Chapter 78 Cultivating Martial Arts (Three)

  I've lost myself, so I don't know what I'm thinking about, and I don't know what I'm doing either.

  Sometimes I think of my past, sometimes I think of my future. My past was not smooth, will my future be brilliant?

  My heart seems to have ached for a moment, and I feel a little bit. I feel that my future may not be brilliant, but it will definitely be fulfilling.

  In the midst of confusion, I seem to have seen my future: My future self should be a warrior, and still a very powerful warrior. I am a super-powered warrior, just like Nan Gong Qian Lan.

  Is this real? Or is it just my illusion?

  I don't know, so I want to figure it out. So I started running forward constantly, my speed is very fast, because I want to catch up with my hope and ideals.

  I was unaware of fatigue, and I forgot about time. How long did I run? For a very, very long time, so long that I suddenly found my hair had turned white, my beard had grown, my body had withered, and my face was full of wrinkles...

  Then I saw the goal I had been pursuing all along - it was a person, someone I would spend my whole life chasing but never catch up with. I couldn't see this person's face clearly, but I could feel their spirit. What kind of spirit is that?

  Is it dedication? Is it sacrifice? Is it excellence? Or is it mediocrity?

  I am confused, staring blankly at this person in front of me, constantly thinking about what kind of spirit this person has.

  After a long time, I finally made a discovery: this person's spirit is love!

  Love is the greatest in the world, it's love.

  Love yourself, love others, love life, love society, or just love cats and dogs, love a tree, love a small grass... All the love in the world is the greatest.

  At this moment, I completely understood what I had been pursuing all my life.

  What I pursue is love!

  Great love, small love, no matter what kind of love, will be the most precious thing in human life.

  It is also one of my most precious things.

  I understood all of this and laughed. A genuine laugh, from the bottom of my heart.

  My laughter is gentle, also bold and uninhibited...

  So I slowly woke up, just like a person who had been in a coma for a long time finally slowly regained consciousness. When I opened my eyes and looked at everything in front of me, I suddenly felt a very familiar feeling.

  So I laughed and said: "I understand..."

  Nangong Qianlan, who was still playing cards, immediately asked me, "What did you understand?"

  I turned my head to look at Nan Gong Qian Lan sitting next to me, and smiled lightly: "A lot. Just like playing mahjong, it's a manifestation of love. Your mother, Kong Lin Er, in order to make her father happy, would rather not win herself, but accompany her father to continue playing... This is a kind of love; Little Li, out of respect and care for his master, carefully accompanies his master to play cards, which is also a kind of love; I, although being forced to play with you all, unwillingly, but my heart also has love. I know Nan Gong Qian Lan organized this game just for me, and I worry that if I don't play, it will be a waste of her efforts, isn't that love? As for the old master, he doesn't need to be said, in order to spend more time with his children and grandchildren, taking advantage of this opportunity to play cards... This is the old man's love for his children and grandchildren."

  I speak fluently and softly, also very calmly. Just like my inner heart. My gain is great, I am very satisfied. So I smile, happily smiling!

  At this moment, I forgot what I was doing and what I wanted to do. My whole person has transcended the mundane, as if I had already risen above the world.

  I am immersed in my own world, and everything before my eyes seems to be filled with love.

  "A loud and clear voice suddenly entered my ears: 'Good! Jin Cang, you can understand such a profound truth in such a short time. It seems that we are destined to be together. From today on, you will be my only successor.'"

  The one speaking was Kong Shou. He didn't rush to play cards anymore, but stood up and spoke loudly while staring at me. His expression was filled with the same excitement.

  I smiled lightly and said: "Thank you, Master."

  Kong Xiu burst out laughing and said to Nan Gong Qian Lan, Kong Lin Er, who were both stunned, and Xiao Li: "I've finally found my successor! Today was not a wasted trip! Qian Lan, Lin Er, thank you, thank you for helping me find such an excellent successor!"

  Nangong Qianlan and Kong Linger said in unison: "Have you decided?"

  "Empty-headed, you look at me and say: 'Our Wudang sect has been passed down to me as the 99th generation, with a history of over a thousand years. Nowadays, people learn martial arts either to pick up girls or to show off. I originally intended to take my entire life's worth of skills to the grave with me, but now I've changed my mind. Because I found Jin Cang, Jin Cang is my successor and also the 100th generation successor of our Wudang sect. I will pass on all that I have learned in my lifetime to him.'"

  I smiled again and said: "Thank you, Master. I will do my best to inherit the master's ultimate skill and make our Wudang sect's kung fu flourish."

  "Not only that, you must also rid the people of harm and plan for their welfare. Learning kung fu is not for showing off or flirting with girls, but to take on responsibility. The greater your power, the greater the responsibility you must bear, I hope you will always remember this."

  "I rose and bowed with fists: 'Disciple remembers master's teachings.'"

  "Alright, let's go. From today onwards, for the next three years, you will follow me to learn martial arts. You cannot contact the outside world and must not have any distractions. I want you to be fully prepared, without any worries or attachments, to learn martial arts. Can you do that?"

  I don't know what Kong Shou meant by "One Without a Place", but I roughly guessed that it should be the name of his residence. Originally, I had many concerns, but for the sake of learning martial arts, I firmly said: "Master, give me an hour, and I will try my best to handle everything, then I will go with you to learn martial arts without any worries."

  He vanished into thin air right before my eyes, his speed so swift that it created an optical illusion, as if he had never been there at all. His voice echoed from afar: "I'll be back to pick you up in an hour!"

  I was amazed at everything, and the desire to learn Kung Fu became even stronger. The ancient Kung Fu heritage seems to be really not comparable to ordinary martial arts. I have a goal, which is to learn Master Kong's unique skills. Having a goal gives me motivation and hope.

  I hastily called my parents, as well as friends Li Huanhuan, Dongfang Yu, Zhou Hui, and Little Li, to tell them that I would be traveling far away for three years and wouldn't contact them until then. Although they were reluctant to see me go, without exception, they all encouraged me.

  They also knew about my current situation, and for the sake of my safety, they all let go of many things and consistently encouraged me to travel far away. They thought I was going into exile, but I didn't explain because some things are simply inexplicable.

  An hour passed quickly, and Kongzheng reappeared in front of me out of thin air. He said calmly, "The head of the Nangong family does not allow their family's martial arts to be passed down outside, and Qianlan's grandfather is no exception. Now you can only follow me to learn the Wudang sect's inherited kung fu. Here, I'm telling you seriously that what I call Wudang sect is not the Wudang Mountain sect in the secular world, but the true meaning of Wudang martial arts sect. You must remember this."

  I nodded: "Disciple remembers."

  Suddenly, a hand reached out and pressed down on my shoulders. I felt my body lighten, and before I knew it, I was lifted off the ground.

  It really flew up, just like a kite being flown, almost as if it had escaped gravity, and the whole person was in outer space. I can fly freely in the air, but not completely freely, because I am still bound by something, and I cannot leave this thing that binds me, otherwise, I feel that I will definitely fall down.

  The whistling wind sound came from the edge of my ear, and between the ups and downs of my body, I had already left the position where I was just now. This is not the legendary teleportation, nor is it the legendary light-speed flight, but just a very ordinary qinggong movement in martial arts.

  But the empty guard's set of movements really opened my eyes, with just a slight movement of his whole body, he took me, over 120 pounds, away from our original position by tens to hundreds of meters. It was simply an unthinkable thing. At this speed, ordinary people wouldn't be able to catch up with us even if they were driving a car.

  "Kongshou said to me at this time: 'This is the basic body method of our Wudang sect, and it can also be said that it is a light skill. I'm old, my physical quality is getting worse and worse, and I can't fully exert its power. When you learn this set of body methods, even if an ordinary soldier attacks you with a gun, he may not be able to keep up with your speed. At least in aiming, there will be great difficulties.'"

  I was overjoyed and hastily said: "Then please, Master, teach me this set of skills. I'm being pursued by someone who wants to kill me, so it's just in time for me to use these skills to protect myself."

  Kong Xiu burst out laughing and said while taking me "flying" by the side: "When learning martial arts, one must first learn the art of self-preservation. I will make sure you can protect yourself before teaching you how to attack others. Otherwise, after you've learned martial arts, if you haven't even had a chance to benefit the people and get killed by those scoundrels in the martial world, wouldn't that be a waste of my efforts?"

  I was taken aback for a moment, then I understood what Kong Shou meant: "Thank you, Master, for your concern. I will do my best to learn the skills and not disappoint your expectations."

  He quickened his pace and hastened towards his residence.

  The place where Kong Shou lived was actually very far from Nan Gong Qian Lan's home, and I was taken by Kong Shou, almost "flying" for two hours before arriving at the "one useless place" he mentioned.

  "The place of nothingness" is indeed a vacant residence, a row of over ten brick and tile houses that seem to have been around for some years. The concrete blocks on the walls have largely fallen off. The layout of the house is roughly in the style of a quadrangle courtyard, with two rooms without windows on either side of the main gate, a courtyard of about 100 square meters surrounded by over ten rooms of almost the same size.

  The place is remote, but it's very spacious, making it perfect for practicing martial arts.

  "This is my first feeling. Then I heard Kong Shou say: "There is another person here besides us two, he is the child of my master's childhood, serving my master for life until my master passed away, and never left this place. You must treat him as your own master, not a bit disrespectful."

  I nodded and said: "The disciple understands."

  As soon as I finished speaking, an old man walked out of the room directly opposite the gate. He was very old, at least ninety years old. His face was full of wrinkles, his eyes were a bit cloudy, and he had only a few strands of white hair left on the back of his head, but his beard was very long, with the white whiskers under his chin almost reaching his chest.

  I knew this person was Master Shi's disciple, so I quickly stepped forward and bowed: "Master Shi, hello. I'm Jin Cang, the new disciple of Master Kong."

  The old man glanced at me slightly and suddenly opened his mouth with a smile: "Good. Young man is very polite, rare...rare."

  As soon as he opened his mouth, I found that almost all of his teeth had fallen out, and there was only one incisor left in his mouth, which looked very incongruous.

  "Brother, Jin Cang is my only successor. For the next three years, he will follow me to learn Wudang's kung fu here. You are my brother and also Jin Cang's uncle master. If you have time, come and teach Jin Cang martial arts with me. Jin Cang will treat you just like he treats me."

  The last words of Kong meant that I would also take his senior brother as my master, so I quickly said: "Master, whatever you instruct in the future, your disciple will definitely follow."

  Kong Shou's senior brother smiled slightly and said, "Since it's Kong Shou's intention, how can I not take care of you? From now on, if you have any questions about martial arts, feel free to ask me. I will answer without reservation. The Wudang Sect has only two successors left, my master and I. Now that you're here, you're also considered the 100th generation successor of Wudang. We must do our best to teach you well, we can't let the Wudang martial arts be lost from now on."

  I was overjoyed and immediately went forward to kneel down and pay my respects: "Master, please accept a bow from your disciple Jin Cang. Whether or not I have achieved anything in my studies, I will never dare forget Master's teachings. And I will definitely do my best to make the Wudang sect flourish."

  Master Bo stretched out his hand and gently pulled me, I involuntarily stood up. I was secretly shocked in my heart, Master Bo is over 90 years old, but still has such great strength, much stronger than my current power, really worthy of being a person who has received the inheritance of ancient martial arts.

  Kong Shou chuckled and said with a smile, "You don't have to be so tense. We're master and disciple, just like father and son, no need to be too formal."

  Shibo said at this time: "Don't be too restrained, otherwise it's very difficult to learn my Wudang Kung Fu well. By the way, I'm called Yichun, 'Yi' from 'An Yi', 'Chen' from 'Dust World'. Remember that."

  I nodded and said: "Disciple remembered, Master Yicheng."

  Yi Chen smiled and nodded: "Today you just arrived, first rest for a day, and tidy up your own room. Tomorrow at dawn, I and your master will start teaching you the basic skills of Wudang. You must be prepared to suffer."

  I was overjoyed and didn't take Yichen's words to heart, so I eagerly went to the empty room assigned to me and started packing up.

  I'm really looking forward to my upcoming martial arts career, so everything feels very energetic. So I accidentally lifted up the solid wood single bed that was prepared for me in one go. This is not all, after being shocked and putting the bed back in place with force, I suddenly smashed the bed into pieces again.

  My power has become incredibly strong, a huge improvement compared to before. I suspect that I took gene medicine, previously I just felt my strength increase a bit, nothing else. This time I accidentally lost control, making me feel the horror of the gene medicine. It turns out that the gene medicine had unknowingly allowed me to possess such enormous power.

  The sound coming out of my room immediately attracted Kong Shou and Yi Chen. They rushed in like the wind while I was still dazed.

  Kong Shou immediately took a look around the room, while Yichen asked me: "What happened?"

  I raised my own hands and said uncertainly: "I... I seem to have suddenly gained a lot of strength..."

  Yi Chen was taken aback, then smiled and said: "This is a good thing. As the saying goes, 'one strength can subdue ten gatherings', literally meaning that having great strength is good! Hehe... come here and let me see, just how strong are you?"

  I stared blankly at the bed I had inadvertently destroyed, and while secretly shocked, I was also secretly delighted. You see, I had used a genetic agent - if my guess was correct, that is - and now my strength was increasing by the day; this way, even without any martial arts training, I wouldn't be someone ordinary people could defeat.

  Yi Chen's method of testing my strength was very simple. He pointed to a stone pedestal in the courtyard and said, "This stone pedestal weighs 800 catties. Try to lift it up and see if you can do it."

  I walked over, took a look at the stone pedestal that I didn't dare to try to lift before, gritted my teeth, hugged the stone pedestal with both hands, and lifted it up with a burst of strength from my waist.

  I didn't feel like I used much strength at all, how did I manage to lift up this stone pedestal? Could my strength be far more than 800 catties?

  Yi Chen was greatly shocked and exclaimed loudly: "What a great strength! Jin Cang, it seems that you are born with divine power! Wonderful, heaven blesses my Wudang, and our Wudang sect has another genius emerging."

  At this time, Kong Shou also came out of my room and saw me hugging the 800-jin stone pier. He was also shocked and hurriedly said: "Be careful to hurt yourself, put it down quickly."

  I slowly put the stone pedestal on the ground, clapped my hands and laughed: "I was worried that I couldn't carry it, but it's not very heavy after all."

  Yi Chen smiled and said, "Then go try that stone pedestal over there. That stone pedestal weighs 1,600 catties, be careful, if you can't do it, don't force yourself."

  I took a glance at another stone pedestal not far away, walked over to measure it, this stone pedestal was big and round, there was no place to hold hands, let alone pick it up.

  But Yidun had an order, so I still had to try symbolically. So my hands clasped the two ends of the stone pier, gritted my teeth, and used all my strength to move it a little bit.

  I never thought of carrying the stone, I don't think I can do that yet. But just moving it a little bit, shifting its position, I should still be able to do that. So my first move was to prepare to shift the stone.

  But to my surprise, as soon as I applied force with both hands, the stone pedestal moved immediately. I took advantage of the momentum and used force to tilt it slightly. Then I used force to lift it up, like lifting a big fish, and lifted the entire stone pedestal.

  Yi Chen and Kong Shou exclaimed loudly: "How is this possible?!"

  I put down the stone pedestal and said vaguely: "What is impossible?"

  Yi Chen swallowed his saliva and said excitedly: "Have you practiced any powerful kung fu like the Great Strength Golden Fist before?"

  I shook my head: "I've never practiced any kung fu, nor have I ever heard of the Great Power Vajra Secret."

  Kong Shou furrowed his brow and said, "That's exactly why your body is different from ordinary people. This stone pedestal weighs two thousand catties, even if someone has practiced the Great Strength Golden Vajra Technique, unless they have already reached a high level of mastery, it would be impossible for them to lift it."

  I was taken aback and immediately said: "Didn't Master Shibo just say it was only 1,600 catties?"

  Yi Chen smiled and said, "I didn't want to give you a psychological burden, so I intentionally understated the weight. Jin Cang, it seems that you are naturally a great warrior. If you cultivate strength-type martial arts, you will achieve twice the result with half the effort."

  "I'd like to ask Master and Master's wife to teach me some powerful techniques, so I can gain the ability to protect myself as soon as possible."

  Yi Chen frowned and said, "I was born with little innate power, so when my master was alive, he only taught me some agile techniques. How about this, I'll discuss it with your master to see which techniques are most suitable for you to cultivate."

  "I gratefully said: 'Thank you, Master and Master's wife.'"

  "Your strength is considerable, but it's all brute force. When facing an enemy in battle, relying solely on brute force won't do. I think it would be better to teach you some agility techniques first, so that at the very least, when you can't win a fight, you'll have the option to retreat."

  I let out a wry smile: "Just running away isn't a solution either. Master, why don't you teach me qinggong on one hand and also teach me how to attack and defend on the other?"

  Kong Shou furrowed his brow and said: "Rice is eaten mouthful by mouthful, learning martial arts also requires step-by-step progression. Do I need to teach you this principle?"

  I bowed my head and said: "Disciple understands, thank you Master for your teachings."

  Kong Shou fell silent for a moment, then suddenly sighed and said: "You go rest first, I'll change you to another room. From now on, you can practice in the room next to mine."

  I nodded and followed the empty guard's pointing, went to my new room to start packing up.