Chapter Thirteen: The Enduring Spirit of Chivalry

“Mo Di was just a man,” Xiang Shan nodded. “You have to understand, Mo Di was incredibly intelligent and formidable, but still only human. To be able to say during such a dark era that things were ‘wrong,’ to advocate for ‘universal love,’ was truly remarkable. Yet after him, many others just as clever, if not more so, emerged. He was born too early; many truths discovered later were unknown to him.”

“In fact, the philosophy of the knights arose much later. By that time, it had already absorbed much of the wisdom from those later thinkers. But for the knights, the phrase ‘universal love’ is something they must always remember.”

Youji frowned. “That’s so hard. That jerk Navi always mocks me, telling me to love him like I love my mother…”

“No, you don’t have to go that far,” Xiang Shan shook his head. “Of course, you can love someone more deeply, or dislike someone intensely. The knights’ idea of ‘universal love’ simply means you should strive for ‘everyone to live just a little better.’”

—For the freedom of all humanity, I will guard it with unwavering sincerity…

—Tch… where did this memory come from? Who said that? Could it have been me? Was I really that pretentious in the past?

Xiang Shan silently set a reminder in his notebook to someday acquire an artificial tear gland with tactile feedback.

Youji nodded vaguely. “Well… isn’t that good then?”

“Yes, it is good. But… tch, in practice, there are some problems. Mr. Mo Di’s teachings didn’t end the chaos of that era. What ended the darkness and disorder on that land was another force—the power of order and law.”

Historically, although the Mohists tried their best to stop wars, they ultimately only plugged leaks without addressing the root causes of warfare.

The force that ended the chaotic times arose in the western part of the territory—the Legalist school.

“Order and law are good things. To put it in terms you can understand, due to the ‘Dyson principle,’ everyone knows that damaging a human’s biological brain comes at a cost, so people avoid doing such things. This deters evildoers and protects the good. Most of the time, the law plays this role. You could say that most of the time, the law is a force that guards people. If I had the chance, I wouldn’t think of breaking the law or forsaking the sanctuary it protects.”

“To have a choice…” Youji again looked puzzled. Today’s words from Xiang Shan were especially profound.

“Perhaps some people become knights because they yearn for violence, to vent their innate rage. But not everyone is like that. At least, I don’t want to actively undermine this protective force. Unfortunately, though, the law is not only a guardian of the people.”

“The essence of law is the will of the ruling class.”

“Class…” Youji looked a bit dazed. That was another difficult term.

“Do you know what stairs are? Stairs have steps, one after another. Usually, two steps don’t share the same height. So ‘class’ refers to groups of people in society who occupy different statuses, where one group stands above others due to social standing. The law reflects the will of the ‘highest group,’ prioritizing their interests.”

Youji held his head, thinking hard and somewhat angrily. “Doesn’t that mean this highest group are the ‘strong ones’?”

“The highest group, the ruling class, are indeed the ‘strong.’ And among humans, it’s easy for the strong to bully the weak.”

—Humanity’s ‘factory settings’ hinder the progress of civilization…

—Damn it… who said that this time?

Xiang Shan felt as if his head was about to explode.

Yet his tone remained steady: “There will always be strong ones who want to trample and oppress the weak—they will find ways to tear flesh from the weak… Ah, sorry, maybe it’s easier for you to think of it as ‘dismantling parts’? They always seek to exploit the weak. Perhaps at such times, a more progressive force will arise from the weak, grow strong, overthrow the former strong, and create a fairer world. But this growth is both a historical inevitability and a matter of chance—it can be extinguished by the strong before it even takes root.”

“At such times, another force must exist: the resistance of the weak. The power of ‘universal love’ cannot change the world or sweep away the old darkness. It can only be the sword in the weak’s hand—the most helpless form of rebellion.”

Youji was somewhat surprised but couldn’t hide his disappointment. “I thought knights were all strong! Hearing you say this makes them sound so pitiful…”

“As individuals, knights are undoubtedly powerful, but what they fight against is the collective strength of the strong. The power of an individual is negligible at this level—the purpose of martial arts is to become the sword in the hands of the weak, to intimidate the strong.”

If the warrior is enraged, two bodies fall, blood flows five paces, and the world wears white mourning.

Martial arts are such a power. They cannot overturn the collective strong, but they can give the weak a chance to intimidate the strong.

Close at hand, every person is an enemy nation.

Even a country cannot allow a tyrant to defeat a knight standing just steps away.

Within limited conditions, the balance of power reverses.

Cao Mo allied with Ke, returned to Lu and invaded the land. Zhuan Zhu advanced with fire, secured Wu’s throne. Zhang Di cried in the market, avenged his lord in the latrine. Slitting his throat to seek justice, rolling up sleeves to act. The violent Qin seized souls, cowards gained courage.

Youji nodded, half understanding, but then raised another question: “But bad people can learn martial arts too, right?”

Being able to question is a very good sign. Xiang Shan thought this child had excellent potential.

“That is the core design of martial arts—it is a form of assassination technique. It allows the weak to strike at the strong with minimal cost. For those who impose tyranny on the people, such a skill is terrifying.”

“Hm?” Youji was puzzled. “Won’t it hurt good people too?”

Xiang Shan wanted to laugh. “That can’t be denied, because martial arts are just ‘techniques.’ ‘Technology’ has no will of its own; anyone can use it. But the design philosophy of this technology is precisely based on social game theory.”

“What we call ‘tyranny’ is the oppression of the many weak without resources by the few strong who control resources. The greatest fear of tyranny is assassination targeting its leaders—because tyranny is built on the ‘legitimacy’ stolen by a few. And true loyalists are scarce. Once these ‘few’ are killed, tyranny naturally collapses.”

“In modern governance systems, people united by great ideals are not afraid of such assassinations. In such societies, no matter who gets assassinated, another will rise to fill the void. Their legitimacy comes not from divine favor or ancient bloodlines but from the people—the people endorse their legitimacy.”

“Indeed, if the weak did not truly feel injustice, why would they raise their swords against the strong? If there was no loneliness or injustice within the realm, why would any knight choose to unsheathe their blade? Then chivalry would naturally fade. Even a few madmen would perish in the sea of the people—because the weak would spontaneously stand against them.”

“You already know about the Turing machine and ‘internal martial arts.’ Now, here is the second fact you must know to become a knight—‘external martial arts’ are essentially ‘assassination techniques.’”

Cybernetic martial arts, matching cybernetic prosthetics, do not come from ancient traditional martial arts. If traced back, they evolved from the rifled flintlock guns introduced to battlefields, spawning the “hunter tactics” in France, later absorbing modern combat theories.

Rifled flintlocks, due to their grooves, had much greater range and penetration than previous guns. Hunters were the earliest beneficiaries. During the Anglo-French wars, France conscripted hunters to operate behind enemy lines, engaging in guerrilla and sniper warfare. Thus, the French term “chasseur” (hunter) was born. Even into the twenty-first century, “chasseur” remains the name for elite French troops.

This is a tactic that maximizes the impact of individual power on warfare, realized through technology.

“Tactics and technology influence each other. Perhaps because technology became more complex, or because some weapons are designed only for the ‘strong’—to make the strong stronger and the weak weaker—the influence of individuals on war’s direction continuously diminished for a long time.”

Until… a few young people created cyber martial arts.

This assassination art is the culmination of all theories of guerrilla, sniper, and special operations throughout history. Thanks to the infinite possibilities of cybernetic prosthetics, knights can always find unimaginable paths to get within five steps of a tyrant, so close as to be within arm’s reach.

Most importantly, the essence of martial arts is the hardest to erase.

The “essence of martial arts” is algorithms.

Countless body movements and combat strategies are transformed into game theory models, written into programming languages, then encrypted with secret techniques so that artificial intelligence cannot detect them.

Then, they are stored on the network as blockchain.

As long as information technology exists, the knowledge of “martial arts” cannot be erased.

As long as information technology exists… as long as the “network” exists, tyranny cannot eradicate knights.

—Ah, yes, I remember now…

Xiang Shan stood up and took the discarded parts Youji had brought. “Do you understand now, Youji? This is a blade designed against tyranny. It can be turned against the weak, yes, but its harm to tyrants surpasses any harm to the people—it has a damage bonus against oppressors.”

“But this ‘damage bonus’ depends on ‘internal martial arts’—on information technology. Without understanding decentralized blockchain storage, ‘martial arts’ would be monopolized and wiped out by the strong. The weak would never have access. As long as internal martial arts survive, chivalry endures.”

“So, next, you will begin learning internal martial arts!”