>>149703516
I'm not sure about that either. It's more likely that chi blocking has always been relevant, or at least unobscure, and it would of course become a useful asset to an extremist anti-bender movement. Figuring out who it comes from is speculative, and while possible that Republic City's population of chi blockers are a result of Ty Lee's influence, I find it easier to believe it's just in-demand information. It's kind of like the more violent bending techniques that the shows don't really touch on, like Zaheer suffocating the Earth Queen, or General Fong burying Katara. Why don't more people just do that in fights? Realistically, I think people just don't realize the techniques exist, because they don't have anything telling them it does. In chi blocking's case, all it takes is for someone to open a book, if one such exists (which it probably does) and from there the information will spread throughout that area, ESPECIALLY if you really need something to incapacitate benders.