Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 398 - 42: Express Delivery and Push Hands

Chapter 398: Chapter 42: Express Delivery and Push Hands

Xiang Shan woke up, and TX-0 still hadn’t given a straight answer. He still thought it was a terribly bad idea.

"Under the current conditions, charging directly into Paradox City is too reckless," TX-0 said. "This really isn’t good. You should hide and save up more on Prosthetic Bodies. Wait a bit longer, wait for the Paralympics to start again."

"Yeah, I know," Xiang Shan nodded.

The last Paralympics were in South America. Bai Man had intended to scout and prepare the venue one or two years in advance, but upon hearing the news of Tao Enhai’s fall, he went anyway. It wasn’t many years until the next Paralympics.

The security at the Paralympics wouldn’t be higher than in Paradox City. The numerous athletes inside could all be targets. Although the Prosthetic Bodies of those athletes were generally inferior, there were always a few parts that were cutting-edge.

Of course, Bai Man originally hadn’t planned to rob the athletes. He wanted to find a way to assassinate the Guard Officer.

Xiang Shan said, "But for me, this is the perfect ’opening show,’ isn’t it?"

"Opening show... Are you planning to reveal your identity at that time?" TX-0 was puzzled. "But there’s a strict standard for becoming a Martial God, isn’t there?"

"Certification from old friends of Martial Ancestor."

"Right," TX-0 said. "Without the recognition from Martial Ancestor’s old friends, you’re just another ’Martial Ancestor impersonator.’ And to clarify, although my mentor was close with Martial Ancestor, I was adopted by my mentor only after the Seventh Martial God. My recognition won’t be of use to you."

Xiang Shan nodded. "Of course, of course. I wasn’t expecting your ’certification’ anyway."

"In that case, why don’t you go and look for the old friends from back then?" TX-0 suggested. "The Apricot Forest Duke fell on Earth three years ago, and you participated. Then most likely Magic Cube Angel is on Earth too."

"Doctor Tao and Niyaguti," Xiang Shan nodded.

"If they spread the word, then more people might be willing to respond to you."

Xiang Shan shook his head. "That’s fine for other matters. But I really don’t want to use the flag of Martial Ancestor anymore. At least not in the matter of ’rescuing’ the Ninth Martial God."

"Tsk, the usual stubbornness of Martial Gods?"

"Yes. Of course, I’m not completely inflexible. If there really is no other way, I will go and find old friends. But since there’s a glimmer of hope, I hope not to rely on ’my past self.’" Xiang Shan explained patiently.

"Hmm... But I’m also curious," TX-0 said softly. "Your self-awareness as ’Xiang Shan,’ what exactly is it like... It’s a bit hard to imagine."

Xiang Shan smiled. "Zero, what are you talking about? Aren’t you also wearing a Personality Mask?"

"Ha, I’m not like you, though. My original entity, the so-called ’source of information,’ is still alive. I can link up with him every once in a while to synchronize our experiences. This clearly distinguishes ’me’ from ’not me,’ right? The information source individual is the primary entity, and this me here is derivative, but both are harmoniously one."

"But your information source entity, Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan... died over two hundred years ago."

Xiang Shan shook his head. "’Xiang Shan’ isn’t dead. Thanks to the vast populace, ’I’ have intermittently lived for two hundred years."

"Tsk... It’s still quite hard to understand."

After that, Xiang Shan received a data packet from Zero, which included the major 0day vulnerabilities discovered by the Turing Lineage up to two years ago, as well as numerous trojan plugins that had already caused many infections.

"Of course, this isn’t everything," TX-0 said. "But it’s not trivial either. In the hands of an ordinary Internal master, it would be enough to allow many to ’overcome the strong with the weak.’

Xiang Shan nodded and said solemnly, "Thank you, Zero."

"Not at all, this is nothing. Although I’m still not sure if I can help you strike Paradox City, I can still help with this."

After discussing Internal Skills with Zero, Xiang Shan changed his Prosthetic Body and went with Hiroshi Matsushima to the Iron Block Style dojo.

Hiroshi Matsushima seemed to have recovered from the shock of having his worldview overturned. Even with Xiang Shan’s level of Internal Strength, he couldn’t discern any instability in his footwork.

After arriving at the dojo, Xiang Shan changed into standard training limbs.

Hiroshi Matsushima took Xiang Shan to the most central Quiet Room of the dojo and said, "At our level, simply competing in moves has become instinct. There’s little value in seeking improvement in this area due to diminishing returns. Under such circumstances, flexible use of the environment and control over internal force might be more helpful. The former is not your forte as a competitive martial artist, so you’ll need to figure that out on your own. But for the use of ’Power,’ I think I can still offer some help."

Hiroshi Matsushima raised his arm and said, "This is the standard training arm used in the Iron Block Style dojo, basically made from junk Prosthetic Bodies purchased from outside. Its structure is very simple; the wrist part has two joints, each providing force in eight directions, totaling sixteen different forces. Plus, with the wrist itself able to twist one hundred eighty degrees, these combined forces can be variably complex."

Hiroshi Matsushima spread his fingers, palms facing up. "I don’t know your level, so let’s start with this. Come, try to push my hand."

Xiang Shan cautiously examined Hiroshi Matsushima’s arm, then stepped forward, opened his five fingers, met Matsushima’s palm, and pressed down with force.

Push Hands.

Also known as Striking Hand, Rubbing Hand, Picking Hand—it’s Tai Chi Quan’s two-person barehand sparring practice that embodies the relationship between form and function in Tai Chi Quan.

When two people engage in Push Hands, they are gambling on variations of ’internal force’ aiming to strike the opponent’s center of gravity and swiftly topple them.

In theory, it sounds elegant, but compared to natural people’s combat arts, it’s not necessarily applicable.

Because natural people’s conscious thought might not keep up with neural reflexes, and those reflexes may not keep up with the instinctual muscle movements driven by the motor centers. Most individuals might not be able to use such advanced combat theory perfectly in the heat of battle—only a few skilled practitioners can achieve this against less skilled opponents.

Many traditional martial arts scenarios envision ’street fighting,’ where the objective is to ’rapidly defeat one low-skilled troublemaker after another in mobile combat.’

In a ring fight, ’neural reflex training,’ ’anti-strike training,’ and most importantly, ’muscle training’ matter more than those theoretical moves of empty force competition.

But modern Martial Artists are Cybermen.

The output and anti-strike ability of Cybermen are determined by their Prosthetic Bodies. Apart from Avoidance techniques, no training is required.

Therefore, they have taken up the game of ’Power.’