Martial Arts Inner Circle

[Zi Fei Yu] has joined the group chat.

Wu Zihan picked up the Shiba Inu pillow on her bed, grinning happily.

She immediately sent a message to the group. "I got the person you wanted in here. If you say I lied again, watch out—I'll hit each of you with a Ban Lan Chui."

The group was called [Young Hero Warriors]. It really was quite a distinctive name. Who knew which genius had come up with it.

Lin Yuan glanced through the member information.

There were around twenty people. Their group nicknames all followed the format of "martial arts style + name," though some did not use their real names in full. For example, Wu Zihan went by Wu Usagi Tsukino.

Seeing that name, several black lines dropped across Lin Yuan's forehead.

So you were the genius behind it!!!

As a seasoned anime expert, how could he not know who Usagi Tsukino was? He had watched a little bit of Sailor Moon.

After going through the members' information one by one, Lin Yuan was delighted.

There were four Tai Chi practitioners in the group alone. Besides the Yang Style Tai Chi and Wu Style Tai Chi he had already mastered, there were also Wu Style Tai Chi and Sun Style Tai Chi.

Once he collected all Five Schools of Tai Chi and cultivated each one to perfection, he would be able to summon the "Divine Dragon."

As the saying went, "wealth, companions, methods, and land."

Sure enough, working behind closed doors alone was far too inefficient. He still needed people to guide him.

Wu Zihan's figure immediately appeared in Lin Yuan's mind.

Fate truly was a wonderful thing!

The favorable impression had only just surfaced when his face fell after he finished reading the group chat history.

The conversation in the group had started at 8:46 p.m.

It began with the line, "Young Heroes, I met an expert today!"

Then came a two-hour-long scene of verbal warfare against the entire group.

Wu Zihan had taken on the whole group by herself!

Naturally, she had been steadily losing ground. Perhaps that was why she got anxious!

She began making wild claims, and the more she spoke, the more outrageous they became.

She said he was a reclusive master, a once-in-a-century martial arts prodigy, possibly the last disciple of some hidden grandmaster, and a rising new star in the martial arts world.

Even more absurdly, she claimed he had trained in the deep mountains for decades before descending at his master's orders to save Chinese Martial Arts from collapse.

"..."

Amazing!

Lin Yuan was completely numb. Would it kill her not to exaggerate?

The people still arguing with Wu Zihan in the group saw that the "expert brother" she had mentioned had arrived.

They all stopped talking.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Lin Yuan. Please guide me," Lin Yuan politely greeted the group.

Very quickly, someone named [Yang Style Tai Chi + Yang Yikun] sent a message.

"You're the Yang Style Tai Chi expert Zihan mentioned?"

"I'm just an amateur martial arts enthusiast. I wouldn't dare call myself an expert."

Wu Zihan: "Experts are usually humble. Some people say they're bad, but they aren't really bad. Unlike certain people who keep saying they aren't bad when they really are."

Wu Zihan was obviously dissing Yang Yikun. He had been the one trashing her the hardest earlier.

Lin Yuan stared gloomily at the smug message Wu Zihan had sent, his face darkening.

Dear lady, please stop stirring things up for me.

Lin Yuan still wanted to build a good relationship with these second-generation martial artists. It would make things much more convenient when he wanted to learn from them in the future.

Seeing Wu Zihan's sarcastic tone, Yang Yikun immediately replied:

"Heh, you're not bad? I wonder who failed to even make the top five at the Zhezhou Class C Tai Chi Competition last time."

Having had her sore spot poked, Wu Zihan immediately gritted her teeth in anger, her eyes seemingly ready to spit fire.

She first threw several bomb stickers at Yang Yikun, then her fingers danced rapidly across her phone screen.

"You're so impressive. I wonder who bragged last time that he'd win the Hengda Tai Chi Wind and Cloud Cup, only to fail to even make the top three."

"That was rigged, okay? It was a commercial competition. That kid in first place fought like complete trash. If he weren't related to Hengda's boss, how could he possibly have won?"

"So that's why you came in fourth? [doge][doge][doge]"

"Wu Zihan, you and I are irreconcilable enemies. [angry]"

"You'd better mean what you say."

"Are you two putting on a show for everyone here? You've been arguing forever. Aren't you annoying enough already?"

The one who spoke was Wu Zhongze, who practiced Wu Style Tai Chi.

After speaking, he tagged Lin Yuan again. "Change your nickname. This group is mainly for us to exchange martial arts knowledge. We also sometimes discuss the latest developments in the martial arts world, including martial arts competitions around the country."

"Okay!"

After thinking it over, Lin Yuan ultimately changed his nickname to [Yang Style Tai Chi Lin Yuan].

"When did you start practicing?"

"About six years ago."

Lin Yuan was not lying. He really had started six years ago, though what he had practiced was the "college student Simplified Tai Chi 24 Forms."

At that moment, Yang Yikun asked, "Brother, which form do you specialize in?"

"Which form?"

"The Big Frame, Old Frame, or Small Frame."

Of the ten sets Lin Yuan had learned on Doumi, setting aside the basic introductory ones, the most important were the Big Frame, Old Frame, Small Frame, Tai Chi Loose Hands, Little Nine Heavens, and the Tai Chi Acupoint Method.

Among them, the Small Frame, Tai Chi Loose Hands, and Tai Chi Acupoint Method were the most powerful in actual combat, especially the latter two, which were true killing arts for real battles.

The ancient grandmasters of Tai Chi did not merely possess the outward forms in each move. They had truly mastered them. Every gesture appeared soft and powerless, yet each move concealed deadly intent.

But nowadays, martial arts were mostly used for fitness, performances, and martial arts competitions.

They emphasized aesthetics over combat, running completely contrary to the original purpose behind martial arts.

That was why many people said Chinese Martial Arts were merely flowery forms with no real fighting ability.

Another important reason was that these combat-oriented forms were extremely difficult to learn.

To master them, one needed not only years of relentless training, but also natural insight and frequent sparring and actual combat. Otherwise, one would only possess empty forms.

Nowadays, there were very few people who still learned National Martial Arts through such traditional methods.

All the training methods of Yang Style Tai Chi were publicly available, but most people only learned the Old Frame and Big Frame. Very few even studied the Small Frame.

The Big Frame and Old Frame had gentler, more graceful movements, better fitting the market demand for aesthetics.

But the Small Frame's movements were much more complicated, its techniques dense and compact, making it far more difficult to learn.

Lin Yuan replied in the group, "The Big Frame, I suppose."

"Oh, I specialize in the Big Frame too. When you have time to visit Beijing, the two of us can learn from each other."

"Brother Yikun is being too modest. Your level must be higher than mine. If I get the chance to visit Beijing, I hope Brother Yikun will give me plenty of guidance."

"Hahaha, no problem. I'll teach you everything I know."

Yang Yikun had not thought much of him before, but after seeing the flattering compliments, his favorable impression of Lin Yuan rose rapidly.

"Does Senior Brother Lin even need your guidance? Who knows who would be guiding whom?" Wu Zihan could not resist sending another message.

"When men are talking, women should talk less."

"The Qing dynasty has been dead for a long time, Young Master Yang!"

Watching the two begin arguing with each other again, Lin Yuan felt helpless. It seemed he would not get anything useful out of the group today.

It was getting late as well, so he stopped watching the group chat, put away his phone, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.