Romance of Dragons and Snakes

“The case is currently under investigation, but the police have ruled out the use of any firearms or weapons. It would appear the police are classifying this as a simple street brawl.”

“Eighteen teenagers were arrested following the brawl. Each has pleaded guilty and their testimonies have been verified by the police. The police have made a statement stating that this was a crime of passion rather than a premeditated one.”

Wang Chao put down the newspaper without another word. With the media spreading this news, the entire world would know about this matter in its painfully clearly details thanks to the globalization of the mass media. With so many additional photographs of the arrested teenagers and the injured state of Choi Jang Baek and Miyagi Yoshida, everyone would know this matter to be true.

On the page, a photograph of an ambulance with Miyagi Yoshida and Choi Jang Baek on the ground could be seen in clear clarity. This particular newspaper belonged to a French-based media organization that was fortunate enough to be the first to take a picture.

On the ground, these two masters of martial arts were beaten so badly that they couldn’t even move. On the photograph, the scenery was almost lifelike in its replication of the scene.

Also reported on the newspaper was a complete story of what was known so far: No weapons–just a normal street brawl. Well known masters of the WFC defeated by a group of thugs and admitted into hospital.

Lin Yanan, Zhao Xinglong, Huo Ling’er, Tan Wendong, Liu Qing and the other three, and the twenty-something special forces were all on the same airplane so they could read from the same news article as Wang Chao.

Aside from Wang Chao, everyone else had the same reaction after reading it: “No way.”

It was of course impossible. Those who practiced as well as Choi Jang Baek and Miyagi Yoshida couldn’t be defeated so easily. Even for Boulder and the other soldiers who were weaker than the two, any single one of them could take care of a dozen hoodlums without a problem.

Choi Jang Baek and Miyagi Yoshida were of a different level entirely as expert capable of the third stage of Transforming Jin. Their strength was like a tiger, their flexibility was like a monkey, and their viciousness was like a cornered fox. When they burst into motion, not even their mirror images would be registered on the retina of any regular person.

Even if these “thugs” were wielding guns, let alone being barehanded, neither of the two would have been injured.

Only the well trained soldiers with expertise in firing a gun would be able to have a small hope of hitting them.

“What’s going on?” Lin Yanan had been the first to speak up.

“I’m not too sure. Let’s get off the airplane first before we make our inquiries.” Wang Chao folded the newspaper up. Having no need to read, he closed his eyes for a brief moment. As it would appear, this matter had influenced his mood by some degree.

In another airplane heading straight for Seoul, a group of warrior monks from the Shaolin Temple happened upon the same news report. The one leading this group was Yong Xiaolong, the warrior monk that fought Wang Chao back at the infantry institute.

Right by his side was another young monk dressed in the traditional garments of the warrior monks.

Even while seated, this monk was a head taller than Yong Xiaolong. His nose was sharp, and his eyes were deep set.

Both of his eyes were deep blue in color, and his shoulders were very broad. His neck was coarse with very white skin that was lined with golden hair. From his appearance, everyone could tell that he was the perfect example of a western caucasian male.

In the Classics of the Fist, there are people that are said to be “strong-muscled”. Such a term was meant to describe a person like him.

“Xiaolong, what’s going on here?” The caucasian monk spoke in fluent Chinese with not even an accent to be heard.

“I don’t know.” Yong Xiaolong pressed a slender finger to his temples to massage it. Only the slightest cracks could be seen in between his eyes, but even then could there be a sharp light to be seen as if he was thinking about something.

“Hendry, you’re the same as I am. As warrior monks sent to Korea, we must make ourselves known. The Jangbaek school of Taekwondo and the Goju-ryu school of Karate have made themselves defunct in its essence. Our main target is the headmaster of the Laoshan School of Internal Martial Arts, Wang Chao. Hehe, Choi Jang Baek has done his part in this exchange. But this sudden development has altered the tides of focus now.”

The white monk nodded in agreement, “We’ve a dojo in Korea that we should visit first. Let’s call the abbot and see what plans he might have for us. The abbot has already told us that if that young miss from the Huo wants to fight, we aren’t to touch a single hair on her body. Even the abbot himself is unwilling to deal with the fallout.”

This caucasian monk was second to only Yong Xiaolong as an elder and was bestowed the name Yong Xiaohu. As a white American male, he was a tall one at two meters tall and two hundred pounds in weight. He was also very understanding of Chinese culture as a whole and was thus able to advance in his studies of martial arts at twice the results for half the work.

In Beijing, there was a secret meeting with several of the top-ranking members of the military. Gathered around a table, each one of them seemed like they were in the middle of a sudden meeting.

Out of the members there, Wang Chao would have been particularly familiar with two of them, general Zhou Liang and the Hong Kong political commissar Yang. These lieutenant generals were all around fifty years old at the very least. Each one of them had puffy eyes and sunken faces, but their eyes remained ever so sharp as if wary that the person next to them might have a sword ready to put to use. Clearly, these people had once gone through a baptism by fire and brimstone, causing half of them to be practically shellshocked.

The bodyguards that stood by both sides of the entrances and exits were all men of the highest caliber. Not once did their eyes wander from their original location, and should even the sounds of the grass be heard blowing, they would all respond with the utmost speed.

Soon, the doors were pushed open to bring in a travel-weary Cao Yi into the room. With a slight bow, he approached the table and placed his cap on the table.

“Cao, my boy, take a look at this report.” One of the lieutenant generals pushed a report towards him.

“Senior official, I’ve seen it already.” Cao Yi shook his hands only slightly to refuse the paper. “The big catch we’ve been putting our lines out for three years now has finally taken the bait. The one behind Wang Chao is definitely in Korea, it’s uncertain if the two will meet however. How should we address this?”

“Stick to the old plan of course. This woman isn’t any ordinary woman. They say that the very first thing to be seen from a dragon is alway its head and not its tail. Even the Americas have failed to kill her yet with how strong she is. Hell, they weren’t even able to find her. It was only by luck we caught onto this little trial. It’s also fortunate for us that Wang Chao is a hardworking one to build up his name. If not, then we would have never caught onto her scent.” The lieutenant general placed a hand on the table.

“But she’s currently in Korea! We can’t move as well as we do in China. It’s not safe.” Cao Yi shook his head, “What do you think?”

“That much is true. That woman is stronger than what could possibly be imagined. If she wasn’t, there’s no way she’d live as long as she is now. Even Liu Qing and the three soldiers with him wouldn’t be a match for her if they paired up with Lin Yanan and Sun Lei.” Zhou Liang nodded in affirmation.

“There’s still the Shaolin Temple bringing together their warrior monks.” The middle lieutenant spoke. “I’ve made the preparations with the General Police Department for a single operation. The Shaolin Temple doesn’t know the details, but they’ll at the very least cooperate with us.”

“With their invitation, the Shaolin Temple has already invited many experts like Yong Xiaolong and Yong Xiaohu for a total of twenty-something warrior monks. Every single one of them are winners of hundreds of battles. Combined with Liu Qing and the rest, even they should be enough. No matter how strong this woman is, she’s still human in the end. What’s she going to do, fly away from us?” Commissar Yang declared.

“This operation will be focused on Wang Chao primarily. We’ll convene this meeting here today, as we’ve accomplished our primary goal already. I’ll leave you all to discuss amongst yourselves then.” The man spoke. “Should we notify him of this operation? If he agrees, then our chances of success will rise to over ninety percent I dare say.”

“I’d say we’ve a good chance of that. He has a tremendous sum of capital and is a major general in China of mass renown. To not obey would be tantamount to treason. We only want to bring that woman back, it’s not an arrest in any case. With the secrets and funding she has, she’s far too valuable to be killed. Her business potential is still yet to be tapped by us either. If we can finally arrange for some sort of partnership or deal, then all is well and good for us. But even our spies in the overseas communities were unable to find even a trace of her shadow, let alone her actual person. As things stand now, I’d say she has no intention of cooperating with us.” Commissar Yang spoke. “This is a great chance for us now. We’ve waited for so long already, when will we get another chance like this? We better hope to god that we don’t fail this one chance.”

“I say we shouldn’t tell Wang Chao of this or even talk to him at all! We should be monitoring him!” Cao Yi wasted no breath to speak his mind. “I know how he works. As one who values camaraderie, he’d sooner commit suicide than betray it! He’s always been a calm thinker without being too influenced by anything, but if we were to tell him about this, then I’m very sure even he’d be heavily bogged by this. For that, I vote that we don’t tell him this at all or else risk a huge upset. At least this way, we can avoid losing a genius of ours.”

“Wang Chao is a genius indeed, but he is also a hindrance as a figure that doesn’t fear even a gun. Why don’t we forgo this chance then and wait for her to appear in China to deal with her?” Another major general proposed his own suggestion.

“That we cannot. She is not a woman that’ll walk into China so easily; who knows when the next time that’ll happen?” The lieutenant general that had been leading the conversation refused the proposal.

“Then we can’t have Wang Chao find out. He’ll move to stop us if he does, and that’ll only make us lose more than we win. If he doesn’t obey us, then we’ll just have to get rid of him. It’s the person behind him that we care about most really.”

“Very well. Notify Lin Yanan, Sun Lei, and the others then. Have them monitor him for any disturbances or abnormal behaviors. At all costs, do not let him find out. If she appears in front of him, start the operation straight away. We’re operating in a foreign nation, so secrecy is paramount. Unless absolutely necessary, no firearms.”

At the order, the meeting was then finally adjourned with each participant leaving to make their own preparations.

By the time the meeting convened, Wang Chao was only just disembarking from the airplane to meet with the second in command to Choi Jang Baek, Park Jeong-kim. With the media learning of the fact that Choi Jang Baek was injured, his partner Park Jeong-kim had no other choice but to hurry back from the United States to take care of the situation.

But the only way to remedy the situation was through this exchange. He would have to soundly defeat the Shaolin Temple and Wang Chao’s group totally and completely.

The fact that a master of fighting was beaten by a group of thugs was news that wouldn’t bode well for their school. In fact, it could totally destroy their name as it was.

From his arrival to the guest lodges prepared for his group, Wang Chao hadn’t even been able to speak a word to Park Jeong-kim.

And yet Cao Yi was still able to send a plethora of information on the man to Wang Chao. How important this man was, how strong he was, his build, his value, his past battles. Everything was printed clearly on the sheafs of papers Wang Chao had.

There were several figures that caught Wang Chao’s eyes actually. Most noticeably: Yong Xiaohu, an American elder warrior monk of the Shaolin Temple. He stood at 6.03 meters tall and weighed roughly 110 kilograms. His left hand was capable of a gripping strength of a thousand pounds while the right was capable of a thousand two hundred, but what was most frightening was his leg strength that could lift even a single ton! He had never fought before in an official match, but his name was one that made shockwaves in the Euro-American black market matches.

“Take a look at this information. I’ll be taking a walk now.”

Wang Chao flipped through the papers with a strange sense of uncomfortableness in his mind. Handing over the papers to Lin Yanan, he spoke to the others and excused himself.

“Master, let me go with you. I’ve never been to Korea before, so I want to go to several places and familiarize myself!” Huo Ling’er scrambled to get up.

“Look over the information, I’ll be walking by myself.” Wang Chao waved her away.

“Take care of yourself.” Lin Yanan nodded at him with a queer expression as if wanting to say something. But in the end, she said nothing.

Boulders and the others gave each other a furtive glance and a silent nod while Liu Qing and the other three only continued to flip through the pages. In just a second, a suffocating pressure made itself known in the room.

Tan Wendong narrowed his eyes. He noticed the pressure.

But only Wang Chao looked as if he didn’t realize it and walked out from the room as if going for a jog.

As soon as he left, a forced smile appeared on Wang Chao’s face. Conversely, his eyes held an ardent but expecting light to them as he pondered to himself.

Strolling onto the main streets of Seoul, Wang Chao’s eyes wandered here and there. His movements were erratic as if he himself didn’t know where he was going.

With each step he took, an unsettling calm started to take hold of his heart. All of his energy flowed inwards to his body to such a great extent that he felt meek in comparison to before. To his mind, there was an extremely familiar presence some distance away, but it felt as if someone was waiting for him.

For a person who reached such a height with martial arts like Wang Chao did, his entire body was practically at a hypersensitive state of being. To have his energy reflected inwards like it was now was often described to being a testament of creating the Golden Elixir in its perfect circular shape waiting to be swallowed down into the body.

This was not the same as what was described in the A Study of Baguazhang to break through the veil of illusion and walking sincerely for the divine. Neither was this what was known as the stage of foreknowledge, but the sixth sense was as good as formed at its very basis.

Closing his eyes and separating himself from his sense of hearing, Wang Chao allowed himself to stop in the crowd of people. The throngs of people walked to and fro all around him on the same road, but Wang Chao followed his senses into one single direction.

He had no idea just how long he had walked before Wang Chao felt the skin on his body grow moist. Water vapor started to condense all around his body before he finally started to listen with his ears only to hear the sounds of a river.

He had already reached the riverbanks of the Han River.

A tree stood by itself by the river. And underneath that tree was a person in purple. Their back was against Wang Chao so as to enjoy the view of the river.

At the very sight of this figure, Wang Chao’s heart began to increase in beat with a frightening staccato. Ba-bump! Ba-bump! Ba-bump!

And no longer did Wang Chao seem like the mature and sophisticated person he always made himself out to be. The Wang Chao of five years ago was back. The very same childish Wang Chao that was filled with curiosity while meek in personality. This was he.

Right as Wang Chao prepared himself to run towards the figure, four women that were pretending to be random tourists suddenly pooled together to form a protective line against Wang Chao while staring in interest at him.

“Are you Wang Chao?”

One woman spoke with a slight smile.

Returning a smile rather than a word, Wang Chao’s body then suddenly flickered away from view so as to sidestep past the four.

That had been the trigger for the four women to move into action. Their response time was as fast as a frightened hare and maneuvered in a suitable position to stop Wang Chao before reaching out with their hands in a tiger-claw shape to subdue him.

However, Wang Chao hadn’t moved his legs at all when he pretended to try and sidestep them earlier. Thus when the women moved to stop him, Wang Chao was free to take a step through the middle. As he took a step, his shoulders made a hard approach into two of the four, causing the afflicted to fly up into the air. When they were hit, their legs felt like a spring that had just landed on top of a bed mattress in order to send them flying even higher than normal.

This move was otherwise known as the ‘abdomen strike’. In the moment of impact, lift upwards with a gentle step forward to make the ground quake and to send the person flying away from the ground.

There was power to this move, but it wasn’t enough to injure a person.

As soon as he sent the two women flying, Wang Chao’s entire body arched down as if he was preparing himself to scuttle across the ground. This was the posture of the ‘White Snake Hiding in Grass’ from Baguazhang. In a single moment, one could travel twenty meters so that the remaining women would only be able to grab the air in futility.

His movements were like a leopard stalking the antelope with a speed of thirty meters in a single second.

“Sis, you could try and escape by walking through the water, but I’ll be able to catch up to you now.”

He was captivated by this person in front of him, and even his nose was content in taking in the aroma of the person he was most familiar with.

“Ah, yes. You can indeed chase up to me now.”

Turning around to show her face, Tang Zichen did not look any different than from five years ago.