Martial God's Rebirth

"You must remember: the innate flesh is the lowliest of all."

A huge Austrian Black and Tan Hound barked this reprimand: "Martial arts can be easy to practice, and they can be difficult to practice. They are easy because you only need to entrust everything to machines. They are difficult because to master them, you must transcend what is innate and attain true freedom!"

Such an image surfaced in his mind.

—That was such a familiar line of reasoning...

The man thought this. In the past of "him"... Xiang Shan, there should have been someone who had said something similar, right?

Sure enough, faint bioelectric currents surged within his brain. It seemed that some memories were being awakened anew.

But what surfaced upon the conscious layer of his mind now was not Xiang Shan's memory.

This memory belonged to Will Grand Dog. It was a scene of his father instructing him and his siblings.

That enormous hound had not taught Will any specific moves or stances. Those had already been implanted into Will's prosthetic body together with the Martial Arts Algorithm.

They had merely sparred continuously, reinforcing their use of the Bionic Fist Technique through actual combat and harmonizing the biological brain, Martial Arts Algorithm, and prosthetic body.

Convolutional computation was already a very mature concept. Prosthetic bodies could also optimize themselves to a certain degree based on long-term records.

Within the biological brain, neural circuits compatible with the Martial Arts Algorithm also had to take shape.

And the Martial Arts Algorithm itself had to continuously receive entirely new strategy sets because of the biological brain and prosthetic body.

This was how cyborgs cultivated martial arts.

There was no meaning in repeatedly practicing a set of punches. The influence of the "procedural memory" stored in the brain—what people usually called "muscle memory"—on the body could be completely ignored. Cyborgs neither needed nor could improve their physical abilities through exercise. The "practice methods" of martial arts were utterly meaningless.

Cyber martial arts had only "combat methods."

The martial path of cyborgs had only actual combat.

This was not a pleasant memory at all. Simply reading it made Xiang Shan feel somewhat nauseated.

But he had no choice. Xiang Shan needed to absorb the canine martial artist's memories.

He did not remember matters in this field very clearly. Let alone the fact that he was not an expert in brain nerves—besides, brain science alone could be subdivided into countless fields—even if he were one, he still could not grasp the state of this era.

How far had this era's information technology advanced? Had the principles of "emotion" been unraveled? Could code that produced "feelings" be created?

He did not know.

But even in the era he remembered, suddenly reading another person's memory storage device was an extremely dangerous thing.

A person's thoughts were ultimately influenced by "experience." From this perspective, the personality trait known as "character" was likely nothing more than the result of convolutional computation over "experience."

Reading another person's memory storage device would affect one's own consciousness to a certain extent. That influence was often unpredictable.

If someone possessed sufficiently abundant experiences, experiences of sufficiently high quality, a past life sufficiently brilliant and glorious, and was far stronger than the memories being read, then the impact of those memories might not be too great.

But if the reverse were true, they were finished.

And Xiang Shan happened to be in a state of complete memory loss.

This was bad.

But Xiang Shan had no room to hesitate. In the end, he could only follow the method within those memories, deliberately think certain thoughts, activate specific regions of his brain, and resist that influence.

This was a scientific Visualization Method designed by continuously observing "how the brain discharged when thinking of a specific object" after electrodes had been implanted in the biological brain. It could be considered to share an origin with the seed of Inner Power, but its effects were limited to "visualization."

If the memories he faced were vast enough, then no matter how proficient his Visualization Method was, he would still be unable to avoid the disaster of personality overwrite.

But Xiang Shan needed to absorb this portion of memory. His understanding of this era was simply too limited.

He could trust Youji. But Youji was only an ordinary child. He did not know many hidden secrets.

Xiang Shan had to understand this bizarre era.

It was just that...

This dog's memories were truly revolting.

After "giving up protection" at the age of ten under his father's arrangements, this creature had lived in a "nonhuman" manner ever since.

—Why... Cybernetic prosthetics had clearly been developed so humans could escape illness and suffering, so they could conquer extreme environments... Why had this technology been used to make people wearing dog skins?

That nameless rage again.

Xiang Shan was almost forced out of his meditative state by that emotion.

Then, distant gunfire startled him.

It was a burst of automatic fire. That was followed by a faint, muffled boom.

The gunfire stopped.

That was not the kind of commotion the mayor's automatic rifle could make. Xiang Shan quickly concluded that something must have happened in town.

Through the wall, he could faintly hear chaotic sounds outside.

"That kid... I hope he can get back in time." Xiang Shan sighed, suppressed the "memories of Will" that kept churning through his mind, and began installing his own legs.

Part of the reason he had raised Youji was that he truly needed an assistant he could trust. But that did not mean he was helpless without one.

The installation of the legs had reached its final step. Originally, all that remained was installation and practical testing.

—I hope the live test doesn't turn into a combat test...

Xiang Shan thought this. Although the legs had already been calibrated while connected to the medical terminal, Xiang Shan had not yet linked them to his nervous system.

Untyped Language could increase the difficulty of others hacking into him to a certain extent, but this was the price he had to pay—where Untyped Language might produce bugs, and what kind of bugs they would be, were impossible to predict.

Let alone him, even that godlike hacker from his memories... that godlike programmer... whoever it was... would not dare claim that what they wrote was absolutely free of bugs.

This was determined by the mathematical level of human civilization.

But if a prosthetic drive truly developed a bug, especially in battle, it would be far too lethal.

Xiang Shan swiftly fitted both legs into the sockets prepared at the roots of his thighs, securing circuits one by one, installing components, tightening screws...

No step could be skipped. Sometimes, whether a single screw was tightened could determine a knight-errant's life or death.

—Faster... Faster...

—The Bionic Fist Technique is one of the oldest styles of boxing. It is said to date back even to the era of the Martial Ancestor...

—Don't panic, this screw...

—The lords are powerful individuals who have proven themselves. They are... extensions of will...

—Almost there...

Memories from Will transformed into inner demons. Outside, clamorous voices and the clash of metal intertwined. Xiang Shan could barely distinguish which were distracting stray thoughts and which were real.

Then came another tremendous crash.

A building nearby collapsed.

Immediately afterward came the roar of something tearing through the sound barrier.

A thunderous boom.

—Faster...

Then the noise outside vanished.

Xiang Shan keenly sensed that something was approaching this place.

—Have I been found?

—The essence of the Bionic Fist Technique lies in...

—Are they coming for me?

Then a voice came from outside the door. "Hey, nameless martial artist, you're still in there, right? Fellow wanderers have come to verify what they've learned with you! Please come out, won't you?"

Xiang Shan tried to lower his power supply output to reduce the heat he generated.

He suddenly realized that this integrated outer armor was truly shabby. It had no vacuum layer, no reflective lining, and no way to hide his thermal signature...

—Ah, no... If it had that kind of outer armor, it would need a better cooling system...

—The best cooling systems can even serve as a kind of "weapon"... At the right moment, spraying boiling coolant from acupoints can mislead thermal tracking equipment...

He had to buy time. There was still a retaining ring at the joints that needed tightening.

That thought flashed through Xiang Shan's mind.

But the next words came from outside.

"Oh? Not coming out? Then what happens to this benefactor of yours might be hard to say."

Then came Youji's voice. The boy only screamed half a sentence hysterically, and Xiang Shan could not even make it out. Immediately afterward came a muffled groan.

—What happened?

Xiang Shan's prosthetic eyes seemed to have received his intent. His vision began to expand, and a broader spectrum entered his field of sight.

Humans considered something opaque because light could not pass through it.

But in truth, different electromagnetic waves possessed different penetrating abilities. If certain aliens could not see the visible light humans saw but could see X-rays, then wood would appear as crystal-clear as glass to them.

Xiang Shan's vision passed through the building.

He saw the giant man issuing the provocation.

Xiang Shan wanted to say that he "felt suffocated," but he truly did not need lungs to breathe now.

—Such an enormous prosthetic body... Such power output...

But that thought was covered by the next.

—No, that's not right... Martial arts themselves can overturn the disparity in combat strength brought about by mere numerical accumulation... That is the very purpose for which martial arts were designed...

"Hey? Are you coming out or not?"

The giant man seemed to be urging him. —Faster...

Xiang Shan's prosthetic hands rotated at nearly their highest speed, tightening the screws.

The screw nearly threw sparks against the fastener.

"What the hell?" In Xiang Shan's sight, the giant man poked the front door with a long rod.

The impact kicked up dust, spraying it directly into Xiang Shan's eyes.

—Almost there...

"Tsk, martial artist, are you trying to tell us, 'This child has nothing to do with me. Do whatever you want with him'?" Leif shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Tsk tsk tsk tsk, that kind of tactic isn't much use against heroes of our Greenwood Road, is it?"

He tossed Youji high into the air, while assuming a stance like that of a golfer.

"Zzz!"

A brief sound rang out.

A crack burst across the screwdriver's handle.

Electric current surged from the battery and poured into his legs.

At the same time, he covered his vulnerable eyes with both hands.

Then everything around him lit up.

By the time his surface consciousness caught up with his movements, he had already charged out of the house.

The enormous steel rod was right before him. Xiang Shan stretched out both hands and hooked the rod, then kicked hard against the ground with both legs. Amid flying dust, his whole body spiraled upward along the steel pipe!