Without the sniveling brats, the normally noisy training ground was as silent as a grave. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own breathing.
Dad had left to sell the tiger carcass, and wouldnt be back for a few days.
Hoo
I took several deep breaths and did a light warm-up, then slowly started to move my body according to the Sixth Strike of the Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw.
Kuhahaha! Did you just say that you wanted to learn my martial art?
Every ti I had asked him to teach his martial arts, Maeng Ho-Ak would thump his chest proudly and declare:
Did you know? I created this martial art myself!
You call that a new martial art? All you did was put together a bunch of random techniques! As I thought, youre shaless!
Shut your trap, Crazy Demon! The instant I get out of here, youll be the first one I beat to death!
Hmph, thats my line.
For so reason, I cant recall a single mory where those two sirs werent fighting
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Maeng Ho-Ak, the Bandit King, and Hyon-Won Hu, the Crazy Demon, were like oil and water.1
Before being captured by the Blood Cult, they had never t before (surprise surprise), but the instant they saw each other in prison, they decided that they couldnt get along with each other.
At first, they only had minor argunts resulting from personality clashes and their differing opinions about the ultimate goal of martial arts, however, as ti passed, theyd argue with each other for the sake of arguing.
Youre a brainless vagrant whos only scratched the surface of martial arts!
Bark bark bark! All I hear is a noisy dog!
Most of their argunts were like this, but because they were locked up in different rooms (their rooms were right next to each other though, so they could happily argue all day), they never actually got to fight and compare their martial arts.
Ive always wondered who was the stronger among those two
Unfortunately, in the end, the match between the two never took place.
Right after escaping from the underground prison, we fought our way through the Blood Cults warriors. At that ti, these two n who did nothing but fight verbally all day long worked together so well that anyone would think they were the best of friends.
Perhaps its as they say, that sotis your enemies know you better than your friends
Well, anyway, back to the main point.
The Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw that Master Maeng created was a combination of the many martial arts that were passed down within bandit society, which stretches back hundreds, even thousands, of years.
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However, unlike the orthodox (and even unorthodox) sects, no one recognized their long history. The martial artists of the murim saw bandits as nothing more than regular criminals and easy fighting experience for their young warriors.
You orthodox dogs always treat us like insects you can stomp on any ti you want. Who becos a bandit because they wanted to beco a bandit?
Hmph! If you didnt like being treated that way, why didnt you go beco a farr? You just didnt want to work hard and chose the easy way out.
Fuck, are you seriously saying that?
One day, Maeng Ho-Ak and Hyon-Won Hu were quarrelling as usual, when suddenly, Hyon-Won Hus words hit a nerve in Maeng Ho-Ak.
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That was the first ti I saw Maeng Ho-Aks cold, rciless side.
If youve ever tried farming, you wouldnt be saying that. You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and lived a life of luxury. How would you know how a farr feels, working day and night only to have the fruits of all their efforts taken away by corrupt officials? Also, did you know? That if a farr tried to avoid paying their taxes, the n would be beaten up by the constables and the won raped. In the years where crop yields are poor, their entire harvest would still be taken away as taxes while the farrs starve to death. Do you honestly think that everyone could have a better life as long as they worked hard?
As Maeng Ho-Ak gasped for breath after his sudden outburst, Hyon-Won Hu hesitated for a long ti, and did not make his usual snappy remarks.
Is that your life story?
No, I made it all up. Kahahahaha!
You fucking lunatic. You actually ca up with a better excuse than usual.
In the end, it didnt matter if Maeng Ho-Aks story was fake or not.
Only people at the very bottom of society, with nowhere else to go, beca bandits. However, instead of offering help to them before it was too late, both the governnt and the orthodox murim treated them as naturally evil beings who must be exterminated.
For survival, the bandits had no choice but to create their own martial arts that were easy to learn yet practical.
We never had the luxury of quietly ditating and accumulating qi, since we always had more pressing matters to tend to like housing and food. Thats why, the way of the bandits is to start by swinging our fists!
The internal arts required one to spend months, even years, slowly accumulating qi. On the other hand, the results from training ones body and learning external arts was imdiate. Thus, the bandits focused on developing and improving the external arts.
The one bad thing about the external arts was that it was heavily talent-dependent. If one did not have a large, muscular build, one would naturally be at a huge disadvantage. It was for this reason that the bandits martial arts were considered shallow and barbaric.
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However, Master Maeng told that that was just nonsense from people who didnt want to train their bodies to the limits. That many masters of internal arts were simply too lazy to do physical conditioning, and felt that as long as their techniques contained qi, that was more than enough. He told that if I just thought about it, wasnt sitting cross-legged all day ditating actually really bad for ones knees and back?
Even then, as much as he valued the external arts, Maeng Ho-Ak did not look down on the internal arts. He had indeed trained his qi, although not quite to the sa extent as the other three masters.
Listen up, the external arts are in no way inferior to the internal arts! They may seem like polar opposites, but the fact is that they work in harmony! If you wish to reach the peak of martial arts, you have to master both!
When things escalated to that point, I had no choice but to interject.
But Master Maeng, didnt you often eat herbs and dicines to get stronger?
Out of the four masters, Master Maeng was the one who loved popping pills the most. Perhaps it was because he never got to eat the good stuff while he was growing up?
Hed talk about how he bought and ate as many dicinal products as he could, including the body parts of snakes, centipedes, tigers, turtles, frogs etc.
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Hyon-Won Hu narrowed his eyes and stared at the giant in his neighboring cell.
Did you think that everything you eat is converted into energy? Herbs and dicines are not things you can just eat without thinking!
Huhuhu, thats right! In theory, everything we eat is converted into energy, right? Just you wait and see, Ill create the strongest external art in the world that eliminates the need for ditation!
After making that declaration, Maeng Ho-Ak promptly began reimagining and refining his Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw. The other three masters also often improved upon their martial arts to while away the ti, but Master Maeng was by far the most dedicated one among them.
In the end, it was only successful in theory. We never got to test it.
Although not even Master Maeng had fully mastered his newly refined martial art, he never forgot to remind again and again:
Kiddo, Ill leave it to you to prove it to the world. Show those pompous bastards how strong my martial art is! Hahaha! When you get out of here, go teach those fucking assholes that even if one falls to the lowest depths of society, they can still beco the worlds best using only external arts!
Im sorry, Master Maeng, but I ended up teaching your martial art to the guy with the biggest build.
Back then, I didnt have any choice but to obey the Demon Strategist when he asked to hand over the four masters martial arts.
In addition, although Maeng Ho-Ak claid that his martial arts could be learned by anyone, it was an immutable truth that having a naturally muscular fra was highly advantageous when it ca to learning external arts.
AnywayI never imagined that Id end up practicing his martial art because of a reason like this.
Read this at , or else.
Maeng Ho-Aks Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw was a martial art that ANYONE could learn. Even with my weak body.
Hoo
I paused my training and steadied my breathing. I looked like I had taken a shower in sweat, but I felt refreshed.
Wow, ti really flies!
I started training first thing in the morning, but when I ca to, the sun was already setting.
In my mind, I could hear Master Maengs brazen laughter.
The Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw is divided into three stages: Beginner, Interdiate, and Advanced. Each stage contains six of the Strikes.
When you master the Beginner stage, your body will be overflowing with energy, while your joints will be as flexible as a cats.
After you master the Interdiate stage, your body will be as hard as iron and as strong as a bull.
And when you master the Advanced stage, your body will be invulnerable to the elents, impenetrable by weapons, and will never age.
To tell the truth, I dont believe that guys bullshit about not aging.
The part about the aging was only Master Maengs theory, after all. It was never proven.
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Also, even with all the improvents, if I had to compare the four masters martial artsthen the Bandit Kings Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw was definitely the lousiest one.
However, there was one thing I could say for sure.
Not only was the Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw by far the best external art in the world, it was also the strongest unard martial art.
Graaaaargh! Im gonna puml you all to death!
That was what Maeng Ho-Ak had shouted as we escaped from the prison. He enthusiastically charged ahead of the rest of us and tore the Blood Cult warriors in our way to shreds with his bare hands like a violent god of death.
In the end, the Blood Cult had to sacrifice hundreds of experts just to stop that human avalanche from destroying everything.
If Master Maeng had been born in a martial arts family, or was scouted by a large sect at a young age, then he might have
I imdiately shook my head at the thought. The Bandit King was indeed talented, but the Crazy Demon, the Ice Moon Goddess, and the Sword Saint were by no ans inferior to him.
I think I have the right to say that, since I learned all four of their martial arts.
HooHoo
I continued training in the Beginner Stage of the Eighteen Strikes of the Outlaw until the stars twinkled in the night sky, only taking a short break for dinner in between.
According to my estimations, as long as I trained slowly and gently, my body would be able to keep going for a long period of ti.
Nevertheless, when my arms trembled and my legs wobbled, I nearly wanted to give up and lie down on the ground. At those tis, I told myself, Just a little bit more. I can still continue.
I forced my shaking arms to move.
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I gathered my strength in my legs.
Although Im only practicing the Beginner Stage for now, it wont be long before I can begin learning the Interdiate Stage. Unlike Maeng Ho-Ak, I have the ti and luxury to dream of mastering the Advanced Stage and surpassing him.
However, am I satisfied with just that?
In addition to the Heaven Defying Divine Art, I also know the martial arts of the Crazy Demon, the Ice Moon Goddess, and the Sword Saint.
If I mastered all of these martial arts, just how strong would I beco?
Perhaps I was just being overly optimistic. All of these martial arts were so deep and complex that it would take a miracle for to master just one of them, much less all of them.
If youre seeing this, you are at the wrong place.
I also didnt know how many hidden masters there were in the gangho.
Even so, the possibility wasnt zero.
I could be the Worlds Strongest.
My imagination was running wild, but my body never stopped moving.
I forgot about the passing of ti and let my muscle mory do the work.
BAM!
The gates of the Baek Academy were thrown open. Dad strode in, drunk with happiness.
Son! Daddys ho! Hahaha! Do you know how much that tiger skin was sold for? Your jaw will drop to the floor
Read this at , or else.
Huff. Youre already back? That was quick.
Wait, what are you doing? Why do you look like that? Did you pull an all-nighter?
No, I uhI was overdosed on dicine and needed to release the extra energy
I panicked and imdiately tried to explain what had happened, but it backfired.
Overdosed on dicine? No way Did you eat the tuber fleeceflowers? By yourself? Didnt I tell you to wait until I returned because it was dangerous!?
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Ah, no, about that
Dad looked around the training ground for a mont before finally deciding upon his punishnt weapon of choice: the broomstick.
You little punkGet your ass over here!
W-Wait! Lets talk this out! No violence!
For the next two hours, I played a ga of tag with my broomstick waving Dad.
Judging by the fact that I lasted that long, it seems that my stamina had indeed improved.
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