The carriage slowly wound around a hill.
Sitting inside, Qin Xu lifted his head and glanced at Hǔtóu Mountain, a light smile on his face. "Interesting," he said.
"Interesting?"
Qin Yi was taken aback. The young master actually said interesting?
"Master, what's interesting?" Qin Yi couldn't help asking.
Qin Xu thought for a moment. Since the opportunity arose, he might as well explain.
"Qin Yi, have you heard of the Jianghu?"
Qin Yi, having never left his mountain village, had very limited sources of information and naturally had never heard of it. He shook his head.
Qin Xu continued: "The Jianghu is made up of martial artists who practice the Dragon Martial Way, one of the five great schools, outside the realm of official courts. They are cunning, ruthless, and ungovernable. The Dragon Martial Way is widely taught, hard to restrict, and thus formed a separate martial circle independent of the government—this is what people call the Jianghu."
Dragon Martial Way?
Adding the Yuan Martial Way that Qin Yi himself practiced, the Wen Martial Way that his master and Qin Wei practiced, and the Jun Martial Way that the village recruits studied in Hou Manor… that makes four of the five great schools.
He had heard of the Yuan Martial Way—he had entered it; the Wen Martial Way—he had glimpsed it from his master and Qin Wei; the Jun Martial Way—he had only heard about it but could roughly understand it.
But the Dragon Martial Way was entirely unfamiliar. From the name alone, Qin Yi couldn't grasp its characteristics. Yet as one of the five great schools, it must have unique traits.
Sitting up straight, he listened intently.
Qin Xu explained: "The Dragon Martial Way was founded by the second martial sage after the Yuan Martial Sage, later known as the Dragon Martial Sage. He created the initial methods of Observation, which greatly simplified the condensation of martial intent, allowing martial arts to spread among humans and become the mainstream form of cultivation."
Qin Yi was impressed. But from Qin Xu's tone, the Dragon Martial Way wasn't favored in today's world. It had been marginalized by the courts and relegated to the Jianghu. The more Qin Yi learned, the more he realized the terrifying power of martial artists.
Qin Xu paused to let Qin Yi and Qin Wei think, then continued: "Learning from the difficulties of the Yuan Martial Way, the Dragon Martial Sage made entering the martial path easier. The hardest part is condensing martial intent, so he created the Observation Method to help with this."
"The Observation Method condenses martial intent through visualization. All four of the later great schools use it, except the Yuan Martial Way."
Qin Xu watched Qin Yi closely.
Qin Yi blinked, then nodded in understanding: "Master, this is why the Yuan Martial Way is stronger than the other schools, right?"
Seeing Qin Yi's pride rather than envy, Qin Xu smiled inwardly. This child has backbone; he's proud of his own lineage rather than intimidated.
Qin Xu nodded approvingly: "Correct. The Observation Method lowers the difficulty of condensing martial intent, but it also weakens its potency at the source, reducing a practitioner's combat strength."
Hearing this, Qin Yi felt proud—after all, he was a legitimate heir of the Yuan Martial Way.
Qin Xu sighed and continued: "Unfortunately, the Dragon Martial Way's Observation Method, being the first of its kind, has serious drawbacks. Beyond the reduction in martial power, there's an even more dangerous effect: personality."
"Those who practice the Dragon Martial Way awaken their beastly nature. They become either violent and reckless brutes or cunning, cruel, and unscrupulous schemers."
Qin Yi shivered at this. Martial artists with such personalities are a disaster for ordinary people.
"The spread of the Dragon Martial Way made humans powerful, yet it also caused internal division. Humans were first split into martial and ordinary people, and eventually into masters and slaves."
"Thus ended the tribal era brought by the Yuan Martial Way and ushered in the slave era under the Dragon Martial Way."
Tribal era… Slave era…
The rise or decline of a single martial school could shape an entire era. Martial cultivation truly dominated the world.
Qin Xu paused, then smiled as if recalling something: "Though the Dragon Martial Way created the slave era, its practitioners never forgot the original goal: lowering the barrier to martial cultivation. The Observation Charts of the three later great schools are all derived from the Dragon Martial Way."
"They refined the foundational stage, greatly easing its difficulty, promoting the spread of martial arts. They even defined the Wu Tu—martial apprentices—as the first tier of cultivation for ordinary people, distinguishing them from those untouched by martial arts."
Wu Tu?
Finally, there's a buffer between ordinary people and martial practitioners.
Qin Wei was stunned: "Uncle, even among martial artists there's a Wu Tu stage? Why didn't I know?"
Qin Yi was surprised too. Even Qin Wei, a fully trained later-stage practitioner of the Wen Martial Way, didn't know about Wu Tu. Strange indeed.
Qin Xu explained: "It's not strange. With the rise of the Jun Martial Way and the decline of the Dragon Martial Way, the Wu Tu stage gradually fell out of recognition among mainstream martial artists. Over time, fewer knew of it, and it survived only in the Jianghu, where the Dragon Martial Way remained active but unrecognized by the court."