Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 1: Crouch up and down like a galloping horse, ascend into the sky and free the body and soul

One night, on the first third of the twelfth month, the weather suddenly turned cold. The northern wind whistled through the night as snowflakes floated down. By the time daylight broke out, a thick layer of snow had already piled up.

Wang Chao was woken up by the reflection of the snow outside of his window, thinking that it was morning already. But when he looked at the alarm clock at his bedside, he discovered that it was only 5 o’clock. He had woken up an hour early.

However, Wang Chao wasn’t the type of person who was too lazy to get out of bed. He quietly put on his clothes and spent ten minutes washing his face and rinsing his mouth. After hearing the sounds of his parents putting on their clothes as well in the room next door, only then did Wang Chao leave the house.

Wang Chao was a junior in some high school. He was sixteen years old this year. His height was average. His looks were average. His grades were average. His mother and father had been laid off long ago. Their current income didn’t exceed 2000 RMB per month.

Because of this, Wang Chao was an introvert who was very quiet.

Behind Wang Chao’s house was a park. The park faced a river with a dense forest. The place was both remote and gloomy. Inside was a small road that led to the school.

Wang Chao liked to walk along the road alone in silence. He didn’t like the bustling main road, so he traveled to and from school on this small path everyday.

The garden was very quiet. No one was ever there. Though occasionally, a few sparrows would gather around on top of a tree packed with snow and chirp a happy little song. They would also jump around and from time to time, some of the accumulated snow on the tree would fall down, adding to the liveliness.

But today, when Wang Chao slowly walked past a dense grove of pine trees, he noticed a person moving about in there.

“It’s this early and someone is out exercising already?” Wang Chao was curious, so he looked more carefully towards the woods this time.

The person exercising in the woods was wearing white sportswear and running shoes. She had a tidy ponytail and was practicing shadow boxing.

This girl looked around twenty or so years old. Her movements were slow and drawn out. It seemed like she was practicing Taichi.

But after observing for a bit, Wang Chao noticed that there was something different about it.

Wang Chao discovered that the girl’s eyes were completely focused onto the movements of her fingers.

She would always extend her hand out slowly first. Her five fingers would then accurately grab and then quickly retract.

This slow extension and then quick retraction made Wang Chao think of how he used to try and catch fish with his hands when he was little: he would first slowly put his hand into the water, so the fish wouldn’t be alarmed, and then when the fish got near, his hand would suddenly clasp down, catching the fish.

Moreover, Wang Chao also found out that this girl was constantly moving in a circle when she shadow boxed. Her feet were always parallel to the ground, carefully moving about. It looked like she was treading in muddy water.

The girl’s posture wasn’t beautiful, but the in and out motion, the movements of her entire body, and how the strength seemed to be evenly spread out everywhere, made Wang Chao’s heart pound.

Wang Chao had entered a trance and he didn’t know how much time had passed. The girl suddenly stopped. She raised her two hands to the space in between her eyebrows and then soon after, pressed down on her abdomen slowly. Her left foot gently stepped on the ground and she exhaled.

Wang Chao saw a long thread of white air shoot out from her mouth like a sudden air arrow.

“You can exhale like that?” Wang Chao was extremely astonished when he saw this. He tried to do the same by exhaling with all his might.

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But when he exhaled into the cold air, only a small cloud of white mist formed, which dissipated soon after.

Wang Chao refused to accept this. He once again exhaled with all his might. He blew so hard that his heartbeat had quickened and his eyes were beginning to see stars, yet all that came out was a small cloud of white mist.

While Wang Chao was exhaling with great effort, the girl walked over. She smiled faintly and nodded her head. It could be considered as a greeting. She then left the woods and walked away in the other direction.

At school, Wang Chao wasn’t able to concentrate in his classes the entire day. He was constantly thinking about that moment when the shadow-boxing girl had exhaled. The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.

He regretted not striking up a conversation with her at that time.

The next morning, Wang Chao purposefully got up even earlier. When he passed through the park’s small path, he noticed that shadow boxing girl again.

This time, Wang Chao walked a bit closer, just outside of the woods.

Even though Wang Chao was watching her, the girl continued to shadow box calmly. When she finished her routine, she raised her hands, pressed on her abdomen, stepped gently on the ground, and exhaled.

When her breath met the cold air, her breath once again turned into a fine, thin line that shot out into the distance like an arrow.

After shadow boxing, the girl gave Wang Chao a faint smile and nodded her head politely like before. And once again, she left without a word.

Several days passed by in this way. Wang Chao would wake up very early every day and immediately run to the park woods to watch the girl shadow box. He discovered that no matter how early he got up, the girl would always be in that same place. At six o’clock in the morning, she would leave.

Wang Chao took up the courage several times to go up and talk to her, but when he got there, the words just wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

Every time the girl finished her routine, she would always nod her head and smile faintly towards Wang Chao. Her expression was very friendly, giving Wang Chao an older sister type feeling.

The week passed like this. Even though the two hadn’t exchanged any words yet, Wang Chao felt that they were close now, so he finally went over to talk to her: “Sis, what type of martial arts are you practicing?”

The girl smiled: “I’m practicing Guoshu.”

“Guoshu…….” Wang Chao had seen lots of wuxia stories, so the only martial arts he knew of were from those such as “Nine Yin Bone Claw”, “Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms”, “Toad Skill”, and so on.

Wang Chao knew that all of these were imaginary. However, he had never heard of Guoshu.

But Wang Chao had watched the girl practice for a week and felt that it was very mysterious. It looked much cooler than other martial arts like Karate, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Sanda.

“What’s Guoshu?” Wang Chao asked.

The girl was still smiling: “Martial arts that isn’t for show, but rather for killing enemies. That’s Guoshu.”

Wang Chao heard this and felt like it was even more amazing now, “Sis, can you teach me it?”

The girl carefully looked at him up and down. She nodded her head, “You’ve watched me for a week, so I see you have some determination. What’s your name?”

“My name’s Wang Chao. I’ll be sixteen this year, a junior. Sis, what’s your name?’ Wang Chao introduced himself.

“My name’s Tang Zichen.” The girl always had that faint smile on her.

Wang Chao discovered that this sis Tang Zichen’s face beautiful and smooth like jade, without any blemishes.

“Your foundation is no good. You’ve never practiced before. Your waist and legs are all over the place. If you’re going to learn, then I’ll teach you the horse stance.”

“Horse stance!!!!!” Wang Chao heard this and felt his head hurt: “Sis Chen, everyone knows how to do this. Do you really need to teach this?”

“Oh! Then let me see it.” Tang Zichen walked two steps and then told Wang Chao to squat down.

Wang Chao immediately threw his arms forward, moved his feet apart, and lifted his hands up. He stayed still, steady, and stable.” “Sis Chen, like this?”

Tang Zichen didn’t reply. She simply smiled as she watched him.

Soon, Wang Chao’s knees began to ache. Then, his legs began to shake. His lower back was also sore. His entire body was on fire and sweat began to form on his head.

Wang Chao knew he couldn’t go on any longer, so he stood up and rubbed his sore knee, “Sis Chen, was that right?”

Tang Zichen shook her head: “If you stay still like that, then all you’re going to do is hurt your back. Horse stance, horse stance. The important word is horse. You have to stand like a horse.”

“Stand like a horse?” Wang Chao didn’t understand.

“Have you ever watched someone ride a horse?” Tang Zichen wasn’t smiling, “When a person rides on a horse, the person will move up and down along with the horse. The horse stance originates from understanding how to ride a horse, which is why when you’re in the stance, you also have to move up and down as if you were riding a horse.”

When a person rides on a horse, the up and down strength comes from the horse, so there isn’t any martial arts that stems from the horse. But it’s different on the flat ground, your up and down strength will be as if you’ve assimilated with the horse’s body. If you stand like that without moving, your entire body’s weight will be on your knee. If you stay in that position for a long time, your knee will definitely have problems.”

“So there’s something like that?” Wang Chao never thought about that. It was just a simple posture. He had never realized that there was so much background info.

“Watch how I squat.”

Tang Zichen said as she got into a horse stance. Wang Chao saw her body lightly move up and down as if a breeze were blowing the waves.

“Come, you try.” Tang Zichen demonstrated as Wang Chao followed along.

“When squatting, the strength first goes to the sole of the foot. When rising, your toes have to be like chicken feet and claw into the ground. When your toes dig in, you’ll feel a change in your bone and muscles in your calves. Your knees will naturally rise up. When your knees rise, stretch your thighs tight, straighten your back, and breathe in. This is the up movement.”

“For the down movement, your feet will have to be like the webbed feet of ducks and geese. Your five toes have to relax. Like this, relax your knees, thighs, and back. Breathe out.”

“When gently moving up and down, your center of gravity will continuously shift. In this way, you won’t damage your body by staying in one place for too long.”

The more Wang Chao listened the more everything made sense. He repeatedly nodded his head and did as Tang Zichen said.

In the beginning, Wang Chao wasn’t able to do this up and down motion. But with Tang Zichen by his side, every time Wang Chao wasn’t in the correct position, she would kick it into place.

Every region where Wang Chao had been kicked hurt. With this pain guiding him, he was able to get into the correct position.

Your up and down motion shouldn’t be large, about an inch of distance. From beginning to end, you have to be precisely within that one inch range. The more precise the better!” Tang Zichen was very strict when she taught.

Sure enough, after learning this up and down motion, Wang Chao’s ability to stay in position went from five minutes to twenty minutes.

But after twenty minutes, Wang Chao felt his head go dizzy. This up and down motion made him feel like he was seasick. The insides of his stomach was tumbling around.

“Do you feel dizzy like you’re seasick and want to vomit?” Tang Zichen seemed to know what Wang Chao was feeling.

Wang Chao immediately nodded his head.

“You don’t need to stay in position. You can get up. The position for your lower body is correct, however your head isn’t in the right position. When you’re in stance, ascend your head into the sky.”

“What do you mean by ascend into the sky?” Wang Chao stood up and gasped for breath. After a while, that seasick feeling went away.

It’s a term used in Bagua and Xing Yi Quan. It’s difficult to explain. Just follow what I do.” Tang Zichen thought aloud, “Go to the river dam and you’ll understand!”

Outside of the park was a big river. A few years ago, they had built a dam made from reinforced concrete. The dam stood tall. There was a long and steep flight of concrete stairs to the top.

Tang Zichen grabbed Wang Chao and quickly climbed up the stairs.

Wang Chao’s knees were still unbearably sore from doing the horse stance. After being dragged and forced to climb up the dozens of concrete steps, his knees were so sore that he was almost unable to stay standing.

“Look at this river!”

Tang Zichen didn’t wait for Wang Chao to rest and pointed forward at the vast river.

Wang Chao looked and saw the raging currents surging forward, the vast waters, the bubbling waves hitting the shore, and the piles of white snow that had accumulated on the riverbanks. The scene made him feel extremely calm.

As he looked, Wang Chao felt his entire body become a lot more comfortable. His legs weren’t hurt anymore and his back stopped hurting.

“Stand tall and look far. With your view widened, you’ll feel relaxed and your fatigue will go away. This is ascension.” Tang Zichen explained the reasoning to Wang Chao as if she really were an older sister.

“When you ride on a galloping horse, your view will especially widen. If you ride a horse like this, you won’t feel tired. Using the same reasoning, when you feel seasick, stand on the deck. Feel the wind blow, look into the horizon, and you won’t feel sick anymore.

“That’s why, when you go into a horse stance, not only should you rise up and down, you also have to widen your view, stand tall and look out.”

“Only this type of horse stance is correct. All of these have their reasoning based on real life. It’s just that people often overlook them. It was our ancestors who put these together and created martial arts. Martial arts isn’t some sort of fairy tale. It’s rooted in real life. As long as you pay attention, you can turn what seems like nothing into magic.”

Wang Chao heard this and seemed to have suddenly understood many things.

He felt as if a large door he had never seen before was slowly opening up.

“I’ve told you the theory and correct posture to you. First, practice for a half a month. After half a month, I’ll wait for you here and see how much you’ve improved.” Tang Zichen finished. She then turned around and went down the stairs.