Chapter 2 I Come from the Mountains
Thirteen Taibao horizontal smelting this kung fu, in traditional martial arts schools is a typical external family kung fu, the nature of the fierce and violent, ordinary people practice if not get its law, no famous teacher guidance, most hurt body and spirit. Moreover, this kung fu emphasizes gradual progress, at the beginning can't be impatient, brave and progressive, otherwise, one's own energy and blood will be exhausted every day, and after a long time, it will make people useless. When Wang Chan and Wang Daliang first started practicing this kung fu, they used herbal medicine to take internally and externally for two years before daring to practice, wasting countless precious medicinal materials in the process. After Wang Daliang passed away, he continued to practice gradually for thirteen years, which is how he achieved today's accomplishments.
Standing on the ground, with reverse abdominal breathing, his breath became calm and distant. Wang Chan put on his clothes and took out a thin, thread-bound handwritten book from a deerskin pouch he carried with him. This was also an heirloom left to him by Wang Daliang before his death, a kind of secret manual, but not made of paper. It seemed to be sheepskin that had been treated with special methods, the pages were thin and tough, obviously not a product of modern times.
The book has turned yellow like dry leaves, and on the first page of this book, someone wrote the two characters "Heng Lian" in small seal script with cinnabar ink. The signature at the bottom is a person named "An Jing Si". Turning it over again, there are only about 30-50 pages, densely filled with text, figures and postures, although they were written with brush and white ink, but they appear ancient and vivid, exuding a majestic atmosphere.
The whole book is written in small seal script, if it weren't for Wang Daliangzi's collection of books in the Guandi Temple, Wang Chan alone would have been guarding the deep mountains, and even if he had nothing to do with his free time, he would still be reading and understanding this ghostly script. The book records only a part of the thirteen Taibao's horizontal smelting skills in the first half, while the second half is full of text without pictures, recording a mysterious work similar to "Wu Zhen Pian" and "Zhou Yi Can Tong Qi", all about dragons, tigers, lead and mercury, infants and girls, no one knows what it's all about.
Wang Zhen once spent some time researching and translating this part of the content, only to realize that the contents described inside were truly mysterious and unreliable, and such articles are ubiquitous in the Daoist Canon.
In ancient times, Taoist believers believed that there were immortals in the sky. After taking elixirs and practicing qigong for a long time, they could ascend to heaven in broad daylight and become immortal. Since ancient times, people have been searching for the truth, but they are not willing to reveal it to outsiders, so they write down their experiences and insights in all sorts of "esoteric language". If it weren't for the true successor of the family, anyone else who reads it would be completely bewildered, even if what was written was true. Without guidance from a master, it is absolutely impossible to understand.
Fortunately, Wang Chan himself was not interested in these things, and after studying for a few days, he no longer paid attention to them, focusing solely on practicing the horizontal training skills recorded earlier. The Thirteen Taibao's horizontal training was never a secret art, and it's not just that each family and school had some records of it. In today's civilized society, with the rise of firearms, the martial arts that were once used for self-defense and survival are now widely practiced by the general public as a way to exercise their bodies. Whether they're printed in batches at Xinhua Bookstore or spread online as real or fake secret techniques, they're all over the place.
Although Wang Chan has been guarding the temple in the deep mountains for a long time, he is not someone who has never stepped out of the mountain. Otherwise, where would his daily necessities, such as rice, oil, and salt, come from? The Guandi Temple was built during the Qing dynasty by pilgrims who came to Daxing Anling to collect birch trees, in order to pray for peace and suppress evil spirits. Although it has been many years since anyone has come to burn incense in the temple, there are still a few old customers who go to the temple every year to pick medicine or hunt, so Wang Chan is not worried that he will lose his human instincts due to lack of contact with the outside world.
One hundred and thirty miles away from Hǔtóu Ridge, the town of Hǔtóu has become a significant trading port on the banks of the Ussuri River due to recent national reforms and opening up. As a result, it has close ties with Russia across the river. Although the place is not large, it has everything one needs, from bookstores to internet cafes. Wang Chan goes down the mountain once every three months to sell his collected herbs in town, and he loves visiting these places, where he also looks up information on the Thirteen Taibao's horizontal refining techniques.
They are mostly similar and there's nothing new or striking, just a superficial recording compared to what he has in his books.
"If one practices the external methods that are circulating outside, at most it's just a hard qigong, and even if they can withstand ordinary sword slashes with their internal energy, they will still be unable to sustain it for long. Once their internal energy is dispersed, compared to an average person, they'll only have slightly more physical strength. Compared to what I've practiced, this lacks the most essential part, and cannot cultivate both internally and externally, only achieving superficial skills, not true mastery!"
"But now in this society, martial arts are no longer mainstream. Ordinary people can pick up guns and cannons, and with just a slight movement of their fingers, they can take lives. It's simply comparable to the skills I've honed through ten years of bitter practice. I can only lament that I was born in the wrong era. If I were to go back to the past, relying on my martial arts skills, I would have been able to become a high-ranking official, conquer lands and achieve great things."
Martial arts were originally created for survival and killing, which was the trend during the Cold Arms era. The more chaotic the world was, the more prosperous martial arts became, and the people's character also became more robust. However, in this modern era, the whole world is advocating for peace and upholding the rule of law. With the emergence of firearms and cannons, the soil for martial arts to survive has been completely destroyed. As time goes by, it becomes even more outdated. Practicing martial arts these days is like learning dragon-slaying techniques in an era without dragons - it's really not very useful.
He was raised in the deep mountains and old forests since he was a child, where threats from wild beasts were always present, so mastering a skill to protect himself at critical moments was crucial. Especially this horizontal skill that he has been practicing for over 20 years now, every day with fists never leaving his hands, through hard work and bitter practice, he has achieved what he has today, it would be a pity to give up now, anyway, it can still strengthen his body and mind, practicing has many benefits, but also not entirely useless.
In addition, this kung fu was also the last thought left by Lao Yezi to him, and Wang Chan did not want it to be cut off on himself, so he persisted for many years without daring to slack off.
The moonlight on the mountain top was like water, and its clear light covered the ground. Although it wasn't very bright, Wang Chan could still use this bit of moonlight to carefully read through the book in his hand from cover to cover. Learning and practicing at the right time, isn't that a joy? This is the experience of Confucius, so it must be correct. Even if he had already memorized the contents of the book, he still needed to review them frequently, recite them daily, and sometimes the process of reading was actually the process of self-cultivation.
Carefully putting away the book in his bag, Wang Chan suddenly saw a tall red pine tree over ten meters high across from him. He suddenly kicked up the black wooden rod on the ground with one foot, and with a loud whooshing sound, the three-meter-long rod's front end instantly drew out a circle with a diameter of over one meter. The air in front of him seemed to have been blown apart all at once, and with a swift swing, it struck the thick tree trunk at an angle, instantly breaking through the bark and splitting the wood. The tip of the rod in his hand suddenly seemed to have transformed into a sharp axe blade, cleaving open a large gash on the red pine's trunk.
With another loud shout, Wang Chan violently twisted his waist, and the black wooden rod miraculously emerged from under his right ribcage with a reverse grip, like an ancient general's feigned defeat counterattack "returning horse spear" move. The rod shot out, resembling a meteor chasing the moon, and just as it was about to hit its mark, there was a loud cracking sound, as if something had been smashed apart. Only when he loosened his grip did he realize that the black wooden rod had actually penetrated more than three inches into the tree trunk, standing upright in mid-air with a buzzing noise.
The Thirteen Heroes of the Liangshan Marsh are said to have learned their skills from the thirteen sons of Li Ke, the founder of the Later Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties period. Among them was the thirteenth son, Li Cunxiao, who was known for his bravery and martial arts skills, and was said to have led eighteen iron cavalrymen into Chang'an City, causing Huang Chao to flee in terror. Although this may not be entirely true, each of the Thirteen Heroes were skilled warriors on horseback, and their exploits are recorded in the book "The Water Margin".
That was the move he just made, called "Tiger's Turn" in the inner circle of gun techniques. When executed, it involves multiple intricacies such as shaking, blocking, grasping, withdrawing and entwining. Wang Chan practices with a stick as a substitute for a spear every day, precisely to master the subtle skills of overall force release in fist techniques. After more than a decade, he has long since practiced it to perfection.
Unfortunately, he had no war horse by his side and could not practice the equestrian skills of man and horse as one. The several routes of long weapon moves recorded in the book were completely useless in this era.
He reached out to feel the hole he had just made, and after thinking back on what had just happened, Wang Chan felt that he had made some progress. He grabbed a handful of mud from the ground and filled in the hole so it wouldn't be noticeable, then quickly cleaned up and headed down the mountain.
On the way back, it was no different from when he came. He wore a vest loaded with iron sand on his body and walked with a strange gait. Wang Chan's black wooden stick picked up whatever it saw, whether it was branches or boulders as big as a斗. As long as the stick could reach, everything was swept away, far, far away. By the time he jumped over the wall into his own courtyard, the eastern sky had already revealed a faint, hazy light.
"It's already past the third watch, but today is a bit delayed!" Wang Chan didn't enter the temple, but strode to the front of the stove in the courtyard. He saw that the wood piled up earlier had all been burned away, leaving only a dull heap of embers, which were boiling the water in the iron pot on top. Hurriedly, he fetched a large wooden bucket from a corner, cleaned it with a brush, and then threw in dozens of "roots and tree bark". Only then did he pour the hundreds of pounds of hot water from the pot into the bucket.
After three to five minutes, the air began to fill with a strong medicinal fragrance, and the color of the water in the wooden barrel also turned deep dark red. Wang Chan hastily took off his clothes and jumped into it, only exposing his head above the water surface. This large bucket of hot water was also his daily must-soak medicinal bath since childhood, which, like the golden camphor ointment he used to apply all over his body earlier, was a secret formula that could strengthen tendons and bones, and increase vital energy.
To know that martial artists are constantly consuming their limited internal energy, the human body is small, and all potential needs to be replenished in large quantities to be fully activated. Therefore, since ancient times, there has been a saying that "scholars are poor and martial artists are rich". Without a lot of money, those precious medicinal materials that nourish the body and develop its potential will not fall from the sky. For example, Wang Chan has been practicing martial arts for many years, and in the early days, it was all Wang Daliang who prepared everything for him, so that before his death, he could lay a solid foundation for him to continue practicing with the methods he taught.
Daxing Anling is a treasure trove of flora and fauna, where almost all the medicinal materials needed by Wang Chan can be found, as long as one is careful and has the right methods and abilities. Whether it's mountain ginseng that's over 100 years old or bear gallbladder and tiger bone that are protected by the state, this is also the main reason why Wang Chan is willing to stay in the deep mountains and forests. Before he succeeds in his cultivation, he doesn't plan on going anywhere else!
Moreover, Wang Chan was a meat-lover and disliked vegetarian food. Every meal required him to consume large amounts of meat. Over the years, he had lost count of how many dogs, bears, and tigers he had killed. He would peel off their fur to "exchange for money", use their bones, blood, and gallbladders to make medicine, and satisfy his gluttony with the rest. The Great Xing'an Mountains were a place of high mountains, dense forests, and extremely low temperatures, which made the animals that lived there have very strong vital energy, especially the large beasts like bears and tigers. Their bodies were massive, weighing over a thousand kilograms, and their flesh contained an abundance of nourishing essence. And then there was the dragon soup, its flavor was even more wonderful. If he left this place, he would be penniless, where could he find these expenses?
"My kung fu skills are the real deal, unlike those fake ones outside the mountain. However, even if I reach the pinnacle of my training, what's the point? Am I supposed to spend the rest of my life in these mountains like an old man? But then again, even the old master wasn't always cooped up here - he must have had a vibrant youth, experiencing all the wonders of the world before retreating to this mountain. It seems I won't be able to stay here for too long either, or I'll lose my edge and become dull and lethargic."
Thinking of the old master who raised him, Wang Chan couldn't help but feel a surge of heat in his heart. The kung fu of this school was actually the secret method passed down through generations of the old master's family, with only one person inheriting it each generation, and only passing it down to males of the same surname. When it came to the old master's generation, he had no children, so he hid in the mountains, thinking that the lineage would be cut off completely. However, unexpectedly, he rescued Wang Chan from a wolf's mouth, and thus found someone to inherit his legacy.
Later, as Wang Chan grew up, the old man became increasingly willing to tell him about his past. According to what he said, one of the old man's ancestors was a high-ranking eunuch in the imperial palace in Kyoto, and the worst thing he had done during his lifetime was to carry out Emperor Yongzheng's secret order, mobilize the army, and besiege the "Southern Shaolin" in Putian, Fujian. The temple was burned to ashes, and this book that recorded the Thirteen Taibao's horizontal training methods was also stolen by his ancestor from the scripture storage building of the Shaolin Temple for personal gain.
Years later, the Dongchuang incident broke out, and Emperor Yongzheng was furious. The old master's ancestor had received a notification from his colleagues beforehand, so he brought his family to move from Beijing to outside the pass, took root, and successfully passed down this "craft" intact.
When the eastern sky was tinged with a layer of pale white, the water in the wooden barrel also gradually cooled down. The dark red medicinal liquid became somewhat turbid. Wang Chan jumped out of the barrel, dried his body, changed into a clean set of clothes, and then went to the back of the temple where he had been keeping the Flying Dragon Soup simmering over low heat all along. He gulped it down in one breath, and only then did he casually pick up a bulging burlap sack from the courtyard and stroll out of the gate.
