Chapter 5 I fly, I fly, I fly again

  Update

  Along with the sound of the prompt, Shang Guan Neng felt that he had really learned martial arts, but whether it was swordsmanship or fist and footwork, they were all mediocre. According to Shang Guan Neng's estimate, this F-level martial art could only beat a half-street thug at most, all fancy moves, trash!

  Moreover, the martial arts category only has two sub-items: swordsmanship and fistwork. Originally, Shangguan Neng thought that martial arts would at least be divided into internal and external skills, but it turned out to be completely different. This also made Shangguan Neng realize that the various divine skills in wuxia are actually deceiving people, and there is no such thing as internal skill in reality.

  But think about it, if China really had the kind of martial arts like the Six Meridians Divine Sword, the Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms, and the Longevity Incantation in wuxia novels, then even if the entire world formed an alliance to invade China, they would only end up getting beaten until their pants are wet with urine, fleeing in disarray, how could there have been a century of calamity for the Chinese people?

  "Hey young man, want to give it a try?" The old man who was practicing with his sword asked with a smile, seeing that the superior officer seemed interested in martial arts.

  Shangguan Nengren thought to himself, "I'd like to try out my own skills after absorbing the F-level martial arts. I won't be pretentious." He said, "Alright! However, I've never practiced before, so please teach me, sir!"

  The old man chuckled and said, "Alright! What do you want to learn? If it's playing with weapons, I can wield all eighteen types of martial arts, but if it's fist and footwork, your other master is more skilled."

  Shangguan Nengren thought for a moment and said: "I saw you swinging your big knife just now, it looked particularly impressive. Teach me how to swing the big knife a couple of times!"

  "Big knife, let's go!" The old man picked up the big knife again. This martial arts training knife has a thin layer of stainless steel on its blade, which is not sharp and very light, but also a bit soft. When wielded, the blade sways left and right, making a "hua la" sound. After all, it's just a prop for practicing martial arts, so you can't expect too much.

  Having absorbed the old man's martial arts, Shangguan Nian now understood every move and style of the old man. Moreover, Shangguan Nian discovered that he seemed to be able to do better than the old man, which was somewhat unexpected. After all, he had only absorbed the old man's F-level martial arts, so how could he possibly do better than the old man?

  Shangguan Nengren was still in a state of confusion when the old man had already finished performing a set of knife techniques with great difficulty, after all, he was advanced in age and the physical exertion from performing the entire set of knife techniques left him somewhat breathless.

  "Hey kid, how's it going? Learned a few tricks?" The old man wiped the sweat from his body and asked in between deep breaths.

  Shangguan Nengren clapped his hands and said: "Old man, your knife skills are really beautiful, I've remembered a few moves, please give me some pointers!"

  "Haha, not bad, being able to remember a few moves after just one look is already quite impressive. Many kids can't even remember half a move after watching ten times." The old man laughed loudly and handed the big knife in his hand to Shangguan Nengren, saying: "Come on, show me a few moves."

  "Ah!" Officer Nang Er took the big knife over, grasped it for the first time, yet felt not a hint of unfamiliarity, as if he had used it for decades. He casually made a few knife moves, his arm and fingers moving with extreme proficiency.

  Shangguan Nengren casually waved his hand a couple of times, but it scared the two old men. Insiders look at the gate, outsiders watch the excitement, and experts can tell if someone is skilled or not as soon as they make a move. Although Shangguan Nengren hadn't started practicing yet, these casual moves didn't look like those of an amateur, but rather like a seasoned practitioner who had been training with swords for years. Hmm, just a ordinary practitioner.

  How is this possible?!

  Two old men got lost on their life journey.

  No matter how hard the two old men racked their brains, they would never have thought that Shangguan Yun could absorb both of their kung fu and turn a useless rookie into... well, an ordinary old bird.

  Zhang Fei grasped Guan Yu's large sword with one hand and made a starting gesture, then let out a loud cry: "Halt!"

  The two old men were scared out of their wits and almost spat out their false teeth.

  I chop, I chop, I chop again;

  I chop, I chop, I chop again;

  I wielded the Mountain-Cleaving Blade, then the Earth-Shattering Blade, followed by the Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade, and finally the Flying Heaven Blade. I flew, I flew, I flew again... My hand slipped, and it really flew out...

  With a loud clang, General Guan's big knife fell to the ground, not only startling the two old men, but also making Officer Sang tremble with fear.

  Damn! So the F-class's martial arts skills are so lousy, can't even hold a big knife tightly, and practicing with knives can make them fly. If this were to happen on a real battlefield, they would have been chopped into pieces by others long ago.

  Shangguan Nengren picked up the big knife and cleared his throat: "Uh, first time practicing, didn't get a good grip, how about I try again?"

  The two old men were stunned, especially the one playing with the knife, looking at the shining light in Shang Guan's eyes, that was a fervent enthusiasm, his beard shaking wildly, his mouth stuttering: "Genius, genius, genius..."

  The old man excitedly went up and grasped the hand of Shang Guan's man: "Young fellow, is this really your first time practicing with a sword? You're not taking me for a ride, are you?"

  Shangguan Nengren knew about the old man's doubts, but he couldn't share his own secrets with others. He pretended to be silly and said, "Old man, I'm really practicing my sword for the first time, I didn't mean to tease you."

  The old man stared into Shang Guan's eyes, and Shang Guan was "free from guilt", not avoiding his gaze at all. In the end, it was still the old man who shifted his gaze to Shang Guan's hands, which were smooth and white, without even half a callus, with no signs of martial arts training whatsoever. Only then did the old man believe that there really were people in this world who were naturally talented.

  The old man's face turned red with excitement as he hastily asked, "Young fellow, are you interested in practicing martial arts?"

  "Huh?" Officer Neng was a bit confused by the old man and asked: "Sir, what do you mean?"

  "Kid, you're a genius, a martial arts prodigy that comes along once in a thousand years!" The old man grasped Ouyang Nian's hand and wouldn't let go: "Although my own martial skills are mediocre, I had many classmates who were masters of the martial arts when we trained together. If you're willing to learn, I can introduce you to a few famous teachers, how about that?"

  "Hmm, this is...". Shangguan Nian's calm demeanor was fake. If he really knew many martial arts masters, there would definitely be many higher-level techniques waiting for him to absorb. However, the conditions for his upgrade were too harsh - all ten major items had to reach the same level before he could advance to the next level and absorb its abilities. Before that, even if S-level abilities were placed in front of him, he could only stare at them helplessly.

  For those who are capable of empathy, there is no greater suffering in this world than this.

  "Grandpa, I also want to learn some martial arts to protect myself, but I'm about to enter my third year of high school soon. At that time, studying will be too intense and there won't be much time to practice martial arts." Upper Official Nengren hesitated again and again, still thinking of absorbing the other six major items first, otherwise everything would be empty talk.

  "Is that so! What a pity!" Seeing that Officer Guo was a "Xiucai", the old man felt extremely regretful. The old man's thoughts were still quite traditional, with the idea that scholars were superior to martial artists deeply rooted in his mind. Even though many university graduates nowadays can only return home to farm, this way of thinking has not changed.

  Shangguan Neng didn't expect the old man to have such an idea, and he had originally wanted to spend more effort on persuasion, but it was resolved so easily.

  The old man of boxing and kicking obviously also has the same idea as the old man of martial arts, after all, they are people from the same era, some deep-seated ideas are difficult to change.

  "Alright young man, if you want to practice martial arts in the future, come find me. As long as it's not windy or rainy, us two old men will be here every morning practicing." The old man with the spear said with a hint of regret.

  "Ah! You young man, playing with guns looks very talented, but I don't know how your talent for fist and footwork is? Come back and old master will teach you two sets of boxing techniques, what's Six Harmony Eight Trigrams, Tiger Crane Double Form, old master can also show off a bit." said the Old Fist.

  "Alright, I'll definitely come to ask for your advice when I have time later. You two gentlemen can practice first, I'm leaving now."

  "Go! Come back often!" The two old men reluctantly bid farewell to the departing official, feeling extremely regretful in their hearts.

  The old man with a fist and foot looked up at the sky and sighed: "What a pity! What a waste of a martial arts genius, if he had started practicing from an early age, at this age, he would have been able to win the World Martial Arts Championship."

  The old man with the sword nodded in agreement, and then sighed: "Alas! Times have changed, it's no longer an era of fighting and killing. No matter how good your martial arts are, you can still die from a single bullet. It's better to learn more knowledge."

  "I also know, it's just a pity... Alas! The times create heroes, and the times also destroy many heroes!"

  Shangguan Neng didn't know how the two old men sighed after he left, nor did he want to know. Having absorbed F-level martial arts, Shangguan Neng was more concerned and anxious about absorbing the other six major items.

  What's wrong? Upper official can see that the F-level ability is just a piece of trash, medical skills can only cure fever and cold, cooking skills are just tomato scrambled eggs, egg fried tomatoes... Games are just being abused by others, martial arts are laughing stocks that can't even hold a knife steadily. Upper official has had enough, he must quickly absorb the remaining six abilities to upgrade his comprehensive ability to E-level, otherwise, he will still be a miserable person all his life, a miserable life, you can't afford it!

  When he arrived home, his parents were also up. His mother was busy in the kitchen, while Xiang Yu sat on the sofa in the living room reading a newspaper. Seeing Xiang Neng return, Xiang Yu asked with a sideways glance: "Where did you go?"

  "I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up early today and went out to eat." Upper Officer Neng replied honestly.

  "Hmm." Officer Yang rustled the newspaper again and focused his eyes on the news above.

  Shangguan Neng let out a sigh of relief, and for this old man, he was both respectful and fearful.

  It's not that I'm afraid of him, it's just that my old man is the pillar of our family, and three-quarters of our household income comes from his earnings. But what I really fear is the big stick he used to discipline me when I was a kid.

  Shangguan Yi is a traditional Chinese patriarch who believes in the adage "a stick produces filial sons". As a result, Shangguan Nian has always been afraid to misbehave in front of his father, and would only dare to act spoiled and playful in front of his mother. Even now that he's a 17-year-old high school student, whenever he does something wrong, he'll still receive a severe beating from Shangguan Yi as punishment.

  Shangguan Neng had also rebelled against his father, especially during the period of intense teenage angst in middle school. However, every time Shangguan Neng rebelled, he was suppressed by his father's even stronger rod. As a result, whenever Shangguan Neng saw his old man, he would feel intimidated and even gained insight into the principle of national character - could it be that the rod education of parents led to the nation having a genetic trait of enduring humiliation?