyu, but he called her "Qian Yuya" by her full name... Was he Xiaoyu's relative? Or maybe her uncle?
Le Yu invited Li Ying to sit, poured her a glass of water, and smiled as he asked, "How's Qian Yuya doing at school? Anybody bullying her?"
"No, no, Xiaoyu is actually really popular in class, nobody would ever bully her." Li Ying shook her head emphatically and looked even more curious at Le Yu, "Are you and Xiaoyu close?"
"Who exactly is this cute guy to Xiaoyu? Relative? Neighbor? Or maybe even a childhood fiancé?"
"Oh, we're pretty close, I guess. So, how are Qian Yuya's grades?"
"Really good. Doesn't matter if it's the regular classes or Combat Technique, Xiaoyu's always one of the top students. By the way, are you still in school? Or are you working already?"
"I've been working for more than a year now." Le Yu laughed softly. He was asking about Qian Yuya's school life, partly thanks to Qian Yuliu's memories, and partly just because he really did want to know what his "little sister under the same roof" was like at school.
He suddenly lowered his voice, "Hey, tell me secretly—has Qian Yuya started dating anyone?"
Li Ying blinked, licked her lips excitedly, and whispered, "Not yet, but I know Fang Wenhua in our class likes Xiaoyu, and Xiaoyu used to have a thing for him too."
"Okay, if it's gossip you want, now I'm really interested!"
"Used to?" Le Yu immediately caught the important detail.
"Yeah, but today Fang Wenhua said something dumb, so Xiaoyu probably hates him now." Li Ying sighed regretfully,
Le Yu grew more curious, "What did he say? Swear words? Or like, dirty jokes?"
"No, no." Li Ying thought this guy's brain worked in weird ways, "It's kind of a long story..."
"How are your Chinese grades?"
"Pretty good."
"Then can you give me a quick summary and cut to the main point?"
Li Ying paused for a second, then realized the connection between Le Yu's two questions, and laughed, "Simply put, Xiaoyu's 'bad brother' came to school today, and Fang Wenhua made a bad remark about him, so Xiaoyu's probably mad now."
Le Yu blinked, suddenly understanding, "So that's how it is... Wow, I didn't expect Qian Yuya to have such a cute side."
"Yeah, Xiaoyu is pretty adorable actually." Li Ying giggled. She felt more at ease with Le Yu the more she looked at him—he was funny and a little sneaky, whispering gossip about Xiaoyu with her, which made her feel an instant connection. For girls, gossiping behind someone's back was honestly one of the best ways to get close.
After a bit more chat about Xiaoyu, Li Ying couldn't hold back her curiosity anymore and asked, "So, what's your name? How are you related to Xiaoyu?"
She blushed as the words left her mouth.
Compared to her classmates, Le Yu made a great impression on Li Ying—not only was he good-looking, but he was fun and witty, basically everything she fantasized about in a boyfriend. She secretly decided she'd come to Xiaoyu's house more often from now on, even if she couldn't get close to this guy—just getting to look at him would brighten her day!
But this guy didn't really seem super close to Xiaoyu. He called her by her full name, didn't know much about her daily life... "If only this cute guy was actually Xiaoyu's real brother!"
"Me? I'm... Qian Yuliu, Qian Yuya's brother," Le Yu replied as he took a sip of water, speaking unhurriedly,
Li Ying blinked.
"Qian Yuliu? Which 'Qian,' which 'Liu'?"
"The 'Qian' from 'feather' and the 'Liu' from 'flowing water.'"
"Her real brother?"
"Well... I'm not totally sure, honestly. Our parents have been gone a long time, never asked before, but probably real, right?"
"Does Xiaoyu have any other brothers?"
"Not that I know of." Le Yu crushed Li Ying's final fantasy, "That so-called 'bad brother' who came to your school today, that was probably me."
Li Ying instinctively scooted away from Le Yu.
She really hadn't expected this young man to actually be the notorious Qian Yuliu!
When Le Yu went wild on the playground against the Feng Chuanliu teacher today, Li Ying barely saw what happened, not to mention the playground was so far from the classroom building. The best everyone managed was to hear the Feng Chuanliu teacher yelling—no way anyone saw the Statistical Department agent's face clearly, right?
The bigger thing was, her first impression of Le Yu was totally different from how she pictured a Statistical Department agent. The stories painted them as a pack of deranged, greedy, perverted, terrifying villains, with an average of three scars and six bullet holes each.
But Le Yu didn't seem like any bad guy, he even seemed kind of soft and cute. So in Li Ying's mind, she'd instantly ruled out the chance that this was Qian Yuliu.
"Th-th-th-then," Li Ying took out a blue-covered notebook from her bag and, her hands trembling, held it out to Le Yu, stammering, "Th-th-this is the notes I borrowed f-from Xiaoyu, I f-forgot to give th-them back after class..."
"Did you really have to be this scared...?" Le Yu thought to himself, slightly exasperated, "Relax, I'm off duty—no dragging people off to the Statistical Department. Besides, you're Xiaoyu's friend; I'd sooner protect you than hurt you."
Li Ying thought that made sense, but her legs still kept shaking. "A person's reputation is like a tree's bark," and the Statistical Department's infamy was legendary. As for Qian Yuliu, as one of their main operators, rumor had it he was a maniac killer, with at least dozens of bodies to his name—how could Li Ying not be scared?
"Xiao Ying?"
Hearing Qian Yuya's voice, Li Ying acted like she'd been granted a royal pardon. She jumped up, "Xiaoyu, I came to return the notes! Now that I've done that, I gotta head home!"
As soon as she finished, Li Ying bolted out of the Qian house without even glancing back.
As for getting closer with Xiaoyu's brother... "Sorry, there are plenty of cute guys in the world, but I, Li Ying, still want to live a few more years!"
Qian Yuya took off her apron, watched Li Ying's fleeing back, and looked over at Le Yu.
Le Yu acted like absolutely nothing had happened,
"Is dinner ready yet?"