A year after the battle at the Holy Amalgamate Mountains, Yi Ping had finally known of his true destiny. Forced by destiny to transmigrate to the Celestial Realm or forced to face the Divine Wrath, Yi Ping has to find more fragments of the Heavenly Relics. But what awaits them in the Celestial Realm isn't what they are expecting! Synopsis ""It is said that when a martial exponent reached the highest state of divinity of their arts, they be able to transcend into Celestials, overcoming the limitation of life and death. And as Celestials, they have to overcome seven celestial divinity, Genesis, Enlighten, Emotion, Transverse, Seventh Sense, Crisis and Ascend in order to transcend to the Heavens."" It is said that the Stellar Sanctuary is created by the first person that has ever ascended as an immortal being and the Astronomic Stellar Formation is the only place that is possible to transmigrate to the Gods' Realm.

Synopsis "It is said that when a martial exponent reached the highest state of divinity of their arts, they be able to transcend into Celestials, overcoming the limitation of life and death. And as Celestials, they have to overcome seven celestial divinity, Genesis, Enlighten, Emotion, Transverse, Seventh Sense, Crisis and Ascend in order to transcend to the Heavens." A Martial Odyssey is an epic quasi-fantasy/wuxia fiction, of a young man Yi Ping as he braved untold dangers in the martial fraternity. The powerful Honor Manor rules the Orthodox Martial Fraternity, yet there are other equally mysterious martial clans that are outside the influence of the orthodox fraternity; like the Eternal Ice Palace, the Virtuous Palace and the Celestial Palace. When the Celestial Fairy of the Eternal Ice Palace is rumored to pass away, it immediately attracted the attention of numerous exponents that undertake the perilous journey to the Heavenly Mountains for the martial secrets of the Eternal Ice Palace

Following the author’s landmark decision to quit his job on Wall Street and become a martial arts student, this chronicle captures one man’s ongoing adventure across the Far East. Beginning in Taiwan, this autobiography documents how the protagonist learned the Chinese language, kung fu, and twe so, then journeyed on to the Shaolin Temple in mainland China. His next trek found him studying at the last Muay Thai temple in Thailand. Reflecting on a decade of travel, this recollection illustrates a perpetual quest as the author continues to voyage and practice both familiar and obscure fighting styles. Tracing his expeditions through 10 countries altogether, the odyssey also ventures through Hong Kong, Cambodia, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, and Burma.

This edition is produced with particular concern for the student coming to Homer for the first time. The text is given with facing translation and commentary, but the usual apparatus criticus at the bottom of each page is replaced by brief notes on Homeric language. This makes the text considerably more accessible for those without Homeric Greek.

An aging amateur takes his shot at glory in the world of mixed martial arts. As a younger man, Matthew Polly traveled to the Shaolin Temple in China and spent two years training with the monks who had invented the ancient art of kung fu. Fifteen years later, his weakness for Chinese takeout and Jack Daniel’s had taken its toll. Firmly into middle age and far removed from his past athletic triumphs, Polly decided to risk it all one last time. Out of shape and over the hill, he jumped headlong into the world of MMA. In Tapped Out, Polly chronicles his grueling yet redeeming two-year journey through an often misunderstood sport. From Thailand to Russia, Manhattan to Las Vegas, Polly studied with the best trainers, concluding with a six-month fight camp at Randy Couture’s legendary gym. He explores the history of fighting sports and joins a fascinating subculture of men who roll around on sweaty mats with one another in appreciation of the purity of contained combat. And in the end, Polly straps on the gloves, gets into the cage, and squares off with a fighter fifteen years younger. An honest and humorous look at a hard-core sport, Tapped Out is a fascinating look into the fastest growing sport in America and what it takes to be an MMA fighter.

Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee in this raucously funny story of one scrawny American’s quest to become a kung fu master at China’s legendary Shaolin Temple. Growing up a ninety-pound weakling tormented by bullies in the schoolyards of Kansas, young Matthew Polly dreamed of one day journeying to the Shaolin Temple in China to become the toughest fighter in the world, like Caine in his favorite 1970s TV series, Kung Fu. While in college, Matthew decided the time had come to pursue this quixotic dream before it was too late. Much to the dismay of his parents, he dropped out of Princeton to spend two years training with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism. Expecting to find an isolated citadel populated by supernatural ascetics that he’d seen in countless badly dubbed chop-socky flicks, Matthew instead discovered a tacky tourist trap run by Communist party hacks. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms—some even practicing the “iron kung fu” discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). As Matthew grew in his knowledge of China and kung fu skill, he would come to represent the Temple in challenge matches and international competitions, and ultimately the monks would accept their new American initiate as close to one of their own as any Westerner had ever become. Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, American Shaolin is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale of one young man’s journey into the ancient art of kung fu—and a funny and poignant portrait of a rapidly changing China.