Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 171: Quick Hammer of Baguazhang

Author note: Turtle Immortal is a name that is known to almost everyone, so I won’t use that.

Wang Chao won his match with the crocodile stance, so let’s call him the Crocodile Immortal, or maybe the Crocodile Godhand. Everyone had great ideas, China’s God of War, Crocodile God of the Southern sea, Xuan Wu, Crocodile of Guoshu, the Iron-tail Azure Dragon, Iron Fist of the Nine. Eastern Shaker, what have you not, all of them have an electrifying tint to them. Crocodiles were originally considered dragons and were once called the Chinese alligators or the pig-nosed dragons. But I feel that the term Immortal is full of meanings while the Crocodile Godhand is somewhat arrogant to hear.

TL Note: Turtle Immortal is written the same way as Muten Roshi AKA the Turtle Hermit from Dragonball Z.

Duan Guochao was the poster child of Shaolin monks everywhere and as well as a member of the Ministry of State Security. Because of the secrecy he was involved with, the Shaolin Temple won’t announce his death, Since you’ve been working overseas, you definitely wouldn’t have known about this.” Gao Jun explained.

“The person responsible isn’t too old; he’s only just a few years younger than us. But his martial arts is really beyond the norms. Even the higher ups are starting to pay close attention to him, and I can bet that they’ll have him come here to be our military instructor.

Liu Qing had a cold smirk on his lips, “He’s younger than us and that’s that strong? When I heard of the “Crocodile Immortal” in England, I had almost thought that it was a middle-aged man.

“How about it, feeling arrogant again? Because we all know that’s a good thing, well now!” Gao Jun slapped Liu Qing on the shoulder, “I do know that in comparison to the you from before, the aura you’ve got around you is totally different. I can tell that you’ve been looking for a challenge instead of a drink. Most of the masters now are all overseas anyhow.”

“But this Wang Chao has skill in martial arts far beyond what you can imagine. His skill is fierce and refined over the course of many battles. If he doesn’t kill, then he maims. Even the inheritor of the Sun style Taichi “Little War God” Zhou Binglin was defeated by him, and Duan Guochao pales in comparison to him! With Wang Chao locking the joints with one arm and then tearing it away with the other, you should really announce your intent on fighting him before you actually fight him and die by accident.”

As a central police guard in Beijing, Gao Jun had been privy to plenty of the details that Liu Qing was not. He was only afraid that Liu Qing might take the hot-headed approach and get himself killed by their new military instructor and chase after Duan Guochao in the afterlife.

“Pah, ‘Little War God’!” Liu Qing spat out a glob of spit with a smirk that held no respect for Zhou Binglin. “Zhou Binglin’s sixty years old by now, would he even have half the strength he had in his prime? Losing to the younger generation is only natural! That guy challenged elder Li himself at one point, what a egotistical ass! I only came back so I could have a rematch with Duan Guochao. The second was to repay my debts with Zhou Binglin!”

When Liu Qing was in his teens, he had been fortunate enough to learn Baguazhang from elder Li for a short period of time and inherit the true teachings of it. Although he wasn’t an official apprentice, he was still considered a practitioner of the same school.

In the nineteen nineties, Zhou Binglin had secluded himself away in Beijing. Although he didn’t fight anyone, he did not quite leave the world of martial arts. Elder Li had a tremendous amount of fame in Beijing during this time, and Zhou Binglin was a person who loved to fight. The more famous a person was, the more he wished to fight them.

And so that itch had to be scratched. When he was nearing his forties, Zhou Binglin came to fight elder Li. But because of several masters of martial arts fighting him first, he had been forced to duck away and drop the subject.

Liu Qing had known of that situation and couldn’t help but feel angry. However, as he was not yet a match for Zhu Binglin at the time, he could not afford to fight him and suffer defeat.

In these years he had been outside of China, he had gone through many different missions. He had experienced a rain of bullets and a forest of spears in his efforts, and he had trained within the schools of many other martial artists. Learning even more from the men of the Hongmen Society, his martial arts had been on its way towards perfection even. Confident that he would be able to win against both Duan Guochao and Zhou Binglin, he was more than happy to return when the organization had called for him.

Duan Guochao was twenty six years old, and he himself was twenty five years old. He had been fifteen when he enlisted into the military, and now with ten years of military experience, he could be said to be a general in cunningness.

“But, that Wang Chao really is beyond strong in martial arts.” Gao Jun persisted before being pulled aside by Fang Wei and Zhang Kai who interjected, “Come now, Jun my friend, your drive has been utterly stomped on after living in the peace and comfort of the princelings of Beijing. Why must you hype him up and destroy your own esteem?”

“Gao Jun, I feel that you’re like the children from the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty. You start out strong and powerful, but after being caged in Beijing, you spend your time strolling the teashops and the eight streets around it! Ha!”

With a snort, Gao Jun retorted, “If you’re not going to listen to me, then don’t say I didn’t warn you. In any case, if it’s Wang Chao that’s going to be our military instructor, I won’t say no to that.”

“The fourth madman from so long ago has been reduced to something like this. When it comes to martial arts, just what discipline are we not proficient at? Each one of us are capable of Hidden Jin, and it won’t take long before we become capable of Transforming Jin either.”

These four were the second, third, fourth and fifth strongest of the military, armed police, Ministry of State Security, and Ministry of Public Security. To say they weren’t strong in martial arts would be a joke of the highest order.

“Whatever. We’ve been at this for half a day already, let’s head on back for a meal and a shower.” Li Qing cracked his knuckles. “Why don’t we take a look at just how magical our new military instructor is?”

At the same time the four of them were talking about Wang Chao, the person in question had already arrived at the Southwest Infantry School with Huo Ling’er.

When they arrived, the very first feeling to come to mind was that this place had been very imposing.

He had never been to university before, but Wang Chao did have the chance to walk onto the campus of one. This military school was desolate in comparison due to it not being geographically located in the heart of the city and had two mountains neighboring. One one side, there was a frosty lake, and on the other side, the military compound could be seen organized in every direction with a thriving amount of prosperity. It would appear that this military school had seen its fair share of economical growth.

The several hundred feet tall dorms, training rooms, gymnasiums and classrooms could be seen standing tall over the area with a magnificent sight like none other.

And to add even more to this military school, the students here were not as disorganized as the ones in a university. Everyone had walked in an orderly fashion that was similar to the marching movements of the military.

When Wang Chao entered the interior of the military school, several open-air practice grounds could be seen. In each one of them, several military instructors were currently teaching their students several close combat methods. At a glance, Wang Chao had noticed the orthodox internal martial art disciplines along with Shaolin close combat, Labyrinthine wrestling, Iron Palm, and even the methodology of Bajiquan. But these students weren’t doing stance training and were instead studying the movements.

“Teaching this way may be fast above all else and teaches combat to the young, but they will begin to feel pain whenever they release their pores. That is not the proper way to teach.”

“Hello, major general Wang.” After going on a brief tour to get familiarized with the way the military school was run, Wang Chao was then brought to the one in charge of the place.

The receiving administrator had been in his thirties and was a rather bold-faced man. With just a few words of greeting, he had then launched into the main subject.

“You will be in charge of class 8762 and the course materials for it. This class has a total of three hundred and forty three students. Everyday at high noon you will teach them close combat techniques, at mid noon you will hold live combat fighting, and at night you will hold ambush and enemy control technique training in the forests.”

With that, the administrator handed him two sheets of paper with the time schedules and location on one sheet. On the other paper was the student roster.

“I heard that the class I will be teaching has four rather special students. Which ones might they be?” Wang Chao asked.

“Ah, you must be talking about senior colonel Liu Qing, colonel Gao Jun, vice-commander Zhang Kai and commissar Fang Wei.” The administrator nodded, “They are free-roaming students who’ll be listening in on your lessons. They won’t adhere to the main schedule.”

“So I see. They’re here specifically for my class. One senior colonel, colonel, a vice-commander and a commissar.”

“Your lodging will be in the eighth building sixteenth floor, room 302. All basic amenities will be provided for. This is your key, I’ll take you to your room.”

“Oh, no need, I can go myself.” Wang Chao took the key and walked away with Huo Ling’er. The dorm was a standard three room one lounge, one kitchen and two bathroom apartment with the windows nice and clean so that the view of the lakes and mountains could be seen crystal clear. There were also bed sheets, a television, and window curtains–all of which were brand new. There was also a well-made desktop.

This clearly high status board was suitable for someone of Wang Chao’s ranking.

“Should we go eat in the canteen or go buy some groceries from the town to make ourselves?” Huo Ling’er stared at the kitchen they had. All the normal cooking utensils could be seen–a rather nice touch.

“Let’s try the canteen. The meal within a military school should be fine unlike that of a university.” Wang Chao gave a small cursory glance down below where all the soldiers were currently training. Whether it was man or woman, they were all extremely well-built and were model examples of being the best of the best.

As Wang Chao sat on the sofa, there was a sudden knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” Huo Ling’er scrambled to the door and pulled it open to reveal four young men in uniform.

“And you four are?”

“Why’s there a woman?” One of the four had spoke out.

These four males were Liu Qing, Gao Jun, Zhang Kai and Fang Wei. It had been easy for them to inquire about where Wang Chao was as a result of being veterans and knowing the majority of the school administration.

“They’ve a superior air to them. They must be the four special students I’ll be teaching.” Wang Chao turned to look at the four newcomers. They looked as if they had gone through plenty of life or death experiences and had a decent aura to them. A normal person wouldn’t be able to tell, but Wang Chao was.

The old masters of Guoshu would often not need to press hands to determine one’s skill. They would only need to talk and observe to be able to see just how strong the person might be.

“Experts! There’s even some of those in the military I see.” When Huo Ling’er opened the door, she could very acutely sense the pores of her entire body begin to close and her Qi begin to cycle within herself. Tightly, her hair had stood up and even her fingernails and tongue had grown taut.

“Her force has reached all four tips, is this woman that strong in martial arts as well?”

Focusing on Huo Ling’er, Liu Qing had instantly taken notice that her hair, fingernails, teeth and even tongue had begun to circulate with Jin. From this, he knew that she was a practitioner of internal martial arts and was proficient with Hidden Jin.

The key to internal martial arts focused on three segments, four tips and five elements. The three segments were the muscles, flesh and bone. The five elements corresponded with the internal organs. And the four tips were the hair, nails, teeth and tongue. When Jin has reached those four, the hair behaves like blood, the nails behaves like muscle, the teeth like bone, and the tongue like flesh.

When an expert releases Jin, their hair stands on its end, their nails become hard, their teeth becomes like steel, and their tongues like an iron gate. When Huo Ling’er reacted to them, she had accomplished this.

“We came to find Wang Chao, you are?” Liu Qing quickly responded.

“I am his disciple, please come on in.” Huo Ling’er opened the door for them, but her eyes remained vigilant.

“I am he. You four must be senior colonel Liu, colonel Gao, vice-commander Zhang, and commissar Fang, correct?” Wang Chao spoke.

“So instructor Wang already knows of us, I see.” When the four of them saw Wang Chao, they had immediately observed the one known to be undefeated and whose martial arts had given him the appellation of the “Crocodile Immortal”.

“You four are of different rank, but you all are here for my class. I can see that you four are very strong, but with the higher ups instructing me to teach, I will not evade my duty. I was about to go and get into contact with you four to get to know you, but it seems you’ve beaten me to it. Come and sit. Ling’er, go and make some tea.” Wang Chao spoke.

“Disciple of the Han style Baguazhang, Liu Qing.” Liu Qing did not sit and instead introduced himself with his discipline of martial arts rather than his military rank. This was to state that in this place, they were all friends of the Wulin.

Noticing Liu Qing’s words, the other three had understood immediately. “Disciple of the Southern style Yanqing Fanziquan.”

“Disciple of the Ye-style of the Southern school of Iron Palm.”

“Disciple of the Northern school of Sanhuang.”

Having listened to their introductions, Wang Chao introduced himself. “I am of the Tang style Guoshu with many different disciplines learned. Have you four come to test my hand?”

“With master Wang being our military instructor, I wish to press hands to see how robust your martial arts is. If we can find a suitable place, that would be good. “Having experienced the history of martial arts for himself, he knew the rules of it. There was no need to waste time with words; to see the mountain, you must open the door rather than wait behind it.

“That is to be expected. If I am to be your military instructor, then you should see my skill for yourself. But there’s no need to move elsewhere. An expert can produce victory on top of a sleeping cow. This place will be enough.”

Fighting on a sleeping cow merely meant that within the small area where a cow slept, an expert would be able to fight and win.

Without any other word, Liu Qing’s hands moved into action. His left hand formed a knife edge and his right hand formed an empty hammer hidden at the waist that rose upwards.

When Wang Chao saw this action, he immediately sat upright, “Quick hammer of Baguazhang!”