Studying the Martial Arts Techniques of the World

Time passed like a white steed flashing past a crack, and in the blink of an eye, it was the next morning.

As usual, while cleaning the Eastern Arrival Hall, Mo Wenjian casually opened the All-Heavens Dao Fruit Simulator.

``` [Age 16: The three moves you taught Zhu Zhanshan caused a great uproar in the army. More than ten generals at the Innate Realm consequently broke through to the Grandmaster Realm, and the overall strength of the Great Ming army continued to grow. Upon learning that you were a Land True Immortal at the Shattering the Void Realm, Zhu Di told Zhu Zhanshan to sever his worldly ties and follow you to focus on cultivation. He also dispatched experts from the Eastern and Western Depots and the Brocade Guard to guard Mount Wudang, so that the storms of the martial world would not disrupt Zhu Zhanshan's martial training!]

[Age 20: Your research into boundaries yielded some results, but your discoveries did not translate into anything of value. You felt you must have overlooked a key element!]

[Age 24: Before his death, Zhu Di bestowed the title of Single-Character Prince Equal to the Throne upon Zhu Zhanshan and left him an imperial edict: if the emperor proved muddleheaded and incompetent, Zhu Zhanshan was permitted to depose the foolish ruler and install a wise and decisive new one. You felt that Zhu Zhanshan was no longer young and had reached the age to marry and have children. He could not stay on Mount Wudang, where everyone was male, forever, so you told him to tend Zhu Di's tomb for three years!]

[Age 27: During the three years Zhu Zhanshan tended the tomb, he observed filial piety and abstained from wine and women. The scholar-official class praised him with one voice, but you hated that iron could not become steel. You wrote Zhu Zhanshan a letter, telling him to experience life in all its forms and temper his sword heart amid the mortal world's dust. Only after he awakened sword intent would you discuss what came next!]

[Age 30: Your research into boundaries had reached the level of entering the hall and passing into the inner chamber, but your discoveries still had not translated into anything of value. You felt increasingly certain that you had overlooked some key element, causing your efforts to go unrewarded!]

[Age 36: Zhu Zhanshan reached the Grandmaster Peak and awakened Like Water Sword Intent. The highest good was like water; precisely because it did not contend, none under heaven could contend with it. The Two Forms Sword Qi, its sharp edge fully bared, made up for Like Water Sword Intent's weakness of defending without attacking. Like Water Sword Intent, sealing and shutting out all attacks, made up for the Two Forms Sword Qi's weakness of attacking without defending. Zhu Zhanshan returned to Mount Wudang to pay his respects to you and tactfully expressed his wish to leave worldly life and become a Daoist. You flatly refused!]

[Age 40: With your permission, Zhu Zhanshan began switching to Taiji Swordsmanship and smoothly broke through to the Celestial Person Realm. The offense of Two Forms Sword Qi and the defense of Like Water Sword Intent combined perfectly, forming Taiji Sword Gang, which possessed both offense and defense. But Zhu Zhanshan's cultivation relied entirely on your guidance; he had no ideas of his own. With your current level of martial knowledge, you could no longer help Zhu Zhanshan advance any further!]

[Age 45: Zhu Zhanshan's strength had stagnated, and diligent study and arduous practice no longer had any effect. He began pondering all kinds of swordsmanship to gain experience in facing enemies in battle. You had an inkling of understanding and seemed to have grasped something, but the inspiration vanished in a flash. In the end, you still failed to see through the fog!]

[Age 49: Zhu Qizhen, the Great Ming's God of War, personally led an expedition. Because he was stubborn and overconfident, kept petty men close, and issued orders recklessly, the five hundred thousand elite troops of the Chief Military Commission of the Five Armies' noble establishment were trapped at Tumu Fortress, with no defensible terrain and no water, and could be wiped out at any moment. Knowing the plot in advance, you sent Zhu Zhanshan to Tumu Fortress, where he fought his way through the Oirats' hundred-thousand-strong army and rescued the Great Ming Dynasty's five hundred thousand elite troops!]

[Age 50: You had Zhu Zhanshan exercise his authority as Single-Character Prince Equal to the Throne to depose the muddleheaded and incompetent Zhu Qizhen and have the wise and decisive Zhu Qiyu succeed to the throne!]

[Age 55: Although Zhu Qizhen, the Great Ming's God of War, had abdicated, the nobles of the Chief Military Commission of the Five Armies had not forgotten the humiliation at Tumu Fortress. They jointly submitted a memorial asking Zhu Qiyu to decree a northern expedition. Zhu Qiyu felt that an army sent out to battle might not win every fight, so he thought of holding the Martial Arts Tournament of Heroes Under Heaven to enlist people of the martial world to win glory and accomplish great deeds together!]

[Age 56: The leaders of every sect and school came one after another to participate in the Martial Arts Tournament of Heroes Under Heaven, hoping to enhance their personal reputations and increase their sects' prestige. You discovered that the leaders of these sects and schools were almost all experts at the Grandmaster Peak, but because they had mastered different martial arts, the strength they displayed differed greatly. The Shaolin abbot's Vajra Indestructible Divine Art placed him beyond defeat; the Wudang leader's Taiji sword combined offense and defense, with sound grounds for advancing and retreating; the Beggar Gang leader's Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms were fierce, powerful, and unstoppable; and the Demonic Sect leader's Great Nine Heavens Hand was unpredictable, sinister, and vicious. The strength of the strong threw the weakness of the weak into relief: the Mount Heng leader's Hundred Flowers Swordsmanship was too frail to withstand the wind, the Five Tigers Gate leader's Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber lacked variation, the True Qi of the Medicine King Sect leader's Hundred Herbs Heart Sutra was impure, and the Giant Whale Gang's Whale-Swallowing Great Art was suited only to naval battles. You saw a dazzling variety of martial arts, and at last you grasped your inspiration!]

[Age 60: Earth's martial arts were divided into three levels. The performance method consisted purely of displaying flashy movements; the training method consisted purely of improving physical fitness; and the fighting method consisted purely of pursuing technique. Gathering limitless might into one's own body clearly belonged to the training method. Because your strength was so great that you had no need to pursue technique, you had overlooked this key point!]

[Age 70: You collected the martial arts of the world through Zhu Zhanshan and began studying their techniques!]

[Age 80: You discovered that the martial arts of each sect and school gradually formed distinctive branches according to their founders' martial philosophies. This gave you great inspiration!]

[Age 90: You studied Mount Wudang's martial arts in earnest. Taking Taiji Swordsmanship as the foundation, you began by integrating Two Forms Swordsmanship and gradually mastered the true essence of Mount Wudang's martial arts. On a cliff near Wudang Golden Summit, you gathered the true essence of Mount Wudang's martial arts and used Chaos Sword Gang to carve eight great characters: Wudang Taiji, suppressing the universe. When Wudang disciples observed the sword carving on the cliff, it was as though a Land True Immortal who had reached the Shattered Void were demonstrating all kinds of Wudang's supreme arts. Wudang disciples kept gaining sudden insights and breaking through as a result, and Mount Wudang's overall strength continued to rise!]

[Age 100: You came to Shaolin Temple. The Shaolin abbot allowed you to enter and leave the Scripture Repository freely and browse Shaolin's Seventy-Two Supreme Skills at will, asking only that you leave Shaolin Temple a sword carving on a cliff when you departed. You gladly agreed. Since your original self was Shaolin's Buddhist son in the National Martial Arts world, you were no stranger to Shaolin's Seventy-Two Supreme Skills, and you soon mastered the true essence of Shaolin martial arts. On a cliff near Bodhidharma Cave, you used Chaos Sword Gang to carve eight great characters: ancestral home of the Chan school, Shaolin of Mount Song. When Shaolin disciples observed the sword carving on the cliff, it was as though their understanding of Buddhist teachings had reached the Shattering the Void Realm. Not only did the speed at which they cultivated Shaolin's Seventy-Two Supreme Skills increase greatly, but there was not the slightest hidden danger of Qi Deviation!]

[Age 110: You came to Mount Hua. Its leader offered up Mount Hua's Nine Arts of his own accord, asking only that you leave Mount Hua a sword carving on a cliff when you departed. You gladly agreed. Drawing on Mount Hua's geography and the profound principles of Mount Hua's Nine Arts, you soon comprehended the true essence of Mount Hua's martial arts. On a cliff near the Cliff of Reflection, you used Chaos Sword Gang to carve eight great characters: Mount Hua's sheer cliffs, its peaks wondrous and precipitous. When Mount Hua disciples observed the sword carving on the cliff, it was as though a peerless swordsman who had reached the Shattered Void were demonstrating the sword intent of heaven and earth embodied by Mount Hua's peaks. As long as their comprehension was not too poor, they would surely comprehend sword intent from it in time!]