6 The Reality of Martial Arts and Cold Weapons

Despite the despair of not being able to cultivate at all, he gradually got over it. After all, he has lived for around a thousand years, which has allowed him to develop a calm mentality. He quickly took his mind off cultivation and focused on the interesting things.

"Amazing! To think this console can act as a space ring!"

"Amazing! These mortals can manipulate space itself!"

"Amazing! I didn't know these elements and energies existed!"

"Amazing...."

Hong felt like a country boy who was visiting a metropolis for the first time in his life. The modern mortal life compared to the medieval mortal life was very fascinating. He could not help but leave his apartment and teleport outside.

Seeing flying objects without a horse that looked nothing like carriages fascinated him. The buildings made of metal and concrete compared to stone was also fascinating. Seeing the vast skyscrapers emitting light in the dark and the black hole moon kept him in shock.

The stimulation allowed Chen's memories to gradually merge into his sea of consciousness.

Only after several hours of fooling around did he tiredly return back to his apartment room. He wiped the sweat off his face as he tiredly sat down.

"At least that lightened my mood!" He thought with a better mood.

Looking at the time, he realized that it was already late.

"This Chen person is supposed to head over to Galaxy 9 tomorrow. I guess I should blend in for now. I'm not really a fan of archaeology, but that job position is quite tempting." He thought with a hint of desire. No matter what, being offered a higher pay-grade and position is a tempting offer.

Hong got up and went into the bathroom where he took off all his clothes. He tossed them into a box-shaped cleaning machine which cleaned and dried them in just three seconds to his fascination.

Putting them in his console space, he jumped into the a shower box which cleaned his body just under five seconds. All the sweat, grime, and bacteria on his skin was absorbed by the shower as a refreshing feeling overtook his skin.

Stepping out, he threw on a pair of clean pajamas before going to bed. He couldn't help but moan at the comfortable mattress and soothing blankets. Compared to the stone and hay beds, this was hundreds of times much better. There's also the fact that he hadn't slept for a long time, since a high enough cultivation eliminates the need for it.

Remembering tomorrow's schedule, he couldn't help but call out to the AI who monitored his apartment room.

"Set an alarm for tomorrow at 8 o'clock in the morning."

"Setting an alarm for tomorrow for 8 o'clock in the morning. Would you like the change the alarm?" The soothing voice of the female AI made him raise an eyebrow. He had never done something like this.

"Change the alarm." He replied with a slight awkwardness. Hong was used to being called sect master, and subconsciously regarded the AI as a soul servant. He had to shake his head and recall Chen's memories once more.

"Opening alarms..."

A hologram appeared in front of him which made him jump in fright. He quickly calmed down and adapted to a holographic touch screen.

"Eh, let's try this." He pressed a random one. A weird alarm came out, and he jumped a little as it filled the room. He had never heard of such sounds before.

"What the?! So weird! Let's try this one!"

Another weird alarm played. He couldn't help but be interested.

"Don't like it! Next!"

"Next!"

"What is this weird song!? It is not melodious and beautiful at all! Next!"

"Next...!"

Hong snapped out of it after some time and realized that he was wasting time. Looking at the time, half an hour had unknowingly passed.

"Crap! I need to sleep for tomorrow. Let's just choose the original one."

The weird music style considered dubstep played out, and he couldn't help but sigh endlessly.

"These mortals have such a weird taste for these types of weird music. Oh well, it should get me up."

Closing the hologram, he laid back in bed tiredly. Too much had happened today.

The relaxing feeling unknowingly overtook him as his tensed body relaxed. Gradually, he dozed off into a deep sleep, one he hadn't had for hundreds of years.

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The next artificial day, at 8:00 in the morning. The artificial sun rose above the horizon as people got up and headed off to work. Unfortunately, there could be no animals, birds, and insects present since there would be complaints of blood splatters of they hit their vehicles. The city is also covered in layers of energy barriers, which would prohibit the free movement of them.

Luckily, the city has artificial holographic birds to make it look like there is some life. They also make chirping sounds to improve people's moods.

In an average apartment on the outskirts, a dubstep alarm went off awaking a burly man from his sleep. The man woke up in a flash with caution from the sudden noise.

It was Qin Hong.

Recalling the events of yesterday, the caution in his eyes disappeared but was replaced with alertness.

"I had unknowingly fallen into a deep sleep! If I was still in the cultivation realm, I could've been assassinated without even knowing!" He gloomily thought.

Growing up as an orphan, his early life was not easy. His talent in spiritual energy was trash, and was always mocked by others, even bullied. He forcefully trained martial arts at the cost of hidden injuries. If it wasn't for a passing rogue Qi cultivator who took him because of pity, he would've never discovered his hidden talent for Qi cultivation.

It was then he stepped into the ruthless cultivation realm, where dangers were everywhere. At any moment, your best friend or wife could stab you in the back if you weren't cautious enough. He saw many examples of this while traveling, and had to be wary of offending anybody influential.

Even with his best efforts, he still ended up offending disciples of many sects, and had to stay on the run for fear of being killed. Most people cultivated spiritual energy, since Qi cultivation was inferior at the beginning.

There was many attempts where he nearly died to assassinations when he attempted to rest. It was then that he went into hiding where he silently cultivated till he was strong enough.

Even after establishing a sect and eliminating many who offended him, he stayed cautious and only did light sleeps to replenish his mentality. He kept that mindset for hundreds of years and it paid off, since he encountered powerful hired assassins during those times.

"I'm lucky that I have trained in martial arts before, so anybody that wants to attack me in me in my sleep will have to pay a price. The only issue are the weapons that humanity possesses."

Martial arts and cold weapons are very rare nowadays. Although the military uses combat techniques similar to martial arts, it is mostly used for survival and mech use. There is no wars and each galaxy is at peace. What is the point of practicing them if you really do not have enemies?

Cold weapons are near extinct with the exception of combat knifes and some mechs designed for close combat.

Both of these can become useless in the face of firepower, which is why they are heavily underrated. A civilian can activate a civilian-grade module and easily take down a martial artist. A little kid can fire a laser pistol and take down a martial artist with a cold weapon in an instant. Even the cheapest mechs can take down a martial artist as long as the person operating it knows what he or she is doing.

Aside from that, it is impossible to go against the police or military. Just from the memories of Chen, there is several online videos of the military destroying an entire planet or a police mech taking down an experienced fighter within seconds.

There's also the fact that there is heavy surveillance and advance forensics.

If the police and/or military have a reason to arrest him, he would be helpless even if he did have his peak cultivation. Humanity maintains and develops their military even if there is no longer wars. They would chase him to the ends of the universe even if he managed to hide.

"Well, I don't have any intentions of going against the military or police in the first place, or even the government. I just need to figure some way to find spiritual energy and Qi if possible. I also need to find a way to return to the cultivation realm." He thought.

The fact that anything outside the Great Barrier including the portals disintegrates into nothingness upon contact is a big issue. If the cultivation realm is really past the Great Barrier, then that would suck if he can't get through.

"Well, humanity is already advanced enough, so surely they will have a solution to it in the future. I just need to jump on that bandwagon if possible." He muttered while getting out of bed.

The AI turned off the alarm upon sensing that he had left the bed. The covers seemingly realigned themselves and the bed looked properly made. Taking off his pajamas, he put on a shirt and shorts before entering the kitchen.

"What would you like to eat and drink mister Chen?" Asked the female AI.

"Warm up the eggs and turkey sausage in the fridge and get me orange juice." He said indifferently.

"Right away mister Chen." Said the female AI.

There was some faint sounds coming from the fridge before it opened. A plate of eggs and turkey sausage floated out along with a glass of orange juice. It gently landed on the kitchen table as he sat down. Steam came off the eggs and sausage as he picked up a fork.

Taking a bit of the eggs, his eyebrows raised before taking a bit of the sausage. They both tasted alright without extra ingredients, while also containing lots of nutrition. Somewhat useless to cultivators but very good for mortals.

The chicken and turkey these two were made of were greatly modified to contain lots of nutrition. It is way more compared to what you'd normally get from low-level creatures, aside from the missing spiritual energy.

"If only there was spiritual energy within." He thought with dissatisfaction.