Chapter 164: The True Origin of Martial Arts

“Not bad, not bad at all.
You really have remarkable talent for martial arts.
If you had started training under a master from childhood,
you might already be a martial dao prodigy by now.”

Yi Zhiqiu clapped his hands and said with a smile.

Just now, I had demonstrated a full set of Taiji Quan in front of him.
Because I had practiced several rounds last night following the elders and grandmas,
my movements had become much smoother and more precise—
at least I could now complete an entire form without stumbling.

“Phew!”

I exhaled heavily,
catching the towel Yi Zhiqiu tossed over and wiping the sweat from my face.
My body was still too weak—
just one full set of Taiji Quan had left me panting and drenched in sweat.
It was only slightly faster than the pace I had managed last night.

But Yi Zhiqiu said:

“I didn’t expect you to reach the point of sweating and breathing hard so quickly.
This actually means you’ve already entered the door.
During the movements, you’re consuming the energy inside your body.
If your energy intake is insufficient,
or if you haven’t grasped the correct qi circulation method,
you could faint again like yesterday.”

“Huh? Really?
I thought I got tired and out of breath so easily
because my body was too frail or my form wasn’t standard enough.
I didn’t realize it was actually a good sign.
Come to think of it, after practicing a few rounds last night,
I really did digest all that excess food I ate.”

“Yes.
But the Taiji Quan you just performed
isn’t the Chen-style I taught you yesterday.
Judging by the sequence of postures,
it looks more like Wu-style.
Did you learn it from watching others last night,
or did you find videos online?”

Yi Zhiqiu asked.

“Ah… this…”

I immediately felt awkward.
I hadn’t expected to accidentally learn the wrong style.
After all, Yi Zhiqiu’s manual only had static diagrams—
I couldn’t see the full sequence clearly.
The elders in the courtyard were all practicing according to their fixed routine.
I couldn’t very well ask them to switch styles just for me.

“Last night I followed along with the elders in the courtyard for a few rounds.
That’s the set they were doing.
It’s not a big deal if I learned the wrong style, right?
I should be able to correct it quickly.”

“There’s no need.
I already told you earlier—
no matter which branch of Taiji Quan,
all of them can cultivate qi.
What matters is the fist intent, not the specific postures.
You’ve already grasped the intent,
so you just need to keep practicing the forms as they are.”

Yi Zhiqiu laughed.

“Let’s continue with the next part today.
We haven’t finished the breathing and qi circulation method yet.
Also, you can’t just follow the book mechanically—
you need to adjust the breathing rhythm according to your own movements.
In actual combat, you won’t be able to perform the entire set in perfect order.
Everything will be improvised on the spot.”

After saying that,
Yi Zhiqiu began teaching me the more advanced stages of the breathing and qi circulation method.
He also reviewed my acupoint recognition once more—
going from the rigid, sequential breathing of yesterday
to today’s lesson on how to adapt the breathing rhythm to match my own actions.

“By the way,
do you know the true origin of martial arts?”

Yi Zhiqiu asked while guiding my movements and breathing.

“I don’t know.
Was it originally for exorcising evil and subduing demons,
or just for strengthening the body and health?”

I asked curiously.

“Of course not.
Martial arts are killing techniques.
From the very beginning,
they were created for the purpose of killing—
whether on the battlefield against enemies
or in the jianghu for personal vendettas.”

Yi Zhiqiu said.

I was stunned.
Although I had already come to accept the existence of strange and supernatural things,
deep down I still carried some ingrained assumptions.
For example—
how could these soft, slow, gentle traditional martial arts possibly kill anyone?
Forget killing—
they probably couldn’t even win in a real fight.

“In other words,
the earliest martial arts were also a form of sorcery.
The more blood they were stained with,
the stronger the practitioner became.
Slaughter a hundred,
and demons dare not approach.
Slaughter a thousand,
and even gods and ghosts fear you.
In the end, most of them lost themselves in the mad pursuit of martial power—”

I froze for a moment.
This matched exactly with what Mo Qingyan had said a few days ago—
the more a killer killed, the stronger his body became—
and also with the forum post I read yesterday:
in chaotic times, true masters and immortals emerged more easily.

“Although if he publicly stated that ‘martial arts are evil sorcery,’
it would definitely cause an uproar.
Some offended ‘martial arts grandmasters’ might even come looking for a fight.”

“Later, people wanted to overcome the side effects of martial arts—
at least so that the desire to kill wouldn’t devour them.
No one wants to end up slaughtering their own family
and dying miserably in madness.
So they constantly refined and improved martial arts,
incorporating many methods to preserve mental clarity
and suppress killing intent.”

“After a thousand years of refinement,
martial arts were finally ‘purified’ and rendered harmless.
They retained only the ability to cultivate an aura for warding off evil,
but almost completely lost their nature as killing techniques.
The martial arts circulating outside today
have neither lethal moves
nor proper qi circulation methods.”

Hearing this, I finally understood.
In Yi Zhiqiu’s eyes,
lethal techniques were equivalent to evil sorcery.
That was why Mo Qingyan had confidently declared
that he would never teach me offensive techniques.

“Then… what about when you need to slay demons and exorcise evil?
As an exorcist like you,
surely your martial arts must include killing moves, right?
Otherwise, how could you possibly kill demons and ghosts?”

I asked.

“There are,
in the complete martial arts tradition.
But even when killing ghosts instead of humans,
it’s hard to avoid being influenced by resentment and killing intent.
Martial dao practitioners need additional external practices—
such as tea ceremony or calligraphy—
to pacify their own killing desire.”

Yi Zhiqiu added.

“I… can I learn it?”

I asked tentatively.
Even though I knew Mo Qingyan had said Yi Zhiqiu wouldn’t teach me,
I still wanted to test the waters.
If he was willing,
then I wouldn’t need to go to Mo Qingyan.

“No need.
You don’t have to learn those.
It’s too dangerous.
You haven’t even built a solid foundation yet.
Teaching you killing moves would be like handing a gun to a child.
Leave the demon-slaying and exorcism to us adults.”

Yi Zhiqiu laughed.

“You’re not that much older than me anyway,”
I muttered under my breath.
He was clearly just a young man in his twenties,
yet he kept acting like an elder in front of me.

Besides—
he said demon-slaying was the responsibility of “adults,”
but right now I was living in a neighborhood full of murderers.
Just yesterday I had been inexplicably attacked.
If I didn’t learn killing moves,
I might not even be able to protect myself.
Yi Zhiqiu couldn’t possibly go around slaughtering every madman in the neighborhood.
Of course, I only thought that in my heart.

“Hehe, don’t be discouraged.
Even without learning killing moves,
martial arts still have the effect of strengthening the body.
Once you cultivate qi,
not only will ghosts and demons avoid you,
but your physical condition will surpass that of ordinary people.
The reason I told you martial arts are killing techniques
is just to warn you in advance—
don’t use martial power to bully the weak,
or worse, walk down the evil path.”

Yi Zhiqiu said again.

“I see…”
In his view,
I would probably cultivate qi very quickly.
That was why he was preemptively explaining the true nature of martial arts—
and reminding me not to touch evil techniques.

“Alright, that’s enough practice for today.
You can rest now.”

Yi Zhiqiu patted my shoulder.
I could already feel my blood and qi becoming deficient again.

“Then… let me tell you about the ghost stories I collected from the students yesterday.”

I said after catching my breath.

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