Chapter 122: The Madness Before Returning

Li Daniu had heard of the butterfly effect. Although he had always considered it a bit exaggerated, he had to admit that once an unexpected variable is introduced, the course of events can change drastically. With the absence of the palm technique that descended from the heavens, and the lack of struggle from the Beast, the main plot of the movie *Kung Fu Hustle* effectively reached its conclusion.

Because Ah Xing had destroyed the Landlady’s apartment building with a single palm strike, he was coerced into becoming an apprentice to the Landlady and her husband, even promising to care for them in their old age. Of course, Li Daniu had played a significant role in nudging this outcome.

"Master, are you really leaving?" Ah Xing asked, trying to persuade Li Daniu to stay in his newly opened candy shop.

"It’s time," Li Daniu replied, shaking his head. "I came back to travel around my homeland. I only stayed in Shanghai for so long because I discovered you. Now that your kung fu is no weaker than mine, there’s no need for me to stay."

"Master, are you sure you aren't leaving because you were defeated by me and are now nursing your wounded pride?" Ah Xing asked, looking at Li Daniu with suspicious eyes.

"Nonsense! I was letting you win a few moves. If you don't believe me, let's go again," Li Daniu retorted, instantly flustered.

Ten days had passed since the defeat of the Beast. In that time, Ah Xing had not only learned Tai Chi from the Landlord but had also mastered the Lion's Roar technique—and not just mastered it, but brought it to the peak of perfection. Such martial arts talent made both Li Daniu and the Landlady couple feel deeply inferior. After learning the Lion's Roar from Ah Xing, Li Daniu had uncharacteristically looked for a chance to spar with him, only to be utterly defeated.

While both had reached the ninth level of the Nine Yang Divine Skill, Ah Xing’s internal energy growth in a single day was equivalent to ten days of Li Daniu’s training. They both knew Tai Chi, but although Li Daniu had learned it from Zhang Sanfeng himself, his understanding of the art was inferior to Ah Xing’s after only ten days of practice. As for the Buddhist Palm, it went without saying—Ah Xing had practiced it for twenty years, even deducing the inner cultivation method from the outside in, while Li Daniu had learned it from him. Naturally, he couldn't win.

*Once I learn the Yijin Jing or the Marrow Cleansing Sutra, I’ll travel back and show you whose aptitude is truly better,* Li Daniu resolved. With his goals achieved—having secured the Buddhist Palm, the Lion's Roar, and the Landlord’s insights into Tai Chi—he was ready to go.

After giving all his money to Ah Xing, the latter had chosen to open a candy shop, just as in the movie, and had even somehow found Bone back. When asked why, Ah Xing replied: "Master, I know you wanted me to follow in your footsteps and contribute to the cause against our national enemies, but I truly cannot bring myself to kill. Even when I know someone is evil, I can't strike. Besides, I’ve realized something—is being successful really that important? Having work to do and food to eat, isn’t that enough?"

Whether it was a misfortune or a blessing for the country to have a peerless master who refused to kill was hard to say. However, everyone has their own path; one should not impose their own ideals on others. Is it really right to use moral kidnapping to force others to do what they don't want to do?

Before leaving, Li Daniu only made one request of Ah Xing: "Before you die, pass on your skills. Don't let kung fu lose its lineage in China." Having received a firm promise, Li Daniu walked out of the candy shop without looking back. He had his own work to do in this world.

Just a street away, he saw the female lead pushing her cart, selling ice cream. What a coincidence. Li Daniu smiled, walked over, and told her that there was a surprise waiting for her on the next block. (The female lead was mute, not deaf.)

From that day on, the invading Japanese forces began to suffer raids from the world’s most formidable martial artist. Li Daniu had no regard for the "code of honor" among martial artists; for the Japanese, he was a nightmare of sneak attacks, assassinations, and sabotage. Possessing the Lion's Roar and the Buddhist Palm, backed by the supreme internal energy of the ninth-level Nine Yang Divine Skill, he faced little danger. Even with tanks and planes, Li Daniu was a single, small target, and with the "Ladder Cloud Leap" technique—a feat of agility beyond the comprehension of the Japanese—he came and went as he pleased.

One by one, the Japanese arsenals in Shanghai were blown up, and the engines of every plane were crippled by his strikes. As for the officers, they could not escape his reach. At first, Li Daniu couldn't bring himself to kill, settling for crippling his enemies. But as he traveled through China and witnessed the atrocities committed by the Japanese, his heart hardened. Reading history books or watching war films could not convey the true depth of the suffering they inflicted.

When he saw with his own eyes the Japanese soldiers using prisoners for bayonet practice, using people for biochemical weapon experiments, and holding competitions to kill captives—even cutting infants from the wombs of pregnant women—who could still show mercy? From crushing a soldier with a single palm to blowing up barracks with their own explosives, Li Daniu’s methods grew increasingly brutal.

Unable to catch him, the Japanese resorted to even crueler reprisals against the populace, hoping to force him into the open. Li Daniu was no great hero; he could not sacrifice his own life to save others by surrendering. He knew that even if he killed himself in front of them, the Japanese would not stop their invasion or their atrocities. In this era, only violence could meet violence; only killing could stop killing.

*You kill one Chinese, I kill ten Japanese. You kill ten Chinese, I blow up one of your barracks.*

Li Daniu was like the protagonist of a modern anti-war drama. He was a human weapon; tearing apart enemies with his bare hands was the least of it. He didn't even need grenades for planes—since they flew relatively low in that era, he could simply leap up and crush a plane with a single strike. Eventually, the Japanese stopped hunting him and ceased using civilians as bait. Every barracks was strictly guarded, and arsenals were surrounded 24/7. The moment a guard was incapacitated, they would remotely detonate their own armories, hoping to take Li Daniu with them.

Li Daniu was helpless against such scorched-earth tactics—he wasn't a ghost, and he couldn't survive a massive explosion. If they sensed any trouble, they would commit suicide bombings, leaving him no room to act. However, this strategy severely hindered their overall military deployment in China. The retreat into defensive postures left plenty of room for resistance fighters to operate and build their strength. After all, war in that age relied on people, not the high-tech warfare of the future where human lives could not bridge the gap in technology. In the future, no matter how fast his agility was, he would be helpless against satellite targeting and missiles.

Seeing that he could no longer gain an advantage against the Japanese military, Li Daniu shifted his focus to robbing Japanese wealth in major cities, using the spoils to help the impoverished. Of course, the main reason was that the wealth of this world held little value to him. Diamonds and jewelry were scarce due to the war, and gold and silver were too cumbersome to carry.

On the day of his scheduled return, Li Daniu appeared on the Japanese mainland. After blowing up the residence of the Japanese Emperor and the Yasukuni Shrine, he felt a sense of immense relief as he traveled back to the real world just before being surrounded by thousands of soldiers and police.