Romance of Dragons and Snakes

When Liao Junhua heard the “Dragon’s Iron Elbow” Liu Yi tell his story, he couldn’t help but interject from the side.

“Eh!?”

It was then that Wang Chao heard from Liao Junhua that this “Iron’s Dragon Elbow” Liu Yi was someone of unordinary status as a martial artist.

“Haha, haha.” Liu Yi chuckled as he stroke his beard. “Ever since Zhou Binglin crushed my pinky, I lost all the honor I had and could no longer be a teacher of martial arts. Thus, I had to change my career to become a ‘profiteer’. It was by the frontiers that I did business with the Russians to earn some coins before finally scraping enough to buy some family property.”

“If that’s what you consider a small bit of family property, then we are all just beggars scraping for a meal.” Han Xiaoqing laughed from the side.

After Deng Xiaoping’s reformation, plenty of men from Northeast China went to the frontiers to do business with Soviet Russia. We were called ‘profiteers’, but it was there that we came up with a few jokes. ‘Carry a bucket and pole over and return with a tank.’”

“My master is currently working with a multinational trading company with wide influence. When he heard the news, he came flying over from San Francisco in California.” Lin Yanan whispered into Wang Chao’s ear.

There was an immediate realization and appreciation for Liu Yi coming from Wang Chao.

It had been strange to think that after being defeated, Liu Yi retired from being a master martial artist to go into business. With the open oceans that was business, he later became a giant and wealthy magnate. Zhou Binglin on the other hand defeated everyone in his youth without an equal, but in his elderly years, he became nothing more than a commoner.

The multitudes of change in everyday life was filled with the indistinct fate of humanity. The decline of martial arts could be attributed to the tides of change in modern day society. The lives of martial artists were in a sorry state as they drifted about without sanctuary.

No matter how high your martial arts were or how brilliant your technique was, it did not guarantee a future.

Wang Chao’s interest began to wane. Looking out the window, he just so happened to glance upon the sun starting its descent behind the mountains.

“Will I be able to find my future in this direction?”

When Wang Chao questioned himself, he could not find an answer.

“Cough”, drinking down the Maotai drink in a single gulp, a strange heat began to rise up from within his chest.

“I’ve grown old. Although I retired from the Jianghu as a practitioner for many years, I am still unwilling to give up the things I’ve learned. Yanan may be my disciple, but her technique is still sloppy. I can teach her, but it will only be for so much. You are young, but your technique is superb along with your reputation. The second thing I came here today is in hopes that Yanan will be able to pursue her studies under your school.”

“What?” Wang Chao was surprised, “Is this a transference of disciples? Or is this an act of joining?”

The world of martial arts had rules from the past times about many things such as the relationship between friendly martial artists. In one aspect, they were harsh rules with original punishments for each thing. In another aspect, it taught about the importance of learning about the self without tarnishing oneself’s honor. In one more aspect about transferring disciples, one would have their own disciple learn under the school of a friend. Then when the disciple learned all that he could, the master would learn the friend’s art as well. This was what it was called to ‘join’.

“Yanan is my partner, meaning making her my disciple would be impossible. But for martial arts, I’d still be willing to exchange with her to the best of my ability.” Wang Chao hurried to decline.

“That works as well.” Liu Yi had said nothing more after listening to Wang Chao’s refusal since this was merely a request in passing and nothing too serious.

“Master Wang, my own master has heard about you crippling Zhou Binglin’s arm. When he heard that you’ll be fighting that Nak Muay, he said he’d be coming as well.” Dai Jun drained his cup.

“Master Zhu Hongzhi is coming as well?” Wang Chao looked over.

Zhu Hongzhi was a master of Xinyiquan overseas with countless disciples and was also a senior figure of the International Hongmen Society with major influence amongst the overseas martial art world. So for him to come this time meant no small influence for the match.

It could be said that after Wang Chao defeated Zhang Wei, he became well known in the Southeast Asia world of martial arts. After defeating Ye Xuan, he became known in Northeast China and Japan. After defeating the Yiquan dojo in Beijing, he became known in Beijing. And now with this match, he would become known as “Rushing out of Asia and onto the world stage”.

But Wang Chao had his doubts. Even with him fighting against a Nak Muay for this next match, it shouldn’t be enough to warrant the attention of such a senior figure of the overseas community. Was his name really that influential?

“Zhou Binglin is an expert of the Sun Style Taichi school. In his youth, he was strong and famous. Although he’s hide himself for twenty years and has been forgotten by many, he is still a very astounding person in the eyes of the older generation. Look and see how many he has defeated and ruined. After so many years, these people weren’t able to exact their revenge; that alone is a statement of his astounding martial arts. Now that you’ve crippled him even if it wasn’t in a fair and public fight, you have become known from that. Those of the previous generation has already considered you as a genuine grandmaster and progenitor of your own style of martial arts. In other words, your name is even greater than mine own.”

Chen Aiyang proclaimed.

“From a small unintentional fight in the park to have such an impact on a match in my future? That’s….really something.”

When Wang Chao heard Chen Aiyang, he felt the notion had been rather outrageous.

Indeed, his fight with Zhou Binglin in the park had been because of their honor. But neither was above the other and both suffered as a result. He had not thought that when news of this battle got out, it would serve to bolster his entire history. With that one battle, he was now considered a progenitor of his own school of martial arts.

But after calming down and thinking to himself, Wang Chao saw the logic in this.

In the past, all of his opponents had been of the younger generation. Zhang Wei included, none of them were men that would be considered to be noticeable enough to the older generation. But Zhou Binglin was different. As one famous for his martial arts and being practically undefeated in his time of youth, his name was far more heavier than the others.

The feast had been a very festive one. From when the sun went down and the moon rose up, Chen AIyang, Wang Chao, Liao Junhua, Dai Jun, and “Dragon’s Iron Elbow” Liu Yi had all been in a happy mood. It matter not if they were young or old, by the time their cups and drinks were empty, everyone was happy.

Huo Ling’er, Han Xiaoqing and Lin Yanan were all women who no words to interject in their conversations. And so, they all rose and drew away from the feast to allow for the waiters to attend to the room.

On the other hand, Zhao Xinglong, Boulder, and the other soldiers remained at the table and listened to the talk between the martial artists with keen interest.

“Let’s forget about this talk about status. Elder Liu, master Wang, master Chen, chief Liao, master Dai, you are all masters of the Wulin. Would it be possible to demonstrate your martial arts and open the eyes of us juniors?”

Han Xiaoqing suddenly spoke up in the midsts of their happy talking.

“That is possible.This old man hasn’t waded in the waters of the Jianghu for some time, so it’s rare to see such a gathering like this. You girls come and watch then; it’s hard to see such purity in this time and age.”

Liu Yi laughed before bringing everyone to the courtyards of the school.

Liu Yi first began to go through the stances for Bajiquan; his movements were fluid, his elbow swirled in the air, and his feet waded through the ground as if on water with a forceful gust of wind. With a final shout of “heng” and “ha”, his elbow struck against a stone meant for practicing martial arts and split it into pieces.

Liao Junhua and Dai Jun both went through a series of exchange with vigorous strength that showcased their form and spirit. Chen Aiyang had been quick and skillful with his movements so that they had left a series of clear footsteps on the ground.

Finally it came to be Wang Chao’s turn. Standing in front of a white banner hanging down from a nearby wall, Wang Chao’s body slid backwards in preparation before suddenly striking out with both palms. Despite him slapping the cloth with both palms, the banner did not move at all. It was as if Wang Chao’s palms had been completely devoid of strength or wind.

Several instances later, Wang Chao had already made several slaps onto the cloth. As he brought his arms back, the wind finally blew at the banner, revealing a series of palm-sized white cloth flapping away in the wind like cloth butterflies dancing in the air. On the white banner itself, there had been just as many palm-sized holes from where Wang Chao struck it.

“The Transforming Jin; what a terrifying skill. Zhou Binglin’s defeat at your hand is not a wronged one.” Liu Yi, Dai Jun, and Liao Junhua all felt great admiration for Wang Chao after this display of his technique.

“I actually came here to Shan Dong for two reasons. The first reason is to see how your dojo was doing, the second was to go sightseeing.” Chen Aiyang suddenly mentioned.

“What place did you have in mind?” Wang Chao asked.

“The marshes of Liangshan.” Chen Aiyang gave a meaningful glance at Wang Chao. “We’ve drank our fill of alcohol today, why not go on a trip to Liangshan?”

“There’s an estimated six or seven hours of driving to get there. But if master Chen wants to go still, then I have a car that we could use to go there tomorrow.” Han Xiaoqing quickly offered.

“Haha, with my leg strength, I don’t need a car. Wang my friend, are you interested? We could go now and take advantage of the darkness of the night to go. Miss Han, are you interested in testing something? Why don’t you drive while we walk. Let’s see who’ll make it to Liangshan first?” Chen Aiyang smiled at Han Xiaoqing.

“Yes! We can do that!” Huo Ling’er and Han Xiaoqing had found this prospect interesting and immediately piped up in agreement.

Wang Chao had experience in traveling the entire country and so he was not afraid of walking. But with the speed of a car, he had never attempted to compare himself to that; so Wang Chao’s interest couldn’t help but perk up at this.

“You two are both at the phase of transformation and your stamina is at its prime. This old weak body cannot do such an attempt.” Liu Yi expressed. Liao Junhua and Dai Jun both expressed their inability to compare with Wang Chao and Chen Aiyang as well.

“Then let’s begin.”

Chen Aiyang and Wang Chao stared at each other with a flashlight in hand. With a smile, they started with several small steps for about ten meters before their legs began to move faster and faster. In an instant, they were moving at tremendous speeds and carried both Wang Chao and Chen Aiyang down the mountain.

“Sis Ling’er, hurry up!” Han Xiaoqing had been startled when she saw the two. She didn’t think that the two would be able to run so fast so quickly. Immediately pulling Huo Ling’er, the two of them began to run down the mountain as well. It took them another half hour for them to find and start up the Ferrari sports car they had parked in the parking lot in the tourist area. Flooring the accelerator, the two took off down the road, but by this point, Wang Chao and Chen Aiyang were long since out of sight.

“Slow down!” Huo Ling’er had been frightened by how sudden Han Xiaoqing had stepped on the gas pedal. “By the time we get on the freeway, it’ll take us six hours to get to Liangshan. With my master and brother Aiyang walking, they won’t be able to get there as fast.”

“That can’t be for certain; those two are abnormal!” Han Xiaoqing spoke, her foot never leaving the gas pedal.

By now, Wang Chao and Chen Aiyang had already reached the freeway. At tremendous speeds, they flew down the roads with reckless abandon. The pores on their body breathed whenever they took a step, and their muscles would relax in rhythm with their steps so that they wouldn’t lose as much energy from being tensed.

An expert capable of Transforming Jin was capable of long continuous breaths. Each and every inch of their body could breathe thanks to their intense knowledge of their own physical anatomy and control over it. Long distance running could be said to be a specialty to them.

Back then, Tang Zichen would wake up early in the morning to get from S province to Wang Chao’s area at a speed faster than a car.

Back during the times of the Republic of China; some masters in Tianjing and Beijing would often times pay their friends a visit. And so they would embark on a night time journey using their legs to go from Tianjing to Beijing. Often times, the person would arrive before the train.

For the true experts, traveling several hundred meters without being seen at night was said to be nothing special.

In the ancient battlefields when a general’s command was as steady as a mountain, even the soldiers who knew nothing about martial arts would be able to travel an inconceivable distance using their leg strength. Leg strength was an extremely crucial factor in martial arts still.

Under the guise of the night, Wang Chao and Chen Aiyang had been like a swallow skimming the waters and an arrow shooting through the air in speed. Even their shadows were faster than a car.

Back when Wang Chao had only seen small achievements with his skill, he had been able to keep up with the car that had kidnapped Cao Jingjing for dozens of minutes. With his skill now, how many hundred times more faster was he? His endurance and leg strength now was inconceivable in comparison.

And so these two men who had pushed the limits of man were now challenging the modern day science and technology.

But to get from Laoshan to Liangshan would mean traveling more than half the Shandong province. Even with their familiarity with the roads, the public roads were flat and didn’t require much strength to travel on. From seven at night they could run all the way to seven in the morning to finally reach a village. Then, if they ran for another full day to eight or nine at night, they’d be able to get to Liangshan after a cumulative total of twenty five or six hours by normal speed.

“‘Magic Traveler’ Dai Zong was said to travel four hundred kilometers in a single day. We aren’t that far away from him either it seems.”

TL Note: Dai Zong is a fictional character from the novel Water Margin.

Chen Aiyang and Wang Chao were both extremely fatigued. From what they could see, on the giant cliff in front of them, an equally giant carving “Marshes of Liangshan” could be seen. Laughing, the two of them sat down on the ground.

“Have they arrived yet?” Wang Chao was feeling extremely tired as well. After running for the entire day and night as if forced to, even an expert like him wouldn’t be able to take it with ease.

“They should have gotten here far sooner than we did. Even with our leg strength, we can’t compare to cars. In short distance, we probably could, but even the flesh of the human body cannot withstand long distance running at such speeds.” Chen Aiyang spoke.

A gentle wind was blowing in from the marshes at the foot of the mountains. The autumn-winter gale had brushed up against the clumps of reed in a delicate manner, and in this night time display, it was a rather bleak sight.

“The marshes of Liangshan…..marshes of Liangshan. Haha, where is there even a Liangshan anymore?” Wang Chao suddenly sighed.

“There is.” Wang Chao suddenly spoke up with a strange light to his eyes. “Do you know why I suddenly wanted to run all the way here to see the marshes of Liangshan with you?”