“Wrong! The first move “Beheading the Divine Dragon” requires more pure force, don’t over think it! It’s the only move I’m teaching you so you better get it.” Du-Bai sternly corrected as Ryu spent hours trying to understand the move.

Du-Bai had demonstrated the devastating move multiple times to Ryu, each time he performs it Ryu would engrave it into his memory. The way the Qi circulates, the angle of the punch, the timing of the move, and even the ripples in the air. What is scary about this set of moves is that the strike itself contained so much destructive force. If you release it with an abundance of Qi, Ryu didn’t dare imagine the results.

Du-Bai had mentioned that this set of moves are passed down from one successor to another, there are no written instructions. The more Ryu practices, the more Ryu understood why that is. This set of profound moves cannot be rationalized with common sense. Even with the backing of three Infinity Tomes he couldn’t comprehend it. It’s more of a gut feeling that needs to be grasped.

“Ho, you are a tough cookie to impress.” Du-Bai said as he watched Ryu perform the move right after he demonstrated again. Du-Bai can’t recall how many times a bystander would be stunned for hours just pondering what happened when he unleashes any of the moves from the Drunken Dragon Fists. “Your master must be someone extraordinary. The foundation that is laid within you is unprecedented, you will go a long way in the world of martial arts and cultivation if you live long enough that is.”

“Thank you senior.” Ryu replied as he attempted to unleash Beheading the Divine Dragon. Sometimes Ryu imitated Du-Bai’s movements, sometimes he did slight variations and other times he just performed what looks like random punches. Another whack landed on his head.

“That wasn’t a compliment.” Du-Bai said as he demonstrated once again. With a seemingly simple circular motion followed by a straight punch forward, a ripple of wind that shot for hundreds of meters blasted forth. “Why don’t you perfect copying what I’m doing first?”

“Martial arts are like living beings, if you only know how to apply them into a single situation then it becomes a dead move. By understanding the concepts and applying them as you wish, then your moves can become an integral whole that has no flaws. It’s worth the investment to understand instead of blindingly practicing.” Ryu replied. Du-Bai was instantly taken back. What Ryu said was very true, most people claim to have mastered a move once they can execute it. However, not many people can execute it in any situations and combine it with other moves. Du-Bai became silent and watched Ryu practiced from the side.

Although Du-Bai said critical things regarding Ryu’s progress, inside Du-Bai’s mind was the complete opposite. Just like Na’Vi’s group, Du-Bai was astonished by Ryu’s growth. This brat isn’t blindingly performing the moves, he’s trying to understand this profound art! This set of martial art took me a hundred years to fully master but this kid already has the basics down! The problem is…

“Kid… you have no killing intent, you can never unleash true power this way.” Du-Bai said as he looked at Ryu up and down with a frown. “Sometimes you’ll have to fight to take the life of your opponent if you want to live and protect your little life.”

“I… don’t believe in killing. Unless it’s necessary.” Ryu said slowly as he stopped his movements and faced Du-Bai. Suddenly the atmosphere became gloomy.

“I understand that you are young and believe in justice and are against killing but there are lots of people in the world that speaks false words of justice while they secretly plot behind your back. However, that is a skill one needs if one wants to survive in this harsh world. Against these people if you don’t act appropriately, the one that’ll suffer the most is you!” Du-Bai warned as he locked eyes with Ryu. His eyes were serious, the aloofness from before was gone.

“Even so I’ll do my best. I will only kill as a last resort.” Ryu replied, holding his ground.

“You are twenty-one years old, how many places could you have travelled to? Two provinces? Three provinces? I’m not sure who your master is but although he laid an amazing foundation down for you, you will undoubtedly perish before you reach fifty years of age if you keep up this naïve attitude. When other people come to harm you or the ones you love, what will you do? If you let them go, they’ll undoubtedly cause trouble for you later on.” Du-Bai said as he challenged Ryu’s stance on not killing. “When killing is warranted, you must server the source of evil from the root.”

“If revenge breeds more revenge, the cycle of hatred will never end. If you can forgive those who have hurt you, you take away their power. If killing one can save many then I’ll gladly do so but I will not aim to take the other’s life if possible.” Ryu said simply after a short pause. Du-Bai was shocked, how does this young one speak of such wisdom? Even though Ryu has the Absolute Agreement, it was not why he had these set of beliefs. Actually unknown to Ryu who had a shy and kind-hearted personality, when he started to cultivate in the Forbidden Forest he started learning Buddhism, Taoism, and a knight’s code from the cultivation manuals. The beliefs of Shaolin, Wudang and even a foreign knight sect had given him a wide view on life. This had unwittingly molded him into a moral, orthodox and compassionate person.

Back in the Forbidden Forest Ryu had read the atrocities Alexis had committed. The memory crystals Alexis had acted like a diary so Ryu didn’t actually see the crimes. At first he was awfully disturbed, his first reaction was to have no mercy on his enemies. However, he changed his mind later on. Perhaps it was the increased mental capacity from the tome that got him thinking too much that he was able to view it from many other angles. If he had harmed the other person gravely, that person’s family or friends will be after him. If they can’t get him then they’ll just come after his family or friends. When will the cycle end? Isn’t it better to give the other person a second chance to prevent such an outcome?

Du-Bai decided to leave that topic alone. Seeing how Ryu was more sophisticated than meets the eye, he had a new found respect for him. To not kill means you’ll have countless more trouble in the future. You’ll have to be strong enough to protect the ones you love and stop the ones that are trying to harm you without killing them. It’s nearly impossible to do unless you are the strongest person in the world.

After a half a day, Ryu had thrown over thousands of punches and immersed himself into a state where he notices nothing except his own fist. Even if a blade were to come towards his neck he wouldn’t notice. This had nothing to do with the Infinity Tomes, it was all based on Ryu’s will power. Taking in a deep breath, Ryu made a circular movement with his right arm, took a step forward and unleashed the punch. There only a faint trace of Qi that a level 10 cultivator would have inside his fist. Bam, the tree in front of Ryu splintered. Ryu’s fist didn’t touch the tree yet from the wind generated from the punch, it was enough to destroy eighty percent of its trunk. A few seconds later the tree collapsed.

Son of a… he actually did it. Du-Bai thought as he stared in amazement, with an evident fake cough he lectured, “It seems like you can somewhat use this move now. Look closely now, I’m going to demonstrate the variations and explain them only once!”

Within the time it takes to drink a cup of water and eat a bowl of rice, Du-Bai threw out the same punch in a hundred different ways. “This move is to crush your enemies in one go. No point exchanging blows, you want to overcome them with brute force. Whether you have time to do a follow through or if you have just an inch of space, it’s enough to unleash this move.”

“Yes sir.” Ryu said obediently as he watched Du-Bai’s demonstration intently. He didn’t even dare to breathe until it was long over.

“Brat, give me more wine. Correcting your clumsy attempts are making me thirsty. Don’t be so happy, this is just the first set. You still have a long way before you master it and it’s also the easiest move! There are eight forms to this art. Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll teach you one more.” Du-Bai said haughtily. He didn’t want Ryu to be overconfident.

“That wouldn’t be right, you can have all the wine you want for free. I don’t want senior to force senior to give up more of his techniques.” Ryu said innocently as he picked a dozen of bottles that sounded rare. There were all around a hundred thousand years old and had exotic names that Ryu didn’t recognize.

Without looking at the bottles, Du-Bai could still smell the various aromas from the wine. He couldn’t help but drool. Ryu took a bow and turned around to leave. It took a few seconds for Du-Bai to pry his eyes off his treasures, the dozen bottles of wine, and use his Qi to drag Ryu back.

“Dumbass, are you really going to make me beg you to learn this divine art? This art was made by eight immortals in the past to slay a dragon! Were you living under a rock or something? No one says no to learning the Drunken Dragon Fist.” Du-Bai shouted in rage. Ryu’s incorruptibility and virtuousness was pissing him off. After a few seconds of huffing, “Besides it’s only been one day. I promised to train you for four days, are you making me go back on my own word?”

“But you said you would only teach me one style…” Ryu replied with a blank expression.

“You… god you make me mad.” Du-Bai shouted as he grabbed one of the bottle and gulped it down. He sat down with the empty bottle in one hand and one hand on his forehead. Ryu was giving him a headache. “Boy, what’s your name?”

“Ryu.”

“Well Ryu, there is something I need help with that’s why I’m teaching you this set of arts. Did you think priceless martial art skills just fall from the sky? Grow on trees? Even if you are lucky, you might never encounter a chance to learn something as powerful as the Drunken Dragon Fist!” Du-Bai bellowed at him, his spit landed on Ryu’s shirt.

“Senior Du-Bai, I know how formidable your skills are. Your cultivation is inconceivably deep and the Drunken Dragon Fist has the most destructive force I’ve seen from a bare fist. It is because I know it’s priceless that I don’t feel right learning it from you. I’ve only gave you a few bottles of wine that I don’t even like.” Ryu said honestly, he really didn’t feel comfortable learning something priceless over worthless bottles of wine.

“You don’t like wine? Who doesn’t like wine? Ah why me.” Du-Bai said as he rubbed the temple on his head harder.

“Ryu, for hundreds of thousands of years I have only take in two disciples. The first one was naïve and innocent like you but his aptitude was only average. It was because of his kindness that he fell to a scheme and died a miserable death. My second disciple was my very own nephew. He had talent similar to yours, whatever I taught him he would understand instantly. However, I could never read his mind and felt some sort of uneasiness. Later I found out he’s a despicable and heartless person that slaughters people like they are pigs. He even killed my sister! Yet my foolish sister made me promise to let him go and look after him. Here lies my request, if you ever run into that traitor disciple of mine I want you to promise me that you’ll kill him. His real name is Sho-Cha but he became a scrum working for the Grim Reaper Corp.” Du-Bai said with anger, he raised his voice when Sho-Cha was mentioned.

“Senior, I would gladly do my best to stop him but like we discussed before I won’t kill unless I really have to.” Ryu said earnestly.

Du-Bai sighed out loud, regret and frustration could be seen on his face. After a few awkward minutes he finally spoke, “Ryu, the truth is ten months from now I have to face my nemesis in a life or death duel. I am not afraid of dying but as a loner with no friends I have no one else to entrust to rectify my two biggest regrets in life. One was letting down my ancestors for not passing down our heritage arts and the second was being unable to stop that monster from taking innocent lives. Since the Drunken Dragon Fist can’t be recorded down and my time is short, I didn’t think I could pass it down to someone with morals until I met you. As for my second regret… I won’t force you but I beg you, he should be approaching the Sovereign Domain now. If he becomes an immortal… I don’t know how many more lives he’ll take.”

After a long pause Du-Bai slowly spoke, “I won’t force you to kill anyone. I respect your decision, I only pity the hard path that’s ahead of you. I myself have killed nine hundred thirty-seven thousand and sixty-two men. There were all evil doers that had committed heinous crimes. Yet the most evil of them all I can’t kill due to my promise with my very own sister. Killing a man will change you, if you could… I hope you can go through life without killing but if it comes down to saving yourself or killing your enemy, I can only pray you choose to save yourself.”

Seeing Du-Bai’s emotional state, Ryu couldn’t help but feel his heart give out to the man. He was full of respect for him since he turned out to be a man of honor.