Chapter 13. Galaxy Martial God Hall - Reincarnation (4)
An antique logo appeared on the display.
[2500th Anniversary Special Documentary on Extraterrestrial Expansion: A History of the Galaxy Martial World, Part 3.]
[Production: GBS General Programming, Beggar Sect Main Star System.]
[Provided by: GBS Martial God 3rd Star System.]
[Production Support: Galaxy Martial Alliance - Martial History Research Lab, Galaxy International Federation - Galaxy Historical Archives, Earth Historical Records Compilation Committee.]
Having watched parts 1 and 2 yesterday, I started part 3.
I had chosen a science track because I enjoyed science and tinkering with machines, but if I hadn't been interested in mechanics, I would have considered majoring in history—that’s how much I loved it.
Isn't the history of another world just fascinating?
Part 1 covered the history of ancient martial arts starting from ancient Egypt, their transmission to India where they were redefined, and how they eventually flowed into East Asia.
Part 2 provided a comparative analysis of the development of martial arts in ancient China, starting from the late Zhou Dynasty, and how ancient martial arts that spread directly from Egypt to Europe—bypassing India—developed their own unique systems under the Romans and Germanic tribes.
Part 3 was set to cover the martial history from the mid-Qing Dynasty—the late ancient period by this world's standards, or the early modern period by mine—up to the 21st century, the very dawn of space exploration.
* * *
A professor with a dignified air walked onto the documentary set.
While most of the documentary consisted of footage and narration, the professor served as a commentator whenever an explanation was needed.
"It is a pleasure to see you again. Now, as promised, today we will cover the period from the late 16th century, the end of the ancient era, to the 21st century, which corresponds to the early medieval period."
The screen briefly showed cultural artifacts from ancient China before shifting to a historical drama filming set.
"Let us briefly review the previous session. Martial arts have always undergone rapid development during times of war. In the past, ancient China, where martial arts had just been introduced, experienced the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, which gave it a unique East Asian character distinct from Egypt and India; that character became the foundation of modern martial arts."
The screen changed to show footage simulating warfare from the era before gunpowder weapons appeared.
In the video, stunt actors trained in martial arts demonstrated flashy combat sequences.
Then, the screen shifted to display a timeline, marking the wars of the late Ming and early Qing transition period.
"Through the wars of the Ming-Qing transition, martial arts achieved another leap in development. However, after the war, the Jurchen people, the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty at the time, implemented policies to suppress the martial artists who had mastered these arts."
The screen changed to show scenes of emperors and generals in Qing attire oppressing martial artists.
"For the history of the martial world, a dark age arrived that was even worse than the Yuan Dynasty period of the Mongols. However, the dark age in the East was so bright that it would be embarrassing to even call it a dark age compared to the dark age in the West."
The screen shifted to show a map of Europe.
At the time, with the development of gunpowder weapons, the martial arts developed by the Romans and Germanic tribes in Europe began to naturally decline.
While martial arts were suppressed by the state in the East, in the West, the martial artists themselves began to abandon them.
This trend spread rapidly, especially due to the invention of the cartridge and the appearance of breech-loading rifles.
An incident where two riflemen annihilated 50 cavalrymen armed with sabers acted as a fatal blow.
As skepticism toward martial arts spread deeply across Europe and modern weaponry became widespread, Western martial arts were all but extinguished.
Instead, unique martial arts like "Gun-Kata" emerged in the West to better handle firearms, and as the Industrial Revolution began, the era of imperialism and colonization opened.
While the West began its global invasion, the East—especially the Qing Dynasty—suffered from deepening isolationist policies and corruption among officials.
As a result, the Qing imperial court and government had their functions paralyzed by Western powers, and many nations suffered countless exploitations.
However, ironically, the stagnation and fall of the Qing Dynasty in martial history marked the end of the dark age.
As the Qing government that had oppressed martial artists lost its functionality, the suppression of martial arts vanished. Amidst the chaos of Western invasion and the state failing to function as a state, ordinary people began to learn martial arts to protect themselves.
Although guns were easier to learn than martial arts, Western powers prohibited the distribution of personal firearms in their colonies to prevent the colonized from arming themselves.
Even if one managed to obtain a gun, obtaining gunpowder was even harder than obtaining the gun itself.
Therefore, martial arts, which did not require consideration for consumption, became the only self-defense measure for the colonized with no other alternatives.
Western nations mocked the old-fashioned martial artists of the East, and history marched on.
The 19th century, the dark age of martial history, came to an end, and it was not until the latter half of the 20th century—after passing through the early-to-mid 20th century, an era of total war that engulfed the entire world—that a period of peace finally arrived.
The late 20th century.
Although the international climate was still tense due to the Cold War between the great powers and sporadic wars occurring across the globe, it was hard to deny that it was a rare period of peace in the context of Earth's entire history.
Martial arts develop rapidly through war.
This was a story that held true even during the World War era of the 20th century, where the importance of various gunpowder weapons and aerial combat came to the fore.
Before the Industrial Revolution, martial arts developed based on how well one could kill the enemy or how easily one could block the enemy's attacks.
However, martial arts during the World War era developed based on how well one could dodge bullets and how well one could survive amidst poison gas and bombardment.
It was truly a cruel era where survival was victory.
The World War was horrific, but it allowed martial artists to cultivate overwhelming survival capabilities.
These survival capabilities became the fundamental bedrock for martial artists to advance into space in the future.
After the war ended, the martial world of the 21st century experienced another period of stagnation.
The world in this peaceful era was wary of individuals possessing martial force.
Martial arts could be defined as a method of fighting, and it was only natural for a society and state desiring peace to be concerned about martial artists who had mastered them.
However, just as it was impossible to regulate firearms in the United States, it was nearly impossible to suppress martial arts that had already spread widely through the war years.
Martial arts of this period developed into forms that were more covert and hid one's true martial prowess.
The professor on the documentary set walked slowly toward the camera and said.
"This development of the covert nature of martial arts would play a major role in the era of grand espionage that surpassed the old Cold War, taking place from the mid-to-late 21st century to the early-to-mid 22nd century."
The professor who had been narrating the documentary looked into the camera and delivered the closing remarks.
"Well, let's wrap it up here for today. Next time, we will look at how 22nd-century martial arts were used in espionage, and we will explore the history of the martial world up to the 24th century, the era of full-scale space exploration. I will see you then."
The screen darkened, and the production credits rolled accompanied by grand music.
* * *
Part 3 of the documentary, which I was most interested in, had ended.
This world was one where the martial arts world had advanced into space thousands of years ago; it was a distant future where the 50th century was the present, and the 21st century, where I had lived, was called the Middle Ages.
I thought it was interesting that even after 3,000 years, most cars still rolled on tires.
But since umbrellas had also been used in the same form for thousands of years, it seemed that some forms didn't change due to efficiency issues.
There were rare levitating cars, and even for cars with tires, the internal structure might be completely different from what I knew.
In fact, just looking at Siu was enough to gauge the scientific level of this world.
Isn't it amazing that an android indistinguishable from a human like that exists?
"Have you finished watching? Would you like a snack?"
"Yes!"
I chewed on the rice cracker, a baby snack Siu placed in my hand, and started the next episode.
Once the history of the Galaxy Martial World documentary was over, I planned to watch the documentary on scientific development and space exploration, followed by the history of the major sects.
"Documentaries are informative and good, but if you just sit still, your body will stiffen. Let's take a moment to stretch."
I stood up at Siu's touch.
Siu laid out a mat with footprints drawn on it.
"Now, try moving like this, following these steps."
It was a hassle, but I stretched by following Siu's movements, stepping exactly on the footprints.
Uh... wait a minute, is this the foot positioning of the Azure Wood Step?
"You are doing very well."
I'm just learning to walk, and you're already teaching me footwork?
Well, it's good for me if I learn it, though.
* * *
My life was monotonous.
Well, that was only natural.
How diverse could a baby's life possibly be?
Isn't eating, sleeping, and growing the duty of a baby?
However, it was so monotonous that, except for cultivation method training, footwork practice, and watching documentaries, I spent most of my time accelerating time with my 3D Avatar.
Personally, the documentaries were incredibly fun.
Perhaps because it was a world where martial arts were universal, unlike the world I had lived in, the major threads of history were the same, but the fine details were quite different.
The content of the 4th part of the Galaxy Martial World history mainly dealt with the growth and competition of the Beggar Sect and the Hao Sect.
The Beggar Sect and the Hao Sect, information-specialized sects composed of beggars and people at the bottom of society found everywhere in the world, had the same scope of activity but diametrically opposed characters.
The Beggar Sect established justice as its reason for existence as an orthodox sect, while the Hao Sect took the protection of the socially vulnerable as its reason for existence, regardless of law or morality.
As explained in part 3, the dark age of martial history ended with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and after passing through the World War era, the martial world was revived with only a slight period of stagnation.
However, the Beggar Sect faced a dark age.
Before the Industrial Revolution, people took it for granted and didn't pay attention to where beggars were, but as cities developed, the state and society drove beggars to the outskirts of cities for the sake of urban beautification.
This was especially true during major international events, when beggars were driven out even more aggressively.
Because they were constantly being chased away when they needed to be close to gather information, the Beggar Sect’s intelligence-gathering capabilities plummeted.
On the other hand, the Hao Sect entered its golden age.
The core of the Hao Sect consisted of society’s marginalized: inn waiters, courtesans in brothels, and itinerant peddlers.
After the Industrial Revolution, inns transformed into hotels, brothels into salons for the elite, and peddlers into global trading companies, making information gathering significantly easier.
In particular, cleaning staff—a vulnerable demographic—were embedded everywhere, making them perfect for collecting rumors from both the political and business spheres.
Thus, it was no exaggeration to say that the 20th century was the greatest golden age in the history of the Hao Sect.
The Beggar Sect, having become absolutely weak, decided to cast off the shackles of being "beggars" to solve their fundamental problems.
In the 20th century, during their worst period of stagnation, the leader of the Beggar Sect became convinced of the value of the nascent internet and staked the entire fate of the sect on it.
The Beggar Sect’s prediction hit the mark perfectly.
The internet began to overflow with all sorts of information, and by the 21st century, the Beggar Sect, having secured an early foothold, overwhelmed the Hao Sect in intelligence power.
Using that information as a foundation, the Beggar Sect began to devour the Hao Sect’s territory in the offline world as well.
Having abandoned their roots as beggars, the Beggar Sect had no reason to shy away from the Hao Sect’s domains.
Caught between losing the internet and facing the Beggar Sect’s offensive in the physical world, the Hao Sect fell into a desperate, cornered situation.
0 Comments