Romance of Dragons and Snakes

But this winter vacation had been quite bountiful for Wang Chao. He had managed to find a good and easy-going work opportunity at the Taekwondo dojo with a good amount of pay. Furthermore, he had been able to experience real combat several times thanks to the assistance of the female director Zhang Tong. All of this was vastly different to his previously poverty-stricken lifestyle.

After two months of winter vacation, he had managed to gain a better understanding of martial arts after fighting li Feng, Liu Wenjun, Zhao Xinglong, and the bodyguards from Zhang Tong.

Furthermore, he had been able to live a nice and easygoing life at sis Chen’s place by reading books to increase his knowledge. By researching the words of his predecessors in the Republic of China era, he had been able to mature greatly to attain the attitude of a master.

However, the most obvious signs of improvement he had was in his ability to stand on top of the vats and continue to fight. Using the entirety of his strength to pinch onto the vat, he had reached the Clear Jin stage, allowing him to make the crisp sound with ease each time he struck.

It was already the very last semester of Wang Chao’s high school career. It was also the most chaotic of times for the graduating class. Even Cao Jingjing had immersed herself in her studies. With stacks of books piled up besides her, the amount of times she spoke with Wang Chao grew less and less.

But Wang Chao paid none of this any attention to. He had already decided to walk on another path.

The cultural path was for the cultured, the martial path was for the martial artists.

Everyday afterwards had been spent practicing his stances and fists. Every weekend at 1 AM, he would run to S province to first meet with Li Wanji, and then spare with the bodyguards of Zhang Tong. Afterwards, he would return to sis Chen’s villa to contemplate his merits and demerits and to see just what he could do for the next time for a better effect.

In addition, each time Wang Chao had fought with Zhang Tong’s bodyguards, he felt that his strength was still lacking and continued to increase his training regime each time.

But his current training regime had involved the mercury filled lead balls. Crouching down, he had continued to use his waist and vertebrae in order to force the balls to spin fast enough to bounce into the air and create that metallic sounding ring.

After these months, Wang Chao’s strength had made leaps and bounds along with his ingenuity. At last one day, he was able to spin the ball until it bounced upwards. By then, he was slowly able to spin it around his two hands in a loop.

However Wang Chao was still far away from being able to juggle the ball on his shoulder, waist, head, hip, and fingers like sis Chen was. He was only able to just barely spin it with enough force to make it bounce.

But on a Saturday of the fifth month where the weather had been sweltering hot, Wang Chao was sparring enthusiastically with the three bodyguards within the villa Zhang Tong had in the district.

Bang! Wang Chao’s waist suck into a horse stance with an empty gap in between his legs. Curling his toes into the ground as if they were arrows, Wang Chao burst into one of the bodyguards. In a rush, the bodyguard tried to land a series of blows and kicks onto him.

Raising his knee, Wang Chao blocked the bodyguard’s knee and then quickly crossed past his fists with a snake like motion. Grabbing onto the bodyguard’s shoulder with all five fingers, he tried to dislocate it.

The shoulder was violently turned as Wang Chao influenced the bodyguard’s Jin and sent him flying high into the air four meters away.

After sending the bodyguard flying, he moved onto the next step. His entire body began to scrunch up to resemble a child in size.

This was a move in the monkey posture of the 12 Xingyi postures, the “The Squatting Monkey”. When a monkey was startled, they would immediately crouch down to form a ball so that they would be able to move in any direction swiftly.

Wang Chao’s purpose was to simulate that movement as well. Turning his body in midair, his kneecaps became like two white stones before it struck against the other bodyguard in the chest.

This was another variation of the monkey style, the “Mark of the Hanging Monkey”. With two kneecaps as the ‘mark’, it would smash into an enemy. Nine out of ten times this would kill someone.

The bodyguard had only been knocked backwards with a cracking sound after the bones had been hit.

Wang Chao fell back to the ground and crouched down to imitate a monkey once more. This time, he attack downwards with the move of “Monkey Stealing the Peach”.

The other bodyguard could only see this change of Wang Chao as being extremely strange. But despite the strangeness, he was not about to dodge it. Bringing up his knee, he attempted to block the hand coming at his crotch and then kick at Wang Chao.

However, the crotch had not been the target. Carefully stabbing at one of the nerve clusters on the bodyguard’s leg, he managed to manipulate the leg into instantly freezing up.

Just as the leg began to slow down, Wang Chao took his chance. Like a dragon ascending into the air, his body flew forward and hooked onto the bodyguard’s body with his shoulder before sending him flying away.

Suddenly, another sound could be heard as the third bodyguard whipped his leg straight for Wang Chao’s head.

Remaining Calm, Wang Chao bent backwards to form a bridge with his back, allowing the kick to pass over him.

With both palms making contact with the floor, his body was like a carp out of water. Immediately twisting around to make a sitting position and then rocketing upwards, his legs tried to sweep the legs of the third bodyguard.

This was the “Stealth Palm” move of the snake style. When a person sits on the ground, their legs would sweep across the ground after launching upwards. This gave off the illusion that would try to attack someone with their palms instead of their legs, giving it the name of “Stealth Palm”

Bang! The final bodyguard had been knocked unsteadily off his legs before falling to the ground fiercely.

Wang Chao’s arm supported his entire body on the ground and steadied himself.

“Stop!” Zhang Tong spoke from the other side. She could see that Wang Chao had been able to use a series of secretive moves and completely beat three bodyguards before an entire money was up. This level of progression was so fast that a person wouldn’t even have enough time to remark about it.

“One at a time!” Zhang Tong ordered.

The three bodyguards climbed up and immediately flew out at Wang Chao one after another.

This was much easier to handle, so Wang Chao would just move to the side and do several light strikes on either the shoulder, hip, or the back.

But with each strike, the bodyguards would instantly lose their equilibrium and would fall to the ground once more after two more strikes.

“Your ability to influence someone’s movements is growing stronger and stronger.” Zhang Tong remarked when the last bodyguard had fallen. Each of the three bodyguards were dripping with sweat, but they had only admiration in their eyes.

After these months of practicing with these three bodyguards, Wang Chao had managed to grab hold of the essence of controlling their movements. From there, he grew steadily in his ability to do so with ease.

With practice, Wang Chao’s ability in Taichi had grown to the realm of being able to do this process instinctively.

“Using a person as a training dummy is great.” Wang Chao thought to himself. “This is something only the rich and powerful would be able to afford for practice. If I had no one to use as a live training dummy, then my progress in Taichi would have taken an extremely long amount of time.”

Each time he had left Zhang Tong’s villa, he could only sigh in regret.

After returning to his own villa, Wang Chao would sometimes think about Zhao Xinglong, “That guy dreams of finishing university. I should go take a look and see what the environment is like. At the same time, I’ll see how his martial arts is going.”

Swapping out his clothing, Wang Chao took a cab to the university city in Chengdong.

Wang Chao knew that Zhao Xinglong was studying at the province’s media institute that was mostly filled with university girls. The very moment Wang Chao stepped onto campus, he felt a light yet lively air of youthfulness wash over him.

He could see several males flirt shamelessly with females under the shade of several trees. On the other side, he could also see several university girls walking in a hurry with a sweet fragrance trailing behind after them. This fragrance was something that Wang Chao could smell–something he felt was quite appealing.

“If I could ask, do you know where a Zhao Xinglong might be?”

Wang Chao asked several students, but each one had only shook their heads, showing that they were not familiar with such a person.

“You’re looking for Zhao Xinglong?” Just as Wang Chao was asking the thirteenth student, a light sounding voice could be heard from behind. Turning his head, he could only see a female student with a pink blouse, blue skirt, and crystallic transparent sandals walking towards him with several books in hand.

Upon seeing the face of this female student, Wang Chao felt that her appearance was rather beautiful. She was like a depiction of beauty in the past ages.

“Miss, do you know where Zhao Xinglong is?” Wang Chao tore his eyes away from her and smiled with a gentle expression.

“Are you looking for him?” The female student looked at Wang Chao for a moment before deciding that he was harmless. “Every Saturday he likes to go to the mountains in the back. I was just on my way there to read a book, let me lead you to him.”

“Thanks.” Wang Chao smiled calmly.

“No need for thanks.”

With the female leading the way to the mountains, they had quickly reached a shady mountain path. After a while, the forest by the path grew larger and larger. Benches could be seen installed every so often with several cemeteries scattered here and there. There were even a couple of students either studying or flirting with their sweethearts.

Halfway up the mountain, a large forest of Camphor trees could be seen before the female spoke, “Oh, Zhao Xinglong is inside.” With that, she turned around to go back to one of the pavilions a while back.

Nodding his head, Wang Chao could see the silhouette of a person deep within the forest. Walking in, Wang Chao could see that it was Zhao Xinglong who was wearing a single red sleeveless and was practicing against a tree. Hitting the stump with his elbows, shoulders, and even knee, the tree could be seen constantly swaying. Fragments of the tree could be seen chipping away with each strike as well.

Just as Wang Chao entered the forest, Zhao Xinglong could sense him right away and instantly went on guard. But the moment he saw that it was Wang Chao, his face took on a genuine smile.

“Don’t loosen up so quickly, let’s spar!” Wang Chao immediately called out a greeting to him.

“Alright!” Zhao Xinglong called back eagerly. Seeing Wang Chao had already moved into position, he immediately flew into position for the “Leaning Mountain” and released his power.

Wang Chao didn’t make a move to dodge and instead bent his knees and threw his arms aside. This movement had forced his arms into a parabolic shape that was perfectly aligned with Zhao Xinglong’s shoulders.

This was the standard way to issue power in Xingyi’s Crossing Fist, Bagua’s Returning Body Palm, and Taichi’s way of throwing.

When Zhao Xinglong had made contact, his center of gravity was instantly thrown into disarray and began to stumble as if he was drunk. With a tiny shudder, he crouched down to regain his footing and threw an elbow at Wang Chao’s chest. Waiting for Wang Chao to leap back, he sent another elbow towards his face.

Wang Chao stood his ground and swung both arms out as if enveloping Zhao Xinglong. Using some strength, he made contact with Zhao Xinglong’s strike.

One of Zhao Xinglong’s strikes had been rendered useless after Wang Chao had connected with it. Similar to a building being demolished, his arm swung down uselessly, but that did nothing to prevent him from charging still.

The Crossing Jin was like the support that was overturned.

“Not good!” Right after Wang Chao had manipulated his force and grew close, Zhao Xinglong could only feel a cool feeling from his ribs as Wang Chao stabbed at it, so he had instinctively brought his hands up to guard against it.

Just like when he was practicing with the mercury balls, Wang Chao’s hands on Zhao Xinglong’s ribs had given him control of his body. With a push, Zhao Xinglong’s leg was swept up into the air.

Pa! Zhao Xinglong’s legs left the ground as if he was a floating scarecrow before slamming into a giant tree five steps away.

But fortunately for Zhao Xinglong, his instincts had been extremely keen. Before he could hit the tree, his hand slammed behind him so that he could brace himself. After hitting the tree, his legs stamped on the ground in an attempt to steady himself.

“How is this possible?” Zhao Xinglong couldn’t believe it. Running at Wang Chao once more, he was immediately sent flying back unsteadily.

After several more attempts, Zhao Xinglong stopped trying to charge at him with a dismayed expression.

“This is an application of a skill that I’ve grew proficient with. It is not true martial arts.” Wang Chao consoled him. “If you haven’t studied the Jin of Taichi before, then you won’t understand the principle behind it and will definitely be at a disadvantage. Once you know, then you’ll understand this is merely a cheap trick. I didn’t have anything to do today, so I came to talk.”

“Talk about what?” Zhao Xinglong asked.

“You’ve fought in the underground fighting rings by the coast, what’s it like over there? Are there any strong people?” Wang Chao asked.

“Ah, so that’s your question.” Zhao Xinglong looked for a nice place to sit down before going into his explanation.

“I fought in the Guangdong region, the Chaozhou prefecture to be exact. The people in Shantou love to fight and gamble. There are plenty of bosses that find this to be an exhilarating experience so they search everywhere for people to bet on. Practically every city has an underground fighting arena, and every area has an underground gambling ring. Within the arenas, millions of RMB can be won, and even tens of million could be won. In these places, the honest are mixed in with the dishonest. People of every road of life gather here; people from Vietnam, Taiwan, and even Hong Kong can be seen. Even the types of fighters are varied. There are several experts that are partnered with some bosses to earn plenty of funding. I’ve heard that the Chenshi Corporation in southern China once made a bet with the Huaxing Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Several hundred bosses from industries like real estate and retail had taken part on both sides. The final capital was well over two billion RMB in the end. With both sides sending in their best fighters, in the end, the Chenshi Corporation ended up winning the entire sum.”

“Oh, what type of expert? Have you fought with them before?” Wang Chao asked curiously.

Zhao Xinglong shook his head, “In that area, I am only a third or second-rate fighter in a small arena. The boss however, was a rich and influential person.”

“What type of experts are there, what discipline do they practice?” Wang Chao asked once more.

“In that major bet, I heard they had talents that came once every decade, but I didn’t see them for myself. However, I did hear that they had fought on top of a giant tanker. The Huaxing Chamber of Commerce had a top notched boxer Zhang Guangming, and the Chenshi Corporation had Chen Aiyang. But in the final moments, Zhang Guangming had suffered from Chen Aiyang’s Hidden Jin. With a final splurt of blood, he died in that half hour.”

“Hidden Jin?” Wang Chao was shocked, “What type of expert doesn’t exist then?”

“The Yuxing Corporation in Hong Kong had a martial artist named Ma Hongjun. This man was around 35 years old, but he had mastered Xingyi, Cha Quan, Tantui, Pigua, Chuo Jiao and Wing Chun. Three of the corporations in Taiwan had even sent over Liu Jiajun who practices both the Eight Extreme Fists and Tongbei. Even his Xingyi was far better than mine. There are also the three tigers of Guangdong: Zhang Wei, Xu Zhen, and Dai Jun. However, there were also the people from southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar. The publically renowned person has to still be Chen Aiyang from the Chenshi Corporation. He is a practitioner of Taichi and is proficient in several other disciplines. It’s said his level of martial arts has reached such a high level of skill that once for demonstration, he was able to reduce a porcelain teacup to powder just by pinching it. Whomever is hit by his Hidden Jin will surely not survive.”

“Are there that many experts?” Wang Chao asked.

“There’s a large amount of experts. These are merely just the tip of the iceberg. But I only know the group within the Hainan coastal area, as for the other areas within China, I don’t know them.”

“I’ve still a long ways to go then.” Wang Chao clenched his hands tightly. “Let’s go eat something then. Let’s eat and talk until we’re happy!”

Zhao Xinglong quickly stood up, “Fine with me!”

The two walked out of the campus and into a nearby restaurant. Walking onto the second floor and ordering several dishes, they had even ordered several bottles of icy beers.

When Wang Chao had heard so much about the inner workings of the underground, he grew endlessly excited and eager. But as Zhao Xinglong continued to drink, he began to say more and more.

Suddenly, a noisy commotion could be heard downstairs.

“What are you doing? If you don’t leave, I’ll call the cops!” Wang Chao suddenly heard a familiar voice. Looking downstairs, he saw a group of semi naked males with a dragon tattoo on their shoulders. The group was surrounding a dinner table that had four females and two males sitting by it. As for the voice that Wang Chao had heard, it belonged to the female student that had helped Wang Chao find Zhao Xinglong earlier.