“Have you heard the rumors lately”
“Rumors?”
The drunken man continued.
“About the school.”
“No?”
The drunk man smiled as he began explaining.
“So there’s this secret school that teaches people how to use qi.”
Yousti looked at the drunken man with a detached interest before egging him on.
“Anyone who enters this academy comes out as a warrior that can cut steel like tofu and battle against entire groups of people and win without a scratch.”
“I’ve seen those people you have to believe me. They call themselves martial artists and really can cut steel like tofu. They say that they’ve even met the Divine Silk Spirit themselves!”
Yousti nodded as he left the drunk man to his own business.
Six years passed had passed since Yousti had given qi to Aurora through the Genesis Qi Connection Mantra.
Within those years he realized that now that he could teach martial arts he could start a school and try to improve the world.
So Yousti cached in on some very old favors from various people he saved while wandering the silk road as the Silk Spirit.
Apparently the opportunity to become a superhuman was very tempting for all kinds of people.
Before he knew it the Martial Academy started getting flooded with supplies and money.
Families of high status endlessly sent their children to learn martial arts from him.
The tempation of true power offered by martial arts attracted people like moths to a flame.
And simultaneously it turned the Academy into an open secret traded between the powerful.
For most people the academy was a strange rumor, a fantastical tale of a place that creates warriors that can cut through steel like tofu like that drunk man had said.
~
“Welcome to the Martial Academies final preliminary exam. If you succeed you will learn how to use Qi from the Martial Master that you know as the Silk Spirit.”
She glanced the group of students to make sure that they were all present.
“Now that you have arrived you will now pick your first weapons. In the future you will be able to select a different weapon if the one you pick is not suitable to you.”
A teenage Aurora ordered a new class of students.
She had become a late first rate martial artist and was now a fully qualified instructor of martial arts in Yousti’s eyes.
She had taken charge of the final exam before meeting the Martial Master.
After that you will each spar with me one on one.
Across the hall were tables filled with all kinds of weapons polearms, swords, and bows.
All of the students grabbed their chosen weapons and gathered around the arena with Aurora standing in it.
She pointed at one of the students.
He carried a spear and was dressed more luxuriously than the rest.
He was probably from one of the more wealthy families.
“You. Attack me with the intent to kill.”
He stepped onto the arena and began to attack Aurora.
His attacks were structured and connected.
‘This one has had prior training.’
Aurora had her hands behind her back as she effortlessly dodged his attacks.
She was effortlessly calculating the trajectories of his every move.
But she didn’t do this just to farm aura and she began instructing the man as he was attacking her.
“You’re left foot is angled wrong when you thrust.”
He kept up his assault as she silently evaluated him.
Eventually she grabbed onto his spear mid thrust and pushed it backwards knocking him down to the ground.
“Your form needs some work. If you did it right you wouldn’t have tripped and only slid back when I pushed on your spear. You passed, now get off the arena for the next student.”
He quickly got of the arena and seemed to celebrate with his friends in the back of the crowd of students around the arena.
She pointed at another student.
This time it was a female student with dark black hair.
“You. Come up. Go all out and attack me.”
The student put up her hands in a stance for hand to hand combat.
She seemed embarrased at not having chosen any weapon.
‘She must be one of the people that was brought to the school form the streets by a graduate of this school.
Families don’t send women here and unarmed martial arts isn’t a usual choice.’
“Using your body as a weapon is also martial arts. Do not be ashamed of yourself for it.”
Aurora instantly crossed the distance between them and suddenly stopped with a fist just in front of the students face.
“That is the potential of your martial arts. Now attack me seriously.”
The student quickly went for a gut punch.
Her hand blurred as she stuck Aurora and snapped back beside herself before she distanced herself by stepping around and away from her.
Aurora just stood there and took the hit.
She then kicked her leg with a low kick, knocking her down instantly.
“That was perfectly executed. You pass.”
Aurora continued brutally testing every student with individual spars until the sun set.
“Congratulations. All of you have passed, for everyone within a single day to pass the final preliminary exam has only happened eight times within the last six years. You may now meet the Martial Master and attain qi.”
Everything disappeared around them.
The sky, the ground simply faded away into nothing.
Then they all heard his voice.
“Welcome to Martial Arts.”
Yousti appeared before them.
He wore silk martial robes that seemed white but shimmered like a rainbow revealing that it was woven of countless bright colors of silk.
For a brief moment everyone within that void felt within their hearts a sense of enlightenment.
Every single one of them realized something about their martial arts unique to them.
‘Why didn’t I think of that before?’
‘It was so obvious.’
They felt within themselves qi for the first time in their lives.
It was like discovering a muscle that you had never moved before in your life.
Once you felt it and moved it you would never forget it.
Except this muscle was across their entire body.
They felt like they would have to relearn every martial art they had every performed to use this new muscle.
Like a musician discovering they had a third arm.
The intuitively knew the increased mental load of using qi along with their bodies.
But most of all was their admiration for the Divine Silk Spirit.
He had only spoken those few words to them and their lives had already forever changed.
“You have now stepped onto the path of true martial arts. It is a path measured in steps known as realms. As you master your qi you may one day reach new worlds and perhaps even steps beyond the path you could imagine.”
Yousti raised a finger as he gave this speech.
“Use your intent to establish the heart of heaven through the heart of man. That is martial arts.”
The Divine Silk Spirit disappeared and they left that void they had just found themselves in back to where they had just been.
All of them began talking to each other about what had just happened.
About their qi and about the Martial Master.
“The legends were true! He really is a divine spirit.”
“If what we are learning now is true martial arts then he must be the true martial artist.”
“What was that void he put us in!”
This new batch of martial artists were absolutely astonished by the Martial Master.
And in true 40k fashion they had found themselves worshipping him within their own minds.
But Yousti had long figured to direct this worship into pursuing martial arts which had effectively become his symbol, his concept.
In doing so hopefully they would achieve enlightenment and not become dependent upon worship and fall into the fatal flaws that would define the future.
That was Yousti’s hope for his way of teaching martial arts.
— AN —
This chapter was really hard to write.
I think it’s because I’m used to using monologuing or dialogue like Yousti’s contemplation for writing.
And that I don’t want to sound like I’m just summarizing events as well.
My writing feels smooth when it’s just yapping about interesting things, like RTOC’s martial arts.
Also writing the pov of the students is hard.
Should I give them names even if they’re extras?
But I’ve hit the 15 chapter milestone and I’m not planning on stopping so give me your support and I will feel encouraged.