RBCT Chapter 49 Traditional Chinese martial arts are not just for show!
Chapter 49 Traditional Chinese martial arts are not just for show!
The atmosphere at the special operations team's training base was somewhat unusual.
Although the twenty disciples continued their daily, unwavering training in stance and spear thrusting, each of them wore a look of excitement and curiosity. During breaks in training, they would often huddle together in twos and threes, whispering amongst themselves.
"Have you heard? Master is going to have a martial arts duel with a master from Wudang Mountain!"
"I'd heard about it already! And it's being streamed live across the entire internet! My goodness, this is a huge commotion!"
"Wudang Mountain! That's the legendary holy land of martial arts. Aren't the immortals flying around in the movies all the same thing? Is the kung fu they use the same as what our master taught us?"
"That's definitely different! I heard that Wudang practices Tai Chi, which emphasizes using softness to overcome hardness. Our master taught us Bajiquan and Xingyiquan, which are all hard-hitting techniques. Who can win in a fight between hard and soft?"
"Nonsense, Master will definitely win! Have you forgotten how Master beat those Americans? One punch each, like it was nothing!"
"That's different. The Americans are laymen. This is a battle of experts, a 'real' challenge to our master! I've heard from people online that our master practices external martial arts, while Wudang is the true internal martial art!"
Shi Lei listened to his teammates' discussion, his brows furrowed slightly, and walked over to Tank, who was practicing bayonet fighting.
"Tank, stop training and come over here for a second."
"Captain, what's up?" Tank put down his big gun and wiped his sweat.
"Do you think Master can win this time?" Shi Lei asked in a low voice.
Tank paused for a moment, then grinned: "Captain, isn't that a pointless question? In my heart, Master is a god! Even if it were a deity descending to earth, let alone a Taoist priest from Wudang Mountain, Master would punch them back!"
Seeing the blind worship on Tank's face, Shi Lei shook his head with a wry smile.
"It's not that I don't trust Master," Shi Lei said, a hint of worry in his eyes. "I'm worried... we still know too little about Master. We've only seen him use Bajiquan and Xingyiquan, those two styles are indeed incredibly powerful. But this time, our opponent is Wudang, and their specialty is Tai Chi, which is about using softness to overcome hardness and borrowing the opponent's force. I'm afraid that Master's brute force approach might... might put him at a disadvantage."
As the most composed and meticulous among these disciples, Shi Lei thought more than the others.
He specifically went online to research a lot of information about Wudang and Tai Chi. In those videos, Tai Chi masters could make a strong man stumble and fall with a single flick of their wrists; their grappling techniques were even more difficult to defend against. That kind of skillful "using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds" seemed to be a completely different system from the "whole-body power" he was practicing.
The unknown is the most terrifying.
Just as everyone was discussing and feeling uncertain, Ma Cong walked over leisurely.
"What are you all talking about? It's so lively."
"Master!"
Upon seeing Ma Cong approach, everyone immediately fell silent and stood ramrod straight.
Ma Cong's gaze swept across their faces, taking in their varied expressions, his mind as clear as a mirror.
"Are you all worried that I'll be restrained by that Wudang Taoist's 'softness overcomes hardness' technique?" Ma Cong asked bluntly.
The disciples looked at each other, none of them daring to speak.
Shi Lei, being the boldest, stepped forward and respectfully said, "Master, it's not that we don't trust you. It's just... we know absolutely nothing about Tai Chi, and we're unsure of ourselves."
"Yes, having a thirst for knowledge is a good thing." Ma Cong nodded, not angry.
"Then tonight, I'll give you an extra lesson." Ma Cong's face revealed a mysterious smile. "I'll tell you what true Tai Chi really is."
Upon hearing this, all the disciples' eyes lit up.
……
In the evening, in the theoretical teaching room of the base.
The twenty disciples sat upright, each with a notebook and pen in front of them, like primary school students, waiting for Ma Cong's lesson.
Ma Cong stepped to the front of the stage and, without any opening remarks, went straight to the point asking, "What is your impression of Tai Chi?"
"The elderly people in the park practice it slowly and healthily," a disciple answered first.
"Use softness to overcome hardness, and borrow strength to strike back," Shi Lei added.
"Using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds, touching clothes with eighteen kinds of falls." Tank echoed, clearly having read many martial arts novels.
Ma Cong smiled after hearing this.
"What you're saying is both right and wrong."
He paused, then continued, "The Tai Chi you see in the park is just the 'body' of Tai Chi, a mere fitness framework, not even scratching the surface. What you've heard about using softness to overcome hardness and borrowing force to strike is the 'application' of Tai Chi, techniques, the surface. But true Tai Chi, at its core, has only one word—'wholeness'!"
"All of them?" The disciples were all stunned.
They were very familiar with this word.
The master taught them stance training and spear practice, and he always talked about "whole-body strength".
Is the core of Tai Chi the same as that of Xingyi and Bajiquan?
"That's right, it's 'wholeness'." Ma Cong's tone became serious. "All internal martial arts under heaven, though different, lead to the same goal. Whether it's Xingyi's hard-hitting and aggressive style, Bajiquan's fierce and explosive style, or Baguaquan's smooth and flexible style, their fundamental pursuit is to unify the power of the whole body into a single, complete and unbroken force. Tai Chi is no exception."
"Then... then why does it look so soft and slow?" the tank asked, puzzled.
"Good question." Ma Cong gave him an approving look. "That's not soft, it's 'relaxed.' It's not slow, it's 'even.'"
"The so-called 'relaxation' is not about being slack, but about removing all unnecessary stiffness and tension from the body, allowing qi and blood to flow freely within the body. When you practice standing meditation and feel comfortable all over, that is the initial stage of 'relaxation'."
"The so-called 'uniformity' means maintaining a consistent output of speed and power in any movement, neither too fast nor too slow, neither continuous nor discontinuous. This is an ultimate control over the body and strength. When you practice spear thrusting, you require the movement to be the same ten thousand times, which is to train this kind of control."
As Ma Cong spoke, he slowly performed the starting posture of Tai Chi.
His movements did appear slow and gentle, but the twenty disciples' eyelids twitched as they watched.
From their perspective, Ma Cong's body seemed to have vanished, replaced by a massive and heavy millstone. Every subtle movement he made carried an overwhelming, crushing aura.