Chapter 192
Chapter 192
Tiny bumps suddenly rose all across my arm, packed densely together.
They looked just like goose bumps!
Then I relaxed my strength, and the bumps immediately disappeared.
My entire arm became smooth again, as though what they had just seen were an illusion.
Wang Dachun instantly cried out with his usual flair for drama.
“Holy shit, Boss! Wait, no… Boss, what I mean is, that’s martial arts? Not magic?”
Beside him, Yao Nan’s eyes widened too.
“Desk mate, why is your martial arts so different from what we usually see in movies?”
As for Zeng Jin, he merely marveled at how incredible it was.
As a teenager, I naturally felt pleased by my good friends’ praise.
I chuckled and explained,
“How could movies and television dramas possibly capture true kung fu? Even when they show something real, it’s only an external style. Very few people know this kind of genuine skill.”
“What I just demonstrated is the essence of internal martial arts. It’s called Sealing the Pores, or sometimes Bristling the Hairs. The names aren’t pretty, but they capture the most important principle of the martial arts branch within the eclectic arts.”
As I bragged and showed off to them, I also recalled the mysteries Master had explained to me…
According to Master, the eclectic arts had more practitioners than any other branch in the esoteric world!
And at the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the Republican era, martial artists reached the height of their influence within the eclectic arts. Not only did they nearly unify the entire branch, they came close to rivaling the Buddhist and Daoist sects.
Why?
Because during the middle and late Qing dynasty more than two hundred years earlier, martial arts finally underwent enormous step-by-step refinement and formed a complete system of cultivation!
Real martial arts were not like the martial-hero novels or folk adventure tales that claimed older techniques were always more powerful. That principle applied only to those of us who cultivated arcane methods.
The further back in antiquity one went, the denser the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had been, and the more powerful arcane techniques became.
Martial artists, however, were merely ordinary people without any talent for cultivating qi.
How were they supposed to make their way through the esoteric world?
They were only somewhat stronger than ordinary people…
Never mind the true Buddhist and Daoist sects. Even the other trades within the eclectic arts looked down on martial artists.
But generation after generation of martial artists threw themselves into the effort. Finally, more than two centuries ago, they gradually perfected the cultivation methods of internal martial arts!
Only then did martial artists truly enter the halls of power and begin stirring up great events.
That was because they had developed a foundational method known as “nurturing energy.”
Naturally, the “energy” martial artists referred to was not the same qi that we cultivated.
Nor was it breath or any kind of gas present in the air…
It was something symbolic.
When people exercised, their entire bodies grew hot.
If the heat became intense, they sweated.
That heat was the “energy” martial artists spoke of. The foundation of internal martial arts was using the heat generated through movement!
But the human body had countless pores designed to disperse heat.
The moment movement produced heat, that energy escaped through the pores.
When the energy dispersed intensely, a person began to sweat.
The pores on the human body were like the gaps in a bamboo basket. No matter what you did, you could never carry water in a bamboo basket. Every effort would come to nothing!
By the same principle, no matter how intensely a person exercised, the heat they generated would turn into energy and escape through their pores. In the end, it all came to nothing.
So how could one keep that “energy” within the body instead of letting it disperse, thereby gaining greater strength, faster speed, and more agile reactions…?
That was the most fundamental and profound secret of internal martial arts!
Heat and energy escaped through the pores. To nurture that energy, a martial artist had to keep the pores closed at critical moments and prevent the body’s heat from escaping.
Which raised the greatest question of all: how could anyone close the pores across their entire body?
Doing so completely violated the body’s biological instincts!
…
By then, Wang Dachun, Yao Nan, and Zeng Jin were utterly captivated.
They had never imagined that martial arts involved so many hidden principles.
Yao Nan stared at the smooth skin of my arm and said instinctively,
“So, desk mate, your skin is smooth and your pores are tiny because you’ve learned that internal martial art you described and often close your pores? And you don’t sweat because you keep all the heat inside your body.”
“Exactly!”
I smiled, nodded, and looked at Yao Nan.
“My desk mate really is clever. As someone practices internal martial arts, their pores gradually become smaller and smaller. Smaller pores mean smoother skin. Legend says that if internal martial arts are cultivated to the highest level, the skin becomes as soft as a baby’s.”
“That’s why internal martial arts has a saying: Can you concentrate your breath and attain softness, becoming like an infant?”
“If a martial artist truly reached that realm, every casual movement would carry several thousand pounds of force. They could run far faster than a cheetah and even dodge bullets! Even the leaders of great Buddhist and Daoist sects would treat them as equals.”
“Unfortunately, Master said… that’s only the theoretical pinnacle of internal martial arts. She has never heard of anyone truly reaching it.”
“Even famous martial arts masters like Huo Yuanjia, Wong Fei-hung, and Ip Man remained far from that level. At most, perhaps people like Dong Haichuan and Sun Lutang came somewhat close.”
Although the branch I primarily cultivated was talisman arts, I still felt admiration and wistful respect for those martial artists.
Wang Dachun asked excitedly,
“Then, Boss, how do you close your pores?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Why? You want to learn?”
“Of course! It sounds incredibly cool. Boss, if you won’t teach us arcane techniques, you could at least teach us a little martial arts, right? Then I’d have the advantage whenever I fight somebody.”
Smack!
I slapped the back of his head and glared at him.
“You want to learn martial arts so you can fight people?”
“I… heh. Slip of the tongue.”
The fellow rubbed his head with a grin.
Seeing the longing in all three pairs of eyes, I sighed.
“All right. I definitely can’t teach you talisman arts, arcane techniques, or the energy-nurturing methods of martial arts without Master’s permission. But when we have time, I can teach you a few simple, practical martial arts moves…”
Ring-ring-ring!
The bell for class sounded.
At almost the exact same instant, Old Quan strode into the classroom with an English textbook tucked beneath his arm.
“Damn! Old Quan is always this punctual. He never wastes even one second. He must hide outside the classroom ahead of time and wait for the bell.”
Wang Dachun muttered his complaint under his breath. Reluctantly, he pulled his body off the desk and prepared his English textbook…
That afternoon,
the weather suddenly changed dramatically.
The sky had been clear and cloudless, but in the blink of an eye, dark clouds covered everything.
Soon, rain poured down in torrents as the storm roared.
The entire world disappeared behind a curtain of rain.
Many students had not brought umbrellas, so after afternoon classes ended, they had no idea how to reach the cafeteria for dinner. It stood almost a quarter mile from the classroom building.
They would be soaked to the skin!
The four of us stood in the corridor, staring helplessly at the downpour.
I sighed.
“Sigh. June weather really is as fickle as a child’s face! Looks like we can’t eat dinner in the cafeteria. We’ll have to wait for the rain to stop, then go to the little store across from the classroom building during the break after first evening study and buy snacks and instant noodles to fill our stomachs.”
Wang Dachun asked, “Boss, what if this downpour doesn’t stop all night? Do we just tough it out until evening study ends?”
Yao Nan: “…”
Zeng Jin: “…”
Me: “Shut up, you jinx! Nothing good ever comes out of that mouth.”
I lifted a leg and kicked the bastard away.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Wang Dachun really would prove a menace. His mouth might as well have been blessed with supernatural power!
The roaring downpour actually did continue without pause until school ended at nine thirty that night.
I could not contain my irritation.
So I raised my leg and kicked him in the rear again.
I had barely used any force, but he clutched his backside and wailed. He insisted his butt had swollen and that I had to teach him several extra boxing moves to compensate for his emotional trauma…
Because the situation was unusual, the school made an exception and allowed parents who had brought umbrellas to pick up their children to enter the grounds and wait directly beneath the classroom building.
The area instantly became noisy and chaotic.
When we went downstairs, we saw Yao Nan’s mother, Zhao Jiao; Wang Dachun’s father, Wang Min; and Zeng Jin’s father all waiting with umbrellas.
“Mom! Why did you come?”
Yao Nan ran over in delight.
“What would you do if I didn’t come in rain this heavy? Your dad came too. The car is parked outside the front gate. The school allowed people inside, but certainly not cars.”
Watching the three of them run happily toward their parents, I felt a small pang of envy.
But I did not feel disappointed.
I knew my parents loved me too.
If they lived in Lianghe Town, they would certainly have braved the downpour to bring me an umbrella just like the other parents.
Although, when I looked at the storm, I realized umbrellas were actually useless… An ordinary one could never withstand rain this heavy!
After walking only a few hundred yards, a person would still be drenched from head to toe.
“Young Mr. Wu, why don’t you ride with us? I’ll take you home.”
Yao Nan’s mother spoke to me.
“Ahem… Ms. Zhao, perhaps we should take him! We’re headed more directly that way.”
Wang Min spoke as well.
Even Zeng Jin’s father appeared eager to make an offer…
Before I could say anything, Yao Nan grabbed my sleeve and began dragging me forward.
“Come on, let’s go. You’re my desk mate, so of course you’re coming with me!”
Then she looked back and added with a smile,
“I’m right, aren’t I, Uncle Wang?”
Wang Min could only nod with a deliberately wry smile.
“Right, right! Xiao Nan is right. It seems the honor of taking Young Mr. Wu home belongs to Brother Yao.”
Everyone laughed.
We walked beneath umbrellas to the school gate and climbed into Yao Nan’s family car.
Yao Tianlin greeted me with several warm pleasantries, then started the car.
As we drove from the road outside the school toward Lianghe Bridge, I looked through the window.
Even through the darkness and curtain of rain, I could faintly see the river winding past the school. Its water stood far higher than usual!
Clearly, the storm that had lasted less than half a day was pushing the Chuan River and its tributaries toward flooding…
A sudden, inexplicable unease rose within me, and I frowned.
Yao Nan noticed it too.
Looking outside, she exclaimed,
“Oh! The small river is flooding too. The water is only about ten feet below the roadside. Normally, the river surface is more than twenty feet below the road. It hasn’t even been half a day. The water is rising so fast!”
Yao Tianlin sighed as he drove.
“That’s right. The Chuan River’s two tributaries flow from north to south and wind straight through Lianghe Town. Whenever torrential rain makes the Chuan River flood, water surges into the tributaries and makes them rise sharply, which has a major effect on the town.”
Zhao Jiao looked even more worried.
“Lianghe District Middle School already stands on high ground within Lianghe Town. If the rivers flood the road connecting the school to town, that means half of Lianghe Town is underwater. Judging by the current situation, water is probably already entering the northern side. This could become serious.”
As a government leader herself, she would certainly be expected to direct flood control and disaster relief.
In fact, she had already received instructions from her superiors.
If the storm had not stopped by midnight, she would have to rush to a late-night meeting to discuss flood control and disaster relief!