Chapter 5: Taiji Fist is Kind of a Plug-in
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Suddenly finding himself in such an amazing world, he would not suck up to his leaders anymore. However, he still remembered how to practice Taiji Fist.
Taiji Fist was also called a punching skill which focused on Qi practice. Little s.h.i.+ba had a better understanding this time, much better than in his previous life. He had learned nothing useful when he was named w.a.n.g Bo.
This feeling became more distinct when he acquired a sense of Qi in his Unusual Strength Qigong. Every time he practiced Taiji Fist, a thin stream of airflow inside of his body would slowly flow with his movement and breath, without his intention. And the way the airflow flowed was quite different from that of Unusual Strength Qigong.
To be concise, when he was practicing Taiji Fist, the way this stream of airflow flowed inside of his body was much more complex than that of Unusual Strength Qigong’s. It could be deduced that the more complex the operating procedure was, the higher the level of Internal Strength would be.
And it was clear that when compared with Unusual Strength Qigong, this internal airflow was operated in a more complex way when Little s.h.i.+ba practiced Taiji Fist. Surely, that was not all that he had figured out.
Before acquiring a sense of Qi, everything was normal and he could play out a full set of 18 Movements of Taiji Fist of the Chen (one version of Taiji Fist). While after acquiring the sense of Qi, the Qi would flow with his actions and he could play, at most, to the fifth movement—Single Whip. Then he would lose his breath. If he refused to stop, he would become woozy and staggered as if he had lost all of his strength.
At the beginning, Little s.h.i.+ba was terrified. But after several times, Little s.h.i.+ba found that although he felt he had lost all his strength at that time, he became more mettlesome when taking rests. There were even some surprising changes appearing in his Internal Qi. It seemed that its quant.i.ty did not increase but the Internal Qi was more tenacious than that solely practiced by Unusual Strength Qigong. Surely this was just his personal feeling. With such little quant.i.ty of Internal Qi, he could not find out what the real situation was.
“Could this be the legendary Plug-in?” Junior Leopard, who was called Little s.h.i.+ba before, was secretly delighted about it. He turned out to be more diligent in practicing Taiji Fist.
Having practiced 18 Movements of the Chen for some time, Little s.h.i.+ba decided to make some changes. It was still difficult for him to practice his 18 Movements of Taiji Fist. For a long time, he ceased to advance. It seemed that there was something lacking in the operation of his Internal Qi. Therefore he gave up the 18 Movements of the Chen and turned to practicing the eight simplified Moves of Taiji Fist of Li Deyin.
The biggest advantage of Taiji Fist was its compatibility. Being widespread and suitable for both the young and the old, Taiji Fist was practiced by all kinds of people, forming various schools. Apart from the authentic Yang, Chen, or Wu, many other kinds of routines were derived for national fitness after liberation. The simplified version of the eight moves of Li Deyin was the most widespread and the most suitable for beginners.
Little s.h.i.+ba was not a beginner but the version of eight simplified movements of Taiji Fist only could help him to mellow and connect his Internal Qi after altering several kinds of versions, as practicing Taiji Fist with Internal Qi was his elementary attempt. In other words, only in this way could his poor Internal Qi support him to finish a full set of practicing. He felt really comfortable after such a full practice.
Days were always leisurely in a small village. The One-eyed Wolf never showed up after the wedding. Time went by with nothing special except for days when w.a.n.g Tianlei taught muscular teens martial arts in the village during his spare time in the winter.
Little s.h.i.+ba also lived in such a way. In his previous life, w.a.n.g Bo was lazy and so was Little s.h.i.+ba at first. But now, he was very interested in martial arts.
Practicing Internal Qi was dull and tedious for others, but it greatly interested this bloke who came from a modern China.
Every day he would unshakably practice Unusual Strength Qigong for four hours and a set of Taiji Fist before he went to bed. Could there be anything cooler than being covered in sweat and completely draining one’s strength before going to sleep?
Some might say that sleeping with their wife was cooler. But, the problem was that he was too young to have a wife. More importantly, he was not mature enough to do such a thing even if he had a child bride.
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
“Hey, hah, hey, hah…!”
Voices resonated from the north of the village, spreading far, far away, sending back echoes off of the mountains.
These voices were not strange in the village. Many kids like Little s.h.i.+ba sat around and watched. They would cheer for brilliant moves as if they were watching a comedy.
The muscular teens from the village felt shy at first, however, they became accustomed to it as time pa.s.sed. After all, these kids were their neighbors or even relatives from the same village. How could they drive them away?
Actually, they hoped that other people would watch them. But, the audience they wanted were girls of a marrying age from the village. You could even hear them bellow at a higher pitch when a girl walked by.
“How wonderful it is to be young!” Little s.h.i.+ba sighed softly, sitting on a small stool. He touched his tiny limbs subconsciously and thought, “What a pity that I’m so young. It may take me two or three years join them.”
With time pa.s.sing by, there were more and more villagers coming to the northern area to practice martial arts in their spare time. At first, the main force was muscular teens but then some middle-aged people and youths also appeared. The youngest one was around seven or eight.
Little s.h.i.+ba was eager to join them even though he was really too young. He could only sit off to the side and watch.
“Little s.h.i.+ba, your mom is calling you for dinner!”
Little s.h.i.+ba was watching excitedly when he heard someone calling him.
“I got it,” Little s.h.i.+ba responded. He cast a glance at that arena again, stood up, picked up his small stool, and ran back home.
“Hey, wait for me,” Er Ya yelled behind him. She was here to call Little s.h.i.+ba back. Er Ya was five years old, a little older than Little s.h.i.+ba. She lived next door and the two families got along well.
“My mom wants me back home to eat dinner! That’s me, not you, you know. So, don’t chase after me.” Little s.h.i.+ba ran away quickly while lugging his small stool. It was true that he looked very young then, but actually, the soul in his three-year-old body was over 30. He was unwilling to get close to other kids because he himself was not a kid.
“Little s.h.i.+ba, you always act like this. Since Er Ya went to get you, you should at least wait for her.”
Little s.h.i.+ba’s mother just happened to see him running back with his small stool in front of the Zhou’s house, followed by a breathless Er Ya not far behind. She could not help but scold him for it.
Little s.h.i.+ba ran into the house without saying a word. He deftly put down his small stool and sat to wait for his meal. His mother sighed helplessly after watching him being so conscienceless.
We’ve got guests today and it’s not appropriate now to teach this rascal a lesson.
“Cheers, my brother.”
The smell of a long-lost meat flavor mixed with the wine floated in the air ahead of Little s.h.i.+ba. He twitched his nose and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
Meat! There is meat today! We have guests, so we get meat!
Sitting on the small stool around the table, Boxer and Little s.h.i.+ba of the Zhou’s stared at that bowl of braised venison without blinking, and together they started to drool.
“Come here, Boxer and Little s.h.i.+ba. I’m your uncle.”
Their guest laughed loudly when he saw the two gluttonous kids, then he snuck several pieces of fat to them.
“Thank you, uncle,”
Little s.h.i.+ba said tactfully. Of course, these words garnered him more praise from his uncle.
“My dear brother, your Little s.h.i.+ba is really clever. Very good.” Uncle touched Little s.h.i.+ba’s head and asked again, “What’s your opinion about the things I told you last time?”
Old Zhou smiled happily at the mention of this. He lifted his wine gla.s.s in front of him and took a sip and said, “He is not old enough yet. Just wait a while.”
“That’s true. Is Little s.h.i.+ba three years old? Hoho, he will be four after the Spring Festival this year. So you agree?”
“This kid has been clever ever since childhood. He’s pretty well-behaved and I’m relieved with you looking after him for me.” Old Zhou laughed.
Little s.h.i.+ba was sure that they were talking about his future.
He continued to listen to their conversation and things were true as expected. This uncle, Old Zhou’s blood brother, made a living in Qingyang Market, 50 miles away from here.
Little s.h.i.+ba had heard about Qingyang Market before. It was a town centralization. For people who lived in the mountains, even a small town was comparatively busy. He yearned for a life in a town centralization, similar to the typical wish that people in his previous life had to live in a city.
His uncle had some interpersonal connections in Qingyang Market. He recommended Old Zhou’s Little s.h.i.+ba and Boxer to be apprentices in the town centralization with appreciation. That way, they could learn skills to make a living. After all, Old Zhou had four sons. Being an ordinary mountain person, it was difficult for him to raise all four sons with infertile soil and limited prey to hunt.
Old Zhou had agreed at last, but he would like to wait for them to grow a little older, for they truly were too young. In other words, the decision would be readdressed after they had grown up.
“Qingyang Market?” Little s.h.i.+ba ate all his rice and meat. He picked his small stool up again and sat outside the house.
It made no difference to him if he became an apprentice in Qingyang Market or not. He reincarnated in this new body with his previous life’s memories. Therefore, he had little affection for his family members. It seemed that the relations.h.i.+p between parents and children was different from that of his previous life. More importantly, Old Zhou had so many sons, it did not matter whether he was at home or not. Little s.h.i.+ba did not keep it in mind because life in this small village and life in Qingyang Market were much the same for him, and he did not need to move right away.
Consequently, it quickly pa.s.sed from his mind and he gave all of his attention to building his martial arts skills again.