Chapter 45 Training

When Verbinski, the director of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, came out of Lin Mingyang's room, his face wasn't as dejected as that of Elvis, who had left earlier, which caused infinite hope to rise in the heart of Lin Mingyang's agent, Eckles. He stood up from the sofa in the living room and greeted him with big strides. "Director Verbinski, you did it right? I knew you wouldn't let us down!"

Facing Ecks' sudden enthusiasm, Verbinski just laughed awkwardly, "I'm sorry, my answer may disappoint you, in fact I was convinced by Felix."

Ecks' smile froze stiffly on his face and Verbinski patted him on the shoulder in a comforting manner, "A little advice, it's going to be hard to convince that kid! If you insist on going in and talking to him, you'll probably end up convincing even you!"

"One should always try to find out." Ecks nodded with a bitter smile, despite already knowing the outcome, he still walked into Lin Ming Yang's room with a stiff upper lip.

"You made Avis delay the publication plan of Twilight, you refused to join the writing team of Pirates of the Caribbean, and for that I drank four cups of coffee and waited for two hours in the living room of your house." Facing Lin Ming Yang who clasped his hands and didn't say a word, Ecks' patience finally ran out, "All of this, because of Yamakasi who came out of nowhere, and then you gave it all up to go and train for something, please tell me, why is that?"

"Ecks, you don't understand the sport of parkour!" Lin Mingyang, who was silent, interjected.

"The only thing I remember about parkour is that most of the presidents accidentally fell to their deaths in parkour!" Ecks knew what Lin Ming Yang's silence meant, and it made him more and more angry in his heart. "In my eyes, your decision is basically equivalent to suicide!"

"The situation isn't as bad as you think!" In the face of Ecks' anger, Lin Ming Yang was still able to explain his decision in a very calm tone, "I wasn't in a moment of hot-headedness, nor was I blindly pursuing the thrill of adventure. Because I once hovered on the edge of life and death, I cherish my life more than anyone else. I remember you once said that sudden fame in Hollywood is not a good thing, and if I want to get a long term development in Hollywood, I have to keep enriching and accumulating. My going to France this time is a kind of accumulation for myself!"

"But there's no need for you to be so playful, with the ability and talent, it's really not necessary!" After listening to Lin Ming Yang's explanation, Ecks' tone finally eased up a bit.

"Just because I have it now doesn't mean I'll be able to have it in the future." Lin Ming Yang looked at Ecks very seriously, "There's an old Chinese saying, if people don't have far-flung worries, they will have near worries."

"Are you so sure that a sport like parkour can lead the future trend?" Ecks asked rhetorically.

"Putting aside its danger and difficulty of training, parkour as a sport has all the factors to become popular!"

"Are you completely sure that you can master the skills of this sport?"

"All of the members in Yamakasi are at the top of their game in parkour, and they all agree that I have amazing potential in this area!"

All of Ecks' helplessness finally turned into a deep sigh, "It seems that Mr. Verbinski was right, I should have known that it would turn out like this!"

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Returning again to this low-rise and shabby residential area in the 17th district of Paris, Lin Mingyang suddenly felt a kind of inexplicable affinity, compared to the kind of high-rise bustle of the American metropolis, it seems that this place is more capable of letting him find a sense of belonging. To his surprise, this time to pick up others actually is Sabasti.

Receiving a travel bag from Lin Ming Yang's hands and feeling the not-so-light weight inside, Sabasti smiled, "It seems like you're well-prepared for this visit."

"I'm going to use this three months to surpass all of you, so of course I have to be well prepared!" Through previous contacts, Lin Ming Yang had already basically familiarized himself with the Yamakasi members, where everyone preferred to communicate in this straightforward language.

"The only value of a record's existence is to be used to be surpassed, in fact your greatest enemy is your heart, a successful life is a process of constantly surpassing yourself!" Ever since the moment David Bell brought Lin Ming Yang into Yamakasi, Sabasti had a strange feeling that perhaps this boy would be a bridge to his own realization, and after seeing Lin Ming Yang's test, this feeling of his turned into an incomparably strong confidence. So in the course of his subsequent contacts, he had consciously instilled some of the philosophical concepts of parkour sports in Lin Mingyang.

Although he knew that this Yamakasi's spiritual "godfather" had begun to preach to him again, Lin Mingyang, due to his own interest, did not reject these concepts, and was even happy to discuss them with Sabasti.

"The philosophical view about learning parkour actually comes from the traditional Chinese theory of yin and yang - there are two forms of parkour, the smooth and sharp movement is 'yin' and the impactful movement is 'yang'. Yang'. You must find the right balance for you." All along the way Sabasti was talking to Lin Mingyang about some of his philosophical feelings about parkour.

"Without an affirmative belief to move like an animal, to flow like water, to find the balance point of Luck for yourself, it's hard to do, but that's the path of a parkourist." Walking on, Sabasti suddenly stopped, "Felix, you are most likely choosing the toughest path, and I am referring to more than just the training that is to come, are you really sure you are ready?"

Lin Ming Yang froze, seemingly giving Sabasti's words some thought before he shook his head, "Honestly I'm not sure, but you always have to try to know the answer!"

In response to his answer, Sabasti just nodded and didn't make any comments, he then asked another question, "I heard that you experienced a very dangerous elevator accident?"

Lin Mingyang nodded, he knew that what Sabasti wanted to emphasize was a feeling of facing the fear of death.

"You're very lucky, because I believe that was a very valuable experience. Only when people face the fear of death head on does the true self-belonging self reveal itself. In the state of true selfhood, the 'I' always occupies the first place in the personality. If a person is overwhelmed by fear, he protects himself by disappearing into the crowd, as people usually do, and he enters into a state of selfless existence. This is in fact the source of insecurity in the social attributes of man."

"But almost all people face death with fear." Being so close to death, to be honest that kind of experience Lin Mingyang was definitely not willing to go through it a second time.

"That's because people lack sufficient understanding of the nature of death. One must face up to the fear of death and understand, out of that fear, the importance of being alive. When we plan the future for ourselves, we must include death. One should not just accept life and refuse to accept death. The fear of death determines the apprehension factor of all kinds of fear; pure apprehension must be apprehension of absolute nothingness, and the subject of apprehension builds the object of fear, and it is therefore fear that can be broken by courage."

"And what is the nature of courage?"

"I'm glad you finally mentioned this." Sabasti was satisfied with Lin Mingyang's comprehension, "By resolving this question, you've actually come into contact with the inner true meaning of the philosophy of parkour. Courage is an individual's affirmation of their own nature, their own intrinsic goals. A courageous person will be able to put his 'noble ideals and virtuous goals' into practical action. Courage is self-affirmation 'against all odds', affirming itself in spite of 'all that stands in the way of its accomplishing self-affirmation'. Courage is often interpreted as, the power of the mind to overcome fear."

With these words, Sabasti lifted his luggage, which had been placed on the floor during the previous conversation, and continued to walk forward. He knew that his words had already opened a door for Lin Ming Yang, as for what kind of scenery he could see after pushing open that door, he could only rely on Lin Ming Yang himself to slowly feel it in practice.

Yamakasi held a small welcome party to welcome Lin Ming Yang's arrival, a few bottles of drinks (none of the members of Yamakasi drank alcohol), and a bunch of small foodstuffs made up the entirety of the party. Compared to any celebration party Lin Ming Yang had ever experienced, such a welcome was incredibly shabby, but it was this simplicity that gave Lin Ming Yang a fulfilling warmth. None of this has anything to do with profit, everyone got together because of pure interest, away from the hustle and bustle of the United States and the flashy, Lin Mingyang in this dilapidated factory building in Paris, France actually found inner peace.

After the party, Lin Mingyang's three-month parkour training officially kicked off. The first lesson was directed by David Bell himself, but at the beginning he didn't immediately teach Lin Ming Yang any tricks, but first asked a question.

"What is parkour?"

This seemingly simple question was difficult for Lin Ming Yang, and it was precisely because it was simple that he didn't know how to answer it. Although Verbinski's philosophical understanding of parkour had previously been expressed to Lin Mingyang in a profound manner, what David Bell wanted was clearly not this.

"Have you ever seen a fast-forwarded movie screen?" David Bell didn't really need Lin Ming Yang to answer, he merely wanted to guide Lin Ming Yang's thinking through this question, "People will consciously avoid obstacles in the process of walking, if everyone's speed of action in reality could be adjusted five times faster, you would find that every single person is a parkour master! "

Lin Mingyang thought about it carefully, it was indeed the same thing.

"That's why parkour is actually a deeply rooted instinctive response of human beings, and that instinct is movement. In the final analysis, parkour is a natural way to train the human body's ability to move quickly, and it puts any environmental facilities around us that can be utilized 'to our advantage', so this 'art of movement' requires neither special equipment nor fixed rules. The human body is the only tool for practicing this sport, and for all, this is the rule of the sport, as it combines all the natural abilities of the human body, such as running, jumping and climbing. It is a physical activity that develops your latent athletic abilities."

As David Bell said this, Lin Ming Yang finally came to a realization, it seemed that his imaginary practice class would have to start from theory as well.

"As an open-ended free sport, in fact, parkour doesn't have any fixed patterns or techniques, everyone can summarize what suits them through constant practice, what I'm teaching you will only be the most basic movements, and the rest can only rely on yourself to figure it out and create it!"

With a serious expression, David Bell explained to Lin Ming Yang the most basic concept of parkour: "Life is danger. No matter how hard we try, we can't escape this merciless fact. Danger will never disappear. Risk is everywhere, and we have nowhere to run. But we can learn to control the danger properly and minimize it."

"Because of the danger parkour has, we need specialized training. Professional training means that the most important thing is not to practice, but to understand what the sport is really about. It's not about the claptrap or attention-grabbing effect of a beautiful leap or jump from a great height, parkour is not about running around on rooftops or other death-defying stunts, and anyone who thinks that is completely misunderstanding the nature of parkour. Our inner courage should come from our desire and appreciation of life."

"What should I do?" Lin Mingyang understood the implication behind David Bell's words, never ignore the danger of this sport.

"Go and exercise your physique as much as possible to avoid getting hurt more effectively. Weigh the pros and cons, assess the crisis, and utilize effective techniques to pass through an obstacle more safely, because the ultimate goal of all parkour runners is to be able to move freely and comfortably, and the environment is not the point, the point is to master superbly the relationship between your body and the environment. When you move, your body feels like you are in a cockpit, and you suddenly realize that you are in control of your body that is instantly airborne."

"This should be my strong point!" Lin Mingyang smiled confidently.

"But this is exactly what I'm most worried about, your physical qualities determine your strengths and also constitute your most fatal weakness, you think you can do it so you tend to try dangerous maneuvers that others wouldn't dare to attempt. That's not a good start, and that's how a lot of talent has been ruined." David Bell said worriedly, "Do you know why most of the deaths in parkour are the presidents of various associations?"

Lin Mingyang shook his head with a puzzled face.

"Because they have the most advanced and confident parkour skills, so they die the earliest!" David Bell sighed quietly, "It sounds cruel, but that's the way it is.Felix, you have to promise me that in the future, if you want to accomplish any action, no matter how sure and confident you are, you have to leave yourself room for maneuvers. Because there are no second choices in life!"