The lesser grandmaster physique

Through the haze, Yang Ge suddenly sensed light before his eyes.

He lay stunned for a few seconds before his muddled mind finally caught up, and he turned toward the light.

In the middle of the pitch-black room, a young man of around thirty sat at the dining table beside a lone lamp, carefully leafing through a yellowed book.

The young man wore black, but no black cloth covered his face. His long hair was neatly combed and secured atop his head with a white jade hairpin. Every layer of his clothing was perfectly arranged, without a single crease, and his face bore none of the roughness left by wind and sun... one glance was enough to tell that he was either wealthy or powerful!

"Awake?"

The young man asked softly without looking away from the book, his manner gentle and casual, as though chatting with an old friend.

Yang Ge sat up and reached beneath his pillow... sure enough, there was nothing there!

"You really won't even give me a moment to catch my breath!"

He sighed softly, climbed out of bed, and slipped on his cloth shoes, looking around. "Where's my dog?"

Without turning, the young man pointed toward the closed door. "In the courtyard."

Yang Ge: ...

If he remembered correctly, he had carried Little Yellow inside before going to sleep.

In other words, without waking him, this man had not only taken the Eighteen Routes of Chaotic Wind Kicks manual from beneath his pillow, but also opened the door and put Little Yellow out in the courtyard.

As he considered this, he twitched his nostrils and carefully sniffed the air in the room. After a moment, he said helplessly, "You even used a knockout drug? Aren't you giving me a little too much credit?"

At that, the young man finally turned to glance at Yang Ge and chuckled. "A human life is worth more than a little knockout drug, isn't it?"

Yang Ge thought about it, then nodded in agreement. "That's true enough."

With that, he rose and walked over to the dining table, lifting the teapot with one hand and turning an empty bowl upright with the other. He poured a bowl of cooled boiled water and pushed it toward the young man. "My humble home is rather bare. Please forgive the poor hospitality!"

Only once he drew closer did he see that the young man was not wearing a stealth outfit, but clothing made from exceptionally fine fabric, woven with subtle patterns.

He had never seen clothing like that in all his six months and more at the Welcome Inn.

"No matter."

The young man lightly tapped the tabletop in thanks. "You only moved in today. It's understandable that you haven't had time to prepare."

Hearing that, Yang Ge could not help sighing again. He pulled out a bench and sat across from the young man. "Why can't you people just come and ask openly? It's not as if I'd refuse!"

The young man continued studying the manual intently, smiling without raising his head. "Why we can't ask openly-haven't you figured that out already?"

Yang Ge asked in puzzlement, "The people of the martial world don't dare ask openly, but you government men don't dare either?"

The young man clicked his tongue. "I was just thinking you were clever. How did you turn foolish so quickly? Is that something you should say aloud?"

Yang Ge slumped sleepily over the table and murmured, "You haven't exactly tried to hide it, sir!"

Just then, the young man finished the manual's last page. He closed it and abruptly asked, "Where's your family?"

Yang Ge said, "Them... they're somewhere very, very far away!"

The young man's question carried a double meaning. "How far? As far as the steppes?"

Seemingly oblivious to the implication, Yang Ge closed his eyes and murmured softly, "Much, much farther... several worlds away!"

The young man clicked his tongue again. "No wonder you're so young, yet already tired of living!"

Yang Ge opened his eyes and looked at him with a smile. "As expected of a government official. You even saw through that."

The young man said helplessly, "You haven't exactly tried to hide it!"

Yang Ge said, "Was there any need?"

The young man said, "Indeed. Was there any need?"

Yang Ge said, "You've read the thing now. If it catches your fancy, take it. If you think I can't keep my mouth shut, just make it quick. All I ask is that you find a good home for the puppy outside. Sorry for the trouble!"

The young man stared steadily at him. "You can't even let go of a mongrel, so how can you let go of your own life so easily?"

Yang Ge said, "I have no family left. I can't let him lose his family too."

The young man fell silent. Only after a long while did he gently push the martial arts manual across the table toward Yang Ge. "I've read it. There's nothing wrong with it. It isn't some supreme secret art, but it is an internal martial art that can take you to full mastery of internal force. It's more than enough to lay your foundations!"

"With your innate aptitude, as long as you put in the effort, you could master it in six months at most!"

"And you needn't worry about the trouble outside. I'll pin this whole affair firmly on the old bastard who came looking for trouble last night!"

Hearing this, Yang Ge said speechlessly, "You're a respectable man in government service, after all. Why are you just like a rough fellow such as Hero Jiang, putting your hands on people whenever you please?"

The young man smiled. "I had to find out why Jiang Kui thought so highly of a mere waiter, didn't I?"

Yang Ge asked curiously, "And did you find out?"

He knew there was something wrong with his body.

Anyone who woke from "a nap" to discover that he had suddenly become seventeen or eighteen years younger, that all his accumulated strains and old injuries had healed completely, and that he could casually fling a stone millstone weighing nearly two hundred jin like an Indian cook tossing flatbread... would know something had happened to his body!

He had always thought that this might be a "side effect" of passing through a spacetime tunnel.

The young man nodded. "Every bone like jade, every meridian open!"

Yang Ge pondered those words. "That's a good thing?"

The young man could not help rolling his eyes. In a tone somewhere between envy and jealousy, he said, "In the history of martial arts, an innate constitution like yours is also called the 'lesser grandmaster physique'!"

Yang Ge's response was lukewarm. "A grandmaster? Is that impressive?"

The young man's eyes nearly rolled up to the heavens, but seeing Yang Ge yawning incessantly, he patiently explained, "The martial path has countless branches and endless variations. There are Buddhist and Daoist traditions, internal and external arts, and schools devoted to sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battle-axes, hooks, forks, and more. Each school has its own methods, differing in speed and vastly differing in strength!"

"But as the saying goes, different roads lead to the same destination, and ten thousand arts return to one. Though the martial path blooms with a profusion of flowers, it can be reduced to just five great realms: 'Fortifying the Body and Nurturing the Essence,' 'Opening the Sea and Drawing in Qi,' 'Accumulating Qi into a Peak,' 'Parting the Clouds to See the Moon,' and 'Becoming a Rainbow and Flying into the Heavens.'"

"Across the vast martial world of the Divine Land, martial artists are as plentiful as carp crossing a river, yet ninety-nine in a hundred spend their entire lives struggling within 'Fortifying the Body and Nurturing the Essence'!"

"Anyone who can 'Open the Sea and Draw in Qi' and cultivate internal qi already deserves to be called an expert. They can travel wherever they wish without worrying about food or drink."

"Those who can 'Accumulate Qi into a Peak' and cultivate true qi are, without exception, renowned figures in their local martial circles. Splendor and wealth are theirs for the taking!"

"Those who can open the two bridges of heaven and earth and 'Part the Clouds to See the Moon' are the Mount Tais and Northern Dippers of the martial world. They can found sects and schools, leaving their names behind after death!"

"You were born with every bone like jade and every meridian open. You'll face no barriers before forming your peak and returning to the True, and even after reaching the Return to the True realm, you'll find it easier than others to climb another step beyond the hundred-foot pole. That is why the martial world calls it the 'lesser grandmaster physique.'"

"Well, of all the martial artists I know of who possessed talent like yours, even the least accomplished became a towering figure of the martial world at the Return to Truth realm."

"You tell me-is that impressive?"

Yang Ge had not slept at all the previous night, and he had also suffered some internal injuries. By now, his eyelids were fighting to stay open. At those words, he could only force himself to focus and mumble nonsense. "So you mean the Qi Sea realm is guaranteed, and seeing the moon is within reach, right?"

The young man corrected him. "Experts at the 'Parting the Clouds to See the Moon' realm are called peerless by the martial world."

Yang Ge forced his burning eyes wide open. "Please enlighten me, sir. What realm is Hero Jiang in?"

The young man thought for a moment, then spoke steadily, sentence by sentence. "'Death Omen' Jiang Kui, second-in-command of the Five Ghosts of Yan Yun. Together with his four sworn brothers, he rallied outlaws in the mountain forests, gathering over ten thousand followers. He once led his men in an ambush to rob and kill..."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Yang Ge hurriedly waved his hands. "Is that something you should say aloud? I only want to know what realm Hero Jiang is in."

The young man regarded him with a faint, ambiguous smile and said earnestly, "You're a clever man. Do you think you still have a choice?"