Punching Forms Like a Swimming Fish, Force Like Flowing Water

The man stood outside the window, watching the youth sitting cross-legged on the bed inside the thatched hut. It brought to mind some old matters from a thousand years ago.

A thousand years ago, an old thing from the Star Palace who was tired of living had pointed at his nose and cursed him, saying that if he kept acting so perversely, sooner or later every household and sect under heaven would join forces to hunt him down and suppress him.

When that time came, he, the greatest "fish" the mortal world had seen in the thousands of years since High Antiquity, would sooner or later find himself unable to turn over.

The old thing had even spent his final chance at reincarnation to divine his fate. At the end, he had pointed at him and laughed, saying that he would soon learn what it meant to be trapped in a plight worse than death. Then, like a boat-swallowing fish stranded on land, he would never turn over again!

He had even gone out of his way to look through some books, only then learning that there was an old saying-

"Pity the boat-swallowing fish: on land, it cannot withstand even ants. Cast out of the water, it can be eaten by them..."

And the result?

Heh, in the end, that old thing's words had actually come true.

So the man had always felt that the slap he had given the old man from the Star Palace back then had helped him break through the shackles of his original Great Dao.

After all, with the old man's original level of cultivation, he had been in no position to divine his fate.

And yet, the Great Dao was easiest to glimpse on the very edge between life and death.

That was why, for the past three years, the man had not wanted to see a certain little fellow, from the bottom of his heart.

He even suspected that someone had deliberately sent him to the grotto-heaven just to get under his skin.

But now, thanks to the youth's own efforts, he had seen him after all.

So.

The corner of the man's mouth twitched.

So you're the one called Yu Tunzhou, huh?

A distant rooster's crow pierced the morning mist.

Yu Tunzhou finished his Qi Ingestion practice.

Daylight had broken. It was already morning.

He opened his eyes. The figure outside the window had departed at some unknown time.

Yu Tunzhou breathed a sigh of relief. He got up and blew out the candle, thinking that with his current skills, catching the wild chickens on the back mountain should be as easy as reaching out and grabbing them.

Those creatures were always barging into the vegetable garden and ruining the vegetables. He might as well catch them and improve their meals.

Mm, he would give Junior Brother Li an extra chicken leg. Eating vegetables all the time made for an unbalanced diet.

Forget the fish, though.

Stepping out of the hut, Yu Tunzhou glanced at the spot by the window. There were no footprints on the ground, nor any sign that someone had lingered there.

Yu Tunzhou pondered for a moment and decided that he should return to his room earlier from now on.

It was still early, with the sky just beginning to brighten and not yet time to cook. The clear morning air of the mountains filled Yu Tunzhou's lungs, and he felt his body and mind grow clear and serene. It was the perfect time to practice his fists.

He had decided to put serious effort into his hand-to-hand skills, and for now, the best choice-or rather, the only choice-was Taijiquan.

When practiced slowly, Taijiquan was soft and yielding like water, but the force it unleashed in actual combat was primarily hard and fierce. Covering Hand and Forearm Punch and Deflect, Parry and Punch were particularly essential examples.

Take Covering Hand and Forearm Punch, also known as Taiji's First Punch: one gathered force slowly in practice and released it in a swift explosion, seeking a burst of inch force over a short distance. It shared a subtle kinship with Xingyiquan's Crushing Fist.

The key to this move was not brute strength, but the integration of sinews and bones and the spiraling release of force, with an emphasis on "twisting around the axis."

The left elbow pulled back, the right fist snapped forward, the waist and hips formed the axis, and the spine sprang and shuddered like a great pole.

Yu Tunzhou had known every word of that description before, but put together, he had not understood what it meant, much less how to do it.

But now things were different.

His feet took root, and he entered Meditative Concentration in an instant. Then he used his Primordial Spirit to sense the small space around him, focusing first on his own sinews, bones, and muscles.

It was as though he stood in the clouds, looking down and taking everything in. Every change in his body lay before his eyes. At last, body and mind became one, entering a state of perfect harmony.

Every inch of muscle in his body seemed able to respond to his thoughts.

Where his thoughts went, his body followed.

He stepped forward, his arm curved like a bow, and as his center of gravity shifted, the changes throughout his body registered in the perception of his Primordial Spirit.

Yu Tunzhou adjusted each shift in his center of gravity. His form was like a fish sinking into the depths; his shoulders and hips relaxed and settled, and his waist turned like an axle, driving the movement through his spine, joint by joint. The Inner Qi in his Dantian seemed to breathe, strength welling up with each inhalation and exhalation. As his waist and hips twisted, force traveled through his palm and fingers, neither hurried nor slow, flowing like water.

Before his fist had even come out, a faint, gentle yet weighty force had already emerged.

And at the final moment-

His spine snapped straight like a tempered great pole, the motion driving through it joint by joint. Force burst forth in successive waves. In the instant it erupted, he moved like a fish flicking its tail. His right fist tore through the air, whipping up a piercing whistle of wind.

The force erupted in an instant, and relaxed in an instant.

As soon as the punch was thrown, Yu Tunzhou recovered his center of gravity. He took another step, as though approaching an enemy. His movements met no obstruction, and the force he had unleashed returned like the tide to the sea, gathering entirely in his Dantian.

His steps were light as a swan's feather, landing soundlessly on the mountain ground. Like a fish's tail stirring the water, his left foot stepped lightly while his right pressed firmly down. His center of gravity shifted slowly, smooth and unimpeded.

His punching forms were like a fish swimming through water, his force like water flowing down a river.

They seemed slow, yet held not the slightest trace of hesitation. Their flow was so smooth that anyone watching could only find them a delight to the eye.

At the Daoist temple's gate, the old Daoist priest stroked his white beard with a smile.

To have such pleasing fistwork to watch so early in the morning really made him a little reluctant to leave this grotto-heaven.

"Don't you agree, Jingxuan?"

Li Jingxuan stood beside him, his brows tightly furrowed for some unknown reason.

Instead of answering the old Daoist priest, he found an open space and planted his feet as though they had taken root. His shoulders and hips relaxed and settled, his waist turned like an axle, and his force flowed like a fish swimming through the shallows...

After watching only once, he had actually reproduced nine-tenths of it.

But he seemed dissatisfied. He watched Yu Tunzhou's movements and fistwork again, clear Qi circulating in his eyes. When he practiced the set again, he had reached ninety-nine percent.

His fists did not stop moving. Dao charm actually arose of its own accord around him, and the principles of the Dao manifested themselves, as though he were about to carve out an entirely new Great Dao from nothing!

And in the next moment-

Li Jingxuan gave a muffled grunt. His fist movements came to an abrupt halt, and the Dao charm that had arisen scattered on the spot, collapsing halfway.

A rare look of surprise and doubt appeared on his face. When he looked at Yu Tunzhou again, his gaze had already changed.

Not only because he had failed, but also because of the Dao charm that had arisen when he had just tried to practice that set of fist techniques!

Beside him, the old Daoist priest clasped his hands behind his back and leaned forward, smiling. He showed no intention of stopping him, leaving a certain someone to keep going until he ran headfirst into a wall.

No matter how peerless your talent is, Li Jingxuan, could watching it twice possibly compare to this poor Daoist watching for three years and pondering it for one?

This poor Daoist spent a year pondering it and still couldn't grasp the true spirit of that fist intent. In Little Friend Yu's words, what makes you think you can?

Seeing Li Jingxuan fail again and make no further attempt, the old Daoist priest smiled with particular delight. It looked as though he would have to ask Little Friend Yu for an extra bowl of rice today.

He pointed at Yu Tunzhou.

"Do you know what this is called?"

"This is called the venerable Dao Venerable granting him a livelihood."

Li Jingxuan said helplessly, "Senior Brother, you belong to the Supreme Purity Lineage, yet you revere the Dao Venerable instead of our founding patriarch?"

He looked at Yu Tunzhou again.

He felt some emotion and amazement, as well as a trace of regret.

It was as though a wisp of fist intent, just beginning to take shape, was slowly gestating within Senior Brother Yu.

Before it had fully formed, even he, aided by the Supreme Purity Secret Method, could only learn its "form" without touching its "spirit."

If he forcibly added his own insights, his fist movements would come to an abrupt halt, just as they had moments ago.

If the form was right but the spirit was wrong, one could scarcely begin to master the fist art.

Even if he forcibly made them "match," it would no longer be the set of fist techniques Senior Brother Yu was practicing.

"Could he be someone who will open a new path in the future..."

Li Jingxuan could not help murmuring to himself.

Yu Tunzhou, wholly unaware of this, remained immersed in practicing his fist techniques, forgetting both himself and everything around him.

Earlier, after Inner Qi had arisen within him and he had entered Meditative Concentration, his fistwork had advanced by a great stride. He had corrected the various mistakes and omissions of the past three years and returned to the proper path.

And today, after opening up the inner aspect of his Primordial Spirit and greatly increasing his perception, he was even more like a fish in water as he practiced. He felt that his fistwork had become utterly clear and fluid, without stiffness or hesitation.

And for some reason, the slower his fist movements became, the smoother they felt. It was exceedingly strange.

He could even sense the little black fish in the world within his Primordial Spirit, swimming joyfully through the vast ocean in time with his punches.

The slower he punched and the gentler his movements became, the faster the little fellow seemed to swim.

If he used hard, fierce movements instead, the little fellow became languid.

Meanwhile, as his fists moved, the Inner Qi in his Dantian grew ever harder and fiercer, yet none of it escaped or leaked away, taking the form of a great pill.

Yu Tunzhou could not help wondering. The Inner Qi had taken the form of a great pill, which should have had nothing to do with opening up the inner aspect of his Primordial Spirit.

Could it have been caused by practicing my fists?