Descendants of the False Gods

Chapter 026: Life in the Imperial Capital (Part 4)

Yan Bo was feeling a bit awkward. Just as he was about to tell the children that he didn’t know how to solve the problem, he suddenly noticed a medical book he had been looking at earlier during his walk.

Yan Bo returned to his chair and slowly said to the two children, “Do you remember when we learned medical techniques at the Shicao Mountain Manor, and the teacher talked about the structure of the human body? There are many parts of the body that are easily injured when struck, and most of these areas lack protection from bones and muscles. First, the head, where the areas without skull protection are usually vital weak points. The spine is most vulnerable to injury above the cervical vertebrae, followed by the neck. Even the strongest people only have four major muscles protecting the neck, making it susceptible to strong attacks. Next is the torso—under the arms, ribs, chest, and groin, which are all easy to injure. Then there’s the inside of the thighs, knees, the inside of the calves, shinbones, toes, the tops of the feet, ankles, and heels. Finally, there are the joints of the body. Now, let’s talk about facing an opponent with better overall physical fitness than you. First, you must avoid fatal strikes. These include controlling strikes, such as those that deform your movements, and then there’s agility—agile thinking, agile positioning, and even agile attacks. Only then can you execute a variety of attacks and find effective ways to counter…”

After much discussion, Lan and Luo understood a lot but were still a bit unclear.

Yan Bo continued explaining the techniques related to their questions for a long time and finally told them that many techniques required continuous experience to master. He also reminded them that the offensive and defensive drills that could cause injury were something they hadn’t encountered before. Because they were dangerous, he hoped they would treat them carefully in future learning and training.

The next day, Lan and Luo were notified that they had been moved to the beginner class and had officially become students of the academy.

In the beginner class, aside from language and mathematics lessons, they had to arrange their study subjects on their own.

Although the brothers had begun basic training from a young age, their understanding of the theory of martial arts was still quite limited. In the following week, Lan and Luo visited nearly all the martial arts classrooms, learning from basic boxing theory to the use of various weapons.

The two of them soaked up martial arts knowledge like sponges, constantly absorbing new information. During this time, they also learned a basic boxing technique and a general sword style.

After a month of focused learning, they spent their first month at the academy with intense practice of basic boxing movements.

Some movements were not difficult for them, as the exertion and body stretching were similar to their previous swordsmanship training. But some movements were things they had ignored or never practiced before.

Their childhood swordsmanship training rarely used leg techniques, but now, in the boxing techniques they were learning, leg techniques made up a significant portion. They decided that they would have to incorporate leg technique training into their daily routines.

They even found a specialized leg technique teacher to learn a complete set of leg techniques, including straight kicks, high sweeps, side kicks, side thrusts, sweeping legs, tripping, and splitting legs…

After a month of focused practice, they realized that none of the classmates in their beginner class were people they knew, yet they were extremely familiar with every martial arts teacher and training room.

They suddenly wanted to meet some new friends to discuss and exchange ideas about their studies. Lan and Luo walked around the lower-grade academy building twice, greeting their classmates, but no one spoke to them. At best, they received polite smiles and nods.

Feeling frustrated, they decided to visit the intermediate teaching building to find Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi.

Upon arriving at the intermediate building and asking around, they discovered that Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi were well-known, and every student seemed to know them.

It didn’t take long for Lan and Luo to spot them near a playground. Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi were standing between two groups of people, and it seemed like they were in the middle of a dispute.

Curious, Lan and Luo moved closer to the crowd. It was noisy, and they couldn’t figure out what the argument was about, so they asked the surrounding students.

After a while, they learned that the initial argument was about whether routine martial arts techniques had practical value. But as time passed, it turned into a clash of two philosophies, and now it had escalated into a confrontation between two groups of students who were preparing to fight.

The crowd began to disperse, not because the argument was over, but because they were preparing to fight.

As Lan and Luo hesitated, they found themselves from the edge of the crowd to now being right in the middle. The students in the center had already begun to fight, and a chaotic battle had started.

This was no longer a martial arts contest; it had turned into a brawl between two groups of children.

As the scene became more chaotic, the use of martial arts became more disorganized. Many students were not just throwing random punches but even pulling hair and rolling on the ground with each other.

At this point, no one seemed to care about the original argument. Many of the students who had come to cheer on their side didn’t even know if they agreed with their own team’s perspective. Lan and Luo, in the middle of it all, didn’t know who to support or what to do.

In the chaos, some noticed two people standing in the middle of the field, watching the fight without moving. Without asking any questions, they rushed up to attack.

Luo knocked one of them out with a single punch, fast and decisive.

The fallen person’s companions, seeing one of their own taken down, rushed over, only to be knocked down by Lan and Luo again. Then, someone shouted, and soon even more people rushed to join the fight.

With years of training, Lan and Luo’s punches and kicks were much heavier than those of the average child. Coupled with their one-month study of martial arts theory, they mastered the rationale behind striking, which allowed them to almost instantly take down every student who came at them.

The scene had turned into a group of students surrounding the two of them.

Originally at the center of the brawl, Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi had noticed that their opponents and their supporters had fled to the other side after a few rounds of fighting.

The two quickly took down their opponents and ran toward the chaotic fight, eager to see who had so many supporters to face off against so many people.

As they entered the fight, they hadn’t recognized Lan and Luo until they started to fight. Only then did they realize it was their brothers. Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi immediately held back, but before they could stop, Lan and Luo’s lightning-fast fists and kicks had knocked them to the ground.

Lan and Luo, realizing they had accidentally struck Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi, were about to step forward to help them up when others stopped them. With no choice, Lan and Luo continued to fight.

Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi quickly got up and tried to stop them, but half of the students fighting weren’t on their side. Eventually, the two joined the battle, helping Lan and Luo fend off the opponents.

Seeing Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi fight again, their supporters also joined in, turning the scene into utter chaos. The fight only stopped when a few martial arts instructors arrived and shouted.

The instructors, after asking around and learning the details of the incident, were surprised to find that two beginner students had been involved in the brawl and managed to stand their ground against all the intermediate students. Though they hadn’t fought the entire time, taking on dozens of students and still standing at the end was quite an achievement.

Excited, the instructors informed Lan and Luo that they could join the second-year martial arts classes at any time, which was an unexpected delight for them.

From then on, Lan and Luo attended the intermediate martial arts classes every day.

In these classes, they learned that martial arts techniques were composed of basic movements, and not all techniques were for combat. Martial arts routines were designed to allow for fluid practice of multiple techniques, as without them, certain practical moves couldn’t flow together smoothly.

By adding connecting movements, earlier generations made it possible to practice a series of moves in sequence. Some techniques were only practical for the first or last part of the sequence, and the practitioner would need to adjust based on the opponent’s responses. This meant that martial arts routines required flexible application, even for something as simple as a straight punch, which could lead to numerous counter-strategies.

This was why they were able to perform actual combat before learning the routine martial arts—they had already mastered the fundamentals.

Of course, some of the routine techniques included clever moves and even combos, which showed why learning martial arts routines was so important.

In simpler terms, mastering the basic movements allowed for real combat, and learning the entire set of techniques made their movements more fluid and creative during a battle.

This new knowledge and philosophy injected fresh motivation into Lan and Luo’s practice.

Since they joined the intermediate martial arts classes, Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi’s practice also increased, and their abilities improved significantly.

As seniors, Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi had never been able to defeat Lan and Luo in combat, and the gap in their strength had become more noticeable. This had a significant impact on them, as although they had acknowledged Lan and Luo as their older brothers early on, they didn’t want the strength difference between them to become too vast.

After constant effort, half a year had passed, and the four of them successfully passed their final assessments. The next spring, the new academic year would begin. Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi would move up to the senior class, while Lan and Luo would be promoted to the intermediate class, though their martial arts lessons for the intermediate level had already been completed. Their focus in the upcoming year would shift to other subjects.

With autumn arriving, the city grew busier, and various industries were in full swing.

The citizens’ incomes had increased noticeably, and their purchasing power had grown. After the academy’s break, Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi’s families were short-handed, so they were forced to return home to help.

Unlike the two of them, Lan enjoyed working in the blacksmith shop, hammering various metal tools to release his energy, while Luo preferred working in the carpenter’s shop, making and installing various parts. This lifestyle felt fulfilling to them, and their busy autumn flew by.

Winter came, and the city gradually quieted down, but four cheerful figures could still be seen walking around.

As the temperature dropped, the number of pedestrians on the street decreased, and the work in the blacksmith and carpenter shops slowed. Following the principle that labor brings rewards, Lan and Luo found a new job—short-distance delivery.

Initially, just before winter, due to the high demand for winter goods, Uncle Qi from the neighboring grocery store would ask Lan and Luo to help deliver goods when he was overwhelmed. Before they knew it, more shops in the area started asking them for help.

Before long, short-distance delivery became their winter job, and the increasing workload started to overwhelm them.

They enlisted Xiao Xiong and Xiao Yi to help, and after discussing, they decided to set up a dedicated delivery station to help local businesses deliver small items. They hung a sign that read “Customer Delivery” outside the carpenter’s shop and even registered it with the Imperial Capital’s Commercial Bureau.

Although Xiao Yi was the smallest, he was always the fastest when delivering goods.

The city’s outer area was divided into four districts by a cross-shaped main road, and Xiao Yi requested to be in charge of the northeastern district, claiming that he was familiar with it.

Strangely, he always took the least time for the same distance, which puzzled everyone.

Xiao Xiong, the most curious, secretly followed Xiao Yi on one of his deliveries and finally discovered his secret.

Despite Xiao Yi’s usually shy nature, once he left the main road and entered the deserted alleys, he would climb over walls and run across the rooftops of buildings, cutting through the city in a direct line. This shortened the actual distance compared to the others, allowing him to deliver the goods much faster.