Chapter 32

Romance of Dragons and Snakes Chapter 32

Swapping out his clothing, Wang Chao took a cab to the university city in Chengdong.

Wang Chao knew that Zhao Xinglong was studying at the province’s media institute that was mostly filled with university girls. The very moment Wang Chao stepped onto campus, he felt a light yet lively air of youthfulness wash over him.

He could see several males flirt shamelessly with females under the shade of several trees. On the other side, he could also see several university girls walking in a hurry with a sweet fragrance trailing behind after them. This fragrance was something that Wang Chao could smell–something he felt was quite appealing.

“If I could ask, do you know where a Zhao Xinglong might be?”

Wang Chao asked several students, but each one had only shook their heads, showing that they were not familiar with such a person.

“You’re looking for Zhao Xinglong?” Just as Wang Chao was asking the thirteenth student, a light sounding voice could be heard from behind. Turning his head, he could only see a female student with a pink blouse, blue skirt, and crystallic transparent sandals walking towards him with several books in hand.

Upon seeing the face of this female student, Wang Chao felt that her appearance was rather beautiful. She was like a depiction of beauty in the past ages.

“Miss, do you know where Zhao Xinglong is?” Wang Chao tore his eyes away from her and smiled with a gentle expression.

“Are you looking for him?” The female student looked at Wang Chao for a moment before deciding that he was harmless. “Every Saturday he likes to go to the mountains in the back. I was just on my way there to read a book, let me lead you to him.”

“Thanks.” Wang Chao smiled calmly.

“No need for thanks.”

With the female leading the way to the mountains, they had quickly reached a shady mountain path. After a while, the forest by the path grew larger and larger. Benches could be seen installed every so often with several cemeteries scattered here and there. There were even a couple of students either studying or flirting with their sweethearts.

Halfway up the mountain, a large forest of Camphor trees could be seen before the female spoke, “Oh, Zhao Xinglong is inside.” With that, she turned around to go back to one of the pavilions a while back.

Nodding his head, Wang Chao could see the silhouette of a person deep within the forest. Walking in, Wang Chao could see that it was Zhao Xinglong who was wearing a single red sleeveless and was practicing against a tree. Hitting the stump with his elbows, shoulders, and even knee, the tree could be seen constantly swaying. Fragments of the tree could be seen chipping away with each strike as well.

Just as Wang Chao entered the forest, Zhao Xinglong could sense him right away and instantly went on guard. But the moment he saw that it was Wang Chao, his face took on a genuine smile.

“Don’t loosen up so quickly, let’s spar!” Wang Chao immediately called out a greeting to him.

“Alright!” Zhao Xinglong called back eagerly. Seeing Wang Chao had already moved into position, he immediately flew into position for the “Leaning Mountain” and released his power.

Wang Chao didn’t make a move to dodge and instead bent his knees and threw his arms aside. This movement had forced his arms into a parabolic shape that was perfectly aligned with Zhao Xinglong’s shoulders.

This was the standard way to issue power in Xingyi’s Crossing Fist, Bagua’s Returning Body Palm, and Taichi’s way of throwing.

When Zhao Xinglong had made contact, his center of gravity was instantly thrown into disarray and began to stumble as if he was drunk. With a tiny shudder, he crouched down to regain his footing and threw an elbow at Wang Chao’s chest. Waiting for Wang Chao to leap back, he sent another elbow towards his face.

Wang Chao stood his ground and swung both arms out as if enveloping Zhao Xinglong. Using some strength, he made contact with Zhao Xinglong’s strike.

One of Zhao Xinglong’s strikes had been rendered useless after Wang Chao had connected with it. Similar to a building being demolished, his arm swung down uselessly, but that did nothing to prevent him from charging still.

The Crossing Jin was like the support that was overturned.

“Not good!” Right after Wang Chao had manipulated his force and grew close, Zhao Xinglong could only feel a cool feeling from his ribs as Wang Chao stabbed at it, so he had instinctively brought his hands up to guard against it.

Just like when he was practicing with the mercury balls, Wang Chao’s hands on Zhao Xinglong’s ribs had given him control of his body. With a push, Zhao Xinglong’s leg was swept up into the air.

Pa! Zhao Xinglong’s legs left the ground as if he was a floating scarecrow before slamming into a giant tree five steps away.

But fortunately for Zhao Xinglong, his instincts had been extremely keen. Before he could hit the tree, his hand slammed behind him so that he could brace himself. After hitting the tree, his legs stamped on the ground in an attempt to steady himself.

“How is this possible?” Zhao Xinglong couldn’t believe it. Running at Wang Chao once more, he was immediately sent flying back unsteadily.

After several more attempts, Zhao Xinglong stopped trying to charge at him with a dismayed expression.

“This is an application of a skill that I’ve grew proficient with. It is not true martial arts.” Wang Chao consoled him. “If you haven’t studied the Jin of Taichi before, then you won’t understand the principle behind it and will definitely be at a disadvantage. Once you know, then you’ll understand this is merely a cheap trick. I didn’t have anything to do today, so I came to talk.”

“Talk about what?” Zhao Xinglong asked.

“You’ve fought in the underground fighting rings by the coast, what’s it like over there? Are there any strong people?” Wang Chao asked.

“Ah, so that’s your question.” Zhao Xinglong looked for a nice place to sit down before going into his explanation.

“I fought in the Guangdong region, the Chaozhou prefecture to be exact. The people in Shantou love to fight and gamble. There are plenty of bosses that find this to be an exhilarating experience so they search everywhere for people to bet on. Practically every city has an underground fighting arena, and every area has an underground gambling ring. Within the arenas, millions of RMB can be won, and even tens of million could be won. In these places, the honest are mixed in with the dishonest. People of every road of life gather here; people from Vietnam, Taiwan, and even Hong Kong can be seen. Even the types of fighters are varied. There are several experts that are partnered with some bosses to earn plenty of funding. I’ve heard that the Chenshi Corporation in southern China once made a bet with the Huaxing Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Several hundred bosses from industries like real estate and retail had taken part on both sides. The final capital was well over two billion RMB in the end. With both sides sending in their best fighters, in the end, the Chenshi Corporation ended up winning the entire sum.”

“Oh, what type of expert? Have you fought with them before?” Wang Chao asked curiously.

Zhao Xinglong shook his head, “In that area, I am only a third or second-rate fighter in a small arena. The boss however, was a rich and influential person.”

“What type of experts are there, what discipline do they practice?” Wang Chao asked once more.

“In that major bet, I heard they had talents that came once every decade, but I didn’t see them for myself. However, I did hear that they had fought on top of a giant tanker. The Huaxing Chamber of Commerce had a top notched boxer Zhang Guangming, and the Chenshi Corporation had Chen Aiyang. But in the final moments, Zhang Guangming had suffered from Chen Aiyang’s Hidden Jin. With a final splurt of blood, he died in that half hour.”

“Hidden Jin?” Wang Chao was shocked, “What type of expert doesn’t exist then?”

“The Yuxing Corporation in Hong Kong had a martial artist named Ma Hongjun. This man was around 35 years old, but he had mastered Xingyi, Cha Quan, Tantui, Pigua, Chuo Jiao and Wing Chun. Three of the corporations in Taiwan had even sent over Liu Jiajun who practices both the Eight Extreme Fists and Tongbei. Even his Xingyi was far better than mine. There are also the three tigers of Guangdong: Zhang Wei, Xu Zhen, and Dai Jun. However, there were also the people from southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar. The publically renowned person has to still be Chen Aiyang from the Chenshi Corporation. He is a practitioner of Taichi and is proficient in several other disciplines. It’s said his level of martial arts has reached such a high level of skill that once for demonstration, he was able to reduce a porcelain teacup to powder just by pinching it. Whomever is hit by his Hidden Jin will surely not survive.”

“Are there that many experts?” Wang Chao asked.

“There’s a large amount of experts. These are merely just the tip of the iceberg. But I only know the group within the Hainan coastal area, as for the other areas within China, I don’t know them.”

“I’ve still a long ways to go then.” Wang Chao clenched his hands tightly. “Let’s go eat something then. Let’s eat and talk until we’re happy!”

Zhao Xinglong quickly stood up, “Fine with me!”

The two walked out of the campus and into a nearby restaurant. Walking onto the second floor and ordering several dishes, they had even ordered several bottles of icy beers.

When Wang Chao had heard so much about the inner workings of the underground, he grew endlessly excited and eager. But as Zhao Xinglong continued to drink, he began to say more and more.

Suddenly, a noisy commotion could be heard downstairs.

“What are you doing? If you don’t leave, I’ll call the cops!” Wang Chao suddenly heard a familiar voice. Looking downstairs, he saw a group of semi naked males with a dragon tattoo on their shoulders. The group was surrounding a dinner table that had four females and two males sitting by it. As for the voice that Wang Chao had heard, it belonged to the female student that had helped Wang Chao find Zhao Xinglong earlier.