activa-t Chapter 4: Ghost Immortal Cord, 7 days limited
Chapter 4: Ghost Immortal Cord, 7 days limited
The next day.
As soon as it was dawn, Zhou Xing went to the police station to report for duty, only to be left standing there by Ruan Wenzhong, as expected.
He simply applied for fieldwork and slipped away.
I bought three baskets of steaming pork buns at the street corner and carefully wrapped them in oil paper.
After buying half a pound of good quality jasmine tea at a tea shop, I hailed a rickshaw and headed straight for the "Yuelai Inn" in the old town.
The inn is located deep in the old town, with a small facade and grass growing in the cracks of the gray brick walls.
Ip Man rented a small courtyard in the east wing.
When the square-faced disciple reluctantly led him inside, Ip Man was standing under the old locust tree in the courtyard, his hands behind his back, watching two sparrows fluttering on the branches.
Seeing that Zhou Xing had brought steamed buns and tea, Ip Man did not refuse. He had his disciple take them and invited Zhou Xing to sit on the stone bench.
A white porcelain teapot sits on the stone table, its spout still emitting wisps of steam.
Zhou Xing sat down and got straight to the point:
"Master Ye, you are a man of great knowledge, do you know what kind of evil magic this is?"
He rolled up his right sleeve and stretched his forearm in front of Ip Man, where there were circles of red lines that seemed to wriggle like a living thing.
Ip Man didn't touch his arm, but simply extended his index and middle fingers, hovering about half an inch above his skin, and slowly moved them from his shoulder to his wrist.
His fingertips didn't touch the flesh, but Zhou Xing felt a warmth seep in, like a ray of sunshine in winter.
When the warm current reached the vicinity of the Jianjing acupoint, Zhou Xing suddenly trembled.
It was as if an ice needle was buried there. The moment Ip Man's breath touched it, the ice needle suddenly exploded and drilled into his heart along his meridians.
Zhou Xing gritted his teeth, and veins bulged on his forehead.
Ip Man withdrew his hand, his brows furrowing slightly.
"It really is the Ghost Immortal Rope."
His voice was flat, "The insidious methods of the Xiangxi Pai Sect, once you are struck by their palm, the evil energy is planted into your bones and muscles, like a leech sucking blood, slowly crawling towards your heart."
"You can only live for seven days?" Zhou Xing asked.
"He can only live for seven days."
Ip Man looked at him and said, "At midnight on the seventh day, the evil energy attacked his heart, and his blood and qi froze. He looked like he had drowned, his whole body was bruised and purple, and no external injuries could be found."
Zhou Xing paused for a moment, then said:
"Master Ye, you must have realized it a long time ago."
He paused, then said, "You said yesterday that if I were willing, I could seek your help to strengthen my foundation. Is this related to that?"
Ip Man smiled, picked up the teapot, poured half a bowl of warm tea, and pushed it in front of Zhou Xing:
"Let's settle this in first. Do you know how many levels of skill there are in martial arts?"
Zhou Xing picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp, muttering to himself: I didn't expect Master Ye to like keeping things a secret.
He asked, "This junior is ignorant, please enlighten me, Master Ye."
Ip Man slowly said, "There are three kinds of strength in Chinese martial arts: obvious strength, hidden strength, and transformative strength. Transformative strength is my current level, which is also what ordinary people consider a grandmaster. And above the grandmaster..."
He took a sip of tea.
What lies beyond Grandmaster?
Seeing Ip Man suddenly stop, Zhou Xing couldn't help but ask curiously.
"That's too far-fetched; it's useless for you to know it."
Ip Man shook his head. "On the path of martial arts, one must avoid being overly ambitious."
Isn't that what you wanted to say?
Zhou Xing remained silent.
Seeing that his mood was gradually calming down, Ip Man stopped teasing him and said seriously:
"Because of your status, I cannot accept you as my disciple, but I can teach you the basic techniques and principles of Wing Chun."
"Building a solid foundation involves standing meditation. Once you master standing meditation, your qi and blood will naturally generate, and your spirit will naturally flourish."
"You must complete in seven days what ordinary people take three to five years to achieve through painstaking effort."
"Stand out and feel the Qi, refine it to the point of Ming Jin, nourish your essence, Qi and spirit, unite the three treasures, and use your own Yang fire to refine that Yin evil."
"Qi sensation..." Zhou Xing chewed on the word.
It sounds mysterious; it takes seven days to cultivate to the level of Ming Jin.
"The threshold of internal martial arts".
Ip Man stood up and said, "Explicit strength trains the muscles and bones, implicit strength penetrates the bone marrow, and transformative strength circulates throughout the body. But before all that, one must first have 'qi'."
It's not some mystical or mysterious thing; it's just a breath of warm air generated from one's own essence and blood. Only when you can feel it can you say you've found the door.
He walked to the courtyard and stood still, his feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and hands raised in a raised position.
"Look. This is the Two-Character Sheep Stance, the foundation of Wing Chun."
Ip said, "The head should be upright, the neck straight, and the chin slightly tucked in. This is called 'empty spirit at the top of the head'."
Let your shoulders sink, let your elbows drop, don't hold back.
The waist and hips feel relaxed, like sitting on a high stool.
The toes should grip the ground lightly and nimbly, almost as if gripping but not quite.
He said something, and Zhou Xing was transferred to another place.
At first he was stiff, but he soon discovered that the "Tai Chi Listening Technique" was not only effective externally, but also very useful internally.
Which muscles are too tense, which joints are locked, are all clearly reflected in my perception.
He loosened up little by little, and sank down little by little.
Ip Man was somewhat surprised to see that his stance was gradually stabilizing, but he didn't say much, only saying:
"Stand like this. Look down at your nose, then focus your mind on your heart, and concentrate on your dantian, which is three inches below your navel. Slow down and deepen your breathing, so that your lower abdomen expands slightly when you inhale and contracts slightly when you exhale."
Zhou Xing closed his eyes.
The sounds of carriages and vendors on the street outside the courtyard gradually faded into the distance.
He focused all his attention on his body, following the path pointed out by Ip Man.
Initially, the dantian area was empty.
But after standing there for about half an incense stick's time, a sudden movement came from deep within my lower abdomen, like a hibernating insect being disturbed, trembling slightly.
Immediately afterwards, a very faint warmth arose, drifting and elusive, almost imperceptible.
Zhou Xing dared not move, carefully gathering the warmth with his mind, and following Ip Man's instructions, guiding it slowly up his spine.
Just then, the courtyard gate creaked open.
Zhou Xing didn't stop moving or lift his eyelids, but his keen hearing picked up the sounds of the approaching person's footsteps, breathing, and even the rustling of their clothes.
Two people.
Ahead was a young man with heavy, impatient steps.
The one behind... took extremely light steps, landing almost silently, and his breathing was fine and long. He was a trained fighter, and his skills were probably quite formidable.
"Master."
The young man spoke; it was Ah Liang's voice, "Miss Gong Er has arrived."
Zhou Xing then slowly stopped his attack and opened his eyes.
Two people were standing at the entrance of the courtyard.
Ah Liang, dressed in shorts, glared at him fiercely.
Beside her was a woman, about twenty years old, wearing a moon-white cheongsam embroidered with pale purple plum blossoms, and a light gray woolen overcoat.
Her hair was neatly combed, revealing a section of her snow-white neck.
She stood ramrod straight, carrying a bamboo food box in her hand, like a plum blossom in the snow.
"Master Ye".
The woman spoke, her voice clear and cold, with a slight accent from beyond the Great Wall, "My father sent me to deliver this message. I heard you encountered some trouble a couple of days ago; do you need the Gong family's help?"
Ip Man cupped his hands in greeting: "Thank you for your concern, Elder Gong. It's a small matter, already settled."
He stepped aside and led Zhou Xing, "This is Officer Zhou Xing from the French Concession. Officer Zhou, this is Miss Gong Ruomei, the beloved daughter of Mr. Gong Baotian."
Gong Ruomei's gaze fell on Zhou Xing, and she nodded slightly as a greeting.
But Zhou Xing could see the disdain in her eyes.
Sure enough, being a Chinese constable in the foreign concessions is a lose-lose situation.
Ah Liang leaned closer to Gong Ruomei, lowering his voice so that everyone in the courtyard could hear him:
"Senior Sister Gong, don't be fooled by his respectable appearance now. He was under a curse last night and almost died. He's here to beg Master to save him."
He already looked down on the police officers in the foreign concession, and after what happened the day before yesterday, he found Zhou Xing even more disagreeable.
Gong Ruomei didn't reply, but simply placed the food box on the stone table, opened the lid, and revealed several exquisite pastries inside.
"Master Ye, my father's idea is that it's a good thing for Southern Kung Fu to spread to the North. But Tianjin is a diverse place, and each martial arts school has its own set of rules."
She took out a red invitation card and handed it to her with both hands, saying, "There will be a symposium at the Yue Family Association in half a month. My father is hosting it, and I would be honored if you could attend."
Ip Man accepted the invitation: "Mr. Gong, you are too kind. I will certainly attend."
As he spoke, Zhou Xing had already returned to his original position.
The chill in my shoulder well started acting up again, like an icy hand reaching into my heart.
He was outwardly relaxed but inwardly tense, his mind sinking into his dantian, urging the newly generated warmth to rise against the cold current.
Ah Liang chuckled:
"Senior Sister Gong, look, she's already started practicing. If you ask me, she's over twenty, her muscles and bones are already stiff, what future can she have? She might as well spend more money on medicine to prolong her life."
Anyway, people like them bully men and women all the time, and who knows how much they've profited from it.
Ip Man glanced at him indifferently:
"Ah Liang."
Ah Liang shut his mouth, but his face showed dissatisfaction.
Gong Ruomei picked up the teacup, gently blew on the floating leaves, and her gaze fell on Zhou Xing.
She could tell that the man's stance seemed awkward at first glance, but within a few breaths, those subtle stiffnesses adjusted themselves.
Especially his breathing—deep, long, fine, and even—already possesses the subtle charm of internal martial arts.
"Master Ye,"
She suddenly spoke up, "Is this Officer Zhou a beginner?"
"This is my first time practicing Zhan Zhuang today." Ip Man nodded.
A hint of surprise flashed in Gong Ruomei's eyes, but she quickly concealed it, saying only:
"That's rare. For an ordinary person standing for the first time, it's already difficult enough to keep their body steady, let alone regulate their breathing."
Ah Liang couldn't help but interject again:
"Senior Sister Gong, don't overestimate him. At best, he's good for roaming the streets and needs to train his body."
In my opinion, you could stand there your whole life and still not get anywhere.
Ip Man shook his head and said to Gong Ruomei:
"This child is impatient. When he first started practicing standing meditation, he grasped the feeling of qi in seven days and thought it was an extraordinary talent."
Ah Liang's face flushed slightly, but he stubbornly held his neck:
"Master, what I said is true. The ability to sense Qi depends on talent. Some people never even get the hang of it in their entire lives, while others grasp it in just a few days."
Gong Ruomei also became interested at this moment and said:
"It took me about five days to comprehend the feeling of Qi. I don't know how long it took Master Ye."
Ip Man smiled gently, took a sip of tea, and said:
"Actually, time isn't that important. Although I used three..."
Before he could finish speaking, a very faint hissing sound suddenly rang out in the courtyard.
It looks like something is broken.