The World Online

Having dealt with the matters of the Mulan Village alliance, Ouyang Shuo went on to the barracks. A hundred infantrymen had been recruited, and he needed to go to the barracks to get them transformed.

Coming out of the barracks afterwards, Ouyang Shuo headed over to the wall to see its progress and of the moat.

In just one day, the Construction Division had done a good job of beginning the walls of the city, arranging the workers to set up the foundation stonework. Endless streams of stone being carried on the wooden horse carts were flowing from the quarries and were being transported to the site.

The moat began at the Friendship River, through lands that would be part of the city capital in the future, and ended back into the merged stream at the canyon. The total length of the channel was 35 kilometers long, 8 meters wide for the entire distance, and 10 meters deep at its deepest. For such a huge project, even all of the basic measurements had not been completed yet.

Every day, more than half of the incoming immigrants were requisitioned directly into these two projects. Even so, the projects would never be completed without at least a month or two.

On the way back from the building site, Ouyang Shuo heard a burst of system news.

“System Notice: Congratulations to player Qiyue Wuyi for the successful establishment of affiliated village – Beihai Village! Special reward of 200 merit points, 400 reputation points.”

Hearing the news that Beihai Village had been successfully established, Ouyang Shuo finally calmed down. Beihai Village’s further development would have to rely on the efforts of Xiuwen, it was beyond his reach.

Passing the commercial street, Ouyang Shuo happened to see the martial arts dojo there to the east. The master of the place was Master Lin Yue. His brother Lin Yi was shining bright in the army and was also becoming more and more popular, while his older brother was, as always, more low key.

For some reason, Ouyang Shuo felt the urge to watch some martial arts, and headed towards the dojo. The student outside greeted him personally in the front of the building, and hurried inside to inform the dojo president.

Having just entered the main hall, Ouyang Shuo heard a burst of martial arts shouts. Standing in the room were more than thirty students practicing punches. Lin Yue stood to the side watching, from time to time correcting the basic movements of each student. Hearing the student report that Ouyang Shuo had come to visit, he turned to tell his first disciple Wang Feng to continue supervising the practice of the students, and personally came to the reception room.

In the reception room, he saw Ouyang Shuo sitting there leisurely having some tea. He hurriedly bowed in salute. “The Lord came to visit and caught me unprepared, please forgive me!”

Ouyang Shuo put down the teacup and smiled, saying, “I was just passing by. I was thinking that ever since the dojo was established, I had never taken the time to just come and see you. Did I disturb you?”

“My Lord has come in person to my house, how can I be disturbed?” Lin Yue said back to him.

“Well then, since we are in a dojo, let’s not sit here drinking tea. Take me to the training room to see it!” Ouyang Shuo said directly, ending the greeting pleasantries.

Master Lin nodded, ushered his hand sideways and said, “My lord, please come with me.”

They left the reception room, stepping through the narrow corridor, and came to the practice hall. Junior Master Wang Feng, seeing the Master leading Ouyang Shuo in, immediately stopped the practice and shouted, “Stop, let us welcome the lord!” The students immediately formed a line, uniforms straight and standing ready.

Ouyang Shuo smiled and greeted them all, turned to Lin Yue and said, “Master Lin, your students, this formation, it is quite impressive.”

Master Lin modestly replied, “We are but here at the Lord’s mercy to teach some basic skills of self-defense.”

“The Master of this dojo need not have too much modesty. What punching skills are you teaching?”

“My lord, we are practicing The Eight Extremities Fist – Bajiquan1”

Ouyang Shuo was surprised, and bubbling with enthusiasm, said with admiration, “Bajiquan is extremely famous! Why not let everyone practice some, and open my eyes!”

Master Lin would naturally not decline, bowed and said, “This one would be honored!” Finished, he went to the forefront of the square of students, and began to lead all the students in practicing the Bajiquan.

In terms of appearance, the Bajiquan had good flexibility, was balanced and strong. Bajiquan was a short-range technique, with extremely aggressive hand movements. Its attacking technique included a strong stance, snapping the waist, flowing out through the fingertips, and generating a strong force.

Ouyang Shuo was awestruck, it was the first time he had seen the glory of the ancient martial arts, and he could not help but clap with enthusiasm. As Master Lin finished up the practice session, totally immersed in the atmosphere, he could not help but exclaim, “WELL DONE!”

Hearing Ouyang Shuo’s applause, the students were very excited, even Junior Master Wang Feng was showing his joy. Master Lin, of course, was as calm as always.

Seeing Ouyang Shuo so excited, Master Lin said with a smile, “If you wish to learn some martial arts, I could teach you a thing or two.”

The reason why Ouyang Shuo was so excited was because he knew now that Lin Yue’s Bajiquan was a true art, not a mock-up. He could bring to reality the practice of this precious skill!

Seeing Lin Yue taking the initiative to mention this, Ouyang Shuo was not hypocritical and said, “Well, then, I thank the master, and will repay you in the future!”

Master Lin simply nodded calmly, and then led Ouyang Shuo out of the school to a small room, bidding him to wait a moment as he went away.

Soon after, Lin Yue returned to the room, holding a book in his hand. He handed this over to Ouyang Shuo, saying, “This is the Lin handwritten version of the <Bajiquan Martial Arts Manual>, I now dedicate it to my Lord.”

Ouyang Shuo took the book, and subconsciously looked at its properties.

Name: Bajiquan (King rank Martial Arts)

Practice: Brace, Steady the Dragon, Subdue the Tiger, Split Mountain Palm, Long Horse Palm, Holding the Tiger, Bear Stance, Crane Step Push

Tricks: Underworld Three Hands; Tiger Claw Climbs Mountain; Three Unstopping Doors; Tyrant Guides the Horse; Windward Thundering Palm; Left and Right Hands Open the Door; Oriole’s Double Talons

Master Blow: Cling to the Mountain

Weapons: Spear, especially the Liuhe Spear.

Evaluation: Bajiquan is a vigorous art, plain, fierce, with great bursts of force. Hits like thunder, kicks like an earthquake. As the saying goes, Tai Chi calms the world, Bai Ji stomps the universe.

Amazingly, Master Lin’s Bajiquan were a real martial art. Coincidentally, Bajiquan was a great fit with the spear, and not only did it not conflict with Ouyang Shuo’s planned practice system, it complemented it nicely.

No longer hesitant, Ouyang Shuo placed a hand on the book cover in front of him, and the system prompts sounded.

“System Notice: Congratulations to the player Qiyue Wuyi for acquiring the King-rank Martial Art ‘Bajiquan’. Do you wish to practice it?”

“YES!”

A hum, in his hands the book glowed with a white light, which dove in between his eyebrows. In mere seconds, all of the information needed to practice Bajiquan poured into his mind, waiting for him to slowly digest it.

Ouyang Shuo opened his eyes and rose to give Master Lin Yue a deeply formal bow, solemnly saying, “Thank you, Master Lin!” He knew that he was probably the first martial artist to learn the full set of Bajiquan. Even Master Lin’s personal disciples probably did not have the qualifications.

Master Lin standing there, smiled and said, “About Bajiquan, not trying to boast, but I am considered quite knowledgeable. If sire is willing, I can tell you all I know.” This was the repayment to Ouyang Shuo for not being haughty.

Ouyang Shuo knew very well that getting a Bajiquan master’s guidance was incredibly valuable. It would save him a lot of time and detours. He smiled and said, “I am listening!”

Master Lin nodded, and began to explain to him the process. “Bajiquan takes the head as the center of universe, the limbs as the four directions, both front and back hands relative of each, the core gathers your spirit, your spirit channels the chi, your chi guides the force. The mighty momentum, strength, and sense from every muscle, every part of the body is a weapon. Every movement, every change, every transformation, every effect, its variety is limitless.”

“Bajiquan is famous for its violent fist force, but is also well known for the move used by masters of the style. The most well known technique is Cling to the Mountain. Practicing this technique is like using your body against a wall, up against it like a tree. The key to this technique is you hit your opponent from extremely close range, shoulder to shoulder. It would seem weak, but in fact the torsion from your waist and groin combines with the power of the body to inflict great harm and bring people down. You break down their defenses, hit them with six blows as one, use the momentum to finish them off.

“And the next thing to work on is the Rubbing Kick, the important leg law of Bajiquan. Bajiquan pays attention to steps such as Trip to the Mud, but the knee is the embodiment of this step, as it requires kicking when the attack point falls below the knee of the opponent, especially at the foot. Therefore, although the kick is not as lethal as other styles’ method of using them, it can break the opponent’s balance, using less power to clever effect and knocking them down.”

Ouyang Shuo listened eagerly to Master Lin’s explanations, and in his ear from time to time the system tones went off.

“Congratulation to player Qiyue Wuyi for getting Master Lin Yue’s instructions, Bajiquan achievement – Beginner.”

“Congratulation to player Qiyue Wuyi for getting Master Lin Yue’s instructions, Initial Comprehension, Bajiquan Trick – Close Contact Fist.”

“Congratulation to player Qiyue Wuyi for getting Master Lin Yue’s instructions, Initial Comprehension, Bajiquan Trick – The Rubbing Kick.”

……

Listening to the system prompts, Ouyang Shuo was so happy he was almost dancing. Had he known he would get such a surprising benefit, he would have gone to the dojo long ago! It was okay, however, it was still not too late to begin.

Listening to Master Lin explain things, Ouyang Shuo stayed silent until he was done, and then took his leave. Lin Yue and several of his disciples sent him off personally, escorting him to the door and watching him go.

_Eight Extremities Fist – Bajiquan 1_ __ 八极拳 _: Ancient_ ___China martial art_ _that features short-range explosive power strikes._

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap