Under the fist

Chapter 40 Martial Arts Anecdotes, White Mountains and Black Waters

……

"You should wait for me!"

A hurried shout broke the tranquility of the morning.

Amidst the rolling hills and valleys, the boy strides forward, chasing after the figure ahead, while forest birds soar high in the sky along the way.

Lian Youming never dreamed that the way to reach the Kwantung Army's underground fortress would be so different.

They actually relied on just two legs.

Li Da, however, seemed oblivious to everything. With his hands in his pockets, his steps appeared leisurely, but his pace was surprisingly fast. He walked ahead as if strolling in a garden, his legs moving like springs, each step a quick bend and extension.

"Hurry up, at this pace, we won't get there in three or four days."

Lian Youming grumbled, "Three or four days? You make it sound so easy. All the stuff is on me."

Li Da chuckled, “You still don’t have enough control over yourself. Look at how you exert force with your feet, breaking grass and trees and sending stones flying. It seems powerful, but most of your strength is leaking out, and you’re only using a very small amount. Too much strength will break you. You need to know when to restrain yourself. Restraint is not weakness, but gentleness, tolerance, and containment.”

Lian Youming carried a bag containing several pounds of dried meat, a lot of flatbread, and two military water bottles filled with water, while Li Da's hands were empty.

The location of the Kwantung Army's underground fortress was somewhat special, near Changbai Mountain. Traveling from Tahe to Jilin was not just a hundred or two hundred li, but more than two thousand li. This grandson of the Li family actually wanted to run there on foot.

This is not nonsense.

But upon hearing what the other person said, he secretly memorized it and pondered it carefully.

Li Da slowly said, "Do you know what kind of kung fu martial arts the first thing martial artists practiced in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China? They practiced footwork first. Footwork doesn't just involve working on the feet, but rather training the lower body, focusing on the waist and stance, making one as stable as Mount Tai. Take Wang Wu, the Great Swordsman, for example. He was not only a hero who roamed the north, but also a renowned镖师 (bodyguard/escort) in the martial arts world. Legend has it that he could travel from Gansu to Beijing and Tianjin in just over ten hours, which is a little over a day and a night, almost as fast as a green train."

Lian Youming was exhausted. Anyone who ran non-stop all night would probably lose half their life. He casually took out a piece of dried meat and chewed it with water.

"I also know why we practice the lower body first."

Li Da turned around and looked at him. "Why?"

Lian Youming took a couple of quick breaths. "Because they're on a delivery mission. If he doesn't run fast, he'll starve to death."

Li Da didn't refute, but took some pine nuts from his pocket and ate them while saying, "That's because the martial arts world in the north is good at wrestling. The martial arts in the south are mostly close-quarters combat, but after the Manchus entered the Central Plains, they introduced wrestling from the Manchu and Mongolian ethnic groups to the Central Plains. Later, it was integrated into various schools of martial arts, so now all the schools and sects in the north have some traces of wrestling."

Lian Youming also became somewhat interested, "Is it very powerful?"

Li sighed, “It’s incredible. Back in the late Qing Dynasty, a martial arts master would lose more often than win against a wrestling expert of equal skill. Judo in Japan has some resemblance to wrestling, but it’s not quite the same. I once met a wrestler who combined wrestling with a unique force from Xingyi Quan. He could grab tendons and bones, and break a thousand pounds with his waist. If he threw me, I would be like a lump of mud, with blood gushing from my pores. I might look perfectly fine on the outside, but inside my bones and muscles were broken, and my internal organs were rotten.”

Lian Youming listened with amazement; what he lacked most right now was an understanding of the martial arts world.

But Li Da stopped in his tracks and said with great interest, "Tai Chi master Yang Luchan was a master wrestler. When combined with Tai Chi, he had extraordinary strength. He used soft force to entangle and hard force to throw and strike. Ordinary masters rarely stood for more than a breath when they entered the arena. Half a breath was extremely rare. They were often thrown away as soon as they made contact, and countless people were injured or killed."

Lian Youming's eyes gleamed with a sharp light. "To break the wrestling technique, you need to train your lower body?"

"That's not all." Li Da simply sat cross-legged on a large blue stone and said slowly, "Fists and kicks, fists and kicks, although the fist comes first, the feet are the foundation. If you can't even stand steadily, what's the point of practicing fists? If your lower body is unstable, you're like a rootless duckweed. No matter how high your fist technique is, you'll fall down with one fall. Moreover, if your lower body is stable, your body movements will naturally be agile. With fists attacking and feet moving, there will be countless variations. That's why people say Southern fists and Northern legs."

Lian Youming paused for a moment, then secretly took another bite of Huangjing (a type of medicinal herb), and asked curiously, "Can it outrun guns and cannons? I think Xue Hen could dodge my submachine gun, it's incredibly powerful."

Upon hearing this, Li Da fell silent for a moment, as if he had given it much thought. Instead of answering, he asked, "When you hit someone, do you think before you hit, or do you hit first and then think?"

Lian Youming was confused and was about to ask for details, but his thick eyebrows furrowed as he realized the extraordinary nature of the words. He subconsciously punched the air twice and began to ponder it to himself.

"Reaction time?"

Li Da observed this and said softly, "Yes and no. No matter how fast a person reacts, they usually have a thought before they act. But humans are animals after all, and animals should have animal instincts. When floods pass or the earth turns upside down, aren't insects and snakes the first to sense it? Xue Hen is still too weak."

"Xue Hen is still weak?" Upon hearing those words, which sounded almost like an exclamation, Lian Youming rolled his eyes.

As if he had sat for a while, Li Da stepped down from the rock, still with that innocent and amiable expression. "You are only just beginning to understand martial arts. You have not yet seen the great mountains, so you see me as an ordinary person. When you are qualified to fight Xue Hen, you will see me as if Mount Tai is standing in front of you."

Lian Youming wanted to ponder these words a little longer, but then he saw Li Da take another step and walk far away again.

"Oh dear, couldn't you have taken your time a little longer?" He quickly caught up with them.

As Li Da walked, he spoke slowly, his clear voice carrying, “You must understand one principle: the wise always seek strength within, while only the unwise seek it without. Practicing martial arts is never about killing. Many people think that just because they’ve learned a little bit of skill, they can kill to vent their anger when things don’t go their way—that’s foolish. The way of martial arts is nothing more than ‘attack and defense.’ Defense is not only about defending against others, but also about defending yourself, guarding your true self. If you can’t guard it, even if you have airplanes and cannons, you’re still useless.”

Lian Youming looked at him with suspicion, "Are you indirectly insulting me? Xue Hen just indiscriminately killed innocent people."

Li Da nodded. "So he will die. I am a martial artist, and even more so a soldier. I never concern myself with the grudges of the martial world. Looking back at those people, who among them didn't have blood on their hands? Whether they killed others or were killed by others, it was all fate. But there is only one rule: never disrupt the country. Anyone who harbors such thoughts will not escape death, whether in heaven or on earth."

The sun rises in the east, casting its rays across the sky.

Li Da quickened his pace as he spoke. Lian Youming complained, but after being reminded by the other party, he became less agitated and focused his gaze on his legs.

Then he looked at Li Da's legs. Before, the light was dim and he hadn't noticed it much, but now, as he looked at them, it seemed that there was a kind of rhythm in the way they moved.

But after observing for a short while, a morning breeze suddenly rose in the forest, and fallen leaves filled the air.

Lian Youming, who was changing his walking posture, suddenly seemed to have seen something shocking and couldn't help but freeze on the spot.

As far as the eye could see, Li Da strolled through the woods, his feet moving left and right, wandering freely, letting the fallen leaves around him fall without a single one touching him.

When Lian Youming focused his attention and looked closely, he discovered that not only were the opponent's gait and legs strange, but even his waist, hips, and spine seemed to have undergone extraordinary changes. His upper body swung slightly from side to side like a pendulum, supported by his spine. With each step, he would twist his waist and hips, and the swaying force would be transmitted to his feet. However, with a bend and extension of his legs, the downward swaying force would return to his upper body through his waist and hips.

This cycle repeats itself, leveraging and transforming force, using force to exert force, and the force of a single step can take a considerable distance.

So that's how they saved their strength.

But in that brief moment of distraction, Li Da had already walked far away.

"Here we go again, wait for me!"

Realizing what was happening, Lian Youming awkwardly followed after the other person, mimicking their movements of bending and stretching.

This running and chasing, with its intermittent rests and walks, lasted for two days and three nights.

Lian Youming's legs went from awkward and unfamiliar to numb and swollen, with his inner thighs burning with pain. They were probably chafed raw, and his shoes even flew off. In the end, he simply went barefoot.

However, he also realized that this person was intentionally giving him pointers, so he had no choice but to endure the excruciating pain and mobilize his inner energy. After all, the opportunity was rare, and he dared not slack off in the slightest.

Unexpectedly, as he ran along the way, Lian Youming suddenly realized that the meridians in his feet had a sense of openness under such high-intensity stimulation. Not only did he easily break through the first barrier of the Golden Bell Cover, but he also seemed to be able to open up the second barrier with the power of the energy.

The twelve gates correspond to the twelve meridians, namely the three Yin meridians of the hand, the three Yang meridians of the hand, the three Yin meridians of the foot, and the three Yang meridians of the foot.

The heart and lungs are located in the three Yin meridians of the hand, while the spleen, kidneys, and liver are located in the three Yin meridians of the foot.

These six meridians are the foundation of the "Three Yin Earthly Fiend Force". With the recent travel and the training over the past six months, it is no surprise that the Lung Meridian is clear. The second hurdle seems to be the Kidney Meridian.

As soon as the Lung Meridian was opened, Lian Youming felt as if a stream of cold water had rushed into his lungs with each breath, which made him shiver. His originally shallow and rapid breathing suddenly became longer and more sustained.

As if sensing the change in the boy, Li Da's voice came from afar again.

"Don't overthink it. Since you've received the true teachings of that senior, even if you haven't formally become his disciple, you're still considered half a successor of the 'Tai Chi School.' As an outsider, I naturally can't teach you any advanced techniques. My leg technique evolved from the Springing Leg technique passed down by Wang Wu, the Great Saber. It's a basic method for training leg strength, which can strengthen the kidneys and waist. Walk around more when you have free time. Even if you don't go into the martial arts world, I guarantee you'll have two children in three years and eight in ten years after you get married."

Lian Youming was immersed in the miraculous changes in himself when he suddenly heard these words, and he almost lost his composure.

But he had no mind to respond. As his breathing quickened, he felt much lighter. Gazing at the figure ahead, whose back he could only see from behind, he secretly exerted his strength, thinking of catching up.

Unexpectedly, Lian Youming was quick, and Li Da also became fast.

The two of them chased each other like this, climbing over mountains and crossing rivers, always choosing to go where there were no people.

After several days and nights, Lian Youming's lower body gradually became stable, and his leg techniques became more and more skillful. However, the price was that he ate all the Huangjing left by Yan Lingyun, and his two legs were almost completely numb and lost sensation.

It was the morning of the fourth day when the two entered Jilin Province.

(End of this chapter)