Romance of Dragons and Snakes Chapter 53

 A mind like a newborn, a willpower like iron (Third)

By the time w.a.n.g Chao had crossed into the mountains, it was already June in both time and weather. Despite the dampness, it was stifling hot. There was also the occasional rain that made its way to the bottom of the forests, creating a stinky yet black mud.

Within the muddy waters of these branches were several snakes that roamed about it with reckless abandon. Several of these snakes had flat heads or had triangular heads. Some were black, dark green, or black and white, but w.a.n.g Chao could tell that every single one of these snakes were poisonous.

For the sake of protecting himself against any snake bites, w.a.n.g Chao treaded carefully down the path. Sealing his pores and having his hair stand on its ends, they were like radars that would sense for any snake nearby.

He was still wearing a conical bamboo hat, raincoat, and straw sandals, but there was also the new addition of a bamboo staff. The original bamboo hat, raincoat, and straw sandals had long since been ruined before, and it was only in Sichuan that he had bought a new replacement.

From the very first day, w.a.n.g Chao had felt a deep connection with these three items.

That was because even as he wore them on his journey, he couldn’t sensed a single tint of the current generation smell to them; it was very pure in spirit.

“With a straw cape and a straw hat through mist and rain, I’ll walk through life’s journey again and again.” w.a.n.g Chao thought. He had already washed away any other foreign feel to it.

After a whole day of walking, w.a.n.g Chao had already traveled half of the mountain by the second morning. Looking around himself, he could see that further down the road, the cities and rivers were all tiny and hazy like on a painting scroll. If anyone were to see this, they would treat it as a fantasy.

Suddenly, the bright wheel of fire that was the sun loomed overhead, illuminating the path behind him.

“The strong pa.s.s of the enemy is like iron, yet with firm strides, I will reach the summit.”

w.a.n.g Chao’s mind suddenly thought of a valiant phrase.

His mind had the idea of “walking through life’s journeys again and again”, while his will had the firmness of the “reaching the summit of the enemy’s iron-like pa.s.s.” With this mind and will, his muscles and pores began to soften and harden, just the way Yin and Yang was composed.

Facing the direction of the sun, he took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling.

The sun was already high in the sky, burning the stones he was standing on. Laying out some cloth on the flat rocks, w.a.n.g Chao sat comfortably on it and began to rest.

This was the halfway point up the mountain, but there was still a long way to go until the very top. As he traveled to the top, the more severe the snow and terrain became. If he wanted to cross this, then even if he had nine lives, he wouldn’t be able to with his current body. Right now, he needed to improve it.

After some time, w.a.n.g Chao began to feel a chill in the air. Waking up from his dreamful slumber, he tilted his head upwards to the sky only to find that the sun had descended with dark clouds rolling in. A cold wind was starting to blow in as well, chilling his body with each pa.s.sing second.

His clothes had long since been dried from the sun. Putting them on, w.a.n.g Chao took out some rice dumplings, some dried vegetables, and a bamboo tube of water. With these rations, he searched for some dried up branches and quickly started a fire to warm up his food. In no time at all, the smell of rice could be smelled rising into the air.

Cooking the dried vegetables, he quickly devoured the food and drank the water. With a small exercise of the body, he felt his energy rise back up to completion.

Rumble! Just then, the deafening sounds of thunder could be heard as a bolt of lightning jolted through the air like a silver snake.

Without delay, w.a.n.g Chao found a stone cover to hide under. It wasn’t big, but it could easily fit two people in there and was enough for him to hide from the rain.

Without another thunder clap, the rain began to cast downwards heavily.

Bang! Another thunderclap could be heard as even the mountains shook. There was a lingering echo after the lightning struck as if it was traveling around the mountains.

As w.a.n.g Chao listened to the sounds of thunder, he gradually thought about the Tiger’s Thunder that could refine the marrow.

As a result, he began to subconsciously shake his entire body frame and bones.

The trembling technique from the Tiger’s Thunder was still fresh on his mind when sis Chen had tried it on him two years ago. However, at the time, he wasn’t able to shake his striated muscles to such a degree before.

But now, he could feel that trembling sensation without much difficulty.

That was when w.a.n.g Chao knew. In this half a year journey, his martial arts had reached a realm where his Jin could move about delicately and in a detailed manner.

In the midsts of this slow trembling, w.a.n.g Chao’s ears could heard the gradual yet rhythmic tempo of his bones humming along with the blood in his veins like the sound of a fountain spring. In fact, there was a surprisingly similar sound to the outside thunder.

The intense downpour and the constant thunderclaps could be heard by w.a.n.g Chao clearly. Closing his eyes and clearing his mind, he began to synchronize the sounds of thunder with the vibrations within his body and imitate it.

Finally, w.a.n.g Chao could gradually feel that the vibrational sounds within his body was exactly similar to the sounds of thunder right outside; there was no telling apart which from what.

After an unknown amount of time, the thunder began to recede along with the pitter patter of the rain, allowing a ray of light to make its way into the closed eyes of w.a.n.g Chao.

Opening his eyes, w.a.n.g Chao walked out only to see the sun rising from the east and the river below flowing freely. It was yet another morning!

Because of the early morning rain, the weather was clear and the forest in the mountains looked especially lush. It was so green, w.a.n.g Chao felt that juice could come out at any moment.

“Yin and Yang mix together to form thunder, and when the thunder leaves the mountain, everything flourishes.”

Then, w.a.n.g Chao came to a realization. “A mind as pure as a newborn and a will as strong as iron. The muscles as soft as cotton, the pores as powerful as a bullet. This inner and outer contrast are the result of Yin and Yang. How cooperative yesterday was, with that, the world was explained. With the thunder, I was able to draw out the sounds of thunder in my own body. The previously abstruse mystery has become a truth far too wonderful for words.”

Exercising his body, w.a.n.g Chao began a new set of drills. It wasn’t too long after that he had realized his movements were far superior in terms of stability and efficiency compared to yesterday.

Without the use of Jin, he felt as if he was a floating cloud that was carefreely floating away.

With Jin, he was a meteorite streaking towards the ground with both power and vigor.

Swinging his arms and kicking his legs, they exploded with a crisp sound like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter.

“I have succeeded in bringing the Clear Jin up to a complete mastery.”

w.a.n.g Chao knew that in this bitter ascetic journey, w.a.n.g Chao had stripped away from the noisy mundane world and purified his heart. At the same time, his will had been impressed by the pa.s.sion of the previous century and shaped up to become as strong as iron.

When the conditions are right, success will follow. With the thunderstorm from yesterday, he had managed to tame that sound to temper his entire physique.

This too was a scripture in the way of the fist, “Chain Linking”.

At this stage, one could be considered to have mastered the Clear Jin.

If he hadn’t gone through such an ascetic training for half a year, w.a.n.g Chao would have never reached such a result like this or come in contact with thunder. If he were to stick around in the mundane world and face the noisy mess that came with interpersonal relations.h.i.+ps and lifestyles, w.a.n.g Chao didn’t know how long it would take to attain the same results.

It would be possible that his spirit would have been further polluted. His mind would have been thrown in disarray. His heart impure, murky and unclean. He would have never understood.

Standing upright and welcoming the tranquility for a moment, w.a.n.g Chao donned his raincoat, sandals, and hat once more and began to climb.

The mountains of Sichuan were relentlessly tall. The rain and mist would only be seen halfway. From the halfway up point, it would only snow. After half a day, w.a.n.g Chao had reached the uninhabited parts of the mountain where the path was in particularly precipitous. There was no other choice but to use the hands and legs to climb.

w.a.n.g Chao’s hands continued to make contact with the icy snow as he climbed, the frost permeating into his body. Even before he could make it to the top, his hands were already numb with cold.

Fortunately he had experienced the dangers of walking on icy grounding before. Sprinkling water on the ground from his bamboo tube, w.a.n.g Chao could continue to walk without any danger to be had.

Because of the wind, it felt as if it was the wintry twelfth lunar month instead of June. Snowflakes could be seen rolling about in the sky as w.a.n.g Chao continued to sprinkle his path with water to avoid falling to his death.

In this vast expanse of snow, no other color could be seen. Looking down, he couldn’t even see the road. Unable to go up and unable to go down, this would strike fear in anyone’s heart.

Taking off his raincoat, w.a.n.g Chao could only feel a cold he had never felt before. His entire body looked as if it was locked up to form an icy sculpture, but with the dark skies, that much couldn’t be seen clearly. All he could do now was to stop moving in order to avoid plummeting to his death.

Finding a depression in the wall to hole up against the wind, he wrapped himself up in a raincoat and began to eat some food and drink some water before recuperating his strength.

The night never seemed to end, the anxiety from waiting was tormenting w.a.n.g Chao. With the pitch-dark skies and the whistling winds, w.a.n.g Chao began to doubt, when would light come? Would he be able to survive before making his way down this mountain?

Desolation, cold, squalls, waiting, nighttime, fatigue, rigidness of his body, all these factors had begun to lead w.a.n.g Chao into feeling some despair.

“During the year of the Long March of the Red Army, they had managed to transverse this mountain. Their physiques were probably worse than mine and had straw sandals as well. But they had no specialized equipment and were still able to do it. A miracle doesn’t even come close to describing it. If they were able to, just what reason would I not be able to do the same?”

Thinking to how this was no dead end if there had been people who had climbed this pa.s.s before, w.a.n.g Chao’s grievances had been cleared away in an instant.

“It seems my willpower wasn’t as impregnable as I thought.” w.a.n.g Chao sighed. For the sake of making sure he didn’t actually become an ice sculpture, his body continued to tremble as it replicated that thunder clap sound.

After several bitter days, w.a.n.g Chao had pulled his spirits back up and continued to trek upwards steadily. Although he could see the road, it was still hard to travel up it.

After two days and one night of battling it out with death in order to survive, w.a.n.g Chao had finally made it over the snowy mountains. The mountains continued onwards, and down below at the edge of it, a tourist spot could be seen. However, w.a.n.g Chao ignored that and continued to travel down the unmanned path towards the nearest town.

This trip had led w.a.n.g Chao on a teetering path between life or death many times. But with each feeling of despair he felt, he had learned another lesson.

After resting for several days, w.a.n.g Chao set out for the next snowy mountain.

With this experience, he had climbing a snowy mountain under his belt now.

Every single time he had crossed yet another snowy peak, w.a.n.g Chao felt his willpower and mind increase in fort.i.tude. At the very end, he had even felt that there was nothing in the world that could shake him from his will and mind.

By September, w.a.n.g Chao had finally made his way out from Sichuan and was just about to cross over into the gra.s.sy fields of Tibet.

While the gra.s.slands wasn’t as difficult as the mountains, it was still nonetheless difficult to travel. With a single misstep, a traveler would find themselves in a marsh. On the road, if a person were to step into the mud, they would find out that the hole was knee deep. Every step had to be carefully calculated as if they were on thin ice.

With a stick in hand, w.a.n.g Chao would occasionally jab at the ground so as to avoid these marshes.

Walking across the gra.s.slands, one had to be calm without deviation as if walking on a tightrope.

w.a.n.g Chao was still carrying several rice dumplings, dried vegetables, and water. He was lightly dressed now, but because of the mud, the straw sandals had been useless, causing w.a.n.g Chao to go barefoot.

There would sometimes be downpour or even a hailstorm. Sometimes, there was just the sun bearing heavily down on w.a.n.g Chao without any shelter in sight.

But w.a.n.g Chao was determined and his willpower never wavered almost as if he was a statue. All that would happen was w.a.n.g Chao’s rhythmic step forward.

His clothes had long since ripped apart so that there was a piece missing here, and a piece missing there. Even the most dest.i.tute of beggars would not look any worse off.

But underneath the ripped clothes was a solid steel like body.

By the fifth day of entering the gra.s.slands, w.a.n.g Chao had run out of both food and water. The hard-pressed times that the Red Army had felt was now something he could feel.

But there was never a time he wavered. His mind and will had continued to grow strong enough to lift even the continent itself. When he was thirsty, he would lift his head up and drink from the rain. When he was hungry, he would harvest the potherbs and eat.

After 10 days, the quagmire he had been in began to decrease in frequency. The gra.s.s was growing more dense as a giant mountain loomed overhead in the distant blue skies.

Although he had transversed the gra.s.slands, he had still yet to climb another mountain without a town in sight.

It was now that w.a.n.g Chao had begun to feel a little labored in the breath. But he knew that he had already entered the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

“Is this short of breath because of alt.i.tude sickness?”

Sitting down on a ma.s.sive rock, w.a.n.g Chao looked around only to see just rocks of every size laying about.

With the sun s.h.i.+ning down fiercely, w.a.n.g Chao could feel himself growing a little dizy.

He wanted to lay down and sleep.

“I can’t sleep!” w.a.n.g Chao admonished himself. There was no one or no town in city.

At that moment, the clear sound of a woman singing could be heard. As w.a.n.g Chao struggled to listen, a flock of cows and sheep could be seen grazing nearby with a Tibetan girl.

The girl was singing in the Tibetan language, so w.a.n.g Chao wasn’t able to understand. However, the song she was singing had a familiar tune to it.

“From Beijing’s golden hill s.h.i.+nes forth light far and wide!!!

Chairman Mao is the golden sun!!!

Oh how warm, oh how kind!

The heart of us serfs are lighting up!!!

Hearing the Tibetan song, an indescribable emotion began to well up in w.a.n.g Chao’s body. Opening his throat, he began to use the Chinese language to sing along.

As soon as the girl heard w.a.n.g Chao sing, she looked over from her herd. And straight after seeing the state w.a.n.g Chao was in, she dug into her leather bag and took out some b.u.t.ter tea for him to drink.

w.a.n.g Chao began to drink the beverage down in large gulps.

After finis.h.i.+ng the drink, w.a.n.g Chao’s spirit had been refreshed. Giving the Tibetan girl a smile and receiving one in return, the two began to sing once more.

Midway through the song, w.a.n.g Chao suddenly felt as if his spirit had ascended into the Ninth Heaven. Shooting straight up, his bent his waist and struck out with a fist.

His arm had been like a snake in its movement and the unshaven hairs on his arms had instantly shot straight up as if zapped by lightning.

This issuing of power had caused his Qi to boil before gathering in the entirety of his hand.

Just as the Qi had converged at the pores in his hands, w.a.n.g Chao had inadvertently loosened it. Just like opening the dams, all of the force rushed out as he struck at the stone he was sitting on.

Bang! Stone fragments were sent flying everywhere as a large hole could be seen in it. Within the hole, several more needle like holes could be seen with sweat gathering in those tiny holes.

w.a.n.g Chao’s fist had not weakened at all.

The soft discharge and retention, harmony of mind and will, harmony of will and Qi, and the harmony of Qi and power! The natural break out of Hidden Jin in the shape of needles!

At last, the Hidden Jin had been achieved!