Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 293: Chapter 176: Attribute Breaks 3, This Is My Dao

”Ten Thousand Waves...”

He murmured, ”The core of this Secret Martial Arts lies in the concept of stacking. When you throw a punch, the force isn’t a single burst. It’s like waves, one after another, building in layers. The first wave is a probe, the second breaks their defense, and the third is the real killing blow.”

After thinking for a moment, Zhai Yu looked up at Wan Ze and cautioned, ”But this kind of stacking puts a huge strain on the body. Your muscles and bones have to be able to withstand the recoil from the first wave to even throw the second. You have to withstand the combined recoil of the first two waves to throw the third. If you train it to a high level, a single punch could have seven or eight layers of Dark Force stacked within it. The power would be terrifying... but your arm bones have to be hard enough.”

”This kind of Secret Martial Art has immense explosive power, but it also comes with risks. If your body can’t handle the stacked explosive force, you can easily injure yourself. It’s not a question of whether you can learn it, but whether you’ll cripple yourself when you use it after you’ve learned it.”

Hearing this, Zhai Jia also sighed with feeling. He took the booklet from Zhai Yu and flipped through it, his gaze lingering on the diagrams of the Fist Technique. ”If I weren’t already cultivating the Dragon Eagle Secret Martial Arts, I’d be tempted to try this one. This path of Stacking Force is completely different from our Dragon Eagle’s Beng Jin. Beng Jin concentrates all your Strength into a single explosive point. Stacking Force divides your Strength into multiple layers and sends them in one by one. You can’t say which is superior, but it’s certainly interesting.”

He closed the booklet and looked at Wan Ze, his expression turning serious. ”Ah Ze, are you planning to switch the Secret Martial Arts you’re cultivating? This... should you tell Master about this?”

His concern was justified.

In the Martial Dao Circle, switching the Secret Martial Arts you cultivate is no small matter.

Secret Martial Arts are called ’secret’ precisely because their cultivation systems are closed and exclusive.

If you’ve cultivated the Dragon Eagle’s Secret Martial Arts and then go cultivate another school’s, at best you’ll suffer from conflicting qi and blood and cultivation deviation; at worst, your sect will see it as betrayal.

This isn’t about the martial arts schools being petty; it’s determined by the very nature of Martial Dao inheritance. Every Secret Martial Art serves a complete cultivation system. Dabbling in this and that, what you end up with is a nonsensical mess that will only harm you in the end.

Wan Ze waved his hand. ”Don’t worry, I’m not switching.”

He said it decisively because he was telling the truth.

Wan Ze truly wasn’t switching. He was the type to turn nothing away; he’d cultivate everything.

He wanted the Dragon Eagle’s Secret Martial Arts, and he wanted the Secret Palace’s Secret Martial Arts. He wanted the Puppet Yin Sect’s Puppetry Technique, and he wanted the Asura Hall’s Blood Evil Celestial Net as well.

For him, there was no concept of ”switching,” only ”adding.”

Only then did Zhai Jia relax, handing the booklet back to Wan Ze. ”This Secret Martial Art is definitely not low-level, I’ve just never heard of it before... Who knows where those guys from the Secret Palace got it.”

No one could figure it out.

Just how many treasures the Secret Palace possessed was a matter of constant speculation among outsiders.

But regardless of which rumor was true, the quality of this ”Ten Thousand Waves Secret Martial Arts” was the real deal.

Zhai Yu turned his attention to the other three booklets. He casually flipped through ”Mountain-Splitting Whip Leg,” then his movements slowed. After a moment, he said, ”This Leg Technique is good.”

Wan Ze and Zhai Jia looked over.

Zhai Yu tapped a finger on the page, offering a thoughtful critique. ”It doesn’t rely on brute-force kicks. It uses Whip Force, lashing out like a real whip. The moment the top of your foot makes contact with the target, the Power isn’t delivered straight on; it’s flung. The advantage of this kind of Leg Technique is its short activation distance. You don’t need a lot of room for a windup, which makes it especially useful in close-quarters combat. I won’t be learning it, though. It’s not my path.”

Zhai Jia, on the other hand, was interested in the ”Stone-Breaking Fist.” He picked it up and flipped through it for a long time. His eyes lit up, then dimmed again. Finally, he sighed and put the booklet back.

”This Fist Technique is a bit like our Dragon Eagle’s Iron Wire Fist. They’re both on the hard and ferocious path.”

He rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. ”But Iron Wire Fist focuses more on unified force, while Stone-Breaking Fist emphasizes explosive power. Some of the minor force-generation techniques could be worth learning from...”

His voice trailed off, as if he were talking to himself.

Wan Ze knew what he was thinking.

Zhai Jia wanted to learn, but he didn’t dare.

The path of the Martial Dao grows narrower the higher you climb. Every step must be taken with utmost caution.

For an Official Disciple like Zhai Jia, who was already cultivating the Dragon Eagle Secret Martial Arts, rashly attempting to cultivate other Martial Skills could easily lead him astray.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t learn them, but that he couldn’t learn them ”casually.”

Every Martial Skill has its own habits for generating force and its own pathways for circulating qi and blood. If you learn too many, it’s like a person running back and forth between two different roads, eventually forgetting which way they were supposed to go.

Their paths weren’t stable yet.

Those were Zhai Jia’s exact words from before.

Wan Ze, however, had no such concerns.

His path was a wide, open highway that welcomed all travelers.

Other people’s bodies were single-lane roads; his was an eight-lane freeway.

While others had to be cautious cultivating a single Martial Skill, he could cultivate ten and still speed along without a problem.

The Illustrated Guide was the source of his confidence.

Soon, Zhai Yu started the engine. The jeep pulled silently out of the clearing and drove back along the dirt road they had come from.

The dirt road was full of potholes, and the jeep jostled violently.

The jeep traveled through the night for about forty minutes before returning to the urban area of Holy City.

The light from the street lamps shone in through the window, streaking across his face in alternating bands of light and shadow.

Zhai Yu parked the jeep in front of the guest house and turned off the engine.

”We’re here.”

Wan Ze opened his eyes, grabbed the case, and pushed the door open to get out.

The night wind blew in, carrying a hint of chill, and it sobered him up in an instant.

”Thanks, Brother Yu, Brother Jia,” he said, turning his head back toward the jeep.