Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 12 Young Sect Leader

"Look carefully!"

Ding Chunqiu gave a light shout, lowered his body, and unleashed three claw attacks in quick succession. He leaped up, his body stretching horizontally in mid-air, his claws hooking and grabbing in a series of strikes. He tilted his head back, swung his legs, and suddenly spun down, grabbing from above and below...

The Three Yin Centipede Claw technique is known for its ruthless and vicious nature, but Ding Chunqiu, with his white hair and youthful appearance, possesses an outstanding charm. His flowing sleeves dance gracefully, and even his eye-gouging and testicle-scooping moves are executed with effortless elegance. No one would guess that this man is a top figure in the evil path.
Ding Laoguai calmly and deliberately struck the Three Yin Centipede Claw from head to tail, then stood with his hands behind his back, barely breathing: "Hehe, how much have you memorized? Now, let me demonstrate it once more."

Jiang Mingzhe recalled Ding Laoguai's movements. He awkwardly assumed a starting stance, like an old man practicing Tai Chi in a park, slowly crouching down to grab, then leaping like a grasshopper, flailing his hands haphazardly a couple of times, his left leg twitching as if it were cramping, before he even managed to shake himself off and landed on the ground, stumbling and almost twisting his back. After regaining his composure, he moved to the side and unleashed two more claw strikes...

He darted here and there, leaping and bounding like a drunken monkey. His moves were neither coherent nor clean, making them incredibly unsightly. Yet Ding Chunqiu watched intently, his eyes clearly revealing admiration!
Ding Chunqiu, with his rich teaching experience, could tell at a glance that Jiang Mingzhe's poor performance was simply due to his current physical condition.

After all, he was already in his twenties, and his physique was already fully developed. His flexibility, balance, and agility were difficult to compare with those of a young person. This was something Ding Chunqiu had already anticipated.

To his surprise, Jiang Mingzhe memorized as many as fifteen of the seventeen moves of the Three Yin Centipede Claw after watching him perform them only once!
Although he didn't remember the other two moves clearly, Jiang Mingzhe was still able to adapt them on his own, seamlessly transitioning to the next move.

In Ding Chunqiu's eyes, this was an exceptional comprehension that was rare in the world. Even the most talented Zhaixingzi and Azi paled in comparison.

He was overjoyed and thought to himself: No wonder this boy was able to receive guidance from an immortal in his dream; he is indeed a fine piece of jade!
Ding Chunqiu had only believed Jiang Mingzhe's fabricated story of a sage pointing the way, but now he couldn't help but believe it by another 10%.

Then he thought: That's right! That old ghost Su Xinghe has always been proud of his eight disciples. Heh, not to mention that his eight disciples are just as good as him in indulging in frivolous pursuits, even if we only consider their aptitude, they are only similar to Zhaixingzi. Compared with my new disciple, aren't they worlds apart?
Thinking of Su Xinghe, a wicked plan immediately popped into his mind: "Hey, if I properly train this kid for a few years and send him to kill Su Laogui's eight beloved disciples, Su Laogui might die of a broken heart. Wouldn't that be satisfying? Hehe, I said back then that I wouldn't kill Su Laogui if he stopped talking from then on, but if he dies, what does it have to do with me? Brilliant, brilliant indeed!"
The more the old man thought about it, the happier he became, and his enthusiasm for teaching grew wildly.

After Jiang Mingzhe finished his set of claw techniques, he was panting heavily and felt that he had made a complete fool of himself, even worse than a middle school student doing calisthenics. Even though he had a skin that had been through many battles, his face turned red at this moment.

Unexpectedly, Ding Chunqiu showed no criticism whatsoever. Instead, he smiled and praised, "Well done, well done! Your comprehension is only slightly weaker than mine when I was young, truly remarkable! However, there are still many oversights in the details of your claw technique. Watch as I strike..."

He then demonstrated the moves again, but this time he didn't finish them all at once. Instead, he broke them down one by one and explained them in detail.

He moved extremely slowly, and his explanations were exceptionally meticulous. He explained why he made that claw strike, what the purpose of that waist twist was, and what we should do if the enemy did that... He broke down and explained every detail in detail.

Jiang Mingzhe nodded repeatedly, subconsciously gesturing along. When he heard something he didn't understand, he immediately asked, and Ding Chunqiu answered patiently.

Moreover, most of the questions Jiang Mingzhe raised were crucial, further demonstrating his exceptional insight.

With one teacher dedicated and the other focused on learning, Jiang Mingzhe quickly grasped the essence of this martial art.

Speaking of the word "martial arts," thanks to the development of information technology, Jiang Mingzhe, like most people today, went through a complete process from deep belief to disbelief, and then to utter contempt. But only now did he truly understand the real meaning of the word "martial arts"—

In Jiang Mingzhe's understanding, martial arts are simply a "plan".

A plan on how to defeat the enemy with one's own body.

To put it bluntly, it's no different in essence from the business plans that Jiang Mingzhe used to write.

In business plans, there are profitable strategies, which correspond to the methods of attack in martial arts.

The strategies for dealing with competition in a business plan are like defensive techniques in martial arts.
A business plan breaks down execution steps, much like each move in martial arts; these steps are specific execution plans for different situations.
The industry projections in a business plan are akin to anticipating the enemy's possible reactions—such as dodging, blocking, and counterattacking—when creating martial arts techniques. For instance, the Three Yin Centipede Claw technique he's currently learning, with its seventeen moves, is equivalent to seventeen specific attack/defense strategies.

Whether it's offense combined with defense, or defense with counter-attack, every inch of the body, every movement, and every angle has a very clear meaning, all aimed at maximizing the achievement of the plan's intended goals.

When practicing, you perform the moves one by one, from the first move to the seventeenth move. This is to integrate these specific movements into your body and make them a subconscious reaction.

When it comes to actually facing the enemy, the strategy must be integrated based on the specific circumstances to find the most efficient execution plan.

What if you land a hit? What if you miss and the enemy blocks it? What if the enemy dodges? Even more specifically, what if they dodge to the left? What if they dodge to the right? What if they jump? What if the enemy counterattacks, resulting in mutual destruction?
All problems must be solved by combining different approaches.

Having figured this out, Jiang Mingzhe suddenly understood how to categorize the strengths and weaknesses of different martial arts.

Just as business plans vary in quality, different martial arts styles can handle vastly different situations and offer vastly different solutions.

To put it simply, take Western boxing. There are eight punches in total: left and right straight punches, left and right hooks, left and right uppercuts, and left and right lowercuts. Add to that footwork such as forward and backward sliding steps, left and right sliding steps, and circling steps, as well as body movements such as blocking, dodging, and crouching. This can form dozens or even hundreds of combinations, which are enough to deal with most unarmed upright attacks using both arms.

Complexity is like the Dugu Nine Swords, which consists of nine moves, each containing hundreds of variations. It almost exhausts all possibilities of attacking with bare hands or using various weapons, in order to achieve the goal of "anticipating the enemy's moves and striking back to gain the upper hand".

If we consider the Nine Swords of Dugu as a business plan, it must be a meticulous analysis of all the business strategies of various types of competitors in a certain industry, and it must provide targeted and effective means of restraint for all these possibilities!

In reality, there is no such thing as a perfect business plan that exhausts all variables and is flawless. However, there is indeed such a thing as the Dugu Nine Swords, which can strike back and defeat others with nothing!

This world is interesting!

Jiang Mingzhe felt his blood gradually warming up, and his movements became more and more precise.

Based on Ding Chunqiu's explanations, he could quickly grasp the core objective of each move, which was far superior to the rote memorization of ordinary disciples. His learning efficiency was naturally astonishing.

Before they knew it, the moon was high in the sky. In the neighboring buildings, the newly enrolled disciples all frowned as they listened to Ding Chunqiu's continuous laughter coming from the courtyard of Building B1.

It turns out that Ding Chunqiu was never very patient when teaching his disciples. Only his beloved disciples like Zhaixingzi and Azi were willing to patiently explain the details. As for ordinary disciples, he would demonstrate once, casually mention the key points, and then immediately wave them away. How much they could understand depended entirely on their own hard work.

Some impatient people began to inquire, and soon the news that Ding Chunqiu had taken on a new disciple spread among the newly registered disciples.

The fact that Jiang Mingzhe, a newcomer, was already receiving such favoritism from Ding Chunqiu made the other disciples green with envy, and they also began to fear their new junior brother.

However, Azi seized the opportunity to spread rumors, deliberately making Jiang Mingzhe's background vague: "Ah, he's Master's fellow townsman... in his twenties, I think... I heard that Master's last trip back to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors was more than twenty years ago... Do you think Master favors him? Ah, that's because this junior brother looks a lot like Master when he was young... Master himself said he looks like him... Anyway, Master can't stop smiling when he sees him, and I find it so strange... Is hometown ties really that important? I don't understand, I've never met anyone from my hometown..."

The disciples were terrified. They thought to themselves, "This little wench doesn't know anything about men and women. The location and time match up. If she's not the old man's illegitimate son, we'll perform a handstand and eat the five poisonous creatures alive. She's not just a junior brother, she's clearly the young sect leader of our Xingxiu Sect!"

(End of this chapter)