109 4.33 The Path of A Warrior... Of Some Sort, I Guess... (1/2)

The Monk emerged a while later and met me at the steps of his house/temple and gestured me to follow him. He went to one of the hanging sandbags and told me to perform a boxer's stance and punch the sandbag while he held on to it.

I stood in front of the sandbag and began to take up a stance which I assumed was a boxer's stance. I pranced around a bit and threw my right hand forward in a side jab. However, it was an open-handed one and before I closed in on the sandbag I clenched it into a fist. The same goes to my left and then I got into a momentum where I was throwing overhead punches, low jabs and side hooks with my hands.

The Monk was taken aback at the force even though it seems I was just prancing around and hitting them lightly but with lightning speed. He asked me to stop and to ask a few questions.

”Did you ever had a Master before? Who taught you how to throw that kind of punch?”

”Well, no one in fact. I knew that if I used an open hand and closed into a fist before hitting the target, my arms were not rigid and locked as a normal boxer would. The strength flowed through the entire arm from the shoulders.”

I explained casually and he somehow knew I had learnt from somewhere, in which I did and would not reveal it at all. So I stubbornly said that I copied it through some Bruce Lee's action films instead.

He then asked me to perform a series of kicks in the sandbag as he held on to it to make it grounded as possible. At first, I started off with a sweeping low kick using my left and then the right leg. As I picked up the momentum I was simply kicking before the other leg had touched the ground. I left a kind of an after image when I unleashed kicks after kicks.

The below portion of the sandbag suddenly tore open due to the kicks and sand poured out from the bottom until it formed a pile on the ground.

”Stop! That is enough. Your kicks were not powerful but it was done in a quick succession that would eventually injure your opponent. I will get someone to clear up this mess. Maybe the sandbag is old and it tore apart due to wear and tear I suppose.”

The Monk explained as he ushered me away from the sandbag and to the middle of the courtyard where I would not be able to destroy anything else except myself and a tree trunk that had been used for thrusting weapons into it.

”This courtyard is an open ground, and what's between you is now a dead tree trunk that is being used to target as a human being. Rather than using a wingchun statue, it's best to use this. I want you to perform a series of kicks according to your capabilities.”

The Monk explained as he pointed to the tree trunk that was rooted to the ground as high as a man's height. I took a boxer's stance and initially used a front kick at the tree trunk. Then I switched to a mid-side kick followed by a high side kick all using my right leg first. I then twirled around and finished off with a spinning roundhouse kick. I landed on both feet and this time using my left leg to perform a side mid and high kick simultaneously and I left my leg up while at that height and slowly brought it down on the ground.

Next, I approached the tree trunk and threw a right punch before going up to the trunk using my right knee and right elbow at the same time. I then did a right elbow strike and then the left. A double fisted Buddha punch ensued and I finish it off with a Superman's left uppercut.

”It seems that even though you had claimed you learned from no Master at all, but your kicks and punches were well coordinated. Let me see your clenched fist first.”

I showed him my clenched fist and he remarked, ”This is a dragon fist that you had made. Your point of contact was this middle knuckle and not your whole fist in fact. You concentrated force into this part that would maim certain parts of the body to render it momentarily useless, like the temple of the head, the side of the neck, the muscle 2 inches away from the armpit as well as the side of the ribs and kidney area.”

”Show me your open palm next, shape it like you are going to perform a chop.”

I extended my hand, forming an open hand and closed the fingers. When I had done, he used his palm and hit against the top of the fingers and found that he was unable to break the formation of my closed fingers.

”Seems your basic hand formation is good. You are able to perform a chop or a stab by using this method alone. I may even doubt you never had such training from a Master as you are quite agile and nimble with your punches and kicks. I was wondering if you would be able to outperform when faced with two enemies at the same time.”

The Monk rubbed his chin as he looked at me and decided not to use any of his students in this experiment as he doesn't know how to gauge my strength in case I do harm them in a certain way even if they were wearing padded equipment to prevent injuries to the face and upper body.

”Never mind, forget what I had said earlier. Do you remember how to use the two hand seals I had shown you earlier? OK, take this tree trunk as an example as you channel your energy to hit this tree trunk at a distance of 5 meters, 10 meters and 25 meters respectively.”

The Monk motioned to his students to mark out a distance of 5, 10 and 25 meters away from the trunk. He then instructed someone to fetch a pail of water in case the trunk caught fire.

”Now, I would like to see you perform Kamehameha from a distance of 5 meters and so on, using half of your force ONLY ok, within the shortest possible time. Use only HALF of your force ONLY.”

The Monk emphasises only to use half of my force to exert the Kamehameha as I stood at the 5-meter mark. I readied my stance and held the two hands together at the side of me as I gathered the spiritual energies around me.

In short, I had gathered about 5 seconds of the energy when I unleashed it towards the tree trunk. A red sphere emerges from my hands and it slammed against the tree trunk. Splinters splattered from the tree trunk when the energy sphere slammed towards it and the Monk inspected the damage done.

I was told to move to the 10 meters mark and to repeat the process. I stood with a horse stance and collected the spiritual energies around me and unleash it towards the trunk. It travelled with the same speed and slammed against the trunk, sending splinters again this time.

The Monk inspected the damage once again and was told to increase the energy at the 25 meters mark in which I did repeat the whole process once again. This time somehow, the energy seems to be intensified and when I unleashed it, it slammed against the tree trunk with such force.

”Boom...!!!” the red energy sphere slammed into the tree trunk and parts of it were smouldering. Many splinters and pieces of the tree trunk was broken up and strewn across the floor. The Monk signalled me to stop and gestured me forward to view the damage.

”I guess I need to use another tree trunk for the next 2 experiments. Do you think so?”

The Monk asked while I replied that the first-hand seal of the Tora doesn't require a new set of a tree trunk. I explained that the moment I formed the hand seal, it was almost ready to perform the Fire Release.

”OK, let me see it since this is an open area and I don't think harm would be in anyone's way.”

”Ok, let me try on the 10-meter mark to be safe. I never tried this before only to feel the intensifying energy whenever I made the seal.”

I sauntered over to the 10-meter mark and got ready for the Monk to signal to me. When he raised his hand, I quickly made the hand seal with my hand. Forms of energy began to almost immediately build up and I aimed at the tree trunk in less than 3 seconds after I made a hand seal.

A stream of fire emerges from my hand seal and it hit the tree trunk and it caught fire! There was no need for any concentration, for a soon the hand seal was made, the energy inside seems ready to be fired.

I sprinted up to the Monk and by that time he had doused the fire with a bucket of water nearby.

”I was standing here and I can feel the searing heat that came out from that hand seal I taught you. How did you manage to build the Fire Release almost immediately?”

”I am not too sure, Monk. It was like the energy was already in my body and as soon as I made the hand seal, it was ready to go. There is no concentration at all and the energy just seems raring to go at a moments notice. I don't feel tired at all.”