How did I become famous?

Chapter 169 Superhero Universe! It's a success! (5100-word update, please vote!)

The movie continues—

Ip Man was handpicked to spar with Master Gong Yutian.

But everyone was afraid that he would show his weakness, so they set up several tests for him.

It was called a test, but in reality it was a way of passing on skills, or rather, teaching him the essential principles and core elements of some boxing techniques through sparring.

If we were to use a different analogy

It's roughly like the first, second, and third mock exams before the college entrance exam, where teachers explain the key points and difficult areas during the exams.

Um, maybe we can also recruit students for GG (Girls' Club) while we're at it.

Now it's time for those martial arts masters to show off their skills and defeat GG, as well as for the trio of Nie Fang, Pan Xiao, and Luo Wei to put on a show.

These martial arts masters are all scheming and plotting.

What's the point of learning martial arts these days? To fight?

Stop bullshitting!

The police officer is standing in front of you, can you call me and show me?

They didn't even fight back, I'm telling you!

A few years ago, some idiot went to Shaolin Temple and asked to challenge the abbot to a duel, saying something like "destroy Shaolin first, then destroy Wudang."

As a result, no one paid any attention to him, and a 110 police officer took him away.

He's definitely better at fighting than the police officers, but would he dare to make a move?

We live in a society governed by law now, brother.

What is the purpose of learning martial arts?

One word.

Handsome!

You can make excuses like it's good for your health and cultivates your mind, but in the end, isn't it all for the sake of being "handsome"?

So everyone here is showing off their unique skills.

If the master himself is good-looking, then he can do it himself.

If you're not good-looking or lack confidence, then find a handsome, beautiful, and charismatic apprentice!

Since everyone here is a trained fighter, no matter how we fight, we won't appear weak or feeble.

Handsome men and beautiful women fighting with all sorts of martial arts moves is much better than old men and middle-aged men, right?

And they were really fighting!

Here, Nie Fang again employed the method of simultaneous filming with numerous cameras. He then adhered to one principle.

Just hit normally, as fast as you want, and with enough force!

What stands out is his genuine handsomeness!

So the moves have to be cool too!

Then give me all the close-ups with a high-speed camera!

The real feeling of fists hitting flesh!

The power of a fist shattering wood and glass!

Get them all out here!

The young disciples from each sect also kept in mind the teachings of their elders, and they understood even more clearly what the most important thing in this play was.

That's basically giving up on the sect!

Therefore, the men all had upright features, and the women all had heroic and cold eyes and expressions, truly embodying the aura of male and female gods!

Moreover, each of them introduced their own school's boxing techniques while sparring with Ip Man.

Wu Kai originally only said he would give a brief introduction, but he ended up delivering a whole string of "lines" at a rapid pace.

What does it mean that "Baguazhang is based on swordsmanship, with a single palm change being a single sword and a double palm change being a double sword. The footwork is like flowing clouds and water, and it excels at unorthodox and aggressive attacks, with hand techniques including piercing, inserting, chopping, lifting, horizontal striking, bumping, hooking, flipping, and supporting"?

They practically wanted to explain even the groin kick in detail.

The claim that "Xingyiquan (形意拳) reveres Yue Fei as its founder and originated from the Yue family spear technique is precisely what is meant by 'deriving fist from spear.'"

Then he practiced all the Five Elements Fist techniques, including the Splitting Fist, Drilling Fist, Collapsing Fist, Cannon Fist, and Horizontal Fist, as well as the Twelve Form Fist techniques, including the Dragon Form, Tiger Form, Bear Form, and Snake Form.

If Ip Man hadn't been so indignant, this young man might have even used the "Crow Flying in an Airplane" and "Tornado Destroying a Parking Lot" techniques.

Um, sorry. We don't have either of those.

Many viewers who enjoy reading novels and watching TV dramas found resonance here.

After all, they had heard of the "Tiger and Crane Double Form" and other well-known moves such as the "Half-Step Crushing Fist".

The other sects, of course, weren't idle either.

What about "Hung Kuen's fixed-inch stance", "Bajiquan's Iron Mountain Lean", and "Twelve-Road Tan Leg"?

Anyway, go for whatever looks cool and stylish.

Moreover, everyone is very knowledgeable, and they are using moves that many people are familiar with but have never seen before.

GG is nothing to be ashamed of!

Many disciples were initially hesitant, but once they started fighting, they got into the swing of things.

Seriously, no actor could ever portray this feeling.

But Ip Man was no pushover either.

Although he cooperated with the other party's performance, he did not forget his master's teachings.

So what if you guys lose? I'm the main character!

You're still going to lose to me, aren't you?

Does losing to me mean your boxing skills are inferior to Wing Chun?

Although that's not how it's supposed to be, that's the intuitive feeling the audience gets.

Moreover, Ip Man and his disciples also saw far enough ahead.

Once the movie is released and the publicity picks up, they'll promote that the action scenes were all real, and release some behind-the-scenes footage of the fight scenes.

So

Hehehe.

Wouldn't the audience subconsciously think that Wing Chun is the most powerful fighting style?

If you want to learn martial arts, why the hell don't you sign up for Wing Chun?

Plans are in place!

"hiss--!"

Liu Mang gasped, bent down, turned his head, and whispered, "Skinny Monkey, where did you find this group of experts? This feels like a real fight."

"Because it was a real fight," Wu Kai said, feeling even more sorry for the medical expenses and meal fees that the crew spent on them.

A single boxed lunch costs thirty yuan, and each person has to eat three! Who can resist that?!

If it weren't for the young lady adding to the budget and Nie Fang and the others receiving funding from their own company, his movie would probably have been ruined after only a third of the way through.

Liu Mang looked him up and down as if he were seeing him for the first time: "You're really going to turn your career around with this movie. But it seems you've reached the same level of enlightenment as me, since you managed to find so many real masters."

Wu Kaiqian chuckled twice but didn't say anything.

He understood, and he also realized Fang Bie's good intentions and trust, as well as the heavy burden entrusted to his shoulders.

But he was too embarrassed to say that the guys had actually just given up, and even paid to do so.

After Wu Kai and Fang Bie talked, they changed the plot.

In the original script, Gong Yutian directly sent Ma San back to his hometown in the north.

However, Wu Kai felt that the conflict here was not intense enough, so he arranged for Ma San to fight Ip Man first.

Because Ip Man stopped short of defeating Ma San, Ma San narrowly won, but the triumphant Ma San was driven back by Gong Yutian.

Because he was too sharp and didn't understand the principle that water overflows when it's full.

First of all, Ip Man essentially conceded half a move.

Secondly, the purpose of this meeting, organized by Master Gong Yutian, was to unite the martial arts worlds of the North and South. What are you trying to do by putting people in a difficult position and creating division here, Ma San?

This is actually Wu Kai subtly conveying the philosophy that Fang Bie told him.

Afterwards, Gong Yutian and Ip Man sparred, but the two did not really fight.

Nie Fang and his team used a stream-of-consciousness technique to express their ideas.

Gong Yutian accepted Ip Man's philosophy and voluntarily admitted defeat.

As the saying goes, he wanted to use his undefeated reputation to highlight Ip Man and help him secure his position as president of the martial arts association.

That's how the image of Grandmaster Gong Yutian was established.

But his daughter, Miss Gong Er, was not convinced and challenged Ip Man to a duel.

Ip Man also stopped short of defeat, losing by a small margin.

In front of the screen, Wang Ming continued to nod, watching the movie for a while, then lowered his head and began to write furiously by the dim light.

[The second young lady of the Gong family is another Ma San. I suspect that the subsequent plot may use the different choices made by the second young lady of the Gong family and Ma San to highlight the different paths they take after inheriting Gong Yutian's Xingyi Quan and Bagua Zhang.]

I think I can understand the title "The Grandmaster" now. Director Fong chose this title for the film partly to refer to the protagonist, Ip Man, and partly to the group of masters of this era.

He stopped what he was doing, looked up and stared intently at the screen.

So the question is, how do we portray the feeling of these "grandmasters"?

"Fang, I sensed the spirit you wanted to express. I must say, you are indeed a genius. But this film is too restrained. You've hidden profound meaning within a popcorn movie, which probably won't be popular in Hollywood."

"Actually, I didn't have that many ideas. I just wanted to write a popcorn movie script."

As for the movie title "The Grandmaster"?

Because the original version of this heavily modified script in my previous life was called "The Grandmaster".

Soon, the movie resumed.

The focus now shifts to Gong Yutian and his group, who have returned to their hometown in the north.

Shortly afterward, Japan invaded. Ma San misunderstood his master's words, chose to betray him, and even killed his own mentor with his own hands.

Miss Gong Er was defeated by him, but with the help of other elders, she escaped in the chaos and planned to go south to seek help.

Upon learning of this, Ip Man immediately joined forces with various martial arts masters from the south to head north to provide assistance.

When they arrived at the city, it had not yet fallen.

They helped the defenders hold the city while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Here, the Shaolin monks and Wudang Taoists finally made their appearance.

After they appeared, Wu Kai's eyes kept twitching.

Because they were even more outrageous than those martial arts masters from before!

Taoist priests are one thing, but why do the older ones all have an air of otherworldly elegance, while the young Taoist priests are all incredibly handsome and otherworldly?

And why is there a group of equally ethereal and otherworldly Taoist nuns?

There's also Shaolin.

Where the hell did you find such a group of incredibly handsome young monks?

Most importantly, why are there nuns here?

And she was a beautiful nun?

Doesn't Shaolin Temple not accept female disciples?!

Actually, if Ip Man and his group could think of defeat, how could the thousand-year-old Shaolin and Wudang not have thought of it?

They seem to know each other very well!

Actually, there weren't any nuns originally, but when the Wudang Sect sent so many beautiful Taoist nuns, the Shaolin masters couldn't sit still.

Amitabha. Shaolin can lose to anyone, but it just can't lose to Wudang!

But what if there are no female disciples?

Borrow money.

They asked the nun at the Jingyue Nunnery next door to borrow someone!

Besides, these days women hold up half the sky. If we don't bring in nuns, aren't we afraid that the Weibo boxers will freeze to death in front of your temple?

What happened next almost made many viewers who were drinking cola spit it out.

Because the masters and Taoist priests all pulled out their guns.

There were even grenades and mortars!

"Holy crap! This is definitely a tribute to Captain China!"

"That's right! I remember there was a scene in 'Captain China' where Yan Shuangying hid in a temple only to see the monks pull out guns and start shooting!"

"A plot link? Director Fang's superhero universe is complete! (laughs)"

Actually, when Wu Kai was reading the script, he asked the masters and Taoist priests of Shaolin and Wudang whether this would have any impact.

They all said they didn't care.

However, the master's words left a deep impression on Wu Kai.

"Amitabha. Benefactor Wu, what do you think Shaolin should be like? Is it a Shaolin where all disciples know martial arts? Wrong. Shaolin will only become the Shaolin that everyone wants. You say that the thirteen monks saved the King of Qin, so the Shaolin monks use sticks. You say that there should be Buddha statues, magnificent halls, and places to burn incense, so Shaolin has these. You say that Shaolin should have martial arts, so everyone in Shaolin knows martial arts."

Wu Kai asked him at the time, "Won't this cause you to lose sight of your true self?"

The master smiled and said, "Buddha resides in your heart. Whatever the Buddha in your heart is, that is what he is. The Buddha in my heart is my predecessor who passed on wisdom to his disciples, so I will not change. As for those who might change, let them be."

Wu Kai only vaguely understood, but he roughly grasped the meaning.

The movie continues.

After several days of fierce fighting, the city's defenders finally received news that reinforcements would arrive in three days.

Three days later, the Japanese forces decided to launch a full-scale attack on the city, regardless of the consequences or casualties.

The sun had risen at dawn, but reinforcements still hadn't arrived.

The city's defenders were determined to defend their homeland to the death, but they also sought out masters from various martial arts schools in the north and south, requesting them to lead the city's residents to evacuate to the rear.

The old masters of the Northern martial arts world made a decision that was not particularly difficult.

They were to stay behind and cover the retreat with the defenders.

Before leaving, they entrusted their entire family to the masters of Southern Fist.

The Southern Fist masters laughed heartily, saying that they were all old buddies and rivals who had been at odds for decades, and that they couldn't care less about the small family matters of the other families!

They entrusted all these people to Ip Man and then resolved to stand with the Northern Fist masters to face the national crisis.

Thus, Ip Man witnessed the final swan song of this generation of grandmasters.

Here, Nie Fang uses a long shot to depict the martial arts masters charging against the tide of the massive Japanese army.

Sunlight streamed down from behind them as they charged towards the enemy wielding steel guns, relying on their flesh and blood.

A chivalrous person is one who knowingly does the impossible!

Accompanied by tragic music, watching these grandmasters fall fearlessly, even with smiles on their faces, on their way to victory, many viewers in the theater clenched their fists, gritted their teeth, and had tears in their eyes.

They felt a surge of heat rising from their chests to the top of their heads, but they didn't know what that feeling was.

Perhaps this is passion, perhaps this is patriotism.

Behind him, Ip Man looked at the group of grandmasters lying on the ground, and then at the guards who were disheveled, covered in blood, yet showed no fear in their eyes.

He decided to stay.

Gong Er begged him to leave together and subtly confessed her feelings to him.

He refused Gong Er's offer and entrusted her with the important task of leading the Chinese Martial Arts Association and the families of the people and martial arts masters to evacuate south.

Afterwards, he went alone to the front of the Japanese army, declaring that he would challenge Japanese martial arts and see which country's martial arts were stronger.

In an effort to demoralize the defending troops, the leader of the Fusang forces agreed.

But to his utter surprise, none of the masters from the various martial arts schools in Japan were a match for Ip Man; none of them could even withstand five moves from him.

Finally, Ip Man even challenged himself to fight ten of the ten strongest martial arts school owners in Japan.

And he actually did it.

At this point, the Japanese army sent out its last man, Ma San, who had already surrendered to Japan.

After a fierce battle, Ip Man, who held back this time, used the Gong Family Sixty-Four Hands Bagua Palm taught to him by Gong Er to cleanly and decisively kill Ma San.

But as always, the Japanese broke their promise, and their commander ordered his men to surround Ip Man.

He said that both martial arts and martial arts are things of the past.

The strength of our nation now comes from our powerful ships and cannons, and the long guns in our hands!

Times have changed.

He looked at the countless Japanese soldiers surrounding him, all aiming their guns at him.

Ip Man smiled and shook his head: "Yes, times have changed. Perhaps Chinese martial arts will decline and be replaced by new things, but the most important thing about martial arts is its spirit, the heart of using martial arts to stop war. As long as they have this spirit, regardless of whether they know martial arts or not, they are all grandmasters."

In the distance, the sun gradually rises, illuminating the sky and the earth.

In the distance came the bugle call to charge and the chorus of countless bugles.

Ip Man took out the pistol that the Shaolin master had given him and pointed it at the officer of the Japanese troops.

Then, the screen went black, and a series of gunshots rang out.

The movie has ended.

Fang laughed: "Dear Tom, it seems I've won. This is just a work that tells the story of the spirit of Chinese martial arts."

How could I, Fang, not know the script I wrote myself?

This movie has absolutely nothing to do with superheroes!

Tom smiled and shook his head: "Fang, haven't you noticed something?"

Seeing his calm demeanor, Fang Bie suddenly had a bad feeling: "What is it?"

Tom pointed to a high place: "If the movie is over, why aren't the lights on yet? The end credits are already rolling."

Fang Bie's expression suddenly changed, and he spat out two words through gritted teeth: "Easter egg."

"YES, YES, Fang, you're right." Tom shrugged. "Actually, I wasn't sure either. I was just pretending to be calm, and I even prayed to God. But now, it proves I guessed right."

Fang Bie whispered, "So what are you going to do after you win?"

"Don't rush, let's wait until we see the post-credits scene," Tom winked. "Maybe the post-credits scene has nothing to do with superheroes?"

Fang Bie took a deep breath and began to pray silently.

Please don't have any connection with us. Please don't have any connection with us. Please don't.

For a full five minutes, before he could finish praying, the credits rolled.

Then the screen lit up.

After the gunshot rang out, Ip Man remained standing in the same spot.

But all the Japanese soldiers around him who were aiming at him were shot squarely in the head!

The Japanese officer roared in astonishment, "Who goes there?!"

A cry of a hawk could be heard, and a motorcycle was speeding towards them from afar.

The person sitting on the motorcycle was vaguely visible as a cold-looking man with a buzz cut, wearing sunglasses, and whose black leather coat was fluttering in the wind.

"What the hell! Wu Kai, are you messing with me?!" Fang Bie lost his composure.

There's a hidden surprise and you didn't tell me? Are you kidding me?!

Moreover, he would visit the set from time to time, but I've never heard of Yan Shuangying making a cameo appearance!

"Holy crap! Awesome! A crossover with Captain China!" Liu Mang exclaimed in surprise. "When did you find Yan Shuangying to make a cameo appearance? I've never heard you mention it before?"

"What cameo? Brother Yan was completely unavailable at the time." Wu Kai laughed smugly. "We deliberately used a long shot here and found an actor with a similar build and hairstyle to play the role."

Director Fang! I've done what you hinted at!

The heir to China's superhero movies! That's me, Wu Kai!

No more words, no more dragging it out! I'll just write the plot of "The Grandmaster" in one go, over 5100 words!

There should probably be one more 3000-word chapter tonight as a minimum.

I'm righteously asking for monthly votes!!!

(End of this chapter)