Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Wang Chao had no wish to disturb him and instead thought back to the movement and stances Dai Jun and Liao Junhua had shown him on the beach.

These two men were masters of repute and strength. Liuhe Xinyi and Xingyi Quan were branches to the same tree, and so if they could teach each other, both sides would profit greatly.

Liao Junhua’s most proficient style of fighting had been with the monkey stance. A single squat to shrink his body into a ball was enough to take him to the size of a small child. And in this way, he would be able to pull of the “Miracle of Contortionism” as depicted in many Wuxia novels.

In the full usage of the monkey stance, the fighting style was incredibly nimble, fierce and could explode with force from little action. This contraction and then detraction process involved a large amount of power that was usually hidden, but its killing power was incredible nonetheless.

To be specific, Wang Chao had especially admired Liao Junhua’s most amazing trump card, the “Hidden Leg” of the “Dog Passing Water”.

While the “Dog Passing Water” was offensive to the eyes along with its stance, its practicality was enormous.

Squatting and contracting the body, the leg would be able to fly out at any direction without a sign. The abdomen and both legs would break out with Jin towards the bladder–marking another similarity to the natural movements of a dog passing water. With a power so tremendous and unpredictable, its accuracy was nearly a hundred percent.

When a dog passed water, it was because it needed to piss that it would swing its leg away. This single movement had been practiced and refined a thousand times to get to the natural movement people used now.

“If there is a small crack in the transitioning of my opponent, my leg will change directions without a thought. If there is no crack, then I will naturally withhold. It will be my opponent’s movements that will direct my leg, I myself will play no part in it.” Liao Junhua had held this process of thinking for his Hidden Leg.

It was with this move that Liao Junhua had made a name for himself throughout the American Chinese Association. No matter how strong a person was, his “Dog Passing Water” and “Hidden Leg” had forced many people’s legs to fracture and break without mercy.

That was because of the power of his Hidden Leg exceeded over 750 kilograms. That was far more than enough for a wooden stake to be snapped in half and for a single large tree to have a good chunk kicked off.

Wang Chao was highly proficient in Xingyi, Bagua, and Taichi. But when it came to what he was best at, he had reached a level of mastery in was the “Chopping Jin of the Tiger Stance” and the “Drilling Jin of the Snake Stance”.

A single display was enough to devour the heavens.

Do not fear the one who knows a thousand moves, but the one who knows a single move to perfection.

Wang Chao had been very skilled at transitioning from the Chopping Jin to the Eagle’s Claw. This movement was simple and had only required a single chop to claw action. But this simplistic action wasn’t yet perfected since he had only practiced it for half a year. Even understanding the principle of taking the essence of the sun and moon had only been enough for a simple success.

After the “Tiger’s Chop” came the “Eagle’s Claw”, and after the “Eagle’s Claw” came the “Tearing”. After the eagle swoops down on a pig, both of its claws would tear apart its prey fiercely into several pieces!

Wang Chao’s practice of the tiger and eagle stance required the chop and claw to grab hold of the enemy before transitioning into a tear and pull motion. While this was a simple process, it’s cruelty was an absolute mess.

Basically, when an expert used his hands to chop and grab their enemy and then explode with the “Eagle’s Tear” and “Eagle’s Rip”, the entire arm would rip apart the body. At the very least, a good chunk of the flesh would be pulled away, leaving behind a bloody wound.

In the animal kingdom, the weak are prey to the strong. If you don’t die, then I will be the one dead. A fight was no different. However, a study of martial arts deviated from that.

In Chinese martial arts, the most important thing was not fighting, but maintaining a good health. It was because of this cultivation of the health that it was called “martial” in martial arts. Otherwise, it would simply be called a death battle.

For the next few days, Wang Chao had dedicated his mind to thinking of martial arts and his heart to cultivating his health. His body qualities had reached their limits due to Taichi, and so his martial arts had improved by leaps and bounds. Tiger’s Pounce, Tiger’s Chop, Eagle’s Claw, Eagle’s Tear, and Eagle’s Rip. The movements of these two stances had long since been linked together and practiced to the realm where the sound follows the fist.

But because of how brutally savage the moves after the Eagle’s Tear was, Wang Chao had made himself stop after reaching the Eagle’s Claw in practice.

The pouncing of the tiger stance brought the power high, but when transitioning to the eagle stance to come swooping down from the air, the power would skyrocket to its peak. If these two stances reached a balance, then the transitioning would be nimble, strong, and insidious.

For that reason, the monkey would come after the eagle stance. A monkey could hop, steal the peach, scratch the face, and grab sand. It was far more shrewd and hidden than the eagle stance. While the Eagle’s Tear and Rip were fierce, it was not hidden. A monkey carried secrets within its fierceness which combined to be vicious.

There was no such thing as cruelest, only more cruel.

Likewise, there was no such thing as most hidden, only even more hidden.

Liao Junhua’s monkey stance had reached the realm of a master and perfection. During the matches between Wang Chao and him, his monkey stance had provided a guide for Wang Chao to slowly understand the stance and reach mastery as well.

At the same time, his Hidden Jin had reached his waists, chest, back, legs, and hands.

There existed a bottleneck in between the Clear Jin and Hidden Jin. Likewise, from the Clear Jin to the crisp Jin where the “sound follows the fist” was also a bottleneck where one would be able to reach another realm.

For every bottleneck, as long as it was crossed, then a boundless road would open up.

Wang Chao had already passed through these two bottlenecks and was now traveling on that wide open road. For his martial arts to improve by such a large amount was a natural process.

“When I blocked Liao Junhua’s the Hidden Leg of his ‘Dog Passing Water’, I felt as if I predicted it, so I was able to be ahead of him by a single step. Loosening the muscles, attacking with the pores, and emptying the intent….but, this is just a practice match. We have no hostilities between each other and so we can fight with a clear mind. If this was a battle to the death, just how would either of us be able to empty our intents?”

A battle between experts would naturally cause both sides to break out with a hostile aura.

As long as it was a true battle to the death, then there would be a hostile intent. And from that, Wang Chao’s mind, intent and eyes would be affected by this and his enemy.

This was completely due to reflexes. If there was hostility in the fist, then there would be hostility in the heart.

But if the intent was empty, then the heart would feel no hostility towards their opponent. When the heart felt no hostility, then they would be able to have foresight. Before the autumn wind can even blow, a cicada would already be aware of it.

“It seems that only when I am comparing notes or practicing that I am able to empty my intent. In a true battle, I will not be able to reach such a state. The intent is where the Hidden Jin is created from, if I am able to empty my intent, then I will be able to break out with Hidden Jin with ease. That would also be where the Transforming Jin makes its distinction.”

It was at that moment that Wang Chao had realized something. When he had been practicing with Liao Junhua, he had felt what it was like to be at the Transforming Jin stage. It was only when two people fought without hostility that such a feeling could be replicated.

But in a real battle, it was no use. If one did not yet reach such a realm and tried to empty the intent by force, then the tiger would become a dog and would lead to an easy death.

“Eh? Master Wang? Master Wang?” After Liao Junhua had finished reading the letter, he had given it to Dai Jun to read over before noticing the state Wang Chao was in. He was sitting on a chair with his eyes glazed over and his foot rising up and down as if beating out a rhythm while in a trance.

Even as he called out to him, Wang Chao hadn’t take noticed of him as if he was asleep. He had simply been stuck in his own consciousness while he answered his own questions.

Seeing Wang Chao in such a state, Liao Junhua and Dai Jun exchanged a look before giving a nod and a smile.

Liao Junhua’s eyes narrowed as he contracted his body as he began to bring out a hostile intent towards Wang Chao. In his heart, he had already prepared himself to strike at Wang Chao.

At that moment, Wang Chao had suddenly snapped back awake. His hair began to stand on its end as if angered like a fighting cock.

His neck had bulged outwards while the rest of his hair spiked up like a porcupine. With a single movement of his body, the chair clattered behind him.

At the same time, a terrifying gleam reached his eyes as he stared down Liao Junhua.

This reaction had contained something hidden akin to that of a beast hidden within the underbrush. When the winds of danger blew across the grass, the animal would explode into action.

Before Wang Chao sensed the hostile nature of Liao Junhua, Wang Chao had been deeply engrossed in his study of martial arts and so it was hard to rouse him.

But wherever there was hostility in the outside world, Wang Chao would be able to sense it. It was like a clap of lightning striking the ground or the wind blowing past the grass; the hostility of his enemies could be felt even from 5 meters away.

It was only in such a realm like this that a person would have the air of a master.

Wang Chao had naturally grasped the deepness of this mystery. It was like the Samadhi, easy to grasp, but hard to convey with words.

“Haha, hahahaha….” When Liao Junhua saw the reaction, he had immediately loosened his muscles and began to laugh with Dai Jun.

“To be able to be enthralled at any time and yet snap to awareness with the subtlety of the wind blowing. You’ve reached such a level with your intent? How amazing, with our everyday affairs, the two of us must rely on our basic training in order to maintain our level of skill. If we could fall into a trance like you at any time, that’d be great. To be able to rid any extraneous and complicated thoughts from your mind at any time is a skill we are envious of.”

As he spoke, Liao Junhua stopped smiling as his eyebrows narrowed together in puzzlement.

That was because he had a sudden doubt, “This Wang Chao has an unordinary background that points to him being a spy for the European Union. So just why doesn’t he have any burdens or extraneous thoughts and able to enter a trance at any time?”

To the knowledgeable Liao Junhua, he just couldn’t understand this despite his experienced life, “Maybe he’s not a spy? Even if he isn’t, he should still have some sort of complication with the people supporting him. To be able to go into a trance at any time is what is expected from a Daoist monk who have separated themselves from the secular world like a child with no care in the world or men who are in the dusk of their lives.”

A heart like a newborn, crystal clear and clean. A trance where one was able to pursue the mind and spirit of the fist. Within today’s disorderly society and its complicated human affairs, if one was able to maintain even a little of their purity against the cultural tide of the century, then that would be a miracle. This rang especially true with Wang Chao having a mysterious backer.

Wang Chao had been contemplating Liao Junhua’s Xinyi Liuhe with an empty state of mind that was almost a paragon of what the Transforming Jin would be. It was only when he sensed danger that he came snapping back to awareness.

It was only when Liao Junhua began to laugh that Wang Chao’s Jin began to seep back into his body and start to laugh as well.

With his opponent playing a joke, there was no need for him to continue being so serious.

“What happened? Did something happen in the Japanese martial arts world?”

“It’s nothing too drastic, several talented youths from Japan have recently entered the area between Russia and Northeast China in order to hone their skills. Just last month in the underground fighting rings of Siberia, they were able to win round after round and amass a decent amount of funds. Furthermore, they’ve even killed several Russian boxers. Now that they’ve entered the borders of Northeast China, they’ve began to sweep up the underground rings here as well. Even some of the public schools have been damaged in name after a spar to compare notes with them.”

Despite Liao Junhua speaking calmly, there was still a distinct tone of worry to be heard in it.

Dai Jun handed the letter over to Wang Chao to look at. On the letter, Wang Chao could see the pictures of several males and females with a brief introduction to each of them.

These 30 or so youths ranged from 15 at the youngest to 25 at the oldest.

“What is the Japanese martial arts world meaning for this? To have these talented youths come fight in the underground to hone their skills, they will definitely die. Would the death of these geniuses not be a waste?” Wang Chao asked in confusion.

“A genius must go through self-discipline in order to succeed. If they die in the process, then that goes to show that they are not geniuses, and thus, their deaths are not worth crying over. In the Japanese martial arts world, their practices are quite harsh. Without this harshness, their potentials would not be drawn out. It is in this aspect that they beat us Chinese many times over. As for what the Japanese mean by this? It could be a sign, for one. Will there be a commotion caused between the martial arts world, I wonder.”

“One of my schools has already been swept up by one of these Japanese youths.”

Liao Junhua had pointed to the very first picture, “Ye Xuan, a Chinese-born Japanese. From young, he learned both Kendo and Chinese boxing after the royal family hired Iga Minamoto. After training under a waterfall for three years, Ye Xuan traveled to the icy mountains of Hokkaido to train under the model system of the ascetics there.Not only that, but he is the Japanese martial arts world’s most outstanding youth. By now, Ye Xuan is only 19, but rumors have it that when he was 17, Ye Xuan was able to make it to the Hidden Jin stage. A fight like this would not be easy to win.”

“True, Japan must have planned this, the backing behind Ye Xuan must be impressive. If it were any regular expert with no backing, then they would have been suppressed by gunfire. A person with backing is quite difficult to deal with. Furthermore, reaching the Hidden Jin stage by the age of 17? What a genius this Ye Xuan is.”

Wang Chao nodded his head as he thought back to Miyagi Hanshin who he had destroyed the bladder of.

“Ye Xuan has already reached the Jilin province, would you be interested in going to see the fight tomorrow?”

“I’d love to.”

That night, Lin Yanan spoke to Wang Chao, “There’s a new plan from the organization. They want you to fight that Ye Xuan in a match and kill him. This is a genius that the organization wishes to strangle before he develops any more.”