Chapter 139: Inheritor (1/2)

Chapter 139: Inheritor

No matter if one was a practitioner or not, everyone knew of the eight words in the classics.

These four words were, “Let the breath sink into the dantian.”

But what it meant for the “Breath to sink into the dantian”, even amongst ten thousand practitioners, only a small handful would be able to grasp the concept.

The dantian was a very mysterious thing. It wasn’t an organ within the human bod, but it wasn’t the muscles, flesh, or bone either. Every man knew of it, but not every man knew just what it actually was.

When Wang Chao had explained to Huo Ling’er, he had truly explained the traditional essence of internal martial arts.

In the internal branch of martial arts, the foundation was for the “Hair and skin to attack.”

For the hair and skin to attack, “Letting the breath sink into the dantian” and “Lifting the butt to move the tailbone” were the most primary steps.

The dantian wasn’t the lower abdomen, but three inches below it. It was connected almost intimately with the genitals, and so when a person urinates, the body would tremble and shake regularly. At that moment, the hair and skin would stand upright like a rooster ruffling its feathers. It was by accident that this concept of letting the breath sink into the dantian was founded.

In the moment the urine was discharged from the body, it would cause the breath to sink down. When the breath sunk into the dantian, the hair and skin would attack.

In the same vein of thought, when a person defecates, it affects the muscles in the sphincter. Inadvertently, it would cause the tailbone to rise, and the hair and skin would stand as well.

The dantian and the tailbone are both connected to the two major channels of the meridians, the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel. Wang Chao had explained to Huo Ling’er the essence of internal martial arts in a way that had truly told the secrets of the heavens while making it very clear.

If one were to come across another master, even if they understood the concept, they would not speak it out because it was far too crude. If they had to explain it, then they would use terminology such as “Letting the breath sink into the dantian” and “Moving water and fire” that would confuse anyone with one mystery within another.

If there was a master who was more understanding and willing to explain, then at most, they would say to “lift the butt” before letting you go off to understand it by yourself. If you understood, then you had talent. If you didn’t, then you didn’t have talent.

In truth, talent didn’t change all that much. The more important thing to a master was if you were hardworking, diligent, and enthralled.

The essence of internal martial arts. If said clearly, it would be far too crude. It was for this reason that the many martial art sects and schools in history had taken on only male disciples instead of females.

The Confucian code between males and females had been strict. Words had to be chosen with care and caution. Just what person would be able to say urinate, defecate, ‘genital’, or ‘sphincter’ with reckless abandon?

Huo Ling’er had strong muscles and bones. With a chop, she could produce an explosive sound. That much was enough to make Wang Chao surprised. To be able to split the air like that indicated that the person had already gained mastery of showing an explosive amount of power. For a relatively young woman, a feat like that was hard to imagine.

Huo Ling’er studied Karate which emphasized the joint locks and strength capable of shattering bricks. They did not emphasize the cultivation of health to the inner organs, lifting the hair or pores, and focused on their muscles and bones. A power like this would usually achieve its effect, but it was also well suited for fighting, killing, and capturing.

Martial arts meant for the sake of wrestling and fighting were like Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, Sanda, Taekwondo, and Judo.

These disciplines could be learnt quickly with quick results. In a competition, there would be good results as well. Muay Thai in particular was difficult to practice, and could be combined with medicinal water to help train the elbows to be as hard as iron. A single move could cripple and kill, but once the practitioner’s body aged past the peak spot, there was no more use.

But they were still terrifying disciplines to learn. If one were to reach the peak with it, they could become killing machines with ease.

If one were to come across this type of expert who has honed themselves to the max, then even an internal martial artist at the Hidden Jin level wouldn’t be able to drop their guard.

One time in Shanghai, the illustrious “King of the Eagle Claw” Chen Zizheng had been kicked in the head by a Muay Thai practitioner and was killed.

Of course, they had worn gloves in that match. King of the Eagle Claw, as the name implies, means he was proficient with the claw movement. With gloves, then he was no more than a dragon wafting in shallow water. Even a dog could beat an injured tiger.

But this had also indirectly reflected the terrifying skill of those who honed their muscles, killing techniques, and did not focus on cultivating their health.

If one wished to learn techniques to kill, then they would see those results fast.

Certainly, genuine masters of Muay Thai would also learn the breathing exercises from Yoga along with training their muscles. Many of them were Buddhist in belief.

Huo Ling’er’s Karate had caused her palms to grow calluses. There had been a scent of medicinal water to them, clearly it was a traditional recipe. To train the muscles meant to also use medicine and pass it down. So when imparting martial arts, the medicine was the first to be given.

However, Wang Chao knew nothing about her character, thoughts, or personality since this had been the first time they had met. He would most certainly not give any concrete secrets to her and instead gave her a theoretical foundation for her to understand by herself.

It was the same as the masters of martial arts when they wrote a book. They would write the theory down for you to understand yourself. If you swayed or were not able to learn, it mattered not to them.

But Huo Ling’er had respected Wang Chao more than ever after hearing him speak. Continuing to ask him this and that, she simply did not stop. Even the matters with the Shaolin Temple had been brought up by her in rapid and excited succession.

“This girl. We only just met and yet she’s so cheerful.” Wang Chao had thought. It went without a doubt that Wang Chao would not divulge to this just recently met person that he had killed a warrior monk and injured the other. In the same vein, he would not say that earlier this morning, he had killed the number one disciple of the Shaolin Temple codenamed “National Arhat”.

“That Ye Xuan. His footsteps in Japan has brought him a long way. But his face is always so grim, and everyone had always said he was a genius, so he began to think of himself as a genius that would later become a grandmaster of the Martial Way. Be pretentious, and be struck by lightning. As expected, he was killed by master. Master, you’re so amazing!”

A series of profanity had come streaming forth from Huo Ling’er’s lips as she continued to run her mouth off, but there had still been a hint of naivety in her words.

But to Wang Chao’s ears, he could understand that she bore some grudges against Ye Xuan.