Chapter 1: Crouch up and down like a galloping horse, ascend into the sky and free the body and soul (2/2)

“My name’s Tang Zichen.” The girl always had that faint smile on her.

Wang Chao discovered that this sis Tang Zichen’s face beautiful and smooth like jade, without any blemishes.

“Your foundation is no good. You’ve never practiced before. Your waist and legs are all over the place. If you’re going to learn, then I’ll teach you the horse stance.”

“Horse stance!!!!!” Wang Chao heard this and felt his head hurt: “Sis Chen, everyone knows how to do this. Do you really need to teach this?”

“Oh! Then let me see it.” Tang Zichen walked two steps and then told Wang Chao to squat down.

Wang Chao immediately threw his arms forward, moved his feet apart, and lifted his hands up. He stayed still, steady, and stable.” “Sis Chen, like this?”

Tang Zichen didn’t reply. She simply smiled as she watched him.

Soon, Wang Chao’s knees began to ache. Then, his legs began to shake. His lower back was also sore. His entire body was on fire and sweat began to form on his head.

Wang Chao knew he couldn’t go on any longer, so he stood up and rubbed his sore knee, “Sis Chen, was that right?”

Tang Zichen shook her head: “If you stay still like that, then all you’re going to do is hurt your back. Horse stance, horse stance. The important word is horse. You have to stand like a horse.”

“Stand like a horse?” Wang Chao didn’t understand.

“Have you ever watched someone ride a horse?” Tang Zichen wasn’t smiling, “When a person rides on a horse, the person will move up and down along with the horse. The horse stance originates from understanding how to ride a horse, which is why when you’re in the stance, you also have to move up and down as if you were riding a horse.”

When a person rides on a horse, the up and down strength comes from the horse, so there isn’t any martial arts that stems from the horse. But it’s different on the flat ground, your up and down strength will be as if you’ve assimilated with the horse’s body. If you stand like that without moving, your entire body’s weight will be on your knee. If you stay in that position for a long time, your knee will definitely have problems.”

“So there’s something like that?” Wang Chao never thought about that. It was just a simple posture. He had never realized that there was so much background info.

“Watch how I squat.”

Tang Zichen said as she got into a horse stance. Wang Chao saw her body lightly move up and down as if a breeze were blowing the waves.

“Come, you try.” Tang Zichen demonstrated as Wang Chao followed along.

“When squatting, the strength first goes to the sole of the foot. When rising, your toes have to be like chicken feet and claw into the ground. When your toes dig in, you’ll feel a change in your bone and muscles in your calves. Your knees will naturally rise up. When your knees rise, stretch your thighs tight, straighten your back, and breathe in. This is the up movement.”

“For the down movement, your feet will have to be like the webbed feet of ducks and geese. Your five toes have to relax. Like this, relax your knees, thighs, and back. Breathe out.”

“When gently moving up and down, your center of gravity will continuously shift. In this way, you won’t damage your body by staying in one place for too long.”

The more Wang Chao listened the more everything made sense. He repeatedly nodded his head and did as Tang Zichen said.

In the beginning, Wang Chao wasn’t able to do this up and down motion. But with Tang Zichen by his side, every time Wang Chao wasn’t in the correct position, she would kick it into place.

Every region where Wang Chao had been kicked hurt. With this pain guiding him, he was able to get into the correct position.

Your up and down motion shouldn’t be large, about an inch of distance. From beginning to end, you have to be precisely within that one inch range. The more precise the better!” Tang Zichen was very strict when she taught.

Sure enough, after learning this up and down motion, Wang Chao’s ability to stay in position went from five minutes to twenty minutes.

But after twenty minutes, Wang Chao felt his head go dizzy. This up and down motion made him feel like he was seasick. The insides of his stomach was tumbling around.

“Do you feel dizzy like you’re seasick and want to vomit?” Tang Zichen seemed to know what Wang Chao was feeling.

Wang Chao immediately nodded his head.

“You don’t need to stay in position. You can get up. The position for your lower body is correct, however your head isn’t in the right position. When you’re in stance, ascend your head into the sky.”

“What do you mean by ascend into the sky?” Wang Chao stood up and gasped for breath. After a while, that seasick feeling went away.

It’s a term used in Bagua and Xing Yi Quan. It’s difficult to explain. Just follow what I do.” Tang Zichen thought aloud, “Go to the river dam and you’ll understand!”

Outside of the park was a big river. A few years ago, they had built a dam made from reinforced concrete. The dam stood tall. There was a long and steep flight of concrete stairs to the top.

Tang Zichen grabbed Wang Chao and quickly climbed up the stairs.

Wang Chao’s knees were still unbearably sore from doing the horse stance. After being dragged and forced to climb up the dozens of concrete steps, his knees were so sore that he was almost unable to stay standing.

“Look at this river!”

Tang Zichen didn’t wait for Wang Chao to rest and pointed forward at the vast river.

Wang Chao looked and saw the raging currents surging forward, the vast waters, the bubbling waves hitting the shore, and the piles of white snow that had accumulated on the riverbanks. The scene made him feel extremely calm.

As he looked, Wang Chao felt his entire body become a lot more comfortable. His legs weren’t hurt anymore and his back stopped hurting.

“Stand tall and look far. With your view widened, you’ll feel relaxed and your fatigue will go away. This is ascension.” Tang Zichen explained the reasoning to Wang Chao as if she really were an older sister.

“When you ride on a galloping horse, your view will especially widen. If you ride a horse like this, you won’t feel tired. Using the same reasoning, when you feel seasick, stand on the deck. Feel the wind blow, look into the horizon, and you won’t feel sick anymore.

“That’s why, when you go into a horse stance, not only should you rise up and down, you also have to widen your view, stand tall and look out.”

“Only this type of horse stance is correct. All of these have their reasoning based on real life. It’s just that people often overlook them. It was our ancestors who put these together and created martial arts. Martial arts isn’t some sort of fairy tale. It’s rooted in real life. As long as you pay attention, you can turn what seems like nothing into magic.”

Wang Chao heard this and seemed to have suddenly understood many things.

He felt as if a large door he had never seen before was slowly opening up.

“I’ve told you the theory and correct posture to you. First, practice for a half a month. After half a month, I’ll wait for you here and see how much you’ve improved.” Tang Zichen finished. She then turned around and went down the stairs.