Second-Rate Martial Arts

"Second-rate martial arts could be considered a foundation in any faction. At least, that was true in our Lin'an County City. After all, second-rate martial arts were already enough to let one glimpse the Blood Circulation realm."

In the side hall of the Ninth Squad's station, Wang Sanyang held a wine cup and spoke with a smile.

Across from him sat Lin Sheng, clad in a roomy black outfit.

He dressed that way because, after mastering the Raging Bull Fist and White Ape Leg Technique, his build had become much sturdier than before. His hands and legs in particular had grown nearly a full size larger.

The White Ape Leg Technique was easier to explain away. After all, he had never heard of anyone in the Beast Hunter Hall practicing it, so others would have trouble noticing anything. The Raging Bull Fist was different. Nearly everyone in the Beast Hunter Hall practiced it, and Wang Sanyang and the others had even brought it to mastery.

The changes to his arms after reaching mastery were considerable. If they noticed something, he would have a hard time explaining it, so he simply covered them with his clothes.

"Earlier, Lin Sheng, you asked about the second-rate martial arts of our Town Mountain Tower. There actually aren't many. As far as I know, there are only three."

"Thirty-Six Hand Strikes, Eagle Claw Thousand Jin Strength, and finally the Vajra Twelve Forms. Thirty-Six Hand Strikes and Eagle Claw Thousand Jin Strength are both hand techniques, while the Vajra Twelve Forms is a saber technique."

Hearing this, Lin Sheng nodded, his gaze falling on Wang Sanyang's hands.

He had never seen Wang Sanyang use a saber technique. The second-rate martial art the other man practiced should be one of the first two.

Noticing Lin Sheng's gaze, Wang Sanyang said with a smile.

"Stop looking. I practice the Thirty-Six Hand Strikes. Among these three second-rate martial arts, it's considered the easiest one, but it's still far stronger than something like the Raging Bull Fist."

As he spoke, Wang Sanyang seemed to be showing off. He extended a finger and pressed it onto the wine cup before him, leaving two distinct finger marks directly on it.

Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed at the sight.

Leaving marks on a wine cup was nothing remarkable. The difficult part was leaving those marks without shattering the cup. That degree of control over strength was quite impressive.

Even with his current strength, he might not necessarily be able to do that.

"What do you think? Compared to third-rate martial arts, second-rate martial arts do not have a vastly different effect on strength and physical enhancement during the early stages of Body Tempering or even early Muscle Forging. At least, the gap isn't as great as you might imagine. But in terms of subtlety and intricacy, they surpass them by quite a bit—that is, in the control and use of strength."

"There was such a distinction?"

Lin Sheng was startled. This was truly the first time he had heard where the real difference between second-rate and third-rate martial arts lay.

"Of course there is. You haven't been practicing the Martial Way for long, Lin Sheng, so it's normal that you don't know these things."

Wang Sanyang smiled as he spoke, lifting his wine cup and draining another mouthful.

"In truth, the human body possesses far more strength than we normally display. It's just that we can only bring out a portion of it. Martial arts primarily strengthen the physique, one's force, and so on. Beyond that, they also allow us to unleash more of the power within our bodies."

"For example, suppose an ordinary person has two hundred jin of strength, but can normally only exert less than a hundred jin. The ratio is around forty percent, perhaps even lower. A martial artist who practices third-rate martial arts and reaches early Muscle Forging can probably exert sixty to seventy percent of their own ultimate strength."

"A martial artist who practices second-rate martial arts and reaches early Muscle Forging can exert around eighty percent of their ultimate strength."

"That ten to twenty percent gap might not seem obvious, but in an actual fight, it gives an enormous advantage. The ultimate strength I speak of isn't limited to brute force. The same applies to agility and speed. It means the opponent's speed and strength can basically suppress a martial artist practicing third-rate martial arts entirely."

As Wang Sanyang spoke, a trace of melancholy appeared on his face, as though he had suffered losses because of this before.

After hearing Wang Sanyang's words, Lin Sheng nodded thoughtfully.

He had never expected the grades of martial arts to differ in this respect as well.

Wang Sanyang was right. When martial artists fought, victory and defeat were decided in the time it took a spark to flash from flint. Greater strength and faster speed were enough to overcome the opponent.

Lin Sheng understood the effects of a ten to twenty percent difference in strength and speed deeply. After all, his body-entry effect gave him the clearest sense of such things.

As for the limits of the human body that Wang Sanyang mentioned, there had been scientific discussions about that in Lin Sheng's previous life.

A normal person possessed enough strength to punch a cow to death, but the density of the human body was insufficient to support such an explosive release of power.

There had even been news reports in his previous life of women lifting trucks with their bare hands to save children trapped beneath cars.

There were many such examples, but without exception, they all resulted in unavoidable injuries to muscles and bones afterward, sometimes even a serious illness.

"Captain Wang, if second-rate martial arts can let one exert eighty percent of their ultimate strength, then can first-rate martial arts exert all of one's strength?"

Lin Sheng looked toward Wang Sanyang and asked.

"That's right. Aside from providing extremely powerful enhancements in every aspect of the body, first-rate martial arts can raise one's control over their own strength to a very high level. They basically allow one to fully unleash their own abilities. I've even heard that some first-rate martial arts can bring out strength beyond one's own limits..."

"Beyond one's own limits!?"

Lin Sheng raised his brows.

"That's right, exactly so. Beyond that, certain secret arts can accomplish the same thing, but surpassing one's limits places extremely harsh demands on the body."

Wang Sanyang spoke seriously.

"Such secret arts are also extraordinarily rare. Their value may even exceed that of ordinary first-rate martial arts. The reason our Town Mountain Tower has reached its present position is not only because of the first-rate martial art, the Nine Oxen Two Tiger Saber, but also because we possess an explosive secret technique. That is how we managed to gain a foothold in Lin'an County City and take control of Yangping Mountain."

"Nine Oxen Two Tiger Saber, an explosive secret technique."

Lin Sheng felt that this trip had not been in vain. This information could already be considered a secret of Town Mountain Tower.

And there was all this knowledge concerning the Martial Way. Had he not been in Town Mountain Tower, ordinary martial artists would likely never learn so much.

This was the advantage of a major faction: in cultivation, their knowledge far surpassed that of lone wanderers.

"There's another question, Captain Wang."

Lin Sheng raised his wine cup in a toast, then continued asking. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he decided to voice all the doubts in his heart.

"Ask whatever you want." Wang Sanyang waved a hand indifferently.

"Since martial arts strengthen the body through condensing one's qi and blood, and third-rate martial arts are inferior to second-rate martial arts in their condensation limit and efficiency, could practicing several third-rate martial arts at once break through that limit and reach late Muscle Forging?"

Lin Sheng considered his words before asking.

He had never considered this question before, but now that both his Raging Bull Fist and White Ape Leg Technique had reached mastery, he had some guesses regarding it.

"This..." Wang Sanyang was taken aback, seemingly never having considered the question. But he soon laughed. "I didn't expect you to ask that, Lin Sheng. In theory, it might be possible, but no one has probably tried it. Who would devote all their energy to third-rate martial arts?"

"Doing that would be no different from cutting off your own road ahead. Practicing several third-rate martial arts could indeed increase one's strength, but training in third-rate martial arts also consumed a great deal of time. With such time, why not choose to practice second-rate or even first-rate martial arts? As long as you achieved something, you could enter a higher realm."

At this point, a thoughtful look appeared on Wang Sanyang's face, as though he were recalling something. After a pause, he continued.

"I once heard Hall Master Tian say that the human body has limits. Practicing every martial art leaves an imprint on the body, and those imprints affect every part of it. Although practicing several martial arts can make you stronger in battle, that is not absolute.

"Take fist techniques and leg techniques, for example. One works the upper routes, the other the lower routes. For the muscles and tendons involved in those arts to achieve success, every part of your body must coordinate from the inside out, so as to bring out the greatest possible strength. One or two techniques might not show much, but if you practiced three, four, even five or six martial arts at once, your body would be imperceptibly altered by all those cultivation methods. That would absolutely not be a good thing."

"It would leave your body's tendons and inner workings neither fish nor fowl, altering your innate physique and producing the opposite effect: twice the effort for half the result. Even a peerless genius might be completely ruined by it. By then, it would be difficult to bring any martial art to mastery. And that would be the mild outcome. In severe cases, qi deviation, the collapse of the physique, a drastic loss of lifespan, or sudden death would all be entirely normal."

At this point, Wang Sanyang's gaze fell upon Lin Sheng. He looked him up and down, then warned him with a grave expression.

"So, Lin Sheng, you must remember this: never be greedy for too many martial arts. Otherwise, not only will you waste your talent for nothing, you might not even be able to keep your life in the end."

"I understand, Captain Wang. Don't worry."

Lin Sheng also became solemn and immediately nodded in response.

Wang Sanyang's words could not help but shake him. On careful consideration, they truly made a great deal of sense.

"Since practicing several martial arts is inadvisable, why does everyone in the Tower begin with the Raging Bull Fist?"

Lin Sheng voiced the doubt in his heart.

He had wanted to ask this long ago. Since the Raging Bull Fist only reached early Muscle Forging at its limit, and one had to switch to second-rate martial arts afterward to continue advancing, why not begin directly with second-rate or even first-rate martial arts?

As for worrying about martial arts manuals being leaked, that could be avoided entirely by teaching them in stages.

"The higher the grade of martial art one begins with, the higher the starting point and the greater the eventual achievement. But correspondingly, the difficulty of practice also rises. For the vast majority with ordinary aptitude, third-rate martial arts are more suitable. They require few resources; with only time and bitter training, one can achieve something."

Wang Sanyang answered without even thinking.

"Of course, that only applies to ordinary people. For those with more outstanding talent, higher-grade martial arts are naturally more suitable."

As he spoke, Wang Sanyang lowered his voice slightly.

"But the value of second-rate martial arts far exceeds that of third-rate martial arts. On the black market, you can buy third-rate martial arts for a few hundred taels of silver. But second-rate martial arts cost at least several thousand taels, and even then, they are often priceless commodities with no market. Even if you have money, you may not be able to buy them."

"Therefore, second-rate martial arts are extremely important even to the major factions in the city. Even if someone has talent, they will not teach them so easily."

At this point, Wang Sanyang let out a soft sigh.

"Lin Sheng, do you know how long I've been in Town Mountain Tower?"

"About ten years, I suppose."

Lin Sheng estimated. He only knew that Wang Sanyang was an old member of Town Mountain Tower. Before entering the Beast Hunter Hall, he had served in other halls of Town Mountain Tower.

"Heh... wrong. I've been in Town Mountain Tower for nearly twenty years."

A trace of self-mockery appeared on Wang Sanyang's face.

"Though I, Wang, am not a genius like you, Lin Sheng, I would still say that I have some talent. At twenty-seven, I brought the Raging Bull Fist to mastery and entered early Muscle Forging. Yet it was only three years later that I obtained the cultivation method for the first part of the Thirty-Six Hand Strikes. Otherwise, I might already be trying to enter late Muscle Forging now. At the very least, I would not be much weaker than that Ma Long."

Lin Sheng's brow furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

Both of his third-rate martial arts had now reached mastery, and he had planned to obtain a second-rate martial art from Town Mountain Tower afterward. Now, however, it seemed that Town Mountain Tower's restrictions on second-rate martial arts were far stricter than he had imagined.

When Lin Sheng left the station, his mood had become increasingly heavy.

From Wang Sanyang, he had learned that Town Mountain Tower's control over second-rate martial arts was already the loosest among the major factions in the county city.

Although they required several years of observation and only gave incomplete early sections of the cultivation method, at least there was nothing wrong with the martial arts manual itself.

The other major factions in the city were different. Even if some did not require a period of observation, the cultivation methods they gave came with all kinds of restrictive measures.

The deeper one cultivated their methods, the greater the restrictions became. Some involved taking poisonous pills over a long period, while others simply hid traps within the martial arts manuals themselves, allowing one's entire cultivation to be crippled with ease. Such methods were even more vicious than those of Town Mountain Tower.

The situation in the Prefectural Office or the military was somewhat better. Although they would not use poisonous pills or flaws in cultivation methods for control, they had other ways of restraining people.

In short, their control over cultivation methods and martial arts was extremely strict.

By comparison, Town Mountain Tower was rather good in this regard.

Given the talent he had displayed, he would probably not need to spend an additional two or three years like Wang Sanyang before receiving instruction, but the delay would still not be short.

To obtain a second-rate martial art cultivation method from Town Mountain Tower, he would at least need to publicly bring the Raging Bull Fist to mastery.

And that would take at least another half year, since in everyone else's eyes, he had only just broken through to Body Tempering.

"It seems I need to change my plans for obtaining second-rate martial arts from Town Mountain Tower."

As he walked back, he considered his next plan.

Given the situation, there was simply no way for him to obtain second-rate martial arts from Town Mountain Tower in a short time, much less first-rate martial arts of an even higher grade.

This was the plight of ordinary people without backing or resources.

Even with talent, without suitable cultivation methods, one would still be buried. Otherwise, one would have to choose to become a tool for those aristocratic clans and powerful families.

"Cultivation methods are troublesome too, and the physical conflicts caused by practicing multiple methods are also a problem."

He had originally considered using the advantages of his body-entry effect to practice multiple martial arts. That way, even if he could not raise his realm, he could still increase his actual combat strength horizontally.

"Now it seems that I'll need to give careful thought to the cultivation methods I choose in the future."