Chinese martial arts: From being shot and killed by the armed police during a mountain search to bec

Without turning his head, Chen Hongwu turned to the left, his center of gravity suddenly lowering.

Baguazhang - Swimming Body Step!

As he slammed his feet into the ground, he exerted force from the Yongquan acupoint, his body sliding half a circle along the ground, passing through the gap between the two veterans.

One of the veterans felt a blur before his eyes, and the target was gone. His palm strike landed in the air, and he involuntarily staggered forward half a step.

The other grappling technique had barely touched Chen Hongwu's sleeve when a gentle force stuck to his wrist.

Baguazhang - Silk Reeling Hand!

The wrist was pulled and twisted outwards by the force, and the joint made a slight cracking sound.

His tendons were stretched to their limit, and he immediately grimaced in pain. He was thrown away by the force of the silk-wrapping energy and crashed into another soldier who was charging forward.

"When launching a sneak attack from behind, you must first lock the opponent's stance, locking their lower body before making your move. If you try to grapple without locking their stance, they can turn around and entangle you, and your joints will become their leverage." Chen Hongwu's voice rang out again.

The remaining dozen or so people dared not fight alone anymore and rushed forward together.

Fists and kicks came from all directions; the aim was not to defeat the enemy in one move, but to force Chen Hongwu into a corner and reduce his room to maneuver.

Chen Hongwu took a deep breath, and a thunderous sound resonated slightly within his internal organs. His toes gripped the ground, his Yongquan acupoint (located on the sole of his foot) felt hollow, his spine spun through his body, and his head, neck, shoulders, back, waist, hips, knees, and ankles—all his joints instantly transitioned from relaxed to tense.

Baguazhang - Swimming Dragon Step!

His figure weaved through the crowd, his feet never leaving the ground, his waist and hips twisting slightly, his shoulders swaying gently, his whole being like a slippery fish.

One soldier's fist was half an inch away from hitting his lower back, but his waist had already swayed to the other side before the fist could reach him; another soldier's sweeping kick had just started when his foot slipped, and he slid out of the sweeping kick's range.

The boxing manual says, "Tai Chi is cunning, Bagua is slippery."

The cunning of Tai Chi lies in its silk-reeling force, sticking to you and refusing to let go; the slipperiness of Bagua lies in its elusive footwork, making it impossible for you to strike.

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the training ground was filled with people lying haphazardly.

"Ouch! My back!"

"My legs!"

Some people were grimacing with their arms crossed, some were clutching their chests and gasping for breath, and some were lying on the sand for a long time, unable to get up.

Li Dazhu lay on his back in the fine sand, the numb and stiff area in his shoulder blade pierced through by Chen Hongwu's palm strike. The fascial adhesions were broken up, and blood and qi flowed back in; now, amidst the soreness, there was an indescribable feeling of relief.

Chen Hongwu stood amidst the haphazardly arranged crowd, patted the sand off his hands, and said, "Get up, everyone. I'll address the problems with each of your moves one by one."

The soldiers got up from the ground, brushed the sand off their bodies, and lined up again.

More than twenty people surrounded him, but they couldn't even touch the hem of Chen Hongwu's clothes; instead, they ended up lying sprawled on the ground.

This isn't a martial arts contest; it's clearly a father beating his son.

Chen Hongwu walked up to Li Dazhu and stood still. He subconsciously straightened his back and swallowed hard.

"Your old injury to your left shoulder is fascial adhesion. When you abduct your shoulder, it's pulled and tugged and can't be fully extended, right?" Li Dazhu nodded vigorously.

Chen Hongwu extended three fingers and placed them on the lower corner of his left scapula, his fingertips exerting force as he pressed down slightly, a gentle, subtle force penetrating through the gaps in the fascia.

"The scapula is the base of the shoulder joint. If the base is crooked, the energy channels of the entire arm will be blocked."

The reason your blade tip is too low when you make a cut is because the fascia sticking to the lower angle of your scapula is pulling it down, preventing it from reaching the correct position.

His fingers trembled suddenly, a hidden force surging within them, and the fascia beneath his fingertips made a slight "snap" sound, like a taut rubber band being snapped.

Li Dazhu felt a tingling numbness in the space between his shoulder blades, followed by a surge of heat flowing from his shoulder to his fingertips, making his entire left arm feel inexplicably relaxed.

He tried to extend his left arm outward, and his arm easily reached an angle he had never been to before.

"The activity has started, but it's not fully healed yet." Chen Hongwu withdrew his finger. "Every day, I apply hot water to the lower angle of my scapula for the time it takes to burn an incense stick, while doing abduction exercises."

The fascia will naturally loosen over half a month. Also, when making the cut, the front hand is too stiff, and the force is locked in the shoulder, so the tip of the knife cannot be delivered properly.

The arm should extend seven-tenths of its length while reserving three-tenths. When striking, focus your mind on the elbow, and let the force flow from the shoulder through the elbow to the wrist, passing through each joint, so that the tip of the blade will naturally reach its intended position.

The boxing manual says, "The tip initiates, the middle follows, and the root propels." The shoulder is the root, the elbow is the middle, and the hand is the tip. The root propels the middle, and the middle propels the tip; only then is the energy flow correct.

Li Dazhu snapped to attention and shouted, "Yes, sir! Thank you, instructor!"

Chen Hongwu then walked up to the short, stocky man and said, "Kicking the sandbag with your shinbone isn't impossible."

"But the bone density of your tibia is not high enough, so forcing it will only result in repeated bone fractures."

Muay Thai fighters also use their shinbones to kick the sandbag. They kick it from a young age, every day, and the cortical bone of their shinbones gets thicker and thicker with repeated micro-injuries, until it's thick enough to break a banana tree.

Your shinbone isn't strong enough yet; forcing it would just be self-harm.

Starting today, switch to using the instep. Wait until the fascia and compact bone of your tibia have developed enough resilience before proceeding.

When extending your leg, point your instep straight and place the force on the front of the metatarsal bone, not your toes.

The hips need to be pushed out; it's not enough to just swing the legs. The power originates from the waist and hips, passes through the knees and ankles, and finally explodes out from the instep.

The short, stocky man nodded emphatically.

Chen Hongwu turned to the bald, big man. "Hung Kuen bridge hands emphasize 'hard bridge and hard stance,' with the bridge hand as strong as iron and the stance as firm as a stake."

However, your horse stance is too low and too rigid, putting too much pressure on your knees.

In his later years, Hung Kuen master Tit Kiu Sam suffered from knee pain so severe that he could not walk. No matter how strong a bridge hand is, if the lower body collapses, it's all over.

When you squat low in a horse stance, the force on your knees is three times your body weight, and over time, this will inevitably cause wear and tear on your meniscus.

From today onwards, practice the horse stance with a half-fist stance, knees slightly bent, Yongquan point (located on the sole of the foot) hollowed out, and toes gripping the ground.

The "bridge hand" technique isn't just about rigidly blocking with the arms; the waist and hips must also rotate. When the waist and hips rotate, the direction of force on the entire arm changes. When the opponent's punch hits your bridge hand, you can change the force from a straight line to an oblique line, dissipating most of it.

He raised his hand and demonstrated the "Silk Reeling Hand" movement of Baguazhang, rotating his wrist inward and wrapping his forearm halfway around, creating a subtle spiraling sound in the air.

"Bridge hands add silk-wrapping, waist and hips rotate, and the hard bridge becomes a living bridge, which can be used for both offense and defense."

The bald, big man looked down at his hands, then at Chen Hongwu, lost in thought.

Chen Hongwu continued walking and pointed out each person one by one.

After one class, he pointed out everyone's flaws one by one, and adjusted everyone's practice methods one by one.

If someone's breathing isn't coordinated with their power generation when practicing the chopping fist, have them link the rhythm of their power generation with their breathing.

Inhale as you begin to strike, and exhale as you strike down, using sound to generate power, with the sound following your hand.

If a person's shoulder muscles are tense and their arms are stiff when punching, instruct them to focus their attention on the base of their elbow when punching, without using force from the shoulder or elbow, and to send the power directly from the waist and hips to the fist.

The soldiers practiced with each other, gestured, and pondered. The atmosphere on the training ground changed from awe to focus, and then from focus to fervor.

The hour-long lesson quickly came to an end.

Chen Hongwu stood with his hands behind his back in front of the line, his gaze sweeping over each person's face, and said, "Go back and make the adjustments I just mentioned. I'll come back to see you again in a month."

Kung Fu is learned through practice, not taught. I can spot lazy people the moment I touch them.

The soldiers responded in unison, their voices making the single-bar iron pipe hum.

---

The Chen family residence.

Chen Huaijin sat on a grand chair in the main hall, holding a visiting card in his hand.

The visiting card was on gold-embossed red paper and was in excellent condition. The three characters "Chen Gongzhe" on the cover were written neatly in the official script, and the ink had dried, exuding the scholarly air of a literati.

Chen Huaijin tore open the cover, pulled out the inner pages, and found that the wording was so polite that it almost carried a hint of humility.

First, it was "I have long admired Master Chen's reputation, which is as famous as thunder in my ears," then it was "I have long admired him and regret not being able to meet him sooner," and then it was a series of attempts to curry favor.

He said he was from Xinhui, Guangdong, and that he shared the same ancestry and surname as the Chen family, having been one family for 500 years. He also mentioned that he had a long-standing friendship with several prominent figures in the Foshan martial arts world. His words were sincere and his manners impeccable.

Finally, he said that he would pay a visit tomorrow and hoped that he could make time to meet him. He also attached a small note that read, "Respectfully presented by Chen Gongzhe of the Jingwu Gymnastics Association."

Chen Huaijin frowned slightly after reading it.

He had certainly heard of the Jingwu Gymnastics Association; it was a martial arts organization founded by Huo Yuanjia in Shanghai and had a considerable reputation in the martial arts world of southern China.

After Huo Yuanjia's death, the responsibility of the Jingwu Association fell to Chen Gongzhe, who was highly respected in Shanghai's martial arts circles and a close friend of Nong Jinsun, one of the founders of the Jingwu Association.

However, the Chen family had no connection with the Jingwu Gymnastics Association, and even less so with Chen Gongzhe.

In the world of martial arts, the phrase "same clan, same surname" is mostly just polite talk.

The question is, why did he use such an almost ingratiating tone to make a special trip to Foshan to visit Chen Hongwu?