Teacher Xue’s Tai Chi skill had indeed grasped the true essence of softness. Her senior fellow apprentice here clearly had skill surpassing hers. But compared to Su Jie, it was truly a case of a small sorcerer in the presence of a great one—whether in grappling, fighting, push-hands, or any rule set, Su Jie could crush him.
The man, his wrist seized by Su Jie, wanted to use his strength but could not exert it at all. It was as if his acupoint had been pressed.
Where Su Jie gripped was a pulse gate—a convergence point of nerves, bones, and blood vessels. Whenever the man moved, Su Jie applied slight force with his arm, and all his actions were controlled.
At this moment, the man was like a bird in the hands of a Tai Chi master—no matter what, it could not fly away.
Only now did the man realize that he had encountered a true expert—one whose skill was so far beyond even his own master’s that his master could not even hope to catch up.
Seeing that the man seemed convinced, Su Jie released his hand and asked, “How was it? You’ve tried my Tai Chi push-hands skill. What do you think?”
“At this Japanese Tai Chi martial arts exchange meeting, you will represent Hunyuan Tai Chi?” the man asked, rubbing his arm.
“Correct,” Su Jie nodded.
“Do you know that Hunyuan Tai Chi are traitors to our lineage? Everyone in the Tai Chi world knows this. They betrayed their master, destroyed the ancestral line, arbitrarily created their own boxing, changed the ancestral routines. Don’t stain your own reputation,” the man said with righteous solemnity.
“What era is this? Still talking about lineage traitors? Every martial art can be modified. Times are constantly progressing, technology is progressing too,” Su Jie said. “As long as it benefits the body and helps in fighting, then it is good martial art.”
“Are you saying you absolutely must represent Hunyuan Tai Chi in the competition?” The man’s expression turned extremely dark.
“Of course,” Su Jie said. He could detect a threatening undertone in the man’s voice and could not help but laugh. “What, do you have some expert who can teach me a lesson? If you truly had such an expert, you wouldn’t be so concerned about my existence.”
“I hope you won’t regret this,” the man said. With these words, he left unhappily.
“No regrets,” Su Jie said, ignoring him and continuing to write his essay.
The world of martial arts and the world of fighting were two completely different systems. The martial arts world mostly consisted of traditional martial arts enthusiasts and amateurs. Ninety percent of them happily practiced routines with their masters in parks—at most doing some push-hands or wrestling.
A step further were those who owned their own martial arts schools, studying martial arts together, training movements hard, and even engaging in sparring.
Of course, even that sparring involved wearing gloves and protective gear, and as they fought, it would gradually turn into a modern fighting format.
Modern fighting did have its advantages: first, the movements were simple; second, it was extremely practical, without any flashy useless techniques. Its disadvantage was that it was lacking in terms of coordination, flexibility, and self-cultivation.
The advantage of traditional martial arts was that they could be practiced anytime. After learning a routine, one person could practice in any location. Modern fighting required punching bags and gloves, greatly increasing the cost of training.
Ordinary people, in their spare time, did not have many requirements. After learning a routine, they could simply take a walk and throw a set of punches to exercise their whole body. Additionally, there were some offensive and defensive striking techniques, making it more combative than dance or gymnastics.
Studying human kinesiology, Su Jie deeply understood that traditional martial arts were rooted in the general populace and had the greatest advantage of low training costs.
Precisely because so many people practiced traditional martial arts, the quality was mixed—most were amateurs, and more critically, frauds ran rampant. Schools were as numerous as cow hairs. Between schools, they fought over market share, insulted and slandered each other, even arranged private fights—their quality was very low.
“During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese martial arts world completed its modernization transformation. I hope Chinese traditional martial arts can do the same,” Su Jie thought. Interrupted by that man, many ideas had come to his mind. But his hands did not stay idle. He finished the essay, sent it off for evaluation by the research team at Larry’s end, closed his laptop, and left the study room.
On his way to the dormitory, he happened to pass the gymnasium.
Inside the gymnasium, members of the fighting club were also training. Their president was still Jiang Nanzhou. Next to them, the martial arts club was training, with Fang Hong as president.
Since returning from the United States, these two had seemed much more reserved, and their skills had greatly improved. They led their clubs in quiet development, as if in a latent period just before an explosion.
Only the student union vice president, Qin Hui, was nowhere to be seen.
“Next semester, the martial arts club and fighting club will both have leadership changes. Tan Dashi, along with the rest of us now in our second year, should have no problem running for president. Doing things under Q University’s name brings unexpected conveniences.” Su Jie had long made arrangements. Qin Hui was his adversary, with some small schemes that were hard to defend against. But Su Jie did not care about such petty people’s tactics. If he could not even handle a petty person like that, what use was reaching the Living Dead realm?
Moreover, Su Jie did not even need to act himself. He planned to train one of his three roommates, Tan Dashi, to deal with this person.
Su Jie returned to the dormitory.
His three roommates—Tan Dashi, Wang Shun, and Lin Tang—had just returned from studying and were getting ready to go out for training. This was a rule Su Jie had established: study on time every day, train on time, rest on time, and go to Liu Long’s club every week for sparring. Their skills were improving rapidly—a thousand miles in a single day.
Even more importantly, they had health supplements as aids—internal strengthening wine and natural born paste. Specialty products of Minglun Martial Arts Academy. They promoted health, soothed tendons and activated meridians, strengthened bones and muscles. Every day, their spirits were in an optimal state.
“Leader, let’s go to Dragon Club now,” Tan Dashi said excitedly. “I feel like I can take on two people at once now, and I can completely knock out Fang Hong and Jiang Nanzhou. Even that Qin Hui would be no problem.”
“At your current level, you can defeat Fang Hong and Jiang Nanzhou, but you are still no match for Qin Hui. You still need life-and-death tempering in combat,” Su Jie said. “Qin Hui has received professional special agent training. He has even killed people. When you face him in combat, that fierce, vicious aura of his can make your hands and feet go numb.”
“He’s killed people!” The three were all greatly shocked.
“This is beyond your imagination. But I don’t want you to go through killer training. Once you cross that psychological bottom line, it’s very easy to fall into demonic states,” Su Jie said. “I have never killed anyone, and I don’t need to use killing to make breakthroughs. Alright, let’s go train.”
Killing could indeed train one’s fighting psychology the fastest. But it was not the only way. Su Jie himself was the best example. He had never killed anyone, nor did he plan to cross that bottom line. Yet his skill had already reached the level of the world’s top masters.
The days that followed were very fulfilling.
Every day, Su Jie conducted scientific research, remotely connecting to Larry’s life sciences laboratory, and also went to Dragon Club to exchange ideas and train with Liu Long daily.
Since retiring and no longer fighting matches, Liu Long had begun researching deeper cultivation.
Not only had his skills not declined, they had actually improved further.
“Indeed, after I stopped fighting, my mindset settled down. Getting rid of those mundane social obligations, I feel my spirit has become more complete,” Liu Long said, sitting cross-legged with Su Jie in a quiet room, chatting.
Now Liu Long was wealthy. Unlike other fighters who, after retiring, still had to scramble for a living.
He had been a Heavenly King standing at the number one position, earning a hundred times more than the second-ranked fighter.
This was how it worked in sports: the number one always held the highest honor, while those below struggled to survive.
For example, the world’s number one, Solomo, made far more money than Greenland.
Greenland would fight an unknown like Su Jie for two million US dollars. With Solomo, it might take twenty million to secure a match.
Added to that, in his final match against Muay Thai champion Banjaron, Liu Long had bet all his assets on himself to win through offshore betting, multiplying his money several times over. With that single bet, he had secured the life of a wealthy man for the rest of his days.
As for Banjaron, he had lost everything and gone to a temple to become a monk—which was also the life he wanted.
One could say that both had achieved their ideal endings.
“Having shed the glitz, your heart has truly settled,” Su Jie said, looking at Liu Long before him, dressed in plain linen clothes, barefoot, clean and fresh, exuding an ethereal, unworldly quality. Anyone who didn’t know him would never guess he had once been a fighting Heavenly King. “It seems you have also gained some understanding of the Living Dead realm.”
“A while ago, I went to Thailand and visited an old friend, Banjaron, in the temple. He had already taken a step ahead of me and broken through to the Living Dead realm,” Liu Long said, a wistful expression on his face, as if toyed with by fate. “In that final fight, he lost everything—wealth, fame, career—all gone in smoke. Because of this, he became a monk. But after becoming a monk, he actually stepped into the Living Dead realm. Did he gain or lose?”
“All material things exist to satisfy the desires of the heart. If a person’s inner desires can be satisfied without material things, then material things lose their function,” Su Jie said. “So Banjaron definitely gained. In your fight, he ultimately won.”
“It really is strange—the winner lost, the loser won,” Liu Long sighed. “I need to strive to catch up.”
“Now you have material foundation and can focus single-mindedly on cultivation. You have wealth, companions, methods, and location—all four conditions complete. Sooner or later, you will cultivate and obtain the realm you desire,” Su Jie said. “Perfect timing—there’s a certain skill I want to research with you as well.”
Su Jie planned to teach this “Nine Palaces Great Yu Thunder Ministry Orthodox Method” to Liu Long as well.
With one more person researching it, the range of ideas would be much broader.
Especially since Liu Long’s experience and richness far surpassed Zhang Jinchuan’s.
Liu Long had the opportunity to step into the Living Dead realm, and he was right now lingering at the threshold. This former domestic number one fighting Heavenly King possessed truly exceptional talent in martial arts.
If he stepped into the Living Dead realm, Su Jie could ally with him and accomplish many things.
Liu Long was still young. If he progressed, there was still much room for improvement in his physical capabilities.
After a month of exchanging ideas with Liu Long, the weather gradually grew hot. At the end of May, Su Jie boarded a plane to Japan to attend the Tai Chi martial arts exchange meeting.