Romance of Dragons and Snakes

TL note: Guoshu is literally translated as “Nation’s technique”, but is also another way to say Martial Arts.

“Inspiration…a man who wins by strength is not the same as a man who wins by wisdom. But a man who wins by wisdom is not the same as a man who wins by inspiration. Inspiration, vigor, both is required to forge ahead through the cold and rippling tides without fail.”

Wang Chao looked to the surging tides without fail. Each tide had struck against the cliffside forever without stopping a single moment. Just thinking about his battle with Ye Xuan had caused him to feel a myriad of sorrows.

That battle had not only brought him to an awareness with his mind and will, but it had also allowed him to ascend to a more profound level of understanding.

The highest states of internal martial arts required one to be at harmony with oneself before breaking out with power. The heart harmonizes with the will, the will harmonizes with the Qi, and the Qi harmonizes with power.

“When technique is elevated, the mind and will must follow along as well. Ye Xuan tempered himself by the waterfalls and icy cold mountains of Hokkaido. This is something that requires going to battle with the world itself. One mustn’t forget that what makes this world inspiring isn’t the natural world, but the people on it. With man, there is intention, with intention, there is the world. The world is what is held within the human mind.”

As he silently observed the ocean crash into the cliffs, Wang Chao’s mind had already begun to wander to a meditative state. In this state, he had already begun to visualize the past battles of his.

It had been four years since he first learned martial arts from Tang Zichen and her departure. Step by step, he had been in all sorts of battles and had grown from a simple-minded youth to a master of the martial arts world. No matter if it was in skill or in state of mind, he had cast away his previous life and was born anew.

“Guoshu…first comes Guo, then comes Shu. Without the country, there cannot be technique. Just like how there cannot be water without a source, there cannot be a fist without the intention. When the millions join together…the valor and inspiration cannot be stopped and no one can be the enemy. Inspiration is accumulated within the intent; one may as well ask the world itself, ‘Just who can match you in inspiration?’. Even if one’s martial art or skill is higher, if there is no inspiration, then they should fear you by a third more than normal.”

In a battle to the death, the most important thing was inspiration. With inspiration came strength, and strength came the decisive victory.

Finally, Wang Chao had realized that in the ancient chaotic time of the past when the dragons and snakes mixed with each other, powers from all parties would tried to distinguish what was justice. This too, was a matter of inspiration and power.

But a martial artist didn’t need to pretend to be righteous. They must have a just and honorable mind. Guoshu wasn’t just a noun. It was a reflection of the nation, with this, one would be able to explode with power to win over others.

A nation wasn’t formed of a single person, family, or organization. After a thousand years, it was the accumulation of millions and millions of spirit.

In a battle between two armies of the same strength, whichever side fought for justice would be the winner. Likewise, in a match between two experts of the same strength, if one had a firm heart with inspiration, they would be the winner.

At this point, Wang Chao could be said to understand the true meaning of Guoshu and the profound meaning behind its inspiration. After so many years of self-discipline of his mind and intent, he had finally mastered a comprehensive area of the subject.

Like how a snake devoured the moon by leaping, it would transform into a dragon.

“Ha!” Making the connection from the mind and spirit, Wang Chao’s mind and intent had rose like the waves. Striking out with his fist, his heart and harmonized with the intent, his intent harmonized with his Qi, and his Qi had harmonized with power. Rising and falling like the wind, Wang Chao began to feel one with the ocean and its movements.

Huuu! Huuuu!

Wang Chao began to flash through differing stances as he hopped, leaped, and made sounds. From Wang Chao’s mouth, the roar of a tiger, the screech of an eagle, the hissing of a snake, the whispers of the dragon, the crowing of a monkey, and the neighing of a horse could be heard from time to time.

With each move, the air around him echoed with an explosive sound.

The tiger’s roar, the eagle’s screech, the snake’s hiss, the monkey’s crows and the horse’s neighs had a rumbling sound to it that was reminiscent to the rumbling sound of thunder from the skies.

When the thunder struck, the roars of the tiger and the monkey’s crowing could be heard.

When Wang Chao struck, whether it was his inspiration or power, one could see that it was much more refined than before.

That was because he had reached a level where the sounds of thunder followed the fist.

The most important sound where the “sound follows the fist” is thunder. Thunder embodies the Qi of Yin and Yang to the utmost level before it is unleashed from the skies. The thunder within one’s body functions the same. When the Yin and Yang of the mind and intent form together, there comes a bursting sound from the muscles and bones.

Like a newborn, the mind must be gentle and clean like Yin. The intent must be like iron, firm and unrelenting like Yang.

When the gentle mind and the solid intent reached a pinnacle, it would naturally meet against each other. At this moment, the sounds of thunder would naturally form, but such a method like this was not easy to train in.

In the past, for the sake of improving his body, he had meticulously cultivated for twice the effort and half the results. But now, with a single fist, the sounds of thunder could be heard. This was what it meant for the mind and intent to harmonize and collide.

To pursuit meticulously and to burst forth naturally, the effects of the two would be completely different.

Just like how in Taichi, one borrowed power to fight power, the power to reflect power was a result of using the skin and muscles at the highest of levels. In the lower levels, one must manipulate the momentum of the other person by thinking and then reacting. The two are completely different like day and night.

One is natural, one is unnatural.

In the past, Wang Chao could produce the sounds of thunder, but that was only for the sake of cultivation and could not be applied to his skillset.

But now, he had managed to use the power produced from harmonizing the mind and intent to harmonize the sounds of thunder into each movement of his arms and legs.

The explosive sounds of thunder in one’s fist did not only improve strength, but inspiration.

A palm and a fist that can release the explosive sounds of thunder. In the past, that was what differentiated a mortal from an Immortal.

When the people of the past saw the Daoist priests produce thunder-like sounds from their fist, they had always thought that they had practiced Thunder Magic to subdue demons. From this, all sorts of fantastic rumors, stories, and myths came to be.

TL Note: Thunder Magic is referred to as 雷法. In Daoism, it used to practice “Neigong”, internal exercises. There are three “steps”: 五雷邪法, 五雷正法, 五雷道法, (Unorthodox Magic of the Five Thunders, Orthodox Magic of the Five Thunders, Daoist Magic of the Five Thunders) collectively known as Thunder Magic. Called Five Thunders because there are five different thunders for the five organs in Traditional Chinese Medicine; Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lungs, and Kidney.

The more profound Daoist priests practiced medicine more often than not; the greatest examples were Ge Hong, Tao Hongjing, and Sun Simiao. Medics with a parental love and an open mind were able to harmonize the Yin and Yang to create thunder.

Wang Chao had practiced Guoshu for his nation. His fist carried his spirit, and combined with the mind and intent came the sounds of thunder.

Thunder was the world’s way of breaking out with an awe-inspiring amount of Qi into the human world!

Bang! One by one, Wang Chao shifted from the tiger stance to the eagle, monkey, horse, snake, and then finally, the dragon stance!

“The dragon stance joins Yin in order to search for the bones.”

As Wang Chao performed the moves of the dragon stance, a refreshing sensation began to spread throughout his bones and the innermost parts of his muscles.

At the same time, his pores and remained shut so that the Qi remained within his body instead of leaking out.

In that instant, Wang Chao suddenly felt the power within his body explode within throughout his muscles evenly and into his bone marrow. There was a cold and hot sensation that alternated within his body that eventually arrived at where his inner organs were.

Almost as if hit by lightning itself, his inner organs began to tremble, causing Wang Chao to grit his teeth in surprise.

Then, the cold and hot sensation began to meld together to form a warm feeling.

His entire body began to feel warm all over. It was because of this that Wang Chao knew that he had finally been able to coordinate both his external movements with his internal movements so that the Jin had permeated his inner organs.

It was this level of skill that one could be truly said to be cultivating their health. The previous levels were merely to bring out the potential to. When a person exploited their body’s inner potential to the max, it wouldn’t increase their strength by that much afterwards.

But after the power was spread to their inner organs, the inner potential of a person would increase by another strong step. Each and every moment would have the power of a lion, the strength of a tiger, the swiftness of a leopard, and the firmness of an elephant that could only be classified as belonging to the realms of the grandmasters.

“I’ve finally arrived at an extremely crucial opening. This could probably be said to be the same as achieving the Way.”

Collecting his energy, Wang Chao’s breath shot out like an arrow a meter away from him in a ripple like manner through the air.

“To practice the fist is easy, but the challenge lies within obtaining understanding the life of the fist. It can be said that martial arts is simple to learn, but obtaining the Way is difficult to achieve. I cannot tread on this path lightly.”

“Martial arts is easy to practice, but obtaining the Way is hard. Obtaining the Way is hard, but the way of cultivating is even harder!”

Wang Chao’s realization of this idea had taken a moment, but in that moment, he had understood it all. After some time, that feeling of enlightenment had finally begun to recede. To be able to retain this passionate state of mind without it receding away was an even more difficult thing to accomplish.

Guoshu is for the sake of the nation, and for the inspiration of technique. But, in these days, one would sometimes feel the nation in their mind, heart, and fist. To be unwavering and unshakeable from one’s resolve was not an easy thing to accomplish.

A moment of inspiration was easy, a lifetime of inspiration was difficult.

Obtaining the Way was hard, but cultivating the Way was even harder.

In the past few days, Wang Chao had cultivated his health with the essence of the sun and moon while practicing with Liao Junhua. Then, in his fight against Ye Xuan, he had received inspiration. And today, he had finally realized the true meaning to what it meant to practice Guoshu.

His tiger stance, eagle stance, monkey stance, monkey stance, snake stance, and dragon stance could be said to be at a master class. When he struck, the sounds of thunder would be heard with the strength of his Jin as he broke out violently and smoothly.

In the past, the horse was said to be related the dragons of the legend. Tang Zichen’s style of the Assault of Dragon and Snake had taught the dragon stance with the power of the horse stance in it.

Wang Chao had killed Ye Xuan by using the horse stance to break through his opponent’s defenses. Then, with the monkey stance, he used the “Dog passing Water” to break the calf of his opponent before slamming his foot down with the strength of a horse onto the chest to end Ye Xuan’s life.

Two of the three moves he had used in the match had made use of the horse stance.

Wang Chao had understood the true meaning behind the horse stance and had made the connection to reach a level of perfection. With each fist he unleashed, the Jin would rush through his fists along with the sound.

“I must make sure to slowly cultivate my health in the following future. After all twelve stances are learned to the point of Hidden Jin emerging from each one, then I will pursue after the Transforming Jin. By that point, who knows just what bottleneck I must breakthrough?”

“The pinnacle of Chinese boxing is to learn nothing to the point of knowing everything. By then, one is able to foretell danger and dodge accordingly, just what type of realm is this? The road I have yet to walk is a long one.”

“The energy of man has a limit, but they still try to seek the unlimited. A martial artist will forever seek this for the rest of their lives, but it does not mean they will be able to reach such a state and understand. This, is what is truly depressing.”

Wang Chao thought.

Just as Wang Chao was practicing his fist and thinking of his understanding of the way of cultivation for health, Cao Yi and Zhou Liang had both gathered once more in S province.

Right in front of him were several sheets of information.

Naturally, most of the information had to do with Wang Chao.

“I didn’t find the wrong person, how great is that. He was able to kill the genius from Japan, Ye Xuan. That Ye Xuan wasn’t any regular person either, even the loss of a talent like his is quite sorrowful to me.”

“The death or defeat of a genius means he is not a genius. Whether in army, or martial arts, or chess, or in any other aspect, the Japanese will try to find the weak spot of others and try to seize victory. I believe that we able to get rid of a disaster.”

Zhou Liang laughed, “Compared to the Japanese, our training regime is quite gentle.”

“No matter waht, Wang Chao accomplished his mission. He hasn’t failed to live up to our expectations, and his worth is well more than what it was before. But what’s more surprising is the fact that Liao Junhua is an expert as well? The legacy of the oversea grandmaster Zhu Hongzhi and is connected to the American Chinese Association in many ways? This is a problem that requires investigating. This Liao Junhua has a truly hidden secret.”

Cao Yi pointed at the information in front of him.

“In comparison, the princelings from the Ike Corporation are far more transparent than this Liao Junhua. He had hidden his strength so much, who knows just what goals he has?” Zhou Liang spoke.

“Let’s not talk about the matters with the princeling. Let Lin Yanan concentrate on collecting even more information before we talk about it. For now, what has the higher ups decided on doing now?” Cao Yi asked.

He and Zhou Liang were considered to be secret members of the Military Commission’s Organization. Whatever information that came from above would first need to go through Zhou Liang.

“Of course. Wang Chao has been given the rank of lieutenant commander, a rank equivalent to a vice commander of a regiment. Lin Yanan has been promoted to a commander of the regiment as well.” Zhou Liang spoke.

“That’s all?” Cao Yi spoke in confusion, “There isn’t anything else at all? They can’t even join the military, so giving them a military rank is an empty reward isn’t it? No money no food no men no weapons, what’s the point?”