The situation with the Martial Arts Association has improved recently.
That charlatan Ma Mai Pi caused a huge stir online, even starting to live stream sales. His popularity only gradually subsided after official condemnation and his ban.
However, even though he was banned, traditional martial arts were left with a bad impression in the minds of netizens.
After all, a person who claimed to be a master was brutally defeated by an amateur martial arts enthusiast. Regardless of whether he was a true master or not, many people still viewed him as one.
This eventually led to many people online saying that traditional martial arts were all show and had no practical combat effectiveness.
The Martial Arts Association did not engage in debates about these matters.
Because of the prior incident with the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association, when TCM was labelled as fraudulent, many people responded, which only escalated the situation. The Martial Arts Association learned from this experience and chose a cold-handling approach this time, which proved effective.
Although there were still some people discussing the issue of combat effectiveness, the situation was considered quite optimistic.
The president of the Martial Arts Association, Huo Xian, was known as "Old Ghost Huo."
He was a successor of the Huo Family Fist.
This time, he was very satisfied with Su Yu's film "Huo Yuanjia."
The movie hadn't been released yet, but he had read the script and was filled with excitement!
Although Huo Yuanjia did not exist in the history of Blue Star, his Huo family ancestors did produce such national heroes.
Not only the Huo family, but many traditional martial arts styles had produced heroes who resisted foreign invaders to the death.
Huo Xian personally oversaw the martial arts direction for the film. The lead actor, Wu Xingyang, was an old acquaintance and a Wuying-level actor, making the fight scenes incredibly authentic.
Backstage at the premiere.
"Haha, it's fortunate that our Martial Arts Association got the first song from Ting Yu after 'Fengshen'," Huo Xian said with robust energy.
He was dressed in a Tang suit, around fifty years old, and was juggling two iron balls in his hands.
Although Ting Yu had written this song before, it wasn't important.
What was important was that it was the first song released after his "Fengshen" status.
This song was bound to attract immense attention.
"President Huo is indeed far-sighted, waiting for this opportunity."
"This is truly the best time."
Someone chimed in agreement.
"Alas... I didn't want to wait, but I had no choice. It's always better to promote when the online criticism has subsided a bit," Huo Xian sighed.
"Some marketing accounts are simply detestable, like mad dogs that won't let go."
"They keep saying that our traditional martial arts are no match in competitions, but they don't realize how many moves are banned in competitions!" said a successor of Baguazhang.
"Those moves are inherently deadly or injurious. My master taught us that martial arts begin with virtue. In peacetime, martial arts are indeed more performative, but on the battlefield, we are no weaker when it comes to killing the enemy."
"Indeed, the first thing a master teaches a disciple is humility and discretion. The first action after throwing an opponent down must be to help them up. We bow before sparring, and after winning, we say 'you yielded.' These are all to prevent us from getting into disputes with others."
"Martial artists take protecting the nation as their duty. We won't argue about whether our practical combat is effective."
"Haha, that's right. We hope we never have to use it."
Once someone started the conversation, everyone else joined in. These individuals came from various martial arts schools. Although martial artists had strong school affiliations, within the association, they discussed matters together and had good relationships.
The spirit of traditional martial arts is humility and discretion. Besides practicing martial arts, true masters also cultivate their minds and character, and they generally do not engage in verbal disputes with others.
Therefore, despite feeling indignant when traditional martial arts were insulted this time, they did not argue with those marketing accounts.
Instead, they used Ting Yu's song to help people understand the spirit of traditional martial arts.
"Haha, what's all the commotion?" Just then, Zhou Zhengming, the former president of the Opera Association, walked in from outside.
"Elder Zhou, why have you come?" Huo Xian quickly stood up, as did everyone else from the Martial Arts Association.
Zhou Zhengming was not only the former president of the Opera Association but also held a very high position in the cultural circles. People like Huo Xian regarded themselves as juniors in his presence. Martial artists placed great importance on seniority, so proper etiquette must be observed.
"This old man is here to listen to Su Yu sing," Zhou Zhengming said cheerfully.
Upon seeing Chen Rong's message, he couldn't sit still.
Since Su Yu was being so gracious and incorporating operatic elements, he naturally wanted to witness it firsthand.
"Please, take the main seat." Huo Xian was unaware that the song "Huo Yuanjia" contained operatic elements. He assumed Zhou Zhengming was simply there to show support for Su Yu and beamed with joy.
This was a significant figure; they wouldn't be able to invite him even with great effort, yet he had come on his own.
"No, no, please continue. I'm just here for a brief visit, and I should head to the venue," Zhou Zhengming waved his hand.
Then he walked out of the lounge.
The members of the Martial Arts Association were bewildered.
Why did he leave without even sitting down after just arriving?
"Su Yu has so much influence that even the former president personally came to support him," someone said enviously after Zhou Zhengming left.
"Naturally. Su Yu wrote two songs for the Opera Association, and even the song for the Calligraphy Association had operatic elements. We..." Huo Xian said.
He suddenly realized something was amiss.
The members of the Martial Arts Association also seemed to have caught on.
The conference room fell silent.
"No way?"
"It seems it's correct..."
After a long pause, a sigh of helplessness and envy was heard.
From the former president's expression, they had guessed it. The song for the Martial Arts Association this time should also have operatic elements!
"If so, then so be it. He's young, and it's natural for him to try and please his mother-in-law," Huo Xian waved his hand.
It was good enough that Su Yu wrote them a song, so they shouldn't be too picky.
With that thought, everyone nodded in resigned acceptance.
The mother-in-law was the most important.
It was only natural...
...
The premiere was held in a sports stadium.
Outside, crowds had gathered early.
The vast majority of these were fans of Ting Yu.
After all, the movie "Huo Yuanjia" did not feature any popular idol stars, and the lead actor Wu Xingyang was merely a past-his-prime action star.
Therefore, there weren't many fans of the actors themselves.
When the film crew members alighted from their vehicles and entered the venue,
another car drove up from a distance.
As the people from it stepped out, the scene erupted in a flurry of exclamations.
"Isn't that Erhu master Zhou Ningbin?"
"Holy cow, Liu Qingxue? Li Fangyuan?"
"Hiss... Even Xiao Yifeng, who is always called unsociable, has arrived!"
"What is influence? This is Ting Yu's influence!"
"The entire 'Shui Long Yin' ensemble has come. These are all absolute giants in the realm of traditional Chinese instruments!"
Everyone knew why these influential figures had come today.
The only person connecting them was Ting Yu!