Island: Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 2

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Chapter 2: That Type of Posture Truly Made People Feel Embarrassed
>>Part 2<<

This scene wasn’t good at all. Chen Luonian’s brain went blink for a moment as he said, “Uncle, you’ve returned?”

“Uncle!” Huai Zhen also called with a languid expression on her face as her seductive charm overflowed.

Chen Shangshan’s face couldn’t help but turn red upon seeing this. He froze for several seconds and finally managed to shift his gaze away. Then, he furrowed his brows as he closed the door before heading towards his own room. “Something big has happened today, so the movie shooting has been temporarily paused. Nothing happened to you two, right?”

“We’re fine.” Seeing that Chen Shangshan was heading into the room to change, Chen Luonian hastily lowered his voice to say, “Are you still not getting up!? Didn’t you say you would pay attention to the surroundings?”

“It was so comfortable I got lazy——” Huai Zhen said coquettishly. “In any case, I’m wearing clothes both on top and on bottom, so isn’t it fine? It’s not like your uncle would do anything. Scratch me a little more.”

“I’ll help you scratch later. Shoo, shoo.” Chen Luonian wasn’t the slightly bit romantic at all and directly pushed Huai Zhen off his thigh.

“Oww! Stinkin’ brat!” Huai Zhen, who fell onto the floor, got angry. She leapt up and pushed Chen Luonian down.

It’s this again. Everytime Chen Luonian was pressed down by her weight like this, he’d find it impossible to even budge. He was just considering admitting defeat when Chen Shangshan’s room opened and he walked out.

Chen Shangshan had already gotten changed. As he looked at the two that were pressed together, he hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do you guys know of the martial dao schools?”

“Stinkin’ fox, hurry and let go!” Chen Luonian cursed quietly before he replied, “What about the martial dao schools?”

“Not letting go. I’ll let go when you agree to scratch me.” Huai Zhen said in a low voice before turning back with a smile to say, “Right now the martial dao schools are very popular ah. Of course we’ve heard.”

“I was just asking casually. A lot of scripts that were related to the martial dao schools were sent up…” Chen Shangshan said, “These people always think that as long as they get in on the action, they’d be able to earn money… It’s nothing. I’m going out to drink a little. I’ll probably come back here to sleep for the next couple days.”

“Oh.” Chen Luonian, who couldn’t move a single muscle, could only say, “Uncle, take care.”

“Uncle, take care.” Huai Zhen also smiled.

Chen Shangshan looked at the two and seriously didn’t know what he should say, so he could only turn around and head outside. He opened the door and suddenly found one unfamiliar boy and girl standing in front of him.

The two’s line of sight moved past Chen Shangshan to look inwards and met head on with the eyes of Chen Luonian and Huai Zhen who were pressed together on the sofa. Huai Zhen froze for a moment. In the next second, she suddenly jumped up, smiled towards everyone, then turned without a word and slipped into the room.

Stinkin’ fox! She slips off rather fast in times like this… Speaking of which, why would these two be here together? Chen Luonian awkwardly got up and tidied up his clothes as he walked forward. “Uncle, they’re looking for me.”

“Huh?” Chen Shangshan looked at the outfits the two at the door were wearing. As he looked at the boy, he asked with a surprised tone, “This is a martial dao school’s outfit?”

“Yes.” The boy with a square-shaped face wearing white clothes and a black robe slightly nodded as he said, “From Li Sect of the martial dao schools, Li Han.” This person was precisely that expert from Li Sect who had fought side by side with Chen Luonian earlier.

The girl next to him was actually wearing West High School’s student uniform. For some unknown reason, her face was red and she spaced out for a moment before copying the boy. “From Bai Sect of the martial dao schools, Ye Weishan.”

Chen Shangshan was originally only casually asking. He didn’t expect to find out that the two were really members of martial dao schools. He was slightly stunned before he turned back to ask Chen Luonian, “They’re really people from martial dao schools? You know them?”

“En.” Chen Luonian nodded.

“Then… please enter.” Chen Shangshan started getting interested and asked, “Are you looking for Luonian for something? Is it alright if I’m around?”

“You must be Mister Chen Shangshan? If the guardian is present, that would be best.” Li Han exposed a polite slight smile as he said, “Please be sure to stay.”

From the start, Chen Shangshan wanted to find out what was going on. So naturally, at this time, he didn’t bother to be polite and returned to the living room as he invited the two to sit down.

Ye Weishan kept her head lowered the entire time after she entered, unable to bring herself to meet Chen Luonian’s eyes. However, she couldn’t help but occasionally sneak a peek at him, her gaze filled with endless confusion. She has always believed that Huai Zhen really was Chen Luonian’s biological older sister, but their posture earlier was really too intimate. It was hard for a person not to jump to other conclusions… And it didn’t matter if they were siblings. Wasn’t that posture earlier way too embarrassing? How could high school students do this kind of thing!? And there’s even an adult at home! When she thought to here, Ye Weishan couldn’t help but also shoot Chen Shangshan a glare.

Chen Luonian naturally knew what she was thinking, but this wasn’t the time to explain so he could only ignore it.

However, Li Han actually ended up mentioning the pot that didn’t boil. The first words that came out of his mouth after he sat down was: “To the extent of my knowledge, there’s only the two of you living in this house. It seems you two don’t have any other relatives, so that miss earlier…?”

Seeing that Chen Luonian was struck dumb, Chen Shangshan replied with a very natural tone, “She’s Luonian’s girlfriend.”

As expected, they weren’t siblings! Ye Weishan finally couldn’t restrain herself anymore and glared at Chen Luonian. Chen Luonian could only shift his eyes away and pretend that he didn’t see anything.

“Are you two not very busy today?” Chen Shangshan asked, “What matter was it that brought the two of you all the way here?”

“Indeed, there is an important matter.” Li Han nodded. His gaze then shifted towards Chen Luonian as he said, “Then I’ll just ask directly. Little Bro Luonian, which sect are you from?”

“What sect?” Chen Luonian blanked out for a moment before he realized what Li Han meant. Then, he shook his head as he said, “I’m not from any sect, I’ve just practiced a little bit of martial arts before.”

“Practiced martial arts before?” Li Han smiled. “Then how are you able to see through monster qi? Not to mention, your movements are very straightforward, unlike usual martial art styles. There’s two possibilities——if it’s not the style of some martial dao school, then it means you’ve never practiced martial arts before.”

What did this mean? Chen Luonian was slightly stunned. However, before he could ask, Chen Shangshan had already started speaking in a puzzled tone. “People say that the martial dao schools stem from ancient martial arts sects. That to this day, they’ve inherited the double cultivation method from the martial arts of the late Han dynasty and already has close to two thousand years of history. There’s even more people that say that the reason so many famous general had appeared during the Three Kingdoms era was linked to the fact that marital dao schools were so prevalent at that time. How could martial arts like this seem the same as having no martial arts?”

How did this spread and actually pull the Three Kingdoms into it? Unless the famous generals, Guan Yu and Lu Bu had also gone through Bian Ti and practice martial arts with qi? Fuck! Could it be real? Otherwise, why were no strange creatures like that produced in the later generations? Chen Luonian’s imagination ran wild as he inwardly found it funny. However, at the same time, he couldn’t very well laugh right now.

“It’s not double cultivation method, it’s the method of entering martial arts through way of the dao,” Ye Weishan interrupted with a mild tone.

“In reality, saying double cultivation method isn’t that far off,” Li Han said with a slight smile.

“That’s you guys.” Ye Weishan refused to yield. “The martial dao schools do not only consist of the Jian Xiu(basically double cultivation) fraction.”

“That’s true.” Li Han lightly waved his hand, expressing that he didn’t want to keep arguing. Then, he turned towards Chen Shangshan and said, “Pardon me, it’s true that ‘entering martial arts through way of the dao’ is more precise.”

“I see, please continue.” Chen Shangshan took out a little notebook and started taking notes on it.

“The past history and legacy has already died out. It can no longer be ascertained how many of the later Han actually learned the method of entering martial arts through the way of the dao,” Li Han said seriously. “However, martial dao schools do have one distinguishing characteristic, which is that they don’t attach importance to posture and physique. For example… there’s no so-called ‘Horse and Bow Stances’(More Info) and no so-called ‘Frame’. The three points that it focuses on is to be fast, accurate, and vicious. If accuracy and speed is ignored, the fighting style would look very similar to those who have never practiced martial arts before.”

“Can you explain why that’s so?” This was Chen Shangshan’s first time hearing a martial dao member explain their own martial arts style so he couldn’t help but ask about more.

“Has Mister Chen heard about the qi gong(炁功) of the martial dao schools?” Li Han asked.

“Of course.” Chen Shangshan said. “I heard it’s written differently from the usual qi gong(氣功)?”

“En. It actually has the same pronunciation and the same meaning. However, using this word expresses its meaning even more accurately.” Li Han changed the topic and said, “With usual martial arts, in the retract and release process, it places heavy emphasis on the linkage and rotation points of the body, using the principle of leverage to bring out the body’s full power.T/N After many millenniums of adjustment and development, some especially stable postures, positions in which it’s easy to borrow and release power, or especially easy movements to dodge were found and became the standard. From that, different styles started to form… For instance, an ordinary person that has never gone through training can bring out forty or fifty catties of power with a casual punch. However, if his posture is correct and he immediately sinks his waist, gathering all the power in his body together, it probably wouldn’t be hard to bring out more than a hundred catties of power; with defense it’s also the same. With the appropriate posture, one can bear a greater amount of force. This is the typical martial arts style that doesn’t utilize qi(炁). It uses the attack and defense principle.”

What’s the use of saying so much? T/N2 Ye Weishan glanced at Li Han. However, to tell the truth, although Ye Weishan belonged to the martial dao schools, she didn’t understand these things so she was quite interested in continuing to listen.

Chen Shangshan repeatedly nodded while asking, “So it’s like that. Then why are the martial dao schools different?”

“I’ll explain using the same example.” Li Han said. “After learning the qi gong of the martial dao schools, as long as one uses qi to move their strength, one can increase their strength by a thousand catties. If casually swinging your hand can create an output of one thousand and thirty catties while lowering your waist can increase the output to one thousand one hundred, the difference is next to nothing. If casually swinging your hand is faster, of course one would choose to do it casually rather than pay attention to the forms and proper stances, right?”

“One thousand…?” Chen Shangshan was stunned.

“It’s just an example. There is naturally a connection with one’s physique and cultivation.”

“I see…” Then Chen Shangshan asked, “That’s not right, I once heard that other martial also have qi gong but they don’t have this sort of theory.”

“This is the special characteristic of entering martial arts through the way of the dao.” Li Han said. “Admittedly, other sects also cultivate qi gong. However, they start cultivating from a tiny bit of qi xi and slowly make steady progress. Due to this, they might never be able to attain the realm of the disciples of martial dao schools. There’s even less chance for them to obtain formidable power greater than that of flesh in ten or twenty years… Those styles do have their own value. It’s just that the members of the martial dao schools have no use for it.”

When Li Han got to here, he turned towards Ye Weishan with a slight smile. “The Bai Sect should also be very clear about these matters. However, why does Miss Ye seem a bit puzzled?”

She didn’t know, alright? Just as Ye Weishan was starting to feel angry, she heard Chen Luonian say, “Bai Sect is of the Zhuan Xiu(single specialization) Fraction and Weishan specializes in outer qi. It’s normal for her to be uninterested and unaware of stances and movements. However, Yixin is very well aware of them.”

Seeing everyone’s eyes shot towards him, Chen Luonian directly said, “Yixin was the one who taught me this dagger style. That’s why my movements would seem like that of martial dao schools.”

“It’s true that I don’t sense qi xi from you,” Li Han said with a serious expression. “However, your strength and speed are vastly different from those of ordinary humans, to the point you seem like someone that has already gone through Bian Ti. Also, you haven’t explained how you could see through monster qi. How could a person that hasn’t gone through Bian Ti sense monster qi? Back when we were fighting together, I was borrowing the power of the qi so my movement speed was much faster than yours. However, it seemed as if you didn’t need to observe at all and was able to strike the critical points of monsters dead on with a casual strike. In the end, the amount of monsters you killed actually didn’t lose to me. Unless you are highly sensitive to monster qi, how could you have managed that?”

“What?” Chen Shangshan looked at Chen Luonian with wide eyes. “You went to fight monsters? And even killed a lot?”

“It was just a few. I happened to encounter them so there was no other choice…” Chen Luonian felt a bit of a headache and didn’t know how he should explain. Once he starts feeling bothered, he gets annoyed. And once he felt annoyed, he loses his patience. And it’s unknown if it was on purpose or not, but Li Han seemed to have used his words to sting Ye Weishan just now, which also caused Chen Luonian to be rather unhappy. Chen Luonian stopped smiling and said, “Why must I give you an explanation? No matter what you think, it has nothing to do with me. I don’t want to talk anymore, please leave.”

“Luonian?” Chen Shangshan called, surprised.

“Uncle, I did kill monsters, but this isn’t doing anything bad. There’s no reason why I should have to give someone an explanation.” Chen Luonian turned towards Ye Weishan and his expression relaxed a little as he said, “If we don’t talk about this, I welcome you to sit a little longer.” Chen Luonian was too lazy to even bother saying any polite words to Li Han.

Li Han didn’t expect to suddenly receive such an attack and was dumbfounded for a moment. Ye Weishan, on the other hand, secretly found it funny. She already knew that Chen Luonian had quite a large temper, but she didn’t expect it to flare up this quickly. When she recalled that Chen Luonian spoke up for her a little before he got angry, she couldn’t help but feel a bit moved. However, due to the fact that their positions were different, there was an additional subtle feeling.

However, Li Han also wasn’t someone that was easy to deal with. After he deliberated for a few moments, he also stopped smiling and said, “Since polite words are useless, then I’ll just say it directly.”

__________

Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Proofread by Yours Truly

[Chiyomira’s Corner]
T/N – Not sure if it helps clarify, but at one of the martial arts schools that I attended, they used the ‘retract and release process’. So basically, they taught us that rotation adds power to your movements and the way to add rotation is to utilize different parts of your body to move like a whip. With a single punch, starting from the hand, your hand should be relaxed to the last instant before you make contact in order to increase your speed and add extra power. Upon making contact, it should rotate a little to also add extra power. Moving up, your arm should be relaxed, when making contact it should be slightly bent in order to distribute the opposite force. Then, your shoulder is a rotation point. You should move your shoulder back before you punch and swing it forward as you punch.
Your entire arm should move like a whip because when you visualize swinging a staff to hit a punching bag versus, swinging a whip, which requires more force from you in order to hit the punching bag? And also, which hurts your hand more from the rebounding power? So the Master taught that we should punch moving our bodies like whips because we exert less force while concentrating most of our bodies’ force into a single point rather than spread it out stiffly along the stiff arm and stuff. At the same time, relaxing afterwards would distribute and dissipate the rebounding power more.
So then, there’s also the waist as a very important rotation point. However, the waist can only rotate freely without causing you to lose your balance if you sink down a little, so all stances are usually a little lowered and depend a lot on your leg muscles.
That’s pretty much all I learned lol. Basically, at that martial arts school, speed and rotation were emphasized more heavily because the idea was that by making it easier to move your body through relaxing until the last moment, you can eventually divert most of your strength into the single punch rather than spreading it out due to the energy you need to force your body to move fast. It still uses a lot of facilitating stances though.
In karate, I believe that posture and stances were the most heavily emphasized. Once you train your body to move the right way, speed is then added on. There is some rotation involved as with that martial arts, but the movements are rigid and rather stiff.
T/N2 – Yeah! Chiyo’s already drowning in a puddle of tears from all this hard stuff. But, *looks above* I guess I said quite a lot too. It’s so much easier when you know what you’re talking about. 🙁

 

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