Chapter 162: The Marches of Liangshan (1/2)
Chapter 162: The Marches of Liangshan
“Master Liu, Zhou Binglin can be considered to be a cripple as of now. Even now he can be said to be someone who floats in the Jianghu, but will never be able to hold a blade. He might have been strong in the past with an equally vast reputation, but there is no need to worry about your loss at his hands anymore. Now that revenge has been done, someone of your stature doesn’t need to bother with holding a grudge like the common folk.”
When Liao Junhua heard the “Dragon’s Iron Elbow” Liu Yi tell his story, he couldn’t help but interject from the side.
“Eh!?”
It was then that Wang Chao heard from Liao Junhua that this “Iron’s Dragon Elbow” Liu Yi was someone of unordinary status as a martial artist.
“Haha, haha.” Liu Yi chuckled as he stroke his beard. “Ever since Zhou Binglin crushed my pinky, I lost all the honor I had and could no longer be a teacher of martial arts. Thus, I had to change my career to become a ‘profiteer’. It was by the frontiers that I did business with the Russians to earn some coins before finally scraping enough to buy some family property.”
“If that’s what you consider a small bit of family property, then we are all just beggars scraping for a meal.” Han Xiaoqing laughed from the side.
After Deng Xiaoping’s reformation, plenty of men from Northeast China went to the frontiers to do business with Soviet Russia. We were called ‘profiteers’, but it was there that we came up with a few jokes. ‘Carry a bucket and pole over and return with a tank.’”
“My master is currently working with a multinational trading company with wide influence. When he heard the news, he came flying over from San Francisco in California.” Lin Yanan whispered into Wang Chao’s ear.
There was an immediate realization and appreciation for Liu Yi coming from Wang Chao.
It had been strange to think that after being defeated, Liu Yi retired from being a master martial artist to go into business. With the open oceans that was business, he later became a giant and wealthy magnate. Zhou Binglin on the other hand defeated everyone in his youth without an equal, but in his elderly years, he became nothing more than a commoner.
The multitudes of change in everyday life was filled with the indistinct fate of humanity. The decline of martial arts could be attributed to the tides of change in modern day society. The lives of martial artists were in a sorry state as they drifted about without sanctuary.
No matter how high your martial arts were or how brilliant your technique was, it did not guarantee a future.
Wang Chao’s interest began to wane. Looking out the window, he just so happened to glance upon the sun starting its descent behind the mountains.
“Will I be able to find my future in this direction?”
When Wang Chao questioned himself, he could not find an answer.
“Cough”, drinking down the Maotai drink in a single gulp, a strange heat began to rise up from within his chest.
“I’ve grown old. Although I retired from the Jianghu as a practitioner for many years, I am still unwilling to give up the things I’ve learned. Yanan may be my disciple, but her technique is still sloppy. I can teach her, but it will only be for so much. You are young, but your technique is superb along with your reputation. The second thing I came here today is in hopes that Yanan will be able to pursue her studies under your school.”
“What?” Wang Chao was surprised, “Is this a transference of disciples? Or is this an act of joining?”
The world of martial arts had rules from the past times about many things such as the relationship between friendly martial artists. In one aspect, they were harsh rules with original punishments for each thing. In another aspect, it taught about the importance of learning about the self without tarnishing oneself’s honor. In one more aspect about transferring disciples, one would have their own disciple learn under the school of a friend. Then when the disciple learned all that he could, the master would learn the friend’s art as well. This was what it was called to ‘join’.
“Yanan is my partner, meaning making her my disciple would be impossible. But for martial arts, I’d still be willing to exchange with her to the best of my ability.” Wang Chao hurried to decline.
“That works as well.” Liu Yi had said nothing more after listening to Wang Chao’s refusal since this was merely a request in passing and nothing too serious.
“Master Wang, my own master has heard about you crippling Zhou Binglin’s arm. When he heard that you’ll be fighting that Nak Muay, he said he’d be coming as well.” Dai Jun drained his cup.
“Master Zhu Hongzhi is coming as well?” Wang Chao looked over.
Zhu Hongzhi was a master of Xinyiquan overseas with countless disciples and was also a senior figure of the International Hongmen Society with major influence amongst the overseas martial art world. So for him to come this time meant no small influence for the match.
It could be said that after Wang Chao defeated Zhang Wei, he became well known in the Southeast Asia world of martial arts. After defeating Ye Xuan, he became known in Northeast China and Japan. After defeating the Yiquan dojo in Beijing, he became known in Beijing. And now with this match, he would become known as “Rushing out of Asia and onto the world stage”.
But Wang Chao had his doubts. Even with him fighting against a Nak Muay for this next match, it shouldn’t be enough to warrant the attention of such a senior figure of the overseas community. Was his name really that influential?
“Zhou Binglin is an expert of the Sun Style Taichi school. In his youth, he was strong and famous. Although he’s hide himself for twenty years and has been forgotten by many, he is still a very astounding person in the eyes of the older generation. Look and see how many he has defeated and ruined. After so many years, these people weren’t able to exact their revenge; that alone is a statement of his astounding martial arts. Now that you’ve crippled him even if it wasn’t in a fair and public fight, you have become known from that. Those of the previous generation has already considered you as a genuine grandmaster and progenitor of your own style of martial arts. In other words, your name is even greater than mine own.”
Chen Aiyang proclaimed.
“From a small unintentional fight in the park to have such an impact on a match in my future? That’s….really something.”
When Wang Chao heard Chen Aiyang, he felt the notion had been rather outrageous.
Indeed, his fight with Zhou Binglin in the park had been because of their honor. But neither was above the other and both suffered as a result. He had not thought that when news of this battle got out, it would serve to bolster his entire history. With that one battle, he was now considered a progenitor of his own school of martial arts.
But after calming down and thinking to himself, Wang Chao saw the logic in this.
In the past, all of his opponents had been of the younger generation. Zhang Wei included, none of them were men that would be considered to be noticeable enough to the older generation. But Zhou Binglin was different. As one famous for his martial arts and being practically undefeated in his time of youth, his name was far more heavier than the others.
The feast had been a very festive one. From when the sun went down and the moon rose up, Chen AIyang, Wang Chao, Liao Junhua, Dai Jun, and “Dragon’s Iron Elbow” Liu Yi had all been in a happy mood. It matter not if they were young or old, by the time their cups and drinks were empty, everyone was happy.
Huo Ling’er, Han Xiaoqing and Lin Yanan were all women who no words to interject in their conversations. And so, they all rose and drew away from the feast to allow for the waiters to attend to the room.
On the other hand, Zhao Xinglong, Boulder, and the other soldiers remained at the table and listened to the talk between the martial artists with keen interest.
“Let’s forget about this talk about status. Elder Liu, master Wang, master Chen, chief Liao, master Dai, you are all masters of the Wulin. Would it be possible to demonstrate your martial arts and open the eyes of us juniors?”
Han Xiaoqing suddenly spoke up in the midsts of their happy talking.