Chapter 152

Romance of Dragons and Snakes Chapter 152

Wang Chao and Cao Jingjing came to a stop near a secluded part of the forest.

“Try the Hurricane Kick again.” Wang Chao watched Cao Jingjing ready herself before signaling her to do so.

“En.” Cao Jingjing rotated her body by twisting her waist and kicking out to fly high into the sky before doing the final kick. Pa! There was a very clear motion of the leg kicking out in midair.

Wang Chao watched without speaking before extending out a hand in the manner of a snake. Levelled at his chest, the other fist then pressed against his waist. One leg was out front while the other was behind him. This was the posture for the Drilling Fist of the snake stance, but without movement.

Cao Jingjing watched for several minutes, but Wang Chao didn’t move. Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask, Wang Chao dropped his stance. “Do you see now? Stand in this position and you’ll be fine.”

“Stand without moving?”

“What use is that then?” Cao Jingjing questioned in confusion, but she adopted the position anyways.

“You have the strength right now, but the JIn in your body is rough. It isn’t detailed enough. With this training, your Jin will be refined a bit. This way, when you kick, no matter how you jump, you will not injure yourself.” Wang Chao explained.

“Standing doesn’t mean you won’t move, but that you will move slightly. You will not move the body, but the ligaments and muscles.”

Wang Chao and Cao Jingjing both adopted the same posture. “The way how kicks work in Taekwondo is to explode with power from the heel tendons before transmitting it through the leg and into the waist. In that moment’s outburst, you kick relentlessly. What you are doing now is to slow down the movements and feel the process of that instantaneous burst. It is similar to the slow motion view of a camera.”

“Move the muscles in your leg tendons first. Then the calf, knee cap, thigh, and then the waist. Only move the muscles and not the body. Use your mind to direct this movement.”

“By slowing down the movements to a spasm and then to a slow spasm to the waist, you will slowly feel the rhythm. Like how they sift through sand in a construction site, the more you sift, the fine the sand is. A big movement is not the same a small one. By this way, you will learn to make use of your muscles and strengthen the ligaments. When you repeat the kick in the future, you will not injure your ligaments as much as before in that burst.”

“Oh!” Cao Jingjing had been very attentive and stood still without trying to move her body just like Wang Chao had said before slowly shifting from the leg to waist.

“No no, you must learn to be sensitive. If you are not, you will not learn. In your movements, your spirit and intent must follow the slow movements of the muscles.” Wang Chao saw that there was something wrong in her movements and hurriedly moved to correct her.

“What is the spirit and intent?” Cao Jingjing asked.

“Eh, that is….” Wang Chao thought, “When you emit power from your leg, it will be like someone with a sharp blade is about to cut into your skin. Your skin will begin to shudder. That is what it means to be sensitive, and what it means to have spirit and intent in that area. When you move in that area, that area must feel sensitive in order to count. If you do not, then search carefully. Find the sensitivity, and feel martial arts.”

“Okay. Practice by yourself in this position. Even after fatigue sets in, do not relax. Do this for at least two hours every day, and I guarantee that you will see a clear improvement in becoming an expert of Taekwondo after a year.”

Wang Chao had taught the authentic spirit and method of posture training to Cao Jingjing. Turning coarse Jin into refined Jin was really like sifting through sand. It was a genuine way to cultivate the ligaments, tendons, and muscles.

This was the stance for the Drilling Fist. Taken for posture training, it was perfect for feeling the slightest of movements in the muscles of the leg.

Wang Chao had not taught Cao Jingjing the Three Integrals. That involved the vertebrae and was the quintessence of Chinese boxing. It was also the hardest to understand and could not be taught in a single moment. But the theory behind posture training was easy to explain. Whether or not she could understand it, it was up to her own talent.

“Is this all? There’s nothing else?” Cao Jingjing asked from her stance.

“That is all. Did you think there was something more?” Wang Chao smiled without a smile.

“Isn’t there something like the meridians, acupoints, manipulating Qi, or meditation or something along those lines?”

“Hahaha, those things are mainly a trick. The muscles and acupoints, when one’s skill reaches a high level, they become so familiarized with their body, that every inch of it can be seen without a problem. When one’s martial art reaches the peak, they are able to feel these things. To talk about these things from the get go is most definitely false. Did you think martial arts was some sort of secretive topic? As Bai Juyi once said, if it can be read to an illiterate granny without a problem, it is a good poem.”

“I thought it was at least.” Cao Jingjing’s eyes flashed with emotion, “There’s some in our school that practices Qigong. Whatever they mutter everyday, it’s useless. I could beat them with a single leg.”

Wang Chao scratched his nose, “Taekwondo is considered a style of martial arts as well. The kicking method it has, Taichi has some of it as well. But it is unlike the slow Taichi of today. In the past, Taichi once had the splits, the quaking leg, jumps, and midair turns that was more like gymnastics. In those times, these movements were very prone to ligament and muscle damage. So posture training was needed to slowly cultivate the internal parts so that one wouldn’t become a cripple after time. Use the mind and spirit to slowly move the muscles and bones and practice the art of releasing power with the muscles to feel sensitive on the skin. This is the most highest essence of martial arts. With your foundation, after two or three years standing without fail, you’d be very close to the reaching the peak of Clear Jin.”

“Your basics isn’t half-bad, and you practice quite well.” Wang Chao encouraged her while explaining even more. “But let me tell you, posture training is to cultivate Taekwondo and their rotating kicks is for practice and not for fighting. Using Taekwondo to injure would admittedly beat the average person. But against an actual practitioner, there is too many holes to not lose.”

“The Hurricane Kick for example, takes at least two seconds from the leap to the kick in midair. In those two seconds, one could be killed multiple times.”

Cao Jingjing stuck her nose up, “Teach me the fighting methods then.”

“I can’t do that. Teaching the fighting methods could kill a person. If you really want to learn, then wait until you graduate and reach the peak of Clear Jin first.” Wang Chao backpedaled quickly.

“What do you mean by the peak of Clear Jin?” Cao Jingjing asked again.

Wang Chao spoke very naturally, “Have you seen those Olympic champions? Somersaulting, rings, and flexible jumps without an equal, they are said to be close to the top of Clear Jin.”

“Che, are you telling me they’re experts of the Wulin? They haven’t even done this nonsensical breathing or posture of yours.” Cao Jingjing interrogated.

“They’re not experts of the Wulin, as they do not understand the fighting methods. But they do have martial arts to them. If you give me a member of an Olympic gymnastics team, I can cultivate them into an expert of the Wulin in three months. Do you think a wealthy person would care to do this?”

Wang Chao clicked his fingernail, “As for them not doing this posture training, it’s rather simple. If you have a massage specialist on hand to give you a massage each and every day, then this posture training wouldn’t be needed. But let me warn you, a true and brilliant masseur is even more rare than an expert of the Wulin.”

“But even then, a massage affects the outside and not the inside. Even if the masseur is good, a sprain is likely to occur.”

“I feel that you are speaking far too simple and frank. It’s not like the mysterious nature that I thought martial arts to be.” Cao Jingjing spoke.

Wang Chao turned his eyes towards the deeper parts of the forest and spoke leisurely, “If you want me to be mysterious, I can do that as well. The study of martial arts has many terms to it. However, to be able to use the simplistic lifestyle to explain the profound, that is what it means to be a master that is truly living with a combination of both martial arts and life. If I taught you like that, you would not be able to understand, and your martial arts would never be perfected.”

“Are you saying that you are a master of martial arts?” Cao Jingjing asked.

Wang Chao did not answer. Instead, he looked towards a tree 20 meters away and stated, “Friend, after hearing this much, you choose not to show your face still?”

“Cough.” A voice could be heard from behind the tree before a figure walked out in front of it.