Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 76: Fishing Toad Jin and Rash Bull Jin

Huuu! Huuu! Chen Aiyang’s hands moved gently across Wang Chao’s back as he pressed and massaged it gently like a butterfly flapping its wings.

With each press, Wang Chao could feel the Pei Pa Koa moving through his pores and into his lungs, bringing a cooling sensation with it.

Chen Aiyang’s hands never stopped moving for 10 entire minutes. Wang Chao could hear each inhale and exhale he made. Even his speeding up heart rate could be heard quite loudly, thump! Thump! Thump! Each heart beat had been clear sounding like a hammer pounding down on iron.

After using the Hidden Jin, it was only natural that the heart would feel fatigued.

Strands of sweat could be seen on Wang Chao’s back.

This wasn’t Wang Chao’s sweat, but Chen Aiyang’s after using Hidden Jin. With the consistent break out of it, his pores had begun to leak sweat.

“What a guy, he’s already used the Hidden Jin for at least 30 strikes.”

Using the Hidden Jin in such a soft matter had an extremely high consumption rate for energy since the manipulation of Hidden Jin had to be very precise.

The source of Hidden Jin came from the heart, and the heart rate could not be controlled so precisely by normal means.

The heart of any regular person would start to beat faster when anxious. If they began to calm down, then their heart would slow down as well.

When anxious, the heart would leap and increase in tempo! It would thump quickly and the person would start to sweat.

But that was the extent of what most people had control over.

A martial artist who practiced internal martial arts could control their hearts and harmonize it with their will for a far more accurate precision.

Each minute, they could ensure that their hearts would beat at a desired rate.

Slowing it down by restraining the pores, the heart could be slowed down by three or four times the regular heart rate.

But when breaking out with Jin, the heart rate would be start to beat even faster.

Heart serves as the source of power for the inner organs and the human body. For a martial artist, they tempered their marrow which in turn creates blood which then served as the source of power. If the heart was the engine of a human body, then the blood was oil for the engine.

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Use martial arts to strengthen the body and inner organs. This way, one’s organs would be stronger than the regular person’s.

If one’s martial art did not reach the inner organs, then the limit of the human body would never be able to be broken and raised.

Discover the potential from one’s limit, and then increase the potential you could draw from it.

Wang Chao had already reached the limits of his body while also currently trying to temper his marrow. He was gradually changing his body for the better so that he would be able to break out with more power in the future.

But it went without question that on this road he was traveling, Chen Aiyang was farther ahead.

“Done! I’ve already used the Hidden Jin to apply the Pei Pa Koa into the afflicted areas in your lungs. You’ll need to rest for half a month however. That means no fighting and do not get angry. It would be best if you don’t take any deep breaths either. Be steady when you make any sudden movements and be relaxed. Otherwise, your lungs will tear a second time and cause an even bigger problem.”

Half an hour later, Chen Aiyang had finally stopped.

“What skill! Practitioners capable of Hidden Jin are truly amazing!” Wang Chao had thought when he saw the previously Pei Pa Koa stained cloth back in its original white color as if it had never been stained!

Not a single speck of the Pei Pa Koa could be seen.

Any white piece of cloth with Pei Pa Koa wouldn’t been clean even after being washed with water repeatedly. But Chen Aiyang’s Hidden Jin had been able of doing such a feat without a trace of it!

A skill like this was not something that could be considered amateurish at all. Even to Wang Chao who was relatively new to the martial arts world could tell this was not ordinary by any means.

Chen Aiyang gave a small smile and had someone bring him a basin to wash his hands. After drying his hands, he called for two cups of tea to be brought over.

The room had only them two, Zhao Xinglong, and the three bodyguards. Yao Xiaoxue had already been sent away with Chen Bin on a tour.

“What is the situation like in the Japanese martial arts world?”

Wang Chao could see that Chen Aiyang was in a talkative mood. He who was a veteran and held a monopoly over the martial arts world here.

Sipping from the tea cup given to him, Wang Chao could sense that it was a rather fragrant tea and was obviously a high quality tea.

The entire tea set was red in color–it was the most precious “vermilion” chinaware.

“The Japanese martial arts world is similar to the Korean one, both have been commercialized and been transformed to be a performance. But compared to the Korean world, the Japanese martial arts world still has many experts that place importance on tradition. After all, the Japanese martial arts has far more detail on martial arts and its culture than the Korean one.”

Chen Aiyang had hit the nail on the head in regards to what Wang Chao was looking for.

“The Japanese Karate Association has been flourishing since the 1970s just like the Korean Taekwondo Union. Now that they have spread out throughout the world, even the Europeans have a strong market for them. In each year, both associations have an expected revenue of billions of RMB. This is a world we Chinese cannot compare to.”

Chen Aiyang sighed, “The warriors change the world through martial prowess, but even that is something that can no longer be done. Those of us in the Chinese martial arts world are not willing to become performers, thus, decline is inevitable.”

Wang Chao nodded his head, “We’ve already reached the middle layers of Chinese martial arts and are already at the step of making it into the next layer. For those like us, we truly do not wish to enter the public face and sell out our skills for amusement and performance. But in time, the art of Guoshu may become a relic of the past. If anyone wishes to know about it , they would only be able to consult the history books for it.”

Chen Aiyang’s finger stroked the vermilion chinaware with a happy expression as if he was a child playing with his favorite item.

“This is not something either of us can solve. With the current times progressing faster than our spread, it is no use no matter how strong you are. We can only maintain the foundation of martial arts in hopes that we can pass them down. After all, the soul of martial arts is on us Chinese to pass down no matter how often it is passed down.

“Well, that’s enough of that. Let us talk about the Japanese martial arts world. I’ve stayed in the S province in the mainlands, so I don’t know much. If it weren’t for the fact I offended Zhao Jun, then I would not have been here.

Despite the organization having plenty of information on the Japanese martial arts world, those were collected dozens of years ago. They were lacking modern day information.

Wang Chao was thinking about that Yagyu Haruko and had suddenly realized that there may be a chance that there would be conflict with the Japanese martial arts world. ‘Know thy enemy, and you will never lose in a hundred battles’. Wang Chao had wanted this information to nip any trouble before it could begin. Chen Aiyang was a lively figure within the southeast Asian martial arts world, so he must have some semblance of knowledge on the Japanese side.

“The Japanese martial arts, I’m sure you’re familiar with Karate, Kendo, Judo, and Aikido. There are many martial artist families, but the most prominent ones are the Yagyu family, the Miyamoto, the Funakoshi, the Oyama, the Miyagi, the Iga and several other families. Japan hasn’t experienced a cultural revolution recently, and so the aristocratic families are relics of the past. After generations of infiltrating China to learn our martial arts, they were able to build their own styles off of it. At the very least, the methods that have been lost in our Chinese martial arts world can be found in the Japanese world. By now, the Japanese martial arts world isn’t all that much different than ours.”

“That is true, the aristocratic families are created after time, but China no longer has such a long standing family line.” Wang Chao nodded.

Chen Aiyang began to speak even more, “There are many japanese experts, many of the leaders of clans were experts who have reached the Hidden Jin stage. For example, Haruko’s father, Yangyu Suimei was an expert at Karate, Aikido, Judo, Jingshan Xingyi Fencing, and Yi Quan. His skill at martial art is even a little stronger than Xu Zhen.”

“Jingshan Xingyi Fencing? Yangyu Suimei has learned even Jinshan Xingyi Fencing?” Wang Chao was surprised. He knew that understanding and doing were two different things.

And when Chen Aiyang said the word ‘Jingshan’, Wang Chao knew that this had to be a higher realm of perfection.

“Yes, 14 years after the reign of Qing emperor Guangxu ended, Xingyi grandmaster Che Yizhai defeated Japanese Kendo expert Taro Itayama and won the award of ‘Fifth Order of the Flower Blossom’. Because of that, the Japanese martial arts world had coveted the sword style of Xingyi Quan. When the Republic of China had happened, they were able to secretly learn the method on how to from Hao Enguang. 70 to 80 years from then, the sword style had then been spread throughout the Japanese martial arts world. Xu Zhen and Yangyu Suimei are business partners halfly because of business, the other half is to both learn the essence of Xingyi Fencing. Yangyu Suimei would most likely want to learn Xu Zhen’s White Ape style Tongbei I’m sure as well.”

“En, so that’s the reason.”

Learning martial arts at first required absolute concentration and pureness of spirit. After learning, one must constantly experiment to increase one’s level.

Wang Chao had naturally understood why Xu Zhen did the things he was doing.

“In terms of Kendo, Miyamoto Itsuo comes to mind first. But he is already nearing 80 years old and his strength is already very lacking and is a shadow of his prime. His clan still has several outstanding figures however, such as Miyamoto Itsujo who is 30 years old and is at the Hidden Jin stage as well. He can mimic and copy his opponents with ease. Even that Yagyu Haruko is a well known figure in the Japanese martial arts world and is about Qin Maojiao’s level of expertise around.”

After that, Chen Aiyang began to speak of several things he knew about the Japanese martial arts world that Wang Chao didn’t know about.

“Right now in the Japanese martial arts world, aside from the prestigious elders from the previous generations that are unable to fight, there are 34 distinguished youths and middle aged persons. The most prominent one is Iga Minamoto who has never lost a battle. Since his childhood, he learned the Eight Extreme fists, Yi Quan, and many other disciplines. Right now, he is already 40 years old and there are rumors that he has already reached the Transforming Jin stage. He has spent his entire life on the path of martial arts with no wife or children. Martial arts is his only love.”

“Have you fought against him before?” Wang Chao subconsciously asked before realizing he had spoke an unnecessary question. Chen Aiyang had already made it clear that the two had never fought before.

Chen Aiyang shook his head, “I have not. He is currently the martial arts teacher for the family of the Emperor of Japan and does not come out often.”

Although the emperor of Japan held no real power, their prestige was still quite high and were quite wealthy. They were still similar to England and Denmark’s royal family.

When China had underwent its revolution, the emperor and aristocratic families had all disappeared into thin air.

“However I have fought with Ichiro Funakoshi of the Funakoshi clan. His martial arts has reached one of the higher levels of martial arts and is among the top 10 in the Japanese martial arts world.”

“What was the result?” Wang Chao asked curiously.

“I’m ashamed to say,” Chen Aiyang spoke with a faint smile, “After 10 minutes of fighting, he was killed after my fist struck and broke his skull.”

A 10 minute competition was already very long. An expert could kill in an instant just like how an antelope would be killed in an instant by a cheetah.

Taichi was extremely fierce. Pound! Hammer! Whip! Three different ways to issue Jin. Although Taichi had the soft style where one listened to Jin and borrowed power to fight, that was a supplementary skill. In a true battle, both would be used in the right situation.

A timely burst of Jin was after all timely. Just like in a large scale battle where there was a guerrilla group fighting, you used another guerrilla group instead of a full on army to combat it.

Chinese boxing’s essential point was hardness.

Chen Aiyang’s whip arm of his Taichi was something Wang Chao had never seen before, but he was convinced that it was able to issue power at an extremely high level.

To be able to split a man’s skull was almost guaranteed. Even Yang Luchan could split a giant boulder with a single whip of his steel like arm.

Wang Chao and Chen Aiyang both began to talk more about the Japanese martial arts world and then about their own martial arts. Wang Chao had even spoke of the Xingyi, Taichi, and Bagua he had learned along with the comprehension he had gained from grandfather Li. Even Chen Aiyang couldn’t help but admire that.

In the end, Wang Chao had mentioned the most abstruse method he had learned to temper the marrow, “Xingyi Quan’s Tiger’s Thunder and Bagua’s Hengha. Taichi must have some sort of method to temper the marrow as well, but there are far too many branches to know, which discipline are you from?”

Chen Aiyang spoke, “Wang Zongyue was a successor to the Wudang style martial arts. My Taichi was based off of that. The method of marrow tempering is the the Wudang Golden Toad style Fishing Toad Jin.”

As he spoke, Chen Aiyang began to demonstrate by having his entire body tremble before a “gugu”, “gugu”, “guuguu” sound could be heard. It sounded like a bull, but also like the croaking of a toad.

“Wudang Style’s marrow tempering secret has both the Fishing Toad Jin and the Rash Bull Jin. Both have their similarities.