My Kung-Fu and inventions will bring peace earlier than any peace treaty.

-Alfred Bernhard Nobel-

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When you think about it, the Kung-Fu Logic of the Explosive Reactive Qi Armour was actually very simple.

When an arrow flies straight at the center of the forehead, or an enemy’s sword thrusts toward the heart, a Kung-Fuist has very few actions to take.

Regardless of means, either block it.

Take a step back to evade the attack’s trajectory.

Or trust your trained body and absorb it in place.

These three response methods have long been established, and all major Kung-Fu styles in the martial world, though differing in details, teach how to skillfully counter enemy attacks using these methods.

However, the three methods mentioned above.

That is, defense, evasion, and absorption are only effective when one’s and the opponent’s mastery and level are roughly equal.

Of course, this does not mean that the weak cannot respond to the strong’s moves by normal means.

Whether in duels or life-and-death battles, learned Kung-Fu may have advantageous matchups or other external factors and variables always arise.

A well-educated Kung-Fuist always keeps in mind strategies that utilize such advantages.

However, in the martial world where waves of misfortune crash, one cannot spend a lifetime fighting only favorable battles.

Above all, wasn’t Kung-Fu originally created by the weak to fight the strong and protect themselves?

The fact that Kung-Fus were born in human history to defeat enemies who were bigger, armed with sharp weapons, and more numerous than oneself.

It means that research to face and overcome those with higher achievements has also continued for a long time.

Through repeated studies of offensive and defensive Kung-Fus, the spear aimed at each other became sharper, and the raised shield thicker.

Naturally, if a weapon created by the weak to defeat the strong falls into the strong’s hands, it becomes even more effective.

For this reason, in the endless competition between spear and shield, the spear always gained the upper hand.

Long before the concept of Kung-Fu was established, humanity pondered this problem.

If faced with a force that cannot be countered by the three methods, is there no choice but to counterattack with all one’s heart and prayer?

Counterattacking an opponent who overwhelms with force is ultimately just a weakling’s desperate struggle relying on luck.

But even in darkness, there is a path.

After repeated training and research, humanity discovered one principle.

“Qi flows and circulates among all things in heaven and earth.”

Life is born and flows continuously.

All things in the universe are born again and again, flowing repeatedly.

All things constantly change and move, and Qi is no different.

Force flows.

What is needed to withstand that flow and move forward?

The answer was not far away.

“If force flows, then it can be diverted in another direction.”

Any weapon moves in the direction the wielder applies force to.

If a spear thrusts in, push it aside from the side.

With little force, you can neutralize the threat of the spear’s blade.

If the opponent swings the sword horizontally?

Push it vertically to avoid fatal injury.

The invention of “diverting,” a clever technique using leverage to change the trajectory of force.

It was proven that small force can control great force.

A new branch sprouted on the firmly rooted tree of Kung-Fu in human history.

At the tip of that branch, new Kung-Fu theories and studies began to bloom brilliantly.

The moment when technique became the core among the various elements composing Kung-Fu.

It was the great moment when Kung-Fu truly became Kung-Fu.

I believe.

That all Kung-Fus, regardless of Europe or the Midfield1, across the five oceans and seven continents, have developed through such a process.

And I still remember.

The stories I read endlessly in Mother Goose around the time I learned the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

Records of mysterious Easterners called the first generation martial world, the Asian Kung-Fu Generation, by historians.

A wondrous legend passed down from the time Kung-Fus were still confined to the Midfield.

The traditions from when Kung-Fus first spread to Europe.

Among the martial artists who came from Qing, those of lower level boasted exaggerated nonsense to inflate their value.

They claimed that training Kung-Fu could move a thousand pounds with four ounces of force.

Or that one could cut a mountain peak a hundred miles away with a single finger.

Once, these stories were dismissed as poppycock2 not even worthy of being published in the Shilling Shockers3.

But someone began to believe them.

The nonsense of third-rate wanderers talking about the Kung-Fu prowess of masters they never saw moved the hearts of the Anglo-Saxons.

-Justified by faith

Like the teaching of the Roman Sutra that one is justified by faith.

-By faith, one attains the Way.

The European who first encountered Kung-Fu stepped onto the endless path by believing in it.

Though their methods differed, those who contributed to Kung-Fu development walked looking toward the same goal.

They pictured the midfielders roaming the distant foreign skies like saints in their head.

They engraved the avant-garde rock of the unseen Midfield in their heart.

Humanity grew stronger.

Through the process of constantly bringing down impossible miracles that should happen above the clouds to the ground.

By realizing unseen miracles in the human body, Europe’s Kung-Fu and the new Murim began to stretch their lush branches toward the sky.

As the mental image became clearer, the will grew stronger, and Europeans succeeded in blossoming a handful of vital energy in their elixir field after training.

The child of man held the lily of Zion on the sword’s tip and wrapped the thunder of Revelation in both hands.

In the process of miracles once thought impossible being conquered one by one by transcendents, forgotten old Kung-Fus and lost secret techniques were restored.

From the Counter Strike of the Wu-tang Clan and the Big Dipper Shift famed by the Moran Family, to the still-reported World Denial.

Beyond diverting the direction of force, Kung-Fu that returns that force intact to the enemy also appeared in the martial world.

Yes. This place is different from the world I knew.

This is a forest4 of Kung-Fu ruled by the miraculous Kung-Fu principles of “softness controls hardness” that can command rivers with ease.

Also, the subtle principle of “four ounces move a thousand pounds” lives and breathes here, with invisible forces flowing like great rivers everywhere.

So.

As long as the rules of this world allow it.

I can cut through the fierce waves of essence and move forward.

‘Absolutely divert it…!’

-Thunk!

-Kabang!

The internal force I quickly fired with intense Qi pressure detonated the massive internal force bound in my martial garb.

The shockwave emitted by the Explosive Reactive Qi Armour did not cancel out Nobel’s directional explosion.

Instead, the sharp wedge-like explosion of Kung-Fu force tore Nobel’s fist strike from the center into several pieces.

-Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwak!!!!!

The Kung-Fu force explosion that stretched straight split and scattered in all directions before reaching me.

The shockwave of the Burst Stream swept those watching from behind, but not a scratch remained on my body.

This was a new defensive technique combining Coat Trick and Ulster Classic through new enlightenment.

Unable to erase directional explosions with sword aura or raise protective aura, this was the only way I could break through the Burst Stream

“What on earth are you doing…!”

-Kabang!

Taking advantage of Nobel, whose vital points were broken and who couldn’t resist the shock while extending his fist, I unfolded Scuabtuinne and quickly approached.

Though there was no other way to face Nobel, who was at a higher realm than me, the amount of internal force consumed by the Explosive Reactive Qi Armour was considerable.

Above all, because I had to deploy the 1322.77 Pound Weight to endure the recoil of the Explosive Reactive Qi Armour, the muscles and blood vessels of my whole body were screaming.

“A long battle is certain defeat. I will decide the match immediately.”

If I can quickly achieve my goal and retreat, that will suffice.

“You were hiding a Lifesaver! Then try to block me once more!!”

Nobel, noticing me cutting through the explosion and approaching, regained his senses belatedly and prepared to strike again.

-Thump!

His middle Elixir Field throbbed so strongly it was audible as I approached close.

The essence transported through his blood and meridians was concentrating in one spot.

A vast Kung-Fu force filled his right hand.

Even if unseen or unheard, I knew.

That a compressed Qi pressure of Stream Burst was there, ready to burst through Alfred Nobel’s fist at any moment.

And as the unseen bomb completed, another compressed Qi pressure shot rapidly along his right arm toward the fist.

“Truly a transcendent master.”

I got close enough to thrust my blade, but Nobel’s strike was slightly faster than my sword swing.

The hammer of essence, doubly accelerated by the speed of will moving internal force and blood flow, was about to trigger a detonation and bring me a battlefield nightmare.

“Thank you. For moving just as I expected.”

But he did not know.

What my sword was made of.

The blade of the Heavenly Demon Staff is coated with pigment so it doesn’t look like it’s made of cold iron.

From the start, my target was Nobel’s left arm, which was tightly grasping the Blue Eyes White Snake with the Absorption Technique.

-Swish!

I aimed at the energy surrounding Nobel’s left half and plunged the blade in.

“Wha… what…?!”

A move piercing the opponent’s weakness who relied only on thick protective aura.

The sword tip slipped through the gap in the torn protective aura and shot straight toward the Blue Eyes White Snake’s neck.

And the moment the blade tip touched the hard, smooth scales.

-Slither!

The snake, freed from the Absorption Technique, climbed the blade and wrapped around my arm precariously.

I immediately used the Absorption Technique like Nobel did, firmly fixing the smooth snake’s body in my right hand.

The sword pierced only one scale of the Blue Eyes White Snake.

From the start, I had no intention of taking the spirit beast’s life.

-Kabang!

And the next moment, an explosion occurred in Nobel’s right arm, who stopped his strike just before releasing the energy to avoid entangling the Blue Eyes White Snake.

It seemed he alone bore the rebound of the technique due to forcibly blocking his meridians.

“Ugh…!”

Nobel’s sleeveless coat’s shirt was torn, and blood flowed incessantly from his forearm.

“B-brother!!!!”

A voice desperately calling him from the balcony was heard, but Nobel did not respond.

In his eyes, calmly lowering his arms and watching me, there was no light of struggle.

What he wanted was the living Blue Eyes White Snake, just like me.

He stopped his strike because he judged that no matter how much more we fought, I, unable to even summon a protective aura, could not protect the snake from his technique.

“…Because of you, the rare fantastic beast’s body got scratched!!”

“Making a fuss over a single scale.”

The man who had to lose because of strength only spoke with a bitter, scornful voice.

1. TL/N: Central Plains ️

2. TL/N: Nonsense ️

3. TL/N: A shilling shocker was a British mass-market paperback book produced in late Victorian England, originally costing one shilling, that featured crime and violence with sensational incidents and lurid writing. ️

4. TL/N: Murim ️