Chapter 28: A Yue Misleads Me
The next day at dawn, Chen Wujun woke up.
Ever since he started practicing martial arts, he only slept about five hours a day and could still stay full of energy, without feeling the slightest bit tired.
He sat up and felt around beside him, touching something soft and greasy.
A Yue was still in deep sleep, with a few strands of hair falling on her front, stuck to her body by last night’s sweat.
Chen Wujun first went to relieve himself, washed up, walked to the window and took a look, saw that the rain had stopped, then put on his clothes and went to the rooftop.
Although the rain had stopped by now, the rooftop was full of water stains.
Chen Wujun first stood in stance for half an hour, then practiced Wolf Fist twice.
Although it wasn’t like practicing on the guard wall at the edge of life and death, where every practice brought a sense of progress, he was already used to it.
Besides, if you don’t practice kung fu for a day, your hands and feet get slow; no matter how big the matter, you have to practice every day.
The only issue was that he felt a bit more tired than usual, with less energy than before.
Thinking about how the two of them had gone at it three times last night, Chen Wujun thought to himself:
“As expected, lust is a knife above the head; beauty harms the body.”
“A Yue misled me!”
By the time Chen Wujun returned to the place at six o’clock, A Yue had already woken up and wanted to find something to eat, but discovered there was nothing edible here.
Not even instant noodles.
Chen Wujun hadn’t cooked once since moving here.
“Pack up and go downstairs to eat.” Chen Wujun said.
Moments later, the two went downstairs and found a rice noodle roll shop, where Chen Wujun ate three portions by himself.
Just as they were settling the bill to leave, with Chen Wujun’s foot stepping out, he pulled it back and used the door to block himself.
He saw his dad, Chen Hanliang.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I saw an acquaintance but don’t want to run into him.” After waiting for his dad to leave, Chen Wujun told A Yue to go back by herself.
He himself went back to the martial arts school to practice kung fu, first holding the crystal under his tongue, then standing in Old Bear Hugs Tree.
Ten minutes later, he felt his hips open up, a stream of heat flowing down his legs, and at the same time, the heat flowed upward, making his waist and back warm.
His whole body felt spirited and refreshed.
The previous bit of fatigue vanished without a trace.
“This Old Bear Hugs Tree is stance training for strengthening the foundation and consolidating essence; I must persist with it every day from now on.”
Then he went to the wooden stakes and saw that the hemp rope on them was already tattered and could break at any time, so he untied the hemp rope and wrapped a new one on.
Moments later, the martial arts school echoed with “Bang! Bang!” striking sounds.
Chen Wujun’s fists, elbows, knees, calves, and insteps kept landing on the wooden stake, with great force and extreme ferocity.
Every hit sent some hemp rope debris flying.
At noon, Chen Wujun asked: “Senior Brother, I want to learn some weapons!”
“Learn saber and shield.”
Short spear is hard to carry; saber and shield only require carrying a dagger.
Shields are everywhere; you can grab a wooden plank or stool to use as a shield.
“Got into trouble?” Senior Brother Li asked: “You’re with Senior Sister Sha Jiu now, right?”
“Yes, Senior Brother, you know?”
“The Walled City is only so big, and I’m not blind or deaf!” Senior Brother Li smiled.
“Now that you have a foundation in fists and feet, learning saber and shield is good too; in the Walled City environment, with a shield to block, no one can break through. Plus, Wolf Fist evolved from saber and shield, so it’s the fastest to learn!”
“Let’s go to the warehouse. There are weapons there!” Senior Brother Li stood up and said to Chen Wujun.
Moments later, the two arrived at the warehouse outside the Walled City. When they opened it, it was clean inside, as if someone had tidied it up.
“Senior Brother, someone cleans here?”
“Of course.” Senior Brother Li walked to one side and turned on the light. After Chen Wujun closed the gate, he went to the weapon rack, picked up a single saber and a rattan shield, and while walking, tapped the shield with the saber blade, making clanging sounds.
“Saber and shield also have twenty-four forms; I’ll demonstrate them for you first.”
“Apprentice Ceremony Stance… starting form… Horse Stance… Pounding Horse Stance… Immortal Points the Way… Gong Da Ding…”
Senior Brother Li demonstrated each form one by one; the form names were exactly the same as the boxing method, but it almost completely abandoned elbow and knee techniques.
After the demonstration, Senior Brother Li said:
“Shield and saber are integrated for attack and defense; the shield is your foundation, the saber is your killing tool.”
“But remember, the shield isn’t for hard blocking; it’s for deflecting and parrying, using changes in the shield’s angle to deflect the enemy’s chopping force and create openings!”
“In other words, the shield is the start of offense!”
“Besides deflecting and parrying, the shield also has bashing and smashing…”
Chen Wujun pondered thoughtfully; during Senior Brother Li’s demonstration earlier, he had noticed this point.
The shield is the root of defense and also a weapon.
Then Chen Wujun took the saber and shield and practiced slowly.
Senior Brother Li corrected his movements while constantly saying:
“Wolf Fist has a low center of gravity and short stature, for close-range attacks and dodging high strikes.”
“It’s the same with saber and shield: low stance holding shield, sink the center of gravity, so the shield face covers the body better, and the lower body is stable, not easily knocked over.”
Actually, Senior Brother Li wasn’t a great teacher; when teaching Chen Wujun, he just dumped everything on him at once.
But Chen Wujun didn’t feel anything wrong with it at all and could remember it all.
Although he wasn’t good at studying, his memory was excellent in this area; after two practices, he wouldn’t make mistakes again.
Besides, the root of Wolf Fist is saber and shield.
As long as he shifted his mindset, he could understand immediately.
“Got it: fist is saber, elbow is saber, knee is saber too!”
“Shield is just the previous pushing, pulling, and blocking…”
“Wolf Fist is fierce; saber and shield are the same, but move with the shield as center! Shield protects and conceals; saber hides behind the shield!” Chen Wujun held the shield in front of him and said thoughtfully.
“Your comprehension is good! You grasped the key points so quickly.” Senior Brother Li nodded slightly, but felt a bit bored inside.
Moving the body with the shield as center is the key point, yes, but it’s not anything profound; many people can think of it.
Hiding the saber behind the shield is the same.
This is the basic core of all saber and shield techniques.
Understanding these isn’t hard.
What’s hard is that Chen Wujun, after two practices, not only understood with his mind, but his body did too.
Wolf Fist is ferocious, with all movements for offense, so practitioners get used to quickly closing distance and fighting cautiously, thus when first practicing saber and shield, they’re somewhat unaccustomed.
Yet when Chen Wujun thought of it, his body coordinated extremely well to do it, as if he’d practiced saber and shield for a long time.
All the corrections Senior Brother Li had prepared beforehand were useless.
He didn’t even want to recall how many times he’d been scolded back then.
Chen Wujun practiced a few more times, his movements getting faster and faster; in motion, the shield almost covered most of his body, with the saber occasionally flashing out from behind suddenly, sharp and ruthless.
Senior Brother Li watched for a moment, picked up a White Wax Rod from the side, and said to Chen Wujun: “Defend!”
With that, the White Wax Rod in his hand instantly reached Chen Wujun’s front.
Thud!
Chen Wujun barely blocked the White Wax Rod with the shield’s edge; the rod slid and viciously aimed at his head.
Chen Wujun quickly raised the shield up; the White Wax Rod “whoosh” went by, almost grazing his hair.
“Don’t hard block; deflect, divert the opponent’s force to the side, draw out their flaw!” Senior Brother Li said in a low voice, turning the White Wax Rod sinisterly toward Chen Wujun’s exposed right ankle.
Chen Wujun had no thought of retreating; he half-turned his body, and the shield knocked downward.
Smack!
The shield’s edge hit the White Wax Rod’s edge; the rod directly poked the ground, exploding a chunk of cement.
“Senior Brother, that strike carried a bit of personal grudge!” Chen Wujun’s heart jumped; if it had hit, he’d probably not walk for a month.
“I can pull back; can others?” Senior Brother Li said directly.
“Be careful!”
Then the White Wax Rod in his hand struck like a venomous snake darting from its hole, continuously poking at spots around Chen Wujun.
Chen Wujun rallied his spirits, constantly raising the shield to block.
Seizing an opportunity, he deflected the White Wax Rod; with a kick of his foot, he lunged out fiercely, the saber flashing from behind the shield straight at Senior Brother Li’s head.
But as Chen Wujun burst out, Senior Brother Li dodged to the side, poking his stick at Chen Wujun’s exposed flaw, hitting his waist directly.
Half of Chen Wujun’s body went numb; he stood there for a good while before gasping in pain.
“Hiss—!”
“That deflection just now was interesting, but too impulsive; your mind full of chopping me, whole body full of flaws. Only when your offense is also watertight defense-wise do you count as having mastered it.”
Senior Brother Li tossed the White Wax Rod aside.
He felt completely refreshed.
The sky was bluer, the air fresher.
……
After returning, Chen Wujun applied ointment and kept pondering the strike Senior Brother Li had poked into him today, occasionally making saber and shield movements in the room.
The pain in his waist constantly reminded him.
He still felt Senior Brother Li definitely held a grudge.
Before sleeping, Chen Wujun took out a notebook from under his pillow; the front was full of insights from reading Police News, only over 20 pages but packed with tiny writing.
He opened the back, also filled with dense writing.
He wrote: November 9th, poked in the waist by Senior Brother Li’s stick.
Above it: November 8th, Wen Long brought people to cause me trouble…
November 7th, that Brother Hua under Li Dong owes me 5600 bucks.
……
August 15th, Bing Ye put out word offering 10,000 reward to catch the killer.
……
August 14th, flipped by Senior Brother Li twice.
August 13th, flipped by Senior Brother Li three times.
August 12th, ……
August 7th, Hao Ge came to collect debt. （crossed out）
……
It wasn’t until the next day after finishing Old Bear Hugs Tree that the pain in Chen Wujun’s waist eased.
