Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 145 - 131: No One in Bo Yuan? No One in Traditional Martial Arts!

Chapter 145: Chapter 131: No One in Bo Yuan? No One in Traditional Martial Arts!

May 29, Capital City.

Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall had opened three branches in the Capital City, two of which were located in the city center and were rented to Wu Li for free by the Fenglin Group.

Today, all three branches were almost simultaneously challenged by different individuals.

The challengers, in the presence of numerous students, successively defeated the coaches of Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall and left a message before taking their leave:

"Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall has no worthy fighters!"

Videos of these challenges were posted online, and the topic "Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall has no worthy fighters" quickly started trending on Mo Yin and Weibo.

Due to the continuous popularity of the program "Seeking Martial Arts," Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall’s reputation had been growing; thus, the sudden release of such videos instantly attracted a lot of attention.

"In the end, Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall relies solely on Wu Li. Apart from him, there really aren’t any notable experts."

"Almost everyone who signed up at Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall did so because of Wu Li, but Wu Li hardly ever teaches publicly, leaving a group of instructors, who have only trained for a few days in Xingyi Fist, to conduct the lessons. Isn’t this a form of deceiving consumers?"

"It’s true that Wu Li is very skilled, but that doesn’t mean that learning his Xingyi Fist will make you very skilled as well. Otherwise, why has there only been one Wu Li after so many years of people in our country practicing Traditional Martial Arts?"

...

Zhou Heng and others deliberately spent money to hire internet trolls to guide the online narrative to accuse Wu Li and Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall of consumer deception, clearly trying to cast Wu Li as a fraud.

Although Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall had already made it clear when enrolling students that Wu Li was not teaching at the time and that this had nothing to do with deceiving consumers, many people online were still swayed by the rhetoric.

But this was not the key issue; the most critical problem was that the instructors of Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall had indeed been defeated – not just the instructors from one branch, but all three! This inevitably led many students who had signed up with Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall to start wavering: could they really learn true martial arts skills from these instructors?

Even more problematic was the ensuing question: Is there really a future in studying Traditional Martial Arts?

In just a few days, the doubts about Wu Li evolved into doubts about Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall, and eventually turned into doubts about the viability of Traditional Martial Arts as a whole.

The face that Wu Li had so painstakingly restored for Traditional Martial Arts and the promising outlook for Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall seemed to be on the brink of vanishing overnight – an outcome Zhou Heng and his associates had not anticipated. They had originally only intended to undermine Wu Li and Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall, but now it appeared they were on the verge of completely dismantling the recently surging Traditional Martial Arts?

In fact, from Wu Li’s rise to fame to the establishment of Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall, and with the recent popularity of the reality show "Seeking Martial Arts," many in the Martial Arts World had noticed that Traditional Martial Arts were beginning to surge in popularity within the country.

Previously, Traditional Martial Arts only emphasized strengthening the body, and even if some martial arts halls taught, they only taught routines without forming significant conflicts of interest with other halls. But now, Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall claims that it teaches Traditional Martial Arts for the purpose of competing in martial arts tournaments. Especially since Wu Li declared in the second episode of Seeking Martial Arts that he wanted to join more Traditional Martial Arts practitioners in refining Kung Fu, so more and more Kung Fu would enter the ring. This, undoubtedly, would create conflicts with other martial arts.

The domestic combat sports market is only so large. If Traditional Martial Arts want to enter the scene, they will inevitably have to take a slice of the cake from others, and a backlash is certain.

The actions of Zhou Heng and others this time are akin to a fuse that has completely ignited the domestic martial arts world’s counterattack against Traditional Martial Arts.

In fact, whenever a new martial art enters the market, disputes arise. For example, when Muay Thai first flowed into China, there would be a China-Thailand battle almost every so often, either featuring domestic martial arts masters fighting Muay Thai masters or domestic Sandboxing teams competing against Muay Thai masters.

Similarly, when Karate from Japan and Taekwondo from South Korea first entered China, they too faced resistance. However, at that time, the domestic combat sports market was very chaotic and relatively empty. Most importantly, the commercial models of Karate and Taekwondo were very mature and could bring in substantial profits, so the entry of these martial arts into the domestic market went quite smoothly.

Now that the domestic market is nearing saturation, as Traditional Martial Arts seek a share, all parties are highly vigilant, as Traditional Martial Arts hold a different status in the hearts of the Chinese people, due to long-term cultural influence and various novels, TV shows, and movies. Traditional Martial Arts naturally have more advantages in the domestic development than other martial arts.

In the end, if Traditional Martial Arts are not inferior to other martial arts, if studying our own can lead to success in the ring and honor, then why bother learning martial arts from other countries?

When martial arts like Xingyi Fist, Bagua, Tai Chi, Yong Chun, Hong Fist, Ground Fist, and Eagle Claw Fist shine in the ring, just ask any Chinese person if they would prefer to learn National Martial Arts or Muay Thai, Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

The answers from the majority would likely be uniform.

So when Wu Li started to bolster Traditional Martial Arts, all factions were reluctant to see it succeed.

Yu Fei, a famous Free Fighting athlete who had won the K-1, 75kg Boxing Champion gold belt, sparked heated discussion with his Weibo post:

"Recently, a lot of people have been discussing Traditional Martial Arts and whether they’re actually effective for fighting. Wu Li’s practical actions seemed to prove they can? Thus, many people have flocked to Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall to register, wanting to use Traditional Martial Arts in tournament fights. But I want to ask: If Traditional Martial Arts are really that powerful, having been passed down to today, why is Wu Li the only standout who can fight after all these years? As a martial art, if only a few masters can hold up the scene, doesn’t this already indicate there is a flaw inherent in the martial art itself?

Muay Thai, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sandboxing... these are martial arts used by fighters in various combat competitions, achieving results time and time again. That’s what qualifies as martial arts, those with universality and applicability!

Wu Li publicly announced his desire to get more and more people using Traditional Martial Arts in the ring, but as it currently stands, only he can do so. Even the coaches in his own Martial Arts Hall who learned Xingyi Fist from him, are still not up to par!

So, I’d like everyone to think clearly, Wu Li’s rise alone does not mean that Traditional Martial Arts are viable again. On the contrary, it actually proves the great flaws within Traditional Martial Arts. With so many people Practicing Traditional Martial Arts, only he turned out to be a master. What is this high attrition rate? Can you guarantee that you will definitely become the next Wu Li?

This incident only proves that Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall is empty of people? No, it actually indicates that Traditional Martial Arts are empty of people!"

Yu Fei’s words have pushed Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall and Traditional Martial Arts to the brink. The major media and journalists now are very eager to know how Wu Li will respond?