Chapter 106: The Secret Manual Was Thrown Away?

Li Daniu also had some thoughts about the movie world he had traversed this time.

In the movie *Kung Fu*, the most valuable thing was undoubtedly the mysterious beggar.

But there were far too many discussions about the mysterious beggar.

Li Daniu had once read online discussions about the mysterious beggar. Someone claimed he was an expert who had wandered the world, even a deity. After all, the secret manuals in his hands were utterly exaggerated—Buddha’s Divine Palm, Nine Yang Manual, Lone Nine Swords, and more—all of them peerless martial arts.

A beggar possessing so many peerless martial arts, how could he be an ordinary beggar?

Moreover, even when he had seen Ah Xing as a child, he could tell that Ah Xing was no ordinary person. That gaze also proved his own power from the side.

Yet others insisted the mysterious beggar was merely an ordinary beggar. The reason was simple: the peerless martial arts he produced were all cheap printings from the publisher, costing only a few cents each.

Ah Xing had become a peerless expert thanks to such manuals only because he himself was a once-in-a-lifetime martial arts prodigy.

Li Daniu had never seen the mysterious beggar and therefore could not judge which explanation was true.

Furthermore, the mysterious beggar appeared and vanished without a trace. Aside from brief appearances at the movie’s opening and closing, there were no other scenes featuring him.

China was vast. How could anyone be certain the beggar had always lingered in Shanghai Beach? Even if he had, Li Daniu would not dare guarantee he could locate him.

After all, although Ah Xing had not made much of his life, he had roamed the streets for years. In those twenty years from childhood to now, he had never met the mysterious beggar again. How could Li Daniu be sure he would find him within the next four months?

Besides the mysterious beggar, the strongest figure in *Kung Fu* was Ah Xing’s Buddha’s Divine Palm. When Ah Xing had broken through the Ren and Du meridians and truly unleashed its power, it shook the heavens and earth.

One only needed to watch the enormous pit Ah Xing had blasted with a single palm or the way it had shattered a building’s wall to grasp the martial art’s terrifying might.

Blowing a hole straight through and collapsing a structure were two entirely different concepts.

The most reliable way to obtain this technique was to begin with Ah Xing.

Whether he had learned it from a manual or discovered it through his own insight, he could still master it if he first cultivated a good relationship with Ah Xing.

The most effective way to build that relationship was to teach him martial arts.

Yet Li Daniu knew almost nothing of Ah Xing’s character.

In the film, Ah Xing had awakened at the critical moment and chosen to aid the landlady couple. But in this materialized real world, if Li Daniu suddenly interfered and altered the plot, would Ah Xing remain the same?

Li Daniu did not want to cultivate an invincible black boss for Shanghai Beach.

Thus, he decided to test Ah Xing with money first.

While resting in the lounge, Li Daniu had been watching Ah Xing’s every movement. Seeing him hesitate for a moment under Fat Brother Cong’s reluctant gaze, he walked over to the front desk to handle the room registration. A satisfied smile touched Li Daniu’s lips.

“Master, the room is ready.” Ah Xing’s hand trembled as he placed the room key and the remaining money—every last cent—before Li Daniu.

“Mm.” Li Daniu answered. In the hungry eyes of Ah Xing and Fat Brother Cong, he tucked the cash away.

Upstairs, inside the suite, Li Daniu could not help but praise the opulence of Shanghai Beach. This was a spacious suite; aside from the absence of modern appliances, the rest surpassed even the presidential suites of the five-star hotels he had stayed in back in the real world.

Ah Xing stepped into the room and was likewise stunned by its grandeur. He stood there for a moment, then saw Li Daniu seated on the sofa. Hastily advancing, he dropped to one knee again.

“Master, please receive another bow from your humble disciple.”

Beside him, Fat Brother Cong also knelt, prompted by a glance from Ah Xing, and called out to become a disciple as well.

Li Daniu nodded. “Accepting you as disciples is not impossible. Rise and speak with me.”

Ah Xing stood at once, picked up the room’s thermos, tested its temperature, then found the tea and began brewing it for Li Daniu.

“The tea needs to be washed first.” Li Daniu watched Ah Xing pour the leaves straight into the cup and offer it to him, unable to hold back the remark.

“Wash it?” Ah Xing blinked, then reached for the tea canister as if heading for the sink.

“Forget it. I won’t drink it.” Li Daniu waved a hand. “Have either of you ever practiced martial arts?”

Fat Brother Cong shook his head. Forget martial arts—he had never even bothered with physical exercise.

Ah Xing set the canister down with visible excitement. “Master, I have practiced martial arts. May I demonstrate?”

“Yes.” Even without that request, Li Daniu would have insisted. After all, according to the film, Ah Xing had only ever learned a single set of Buddha’s Divine Palm.

Seeing Li Daniu agree, Ah Xing removed his patched jacket and began a flawless display of every movement in sequence.

In mere minutes he finished the entire form, then looked at Li Daniu with eyes brimming with expectation.

Li Daniu, however, was already staring in open-mouthed astonishment.

Back then, Huo Gong Tuo had not only passed on the Nine Yang Divine Skill to him but the complete Nine Yang Manual. Besides the inner cultivation method of extreme yang qi, the manual also contained the fundamental principles of martial arts.

This distinction held true between the movie version of *The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber* and the original text.

Precisely because the Nine Yang Manual encompassed those principles, Zhang Wuji’s mastery of any martial art proceeded at an astonishing speed. Even the Great Shifting of the Universe—which normally required decades—came to him in just a few short hours.

After mastering that technique, which relied on the circulation of qi to exert force, Zhang Wuji could imitate the power application of any martial art. In other words, he could absorb a move by watching it once, then replicate the opponent’s qi circulation through the Great Shifting of the Universe and employ it directly.

Li Daniu, who likewise possessed the Nine Yang Manual, therefore possessed an exceptionally discerning eye.

It was exactly that discerning eye that left him dumbfounded. For the sequence Ah Xing had just demonstrated was profound and sophisticated far beyond the Tai Chi Fist he himself practiced; the two arts simply emphasized different aspects.

Was this truly Buddha’s Divine Palm?

“What is the name of this set of martial arts?” Li Daniu managed to steady himself and ask.

Ah Xing replied with obvious embarrassment, “This set… is called Buddha’s Divine Palm.”

“You hit me with everything you have.” Li Daniu suddenly recalled a scene from the film: when Ah Xing had first cured his injury, he had struck dozens of palm prints onto an iron traffic light post. Given the power he had just displayed, how could he be nothing more than a street thug?

Ah Xing hesitated. “Master… my fists are the size of a large pot. I’m afraid…”

“Nonsense. I want to test your strength.” Li Daniu smiled.

Seeing that Li Daniu was determined, Ah Xing stopped hesitating. He too wanted to gauge how formidable his new master truly was.

Ah Xing assumed a stance, then struck Li Daniu with a single palm.

Li Daniu, however, sat motionless. He had already activated the protective true qi of the Nine Yang Divine Skill.

No power manifested. Ah Xing had merely tapped him lightly; he had not even used his full physical strength.

“Give it everything you’ve got,” Li Daniu said gravely. “If that is all your strength, then I cannot take you as my disciple.”

Ah Xing grew anxious at once and struck again—this time with every ounce of power he possessed. Yet the palm never reached Li Daniu’s clothes; it rebounded as if striking an invisible wall.

Not only did Ah Xing look stunned, Li Daniu felt a pang of disappointment. That level of force was impossible.

“Where did it go wrong?”

Li Daniu glanced around. “Strike the wall instead.”

Ah Xing did not hesitate. He moved to the wall, assumed his stance, and delivered a palm. The wall remained untouched, but he himself cried out in pain.

Was it because he had not been injured? What bizarre situation was this? Li Daniu could not understand.

“Besides the moves, does this set of martial arts have any inner skill or other methods?” he asked.

“Inner skill? You mean the text on the manual?” Ah Xing scratched his head. “I don’t read, Master.”

Doesn’t read? Ah Xing had never attended school; he could not recognize characters at all. He could only understand the pictures in the manuals and learn the forms.

Li Daniu took a deep breath. “Then where did you obtain the manual for this art?”

“Discarded it.”

“Discarded?”

“Yes.” Ah Xing explained, “I practiced this martial art for twenty years and got nothing from it. No one could beat me, so I threw the manual away long ago. If practicing these forms had not become a habit, I would have stopped long ago.”

Discarded long ago? Then there was nowhere to look for it.

Li Daniu felt suddenly dejected. (To be continued.)