Chapter 188: The Trial

While waiting for Jiang Hailong to arrive, Meng Yifan dug out the Twenty-Four Form Taiji Fist and practiced it inside the hotel.

The Twenty-Four Form Taiji Fist is the most widely circulated form of Taiji Fist in China; every morning, in parks all across the country, one can see old men and women listening to soothing music, performing the Taiji Fist movements slowly.

Ninety-nine percent of people who practice Taiji Fist are just following the routines taught by a teacher.

Practicing this way is simple and easy to learn; regardless of age or gender, and whether or not they have a foundation, anyone can follow a teacher and, by copying the gourd to draw the ladle, mimic the moves of Taiji Fist.

However, the true essence of Taiji Fist lies in coordinating every move and posture with breathing and exhalation, circulating True Qi; when the fist arrives, the intent arrives, and when the intent arrives, the Qi arrives; only when the punch and True Qi are coordinated can one truly be considered to have entered the gate of Taiji Fist.

Yet, achieving this is extremely difficult; even those on the internet who call themselves Taiji Fist grandmasters cannot do it.

Many people online say that Taiji Fist is just a fitness exercise for the elderly and has no practical combat ability at all; Meng Yifan cannot agree with this view, because any martial art that has been able to be passed down was capable of fighting in the beginning.

Like other martial arts in China, Taiji Fist was originally a technique for killing.

Those who learned Taiji Fist used it as a skill to settle down and make a living, and they relied on Taiji Fist to conquer the world; if Taiji Fist could not fight, it would never have been passed down.

The Taiji Fist grandmaster Yang Luchan, known in the pugilistic world by the nickname Yang the Invincible, relied on Taiji Fist to defeat all opponents under Heaven; even a prince in Beijing invited him to teach Taiji Fist. After he arrived, the prince's martial arts instructors challenged him, and the prince also wanted to see if Taiji Fist could really fight, so he let Yang Luchan show his skills. Yang Luchan took action and easily defeated all the instructors in the prince's mansion, thereby becoming famous and becoming the prince's teacher.

In his later years, Yang Luchan cultivated his character and no longer accepted challenges from heroes of the world. A master from Shaanxi nicknamed Wanjin Wang came to challenge him, but Yang Luchan did not accept the challenge. Wanjin Wang said Yang Luchan had a name but no substance and that hearing of him was not as good as meeting him. In the end, Yang Luchan's son, Yang Banhou, young and vigorous, went to fight behind his father's back and killed Wanjin Wang with only two moves.

The reason Taiji Fist became a fitness exercise is, on one hand, that Earth has entered the End of Dharma Era, and Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi has dried up; it is very difficult for a Martial Artist to cultivate True Qi, and without the coordination of True Qi, the true power of Taiji Fist naturally cannot be unleashed.

On the other hand, learning Taiji Fist requires a long time; there is a widely circulated martial arts proverb: "It takes ten years for Taiji to leave the door, and one year for Xingyi to kill a man."

From this, it can be seen that to truly learn Taiji Fist, one needs years of bitter practice, rising at the crow of the rooster, day after day; only then is it possible to enter the hall and learn the essence of Taiji Fist.

However, after the Republic of China, firearms became prevalent; even if a martial artist practiced Taiji Fist for over a decade and had strong close-quarters combat ability, if the enemy was at a distance, a single bullet could kill the martial artist.

Over a decade of hard work could not compare to a novice practicing with a gun, which led many people to change professions to learn marksmanship; who would still be willing to put in the hard work to practice Taiji Fist?

Another point is that the widely circulated Taiji Fist today was originally intended for physical fitness and not for fighting people, so it is not wrong for people to call Taiji Fist a fitness exercise.

Meng Yifan is different from other martial artists who practice Taiji Fist; he is a Third Grade Martial Artist in the Great Martial Heavenly Dynasty World.

On Earth, Meng Yifan took a Qi Replenishing Pill, and he also has True Qi circulating in his body, making him already a First Grade Martial Artist. In the Great Martial Heavenly Dynasty World, when Meng Yifan wiped out the Three Great Gangs, he gained a lot of Experience Value; to complete this task, he directly used the Game Panel to add points, raising his own martial artist cultivation to a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist, and his Immortal Cultivator cultivation to a Third Grade Middle Stage Cultivator.

With thick True Qi in his body and a powerful Divine Soul, practicing Taiji Fist again became much easier; he could easily mobilize True Qi to coordinate with Taiji Fist, and with every move and posture, he could unleash tremendous power.

"Cloud Hands!" Meng Yifan swung his hands left and right, his True Qi billowing, actually causing the air to vibrate.

The windows and doors in the room were tightly closed, but as Meng Yifan's hands swung, bursts of whistling sounds came from within the room, and the curtains swayed along with them, as if there were a powerful attractive force between Meng Yifan's hands.

"Turn and Parry and Block Punch!" Meng Yifan turned to the right, and then his fist, like a cannonball leaving the chamber, struck out fiercely.

"Bang!" An air explosion sound came from the air, and a vase two meters away from Meng Yifan was hit as if by a Big Iron Hammer, shattering violently.

Meng Yifan gave a bitter smile and slowly withdrew his energy; it seems he cannot practice Taiji Fist in the room in the future, otherwise the destructive power is too great.

Meng Yifan called a waiter to clean up and paid five hundred yuan in compensation; he knew he might have been ripped off, as a broken vase certainly wasn't worth five hundred yuan, but he was about to earn 2.5 million, so he didn't care about such small money as five hundred yuan.

Half an hour later, Jiang Hailong arrived at the hotel where Meng Yifan was staying; the two comrades-in-arms reunited, both feeling incredibly excited.

They chatted about their different experiences after parting, and then the two went out and headed toward Qinglong Villa, which was the interview location requested by the employer.

Qinglong Villa is located on the mountainside of Qinglong Mountain and belongs to a private estate; the scenery here is picturesque, with winding paths leading to secluded spots, birds singing and flowers fragrant, making one feel relaxed and happy.

Meng Yifan and Jiang Hailong arrived at Qinglong Villa, stated their purpose, and were led by staff to the Martial Arts Arena behind the villa, where more than twenty people had already gathered; they were all people who wanted to take on this task.

Meng Yifan looked at this group of people and found that there were people of all skin colors; these people had different skin colors, heights, and builds, but they had one common characteristic: they all had a thick, baleful aura on them, and one look told him that this group of people were all mass murderers.

Their gazes when looking at people were extremely cold, as if they were looking at a dead person.

Meng Yifan and Jiang Hailong were no pushovers either; having been mercenaries for so many years, the two of them had also killed many people and had a murderous aura on them. This group also discovered that Meng Yifan and his companion were not to be trifled with, so no one came up to provoke them.

Another half hour passed, and seven or eight more people arrived one after another; the agreed-upon deadline arrived, the gates of Qinglong Villa closed, and no more interviewees would be let in.

A mysterious person, one meter eighty tall, wearing a black cloak and a bronze mask on his face, walked onto the high platform of the Martial Arts Arena. He said loudly, "Hello everyone, I am the employer for this mission. You may call me Guishou."

"This interview is divided into three rounds. The first round assesses unarmed combat ability. The rules of the competition are very simple: it is no-holds-barred combat. The last ten people remaining will be the winners of the first round."

"Fists and feet have no eyes; you are responsible for your own life and death. If you do not wish to participate in the competition, you may leave now."

After Guishou finished stating the competition rules, the crowd below began to discuss it heatedly. A tall white man with a burly build said in somewhat stiff Mandarin, "Mr. Guishou, I am a modern mercenary, not a medieval knight. I am better at using firearms and not good at unarmed combat."

"I think your competition rules are unfair and meaningless. We are going to complete an exploration mission, not street fighting; why do we have to compete in unarmed combat?"

"That's right, I also think competing in unarmed combat is meaningless. Why don't we just compete in firearms and see who shoots more accurately?" Someone at the scene also agreed with the white man's point of view.

Guishou remained unmoved and said coldly, "I am the employer, and I decide the competition rules. If you do not wish to participate, you may leave now. I will have the butler reimburse you for your round-trip travel expenses."