376: Chapter 376 You are a martial arts genius that comes along only once in a century

Dong Yunchuan picked up his teacup and blew on it lightly, but didn't drink.

His gaze fell on the tea stems floating in the cup, as if looking at a drifting and unstable small boat.

"A-Cheng, since you plan to take the Master of Laws exam, I have a question to ask you."

His voice was very steady, carrying a sense of weight after going through vicissitudes, as if he wanted to confirm something again.

"What do you think is the cornerstone of order in the society we live in now?"

This question came suddenly, yet it was within reason.

Fang Cheng looked at him without answering immediately.

The office was very quiet, with only an old-fashioned wall clock making a regular "tick-tock" sound, unhurriedly.

"The 'stable expectations' guaranteed by law, and the social consensus built on such expectations."

After a brief thought, Fang Cheng gave a textbook answer.

"As a member of society, everyone can clearly foresee the consequences of their own actions."

"As long as one abides by the law, life, property, and freedom are safe. When disputes arise with others, there is a fair procedure for adjudication, and government power also has boundaries; it cannot arbitrarily infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of individuals."

"This predictability allows each of us to peaceably plan our lives, work, and future. A farmer is willing to plant in spring because he believes his food won't be snatched away during the autumn harvest; an entrepreneur is willing to invest in building a factory because he believes contracts will be fulfilled and property rights will be protected."

"It is precisely this certainty and security endowed by the law that allows the entire society to operate in an orderly manner, rather than falling into a jungle state where 'everyone feels endangered'."

Hearing this, Dong Yunchuan put down his teacup, making a light sound.

"Right, but not entirely right."

He raised his head, his gaze becoming as sharp as an eagle's for the first time, looking straight at Fang Cheng.

"These are the cornerstones under normal conditions, but in the darkness we cannot see, another set of rules is running."

"Just like a game of chess, some people make moves on the chessboard according to the rules, while others possess the power to overturn the chessboard itself."

This dean of the law school, a top legal expert in the country, spoke words filled with deconstruction and helplessness toward the existing rules.

"We all know that the phenomenon of 'unusual people' did not just appear in recent years, but has existed since ancient times. It is only in the past century, along with drastic changes in the global environment, that it has begun to erupt on a large scale in a concentrated manner."

"When this extraordinary power appears on an individual, the original social order will suffer a violent impact."

"Imagine this, an ordinary person, no matter how strong their physique is or how rigorous their training has been, how can they fight against a monster that can flip cars out of thin air or kill people invisibly with telekinesis?"

Dong Yunchuan let out a long sigh, leaning his body backward deeply into the soft back of the sofa.

He no longer looked at Fang Cheng, his gaze seeming to pierce through the office's walls, looking toward distant past memories.

"This is simply incomparable."

"The police System composed of ordinary people, let alone fighting those endless monsters, many times can't even track their traces."

"A-Cheng, you should know that the predecessor of the Special Investigation Team was the National Martial Arts Hall, and its first master was still Senior Brother Ma Jianguo's grandfather."

Fang Cheng nodded. This information had been mentioned by Ma Jianguo before.

"In the twenty-fifth year of the Republic, Divine Land sank and demons ran rampant. To cope with that chaotic situation, the state officially established the official organization known as the Special Investigation Team."

Dong Yunchuan's tone became low, as if he were recounting a past event that he was unwilling to touch easily.

"The initial members were all selected from the physically strongest Martial Artists and soldiers who had survived a hundred battles, coupled with the most sophisticated modern weapons at the time to carry out special operations."

"Yet even with such an elite team, when facing certain unusual people with bizarre abilities, especially those telekinetics proficient in mental attacks, they still couldn't guard against it and suffered heavy losses."

"I heard Senior Brother Ma mention that in a battle that took place in Dongdu, the Special Investigation Team dispatched a full hundred-man troop to encircle and suppress an Eastern Island unusual person who could create illusions."

"As a result, in less than an hour, the hundred-man troop was almost completely wiped out, and more than half of the people died under the muzzles and blades of their own teammates."

"In the end, relying on a strong-willed member holding the determination of mutual destruction, he detonated the bomb on his body to completely kill that unusual person."

He paused, as if calming the heavy feeling brought by that piece of history.

"Later in the war, biotechnology achieved Breakthrough developments, and they saw another hope of becoming stronger, thus gradually embarking on the path of biochemical modification, forcibly changing human genes to acquire the power to contend with unusual people."

"Even... developing to the present day, this method of strengthening and modifying the human body through potions has become the mainstream within the Special Investigation Team."

Fang Cheng listened quietly without interrupting.

This information filled in bloody details for the vague and mysterious image of the Special Investigation Team in his mind.

"This is undoubtedly a shortcut."

Dong Yunchuan's voice revealed a trace of emotional sigh.

"Yet it is also a dangerous path where life is exchanged for life; you understand the drawbacks without me saying much."

"The Special Investigation Team seems to be the guardian of order, but at the same time, it is also a sharp sword hanging above everyone's head, not knowing when it will fall."

"However, the country needs this power!"

His words changed, filled with coldness based on realistic interests.

"The vast grassroots masses also need them to maintain social stability and suppress those plutocratic families who occupy the economic lifeline and vainly attempt to stretch their hands into the political arena."

"Especially today when the phenomenon of unusual people is spreading wider and wider, without them, many things simply cannot be handled, and the existing social order will be more fragile than you imagine."

"The only thing the government can do is firmly control the source and scope of use of biochemical potions, and use the most rigorous means to screen and restrain the personnel of the Special Investigation Team."

"Furthermore..."

Speaking of this, the corners of Dong Yunchuan's mouth curved into a sarcastic arc.

"Other countries shout about complying with international agreements on the surface, but behind their backs, who hasn't been secretly conducting their own supernatural human experiments?"

"This competition has had no referee from the very beginning, let alone a finish line."

"If we don't do it, it means falling behind. Falling behind means being at the mercy of others in future conflicts."

"Therefore, all of this is... a compromise that has to be made."

As his voice fell, the office fell into a long silence.

Only the wall clock on the wall was still stubbornly ticking away.

Fang Cheng's expression was as usual, but his heart was not calm.

He understood this kind of "compromise".

In the face of survival, ideals and morality sometimes appear incomparably pale.

Whether it is a country or an individual, it is the same.

But he was even clearer that any strength borrowed from external forces hides fatal hidden dangers.

When the source of power does not belong to oneself, it is equivalent to handing one's destiny into the hands of others.

"Of course."

Seeming to sense that the atmosphere was too heavy, Dong Yunchuan adjusted his sitting posture and changed the subject.

"Inside the Special Investigation Team, not everyone necessarily supports this practice; there are still quite a few people who persist in the traditional martial arts methods of Cultivating themselves."

Between his words, his expression carried a bit of pride belonging to a Martial Artist.

"A-Cheng, you have joined the Martial Arts Research Association for almost half a year. You should be able to feel that the path we want to take is completely different from the mainstream of the Special Investigation Team."

"We believe that the power to fight monsters is actually hidden within human bodies themselves."

"The arts of health preservation and methods of exercise passed down by sages of past generations are the keys to opening this treasure trove."

"What we pursue is not relying on any surgical operations or potion-stimulating methods, nor is it pulling out seedlings to help them grow."

"Rather, through day-after-day sharpening and grueling self-refining, we ultimately reach the supreme Realm where body and mind transform synchronously."

Dong Yunchuan spread out his right hand and placed it on the coffee table.

That was a hand that didn't look like it belonged to a scholar; the fingers were thick and the joints distinct.

The palms and fingertips looked fair, but were covered with fine calluses that had merged into the skin, and the palm prints were as deep as knife-carved lines.

This hand could both hold a pen to write splendid articles and burst forth with astonishing power in an instant.

"Just like the Baguazhang I started practicing since childhood, what I practice is not a simple killing technique, but through the kung fu of 'walking the circle', grinding away impetuous Heart-Nature, and pursuing spiritual roundness and thorough understanding."

"If in the future we can gain inspiration from martial arts, find a correct and less harmful path, and give everyone the opportunity to tap into their own potential..."

Saying this, Dong Yunchuan's eyes flashed with a nearly idealistic light.

"Perhaps we can avoid the many injustices in the current System and clear away the darkness hidden beneath social order..."

Before his words finished, he suddenly stopped, as if realizing he had lost his composure somewhat, and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"When a person gets old, they love to say some unrealistic empty words."

Dong Yunchuan pulled the topic back and looked at Fang Cheng with great interest.

"A-Cheng, speaking of which, that night at Wangjiang Tower, I saw that when you dealt with those two killers, your agility and reaction were extremely fast."

"How is the Qigong you learned from Senior Brother Ma coming along now?"

Hearing this, Fang Cheng pondered slightly.

His gaze moved and fell on the purple clay teapot on the coffee table that was already somewhat cold.

Immediately afterwards, he extended his right hand, gently covering his wide palm over the side of the pot body.

There was no astonishing momentum, no brilliant light.

Yet the temperature inside the office suddenly rose a little at this moment.

Dong Yunchuan's eyes widened abruptly.

He clearly saw a ring of naked-eye-visible light-red halo, like water ripples, appearing and rippling in Fang Cheng's palm.

Then, wisps of white heat began to rise curlingly from the spout of the purple clay teapot and the gaps in the lid.

Following closely was a faint "glug", "glug" sound coming from inside the pot.

The sound went from small to large, becoming increasingly dense.

In just a dozen seconds, the already cooled tea inside the pot was actually boiling violently again beneath his palm.

Throughout the entire process, Fang Cheng's expression was calm and collected, and his breathing was steady.

It was not like when Dong Yunchuan used to demonstrate Qigong in the Martial Arts Research Association, sweating profusely and with veins popping out.

It was as if he had just done a simple matter.

"You... You..."

Dong Yunchuan was so shocked that he was somewhat incoherent. He pointed at Fang Cheng, his lips moving, and for a long time he couldn't say a complete sentence.

Genius!

This is definitely a once-in-a-century martial arts Genius!

You must know that for him to practice up to the step of "True Qi externalization, boiling water in the palm", it took nearly forty years of hard work, rising with the chicken to dance every day, without stopping through cold and heat, before achieving today's accomplishment.

And Fang Cheng, from joining the Martial Arts Research Association and contacting the real Qigong Mind-Cultivation Technique until now, counting it fully, it hasn't even been half a year.

Even if he also persisted in breathing and exhaling every day and practicing diligently without stopping, that was still a Prodigy-level Genius!

"You... what Realm are you at now?"

Dong Yunchuan finally recovered his voice and couldn't help asking further, his tone carrying a trace of slight tremor.

Fang Cheng withdrew his hand, feeling the warm current flowing endlessly like a river inside his body, and replied calmly:

"I'm not quite sure of the specifics either; I only feel that after practicing Qigong, my physical fitness is several times stronger than before."

"Good! Good! Good!"

Dong Yunchuan said three "good"s in a row, so excited that his face became increasingly flushed.

He stood up from the sofa excitedly, pacing back and forth in the office.

"I'll contact Senior Brother Ma right away! This weekend, everyone in our research association must gather again!"

Dong Yunchuan knew that with his shallow Cultivation Realm, he simply had no qualification to guide Genius figures like Fang Cheng.

"President Dong, you..."

Seeing him so excited, Fang Cheng's gaze flickered slightly, and then he spoke.

"Hey!"

Dong Yunchuan waved his hand, interrupting him:

"What time is it, why are you still calling me President Dong? According to seniority, you should call me Junior Martial Uncle Dong."

"Junior Martial Uncle Dong."

Fang Cheng immediately followed suit smoothly:

"I want to ask, when Qigong Cultivation reaches a certain Realm, and body vitality is significantly enhanced, will it be judged as an unusual person in routine blood medical examinations?"

This was a crucial question.

Relating to how Fang Cheng should find a reason to cover up his background when he is completely exposed to the vision of the Special Investigation Team in the future.

Hearing this, Dong Yunchuan was slightly stunned.

After his excited emotions subsided slightly, he sat back down on the sofa and fell into deep thought.

"This question... you hit the nail on the head."

"If according to my experience, during the annual medical examination, although the tested rc cells value is slightly higher than that of ordinary people, it is only slightly higher and completely within a reasonable range, which will not attract the extra attention of the Special Investigation Team."

"However, your situation right now..."

He glanced at the teapot that was still steaming, a look of hesitation on his face:

"I really am not too clear about it."

Dong Yunchuan frowned, pondered for a moment, and suddenly seemed to remember something, then said:

"However, in the history of the Special Investigation Team, there also appeared a legendary figure who walked our path of practicing martial arts and refining Qi to an extremely high Realm."

Hearing this, Fang Cheng's gaze condensed.

"Who is it?"

On Dong Yunchuan's face, a trace of expression mixed with awe and yearning emerged.

"Li Guizhen!"

Seeing that Fang Cheng's expression was somewhat blank when he heard this name, Dong Yunchuan immediately explained:

"Li Guizhen is the first chief officer of the Special Investigation Team, and also one of the strongest Martial Artists in Divine Land's history since clear records began."

"This person is very mysterious. If he is still alive, I'm afraid he is already over a hundred years old, older than the founding of our Great Xia Republic of China until now."