Chapter 116

Romance of Dragons and Snakes Chapter 116

Just as Lin Yanan appeared, Cheng Shanming leapt into action!

Crash! His spear had made an arc as it propelled him forward like an arrow leaving the bowstring. In an instant, he had cleared the pond, pavilion, and stairs only to land right in front of Lin Yanan to grab at her.

Cheng Shanming’s martial arts had already reached an unbelievable height. In that leap, he had been like a cheetah chasing after a goat. With the borrowed momentum from his spear, his speed had multiplied. Even the soldiers on site wouldn’t be able to react to this..

An expert of the Wulin was suited to become an assassin. In close distances, a man was as strong as a nation. When the distance was closed, then even a gun was of no use.

Bang! A figure from behind Lin Yanan immediately let loose the sounds of thunder. With the air exploding with the sound, his fist had flew towards Cheng Shanming.

“Where did an expert like this come from!” Cheng Shanming was startled. His arm immediately wound around the fist and tried to twist it in such a manner to dissolve the Jin within it.

“Master Cheng, stay your hand!”

“You? Are these men yours?”

As the two men squared off, Cheng Shanming suddenly realized the fist he had struck against had belonged to Wang Chao.

As soon as he heard Wang Chao call out for him to stop, he hadn’t continued his attack. His body landed on the ground while the gun in his hand pointed downwards before spinning around his finger.

“What a guy, so master Cheng is an expert capable of using a gun!” Lin Yanan had been startled at that moment, but every soldier with her had already gathered behind Cheng Shanming’s back.

“Hurry up and leave this place, the police have already been notified! Get out of here and regroup at our old location!” Lin Yanan looked at his watch and cried out a warning.

“Master Cheng, we bear no ill will. Let us go, I’ll explain everything later.” Wang Chao spoke.

Lin Yanan turned around to go while all the other soldiers flew into action and disappeared without a trace in a blink of an eye.

“What a swift group of soldiers. I didn’t think that you would have so much influence like this.” Cheng Shanming looked at Wang Chao with his beard floating in the wind. Placing his gun in his sleeves, he turned around to retrieve his spear before also washing his hands of the blood by the pond.

“Let’s go.”

As the three walked out, Boulder had somehow managed to bring out a rather ordinary looking car for Cheng Shanming to enter with his spear.

“Would it be possible for you to send me to the piers?” Cheng Shanming spoke calmly.

“Of course, but master Cheng, I came here with a request for this time. Would it be possible for you to temporarily hold off your fight with master Chen Aiyang next month?” Wang Chao and Lin Yanan looked at Cheng Shanming.

“Haha, I was originally planning on not fighting next month. The Chinese Revival Society had forced my brother to fight to his death, just why would I let such a thing slide? I was already planning on returning to Canada tonight, when you came rushing in, I had already killed those sentries on the outside.” Cheng Shanming laughed.

“Master Cheng, you are quite adept with the gun.” Lin Yanan spoke, “Are you trained in marksmanship?”

Cheng Shanming stroked his beard for a moment before sighing, “The ancestor of our Cheng-sect Baguazhang was killed by gunfire. How could we not take that as lesson? Hundreds of years later, foreigners came with their strong boats, cannons and guns and blew apart the gates to our nation. We took that as a lesson that would never be forgotten. Even us martial artists must strive to move forward with the times to keep up with the tides of the modern era. Otherwise, we will be sapped away by the tides and disappear without a trace. It is especially important one learns how to use a gun overseas. No matter how strong one is in martial arts, they will be a dead man nonetheless. Being able to use a gun and being able to use martial arts makes one have very few men capable of fighting them in this world.”

“I hadn’t imagined that amongst the Chinese overseas, the martial artists would have such an open-minded person as master Cheng.” Lin Yanan remarked.

“There is no other choice. With the pressure of living, one has no other choice but to adapt to live. One has to adapt to the environment, or else risk the environment rejecting you.” Cheng Shanming’s eyes had a cloudy expression to them. “We practitioners of Baguazhang must study how to use a gun. Study both martial arts and firearm and combine footwork with marksmanship so that you may stand strong with your feet on the ground. When I was 20 years old, I had already practiced shooting a gun for three years. To be honest, between both areas, I am most pleased with my marksmanship.”

“Master Cheng, the path of Chinese Boxing has many different variations to it. Even if one is a genius, they will almost certainly never reach a level of supremacy, a realm where it is instinctual to avoid danger, and a realm where the spirit comes back in full circle. If one is concentrated in his path, how could he seek another path? One must try to attain as high of a realm of martial arts as they can or risk having no hope.”

Wang Chao’s eyebrows furrowed together.

Staring at Wang Chao for a moment before shaking his head, Cheng Shanming spoke, “Attaining the utmost Way with martial arts has always been a hope with no substance. Three hundred years ago, those grandmasters who have reached such a stage can be counted on a single hand. Reaching the highest levels of martial arts requires talent, diligence, concentration, and most importantly, luck. There is no shortage to talent, and neither is there in diligence and concentration. However, people who have all of the above are truly lacking in numbers. I am not like them, I can only move on to find another way.”

“To attain the utmost Way of martial arts requires cultivating the body. But in the end, one cannot gain immortality and fly towards the heavens. It is nothing more than a dream that cannot be attained in reality. To have a dream as a youngster is good, but it is bad to be detached from reality.”

Wang Chao looked at Cheng Shanming for a moment before suddenly saying, “Master Cheng, please excuse me for speaking bluntly. Your martial arts is beyond mine, and your Jin has already attained the Transforming Jin. But this is the accumulation of the many breakthroughs you’ve managed over the years. By now, you are 40 years old, correct?”

“Correct, I am 42 years old this year.” Cheng Shanming’s eyes flickered as he was trying to figure out what Wang Chao was getting at.”

“Your martial arts may be better than mine, but in a battle to the death, your inspiration does not compare to mine. Even if we fought again, you would lose the upper hand.”

Wang Chao’s sudden words had made Lin Yanan startled with surprise.

“With the tides of time and the barrage of firearms, your confidence in Chinese boxing has wavered. When your confidence wavers, how could you speak of having more inspiration or spirit? Even if things were truly like this, we martial artists must carry this thought over our hearts. If we have hope, do we need dreams? How could one press forward without this inspiration? In truth, knowing that it is impossible is where we practitioners gain inspiration.”

“You also speak correctly however. A practitioner must be determined in order to fight with reality, even if it means to sacrifice one’s life. Thus, luck plays a major factor in this. It would seem that I am a person of determination and luck then.”

Cheng Shanming grew silent. After some time, he finally spoke, “Just who are you?”

“I am Chinese of course. A man of China.”

Cheng Shanming’s eyes lit up, “I’ve got it, so you’re…”

The car came to a stop as it reached the piers.

Dismounting from the car, Cheng Shanming turned to Wang Chao, “I have taken the side-route and have no luck guiding me. I have comprehended many thing with my fists that cannot be left in North America. The essence of the Cheng school of Baguazhang must remain within our homelands. I gift them to you in hopes that it will help you move forward.”

Cheng Shanming hadn’t said to pass on, but rather, to gift. Clearly, he had begun to see Wang Chao as a man of the same generation as he.