I created the Anomaly Control Bureau

Chapter 884, Section 879: Faces of the Past

Filled with doubt and curiosity, Ma En followed Chai Shaoqin onto public transportation. The thing looked like a smooth, silver cylinder lying on its side by the roadside, but after he went inside, he found that it was transparent from the inside out.

Moreover, the cylinder only advanced a few hundred meters on the ground before rapidly ascending to the traffic tracks in the middle of the city and slowly accelerating to a terrifying speed.

Eventually, the cylinder reached a speed of about 800 kilometers per hour, and it seemed to handle this speed with ease. Soon, Ma En discovered that although there was nothing unusual about the "bus", the aerial track they were on was emitting an aura of abnormal power.

Has the federal government already used its anomalous powers for public relations and transportation...?

But before Marx and Engels could ponder this question, they had already arrived at their destination.

This martial arts school has many similarities to the one Marne saw last time. It is also a classical Eastern Federation building that looks like it occupies a large area, and the bright red door is wide enough for a truck to drive in.

Chai Shaoqin stepped forward and naturally pushed open the door.

"Have you been here before?" he asked.

Marx and Engels answered truthfully:

"I've never been inside."

Chai Shaoqin nodded slightly:
"The outermost part of the martial arts school is where the outer disciples stay. All the disciples who pay tuition to enter the school will come here to practice martial arts. If there are any talented ones among them, they may be recruited as inner disciples after a few years, or even a few months of training."

As he introduced the place, Ma En also saw many martial arts training grounds of different sizes, where young men and women were already practicing their skills. This scene was very similar to what he had seen in the martial arts school last time, but the difference was that Ma En had also come into contact with martial arts.

So he could sense that almost none of the young people practicing martial arts in the square had actually mastered it; they were essentially no different from the elderly men and women practicing in the park.

Only a very small number of martial artists managed to grasp the essence of the martial arts they had learned, but Ma En actually saw quite a few martial artists who had truly mastered the basics on the road.

That's right, these true martial artists are all on their way.

They were clearly not apprentices from the outer school, but senior disciples who had come from within the martial arts school. When they saw Chai Shaoqin, they nodded to him and showed a degree of respect in their words and actions.

As Chai Shaoqin greeted his fellow disciples, he introduced them:

"If you go further in, that's where our inner court disciples train. Martial artists like us who have already entered the inner court will receive truly advanced martial arts instruction in the inner court. You should also be arranged to enter the inner court immediately."

"The inner courtyard is just beyond here; outer disciples cannot enter at will."

Ma En curiously observed his surroundings. The so-called boundary between the inner and outer courtyards was nothing more than a few walls and rows of trees that were obviously used for concealment. Both of these could visually block the outer disciples.

Passing through the branches and arches, the scene before you instantly becomes completely different from the outside world.

They had only just begun their ascent when the road before them transformed into a gigantic martial arts arena, far larger than the one outside. There were indeed some martial artists practicing their moves there, but most were engaged in one-on-one combat.

What truly sets them apart is the aura they exude.

These martial artists fought with considerable restraint, often without even touching each other, yet their auras rose and fell. This seemed to be a unique way of sparring among martial artists.

Chai Shaoqin also noticed Marx and Engels's gaze:
"How about it? These are all our inner disciples. They are all quite skilled. You may find it hard to believe that this is real, but in fact, many of them can do things that are as exaggerated as those on TV."

Chai Shaoqin's purpose in saying this was clearly to give Ma En a heads-up, so that he would be mentally prepared for what was to come.

Soon, they arrived at the building at the deepest part of the place. It was a semi-open courtyard building with strangely shaped stone animal statues on both sides of the entrance, which at first glance looked like some kind of feline beast.

"Wait here for me," Chai Shaoqin said. "I'm going to see my master."

Marne nodded and then stood at the doorway to wait.

Of course, he didn't just stand there. Instead, he immediately took the opportunity to look around the courtyard. The outermost, completely open area resembled a small front hall, with many calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls.

Furthermore, the walls on both sides of the front hall are inlaid with wooden tables with intricate decorations, on which are placed bronze incense burners shrouded in smoke, exuding a slightly mysterious aura.

In the center of the front hall stood a grand armchair, flanked by curtains made of strung wooden beads. It was after passing through these curtains that Chai Shaoqin's figure disappeared.

Then, he turned to look at the martial artists in the distance, sensing the aura they exuded.

A hundred flowers bloom.

He remembered all those imposing manners.

This suggests that he must have practiced basic martial arts before and experienced many different kinds of auras. However, the latter may not be particularly significant, since martial arts auras were probably something quite common in the past.

Even in the park downstairs from him, there were three people who exuded martial arts aura.

The key point is that he had practiced basic martial arts. Although he had a memory of going deep into the Tianshan Sect to learn martial arts, that memory actually had many doubts and problems, and it was completely unrelated to his other memories.

Maren even leans more towards the idea that when he was there, he wasn't actually practicing martial arts, but rather infiltrating the place as a spy, trying to replicate what he and the magician had done.

That is to rob or steal certain treasures from these martial arts schools.

This is far more likely than the possibility that he was there to seriously practice martial arts.

Therefore, he also wanted to figure out how much he actually knew about martial arts, so that he could deduce his specific relationship with the martial arts world, whether he had really reached a certain level in martial arts, whether he was really a disciple of Wangtianmen, or whether he was an undercover agent there for some benefit, and if it was the latter, how much martial arts did he have mastered...

These conclusions cannot be drawn solely from the aura he currently senses; more importantly, they depend on the specific knowledge of these martial arts techniques he possesses, and the books that record their principles.

Even if he had read these books, it didn't mean he was actually practicing those martial arts. After all, given his personality, Ma En thought he was likely to read all the martial arts he came into contact with.

But now it seems that may not be the case.

The deeper he delved into his memories, the harder it became for him to grasp what he was like in the past.