High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

「That night, in the basement.」

The Virtual Cabin opened, and Xu Wuyi lay down inside.

A pure white space unfolded, and the Illusion coalesced.

Xu Wuyi didn’t immediately set up his gravity traps. Instead, he observed.

He let the Illusion attack first.

As the first sword thrust came, Xu Wuyi sidestepped to evade it, making no move to counter-attack.

The second sword strike: he retreated half a step, again only dodging.

The third sword, the fourth sword...

For the first thirty moves, Xu Wuyi remained purely on the defensive.

His Spiritual Power spread out like a fine net, enveloping the entire combat space and capturing every detail of the Illusion’s movements:

the angle of its sword strikes, the trajectory of its movements, the fluctuating intensity of its Sword Intention, the nodes of its Space Folding...

This information surged into his sea of consciousness like a river, where it was absorbed, analyzed, and organized by the great, dark-gold marsh within.

On the thirty-first move, a minuscule gap appeared in the transition of the Illusion’s Sword Momentum.

Xu Wuyi moved.

His long spear thrust out, not with full force, but as a probing strike.

The Illusion blocked with its sword and immediately counter-attacked.

Xu Wuyi returned to the defensive.

The battle lasted a full three minutes, ending in Xu Wuyi’s "defeat."

But when he stepped out of the Virtual Cabin, there was no frustration on his face.

"How did it go?" Qiao Tongyu asked.

"I made some progress," Xu Wuyi said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Its movement pattern has seven fixed nodes, and its Sword Intention fluctuates distinctly three times during transitions. My previous trap layout only covered three of those nodes."

Qiao Tongyu raised an eyebrow. "You want to cover all of them?"

"I’ll try," Xu Wuyi said.

Over the next few days, Xu Wuyi’s fighting style changed completely.

He no longer sought a quick victory—he wasn’t even seeking "victory" at all.

He entered every battle with a clear purpose:

to figure out one of the Illusion’s specific habits, test the effects of a certain Gravity combination, or verify the feasibility of a particular window for a counter-attack.

Sometimes, he would deliberately leave an opening in a fight to see what attack path the Illusion would choose.

Other times, he would deliberately enter one of his own gravity trap zones to experience how the Illusion adjusted to it.

At times, he would even mimic the Illusion’s movements, trying to understand the logic behind its use of Space Folding.

This fighting style consumed less energy and put less strain on his Heart and Spirit, so he was actually able to spend more time fighting each day.

He went from one battle a day to two, and eventually, he could even manage three.

Qiao Tongyu’s initial confusion gradually turned into understanding.

"You’re really dissecting the Illusion piece by piece to study it," Qiao Tongyu remarked one evening, watching Xu Wuyi step out of the Virtual Cabin.

"Know your enemy," Xu Wuyi said, taking a sip of water. "Only by truly understanding its fighting style can I find the most reliable way to counter it."

"Any progress?"

"Yes." Xu Wuyi pulled up the day’s battle data. "I can now predict five of its seven movement nodes. As for the three fluctuations during its Sword Intention transitions, I’ve narrowed down the timing to within a tenth of a second."

Qiao Tongyu looked at the graphs on the screen and nodded.

"But it’s not enough," Xu Wuyi said. "Predicting its moves isn’t the goal. The goal is to use those predictions to build a more effective network of traps."

...

Time passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the month.

Linjiang Martial Arts University, Central Gymnasium.

It was time for Xu Wuyi’s fourth class, which was also the final lecture for this course.

On the lecture platform, he was explaining the "Practical Application and In-Combat Adjustment of Heart Images."

An edited combat recording played on the panoramic display screen.

It was a clip from his battle against the Feathered People Second King in the N-33 Star Domain. Key information had been blurred out, but the essence of how he used his Heart Image was clearly visible.

"A Heart Image isn’t just for show. It’s not something you only use when you’re unleashing an ultimate move," Xu Wuyi’s voice boomed through the speakers, filling the entire venue.

"It should be integrated into your every action, your every breath. Like this—"

He raised his hand, and a dark-gold Water Drop coalesced above his palm.

The Water Drop hovered there, rising and falling gently with his breath.

"One of my Heart Images is Heavy Water. Its Trait is ’heavy,’ but ’heavy’ doesn’t just mean you can use it to smash people."

With a flicker of his thoughts, the Water Drop suddenly "dispersed," transforming into a thin, dark-gold mist that enveloped a three-meter radius around the lecture platform.

The students below could clearly feel the air in that area become "thick."

"This is another application of Heavy Water: Gravity Field interference," Xu Wuyi explained. "Although its intensity is far weaker than in its condensed state, its advantages lie in its wide range, low consumption, and long duration."

"In real combat, this kind of continuous, low-intensity interference can often disrupt your opponent’s rhythm and create opportunities for you."

He retracted the mist, and the Water Drop re-formed.

"So, don’t let the ’form’ of your Heart Image limit your thinking. Its essence is your Martial Arts Will—your comprehension of the Rules."

"The form is just a manifestation. You can adjust, change, and innovate it at any time based on the situation."

A murmur of sudden understanding rippled through the audience.

Many students bent down to take notes, their eyes shining brightly.

After the class, Xu Wuyi was swarmed by students, all asking questions more eagerly than ever.

He answered them patiently until Li Wenjuan had to step in and remind everyone of the time, at which point the crowd reluctantly dispersed.

"Professor Xu, here are the post-class evaluations from the students," Li Wenjuan said, handing him a datapad. "A 99.7% satisfaction rate. That’s a new record for the university."

Xu Wuyi glanced at it and nodded. "The students were taking it seriously, so I couldn’t just phone it in."

By the time he left the gymnasium, dusk was already setting in.

Qiao Zhiyao was waiting outside, dressed in a light-blue training uniform with her hair tied back in a crisp ponytail.

"Senior Brother!" she said, walking up with a grin. "I heard your class ended today?"

"Mhm," Xu Wuyi nodded. "Four weeks, eight lectures. I just finished them."

"So... are you free tonight?" Qiao Zhiyao asked. "My dad said he’d like to have you over for dinner, to thank you for all your hard work these past few weeks."

Xu Wuyi thought for a moment. "Alright."

The atmosphere in the Qiao family’s dining room was livelier than usual.

Qiao Tongyu had specifically asked the kitchen to prepare several extra dishes and had even opened a bottle of treasured vintage wine.

The three of them chatted as they ate, and the topic of conversation gradually shifted from the course to his combat training.

"I hear you haven’t been winning your fights lately, Senior Brother?" Qiao Zhiyao asked curiously.

As Qiao Tongyu’s daughter, she knew that Xu Wuyi had been challenging a program recently, but she didn’t know the specific details.

"It’s not about winning right now; I’ve just changed my approach," Xu Wuyi said, picking up a piece of food with his chopsticks. "First I study the opponent thoroughly, then I figure out how to win."

"Are you confident you can do it?" Qiao Tongyu asked. "That requirement from General Wu... is no simple task."

"I’m getting there," Xu Wuyi said. "I estimate I can officially start the challenge in a couple of days."

A flicker of surprise crossed Qiao Tongyu’s eyes. "So soon?"

"Three sessions a day, each one with a specific goal for observation. The data accumulates quickly," Xu Wuyi said, then paused for a moment.

After dinner, Xu Wuyi didn’t rest. He went straight to the basement.

He still had one more battle to fight tonight.

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