Martial Arts Master

A tree taller than the rest of the forest would be the first destroyed by the wind. Within a few seconds, Lou Cheng reached a much deeper understanding of the saying. As soon as he cried out his interest in joining the special training, eyes turned to him like a shower of arrows from all directions, shocked, puzzled or simply curious, making him horrified and nervous. It reminded him of his attempt to give a public speech to the entire school on the stage in the past. Staring at a dark mass of countless peers and teaching staff, Lou Cheng came up with an uneasiness from his heart and could barely talk. He felt fortunate that he wasn’t the protagonist.

Geezer Shi seemed pleased.

“Terrific. You must be a true enthusiast in martial arts. What’s your name?”

“Lou Cheng,” Lou Cheng took a deep breath.

Geezer Shi looked through the registry to search Lou Cheng’s name and asked casually.

“In which year? Of which amateur pin? Seventh or eighth?”

Dead silence in the gym. Lin Que kept his eyes down, appearing unconcerned. Chen Changhua, taller than most of his peers, glanced at Lou Cheng from a distance, wondering who this strange fellow was. The rest of the Martial Arts Club members were waiting eagerly for the answer except for Lou Cheng’s acquaintances Cai Zongming, Qiu Zhigao and Yan Zheke who seemed terribly in shock.

Lou Cheng replied calmly and frankly. “A freshman of no rank.”

“Of no freaking rank and you want to join the training,” words slipped out of Geezer Shi’s mouth. It was the first time that he spoke inappropriately since he had entered the gym.

The crowd in the gym burst into laughter. The venue was instantly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Lou Cheng couldn’t help feeling embarrassed. His face was on fire.

“Good,” Geezer Shi lowered his right hand as a signal for the gym to quiet down and continued. “A newborn calf is not afraid of tigers. Very much like me in my youth. I’ll see you tomorrow here. Quit when you can take no more. Don’t push yourself too hard. I can’t assume responsibility for your life.”

“Are you praising me? Or boasting yourself?” Lou Cheng thought to himself and then replied. “Yes, Coach Shi.”

He subconsciously looked up to Yan Zheke, who happened to meet his eyes with joy and made a gesture of encouragement.

Geezer Shi ignored whispers from Martial Arts Club members and carried on. “So Lou Cheng was the first to apply for the special training. The first mover. Anyone else?”

“Coach, me.” A sweet, familiar female voice came to Lou Cheng’s ear. He turned around and realized it was Yan Zheke.

“She… She also wants to join?”

“Is she simply a big fan of martial arts or?”

“One illusion in life: she is doing this for me,” Cai Zongming brutally broke Lou Cheng’s fantasy.

“Couldn’t you allow my happiness to last a few seconds longer?” Lou Cheng stared at Cai.

Cai Zongming grinned. “Not feeling too good about oneself is an essential prerequisite for chasing girls. However, Cheng, I’m impressed that you are willing to get up four hours earlier every morning to attend this special training just for a girl. I have to admit you have beaten me in perseverance and courage. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart! God won’t let down a determined heart!”

Listening to Little Ming’s nonsense, Lou Cheng didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t speak of the Jindan as there was a saying “He who loses his secret will lose himself.” So he just admitted that it was for a girl.

“Anyway, have a try. You can always quit.”

“Makes sense,” Cai Zongming nodded and put one thumb up. “You are worthy to be taught!”

Yan Zheke’s participation tempted many boys. They raised hands to apply for the training, and it took Geezer Shi a good while to have every name written down. Geezer Shi straightened his face. “Everybody, attention. Get ready for class.”

“Your ranks vary from nothing to Professional Ninth Pin, but in front of me you are all the same, unprofessional martial arts enthusiasts, or in other words, babies on a feeding bottle. So we shall start our first martial arts lesson with the foundation. Remember, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

Geezer Shi kept his hands together behind his back and paced back and forth in front of the team. His voice was not that loud but clear enough to be heard by everyone, “The entry-level of martial arts begins with stance training supplemented by footwork practice and current strength training such as bench press, deep squat, pull-up and back muscle stretch. Only when you have grasped these to a certain extent, you can move on to the practice of actual martial movements to grasp novel force launching techniques of each move…”

…

“… Your Principal put in a lot of effort to bring me here with sincere respect. I’m not a man with an unearned reputation. The stance training of our first lesson will be Yin-Yang Stance, the lost knowledge of the Taoist Thunder Sect!”

Bang! The crowd burst into a passionate discussion. Martial Arts Club members whispered in each other’s ear with excitement or shock.

The lost knowledge of the Taoist Thunder Sect had long been well known all over the world. Its basic stance training was a hot topic within the martial arts circle but frequently skipped from knowledge by the amateurs. Those crude and straightforward stance training were nothing like it.

Just as excited, Lou Cheng turned to Cai Zongming. “Shangqing Sect’s lost technique of the Thunder Sect?”

“Must be,” said Cai Zongming, thrilled.

The Taoist martial arts had a comparably short history, not part of the genuine origin of martial arts. However, it inherited from pre-Qin eras, organized The Old Gods and Old Ghosts System, and laid a foundation for the next blossom of martial arts, making up a significant fraction of the martial arts circle. The core of its martial arts was known as the Five Sects Unique Skills with the Restriction Sect topping the Thunder, Fire, Fighting and Plague Sects.

Two major forces, Shangqing Sect and Longhu Club, were respectively the heirs of the unique skills of the Thunder Sect and the Fire Sect. Another mighty force, Shushan Study, carried forward the entire system of the Fighting Sect while skills of the Plague Sect had been scattered in wars and partly passed on by many forces.

The basic training of such unique skills would bring a thrill to those martial arts members who had long soaked in the news regarding the martial arts circle.

Considering Coach Shi was invited by the Principal in person, he must have some real skills other than ostentation.

Sadly, not Longhu Club’s stance training of the Fire Sect… Lou Cheng seemed slightly disappointed.

Geezer Shi kept some space between his feet and suddenly became overwhelming like a towering mountain or a roaring sea. He lifted both of his hands, forming a closed ring in front of his chest, and began to ramble:

“Physical poses of still stance are usually simple. However, the key lies in the stillness. As a saying of the Thunder Sect stated, concealment of spirit and Qi can ward off trouble. It’s pretty much telling us only the dead can keep the mind void. Think about one item and completely focus on it. Remain concentrated to bring peace…”

“You may think about anything, a man or a woman, a cat or a dog, a holy statue or a tableware as long as it arouses no desire. I usually think about a one-hundred bill, suppressing my mind with the founding father of the country without waking up my greed. This refers to treating money like dirt…”

Mocking Geezer Shi’s pose while listening to his interesting description, Lou Cheng prepared himself for meditation, but threads of thought led him from one thing to another. Focusing on one item to achieve peace seemed impossible. When his mind fell on Yan Zheke, distractions flooded in and he couldn’t help dreaming about future.

At this moment, his attention suddenly turned to the Jindan inside his Dantian.

Focusing on his lower stomach, Lou Cheng slowly gathered all his thoughts and restrained them all inside the Jindan. He imagined a fantastic ice ball of nebula pattern and small flames.

As his thoughts gathered, the scene in Lou Cheng’s vision abruptly changed. He could see the inside of his Dantian, where the dreamy Jindan set.

The Jindan rotated slowly. Small ice crystals transformed into stars around those tiny flames, creating a vast universe, profound and grand.

“This… Can I look inside to see the Jindan already?” As an experienced martial arts fan, academic terms were no strange for Lou Cheng. Soon enough, he figured out in what status he was.

That was the advanced level of Solemn Silence!

Before, he could only sense the Jindan after a long and weary run. Now he could see it within his body by merely remaining in silence. He started to enjoy his gradual control over it and no longer felt terrified and helpless like yesterday. Conclusions were being drawn on his mind:

“Practicing martial arts indeed can help me gain control over the Jindan. Furthermore, it can also speed up my martial arts training just like it helped with my meditation! Participating in this special training is the right decision!”

Lou Cheng focused on his Dantian and achieved peace through concentration. Random thoughts appeared and vanished and then reappeared but could no longer affect his meditation.

His surroundings became void. Everything flew up to the sky. Geezer Shi’s voice rang into his ear from a distance.

“Once you achieve peace, slowly move your weight to the left, to keep the left foot heavier and the right foot lighter, and then do the opposite. Feel the strength changing in every muscle during your weight shifting. This is Yin-Yang Stance. Your body appears still, yet movements and changes never stop inside.”

“This stance training firstly helps you with meditation and secondly allows you to feel the subtle changes and cooperation within your body while pulling strength to exert better control of your muscles and make use of your whole body. At the ultimate level of the training, your strength, muscles, and mind will become one, like a human elixir. Once the elixir is formed, Qi will begin to grow and you are stepping into the Danqi stage, the real martial arts entry level. At this stage, even the worst of you can reach the rank of Professional Eighth Pin.

“Ha-hah, just saying. Don’t think too much about it, as most of you will never reach this stage. Lin Que is probably the only one among you with such potential. The rest of you don’t need to take it too seriously.”

“Damn it! He’s probably stating the fact but this old man indeed has a bitter tongue…” The thought flashed across Lou Cheng’s mind but didn’t disturb his concentration. Meanwhile, he began to move his weight to his left foot slowly.

As the weight moved slowly, he could feel changes in his leg muscles, feet and waist. With those subtle changes reflected in his mind, he could barely recognize his own body.

“While running with arms waving, my mind manipulates my body and physical moves take place smoothly but who could have noticed such continuous changes at every inch of the body? No wonder a wrong pose can significantly slow me down and consume more of my energy! The order of changes of strength pulling was wrong!”

Perceive as you see, believe not what you perceive!

It didn’t take Lou Cheng long to immerse himself in that new feeling. He continued to slowly move his weight while feeling the changes in his body between falsehood and reality, movement and stillness, and lightness and heaviness as if a gate to a new world had just been opened. Especially when a warm stream of the Jindan reached every corner of his body, some kind of mystery was gently touched.

Upon teaching the Yin-Yang Stance, Geezer Shi started to patrol around reviewing his students. First timers of still stance training had almost no chance of actually remaining in one. He merely wanted these young fellows to adapt themselves.

Lin Que was doing pretty well. From a family with a long history in martial arts, he had already been familiar with Solemn Silence. Geezer Shi stepped past him and nodded with a slight smile.

“Chen Changhua is disturbed by too many thoughts to calm down… Wu Dong’s health condition doesn’t allow him to stay calm… Yan Zheke is doing alright. With a few more tries she might be able to achieve peace… What the heck is this? What is he thinking about? Is he dribbling?” As he walked past one member after another, Geezer Shi gave silent comments within his mind, “This must be Cai Zongming. Has some talent but more useless thoughts. He needs to organize his mind or it will take him quite some long time to master Yin-Yang Stance. Hmm?”

Geezer Shi paused by Lou Cheng, carrying surprise and confusion in his eyes.