Chapter 126: The First Confrontation Between Guoshu and Gun (Second) (1/2)
Chapter 126: The First Confrontation Between Guoshu and Gun (Second)
Bang! Bang bang! Because of the silencers on the guns, the shots hadn’t been too loud, but the bullets themselves had shot straight into the cement and struck it with a disharmonious sound.
In an instant, Wang Chao had pressed himself to the ground almost as if he was doing a pushup. His hands bent at an angle as he crawled forward along with his knees in a reckless charge.
By the time the male and female gunners had stepped out of the black car, Wang Chao had already made his move. Moving in a serpentine motion, his arms and legs crawled across the ground with his chest extremely close to it. Just like how the scales of a snake would slither and slide, his body had contorted just like how a real python would slither over the ground.
Shua shua shua! His speed was absolutely astounding and gave everyone the feeling that a startled snake had suddenly darted out from the grass with a whooshing sound.
Legend has it that when a snake grows extremely strong, their entire body could stand up and their tail would act like a leg. At that moment, the snake could brace itself from even against the wind.
Although it was a legend, Wang Chao’s movements of “Snake Probing Through Grass” and “Wind Supporting Snake” were used to their maximum efficiency. His arms, legs, elbow, knee, abdomen, and chest were used in conjunction and lent strength to one another in order to scuttle over the ground as if aided by the “wind”.
And so his face had dodged the three bullets by a slight amount.
This could be said to illustrate that fact that not only was Wang Chao faste than the bullets, his eyes were extremely acute along with his reactions. In the instant the male and female shot their guns, he had seen through their firing path. In that split second where the bullets were shot out, he had darted away out of their range.
These forms of “Snake Probing Through Grass” and “Wind Supporting Snake” were a variation of the snake stance. It lied in between the practicing methods and fighting methods, but it could be used as a way to practice a technique against an opponent.
But the amount of times this could be used against an opponent was rare due to the fact that scuttling across the ground was an incredibly odd move. It was meant to dodge an attack from above right after being thrown to the ground.
It was equivalent in practicality along with the “Kip Up”, “Rising Windmill”, and “Bridge”. Only at a specific situation would these moves save one’s life.
But these two forms of the snake stances were even harder to learn than the “Kip Up” and “Rising Windmill”.
Almost effortlessly, Wang Chao had blew past seven meters towards the shooters. The bullets had barely grazed by his skin and exploded behind him in a fireworks appearance without actually hitting his body.
“A well-done snake stance! Be careful!” Yong Bao immediately saw the similarity of Wang Chao’s movements to that of a four-legged gecko that was scuttling forward at an explosive speed. Growing close to the Yong He who was on the ground some distance away, Yong He immediately let out a startled cry.
“Bang!” Wang Chao tilted his head to the side, but his nose had smelt the burning smell of metal and gunpowder very clearly.
Another bullet had practically taken off the skin of his nose.
The monk Yong He was still on the ground with both of his eyes wide opened. His monk robes were thoroughly drenched, seemingly looking powerless to maintain his strength.
His leg had been struck by Wang Chao’s “Elbow Point Punch” and smashed his bones into pieces. Even his flesh, muscles, and skin had been smashed into a circular wound as if a steam roller had gone over it.
Using the “Five Hammers of Taichi” to couple the soft Clear and Hidden Jin together into a hard rotation, his strength had been overwhelming, a feat that very few could accomplish. Even a steel plank would be smashed apart by his fist if struck by such a blow.
In practicing Taichi, one could achieve an unparalleled amount of softness. Once this softness was perfected in practice, it would nurture the way to the fierce hardness used in fighting.
When practicing, the lighter and more loose it was, the better. When fighting, the fiercer and more smashing , the better.
Originally Wang Chao was not capable of such a sufficient mastery of the domineering techniques of hard style, but because of his practice underwater, his knowledge of the surrounding areas in Xingyiquan had allowed his body to experience and understand the artistic realm Sun Lu-tang himself had once experienced.
Sun Lu-tang was a grandmaster of Xingyiquan, but after he had learned the use of force through a comprehensive mastery of the surrounding areas, he had learned the stances of “Pounding Hammer” in Taichi. From there, he was able to display a path of hardness with his Xingyiquan as well. After exchanging notes with a teacher of Taichi, Hao Weizhen, Sun Lu-tang had learned the stances of Taichi.
And after Wang Chao had exchanged notes with Chen Aiyang of the Li Style, he had gained the essence of Taichi.
Furthermore, Tang Zichen had taught Wang Chao the essence of Taichi as well. She had written in the True Record of Guoshu several stances of Taichi. First was the “Three Whips” stances, the “Single Whip”, the “Double Whip”, and the “Open and Closed Whip”. Second was the “Five Hammers”. Third was the “Seven Pounds” with the “Inner Pound”, “Chain Pound”, “Soaring Pound”, and Groundbreaking Pound”, etcetera.
Because his martial arts wasn’t pure, he didn’t practice these moves often in fear that he would learn the move in appearance, but not in substance.
The three fighting stances of Taichi were the “Whip”, “Hammer”, and “Pound”. For those without enough strength, they would not be able to convey the might of the three. They would only be able to perform a series of rather comical stances, turning “Martial Techniques” into “Dancing Techniques”.
TL Note: Martial Technique and Dancing Techniques is a pun. Both are spelt Wushu.
The “Pounding Jin” for example, when a fist strikes out, it must be like a cannon and release a recoil. At a burst, the power would jolt through the legs and into the ground, similar to that of an actual cannonfire.
Those who practiced Taichi to fight were innumerable, but those who had reached such a height were far and few. Amongst a crowd of ten million, only one or two of them would be at such a level.
For those without sufficient strength, they would only be able to cultivate health with Taichi. If they tried to fight, defeat was inevitable.
There had been many examples throughout society. One man who had practiced Taichi for 3-4 years was beaten by a man who fought with mixed martial arts for one year and a half to the point where the parents weren’t able to recognize his face.
In the last year, Wang Chao had learned the essence of Xingyiquan to the point where thunder followed his fist. He hadn’t dared used his Taichi to fight against others, however. That was due to the fact that his martial arts was not pure and he did not yet learn the essence of Taichi.
“A practitioner of Taichi does not leave for ten years” was the very embodiment of this reasoning.
The methods of “Leveraging a thousand with four hundred”, “Pushing Hands”, or “Listening Jin” were ways to practice sensibility and technique.
In an actual battle, one that wished to win with stealth would be a guerilla warfare expert in a large scale battle to ensure a ridiculously easy victory.
If one were to only learn techniques for several years, it would be strange if they weren’t beaten to a pulp if they tried to fight someone.
Yang Luchan’s nickname as “Yang the Invincible” was not because he had only used the way of pushing hands to defeat people, or to listen to Jin to send people to the ground. It was because it was unknown just how many people his hands had cudgeled to death, or how many bones he had beaten and broken, or how many inner organs he had destroyed to earn the title.
Those students who secretly trained on sandbags and lifted barbells during the Republic of China in the Central Guoshu Institute were stronger than anyone else.