3 Martial Art(i): Sky Python Crushes Rock

[MARTIAL ARTS HAS ALWAYS ENCOMPASSED ONE IMPORTANT FACTOR SINCE IT'S INCEPTION. COMBAT. OF COURSE MOST TIMES IT IS NOTHING MORE THAN JUST AN OVER COMPLICATED DANCE DESIGNED TO REAP THE LIVES OF YOUR ENEMIES AND DEFEND YOURSELF FROM HARM. HOWEVER MARTIAL ARTS HAS BECOME THE CORE OF EVERY CULTIVATION JOURNEY, IF CULTIVATION IS THE BUILDING OF A FOUNDATION ALL THE WAY TILL THE HOUSE IS COMPLETE. THEN MARTIAL ARTS ARE ONE OF THE TOOLS WITH WHICH THE HOUSE IS BUILT. MARTIAL ARTS CAN ENCOMPASS A FEW BASIC TYPES, THEY'RE DEFENSIVE MARTIAL ARTS, OFFENSIVE MARTIAL ARTS, EVASIVE MARTIAL ARTS, AND INTERNAL MARTIAL ARTS. PLEASE NOTE THAT THEY'RE QUITE DIFFERENT FROM CULTIVATION ARTS, EVEN THOUGH CULTIVATION ARTS ARE SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS INTERNAL MARTIAL ARTS, THEY ARE NOT ONE AND THE SAME, HOWEVER THEY SOMETIMES WORK THE SAME WAY WITH A FEW DIFFERENCE. EVERY STYLE IS FURTHER DIVIDED INTO SUB STYLES WITH SPECIFIC MARTIAL ARTS TAILORED FOR THEM, IT IS FROM THIS STYLE AND SUB STYLES A CULTIVATOR IS MEANT TO PICK AND LEARN FROM.]

"Hiyah!"

"thud."

"Alex you should learn to do more than just swing your fists. Think of fighting as one of your soccer games. It is not just running with the ball, but you have to incorporate technique, power, speed, dexterity, balance, and stamina. Haaa!"

Alex was flung back by a palm strike from his father, he hit the unforgiven ground just as hard but slowly managed to hold in the pain by biting his lips really hard.

"Do not be afraid to show pain Alex, your enemy might be lead astray if he thinks the severity of your injuries is a whole lot worse than it seems. It might make him arrogant and cause him to make a mistake. Yahhh!"

This time Alex's eyes could barely track the punch that was heading for his face. But if his eyes could see it, it did not mean his body could react in time. He was raising his hands to block the incoming punch, but he could not raise it fast enough as his father's punch slammed into Alex's fisted hands which were over his own mouth at the time, essentially making Alex punch himself in the face.

"Pain doe's not make you weak, remember this even if you end up an immortal and ascend out of this world someday. You're human, pain is an integral part of our existence, we can never be who we are today without it. So don't be afraid to show it when you're hurting sometimes, it reminds you that you're still alive, and still human. Humph"

Alex had thrown a punch midway through his father's speech, only for the punch to be caught with one hand, as his father waited to complete the speech before throwing his son away like a rag doll as if he weighed nothing more than a paper.

"I'm sure you've now become conversant with your new strength, I had to beat this newly gained arrogance out of you, and also punish you for punching holes in my wall. You should be more careful with how you swing your hands the next time you have a breakthrough. You can carry on from here, you still need to learn two martial arts in less than ten days."

Alex couldn't answer, the only thing he could do was raise his fist towards his father from his position on the ground. At that moment he really, really regretted punching a hole through the wall in his room, of course since his father's room was placed right besides his, his fist also destroyed his father's wall. But his father had been right though, waking up at the fifth level of the body refining realm almost drove Alex mad with arrogance.

Because seriously how many people could claim that they did this in less than five minutes. He was a genius I tell you, a genius blessed by the heavens. But if there's one thing his father had just beaten...…..err taught him, was that pride goes before fall.

But Alex had learnt his lesson, which meant it was now time for him to learn a martial art. Of course the fact that he had to learn it from the python book left a sour taste in his mouth, but there was nothing he could do about it.

[THE OFFENSIVE STYLE OF MARTIAL ARTS COVERS A WILD RANGE OF SKILL AND ARTS. YOU HAVE KICKING SKILLS, FINGER SKILLS, PALM ARTS, SWORD ARTS ETC. BUT I HAVE INVENTED MY OWN STYLE, OF COURSE THERE IS A PARTICULAR STRING OF MARTIAL ARTS TAILORED JUST LIKE MY STYLE, BUT IT IS NOT VERY MAINSTREAM. THIS STYLE OF MARTIAL ARTS IS TERMED GRAPPLING ARTS, AND I HAVE NAMED THIS SKILL OF MY MINE (SKY PYTHON CRUSHING ROCK). THIS MARTIAL ARTS WAS BORN FROM THE TRADITIONAL WRESTLING MATCHES OF OUR ANCESTORS, DURING THOSE TIMES A MAN'S TRUE PROWESS WAS MEASURED BY THE STRENGTH OF HIS ARMS, AND THE FINESSE OF HIS BODY. THE GOAL OF THIS MARTIAL ART IS TO GIVE THE USER THE CRUSHING AND TRAPPING POWER OF A PYTHON. THERE ARE ONLY TWO PRACTICED MOVES IN THIS ART SO FAR, PYTHON CRUSHING BONE, AND THE PYTHON SLAMMING EARTH. ALONG WITH THIS ART IS A SET OF EXERCISE TO PRACTICE WITH AND INCREASE THE STRENGTH OF YOUR ARM, ABDOMINAL, BACK, THIGHS, CALVES AND PECTORAL MUSCLES. PLEASE NOTE THIS ART IS NOT COMPLETED AND IS OPEN FOR FURTHER REVISIONS.]

This move did not look anything like conventional fighting, and as for the exercise required, it was practically the same with the sky python swims in water body training technique with a few changes. But there was a note saying the exercise could be ignored if the martial artist was already training in the sky python swims in water exercise.

The moves were not too extravagant as they all required a fighter to be in contact with the body of his opponent. However it was quite complex when you looked at it a little deeper, every flex and movement of the muscle was designed to make the opponent feel as much pain ad possible, basically it was crushing them to death the same way a snake would kill its prey.

For this skill to be practiced to perfection the practitioner had to learn how to cause damage with the least amount of moves, make his or her opponents tire themselves out. When the opponent is trapped in the grappling move, the practitioner should be strong enough to hold that position indefinitely, so it was equally a test of patience and strength for both the user and the person this skill was being used for.

Alex had to practice with a wooden dummy, however for some reason his father had prepared twelve sets of wooden dummies with two dummies being in a set for a total of twenty four. Each set was stronger and tougher than the last, but Alex still did not see any use in having this much dummies.

The first move of the sky python crushes rock was actually the python slamming earth. The python crushes bone was in essence a killing move, which made it the final step in a two stage attack.

Once the practitioner has gotten a hold of his enemy, the Python slamming earth move will be implemented, the martial artist would have to flex his muscles and put his opponent in an optimal state to exhaust himself. Then the opponent must be slammed to the ground with the practitioner taking great care to make sure that the opponents head hits the ground, so that the opponent will be stunned.

Patience will be required as stronger opponents are harder to stun, so the practitioner will have to play a waiting game, much like a snake while also applying pressure so that the opponent will find it hard to breath. After a few slams, there should be an opening for the Python crushing bone finisher. This martial art was not without its flaws, as it depended mainly on the practitioner having greater or equal strength to his opponent, not to mention a more flexible body, stamina and patience. This was not going to be a high speed impact fight, it was a tussle where both parties will get tired, but only one person will get injured. Alex just had to outlast his opponent, of course the problem of whether or not he would be able to get his opponent in the grappling move was still up for debate, but he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

A few hours after his training began, the sun began to dip into the horizon, creatures of the evening and heralds of the night began to make their call and song as the signaled a day at it's end. Alex was sitting beneath the tree at the back of their house surrounded by splinters of wood and the decapitated heads of eight wooden dummies. He understood why his father had prepared this much dummies for a training session, after hours of slamming and crushing, Alex had not seen an explosive increase in strength, instead he had seen an explosive increase in control.

According to the instructions Bartholomew had left in his diary, he had to learn to use every muscle in his body to exert pressure, even his butt. Which made using these moves a whole lot more complicated than picking someone and slamming them on the ground. Practice of the sky python crushes rock was an exercise in an out of itself, at the end of the training session all Alex's muscles were burning. He was sure if he decided to meditate and take in Qi, he would probably get into the next stage of the body tempering realm.

But his father had asked him to refrain from meditating, he had to learn to consolidate his strength, and get really used to the state of his body, before he attempts to move forward. Alex could feel the burn on his whole body, and he could not help but wonder what grade of martial art was the sky python crushes rock. It was not mentioned in the book, so Alex had no idea how it worked, but it seemed like a skill that could be practiced for the whole of the mortal gate of cultivation. As he was lost in his thoughts, a stone flew towards him in really high speeds, Alex was barely able to dodge before the stone chipped off a piece of the bark of the tree.

"Are you trying to kill me!"

Alex shouted in indignation.

"If you died then, that would be really disappointing. Good evening to you son of heaven, have you missed me."

"No I have not daughter of hell, and please stop calling me with that title Anya. I'm from the dark continent, just like you."

After he finished speaking the shadow of someone flew over his head as she dropped down from the tree. The fact that Alex did not notice she was there until she tried to kill him with a stone, was not due to his incapability, but due to the fact that this sixteen year old girl was crazy strong for her age. She could be considered a genius on Alex's level if not higher, it was a shame however that her father just wanted her to get married in other to further his political career.

Anyaja Omakpe, Anya for short, was actually the only best friend Alex had in the whole village. He might have been the star player of their football team, but in the end he was still different, and so was Anya. Alex was a mixed breed son of the east and west, his skin was not light enough to be called a son of heaven, and he was not dark enough to be the son of the dark continent. But since he was here and he was different, everyone called him the son of heaven. Alex was sure if he was in the empire they would call him son of the dark lands too. He was stuck in between two worlds.

Anya however was as dark as they come, ebony skin color and eyes as black as night. She could be considered beautiful, scratch that, she was the most beautiful girl Alex had ever seen. The only problem lay in the fact that she was such a tomboy. She dressed like a boy, had her hair cut short to the horror of her family, and she had a reputation for beating the crap out of boys who approached her, or stared to long at her curvy ass. And to make matters worse she was the most talented cultivator to be seen in this part of the world in like forever.

She was sixteen years old, and she was already in the fourth level of the open meridian realm. But she was born a girl, which was quite unfortunate for her, as women hardly ever had any rights here except for what their men gave to them. And in Anya's case, her life was tied by her father's ambition.

Because they were always together, Anya was given the name daughter of hell, and the name seemed to fit her gangster reputation quite well. She sat down beside him and started to dust off the pieces of wood that were littered all over his body. She did this all the time, tried to baby and take care of him like he was her child or something. At first Alex hated it, but since Anya could never be told no, Alex let her do what she wanted.

"Since when did you start your training?"

"Yesterday."

Call Alex childish or stupid, but he had never hid anything from Anya, he told her everything, including the time he kissed a girl and she told he tasted like a frog, just to hurt his feelings. Of course that girl ended up being beaten up and forced to run naked around the village. Everybody had pretended they did not know who was involved. They were that close to each other it was not much of a surprise if they knew the color of underwear the other person was wearing.

"You got to the fifth level of body refining realm, from the first in just a day."

"no, not a day. It was in about thirty seconds to a minute."

"You're a monster. I can see why we're meant to be best friends."

"who wants to be friends with a crazy chick like you. You just won't leave me alone, so in the end I have no choice about this friendship."

"Are you looking to die, ehh!"

"....."

"I thought so."

Alex shook his head in amusement, his time with Anya had always been some of the most meaningful he has ever had since he was born. She knew him so well it was like looking at the mirror.

"I have decided to register for the inter village competition. Its my last chance, and the only way I can escape the plans my father has for me."

Alex sighed in consolation as he said to her.

"You know he won't let you just leave the village. The registration and competition is in Dekina, and that's the local government headquarters. If you use a car it's a four hour journey, and there's only one way in and out of the village."

"Don't you worry your pretty handsome face about it. I have a plan."

"I'm not handsome or pretty, and are you going to tell me what this plan is."

"Why ask when you know I won't tell you."

"Mehh, whatever, I guess I'll see you at the competition."

"Yeah I hope we get to fight each other."

"I hope you get married before then."

"Do you want to DIE!!!!"

"No wait, wait!, wait!. Anya stop! I'm sorry, No, No, Nooooo!!!"