Martial Arts: Starting from a Seemingly Real System

Songshan, Shaolin!

Outside the grand mountain gate, there is a constant stream of pilgrims coming in and out.

On this day, a young man was walking towards them from a distance. He was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a strong back and waist, holding a precious sword and walking lightly. It was obvious that he was a martial artist.

There was a monk at the gate who greeted and saw off guests. When he saw this person, he came over immediately, put his hands together and said, "Amitabha, where are you from and what's your business?"

The man clasped his hands together and saluted, "I am Qiao Rui from Longxing City. I am here to become your disciple at the invitation of Master Wuwang from your temple!"

The monk in charge of reception laughed and said, "So it's Donor Qiao who has come. My great-grandmaster informed us a month ago. But why did you come so late?"

Qiao Rui smiled and said, "I am busy with worldly affairs. Please forgive me, Master!"

"I dare not, please follow me!"

The monk in charge of receiving guests was a young novice monk of about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was a fourth-generation disciple of the Shaolin Inner Court and the grandson of Master Wuwang.

Master Wuwang came back from Mount Shu the previous month and informed the Guest Hall about accepting Qiao Rui into Shaolin. The head monk of the Guest Hall, Master Wuchen, issued an edict to pay close attention to Qiao Rui, and all the monks in the Guest Hall kept it in mind.

Today, Qiao Rui finally showed up. The young monk was very happy. He said a few words to another monk in charge of reception, and then led Qiao Rui to the reception hall.

Entering the mountain gate, there is Xilai Hall on the left, Ciyu Hall on the right, and later in the middle is Tianwang Hall. After passing Tianwang Hall, you will enter the second courtyard. There are bell towers and drum towers on the left and right. These two are the morning bells and evening drums.

Behind the bell tower and drum tower, there is the reception hall on the left, the lecture hall on the right, and the main hall in the middle. The first and second courtyards are the outer courtyard of Shaolin Temple, and the courtyards behind are the inner courtyard of Shaolin Temple, where ordinary pilgrims are not allowed to enter.

The internal management structure of the Shaolin School from the abbot down consists of three courtyards, four halls, one palace and one pavilion. Except for the reception hall and the lecture hall which are in the second courtyard of the outer courtyard, the rest are in the inner courtyard, and outsiders cannot get a glimpse of the whole picture.

The Zhike Hall manages all the complicated affairs of the Shaolin Sect, and the head monk is Master Wuchen.

The lecture hall is in charge of the monks' meditation, worshipping Buddha, preaching the sutras, and morning and evening lessons. The abbot is Master Wu Gen.

The young monk brought Qiao Rui into the reception hall, where a big monk was sitting, it was Master Wuchen. The young monk reported the situation and then left.

Master Wuchen was in his fifties, fat and big-eared, with a ruddy face and as cheerful as Maitreya Buddha.

He first looked at Qiao Rui, then laughed and said, "Sure enough, he is very heroic and outstanding!"

Qiao Rui waved his hands repeatedly and said he was not worthy of it!

Wu Chen signaled him not to be so reserved and asked him to sit down aside. He then continued, “Senior Brother Wuwang admires you very much and has mentioned you to me many times, asking me to try my best to keep you in Shaolin!”

Qiao Rui smiled and said, "I came here because I really want to join Shaolin Temple!"

"That's great!" Wu Chen smiled kindly, his words were full of intimacy, "Then I will tell you the rules of joining Shaolin."

"Master, please give me some advice!"

"Shaolin disciples are divided into monastic disciples and lay disciples. Monastic disciples are self-explanatory, while lay disciples are secular disciples. When learning martial arts in Shaolin, they must strictly abide by the temple rules and regulations. Although they do not have to abide by them outside the temple, they must also have good intentions and not do evil, otherwise Shaolin will purge them!"

"Disciple, please remember this!"

"Lay disciples must pay 1,000 taels of silver every year to cover the cost of food, lodging, and martial arts training resources."

"Yes!" Qiao Rui replied. His four inns and half a brewery brought in a lot of income every month, which was enough to support him, Tian Jing and Huang Jingxuan's martial arts training.

Master Wu Chen smiled even more brightly. He had excellent qualifications, good character, and a wealthy fortune. Who wouldn’t like such a disciple?

"The third courtyard is where ordinary disciples practice martial arts. Monks are managed by the Luohan Hall, and lay disciples are managed by the Prajna Hall. However, the Luohan Hall and the Prajna Hall are in the fourth courtyard. Ordinary disciples in the third courtyard must pass the selection test before they can enter the fourth courtyard for intensive training."

"In addition, on both sides of the fourth courtyard, the eastern courtyard is the Sutra Library, and the western courtyard is the Medicine King Hall. You are not allowed to trespass in these two places. Otherwise, the Discipline Court will not show mercy!"

Qiao Rui's eyes lit up. The legendary Sutra Repository, the mysterious place that so many martial artists dreamed of entering but were unable to enter, contained the 72 Shaolin unique skills, the Yi Jin Jing, the Xi Sui Jing... How many other secret manuals were there in it that drove the martial arts world crazy?

There is also the Medicine King Hall. Is it the place where the Great and Small Huandan are made? Perhaps there are even more precious and rare elixirs!

"How can we enter the Sutra Repository?" Qiao Rui couldn't help but ask.

"On the first and second floors of the Sutra Library are just ordinary Buddhist scriptures, which can be read at will. The intermediate and advanced martial arts on the third floor can only be learned after entering the fourth courtyard and using merit points. For the fourth floor and above, you need the warrant of each head monk to exchange for merit points."

"Merit points?" Qiao Rui was surprised. It sounded similar to the merit points of Qingtianwei!

Wu Chen saw Qiao Rui's doubts and explained, "As the saying goes, 'The Dharma is not easily passed on, and the Way is not cheaply sold.' The more you seek, the more you have to pay!"

That makes sense. Qiao Rui nodded and asked, "How do I get merit points?"

"Come to me to get a task. You can go to the Sutra Library to clean the first and second floors, go to the Medicine King Courtyard to do odd jobs, fetch water and chop firewood for the kitchen, fertilize and weed the vegetable garden, or go to the foot of the mountain to treat the people, catch criminals for the government... Do good deeds, and you will gain merit everywhere!"

Well, they are all obtained by completing tasks, the difference is that for the Qingtianwei, the merit points are the threshold, and you can use silver to buy what you need, while in Shaolin, strength is the threshold, and you use merit points to buy what you need.

"In addition," Wu Chen added, "providing martial arts that Shaolin doesn't have can also earn corresponding merit points!"

"Oh?" Qiao Rui's expression changed, and he thought of his three top martial arts, the No Regrets Subduing Dragon Palm, the Emei Nine Yang Gong, and the Free and Easy Lingxu Jue, and wondered how many merit points he could exchange for them.

Wait, wait, I can exchange my martial arts for merit points, and then use the merit points to exchange for Shaolin martial arts. Why not just exchange martial arts for martial arts? Thinking of this, Qiao Rui asked directly, "Can I exchange martial arts for martial arts?"

Wu Chen laughed, with an indescribably kind look on his face, and replied, "Yes, if you want to exchange martial arts of the same level, you need to compensate a certain amount of merit points!"

"Do I need to compensate merit points when exchanging for martial arts of the same level?" Qiao Rui was a little puzzled. Isn't it an equal exchange?

"In low and out high, it's the best!" Wu Chen said.

Ah this...

Looking at Master Wuchen's kind and friendly smile, Qiao Rui was speechless, but he could only accept it, "Where can I go to change martial arts?"

"The Bodhi Academy in the Fifth Courtyard specializes in studying martial arts from all schools of thought. You can submit your martial arts to the Academy, and the Bodhi Academy will evaluate the reasonable merit points, and then go to the Sutra Pavilion to copy the corresponding martial arts!"

"But I don't recommend you to change martial arts so quickly. It's best to enter the Fourth Courtyard and become a disciple of a master. Then the master will help you choose which martial arts to change to, so that you don't learn a lot of martial arts without any improvement in your strength, and waste your merit points in vain!"

"Thank you for your advice, Master!" Qiao Rui bowed respectfully.

Wu Chen nodded and smiled, "That's roughly what you need to know now. After you enter the Third Courtyard, someone will tell you the specific rules of the Third Courtyard. Do you have any other questions now?"

"there is none left!"

"Well, that's good, pay the money!"