Chapter 160: Iron High Knee (1/2)
Chapter 160: Iron High Knee
“Senior Zhou, how did you manage to get yourself in such a state like this?”
Choi Jang Baek had known that Zhou Binglin had lost against another in a match. But when he thought about how this was the man that had once fought across the entirety of Southeast Asia in countless battles without a single defeat, Choi Jang Baek was nonetheless surprised to see the Taichi expert reduced to such a state.
Zhou Binglin had made a desperate struggle to climb up from his bed, but one of his arms had simply laid there motionlessly. Despite the arms being reattached without a problem, it had lost the majority of its mobility so that it was almost no better than a prosthetic almost.
His beard was in a complete mass and was frazzled. His originally grizzly hair had turned completely white with each strand forming knots with one another. Compared to the clean and tidy room, there was a clear contrast between him and it.
His eyes in particular were lifeless in essence as if they belonged to a seventy or eighty year old elder on the verge of dying.
Ever since that day where he and Wang Chao had fought in the park without reservations, the two of them had suffered grievously. But while Wang Chao had Chen Aiyang to help treat his internal organs to recover rapidly, Zhou Binglin was far too proud for his entire life and had no close friend to help him.
Despite his strength and careful maintenance of his health, a severed arm was a permanent injury. As a whole, if there was an injury, it would never fully heal at his age.
But Zhou Binglin was an anomaly as well. In just a short two months, his arm was reattached and could move by itself. Though it was in no condition to fight with another person, a regular person would require almost half a year to be able to do what he could in two months.
For a man who was about to reach his sixties to still have such a strong recovery rate, it was nothing short of a miracle. This too was the power of an expert of Transforming Jin.
In truth, the injuries he received from the fight was merely secondary in priority. To have lost in that match and taken a hit to his name, that was what was most important.
He was a man of the older generation with wide renown, and yet, he still lost at the hands of the younger generation. The name he had built up for himself for his entire lifetime had came crashing down on him in the span of a single day. This to him, was a fatal blow to his life.
In a single night, Wu Zixu‘s hair had gone completely white overnight in his escape past Zhaoguan. Similarly, Zhou Binglin’s originally grizzly hair had turned completely white in the span of two short months.
The most important fact was that this was not any ordinary defeat due to his age. If a man was defeated in his youth, he could still suffer in silence but focus on revenge. By honing his martial arts, he could later avenge himself. But at his age now, this was no longer possible.
This defeat was something that could never be overturned.
“Oh, Jang Baek, it’s you.” Zhou Binglin sat up from his bed and stared at Nguyễn Hồng Tú who had accompanied him. The murderous aura, the rich ferocity and smell of blood that leaked out from his malicious looking body, Zhou Binglin had very rarely saw such a person in his entire life.
“You must practice Muay Thai, I presume. I can also assume you practice the secrets of Yoga. Unfortunately, you have not reached the summit with your martial arts, otherwise the scar on your face would be gone.” Zhou Binglin opened his mouth and began to speak with the tone of a senior teaching his junior. Ever since his undefeated youth to his retirement, he had never lost, so giving guidance to another was a habit he had formed over the years.
The centipede-like scar on Nguyễn Hồng Tú’s face had begun to twitch for a moment before calming down. “Master Zhou speaks correctly. Back in the seventies and eighties, I have heard your name mentioned from Vietnam, Thailand, and even Myanmar. In particular, it was when I was no older than ten years old that I heard you used the hammer fist to strike dead ‘Godkiller Tiger King’ Nai Dongsheng.”
“En, those are all matters of the past.” Zhou Binglin had a flash of light in his eyes as he listened.
Nearing the nineteen-eighties, “Godkiller Tiger King” Nai Dongsheng was an illustrious name within the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia. He had been strong, but at his very peak, Zhou Binglin had lead a Vietnamese guerilla band to challenge him. In front of the eyes of everyone, Zhou Binglin had killed him using the hammer fist of Taichi and then a dozen of his disciples who came after him in revenge.
This had been Zhou Binglin’s most prideful achievement. Nguyễn Hồng Tú had mentioned this so that his mood would hopefully take a turn for the better.
“I heard that something happened to you so I came as soon as I could. Master Zhou, it’s fortunate that you are the chairman of my Jangbaek School of Taekwondo. I came today to regain justice for you. Nguyễn Hồng Tú has respected you since he was young as well. When he heard that you were injured, he came rushing all the way from Thailand to fight in a match for your justice.”
Choi Jang Baek had simultaneously expressed their reason for Nguyễn Hồng Tú coming as well as stroking the appetite of Zhou Binglin.
“You wish to fight him in a public match?” Zhou Binglin clutched at his injured arm with a serious eye. Shaking his head, he spoke, “Jang Baek, little Nguyễn. To be frank with you two, if you do decide to fight him, your chances of winning will not be large.”
Having been called little Nguyễn, the centipede-like scarring on Nguyễn Hồng Tú’s face began to twitch again.
“Jang Baek, although you are well known in the world of fighting. But while martial arts may be one thing, two is still two. If one isn’t careful, then one’s life may be forfeited. If you were anyone else, I would have said a few words of politeness and let them be on their way. But you two actually came to visit this ruined old man and wish to merit justice on my behalf. I have no other choice but to tell the truth. Please do not blame this disabled old man for saying words you might find hard to stomach.”
Zhou Binglin knew that he was speaking rather rashly, but there was still a bit of a vague tone to his words.
Wang Chao was very strong, and his martial arts was very merciless. At the same time, he was at the peak of his youth. In the eyes of Zhou Binglin, he knew deeply how amazing Wang Chao was. Whatever the goal Choi Jang Baek or Nguyễn Hồng Tú had, he could at the very least warn them about their plans for justice if they came back to see him.
“Not at all.” Choi Jang Baek had a smile on his modest face. “You are of the elder generation with an insight we of the younger generation don’t have. That Wang Chao has opened a school in Laoshan where he has beaten and killed many experts in two years, consolidating his fame and power. Martial arts fears age, and heroes are born from times of childhood. You and I, we both made our appearances in our youth by stepping on the backs of the older generation. For all youths that treat others with contempt, we have always regarded them as those who have never seen an enemy of equal or higher standing before.”
“Youths that treat others with contempt! Ai!” Zhou Binglin suddenly gave a sigh, “You’re right in what you say. I was a youth those years ago. Youngsters that do not step on the backs of their elders, how could they make a name for themselves then? Even the tides of the old are overtaken by the tides of the new in the Yangtze River. The persons of the new age defeat over the ones of the previous age; this is the ironclad rule of the world of martial arts. I have gone blind with age. My drive has been worn and softened in these twenty years of comfort.”
“While my body has still maintained its peak strength, my drive is like the sun setting down in the western mountains. You both are men of wide renown, but you are still capable of challenging those younger than you. Such a drive like that is one I cannot compare myself with anymore.”
“A match between two people is like a war against two armies. Victory favors the brave. Cultivating the body and mind is for cultivating the health and not for competition. This is where I went wrong.”
Zhou Binglin had been soliloquizing by this point, sighing incessantly.