Kui Star Kicks the Dipper

"The Kingdom of Goryeo?"

This took Chen Ying by surprise. What did he mean, half of the six hall masters had to keep things under control in the Kingdom of Goryeo?

"The White Lotus Sect has been expanding overseas for a long time. It has considerable influence in the Kingdom of Goryeo now, but many people there refuse to submit, fighting it openly and in secret. To maintain its influence, the six hall masters take turns keeping things under control there. This isn't any secret."

He had never imagined the White Lotus Sect's operations were so extensive that even a favor from its sect leader could end up going unpaid.

The night passed without incident. The next morning, Wu Jie was preparing breakfast while Chen Ying read the freshly published morning paper. It was reportedly among the three highest-circulation newspapers in Hong Kong and Kowloon. Though its owner wrote mediocre editorials, his novels were excellent.

Today's front-page headline was, unmistakably, "Mysterious fatal fall at Tongwen Academy; student missing, parents left with nowhere to turn." Below it was a photograph of police tape stretched across the academy entrance, with several officers standing guard.

"News travels fast. I wonder whether the reporters were quick on their feet or someone came prepared."

Chen Ying skimmed the morning paper. Besides its extensive coverage of the fatal fall at Tongwen Academy, it also highlighted the deceased's triad background and the sharp decline in the academy's teaching standards.

"...Tongwen Academy achieved a pass rate of only 41% in the government's academic proficiency assessment, not only falling below all foreign schools, but also failing to rank among the leading Chinese schools..."

"...The deceased was reportedly a member of a triad. According to sources familiar with the matter, the police have long been monitoring triad infiltration within Tongwen Academy..."

"They really mean to drag Tongwen's name through the mud."

Chen Ying closed the newspaper and picked up the milk beside him.

"Just as well. I won't have to go to school. I'll go straight to Mr. Wen."

The incident had happened last night, yet the newspaper had already produced a full page of coverage. Besides a keen nose for news, another possibility was that someone had come prepared.

"I think there's something behind this."

"What?"

Wu Jie leaned over to look at the newspaper.

"It's no secret that the Zou family wants to get rid of this hot potato. But for it to become the talk of the town overnight and even make the morning paper's headline, it looks like someone saw through their maneuvering and is going after them."

Chen Ying closed the newspaper and thought for a moment.

"Maybe someone set up what happened last night too. What businesses does the Zou family mainly run?"

"The Zou family? Mainly property, ready-made clothing, pawnshops, things like that. These big families in Hong Kong and Kowloon have their fingers in every pie."

"I see."

Doing everything meant their enemies could come from many directions.

"Do you have any ideas, husband?"

"No. I just want to see Wen Ruzhi as soon as possible."

They ate, then went downstairs.

Uncle Qing started the car.

Chen Ying arrived at the medicinal shop where Wen Ruzhi lived.

"Young Master Ying, I don't recall today being a training day. What brings you here?"

Wen Ruzhi seemed to be in a good mood today.

"I had some new encounters last night, so I came specifically to report them to you..."

Chen Ying gave him a rough account of last night's events, placing particular emphasis on his grasp of Coiling Python Force.

"Words won't tell me your skill. Let's cross hands."

Wen Ruzhi raised an eyebrow. The open space just outside his study happened to be the training area, so he pulled Chen Ying straight into a sparring session.

"Show me everything you've got. Let's see how accomplished your Coiling Python Force really is."

Chen Ying wasted no words with Wen Ruzhi. He assumed a fighting stance and attacked.

Chopping, crushing, piercing, blocking, cutting... He used every technique he could. More importantly, the hidden strength rising from his Dazhui point coursed through both arms. Together with Chen Ying's footwork, it made him resemble a roaming dragon.

Yet even as this roaming dragon, no matter how Chen Ying schemed or exerted himself, his fists and palms remained exactly three inches from Wen Ruzhi, without the slightest deviation.

Chen Ying pressed forward with more than thirty successive moves, all of which Wen Ruzhi evaded at a leisurely walking pace.

At the end, Wen Ruzhi touched a finger of his right hand to Chen Ying's wrist, brushed it lightly, and sent him flying.

"Feet tread the eight gates to lock down tigers and leopards; dragons and snakes lurk within the Twelve-Storey Tower. Well done, lad. You've really mastered the exquisite hidden strength of Eight Trigram Palm. Keep refining it, and that underlying ailment of yours will never be a problem."

Wen Ruzhi nodded in satisfaction.

"Your skill is the real thing, sir. No matter how I attacked, my fists and palms always stayed three inches away. I couldn't even touch your shadow."

"Just a few little tricks. In the future, when you seek out renowned masters and train your boxing until hardness and softness work together, you'll be able to glimpse the mysteries of both No Thought, No Mind and Hundred Changes of Military Strategy. Whether you can master them will depend on your fortune."

"No Thought, No Mind? Hundred Changes of Military Strategy?"

"No Thought, No Mind borrows its name from Buddhist Chan teachings. Buddhism has the attainment of non-perception. Once your boxing reaches this realm, attacks and evasions need not pass through conscious thought. Mind and form become one. For ordinary people, thought arises and form follows. For me, thought and form move together. How can a fist whose form follows thought strike a body whose thought and action move together?"

"As for Hundred Changes of Military Strategy, that comes from the military strategists. Boxing is like military strategy, and fighting is like commanding troops on a battlefield: anticipate the enemy, lay clever ambushes, advance like fire, remain immovable as a mountain, and be as unfathomable as darkness."

"They foresee little; I foresee much. I see every variation in their boxing, while the subtleties of my own variations remain beyond their perception. In that case, how could they contend with me?"

Chen Ying was deeply shaken by these words. He had never imagined boxing contained so many mysteries.

"Might you teach me the mysteries of these two arts, sir?"

"Haha, you're a clever lad. These days, anyone in the martial world who can glimpse even one of these two is already a martial arts grandmaster, yet you want to learn both? If I actually taught them to you, the sect would come to deal with me."

Wen Ruzhi shook his head. "Our White Lotus Sect also has rules against imparting its arts lightly."

"Actually, I came today because I need your help. I've already encountered the supernatural three times these past few months. I've come to ask you to teach me a way to use martial arts to do something against these evil entities."

Wen Ruzhi's brow furrowed tightly at this. He considered for a moment.

"Practicing martial arts strengthens your blood and qi. Once your skill is profound and your blood and qi flourish, no ghost, god, or evil entity can restrain you. Last night, that red opera costume couldn't trap you and instead let you escape because you have a strand of pure baleful qi within you, together with vigorous blood and qi. That was why it couldn't hold you."

"As for the Ren Gang you mentioned, though he had attained Bright Strength, he indulged in drink and women during his time in the martial world, which inevitably depleted his blood and qi. Moreover, his Hung Fist wasn't up to scratch. Naturally, that demon ghost found an opening."

"If you only want to protect yourself, diligent martial arts practice will suffice. But to fight evil entities at your current level would involve certain special techniques. Even if I wanted to teach you, I'd fear the sect's merciless rules in the future."

Wen Ruzhi thought for a moment.

"Very well. I'll teach you a move today, so you'll have a means of dealing with any evil entities you encounter. Besides, I acquired this technique during my early years in the martial world, and few in the sect have seen it. But if I'm to teach it to you, you must do two things for me."

"Two things?"

"Don't worry. They're both small matters."

Wen Ruzhi pointed toward the sky. "Have you heard of the Twenty-Eight Mansions?"

"The Twenty-Eight Mansions?"

"Our ancestors divided the heavens into twenty-eight regions, grouping them into four sets of seven: the Azure Dragon in the east, the White Tiger in the west, the Vermilion Bird in the south, and the Black Tortoise in the north."

"Among the White Tiger's seven mansions is the Kui Mansion. The Kui Mansion is heaven's armory, as well as the White Tiger's foot."

Kui Wood Wolf, I know him. That fellow was once the royal son-in-law in the Kingdom of Baoxiang, and Sun Wukong tricked him out of his relic.

"Later, because the Kui Mansion was also a highly auspicious star governing literary fortune, people combined it with the bowl of the Northern Dipper and called this auspicious omen Kui Star Kicks the Dipper."

"The move I'll teach you today is called Kui Star Kicks the Dipper. Once you've mastered it, your foot will carry baleful qi. With one kick, any evil entity will have to give you a wide berth."

Wen Ruzhi began explaining the subtleties of the move to Chen Ying in detail.

Kui Star Kicks the Dipper was both a kicking technique and an exquisite method of circulating blood and qi. Only someone accomplished in both Bright Strength and hidden strength could hope to use that strength to alter the circulation of blood and qi within the body.

The secret to altering that circulation lay in locating sixteen points within the body from which to exert force, arranged according to the stars of Kui. Not one of the sixteen could be omitted.

This modeled celestial phenomena within the human body, producing a current of baleful qi that a person could control.

Chen Ying had already mastered hidden strength, but even using Coiling Python Force to practice this move, he found it fraught with difficulty.

Every one of these sixteen points circulated blood and qi contrary to the body's natural workings and had to be forced into operation through hidden strength. Moreover, he had to maintain the kicking technique while using them.

It was like solving an extremely difficult mathematics problem while balancing a flowerpot on his head on a high wire, without any aids whatsoever. The slightest mistake meant total failure.

After half a day under Wen Ruzhi's instruction, Chen Ying had gained only a slight grasp of the techniques for circulating blood and qi. Actually executing the move was still far beyond him.

He kept practicing until the sun sank in the west and evening approached.

Even then, Chen Ying had only grasped a little of the subtleties of using hidden strength to drive the circulation of blood and qi.

"Ah, Mr. Wen, I'll have to take my time practicing this move."

"Reaching the threshold of driving blood and qi with hidden strength in a single day is already quite good."

Wen Ruzhi, however, was unexpectedly satisfied.

"Young Master Ying, let me give you a useful tip. It might help you grasp this move sooner."

"Sorry for the trouble, sir."

"Five words: 'Box as though divinity stands present.' Achieve what those words describe, and this kick will become easy."

"It's getting late. I shouldn't disturb you any longer, sir. I'll take my leave."

"Hold on."

Wen Ruzhi turned and went into his study to write a note.

"Didn't I say earlier that you had to do two things to learn this move from me? This is the first."

Chen Ying took the note and saw an address written on it.

"93 Rongyi Street?"

"Spend tonight sleeping there. That's the first thing I want you to do. Make absolutely sure you don't sleep too soundly."

"What sort of place is it?"

"Rongyi Street is a rundown alley, and this place is a dilapidated temple. This time you must go alone. You can't bring that little wife of yours."

"Just a rundown alley?"

"A haunted rundown alley, too. That's why I advise you not to sleep too soundly."

Wen Ruzhi smiled.