Under the fist

Chapter 11 Heavy Snow Blocks the Mountains, Danger is Imminent

The flickering lights illuminated Lian Youming's face, which was constantly changing with shock and disbelief.

What he saw before him completely overturned his understanding.

He saw the clear water in the vat begin to swirl. Not only that, but the water seemed to be supported by the old man's right hand, the water level rising higher and higher, until finally it almost completely broke free of the vat, was lifted into the air, and was still flowing.

"Remember the flow of the muscles in my body. Whether you learn it or not, practice it or not, keep it in your heart. This is one of the true teachings of my Tai Chi school. Even if you don't understand it now, you will understand it sooner or later."

As the old man guarding the mountain spoke and exhaled, Lian Youming could see the trembling muscles tightening and contracting, expanding outwards when tightening and resembling ripples when contracting.

Is this still a human body?

It's unbelievable that they could do something like this.

All these strange changes revolve around the old man's spine.

"The spine is a great dragon lying dormant in the human body, and it is also a bridge between heaven and earth, connecting the head and the body. It carries the aspirations of a warrior to stand tall and upright. It is not only the pillar of the body, but also the pillar of the spirit. It is because of this great dragon that people can walk upright and breathe freely."

The old man guarding the mountain spoke slowly and deliberately, and with a sway of his waist, sections of his spine immediately appeared from under his taut skin. The originally perfectly aligned spine relaxed and tightened with his long, drawn-out breaths, as if it had come alive.

It's incredible.

Lian Youming had long fantasized about the power of martial arts, but he never imagined it would be so extraordinary.

"Just looking isn't enough, come and touch it."

"Huh?" Lian Youming exclaimed, "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

The old man guarding the mountain had little patience and immediately cursed, "You ungrateful wretch! The true essence of martial arts, especially internal martial arts, often cannot be described in words. Besides verbal instruction, you have to experience the changes yourself. Do you really think you can learn it just by me demonstrating it once? If that were the case, the Japanese wouldn't have had a chance back then, and I would have been attacking Tokyo long ago."

Lian Youming pursed his lips, feeling confused. Did this old man want to help him or kill him? His attitude changed every day, sometimes laughing and sometimes cursing. He was more difficult to please than an old wife.

He stopped talking and simply extended his right hand cautiously.

Before he could completely let go, the old man guarding the mountain's sinister voice came out again, "Make sure you press it firmly."

Lian Youming quickly pressed down with his five fingers.

But when he actually pressed the button, his expression changed again.

"Ok?"

Lian Youming felt as if there were surging waves flowing through this man's seemingly lean body, and his right hand was being pushed up to his right shoulder as if it were a floating boat.

The force was directed towards the right hand.

Is this how muscles change direction?

Amazed, Lian Youming became so engrossed in watching that he stopped daydreaming and closed his eyes to carefully feel the strange power.

He discovered that every breath the man took affected his spine, and as the spine vibrated, the muscles on both sides immediately came to life, moving from the inside out and extending to his hands and feet.

Every time the old man guarding the mountain stirred the clear water in the vat, the muscles that swam like fish would instantly tighten, as if a tortoise or snake were coiled together. This was a tightening and exertion of force, and even the spine became perfectly aligned, like a steel whip, or as if it had truly transformed into a great dragon.

"I see."

Lian Youming's many doubts suddenly cleared up, as if the fog in front of him had been swept away and the blue sky had been seen through the clouds.

Is this the secret of internal martial arts?
He was almost completely absorbed in it, immersed in this unimaginable and mysterious trend.

For more than two hours, Lian Youming not only thoroughly understood every section of the spine, but also the movement of the muscles and tendons, as well as how to control their strength, all of which he deepened through repeated experience.

Meanwhile, the old man guarding the mountain's body grew increasingly hot, as if a raging fire was burning inside him.

Until Lian Youming withdrew his right hand.

The old man exhaled sharply, his lips parted, and a stream of white breath shot out like an arrow, reaching five or six meters away and splashing onto the constantly swaying window paper.

Lian Youming didn't speak or open his eyes. Instead, he sat down on the spot, his mind filled with the ever-changing movements of the muscles, as if they contained some profound mystery of the world, which made it difficult for him to come back to his senses for a long time.

Nearly an hour later, he slowly opened his eyes.

The old man guarding the mountain, wrapped in his black cotton-padded coat with stitches so indistinguishable, sat cross-legged on a futon, motionless.

Lian Youming was dumbfounded. Thinking of the scenes in those martial arts novels, he suddenly stretched out his index finger and slowly placed it under the old man's nostrils.

"Thankfully, he's still breathing."

The old man guarding the mountain lifted his eyelids, stared straight at him, and said succinctly, "Get lost!"

Lian Youming gave an awkward smile, said nothing more, turned around and pushed the door open to leave.

When I got back to the dorm, everyone else was already asleep.

Lian Youming stuffed some firewood into the kang hole, lit it, and then huddled into the icy, cave-like quilt.

Feeling the warmth gradually rising beneath him, he felt increasingly uneasy.

Did I guess wrong before?
At first, he thought the other party wanted to use him, but now they suddenly went to great lengths to pass on such a unique skill. What was their purpose?
Has his conscience finally awakened?
Or is he just a simpleton?
Why is this person so conflicted?

Wrapped in his bedding, Lian Youming listened to Yu Wen and Yu Wu grinding their teeth, and Wu Kui snoring, and closed his eyes in confusion.

In the following days, he continued his usual routine of hunting in the mountains in the morning and chopping firewood in the forest at noon.

The forest farm has now almost completely moved its timber. Apart from stockpiling food for the winter, all that's left is to store firewood for daily heating, cooking, and drinking.

The female educated youth also had some free time and were enthusiastically preparing the programs they were arranging.

Wu Kui, relying on his accordion, would linger around the female educated youth every day, making Yu Wen and Yu Wu green with envy.

Unlike everyone else's joy and celebration, Lian Youming felt an increasing sense of crisis.

Logically speaking, this matter has nothing to do with him at all. If he pretends not to know anything, can he stay out of it?
No.

Lian Youming instantly dispelled this thought.

Although he didn't know about the grudges and entanglements between Xie Laosan and the old man guarding the mountain, nor did he know what extraordinary things were buried here, he could still tell who was good and who was bad.

At least the one on the mountain wouldn't kill innocent people indiscriminately; on the contrary, he saved him and Liu Dabiao.

But the one down the mountain might be a different story.

"If you die, you die. You can't be unprepared when something happens."

With his mind settled, Lian Youming started hiking in the mountains even more often. Even as the weather grew colder and colder, he continued to roam the mountains, hissing and shivering from the cold every day. Eventually, even Xie Laosan stopped following him.

Until late November.

An indescribable white blizzard swept through Tahe County, carrying specks of frost that were as cold as knives, swirling and howling.

Where the wind and frost pass, darkness descends, water freezes instantly, and even the Tahe River at the foot of the mountain is frozen solid.

All the educated youth in the forest farm hid in their dormitories, including Platoon Leader Yang and his men.

Even so, Lian Youming still braved the cold wind and wandered around the forest farm a few times before returning to his dormitory.

"Holy crap, it's freezing cold. I was sweeping up my pee in the toilet and it froze before it even went down."

With snot running down his face, Yu Wen slipped into the dormitory from outside as if his life depended on it, then crawled into his bedding and shivered for a long time.

The kang (heated brick bed) was crowded with educated youth, all surrounding Liu Dabiao. This young man from Tianjin was quite the talker; after reciting his clapper talk during the day, he started telling stories from Water Margin, and now he had just finished telling the story of Wu Song's furious killing of Ximen Qing, and was drinking brown sugar water offered by a group of listeners.

Seeing Lian Youming return covered in frost, someone immediately exclaimed in surprise, "The only person I truly admire in the entire forest farm is our captain. It's minus thirty degrees Celsius outside, yet our captain still goes out hunting and making money for us... My goodness, if this place weren't so small, I would definitely bow down to him."

The group of people were all young at heart, and with some free time, their personalities became very lively.

As for the title of captain, it was only after Lian Youming saved Liu Dabiao that someone started calling him that.

As time went on, no one called him by his name anymore; they all called him Captain.

Lian Youming took off his military overcoat, and knowingly pulled out half a bag of pine nuts from his pocket, tossing them to everyone, "Here's a reward for you."

Immediately, Liu Dabiao, in a clownish manner, shouted loudly, "Thank you for the reward, sir!!" The others laughed heartily and followed suit, causing quite a commotion.

Lian Youming laughed along, listening to Liu Dabiao continue his storytelling while sitting on the edge of the bed wiping the rifle in his hand.

Today is a bit unusual.

He did not see Xie Laosan on the mountain.

Looking out the window at the frost falling everywhere, it seems they're about to take action.

Thinking of this, Lian Youming breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes, being constantly on guard can be mentally taxing; it's better to face danger head-on.

Have they come down the mountain?

Lian Youming was no longer nervous at this point, and simply waited quietly for nightfall.

Looking at these educated youths who were completely unaware of anything, he couldn't help but sigh.

If he hadn't accidentally seen that world that ordinary people could hardly access, he might still be completely unaware and would be one of them.

Many things are right in front of us, but because of different perceptions, we take them for granted and fail to see them.

Lian Youming suddenly remembered a sentence that Xie Laosan had said.

People say there is no true Buddha in the world, but even if the true Buddha were right in front of you, how could you possibly see him with your ordinary eyes?

The reason we can't see it is because we can't distinguish it.

Who would have thought that in such a place, a mountain hermit in his fifties, an unremarkable old man, would be a top martial arts master, an unparalleled strongman?

Who would have known that right under their noses, murderous intent was quietly brewing, and a feud between江湖 (jianghu, the martial arts world) was about to be settled?

The white wind howled outside the window and continued until noon. The originally dim sky was completely obscured. Goose feather snow fell from the sky, mixed with clumps of frost in the swirling wind, sweeping across the entire forest.

In the blink of an eye, the world had turned completely silvery white.

The once empty eaves were covered with icicles in just one or two hours, which grew longer and longer.

The snow outside the window had visibly piled up, from a few inches to several feet.

Finally, apart from the dormitories, the snow was almost waist-deep in some places.

Lian Youming took a deep breath as he watched.

No wonder the old man guarding the mountain told him not to tell Platoon Leader Yang what had happened.

In such a situation, it is extremely difficult for people to even walk on it, let alone launch an attack.

Even if you have a gun, how many bullets can you fire?

Putting aside whether you can actually hit the target, if you break out in a sweat and then get hit by a cold wind, it will immediately turn into frost, and you'll be half-frozen to death.

Lian Youming understood as well.

This is a battlefield chosen by those supernatural beings themselves, specifically to protect ordinary people like them.

This time, the group did not go to the canteen because Platoon Leader Yang had already had a lot of cornbread pancakes made and a lot of cooked meat distributed. When they were hungry, they could just warm the hot kang (heated brick bed) and eat. Even the water buckets were filled with cooled boiled water.

"Could it be that they're planning to wait until dark to make their move? That way, everyone will be asleep, and they can do it without anyone noticing."

Lian Youming looked at the white expanse outside, calculating the time in his mind, and took two bites of the pancake in his hand.

The outside of the pancake was hot, but the inside was cold and hard, like a rock.

The others used porcelain bowls to scoop water, then chopped up the flatbread and meat and soaked them all in.

Lian Youming found that too troublesome and that it would easily cause diarrhea, so he only ate a few cornbread cakes.

But as he sat there, a sudden, inexplicable drowsiness made him open his eyes wide.

Looking at the others on the kang (heated brick bed), they were all fast asleep, without making a sound.

Lian Youming was in a daze and struggled to stand up, but found that his hands and feet were weak and he couldn't muster any strength at all.

"Was she drugged?"

He suddenly remembered something: there were also martial arts masters hiding in the educated youth group. Could they be hiding among those female educated youth who were cooking?

"It's over."

Before this single thought could even cross his mind, Lian Youming collapsed onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

I don’t know how much time has passed.

In a daze, Lian Youming suddenly smelled a pungent stench, so foul that it was indescribable and seemed to hit him right in the head.

As Lian Youming opened his eyes, he saw a figure quickly dart out of the dormitory.

It seems to be Shuang'er.

It turns out this person also knows martial arts.

Lian Youming struggled to sit up, shook his dizzy head, and once he regained some consciousness, he got up and walked outside.

In the vast white expanse of heaven and earth, the howling wind had disappeared, and the snow swirled and raged, boundless and majestic.

Feeling the bone-chilling cold rushing towards him, Lian Youming fully woke up and then shivered.

Cold, an all-pervasive cold.

But as Lian Youming calmed his breathing and moved his hands and feet, his pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had seen something extraordinary.

Amidst the pristine white snow, several figures approached from afar, some running wildly, others leaping and tumbling through the forest, moving through the snow as if on flat ground, their momentum extremely fierce.

At first it was tiny, but it kept closing in at a terrifying speed.

An invisible, overwhelming killing intent seemed to arrive with the wind, crashing into Lian Youming's chest, causing his breath to tremble and his face to drain of all color.

It turns out that Xie Laosan really did have helpers, and not just one or two, but four.

Without thinking, he quickly crouched down and slowly retreated back to the dormitory.

"Wow, this is really exciting."

Lian Youming's expression shifted between light and dark, then he nimbly flipped onto the bed, closed his eyes, and pretended to fall asleep.

In the midst of a heart-pounding wait, not long afterward, a different sound came from the swirling wind outside the window.

coming.

"Hehe, after all these years, we've finally truly climbed this mountain... Old Ghost Yang, let's settle our old and new scores together today."

That's Xie Laosan's voice.

What alarmed Lian Youming was that Xie Laosan said something else.

"Go and see if there are any left with their eyes open. If there are, kill them."

As soon as Lian Youming was in front of and behind him, he felt a cold wind squeeze into the dormitory, along with a pair of icy eyes that seemed to cut into his face like flesh being ripped out.

A familiar murderous aura.

Xie Laosan.

　Taking suggestions from readers, I've adjusted the plot a bit. Many parts did feel rushed, so I made some revisions. Not many, starting from Chapter 5. You can check it out; the overall plot is largely the same, the main changes are in the details and character development.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)