Chapter 9: Discussing Wu Gong

When Seeing Pei Ye arrived at the county government, Chang Zhiyuan hadn't returned yet. Shen Yanping was sitting in the courtyard grinding and washing his thin, slender sword, while Feng Zhi was squatting on the side, inspecting a large halberd and a set of heavy armor taken from the armory.

"Wearing this, I'm afraid I won't even be able to touch the corner of their clothes."

"You wouldn't be able to touch them anyway. Wearing this, you can just take a few more hits."

Shen Yanping shook his head and smiled.

"Damn it, it hasn't been used for a long time, and the ropes are rotten—kid, you came just in time. Tie these two pieces of armor together."

Pei Ye squatted down beside the two and leaned his sword against the stone stool with a "clanging" sound.

Feng Zhi looked up: "If we really lose, it's best not to even draw the sword. Run into the deep mountains immediately and walk toward the prefecture city. There's still a glimmer of hope."

Shen Yanping sighed softly: "If one person escapes, it's just exchanging one person's death, just like last night..."

Seeing Pei Ye said: "Are the two adults worried that the person will strike in advance?"

"Just now, the bailiff reported that there was no sign of catching people on Chang's side, but who knows if he's waiting for us to concentrate all the talented people in the city before picking seven?" Shen Yanping shook his head. "We know too little about the enemy, so we have no way to guard against them. The most dangerous period should be the one or two hours after everyone is concentrated in the county government and before Commander Jing arrives."

Seeing Pei Ye said: "I can also help defend."

Before Shen Yanping could speak, Feng Zhi frowned and looked up: "I remember you failed to break the seed, right?"

"Yes." Seeing Pei Ye said. "But I know a sword technique, which might be useful."

"..." Feng Zhi rolled his eyes. "Young people really always have a kind of silly confidence."

Shen Yanping smiled, restrained his eyebrows, and said solemnly: "Thank you, Young Hero Pei, for your benevolence and courage. But Young Hero Pei, protecting yourself well and not letting the criminal succeed is the victory for all of us."

Seeing Pei Ye was silent and nodded.

Shen Yanping suddenly smiled again: "Actually, the situation is not that critical, it's just that we are overthinking. If the other party could catch people in advance, the best way should be to catch twelve people at once and hide in the deep mountains to hold the ritual for three days. Judging from the current situation, they are likely to be able to communicate with some kind of mysterious power only when holding the ritual, thereby locking onto the targets. And by that time, Commander Jing will have already arrived."

To tell the truth, this was indeed the objective situation at the moment. It was just that Feng Zhi and Shen Yanping were like candidates who were confident after the exam but anxious before the results were announced. As long as there was a possibility of an accident, it was hard to avoid worrying.

Seeing Pei Ye hesitated and clasped his fists: "My knowledge is shallow. May I ask, if this Commander Jing arrives, will he definitely be able to resolve the crisis?"

This time, not only Shen Yanping laughed, but Feng Zhi also hooked the corners of his mouth.

Shen Yanping said: "Lin Lin's meridian tree was at the fifth life. Judging from the traces, this criminal should be at the seventh life. He is indeed a rare master. But Commander Jing has been pondering at the eighth life of the meridian tree for ten years, and finally hung his crane clothes at the beginning of this year. Now he should be respectfully called a master."

Seeing Pei Ye was stunned. This was really foolproof.

To talk about "Dantian Seed" and "Meridian Tree," one had to start from the beginning and clarify the concept of martial arts.

Whether it was a martial arts school, a family home, a sect, or an army, the first lesson for ordinary people to start practicing was "What is martial arts."

What is martial arts? In the eyes of ordinary people, it is the two words "can fight." Like Seeing Pei Ye, who could use knives and swords, fly over walls, and win fights, he could be considered a "first-class master" in a small county. But to put it bluntly, this was still just having greater strength, jumping further, reacting faster, and coupled with years of practicing weapons, practice makes perfect.

"True martial arts... is something that can make you another kind of person." Seeing Pei Ye remembered the old man saying this.

Why can a leaf or flower pierce a person's throat? Why can a person weighing over a hundred jin stand gracefully on a branch, step on water, and fly across? And how are sound transmission and taking objects from the air achieved?

All of this must wait until the seed in the Dantian splits into two small buds, which is the so-called "first life of the meridian tree," before it can be achieved. With a meridian tree, there is Qi. Without Qi, no matter how well one can fight, it doesn't count as entering the door. It's just a "dry duck" that insiders tease.

Seeing Pei Ye is now a quite strong "dry duck."

With these two small buds, splitting again means four, which is the second life of the meridian tree, followed by the third life with eight, the fourth life with sixteen, and finally it can derive eight times, reaching the number of two hundred and fifty-six.

The scale of the meridian tree is directly linked to the storage of Qi. Understanding this mechanism, one can have a rough judgment on the strength of martial artists.

Below the third life, practitioners with meridian numbers of two, four, and eight have not yet pulled too far away from the "dry ducks."

At this stage, although the wonderful uses of Qi are endless, the difference between those who have it and those who don't is huge. But fighting is not about comparing size. Many factors such as strength, technique, experience, environment, and even weapons can bridge the gap brought by Qi. Seeing Pei Ye often didn't fall behind when sparring with several seniors at the second or third life of the meridian tree at the Mid-Autumn Wu Gong Meet.

But having said that, this kind of winning by the weak basically stops below the third life.

The fourth life is eight changing to sixteen, the fifth life is sixteen changing to thirty-two, and the sixth life is thirty-two changing to sixty-four. This explosive growth has far exceeded the limit of human physical strength.

From then on, even if you are born with divine strength and the other party is born with a weak body, it cannot offset the Qi that is thick to a certain extent. What's more, the other party's biggest advantage is not the blessing of Qi on the physique. More importantly, people without Qi don't understand the wonderful uses of Qi at all, so they can't get used to the way the other party attacks. You think this move is old, but the other party turns their wrist and makes a stronger slash; you think the other party has nowhere to borrow force in the air, but the other party can just sweep horizontally out of thin air.

Even if you have heard of these things, you don't have the time to think and react when facing the enemy.

Those are all kinds of unimaginable angles, all kinds of whimsical ideas, combined with the comprehensive improvement of the five senses of ears, eyes, mouth, and nose. The "impossible" that dry ducks are used to is just a casual strike for those who have mastered Qi.

"Qi" almost completely changes the martial artist's fighting theory, combined with various mysterious uses. It is no exaggeration to call open-pulse martial artists "another kind of person."

And at the seventh life of one hundred and twenty-eight pulses and the eighth life of two hundred and fifty-six pulses, this abnormal growth has completely pulled them away from the people below.

Four might be able to beat five. For example, if Feng Zhi and Lin Lin fight twenty games, they might win one. Five can occasionally beat six, such as those young talents of famous sects, but the record of six beating seven and seven beating eight has always been rare.

Some people advocate listing the seventh and eighth lives as a realm each, which is not unreasonable.

As for the realm after the meridian tree is fully formed, it has nothing to do with the vast majority of people, nor does it have anything to do with the word "martial." That is the position where Commander Jing is. "On Wu Gong" says "Standing on the jade staircase of the Mystic Gate, transforming nature and life in the universe, to look up and ascend to the immortal tower of heaven." There, sorcerers and martial artists will reach the same destination by different routes. ===== CHAPTER 10 =====