Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 139: Inheritor

No matter if one was a practitioner or not, everyone knew of the eight words in the classics.

These four words were, “Let the breath sink into the dantian.”

But what it meant for the “Breath to sink into the dantian”, even amongst ten thousand practitioners, only a small handful would be able to grasp the concept.

The dantian was a very mysterious thing. It wasn’t an organ within the human bod, but it wasn’t the muscles, flesh, or bone either. Every man knew of it, but not every man knew just what it actually was.

When Wang Chao had explained to Huo Ling’er, he had truly explained the traditional essence of internal martial arts.

In the internal branch of martial arts, the foundation was for the “Hair and skin to attack.”

For the hair and skin to attack, “Letting the breath sink into the dantian” and “Lifting the butt to move the tailbone” were the most primary steps.

The dantian wasn’t the lower abdomen, but three inches below it. It was connected almost intimately with the genitals, and so when a person urinates, the body would tremble and shake regularly. At that moment, the hair and skin would stand upright like a rooster ruffling its feathers. It was by accident that this concept of letting the breath sink into the dantian was founded.

In the moment the urine was discharged from the body, it would cause the breath to sink down. When the breath sunk into the dantian, the hair and skin would attack.

In the same vein of thought, when a person defecates, it affects the muscles in the sphincter. Inadvertently, it would cause the tailbone to rise, and the hair and skin would stand as well.

The dantian and the tailbone are both connected to the two major channels of the meridians, the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel. Wang Chao had explained to Huo Ling’er the essence of internal martial arts in a way that had truly told the secrets of the heavens while making it very clear.

If one were to come across another master, even if they understood the concept, they would not speak it out because it was far too crude. If they had to explain it, then they would use terminology such as “Letting the breath sink into the dantian” and “Moving water and fire” that would confuse anyone with one mystery within another.

If there was a master who was more understanding and willing to explain, then at most, they would say to “lift the butt” before letting you go off to understand it by yourself. If you understood, then you had talent. If you didn’t, then you didn’t have talent.

In truth, talent didn’t change all that much. The more important thing to a master was if you were hardworking, diligent, and enthralled.

The essence of internal martial arts. If said clearly, it would be far too crude. It was for this reason that the many martial art sects and schools in history had taken on only male disciples instead of females.

The Confucian code between males and females had been strict. Words had to be chosen with care and caution. Just what person would be able to say urinate, defecate, ‘genital’, or ‘sphincter’ with reckless abandon?

Huo Ling’er had strong muscles and bones. With a chop, she could produce an explosive sound. That much was enough to make Wang Chao surprised. To be able to split the air like that indicated that the person had already gained mastery of showing an explosive amount of power. For a relatively young woman, a feat like that was hard to imagine.

Huo Ling’er studied Karate which emphasized the joint locks and strength capable of shattering bricks. They did not emphasize the cultivation of health to the inner organs, lifting the hair or pores, and focused on their muscles and bones. A power like this would usually achieve its effect, but it was also well suited for fighting, killing, and capturing.

Martial arts meant for the sake of wrestling and fighting were like Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, Sanda, Taekwondo, and Judo.

These disciplines could be learnt quickly with quick results. In a competition, there would be good results as well. Muay Thai in particular was difficult to practice, and could be combined with medicinal water to help train the elbows to be as hard as iron. A single move could cripple and kill, but once the practitioner’s body aged past the peak spot, there was no more use.

But they were still terrifying disciplines to learn. If one were to reach the peak with it, they could become killing machines with ease.

If one were to come across this type of expert who has honed themselves to the max, then even an internal martial artist at the Hidden Jin level wouldn’t be able to drop their guard.

One time in Shanghai, the illustrious “King of the Eagle Claw” Chen Zizheng had been kicked in the head by a Muay Thai practitioner and was killed.

Of course, they had worn gloves in that match. King of the Eagle Claw, as the name implies, means he was proficient with the claw movement. With gloves, then he was no more than a dragon wafting in shallow water. Even a dog could beat an injured tiger.

But this had also indirectly reflected the terrifying skill of those who honed their muscles, killing techniques, and did not focus on cultivating their health.

If one wished to learn techniques to kill, then they would see those results fast.

Certainly, genuine masters of Muay Thai would also learn the breathing exercises from Yoga along with training their muscles. Many of them were Buddhist in belief.

Huo Ling’er’s Karate had caused her palms to grow calluses. There had been a scent of medicinal water to them, clearly it was a traditional recipe. To train the muscles meant to also use medicine and pass it down. So when imparting martial arts, the medicine was the first to be given.

However, Wang Chao knew nothing about her character, thoughts, or personality since this had been the first time they had met. He would most certainly not give any concrete secrets to her and instead gave her a theoretical foundation for her to understand by herself.

It was the same as the masters of martial arts when they wrote a book. They would write the theory down for you to understand yourself. If you swayed or were not able to learn, it mattered not to them.

But Huo Ling’er had respected Wang Chao more than ever after hearing him speak. Continuing to ask him this and that, she simply did not stop. Even the matters with the Shaolin Temple had been brought up by her in rapid and excited succession.

“This girl. We only just met and yet she’s so cheerful.” Wang Chao had thought. It went without a doubt that Wang Chao would not divulge to this just recently met person that he had killed a warrior monk and injured the other. In the same vein, he would not say that earlier this morning, he had killed the number one disciple of the Shaolin Temple codenamed “National Arhat”.

“That Ye Xuan. His footsteps in Japan has brought him a long way. But his face is always so grim, and everyone had always said he was a genius, so he began to think of himself as a genius that would later become a grandmaster of the Martial Way. Be pretentious, and be struck by lightning. As expected, he was killed by master. Master, you’re so amazing!”

A series of profanity had come streaming forth from Huo Ling’er’s lips as she continued to run her mouth off, but there had still been a hint of naivety in her words.

But to Wang Chao’s ears, he could understand that she bore some grudges against Ye Xuan.

“Perhaps this woman got into a conflict with Ye Xuan before? Otherwise, she wouldn’t be happy that I killed him, let alone praise and worship me?”

Wang Chao had to guess that she and Ye Xuan had been in contrasting sides at one point. Perhaps she had lost to him, or he made her angry. If not, then the reason why she felt the way she did towards him was quite strange.

But Wang Chao didn’t have the right mindset to enjoy gossip. He did not wish to be entangled with this girl and simply did not ask anymore questions.

“Remember, understand this concept. If you can actualize it by spiking the hair and rising the pores, then you may come to Laoshan to find me.” Wan Chao spoke while trying to get rid of Huo Ling’er.

“Understood. Ah, master, where are you living in Hong Kong? Why not come live in my home for a short while?” Huo Ling’er looked at her idol with excitement.

“I’ll be returning today, so there’s no need.” Wang Chao hurriedly declined. When he walked out, he could see Zhang Tong give a nod towards him with the faintest of smiles.

“How went it, Ling’er? You’ve met an expert.” When Huo Ling’er sat down, Zhang Tong had a bright smile on her face.

“I’ve already become his disciple!” Huo Ling’er nodded again and again while glancing at Wang Chao. She looked quite infatuated with him.

“Well, I still have some matters to take care of today, so I’ll be taking my leave first. Executive Zhang, let us meet again next time.” Wang Chao suddenly decided that having someone worship him like an idol wasn’t a good thing. Huo Ling’er’s passion was something he couldn’t handle anymore.

With an immediate goodbye, he and Lin Yanan left.

Seeing Wang Chao’s back disappear along with Lin Yanan into the throng of people without a trace, Huo Ling’er’s eyes finally revealed a look of disappointment and sadness.

“Ling’er, what’s wrong. Your idol has left, there’s no need to be like this.” The other woman had seen her expression, so they had all laughed and chirped, “You mad girl, is fighting the only thing you like? That Wang Chao had spoken out like an upstart when he entered. I was just about to have someone escort him out.”

“Hmph, you don’t understand.” Huo Ling’er grew serious for a moment before thinking, “My chop back then was about 250 kilograms worth of force, but he was able to stop it just by clamping two fingers down onto it so that my wrist couldn’t even move. It’s no wonder that pretentious cunt Ye Xuan was killed by his hand. The essence of internal martial arts….understanding it from urinating and defecating….I’m embarrassed. But still, there’s reasoning to this. With a burst of Jin, he can frighten others with his arm like a wolf biting down on a club. When he doesn’t let out Jin, his skin looks extremely glossy. How envious, if only my skin was like that. Shoot, I forgot to ask for his phone number!”

Huo Ling’er immediately felt regret and sat down with a gloomy face.

“I didn’t think that you would have any fans.” After their exit, Lin Yanan laughed, “But, are you really going to accept her as a disciple?”

“We’ll see. That girl has potential.” Wang Chao spoke.

“Indeed. I saw her skill, it’s higher than mine own.” Lin Yanan spoke seriously, “But still, accepting her as a disciple has more benefits than detriments. The higher ups told us to establish the Laoshan School of Internal Martial Arts and for you to become well known and accept disciples. The Huoshi Corporation has huge influences in Hong Kong and even China. If you can take them into your wing, then that will be a huge matter. You cannot shirk this.”

“I know that.” Wang Chao nodded. “I’m tired of strolling around, let’s go eat something. Was there anything else you wanted to buy? Or should we come back to stroll later in the afternoon?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve already spent fifty to sixty thousand RMB, let’s go back and rest. Tomorrow the people from central will come investigate the matter. We should think of ways to prepare instead. You killed Duan Guochao, and I fired a gun. There’ll definitely be some trouble.” Lin Yanan pulled at Wang Chao’s hand.

“I wonder if the Shaolin Temple and monks know about me killing Duan Guochao yet? If they do, then how will they act now? Duan Guochao’s martial arts was extremely skilled, even Cheng Shanming or Chen Aiyang aren’t that far away from him in skill. With his age, he had a good path ahead of him. For the sake of cultivating such a disciple like this, who knows how much the Shaolin Temple had invested. But then his life was put to an end at my hands. If they said no love was lost, then that would be a lie.”

Duan Guochao’s Eagle Claw and Iron Body had reached a point of utter mastery. But to Wang Chao, it was still not enough to make up for the differences between he and Chen Aiyang and Cheng Shanming.

But Duan Guochao was still quite young at 26 years old.

26 years old and yet his martial arts had reached perfection. This was a clear example of the meticulous care of the Shaolin Temple in raising a disciple who was capable of keeping up their front of martial art masters.

A master could accept many disciples, but a disciple who could keep up the shop front was limited to only just one. They were called the inheritor

What was a inheritor? When the disciple is learning martial arts, the master cannot simply watch from the sidelines and give pointers. At the very beginning process where the disciple was learning, the master must spend everyday making sure to help cultivate the disciple’s health, massage the acupoints, and unblock the blood vessels. Whatever the case, whether in martial arts theory or insights, they had to be explained clearly.

An inheritor was even more important than one own’s son! The treatment would therefore be better for them.

From this, it could be seen that raising a genuine disciple required a lot of energy. A true master and disciple was not like father and son. It far surpassed that of father and son.

Think to how Tang Zichen had expended so much time and energy on Wang Chao. From that, it could be seen how a genuine inheritor was taught.

An inheritor within the Wulin was not the same as teaching martial arts in a school in this modern area where a thousand people gathered and laughed here and there as they fought.

That type of school was incapable of teaching. It was incapable of acquiring true martial arts.

A disciple who would inherit was not someone who could be mass-produced.

For the other disciples, the masters held a teaching position were at most, they would explain several concepts and have the disciples learn by themselves. If they could not, then it mattered not to the master.

A master who would point out the right postures as they watched the disciples practice was a good master. Giving a disciple daily massages with medicinal water was already enough. If the master wanted to bring up several inheritors, he would have far too much work on his hands.

Duan Guochao was 26 years old whose martial arts had reached a terrifying level. He was clearly breeded by the Shaolin Temple’s monks to be their inheritor. Those who became monks halfway through their lives like Yong He and Yong Bao were not even cut from the same cloth as he was.

Later, Wang Chao and Lin Yanan had returned back to the military headquarters from their stroll. At the same, a monk from the Shaolin Temple had arrived to check up on the matter with Yong He and Yong Bao.