Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 50: Sharing your passion

“You truly are a practitioner of the traditional Bagua discipline. Your footwork is steady to the point where even a practitioner of six years could not replicate.” The elder spoke. Although he hadn’t used all of his strength to throw Wang Chao, when he saw just how Wang Chao had easily recovered, his opinion had been revised.

“Alright alright. Wang Chao, just how could you start a fight straight at the get go?” Zhu Jia rebuked Wang Chao. The two had immediately started a fight as if they weren’t strangers, but since she couldn’t yell at her grandfather, Wang Chao would do.

“Hahaha.” The elder began to laugh as he listened to Zhu Jia, “You’ve brought a well learned youngster to find me this time. I haven’t seen such a purely skilled Bagua practitioner in many years. That’s good, there’s no need to test skills anymore. Come with me.”

Wang Chao nodded his head silently as he began to file away what he had learned, “This elder’s martial arts is incredibly strong. When he used the Returning Body Palm to throw me, his use of Jin was ingenious. He is far beyond what I am capable of, this must be what it is to be experienced with age. However, because of age, he is past his prime age.”

“The fist fears weakening.” A man who focused completely on martial arts would reach his peak at 20, 30, 40, and 50 years old. Past these years and becoming 60 years old would be impact their strength no matter who the person was. The arms and legs would grow less nimble, and the organs would start to degenerate. The only thing past this peak was a slow decline of strength. For a 90 year old man to be able to fight still, that could only mean that the elder was at the limit of his strength in his prime.

This was what it meant to be an internal practitioner–to cultivate the health. If one was an external practitioner like a Muay Thai practitioner, they would use their legs to kick trees or their elbows to stab sandbags to become as hard as steel and temper their body to the limit. But this method was also extremely harmful to the body to the point where even medicine couldn’t cure if done incorrectly. Medicine had its side effects no matter what type of medicine it was. After all, the medicine would have to come across the kidney sooner or later, and the accumulated use of it would eventually lead to harm.

Thus, people who trained their bodies this way would reach the peak by their twenties, but after several short years, the damage to their organs would show and their lives would be short. This was unlike the internal practitioners whose peak would lead to an entire golden age for the entire body.

But Wang Chao could clearly understand despite the age of the elder and the atrophy of his muscles, the elder at his prime was extremely terrifying even compared to the regular practitioner.

“I have unfortunately never truly exchanged words with an expert like this before. This elder was a guard for both a prime minister and a chairman, he surely has experience killing on the battlefield to an ample degree. I have to consult to him on the best way to deal from enemies attacking from all sides and how to deal with unprepared ambushes.”

The three walked past the guard and into the courtyards.

Walking through the courtyards, Wang Chao continued to look all around the place. The courtyards themselves weren’t too big but had a simplistic feel to it. The courtyards were expansive in area and looked quite remote with all of the trees towering over the red walls.

The elder’s residential room was on the third floor; a building with three rooms and a living room. The interior was quite neat and orderly with plenty of antique furniture. Aside from that, there was plenty of old and new books that adorned the many bookshelves.

“Youngster, take a seat.” When the three entered the room, the elder asked for Wang Chao to sit while Zhu Jia went to make the tea.

“En.” Wang Chao replied any other superfluous words.

“When we tested each other, I could see your skill was not all that bad. However, I did not see your entire ability with Bagua, would you allow me to see it?” The elder had been extremely courteous almost as if he had disregarded his status as a senior practitioner.

“Of course.” Wang Chao stood up and walked to the center of the living room. Assuming a fighting stance, he began to demonstrate the Double Exchange Palm, Single Exchange Palm, Grinding Body Palm, and then the powers of the arm: push, squeeze, press, and knead. Revolving in a circle without stopping, he was like ripple of water that never ended, showing his expertise at the standard forms he had learned.

As he finished his Bagua set, both of his palms rose to his eyebrows before pressing down towards his abdomen with an exhale. His entire breath exited from his chest from his throat, letting out a sharp sound.

“If senior would guide me.”

The elder blinked his eyes for a moment without a word before finally sighing in admiration. “Your master is truly a mystical person. Your set was all encompassing without any mistakes. I can see no unsuitable movements within it, it is an extremely precious sight. You have mastered the essence of Bagua Quan, it is only your technique at it that requires perfection. In time I am sure you will be able to fix this, but as for your practice, I have no words of guidance to say.”

Hearing this, Wang Chao thought back to his first year of learning martial arts. Without straying an eye, sis Chen had always leapt in to correct Wang Chao whenever a mistake was made to ensure he got it right.

His set had reached a stage of becoming a standard to follow. Every movement, head turn, expression, neck, vertebrae, arm, hands, waist, and legwork had reached a concise accuracy. This was the result from countless of hours sis Chen had spent on him.

So listening to the elder say that there was no guidance he could give, Wang Chao felt that was the correct answer to give.

If the elder had said his form was wrong and tried to correct it, then Wang Chao would have doubted his eyes or intentions. To doubt his practice sets was to doubt Tang Zichen’s teaching ability.

“Then what must be done in order for the Clear Jin to become Hidden Jin?” Wang Chao asked.

“This requires a slow accumulation of time and effort in order to succeed. Do not rush and take it slow. Reaching the Hidden Jin stage is a huge qualitative leap for any practitioners, anyone that fumbles around will never reach such a stage. The Hidden Jin is the culmination of the three internal harmonies: harmony of the mind and will, harmony of the will and Qi, and harmony of the Qi and power. The mind and the will are the source of energy for the Hidden Jin, so to practice the Hidden Jin is to first master one’s willpower and to understand one’s mind.” The elder spoke after thinking before trying to think of a clear and concise way to answer his question.

“I know the principle of the three internal harmonies and just what the Hidden Jin is. However, the concrete details on how to master one’s willpower and understand one’s mind, I was hoping to learn from your experience and be enlightened.” Wang Chao spoke gently but firmly.

“How to master one’s will and understand the mind?…..My experience…..” The elder began to blink rapidly as he started to think back to previous memories.

The entire room went quiet with Wang Chao not saying a word. By the time Zhu Jia returned with the tea, it was almost as if the elder and the youngster found the conversation boring. Walking to the other side of the room, she began to rifle through the books.

“Grandfather Li and Wang Chao truly deserve to be called comrades of the same discipline. Upon seeing each other, they immediately went to test each other without even giving a name.” Zhu Jia continued to look through the interesting selection of books before thinking, “Who knows how much longer the two will talk? As long as it’s not the entire night I’ll be happy. I’d go crazy if that was the case. It’s already 10 PM, I should try to leave and ask him to come back tomorrow.”

With that thought, Zhu Jia walked towards them, “Grandfather Li, Wang Chao and I should be leaving now. You should rest up early; we’ll come back tomorrow morning. Wang Chao, let’s avoid from troubling grandfather Li’s rest.”

“You can leave first.” Wang Chao spoke to Zhu Jia with a small furrowing of his eyebrows.

“You…” Zhu Jia couldn’t help but feel a little angry, but she didn’t know what to say next.

Wang Chao and Zhu Jia’s words had broken the elder out of his train of thought. His eyes shined brightly as he jolted back to awareness and the deep look in his eyes had turned slightly sour from being interrupted.

“I’m old now and my mind cannot keep up. I had a string just now, but I couldn’t connect that string to the next thought, leaving me unable to tell from heads to tails.” Raising both hands, he began to rub his temples as if he was injured.

But when Zhu Jia heard him, she instantly understood his meaning. He was rebuking her for breaking his concentration, resulting in her turning red in the face in embarrassment.

Realizing his words were slightly inappropriate, the elder laughed out loud, “Your grandfather’s words were a little too much just now, don’t take it to heart. I was not blaming you at all. But I’m sure the things we old fools say are much too boring and uninteresting to you youngsters. Go on home and come see me tomorrow morning.”

Laughing in return due to her grandfather’s humor, Zhu Jia nodded her head, “Then, grandfather Li, I’ll be leaving first. Wang Chao, go ahead and talk. When you’re done, give me a call.”

Knowing that Zhu Jia would surely have a place to live in Beijing, Wang Chao wasn’t worried and nodded his head in agreement.

After Zhu Jia had left, the elder submerged himself in his thoughts once more. After a while, his eyes opened slowly before looking with embarrassment towards Wang Chao, “Even I don’t know how to say the right words to make it clear. This is a matter that can be understood, but not described. Perhaps I am just truly old now and cannot think of the right words to describe my thoughts. I’ll rest up for the night and resume my thinking in the morning when my brain is more active. You should sleep over tonight just in case a sudden realization pops up and you are not around for me to say it.”

“That’s fine.” Wang Chao replied before taking up the spare room as given to him by the man.

The next morning, Wang Chao woke up from the bed and headed to the forests to practice. The day was only growing brighter, and the chirping from the forest was growing louder.

Just as Wang Chao was about to head back to the room to see if the elder had awakened, several cars suddenly came driving out from the gates. These cares were extremely eye-catching with their sleek black and elongated bodies. Even Wang Chao had realized that these cars belonged to the world famous and top-notched Rolls-Royce.

These types of cars was often talked about by Zhang Tong. Plenty models of the brand could be priced in the ten millions, and with the limited production of several certain models, those could cost well over a hundred million.

Aside from this car, the other cars to the side were equally luxurious: Hummer, Lincoln, and Ferrari. Wang Chao knew that each one was different in specs, but it was still extremely high priced in the end.

The four cars came to a slow stop at the flats before several people walked out of the Rolls-Royces. From the head of the group was a single impressive looking middle aged man.

This middle aged man had a powerful air exuding from each of his movements, giving him the appearance of bossing around people often.

But when Wang Chao compared this man to the municipal secretary Zhu Tianlang together, the two men’s movements and aura were completely different. It was like comparing a small magician to a grand magus.

“This man is far beyond what Zhu Tianlang is.”

With his ability to read body language, this was the only conclusion Wang Chao could reach.

Then, from the Hummer came an arrogant looking woman who wore extremely classy clothing. Wang Chao had seen many wealthy looking clientele from Zhang Tong’s company, but none of them had this woman’s air.

At the same time from the Lincoln and Ferrari came several men and women with just as an impressive of an aura.

From these group of people, Wang Chao could only label them as “Aristocratic” and “Big shots”.

Looking like they were from a single family, they each began to walk into the building with several black suited bodyguards surrounding them.

After a moment, Wang Chao walked in.

“This is a military district with many old people here. This group must be here to see their elders.” Wang Chao thought, but this was a strange thought to him still.

Just as Wang Chao entered the building, an indignant roar could be heard from the second floor.

“Out! Get out of here! You group of bastards, who told you to come visit!” The cry came out once more. Then, the sound of something flying out the window could be heard before landing on the ground.

“Grandfather has lost his mind; mother, father, I’ve said not to come but we still came. This should prove things now!” Came the shriek of a woman/

“That’s right, this old bastard!” A young man cursed out loud.

The sounds of footsteps could be heard before Wang Chao could see the high and mighty family come walking out of the building with an exasperated feeling and the youths swearing along the way.

Making way for them, the family climbed into their cars and peeled away from the district.

“Did this family come to see if their grandfather has gone crazy?” Wang Chao thought before ignoring it and walking back to the room on the third floor.

Just as Wang Chao pushed aside the doors and walked in, he saw grandfather Li and another elderly man in a military uniform talking passionately.

“Brother Li, you tell me. Did I not follow the chairman and prime minister? Did I not fight painstakingly battle after battle and threw off the oppression after being soaked in blood? Did I not exploit the people’s bureaucracy and hosts? I didn’t think that today, my own offspring would become a part of this very bureaucracy and ride on top of power and be deformed by it. By this point, they are no different than what I have fought against…”

“Brother Li, tell me. If this goes on and I die, just how will I face the comrades that were sacrificed for this cause? Wuu….wuuu…..” The elder’s voice began to choke up as he cried, “Just what face do I have to face the chairman, or the prime minister?!”

After this, the elder said no more and continued to cry like a child.

Wang Chao suddenly felt an indescribable feeling overcome him.

He began to think about the many events that had happened within the last decade.

And this man and his mentality.

Elders who had this same way of thinking had all converged in this place, what couldn’t they accomplish?

“Finding strength through passion…” Wang Chao began to mutter sis Chen’s words, “Temper the will and understand the mind…”

After grandfather Li had sent off the other elder and saw Wang Chao standing at the door muttering those words, he suddenly let out a long sigh.

“You speak correctly. This is what it means to find passion, and from passion is to find the strength to temper the will and understand the mind. This is what is truly called the three internal harmonies. What you are lacking right now is that passion to help you grow. My Chinese boxing was formed from the Long March back in 1934. I cannot teach you anything, but I can share with you my passion. However much you gain from this will be up to you.”

“Come with me.” Grandfather Li walked to his study room and pulled at cupboard, revealing a bright yellow suona.

TL Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suona

On the suona was a single red ribbon.

Doot, doot! Grandfather Li puffed up his lips and let out two short bursts to test out the suona, emitting a loud sound.

Wang Chao said nothing and continued to observe the elder.

The elder’s chest suddenly expanded, causing his robes to flutter as if plenty of snakes were wriggling around. This was clearly his breath at the works here.

A loud but melodious sound could be heard from the suona.

As Wang Chao listened, he could feel the passionate folk song being emitted from the suona. Each note that came out from the suona were like an sharp arrow that pierced through the air.

The elder’s clothes continued to move up and down with his breathes. Looking at the elder’s posture as he played the suona, he continued to listen to the melody. Wang Chao gradually began to close his eyes as if to to enjoy the music while his own chest began to move up and down with the music.

After some time, the final note was lost in the air, waking Wang Chao out from his stupor only to see the elder sit wearily on the table next to him.

“The passion from my Chinese boxing can be contained from this ballad, the ‘Seeing Off the Red Army’. You can go.”

“Your passion, your Chinese boxing, I know of it now. There is truly no equal power to this.” Wang Chao replied before walking out from the elder’s house.