Chapter 53: A Master Leads You Through the Door, but Your Cultivation Depends on Yourself

Elite Martial Arts Academy is a comprehensive martial arts center!
Its primary focus is Sanda and combat sports, while also offering training in boxing, mixed martial arts, Muay Thai, and wrestling, among other disciplines.
Sanda was created in the late 1970s by the Martial Arts Association, which integrated various domestic traditional martial arts styles into a single, eclectic combat discipline!
Its movements and techniques are exceptionally comprehensive.
In terms of its style and characteristics, it excels in both offense and defense.
It not only incorporates the moves of various traditional martial arts schools but also integrates techniques from boxing, Muay Thai, and other combat forms.
Purely in terms of fist techniques, it bears a striking resemblance to boxing.
Straight punches, hooks, overhand punches, whipping fists, jabs, spinning fists, chopping fists—!
In terms of kicking techniques, it shares many similarities with Muay Thai and Kyokushin karate.
Snap kicks, thrust kicks, rear sweeping kicks, roundhouse kicks, side kicks, stamping kicks, interception kicks—!
Additionally,
Sanda places greater emphasis on defense, and upon closing the distance, it heavily relies on wrestling and throwing techniques.
Its movements are lightning-fast, its explosive power is fierce, and its offensive patterns are unpredictable, making it virtually impossible to guard against completely.
Upon returning to Elite Martial Arts Academy, Xu Dachi specifically demonstrated various techniques from Sanda for Chen Jie.
He was not teaching Chen Jie basic drills, but rather demonstrating the offensive and defensive systems within actual combat!
As for how to cultivate one's own offensive and defensive system, that depended entirely on personal comprehension.
On the large television mounted on the inner wall of the gym, instructional videos on various offensive and defensive systems played continuously.
As the saying goes,
A master guides you through the door, but your cultivation depends entirely on yourself!
The coaches at the gym merely provide guidance; how far one can actually progress depends on individual perseverance and comprehension.
In the span of a single afternoon, Chen Jie had already gained a clear understanding of the fundamental basics of Sanda!
He had originally trained in Chuo Jiao, and had inherited the essence of its power-generating mechanics.
More importantly, he had already reached the realm of [Foundation Muscle Strengthening], and had also undergone medicinal supplementation and herbal baths.
Having had his tendons stretched and bones adjusted by Thirteenth Aunt, his physique had long since undergone a complete metamorphosis, making him entirely different from ordinary people.
Those moves in Sanda possessed only their external forms, devoid of their true inner power!
Techniques lacking the essence of power generation suffered from relatively low lethality.
For Chen Jie, practicing these basic drills held little significance.
What he practiced were the fundamental exercises of Chuo Jiao, which complemented the essence of power generation; every single movement continuously stimulated the strength within his muscles.
Therefore,
what he desired much more was actual combat training.
Prior to this, Chen Jie had witnessed "Ghost Foot Seven" engage in a fierce life-or-death battle on the擂台 (arena ring).
He had assumed that unleashing Chuo Jiao techniques in real combat would be a simple matter.
However, a qualifying spar with Luo Qiang made Chen Jie realize that "applied fighting methods" and "solo training methods" were entirely different beasts.

He attempted to have a sparring match with Xu Dachi in the ring.
Both of them wore thick boxing gloves and protective shin guards, yet unexpectedly, Chen Jie found himself on the receiving end of a beating.
Although Chen Jie's explosive power, compared to the featherweight Luo Qiang, was overwhelmingly fierce—
even for a professional welterweight fighter, Chen Jie's explosive power and speed were not weak in the slightest—
however,
Xu Dachi's body weight was a solid 102 kilograms, making him 27 kilograms heavier than Chen Jie!
His ability to absorb punishment was in an entirely different league compared to the featherweight Luo Qiang.
Chen Jie's heavy punches and kicks, cushioned by the protective gear, simply could not breach Xu Dachi's defense.
Fortunately, this was merely a sparring session, and Xu Dachi had continuously held back his attacks, refraining from launching counter-offensives.
Otherwise, had he countered after absorbing one of Chen Jie's kicks, he could have knocked Chen Jie out with a single heavy strike.
Their fierce exchange quickly forced Chen Jie to face reality.
Of course, the most crucial element was the offensive and defensive system!
Chen Jie felt that his agility and reaction speed were superior to Xu Dachi's.
However,
Xu Dachi was always able to control the rhythm and render his attacks ineffective.
In truth,
this highlighted the critical importance of "applied fighting methods" in martial arts.
In contrast to Chen Jie's lingering frustration, Xu Dachi's inner state could only be described as utter shock.
Chen Jie's explosive power, speed, control over rhythm, and reaction ability were all astonishingly impressive.
Although his actual combat experience was poor, his rate of progress was simply too fast.
After less than an hour of training, Xu Dachi began to feel increasingly strained.
Had it not been for his exceptional ability to take hits, combined with the fact that both of them were wearing protective gear,
he genuinely suspected that he would have been chased all over the place by Chen Jie.
When Academy Master Wang Chuxiong witnessed Chen Jie's combat training, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Practicing forms serves as the foundation, but actual combat is the core of Elite Martial Arts Academy.
The trainees recruited by Elite Martial Arts Academy were all "elites" who revered actual combat!
Through clashes in the ring, one learns the offensive and defensive systems, achieving a thorough mastery of the application of fundamental boxing techniques.
Without experiencing actual combat training, no matter how fierce one's explosive power, how fast one's speed, or how acute one's reactions, it remained exceedingly difficult to apply them effectively in a real fight.
Any top-tier professional fighter, in order to fully unleash their strength, must undergo real combat!
This was the mandatory path to becoming a master!
If one only knew how to bury their head in blind, solitary training—even if their explosive power could shatter a heavy bag with a single punch—it would still be extremely difficult to become a top-tier master.
The weight difference between Chen Jie and Xu Dachi spanned three distinct weight classes.
If his heavy strike had managed to pierce Xu Dachi's defense, that would have been truly terrifying!

However, the scene that unfolded next left Academy Master Wang Chuxiong thoroughly astonished.
Viewing from the perspective of a bystander, he could see Chen Jie's combat capability improving at a pace that was practically visible to the naked eye.
In the days that followed,
Chen Jie acted like an "energetic youth possessed," constantly seeking out other senior trainees within the academy to engage in combat sparring.
"Old Wang! What on earth is going on with this kid Chen Jie? Why is he acting like a maniac?"
"Ever since he joined our Elite Martial Arts Academy, for a full week straight, apart from eating and sleeping, this kid has been seeking people out for combat training every single day!"
"Has this kid suffered some kind of psychological trigger? Why is he being so crazy?"
"Could he actually be planning to participate in this year's 'Xiangnan Sanda King Championship'?"
Xu Dachi sought out Wang Chuxiong, pouring out a torrent of grievances.
For a full week, Chen Jie's frenzied training had been as intense as gambling with his life.
Such a state of being was simply shocking.
This wasn't practicing boxing; this was the behavior of a "martial arts lunatic!"
What nobody knew was that Chen Jie's frantic combat training was solely aimed at acquiring [Martial Arts Merit Points] with greater efficiency.
He did not want to waste time, nor did he care about exhausting his physical stamina; he continuously sought out other "senior trainees" for real combat drills.
From the outside,
he resembled an untiring wild bull.
Before he knew it, Chen Jie had become the ultimate sparring partner for the entire Elite Martial Arts Academy!
Anyone who wanted to practice actual combat could come find him!
After a week of grueling training, the results manifested!
A meteoric rise!
Only this phrase could adequately describe the surge in Chen Jie's combat prowess.
Within the entire Elite Martial Arts Academy, there were practically no longer any individuals capable of suppressing him.
Even with Xu Dachi going all out, he could no longer control the rhythm of the ring.
"Chen Jie! Can you slow down a bit? With you throwing kick after kick like this, I can't train with you anymore!"
"The tempo is just too fast! Can you please stop kicking?"
"What the hell, aren't you wearing protective foot gear? Why does getting kicked by you hurt so much? Forget it, I'm done, my legs are all swollen from your kicks."
"Stop! Pause! There's no point in fighting this crap. Go find someone else to spar with; with explosive power this fierce, if I keep training with you, I'm going to end up flat on my back in the hospital, dammit!"
"—"
Inside the Elite Martial Arts Academy, all the trainees who had been engaging in combat sparring with Chen Jie finally threw in the towel.
In the beginning, everyone had still been able to maintain the upper hand.
Yet as Chen Jie's combat experience grew increasingly rich, training with him became an exercise in pure agony!