Henry Harper only hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement, though in his mind he still thought of the meat soup and ribs in the cafeteria—it was a pity to miss out on those...

Just like that, the three of them took a car to a bustling street, then followed behind Paul Thompson into a quiet alley. At the end of the alley was a restaurant with an antique charm. Paul Thompson, as if he were a regular, led the other two straight into a sandalwood-scented room after entering the restaurant. No one greeted them, and he didn’t say a word to anyone. After a few minutes, a large amount of exquisite food was brought to the table by the staff.

“The medicinal cuisine here is among the best in the capital region. Mr. Harper, you practice external hard boxing, which consumes a lot of energy, so you should eat more.” After saying this, Paul Thompson said nothing further, picked up his chopsticks, and began to eat. Once the food entered his mouth, his teeth ground it back and forth like sharpening a blade before swallowing, and he didn’t say a single word—the only thing visible at the table was the shadow of his chopsticks.

Henry Harper didn’t stand on ceremony either. In fact, he had been hungry for a while, so he didn’t bother with manners or anything else. He grabbed whatever was on the table and kept eating nonstop, wolfing down mouthful after mouthful.

All three present were martial artists, even Natalie Sawyer could eat a lot. The three of them finished five full tables of dishes, many of which were rare medicinal foods and exotic meats. According to Henry Harper’s estimate, this meal would cost at least a hundred to two hundred thousand yuan. Since someone else was treating, he ate to his heart’s content, probably eating about twice as much as Natalie Sawyer, but only about half as much as Paul Thompson, which secretly amazed him—Paul Thompson’s appetite was enormous.

After the meal, the staff brought fragrant tea and silently left the room. Paul Thompson took several big sips of tea before finally speaking: “Sorry to make you laugh, Mr. Harper. Ever since I reached the quasi-internal strength level, my body’s consumption has increased dramatically, and my daily food intake has also gone up. Just eating ordinary meat and grains isn’t enough to replenish my nutrition. Of course, this is also what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Henry Harper immediately cupped his fists and said, “I’m all ears!”

Paul Thompson smiled and waved his hand, saying, “No need to be so formal. Just treat this as a family dinner. My wife is your sister, so you’re like my brother-in-law. There’s no need to be so serious.”

“Martial arts—there’s so much to say about this that I could talk for days and nights and still not finish. So, let me first talk about the levels of martial artists.”

Paul Thompson pondered for a moment before continuing, “Let’s start with ordinary people. If someone hasn’t practiced martial arts, then in a fight, they’ll just flail their arms and legs, and their body won’t have any real dodging or movement skills. Basically, whoever is stronger or bigger will win. Even if you’re a bit faster, if you’re smaller, you’ll usually lose. The level of ordinary people is simply about comparing physical attributes to determine the winner.”

“Next are martial artists. After learning kung fu, whether it’s external hard skills or internal body techniques, you develop what are called moves. There’s a lot to say about moves. Many people think that the moves in various martial arts are just routines, like a dance with one-two-three-four steps. That’s actually a misunderstanding. If that were true, you’d just pose and call it martial arts, but what if your opponent runs away while you’re posing, or pulls out a weapon to attack you from a distance? What then?”

“The so-called moves actually serve two purposes. One is to train certain parts of the body. For example, from what I see of Mr. Harper’s boxing, the moves train the forearms, waist, and legs, right? So these three parts of Mr. Harper’s body are much stronger than those of ordinary people.”

“The second purpose of moves is for maneuvering and fighting in actual combat. It’s not about showing off the moves, but about using them. For example, when I saw Mr. Harper fighting my wife, your fists never left her head. But how did you manage to target her head? You know, after my wife used the Spirit Snake footwork, her speed was so fast that within three meters, she could leave an afterimage on an ordinary person’s retina. Ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to locate her, and might get hit in the blink of an eye. I saw that Mr. Harper was using the moves from your boxing style at that time—like this move.”

At this point, Paul Thompson stood up, planted his feet on the ground, kept his right foot still, and twisted his left foot along the floor. His whole body turned at high speed, naturally shifting his front to another direction.

“Just like that. This is actually the footwork you use in your regular practice. At the same time, when you raise your fist, the inside of your forearm naturally presses down slightly, and with a shake, you can defend your chest at the fastest speed. This is also a move from your boxing style. These are all combined in the routines you practice. In a set of martial arts, the so-called practice and application are just putting everything together or breaking them down into many small details. Being able to use them flexibly is what makes a qualified martial artist. Otherwise, you’re just punching for the sake of punching, dead punches, and people who fight like that aren’t worth worrying about.”