Chapter 158: Standing Still Without Moving to Dodge A Bullet (1/2)
Chapter 158: Standing Still Without Moving to Dodge A Bullet
“En, your eldest brother can act in place of your father. When the time comes for apprenticeship, your brother will do.” When it came to the rules of old, Wang Chao didn’t adhere to it as strictly as others. Hearing Huo Ling’ers words had only prompted him to respond in agreement.
Huo Ling’er’s face had looked a little embarrassed. Reddening in the face, she looked as if she wanted to say something but was too hesitant to.
“Oh? Was there something you wanted to ask?” Wang Chao could guess what her expression had meant.
“Well….my brother knew that I was studying martial arts, but I didn’t tell him about you, master Wang. He found me a very well known expert, so me telling him about this now will be a bit embarrassing.”
“Is that right?” Wang Chao had been surprised as he realized the complications of the matter, “Is he stealing my disciple? Or is this a timely coincidence? It has to be coincidental, I can’t take this too leisurely.”
In the old age of the Wulin, when two martial artists found the same person they wanted to take in, there would always be a fight that would break out that neither side could back away from. If they did, then their name would be tarnished in a way similar to losing in a battle.
Many years ago, martial artist Du Xinwu and Shaolin martial artist Liu Baichuan had once fought each other for the sake of a disciple.
“Who is that well known martial artist?” Wang Chao asked.
“I heard it was someone named Nguyễn Hồng Tú, he practices Muay Thai and Yoga and is well known in Thailand.” Huo Ling’er knew that much and had been worried. “Wait, master, don’t tell me you’re going to fight him? You’re both men of known fame; language never comes first, and martial arts never comes second. Even in the hidden competitions when I practiced Karate, the Muay Thai practitioners would always kill or maim their opponents. My brother said that martial artist is already here in Beijing too.”
“Oh, is he with your brother?”
“I don’t think so, I think he went to go see a friend with ninth-dan ‘Iron Fist Hwarang’ Choi from Korea.
“Iron Fist Hwarang!” Wang Chao suddenly had a bad feeling arise in his heart as if he had made some sort of connection. “Choi Jang Baek is an expert of the world of fighting, so the Muay Thai practitioner shouldn’t be inferior to him in strength. Are they really here to see a friend in Beijing? What friend is it? It’s already been two months since the start of my disturbance in Beijing, so news of it should already be known to everyone. Choi Jang Baek most likely knows about my school in Shandong as well. I doubt he hasn’t collected enough information on me, it’d be too coincidental for him to come to Beijing now then. Plus, I already toyed around with that one graduate student in the University of Beijing. Could it be possible that the graduate student really does have some connections with Choi Jang Baek and had him come here to fight me?”
When Wang Chao listened to this, his heart had felt a sudden premonition. He could just barely make some connections, but the definite conclusion was something he couldn’t put his finger to just yet.
When one’s martial art reached a high enough state, the sensitivity of the heart and mind followed suit. At the highest level, one could sense something without even thinking about it.
With Wang Chao having his mind honed by the Transforming Jin, his intuition had been keen enough to make some connections and infer why Choi Jang Baek was here in Beijing.
“There’s no use to thinking anymore about it. In any case, today will be the day I have to be discharged. I’ll go see your brother anyways.”
“There’s a car waiting at the entrance, I’ll help master pack up your stuff.” Huo Ling’er spoke with some relaxation.
“I don’t have anything too important, so there’s no need to tidy things up. Just wait down below and give a phone call to master Chen, he went to see a friend as well today.”
As he spoke, Wang Chao walked out from his ward. His footsteps were steady and stuck to the ground. His face was rosy-red with health and was completely unlike that of a sickly person.
In this period of recuperation, Wang Chao had been bedridden almost from start to finish without being able to move. It was because Chen Aiyang was afraid that his muscles would atrophy and his veins would grow stiff that he had used his Hidden Jin to massage Wang Chao’s muscles and circulate the blood flow.
After some minor movements, Wang Chao had been able to walk from himself and spent very little time on the bed as a result. The two months of recuperation had not affected his skill, as he and Chen Aiyang would spend every day conversing to each other about the theory and philosophy of martial arts, further deepening their understanding of it.
Naturally, understanding was understanding, and combat was combat. Neither of the two could be mistaken for another. Understanding benefitted the mind while combat benefitted the body.
After leaving the hospital, there was indeed a single black-streamlined Mercedes Benz waiting. Huo Ling’er entered the driver’s seat and waited for Wang Chao to enter before stepping onto the accelerator to bring the car flying away like a swallow skimming the waters.
“Slow down a bit, this is a city area.”
“Okay.” Huo Ling’er smiled sweetly before easing up on the speed.
“She’s a woman, but there’s that forceful trait to her blood. Unexpectedly, she would be a great expert, it’s a shame that she was born from a wealthy family that would forbid her from fighting to the death. If not, she would have been able to temper herself through combat, and from there, even I don’t know just how strong she’d become.”
Wang Chao had learned even more about her after watching her step on the accelerator.
Driving for fifty minutes, the car had finally arrived at a rather secluded villa. Turning left then right, they swerved to a stop near a gated house. Fishing out a remote control, Huo Ling’er pressed onto it to have the gates open up before she drove her car inside.
Wang Chao alighted from the car and began to look around his surroundings. To his realization, the villa was similar to the buildings in the Tianxing district. To be even more specific, the buildings had even the same taste to it. But Wang Chao knew that the locations for both were different. One was in the provinces, the other was a step under what nobility would have. Similar in building, but the prices would be different by at least tenfold.
As soon as he alighted, several young men could be seen walking down the stairs along with several females.
“Little sister, this must be master Wang.” The very first man leading the group had been wearing a hand-stitched western suit with a black shirt underneath. With the gold-trimmed black tie he wore, the young man looked rather refined.
“Yes.” Huo Ling’er quickly stepped forward after getting off the car. My name is Huo Qiyun; I am the older brother of Ling’er.” Huo Qiyun grasped onto Wang Chao’s hand to shake it. At a glance, Wang Chao could see that Huo Qiyun was more or less quite physical and healthy. There were several minute calluses on his fingers–his pointer finger in particular had the most noticeable ones. However, the web between his thumb and forefinger hadn’t been too strong, meaning that this had not been the work of martial arts. Instead of martial arts, those fingers were honed by the art of working a gun.
“I heard about how my little sister had wished to apprentice herself to master Wang, and I also heard that this master Wang had quite the name for himself. I did not imagine that such a young man like you would be quite the extraordinary one. In comparison to the Muay Thai practitioner Nguyễn Hồng Tú, your image seems to be a hundred times the better. But alas, it’s unfortunate that I was told about this too late. To decline Nguyễn Hồng Tú now would be quite difficult to do.
The true value of a person could only be determined through comparison.