"Now please choose an island, we are about to set sail!" The old man looked at Chen Zheng, and his expression was no longer as serious as before. Chen Zheng seemed to notice a hint of a smile.
It was a smile similar to the one his master's supervisor used to give him. Seeing that smile, Chen Zheng felt inexplicably reassured.
"Can you give me a moment to think, Elder?"
"Mm!" The old man nodded, closed his eyes, and his expression turned neutral.
Chen Zheng roughly understood what this ship was all about. Simply put, it allowed him to travel between dimensions. Now, he just had to evaluate which of these two worlds—or rather, these two islands—would be the better choice for him.
Yip Man and Huo Yuanjia were both famous martial artists in Chinese history and had been portrayed in numerous film and television adaptations.
There was no need to mention *Yip Man*—Chen Zheng knew of at least one series, but he wasn't sure which *Yip Man* film this was referring to.
However, *Huo Yuanjia* was trickier. There were many works about Huo Yuanjia, and Chen Zheng had no idea which *Huo Yuanjia* world this was.
After thinking for a while, Chen Zheng made up his mind—he would choose *Huo Yuanjia*.
It wasn't that *Yip Man* was bad. Wing Chun, made popular by Yip Man and Bruce Lee, was well-known worldwide. Chen Zheng often heard his students quote the famous line, "I can fight ten!"
Even though Huo Yuanjia wasn't as famous as Yip Man, and his style wasn't as recognizable as Wing Chun, after weighing the options, Chen Zheng still chose *Huo Yuanjia*.
Both were martial artists, so the primary task in either world would be martial arts training. The deciding factor for Chen Zheng was which world would offer better martial arts opportunities.
For *Yip Man*, there were currently three films in the series. Chen Zheng had seen the first two. The first film made it clear that becoming Yip Man's disciple was difficult because Yip Man was still from a wealthy family at that time. Chen Zheng didn't arrogantly think of himself as a martial arts prodigy capable of earning Yip Man's favor in that period.
The second *Yip Man* movie seemed to be the easiest for martial arts training, as long as you had money.
But this raised another issue—Chen Zheng had nothing, not even money. As a history teacher, how would he earn money in that time? And even if he could, how much would he be able to learn?
Martial arts required kneeling and showing respect to the master. Only true disciples could learn authentic martial arts. Although Yip Man was a martial arts master, he valued his school's traditions greatly.
Was Bruce Lee outstanding? Of course—at least he was more talented than Chen Zheng! But even he didn't fully master Wing Chun. He had to kneel and serve tea to Yip Man as his disciple. It was said that after Bruce Lee became famous, he tried to ask Yip Man to teach him the complete wooden dummy form, but it was unsuccessful.
This was just the wooden dummy technique, not even the full essence of Wing Chun. Wing Chun had the "punch" form, but also included techniques like the Six-and-a-Half Point Pole and the Eight Cuts Saber. It was said that Bruce Lee never learned these.
Chen Zheng couldn't guarantee that under Yip Man, he would be able to learn all of Wing Chun.
But *Huo Yuanjia* was different. No matter which film or version it was, the "Jing Wu Association" remained unchanged. Historically, Huo Yuanjia might have kept some techniques to himself, but in most adaptations, he fully taught his skills to his disciples.
This was one of the reasons Chen Zheng leaned toward choosing *Huo Yuanjia*.
Another factor was time. Martial arts training wasn't something that could be accomplished in a year or two—it took long-term practice. The time span in *Yip Man* was relatively short, just a few months at most. Even Bruce Lee trained for five to six years but didn't learn everything. Chen Zheng didn't think he could be more talented than Bruce Lee.
But *Huo Yuanjia* was different. In many films, the time span covered years, sometimes even decades. While some adaptations were shorter, there was a chance he could end up with a long timeframe in the movie.
So in the end, Chen Zheng chose: "I choose *Huo Yuanjia*."
"Good!" The old man nodded. He waved his right hand, and the words "Yip Man" and the ladder both disappeared from the ship.
"Can I board now?" Chen Zheng politely asked.
"Not yet!"
"Why?"
"Security check!"
"What? A security check? On such a high-class ship, there's still a security check?" Chen Zheng couldn't understand, but following the principle of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," he shrugged his shoulders:
"Alright, let's do the security check then. I have nothing on me except for these clothes. So, Elder, how are we going to do the security check? Are you going to search me?"
The old man didn't respond verbally. He waved his right hand again, and an iron frame appeared out of thin air beside him.
"Walk through it!"
"Okay!" Chen Zheng didn't think much of it and stepped forward. He assumed there was nothing of concern on him.
"Ding ding…" The iron door made a rapid beeping sound, and then Chen Zheng felt as though a hand was pushing him. He stepped back a few steps, as if he were being sent back.
"What's going on? I don't have anything else on me!"
"Virus!" The old man uttered two words.
Chen Zheng suddenly realized—when traveling between different worlds, viruses were indeed the most dangerous contraband.
There had been such disasters in history. For example, the Black Death that spread from Asia to Europe, or smallpox from Europe to the Americas—these were major global catastrophes caused by "viruses from different worlds."
Since the original "world" had no immunity to such diseases, once a virus started spreading, the consequences could be catastrophic...
"So, Elder, how do we handle this virus?" Chen Zheng looked at the old man awkwardly. For ordinary security checks, anything that didn't pass would be removed, but how could he get rid of a virus?
"Simple!" The old man waved his right hand again. Chen Zheng felt a flash before his eyes, followed by a sharp pain in his neck, as though something had pricked him. Everything happened so fast that Chen Zheng didn't even have time to react.
Touching his neck, Chen Zheng asked: "Elder, what was that?"
"All done. Now I've fixed the imperfections in your genes. As long as it's not a very special virus, it won't affect you. You can go now!"
"That was a fix?"
Chen Zheng didn't fully understand what had just happened, but it sounded impressive.
"Is this the legendary 'Yi Jin Jing' (Muscle Tendon Changing Scripture)?"
The old man didn't respond. Chen Zheng looked down at himself and muttered quietly:
"Then why didn't any black substance come out?"
"You can board now!"
"Oh, oh, okay, I'm going now!" Chen Zheng successfully passed the security check and was ready to board the ship.