A Note Left Behind in the Brush and Branch
Shifu had boasted about innumerable things throughout his life, some of which were so far-fetched that I couldn’t even find the motivation to expose. Some of them should’ve been classified as lecherous delusions. Honestly, I was worried about his mental health.
Shifu once solemnly told me he had a treasure collection hidden on the other side of the ocean that he was waiting for someone to uncover and subsequently usher in a new era. Apparently, only fiends hiding in the realm of mankind and shared the same lifestyle could share the same fate as men of this world. I truly worried he was telling stories without legal licenses. He was dead serious about his stories and even stressed that I had to listen to all the details. The only thoughts I had after hearing them were wanting to sleep and beat the snot out of him. He was only spared because I couldn’t beat him.
Oh, he also claimed Third Shiniang is a Princess. He claimed to have ridden the wind, landed atop a city wall on a New Year’s Eve night that rained flowers and, in the presences of thousands of witnesses, kidnapped her, creating a blissful marriage. When did it ever rain flowers on New Year’s Eve?! As well, wasn’t she the youngest daughter of a wealthy family? Although I felt that her mannerisms, aura and appearance were all too great for that identity, there were plenty of unimaginable things out there. Maybe she just happened to be the youngest daughter of a wealthy family who was literate, could play musical instruments, and was beautiful.
I digressed.
Anyway, I was supposed to talk about one of his brags about his childhood.
Shifu had been on the mountain for a few years by then. Not only did Grandmaster never teach him anything, Grandmaster virtually didn’t even speak to him all those years, only forbidding him from leaving the mountain peak. No matter what sort of stunts Shifu pulled, Grandmaster ignored him. When he was close to escaping, Grandmaster would beat him up and then dump him back at the top of the mountain. As a result of some nerve going awry, Shifu started challenging all the disciples on the mountain when he was around fifteen years old.
Though Shifu was Grandmaster’s sole disciple, there were a lot of Mount Daluo disciples once you accounted for branch disciples, as well. Shifu’s brag took place prior to my birth, at a time when there were more branch elders and disciples than now. Branch disciples were permitted to learn Mount Daluo’s disciplines, but they couldn’t receive direct instruction from the sect’s patriarch. As such, branch disciples inevitably progressed slower than direct disciples.
The roots of Mount Daluo’s disciplines didn’t actually derive from Grandmaster. While it was true that he was one of Mount Daluo’s strongest patriarchs in its history, the majority of his skills were self-creations, most of which didn’t have sequels. It was unlikely for there to be a second Hero Shenzhou in the next few centuries. Hence, he contributed to Mount Daluo’s future less than the branch members did.
Grandmaster left the sect to its own devices, which was probably how he had been running it (if you could call it that) for a long time – long enough for there to be significant effects of factions within the sect splitting off into more groups. Due to him leaving the sect to its own devices for more than seventy years, the branch disciples had continued to essentially build a second Mount Daluo through assiduous efforts and discipline.
Based on my own reading of Mount Daluo’s history in the last few centuries, the branch members had never been so strong before. Back in the day, the majority of them only managed to learn “Star Palms”, yet more and more branch disciples were now learning Cast-off and Empty Palms, many of whom were as promising as Uncle Wushan.
During the period that the successor spot was vacant, the branch members took it upon themselves to pass down knowledge, train diligently, and were capable enough to be competitive if they left the mountain. They split into three factions, each having their own knowledge to pass on. They viewed other factions as rivals to fuel their motivation. Despite their success, though, they never dared to claim themselves as authentic Mount Daluo disciples. For as long as Grandmaster was alive, they wouldn’t ever dare to call themselves authentic disciples even if they were ten times as strong as they had grown to.
It wasn’t hard to understand the logic. Grandmaster didn’t bother with them because he was confident that he could deal with them if they tried to usurp power. That said, they didn’t lose hope as human life was limited. Once Grandmaster left the world, they’d be able to seize power – at least they strongly believed that. They thought the exact same thing about Shifu when he was initially brought to the mountain, too, until that fateful day.
On a sunny day, the elders were watching their disciples compete at the training zone. The winner of the tournament was granted permission to train at Vast Sea Submerged Pearl Hall for a year, which was a dream come true for any Mount Daluo disciple. A disciple considered the most hopeful next patriarch just defeated seven of his fellow disciples when someone said, “What on earth is this embarrassing contest?”
The young disciple hailed as a prodigy was livid, but he maintained a courteous front whilst inwardly deciding he’d cut the insolent guy down. To the surprise of many, Shifu actually stepped into the arena when the prodigy invited him. To add insult to injury, Shifu casually snapped off a tree branch, jumped into the ring and virtually crippled his opponent. Despite delivering a crushing defeat to an adulated foe, Shifu just blankly said, “Next.”
Shifu beat one person after the next. According to him, had Grandmaster not intervened, he would’ve smashed the branch elders, as well. The part that had me scoff at was him claiming that he lasted twenty-three exchanges against Grandmaster before he was subdued. A child being able to force Grandmaster into intervening and then lasting twenty-three exchanges? Come on now. As ridiculous as it sounded, however, when Zizi shared his view of the manual’s contents, I had an undeniable feeling that Shifu was actually telling the truth.
“What was the original text?”
Based off the bells and whistles in the text and Zizi’s professional interpretation, I recalled a line Shifu told me after a bunch of drinks: “Elite beginner yang qi is developed through combat.” Putting two and two together, I finally realised that Shifu didn’t challenge all the disciples because he was a battle monger. He challenged them in order to master Pure Yang One Qi!
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