Chapter 9: Dangerous World

"Is it really that powerful?"

Hearing Xu Qing's question, Jiang He slowly closed her gaping mouth, shaking her head gravely, "This skill... it's like it's from a fairy tale."

She simply couldn't imagine the embroidery needle having such tremendous power, to lift a house straight off the ground... Looking down at her own hands, Jiang He thought she could at most use it as a hidden weapon to hit a target a few meters away, inflicting minor injuries— it probably couldn't even penetrate bone, as it was hard to kill someone with an embroidery needle.

"How about this one?"

While she was still in shock, Xu Qing opened another video, this time "Kung Fu Hustle."

'In the world of martial arts, no defense is impregnable to speed.'

The old man sat in a chair and shot himself in the head, while Xu Qing explained from the side, "This is a gun... a kind of hidden weapon with super great power, much more powerful than your dart."

The movie scene was in slow motion, and Jiang He was unimpressed, still shocked by the embroidery needle she just saw, and the flashy Qinggong that allowed one to fly through the skies.

If the second leader were to use his pair of hammers to smash a rock, even if he exerted all his strength, he might be able to chip off a piece, but in the movie, the person was sent flying and shattered the rock upon impact. Both the bodily resilience and the force experienced were terrifying...

Bang!

Stephen Chow sent a huge handprint into a building with a palm strike through the air.

Jiang He's hair stood on end, and she instinctively stepped back, arching her body like a startled wild cat, staring incredulously at the screen. After a moment, she slowly shifted her gaze to Xu Qing's face.

"Is this... your true strength?"

"No, not at all! It's all fake!"

Seeing how seriously Jiang He was taking this, Xu Qing instantly went soft, afraid she'd want to start comparing their skills.

"I just saw it."

"Ahem... that was produced by our imagination, and then we figured out ways to make it into a film with tools— in short, it's all fake."

"Really?" Jiang He clearly didn't believe it.

"Fake... pah, true."

"Is it true or false?"

"True... the kung fu is fake." Xu Qing was in agony, the gap in understanding was impossible to explain; they were simply not in the same dimension.

He scrolled through his computer with the mouse, found a copy of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" he had edited, and started explaining while playing it.

"You see, it's impossible for the same world to have so many different clothing styles; these are all made-up ancient people or, to be precise, martial artists from our imagination, just placed in an ancient setting. Then we create it through props... does that sound confusing?"

"Hmm."

"Confused is right. Once you're familiar with this world, you'll understand what movies are, what art is... look at this."

Without the luxury of letting Jiang He learn at her own pace, Xu Qing had no choice but to cram her with information, to brutally force-feed her knowledge of this world— plan was to teach her how to use the computer when the hand-writing input pad arrived in a few days, since it also had a voice input feature.

Before that, he needed to find out more about Jiang He's world.

The splendid fight between Yu Jiaolong and Yu Xiulian played out on the computer, but Jiang He's mind wasn't on it anymore.

"Is your leader's martial arts as high as this?"

Xu Qing asked again when the battle in the bamboo forest unfolded.

If this still wasn't good enough, he would have to look for "Huo Yuanjia" or "A Man's Martial World"...

"Close enough," Jiang He casually responded, glancing at the two figures floating around the bamboo on the screen before adding, "except for this movement technique."

"Oh? No qinggong?"

Xu Qing felt somewhat regretful. In his view, the most enchanting aspect of martial arts was the elegant movement technique of qinggong. It was a peaceful society nowadays, who would engage in frequent fights and killings? Practicing martial arts was not very useful, except for qinggong — it was cool and impressive.

"We have it, but... usually, people specialize in one aspect, and in our stronghold, probably only Erniang could do it, but her combat skills are not as good as these two people," he said.

The movie clip ended, but Jiang He was still captivated by Stephen Chow's Tathagata Palm from the previous film.

Unbelievable!

She hesitated, looking at the computer screen, unable to imagine how someone could train their skills to such a degree... no, that should be called magic.

Xu Qing did not continue playing the movie. He thought for a moment, searched for Master Chen of Wudang's videos online, and picked out the segment of the "Eagle Claw Skill" that created afterimages —

"Hey, can you do this?"

He raised his eyebrows at Jiang He.

"What's this?"

"Didn't you see? Just... whoosh whoosh whoosh!" Xu Qing waved his hands, imitating the movements from the video, "Empty-handed and creating afterimages with sounds... I'm not doubting you, just want to broaden my horizons."

As he gradually accepted Jiang He's identity, his curiosity almost burst. However, Jiang He only showed her darts skill yesterday, and the rest seemed quite ordinary.

Jiang He's gaze flickered, took another look at the computer screen, stepped back into position, and perfectly replicated the video's movements, the whooshing sounds rising from her hands, stunning Xu Qing who stood with his mouth half open, speechless.

"Like this, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Xu Qing nodded vigorously.

Jiang He relaxed her stance and smiled at Xu Qing, "Let me know when you want to learn, and I'll teach you the standing post."

After that, she awkwardly tugged at her clothes, picked up the sword, and returned to her room, glancing at the fat cat in the corner of the living room before closing the door.

There are no good deeds without a reason in the world. Regarding Xu Qing's desire to help her, Jiang He had always remained cautious, feeling that it wasn't as Xu Qing had said: he picked up a stray kitten outside too.

A good person without a purpose is always unsettling.

Now that she had discovered Xu Qing's motive, she finally let go of the stone that had been lodged in her heart — he wanted to learn martial arts.

Everything made sense.

Jiang He exhaled, feeling much lighter, and slowly drew out her Longsword. The scenes from the movie replayed in her mind.

This world seems quite dangerous...

She measured the room with her eyes, took small steps around the walls in a circle, wielding the Longsword and forming a sword flower. She began practicing her swordplay in the confinement of the small room.

...

Xu Qing didn't sneakily press his ear against Jiang He's door to listen to the sounds in her room; that would be too sleazy, and even worse if he was caught and couldn't explain himself.

He casually browsed through recent news to see if there were any supernatural events elsewhere, to no avail. After staying up late with insomnia last night and yawning several times, Xu Qing could hardly keep his eyes open, so he closed his laptop, returned to his bedroom, and lay down for a nap.

With a martial heroine asleep in the room opposite, he carried this wondrous feeling into a more amazing dream, and when he woke up, the sunset had already sunk in the west.

The evening glow streamed through the window into the room, basking it in warm hues. Xu Qing glanced at the time, rubbed his face, got up to change clothes, and prepared to take Jiang He out to explore and experience the world.