Chapter 20: Tang Zichen’s autobiography in the book (1/2)

Chapter 20: Tang Zichen’s autobiography in the book

Ten bundles of paper bills were seated on the bed as Wang Chao sat down and stared at it for a long moment. With an equally long sigh, he began to clean it up before wrapping it up in newspapers and stowing it underneath his bed. His actions were the same as that of a miserly landlord.

But he couldn’t be blamed for such an action. He was still a regular high schooler who had never seen so much money in his life.

“True enough, the restrictions on one’s life gives raise to evil thoughts. If I want to change these evil thoughts, then I first have to change my way of living.” Wang Chao thought. The thoughts he had of killing Cao Jingjing and then Cao Yi had bothered him to no end afterwards.

“Martial arts should not feed one’s mouth. Your mind must be vast and forgiving, but do not stand to be insulted….” Tang Zichen’s words from before were suddenly recalled into his mind.

“Sis Chen definitely isn’t any regular person. If I want to see her in the future, I can’t be this cowardly. I need more power and more money!” After Tang Zichen had left, her silhouette had still remained within Wang Chao’s mind and captivated him.

“The changes I have now, it was all because of what sis Chen gave me. I definitely have to have the power to help her, I have to grow stronger.”

“Alright, no more thinking. I might as well think about martial arts.” After calming himself, he began to earnestly think about what he had learned from the battle.

That had been his first true combat experience, but the opportunity to fight wasn’t there. A single fist had caused the long haired male to be sent flying when he was least expecting it, and so this did not count as a true fight. And the fight with Cao Yi had been unfair as well. Cao Yi had been weary after using all his energy from the previous fight, that was why the Swimming Body from Bagua Zhang had proved to be so effective.

These two fights were not fights where both combatants were on equal standings.

“Clear Jin, Hidden Jin and Transforming Jin…considering my current level, Clear Jin is still a long ways ahead of me. While I had made that crisp sound while using the “Three Pace Pounding Fist”, it had only happened after I used my entire body and a long piece of land to issue power. In a real combat experience, I won’t have enough time or that much space. Even then, that single Pounding Fist Jin took a toll on my body, I wouldn’t be able to do it twice. When sis Chen taught me, she had made that crisp sound with ease; I’m still far away from her level.”

“As for Hidden Jin, even moving would be too difficult. The Qi would be burst past the pores and be lost, unlike the principle of sweating only when killing.”

From his own strength, he analyzed his fight and thought about the different stages of Jin he was working towards to, only to conclude he was still far away from it.

When he thought about the Hidden Jin, Wang Chao jumped down from his bed and straightened his vertebrae. Swelling all of the pores on his body, he made a few slow moments as he focused the Qi around his body before trying to expel it from his hands only.

Bang! A palm slammed against the wall as Wang Chao slackened his vertebrae and diverted his center of gravity to force the energy to rush out from his palms. Trying to combine the principles of Clear and Hidden Jin in his palm strike, his goal was to try and split the wall.

Huuu! Huuuu! Wang Chao gave up. As soon as the energy left after the strike, his entire body slackened as sweat began to appear through every pore on his body.

As his entire body began to grow weak, the sensation of collapsing grew stronger. Wang Chao’s body couldn’t muster any strength at all.

“How frustrating!”

Sitting on the bed once more, he thought to himself, “I shouldn’t think about expelling the energy. When I do, all of it becomes scattered, aren’t I just seeking for death now?”

A person who practiced inner martial arts required their hair to spike, their goosebumps to appear all over their iron like skin while able to defend against any attack. At the same time, they would need to regulate the amount of water they had in their body without any of it leaking out so that they would be able to fight for an extended period of time without tiring. After spiking all the hair and focusing their entire concentration, then they would be able to detect even a single blade of grass being blown.

This was a good thing, but if one were to try to abuse this method, then in the case that their pores could no longer contain the Qi inside, then the Qi would be forced out as water, plummeting one’s life into a critical state.

When tempering one’s body, slowly shadowbox so that no Qi would be forced out. Then, transform the Qi to rotate within the body, and under the control of the practitioner, there would be no further harm.

But in a fierce battle, a balance between the two would not be met.

As for expelling Hidden Jin during a battle, it was the same as expelling fire outwards. As it burns the other person, the owner itself would face some danger as well. The majority of the time if one didn’t hit the other person, then they would kill themselves.

“It’s no wonder that the rumors said that when Bruce Lee reached the pinnacle of Clear Jin, his attacks were so brilliant it stunned everyone. But when he had an accident when cultivating Hidden Jin, he died.”

“An accident, what a convenient word to use!” Wang Chao spoke after experimenting with himself. After this, he had felt a deep respect for the word.

Flipping through Tang Zichen’s True Record of Guoshu, there was an excerpt on both Clear and Hidden Jin: