The Fifth Set: Northern Legs and Southern Fists

  Zhāng Dōngdōng couldn't help but turn his head and take a look at Yīngzi when he heard her say she was a second-degree black belt in Aikido.

  "Occupying Biao also hummed a sound, recalling and saying: "That Wumale Shaozuo seems to be a fourth-degree black belt in Aikido, right, Da Yu?"

  "Right, he's a fourth-degree black belt, the highest rank among those special forces. But later on, no one with an even higher rank has ever beaten our Chinese martial arts."

  Zhan Biao shook his head and said, "It can't be said that way. Each school of martial arts has its own strengths and characteristics, just like our Southern Fist and Northern Leg are both unique in their own ways. As for the level of martial arts skills and winning or losing in a fight, it's related to individual practice, not that whoever loses is because their school of martial arts is no good. Aikido is a Japanese martial art that I highly appreciate, and Mr. Takada is also a Japanese warrior whom I deeply respect."

  Sakura pulled on Jiaobao's arm, urging them to finish their conversation, and asked: "Grandpa Biao, Grandpa Biao, is the Lieutenant Colonel Wu Nan you mentioned Wu Nan Da Cang?"

  Zhan Biao was taken aback and hastily asked Sakura: "How did you know his name? Do you know him, is he still alive?" Sakura smiled and kept a low profile, glancing at Zhan Dong's side profile without saying a word. Zhan Dong turned around and urged Sakura on behalf of Grandpa: "You'd better speak up quickly, otherwise I won't take you to the next stop."

  Sakiko waited for Shōto to ask him, and then glared at Shōto and continued: "Mr. Biao, if what you said is about Wu Nan's big warehouse, and he was a fourth-degree black belt back then, it must be our Tokyo Shinjuku Wakamatsu-cho Aikido Honbu Dojo's ninth-degree black belt Wu Nan-senpai. He is now the chief advisor of the All Japan Aikido Federation, International Aikido Federation, and National Student Aikido Federation, and is renowned among 800 branches and 1.3 million aikido practitioners in Japan."

  Zhang Biao's seven men and Sugimoto's ten men clashed, initially both sides fought cautiously, each other's moves were unfamiliar. From the opponent's occasional use of Japanese to cheer themselves on, Zhang Biao's team realized they were a special unit of the Japanese army, and their blows gradually became heavier.

  Zhan Biao's brothers' martial arts belong to the Nanquan school, which is a Emei martial arts branch in Sichuan. In those days, Emei martial arts had the saying "five flowers and eight leaves", that is, five schools and eight doors. Zhan Biao's master belonged to the "Yue" door of the eight major doors: "Monk, Yue, Zhao, Du, Hong, Hua, Word, and Association". The master taught his disciples the basics from the "Emei Twelve Posts", carefully teaching them the Yue family fist, golden lock hand fist, twelve consecutive fists, touring bird fist, nine rolls eighteen falls and other boxing methods, as well as staff and sword equipment skills. Zhan Biao and his brothers all started training at the age of five or six, and their master spent over a decade teaching them to gradually grasp the combination of martial arts and qigong, initially achieving "internal and external cultivation, hard and soft harmony, later emitting first" attainment. Finally, their master also taught them the most practical combat value in the Yue school, which is also their specialty - the lightly used Yue family scattered hand.

  The Yue family's scattered hands are known for their ruthless and efficient fighting style, earning them the nickname "One Poison, Two Fierce, Three Fast". The style consists of 32 routes and 173 hand techniques. Emphasis is placed on close-range combat, with an emphasis on bravery, decisiveness, and quick reflexes. Techniques include elbow strikes, shoulder crashes, and rapid-fire punches. When engaging in combat, no quarter is given. Each technique has a series of follow-up moves, utilizing the power of the five peaks and six elbows to overwhelm opponents. Against less skilled opponents, this style can be devastating, often resulting in severe injury or defeat.

  Since joining the army, Zhan Biao and his fellow soldiers have been paying attention to combining scattered hands with grappling, practicing actual combat effectiveness. However, in modern warfare dominated by firearms, they have never had a chance to use their skills. Moreover, since mastering them, they have hardly applied them in real-life situations. Today, encountering a real opponent, from the initial chaotic fight to experiencing each move and style, it was extremely enjoyable.

  Sugimoto and his karate expert friends are also in this mood, usually practicing with their own people. After coming to China, they can fight against Chinese civilians, but when encountering Chinese who don't know martial arts, real martial artists won't use brutal moves, nor can they display any techniques. It's really hard to find an opponent, and it's a lonely defeat.

  Two groups of warriors seemed to have reached a tacit understanding, neither making a move, each showcasing their respective schools' ultimate techniques. The battle group, under Zhuang Biao's guidance, gradually moved down the mountain, away from the cave entrance. Sugimoto fought for a while and saw that the opponent's most powerful expert was Zhuang Biao, so he took over and fought with Zhuang Biao together.

  The basic attacking techniques of Karate are divided into hand techniques and foot techniques. Hand techniques include striking, punching, and thrusting, while foot techniques mainly involve kicking. Striking can be further divided into fist strikes, palm strikes, finger strikes, and bottom-of-the-palm strikes. Punching includes fist punches, palm heel punches, flat palm punches, and arm punches. Kicking is divided into toe kicks, instep kicks, heel kicks, outer edge kicks, and knee strikes. Both striking and kicking can be performed in various forms such as linear, spiral, and arcing motions. Striking can also be done with one hand or both hands, while kicking includes single-leg kicks and double-leg jumping kicks. Additionally, there are head butts and shoulder strikes. By combining these complex striking, punching, and kicking movements, a sophisticated attacking technique is formed. Corresponding to the various attacking methods mentioned above, there are different defensive techniques such as arcing defense, rotating defense, joined-hand defense, palm-chopping defense, and cross-shaped defense.

  Sugimoto had almost mastered these karate offense and defense techniques, but he was promoted from white belt to dan rank by seniority, so his actual ability was already on par with a fourth-dan black belt.

  The battle between Yue's scattered hands and Karate should be a match made in heaven, but after a while, the high and low were gradually revealed. The close-range short punches of Yue's scattered hands are almost the nemesis of Karate, and the most powerful footwork of Karate is useless when stuck together. San Dezi was even more cunning, and when he got close to the Japanese soldier, he even stole his pistol. If it weren't for the 10-to-7 ratio, if it weren't for Da Yu's constant beating, the outcome would have been decided long ago.

  Dà Yuè had not practiced martial arts, but his body was sturdy and strong in withstanding blows. He wielded two iron arms, parrying left and right, but only managed to defend himself without any counterattacking power. Sugimoto noticed this weakness and ordered his extra troops to concentrate their attack on the weak point, seeking a breakthrough. Suddenly, three special soldiers surrounded Dà Yuè, making him appear in a precarious situation, as he was kicked by three iron feet, stumbling and almost falling to the ground. Just as the Japanese army was about to launch a pursuit, a wolf suddenly appeared, snarling and charging towards the Japanese soldiers fighting with Sān Dé. Then, Xiǎo Fēng and Qiáng Zǐ joined the battle, taking on the three Japanese soldiers who were attacking Dà Yuè. Their movements were fierce and deadly, each blow striking down an enemy.

  Cao Yu rushed up and supported Da Yun to the outside of the battle group. Da Yun sat on a large stone, panting heavily, and pulled out his pistol in anger. San De held off Si De at this time for two reasons: one was to let Si De stay with Da Yun to protect him, and the other was that he felt it was truly a test of their skills now, and if they used Si De's help, the victory would not be honorable.

  Cao Yu patted Da Yun on the back: "You're not going to have any problems, are you? I'm going to go take a nap!" Da Yun raised his pistol: "Go ahead, if not, I'll use this." Si De was now obediently squatting beside Da Yun, watching San De's figure.

  At Cao Yu's words, Cao Yu's subordinate rushed into the battle group. He used the famous Northern Chinese kung fu, footwork and wrestling. He didn't entangle with one person, but instead rolled around like a whirlwind, knocking down six or seven special soldiers in an instant, then Cao Yu rushed straight to Sugimoto who was fighting fiercely with Zhan Biao.

  Chinese martial arts have always had the saying "Southern Fist, Northern Leg, Eastern Gun, Western Stick". Southern Fist refers to the martial arts that are popular in the Yangtze River Basin and south of the Yangtze River. People from the South are generally shorter and stouter, with a stable stance, precise and intense fist techniques, short bridges and powerful bursts of energy, wide and deep horse stances, fast and compact movements, and often use vocalizations to assist in releasing power, so they don't need a lot of space to perform their techniques, hence the saying "Fist strikes the ground where the cow lies".

  Northern Leg refers to the popular martial arts in the Yellow River Basin and north, especially outside the pass. Northerners are tall and majestic, long-legged, large-framed, fast-paced, open and closed, jumping and leaping. In terms of fist method, it emphasizes "three points for punching and seven points for kicking", often using smashing, collapsing, and pounding, emphasizing rolling, rushing, and colliding, all of which are based on the strength advantage of the legs, hence the saying "legs swing in all directions".

  The phrase "Southern Fist, Northern Leg" also explains that the martial arts of the south and north have their own emphasis and distinct characteristics. There is a saying in the martial arts world: "Hands are like two fans, but it's the feet that do the real hitting." In folklore, some people even relate the Southern Fist, Northern Leg phrase to relationships between men and women, saying that when a man and woman have an ambiguous relationship, in the south they call it "having a hand" while in the north they call it "having a leg".

  There are many types of Nanquan, such as Fujian's Shaolin Bridge Hand, Wing Chun, Wu Zuquan, He Quan, Luohan Quan, Guangxi's Zhou Jiaquan, Tulongquan, Xiao Ce Da, Zhejiang's Hongjiaquan, Black Tiger Fist, Golden Strength Fist, Hubei's Hung Mun Kuen, Fish Gate Fist, Confucius Fist, Hunan's Wu Jiaquan, Hongjiaquan, Xue Jiaquan, etc. The representative of Nanquan is Guangdong Nanquan, and the representative of Guangdong Nanquan is "Hong Quan, Liu Quan, Cai Quan, Li Quan, Mo Quan" and other five famous schools. Yue Fei's scattered hand practiced by Zhan Biao to some extent combines the characteristics of various Southern-style boxing systems, standing out in the Nanquan.

  The Northern School of Chinese martial arts is not as diverse as the Southern School, but some well-known styles include Changquan, Chāquán, Tantui, Xingyiquan, Tongbeiquan and Praying Mantis Boxing. The Twelve Road Tan Tui used by the character Sing in the movie Kung Fu Hustle is one of the Northern Leg styles. Cao Yue's "Chōu Jiǎo Fānzi Quán" (戳脚番子拳) is also known as the "Northern Leg's Finest". This traditional routine has a long history, and its characteristics include simultaneous use of fists and feet, combining offense and defense, balance between hardness and softness, expansive and open movements, flexibility and variation, with each move closely connected to the next. It excels in leg techniques, is highly effective for combat, and often results in an opponent being knocked down with a single kick.

  Xiao Feng and Qiangzi's kung fu is second only to Zhan Biao among the brothers, and Cao Yu's kung fu is even more unfathomable. With the three of them joining forces, the Japanese army was immediately at a disadvantage. At this time, the battle between Zhan Biao and Sugimoto had already seen its outcome, with Zhan Biao's Yuejia San Shou moves targeting Sugimoto's vital points, and Sugimoto had changed from initial excitement to desperate struggle for survival. The other nine karate masters were all suppressed, beaten by the brothers until they were at a loss, without even having the chance to draw their guns.

  Zhan Biao didn't slow down his movements when fighting Sugimoto, but his eyes were observing the overall situation. Seeing his fellow disciples gaining the upper hand, he wasn't particularly surprised. After fighting for half a day without knocking out the opponent, it was either because the opponent was too strong or their own skills weren't up to par. Moreover, they had two advantages on their side: one was familiarity with the terrain, as this mountain was like their home; and the other was that everyone's eyes were accustomed to the dim light of the cave, making them extremely adaptable to the current nighttime battle.

  Just as Zhang Biao was about to urge everyone to make a final blow and end the battle, he suddenly felt his whole body tense up, and his mind flashed with a thought: "No, it seems there's still danger!" Sure enough, in sync with his thoughts, 10 more figures suddenly appeared in front of him, surrounding Zhang Biao and the others. The leader was none other than the head of the Japanese special forces, Kuroda Munemitsu, a fourth-dan black belt holder!