Chapter 180: Taekwondo and the Meteor Hammer (2/2)

Wang Chao had brought Huo Ling’er, Liu Qing, Gao Jun, Zhang Kai, and Fang Wei along with him to the pre scheduled meeting. This meeting would of course serve as the apprenticeship banquet for Tan Wendong.

“Well? Have you made your decision?” Wang Chao smiled towards Tan Wendong.

“I have. Not only that, but I’ve dissolved the Wendong Group. From today onwards, I will wash my hands from the golden basin and leave the path of a criminal.” Tan Wendong spoke seriously. There had been no regret on his face–whatever he was capable of earning, he was also capable of spending.

“Oh? Does this mean to say that you had already planned a backup plan before this? Otherwise, would you really disband the Wendong Group that easily?” Wang Chao asked with interest.

“When you live as a criminal, how could you not have an escape route?” Tan Wendong retorted calmly. “The very first day I started my life as a criminal, I already knew that what lied at the end of road for me wouldn’t be a good one. With how the country is with its internal affairs, there is no easy way to maintain a criminal organization. I’ve already made the preparations over a year ago to transfer my funds to an overseas account, so in these past three days, I was also able to give each of my subordinates an escape route as well after dissolving the group. Whatever evidence we had of any crimes, they are as good as gone. So even if the government tries to arrest us now, they won’t have a handle to open the door with. But don’t worry, I’ve made sure that you won’t be able to usurp any power from me either.”

Having said that, Tan Wendong started the apprenticeship ritual and kowtowed his head to Wang Chao three times. “I, Tan Wendong, pledge myself to master Wang Chao as his disciple. No matter what happens from today onwards, I will not discriminate my master in anyway. Let humanity and the gods be both witness and judge, and let me be put to death by gunfire should I betray my vows.”

“Good!” Hearing Tan Wendong’s vows, Wang Chao had been extremely pleased with him. “As long as I am able, I will teach you all I know in earnest.”

Tan Wendong had the heart to reform as a criminal to become a student and had the foresight to plan his backup plan in advance. All he was missing was the opportunity to do so. In the eyes of Tan Wendong, Wang Chao had given him the best opportunity to do so, and for that reason, he had been very moved and resolved to be Wang Chao’s disciple.

One of the main contributing factors was the fact that Wang Chao was an extremely famous person in the world of martial arts. After his victory over Nguyễn Hồng Tú, his name was known to practically all of Japan-China. Whether it was China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Korea, or even in the oversea Chinese societies, Wang Chao was known.

In the course of three days, Tan Wendong had enough time to make his own investigation of Wang Chao. From there, he was able to dig up a general approximation of who Wang Chao was. Tan Wendong had concluded that Wang Chao would be someone that deserved to be his master and have the power to take him in for asylum.

“This is your senior, Huo Ling’er.” Wang Chao introduced.

“Senior-sister, hello.” Tan Wendong smiled to her. He knew that this woman was not an ordinary person either. The Huo family of Shanghai was a very grand aristocratic family. He was only a small hoodlum rat in a small city. Compared to her, the power he had was as much as a single hair from nine oxen.

And so he would secure a good friendship with both the Huo family and the central government with one fell stroke.

“Congratulations! Congratulations, master Wang for earning another disciple.” Liu Qing had been the first to offer up his congratulations.

The reason why Wang Chao had called them here today was to bear witness and act as the cheering audience.

“Junior of mine, when we talk about talent, you are a brilliant display for your age. Let me say this, be more mysterious and less transparent.” Huo Ling’er laughed.

The procession of people continued to laugh and eat their meal for some time with great gusto when all of a sudden, a series of footsteps could be heard coming towards their general direction.

“Tan Wendong! Rumors have it that you’ve quit the life of crime? Tsk tsk tsk, what a shame that is.”

Leading the front of this new group was a tanned-skin man with his hair curled up in a bun. The gloomy face of his had a cigarette rolled in his mouth, and each time he spoke, his yellowed teeth could be seen.

“Bao the Second, boss Hong didn’t respect he rules, so me cutting the tendons to one of his arms was within my rights. What about it, did you come here for revenge then?” Tan Wendong spoke rather lazily to the man when he saw him.

“Master, this person’s named Bao Á Minh, he’s one of the subordinates to the one I crippled earlier, boss Hồng. Within the borders here, he has some name as a member of one of the Vietnamese gangs in Hanoi. There was probably a spy in my group that told them the news when I dissolved the gang.”

Just as Tan Wendong had been explaining things to Wang Chao, a young man suddenly came from behind Bao Á Minh. His hair was dyed completely red and several silver earrings could be seen on his ears. He wore a gaudy T-shirt and jeans along with brand name sneakers. On his back was a very big backpack.

“Are you the Tan Wendong that knows how to use the chain dart? I’ve come to fight you, I hope that you will respond in kind!”

This youngster had a rather rough but unstressed accent when he spoke Chinese to Tan Wendong.

“Who are you?” Tan Wendong cast a glance over to him, but he did not rise up from his seat.

“My name is Lee Cheol-han, a second-dan black-belt Taekwondo practitioner under the tutelage of ninth-dan master Choi Jang Baek. When master Choi came to Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar to teach, I took the opportunity to go with him.”

This genuine Korean-dressed youth had spoken with a polite tone to his vice, but his eyes gave an otherwise haughty look to Tan Wendong. “Mister Bao from the Hanoi Gang is just one of the groups our Jang Baek style Taekwondo sponsors. I came here today in place of master to resolve this difficulty mister Bao has. Since there is a grudge between the two, why not settle this in a match of martial arts?”

“You study chain-related weaponry. So do I.”

Lee Cheol-han had already set down his backpack onto the ground with a loud clanking sound. As soon as the backpack hit the ground, the area around it quaked just once, signifying that the item held inside was a hefty one and was made from metal.

“Zip!” In a second, the zipper had been pulled apart! Lee Cheol-han had immediately stuck a hand into the backpack before retrieving a long steel chain with two bowl-sized iron balls at the end of both sides.

These two balls were connected to one another by a series of chain to form yet another of the classical weapons.

“A Taekwondoin studying the meteor hammer? Choi Jang Baek’s Taekwondo is a mess it seems.” Wang Chao thought to himself.