Broadly Learned and Master of All / The Xiang Family's Martial Arts
Si Ming patted his forehead and decided to keep this a secret.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Has Auntie Liu changed her mind?"
Si Ming went to open the door with high hopes, but was met with a mixture of disappointment and surprise, because standing outside the door was his master, whom he had not seen for a long time.
"Master, when did you arrive? You didn't even tell me beforehand?"
Yan Jinghong smiled and said, "I don't even know where I'm going next, so how can I inform others in advance?"
Si Ming hurriedly invited Yan Jinghong into the house, then asked, "Master, you're a very busy person, you certainly wouldn't come all the way to visit your disciple. Is there something important you need me for?"
Yan Jinghong felt slightly ashamed. He had indeed been a less than competent master. The last time he met his apprentice was half a year ago. At that time, Si Ming had just returned from Russia after completing his trials and frankly admitted that he had found his own shortcomings and hoped to receive his guidance. So he asked the organization for a week's leave and served as his master for a week.
"It's not exactly urgent, but I do have something important to discuss with you."
Si Ming guessed, "Could it be related to the Grandmaster's assessment? Have new trial missions been assigned?"
"Not yet, but I did come to ask for your opinion regarding the next trial mission," Yan Jinghong explained. "Years ago, in order to capture the Eight Asura Sin Lord, I chased him all the way to the Water Mirror Si Clan in Nation of Beauty. To escape, the Eight Asura Sin Lord kidnapped a girl from the Si Clan as a hostage. I joined forces with the then patriarch of the Si Clan to kill the Eight Asura Sin Lord, but the Si Clan patriarch was also seriously injured in the process. She was the only Spirit Transformation expert in the Si Clan, and if she died, it would inevitably lead to the decline of the family. So she had been using methods to prolong her life, but she could no longer hold on this year. She sensed that her life was coming to an end and that she would soon pass away, so she wrote to me asking for a favor, hoping that I could step in to protect the Si Clan's business and prevent it from being taken away by others."
"What does the master think?"
"I will definitely repay this favor, but I cannot do it myself. Given the precedent of the Yuezheng Lineage, the Nation of Beauty government would not welcome me. If I were to intervene, it would become a diplomatic incident and cause a lot of unnecessary trouble. Therefore, I would like to ask you to do it for me."
Given that the entire Yuezheng Lineage family had been poached by the Su State, if Yan Jinghong were to openly appear, the Nation of Beauty government would naturally be worried that the same thing would happen again. They would definitely guard against him like a thief and would try every means to get him out of the country.
Si Ming thought for a moment and then agreed, "If there's anything I can do, I'll take care of it. Leave this matter to me."
Yan Jinghong said with relief, "Thank you for your trouble. I will apply to the organization to transfer this matter to you as a trial mission for the Grandmaster. In addition, I have also arranged your identity. The current young patriarch of the Si Clan once had a younger brother, but unfortunately he was kidnapped after birth and his whereabouts are still unknown. After you arrive at the Water Mirror Manor, you will pretend to be him and protect the Si Clan as the young patriarch's brother."
Chapter 263 A Master of All Trades
Despite being given a new trial mission, Si Ming was in no hurry to set off. According to Yan Jinghong, he would have to wait until he discussed it with the others in the Heaven's Will Palace before he could officially issue the order, a process that would take at least half a month.
Such matters are generally not rejected. Although there is a suspicion of seeking personal gain, there is no fixed rule in the Grandmaster Trial. Whatever the task is, it is acceptable. What matters is the performance during the task. The better the performance, the higher the evaluation. Completing the task is just reaching the most basic passing standard.
For example, if Yan Jinghong assigns Si Ming the simplest task, "deliver a package to the Nation of Beauty," even if Si Ming delivers the package in the shortest time, his evaluation will naturally be extremely low if he doesn't have any other outstanding performance. From this perspective, a difficult task is more conducive to demonstrating one's abilities than a simple task.
After finishing his business, Yan Jinghong took advantage of the half-day he had left to personally check Si Ming's progress in martial arts, giving him pointers on everything from swords, whips, and staffs to various hidden weapons, fists, palms, fingers, and legs.
"Very good. Your foundation has reached a high level. It seems you haven't slacked off in the past six months, and your progress has exceeded my expectations. I thought it would take you at least three years to reach this level."
"This is thanks to the ' Supreme Plain Decay True Scripture). My physical constitution is strong, and some techniques that are difficult for ordinary people to use are not difficult for me to master. All that's left is to practice until I become proficient."
The Jade-Clad Dharma Body is a body-refining technique that combines strength and flexibility, allowing one to easily assume highly difficult yoga poses.
Yan Jinghong said, "Your aptitude in this area is not to be underestimated. If it weren't for your incomplete meridians constitution, you should actually have pursued the path of 'technique.' What a pity..."
The path of "strength" can rely solely on external skills, while the path of "technique" requires Internal Cultivation to reach its peak. Si Ming possesses exceptional talent in "technique," but due to a physical defect, he cannot cultivate Internal Cultivation normally and is forced to take the path of "strength."
He possesses the talent to learn any martial art instantly. This talent, when applied to "skills," is equivalent to the Golden Cudgel for Sun Wukong. What others can achieve in ten years of arduous training, he can catch up to in ten days.
The path of "strength" emphasizes the tempering of the physical body, which must be accumulated step by step. At most, it can be accelerated with the help of medicine, but the effect is very limited. The role of aptitude and talent is the same; it can play an auxiliary role, but it is within the normal range. Perhaps others have to work hard for ten years, while he only needs to work hard for two years. Five times the efficiency is amazing, but it is still far from comparable to "ten days".
The former is like using a game cheat code, easily modifying data and ignoring level settings to crush through the game. The latter is like reading a game guide, which can reduce the difficulty of the game and help you pass the game smoothly, but you still have to follow the game's flow.
Si Ming's current achievements in the path of "strength" are 90% due to the "Supreme Plain Decay True Scripture". This Super Martial Dao Cultivation Method ignores talent and aptitude. As long as one is not afraid of the side effects, even a fool can have an indestructible golden body. If it were not for this martial art, and Si Ming had to steadily temper his body, it would have taken at least ten years to achieve his current physical qualities.
"A tree needs water to grow, but if you water it too much, exceeding its absorption capacity, it will only cause its roots to rot. This is why I didn't let you practice too much martial arts before. Relying too much on talent without establishing a solid Foundation and always taking shortcuts will only lead to losing yourself and Outer Dao in another sense," Yan Jinghong said earnestly.
"Can't you find the right path by taking shortcuts?" Si Ming asked.
Yan Jinghong paused for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "Theoretically, every path can lead to the Great Dao. If you can take shortcuts, avoid being misled by external forces, and bypass all obstacles on the path of cultivation, you can still succeed. But this requires extraordinary perseverance and wisdom. Ordinary people, even ordinary geniuses, shouldn't even think about it. The so-called righteous path is not about how fast you can cultivate, but rather that the path has the highest probability of success and the fewest troubles."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Before the martial arts revolution, do you think all the evil factions in the martial arts world were acting voluntarily? The vast majority of them had no other choice but to turn to Evil Dao because they couldn't follow the righteous path. If you gave them a chance, 99% of them would switch to the righteous path. The truly depraved ones were ultimately a tiny minority."
Si Ming was just asking casually. He knew his own limitations and wouldn't risk taking a risky approach or gambling on whether he was a legendary genius. However, he still wanted to clarify his future path.
"Master, is it true that having more skills is never a bad thing, or that trying to do too much at once leads to failure?"
"This question seems to present two viewpoints, but they are actually two sides of the same coin. The problem with trying to do too much at once isn't about trying to do too much, but about not being able to digest it properly. And what if you could digest it properly?" Yan Jinghong smiled and answered himself, "Then it becomes 'having many skills is never a burden.' Just like the problem with being a jack-of-all-trades but master of none isn't about being a jack-of-all-trades, but about not being a master. If you can master everything, then naturally the more you know, the better."
Si Ming thought to himself, "Luckily, Yao Bilian wasn't there, otherwise this topic would have become very vulgar."
"The general practice of martial arts involves a process of moving from simple to complex, and then back to simple. First, learn one martial art and repeatedly hone your skills to build a solid foundation. Once you have a foundation, you can learn more martial arts, drawing on the strengths of various schools. After gaining more experience, you can refine and distill the essence, extracting the martial arts that truly suit you. With your current foundation, learning thirty or forty martial arts should not be a problem."
This statement undoubtedly granted Si Ming a license to learn. With his talent for sudden enlightenment, he could master all forty martial arts techniques in just two days, so he couldn't help but be greedy.
"Master, when will I be able to freely learn martial arts?"
Yan Jinghong glanced at it and said, "Let's talk about it when you reach the point where 'mountains are mountains and water is water'... There is a shortcut, though." Then, she suddenly changed the subject and revealed an amusing smile.
Si Ming's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "What method?"
"The Water Mirror Si Clan is the legitimate lineage of the Shaman School. In terms of soft skills, no one in the world can surpass them. Their family secret manual, 'Water Moon Precious Mirror,' describes how the mirror reflects all things in the world like the moon's reflection in water. If you can learn it, no matter how many martial arts you learn, they will all be nothing but illusions, and will not hinder your own cultivation, nor will they bring you any burden."
Si Ming was taken aback, then said bitterly, "Since it's a family heirloom, how can an outsider like me learn it?"
Not all countries have implemented the martial arts revolution as thoroughly as the Su State. Even in the Su State, many Aristocratic Clan still preserve their family martial arts traditions and resolutely keep them secret. In countries like the Nation of Beauty, which are ruled by the Aristocratic Clan and financial giants, the protection of their own interests is even more important. Trying to learn their family martial arts is no less than asking them to "tell me the passwords to your safe and bank cards."
Yan Jinghong said, "That depends on your own performance. If you can do them a big enough favor, they might agree."
Si Ming snorted twice. He didn't believe in such a treacherous act of kindness. As the saying goes, books can only be read if borrowed. Didn't people often come to borrow books from the Shaolin Scripture Repository?
Xiao Yuanshan and Murong Bo read books in the Scripture Repository for thirty years, and the Sweeper Monk never bothered to drive them away, which shows that he didn't object to such things.
Chapter 264 Xiang Family Martial Arts