Romance of Dragons and Snakes

As a result, he had improved his measly time of 10 minutes to 30 minutes without much effort in a day or two.

Furthermore, Wang Chao began to realize that his legs, calves and waist were growing more and more agile.

After practicing in the evening, he had been able to fall asleep within 10 minutes until daytime came once more.

Five or six days later, Wang Chao continued to keep to his regime. When it was school time, he had pretended to seat on the chair and practiced the horse stance in class. Even when writing his name, he had imitated Tang Zichen’s wave like motions.

Fortunately for Wang Chao, he had been seated in the last row of chairs. Each of his movements had gone undetected by the teacher.

And since Wang Chao was always quiet and introverted, all of his classmates had learned to not bother calling out his name and neither did he have any close friends.

This way, he had been able to live peacefully within his own world every day.

And so after 10 days, Wang Chao had been able to practice the horse stance in class for 45 minutes.

In between the 10 minute breaks between lessons, Wang Chao would rest. Once the class started, he would resume as well. The day would go by like this as Wang Chao practiced by himself, totaling almost 10 hours of practice each day.

A few days later, Wang Chao had acted almost as if he had been addicted to drugs. Even when walking home, his toes would never touch the ground as he walked in one steady rhythm.

While a little bizarre, this type of posture had been the subject of his classmate’s gesturing, but Wang Chao had ignored them all.

Time quickly went by, leading to half a month ending before Wang Chao had felt that his waist was feeling extremely fit.

The school had a podium that was as tall as his neck out in front. Without running up, Wang Chao was able to jump up onto it.

When it came to the day where he would meet Tang Zichen, Wang Chao had arrived early so there were some of the elders that were still running around the park for their morning stroll before first light.

But Tang Zichen had been waiting for him. Wearing white sportswear, her expression was quite kindly.

Seeing Wang Chao approach, Tang Zichen’s eyes began to shine.

“I didn’t think that in just half a month, you would have such a change. Even your walking posture has improved a lot.”

When Wang Chao heard those words, he couldn’t help but smirk, “Will sis Chen teach me anything today?”

“En, you are qualified. No matter what you are taught, you must be fully interested in it for the full effect. It seems that you are qualified to learn my Guoshu.” Tang Zichen began to stare at Wang Chao as if he was some sort of unpolished gem.

“Come, let’s talk.” Tang Zichen sat on a stone stool nearby, “Do you know what Guoshu is called?”

Wang Chao shook his head.

“In the final years of the Qin Dynasty, Sun Yat-sen led the revolutionary party and assassinated many of the Qing Dynasty officials and even the prince with the use of many martial art practitioners. Afterwards, the Republic of China was established and the invasion of the Japanese, for the sake of a unified China, Sun Yat-sen and Feng Yuxiang had waited for the National People’s Congress promote martial arts. The government had then established the Central Guoshu Institute, inviting schools and sects of every discipline. Xingyi Quan, Taichi, Bagua, Tongbei Quan, Praying Mantis, Eight Extreme Fists, Chuo Jiao, Hung Ga, Steel Fist, Pigua Quan, Springing Leg, Wrestling, and countless other martial arts. Unified, they came together under the banner of Guoshu.”

“A unified China.” Wang Chao rolled those three words in his mouth as he tried to remember his country’s history.

“In that era, geniuses of all sorts came forward. But now, a hundred years later, they are all rare and sparse.” Tang Zichen spoke with a small thought. “Come then, I’ll show you a practical use for it.”

“Try and grab me from behind.” Tang Zichen spoke out to Wang Chao who was behind her.

With Tang Zichen’s back against him, Wang Chao immediately tried to grab at her shoulders. With a smooth revolution, Tang Zichen’s right elbow jabbed straight into Wang Chao like a spear.

It was a demonstration. Tang Zichen’s movements had been slow and gave time for Wang Chao to react. Both of his arms instinctively pushed outwards to block her elbow.

Who would have known that the moment Wang Chao had made contact, Tang Zichen’s little arm would have become like a whip and came grabbing at Wang Chao’s crotch like a bullet.

In a sudden reversal of strength, Wang Chao had been given no time to react as Tang Zichen’s palm had already flew at him towards the crotch.

Wang Chao cried out in shock as he suddenly felt a cold shiver travel from his tailbone to his head, causing goosebumps to appear.

“Turn about, elbow strike, groin strike.” Tang Zichen spoke with a slight firmness to them as she took back her palm. It had never made contact with his pants.

With an odd expression, Wang Chao muttered under his breath, “Sis Chen, just what is this move called?”

With a bright smile, Tang Zichen said, “In the Bagua sect, it is called the “Lifting Yin Palm”, in the Xingyi sect, is the “Collapsing Circle Palm”, and in the Taichi sect, it is called the “Body Throwing Blow”.

With that, Tang Zichen began to explain the move even more.

“Chinese boxing originated from the time of spears. This move consists of a simple rotation, a thrown elbow with considerable force almost like a spear. When the opponent tries to block, then you can strike downwards.”

“In the ancient times when the army employed the use of a spear, when the spear is stabbed forward and blocked, it would rebound. Then, the opponent’s weapon could be knocked out of the enemy’s hand. When you try this move, you must visualize that you are wielding a spear.”

“Look at how I make use of my strength!”

Tang Zichen demonstrated the move once more with her elbow flying downwards with a bang as her arm moved like a whip.

“In the final strike, your arm must be firm so that it may be considered learned. This is also what the Tongbei sect calls the “Falling Hand Strike”.

“Okay, go home and practice this move. Three days later, I’ll show you something else.” Tang Zichen finished up as she began to walk away.

For three days, Wang Chao had polished this “Lifting Yin Palm”. However, no matter how much he tried, he could not move his arm in a whiplike manner that could make such a crisp sound like Tang Zichen had done.

Three days later, Wang Chao had returned to Tang Zichen.

After listening to him, Tang Zichen began to laugh out loud, “You little idiot. You’ve only just started to learn and yet you want to make such a crisp blow? Martial Arts has three important Jin. Clear Jin, Hidden Jin, and Transforming Jin. When you reach the pinnacle of Clear Jin, then you will be able to make this crisp sound. Once the sound is made, that is when you can be equal to a martial artist. With your body right now, you have a long journey ahead of you, this is only your first step.”

“Little idiot, don’t say anymore of these things, I’ll teach you something else today.”

Tang Zichen suddenly bent down with her left hand grabbing at the groin region with her right hand rotating around for a moment before pressing onto the ground.

“This is a grabbing move and is also a killing move from the Taichi sect. This is also a variation of the Lifting Yin Palm move from the Bagua Sect. The Xingyi Sect also calls this the “Monkey Stealing the Peach”.

In the span of a few days, Wang Chao had been taught two crotch grabbing moves, making her seem quite malicious, “What kind of sis are you?”

“Little idiot, take a look. When you try to grab, if the enemy tries to back off, then the hand on the ground can grab the sand below and throw it at the face. With the use of this ‘Left hand grabs the bird, right hand grabs the sand’, the Taichi master Yang Luchan has defeated many opponents.”

TL Note: Bird is slang for penis.

Yang Luchan was a person that Wang Chao was familiar with. On TV, the actor Wu Jing had played the role of Yang Yuqian who was modeled off of Yang Luchan during the final years of the Qing Dynasty. In the golden age of martial arts, he was a legendary figure.

“Bird grabbing….sand grabbing…this….” Wang Chao spoke, “…is all just cement below us, what sand is there to grab!?”

“Little idiot, when a monkey crouches, it uses its tail to stabilize itself. Humans have no tails, so naturally, the hand has to be the replacement. Animals use their tails to maintain an equilibrium, when you use this move, your hand must keep this equilibrium. When you crouch to the ground and fail to grab at their crotch, if they try to kick you, then you can push it away with your one hand.”

“When a monkey crouches, it uses its tail to maintain equilibrium. If striking the crotch fails, then you can easily grab for sand….if there is no sand, then you can defend yourself against a kick, this is indeed a treacherous move.” Wang Chao suddenly realized, the image he had had of Taichi was now forever broken.

“Silly kid, this isn’t for show or for practice. This is for finding a way to kill! You must find and strike at the weak point! When fighting for your life, just what is treacherous supposed to be?”

Tang Zichen stood up, “Okay, I’ll tell you today. Martial Arts has three different forms. One is for fighting, one is for practice, one is for performances You shouldn’t underestimate Taichi where its movements seem slow and smooth. That is for performances. Even for practices, Taichi is quite different. The true Taichi for fighting is something that only a few people know.

“Fighting, practicing, and performing….is there so many categories like this?” Wang Chao realized. Each new word from his sis had brought him into a new realm of understanding.

“Taichi looks to be quite weak where careful movements are made, but that is only for the sake of performances. The fighting form of Taichi is hard and violent. This type of Taichi can only be described as making a “hammer”. Take a look, the frame of Taichi revolves around blows such as “Blocking Blow” and “Body Throwing Blow”.

Tang Zichen made two sudden movements where her entire body lashed out violently. Her arms made two popping sounds in the air as if the air had exploded.

When Wang Chao saw this, he instantly grew frightened. “Could a human even withstand this?” He thought.

“In the ancient times, each blow had to be fierce and violent. Take a look at the hero Li Yuanba of the novel Dramatized History of Sui and Tang who broke apart everyone under the heavens. Back when Taichi was established, with the power of a novel, it had given name to each strike as a “blow”.

“As when the Bagua master, Cheng Tinghua said, the palm of Bagua could move a mountain and hit people like whips. The Xingyi master, Shang Yunxiang said that those who practice will be weaker if power is used instead of strength and those who fight will be weaker if strength is used instead of power. This is the difference between between fighting and practicing. For the next few days, I’ll teach you how to do the Lifting Yin Palm and Monkey Stealing the Peach. These are fighting techniques that do not need power, so measure yourself.”

“What does it mean to use strength and what does it mean to use power?” Wang Chao asked.

“Strength is to use inertia to suddenly make an explosive attack.” Tang Zichen demonstrated once more with a popping sound in the air as she swung outwards. “When using strength, one must be clever, fierce and swift.”

“Power is to brace the muscles for slower movements.” With that, Tang Zichen gestured once more as if she was wringing a wet sponge. “When using power, one must be slow, heavy, and steady.”

“Clever, fierce, and swift….slow, heavy, and steady….” Wang Chao repeated those six words as he tried to differentiate between strength and power.

After Tang Zichen had demonstrated, she sat down, “Come on then, if you can familiarize yourself with the Monkey Stealing the Peach in three days, I will officially teach you something new.”

Wang Chao nodded his head. In secret for the next three days, he would practice the “Monkey Stealing the Peach” and “Lifting Yin Palm” in secret over and over.

But when he had tried to practice the Monkey Stealing the Peach move, he had came across a problem. When he crouched down, his legs would begin to complain.

But after half month of practicing the horse stance, the muscles in his leg had also improved in terms of flexibility. With some time of practicing and over a thousand times of crouching downwards, he had finally grown proficient with it.

Three days later, Wang Chao saw Tang Zichen at the park once again.