251: Chapter 248 System, So you're still alive?

"Brother Li, have you noticed that the Traditional Martial Arts here all seem quite mediocre?" Zhang Zhao and Li Changsheng stood to the side, shaking their heads in boredom.

"Oh, I don't mean the Traditional Martial Arts they're learning are mediocre, but that these people themselves are truly mediocre. I feel like I could take their lives with a single move, except for those three."

"Hmm." Li Changsheng nodded. In fact, never mind three; regardless of which Traditional Martial Arts expert was here, he could take their life with a single move.

"There's no helping it. Genuine Traditional Martial Arts experts wouldn't travel far just to make money here. Furthermore, true masters are either not short on money or simply don't care about it."

Li Changsheng shook his head. Someone like Zhang Zhao was an exception; he figured the other party just wanted to find a place to fight, or perhaps to kill.

As for himself, he hadn't originally intended to wade into these muddy waters, but since he was already involved, he had actually developed some interest in this place.

"What style of fist is that person using? It's very novel!"

Li Changsheng did indeed develop some interest, because there were truly many fist styles here. Perhaps the people here weren't direct Disciples and might just be ordinary Disciples in their respective sects, but their kung fu at least met the standards in terms of form and movement.

Being able to see many other novel fist styles was an opportunity for Li Changsheng to broaden his experience and learn from different strengths.

"That one? What was it called... Oh, right, Duck Fist!"

"Duck Fist?" Li Changsheng's expression was strange. This name...

"Not many people know about this Duck Fist. It's one of the imitative fist styles. Look at his movements—don't they look just like a duck in a pond? It evolved by simulating the form and movements of a duck.

It belongs to one of the ancient fist arts. Brother Li, don't look down on Duck Fist because its movements are ugly or look comical; these movements are actually extremely agile and have tremendous piercing power."

Zhang Zhao looked serious, and Li Changsheng couldn't help but start analyzing it seriously as well.

It had to be said that experts look for the technique, and after looking carefully, he did indeed see quite a lot of substance to it.

Though it's called a fist, it's actually palm-based. The two palms primarily use poking, stabbing, and flicking, combined with whipping force, similar to the speed and power of a duck flapping its wings while playing in the water.

Li Changsheng felt that this palm technique of Duck Fist had some similarities in power to the Snake Form and Tiger Form tail-flicking of Xingyi, while in other places, it had its own unique characteristics.

It was just that the movements were truly a bit hard to accept.

"Sigh, Brother Li, I consider myself to have seen most of the Traditional Martial Arts styles in the country. Do you see that one? What style is that?"

It had to be said that the fist styles here were truly varied, and even Zhang Zhao encountered styles he had never seen before.

Li Changsheng carefully examined the direction he was pointing. It looked slightly familiar. After watching it a few times, he immediately laughed.

"This fist style is called Turtle-Ox Fist. It belongs to a fist style from the Yue City region of Hunan Province and is one of their local intangible cultural heritages. It's a fist style from the early Qing Dynasty, created by monks who observed turtles in wells, as well as shepherd boys herding cattle and farmers tilling fields outside the temple."

He knew this fist technique because it wasn't just passed down in Hunan Province; it also had a small circulation in Hubei Province and even some in Jiangxi Province. It was a typical small Southern Fist style; if you didn't know it, you really wouldn't know it.

He figured most people in the country had never even heard of this fist technique.

"You have to say, this fist technique has a bit of an ox-like strength. When still, it contemplates movement; when moving, it channels power to the limbs. There is stillness within movement, and power is hidden within stillness.

Channeling power in movement, hiding power in Yin, channeling power in Yang.

Stillness and movement are appropriate, forming a single whole.

It's quite interesting; the way it releases power is unique. This kung fu should have its own sect's Stance Training; it's not just some random, messy style!" Zhang Zhao exclaimed with emotion.

And his guess was correct. Turtle-Ox Fist, while the name might be a bit crude, indeed had matching Stance Training.

As for Li Changsheng, he actually quite appreciated this fist style. Although it wasn't well-known, it had everything it should: it had Stance Training, the power release wasn't random, and the footwork even had specialized diagrams for practice, called the Twelve Turtle Ultimate Diagrams.

How should he put it? This fist style was fierce and majestic, very rigid, fierce, and domineering. It was wide-open and large-closing, and similarly used Qi to drive power, accompanied by loud shouts.

In many places, it indeed had similarities to Hung Ga.

[Host has personally comprehended Turtle-Ox Fist and Duck Fist through observation and has achieved a preliminary understanding, completing the task: Self-Taught Stage Four! Reward: Nanzhi Fist!]

Just as Li Changsheng was stunned, another notification popped up.

[Host has triggered a branch task for the Path of the Grandmaster: Southern Fist Great Master, Stage One: Master at least five types of Southern Fist! Current progress: 3/5]

The sudden notification left Li Changsheng stunned again and again.

"By the way, so you're still alive, System?"

Li Changsheng really couldn't help but complain. Ever since the Path of the Grandmaster was triggered, the System seemed to have fallen into silence. Of course, this was also related to the fact that the task was simply too difficult.

After all, Dark Qi experts weren't cabbage that you could just pick up anywhere. So far, he had only completed two, namely Daoist Priest Zhong of Wudang Taiji and that successor of Five Ancestors Fist, Wang Hai.

He was still planning to practice with Zhang Zhao next to further advance the second stage of the Path of the Grandmaster task, and then try to spar with Elder Zhang once or twice before returning to the country.

No matter what method he used, he had figured it out anyway: as long as it was a Dark Qi expert, even just casually pushing hands should count as a success. The task didn't say it had to be a real fight; martial sparring is a fight, and civil sparring is also a fight.

He just didn't expect that before the main line of the Path of the Grandmaster was finished, a branch line would pop up, and it was even a branch line triggered by the self-taught task.

He was still ruminating in his mind when, very quickly, waves of memories surged into his brain.

"Brother Li, why are you spacing out? I just asked you what kind of fist that was!"

"Ah? Oh!"

Being pushed by Zhang Zhao like that, Li Changsheng finally gradually recovered from the memory transmission. Looking in the direction the other pointed, he immediately laughed.

Isn't that a coincidence?

The kung fu that person was practicing was none other than Nanzhi Fist!

He looked at Zhang Zhao, considering that the Gu Clan Iron Sand Palm and Shaolin Iron Sand Palm that the other practiced both belonged to Northern styles, and the birthplace of Nanzhi Fist in ancient times was the land of Baiyue, it was normal that he didn't know about it.

"This is Nanzhi Fist, mainly circulated in the Guangdong Province area, with it being most popular in the Chaoshan area." Li Changsheng laughed.

"You, a practitioner of Xingyi and Baji Quan, actually know this kind of fist style? I've never even heard of this Nanzhi Fist!"

Zhang Zhao shook his head a bit. Li Changsheng knew he could understand Turtle-Ox Fist, after all, his hometown was in Hubei Province.

"Just because you don't know it doesn't mean others don't. This fist style is very famous in Chaoshan." Li Changsheng shook his head, though before this, he himself really hadn't known about it.

When he was in Shenzhen, he had heard of the five great fist styles of Guangdong Province, but other than that, he really didn't know much about the others.

"How famous?" Zhang Zhao asked suspiciously.

"You'll know in one sentence. In the past, you could often see clans fighting each other in the Chaoshan area, especially over seizing water sources and fighting for land.

Let's put it this way: in Chaoshan, whichever family or village had more people who knew Nanzhi Fist, they would be able to seize more water sources and more land.

In the past, if you set up a roadblock to rob passing drivers, and you didn't know a bit of Nanzhi Fist, they wouldn't even bother with you!" Li Changsheng laughed.