Beating Up the Kids

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the day to welcome the God of Wealth, two children, Robert and Hasben, caught up with the gunsmith and cornered Brother Xue Ming in the club's recreation room.

These two students knew their teacher was going home to visit relatives for the New Year, and they were implying they wanted to ask for their homework back.

Gunsmiths are so busy, it's a rare opportunity to find a proper teacher and learn something.

They blocked Xue Ming from both sides, while Tang Ning took care of dealing with Bai Qingqing, the teacher's wife, Hasben was responsible for calling Uncle Jason to greet the guests. Finally, they managed to squeeze in a moment of leisure. If they waited until the teacher returned from his New Year's visit, Ming Ge would immediately have to pack his bags and go to Galahad to teach and study at the same time. There would be no time to give these two nominal students extra tutoring.

Xue Ming understood what the two boys were thinking.

When it came to Victor teaching Xue Ming and Meteor, he didn't teach them much. This enthusiastic Red Stone People was almost entirely occupied with official duties. Besides the VIP travel arrangements, Victor also had to translate logs, review lapis lazuli, and write novels. Xue Ming was already very grateful that he could spare a few moments to give his students some pointers. Moreover, his teacher also had a side job as Armadillo Hunters, where he would bet people on hunting logs— Xue Ming often sighed and envied Victor's energy.

The two students stood still beside the soft-carpet ring, waiting for the teacher to speak.

Xue Ming took off her coat, revealing a light vest, turned the air conditioner to 24 degrees Celsius or higher, and called Liuxing to boil water.

In the spacious recreation room, only the sounds of people running back and forth, tidying up White Lady's freeze-dried powder and kettle, could be heard.

Xue Ming closed his eyes, his hands loosely clasped around his abdomen, and remained motionless for a very long time.

Hasben finally lost his temper and began to get impatient.

"Teacher! What are you waiting for?!"

Xue Ming: "Wait for the water to boil."

Hasben glanced at the kettle; the large copper kettle had a capacity of at least twelve liters, and it would probably take a very long time to boil on the induction cooker.

"So we're just going to watch like this? Do nothing?"

Xue Ming said calmly, "Don't rush, that's how my teacher taught me too."

"Is that David Victor?" Tang Ning asked immediately. "Is this how VIP teaches students?"

"No." Xue Ming immediately denied, "That was just one of my teachers. What Mr. Victor taught me is not what you want to learn—you two might not be able to learn it. He taught me how to control my muscles, master body coordination, and have the courage to face difficulties. These things require repeated practice in conjunction with actual combat."

Hasben: "I want to learn boxing!"

Tang Ning: "I want to learn how to use a gun!"

Xue Ming still didn't open his eyes.

"--You see, Teacher Victor didn't teach me those two things. Besides, I'm a VIP now, so don't idolize the Morpho butterfly. My students, even the Morpho butterfly bleeds and gets hurt. The Morpho butterfly is also a human, just an ordinary person with superpowers. We also need other survival skills to protect ourselves."

Before Tang Ning could speak, Xue Ming continued in a gentle and refined tone.

"Today we won't teach shooting, but we will teach some basic mental techniques."

At this point, the gunsmith finally opened his eyes, walked to the side of the large bronze kettle, and pointed to the twelve liters of boiling water.

"As the old saying goes, 'Practicing boxing without internal strength is a waste of time in old age.' Tang Ning, we're not learning guns for now, not because guns aren't important, but because there are many things that don't need to be solved with guns."

Tang Ning immediately smiled and said, "Oh! I know! So, since the teacher is Chinese, he likes to talk about martial ethics, right?"

Xue Ming shook his head. "No, there are so many weapons that can kill, and gun control laws vary from country to country and region to region. Does that mean you won't kill people if you don't have a gun? What I mean by not needing a gun is that you can try using a dump truck."

"Pfft," Tang Ning was speechless.

Xue Ming continued, "Why learn boxing? The lethality of fists in actual combat is far less than that of weapons. Ancient generals—"

He pointed to the various nylon weapons on the wall of the recreation room.

"Just like the Bajiquan masters in literary works, they are all famous for their spear skills, and only then for their boxing techniques. Because their principles are the same."

As he said this, the gunsmith took down a white waxwood shaft, assumed a level spear stance, and slowly extended and retracted the wooden shaft and spearhead.

"Martial arts are gymnastic tricks." Xue Ming spoke while thrusting his spear, his breathing very steady. "As we move our bodies, we use the strength of our feet, waist, and arms to thrust out, entangle, and then retract our weapons, just like a tank marching. The spearhead and fist that are thrown out are like artillery fire."

The ash stick makes the simplest twisting and thrusting motion, vibrating the air and producing a crackling sound.

Xue Ming then sent the spear back to the wall and, following the method of thrusting the spear, stepped forward to perform a very standard routine of martial arts boxing.

"It's different when you have two arms. The simplest and most idiotic boxing style in free fighting is Muay Thai—I call it the Eight-Armed Boxing."

From the simplest straight punches and cannon strikes to fancy martial arts that combine knees and elbows.

"Why do I call it simple and idiotic? Humans have four limbs, and most Muay Thai martial arts movements only use the shinbone as an axe and the elbow as a knife. If you master the steel knees and iron elbows, you can deliver very powerful punches—using the four limbs and eight joints as the attacking parts, abandoning joint locks and ground techniques, and using many variations of the shoulders, back, head, hands, feet, wrists, ankles, and feet for offense and defense. Its boxing philosophy doesn't even have a defensive function, so I call it the Eight-Arm Boxing."

After saying this, Xue Ming returned to the soft carpet next to the arena and talked to the two students about the simplest concepts of martial arts.

"Why should we practice boxing first? Because in real combat, it's impossible to use firearms for competitive duels. But martial arts like Eight-Armed Boxing, which are only for injuring the enemy, are also undesirable. They are too clumsy. They can only rely on their own talent and long-term training to improve their power, eventually reaching the point where their knees are like axes and their elbows are like knives. But after more than ten years of hard training, it's still not as simple and direct as buying an axe and a knife for self-defense."

As she spoke, Xue Ming patted her arms and legs.

"My height and weight are my weaknesses, but I can't give up my advantage in close-range fighting to compete with Muay Thai athletes in terms of the range of sweeping kicks, kicks, and flying knees. We shouldn't underestimate martial arts; it may look like a physical confrontation, but it's actually very mentally taxing."

Why do we need to wait for the water to boil?

As he said this, Xue Ming opened the lid of the large copper kettle and poured in White Lady's freeze-dried powder.

"Because we need to protect ourselves, from harm to our companions, and from harm to ourselves."

Once the freeze-dried powder from White Lady had been evenly mixed, Xue Ming ladled out two bowls of soup.

"Whether it's hand-to-hand combat or firearms-based martial arts, I have a clear concept: to eliminate the enemy's fighting power as much as possible while protecting myself. Master Shi Deguang, a martial monk from Shaolin Temple, once told me that I have too much of a murderous intent and that one should cultivate Zen before practicing martial arts. I think that makes a lot of sense."

"I followed Master Deguang to cultivate my inner strength and mind, to control my anger and adrenaline. These techniques require a lot of practice, but one principle remains unchanged: when we are in battle, we are in a very violent and fierce state, which is easy to lose control of—but if we want to win, we must control ourselves."

At this point, Xue Ming placed two bowls of White Lady's soup beside the arena.

Hasben and Tang Ning were getting sleepy. One of the young men was a Welsh nobleman, and the other was a Scottish native. Apart from speaking Chinese, they couldn't understand anything Xue Ming was saying.

Hasben wanted to learn boxing because he had already fought in many alley battles and wanted to make up for his lack of close combat skills by learning from his gunsmith teacher.

Tang Ning wanted to learn how to use a gun because he was captivated by the efficiency with which the Big Sister slaughtered vampires.

Without saying a word, Xue Ming came up and taught martial arts gymnastics to improve physical fitness.

The two brothers were caught off guard; even their teacher admitted it was just a "showy trick."

--How could they possibly listen to that?

On the contrary, Meteor was watching the show and enjoying himself immensely.

"Oh, oh, oh! You two aren't studying seriously, are you?"

The kid simply switched to English and spoke to Hasben and Tang Ning.

"I said, in this situation, you would typically see an Asian man with his hands behind his back—like a gunsmith."

He'll smile at you first, then ask—"Hey! Job! What are you trying to do? I advise you not to be ungrateful."

"Then, when you come to your senses, you're already on the floor."

"At this point, you can imagine several ways this opponent could end the fight, like punching you or kicking you like a soccer ball—but he'll help you up, worry about whether you're hurt, and warn you to take it seriously next time. You know, we Asians love to show off like that."

Xue Ming, however, was the first to switch to English and interrupt Liuxing's incessant chatter.

He tried to reason with the two students, saying, "Don't listen to him. I'm telling you all this because I want to tell you that the next part of the lesson might hurt a little. Who wants to go first?"

Hasben immediately raised his hand--

Standing at over 185 centimeters tall, he didn't take the gunsmith's fists seriously at all. He figured that no matter how strong a person's body was, it was impossible to subdue three or four opponents of a higher weight class.

Xue Ming nodded, then said, "Take off your coat."

Hasben shook his head. "No, Gunsmith Master, I'm cold."

Xue Ming smiled and said, "Alright then."

The two stepped onto the soft blanket, ready to fight.

Xue Ming: "Let me make this clear first, with White Lady's products here to back you up, I won't hold back. Learn as much as you can."

Hasben immediately adopted a boxing stance, a rudimentary skill he had picked up during his time with the Navy SEALs.

Tang Ning sat next to Meteor Brother, opening a nut jar, ready to have some snacks.

Then, screams and cries of pain erupted from the arena.

--In less than thirty seconds, Hasben limped off the ring, his jacket reduced to tattered rags.

Thumb- sized bump swelled on his head; he was almost beaten into a pig's head. Xue Ming followed behind Hasben, feeding soup to the students.

Hasben didn't understand, and even felt a little wronged.

After healing the head injury, the master and apprentice sat down next to Meteor to rest.

Hasben immediately complained to the nameless second-in-command.

"The teacher likes to cheat! He took off my clothes!"

Xue Ming said seriously, "This is called 'clothes twist,' a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technique."

Hasben: "Step on my toes! You won't let me leave!"

Xue Ming continued seriously, "In the first round, you tried to hit my head with a right-handed heavy swing punch. Your intention was too obvious. I dodged to your right side and stepped on your right foot. You are a typical right-handed person, and your right leg is equally powerful. It's normal for me to use my collar to choke you. It's a standard operation."

Hasben trembled as he spoke, "He also hit me, hit my groin."

Xue Ming immediately explained, "When you fell to the ground, you tried to kick my hips with your legs to break free, exposing your groin, which is a weak point. I have short arms and legs, so if I don't hit your groin, where else can I hit you? This is to respect your fighting ability."

Meteor: "Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Tang Ning: "Hahahahahahaha!"

Xue Ming glanced at Tang Ning, and Tang Ning's smile vanished.

Hasben: "But why did you hit me again later?"

Xue Ming was tidying up Hasben's coat; the clothes were already tattered.

"I told you to take off your outer clothes before the fight started, but you didn't listen—so I'll make you remember this: how will you fight back when you've lost all your fighting ability?"

Hasben recalled the vicious barrage of punches he had just received; each blow landed squarely on his forehead, hitting him particularly hard.

After suffering a series of vicious attacks from his teacher, he was in excruciating pain in his groin and lost all strength. His coat was pulled up, obscuring his vision, and he couldn't even fight back. He could only be beaten wildly while being straddled. Just thinking about it made him break out in a cold sweat. If he had suffered such a loss in a real battle, in a dangerous alleyway fight, he probably wouldn't have had a chance to start over. He would have had to be reincarnated on the spot.

"The most important thing, Hasben, remember this." Xue Ming extended two fingers towards Hasben's eyes. "See through the enemy's eyes. Under no circumstances should you stare into my eyes. If you can't see them, it means you're about to be attacked."

Hasben seemed thoughtful--

The point about observing the eyes has been covered in previous shooting lessons. Soldiers must never close their eyes because of the burst of gunfire or gas detonation, and they must not blink when controlling the gun during continuous firing or shifting positions. This is the most important thing.

The same applies to the fighting techniques taught by Master Xue Ming. If you only observe the dynamics of a certain limb muscle or focus on the movement of a certain attacking part, you will immediately lose sight of the bigger picture and get punched or kicked.

"Tang Ning, it's your turn." Xue Ming turned to another student and said, "Get ready?"

Tang Ning immediately took off her coat, very tactfully saying, "Teacher, I'm ready!"

When Xue Ming stepped onto the ring again, he still waited for his student to make the first move. His counter-punch, delivered after the student's move, was like a drumbeat, leaving Tang Ning bruised and battered.

After Tang Ning tumbled off the stage, Xue Ming chased after him to the edge of the stage, dragged the boy back onto the soft carpet, and then straddled him, punching him about twenty times. He only stopped when his hands were covered in blood, and then brought a bowl of White Lady's soup to Tang Ning's lips.

Tang Ning covered her nose; her facial bones were deformed from the beating, and she made strange, gurgling sounds under the treatment of White Lady's decoction, which was quite frightening.

"Teacher, why are you doing this? I feel so strange!"

Xue Ming: "When asking questions, you need to get to the point. If you're asking a riddle, I don't know how to answer it."

Tang Ning's head was still buzzing, and she finally said, "I'm so much taller than you! Why is it always you who hits me first?"

Xue Ming and Tang Ning sat side by side on chairs, and he reached out to tug at Tang Ning's arm.

As the gold medal assistant coach, Meteor immediately explained, "There are jabs, jabs that change direction to hooks, hooks that change direction to step-and-straight punches, swings, flat swings, hooks and uppercuts, as well as step-and-straight punches, whip punches and forward and reverse spinning whip punches. The attack range, attack power and attack speed are all different. This is the simplest boxing routine."

Xue Ming patted Tang Ning's leg again.

Meteor continued, "Legs have even more intricacies. There's knee block, straight kick, shin kick, straight and side kick, heel spinning kick and sweeping kick, Spartan front kick and high kick, tomahawk downward chop, and alternating vertical kick. Bruce Lee really liked alternating punches and kicks because his punching and kicking speeds were extremely fast. As for Robert's question about why the gunsmith could hit you first even though your arms were longer—it's because his attack speed was faster, and he chose his striking points precisely on your attacking limbs. That's Jeet Kune Do."

Xue Ming patted Tang Ning's bottom one last time.

Meteor immediately explained, "Your hip joints are too stiff. As soon as you move your waist, Gunsmith will know what you're going to do—a total of four lead punches. When the fist is only halfway out, Gunsmith's small hook punch doesn't need to use much force. With the combined force of your punch, the two of them can cause a lot of damage when they hit your forearm."

Tang Ning felt a chill run down her spine.

--So fighting is like solving math problems?

Meteor continued, "The same goes for kicks. When your intentions are exposed to the enemy, like the eight-armed fist or the low kick in Muay Thai that Ming Ge just mentioned—these are extremely destructive moves, often seen in sports competitions. But if you're the only one getting hit, the maximum compensation is 88,000. Breaking someone's knee only results in permanent disability, not imprisonment. But when two people's legs kick together, it's a completely different story. It could directly cause muscle tears, ruptured arteries, and massive internal bleeding. If there's a risk to life, you'll go to jail. After all, in matches involving 75 kilograms or more, the force of a low kick is over 600 pounds. If you land a counter-attack, it's equivalent to applying a force of 1,200 pounds to one person's knee."

"What I mean is," Xue Ming continued, explaining to the students, "That if you want to learn how to use a gun, it's the same principle. Throwing a punch is like firing a bullet through your fist; the wrist is the muzzle, and the arm is the receiver—disrupting the punch's path is equivalent to changing the opponent's trajectory. Jeet Kune Do's techniques and tactics require very strong observation and reaction speed."

Tang Ning's eyes brightened, and she finally understood. "How should I practice?"

"Don't rush, there's still one lesson left to teach." Xue Ming patted Liuxing's back, wanting this 192-centimeter-tall guy to mess with the two students. "You all thought I was short just now, now I'll find an opponent who's taller and stronger than you to compete with."

Hasben was filled with trepidation as he watched the gunsmith teacher bring out two more bowls of medicinal soup.

Meteor took off his shirt, revealing healthy, muscular muscles. His smile was bright and sunny. He spread his arms wide, not even bothering with a boxing stance. He simply spread his Five Fingers and hunched over.

Hasben Madison, on the other hand, was like a reserved and awkward little girl, just about to throw a punch.

Meteor lunged into Hasben's arms in a low crouch, almost touching the floor, turning the fight from a stand-up brawl into a wrestling match of joint locks.

Their weights differed by sixteen kilograms, so the result was no surprise.

--A Xing had locked onto Hasben's waist and abdomen first, then turned around to his back and tried to finish the fight with a German back throw. Hasben struggled for a while, but as he released the waist and abdomen lock, he rolled on the ground with Meteor and was stunned by A Xing's shrimp-like wriggling back naked choke.

"Meteor spreads his arms wide, and counting his fingers, his attack range is 195 centimeters." After waking Hasben up, Xue Ming explained this tactic to the two students, "Unless you are confident that you can make him lose some of his fighting ability in the first round, he will directly spread his arms and use joint locks to suppress his opponent if they are shorter or have less stride than him. He will never linger too much on striking techniques."

Speaking of this--

Xue Ming emphasized this again.

"Of course, I don't recommend doing that unless you can decide that in a real combat environment it will always be a one-on-one real man wrestling match. Otherwise, when a second opponent appears, you'll be in a very awkward situation wrestling with your opponent on the floor."

"This technique is the king of combat because in a duel, once it comes to the ground fighting phase, we not only have to overcome the opponent's weight, but also our own. Whoever can use the ground more skillfully will win."

Tang Ning frowned as she looked at it. "So ugly!"

"The simplest rear-naked choke can knock someone unconscious within ten seconds." Teacher Xue Ming couldn't help but chuckle, "Ugly moves, fancy skills; ugly techniques can be very efficient at killing, you see?"

At this point, Xue Ming reached out to Tang Ning's wrist.

Tang Ning instinctively resisted, but Xue Ming grabbed his wrist and arm, using one hand as a gun to lock Tang Ning's shoulder and neck, with two fingers as the muzzle pressed against Tang Ning's carotid artery.

"This is a grappling technique that combines shooting skills. It won't take ten seconds, but one second is enough to take your life."

Tang Ning exclaimed excitedly, "I want to learn! I want to learn!"

Xue Ming didn't say anything, because it was time for him to leave.

He took a bag of walnuts from under the tea cabinet and crushed one of them with his bare hands in front of the students.

"Practice your finger strength first, make sure you can hold the gun steadily before we talk about anything else."

Immediately afterwards, Xue Ming threw all the walnut kernels into A Xing's mouth.

"Let's go! A Xing! Let's go back and wish Aunt Bu Mei a Happy New Year."

Before the gunsmith instructor could come downstairs, Hasben's back was almost broken from the impact of the shooting star. He looked pale and asked the instructor another question.

"I'm just practicing with walnuts?"

Bu Liuxing threw out two CDs--

--Hasben took a look and found that it wasn't a boxing manual or aerobics, but an introductory training routine for the cha-cha dance.

Hasben: "Dancing?"

Meteor put on his clothes, followed Ming Ge downstairs, and didn't even turn his head to reply.

"Bruce Lee was the Hong Kong Youth Cha-Cha Champion! Listen to me, you won't go wrong with this!"