Chapter 158 The Martial Arts Tournament

The person finally arrived, and Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming finally recognized him. They weren't close to him, but they had met once. Jian Gui had introduced him as Qian Li's cousin, who had fought alongside the group of old soldiers organized by the priest called Hong Chen Yi Xiao in White Stone City. In their eyes, he was also an abnormally powerful man, but Qian Li said he "didn't know kung fu," which the others couldn't quite understand. Anyway, they hadn't seen this person since then, and he wasn't a player from their Cloudrise City, but why had he suddenly appeared here?

While Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming were recollecting, Gu Xian had already arrived. The two straightened up, ready to greet him, but Gu Xian didn't even look at them and walked right past.

The two were stunned and quickly turned around. Gu Xian was about to enter the tavern. They hurriedly called out, "Hey!"

"What?" Gu Xian didn't even turn his head. He was lazy to the extreme.

"Don't you recognize us?" Zhan Wu Shang said.

Hearing this, Gu Xian finally deigned to turn around and look at them, then nodded. "No."

The two sweated a bit, then said, "We're Qian Li's friends, Qian Li Yi Zui."

"Oh? His friends? That's perfect. I was just looking for his friends. He said they often appear in this tavern. Ask the tavern owner, he said. And it's true!" Gu Xian exclaimed in surprise.

"What's wrong with Qian Li?" Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming were shocked. Had something really happened to Qian Li? Did he have to ask this relative to come and say hello because he couldn't log into the game?

"He can't come to the game," Gu Xian said.

"What happened to him?" the two asked in unison.

"Why don't we go inside and sit down?" Gu Xian suggested, and then entered the tavern on his own.

Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming exchanged glances. Seeing Qian Li's cousin so unhurried, it didn't seem like a big deal. The two followed him inside while quickly sending messages to Jian Gui and the others.

All the private rooms in Little Lei Tavern were full at this time. Gu Xian wasn't picky and just found an empty table to sit at. He didn't order any drinks and just crossed his arms and slumped on the table.

Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming followed one after the other. They couldn't wait for Jian Gui and the others to arrive. They just wanted to know what had happened.

"Gu Fei can't come to the game," Gu Xian said again, looking at their inquiring gazes.

That was Qian Li's real name, and the two knew it, but they always addressed each other by their game names. Hearing his real name suddenly felt a little awkward, but they didn't pay attention to that and quickly asked, "Why? Why can't he come to the game?"

"Something came up. He has to participate in a martial arts tournament," Gu Xian said.

Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming opened their mouths wide.

"No way, are they really holding a wulin (martial arts world) tournament?" Yu Tian Shen Ming had just made a casual remark a few days ago, but he didn't expect it to actually become a reality.

"You guys know about it too?" Gu Xian looked at them in surprise.

"No, we were just guessing," the two said quickly.

"Then when will the tournament start?" the two asked.

"I don't know the specifics. It's still in the planning stages. Some technical details still need to be researched and adjusted," Gu Xian said.

"Research and adjust?" The two felt that this phrase was a little strange to use for holding a wulin tournament.

"It's a rather special martial arts tournament. It will use full-immersion simulation technology. It's just that the technology used is a little different from our current game..."

Gu Xian was lazy, too lazy. If he could say half a sentence, he would never say a whole one. Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming asked a little, and he answered a little, like squeezing toothpaste. If they didn't know that this was a great master, Zhan Wu Shang and Yu Tian Shen Ming would have wanted to beat him up long ago. Squeezing the information out bit by bit, Jian Gui and the others finally arrived one after another. Continuing to squeeze the toothpaste, everyone finally understood what was going on.

The Gu family wanted to buy Parallel World—this was just a rumor that arose from a misunderstanding. But the Gu family had noticed the game, and that was genuine. The one who acted as the bridge was none other than the lazy Gu Xian, who made people gnash their teeth.

It was he who told the family about the game's situation. The focus wasn't on the game itself, but on the full-immersion simulation technology used in the game. This technology could obviously solve the current communication problems in the world of kung fu.

The kung fu that Gu Fei and the others learned wasn't martial arts (wushu). Martial arts are for strengthening the body. The kung fu that Gu Fei and the others learned had only one purpose: to kill the opponent.

That sentence that assassins often use to show off was very real for Gu Fei and the others. What they learned was only for killing people, not for performing.

Such techniques couldn't be fully displayed in an environment of sparring with restraint. Passed down from generation to generation, it had become increasingly formal and lacked substance. Too many moves and techniques were learned and taught by practitioners just by rote. How could they dare to use these deadly moves that would kill or injure people with one strike during sparring?

This problem plagued not only the Gu family but the entire world of kung fu.

Kung fu was entering a dead end because the most valuable essence couldn't be tested through actual combat, and later generations couldn't improve it by removing the dross and selecting the essence. Kung fu wasn't developing; it was only being inherited, which was a form of regression in itself. What followed was the weakening of the spirit represented by kung fu. More and more younger generations only knew kung fu as a concept, and more and more people began to give it up. Giving up was contrary to the spirit of kung fu, which represented unyieldingness, never giving up, and going forward despite the opposition of thousands.

This situation was worrying, but no one had a better solution. Finally, the full-immersion simulation technology used by Parallel World gave them a glimmer of hope. This technology was first used in the military, but now it was mastered by Parallel World, the game company. After realizing this, the Gu family immediately contacted the entire circle to discuss the feasibility of using this technology to change the current lack of communication in the world of kung fu.

Kung fu wasn't something that anyone could use casually, and the same was true for technology. After discussing it, the heads of various schools and factions in the world of kung fu agreed with this feasibility and immediately began to contact the game company of Parallel World to see if they could cooperate in this regard.

This high-tech technology symbolized wealth, but the world of kung fu was already a disadvantaged group and couldn't see any commercial value. Moreover, their purpose in seeking this technology wasn't to create wealth. How could the other party easily cooperate with them? Therefore, people in the world of kung fu were prepared to face a long and arduous negotiation process.

Unexpectedly, Parallel World seemed to be very interested in this idea of cooperation. It could be said that they gave it the green light and proposed that this technology could be used to hold a martial arts competition that the world of kung fu had never had before, which would strengthen communication and expand influence.

But according to the original intention of the world of kung fu, they just wanted to seek a means of communication and didn't want to put themselves out there as an exhibition. Moreover, what they played with was standard killing and injury tricks, and a harmonious society didn't need to promote this. The game company wanted to hold some kind of competition, which seemed to be pursuing commercial value, which was not in line with their ideas.

To their surprise, after a simple communication, the game company expressed great understanding and then agreed to only help organize an exchange and sparring competition limited to the world of kung fu.

The subsequent talks between the two sides were very pleasant, but for people in the world of kung fu, they had different requirements for full-immersion simulation than for online games. Online games used data to determine the quality of characters, but the world of kung fu hoped that the system they participated in would be determined by the quality of the person himself in the simulated environment, including strength, stamina, speed, and so on.

Although this method wasn't a specialty of the game company's technology, it wasn't impossible to do. Therefore, the two sides set a cooperation intention. The game company was responsible for technical support and designed virtual competition scenes.

Recently, the game company had completed all their technical work, and the competition began the substantive preparation for the registration phase. Gu Fei called home after logging off that day to ask if his family was going to buy Parallel World, and he was urgently summoned home by his father and directly placed under house arrest.

What was he locked up for? To practice closed-door cultivation! His father meant that this was a real fight, so he had to prepare well before the competition. Gu Fei was helpless and excited, and he also despised himself for being so slow this time. After playing the game for so long, he hadn't realized that the technology used in the game could be used to solve the current problems in their world of kung fu. In the end, the first one to realize this was actually Gu Xian, who was regarded as the most useless of their generation, which made Gu Fei feel ashamed.

Closed-door cultivation? Gu Fei didn't think it was necessary. When had he ever put down his kung fu? But since his father had arranged it, he could only do as he was told. There was nothing to discuss. His mobile phone and other things were naturally confiscated by his father, who said he was afraid of distracting him.

The extremely heaven-defying crowd finally understood the whole story. They looked at each other, and after a long time, Yu Tian Shen Ming's eyebrows danced with excitement. "See, I told you! I said there would be a martial arts tournament, haha!"

"Then will Qian Li ever come back to the game?" Jian Gui asked, looking at Gu Xian. Everyone suddenly fell silent. They understood that if it was such a system, then for Gu Fei, the attraction would be much greater than Parallel World. In Parallel World, they had heard Gu Fei complain more than once about not having strength or speed.

Looking back at the eager gazes of the crowd, the lazy Gu Xian just rolled his eyes. "Probably! He asked me to come and find you, his friends, to bring you a message."

"What?" everyone asked.

"He's leaving for a while. Don't be too scared," Gu Xian said.

"Damn it!!!" A bunch of experts gave the middle finger in unison.

"Who would be scared?"

"Damn it, he's too un谦虚 (qian xu - modest)!!"

"We are experts! Experts!"

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There won't be any more detailed process for the martial arts tournament. In fact, this chapter can be regarded as the ending, but I always feel that there are still some trivial things to sort out. I'm very conflicted about not ending it in this chapter, so I don't rule out the possibility of changing this chapter to the ending... Recent updates will not be very stable, please forgive me.

In addition, many people asked me today about the mobile phone Qidian voting thing. I don't know what it is, but I saw that many people helped to support it very well. I am very grateful to the friends who support me, thank you!