Chapter 31: Please Accept Us as Your Disciples

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Please Accept Us as Your Disciples

Zhao Ye couldn’t show his apprehension either, so he mirrored Ma Yuming’s bravado. "Brother Xu, check on Yuming. I’ll take him on again!"

The fish pond had formed along the mountain col. Its edges were sloped, and the middle was likely quite deep. When Xu Jin fell in earlier, he had swallowed a mouthful of water. Since he was the one who had brought them here, he was naturally even more terrified that something might happen to Ma Yuming.

"Be careful!" Xu Jin urged before hurrying back down the path he came from.

Zhang Yun was just getting addicted to the thrill of battle. Having tasted the sweetness of combat, he didn’t bother waiting for Zhao Ye and took the initiative to strike first!

Zhao Ye hadn’t seen the process of Ma Yuming’s defeat, but he opted for a more conservative, defense-oriented approach. As a result, losing the initiative in the first exchange meant he lost the initiative in every subsequent move!

When Zhang Yun fought Xu Jin, his Technique was still incredibly clumsy—he was practically learning and applying it on the fly. However, after practicing with Ma Yuming, his movements had grown much more flexible.

When his opponents went on the offensive, Zhang Yun—who lacked defensive skills—had to focus entirely on dodging. Now that Zhao Ye was on the defensive, Zhang Yun could launch an all-out attack and take the opportunity to learn some defensive Techniques along the way.

There was nothing inherently wrong with Zhao Ye’s defense. However, under the crushing weight of Zhang Yun’s sheer strength, he was like a lightweight Sanda fighter facing a super-heavyweight sumo wrestler. He simply couldn’t block a thing!

He crashed into a tree, slammed onto the grass, and was swatted down, beaten back, and kicked away!

After repeatedly pummeling Zhao Ye, Zhang Yun gave him the exact same treatment as the others. Finally, he grabbed Zhao Ye by the ankle, swung him around in a wide arc, and hurled him straight into the fish pond!

Xu Jin had just dragged Ma Yuming ashore when he saw Zhao Ye plunge into the water. He frantically scrambled back into the pond to mount another rescue.

Zhang Yun closed his eyes and quickly reviewed the skirmish in his mind. The three men had utilized different strategies, which perfectly allowed him to study their various styles: a balance of offense and defense, pure offense, and strict defense...

What boy hadn’t watched Kung Fu movies or martial arts dramas growing up? When Zhang Yun and his peers were kids, they would always play-fight with each other, waving around wooden sticks and bamboo swords.

He held a lingering impression of many Techniques from movies and TV shows, as well as scenes from boxing and Sanda matches. Having just witnessed real attacks and experienced them in actual combat, he synthesized his knowledge, seamlessly merging all these elements together.

After a short while, Zhang Yun began to practice his forms with his eyes closed. Even without a master to guide him, his movements were remarkably structured and sharp.

When Xu Jin finally hauled Ma Yuming and Zhao Ye out of the water, they saw Zhang Yun shadowboxing with his eyes closed. The three of them stared at each other in utter dismay.

No one uttered a sound. A tacit understanding allowed them to communicate purely through their gazes, effortlessly reading each other’s minds.

"Does he really not know any Martial Arts?"

"Did he just learn our Techniques while fighting us?"

"He mastered them just by exchanging blows once! Look at him practicing; he’s getting more and more proficient... Is he a genius?"

"If he doesn’t know any Martial Arts, how did he win? Innate Divine Power?"

"That doesn’t explain his insane speed and agility."

Feeling that he had mastered just about enough, Zhang Yun came to a stop. He opened his eyes, saw the three of them staring at each other wide-eyed, and asked, "Are you guys okay?"

The three men, who had been silently conversing, immediately locked their eyes on him.

"Brother Zhang, you’ve never learned Sanda or traditional Martial Arts, right?" Xu Jin asked hesitantly.

Zhang Yun shook his head.

"Well, earlier we saw you..."

Seeing Xu Jin’s hesitation, Zhang Yun quickly caught on. "Do you think I secretly stole your Martial Arts?"

"No, no, we don’t hold any of those traditional sectarian prejudices. Our training is entirely integrated with modern science. I’m just utterly shocked that you managed to master these Techniques just by fighting us once..."

Xu Jin could hardly believe his own words. He had been practicing Martial Arts since he was a child. Could a genius like this truly exist?

Zhang Yun shrugged nonchalantly. "It’s not that hard."

"Senior!" Ma Yuming suddenly cupped his fists together and bowed deeply.

Zhang Yun sweatdropped slightly. "You guys are all older than me. Call me Zhang Yun or Xiaozhang, I don’t mind. Just don’t call me Senior!"

"Brother Zhang," Ma Yuming said, adopting Xu Jin’s form of address before asking in a hushed, solemn tone, "Is your Inner Power so profound that you can instantly learn any Technique just by looking at it?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Jin and Zhao Ye felt as if they had just awoken from a dream!

They had all studied traditional Martial Arts before switching to Sanda because it was far more practical. They knew very well that Inner Power was a myth; the undisputed truth was that martial artists always feared the young and strong.

However, Zhang Yun’s performance had completely shattered their preconceived notions. This was the only logical explanation!

"I get it!" one of them exclaimed. "Master Jue Yuan and the Sweeping Monk never studied Martial Arts and didn’t know any Techniques, but while cultivating the Buddhist Dharma, they invisibly and unintentionally developed super strong Inner Power, allowing them to effortlessly crush contemporary masters!"

"That’s exactly it!" another chimed in. "Guo Jing had poor aptitude, and he could never grasp the Martial Arts of the Seven Monsters of Jiangnan. But after Ma Yu taught him the Quanzhen Inner Power and his Inner Power grew, the Martial Arts he previously couldn’t understand came naturally to him!"

"..."

Zhang Yun’s face was plastered with imaginary question marks. "What the hell? Aren’t you guys overthinking this a bit too much? You practice Sanda! You’re from the practical combat faction! How can you actually believe in a fictional Divine Skill like Inner Power?"

Xu Jin and his two companions exchanged brief glances, all sharing the exact same realization.

"Denial is just a cover-up, and covering it up proves it’s the truth!" they concluded.

Ma Yuming swiftly charged toward Zhang Yun!

"Again? Is he trying to force me to prove I have Inner Power?" Zhang Yun found the situation secretly amusing. He tensed his right leg, fully prepared to send the man flying back into the fish pond!

Ma Yuming rushed up to him, but instead of launching an attack, he dropped to his knees with a heavy THUMP!

"What are you doing?"

"Master! Please accept me as your disciple!" Ma Yuming cried out, aggressively kowtowing against the dirt with loud THUD THUD THUDs.

After a fleeting moment of astonishment, Xu Jin and Zhao Ye immediately rushed over as well, kneeling on either side of Zhang Yun.

"Master! Please accept me as your disciple!"

Zhang Yun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Ma Yuming, the Sanda champion who had displayed the most arrogant attitude just moments ago, was actually the first one to take the lead in groveling for tutelage.

"You guys are all Sanda experts. I literally don’t have anything I can teach you."

"Master, our rigorous training has already reached its absolute peak. From here on out, as we age, our physical condition will only begin to decline. We beg you to take us in and impart your peerless Divine Skill to us!" Ma Yuming pleaded, explaining their predicament and expressing their desperate thirst for improvement.

"Your Energy is far beyond your imagination! You haven’t actually reached what you perceive to be your limit. If you continue to train hard and trust in science, you’ll realize that physical decline is just an irreversible law of nature..."

Zhang Yun almost burst out laughing as the words left his mouth. How did he just casually slip into the tone of an old, nagging pedant?

He quickly corrected himself. "I’m serious! Just because you’ve hit a bottleneck, you’re hoping some mythical Divine Skill will magically take you to the next level. How is that any different from praying to gods and Buddhas for a miracle?"

Xu Jin spoke up slowly, "Master! As long as you can help us break through our limits, you are our god! You are a simple, honest person who doesn’t bother hiding his true self. Your performance just now completely exposed your undeniable strength!"

"That’s right! You are our Master, and in our hearts, you are a god!"

"Please accept us! The fact that Brother Xu met you, and that we were able to come here and find you today—this is our legendary serendipity!"

Taking the lead once again, Ma Yuming lunged forward and hugged Zhang Yun’s thighs. Soon, all three burly men were clinging desperately to his legs.

Seeing them plead so earnestly, Zhang Yun didn’t have the heart to directly kick them away. He pondered the sheer absurdity of the farce for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Alright, fine! If you’re so dead set on taking me as your master..."

The word "tuition" was right on the tip of his tongue, but Zhang Yun hastily swallowed it down and changed his tune. "...Then you’ll be considered in-name disciples for now. Once you pass my trials, I’ll decide whether or not to upgrade your strength!"

He definitely wasn’t going to teach them anything—because he had nothing to teach—but if his mysterious plant blossomed again in the future, rewarding them with a petal to enhance their physical limits was entirely doable. However, that depended entirely on their loyalty and whether they proved themselves worthy of such a reward.

"Thank you, Master!" The three of them were ecstatic and hastily performed the grand ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows to formally bind themselves to their new master.

After the ceremony concluded, Zhang Yun pulled out his phone and asked them to add him as a friend.

The three men all owned high-end flagship phones with excellent waterproof capabilities, so their devices had survived the pond plunge completely unscathed.

But as Zhang Yun glanced at his WeChat, he was instantly left dumbfounded!