What determines a person's fate? Is it wisdom? Is it the body? Is it fate? Or is it something else
Since ancient times, countless people have explored this question, hoping to understand the true meaning of life's ups and downs. In the end, people all put all the answers in the same place, that is: personality.
Character determines destiny, this is true. One rice breeds a hundred kinds of people, Zheng Jingzhe and Zheng Yubai, father and son, have completely different personalities, one is flamboyant and rude with a cunning old-fashioned sly, the other is simple and dull but has huge explosive power.
A variety of personalities can coexist in one person, and the person who knows least about his or her own personality is often the person himself or herself. It is easy to see through others, but it is the most difficult to see through yourself. Zheng Yubai may not be able to see through his own inner thoughts, but he can understand Huang Shiyu across from him.
Why did Huang Shiyu give up his advantage and choose to fight against Ma Zonglu, paying a huge price to win a tragic victory? This question has been lingering in Zheng Yubai's mind, and the final conclusion is that Huang Shiyu's character hides a kind of paranoia that even he himself can hardly detect.
Paranoia is sometimes a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which usually manifests itself in people being unable to restrain themselves from doing certain unreasonable things.
Facing a martial artist like Huang Shiyu who has terrifying fighting power, just knowing this does not seem to be enough to defeat the enemy. In the eyes of ordinary people, obsessive-compulsive disorder may be a very scary disease, but the patients themselves do not think so. Sometimes, obsessive-compulsive disorder can even give people tremendous mental strength.
Huang Shiyu was like a machine wound up with springs. His legs kicked out non-stop, and every kick was aimed at Zheng Yubai's vital points. In the last match against Ma Zonglu, he told himself that he must use a stronger strike force to knock down his opponent. In this match, a voice in his heart was shouting loudly: "Faster! Faster!"
At the urging of the voice, Huang Shiyu kicked faster and faster, almost to the limit of what the human body can bear. Every kick required a huge amount of physical strength, which was definitely not something that ordinary people could bear. Although Huang Shiyu's forehead was covered with sweat, he seemed to not feel tired, and continued to kick hard, forcing Zheng Yubai step by step to the edge of the ring.
"If you keep going like this, he will definitely kick you off the ring." Zheng Yubai didn't have any chance to resist, because Huang Shiyu's feet were too fast, and with every kick, the surging force blocked Zheng Yubai's left and right, making it impossible for him to dodge to the side.
"How can there be such a strong kicking technique?" Everyone in the judges' seats and the audience who had a basic knowledge of martial arts was dumbfounded. It would be extremely difficult to maintain such a violent attack for even a minute, but Huang Shiyu kept attacking without any pause. Is he a superman
There was indeed a person who could be called a "superman" on the ring, but it was not Huang Shiyu. Zheng Yubai was suppressed to the point of being unable to breathe, and his back had already leaned against the ropes at the edge of the ring, but Huang Shiyu was still merciless, kicking him to death. I was afraid that in another ten seconds, the match would end with Zheng Yubai losing.
The light in his pupils flashed, and in a flash, time stopped again in Zheng Yubai's world, and everything was as slow as water dripping through stone. In his eyes, Huang Shiyu's foot slowly drew a graceful and efficient arc, sweeping over with powerful force. This kick would decide the outcome of the battle.
"This is..." Zheng Yubai saw Huang Shiyu's body opposite him was vague and very blurry. The blurry figure was wrapped in a yellow luster, and the yellow halo was getting dimmer and dimmer, approaching the edge of exhaustion.
"Shua!" Huang Shiyu's foot passed in front of Zheng Yubai's nose. The unparalleled force made Zheng Yubai's hair fly up. His nose was under pressure, and the capillaries in his nostrils burst, and blood immediately gushed out. This force alone could hurt people, it was really amazing.
All the audience at the scene and in front of the TV saw this scene and couldn't help but scream in unison. Zheng Yubai's body leaned back slightly, forming a flat U-shape. With the use of the Iron Bridge Kung Fu, he avoided the fate of being kicked off the ring by Huang Shiyu. However, with Huang Shiyu's speed, if he kicked again, Zheng Yubai, who didn't have time to change his position, would be defeated.
Huang Shiyu's kick missed, and he quickly retracted his foot, ready to launch the next kick. However, Zheng Yubai's body was still lying on its back, with no possibility of counterattack or avoidance.
This thrilling moment touched everyone's heart. Those who supported Huang Shiyu cheered in unison, while those who liked Zheng Yubai were worried, hoping that he would stand up immediately to resist Huang Shiyu's next attack.
He retracted his foot, and Huang Shiyu's next kick would follow immediately at the usual speed. He supported his body with his left foot and swung his right foot.
The wind was whirring, carrying the power of thunder. Under the gaze of everyone, Huang Shiyu's feet suddenly stopped, less than 20 centimeters away from Zheng Yubai's chest.
"What happened?" Everyone was stunned.
Only Zheng Jingzhe's eyes flashed with a sly light: "Hey, this kid really dared to take a risk. He actually won the bet."
In fact, it was not a bet. Zheng Yubai saw that Huang Shiyu's energy had been exhausted due to the continuous attacks. At this moment, the yellow halo surrounding the edge of Huang Shiyu's body had completely disappeared, leaving only a dim figure.
Huang Shiyu's feet stayed in the air, his left leg trembling constantly. His physical strength had actually been exhausted long ago, and all the muscles in his body were trembling with pain. The circle of yellow light was the mental power that supported him to launch continuous attacks. Now that his mental power was exhausted, he finally couldn't bear this huge consumption, and he kicked out, and then solidified.
Zheng Yubai slowly straightened up. Huang Shiyu was still conscious and watched Zheng Yubai carefully move around his legs that were suspended in the air.
Zheng Yubai came to Huang Shiyu's side, and in full view of everyone, he gently pushed him. Huang Shiyu fell down and fell hard on the ring, unable to get up again.
"What on earth is going on?" Fifty million viewers were genuinely surprised. How come the violent attack stopped at the most critical moment and was defeated so easily by Zheng Yubai
The referee looked over at Huang Shiyu and confirmed that he no longer had the ability to continue fighting, so he waved his hand and announced that Zheng Yubai had won.
There was an uproar in the audience, and the audience who didn't know what was going on booed. Zheng Yubai's victory in two consecutive games was very strange, and it was confusing. Those who couldn't figure out the key were left in the dark.
Yang Huting nodded slightly, praising Zheng Yubai in his heart for his accurate prediction. He knew that Huang Shiyu's crazy attack could not last too long, and he would wait until Huang Shiyu was exhausted and win easily.
Sun Yunqing's face was extremely ugly. He thought that with Huang Shiyu's strong strength, even if he couldn't defeat Zheng Yubai, he could still cause him a lot of trouble. In the final, Sun Haitong would naturally take advantage.
But no one expected that Huang Shiyu would be so vulnerable. Although Zheng Yubai was forced into a very embarrassing situation, he did not suffer any real harm, which made Sun Yunqing's plan fail.
Zheng Yubai let out a long sigh. Huang Shiyu was indeed a very formidable opponent. Unfortunately, judging from the state of his four pupils, the blows Huang Shiyu had suffered in the previous match with Ma Zonglu, although not reflected on the surface, had actually been damaged internally. That was why his physical and mental strength were consumed so quickly during the high-intensity attack just now.
"Ma Zonglu, thank you so much..." Zheng Yubai thought, otherwise, he would not have won so easily.
After Zheng Yubai's match ended, the staff cleaned the ring and the next match between Sun Haitong and Du Tao was about to begin.
"Master Yang, I didn't expect that our disciples would run into each other. Please ask Du Tao to show mercy." Sun Yunqing said to Yang Huting with a wry smile.
Du Tao was originally a disciple of Yang Tianrui, but Yang Tianrui died early, so the burden of passing on martial arts fell on Yang Huting. In name, Du Tao and Yang Feiyun are both grandchildren of Yang Huting, but in fact, all their kung fu was learned from Yang Huting's personal teaching, so Sun Yunqing is called this.
However, Sun Yunqing's words actually have a hidden meaning. His seniority in the martial arts world is lower than Yang Huting's, so he is actually taking advantage of Yang Huting. The success of this martial arts conference was beyond Sun Yunqing's expectations. After the new year, the Wushu Association will elect a new president. If Sun Yunqing wants to be elected, he will need to compete with Yang Huting, Luo Hengyang and others. In his mind, Yang Huting, who has a high seniority and a noble position, and whose reputation is growing because of his grandson's hosting of the martial arts conference, is the first enemy to be attacked.
If Sun Haitong can defeat Du Tao in this match and win the championship of the Wulin Conference, he will naturally win a favorable position in the election as the head of Sun Yunqing Xingyiquan. Therefore, Sun Yunqing is very concerned about this match.
Yang Huting knew what Sun Yunqing was thinking, so he did not expose Sun Yunqing's attempt to show off his seniority. He just smiled and said, "Young people should compete with each other, and stop when the time is right."
The two of them stared at the ring together. Zheng Yubai, who had just won, didn't even bother to rest, and hurried to the box to watch the game with everyone else.
Du Tao was the first to appear. He defeated many opponents along the way to enter the semi-finals. He is also the senior of Yang Feiyun, the organizer of the event, and he is highly favored to win the championship. Although his opponent is Sun Haitong, who is known as the best master of this martial arts conference, many people still believe that he can successfully enter the finals and aim for the championship.
Compared with Du Tao, Sun Haitong is undoubtedly more famous. He won the National Children's Wushu Championship at the age of six, and since then, he has always won the championship in any competition he participates in. At the young age of 22, he became the top master of the younger generation of Xingyiquan, and has made a name for himself in the martial arts world.
Du Tao's Tai Chi is the pinnacle of Chinese internal martial arts, a top-notch boxing style that is soft yet hard, using softness to overcome hardness; although Sun Haitong's Xingyiquan is also internal martial arts, it takes a tough and aggressive approach; the two men's boxing styles are one soft and one hard, one uses stillness to control movement, the other strives to be the first everywhere, just like the collision of water and fire. Before the game even started, they had already attracted the attention of all the audience.
"The game starts now!" The host's voice resounded throughout the venue, announcing the start of the second semi-final.
Sun Haitong is worthy of being a disciple of Xingyiquan. As soon as the match started, he immediately stepped forward and punched Du Tao directly in the face.
Du Tao was smiling. Practicing Tai Chi is very important for nourishing the Qi. Even in a fierce competition, he seemed to be strolling leisurely. Seeing Sun Haitong's fist coming, Du Tao bent his knees and lowered his body. He aimed at Sun Haitong's fist with both hands and gently lifted it up. This move has a name, called "supporting arm style". With one hand, he held Sun Haitong's elbow to prevent him from exerting force, and with the other hand, he grabbed Sun Haitong with a backhand.
Sun Haitong was shocked, and then he realized how powerful Du Tao was. He tried to pull his hand back, but he only felt a soft force, as if the force he had sent out had been sent into a pile of cotton. Seeing that he couldn't pull it, he simply took a step forward and exerted his strength.
It is generally acknowledged that Xingyiquan's power generation skills are unrivaled in the world. However, Sun Haitong's power generation was empty and there was no place to exert force.
Sun Haitong's power was sent to him in an endless stream, but Du Tao didn't care at all. He stood firmly, twisted his waist slightly, and shook his whole body. The power sent by Sun Haitong was completely transformed into the force of pulling forward by Du Tao. He used this skill of using the opponent's force to defeat the opponent with a little force to perfection. Even though Sun Haitong's footsteps were stable, he was still pulled out by this great force and fell to the edge of the ring.
"Good!" The whole audience erupted in earth-shaking applause. The two men fought each other, one with great moves and the other with delicate and meticulous moves. It was a brilliant fight and very enjoyable to watch, which immediately livened up the atmosphere on the field.
Sun Haitong got up quickly after the fall. He shook his head and seemed fine. Zheng Yubai frowned as he watched the lightning-fast scene on the ring. Tai Chi is indeed very powerful, otherwise it would not be regarded as the representative of Chinese martial arts. But Tai Chi also has a weakness, which is that it is too soft.
Although Tai Chi is a martial art that uses softness to overcome hardness and uses the opponent's force to counterattack, it is very suitable for ordinary people to learn and exercise, but if it is used in real life, Tai Chi's weaknesses will be revealed. That is, the kung fu displayed by Du Tao lacks the heavy techniques that can make people lose their fighting power. In a fight, if there is no heavy technique, it means that you cannot knock down the opponent, which is completely different from Xingyiquan.
In fact, this cannot be blamed on Du Tao. Today we live in a society ruled by law. It is not like the ancient knights who could "kill one person every ten steps and leave no trace in a thousand miles". There are many concerns when teaching kung fu. If the apprentices are well-behaved, it is fine. But if they really teach a fierce and aggressive apprentice who uses the heavy techniques they have learned to hurt others, then the teacher cannot escape blame.
Tai Chi is gentle in nature, and for various reasons, Du Tao has never learned any decent heavy techniques. It would be relatively easy for him to defeat his enemies in ordinary martial arts competitions, but once he encounters an equally powerful opponent in a real fight, this weakness will immediately become apparent.
Unlike Tai Chi, Xingyiquan relies on hard hitting and hard attacking. A skilled Xingyiquan practitioner can often knock someone away with one punch. This kind of explosive power is more than enough to kill someone, not to mention injuring someone. Although Du Tao used Sun Haitong's impact to throw him out, Sun Haitong seemed to be unaffected. One or two moves would be fine, but if he could not weaken Sun Haitong's fighting power, Du Tao would definitely suffer.
Just as Zheng Yubai expected, after the two sides fought again, Sun Haitong seemed to let go and was not afraid of Du Tao's leverage. The Xingyiquan he displayed was whirring with the wind, wave after wave like the waves of the sea, exerting fierce pressure on Du Tao.
Du Tao was very calm at first. He used the clever techniques of listening to the strength of the opponent and unloading the force to resolve Sun Haitong's attacks one by one. However, his counterattacks were weak and he was unable to repel Sun Haitong at all. Gradually, he fell into a disadvantage.
The judges were mixed with worry and joy. Sun Yunqing saw that the winner was already decided, and he was secretly happy. Yang Huting also saw that the situation was not favorable, and his face was serious. After this competition, he realized that the previous teaching method might have many flaws. If Tai Chi is practiced and passed down in such a weak way, it will be ruined within three generations.
The two of them had their own thoughts, and the winner had already been decided on the field. Du Tao, who had been defending impeccably, finally showed a flaw and was hit in the chest by Sun Haitong's thunderous punch. He felt a sweetness in his throat, spurted out a mouthful of blood, and flew backwards, hitting the ropes and falling off the ring.
In the whole match, Sun Haitong only hit this one punch and ended the fight, which shows the power of Xingyiquan. Although Du Tao was always at ease, he had obvious shortcomings in his boxing and could not form a fatal fighting force. It was a pity that he lost this dragon-tiger fight.
Laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the tricks. Although I didn't see the tricks, this fight was quite exciting, one was attacking and the other was defending, and suddenly one of them was knocked down in the back and forth, the audience was very satisfied and applauded.
"How could Senior Brother Du lose?" Yang Feiyan pouted, obviously quite dissatisfied with the result of the game.
Zheng Yubai told Yang Feiyan what he had just thought. The girl pondered for a while, nodded and said, "Brother Yubai, what you said makes sense. I will go tell grandpa right away." After that, she skipped off to find Yang Huting.
"Yubai, what do you think of Sun Haitong?" Zheng Jingzhe walked to Zheng Yubai and said.
Zheng Yubai hesitated for a moment and said, "It's 50-50 between us."
Zheng Jingzhe nodded: "You and he are not much different in strength. It doesn't matter who wins or loses in the finals. Everything depends on the situation. But I won't let you lose to the guy named Sun."
“Dad, this…” Zheng Yubai was not without confidence, but after hearing what Zheng Jingzhe said, he felt very pressured.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm talking about. Tonight, I will teach you the remaining two moves." Zheng Jingzhe said.
"The remaining two moves?" Zheng Yubai's eyes immediately lit up.
Zheng Jingzhe nodded heavily: "There is still one week until the finals. Whether you can learn and comprehend your own things depends on your luck."
Zheng Yubai was excited, even a hundred times happier than when he defeated Huang Shiyu. There were three unique moves in Zheng Jingzhe's Xingyiquan, which he never showed to others easily. He only demonstrated them to Zheng Yubai once when he was drunk and confused. Since then, Zheng Yubai has always remembered them and wanted to learn from his father. But Zheng Jingzhe only taught him one move, Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound, which was used to guide kung fu and achieve the inner realm. The other two moves, Dragon Bone Search and Snake Shape, were not taught.
Zheng Yubai always salivated when he thought of his father's two secret skills, but since he went to college, he had less time to go home, so he had no chance to learn kung fu. Now his father suddenly said he wanted to teach him, which was the fulfillment of his wish for many years, and of course he was extremely excited.
It was late at night and the world was quiet. The noise and restlessness of the day had disappeared without a trace, and there was only the sound of the father and son's footsteps walking on the snow.
The sky above was dotted with a few cold stars. It had been snowing heavily in the past few days, and the area under the bridge was covered in white. It made a creaking sound when one stepped on it.
"Have you calmed down?" The two walked to a hidden place under the bridge. It was already twelve o'clock in the middle of the night. Although there were still many lights shining in the city of Jinghai, there was no one in sight nearby.
Zheng Yubai nodded. The most taboo thing when learning martial arts is to be distracted and impatient. The fight in the daytime was over. Zheng Yubai put away the joy of victory and all kinds of complicated thoughts. Now his mind is as clean as the snow. This state is most suitable for learning martial arts.
"Just watch carefully, I'll demonstrate it to you first." Zheng Jingzhe said.
Zheng Yubai concentrated his mind and gathered his energy, and before he knew it, the four pupils in his eyes appeared.
Zheng Jingzhe's upper body was slightly bent, and he leaned forward. His left leg took a small step forward, and his right leg was behind him, making a slight bend. His left hand reached forward and swung back and forth near his left knee, while his right hand was behind his back. At first glance, he looked like a hunchbacked old man.
Although it looked very strange, Zheng Yubai did not dare to be disrespectful, because he knew that his father was now performing the exquisite martial arts passed down by Liu Qilan, a master of Xingyiquan. This set of dragon-shaped bone search was the most mysterious body movement in Xingyiquan, with unpredictable power.
At this moment, this set of body skills was used on Zheng Jingzhe. His whole body seemed to turn into a dragon. While he was moving, his feet did not leave the ground, but he could burst out with extremely strong speed. When the body skills were used to the extreme, Zheng Jingzhe was like a black shadow, disappearing in an instant on the snow, like a line. Ordinary people could not catch up with that speed with the naked eye.
"What an amazing movement." Zheng Yubai exclaimed.
"Boy, look at me carefully. This move is the Snake Shape!" The dragon-shaped bone-searching movement has not been completed yet, and Zheng Jingzhe, who was moving rapidly, swung his hands. He was a flying dragon just now, but in an instant his body became soft like a boneless snake.
There is a line in the rhyme of Xingyiquan praising the snake form: "The snake is delicate and can move the grass lightly, and can bend and stretch as it pleases. It moves left and right by hitting, and the horizontal force comes from the pit." Zheng Jingzhe's every move is in line with the rhyme. His seemingly light and soft moves are actually very evasive, just like a poisonous snake biting a person. The so-called casual snake form is not so much a trick as a realm of boxing. That is to say, if you practice the snake form to the point where it becomes natural and the body moves at will, you can make thousands of different changes according to the occasion.
Zheng Jingzhe was practicing with great enthusiasm. With his dragon-shaped bone-searching movements and casual snake-like moves, Zheng Yubai faintly heard a buzzing sound. He also knew this move, which was the Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound among the three unique moves.
Zheng Jingzhe used three unique moves at the same time, which complemented each other. Xingyiquan is an internal martial art after all. No matter how fast the body movements are or how refined the boxing skills are, the most important thing is the internal strength, spirit, and energy. Only by following the thunder sound and walking out of the transcendent state, and training the body to be able to make thunder sounds, can the internal strength be improved by leaps and bounds.
Zheng Yubai watched his father's practice in ecstasy, and his body could not help but move along with him. His four pupils unconsciously activated, greedily storing everything in front of him and digesting it as his own practice. (To be continued)