Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 124: Inner Pound, Force Punch, and Yoga

Chapter 124: Inner Pound, Force Punch, and Yoga

“How progressive the times have been.”

Seeing how the monk Yong He had taken out a cellphone to send out a signal, Wang Chao felt it similar to how the boss of a gang would call out to his underlings. So an utterly ridiculous thought had entered his head as a result.

Associating his line of thoughts with the unpredictable marksmanship of the Baguazhang master Cheng Shanming to the level of proficiency the monk Yong Bao had with driving, Wang Chao had to concede. The Wulin and its practitioners of today was undoubtedly stained with the taste of today’s era.

Just at that moment, a yellow blur flashed right in front of him while two fists broke through the air in a series of blows.

Before Yong Bao could even land a hit, the tearing sounds of the air snapping could be heard in Wang Chao’s eyes. There was such an overwhelming amount of hostility that Wang Chao couldn’t help but have his hair stick up in anticipation.

Yong Bao’s forward leap and barrage of strikes was somewhat familiar to the “Pounding of the Horse Stance” in Xingyiquan. However, the posture was slightly different.

Yong Bao was using one of the more distinctive branches of Shaolin, “Rolling Fist”. Both arms were straightforward in its movements, and a single glance could tell that it was from the Longfist of Northern Shaolin. Compared to Xingyiquan which required sticking close to the opponent, the Rolling Fist was completely different.

The postures were close enough, but the intent behind the strikes were different, leading to an effect that was worlds apart from each other.

Yong Bao’s string of attacks were aimed towards Wang Chao’s face, while at the same time, his right leg came up to step onto Wang Chao’s leg.

This foot press was one of the leg techniques, “Iron Stamp”, of the Shaolin hard leg style. In a fight, it specialized in stamping down with force. Yong Bao was a great warrior monk on Mt. Taishi. Now at the age of 40, if he were to use the Iron Stamp to break out with Jin, he could crush a hundred bricks to dust in a short amount of time as proof as his prowess with martial arts.

If Wang Chao were to be hit by this, if his feet bones weren’t shattered, he would still suffer a serious injury.

This domineering style of Yong Bao was to capitalize on the chance to capture. With a fierce and sudden explosion of attacks, any regular person wouldn’t be able to escape.

It had originally been a three way lock, but after Wang Chao learned from Lin Yanan that his relationship with Tang Zichen had been investigated, his heart had been sent into a deep shock. Yong Bao had taken notice of his opponent’s wavering Qi and presence, and decided to take the first initiative.

Furthermore, he had struck first so as to give Yong He time to send out the signal to prepare for their men to capture Wang Chao and Lin Yanan.

“If the airport would have allowed me a gun, then I would have asked teacher for a gun. Rumors had it that Wang Chao was very strong, but I didn’t think to see that he was even stronger than we thought!”

After sending the message, Yong He smashed the cellphone with a cracking sound before accurately throwing the pieces at the back of Wang Chao’s head.

It would appear that Yong He was quite decent with using concealed weapons.

In the recent struggle within the car, Yong He had personally bore witness to Wang Chao’s “Under the Elbow Punch” sending Yong Bao straight through the windshield of the car with shock. He had recovered quickly however and called for reinforcements. After using the remnants of the phone to throw and attack Wang Chao, this series of actions had only displayed the fighting and reactive ability of the Shaolin warrior monks.

Clearly, Yong He was no idiotic monk that blindly cultivated his strength, but he was an old hand rich with combat experience.

“What a guy! This monk has experienced combat before, and a lot of it!”

When Wang Chao saw Yong Bao taking the initiative, he knew that this monk was not the same as Zhang Wei’s martial brother Leung Jingmen and the Daoist monk. Their martial arts were high, but they were lacking actual combat experience. In a battle to the death, they would feel hesitation and fear both arm and leg of their enemies.

“The warrior monks of the Shaolin Temple, just where did they go fight to the death? Perhaps they fought in the underground arenas?”

Although his mind was in doubt, Wang Chao was still prudent with his martial arts. Taking back his leg to dodge Yong Bao’s stamp, he moved forward with one leg in front and the other deep behind like a plow deep in the earth as it tilled the fields.

The leg plows the earth as steady as Mt. Tai itself!

Wang Chao’s hand turned into a fist before moving to the front of his solar plexus. With a fierce burst of Jin down through his legs and into the ground, the entire road seemed to have shaken a little bit.

This was Wang Chao borrowing the “Pounding Hammer” of Taichi to generate Jin. Abandoning grace, deception, and sinister factors generally used in a fight, he would have his intent to strike explode outwards for an extremely shocking amount of power. With a fierce blow to shake the body, anyone hit would be blown away by it.

In the world of Chinese Boxing, in terms of unyielding strength, this ranked first.

First comes “Inner Pound” which would be followed by the “Step Forward and Punch Downwards” for the shocking blow.

Wang Chao’s martial arts had already reached a master level of where the “sound follows the fist”. And after going to Singapore, he was able to discern the two types of Clear and Hidden Jin his legs and couple hard and soft together by talking with Chen Aiyang. With that, he had been able to walk 8 steps up a wall without falling.

Lastly, his match with Cheng Shanming had given him the experience of watching Cheng Shanming practice underwater. After Wang Chao returned to Laoshan, he used the lead ball to practice underwater himself to finally allow his body to experience the true meaning of the hard rotation. With his present study of martial arts, he had turned complicated into simplistic.

Cheng Shanming had already reached the Transforming Jin realm, but his heart was not as steadfast as Wang Chao’s. His bravery was not as fierce, and his inspiration was not as expansive. And with him walking a crooked path by learning marksmanship, he was unable to understand the ideology of the hard rotation in Taichi.

When Yong Bao’s foot stepped on air and both of his fists failed to hit Wang Chao’s face, he knew the situation wasn’t going well.

Afterwards, the two warrior monks began to feel a slight trembling sensation underneath their feet, causing them to feel even more shocked.

In that instant, their opponent exploded outwards with a fist from the center with the force of a cannon.

As this cannon exploded, the recoil from it was extremely massive, causing the earth to quake.

Wang Chao’s “Inner Pound” had already reached a level so strong that the recoil was as if he had shot a cannon. From his legs, the force would be transmitted into the ground and shake it.

For the power to burst out from one’s fist like that, would anyone in the world be able to block this?

Yong Bao’s feet had been trained to the point of being as sensitive as his face was. So when he felt the tremors, he didn’t even need to think to know that Wang Chao’s fist could not be blocked. If he were to try and meet it head on, then he would most definitely be sent flying back like before.

“This Wang Chao’s martial arts is simply….stronger than when I was a youth. Even in the American underground rings, none of the heavyweight boxing champions or killing machines were capable of a fist stronger than this.”

Yong Bao’s feet slid across the ground and back a meter so as to dodge Wang Chao’s “Inner Pound” But as he dodged, all he could see was black before a gust of wind blasted him.

Wang Chao’s “Move Forward and Punch Downwards” required a downwards strike from top to bottom. Covering his entire forehead, nose, chest, abdomen, and genitalia, Wang Chao would be able to strike at any of the vital parts.

The “Force Punch” came crashing down with the force of Mt. Tai, causing Yong Bao’s ears to tremble as if he was listening to the rumbling sounds of thunder in the air. He had only felt the power of his opponent increase in a single surge like a roll of thunder. Like a giant Peng spreading its wings out, the wind could be felt from a mile away.

“Ha!” Clenching both fists, Yong Bao let out a long sigh after drumming up his intestines within his body. The breath that escaped from his chest had sounded similar to the war cry of an elephant.

Borrowing the sound within his body to generate even more strength, he lifted both hands into the air like a hegemon holding a cauldron overhead and tried to hold off against Wang Chao’s “Force Punch”.

Kacha! The ground beneath Yong Bao’s foot began to fracture and subside. His knees began to bend as a result of not being able to withstand the weight before finally falling to the ground in a kneeling position.

“How dangerous!” As he knelt, Yong Bao felt his entire body go numb. With an exhale, he went from kneeling to a rolling position. With the “Donkey Roll”, he had been able roll away and escape from danger.

“A breathing exercise from Yoga?”

In that instant, Yong Bao had been able to emit a loud sound from his throat and expel it outwards. Using that energy, he brought it to his hands to support himself against the “Force Punch” before rolling out.

When Wang Chao heard Yong Bao’s voice, he had guessed that it was a breathing exercise from Yoga.

Parts of Yoga could be traced back to Shaolin.

A master of Yoga in India could take in a single breath to temper their inner organs to an unbelievable level. They could capture water with their anus, and they could even suck water through their genitalia to their urinary bladder.

The Shaolin Temple’s way of breathing to strengthen the inner organs contained the way to let out the war cry of an elephant. This method of cultivation originated from one of the ancient schools of Yoga in India.

While Wang Chao was not one that practiced breathing and instead focused on strengthening his muscles, he was still at a stage of being capable of “Inner Sight”.

His heart and lungs were several times stronger than the ordinary person.

So he was fully capable of understanding that Yong Bao’s martial art had reached a stage of maturity. He was one that was well deserving of being one of the ones to uphold the front of one of the Shaolin Temple warrior monks.

But he did not take the opportunity to move forward to strike and kill Yong Bao. Instead, he leapt backwards.

That was because there was still the warrior monk Yong He.

Yong He was currently fighting with Lin Yanan.

When Yong He had used his cell phone as a means to throw them at the back of Wang Chao’s head as a throwing weapon, Wang Chao didn’t bother to dodge–but that wasn’t because he didn’t know that it was coming. It was only because he realized Lin Yanan had lashed out with a fist and knocked away the fragments.

When one reached a level of martial arts that Wang Chao had, then all the pores on the human body were practically eyes. There was no blind spot in his area of defense.

After throwing the cellphone, Yong He came rushing forward. Both hands turned into beaks that jabbed at Lin Yanan’s eyes. But after being blocked, Yong He swayed a bit before dropping his beaks downwards towards Lin Yanan’s shoulders.

When fighting, first strike at their courage. When striking at their courage, strike the eyes first. Attacking the enemy’s eyes was the most common way to easily to make them lose their courage and retreat. Yong He’s way of fighting was truly exquisite in its approach.

He wanted to capture Lin Yanan in order to force Wang Chao’s hand and into submission.

In that moment, a single black car suddenly came swerving onto the roads.