Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 85: Headbutting the Face

“A good form of the dragon stance leap.”

When Wang Chao saw the two figures leap seven meters onto the beach, Wang Chao couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

This was an application of the jumping dragon stance. At the posture of these two men, they looked like lobsters flying out from the waters or possibly like a carp leaping over the dragon’s gate.

A dragon was originally an amalgamation of face of a horse, the horns of a deer, the body of a snake, the claws of an eagle, and the scales of a fish to form a beast of myth. In martial arts, the dragon stance was likewise a combination of many different animals.

Wang Chao’s sigh of admiration was due to when the two men leapt, the winds had begun to whistle as if there was truly a lobster ascending into the sky from the oceans. This was yet another example of where the sound follows the fist, which was then also another indication of becoming a master.

By the coast, experts of martial arts bred like flies. To Wang Chao’s knowledge, there were already many experts in Shandong. Cha Quan, Plum Blossom Praying Mantis Boxing, Six Harmony Praying Mantis Boxing, Shaolin Arhat Boxing, the list went on.

The Guoshu Institute of Shandong was no longer like the one from before. After being open to the world after the reforms, a disciple of Shaolin was completely different. Now, the Shaolin disciples of today were arrogant celebrity masters that preferred acrobatic fighting.

However, while there were still many experts of Guoshu, they were stuck at the Clear Jin stage with not a single one reaching the Hidden Jin stage almost. But when Wang Chao looked at these two, they were definitely at such a stage.

As the two men came 30 meters closer step by step, Wang Chao’s sharp eyes were suddenly able to see just who these two were.

One had black eyebrows that seemed to connect together in a single line and had short hair. His doughty spirit radiated from his body without ever seeming to have a limit.

This man’s appearance was someone he had seen before from the information from the organization. It was the greatest of the Three Tigers of Guangdong and board member of Macau’s Pujing Corporation: Dai Jun.

The biggest casino in Macau was an industry under his name! Such a person was extremely powerful, and as a master of martial arts, not having information on him would be extremely odd.

But what made Dai Jun the greatest of the Three Tigers of Guangdong was because of another reason. He had a grandmaster as his teacher and master. The masters of Zhang Wei and Xu Zhen had to bring up their own reputations by themselves.

But the three men had never competed against each other in a competition. They had at the very least pressed hands together to see.

Furthermore, with the three men’s reputation, there had been no animosity between them. So naturally, there was never a need for them to compete in a battle of life or death.

“Dai Jun and Liao Junhai? I didn’t think that Liao Junhai would be an expert too! This is beyond what the reports had said. Seeing how far he leapt, he isn’t below Dai Jun in strength either. What’s going on? Why didn’t the reports from the organization say such a thing and said that he was only a princeling?”

When Wang Chao saw Liao Junhai, he had instantly recognized him from the ID picture on the papers given to him by the organization, confirming his identity. Previously, the picture of Liao Junhai hadn’t given off any indication that he was an expert. But now, Wang Chao couldn’t help but curse the photographer under his breath.

However, the Liao Junhai from the pictures was completely different to the real him. This was something that everyone else could agree to.

Wang Chao immediately gave Lin Yanan a look, she had a look of be bewildered as well. Leaning closely, her fragrant perfume could be smelled as she spoke with a tiny voice, “Liao Junhai has kept a secretive profile, we had no either he was actually an expert! However, now we know of this, we can report this to the organization and update his profile to a second class level.”

“Master Wang Chao, you seem spirited if you come take a stroll at the beach. If one is a master of martial arts, why haven’t you come to say hello to me? If master Wang had wanted to found a school of internal martial arts, then all master Wang had to do was to say the word and I would be able to help sort it out for you.”

Liao Junhai and Dai Jun got closer and were now 8-9 meters away.

Liao Junhai had been the first to speak and had instantly pinpointed Wang Chao’s identity.

“And you two are?” Wang Chao spoke with narrowed eyes.

“I am Dai Jun, and this is my fellow junior disciple Liao Junhai. We came here today to understand just how strong master Wang is. We wish to see just how strong the one who defeated Master Zhang Wei was in order for him to leap into the ocean to kill himself.

Dao Jun had been blunt and immediately spoken out the reason for their arrival.

The motorboats that had been spearing through the waves hadn’t stuck around and dispersed as if trying to redirect anyone from entering the nearby beach.

“Liao Junhai is a fellow disciple? Then does that mean the two are both disciples of Zhu Hongzhi?” Wang Chao thought. “Ah, Liao Junhai’s report did say he studied abroad in the United States and entered the Chinese Association there. Zhu Hongzhi is a senior figure of the American Chinese Association…”

“So chief Liao and Master Dai of the Three Tigers of Guangdong are together.”

Liao Junhai was an executive of a nationalized business in Shandong. The way he addressed both Liao Junhai and Dai Jun as a figure of the martial arts world was only natural.

“There’s no need to be so polite. We came here today as martial artists, not as chief Liao.” Liao Junhai waved his hand.

“Oh! You said one of you wanted to experience my martial arts, which one of you two wished to try?” Wang Chao walked forward a single step before giving a single look to Zhao Xinglong and Lin Yanan, telling them to leave wordlessly.

Zhao Xinglong and Lin Yanan had given each other a look before calling out to Boulder and the others. Using their phones to call out to the other soldiers, they had immediately cordoned the area.

“It is naturally the duty of the younger disciple. My fellow disciple has no name in the martial arts world, and so there is no burden. This time is merely a match of interest and friendly exchange, not a bet or a life or death fight. Master Wang, there is no need to be afraid. Furthermore, with someone of your stature and background, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, so please enjoy this match.”

Dai Jun gave a small life that seemed to contain an ambiguous meaning to it.

Even Liao Junhai’s mouth had twitched, showing a mysterious smiling expression.

With a smile, his feet came striding forward gracefully before his vertebrae seemed to extend like a dragon. In an instant, his back arched and flew towards Wang Chao like a spear.

Liao Junhai’s palms came shooting from both sides with a barely restrained power hidden in them as he struck out at Wang Chao’s waist.

“What an amazing dragon stance fighting technique! It’s a bit different from my own dragon stance and has a slightly sinister yet soft Jin to it. There’s some old concepts to the way he moves, this is Xinyi Liuhe Boxing!”

In an instant, Wang Chao had been able to figure out what that deviation in Liao Junhai’s movements came from.

In Xingyi Quan, one fought by striking head on at the median of a person. To press forward and strike ferociously.

While Liao Junhai’s movements had brought him forward towards the median of Wang Chao, both of his hands had struck out at the waists instead. His footsteps had been strong and his frontal attack had been an empty form of what the spear should have been like.

This style of fighting was to fake the frontal and strike the sides with a sinister Jin.

The regular practitioner would often bring up a guard to protect his front when they see a person charge at their front. But in the end, their ribs would end up being crushed.

Pretend to strike with a ferocious attack head on but in truth, strike with the intent to kill from the sides.

“Taichi is crafty, Bagua is cunning, but the most malicious is Xinyi.” This had been clear to see to Wang Chao.

Xinyi Liuhe was the predecessor to Xingyi. According to the ancient records, Cao Jiwu had learned this from Ji Jike who then passed it onto Dai Longbang. Dai Longbang then passed it onto Shandong’s Li Luoneng.

Author note: Readers, if one wishes to know more, then please refer to Cao Jiwu.

Li Luoneng had 8 great disciples, the most outstanding of them all had been Guo Yunshen, Che Yizhai, Liu Qilan and Song Shirong.

Li Luoneng had been nicknamed “Divine Fist Li” whos achievements in martial arts had reached great heights. After getting to know Xinyi’s usage of what was true and false, he had been able to strike with ferocity and variability while he pressed forward to attack. His Qi would surge and each form he made was beyond the one from before.

Xingyi’s way of attacking was to strike at the front like a spear with pure Jin and strength that was substantially large.

But Xinyi Liuhe used deceptions and truth to strike at where the opponent least expected. Frequently, there would be noticeable effects in a real combat situation.

The two disciplines had been the same in its practice, but different in its style of attacking. Both had its strong points and different ways to circulate Jin, but the heart was at the center of both.

Liao Junhai’s fist had been initialized with the secret of the dragon stance’s leap. “The dragon stance joins Yin in order to search for the bones and use soft Jin to be able to leap left and right. Both palms rise and fall as it pierces through while both legs cross over swiftly.”

In particular, this forward step had a grew gust of wind that caused a whistle to arise from Liao Junhai’s throat. As it passed through his lips, the sound of a distant dragon’s roar could be heard.

As he let out a breath, both of his hands came forward at Wang Chao’s throat and chest.

In this imposing manner, the initial strike had been a facade. Instead, the true focus had been Wang Chao’s throat and chest rather than his waist.

But Wang Chao was not fooled by this facade.

Taking a step back, both of his hands dropped to his waists. In an instant, they were like two boas striking out from their caves as if chasing their preys with a hissing sound.

The snake appears from the cave to devour even an elephant!

Wang Chao’s snake stance had already been brought to the point of perfection while Liao Junhai’s dragon stance’s strike had struck at his own hands.

Bang! Bang! Both hands were only a short distance away from Wang Chao’s underbelly.

Hiss! Roar!

Without even needing to think about it, Wang Chao’s snake stance’s fists had already opened wide. All of his fingers let out a snapping sound as the fangs of the snake began to bite down onto the bones of the water buffalo.

Wang Chao had learned the ways of the “Chopping Grab” from the tiger to eagle stance. At the same time, he had learned the “Tearing Bite” of the snake to dragon stance. This was the way to utilize the finger strength. With 180 kilograms worth of power, he was able to grab hold of even the mercury filled lead balls. With a single swipe, he was able to spin it around his entire body, how much finger strength would that need?

Originally, in order for one’s fingers to attain such a high level of strength, a brilliant practitioner would need to spend five years at the very least training rigorously. They couldn’t use any drugs and could only use medicine to heal their hands while tempering it to increase their strength.

Zhang Wei was 30 years old at the very least. It was only after 20 years of Wingchun that he had been able to learn the One Inch Finger Jin.

But Wang Chao had learned the “Chopping Grab” to such efficiency to such a degree after realizing and following the rhythm of the sun and moon to cultivate. This was the most mysterious ideology of the theory that man and the universe were one.

Intent combines with the sun and moon. This was not to say that when the sun comes up, so does man. But instead, when the sun comes up, the intent and spirit of a man must be full of vigor like the sun and be full of mettle as well. The intent combines with the sun and moon was not to say that man should wake and sleep as the sun rises and the moon falls.

Martial arts followed the ways of life. It wasn’t at all like the mysterious Dao that contained the mysteries of life like in the legends.

While in Laoshan, Wang Chao had understood these ideologies and incorporated it into his own life and thinking. Although he hadn’t practiced, his skill hadn’t degraded at all. On the contrary, they had improved. Like he said to Zhao Xinglong and Lin Yanan, his talks about his martial arts “Increasing by leaps and bounds” had not been full of hot air.

As the two hands struck together, Liao Junhai’s face changed as his ears began to tremble.

That was because in his ears, he could clearly hear Wang Chao’s fingers let out a bursting sound from his knuckles.

A distinguishable sound of Jin.

Liao Junhai was also a master of martial arts. He was an expert at Xinyi Liuhe and so when he heard this sound, he had instantly understood: the enemy’s fingers were extremely strong. To want to defend against this was to face difficulty.

“His five fingers are like the fangs of a snake. An instant burst, an instant kill. If his snake stance was able to reach such a stage like this, then Zhang Wei’s defeat at his hands is not unjustified!”

But, while Wang Chao’s snake stance strike had been fierce, when it transformed into the “Tearing Bite”, it strength had instantly escalated a level. Liao Junhai had instantly dodged this strike in order to avoid being restrained by Wang Chao’s arms!

Instantaneously, the two had fought each other. Liao Junhai had used his dragon stance to leap forward while Wang Chao used his snake stance to defend.

Wang Chao’s five fingers were like the fangs to a viper before Liao Junhai could dodge, but he could sense that the fingers were like iron! His fingers had been sharp like barbed wires with the Hidden Jin breaking out!

“His Hidden Jin has already broke out, there’s no chance for me to defend or risk my hands!” Liao Junhai had been through many battles and instantly knew the situation he was in.

His toe fingers dug into ground abruptly in the same style of the claws of a chicken! His neck stretched outwards like a chicken before suddenly bending his neck down as if staring at the ground like a chicken pecking at rice. In the next moment, his head flew towards Wang Chao.

Chicken stance head strike!

This one move was the move that could turn the tides of battle when both hands were full, the headbutt.

Even Dai Jun who was standing by the side had his heart in his throat as he watched.

He hadn’t thought that in a single exchange, it would already descend into a deathmatch.

According to this situation, Wang Chao could cripple Liao Junhai’s arms, and Liao Junhai could break Wang Chao’s face!

Victory would be decided in this instant.