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Chapter 323 - 294 Divine Spear, Shortcut, Temptation

Chapter 323: Chapter 294 Divine Spear, Shortcut, Temptation

"Feng Lin spoke of a Divine Spear, which is well-known in the underworld and is called Paul. Some also call him the Spear God," Li San said.

"Spear God..."

Wu, whispering, felt this title even more impressive than Feng Lin’s Spear King; in any field, being revered as a ’God’ indicated unimaginable achievements.

Li San nodded, his expression somewhat wistful, "Actually, when I first heard about him, I didn’t take much notice. But after many years in Zhiyuan Hall, earning the nickname ’Evil Spirit,’ I’ve come to appreciate the weight of what Paul has done."

Hearing what Li San had said, Wu became curious, "Tell me more."

Li San: "Paul, stateless. Over the years, aside from knowing he is male, everything else about him remains unknown, even his height and build have several versions. However, most suspect him to be a special agent cultivated by the US military, given that his deeds over the years have benefited the United States, more or less."

"This man, the most common praise he receives in the underworld is ’handles the gun like a god.’ No matter the type: pistol, submachine gun, machine gun, or sniper rifle, he excels with them all. I won’t delve into his other accomplishments, but I’ll mention his most famous one."

"Five years ago, an FBI fugitive fled to Mexico, taking refuge under a major local drug lord, a behemoth who practically had omnipotence there. Paul gradually infiltrated this drug lord’s hideout but got exposed beforehand due to a leak."

"He started sowing chaos and indeed, succeeded. However, when everyone thought he would take the opportunity to escape, he instead stormed towards the inside, charging directly towards the target and killing him!"

"And that’s not even the most shocking part – he made it out alive. You have to understand that it was essentially a den with over two hundred armed members. He severely slapped the face of that big drug lord and still managed to make it out alive."

Amazement and reflection clear in his eyes, Li San continued, "After that incident, his nickname ’Spear God’ was solidified. Although, afterward, that drug lord put out a five-million-dollar bounty on Paul’s life, many who faced Paul in that battle, and survived, came to regard him as a god."

"Many sought out intelligence about that battle later on. Some said: ’Paul was too agile, like a bat, simply impossible to hit.’ Others claimed: ’Paul was too fast and accurate. They had barely peeked out from cover when bullets hit them, feeling as though they were fighting a whole group!’ There were also those who said: ’Paul single-handedly wielded two machine guns, creating an effect akin to a line of fire blockade!’"

Wu fell silent, envisioning: a figure dodging through a hail of bullets, ghost-like, holding two submachine guns like the scythe of the Reaper, sweeping through lives with his arms., — wherever the enemies hid, as soon as they appeared in his sight, bullets instantly followed...

"Li’s Flying Daggers, never miss?"

Suddenly this phrase flashed through Wu’s mind. Paul’s deeds had given him this impression: each shot was a hit!

"How high is Paul ranked on the wanted list"? Wu asked.

Li San: "Second."

Wu nodded. In the past, he might have been curious to ask Li San who was first, and what other characters were on that list, but suddenly, he felt somewhat dispirited.

Li San noticed Wu’s mood and didn’t say more, simply patting his shoulder, "When my injuries heal, I’ll be looking for a spar – don’t let me down then."

Wu smiled: "I won’t."

Li San could tell Wu’s smile was forced and almost said something but eventually said nothing, just watching Wu leave.

Some things, after all, one must figure out by themselves.

...

Wu returned to the hotel and to his room, inevitably falling into contemplation.

What was he pondering? Certainly not whether martial arts were useful, but rather, pondering: with his current martial arts and adding guns, would he be fiercer?

After achieving enlightenment in Fist Intent, Wu actually didn’t fear firearms anymore.

With a pistol, he could prevent any shot within seven steps. As for assault rifles, even three at a time, he could rush in and obliterate the shooter. Even with a sniper rifle, he could dodge them on high wire ropes!

Ultimately, before meeting Feng Lin, Wu always thought mastering martial arts was sufficient.

But yesterday’s experience and Feng Lin’s words had indeed affected him.

If Feng Lin had defeated Wu with a stronger martial art, Wu would have only been spurred with endless fighting spirit, but Feng Lin had used a gun.

Yesterday, Wu told Feng Lin: "In three years, in front of me, you won’t be able to fire a single shot."

This premise was built on Wu breaking through to the Grandmaster Realm, even reaching Legendary; he felt confident he could defeat Feng Lin, but even with the system, Wu wasn’t entirely sure he could break through to Grandmaster, let alone Legendary.

However, Feng Lin presented Wu with another possibility: using guns.

Feng Lin’s gun fighting skill was uniquely remarkable. Wu could confidently say that if he chose this path, his combat power would certainly rise a level!

How powerful was the Legendary Realm? Wu didn’t know, as there were no references in the history of National Martial Arts. With his current realm, he could generally control the power of a Grandmaster: after yesterday’s fight with Feng Lin, Wu had carefully deduced in his heart that if he trained with guns, focusing solely on combat power, he should be stronger than if he reached the Grandmaster Realm!

In other words, continuing Martial Arts Training might not allow him to reach the Grandmaster level, while switching to gun training could guarantee a combat strength greater than that of a Grandmaster.

Even Feng Lin admitted: if Wu trained in gun fighting, there was a possibility he would surpass him within five years. In other words, if Wu started gun training now, he might possess stronger combat abilities than the Legendary Realm in five years.

Of course, the Legendary Realm was an unknown factor. Who knows, it might completely disregard firearms?

Should he train with guns to ensure combat power above a Grandmaster? Or should he continue training in Martial Arts, chasing that elusive possibility?

For Wu, there was a shortcut before him, which was also a significant temptation—gun training!

Of course, there are many things stronger than firearms in this world: RPGs, tanks, missiles... But the key lies in whether they can be carried personally and made regular weapons? If tanks could be carried around, the Underworld might not have had a Spear King but a Tank King instead.

So, speaking of normal individual combat strength with current technology, gun training is the only and very clear path to enhance oneself.

Wu’s Martial Arts Training clearly was not just to have stronger combat power; he never thought about being an invincible Immortal against a nation, but as he said to Li San, for Martial Artists like them, becoming stronger had become an instinct—if possible, who wouldn’t want to be stronger?

Not to mention, of all the incidents Wu had encountered along the way, how many did not involve firearms? Killing Hu Shan, Hongmen assassination, terrorist attacks... In these events, if he also had superb gun skills, wouldn’t the solutions be easier and safer?

He used to solve problems without guns, but what about the future? This time, he had already encountered an opponent like Feng Lin, and there were Gun Kings like Paul in the Underworld. What if he faced them one day?

That’s why Wu told Li San, if he later settled for being just a combat sports athlete, fighting in UFC, then he needn’t pay much attention to these matters. But Wu knew his own character was such that being purely a combat sports athlete was unlikely.

So, should he train with guns?

Wu stood quietly in his room, recalling the feeling when facing Feng Lin’s gun fighting technique yesterday.

In Feng Lin’s hands, a gun, like a Martial Artist’s sword, was just a tool, a weapon. From this perspective, gun training and Martial Arts Training weren’t necessarily contradictory; in fact, they could complement each other.

However, Wu knew that although Feng Lin’s gun fighting technique looked a lot like Martial Arts, it was fundamentally different.

Martial Arts involved swords and weapons, but the core was never about the weapons; many techniques could be transformed into unarmed combat because, fundamentally, Martial Arts were about the individual, the use of muscles and bones, a study of various powers. At higher levels, it also delved into a person’s spiritual aspect.

Gun training, fundamentally, centered around firearms; everything served the purpose of mastering the firearm. Without the gun, it amounted to nothing.

One relied on external objects, the other focused on the self—this was the fundamental difference.

Firearms and Martial Arts, in the early stages, seemed compatible. Feng Lin’s gun fighting skill, due to his master-level Martial Arts foundation, possessed formidable power. The Divine Spear Paul was so formidable because of his physical prowess—it could even be said that the stronger the physical condition, the more effectively one could use firearms.

However, as one progressed to higher levels, the two fields could hardly coexist. Training with fists involved Fist Intent, and even using weapons involved a spiritual breakthrough like Sword Intent. But with guns, could there really be something like a "Gun Intent"?

Having reached his current Martial Arts Realm, the spiritual aspects prevailed over the physical for Wu. He was confident he could break through the Grandmaster’s three values: divine, power, and body based on his relentless training. However, only with Divine Value, even if he wholeheartedly pursued Martial Arts, he wasn’t entirely sure—dividing his focus on gun training would make it even less likely.

Ding!

The ringing of his cellphone interrupted Wu’s thoughts, a call from Gong Juren.

"Hello?"

"Wu, your next UFC match opponent has been decided. I’ve organized some information about them, would you like me to bring it over?"

"Sure."

After hanging up, Wu sighed.

If he couldn’t win the UFC championship with his current strength, he wouldn’t have hesitated because promoting Chinese Martial Arts had always been his primary goal.

But ironically, Wu was devastatingly effective in UFC, fully capable of winning the championship. Winning the UFC championship with Traditional Martial Arts, coupled with his own improvements to it, allowing more Martial Artists to achieve results in the ring, actually counted as promoting Chinese Martial Arts.

So gun training didn’t conflict with this goal.

PS: Chapter two coming later.