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

Swords and blades are everywhere, and fists and feet have no eyes.

There's an old saying in the martial arts world: "Those who practice boxing use their muscles and bones as weapons."

No matter how powerful your fists become or how hard your joints are trained, you are still just a body of flesh and blood.

The sharpness of swords and blades, made from the finest steel forged through countless trials, can, with a single thrust or pull, render any technique—Iron Shirt, Hemp Armor, or Thunderous Sound of Muscles—in the end, a cut and a line of blood.

Those who practice Iron Shirt Technique may be able to withstand sticks and bricks, but they certainly cannot stop a sharp blade from piercing their body.

As for catching bullets with bare hands, that's a myth.

Unless one truly reaches the legendary state of "indestructibility," where one's blood and qi are as refined as mercury, one's fascia is tougher than old cowhide, one's bones are as strong as steel, and one's skin is as thick as copper, there is only a sliver of a possibility.

Therefore, when a boxer encounters a swordsman, nine times out of ten he will be defeated.

Especially for a swordsman of the caliber of Takano Sasaburo, the destructive power of a katana increases exponentially once it is drawn.

Chen Hongwu knew this well, so from the beginning, he had no intention of letting Takano Sasaburo draw his sword!

This technique was learned from Cheng Tinghua back then.

When the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, the thing that Old Master Cheng feared most when facing foreign guns and cannons was allowing the enemy to create distance. The closer they were, the less effective the firearms were; the farther away they were, the more lethal the bullets' penetrating power became.

The same applies to swords. Drawing a sword requires distance, and striking a sword requires space. Once you get too close and entangled, the katana becomes a dead object trapped in its sheath!

Therefore, Chen Hongwu could not retreat.

If you're bare-handed against a katana, taking a step back gives your opponent an opening to draw their sword and strike.

The Hokushin Itto-ryu style is best known for its Iaijutsu (quick-draw slash), where the sword strikes as soon as the distance is created.

He had to keep the distance between them locked until Takano Sasaburo's sword was drawn, ensuring that Takano was always just a hair's breadth away from drawing his sword.

"Bang bang bang!"

Chen Hongwu moved with incredible speed, his attacks like a torrential downpour, relentless and continuous.

His right fist burst out from the center line, the fist tip piercing through the rain curtain, the force exploding from the Yongquan point, twisting through the waist and hips and straight through the fist.

This strike uses penetrating force; it looks like a punch, but in reality, the force rotates inward, penetrating three-tenths of the flesh before twisting it further.

With his right hand still resting on the hilt of his sword, Takano Sasaburo quickly took three steps back, his wooden clogs splashing two streams of water as he stepped into the puddles.

The three retreats were extremely skillful. The first retreat neutralized the sharpness of Chen Hongwu's punch, the second retreat avoided the tail end of the remaining force, and the third retreat was already gathering momentum, just waiting for Chen Hongwu to exhaust his strength so that he could draw his sword and strike back.

The Northern Sword One-Sword Style emphasizes the "three-three steps" footwork: three steps forward and three steps back, completing the transition between offense and defense within three steps.

But Chen Hongwu's boxing style never gives anyone a chance to breathe.

The Bengquan missed its target. Chen Hongwu stepped forward with his left foot, twisted his waist and hips, and instead of retracting his right fist, he pressed down with the fist tip, turning the Bengquan into a Chai!

Xingyi Piquan, the fist is like a giant axe splitting a mountain, cleaving straight down towards the top of Takano Sasaburo's head.

"laugh!"

The palm tore through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound as if a blade was piercing the air.

Like a tiger descending the mountain, its momentum was overwhelming. Before the fist even landed, the intent arrived first. Takano Sasaburo clearly felt the rain on his head being blown away by the strong wind.

Takano Sasaburo's pupils contracted sharply, his body swayed to the left, his katana sheath blocked in front of his chest, and his right elbow was slightly raised, using the sheath to block Chen Hongwu's slash.

"clang!"

His bare hand struck the scabbard, producing a metallic clang.

The scabbard was slightly dented by the force of the palm strike, and Takano Sasaburo felt his entire right arm go numb and tingly as if he had been electrocuted, with a bloody gash appearing at the base of his thumb.

idiot!

He was filled with shock and anger; if that palm strike landed on his forehead, his skull would surely shatter.

This young man has such fierce energy!

But Chen Hongwu's offensive was far from over. When his punch missed, he used the momentum to spin around and thrust his left elbow like a spear into Takano Sasaburo's temple.

Before the elbow even arrived, the force of the wind generated by the elbow tip already made Takano Sasaburo's scalp tingle.

Takano Sasaburo had no time to defend himself and had to retreat again.

The wooden clogs retreated five steps on the bluestone slab, each step causing the puddles to burst open, and the last step even created a spiderweb-like crack in the slab.

Chen Hongwu followed closely behind, like a shadow.

The footwork is sometimes like the Bagua wading through mud, walking close to the ground; sometimes like Xingyi Jianbu, rushing forward swiftly; sometimes like Baji Zhenjiao, each step trembling.

The three footwork techniques changed in turn without any hesitation. The whole person was like a green dragon emerging from its cave, moving unpredictably in the rain, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes forward, sometimes backward.

Although Takano Sasaburo retreated repeatedly, his sword remained unsheathed.

His hand remained on the hilt of the sword, his thumb pressed against the guard, ready to draw the katana from its sheath if there was even a moment's pause.

But Chen Hongwu never gave him that opportunity.

He unleashed a barrage of punches, palm strikes, elbow strikes, knee strikes, and kicks.

The Five Elements Fist—Collapse, Split, Drill, Cannon, and Horizontal—is executed in a continuous flow, interspersed with the Eight Trigrams Palm's piercing, inserting, slicing, scraping, and lifting techniques, and further mixed with the Eight Extremities Fist's thrusting, bumping, leaning, and squeezing techniques.

The moves are like the Yangtze River, surging endlessly, with one wave rising as another falls.

The boxing manual says: "Xingyi is like a steel bar, Bagua is like a swimming dragon, and Bajiquan is like a heavy cannon."

Chen Hongwu fused three boxing principles into one, his fists were like steel bars, his body like a swimming dragon, and his elbows and knees like heavy cannons, making his attacks fierce and unpredictable.

Even though Takano Sasaburo was a master of swordsmanship, he was forced to defend passively and had no time to counterattack.

"Whoosh!"

Chen Hongwu unleashed the Bagua move "White Snake Spits Venom," his right palm darting out like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, fingers joined together, thrusting straight into Takano Sasaburo's throat.

"hiss!"

Takano Sasaburo dodged to the side, but his left shoulder was grazed by a fingertip, tearing his clothes and leaving a half-inch-long bloodstain on his skin.

Blood mixed with rainwater flowed down his arm.

Takano Sasaburo frowned slightly, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

He suddenly changed his move, advancing instead of retreating just as Chen Hongwu's punch was about to land!

He rammed his entire body sideways into Chen Hongwu's arms, raising his left elbow high, ready to fight hand-to-hand with Chen Hongwu, risking his life for his life!

This move was completely unexpected by Chen Hongwu.

Takano Sasaburo wasn't just good at dodging; his punches and kicks were equally fierce.

He slammed his left elbow into Chen Hongwu's face and his right knee into Chen Hongwu's abdomen. At the same time, he twisted his waist and drew his katana three inches from its sheath, taking advantage of the turn!

The blade flashed like a ribbon, reflecting the raindrops, and exuded a chilling aura.

Chen Hongwu used both hands simultaneously, his left palm slapping away the incoming left elbow, and his right palm pressing down on Takano Sasaburo's incoming right knee.

Just as he unleashed both palms, Takano Sasaburo took advantage of the momentum to retreat half a step, and with a flick of his scabbard, the katana was drawn from its sheath, drawing a cold arc as it slashed diagonally from bottom to top!

"Whoosh!"

The slash came too fast; from the moment it was drawn to the moment it was unleashed, it was only a snap of the fingers.

Before the blade even arrived, its aura had already caused the rain to swirl backward!

Chen Hongwu felt a chill in his abdomen, and his pores on his body instantly popped open. An unprecedented sense of crisis rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

His body reacted before his brain could react; his front foot slammed into the ground, and his entire body flipped backward!

Backflip!

The Xingyi Quan "Monkey Form Reverse Turn" uses the backward leaning motion to dissipate the forward momentum, barely avoiding the strike.

The blade grazed Chen Hongwu's nose, barely half an inch from his skin. The rain, sliced ​​horizontally by the blade's energy, split in two in mid-air before falling back down after a long while.

Chen Hongwu landed, his feet shattering two stone slabs, and he was already three zhang away.

Takano Sasaburo stood holding a sword, the katana pointing diagonally at the ground with the tip slightly drooping.

There was a trace of blood on the knife, from a superficial wound on Chen Hongwu's abdomen.

The wound wasn't deep, but the blood mixed with rainwater seeped into a dark red stain on the gray cloth jacket.

"Well done." Takano Sasaburo's voice was calm, as if the previous strike was just a routine exchange. "This is the second time."

Chen Hongwu glanced down at the wound on his abdomen, then looked up at the other person.

Takano Sasaburo's swordsmanship is indeed formidable. That slash was faster than lightning. Anyone with a slower reaction time would already be lying on the ground, disemboweled.

But what truly chilled Chen Hongwu was something else entirely.

There's a very familiar feel to Takano Sasaburo's sword techniques.

Xingyi Swordplay!

The previous move was a downward slash, followed by the "Collapse Sword Stance" from Xingyi Swordplay. The sword strikes like a collapsing fist, moving upwards with power originating from the heels, extending through the waist and hips, and reaching the tip of the sword.

This is precisely the sword path of Xingyi School!

Chen Hongwu narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Your swordsmanship contains elements of Xingyi swordsmanship."

Takano Sasaburo raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly somewhat surprised: "You can tell? You have some discernment."

He slowly raised his katana, the tip pointing directly at Chen Hongwu. "Indeed, it is Xingyi swordsmanship. Your Chinese boxers do have some skills worth learning."

It's a pity that while my swordsmanship is excellent, I've entrusted it to the wrong person. Today, I'll let you witness it for yourself.

This is a long story.

In the fourteenth year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Xingyi master Che Yizhai defeated Japanese swordsman Itayama Taro in Tianjin with Xingyi swordsmanship and was awarded the "Fifth Rank Military Merit with Peacock Feather" by the Qing government.

Since then, the Japanese martial arts world has coveted Xingyi swordsmanship.

In 1914, a master of the Hokushin Itto-ryu school defeated Hao Enguang of the Chinese Martial Arts Association and stole the essence of Xingyi swordsmanship.