Infinite Fighting

After Zhang Ji and his men planted the Five Elements Sect’s flag in Kui District, Master Quan reached out.

"You completed your objective within the time limit. Very good." Master Quan’s voice came through the phone. "You can make a request. As long as it’s not too excessive, I can grant it."

"Can you let me leave Shanli Island? And not as a criminal!" Zhang Ji asked tentatively.

Ever since he’d arrived on this island, he’d been implicitly branded a criminal.

"That’s not difficult. In fact, you aren’t one anymore. Anyone who works for the Five Elements Sect cannot be a criminal. However, your official status will have to be formalized later," said Master Quan.

"What is the Five Elements Sect’s goal?"

Although Zhang Ji and Kratos had their suspicions, they still wanted to confirm it for themselves.

"To unify the island and end this chaos," Master Quan said. "Shanli Island has been in turmoil for too long. The current regime needs order restored. Keep helping us, and when this is all over, you will be well-rewarded."

"Understood," said Zhang Ji. "I want to learn a martial art, preferably one focused on offense."

Master Quan was silent for a moment, then said, "Someone will deliver it to you."

The call ended there.

* * *

「Meanwhile, on Master Quan’s end.」

A heroic-looking young man with long hair, around six-foot-three, was practicing his forms in a spacious training ground.

With every move, the air cracked explosively.

As the form reached its climax, he thrust out a palm strike. A metal target weighing hundreds of pounds, positioned dozens of feet away, was sent flying.

"Ah Long, your internal energy has grown much stronger," Wang Quan said, approaching with the help of a cane.

Li Long shook his head. "Simply increasing my internal energy is meaningless. None of those old geezers are weak."

"The Xian Mountain Sect has arrived as well. We need to move faster," said Wang Quan.

"The Xian Mountain Sect!"

A cold glint flashed in Li Long’s eyes.

A little over half a year ago, he had broken through to the Grandmaster realm, becoming the youngest Grandmaster in the history of the Five Elements Sect. For a time, his fame was unparalleled.

However, those old geezers from the Xian Mountain Sect framed him, making him accidentally kill some idiotic young master with a special background during a banquet.

It should have been a minor affair, but with the Xian Mountain Sect fanning the flames behind the scenes, he was ultimately forced to retreat to Shanli Island to lay low for a while.

"Don’t be impulsive. It’s not that simple," said Wang Quan. "Times have changed. The Xian Mountain Sect is merely a blade in the hands of the authorities. You’re still young. As long as you can master the ’Five Forms as One’, we’ll be the ones calling the shots in the end."

At these words, Li Long closed his eyes for a moment, retracting the baleful energy in his gaze.

"Were you just talking to that new minion you recruited, Elder Wang?" Li Long asked.

"Yes. His strength is only third-rate, but he’s efficient enough," said Wang Quan.

"Out here, being ranked at all is good enough. He wants a martial art?" Li Long asked.

"Yes. He wants a martial art that’s heavily focused on offense. Not many people are willing to learn martial arts these days," Wang Quan lamented.

Nowadays, wars are fought with exoskeletons. The skies are blanketed with drones, while missiles and tracking grenades fly everywhere.

Ten or twenty years of arduous martial arts training can’t compare to two weeks of training in an armored suit.

Of course, a Martial Artist can wear an armored suit too, and they’re even more effective in one than a non-practitioner.

But it’s pointless, because there’s no longer any close-quarters, physical combat on the battlefield.

In fact, even the suit pilots don’t set foot on the battlefield anymore.

When major powers conduct combat exercises, it’s mostly a contest of attrition.

Only robots and drones do the fighting; humans rarely even make an appearance.

In today’s world, only a Martial Artist at the professional Fifth Rank or higher can have any real impact on a conventional battlefield.

Only a Grandmaster Level Martial Artist can control a small-scale conflict without the need for heavy weaponry.

That’s why the return on investment for learning martial arts keeps dropping.

"How about we give him the *Raccoon Claw Skill*?" said Li Long.

"But that’s one of the foundational martial arts the Five Elements Sect uses to train its own disciples..." Wang Quan hesitated.

"Then just put him on the roster. And prepare a set of the necessary training supplies for him. Give him the same treatment as a Five Elements Sect disciple," Li Long said.

Hearing this, Wang Quan could only nod.

Although he was an elder, Li Long was the Sect’s designated Daoist.

He was the one who would inherit the Sect’s legacy.

In the future, the Five Elements Sect was destined to be Li Long’s to command.

Immediately, Wang Quan sent someone to prepare the items.

Once the items were ready, he had them attached to a drone and sent to Kui District.

’That kid is getting a real bargain,’ Wang Quan muttered to himself.

Although the *Raccoon Claw Skill* was just a simplified, basic fist art derived from the *Leopard Form Fist* and *Tiger Form Fist*, it still contained some of the secrets of a Grandmaster-level technique.

It far surpassed ordinary third-rate martial arts. Once mastered, a practitioner could rival a peak third-rate Martial Artist.

In the Eastern Extreme Country of today, that was equivalent to a professional Third-Rank fighter.

That was why Wang Quan felt Zhang Ji was getting it for a steal.

* * *

"The *Raccoon Claw Skill*?"

Zhang Ji watched the instructional video playing on the tablet, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

The instructor was a middle-aged man in a traditional gray jacket.

He demonstrated the lethal power of a master of the *Raccoon Claw Skill*.

With a single swipe of his hand, he left three deep gouges in a thick metal plate.

’If that hit a person,’ Zhang Ji thought, ’it would go straight through their chest and rip out their lungs.’

"The *Raccoon Claw Skill*? The Five Elements Sect actually gave this to you? I heard it’s one of their foundational arts for training disciples!" Kratos exclaimed in surprise.

"Why don’t you come over and take a look?" said Zhang Ji.

"I can’t. It says only you can watch it. If I look, and the Five Elements Sect finds out, we’ll both be in for it," Kratos said, shaking his head.

"Stupid rule," Zhang Ji commented.

’This obsession with hoarding secrets to protect their own status and interests,’ he thought, ’this refusal to evolve... it just means that when someone else does innovate, they’ll come along and easily crush those who didn’t.’

’In the later "versions" of the world he knew, not a single one of the Five Great Saint Kings came from the Eastern Extreme Country.’

’And yet, in the "initial version," the Eastern Extreme Country had been one of the top three powers on Origin Star.’

’But after the Saint King War, the Eastern Extreme Country became just another ordinary nation.’

’It couldn’t even crack the top ten in the power rankings.’

’It had a rich martial heritage and a deep knowledge of combat, but because of this disgusting, messed-up sectarianism, it was never able to advance.’

’Apparently, if players in the initial version started in this region, they had to first find a master, be accepted into a sect, and become a disciple just to slowly learn the martial arts of that single school.’

’And if they wanted to learn from another school afterward, they’d either have to betray their original sect or first cripple their own martial arts.’

’It was just stupid. Incredibly stupid.’

’Though, some players who were into role-playing were apparently quite happy with it.’

Afterward, Zhang Ji took out all the materials and medicines required for his training and inspected them.

"Bone Tempering Flower, Qi Replenishing Powder, a Qilin Scale..."

Kratos, who was quite knowledgeable, recognized the items, and his expression shifted slightly.

"Are they expensive?" Zhang Ji asked.

"You can’t buy these even if you have the money. They’re all grown by the major Sects for their own use. This batch would sell for half a million at a minimum. In a second-tier city, that’s enough to buy a thousand-square-foot house," Kratos said.

"Housing prices here are pretty cheap, then." For some reason, this thought made Zhang Ji scoff.

"It’s not cheap at all," Kratos said, shaking his head. "An ordinary person couldn’t afford it even if they worked for more than a decade without spending a single cent."

Hearing this, Zhang Ji suddenly realized something.

’The purchasing power of the Eastern Extreme Country’s currency in this world must be different from that of the country he was from before he came here.’

’That meant the half a million was no small sum.’

Zhang Ji tried practicing the *Raccoon Claw Skill* that very day.

He could only teach himself by following the video, which also showed him how to use the various medicines.

Overall, it wasn’t too difficult. The stances and breathing techniques could be copied directly.

The medicinal components were already pre-portioned; he just had to measure them out and mix them in a container.

The initial stage of training required Zhang Ji to splay his fingers and hang weights from each one. While maintaining a specific breathing cycle, he had to repeatedly practice his claw attacks on a piece of leather. He would continue until his fingers were completely numb and aching, at which point he’d apply the medicine. This cycle was repeated to build up his finger strength.

With the enhancement from his *Iron Shirt Skill* Combat Essence, the effects of his training weren’t very noticeable.

After all, when it came down to it, both were combat skills from the True Self Style and the Solid Body Sect.

There was a degree of overlap between them.

Zhang Ji retracted the *Iron Shirt Skill*’s combat skill crystal into his Boundary. His body reverted to that of a normal person, and the effects of his training immediately became much more obvious.

In less than half an hour, he could feel a tingling exhaustion in all ten of his fingers.

After he applied the secret medicine, the tingling pain quickly vanished, replaced by a warm, swelling sensation that was faintly itchy.

The *Raccoon Claw Skill* was clearly much harder to train than the *Iron Shirt Skill*. Even after a full five days, Zhang Ji hadn’t managed to form a new Combat Essence.

At this point, Wang Quan gave Zhang Ji another mission.

To take over another district.

The deadline was even tighter this time: only ten days.

After investigating the situation, Zhang Ji set out with Kratos to get the job done.

「Half a day later.」

Amidst a hail of bullets, Zhang Ji single-handedly crushed all of the opposing side’s key fighters.

The district’s leader died inside a front-end loader.

He’d thought the machine could protect him, but it was useless against Zhang Ji’s fists.

Zhang Ji also took the opportunity to try out his newly learned *Raccoon Claw Skill*.

A single grazing hit tore a large flap of scalp from someone’s head. It was already showing some promise.

Still, he was probably a long way from acquiring his first Combat Essence for it.

After beating the locals into submission, Zhang Ji took the Five Elements Sect’s flag from his vehicle, walked to the rooftop of the tallest building, and secured it in place.

"What a joke. And this counts as bringing them under our rule?" Zhang Ji sneered.

"It’s surprisingly effective, actually," Kratos said, puffing on a cigar. "Look at the people down there. See anyone who looks like they’re going to disobey?"

"We beat the disobedient ones to a pulp. Of course they’re listening," said Zhang Ji.

In any other place, this method of control certainly wouldn’t work.

But this was Shanli Island.

It had always followed one rule.

The strong control everything, and the weak accept being ruled.

So this crude method of governance was more than enough to work here.