Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm

Su Ziyang put away the phone, then fiddled around for a while, transferring the files from his old phone to the new one and switching over his SIM card. He played with it a little longer before putting it away.

"Doctor Su!"

The voice arrived before its owner.

Su Ziyang closed the book in his hands and looked toward the door. A woman with graying hair walked in, full of energy.

"Doctor Su!" the gray-haired woman said with a smile. "Do you still remember me?"

"Oh, you're Sun Hua, Auntie Sun. I remember you! How is your illness?" Su Ziyang stood up with a smile.

"I'm glad you remember me! I'm completely better. It really was just like you said-it wasn't cancer. After I took those few doses of medicine you prescribed, I was completely cured! Then I went back to my hometown. I only came back in the last couple of days." As Sun Hua spoke, she brought a bag in from the doorway. "These are peanuts harvested back home. I brought you some. We country folk don't have anything valuable, so please don't look down on them! Haha!"

With that, Sun Hua took a large bag of peanuts out of the bag she had brought. Some still had a little dirt on them; one look was enough to tell they had been grown in her own fields.

"Of course I wouldn't! Thank you!" With his patient recovered, Su Ziyang was happier than anyone. The sense of accomplishment he felt every time he cured a patient was something no other experience or expression of gratitude could match!

"You don't need to thank me. I should be thanking you! Oh, right, right! There's this too!" Sun Hua took a red scroll out of the bag she had brought. "This is a commendation banner! Peanuts alone aren't enough. I have to give you a banner!"

The older woman unfurled the scroll. Four large gilded characters adorned the velvet fabric: "Wondrous hands bring spring back."

"Haha, Auntie, you didn't have to!" This was the second commendation banner Su Ziyang had received. He was still delighted and excited whenever someone gave him one.

"Of course I did! You're too polite, child! When I went to the city hospital for a checkup, the doctor was shocked. He asked me where I'd been treated, and I told him it was here! He even wants to come visit you!" Sun Hua looked immensely proud as she spoke. Helping spread the word about Su Ziyang had evidently become a source of great pride for her!

"Haha, thank you for spreading the word!"

"You're welcome. It's only right. Well then, Young Doctor Su, I'll be going. Get back to work. I won't keep you from your work, I won't keep you!"

Sun Hua put down everything in her bag and strolled away. Su Ziyang looked at the peanuts and the banner, took out the phone Daoist Jin had given him, and snapped two photos before putting the gifts away.

It was another morning without patients, and Su Ziyang was growing a little bored with reading. He had already read through the book Mr. Mengfei had given him once, and now he was on his second reading.

Just as it was almost time to get off work, Daoist Jin appeared at the door again.

"You're off work, Daoist Jin!" Su Ziyang said.

"Mm-hmm. Come on, Xiao Su, let's go eat together!" Daoist Jin said with a light laugh.

"Sure, let's go together!" Su Ziyang didn't refuse, and the two went downstairs.

"I know a place with delicious mutton soup! Want to go?" Daoist Jin suddenly thought of something and spoke to Su Ziyang with delight.

"You can eat meat!?" Daoist Jin's words caught Su Ziyang off guard. Li Zijun, Daoist Master Xiao Yang, and Old Daoist Master Xiao, whom Su Ziyang knew, were all vegetarians. How was Daoist Jin eating mutton soup?

Daoist Jin chuckled. "Haha, there are many kinds of Daoists, and their precepts differ too. In orthodox Daoism, there are northern and southern schools. In the north, the Seven Masters of Complete Perfection from the Complete Perfection School gave rise to seven schools: the Mount Hua School, the Dragon Gate School, the Golden Mountain School, and so on. In the south, the Orthodox Unity School has four great ancestral altars: the Myriad Dharma Ancestral Altar of the Celestial Master's Mansion on Mount Longhu, the Mount Mao Highest Clarity Ancestral Altar, the Mount Gezao Numinous Treasure Ancestral Altar, and the Nanchang Longevity Pure Brightness Ancestral Altar. There's also the Mount Lü School in Fujian, which is affiliated with the Pure Brightness School. It's a small, scattered branch belonging to the ritual teaching system, which includes Yuanhuang and Xuanhuang in the southwest, the Henan Teaching, the Pu'an Teaching, the Meishan Teaching, and the Six Ren Immortal Teaching in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong."

Su Ziyang didn't understand why Daoist Jin had suddenly started telling him all this, but he learned a great deal from listening.

The two chatted as they went downstairs, then caught a taxi outside the clinic and went to a mutton soup restaurant. Daoist Jin ordered two bowls of sheep intestine soup and four mutton-stuffed flatbreads.

They chatted as they ate, until Daoist Jin suddenly spoke with some hesitation. "Xiao Su, I'm getting old, and I have an impertinent request."

"Huh?" Su Ziyang looked at Daoist Jin as he hesitated over his words. "If there's something you need, please say it. You could say we became acquainted through a fight."

"Would you be interested in learning from me?"

Daoist Jin's words startled Su Ziyang, who then asked in surprise, "Learn from you?! Learn what?"

"Well..." Daoist Jin was still somewhat hesitant.

Seeing that Daoist Jin was still hesitating, Su Ziyang suddenly thought of something. He took a sip of soup from his bowl and said, "Daoist Jin, I can't become a Daoist with you! I haven't gotten married yet!"

His words made Daoist Jin burst out laughing, and all his hesitation and embarrassment vanished at once. "Haha, why would I have you learn to be a Daoist from me? Besides, even becoming a Daoist wouldn't stop you from getting married."

"Then what would I be learning from you? Please, speak freely!" Seeing that Daoist Jin wasn't asking him to become a Daoist, Su Ziyang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Daoist Jin smiled. "You're a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, and so am I. But I'm good at treating children. Although you have formal training from a university of traditional Chinese medicine, I'd guess you aren't necessarily skilled in pediatrics. Also, do you want to learn the kung fu I used that day?"

As soon as Daoist Jin said that, Su Ziyang's heart began pounding faster.

Did he want to learn or not?

Of course he did! He absolutely had to!

Su Ziyang was so happy he almost jumped up, but he forced down his excitement and put on a calm yet troubled expression. "All right! I'll learn!"

Seeing that Su Ziyang seemed somewhat reluctant, Daoist Jin sighed. "Sigh! It's all right. Xiao Su, learning is hard work. If you don't want to, forget it. I can't force you!"

When Su Ziyang saw Daoist Jin get up to leave, he could no longer pretend to be calm. He hurriedly grabbed Daoist Jin's arm. "I'll learn, I'll learn, I'll learn! It's no trouble, no trouble at all!"

"Please sit. I'll go pay the bill. Consider it a gift for our first meeting, Teacher Jin!" Su Ziyang stood up to pay.

"No need, it's already paid for! Let's go!" Daoist Jin lowered his head as he walked out of the restaurant, a barely perceptible smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

They returned to the clinic before it was time to start work, so the old man and the young man sat down on a bench in the square outside the Daoist medicine clinic.

Su Ziyang found that the square had a magical power to it. Mr. Mengfei had taught him here, and now Daoist Jin was teaching him here too.

Daoist Jin hadn't said a word along the way, and only then did Su Ziyang realize that Daoist Jin had been deliberately keeping him in suspense. He also recalled that Daoist Jin's attempt to leave the mutton soup restaurant had been deliberate too.

Realizing he had been fooled, Su Ziyang stopped putting on an act. As soon as they sat down, he couldn't contain his curiosity and asked, "Daoist Jin, what kung fu did you use that day? How did I go flying before I could see anything clearly?"

"Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm!"

Daoist Jin announced the name with great pride.

"That name alone sounds domineering. Please teach me! I want to learn it!" Su Ziyang's eyes were full of stars. What young man could resist the temptation to learn kung fu?

"There's also Iron Cloth Shirt. Do you want to learn that?" Daoist Jin stroked his beard and asked.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"All right. We won't bother choosing an auspicious day! As the saying goes, a day stumbled upon is better than a day chosen. We'll start now. First, stand up! I'll let you experience this kung fu firsthand!" Daoist Jin pulled Su Ziyang up from the bench.

"You're not going to hit me again, are you?" Pulled up like that by Daoist Jin, Su Ziyang suddenly felt a little apprehensive. The sight of himself flying through the air yesterday resurfaced in his mind.

"What are you saying? Would I hit you for no reason? Stand steady and watch closely!" With that, Daoist Jin stepped back about a meter.

Su Ziyang had just steadied himself when his vision blurred. Daoist Jin, who had been standing in front of him a moment ago, had already flashed behind him.

"..." Although Su Ziyang had already experienced the power of Daoist Jin's kung fu firsthand, he was still stunned to see this movement technique. "That's way too fast!!!"

"That's a movement technique, and it's only the basics. If you practice well, you can do it too!!" Daoist Jin nodded, rather pleased with himself.

"Now come and experience something else! Punch me. Use all the strength you have!" Daoist Jin patted his chest.

"Really punch you?" Su Ziyang was astonished!

"Really punch me!"

Seeing that Daoist Jin was serious, Su Ziyang didn't hold back and drove a punch into his stomach. Su Ziyang was the sort who remembered the meal but forgot the beating; he had forgotten how his finger had nearly broken when he tried to strike Daoist Jin's acupoints.

His punch felt as though it had struck an iron plate. For an instant, Su Ziyang even thought he heard the ringing of metal.

"You really don't hold back, do you? You actually put some strength into it! Hahaha, you're not taking the chance to get revenge on me, are you!!! Hm?" Daoist Jin stroked his beard and stared at Su Ziyang with a smile.

Clutching his hand, Su Ziyang looked at Daoist Jin somewhat helplessly.

"All right, I'll stop teasing you. What I mean is, you should learn Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm first, then Iron Cloth Shirt. As for pediatrics, we'll fit that in between!"

Having been teased by Daoist Jin repeatedly, Su Ziyang didn't dare offer an opinion. He hurriedly nodded. "Whatever you say, Teacher!"

"All right, watch closely. I'll teach you the foundation of Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm first. You must train this foundation well. It's both the foundation and the core."

With that, Daoist Jin picked up a small stone from the roadside and drew nine circles on the ground, writing the numbers one through nine in them.

Su Ziyang looked at the diagram and found it somewhat familiar. On closer inspection, he suddenly understood: Daoist Jin had drawn a nine-palace eight trigrams diagram.

The nine palaces were arranged according to the Luo River Book among the Yellow River Chart and the Luo River Book. There was also a mnemonic for their structure:

Wear nine on the head, tread on one;

Three on the left, seven on the right;

Two and four for shoulders;

Six and eight for feet;

Five in the center.

In the Luo River Book's nine-palace diagram, the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines each added up to fifteen.

After finishing the diagram, Daoist Jin called Su Ziyang over. "Commit this diagram to memory, then walk from one to nine in numerical order, and finally return to one. You have to walk it for at least an hour every day."

Daoist Jin demonstrated as he spoke. His movements were very simple, with nothing unusual about them. It was just like ordinary walking.

Su Ziyang watched once, then followed along once to familiarize himself with the order of the steps.

Daoist Jin nodded as he watched Su Ziyang's earnest manner. "Very good. Remember, you must practice this footwork every day without interruption!"

After walking two circuits, Su Ziyang suddenly found it a little boring and asked, "Daoist Jin, what does this do? It feels a little boring!"

After saying that, Su Ziyang realized his words had been somewhat inappropriate. Daoist Jin wasn't angry at the question. He merely stroked his beard and said, "You'll find out what it does later. You have to experience it for yourself! If you want to learn kung fu, practice it this way!"

"Yes, sir!"

"All right, it's time to see patients. Let's go back!"

Su Ziyang walked a few more circuits, and then the two returned to the clinic.