After Kei finished speaking, the three old men simultaneously turned to look at Niu Erzhu.
Niu Erzhu looked to his left—no one. Then to his right—still no one. Finally, he pointed to himself and said awkwardly,
"Me?"
"Who else?"
"The two of us have already taught everything we could… and this kid has already mangled it beyond recognition. You're the last hope."
"Go on, Old Bull!"
"Alright then, let's give it a try!"
Niu Erzhu swallowed nervously under Kei's expectant gaze, then unsheathed the longsword on his back. The moment the blade left the scabbard, his demeanor shifted entirely.
The honest, dopey expression was gone—replaced with sharp eyes and a terrifying sword aura radiating from his very pores.
"Seven-Star Sword Technique! Begin!"
The blade in his hand split into seven—each aligning with the stars of the Big Dipper in the sky, channeling stellar power into his attack.
"Seven-Star Killing Array!"
Niu Erzhu unleashed the full force of his sword, sending a massive wave of sword energy through the sky before it finally dispersed in the distance.
"So, kid—think you can learn that with just one look?"
He sneered at Kei, taunting him:
"If you can copy that move after seeing it once, I'll kneel down on the spot—"
Before he could finish, Kei moved.
He threw seven punches in rapid succession, drawing a glowing Big Dipper pattern in midair. In that instant, the power of heaven and earth gathered and exploded—
A massive beam blasted into the sky!
"Sorry, what was that you were saying? I didn't quite catch it."
Kei turned to Niu Erzhu, a calm smile on his face.
"N-Nothing! Haha! Genius! What a genius!"
Niu Erzhu choked on his words and swallowed his pride. He was far too old to kneel to a ten-year-old kid!
"That punch... was something else."
"Yeah, Old Bull's Seven-Star Sword focuses on channeling celestial force into oneself before striking."
"But this technique gathers all of one's own energy and detonates it in an escalating chain, like wave after wave!"
Wu Fa and Ye Wumian were now seriously analyzing the move.
"Feels a bit like Bājíquán with the stomping explosive style."
"Yeah, there's also elements of Xinyi Liuhequan, and now even the Seven-Star technique layered in... it's like each strike rides the force of the last, stronger and stronger."
"Wait a sec... I think I see the Yin-Yang concept here too!"
"Eh? Where?" Ye Wumian squinted at the remnants of the attack, not seeing it.
Was Wu Fa just making things up again?
"Look closely at the residual energy. The kid used the black hole technique he just created as a foundation to compress his energy. That origin point also absorbed external power."
"When the first point reached critical mass, it exploded! Then the second absorbed that force and exploded again. It repeated seven times—each one stronger than the last!"
"If that hit a person, the first burst would drain all their inner energy—then use it to fuel the second, and so on. You'd be beaten to death by your own energy!"
Wu Fa marveled at how such a deceptively simple punch actually fused the essence of multiple martial systems into one.
"Old Bull, what do you think?"
"What do I think?! That brat took our Seven-Star Sword Formation and completely wrecked it!"
"This kid's nothing but a heretic! I'm out! Later!!"
Niu Erzhu turned and bolted—more like fled. He couldn't stand it. A ten-year-old didn't just copy his technique at a glance, he even upgraded it!
"Time to go home and make my disciples start grinding—twenty-four hours a day. No, twenty-five!"
"Oh right, I've got stuff to do too! Bye!"
Wu Fa quickly realized what Niu was up to and also made a break for it. Whoever cracked Kei's "heretical" path first and passed it to their students would have the next martial arts championship in the bag.
"Grind! We're starting the grind now!"
Ye Wumian, meanwhile, was still basking in the glow of victory.
"First place in the martial arts tournament today—we're celebrating!"
"Forget cooking at home. We're eating out!"
Ye Wumian went off to find Wushuang and Xiaotu for dinner—but something had gone wrong.
"What happened to you guys?!"
"We got caught in the aftermath of your sparring earlier..."
"That bad? We were holding back..."
"Third brother was doing flips and got blown off course into First Brother."
"I was practicing Crane Wings and kicked Third Brother mid-air—he crashed into Fourth."
"I was fixing the wall. Third Brother smashed into me. Tried to block, failed, fell off."
"I was carrying supplies. Saw them fall, tried to catch them…"
In the end, Third Brother got kicked by First, crashed into Fourth who fell off a wall, and Second got crushed trying to save them.
"What about you, First Brother?"
"Wall collapsed on me after Fourth knocked into it…"
Just when things were going well, the whole gang ended up in the hospital. And on the way there—they even got into a car accident, worsening Fourth Brother's injuries.
"Don't look so glum, boys. You're all strong—you'll heal in no time!"
Ye Wumian cheerfully patted Wutian's shoulder—
Crack.
"You okay?"
"Nope. OW! DOCTOR!"
More chaos. Now Wutian had a sling around his neck.
[Time skips forward—you're now 18. Your senior brothers survived all their disasters, and the hardships actually made them stronger.]
[Years ago, they left to travel the world. Now you, at 18, decide to visit the great martial masters of Yanhuang.]
"No need to see me off. I'll be fine."
Kei glanced back at Xingyi Sect, now reduced from a mansion to a humble dojo.
"Time changes everything…"
Martial arts had once been all the rage. But in the new era, no one cared anymore. Most of their money had been spent on food and hospital bills.
"Travel safe. I'll miss you."
Ye Wumian sobbed with joy. Finally—peace at last!
No more collapsing roofs. No more exploding toilets.
"Us common folk can finally be happy again! I'll go find Old Wu and Old Bull for a feast!"
He hummed a tune and headed out… only to immediately get hit by a truck.
He wasn't hurt (being a peak-level semi-god), but the dojo collapsed.
"Sorry! The truck just went rogue! But I've got insurance—it'll take six months to process though."
The driver climbed out unharmed.
Ye Wumian twitched.
"Sigh… at least the legacy lives on. As long as my disciple passes down our martial arts, that's enough."
[You spent the next five years wandering all across Yanhuang, exchanging techniques with every major school.]
[You mastered countless martial arts—each to a profound level.]
[But you began to notice something… they were all different in appearance, but the core principles were the same.]
[You resolved to create a new combat system—one that unified all martial disciplines. To pursue that goal, you set out to Tibet… to meet a living Divine-level master: the Undying Master.]
In a Tibetan temple—
"Someone's coming. A powerful one! Almost here! I need to hurry… mmph!"
The Undying Master stepped out of the bathroom, washing his hands, looking refreshed.
"Disciple, prepare refreshments. We have a guest."
"Already done. But Master, I'm off to college today. I'll be gone for a while."
"What?! You're abandoning your master?!"
"Don't be like that. I'll come back during breaks."
"Oh, okay. Don't forget to bring a gift when you return."
The disciple, Nima, pulled her suitcase outside and bumped into a stranger.
"Excuse me, is the Undying Master here?"
"Yes, he's inside."
At first, Nima didn't notice anything… but then she sensed something terrifying—the very world's aura shifted around this man.
Kei entered the temple. Nothing fancy inside, and the Undying Master's room was plain—low table, cushions, lightbulb, TV.
"Hello, Master. I called ahead to say I'd be visiting."
"Yes, right on time. Try our local milk tea."
Kei took a sip. It was good.
"I once visited the Buddhist Sect, met the current Bodhidharma. He told me 'mind is the root, the body is the vessel.' So I summoned a green dragon from my aura—he called me a heretic."
"But isn't aura and willpower part of the heart? Anyway, he lost to me. Called me heretical and kicked me out."
Cough cough!
The Undying Master choked on his tea.
"You beat the current Bodhidharma?!"
"Yeah, he was pretty strong—probably peak Divine Realm. But too old. Could only take one hit."
From then on, no temple dared host him. If he approached within 1,000 meters, they shut their gates.
"So I visited the Daoists instead. Met the current Dao Patriarch. He was kind—let me read their classics, taught me the Way of Heaven and Light with Dust."
"I realized then—mind doesn't equal aura. It means divine intent. But when I said I was Heaven's will, he said I was a tyrant and challenged me."
"I didn't move. He knelt."
"Super awkward. He just dropped in front of everyone. I helped him up, said it was okay, and he told me to get lost."
Now the Daoists won't let him near either—within 2,000 meters, and they slam the doors and chase him off.
The Undying Master was trembling.
"Then I went to the Confucians. The Sage told me about righteous qi—enough to shock ghosts and stabilize heaven."
"I realized—copying the world isn't me. My heart is Heaven's will! Anyone who defies me defies Heaven!"
CRASH.
The Master dropped his cup.
"You okay?"
"Y-Yes. Please continue…"
"But then the Sage called me a tyrant! Said I was corrupt! But if my path isn't righteous, why do his disciples follow me?"
"One even said to overthrow him and make me the new Sage. Loyal fellow, that Changsun."
"Anyway, I've come today to ask your thoughts: what is martial arts?"
The Undying Master, trembling under Kei's piercing gaze, felt like dozens of swords were stabbing into him.
"Crap. He came for me."
He was doomed. All those Divine-level monsters had been destroyed by this kid—and he was just a newbie Divine.
He was absolutely… dead.
(End of Chapter)
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