September twenty-third.
In the early morning, Guan Luoyang and his coach said goodbye to Tian Gongyu and embarked on the road to Guangzhou.
The coach's original attire was really too eye-catching, so this time he changed into blue coarse cloth clothes when he went on the road.
Those were Tian Gongyu's clothes. Tian Gongyu was shorter than the coach, so the clothes were a bit tight on the coach.
However, these days, there are many people without clothes. As far as Guan Luoyang saw with his own eyes, there were quite a few naked bodies that had starved and froze to death on the roadside.
The coach's clothes were only slightly ill-fitting, but that didn't arouse any suspicion. He hid his roster and stick himself, and he didn't know where he hid them. Anyway, he moved freely and couldn't be seen at all.
On the contrary, Guan Luoyang's long sword was a bit difficult to deal with. After thinking about it for a long time, I decided not to bring it.
The sun has not yet risen, and the sky is dim. Two people are walking and chatting on a path in the wilderness.
"Lei Gong was a master of fists and swords back then. The efficiency of killing enemies with a set of grappling hands is almost as good as that of swordsmanship. You don't carry a sword, but you don't know how much firepower you have learned from him in your fists and feet?"
"I have been learning the five skills of grappling for longer than the sword skills. It's just that my master was a master of bone training back then, but I was a master of skin training. I don't know who is stronger or weaker than him when he was at his peak?"
The five-part grappling hand, as the name suggests, is a set of grappling hands divided into five parts.
Arhat, eagle claws, wrapped with silk, broken crane, open to the back.
If we use the most popular and concise language to summarize it, Arhat refers to a method of capturing the joints of the limbs of the human body with strong force, dividing tendons, dislocating bones, and cutting flesh.
The move that twisted Zhu Changshou's right arm came from the first episode of Arhat.
The eagle claw is used to practice one's own wrist and finger strength. It mainly targets the enemy's facial features, lower back, lower body, etc., and can tear out the eyes and ears, press the lips and hook the face.
Silk wrapping is a method of pulling and dragging to destroy the enemy's balance, targeting the ears, fingers, hair, clothing and other ends, often relying on beating to injure the person.
Crane Duan pays attention to its own unique way of exerting force, and pursues unique training results such as palm insertion, index fingering, and inch strength. It is roughly selected from some of the essence of Crane Fist.
Tongbei is to practice one's own breathing, to shoot long and far, with long-lasting power. At the same time, it is mixed with hypnotic techniques that have evolved from the boxer god's fighting method. It seeks to confuse the enemy at the critical moment, distract it, and launch a surprise attack. Effect.
According to Tian Gongyu, this set of grappling hands was first passed on to his master from the generation where his master passed down the skills, and then to him. After passing through the Jinmen League, it was exchanged among the great boxers. Rare manuscripts are truly perfect.
"It took thirty years of hard work for your master to achieve the mastery of bone training. It only took you six years to reach the stage of mastery of skin training. Not only is your talent amazing, but he also teaches students according to their aptitude. He teaches well. Disciple You don’t have to be inferior to your teacher, you don’t have to be inferior to your teacher.”
The coach was given this nickname because he was a good teacher in the Boxer Rebellion and mentored many rising stars.
When he came here today, he couldn't help but have the idea of pointing to the younger generation again, and said, "But since you are practicing the five-part grappling hand, you have captured a lot of essence from the manuscripts of your colleagues in the past. While practicing the skin, you can also train the tendons, Bones and Qi, he must have achieved quite a lot."
Guan Luoyang is not a person who likes to be modest. He told the truth: "I can exert force at will to reach more than two thousand kilograms. I can hold my breath for a quarter of an hour. I bow my head and bend over, hold my knees with my hands, and curl up like a ball all night. I never relax, and my cervical and lumbar spine are... No soreness at all. This was a test I did around May of this year."
Is this really just a matter of six years of practice?
The instructor couldn't help but sigh in his heart again, and said: "It seems that you may be able to give it a try in the near future and step into the threshold of Qi training."
Qi training in boxing and martial arts in this world refers to breathing training.
When Tian Gongyu explained the so-called "Four Exercises" to Guan Luoyang, he once said that although each of the four exercises requires talent and diligence, if you insist on comparing them, it can be said that it is bone training. The most hard work is required, while practicing Qi requires the most talent.
The air flow in and out between the mouth and nose is so weak that even if you blow with all your strength, it may not be able to move the two ounces of pork on the chopping board.
However, after these airflows are transformed by breathing and enter the human body, they can drive a human body weighing one hundred kilograms, two hundred kilograms, or even three hundred kilograms to perform various violent movements.
In this process, the effectiveness of these weak airflows is magnified hundreds of times!
The process of Qi training in martial arts is to explore the mystery of the transformation of breath.
But to be honest, the various descriptions of the mysteries of Qi training in those boxer manuscripts were too abstract in Guan Luoyang's opinion.
In the past six years of practicing boxing and martial arts, he has made great progress in other aspects. However, in terms of Qi training, apart from increasing lung capacity, he has not found any other direction of practice at all.
Guan Luoyang explained his confusion.
The instructor immediately smiled and said: "Practice Qi is not a foolhardy act, nor is it just about increasing the strength of the heart and lungs. The so-called talent that matters most in Qi training is to see whether you can capture a certain special state during long-term practice.
Some people will never encounter this state in their lifetime, while others will encounter it three or five times in a year. The latter will naturally be considered to be more talented and it will be easier for them to reach the peak of Qi training.
But in fact, if there is a person who is a master of qi training and teaches through words and deeds, then the apprentice's chance of experiencing this state will be greatly improved. "
As the instructor spoke, he slowed down his pace, lowered his voice, and said, "Follow me, pay attention to my breathing, and watch the rise and fall of my chest and abdomen when I walk."
Guan Luoyang stood sideways and listened carefully.
breathe--
breathe--
The instructor faces south, raises his arms slightly and lowers them slowly.
The sound of breathing fell clearly into Guan Luoyang's ears, exhaling and inhaling, in and out, the sounds of exhalation and inhalation were distinct.
The sky is getting brighter and brighter, and in the wilderness, the cliffs in the distance are steep, covered with moss, and densely rocky.
The nearby jungle is jagged and weeds are everywhere, and the dewdrops are about to fall in the morning, and they are green and green.
The two of them stood in this green wilderness, and the breeze blew the dew off the branches, bringing a bit of coolness to Guan Luoyang's face.
At some point, Guan Luoyang suddenly realized that he couldn't tell whether the instructor was exhaling or inhaling.
The two voices are entangled together, the differences are getting smaller and smaller, and they are becoming more and more consistent.
Guan Luoyang frowned and looked intently.
The instructor's face was camouflaged with ointment and powder. It looked like his skin was much darker and there were many pockmarks. When a person inhales, his nose wings retract and when he exhales, his nose wings open. Originally, in this close situation, With Guan Luoyang's eyesight, it should not be difficult to identify.
But he couldn't tell whether the instructor was breathing or breathing at this moment.
The last thing he heard in his ears seemed to be an endless sucking sound.
At this moment, the coach stepped forward.
Guan Luoyang was confused and had no choice but to follow him. He was walking sideways, his eyes constantly looking at the trainer's chest and abdomen.
There was no obvious rise and fall in the instructor's chest, but the layer of clothing that was tight on his chest and abdomen had very subtle ripples.
It was obviously made of coarse cloth, but when it was worn on the instructor's body at the moment, it actually looked like silk that had been wrinkled by the breeze, with ripples blooming from places where the source could not be identified, and the waves kept rippling.
The more Guan Luoyang wanted to observe, the more difficult he found it to understand.
Unconsciously, they walked from early morning to noon that day. There were many steep and muddy places on the dozens of miles of mountain road, which they crossed over in a hurry.
The instructor's breathing was still harmonious, as if there was no way in or out.
When he reached a river, the instructor stopped, turned to face Guan Luoyang, and pointed at his neck and flank.
Guan Luoyang understood and pressed his hands on those two places respectively.
A very low-amplitude tremor came from his palm.
The instructor was not a master of skin training, but at this moment Guan Luoyang suddenly had a feeling that the instructor's skin's resistance ability would definitely not be lower than his own if he stayed in this state.
The instructor asked him to touch his chest, then his back, his shoulder blades, and his lumbar spine. There was a similar tremor everywhere.
This subtle feeling cannot be seen with the naked eye. It can only be felt by touching it with your hands, and you can clearly feel that the tremor frequency is exactly the same everywhere. It will not change just because there are more bones and less meat, or less bones and more meat. Differences occur.
After a while, the instructor raised his hand to signal him to get out of the way, then turned his head to face the water and exhaled slowly.
The man stood upright, and his mouth was at least two meters away from the water. However, when he blew out the breath, it hit the water, making a small obvious dent, pushing away the waves.
After exhaling this breath, the instructor's breathing sound finally became obviously different again.
"Qi Lian Dacheng is a kind of rhythm, just like what you just felt. It is a unified rhythm that runs from the mouth and nose, from the heart and lungs to the ends of the body. The skin, muscles, blood, and bones are originally just a whole. Qi Lian , is to make people feel the existence of this connection more clearly.
It is said in the ancient theory of innocence in "Suwen" that exhaling Qi, guarding the spirit independently, and the muscles are as one. Perhaps this is the state it is talking about. "
Following the instructor's words, Guan Luoyang fell into deep thought. Sometimes he clasped his hands to cheer up and looked at the muscles on his arms. Sometimes he turned his hands over and pinched his knuckles to feel the pressure on his bones and joints.
After a long time, the instructor was already sitting there eating dry food.
Guan Luoyang came back to his senses and said, "I seem to understand why it is said that the four major exercises become more difficult as you go up."
The four major exercises of muscles, bones, skin and qi are one step at a time, one mountain and one sky.
In recent hundreds of years, there have been dozens of first-level boxers in each generation, but the number of second-level boxers has been reduced by ten times.
There may not be one person who achieves great success in three practices in a hundred years, but there may only be one person who achieves great success in four practices, like the legendary Zhang Sanfeng.
It has always been difficult for Guan Luoyang to understand before. After all, objectively speaking, the stronger a certain quality of the human body, the easier it should be to improve the shortcomings in other areas.
But in addition to objectivity, subjective feelings also need to be taken into consideration.
Ever since Guan Luoyang became a master of skin training, he has had a feeling of indestructibility all over his body. No matter how hard his skeletal muscles exert force, his skin is strong enough to bear it and explode.
He knew that this was just an illusion. Any foreign gun that shot him at close range could break his skin, so he thought he had overcome this barrier of knowledge.
But thinking about it now, this feeling still left a certain impact on his heart.
Guan Luoyang has unconsciously divided his skin and other parts of the human body into two parts.
Presumably those who have mastered bone training and muscle training have similar feelings. Therefore, if you want to achieve mastery in the second training, you have to suppress the main position of the first training from your heart.
For example, when practicing Qi Dacheng, one must ignore the differences between the five senses, internal organs, muscles and bones. This kind of understanding is even contradictory to the feelings brought about by other exercises.
If this concept cannot be reversed, then you will unconsciously go astray in the process of practicing. 90% of the 10% of hard training will be useless. Human life is only so long. If it continues to be wasted like this, it will be difficult to make much progress. .
If you want to overcome these, you must constantly warn yourself and adjust your cognition. The further you go, the more mental energy you will spend and the more energy you will lose.
Guan Luoyang has heard of cases where some great boxers died suddenly from nosebleeds in the process of groping for a higher realm. Thinking about it now, it may be that they were too crazy, did not know restraint, and overused their brains, which led to sudden death. .
The instructor had already finished chewing his piece of cake, drank some water from the gourd, and said: "When I first arrived at Lei Gong's place, I wanted to show you a demonstration because of your kindness. It's just that I was injured at that time and couldn't maintain it. This state. And you seemed to have a slight injury in your heart at that time, so you couldn't practice easily, so it was postponed until today."
Guan Luoyang nodded: "My injury is completely healed now, but even though I know the general state of Qi training, I still have no idea how to get myself to that state."
"It doesn't matter, the mountain road is difficult to walk. From here to Guangzhou, it will take us two days at least. We will come back in the afternoon and tomorrow."
The instructor handed over the dry food, "Don't put too much burden on yourself. I'm not saying that you have to reach that threshold before arriving in Guangzhou. It's just that I am free now and will teach you when the opportunity arises."
He had one unfinished sentence: Since Lei Gong has descendants, I...should also pass on some of them.
Guan Luoyang took the dry food, sat down by the river, and chewed slowly. Through the process of chewing, he gradually calmed down and settled down his complicated thoughts.
Martial arts training is important, but you can't put the cart before the horse. The most important thing at the moment is to enter Guangzhou City and send the roster to where it should go.
Continue on the road in the afternoon and rest in the forest that night.
By the afternoon of the next day, some small tea sheds and hotels began to appear around, and many trees showed signs of being cut down. It was obvious that they were approaching the city of Guangzhou.
After asking around for a while, it turned out that it was only thirty miles away from Guangzhou City.
When we got here, the instructor became calmer and did not rush on his way. He chose a hotel with a thatched roof and a hunchbacked old couple busy, and the two of them had a hearty meal.
They asked for a guest room, which was actually just a small room in the back.
"I won't rush any more this afternoon. I'll recharge my batteries and have a good sleep."
The instructor dipped his fingers into some water, drew a square frame on the table, and drew a few waves on one side of the square frame. He whispered, "To the south of Guangzhou is the Pearl River. The city wall has been demolished. It would have been the easiest place to sneak in." place, but those people must also have thought that they must ask the Guangzhou General to deploy heavy troops in the south for investigation. This road has become the most dangerous and undesirable.
The Guangzhou City Wall in the other three directions is actually only over two feet high. Once we get close to the bottom of the city wall, we can climb over it without going through the city gates.
Therefore, they will definitely not stay under the city wall, but will set up defenses at the surrounding road hubs. I have inquired, and if we go north, we are likely to encounter the enemy twenty miles away from the city wall. Their whereabouts will be exposed, and interceptions and killings will follow one after another, leaving us with no time to sneak into Guangzhou City.
If we go to the west, there will be a transportation hub that we must go to about three miles away from the city wall. That place is too close to Guangzhou City. Once we encounter the enemy, we may not have time to kill the masters. Reinforcements will swarm in, which is not advisable. "
Guan Luoyang also whispered: "The only way is to go east?"
"Yes, the most likely place to encounter the enemy in the east is six or seven miles outside the city wall. There is an intersection there. If your whereabouts are exposed there, as long as you try to break through the checkpoint, you will be under the city wall in less than half a moment, and there are six or seven miles With the room for mediation, we can choose a wider direction, so that we will not be directly hit by the reinforcements in the city."
The coach chuckled lowly when he said this, "A moderate choice means that there are risks in other aspects. If possible, of course it is best to muddle through."
Guan Luoyang knew this was just a joke.
With the Manchu and Qing government attaching great importance to this roster, they would definitely be searched at checkpoints set up at key traffic points. The instructor's roster was always carried with him and could not be seen from the outside, but if he was searched, how could he escape?
So what awaits them tomorrow will only be fighting and running.
This simple hotel didn't even have a bed. In the room with air leakage through the wooden boards, two straw mats were spread on the ground, covered with old quilts, which served as beds.
Guan Luoyang and the instructor both slept in their clothes, and the sound of the old couple busy outside gradually stopped.
As the night got darker, the instructor tossed and turned, half asleep and half awake, and suddenly murmured: "Do you think we will succeed?"
Will sending a roster be successful? Even if the roster is really sent, will everything in the future be successful?
These words should not be asked from an old Jianghu or a senior, and the person asking the question should not be a young person.
After the instructor asked this question, he opened his eyes suddenly, with a look of annoyance on his face, feeling that he had made a mistake.
As a senior, wouldn't it be damaging to one's own morale if he said such words at this time? Coach, coach, you have never given in for so many years, why did you really express this hesitation in the dead of night?
But his question was heard and answered quickly and clearly.
"Will do!"
Guan Luoyang slept peacefully and was awake.
Even though the world is so different, he has never questioned something.
Ultimately, it's because... this place sucks!
Wherever you walk, you can step on the corpses of starving, smokers, and unknown people, swallowing coarse grains mixed with sand, and those empty houses that are moldy, smelly, and rotten, and the lonely old people are moldy together with the houses, waiting outside the inn. People eating swill actually come in groups, holding children in their arms...
Walking from the village to the small town, I can clearly see the yellow and thin faces as slim as mud. How many of them look like humans?
Then looking back, those half-Chinese and half-foreign costumes appeared magnificently, from foreigners to fake foreigners to wealthy locals, to humans to dogs, and then to the chain of contempt among the common people.
How can it not make people heart-wrenching, speechless, and extremely angry?
It’s so bad that a coward like me, who was raised in eighteen years of peace, can’t bear it. It’s so bad that someone like me, who is worried about breaking the law even when browsing the wall and the Internet, has no choice but to kill people.
In such a rotten place, what reason do we have for not succeeding? !
