Chapter 200: Passing on the Technique

Taiji Fist has spread across the entire world, with over five hundred million people practicing it; from ancient times to the present, no other martial art has ever been so widely disseminated. This made Zhang Sanfeng feel somewhat proud, but thinking about how he had inexplicably acquired so many foreign disciples, violating the sect rules he had established, left him feeling somewhat unsettled.

Before Zhang Sanfeng left Wudang Mountain, he had established sect rules: if one wished to teach Taiji Fist, one must assess the character and conduct of the martial arts student, and only after passing the assessment could they learn Taiji Fist. However, looking at it now, this sect rule had clearly been abolished.

"Little friend, you just said that Taiji Fist was posted on the internet? I wonder what this 'internet' is?" Zhang Sanfeng asked.

Meng Yifan smiled slightly. Although Zhang Sanfeng possessed formidable strength, he had surely not left seclusion for many years. His understanding of the world was likely still stuck several decades in the past, and naturally, he did not know that in just a few decades, the human world had undergone earth-shaking changes.

"True Person Zhang, the internet is the World Wide Web. It is an information transmission platform; it is vast, almost a virtual world. Humans can share information on the internet. Even if something happens on the other side of Earth, once it is posted to the internet, people on the other side of Earth can know about it immediately."

"Things on the other side of Earth can be transmitted to this side in an instant? Isn't this even more powerful than a Ten Thousand Mile Sound Transmission Talisman?" Zhang Sanfeng was very surprised. It seemed this thing called the internet still had its merits.

Zhang Sanfeng asked about some major events that had occurred on Earth over the past few decades, and Meng Yifan picked out the important ones to tell him.

When Zhang Sanfeng learned that humans could now engage in manned spaceflight, that satellites could provide global guidance, and that atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs could easily destroy the Earth dozens of times over, he was dumbfounded and fell silent.

Zhang Sanfeng could never have imagined that in just a few short decades, human technology would be so powerful. No wonder the martial way was now in decline and Immortal Cultivators were nowhere to be seen.

Over a hundred years ago, Immortal Cultivators and Martial Artists could still rely on their formidable personal strength to stand high above others and search for cultivation resources.

But now, human weapons were extremely powerful; even a Third Grade Martial Artist would find it hard to escape death if locked onto by a missile.

"I cannot blame them, I cannot blame them." Zhang Sanfeng felt relieved. The younger generation of disciples choosing to make the Taiji Fist technique public was also a helpless move. If they had still followed the disciple-recruitment rules Zhang Sanfeng had set back then, Taiji Fist would likely have been lost long ago.

"Little friend, perform the Taiji Fist you learned once for me to see if you are practicing it correctly," Zhang Sanfeng said.

Meng Yifan nodded, then set his stance. Starting from the opening form, he performed the Twenty-Four Form Taiji Fist—Wild Horse Parts Its Mane, White Crane Spreads Its Wings, and the left and right Brush Knee and Twist Step—as smoothly as flowing water and moving clouds.

In Meng Yifan's Taiji Fist, every move and every form was coordinated with the circulation of True Qi. Thus, with every gesture, True Qi billowed, winds rose and clouds surged, and his clothes moved without wind. Streams of Qi flowed along with his movements, looking truly miraculous.

Seeing Meng Yifan finish his Taiji Fist, Zhang Sanfeng asked with some frustration: "Is that it? What kind of thing were you performing? You call this Taiji Fist? At most, this counts as a fitness exercise."

Meng Yifan smiled and said: "This simplified Taiji Fist is the most widely spread version on Earth. Foreigners basically practice this version too; they don't seek to strike people, only to strengthen their bodies."

Zhang Sanfeng breathed a sigh of relief; then it was fine. This kind of fitness exercise could be learned by anyone. Practicing this simplified Taiji Fist made it impossible to grasp the essence of Taiji Fist. It seemed those unfilial disciples still remembered the Wudang Sect's rules.

"To think you could cultivate Yin and Yang True Qi and even achieve Condensing Qi into Steel just by relying on this simplified Taiji Fist—kid, I have to say, you are a genius."

Zhang Sanfeng looked at Meng Yifan as if looking at a precious treasure. Martial arts practitioners longed to study under a master, and likewise, true masters longed to recruit genius disciples to inherit their supreme techniques. A disciple like Meng Yifan was, to Zhang Sanfeng, a long-awaited successor to his mantle.

Meng Yifan knew he was not a genius at all. If not for the Game Panel, he would be a standard piece of trash, with aptitude even worse than an ordinary person.

However, now that the Game Panel was bound to Meng Yifan, as long as he had Experience Value, he could rapidly increase his cultivation. Isn't the reason a genius is called a genius because they cultivate faster than ordinary people?

With the Game Panel assisting him, saying he was a genius was not exactly wrong.

"Kid, are you willing to take me as your master? I will teach you the authentic Taiji Fist," Zhang Sanfeng asked.

"I am willing." For a celestial-like figure such as Zhang Sanfeng to want to take him as a disciple was a good fortune others dreamed of; Meng Yifan would certainly not refuse.

"Good, kid. You are now my eighth disciple, and also my final closing disciple. Conditions are limited now, so we shall simplify the rites. Kowtow to me three times, and that shall count as the master-disciple ceremony."

Zhang Sanfeng laughed heartily. In his life, he had only recruited seven true-transmission disciples—the former Wudang Seven Heroes. Those seven had upheld justice, punished evil and promoted good, and suppressed violence to bring peace; every one of them had carved out a resounding reputation in the martial arts world.

Back then, what Zhang Sanfeng taught his disciples were only martial arts techniques. Over these hundreds of years, he had transitioned from martial arts to the Dao, becoming an Immortal Cultivator, and had realized many profound secret methods that had not yet been passed down.

Zhang Sanfeng had been sealing the Demon Cave below for decades and had reached the point where his oil was exhausted and the lamp was dying. Perhaps there was a destined will in the dark; at his final moment, Heaven had sent Meng Yifan to his side to inherit his supreme techniques. Looking at it this way, Heaven had not treated him poorly.

Meng Yifan bowed deeply, kowtowing three times to Zhang Sanfeng to complete the master-disciple ceremony. From this moment on, he was Zhang Sanfeng's closing disciple.

For a martial master, the two most important disciples are the first-initiated disciple and the closing disciple.

Zhang Sanfeng's first-initiated disciple was Song Yuanqiao, who had long since fallen, and the Wudang Seven Heroes were also no longer around.

As Zhang Sanfeng's closing disciple, Meng Yifan was also Zhang Sanfeng's only remaining disciple. Naturally, Zhang Sanfeng had to pass his supreme techniques to Meng Yifan.

"Disciple, relax your mind, follow along, and use your heart to perceive." Zhang Sanfeng reached out a finger, and a black-and-white True Qi enveloped Meng Yifan, then guided Meng Yifan's hands and feet to begin performing Taiji Fist.

"Huh!" Meng Yifan was greatly astonished. He discovered that as he performed the boxing, not only did the True Qi in his body circulate accordingly, but even the Yin Spiritual Power within his body was mobilized. From Yin came Yang, and from Yang came Yin. Originally, Meng Yifan only had Yin Spiritual Power, but with the transformation of Yin and Yang, a wisp of Yang Spiritual Power was actually born within his body.

"Taiji Fist is truly miraculous. It is not only a martial arts technique but also an Immortal Cultivation Technique, and it cultivates both Yin and Yang Spiritual Power simultaneously."

Meng Yifan was ecstatic. He was a Nine-Element Mixed Spirit Root and could cultivate all nine elements. He had been worrying about where to find a Nine-System Cultivation technique; he never expected that the Taiji Fist Zhang Sanfeng taught him would simultaneously cover both Yin and Yang Immortal Cultivation techniques. This was truly wonderful.

Yin and Yang attributes should naturally restrain each other, as incompatible as water and fire, yet Taiji Fist was extremely mysterious: when Yang reaches its extreme, Yin is born; when Yin reaches its extreme, Yang is born. Yin and Yang harmonize, and subsequently, Yin and Yang mutually generate one another.

Although Meng Yifan had only grasped a superficial understanding, he already felt it was broad, profound, and indescribably wonderful. It seemed that within this transformation of Yin and Yang, the ultimate principles of Heaven and Earth were contained.

"Disciple, the One Hundred and Eight Form Taiji Fist has been taught to you, and the circulation paths for True Qi and Spirit Power have also been imparted. From now on, you can cultivate both the Dao and the martial way. As the saying goes, the master leads you through the door, but cultivation depends on the individual. As for what realm you can reach, it depends on yourself," Zhang Sanfeng said.