Chapter 14 The Physical Laws of Everything

　　The mountain forest was muddy after the rain.

　　Liu Hai, carrying his shield and saber and clad in black light armor, stood in the forest. He said into the team voice chat, "You guys are free to move and give it your all."

　　"Yes, Captain!"

　　"Let these youngsters know that we're not to be trifled with."

　　Zhou Fan, Xu Hong, Dai Tongda, and Tian Yiqu were a well-coordinated team. They had been working together in the Fireseed Cup competition. If they could handle the battle, Captain Liu Hai wouldn't need to step in. Otherwise, Liu Hai would be there to clean up.

　　Xu Jingming advanced along the hillside. He immediately spotted Liu Hai, standing openly in the distance. Liu Hai was tall and imposing, and the fact that he had donned armor showed his respect for Xu Jingming's team.

　　"Whoosh." Xu Jingming immediately dove down the mountain, heading straight for his master's location.

　　"Master is at point A, everyone avoid him," Xu Jingming said in the team voice chat. "I'll keep an eye on Master."

　　"Okay, we'll deal with the others first." Wang Yi immediately led her teammates into action.

　　In the forest.

　　Xu Jingming and his master, Liu Hai, faced each other from afar.

　　"The scenery in the virtual world is quite good, isn't it?" Liu Hai said to his disciple with a smile. He was speaking privately, so the livestream audience couldn't hear him. Liu Hai then looked at the surrounding forest, reached out to pluck a leaf, and sniffed it. "The scent of a mountain forest after the rain. This kind of scent can only be found in old forests. The scent of city parks in reality is different. The scent of city parks is too superficial, while this scent is deeper and more profound."

　　Xu Jingming also saw the residual water droplets on the trees and grass.

　　"Life isn't just about martial arts. You have to know how to relax and appreciate the world," Liu Hai said, looking around. "The myriad things in the world have something in common with martial arts."

　　While they were talking, Wang Yi and her team were fighting with Xu Hong, Dai Tongda, and their team.

　　Wang Yi had reached the third realm after all, so she wasn't too ruthless, allowing the older generation to give it their all.

　　Xu Jingming and Liu Hai, the two captains, simply faced each other from afar.

　　"Yes, the myriad things in the world do have something in common with martial arts," Xu Jingming nodded, also speaking privately.

　　Liu Hai continued, "Like a leaf, it has times when it's full of resilience and times when it withers. When it's weak, a child can tear it apart, but when it's sharp, a leaf can pierce a tree." Liu Hai flicked the leaf between his fingers, and it pierced into a tree with a whoosh, half of it embedded inside.

　　Xu Jingming was secretly alarmed.

　　"Everything has its yin and yang aspects, and martial arts is the same. Unyielding strength cannot last, but gentleness lacks power. The combination of strength and gentleness, the harmony of yin and yang, is the great Dao," Liu Hai said, looking at Xu Jingming.

　　"The principles of everything..." Xu Jingming said, "can be called physics!"

　　"All martial arts can be reduced to physics," Xu Jingming said, looking at his master. "How much speed does this move have? How much power? How long does it take to build momentum? What is the opponent's nerve reaction time? My move, from building momentum to striking the enemy's throat, is faster than the opponent's nerve reaction limit, so they naturally don't have time to dodge."

　　"What is the distance between me and the opponent? The distance I advance, the advantage of weapon length… naturally, I can kill the enemy without the enemy being able to touch me."

　　"The body's exertion of force involves the exertion of internal muscle groups, as well as leverage techniques. The force of an ordinary person's punch is several times weaker than that of a professional expert because they have mastered the techniques," Xu Jingming said. "These are all physics."

　　Xu Jingming looked around in all directions. "Everything—the growth of trees, the leaves absorbing light, the side facing the sun growing better. The ground is hard, but it becomes muddy when water permeates it. When the water dries, it becomes hard again… everything has logic, scientific principles, and is not mysterious. Everything is like this, and martial arts is the same!"

　　"It is said that unyielding strength cannot last, but the sun can continue to erupt," Xu Jingming said. "The concepts of traditional martial arts also need to be studied at their root. Not everything the predecessors said is correct."

　　Liu Hai smiled and said, "Disciple, science also has its limits. It can only understand so much right now. And the summarized laws of everything may exceed the exploration of science."

　　The battle continued on the side.

　　One team member after another fell.

　　"The summarized laws of everything, some are correct, but some are even wrong," Xu Jingming said, "because the ancients did not grasp the essence. They wanted to grasp it, but the technology at the time was not sufficient."

　　"Now that science is becoming more and more advanced, do you see? Even the virtual world has come out, virtually recreating everything you thought you knew in front of you," Xu Jingming said. "Having a pair of eyes to observe physics and explore the essence of martial arts is the only way to make martial arts go further."

　　Pfft! Pfft!

　　After Yang Qingshuo and Heng Fang were killed in succession, Wang Yi finally took decisive action.

　　Arrow after arrow.

　　Finally, Xu Hong, who was wielding twin shields, also fell, along with the last arrow that pierced Zhou Fan's body. The other four members of Liu Hai's old-age team were wiped out.

　　"Taiji yin and yang inherently encompass everything," Liu Hai said. "Everything can be absorbed, but there is ultimately a foundation. Taiji yin and yang is the foundation, and many moves can be summarized and unified for my use."

　　"All martial arts conform to physics. Science is infinite, and physics is infinite," Xu Jingming said. "Martial arts also have infinite possibilities."

　　Liu Hai laughed. "Very good, you dare to stand your ground in front of me."

　　"Master, your achievements in martial arts far surpass those of your disciple," Xu Jingming said. "But the moment I understood that the body is like fire, I understood… that I must follow my own ideas. What one comprehends is one's own. What others teach is ultimately what others have mastered."

　　"What one comprehends is one's own?" Liu Hai nodded slightly, his smile growing brighter. "Then let me see how much you have grown."

　　As he spoke, he picked up two stones from the ground.

　　And threw them out suddenly!

　　Whoosh! Whoosh!

　　Liu Hai threw two stones in quick succession with his left and right hands. The two stones were like cannonballs, instantly cutting through the air.

　　Xu Jingming clicked his tongue and said into the team voice chat, "Be careful!"

　　He didn't even have time to say more because it was too fast.

　　"Swish—"

　　In the official Xia Country livestream, the audience couldn't hear the conversation between the master and disciple, they only saw the two talking, and saw the other four members of both teams fighting until the end.

　　Suddenly, Liu Hai picked up two stones, each about the size of a palm, and threw them out with great force.

　　In the livestream scene, the virtual world naturally marked the maximum speed of the two high-speed flying stones.

　　"723 meters per second!" "718 meters per second!"

　　These were the respective maximum speeds of the two stones, and the numbers made all the experts turn pale.

　　Lei Yunfang, Zhang Qing, Zhou Yi, Fang Yu, and the others were all shocked by the numbers.

　　"How is it possible to be so fast?"

　　The Blue Star Alliance envoys attended the Xia Country's Fireseed Cup competition as a matter of courtesy, and also to see the strength of Xia Country's top experts. But the stones Liu Hai threw out at that moment were truly unbelievable.

　　"Those were just two casually picked-up stones, how can they be equivalent to the speed of a third-realm divine archer's arrows?"

　　"Stones are much heavier than arrows."

　　"Just how strong is this Liu Hai?"

　　All the envoys were shaken. This Liu Hai, the world's number one, threw stones like real-life cannonballs, exceeding a speed of seven hundred meters per second. This was a speed that would leave other third-realm experts in despair.

　　One had to know that Fang Yu's thrown short halberd reached 400 meters per second, which already made Xu Jingming click his tongue in amazement. This was already a very powerful throwing weapon among high-level evolutionary practitioners.

　　But compared to Liu Hai, it was the difference between heaven and earth!

　　"Is there such a big difference between ordinary third-realm experts and the world's number one?" Some of the Blue Star Alliance envoys had been very confident in their own country's experts, but after seeing these cannonball-like stones and the displayed speed, they felt uneasy.

　　…

　　In the forest.

　　"What?" Wang Yi and Liu Chongyuan, who had been reminded by Xu Jingming, turned their heads to look.

　　But the stones were too fast!

　　When they turned their heads and saw the two cannonball-like stones, Wang Yi barely had time to move one step. The stone passed through the front of her chest, and the shockwave cut through the air, the terrifying wind impact hitting her robes, tearing them apart, and leaving marks on her soft armor.

　　Liu Chongyuan was a bit slower to react. The stone pierced through his head, and his entire person instantly turned illusory and disappeared.

　　This stone made Wang Yi break out in a cold sweat, and she looked at Liu Hai in shock. The entire forest map was only a thousand meters in range, and Liu Hai was in the central location of the forest. Wang Yi and her team were more than three hundred meters away from Liu Hai, which was considered far enough.

　　But she was still almost killed by a stone.

　　"Alright."

　　Liu Hai drew the saber behind him, held it in one hand, looked at Xu Jingming, and then glanced at Wang Yi in the distance. "Only the two of you are left."