Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 134: A Fight Between Males (Two)

“Brother Duan, could it be that you wish to assassinate him….”

When Chen Ke heard Duan Guochao’s final words, her eyebrows perked upwards. Her face had already been quite nice to look at. But because of her daily work at the Ministry of State Security where she was often working above others, there was a heroic but arrogant air to her.

But even in this unintentional movement of her eyebrows, there was a loveable charm to it so that even the tip of a cold iceberg would begin to melt into a soft snow from it.

Anyone with an eye would be able to tell with ease that this Chen Ke had developed some feelings for Duan Guochao. Naturally, with Duan Guochao being so handsome and strong in martial arts, a youth like him would obviously have female admirers.

Dong Ling sat on the other side and listened to the two talk, but he did not say anything to tease them.

“We’ll have to wait and see.” Duan Guochao had only sighed at Chen Ke’s words before slowly shutting his eyes. Seeing this, Chen Ke had a small glint of bitterness flash by.

“Abott Shi Yongxin has strictly forbidden the men of Shaolin Temple getting involved with the government, instead, we are to only do things that correlate to economy and learning martial arts. However, our Shaolin Temple has many disciples who have joined the government of their country, or joined the business world, or gone overseas to become a movie star, thus creating a tangled nest of roots. The amount of power has grown, and so has our influence. Such a rise like this would be impossible to avoid the jealousy or hatred of others. The military is cultivating an expert of martial arts and is also borrowing the prestige of the Laoshan Daoists to open up shop. This is clearly a plan to develop and expand their influence. Their plan is to continue growing for several dozen years so that they can crush our Shaolin, or perhaps to claim themselves as an equal. This time, the two shishu of mine were quite stupid, just how could they allow themselves to be used as tools? However, if our Shaolin Temple is to be said to be a great tree, it cannot avoid having several leaves or branches trimmed down.”

Although Duan Guochao’s eyes were shut as if resting, his heart was billowing with waves of emotions.

“The Ministry of State Security has handed me a poor meal to eat. Combined with my bad relationship with the minister, I should find an opportunity later to commit a big enough mistake to leave and find another way of work to live a peaceful life. I’ll see just how strong this expert the Military Commission has hired is, will he have the potential to pose a threat to my Shaolin Temple later? If so, I will have to take a chance and assassinate him. This, I can at the very least do for the sect of my master.”

With this determination and plan, Duan Guochao let out a long and empty sigh.

As a disciple of the Shaolin Temple, his famous moniker of “National Arhat” had been given to him before he had even reached 30 years old. Joining the Ministry of State Security, he had been given dangerous mission after dangerous mission and fought with many experts in the shadows. With these experiences, he had been tempered into a dangerous individual with a potent level of martial arts. Naturally, he did not place Wang Chao as a worthy opponent in his eyes.

Wang Chao had only just recently made a name for himself, and that was only within the Southeast Asia world of martial arts. Ye Xuan’s defeat and death at the hands of Wang Chao was something Duan Guochao had known about, but he did not think of it to be anything important.

The battle between Wang Chao and Ye Xuan in Manchuria was something Duan Guochao had heard about. From his information, he heard that the two of them had fought to exhaustion.

Ye Xuan was the disciple of the number one martial artist in the Japanese martial arts world, Iga Minamoto. As Duan Guochao hypothesized, he was an opponent that was equal to Iga Minamoto, so how could he place the disciple of Iga Minamoto on the same level as his master?

So on this airplane ride, he had made a decision. If this Wang Chao were to show promise, then at the time of greeting, Duan Guochao would make use of his Hidden Jin to injure him to ensure that his martial arts would never progress.

It would be the same as when Wang Chao use the Eagle Claw and Hidden Jin to injure Miyagi Hanshin so that he had pissed blood six days later.

Despite Duan Guochao entering the Ministry of State Security for many years, his unyielding state of mind had never worn away. Because of this, he would talk back to the leaders of the ministry and earned himself some hatred.

Because of his skill and the support he got from the Shaolin Temple, he hadn’t ever worried much. In the end, he was given many shoes to wear if needed.

It was because of this that Duan Guochao had wanted to live a peaceful life after his departure from the Ministry of State Security.

Because of his ability, once he left, there would definitely be a huge explosion.

The Ministry of State Security wasn’t a food market where one could stay if they want, or leave if they wished. That was why Duan Guochao had prepared to make a mistake that would help him find another disciple of the Shaolin Temple. With his fellow disciples, he would find help from them.

“At worst, I’ll be in prison for three to five years. When I get out, I won’t even break past my thirties. In prison I can practice martial arts as I please without any other care.” The mistake Duan Guochao wanted to commit would involve only Wang Chao.

He hadn’t thought Wang Chao to be a threat at all in fact.

Indeed, Wang Chao’s history and past opponents hadn’t been worth Duan Guochao’s notice either.

“Xuuu! As things stand now, a step is still a step. While the annoyances tied around me is qutie messy, I still have my own principle. As long as this principle is not broken, I will walk. If this principle is broken, then whatever I need to give up, I will give up.”

In his own room, Wang Chao’s heart was in a mess. All sort of thoughts came to mind, like the worry of what he would have to do in the future. Everything had been like a heavy boulder that began to weigh upon his heart.

But he was a person of decision and wisdom, not a person of indecisiveness and slow-thinking. He would give himself an underline to calm himself.

“Huu!” Working around the dantian and abdomen so that his breath went from lungs to his throat, Wang Chao began to calm down and exhale.

This breath was seemingly trying to take all his worries and confusion out from his body and spat out. Even the tea cup on his table had been blown away by the wind. Falling from the table, it crashed and shattered across the ground.

At this sound, Wang Chao had jolted awake with bewilderment. Seeing the shattered blanc de chine teacup, he slowly calmed his heart down once more.

“This martial arts I have, all of it was given to me from her. My life had been turned upside down on that snowy morning. Even if the organization wishes for me to fight her, I will not. In guoshu, the heart lies within the country, and the hand lies within the technique. But this country is the country of the people. It is not the country of a family, a gender, or a sect.”

Standing up, the five fingers on both hands forked open. With a sudden burst of Jin, his fingers clenched down to form a fist and explode with a series of crackling sounds. The entire room seemed to have been struck by a gust of wind that rattled the windows and blew the bedsheets on the bed so that it resembled a hunting banner that danced in the wind.

This burst of Jin had unexpectedly reached such a degree of power.

In the past, when Li Shuwen practiced martial arts in his room. If he were to stand in the center and let loose his Jin, then the wind created by it would shred apart the paper screens to the windows.

With Wang Chao’s currently strong muscles and bones, his burst of Jin was gradually becoming on the same level of strength as the Bajiquan grandmaster.

In this reveal of strength, Wang Chao’s joints had let loose a chain of cracking sounds as if the many ropes of annoyances tying him down were splitting up one by one.

In this manner of “Rooster Ruffling Feathers”, he had suddenly realized each muscle and bone, each piece of flesh around his inner organs, everything was chaining together like a steel plate.

“Only by dispelling the many thoughts in one’s heart will one be able to reveal the most powerful of strengths. It is no wonder that in Singapore, the soft and hard Jin of the Hidden and Clear Jin had been learnt in all but my face and genitals. But after being in the sea for so long, my martial arts may have been pure, and I was able to make use of the hard rotation Jin from Taichi, I was not able to bring that power throughout my entire body. I was not able to enter the Transforming Jin. Everything was due to the obstacles in my intent.”

The sky outside was starting to grow dark and a shroud of darkness began to cover Hong Kong. But the city had plenty of bright lights shining throughout. However, whatever the state of the light outside his window, Wang Chao did not pay attention to it at all.

Putting down the burdens in his heart, Wang Chao had let loose a burst of Jin throughout his body so that all the hair on his body had jetted out like a porcupine. Even his face and genitals had felt this series of power run through it.

Wang Chao knew that this chain of power running through his body was similar to the realm of Transformation. Although it was not the same as truly achieving Transforming Jin, as long as he had this sensation, then his later attempts to train and enter the Transforming Jin realm would come sooner or later.

This was the experienced he had accumulated after months of practicing underwater. Now that his heart had let go of his burdens, he had achieved that halo of enlightenment which brought him to the result he had now.

Although he had inadvertently brought the sensation of power running through his face and genitals by randomly bursting out with Jin, this was only a happenstance. In an actual battle, this would do nothing to increase his fighting ability.

Understanding was one matter. Increasing one’s martial arts required depending on this understanding to practice bitterly day in and day out so that the entire heart would be engrossed and tempered. With this, the halo of enlightenment would be had and transform into something one could truly have.

In a moment of enlightenment, the skill of martial arts would jump before then to be beaten by someone and understand the universe, such a person did not exist.

However, Wang Chao had thrown away his worries, causing himself to feel free from worry.

That night, Wang Chao did not practice. Instead, he slept in peace and comfort.

The next morning, Wang Chao had washed his face before practicing his martial arts for half an hour before Lin Yanan had arrived.

“We just received a call. The people from the Ministry of State Security arrived in Hong Kong last night. This morning, they will head on over and wait in the military admission lounge. Commissar Yang said for you to go receive them.”

“Oh? I will go then.” Wang Chao had been extremely curious about the number one disciple of the Shaolin Temple. Immediately nodding his head, he walked out of his room to reach the admission lounge.

Entering the lounge, Wang Chao immediately saw the two males and female sitting on the sofa to the side.

Duan Guochao was wearing white colored sportswear. Even just sitting down, he had been quite conspicuous. With his own eyes, Wang Chao had begun to observe the Shaolin expert nicknamed the “National Arhat”.

Wang Chao’s footsteps had instantly alerted Duan Guochao to him. Tilting his head upwards, Duan Guochao looked over to Wang Chao before adopting a serious expression.