Chapter 21 Chun Yang Palace and Zi Yang Palace
“What is it?” Xuan Luo halted. During the past two years, aside from when Tian Yu Zi was coaching him, Tian Yu Zi usually has a mischievous smile on his face. Therefore, whenever Tian Yu Zi becomes serious, he really pays attention. Even if he has questions, he will wait until Tian Yu Zi is finished.
“Do you recall when you first arrived, I told you that Wu Dang has been separated into two different groups? This is what I want to talk about.” Tian Yu Zi continued, “The two groups are Chun Yang Palace and Zi Yang Palace; Chun Yang Palace focuses nei li, while using style to a.s.sist. Whereas Zi Yang Palace focuses on style, while using nei li to a.s.sist.
Xuan Luo felt a little uncomfortable hearing this. In fact, he has heard other disciples mentioned Chun Yang Palace and Zi Yang Palace before. However, it was during a time while he was practicing behind the mountain. He accidentally heard about it, so he didn’t asked for details. But since Tian Yu Zi is bring it up, it must mean the issues between the two groups are very prominent.
“I’m actually the elder that represents Zi Yang Palace. Three days from now, Zi Yang Palace and Chun Yang Palace are going to hold a compet.i.tion. This compet.i.tion only happens once every three years.” As Tian Yu Zi spoke, he intently looked at Xuan Luo. “Nowadays, Martial Artists just want to be fast. Hence, they all want to choose the path to practice nei li. There are very few who would support my path because I focus on outer strength. The type of pain you have to endure from my path is not what most people can handle. Everyday, I make you do the same movement a thousand times. Most think it’s boring and senseless. On the other hand, for nei li, as long as you calm your heart down and meditate, you will see results in a matter of days. That’s why Zi Yang Palace has so few disciples. Our people are less than one percent of Chun Yang Palace ‘s. It’s definitely lonely here.”
Tian Yu Zi deeply sighed. Although everyone is from the same Clan, the separation is extremely huge. He can’t do anything about it either.
“As a result, each time we have a compet.i.tion, Zi Yang Palace always loses. Originally, I wasn’t going to tell you this. But your talent is excellent, and your natural abilities are great. Initially, I thought it would take you at least four years to reach ‘success’ for the Tai Chi fist. Yet, within two years, you have already hit close to it. And it’s funny how the time coincidently matches with the compet.i.tion. That’s why I am telling you this now. I hope you can represent our Zi Yang Palace to compete in the compet.i.tion.”
Once Tian Yu Zi stopped talking, Xuan Luo loudly exclaimed, “Old man, are you serious? You want me to partic.i.p.ate? Are you sure you don’t have a fever?”
Xuan Luo’s joking tone caused Tian Yu Zi’s forehead to show more wrinkles. Tian Yu Zi knocks on Xuan Luo’s head.
“Prepare for the compet.i.tion. You’re my disciple I brought up on my own. No matter what, you have to give me face! Or else, don’t even think about learning the sword!” Tian Yu Zi grumbled.
Hearing this threat, Xuan Luo whined, “Noooo. Old man. You can’t do this to me!”
“It doesn’t matter what you say! I have decided!” Tian Yu Zi firmly retorted. He is not going to allow Xuan Luo to even think about it. “In terms of the compet.i.tion rules, I will let you know when I bring you to Zi Yang Dian later.”
Xuan Luo was sulky. Originally, he thought he was going to finally learn the sword. Instead, Tian Yu Zi is giving him another hard task. But what can he do? Tian Yu Zi is his Master. Although he always forced him to do things, he is used to it. After spending so much time with him, he has gotten attached to Tian Yu Zi. No matter how much he may argue with him, in the end, he will still accept and do as he says.
As a matter of fact, according to the evaluation, Xuan Luo wasn’t able to demonstrate nei li when he was being tested by Zhang Men. Therefore, he would have only been able to learn wai gong; which was under Tian Yu Zi anyway. But there are very few who are as naturally gifted as Xuan Luo is. Hence, Tian Yu Zi decided right off the bat Xuan Luo would be his disciple (I don’t know why the author keeps bring this up, I get it! You said it like 4 times or something). Surprisingly, it turned out that Xuan Luo could learn nei gong xin fa. But alas, they were going to continue this wrong path.
But Xuan Luo’s mindset was still quite flexible. He was able to agree with Tian Yu Zi’s theory. Therefore, he was willing to spend a vast majority of time practicing the Tai Chi fist. He was able to learn the true essence of Tai Chi. From being unfortunate to fortunate, he even figured out a footwork on his own.
Tian Yu Zi had mentioned many times about the importance of steps. In Jiang hu, there are rarely any books on steps. However, while they are practicing, they need it. Because without steps, someone can easily see through the sequence and break it.
During these past two years, Xuan Luo didn’t purposely try to cultivate nei li. The only time he meditated was before he practiced the Tai Chi fist. He would meditate to control his breathing and calm his heart down. Yet, this simple action still increased his nei li substantially.
Xuan Luo had stopped going through the ragged book (the one from the forest, Chapter 1), but based on his gut, the ragged book was definitely not as simple as it looks. Perhaps Wu Dang’s xin fa cannot even compete with it. Think about it, what type of nei gong xin fa would initially cause so much pain at the beginning?
Xuan Luo had memorized the xin fa from the ragged book. However, there was something that he missed. That is, the nei li has different levels. One time, as Xuan Luo was meditating, he remembered that the ragged book indicated that there were nine levels. Each time one reaches a level, his/her core would explode and restore once more. Each time it explodes, it’s as if a b.u.t.terfly is coming out of the sh.e.l.l of a caterpillar.
The first level trains the body; the muscles increase in strength and the outer power accelerates. This process is very obvious. The second level trains the bones. The strength of the bones accelerates. As for the third level, Xuan Luo hasn’t figured it out yet. But he knows, the answer will be revealed to him once he has gone through that level.
“Hurry and catch up with me. Zi Yang Palace isn’t that easy to find!” Tian Yu Zi says as he looked at Xuan Luo’s zoned out face.
“Okay…coming..” Xuan Luo sighed. He followed behind Tian Yu Zi, and headed towards Zi Yang Palace.