Fanatic!

Chapter 56: Uneasy
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Wujun and his family went to his aunt's house to pay their respects.

After all, the eldest sister is the most important, and every year on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Wujun's family and his uncles' families would go to his aunt's house to pay New Year's visits and have a gathering.

Chen Wujun's current figure and temperament have taken her aunt's family by surprise.

Chen Wujun also unexpectedly learned that his cousin, Ma Andi, is currently interning at a designated psychological support facility of the Eastern Ninth District Federal Police Department.

This greatly interested Chen Wujun.

After all, he didn't intend to stay in the walled city forever.

The walled city always smells terrible. Once it has established itself, it will definitely expand outwards.

He probed indirectly for a while, and his cousin immediately realized what was going on.

"You seem quite interested in the police station?"

“Of course, I’ve wanted to be a policeman since I was a child!” Chen Wujun said without changing his expression.

After all, he reads police reports every day.

However, my cousin has only been interning for three months, so she doesn't know much.

……

After returning from his aunt's house, Chen Wujun told his parents that his senior brother had agreed to let Shufen clean the martial arts school.

Chen Wujun only mentioned it briefly, but for Shufen, it was a great thing.

The martial arts school was large, with several rooms in the back, including a kitchen. Chen Wujun had even considered moving to live at the martial arts school.

Shufen cleans and lives at the martial arts school, cooks for herself, and earns 1500 yuan a month.

The martial arts school currently only has two students, and there isn't much to do. Cleaning the main area takes at most two or three hours each day.

After Huang Meizhen found out, she personally accompanied Chen Wujun to take Shufen to the martial arts school.

"You'll stay here from now on. There are rooms in the back; find an empty one to live in. There's a kitchen; you know how to cook, right?"

Shufen nodded repeatedly.

Her father was a gambling addict, her mother was a prostitute, and she learned to cook for herself when she was just a few years old.

Huang Meizhen expressed her gratitude to her senior brother Li once again.

After his mother, Huang Meizhen, left, Chen Wujun said to Shufen, "Don't tell anyone about what happened at the martial arts school."

Shufen nodded repeatedly.

After settling Shufen in, Chen Wujun plunged back into the warehouse, practicing his Dragon Palm technique there every day.

That day at Shark Nine's house, seeing the circles of footprints on the cement floor made him realize the huge gap in their strength.

If the cement floor has cracks, Chen Wujun can use all his strength to step into a hole, causing the cement to fly out.

But each footprint was clearly visible, with all five toes separated.

Clearly, this wasn't intentionally stepped on; it was left during practice.

What kind of skill is this?
Moreover, Chen Wujun also had a gambling match where he signed a life-or-death contract.

It's already January 30th, and there are still more than two months until the betting match.

After practicing for two more days in the warehouse, before the New Year was even over, Chen Wujun had mastered the Swimming Dragon Palm technique. Then he walked over to the wooden stake next to him and examined it.

To practice the Swimming Dragon Palm normally, you first walk on flat ground, then on bricks, and finally on wooden stakes.

However, Zhou Qing never mentioned walking on bricks, and Chen Wujun never thought of it either.

If the rooftop railing wasn't unsuitable, he would have liked to walk on the rooftop.

These wooden stakes are one meter high, each about the size of a bowl, and 0.96 meters apart. There are 64 stakes in total, and they also have hooks on them so that sandbags can be hung on them.

Chen Wujun only needs nine.

After looking around for a moment, he took off his clothes and shoes, stretched his body, and then suddenly leaped more than a meter into the air, landing on a stake with one leg, his body barely swaying.

He then took a step and landed on the middle of the nine wooden stakes he had just chosen.

Then he began to walk on the wooden stakes, each step made flat and even, still a muddy step.

His lower body skills have reached an extremely high level.

With each step, he landed on the wooden stake as if rooted to the ground, his body remaining perfectly still.

After walking around the wooden stakes twice to familiarize himself with their distance and location, he slowly began to practice his boxing.

Practicing boxing is like grinding a millstone; you should practice slowly and feel the power exerted by each part of your body.

Otherwise, you might get injured before you've even finished practicing.

When you strike, you must be quick and fierce!

After practicing on the wooden stakes for a few days, Chen Wujun hung sandbags above the stakes.

This immediately makes it much more difficult.

The wooden stake was no bigger than the mouth of a bowl, just the right size for the sole of a foot to step on.

As Chen Wujun took a step forward, he struck the sandbag with his palm. With a bang, the sandbag, which was thicker than a water bucket and a meter high, swung high into the air. However, Chen Wujun also felt the opposite force, and his body swayed, almost falling off the wooden stake.

"I learned in junior high that forces are reciprocal. When I hit a sandbag, I experience a reaction force! That means I have to expend more energy to maintain my balance."

"And you also have to pay attention to the direction the sandbags are shaking; if you're not careful, you'll be pushed off the sandbags, just like someone is attacking you."

'Practice like this, and your kung fu will improve faster.'

"However, the trajectory of a sandbag is fixed, and it's ultimately not as good as practicing with a real person, especially since the 'Dragon Palm' technique requires listening to the opponent's force and striking in accordance with their power. Once you've mastered the wooden sandbag, you'll still need to practice with real people."

Chen Wujun practiced with a sandbag for two days, and when he struck it with his palm, his body only swayed slightly on the wooden stake.

Knowing exactly which direction the sandbag would swing, they added another sandbag.

As the two sandbags swung back and forth on the wooden stakes, he immediately felt that the difficulty had increased significantly.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the fifteenth day of the month had passed. Chen Wujun had already hung three sandbags above the wooden stakes. As he moved around, he kept patting the sandbags with his palms, and the three sandbags swung around in the air.

At this moment, Chen Wujun also began to feel what his master had meant by "drilling!"

The three sandbags swung in the air after being repeatedly struck, and the chance to pass through the wooden stakes was often just a fleeting moment; one had to squeeze through in that instant. Zhou Qing entered the warehouse and saw Chen Wujun moving constantly on the wooden stakes while weaving in and out between the three swinging sandbags.

Upon seeing his master arrive, Chen Wujun jumped down from the wooden stake.

"master!"

"Your kung fu progress is good. I taught you how to practice the Swimming Dragon Palm before, and today I'll teach you how to use it in combat," Zhou Qing said.

"The Swimming Dragon Palm originated from the old Bagua Palm. Bagua Palm is known for its dark and unpredictable nature. Many people mistakenly believe that Bagua Palm is flexible and versatile, and that it may appear to strike your upper body, but it actually strikes your lower body."

"Actually, it's because Baguazhang strikes not with the hands, but with the elbows, and the feet also have hooks."

"Many kung fu techniques involve elbows, but in other kung fu, you can see the elbows. In Baguazhang, you can't see the elbows."

"Have you ever seen a broadsword? The way a broadsword kills isn't by stabbing, but by slashing. You stab, the opponent dodges, and then you slash with the momentum." As Zhou Qing spoke, he picked up a long-handled broadsword from the side, thrust it forward, and then slashed it back.

That's the killer move.

Of course, if the other party doesn't dodge that stab, that stab can still kill. As long as the other party dodges, it will be followed by a slash, which will be very difficult for the other party to avoid.

"The same applies to the Swimming Dragon Palm. When you strike someone's face with this advancing palm strike, they will either dodge or block!"

"If the other person leans back to dodge, you pull down with your hand and gouge out their eyes. If you miss or the other person blocks, you pull your hand back and smash your elbow into their chest."

"Or advance with a palm strike, grab his clothes and pull him back as you pull your hand back, hook your foot, and the opponent loses his balance, then turn around and strike with your palm."

Zhou Qing put the knife back on the shelf and then demonstrated the Swimming Dragon Palm technique. A simple step forward and palm strike, with a grab and a retraction of the hand, resulted in several variations.

Chen Wujun listened with great interest.

He had sensed something was wrong after witnessing Shark Nine make a move once before.

As my master said before, the Swimming Dragon Palm strikes with the entire body.

He realized some of these things during his practice these past few days.

Hearing his master's explanation again, he suddenly understood, and all the things he hadn't been able to figure out before became clear.

Many movements of the Swimming Dragon Palm are like this; they look like palm strikes, but they actually involve both palm strikes and elbow strikes, with the feet also tripping the opponent.

……

Huang Meizhen went to the dentist for help, while Chen Wuhong stayed home watching TV, bored out of his mind.

There was a knock on the door, and Chen Wuhong called out from inside, "Who is it?"

"Ah Hong!" A familiar voice came from outside the door.

Chen Wuhong hopped over and opened the door, only to see two friends who had gone to the casino with him.

"Why are you here?"

"You gambling addict Hong, we thought you were dead! We haven't seen you for so long!" one of them said with a smile.

Chen Wuhong had been cooped up at home for so long, and finally saw a familiar face. He opened the door and let them in.

"Looking happy, did you win money?"

"Yeah, I won tens of thousands of yuan these past few days over the New Year! I'm treating to dinner tonight, wanna come?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Wuhong looked on with envy, hopped back onto the sofa, and pointed to his legs: "Where do you think I can go?"

"You just broke that leg a few days ago, and now this one is broken too? How could it be so bad?"

"I'm not going to say anything more! I never thought you'd have a day when you could turn things around!" Chen Wuhong said.

"How can you keep losing? I just left my money with them before!" The one who won money was called A-Chao, and he was beaming with joy.

Chen Wuhong wholeheartedly agreed, and his hands were itching to try it even more.

"You guys are doing well, but I'm so bored at home I'm practically crawling with lice."

"Don't say we're not brothers. I see you haven't touched a card in a long time. Want to play a couple of rounds?" Another young man's eyes flashed as he took out a long, thin deck of cards from his pocket. It was a deck of 12-card poker.

The only difference is that Pai Gow uses dominoes, while this is made of paper cards, making it easier to carry.

Chen Wuhong felt a surge of excitement upon seeing the cards in the other person's hand.

However, upon seeing the surrounding environment, he immediately became dejected again.

Chen Wujun had threatened him just a few days ago, and now he feels terrified whenever he thinks of his younger brother.

He didn't think Chen Wujun was joking with him, but he couldn't admit defeat verbally.

"What's so fun about this? It doesn't feel like anything."

"Something is better than nothing... You haven't played cards for so long, surely you're not afraid to play now? Let me tell you, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Ah Chao is a big tycoon now."

At this moment, Ah Chao was looking around the room when he saw a family photo on the TV cabinet. He picked it up and glanced at it.

When they saw the person above, their gaze immediately sharpened.

There was someone up there whom he had seen before.

Although her figure and temperament are completely different from those in the photos, her appearance hasn't changed much.

It was on Chinese New Year's Day, at a gambling den on Longjin Street, that a dozen or so people from Hetu called him Brother Jun.

The other person didn't look very old, so I asked them out of curiosity.

Only then did he realize that the other party was a favorite of Shark Nine.

Shark Nine is one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the combined map, and ordinary people can't even see him.

"Ah Hong, your surname is Chen?"

"You're only finding out now?" Chen Wuhong was still struggling with his inner turmoil.

"Is this your brother? What's his name?" Ah Chao asked, holding up the photo.

"Chen Wujun...what are you doing?"

"It's nothing, I just haven't heard you mention it much. It looks quite like you." Ah Chao put down the family photo and immediately became a little uneasy.

(End of this chapter)