Chapter Forty-Nine: The Path of Martial Arts

After swallowing the high-energy compressed ration, Ling Mo felt somewhat recovered and asked, “How much of what I demonstrated just now did you understand?”

“I grasped the general method of exerting force,” Katherine recalled for a moment, then nodded with certainty. “But I just tried it myself—won’t this move put too much strain on the heart? Forcing punches out this way, I managed just over a dozen before my heart felt overwhelmed. If I threw hundreds or thousands, wouldn’t my heart burst on the spot?”

“That won’t happen. Martial arts cultivation is meant to solve precisely this problem.” Ling Mo tapped his own body with his hand as he spoke. “With a special breathing technique, once you surpass the lung’s oxygen intake limitation, you become an intermediate martial artist. The main task at this stage is to absorb large amounts of energy and use it to nurture your internal organs and muscles, gradually strengthening them. With each increment in internal structure strength, your explosive power and endurance rise to a new level. There’s no need to worry about overburdening your body.”

“So that’s how it is! But…” Katherine frowned, raising another question. “Even if the organs can bear the load, won’t continuous high-speed, high-intensity punching generate immense heat within muscle groups and organs, causing body temperature to soar and disturbing the internal balance? How is that resolved? I saw steam pouring from your pores, Master—was that your solution? But how do you do that?”

Ling Mo happily tousled Katherine’s hair. “You really are a genius. Your powers of observation in martial arts are truly impressive.”

He then stood, a proud look on his face. “I’ve said before, martial arts are far more profound than magic. This wasn’t just boasting. Your question perfectly illustrates the greatness of martial arts. Tell me, what do you think is the ultimate purpose of martial cultivation?”

The ultimate purpose?

Katherine was taken aback. She’d never really thought about it; learning martial arts had been an accident—her only alternative to death. Though she’d spent these past few days fighting and struggling at Ling Mo’s side, she doubted he wanted her to answer with something as shallow as ‘for fighting’. After some focused thought, she ventured, “Is it… to strengthen the body?”

“That’s only half right,” Ling Mo frowned, dissatisfied with her answer. “But you’re limited by your current level, so it’s normal to answer that way. Strengthening the body is just a method; the goal of martial arts is to master the body!”

“To master it?” Katherine hadn’t expected such an… unnecessary answer. Was there actually anyone who couldn’t control their own body? The aim of martial arts sounded so strange.

“You’re thinking, ‘Who can’t control their own body?’ aren’t you?” Ling Mo saw right through her, making her a bit embarrassed, and then declared, “Wrong! You have no control over your body!”

“Can you control your own blood flow?”

“Can you direct the expansion of your muscles?”

“Can you control the growth speed of your nails and hair?”

“Can you adjust the amplitude of your heartbeat?”

“Can you regulate the speed of your digestion?”

“Can you manage the detoxification process of your liver?”

“Can you selectively command your kidneys to excrete only what you want?”

Question after question left Katherine speechless, unable to respond. Ling Mo smiled. “What you consider ‘body control’ is just the most basic level. In truth, aside from your mouth and limbs, you control nothing. But the aim of martial arts is to master every muscle, every blood vessel, every organ within yourself! If you could truly control your body, would excessive heat buildup or a rise in body temperature still be an issue? Too hot? Just open all your pores to the maximum, and the heat is instantly expelled.”

Katherine listened, enraptured and longing, entirely swept up by his words. “That sounds incredible! Can martial arts really achieve all that?”

“Of course. ‘Controlling what the brain cannot normally command’ is your next goal,” Ling Mo said with absolute certainty. “The first step is learning to open and close all your pores at will. This is the easiest part. Achieving this marks you as an ‘Advanced Martial Artist’.”

Sensing her own internal strength, Katherine muttered with some discouragement, “It seems I’m still a long way off from that.”

Hearing this, Ling Mo almost wanted to smack his disciple. She’d trained for only two or three days and was already thinking of advancing to Advanced Martial Artist? Did she think the barriers in martial arts were nothing? Remembering his own early struggles, he decided not to dwell on it—the more he thought, the more annoyed he became.

But Katherine only grumbled briefly before brightening. “Master, shall we go? Didn’t you say we should find a place to rest?”

Ling Mo looked at her in surprise and pointed to the enormous hemispherical crater before them, more than ten meters deep and over a hundred meters across. “Aren’t you at all curious about what just happened? You don’t want to ask anything?”

While straightening her new clothes, Katherine didn’t even raise her head. “As an orphan who’s managed to survive so far and done fairly well, my greatest rule is this: never try to learn about things far beyond your abilities. That’s thanks to the teachings of the old lady at the orphanage. She told me, ‘Don’t stare at strange things, don’t watch when gods are fighting, and go home early to live a long life.’”

“That old lady was a wise woman.”

“Hehe, I think so too,” Katherine replied, her face touched with fondness. “That was the only year of my life I was cared for—after picking up trash on the streets, I’d come home to a steaming meal. It was true happiness.”

“And after a year?”

“The local paper reported that the old lady was forcing us orphans to work overtime and skimming huge kickbacks, causing serious social harm. So she was thrown in jail.”

“And then?”

“And then? There was no ‘then.’ She probably died.”

Katherine gave her head a vexed shake, chasing the memories away. “Master, it’s really annoying when you keep asking these questions. Let’s talk about where we’re sleeping instead, shall we? And to those watching the stream—please stop urging me to ask Master about the sand whale and the giant mushroom. Just treat it as a rare spectacle—let it go. For the sake of my own life, if Master doesn’t tell me, I won’t ask a thing.”

“Such awareness is admirable,” Ling Mo said, sitting cross-legged and patting the ground beside him. “I’ve expended a lot today. If I push myself any further, my ‘old friends’ will come calling. Let’s rest here.”

Hearing this, Katherine let out a long breath. Her body was still streaked with dark green and dried crimson blood, baked dry by the earlier explosion’s heat. The blood could be peeled off in sheets. Seeing no sign of a river nearby, she put aside thoughts of hygiene, pulled out her sleeping bag, politely offered the space to Ling Mo, and then burrowed eagerly inside.

“Today was even more thrilling than yesterday,” she announced to her viewers. “First I took down a Stone-patterned Python and a Butcher Bird, then endured the pain of losing a hand, witnessed the regeneration of a limb, and was lucky enough to meet the esteemed Dean Kells. All thanks to the power of martial arts! Let me sing its praises—martial arts reign supreme! I welcome all brothers and sisters to embrace the path of martial cultivation! I also sampled all sorts of strange mushrooms and even encountered the ancestor of all mushrooms. It hasn’t been long, but I’m truly exhausted. Now, let’s have one last Q&A for the day. I’ll answer only one question! And let me be clear—‘sand whale,’ ‘giant mushroom,’ and ‘inkcap ghost mushroom’ are on my blocklist. I won’t see any questions about them.”

“Don’t worry, streamer! No one’s foolish enough to ask about those things!”

“Exactly! The viewers have a sense of self-preservation. It’s a miracle to witness such wonders at all—digging for details is no different from courting death!”

“Some of you are too naive! There are plenty of people with zero sense in this world!”

“I already see some idiot asking anyway. Does he think being online means he can do as he pleases?”

“And what if I ask? It’s up to the streamer to answer or not—what’s it to you?”

A viewer named ‘Congenital Yang Excess’ sent the streamer ten Chaos Meteorites as a tip, leaving a message: “Ten consecutive gifts to show respect! Streamer, streamer, I want to ask Teacher Ling—could you release the most basic martial arts training method? Since you’ll be stuck in the magical beast jungle for a while, people like me—disabled folk—are getting anxious. If we could start with the basics, we’d make faster progress under Teacher Ling’s guidance when you return!”

“That’s an interesting question!” Wrapped in her sleeping bag like an oversized caterpillar, Katherine rolled over to the meditating Ling Mo and relayed the query.

“No,” Ling Mo rejected the idea immediately. “The threshold for martial arts initiation is the most dangerous. It’s as risky as advancing from intermediate to advanced. It must be supervised—following a manual blindly could cripple or kill many, and that would ruin the spread of martial arts.”

So that’s how it is… Many viewers in the stream were disappointed, though some were skeptical, claiming Ling Mo’s previous statement—‘there are no secrets in martial arts’—was a lie and now he was contradicting himself. Katherine ignored such comments. She finished her pitch, then, amid a flood of well-wishes, goodnights, and gifts, logged her magic eye sprite offline and quickly drifted into sleep.

——————A Happy Divider——————

Night deepened. The three moons hung high, casting their light across the land. Ling Mo’s earlier strike had been so overwhelming that every magical beast in the vicinity was terrified into hiding; not a single creature dared make a sound.

With the absence of insects’ incessant chirping and the rustle of nocturnal animals, the night felt especially tranquil. Several hours had passed since Katherine ended the stream, and she slept soundly. Meanwhile, Ling Mo, cross-legged and meditating, suddenly began to emit a dazzling radiance without warning!

His eyes shot open, ready to unleash his strength, but the brilliance lasted only an instant before vanishing. Then, in his mind, accompanied by a melodious tune, the system announced in rainbow-hued script:

“Your recent actions have caused a sensation across the continent!”

“The number of people who believe in martial arts is rising rapidly!”

“System detects the number of people with sincere longing for martial arts: 8,998 out of 50,000.”

“System detects the number of people with sincere longing for martial arts: 19,478 out of 50,000.”

“System detects the number of people with sincere longing for martial arts: 37,629 out of 50,000.”

“System detects the number of people with sincere longing for martial arts…”

“System detects the number of people with sincere longing for martial arts: 50,003 out of 50,000. Congratulations, you have completed the first stage of the main quest ‘To Present Martial Arts to a Beautiful World.’”

“Drawing quest rewards…”

(P.S. Some readers saw pictures of the inkcap ghost mushroom on Weibo and thought it looked wicked, yet oddly cute, and asked where they could see or buy one. This question made me laugh and cry—inkcap ghost mushroom is actually just the chicken drumstick mushroom you eat regularly. When grown large and old, it takes on that look. Did you learn something new? If so, please vote for support!)