Martial Arts

Soha and the old man Li Yuntao walked through dark hallways and soon arrived in a hidden area.

They bent down to enter through a tiny door and found themselves in a small room filled with bookshelves.

"All of them are original copies; you can make a copy of your own here and leave after," Li Yuntao said, looking at the dust around with a frown. "I would only allow you to study one of them. The black-covered books are the Demonic Techniques, and the brown-coloured ones are the normal ones. The white-covered books are just basic techniques. You can take any one of them, but only one. Be quick." 

The old man then sat to the side on an old chair, folding his legs into the lotus position, about to meditate. Yet, before he began, he gave Soha a piece of advice that he was ordered to give to everyone under twenty who comes to become their vassal.

"There are four types of Martial Arts," he said, "Movement Art, Defensive Art, Offensive Art, and Utility Art. Everyone and their mothers wish to train in all of them, but no one has that much time in their life; everyone takes one art and masters it."

Soha asked cautiously, "Aren't there young geniuses who could practice to the level of Martial Masters in their early twenties? Can't they practice their next type of Martial Art from then?"

The Old Man grinned at him mockingly. 

"If they practice a Martial Art like an offensive art to Martial Master level in their early twenties, that means they had either begun cultivating at their mother's womb or practiced demonic methods that had limited potential, which would make them have an extremely short lifespan.

"And such geniuses are monsters. They are not idiots. Only if they trained solely focusing on the Martial Grandmaster level as their grand goal do they have a chance at becoming actual Grandmasters, or they would just be Martial Masters in the end with Two types of techniques."

"Are Masters and Grandmasters that different?" Soha entertained the old man's superiority complex with a bow and asked.

"Oh, yes!" Soha could almost hear the gloating etched in the spittles that escaped the old man's mouth. "The Grandmasters have lifespans as long as 500 years, whereas Masters are just ordinary humans like us with some powers. It is a qualitative change. Who would want to have two techniques instead of more time in this world?"

"I see," Soha said with a sigh of admiration. 

Emma spoke in his mind, and Soha felt from her tone that she was seething. 

[If Martial Masters are still Rank 2 Espers, Grandmasters are like Rank 3. There sure would be a huge gulf in strength. Longevity too.]

He ignored her for now and looked at the old man.

"Choose an Art; I don't have all day for you even though I am in a good mood today. Anyway, these are only internal arts. Just come see me after you become a 3rd Class Martial Artist for the External Arts," Li Yuntao said while keeping a slit of his eye open. He wanted to know what this low-life would choose.

Soha's heartbeat quickened, and he moved towards the books, all neatly arranged on different shelves. There were some scrolls, too, but they were all just simple vigor-increasing methods that could only improve bedtime abilities or kidney performance.

He immediately skimmed them and just put them aside. Finally, his gaze moved on to the dark-covered books. The Demonic Techniques. All of them had majestic titles, and he was not surprised that he could not read them; after all, Emma had been his translator throughout the conversation; it was natural he couldn't read. He hadn't absorbed the memories after all.

Emma read them to him, using Hei Ren's memories of the language.

[Crude Monkey Movement Art], [Heart Eating Cold Body Method], [Flowerless Monk Method].

Those were all the demonic Martial Master-level Arts available, and under the scrutinizing gaze of the old man, he skimmed through each of them, gently page by page skimming as his gaze briefly scrolled through them.

All of them had extremely detailed teachings to go up in martial levels, and he would have to sit for hours to remember one and copy it.

Each of them was a cruel method. For example, the [Heart Eating Cold Body Method] was a defensive method, and it needed him to eat the heart of three living humans to initiate the training. The other two were no different in terms of cruelty.

But among them, the heart-eating one was the easiest to train in till he became a first-class Martial Artist, as the only requirement for it to grow was eating more living hearts. Still, it was almost impossible to become a Martial Master using that method since it required him to eat ten thousand living hearts.

If the world was in a war, maybe, but in the current state it was in, it would be extremely easy for him to get caught.

It also had a great catch; it uses the lifespan of the trainer, too, and they wouldn't survive past their thirty if they trained in it. Overall, it was not a recommended method.

He took note of it in his mind regardless, as it was the easiest choice that didn't require gaining enlightenment to grow stronger, as often required in the other methods, and then, he checked the righteous Martial Arts.

[The Yellow Leaf Sword Art], [Iron Skin Metal Bones Method], [Yang Poison Palm Art], [Needle Qi Method]. 

Those were all the available Martial Master Class Arts. He was the most interested in offensive arts for the moment.

They were what would give him the chance to save Evelyn, even though Defensive Arts were nice in that regard, too; killing ghosts and finding her would take quite a lot of offensive power.

So, he focused on them.

Seemingly out of curiosity, Soha also skimmed through some Movement Arts and some First-class Utility Arts. Even simple Vigor arts seemed to make him curious as he skimmed them too, but after about an incense stick's worth of time just roaming from one book to the other, he returned to the one technique that held most of his interest.

[Flowerless Monk Method]

It was a unique Defensive Art that had a lot of Offensive Techniques to it, especially since it had some great palm attacks he could train in separately.

This technique required him to sacrifice his own lifespan and castrate himself. If he completely practiced it, it was sure he wouldn't live past 25. But unlike the Heart Eating Method, it was not impossible to reach the Martial Master level, even in a year, as it was more based on inflicting pain on himself rather than eating other people. He was ready to endure pain.

And even if Hei Ren's body would die at 25, that had nothing to do with him!

Soha diligently recorded everything in the book on another blank book on the table and then bowed to Li Yuntao. Even though the old man had bad motives, he was of great help. If he had to kill him in the future, Soha decided to make it swift.

Li Yuntao gave him the bottle of poison again with a benevolent smile.

Without hesitation, knowing they wouldn't want to kill him, he pinched his nose and swallowed the drink. It had a rather pleasant taste, unlike its smell, like some good herb soda.

"Visit me every week and give me information about your growth," the old man said without losing the smile, "I will give you the antidote, and in case I am not around, I will ask one of my good servants to prepare them for you. You may leave now. Just remember not to let the world know of your allegiance to us, or someone among us would do you in."

Soha bowed subserviently.

"There are a lot of missions requiring manpower. Your chosen technique is pretty easy to get started, so I hope by the time you arrive next time, I'll see you in a new light."

Without much fanfare, Soha left, the samurai mask back on his face, the bamboo hat back on his head.

Emma said in his mind, much calmer than earlier, no longer seething at seeing him be so submissive, [Plan one complete. I am currently sorting through your memories and copying all of the details of the other techniques in a clear order. I will have a lot of information to make sense of everything.]

Soha smiled calmly as he left through the back gate.

How satisfying… he would now be able to sit back calmly and choose the best option. Even after returning to the main world, he could train in different Martial Arts, maybe even make his sisters train them.

A trail of blood leaked through the side of his lips.

His guts hurt, his heart felt constricted, and his vision felt blurry due to the poison now coursing through his veins. It should settle soon, but he would need the antidote in a week.

No problem. As long as Evelyn is saved, it would be worth it.

[…You are a great brother, Soha.]

"I know," Soha replied with a smile, tightening the rope of the bamboo hat around his jaw.