Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 177: Tantui and the Shaking Fist

When Wang Chao had let out a burst of jin from his finger, it had turned slightly black in color.

The muscles, veins, and even the flesh where in between the thumb and forefinger had moved as one. With the hard jin coursing through his hand, his finger had been like a steel cable for that moment.

A practitioner’s body would be different to the body of an athlete. They, in particular, focused on the muscles in the chest, abdomen, back, arms, legs and so forth so that they became noticeable.

Practitioners on the other hand focused on the smaller muscles of the body; the thenar space for example–the area between the thumb and the forefinger, and the heels.

These muscles would not be too noticeable to the naked eye and were thus not too highly valued. The intense movements of the regular person would often times cause a tear or injury in these specific parts however. But because of the stance training and many other exercises that practitioners practiced, these same parts were gradually strengthened over time.

In a fight, the average person would often times grab and tear at the clothes during a close struggle. A finger or two would be apt to be injured or sprain in such a case. As the arm is not the same as the thigh in strength, a finger is not as strong as the arm.

But a practitioner was different. For a person who practiced the eagle claw and its related stances meticulously, their fingers would be firm and at the very least ten times stronger than the average person. Even in a close combat struggle between two people, the practitioner would not be thrown off, and neither would their fingers be broken or sprained.

And with Wang Chao’s skill, his hands were unbelievably fierce. After practicing almost religiously with the mercury balls, his skill had already reached the art of Transforming Jin. Even now, he was capable of tearing through cowhide and his fingers could penetrate into a cow’s abdomen with Hidden Jin.

Even an elephant would have its intestines or heart gouged out by Wang Chao.

However, in a regulated match such as boxing were put on, then Wang Chao’s skill would decrease by at least a third since his fighting style focused on grapples and tearing with the majority of his focus in his finger strength. But even then if he were to wear boxing gloves, very few people would be able to stop him.

And yet even in this match against Tan Wendong where there were no boxing gloves to be worn, Wang Chao was still in a rather subdued position.

For that very reason, Wang Chao had used his two fingers to act like scissors when Tan Wendong used his iron chain to attack him. With the explosive strength he had honed in his fingers, those two fingers of Wang Chao were in essence galvanized scissors that could cut the chain in half cleanly.

The reveal of such a skill was veritably a skill that shocked the entirety of the audience there.

Using both hands to tear apart the chain would be a skill that any healthy practitioner could pull off. But using the fingers to cut the chain was a skill that was a hundred times harder.

Even Liu Qing himself couldn’t help but ponder to himself, “During that performance put forward for us earlier, he was able to to burst with Jin without interference and in perfection. But even in a fight, he was able to unleash a skill like this–that is an even harder task. To gain the title of an Immortal or even the Buddha himself would not be a wasted title on a person like Wang Chao in the world of martial arts.”

Using a skill like this in a performance was one thing. But in the rapidly fluctuating that took place in real battles, it was an even harder task.

A karateka could shatter a brick with a practiced chop. But in a fight, it would definitely nine out of ten attempts to unleash another bout of strength like that.

Another thought had forced its way into Liu Qing’s mind; if he had foregone his flirtatious and emotional lifestyle to focus his entire heart and soul into practicing martial arts, would it be possible to have the same level of skill as Wang Chao?

Tan Wendong’s eyes had not changed in the slightest when he saw his weapon break, but his eyelids had a very minute fluctuation to them.

This was a habit of his. Should he ever come across a troublesome task or something he could not comprehend, his eyes and face wouldn’t even change in the slightest. Even if an earthquake were to bring Mt. Tai down, he would not bat an eye. But his eyelids would not be as unchanging and would start to throb.

Yanking at the chain with all his might, Tan Wendong tried to recall his weapon. But the spearhead had already fallen to the floor.

There was a crashing sound as Tan Wendong’s feet suddenly scuttled across the floor to pounce at Wang Chao with a kneaded fist aimed for his waist.

When he brought out his fist, his entire arm seemed to quake like an iron pole that was vibrating after being struck. The ringing sound that could be heard was almost similar to the lingering chimes of an iron bell struck within a temple.

At the same time his fist came out, his leg had lifted upwards with a speed and movement similar to a bulldozer.

This fighting style of his where his leg and arm fought together had a feel where there was a lightning storm that refused to stop.

“Shaking Fist of Tantui.”

Tan Wendong had relinquished his broken weapon straight away to attack, but Wang Chao had not only seen through it the move, he was also able to see through the discipline Tan Wendong followed.

As Tantui focused on the leg, the Shaking Fist focused on the fist.

The Shaking Fist was a small variant of how to release Jin with a punch. When shaking the fist, one had to drum up their dantian within their abdomen so that their abdominal muscles would streamline a burst of energy through into the arms and into the fist.

So when releasing Jin with this method, the arm would be like an iron pole that was resonating within itself after being struck. Not only would it shake, it would buzz and hum. The fact that Tan Wendong’s strike was reproducing this effect was a clear sign that he too was a practitioner.

Unflustered against the ruthless charging of Tan Wendong, Wang Chao’s feet stepped off against the ground to dodge the strike and follow up with a grapple to the arm.

Wang Chao had taken two steps, but these two steps were rather heavy and had a slight staggering feel to them. At a glance, Tan Wendong had felt that this young general had suddenly transformed to become some sort of chubby but mountainous asiatic bear with an indomitable pressure to it.

His fist had failed to hit and his leg had been unsuccessful as well. Tan Wendong had seen Wang Chao’s attempt to grab at him and had moved aside to dodge as a reaction. He had personally seen the amazing skill Wang Chao had and how he had been able to cut his weapon with just two fingers. Should Tan Wendong be caught in those hands, Tan Wendong would only be able to think about how his arms were not as strong as steel.

Since Tan Wendong had retreated, Wang Chao could only advance onwards. With the body of a bear and his hands like an eagle, he continued to jab out at him.

In truth, Wang Chao was only using roughly half to sixty percent of his strength in his match against Tan Wendong. Even as he fought, it was with the less practiced combination form of the bear and eagle stances.

When it came to the bear stance, he was proficient at it. With the eagle stance, he was at a level of perfection with it. But he had not yet learned the fatal killing moves from the Dual Form of Bear and Eagle. This approach with the bear and the advances of the eagle was something he himself could understand. Combined with the knowledge he gained from his battle with Song Anran in Beijing, Wang Chao was able to add in another more complex aspect to this particular fighting style.

Creating one’s own fighting style was not exactly rare in the history of Guoshu–in fact, it was actually very common.

Brothers of the same school of martial arts may practice the same discipline without deviation. But when they reached the top, they would naturally come to their own understandings of the discipline, and from there, their paths would deviate. Xingyiquan for example, has people using their fists to chop and punch or to chop and swipe. Some would also use their fists to chop instead of a palm, or some would even extend into a palm from a fist at the final moment.

Creating a personalized fighting style required countless trial and error; a process that would only be refined after plenty of combat to become perfect and wholesome. Wang Chao had only started on this path of self-creation and was not supposed to experiment at this point in a real life combat situation. But against Tan Wendong whose skill at martial arts was far beneath him, Wang Chao was not afraid of having his opponent exploit a hole in his defenses.

The swinging fist of the bear stance would rotate into another assault from the eagle’s claw.

From the eagle’s claw, the next strike would rotate back to the bear stance before repeating the process.

These two specific movements were formed from his own fundamental understanding of the eagle and bear stances when they were combined. From that, the mnemonic, “out of the cave and then into the cave” could be used to describe his attempt with Tan Wendong.

The eight palms of Baguazhang had many different fighting styles that evolved from one single branch, such as the “Twenty Five Paths of the Quick Hammer”, “Eight Hammers of the Reverse Arm”, “Eight Dragon Palms”, “64 Dispersing Palms”, “Chain Elbow”, “Life-changing Thirty-two Grapples”, and so forth.

Xingyiquan was no different. The twelve stances and the Five Elements Boxing were amongst the basics. When combined, they could form a multitude of different paths. The “Assault of Dragon and Snake”, and the “Flying Horse Treading on Sparrow” were amongst one of these said fatal moves. But there were still plenty of different methods of grappling or fighting like the “Four Grasps of the Chicken” which was one of the more important methods of the chicken stance. the “Eight Vajra Stances” was the most important aspect in the bear stance, and in the snake, chicken and tiger, there was the “out of the cave and then into the cave” movements. There were also the “Mixed Hammers”, and the “Twelve Grand Hammers” that were prominent within the hammer styles. Moreover, within the twelve stances was a type of fighting called the “Twelve Unison Fists”.

When Wang Chao reached the art of Transforming Jin, his technique with the twelve stances and the Five Element Boxing stances could be said to have gained both essence and form. In other words, he had learned them inside out by their own.

But from a different angle, he could also be said to only have entered from the front door and into the inner courtyards. He had not quite yet left the shackles left behind from his predecessors and was only a grandmaster in superficial knowledge. He was not quite yet considered to be a name that reigned supreme.

In the Hsüeh school Xingyiquan, Hsüeh Lien-Hsien from Taiwan gave up the twelve stances to focus on the dragon, elephant, lion, tiger, ape, ox, bear, and the Eight Tigers Method. Although it was Xingyiquan, it was vastly different than most other schools.

Tang Zichen’s fighting style held emphasis on the horse stance and the way of the spear along with the dragon and snake stances. Not only that, but it was further enhanced by different charging techniques honed from the battlefield itself.

Even the Xingyiquan in Beijing, Tianjin, held emphasis on the “bear by the bird” on how to nurture and cultivate the health.

Wang Chao’s fighting style was not yet his own. But he was on the path of finding himself still.

The continuous assault of the Dual Form of Bear and Eagle had caused Tan Wendong to eventually cry out as he felt Wang Chao’s five fingers clamp onto his shoulder. The palpitations under his eyelid had grown even more terrifying as a result.

But Wang Chao did not continue with his grapples. Instead, he merely tapped against his shoulder lightly before pulling back and asking, “Which school do you study at?”

“The Information Institute in the city.” Tan Wendong grabbed hold of the broken chain whip Wang Chao broke, “You are better than me in martial arts, but you’re older than me as well. I will catch up and overtake you soon. Since you took it easy on me today, I will remember this favor and take it easy on you in the future as well. Remember that.”

“Oh, wait one moment!’ Wang Chao spoke up in a hurry before switching to the next topic, “Which master of Tantui did you learn from? Or what school of the Shaking Fist? I wish to pay a visit.”

“It’s a family tradition; there’s no need for you to pay a visit. I am without family. If I had one, then I wouldn’t have mixed myself into the criminal lifestyle.”

“Let’s go.” Tan Wendong saw that Wang Chao had no more annoying questions and gave a final clean and tidy reply before looking at Wang Chao with a meaningful stare. As he walked away, he motioned at Wind and Cloud before walking downstairs and disappearing from sight.

Wang Chao did not move to stop them again this time.

“He’s so young but already so talented. Even when I was his age, I wasn’t as strong as he was.” Liu Qing praised Tan Wendong before shaking his head with a sigh.

“Let us go back for now. Liu Qing, could you help me with a favor and find out more about this Tan Wendong? That’ll be all for today.”

“I’m friends with this province’s public security department. And since he’s a ringleader of a gang, then it’ll all the easier to find him. Give me one or two days and I should be able to find out all you want to know.”

“Thank you for your troubles then.”

A martial art that was passed down as family tradition. With no family, and no master, it was no wonder Tan Wendong crossed over into the black road of life. Because of his lack of fear and age, no person to administer education onto him, no source of revenue to continue living, diverging off the right and moral path was only a matter of time.

But a person like that was also a person that matched with all the conditions Wang Chao had in mind.