Inch of Radiance Vol 1 Chapter 5

Book 1 Chapter 5 – Jiang Xue

Within a large ‘Heavenly Net’ practice room.

Li Yang’s eyes were sharp like arrows, staring straight at the red target resting 50 meters away on a steel plate.

Xiu!

Li Yang flicked his hand and a knife radiance flashed past. Like a meteor, before onlookers could process the reflex signal generated from their brain, the Flying Dagger was already embedded within that red target.

That plate was made out of steel, and unique steel no less. If an average person stood right next the steel plate and tried to stab the dagger in, they would fail. This was why even if it was Li Yang, he had to instill internal energy. Every single one of Li Yang’s Flying Daggers contained internal energy, and every single one of those daggers pierced into that red target.

Xiu! Xiu!

Li Yang’s right and left hands both began to quiver, and two strands of icy blade l.u.s.ter flashed by. Li Yang squinted his eyes, and a thread of refined awn flashed before his eyes.

Others could not see the trajectory of the knife, but Li Yang could tell that his two blades shot towards the two extremities of the steel plate. At the last moment, the two knives suddenly changed directions, perfectly striking the red target.

Drip!

Sweat dripped in copious amounts from Li Yang’s forehead, but Li Yang’s face was calm and peaceful like that of a rock, continuously practicing all sorts of Flying Dagger cultivation techniques.

Ninety-nine percent of the ‘Three Great Heavenly Realms’ describes the proper procedures and usage of the Flying Dagger. As long as you were able to release a single Flying Dagger, you could shoot two of them as well. Of course, it was more beneficial to train both hands.

The ‘Never Missing Xiao Li Flying Dagger’!

Only upon obtaining the ‘Ghost Petrifying Flying Dagger Release’ degree of expertize could you be considered to have reached a state of perfection. Only then could you be known as ‘Never Missing’!

However, in order to reach that state, one must have finished cultivating in the three great boundaries – the ‘Joyous Spirit Boundary’, ‘Remorse Boundary’ and the ‘Despair Boundary’! The last single percent of this ‘Three Great Heavenly Realms’ talks briefly about these three boundaries.

Every single one of these realms allowed the Flying Dagger to have a different type of special effect. Li Yang experienced great joy with Jiang Xue during their time together, which awakened the ‘Joyous Spirit Realm’. His Flying Daggers were similar to a cheerful and lively bird; he could feel the cheerfulness of his blade, and his spirit could feel the energy resonating within his blade. This was why his blade could s.h.i.+ft mid-flight.

As for the higher level ‘Remorse Boundary’ and ‘Despair Boundary’ that brought about even more astonis.h.i.+ng effects, it was not something that Li Yang could comprehend at the moment. Only upon reaching that level could he truly understand these boundaries.

Xiu!

Releasing another Flying Dagger, Li Yang’s wrist slightly flicked, and the Flying Dagger flew along its predicted trajectory. However, Li Yang did indeed have that mysterious ‘Joyous Spirit Boundary’ feeling. Just by controlling the Flying Dagger a bit, the trajectory of the blade would at once s.h.i.+ft a bit as well, once again striking right on the red target.

Li Yang walked towards the steel plate at once and removed his Flying Daggers from the thirty red targets. Thirty Flying Daggers was the limit to which Li Yang could carry on him before it began to influence his speed and attack power.

Continue practicing!

Li Yang immediately returned to his previous location 50 meters away, and continued practicing.

…

At around 3pm, Li Yang finally ended his five hour training.

His expression today was actually quite odd; this was because there were seven daggers that actually missed the target! Even though he could change the blades mid-flight, there were still seven daggers that failed.

“I’ve finally successfully completed the task of 3500 Flying Daggers. It’s 3 pm already, three hours slower than in the past.” Li Yang frowned. “Tomorrow, tomorrow I need to succeed before 2:30 pm.”

Li Yang turned around and left to eat lunch.

…

Why did Li Yang’s training take three hours longer than usual today?

Ever since he had that chat with Tan Jin yesterday, Li Yang felt a deep gap between his own skill level compared to those of the Underground Arena’s fighters. Because of this, he felt that he needed to increase his training amount.

Today was the day that Li Yang decided to increase his training amount. In order to train his wrist and leg strength, he increased the steel bar’s weight from 100 Jin to 120 Jin. Although it was merely 20 Jin, Li Yan did indeed feel the increased pressure. It’s important to consider that Li Yang had been holding that steel bar horizontally for more than two hours, and even though he utilized internal energy non-stop to ease the soreness of his muscles, being able to last that long was still quite impressive. Li Yang had already persisted through this for a year; a whole year of working to death before barely managing this feat. Currently, he even incorporated frog jumps while lifting that 100 Jin bar.

Now, after adding twenty Jin, Li Yang once again began to feel the suffering he felt a year ago, but he still stuck it out to the end. However, adding jumps to his workout caused him to increase his training duration by an hour.

The next task was the Flying Dagger. The previous standard of 3000 Flying Daggers was changed to 3500!

Just now, Li Yang did indeed release 3500 Flying Daggers, but due to his earlier wrist training, the pressure was indeed too much, causing some of his blades to fail. In addition, Li Yang constantly supplied internal energy to alleviate his wrist pain, which caused his internal energy to deplete.

Typically, Li Yang spent three hours cultivating his Flying Dagger, but because of the increased amount of blades as well as the issue with his wrists, he spent a total of five hours.

After finis.h.i.+ng his meal, he began his internal cultivation and relaxed his body.

When he practiced his combat skills in the afternoon, he raised the gravity to 2.5 times as well! Because his Flying Dagger and jumping exercises took up more time than expected, he only practiced combat techniques for three hours. However, three hours of training under 2.5x gravity was far more difficult than practicing for six hours under 2x gravity. When the training was completed, Li Yang was like a chicken in soup, and his body was covered in sweat.

However, no matter how much he perspired, Li Yang still silently executed his training.

No matter how much he had to suffer, Li Yang still persevered, and this was all for the sake of that gentle and kind girl. This was all for that one sentence, a sentence he had heard over 300 times!

9:30 pm every night was Li Yang’s most happy time of the day. This was because this half an hour was reserved for him and Jiang Xue.

At 9:30 pm today, Li Yang was lying down on his bed with a phone in his hand.

“Xue, it’s me, Mu Yi!” Li Yang had to follow the strict rules set up by the Security Bureau 9thDivision. Even if it was the person he loved the most, he could not reveal his real name. He dropped his surname ‘Yang’ and told Jiang Xue that he was ‘Mu Yi’.

“Oh it’s you, Yi gege. Today when I was at the hospital, an extremely adorable little girl came to see the doctor. She began wailing non-stop from getting her shots…” Jiang Xue delightfully shared her happiness with Li Yang.

TL: Gege is older brother, but here, it is a term of endearment.

Li Yang held his phone and listened, his face revealing an extremely happy expression. He had a brilliant smile on, and he was endlessly joyful.

Jiang Xue appeared to be energetic and her words were extremely cheerful as well, but Li Yang knew that she was actually a quiet and reserved person. Only when she was talking with him would she act like a child.

At this very moment, inside of one of the Shanghai suburb’s affordable housing, a gentle girl was standing next to her bed while holding a phone in her hand. This was indeed Jiang Xue. Jiang Xue was extremely good natured and very quiet. Her flowing hair made her appear even more beautiful, and when she smiled, her eyes completely closed.

Jiang Xue knew that her beloved Yi gege was a member of the country’s special division, and that she couldn’t be together with him. However, she was willing to wait for him.

Seeing that Jiang Xue wasn’t willing to give up on him no matter what, Li Yang gave Jiang Xue a hint. “Within two years, I will definitely marry you!” This made Jiang Xue’s heart skip a beat, and the pages within her calendar was torn again and again.

Now a year had already pa.s.sed. Li Yang originally wanted to keep his promise and believed that he would pa.s.s the exam and enter the Security Bureau 11th division. However, Li Yang feared that should he fail, he would disappoint Jiang Xue, and therefore requested two years. Because of this, Li Yang began to train like crazy.

“… Nn, Yi gege, is your training harsh?” After a long time, Jiang Xue finished talking about her day and asked with a trembling voice.

Li Yang immediately smiled and began to comfort her. “It’s not too bad, not harsh, not harsh at all.” Li Yang took a deep breath, took a moment before saying, “Xue, wait for me. Soon, very soon I will make you my wife!”

“Mmm, Yi gege, I will wait for you forever. No matter how long it takes, I will continue to wait for you” said Jiang Xue resolutely.

“It’s already getting late, you should sleep since you still have work tomorrow. As a nurse you have to take care of the sick; if you sleep too late and end up with a bad condition that would be disastrous. Alright, alright, good night!” Li Yang gently said.

“Good night!” Jiang Xue obediently replied.

“Yi gege, I’m waiting for you!” After a long time, Jiang Xue said with deep love. Li Yang’s heart was startled, and with a regretful expression hung up the phone. He knew that if he wasn’t the one to hang up the phone, Jiang Xue would not be the one to hang up.

Li Yang was currently inside of his villa’s bedroom.

Li Yang got up from his bed, and with a heavy sigh, looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. It was already 10:05pm.

Li Yang slowly walked out of his villa and closed the doors, slowly walking on the streets.

It was quite peaceful and quiet at 10pm. There were practically no one around this district around this time. The dusky street lights s.h.i.+ned upon the road, making the road ahead seem unreal. Li Yang had his two hands in his pockets and strolling at a slow pace…

Suddenly, a gust of cold autumn wind blew by, and Li Yang’s body shuddered, making him s.h.i.+ver. He realized that it was now already late autumn.

“Yi gege, I’m waiting for you!” Every night within this year, this was always the last sentence during their calls. This simple sentence was what drove Li Yang to train every day for 15 hours with such force. This area was where Li Yang was sweet, as well as where he suffered.

To be in love with someone but unable to meet them and not even able to tell them their name, who could understand his pain?

“Xue…” Li Yang let out a heavy sigh, and tilted his head up to look at the silver moon. That ice cold silver radiance left a tremor in his heart. A chilly gust blew by, and Li Yang held on to his clothes a bit tighter. Slowly walking within the chilly gusts, the dusky street lamps’ radiance seemed to be even dimmer than before. Li Yang’s thoughts slowly drifted towards the past…