Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 172: Turn the Hand to Cover the Fist and Intertwine Yin and Yang to Let it Fly

“Aside from Duan Guochao, did the military really have even more experts like this?”

Seated on top of the sofa, Wang Chao could immediately tell from his opponent’s movements that his skill in Baguazhang had already reached a very high quality level of skill.

In Baguazhang, one fought with the hand acting as a knife that would cut, slash and stab at the weak points while evading to the side. Aside from this, they wouldn’t use their fists to harm even in extremely close combat.

But if one’s martial arts were deep enough in understanding and were capable of make major improvements in vigor, then fighting head on with the fist to shake and break would be possible.

The Hammer Jin was different than a fist. With the Hammer Jin, the fist must be hollow and break out with power from within that space. Then the three joints, four tips and five organs must resonate with force to go from soft to hard and then from hard to an explosive might. By circling this powerful might, the force that comes out from the hand is second to none.

But there were many problems with the Hammer Jin. At a single strike, the muscles and bones must be well coordinated with one another. The internal organs, hair, nails, teeth and tongue must be in sync with the circulation of Qi with the spontaneous nature of a dragon flying out from the water after hibernation and with the grace of wind blowing through the trees. A hammer strikes the man, and the entire body will quake. The normal practitioner would not be capable of such a strike.

In the older schools of Baguazhang, there were several hammer fists. The “Eight Styles of the Reverse Arm Hammer”, the “Eight Chain Hammers”, and the “Twenty Five Paths of the Quick Hammer”. When Liu Qing struck, one fist had been wide open while the other had been hidden by his ribs. This was one of the Quick Hammers of Baguazhang.

The Twenty Five Paths of the Quick Hammer had two specific paths that could be expressed through a mnemonic. “Turn the hand to cover the fist with a palm and intertwine Yin and Yang to let it fly.” Right now in this movement of Liu Qing, he had demonstrated the mnemonic perfectly.

The meaning behind the mnemonic was that the palm represented Yin while the fist represented Yang. With the fusion of both as one struck from above and the other struck from below, it could strike with a ferocity that would release a thunderous sound as if lightning had struck. With the palm acting nimble and quick, it would hide the killer fist like the clouds that hides the lightning.

“His martial arts isn’t below Duan Guochao’s in the slightest. It’s no wonder he’s unwilling to accept me as his instructor; he is well within his rights to do so. But with this level of skill, he should be no weaker than Duan Guochao, so why was he only second place within the military? Or did he grow stronger in the years he was gone and came back for revenge against him?”

Wang Chao was very knowledgeable about the fact that the more one progressed, the slower one would improve as time goes on. For example, a world class champion sprinter could finish a hundred meter dash in 9.8 seconds, but to improve by a single second would be extremely challenging. For someone who finished well over ten seconds however, it would only take some practice before they would see several seconds shaved off in their next attempt.

This was the same in a match between martial artists. When against someone of weaker skill, they could not afford to go easy or else risk their opponent training hard for several years and come back in vengeance to cripple or kill them.

The path of martial arts was endless, but the limits of man was not. Martial arts was not something that the more one practice the more one learned, it was not the same as cultivating in the sense of Daoism. Today one killed with a flying sword, and in sixty or seventy years they turn over the entire ocean with a wave of their hand. With Wang Chao’s strength, he was already capable of Transforming Jin, but the height was the height. Even if he brought his body to its limits, he would only see a small improvement after extreme difficulty. In comparison to someone of weaker martial arts, they would have a far faster rate of improvement.

Jiang Hai would be a good example of this. Wang Chao had heard that after Jiang Hai had his sword taken from him, he had gone overseas to train himself diligently. It went without saying that should Jiang Hai survive for a single year without dying, then with luck, his martial arts would surely improve so much that it wouldn’t be implausible to see him catch up to Wang Chao.

A few years ago Liu Qing had lost to Duan Guochao. And now a few years later, he was on par with Duan Guochao. Such a progression like this was only natural.

“Then all that’s left to do is to press hands.” At the same time Liu Qing struck out, his palm had flew out in a similar fashion to the movements of a white snake towards Wang Chao’s wrist.

Wang Chao was proficient in Baguazhang as well however. He knew that this movement was meant to conceal the hidden intent with his other hand. Not even rising up from the sofa, Wang Chao drummed up the muscles in his lower back and but area before circulating the energy through his body.

Borrowing that power, his arm bent inwards and instantly jabbed at the hand coming towards him with blinding speed!

Bang! The sound of flesh hitting flesh could be heard as the hidden fist of Liu Qing made contact with Wang Chao’s hand.

“The Eight Elbow Sets?” When Liu Qing had his fist countered by Wang Chao’s elbow without even moving from his seat on the sofa, he had been extremely startled. But this feat was enough to tell him that Wang Chao was a man who was capable of the finest styles of Baguazhang, including the “Twisting Elbow Drop”.

Within the higher levels of Baguazhang, there was the hammer Jin, and there was the elbow techniques. In Bajiquan, the elbow was an exceedingly powerful weapon, but in Baguazhang, there was also a softer side to them that was extremely mysterious in comparison.

If not for that, Baguazhang would simply focus on attacking from the side at their own leisure with a knife palm. But that wouldn’t be enough to earn them a place as one of the top three internal styles of martial arts.

“I heard that he was exceptional in Xingyiquan, so why is he so skilled in Baguazhang as well?” Liu Qing knew that Wang Chao’s nickname of “Tortoise Immortal” had came from his display of Xingyiquan. So he had never expected to see that he would be proficient in another discipline too.

Despite the surprise in his heart, his arms did not stop moving for even a second. With a swipe of his left hand, it immediately formed a knife edge! In the next few moments, he stabbed towards Wang Chao’s ribs with the “Liberating Rib Pare.”

At the same time his left hand moved to free himself, his right hand began to shake similar to how a steel rod would vibrate after being struck. With a splurt of energy, he tried to strike at Wang Chao’s chest.

This was the skill of “Rolling Arm Hammer”.

His style of fighting was to fight with a rising palm and a rapid hammer. The palm was like the clouds, and his fist was like the lightning.

Drumming up the muscles in his butt once more, Wang Chao made a small movement with his body to slide three-four inches to the side and evaded the knife palm. Borrowing the momentum given to him from his dodge, Wang Chao’s elbow made contact with the other hand coming at him without his butt ever leaving the sofa.

From this elbow strike, Liu Qing could distinctly feel the air around Wang Chao’s elbow crackle. His own skin had acutely sensed the rapid displacement in the air as if it was exploding.

But there had been no sound that accompanied this rapid displacement of air, symbolizing that his opponent was someone that had achieved a state of martial arts where no sound followed the fist. He himself was thus lacking in comparison.

This particular elbow strike had been called the “Leaping Explosive Elbow”.

The hammer and elbow collided together with a shocking effect for Liu Qing’s body. While he was sent staggering back two steps, the sofa Wang Chao was on gave only a small creaking sound from the force.

“I cannot underestimate your martial arts it seems. It is quite hard to deal with an attack while seated.” Wang Chao hadn’t really pounced forward when he used the “Leaping Explosive Elbow”, and so with his seated posture, his legs did not add that extra explosive might to it. He had only used his waist and butt muscles to substitute that explosive springing motion, but in comparison to what it was when standing up, the two were as different as night and day.

Standing up afterwards, Wang Chao gave a small comment before stepping forward with his elbow shooting forward towards Liu Qing’s chest. Liu Qing on the other hand tried to move his chest back while making his palms push Wang Chao’s arm away and divert the Jin harmlessly.

At the same time his arm was pushed, Wang Chao’s midsection shook before bringing his elbow up towards Liu Qing’s chin.

This “Advancing Elbow Strike” emphasized a jabbing motion first before linking it to an upwards elbow strike.

“His skill in Baguazhang is ridiculous! He’s practically on the same level of elder Li from back then!” Liu Qing had thought. As quickly as he had tried to push Wang Chao’s elbow away earlier, Liu Qing’s palm then jettisoned upwards while his body scuttled to the side. In unison, he had dodged using the “Tide Swimming Carp” and used the “Lifting Palm” to neutralize the elbow strike.

With his lifting elbow not hitting anything, Wang Chao’s body turned over and had his elbow swing in a horizontal manner like a large pole sweeping across the ground.

As soon as Liu Qing had neutralized the previous elbow strike, his waist had gone taut and his hair stood on its end in preparation for the next attack. Knowing full well that this sweeping motion with the elbow was the “Elbow Sweep Overturn”, he could only try and take a step to the side to dodge it. His left hand widened to form a claw and accurately moved to strike Wang Chao’s rib while the right moved to smash apart his shoulder joint.

“Eagle Claw to grapple with a hammer fist to strike, how amazing.” Wang Chao sighed in admiration. In the span of his four elbow strikes, he did not yet use his full power. Cao Yi had told him before they had arrived that there could not be a repeat of what happened with Duan Guochao.

Liu Qing’s hand had been no worse than Duan Guochao on that very day. The Quick Hammer of Baguazhang, the left-handed palm strikes with the chops and grappling techniques while the right hand struck and slapped with a hammer. All of his moves had been exceedingly strong.

In the moment Liu Qing tried to capture Wang Chao’s elbow and arm, he had already leaned back like a lever. With a single “Falling Lever”, he had successfully evaded Liu Qing’s grab.

In this series of exchanges, Wang Chao had deliberately held back so that the match had become a match between Baguazhang and Baguazhang without letting it become too one-sided. Liu Qing had moved energetically with each move, but seeing how accomplished Wang Chao had been so far, he could only muster up even more strength and strike out with Quick Hammer.

When Liu Qing was training overseas, he had only two desires. The first desire was to find Duan Guochao and defeat him, and the second desire was to challenge the “Little Martial God” Zhou Binglin. But as soon as he had returned back to China, one of his goals had been killed and the other had been reduced to a cripple who had one foot in the grave already. This had greatly disappointed him as if he was a person who had trained to the point of perfection to take revenge on the people but his targets had all died already. And the one who had been responsible for both events had been Wang Chao. There was no reason that Liu Qing would not fight Wang Chao in this case then.

When Wang Chao backed away, Liu Qing pressed forward with his palm deviating from its path to stick close to Wang Chao’s body and grab hold of him. Then with a kick to trip Wang Chao, Liu Qing began to use the more fatal grappling techniques of Baguazhang.

Within the grappling techniques of Baguazhang, there were a myriad of different styles to do so. The Eight Killing Grapples, the Eight Saving Grapples, the Eight Submission Grapples, and the Eight Deviating Grapples. Liu Qing had used the Eight Killing Grapples that were meant to break the joints and bring them under submission quickly.

But Wang Chao would not allow Liu Qing to perform such an act on him. With his earlier sequence of elbows finished, Wang Chao moved onto the Eight Styles of the Reverse Arm Hammer. Wang Chao’s Hammer Jin was far stronger than Liu Qing’s by a decent margin so when he had used the first strike, “Hammer Beneath the Elbow”, Wang Chao’s opponent could feel his blood and Qi begin to quiver.

Following it up, Wang Chao moved on with the sequence of Twin Hammer Toss, Connecting Hammer, Reverse Hammer, Direct Hammer, Jolting Hammer, Drilling Hammer, and Downwards Hammer seamlessly.

Each successful hit had caused Liu Qing’s body to be quiver and his internal organs felt as if the horses of several thousand soldiers were stampeding over while beating the gongs of war. It had been a sensation that was strong enough to make him puke.

The movements of the two had been quick, but the area they fought in had been tiny. From the space between the sofa to the coffee table, it had indeed been the same area of length Wang Chao described as being the “cow”. In a split-second, roughly sixteen blows had been exchanged before Wang Chao had forced Liu Qing to feel disorientated. Abruptly leading with a clinch, Wang Chao appeared right in front of Liu Qing’s chest.

A dangerous glint had been in Liu Qing’s eyes at that moment. His hands suddenly formed an eagle claw and moved to grab at Wang Chao’s wrist. With his arms moving from outwards to inwards to grab and swing Wang Chao to the side, he had adopted the “Golden Eagle Tossing Wolf” to throw Wang Chao away.

In the animal kingdom, there was a specific type of golden eagle that could kill a prairie wolf. From a thousand meters in the air, it could drop from the skies and use its claws to grab hold of the wolf. With its beak, the eagle could even lift the wolf up and throw it back down. This was one of its strongest ways of hunting its prey.

In comparison to the “Eagle Claw” from Xingyiquan, the “Golden Eagle Tossing Wolf” from Baguazhang was far more dangerous. The Eagle Claw was merely a way to capture and tear apart the enemy, but the Golden Eagle Tossing Wolf was a method to grab hold of the enemy and fling them away in a single instance. Should they be tossed away and tripped onto the ground, then it would only require several kicks and stomps to completely obliterate the head or chest. In a single move, the person would be reduced to a sack of flesh.

But when Liu Qing moved to grab Wang Chao’s wrist, he realized that only air had met his hands. “Where did his hands go?” In this critical moment, Liu Qing’s eyes could not seem to register just where Wang Chao’s hands had gone off to.

Bang! After his hands failed to grab Wang Chao and Liu Qing had yet to react, Wang Chao had already moved closer to him and pressed against his body!

Before Liu Qing could even react, he had felt as if he was being pushed aside like a ragdoll during the busiest moments in the train. With countless of people pushing him this way and that without mercy, his body couldn’t help but separate from the ground and then fall onto the glass coffee table in front of the sofa. With a smattering sound, the entire table had shattered apart and cut at his body with the countless of glass shards left over.

“Was that last move from the crocodile stance?” Liu Qing had climbed back up while ignoring the glass shards stuck in him.

“I struck you with the ‘crocodile ram’. Take it easy for three days or else you’ll find problem with your internal organs.” Wang Chao sat back down on the sofa while replying to Liu Qing at a leisurely pace.

“Your skill in Baguazhang is better than mine, no more needs to be said about that. You didn’t even show your whole strength and held back too. If it were the “Splitting Tail of the Crocodile” instead of this ‘Crocodile Ram’, then my body would have suffered the same fate as Nguyễn Hồng Tú. I don’t even know what else to say about such a military instructor.” Liu Qing sighed. “We’ll be taking our leave then. We will be there for your class and learn in earnest.”

“One moment.” As Liu Qing turned around to walk out with his companions, Wang Chao spoke up, “You said you were from the Han Style of Baguazhang, correct? In the past, the premier Han Muxia passed on his teachings to elder Li in Beijing and formed this same style you say you are in. You can’t be the premier’s disciple, so does that mean you are the inheritor of elder Li?”