Chapter 29: The Conflict Between New Martial And Old Martial Arts

In the corridor.

As Fang Buyi walked, he introduced the school to Li Xiaofei.

"Our school has a total of three grades, which have one class each. The first-year class has ten students, the second-year class has twenty-one students, and including you, the third-year class has thirty students. We only have a few students because our performance in the High School War God League in recent years has been poor, making it difficult to attract new students. Furthermore, since the old principal insisted on making Great Xia martial lineage the main teaching content, even fewer people were willing to come to our school."

Li Xiaofei curiously asked, "The Great Xia martial lineage is our national treasure with a long history. Why are so many people unwilling to cultivate it?"

Ren Dong jumped around eagerly with his mushroom-like head and answered, "Let me explain, let me explain, I know this one... It’s because many of the Great Xia martial lineage's techniques and combat skills had lost their core inheritance. Moreover, it required high cultivation aptitude, took a long time to train, and wasn't easy to master quickly. Many people didn't have the patience for gradual practice. On the other hand, the new martial arts faction only needed some minimally invasive surgery to implant the Inscribed Treasure Bone of star beasts to quickly enhance their combat strength and master star beast techniques..."

Li Xiaofei seemed to be deep in thought. It sounded a bit like the conflict between the Sword Sect and the Qi Sect of the Huashan Clan. [1]

He had witnessed the techniques of the new martial arts faction. Dugu Que had undergone new martial surgery and had implanted the Inscribed Treasure Bone of a star beast in his body. But even a wastrel from a slum gang like him could obtain the combat ability of the sixth stage of the Qi Refining Realm.

Who wouldn't like to take shortcuts?

Fang Buyi quickly stopped Ren Dong's analysis. "What if Li Xiaofei decides to drop out after hearing your introduction to our school?"

He hastily added, "Actually, the advantage of the Great Xia martial lineage lies in its steady and profound progress. Once you get through the initial accumulation period, the path ahead is smooth, and the heights you can reach are beyond what new martial arts can ever achieve."

The primary weapons specialist Bai Longfei also chimed in, "Senior Brother Fang is absolutely right. Many ancient martial arts seniors have said that the new martial surgery disrupts the body's integrity, and it's like drinking poison to quench thirst. Although it can rapidly increase strength in the early stages, it comes at the cost of damaging the innate human body. Once you undergo new martial surgery, it essentially cuts off the path to becoming a Saint in the future."

"Y-yes... the G-G-Great Xia martial lineage... was once very... g-glorious," stuttered the substitute beastmaster Bai Qiqi. She was quite self-conscious, but she was trying to find opportunities to speak and integrate into the team. However, her face turned beet red as soon as she finished speaking.

Fang Buyi said emotionally, "Ancient martial arts masters emerged one after another in the first hundred years after the cataclysm, battling the star beasts and defending the lands of the Great Xia and the descendants of the Chinese. The world's first Saint was an ancient martial arts cultivator from the Great Xia, Taiyi. Over the following centuries, dozens more ancient martial arts Saints rose and made immense sacrifices and contributions for the Great Xia and the survival of the entire human race."

"Indeed, thirty-six ancient martial arts Saints from the Great Xia have fallen in the wars against star beasts in the past five hundred years. There are countless Sub-Saints and other powerful ancient martial artists. Humanity might have already gone extinct without the efforts of these sages." The primary beastmaster, Liu Xiao, lamented.

"It's a pity that many people are gradually forgetting the contributions of these pioneers nowadays and are abandoning their roots to pursue new martial arts." Even the usually reticent substitute weapons specialist Du Heng couldn't help but interject. "I don't understand what the leaders are thinking by implementing new martial arts policies nationwide."

"If this continues, who knows how many traditional ancient martial arts schools will close down while all our resources get diverted to new martial arts projects," The substitute main fighter Zhuge Long looked worried as he spoke.

Li Xiaofei remained silent. He could tell that his team members were staunch supporters of ancient martial arts. He also started to understand that the future of the ancient martial arts faction seemed bleak.

"By the way, what are the main classes taught at the school?" asked Li Xiaofei, deciding to change the subject.

Fang Buyi kept walking as he replied, "Our school is quite unique. The main classes are linguistics, Starforce Cultivation, combat techniques, herbalism, biology, weapons courses, and a few elective life sciences."

According to Fang Buyi, although the nations of the past no longer existed in the world, the classification of languages hadn't changed much in five hundred years. Languages such as Chinese, English, Spanish, and Portuguese, along with some smaller languages, were still prevalent.

Language skills were quite important for communication in the virtual world of light cores, making it one of the regular classes. Starforce Cultivation and combat technique classes were exactly what their names implied. Herbalism primarily involved memorizing and identifying the medicinal properties of various wild plants, as well as learning the quickest and most primitive methods to prepare medicine for healing and detoxification.

Biology mainly focused on the study of star beasts. The principle of not being defeated in a hundred battles if one knew themselves and their enemy applied here. Understanding star beasts was crucial to combating them. The weapons class covered the use of various weapons. The class mostly focused on cold weapons, but also covered firearms. Even schools aligned with the new martial arts faction primarily trained in cold weapons.

This approach stemmed from centuries of experience that humanity had gathered during the long wars against star beasts. Conventional firearms had a hard time dealing fatal blows to star beasts and were too resource-intensive. On the other hand, cold weapons made of special metals offered greater lethality when used with combat techniques. They were also more convenient to carry and consumed fewer resources.

"Most of the coursework could be completed via light cores. Although we are a school of the ancient martial arts faction, it doesn't mean we are completely cut off from modern conveniences," Fang Buyi said, stopping in front of the door to the light core mainframe room.

He pointed at the various pieces of equipment inside and explained, "We are no different from other schools in other aspects apart from sticking to the Great Xia martial lineage in terms of techniques and combat skills. The principal even strongly advocates using technology to solve some of the challenges encountered during cultivation and encourages us to master various firearms... The principal is actually very progressive."

Li Xiaofei nodded noncommittally. He vaguely sensed that Chen Fei, the principal, was significantly respected by his team members.

"Let me take over the introduction," Ren Dong, the freckled little girl with the large head, piped up. She enthusiastically pulled Li Xiaofei into the mainframe room and began teaching him how to use the light core mainframe.

At Red Flag High School, every student received a portable mini light core, which was equivalent to the cell phones everyone in the slums used but with far more advanced functions. However, to fully utilize all the functions of the light core, it had to be connected to the mainframe. Users could connect across cities using the light core mainframe, which allowed various functions such as social networking, learning, shopping, virtual weapon experiences, and power armor experiences.

After a brief experience, Li Xiaofei was greatly astonished.

This was what the future high-tech era should look like.

Entering the light network through the light core mainframe was almost like stepping into a second world.

Metaverse?!

The word suddenly popped into Li Xiaofei's mind. He felt a bit bewildered. The level of civilization represented by light core technology was evidently far beyond other aspects of this era.

Is this really the natural result of the development of social productivity?

After experiencing the light network, Li Xiaofei followed the school team members to various places, including the cafeteria, dormitory, martial arts training ground, meditation room, shooting range, and the power armor warehouse.

Li Xiaofei had been the most interested in power armor. This exoskeleton-like powered armor could enhance a martial artist's combat power ten times over. Unfortunately, the power armor had a minimum cultivation requirement, and only those at the Limit Breaking Realm or higher were eligible to wear it. Li Xiaofei had to abandon his idea of experiencing it firsthand and decided to explore it in the virtual world later when he had the chance.

The team members were very enthusiastic and introduced everything to Li Xiaofei.

"You'll share a dorm with Bai Longfei from now on," Fang Buyi said finally. "This guy has a good personality; he's outgoing and hospitable; and most importantly, he's quite wealthy. He's the only rich guy on the team, so if you need anything, don't hesitate to take advantage of him."

Bai Longfei was speechless upon hearing that.

So, in the eyes of my teammates, I'm just a big fool.

But he was naturally optimistic and magnanimous. He extended his hand and said, "Li Xiaofei, we'll be roommates from now on. I must say, you and I are the pinnacle of looks in the entire school team. Before you arrived, I stood alone at the peak of Red Flag High School's beauty standards. I was undefeated and lonely. Now, I finally have a roommate who can match my handsome appearance."

Li Xiaofei didn’t know how to reply.

Good grief. This shameless guy really has a lot of my style from five hundred years ago.

"I might not be able to stay in the school dormitory," Li Xiaofei said as he shook hands with Bai Longfei. His expression was a little troubled.

"What?"

"Why?"

Everyone was very surprised.

1. This refers to the conflict between the Sword Sect and the Qi Sect of the Huashan Clan written in the Chinese novel

The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

by Jin Yong. ☜