Chapter 1 The Beginning

Blue Star, July 2nd, 2081, 13:50. Binhai City, the most prosperous city in Xia Country, was shrouded in dark clouds, with thunder rumbling, signaling an impending storm.

"Summer thunderstorms come and go so quickly," a young man said, looking at the dark clouds and lightning through the floor-to-ceiling window of a room on the top floor of the Starry Sky Combat Arena. Raindrops began to patter against the windowpane.

The young man walked to the center of the room, placed his hands on the ground, and slowly and steadily began a handstand. First, he held a straight handstand with both hands, then he lifted one hand, balancing on his right hand alone.

"Hoo... Ha..."

His breathing echoed in his ears. Xu Jingming focused on tightening his core muscles, feeling the pressure of his entire body weight on his right arm.

For the first three minutes, his arm felt fine; the tendons and muscles were being stimulated deeply. But by the fourth minute, the muscles in his palm began to ache and burn. The fifth minute was even more painful, but Xu Jingming was used to it. After enduring for five minutes, he naturally switched to a one-handed handstand on his left hand.

"I wonder if Dad's back is any better today." While in the one-handed handstand, Xu Jingming's thoughts drifted to his father. His father was sixty this year, and his back injury was an old ailment. Yesterday, he had overheard his mother saying on the phone that his father had re-injured his back while lifting something heavy...

"Once I'm done with this current job, I'll go back home for a visit," Xu Jingming thought.

The one-handed handstand wasn't a training method taught by the national team, but one that his father had taught him when he was a child.

Xu Jingming's health wasn't good when he was young, so his father taught him martial arts to strengthen his body. This included the "one-armed handstand stance." Because long-term practice was effective, it became one of his five daily Zhan Zhuang exercises, practiced through the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. He had been practicing for twenty years, and he would persist even when sick or injured. He wouldn't stop unless there was a very special reason. As the saying goes, "Practicing martial arts without practicing the basics is all for naught in old age." This so-called "basic" refers to daily fundamental exercises.

If he stopped for three to five days, his tendons, bones, muscles, and other aspects would decline.

After finishing the one-armed handstand stance, Xu Jingming walked to his desk, sat down, took a few sips of water, and looked at the pouring rain outside the window.

"When the humidity is high, my leg starts to hurt," Xu Jingming said, looking at his right leg. He reached out and gently massaged it. "I've never stopped the rehabilitation exercises every day, but my right leg... it's not getting any better."

"If my right leg hadn't been injured, I probably would have had a chance to compete for the world number one spot," Xu Jingming said to himself.

Injuries are what every martial arts master fears most in their career. A "broken leg" injury was a nightmare for Xu Jingming.

"Di di di..." Suddenly, a sound rang out.

Xu Jingming raised his head and said, "Xiaobai, answer the video call."

Light converged in front of Xu Jingming, forming a two-meter-high screen. On the screen, a burly, fat man was sitting in a car, smiling and shouting, "Old Xu, we've already left the hotel and should be arriving at your Starry Sky Combat Arena in about 20 minutes. Haha, it's been over a year since we last met. We have to have a good drink tonight."

"Don't worry, Da Xiong, I've already booked a barbecue restaurant," Xu Jingming said, smiling at his childhood friend. He added, "The rain is pretty heavy, be careful on the road."

"Don't worry, don't worry," the burly, fat man continued. "The boys from the provincial training team all admire you. They want to see your spearmanship. You have to give them some pointers later and let them understand the gap between them and a world-class expert."

"The younger generation is getting stronger and stronger. I'll be lucky if I don't get overturned," Xu Jingming said with a smile.

"How could you possibly be overturned? I actually hope you do get overturned! If you get overturned, it means our provincial team has produced another genius!" the fat man laughed heartily. "Alright, I won't chat anymore. See you later."

"See you later," Xu Jingming said, swiping his hand to dismiss the screen in mid-air.

Training the Jiangnan Province training team for ten days, charging a fee of 50,000 Blue Star dollars, wasn't even enough to cover the venue costs. But for the combat arena, being able to train the provincial training team was also a form of advertising and could attract more combat enthusiasts to become members of the combat arena.

"A professional athlete has to make money even after retirement," Xu Jingming said, getting up to take a shower and change his clothes.

Combat professional athletes may sound glamorous, but in reality, they only earn some "appearance fees" during their peak. Very few professional athletes around the world earn over 100 million in their careers. Most professional athletes barely make a living.

As for after retirement, making money is even more difficult. Although Xu Jingming was also a world-class martial arts expert, his best result in the World Martial Arts Competition was only in the top eight. Income in the combat world is shaped like a pyramid, with the tip of the pyramid being the extremely small minority! The income of the person ranked first is ridiculously high, and the income of the second, third, fourth... decreases drastically.

******

Xu Jingming stood waiting at the entrance of the Starry Sky Combat Arena, accompanied by several staff members. In the distance, he saw an electric bus approaching through the rain.

When the electric bus stopped and the door opened, more than ten members of the Jiangnan Province training team got off the bus one after another.

"Da Xiong." Xu Jingming immediately spotted the burly, fat man who got off first. That was his good brother, Liu Chongyuan.

"Old Xu." Liu Chongyuan walked over excitedly and hugged Xu Jingming, slapping him hard on the back. Xu Jingming grimaced, but could only treat it as a massage.

Liu Chongyuan was two meters and three centimeters tall, weighing over one hundred and eighty kilograms, like a standing bear. He was also a professional martial arts expert in his younger days, wielding a shield in one hand and an axe in the other. His highest ranking in the World Martial Arts League was 39th, so he was able to secure a position in the Provincial Sports Bureau.

"This is Coach Xu," Liu Chongyuan said, grinning. "The Coach Xu you've all been longing to see!"

"Xu Jingming!"

"Spear Demon Xu Jingming!"

"We're seeing the real person!" The team members were excited. As people in the industry, they naturally admired this senior.

Xu Jingming looked at these team members, as if seeing himself back in the day.

Young and full of vigor!

Unlike himself, who had to retire with injuries after competing in martial arts events.

Xu Jingming smiled and said, "Achen, take them to choose their weapons."

"Yes, Brother Xu," the young staff member replied.

"Da Xiong, let's go up to the third floor and wait for them," Xu Jingming said, and the two good brothers happily headed to the third floor.

...

The weapon room of the Starry Sky Combat Arena was a full 500 square meters, with an astonishing number of cold weapons such as knives, spears, swords, clubs, shields, axes, hammers, and flails. These were all martial arts competition equipment. For example, knives and swords were not only unsharpened, but also covered with a layer of cushioning material to greatly improve safety. As for spears, the shafts of these competition spears had data indicating their length, diameter of the large and small ends, and weight. There were hundreds of spears, lined up against the wall.

"As expected of the Starry Sky Combat Arena, the best combat arena in Binhai City. The weapons are all here," the eleven members of the provincial training team, all of whom used spears, had come to participate in Xu Jingming's training.

In terms of spearmanship alone, Xu Jingming was recognized as one of the top ten in the history of all professional martial arts experts.

With the competition spear data clearly defined, the eleven members quickly chose their preferred weapons.

"This is the first time I've seen Xu Jingming in real life. He looks so ordinary. He doesn't have the intimidation he has in videos," a tall man said while testing a spear.

"He feels a lot thinner than he looks in the videos," another young teenager said.

"He is thinner," a burly man nodded in agreement. "When he hadn't retired, I watched a few of his matches live. According to the information published by the Martial Arts League, he's one meter seventy-eight tall and weighs ninety-three kilograms. He's lost a lot of weight now. I'd estimate he weighs eighty-five kilograms at most."

The provincial team members discussed.

They were well aware that a height of one meter seventy-eight and a weight of eighty-something kilograms might seem slightly fat for an ordinary person. But for a professional martial arts expert with heavy bones and a high muscle ratio, it was considered slightly thin.

"With the weight loss, his strength must have decreased as well."

"I wonder how much of his strength is left."

"Some professional athletes give up training after retiring, and their bodies become deformed, and their strength deteriorates a lot."

The team members talked amongst themselves.

"I was hoping to see how much of a gap there was between myself and a World Martial Arts Competition athlete, but who knew he'd lose so much weight. I wonder how much of his strength he has left," the burly man said somewhat unwillingly. He had been selected for the national training team once last year, and his goal was also the highest level martial arts competition—the World Martial Arts Competition. He originally had expectations for Xu Jingming, who had entered the World Martial Arts Competition twice, but now he was somewhat disappointed.

With the weight loss, how much strength did Xu Jingming have left? Did he still have the domineering and powerful aura of the 'Spear Demon' from back then?

"Even if his strength has declined, his experience is still there," the tall man beside him said with a smile. "It's still enough to give us pointers."

"Maybe he won't even spar with us," the young teenager muttered. They had seen many senior coaches giving instructions, but very few actually came down to spar with them.

******

On the third floor of the Starry Sky Combat Arena, there was a martial arts ring that met international martial arts competition standards. The ring was 20 meters long and 20 meters wide, surrounded by a six-meter-high wire mesh.

When the provincial training team members entered the third floor, they saw Coach Liu and Xu Jingming standing there.

"Line up," Xu Jingming said familiarly. He had been a member of the Jiangnan Province team himself back in the day before being selected as a main member of the national team.

The eleven members, each holding a spear, lined up in an orderly manner.

Perhaps Xu Jingming's strength had greatly declined after retiring, but his past achievements still made these members admire and respect him, so they were naturally very obedient.

"Starting today, I will be your coach. The training camp will last for a total of ten days. Except for today's training time in the afternoon, from tomorrow onwards, it will be from nine to eleven in the morning," Xu Jingming said, his eyes sweeping over them. "I don't want anyone to be late or leave early."

"Yes," the eleven members responded in unison.

"Good. Since this is our first meeting, let's start with some sparring to let me see your strengths," Xu Jingming said. "That way, I can tailor my teaching to your individual needs."

"Sparring?" The members looked at each other, surprised and delighted.

"A real fight in the ring?"

"Xu Jingming dares to spar?" The members couldn't hide their joy. Since Xu Jingming dared to do this, it meant that he still maintained most of his peak strength even after retiring.

----

Tomato's new book has been officially released!

The new book has been in preparation for a long time, and I have great confidence in it! I hope everyone will support it.

Daily updates: Tentatively scheduled for one chapter around 10:00 am and one chapter around 12:00 pm every day.
Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi