Chapter 155: Practicing American Traditional Martial Arts

"Congratulations, you have won the epic item 'Grimoire of Runes'. The reward has been deposited into your inventory, please check it yourself!"

"Huh? A rune book?"

No jackpot gold, but an epic purple gear was definitely not a loss!

As for its purpose, it was quite straightforward and clear.

The "Grimoire of Runes" was a typical heavy tome of rune secrets. Its contents were far thicker than they appeared on the outside, complete with animations and special effects inside, but it required an injection of magic power to use.

An ordinary person would probably just see meaningless garbled text, but Li Lekang could understand a bit of it. After a brief scan of the table of contents, he realized that it wasn't particularly relevant to his current situation and needs.

There were no monsters for him to grind here, nor any occasions requiring a showdown with deities; life was far too peaceful.

On second thought, though, you learn as long as you live, and after all, this was an epic book!

In games, finding a set of high-tier recipes usually required buying them from others at a steep price. Trying to figure them out on your own was time-consuming, laborious, and success wasn't even guaranteed!

Now, an entire book of formulas and recipes had been handed straight to him. All he needed to do was find the materials, practice his crafting skills, and he might just end up with top-tier gear!

Reading a book during his spare time and learning a few more practical skills could never hurt.

So Li Lekang set himself a reading plan, starting from the very first chapter on rune fundamentals, aiming to learn as much as he could. Who knew when it might actually come in handy with some miraculous effect!

He read seriously for a while, but perhaps the weather was just too fine, and the warm, pleasant California breeze made him transition from sitting up to half-reclining, and eventually lying down with the book covering his face as sleep quietly crept up on him.

Li Lekang dreamed that he had become a grand magus, summoning wind and rain, moving mountains and filling seas, making the world's superpowers hang on his every word! A single sneeze from him would make the Earth tremble!

As for beauties and mature women, they naturally fell to his tattered jeans one after another in waves! But while flowers were lovely, picking too many made things sticky, and goodness, they were clinging to him and he couldn't shake them off no matter what!

"What the hell... What is this!"

He jolted awake, only to find Mike the dog licking his hand!

"Damn it, stop right there!"

"You ruined my good dream! Ah!"

Li Lekang grabbed the scruff of its neck, picked it up, and furiously ruffled its doggy head.

"I was having a good dream and you just had to interrupt it, didn't you? Is it because I haven't disciplined you in a while?!"

Compared to the hyperactive husky puppy of the past, Mike had grown up a lot. However, that regal, piercing gaze remained unchanged; no mortal could withstand a direct stare from it.

After messing with the dog for a bit, seeing Olivia walking toward him and standing by as if she had something to say, he finally let it go. "Go play by yourself!"

Li Lekang patted the chair beside him. "Sit down!"

Olivia gave him a slight nod before taking a seat, leaning forward to maintain a respectful posture. "I heard you want us to participate in the show's filming?"

"Oh, right!"

"You've come at the right time!"

Olivia's reminder brought it all back. He was still somewhat resentful that his previous blockbuster shoot featuring the Saintess Nuns had its thunder stolen by the internal strife among the saints.

Therefore, upon returning to the United States this time, he planned to shoot two local special episodes for "Li Lekang's Magical Journey", continuing his usual approach of blending local traditional culture. In America, naturally, that meant traditional martial arts—a hail of bullets!

He planned to connect the storyline: Lekang Li, having sought enlightenment and learned from masters in China, traveled the world and arrived in Los Angeles, a city of daily gunfights. There, he came into conflict with a local traditional martial arts gang, who threatened to pull out their weapons and deal with him.

Naturally, this would be followed by Li Lekang displaying divine might, catching bullets barehanded and tanking grenades with his mortal body! Or perhaps carving his signature onto bullets to guarantee they were one-of-a-kind!

Alternatively, he could play with the plot where he was trapped by dirty tricks from a mob boss, who cuffed his hands and feet, welded him inside a coffin, and then executed him with submachine guns—or even artillery—only for Li Lekang to rise from the ashes!

Li Lekang wanted to shoot these explosive, modern-style magic acts.

However, he didn't trust outsiders, so he decided to just use his own troop of nuns. They practiced traditional martial arts all day anyway, had an extremely high level of cooperation, and paying their wages didn't hurt his wallet since the wealth stayed within his own family.

When he shared this general idea with Olivia, she nodded knowingly. "No problem, I will mobilize the sisters to fully cooperate with your shooting schedule."

"Well, you certainly know how to please people!"

Li Lekang chuckled and clapped his hands.

"Anyway, it'll be happening soon, after my current shows. You can start practicing beforehand, or if you have any other creative ideas, I'm all ears!"

"We will!" Olivia nodded.

...

After a few days of rest, Li Lekang returned to work.

There was the final flying show, the Mount Laoshan Daoist show, and the simultaneous preparation for the new thematic shoot.

The flying show concluded successfully to widespread acclaim.

The Mount Laoshan Daoist show continued the foreigners' fantasy journey into Chinese culture. At the first show in Los Angeles, the audience gasped from start to finish as Chinese immortals taught them a thorough lesson.

The word-of-mouth praise remained explosive because, in terms of magical technique, the Mount Laoshan Daoist show surpassed the flying show. Fans continued to hype it up in every possible way, and the media offered glowing reviews.

The happiest party right now was probably NBC.

The broadcast of "Li Lekang's Magical Journey" in the second half of the year was not far off.

The current tremendous momentum would undoubtedly translate into blazing success in the future!

Consequently, they gave their absolute and enthusiastic support to Li Lekang's local shoots in the United States. Even the cannon shells needed for the "artillery execution of Li Lekang" were successfully applied for from the military by someone on their end.

Li Lekang was simultaneously training and preparing.

However, practicing magic had grown a bit tedious lately, and his workouts had already yielded an eight-pack abs and an athletic waist. With nothing much to do, Olivia recommended that he try practicing some American traditional martial arts.

Watching them display such dashing skills shooting at the firing range all day, Li Lekang's palms indeed began to itch. Forgetting his previous awkward rookie days with guns, he felt like he could do it again!

So he wanted to learn some American traditional martial arts as well.

This time, however, he was very modest, actively seeking guidance from Olivia.

She was an expert with firearms. Li Lekang had once seen her blindfolded, shooting at a moving target ten meters away with a handgun and hitting every single shot—this was the true unity of person and weapon.

Regarding His Reverence the Father's interest, Olivia patiently introduced him: "Not every weapon suits everyone. I suggest you first choose the weapon that feels most natural in your hands."

Li Lekang tried everything from short guns to long rifles one by one. He gradually learned how to handle them, but still lacked that feeling of instant, breathtaking resonance.

Yet no one rushed him; he could take his time finding his signature weapon.

A swordmaster uses a sword, a swordsman uses a blade, so what should an American priest use?

ARS, SCARS, Remingtons, and even RPGs—he had picked them all up and tried them out. Good as they were, they always lacked that feeling of a "traditional martial arts master's close-combat weapon" that he had imagined.

Until one day, among millions of weapons, Li Lekang finally found the type that caught his fancy—

The Colt M1873.

Produced in the 19th century, it was a classic single-action revolver.

A single-action revolver meant that for every shot fired, the hammer had to be manually cocked once.

Having originally faded from the historical stage, it was brought back into the public eye in the last century due to the popularity of Western movies, acquiring a loyal following.

Logically speaking, such a purely manual weapon was no longer suited for modern times, but quite the contrary!

Everyone had seen Western cowboy duels, right?

The firing speed of a single-action revolver depended entirely on hand speed!

If you wanted to shoot fast, you had to fan the hammer crazily like a Western cowboy—before that kind of speed, automatic weapons were absolute trash!

The most famous among them was Bob Munden, a real-life gun god who once set a record of firing two shots and hitting two balloon targets in 0.0175 seconds!

0.0175 seconds—ten times faster than the blink of an eye!

You couldn't even clearly see his firing motion with the naked eye.

Put that kind of speed into a Western movie, and he would undoubtedly be the incarnation of the Grim Reaper!

As luck would have it, Li Lekang now wanted to master this ultimate technique of American traditional martial arts!