Legend Of Kay Kingdom IV

LEGEND OF KAY KINGDOM IV - 4 Disciplines

Legend of Kay Kingdom content page is up.

The Faculty of Ninja & the Supreme Kitchen of Chef have already been introduced in the previous episode...

Now let's look at the last 2 discipline - The art of Taiji & Illusion.

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The Taiji Establishment (太极馆) - Art of Taiji (太极功)

"When one reaches the peak of perfection in Taiji, one becomes untouchable."

A school that originated from the Imperial Defense Academy where students are taught the strongest and toughest defensive techniques. Later on, a brilliant man known as Zhang Sanfeng incorporate his self-created martial arts, known as the Taiji, into this set of defensive techniques. Although known as the Taiji school, it also teaches many other similar defensive arts, providing the ultimate defense and armor out of all.

Using the principals of "yin" and "yang" - the basis of the Taiji is that everything in this world has a natural counter. Good cannot exists with evil, fire cannot exists with water. Thus, the school of Taiji believe there is an opposite of everything in the universe. By using the appropriate counter, a skilled practitioner can "taiji" anything away.

The essence of "Taiji" is to "deflect and redirect".

For example, someone moderately proficiently in Taiji will be able to redirect an arrow that's aiming for him - to an enemy or even to an ally. To do this, he must know the person launching the arrow at him, the strength of the arrow, and the person he is shifting the arrow to. As his skills and experience increases, he'll be able to handle more powerful attacks with greater ease. A true master of Taiji not only can redirect, but even "reflect" the damage directly back to its source (depending on the power of the source).

It is believed that the Taiji originally belong to the same branch of school as the cookery as the results they produced are quite similar. In cookery, you "forcefully summon" another object to block the arrow for you. In Taiji, you simply redirect the arrow to that object. This difference is subtle yet very important.

This difference meant that Taiji can sometimes be performed in secret...thus, the scapegoat may not even realized how he die...Some people believe Taiji to be an evil art as it can be use to backstab your allies, but it all depends on how far you'll go to use it. Nevertheless, it is one of the best way to protect oneself, especially when one is not experienced as a chef.

It is rumored that when someone reaches the peak of perfection in this art, he will be able to unlock the legendary skill known as the "Cosmos Shift" (乾坤大挪移). It is truly the highest form of Taiji...

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Illusionist Cult (幻影魔教) - Art of Illusion (幻影术)

"The ultimate distortion of the truth."

Generally considered to be the most evil skill out of the 5, it is also one of the most difficult to master. How far you can go in this field depends largely on natural born talent...

The art of illusion is the power to turn the right into wrong and wrong into the right. It's the power to psycho a man to do things he normally wouldn't do. It's the ability to blind people from the truth, even those that are more powerful than the illusionist!

The ability to act is of extreme importance in order for the Illusionist to manipulate the mind of his enemies, or allies. People from entertainment lines such as the actors are extremely suitable for enrolling in this school.

The foundation skill of this school is the art of "pouring". "Pouring" is derived from "pouring drink for someone". In this school, it means "serving a more powerful being", like a waitress serving the the customer. "Pouring" the right person will give you immense benefits...

The variety of techniques in this school are only limited by the illusionist imagination. With illusion, the enemy won't even think about targeting you. You simply eliminate that possibility even before that arrow is fired.

One of the most unique and dangerous technique in this school is the "Self-Damage". Here, the caster actually performs an attack to damage himself. And that means really damage himself until his HP is in critical condition. Hopefully, this will take him out of combat, leaving his allies to do his battles for him. It is truly the most evil, treacherous and despicable skill.

Using this skill however, is extremely risky and may have a variety of effects on different opponents. If successful, the benefits it brings are immeasurable. Otherwise, the illusionist may find himself falling into the depths of hell...

Long ago, one of Kay's Kingdom master illusionist utilize this skill to near perfection. He was able to fool everyone in the kingdom, from the emperor to the generals, from the knights to the peasants. His achievements were consider to be godlike & he wield power like no one did. Unfortunately, he was overly confident and obsessed. He wanted to achieve greater heights like no one else before him... and that brought about his own doom (走火入魔). When he was practicing the 9th Level of Illusion, he was betrayed by another illusionist. Caught unprepared, a great battle broke out and all his illusions were dispelled. Everything he conjured, every lies told, every fakes he created vanished overnight...

In the end, he was captured and banished to the depths of the Great Dungeon (天牢)...
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These are the 4 main disciplines of survival - The art of ninja, cookery, taiji and illusion. With these 4 arts, you can classify almost anyone in the Kingdom of Kay. Everyone here possess a certain level of proficiency in each of this 4 traits. The ability to wield the power of this 4 techniques and use them to their fullest potential will determine how high one can climb in this land...

Faculty of Ninja (Ninja/Naruto) - It doesn't matter how strong your foe is. If you can't be seen, you can't be targeted. Stealth, evade and escape.

Supreme Kitchen (Cookery/Chopping) - Summon lower-life forms to take the damage for you. As long as you don't run out of ingredients, you HP is basically unlimited.

Taiji Establishment (Taiji/Defense) - Ultimate defensive technique. Re-direct, deflect, reflect any attacks.

Illusionist Cult (Illusion) - Befriend the strong, confuse the weak. Psycho the intelligent and make use of the foolish.

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Wait, what about the 5th school?

As of today, records about the 5th schools are scarce and incomplete. The only information confirmed is that the 5th school is known as the "Great Academy (大学府)" and its students are known as the "Strategists". However, there are no details stating what exactly this school is about.

Historians have manage to dig up many old books, manuals and items related to the 4 other schools, such as smoke grenade for the ninja & cooking utensils for the supreme kitchen. The Great Academy is the only one without any related items. Some theories said there's only 4 disciplines right from the start, others speculate the Great Academy might have been removed from the 5 main schools somewhere along the Kay timeline.

Currently, historians believe the academy is actually a mixed school that combines all the unorthodox and orthodox sects ideas. It consists of many diverse ideas, which is probably why there are so little clues. However, new evidence have shown that this school is strongly linked with battle stratagem at the kay frontlines (3 routes).

No further details is known.

But who knows?

Maybe in a few months time we will know what exactly this is all about...