Chapter 3: With a dragon like vertebrae, focus the center of gravity and spike the hair (2/2)

“Little idiot, all of the sweat has been forced out.” Tang Zichen spoke to the amazed Wang Chao.

“Sis Chen, I was looking at your stance but I didn’t see any fierce swings, just how did you release so much strength?” Wang Chao asked curiously.

“Little idiot, when fighting, one must be calm. When one is rushed, then the internal heat will force too much sweat outwards for the body to deal with internally.

Tang Zichen continued to speak, “There is a mnemonic for this, an enemy is one you can set fire to. When a person is anxious, they immediately begin to sweat and lose all of their strength. But when a person sweats, it becomes useless to try and gather Qi. That is why Cheng Tinghua spoke that when fighting, you must focus it on your hand. When you start to emit heat, close off all of the pores on your body except for on your hand. Have you ever seen a high powered faucet before? It is the same concept.”

“When anxious, the entire body will sweat, this is the principle of ‘Intent and Qi”. But if you force the sweat from only the hands, then it is the principle of ‘Qi and Strength’.”

“Intent and Qi….Strength and Qi…so there was something like this…?” Wang Chao nodded his head. He had already lived for 16 years, but he had never heard of such a thing like this before.

“The posture I am going to teach you will allow you to control your pores. This is a true physical martial art stance.”

And so Tang Zichen had Wang Chao remain in the bayonet holding position.

“I taught you the horse stance last time to strengthen your legs and toes. Today, what I will teach you will strengthen your vertebrae as well as teach you how to control your pores. Pay close attention to where I point.”

Tang Zichen placed her finger at the part near the hindbrain of Wang Chao and inch by inch, she slowly started to push against the vertebrae. With each inch she went down, Wang Chao could feel his entire body and vertebrae being straightened.

At the same time, the vertebrae movement had caused both his skeleton and muscles to straighten as well. He could feel heat flowing from within his body before coming out as sweat.

Suddenly, Tang Zichen’s finger came to rest as his tailbone.

Wang Chao’s center of gravity began to focus at the end of his tailbone as if he was like a cat with its back arched. Goosebumps began to appear all over his body as the heat within his body began to rush outwards.

“Feel each joint of the vertebrae from your head to tailbone. Head, body, tail, the three parts of the body. This is called the three integrals of the body. An animal can use its tail to provide balance as well as for any fierce movements along with each of their hair popping up with ease. Since humans no longer have a tail, we cannot do the same thing.”

“The horse stance is to stand without a foundation like a horse, the three integrals is to stand without a foundation without a tail!”

“The center of gravity in the three integrals of the body is at your tailbone as like a cat with its tail stepped on. If you do not feel your hair exploding, then even if you stand like this for a hundred years, it will be useless.”

When Tang Zichen had been pushing against his vertebrae from his head to his tailbone, Wang Chao had felt as if he had just came out from the steaming room with his head all dizzy. But with the cold wind that just blew across him, he felt awake.

Wang Chao immediately told this sensation to sis Chen who nodded her head, “Not bad, this follows the same principle of taking a hot shower. When one takes a hot shower, they are surrounded by hot air which opens up the pores. The vital energy will gradually be leaked out of the body and so you begin to sweat.”

When the vital energy is siphoned away, people will react to them in different ways. Those with a weaker physique will instantly feel dizzy, have chest pains, or be short of breath. That is all because of the vital energy being siphoned away.

“But at that moment, when they step out of the hot shower and are hit with a cold wind, the human body will react to the stinging cold and develop goosebumps. Humans will regain their spirit and be awakened once more, thus preventing the vital energy from escaping the body.”

“This type of logic was figured out a long time ago from our predecessors which gave rise to a chant, ‘To refine essence into Qi is to bathe, to feel the Qi return is to feel the cold wind.”

“The vertebrae is the median of the human body and splits the body into two major parts. When the backbone gets exercise, then the entire body is exercised. When your entire body emits heat, then right when sweat is about to be produced, the vertebrae is the cause. The principle of acupuncture and moxibustion follows this same concept, but they use needles while the three integrals uses the vertebrae to stimulate the body. One focuses within, the other focuses on the outside.”

“A true expert does not sweat when he practices. It is only when killing someone should one sweat.”

After finishing up her explanation, she took out a heavy metal card from her pocket, “This is the posture of the three integrals. I’ve already explained the reasoning behind it; pushing the joints helps you grasp the fundamentals. Go back and practice by yourself. When winter break comes, come to the 18th building by Lake Tianxing and look for me.”

“Your sister has some things to take care of, so I can’t teach you right now.”

“Use this to get in.” Handing the card over to Wang Chao, Tang Zichen said, “The password is XXXXXXXXXX. With this card, you’ll be able to enter.”

“If you can show great progress with it, then find me and I’ll teach you something new. If you can’t, then throw away the card and don’t look for me.” Tang Zichen spoke seriously.

“Sis Chen, what is considered good progress?!” Wang Chao cried out with worry. After so much help from her, Wang Chao had already considered her as a bigger sister, so he couldn’t help but speak out in a hurry.

“When you can feel your temple swell a bit, that is when you can find me.”