Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 615 - 259 Scholar’s Perspective [Part 1]

Chapter 615: Chapter 259 Scholar’s Perspective [Part 1]

Lu Xuanyu had long admired Mr. Chen Feng.

Although he couldn’t compare with this group of top scientists, Lu Xuanyu had a good memory. He remembered that in Xiang Shan’s story, it was a scientist named "Chen Feng" who proposed the "improved rabies treatment."

Indeed, with a disease that has a 100 percent mortality rate once symptoms appear, most people wouldn’t consider it.

However, Lu Xuanyu later found out that in neurological laboratories, rabies viruses were actually used as a medium to infect the neurons of experimental animals, but common people wouldn’t think of applying this to humans, as no one could afford the risk.

But under those circumstances, there wasn’t much room for second thoughts.

Up to now, the "improved rabies" is still the only solution for the metallization transformation of the nervous system.

Considering that the descendants of this Benchmark Man will inevitably be Benchmark Men, this might even remain the only solution — because after this generation, humans would no longer need the surgery.

In fact, Chen only resorted to this in a situation where he had no other choice.

And after spending some time together, Lu realized... Xiang Shan was indeed right.

He and Chen Feng really had a lot in common.

This was indeed beyond Lu Xuanyu’s expectation.

Strictly speaking, Lu Xuanyu was an "amateur." In this era, "professional" martial artists were essentially athletes who went to compete in various competitions. Besides them, others couldn’t be considered "professional." The professional skills of police and military indeed include "combat," but with the advance of the era, and the progression of weapons (including various firearms and non-lethal police equipment), the cost-effectiveness of "combat" has decreased, forming a lesser part of the military and police systems.

And when an amateur martial artist faces a professional one, there is an inevitable issue: the gap between training volume and actual combat experience.

Not to mention actual combat experience. Although athletes participate in competitions with extremely low mortality rates and various restricted methods, this is undoubtedly closer to actual combat compared to most amateurs’ "in-brain murder simulation training."

The gap in training volume is also clear. Amateurs must first work to earn a salary to sustain their lives then spend their free time on everyday essentials. Only after all these can they carve out a little time for martial arts.

Martial arts require large blocks of time dedicated to specialized training in multiple areas including physical endurance, flexibility, explosive power, footwork, skills, and reaction time.

For amateurs, the amount of time they can invest each day, excluding warm-ups and stretching — and avoiding sports injuries without these isn’t easy — it’s questionable whether they even have one hour left. The training volume of these amateurs in one or two months might not even match what a professional athlete completes in a week.

But Lu Xuanyu was an exception. Perhaps he couldn’t compare with Xiang Shan and other high-level executives of multinational supercorporations, but Lu Xuanyu was certainly a well-off second-generation rich kid.

The effort he invested in this was absolutely formidable compared to all other amateurs.

Not to mention those cultured people from Tsinghua and Peking University whose main job is to conduct research.

But he soon changed his mind.

Chen Feng himself practiced Western Swordsmanship, wielding a Feathered Fencing Sword. Lu Xuanyu was not very familiar with this type of swordsmanship, which had been popular in Germany for a while, and wasn’t in a position to evaluate Mr. Chen Feng’s level of expertise.

But the way this group of cultural individuals viewed martial arts provided him with a completely new perspective.

"It’s my first time having a conversation with someone like you, who mainly practices Jeet Kune Do," Chen Feng had said during their first in-depth discussion about martial arts. "It is a traditional martial art that was inherited from classical techniques, born in the modern era, and primarily passed down overseas. I find the birth and evolution of this martial art very interesting."

Lu Xuanyu scratched his head, "Traditional... I think I am quite a modern Martial Artist and about to become even more modern."

He was soon to become a Cybernetically Enhanced Person Martial Artist. In this regard, Lu Xuanyu was more advanced than all martial artists from the past to the present.

Chen Feng gave an embarrassed smile, "These are our own musings, not some universally recognized theory—ah, it seems you are very much influenced by your boss. You subconsciously think that ’traditional’ is inferior to ’modern’."

Lu Xuanyu grinned, "Right... I’ve always wanted to push for the modernization of traditional martial arts, but just could not figure out the direction. Yeah, that’s the case."

"University doesn’t offer much advantage, but it does provide one thing, easier access to information. The fields of history, culture, and anthropology are finely divided; research spans everything. As intellectuals, we do have some advantages in seeking and discerning information," continued Chen Feng. "My friends and I believe that traditional martial arts around the world exist not as ’single techniques’ but as ’communities.’ Within a ’community,’ more than one technique exists."

"Take the traditional martial arts from our region, many villages have martial arts heritages, right?"

Lu Xuanyu thought back to his childhood in the countryside, where indeed there were some old Boxers. He then nodded with a smile.

"Then you should know what these practitioners primarily did back then." Chen Feng continued to inquire.

Lu Xuanyu said, "Back in the day, it was tough, fighting over water sources, even marking territories in some wild forests and hills, all settled by fighting."

"Imagine, if you traveled back to the old society and taught the village kids how to fight, you couldn’t just teach the Leg Techniques from Jeet Kune Do, right? You’d teach whatever skills you had," Chen Feng continued, "And then there would be someone in the village who knew a bit of Spear Skill, a bit of swordsmanship. At that time, would you first defeat them so the whole village could only learn Jeet Kune Do, or would you teach whatever you know and let the kids learn whatever they want to learn?"

Lu Xuanyu laughed, "Definitely the latter. The techniques from Jeet Kune Do were born out of a lawful society, and they aren’t exactly compatible with hoes, pitchforks, or kitchen knives."

"Then that village, after your time travel, would have some Jeet Kune Do techniques, Spear Skill, swordsmanship, and other skills passed down. To an outsider, this village would appear to be a community that has inherited a style of martial arts. If this village’s martial arts heritage is relatively insular, or if a formidable figure recombined these passed-down skills, it would easily evolve into a unique style," explained Chen Feng.

"Martial arts, this thing, it’s not just ’one person teaches a group’ or ’a group teaches one person.’ It’s ’one group teaches a lot of people,’ and then among these many people, a few stand out and teach the next generation. This forms ’communities’ and ’generations’—or in more traditional terms, ’sects’ and ’ranks’."

"Take Mr. Bruce Lee for example. He didn’t just learn Wing Chun from Mr. Ip Man. He learned many martial arts from many people, and then rearranged them in his own style. Among those masters who taught him techniques, many learned techniques from him and even became disciples under Bruce Lee, forming a community. It all happened in modern times, and some capitalist elements were mixed in..."

Lu Xuanyu sighed. Recalling the somewhat dated Martial Arts School in Seattle, he felt somewhat dejected.