Chapter 22 Seven Decades of Understanding

Xu Jingming's fighting spirit blazed. When he joined the national team, his master was already over sixty and could no longer spar with him at full strength. Even during the first World Martial Arts Tournament, his master was already forty-five. Just how strong was he at his peak? It truly was a mystery.

"Put on your armor and take your spear," Liu Hai said.

"Armor against cloth?" Xu Jingming looked at Liu Hai. "Master is really confident. Then I, your disciple, won't hold back!" As he spoke, dark red, lightweight body armor appeared on him, and he held a spear in his hand.

Wearing armor and wielding a spear! He held an absolute advantage in terms of equipment.

"Master, be careful." Xu Jingming was about to make his move.

"Wait a moment." Liu Hai stopped him with a hand and asked, "What's your body index?"

"115," Xu Jingming said.

"I'll adjust my body index first; otherwise, I'll be bullying you too much." Liu Hai began to manually adjust it, shortening the practice time of his evolution method, which naturally lowered his body index.

Normally, he would adjust it to his body's limit. For someone like Xu Jingming, that meant adjusting it to '735 days of practice,' where his body reached its limit. If he changed it to '100 days of practice,' his body would be much weaker.

"Well, I've adjusted the practice time to 68 days, body index 115, the same as you." Liu Hai nodded in satisfaction.

Xu Jingming's expression changed upon hearing this. He was cultivating the Heavenly Python Evolution Method, and reaching the mid-stage at 20% required 735 days of practice to reach a body index of 115.

Master only needed 68 days to reach a body index of 115?

"Master, has your evolution method reached the high-stage?" Xu Jingming asked.

"Yes, the Violent Tiger Evolution Method, high-stage." Liu Hai nodded slightly. "Don't panic. I estimate that globally, there are no more than five people who can currently reach the high-stage of an evolution method."

Xu Jingming marveled inwardly. His master was indeed impressive. He had exchanged blows with Gao Chong, Wang Qiao, and the others, and the gap in physical fitness wasn't so exaggerated. Everyone should only be at the mid-stage level of an evolution method.

"A short-term lead doesn't mean anything. After all, I've practiced for almost fifty years more than you!" Liu Hai said. "It's normal to have a slight advantage at the beginning."

"Now that our body indexes are the same, I'll use cloth and a single saber." Liu Hai looked at his disciple with interest. "If you have the ability, come and defeat me."

"Master, be careful."

Xu Jingming's spear shook, and the spear became like a dragon, turning into a blurred afterimage as it went straight for Liu Hai's chest.

Liu Hai stood in place, not dodging at all, and directly slashed out with his saber.

"Bang!"

Liu Hai's saber light was like a training flash, striking the spear like a whip. Xu Jingming only felt his spear shake, and it was deflected to the side. At the same time, Liu Hai was about to advance, closing in on Xu Jingming.

"A single saber splitting open a spear?" Although Xu Jingming was shocked, he immediately spun his spear, sweeping it horizontally at Liu Hai. The power of this sweep was enough to shatter a house.

"Clang." Liu Hai blocked with his single saber. When he blocked, the saber shadow blurred, and Xu Jingming felt as if his spear was stuck, unable to exert any force.

After blocking one spear, Liu Hai took another step and swung his saber.

This saber was too fast.

It was said that Grandpa Liu Jianfeng's sword was fast, but Liu Hai's saber... was even faster.

Xu Jingming wanted to retreat and dodge. His legs were fine, and his footwork had no problems. But he was too late! The spear exerted force to block, but it was also too late.

"Pfft." The saber light flashed, and Xu Jingming felt the saber light brush past his chest. Looking down, he saw that his armor was like tofu, neatly cut open, leaving a saber mark.

Xu Jingming looked at the saber mark on his chest and could only helplessly tap his personal panel to return to his peak state.

"I lost." Xu Jingming stood there, with many confusions. "Master, I used a spear against a single saber. Why could you meet it head-on and split open my spear with one saber?"

"Because my saber has more power than you," Liu Hai said.

"My spear sweeping horizontally, you couldn't move it either," Xu Jingming said. "The force was completely unloaded."

"My defense is also better than yours, so I can naturally unload the force of your spear." Liu Hai smiled. "The reason I killed you with one saber is that my speed is faster than your spear! You couldn't block it, and you couldn't escape."

"Is the gap that big?" Xu Jingming was somewhat dazed. "I know you're very strong, Master. You teach so many disciples, and you understand all kinds of styles and weapons. Your skills are also very high, and you can teach all your disciples. But..."

"But in the past, I was old and didn't truly spar with you at full strength." Liu Hai said, "If I had the same young body as you, I would have bullied you little fellows long ago, hahaha... It feels so good to return to my youth."

"Don't be discouraged."

Liu Hai looked at Xu Jingming. "After all, I've practiced for nearly fifty years more than you! And during the twenty years as the head coach of the national team, teaching national team disciples with various special skills, I gained a lot. While teaching you, you also inspire me, and my skills are constantly maturing. Seventy years of growth have led to my current skills."

Xu Jingming nodded.

"Now, looking at the world, my combat skills might still have an advantage." Liu Hai said, "But today is the first day the virtual world is open! Whether it's the training ground function or the life-and-death battles in the combat space... will make people's skills grow very quickly. In the future, you will all reach my level of combat skills, and even surpass me."

"I asked you here today to teach you some of my insights." Liu Hai said, "So that you can take fewer detours and improve faster."

"Master..." Xu Jingming was somewhat moved.

"I won't just teach you alone. I will teach several disciples that I am optimistic about." Liu Hai said, "After all, in the future, it will be a competition between teams. A team of five people can't rely on one person. In the future, you will all be important cores in the martial arts competitions between Xia Country and other countries."

"Now, start listening carefully and learning carefully." Liu Hai looked at his disciple. "What I'm teaching you is what I've understood from seventy years of martial arts practice."

Xu Jingming listened.

"In the past, I didn't want to force growth, because I was afraid of harming you. But now that there's a virtual world, you can learn well." Liu Hai held the saber in one hand. "The first thing I want to teach you is body exertion!"

"Exertion techniques?" Xu Jingming listened carefully.

His exertion techniques were already powerful enough, so he created unique moves like the Shadowless Thrust and Mountain Breaker.

"Body exertion is the key to combat. My exertion techniques are more advanced than yours, so with the same body index, my speed is faster than yours, and my strength is greater than yours." Liu Hai said, "It's like an adult beating a child. It's easy."

Xu Jingming nodded.

He wore armor and wielded a spear, but he was still abused by his master. This was the huge difference in exertion techniques.

"I practiced Xingyi from a young age, and then Master personally taught me Tai Chi. Although I later became proficient in various schools, I learned all the domestic martial arts. After becoming the head coach of the national team, I studied various foreign schools even more. But my core... is still Tai Chi! Using Tai Chi to incorporate all the schools."

Liu Hai looked at Xu Jingming. "You should know that the key to body exertion is the spine! The spine is like a dragon, connecting the upper and lower parts of the body. The transmission of power needs to be connected section by section, so that the whole body's power can be unified, and the burst of power will be strong enough."

Xu Jingming nodded.

"But the further development of power is not connected section by section." Liu Hai looked at Xu Jingming. "But... the body is like water!"

"The body is like water?" Xu Jingming was puzzled.

"The body is as natural as water." Liu Hai's body surged back and forth, like a large snake, his joints and muscles were incomparably natural, "Surging back and forth, shaking left and right, everything is natural."

"Once the body exerts force, it is transmitted like flowing water, naturally, without any obstacles." Liu Hai slapped down with his palm, Pa! Making the air explode, the ground was blasted out with a large pit by the air wave.

"Exert force from the feet, and the footwork is fast." Liu Hai moved his body, his figure blurred, and he darted out far away. Even faster than Grandpa Liu Jianfeng.

"Exert force from the hands, as fast as lightning, with great power." Liu Hai wielded his single saber, the saber light flashed, tearing the air, and the saber wind had already cracked the ground.

"The mind and will are completely integrated into every part of the body, sensing every part, and everything is handy." Liu Hai said, "With a thought, the move is already in motion, speed, strength, all reach an extremely high level."

Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

"Remember this sentence: the body is like water, the mind is integrated into every part of the body, sensing every part, everything is handy." Liu Hai said, "Try to practice the shield technique in this state. Don't integrate 'Baji' into the shield technique for the time being, just practice with the Tai Chi method, this is to practice strength! Practice your body control."

"When the body control level reaches a certain point, the exertion techniques will naturally be upgraded to a new world." Liu Hai said.

"Disciple understands." Xu Jingming said.

"I was afraid that you would practice it wrong before, and even injure your body. In the virtual world, I am not afraid." Liu Hai smiled, "What I taught you just now was the first item, now I want to teach you the second item, actual combat!"