The Eight-Cut Sword is a reward given upon selection; once obtained, it grants the user the maximum level. Hao Yun mastered Wing Chun on his own, progressing from beginner to intermediate and then to advanced levels.
Having trained to this level in such a short time, even Ip Man praised Hao Yun as a promising martial arts talent.
Chapter 5 Participation in the Plot
Huang Liang's friends arrived the next day, a total of five people, who provided Ip Man with a large sum of tuition fees.
Compared to Huang Liang, his friends were much dumber, and teaching them boxing gave Ip Man a real headache.
People are afraid of comparisons. Look at Hao Yun and Huang Liang, they learn boxing faster than each other, especially Hao Yun, who is the one Ip Man is most satisfied with.
However, in order to make a living, Ip Man still patiently taught each student one by one. In order to recruit more students, Wong Leung suggested putting up small advertisements.
(Note: Posting small advertisements is not illegal in this era, and nobody cares.)
Of course, this task ultimately fell to Huang Liang, since it was he who had proposed it.
"Let's go, I'll go with you, isn't that nice of me?"
Hao Yun planned to accompany Huang Liang. In the movie, Huang Liang got into a conflict with the people from the Hung Kuen martial arts school because of posting small advertisements. He was beaten up, but Ip Man eventually came to his rescue.
Upon arriving in this world, the system only presented two choices. With half of the time allotted already gone, Hao Yun wanted to try and see if he could trigger more choices.
The two walked out of the rooftop arm in arm and started putting up small advertisements along the way.
"Brother Yun, are you free tonight? Come hang out with me. Your Pear Blossom Girl says she misses you a lot."
Hao Yun glared at Huang Liang. "Do you think everyone is like you, a lecherous glutton who gets itchy all over if he doesn't go out for a day?"
"I advise you to go there less often, be careful of ****."
Huang Liang laughed heartily and raised an eyebrow as he spoke.
"As the saying goes, dying under the peony is still a romantic death. If you don't have fun when you're young, will you still have the strength when you're old?"
"That's all fallacious reasoning."
Hao Yun ignored Huang Liang and continued posting flyers while observing his surroundings.
Seeing that the flyers in his hand were about to be used up, Hao Yun couldn't help but wonder, what's going on? Why haven't the troublemakers arrived yet? Could it be that Huang Liang got beaten up in the movie not today?
"Brother Yun, I have something to do this afternoon, so I'll be going now!"
After Huang Liang finished putting up the small advertisements, he said goodbye to Hao Yun and was about to leave. He still had work to do in the afternoon, and if he didn't go to work, he wouldn't have money for food tomorrow.
"Okay, then go ahead."
Just as the two were talking, three people walked over from a fish stall not far away.
"Which martial arts school is this? They've plastered their ads on our turf! Don't they know the rules?!"
The person speaking is sleazy and doesn't seem like a good person at all.
"Your territory? Do you think your names are written here?!"
Huang Liang curled his lip in disdain. He was never one to stay put, and after practicing boxing for a few days, he was even more confident.
"They dare to cause trouble on our Hung Kuen martial arts school's turf? They've got some nerve! Throw them out!"
At this moment, a notification sound rang in Hao Yun's mind, and the options reappeared.
Option 1: Kneel and apologize to the other party (Reward: A pair of knee pads)
Option Two: Abandon Huang Liang and run away alone (Reward: Lightness Skill - Slippery Footwork)
[Option 3: Defeat everyone (Reward: Iron Bones - Beginner)]
As soon as the three options appeared, Hao Yun's eyes lit up. Sure enough, participating in the plot would present choices. Hao Yun decisively gave up on the first and second options. How could he possibly abandon Huang Liang and run away alone? As for kowtowing and apologizing, that was even more impossible.
"You three worthless cowards dare to fight me? Brother Yun, I'll handle this!"
Seeing that the other party was about to make a move, Huang Liang rushed forward and quickly took him down.
"Ha! This is Hung Kuen? It's not that great."
Hao Yun, who was watching from the sidelines, secretly shook his head. With Huang Liang's personality, he would suffer a great loss sooner or later.
Of the three people lying on the ground, one with a gloomy expression got up and ran into the fish stall.
"Brothers, grab your weapons! Someone's here to cause trouble!"
As he ran, he shouted, and in less than a minute, dozens of people rushed out of the fish stall, carrying all sorts of weapons.
Sticks, hooks, machetes—all kinds of weapons were available.
Huang Liang saw that things were not going well and tried to run away, but his way out was blocked.
"Damn it! Brother Yun, we can't escape now."
Hao Yun stood still. His choice was to defeat everyone. If he ran away, he would lose the reward. Besides, there were people at both ends of the intersection. The two of them were stuck in the middle. Where could they run?
"There's no way to run away, you have to fight. Protect yourself."
Hao Yun glanced around and decided to strike first. He rushed forward, kicked one person away, then bent down to dodge a wooden stick being swung at him, and took the opportunity to slip into the crowd.
Most of the weapons these people carry are long weapons, which don't offer much advantage in close-quarters combat.
Hao seized two machetes from the enemy and unleashed his Eight-Cut Sword technique.
"Go! There are only two of them, kill them!"
The person who had just been beaten was standing in the back, shouting loudly.
This fish stall is run by the Hung Kuen martial arts school. Normally, no one dares to come and cause trouble. Hung Chun-nam of the Hung Kuen martial arts school is also a figure who carries a lot of weight in Hong Kong.
Hao Yun rushed into the crowd and took down more than a dozen people in no time, which shocked many people. As for Huang Liang, he had already disappeared into the fish stall and was playing hide-and-seek with the people chasing him.
"Stop it, all of you!"
A loud, powerful shout rang out, and a group of people walked over from the end of the street. The leader was a fat man, who was Hong Zhennan, the master of the Hong Quan Martial Arts School.
Hong Zhennan is the top figure in Hong Kong's martial arts world. Through years of management, he has long since built up an impregnable martial arts school industry.
"master."
The man who had just been brutally beaten by Huang Liang stood respectfully beside Hong Zhennan.
What's going on here?
When Hong Zhennan questioned him, the man who had just been beaten whispered bad things about Hao Yun and the other man in his ear.
"How dare you cause trouble on my, Hong Zhennan's, turf? Do you have no manners? If you don't know the rules, then go home and learn them properly!"
With a cold snort, Hong Zhennan glanced at Hao Yun and Huang Liang.
Hao Yun's expression remained unchanged, but in his heart he was thinking, "This person really does resemble Sammo Hung; he has the air of a triad boss."
[Selection complete. Rewards are being sent out. Please check your account.]
With a series of cracking sounds, Hao Yun's bones cracked all over his body, the Steel Bones technique was activated, and a new passive skill appeared in his skill bar.
[Steel Bones - Beginner: Increases skin resilience and bone strength.]
Throwing away the machete, Hao Yun clenched his fist, feeling a surge of power. Although his base attributes hadn't increased, Hao Yun could sense that his combat strength had grown.
"Hello Master Hung, my master is Ip Man. I am new to your esteemed place and do not know what the rules you mentioned are."
In order not to cause trouble for Ip Man, Hao Yun did not confront Hung Chun-nam directly. The martial arts world is not as simple as one might imagine. Back then, when Huo Yuanjia broke into Tianjin, he died at the hands of his own colleagues.
Although they can't beat Huo Yuanjia, they can resort to underhanded tricks. Their methods behind the scenes are hard to guard against. They will leave soon, and then Ip Man will be in big trouble.
"Hmph! So you're an outsider. Since you're an outsider, you must abide by our rules. You can open a martial arts school, but you must pass our test first."
Chapter 6 Challenge
Hong Zhennan's attitude was terrible, and his tone was extremely arrogant. Huang Liang, who was standing next to Hao Yun, couldn't stand it and was about to retort, but Hao Yun stopped him.
"Alright, I'll accept this on behalf of my master. May I ask what this test is?"
"If you don't even know this, what kind of martial arts school are you running?"
The apprentice standing next to Hong Zhennan couldn't help but make sarcastic remarks.
"Shut up!"
After scolding his apprentice, Hong Zhennan stared at Hao Yun for a while. He had witnessed Hao Yun's methods earlier and thought he was a promising talent. The master must be quite capable to have taught such an outstanding apprentice. But rules are rules.
Since his apprentices had all been defeated by others, Hong Zhennan was determined to get revenge, so he decided to make things difficult for them.
"Kick all six martial arts schools. If you succeed and pass the school's assessment, you can continue operating your schools. If you fail, get out of Hong Kong!"
"Everyone, disperse and go do what you were doing!"
After dispersing the people around him, Hong Zhennan did not pursue the matter of Hao Yun injuring people. After all, it was too shameful. His own boxing gym's students had been taken down by one person. It was too embarrassing to talk about.
On the way back, Huang Liang was a little uneasy. When they were learning martial arts, Ip Man had warned them that learning martial arts was only for strengthening their bodies, not for fighting and being aggressive.
"Brother Yun, should we tell the master about what happened today?"
"Nonsense! Things have escalated to this point, are you still planning to keep it from your master?"
Hao Yun glared at Huang Liang and told him to go ahead and get busy, as he needed to go back and talk to his master about this matter.
Ip Man, who was teaching martial arts on the rooftop, couldn't help but frown when he learned that opening a martial arts school required an examination. He had only been in Hong Kong for a short time and he really didn't know that opening a martial arts school required authorization from a martial arts organization.
"Master, I'll handle the challenge tomorrow. I'll go test the waters first. If I can't win, then you can step in."
After thinking for a while, Ip Man nodded in agreement. After this period of instruction, Hao Yun's boxing skills were definitely up to standard, but Ip Man still wanted to hone his disciple's skills a bit more.
Even if Hao Yun is defeated in this challenge, it will be a good thing, as it will let him know that there are always people more capable than him.
With Ip Man's approval, Hao Yun led his men to challenge the dojo the next day, and Huang Liang naturally joined in the excitement.
"Brother Yun, are you sure you can handle this? Don't let us lose."
"Brother Liang, don't jinx it. Senior Brother is so strong, how could he possibly lose?"
The junior disciples who had come to join in the fun started to make a ruckus.
"Quiet down. No matter who wins or loses, keep your mouths shut and don't bring shame to your master."