Romance of Dragons and Snakes

Chapter 157: Muay Thai, Yoga, and a Ninth Dan (Second)

Bang!

Two arms crossed together in collision.

With that sound, the entire room seemed to have started to shake. The sounds of muscles and bones hitting together had the same sound like iron being struck. Two figures had melded together before quickly detaching away from each other like an eagle striking from the skies and a tiger pouncing at a lamb.

After these two figures had split apart and stabilized themselves apart from each other, they did not move. Looking at each other for a long time, the two men suddenly began to openly laugh.

“As expected, you are fully deserving to be called the Iron Fist Hwarang of the world of fighting, master Choi. Your martial arts is just as sharp as ever. Even against an old friend, you certainly don’t hold back.”

A thin but well built man with a scar on his face began to chuckle. This man was the master of Muay Thai, Nguyễn Hồng Tú.

“Master Nguyễn, your muscles and bones can dislocate at will, and when soft, it is as soft as rattan, and when firm, it is as hard as steel. Coupling soft and hard together–it seems in these five years, you’ve deciphered the profound mysteries of Yoga in both India and Nepal.”

Speaking with Nguyễn Hồng Tú was a figure that wore the uniform of a Taekwondo with a black belt. High-statured and determined in appearances, this man’s nose was highly placed and his eyes shined like crystals. This man’s skin was fair with a tint of yellow to it. His age appeared to be from 37 to 40, but he was still handsome but had an abnormally mature aura of a master.

Just three years shy of 60, this man had been awarded by the World Taekwondo Federation the title of a ninth-dan fighting master. In the world of fighting, he had the illustrious moniker of “Iron Fist Hwarang”, Choi Jang Baek.

In his youth, Choi Jang Baek had studied the art of killing while serving the military in Korea. While known as one of the very bests, he had been discharged from service and studied boxing, Karate, Judo, Chinese Wushu, and Yoga before fusing them all together to form a different branch of Taekwondo, the Jang Baek style Taekwondo.

The Baekdu Mountains was a holy mountains in the eyes of Korea during the Goryeo dynasty. Choi Jang Baek’s name along with his school of Taekwondo had already been a sacred path in their hearts as well.

TL Note: Choi Jang Baek and the Baekdu mountains share the same characters, 长白.

This Iron Fist Hwarang had many disciples. The Jang Baek style Taekwondo had been circulated throughout America, western Europe, North America, and the others. Even in Japan, this it was a new type of school that could contend with Shotokan, Judo and the other styles for the top.

“You flatter me. Haha, we all started fighting from strengthening our bones and muscles, but we reach the same end path by a different route. I studied Yoga, but your study of it was ultimately more profound. Otherwise, I would not have been able to fight with you so easily just now.”

A grandmaster of Taekwondo and a grandmaster of Muay Thai. From the outside, the Iron Fist Hwarang was more than capable of withstanding against Nguyễn Hồng Tú.

But Nguyễn Hồng Tú had another source of temperament that radiated from his body as a result from being a veteran of hundreds of battles. After killing so many and gaining the bloody stench of blood, he looked rather terrifying to many.

In a battle of Muay Thai, it didn’t matter if it was a comparison of notes or an actual battle. There was no such thing as holding back with Muay Thai. If you did not die, then it was my death. From a strict, severe, and ruinous way of training the body, its vicious fighting style was something that both Asia and even the world itself would heavily fear.

Clearly, this Nguyễn Hồng Tú was a killing machine made for battle. With the killing aura radiating from him, even a regular person would feel goosebumps when fighting him.

“Master Nguyễn, where did you earn that scar on your face? We haven’t met for many years, but you’ve changed far more than I have,” Choi Jang Baek sat down on the ground cross-leggedly.

Nguyễn Hồng Tú sat down as well, “In the past I once fought with the Bajiquan master Zhang Guangming in Vietnam. He broke one of my ribs, causing me to have to recuperate for a long time. But after that, I was unwilling to remain in southeast Asia. Traveling for India, I began to seek for the secrets to Yoga for my revenge. This wound was when I entered a criminal gang in India and came across a hundred men with weapons after me. This is the result of that battle. After my return, I heard Zhang Guangming had fought another and was killed after I left. I had no more need for revenge and so I opened up a school in Thailand.”

Choi Jang Baek began to recount his own history, “I remember hearing about your lose that year. It was very fortunate you did not die. In Thailand, you supported the army, and opened your school to help train the men of the military. I heard about that as well, and so I called you here today. Ah, how was my recommendation for the Huo family?”

“My appearances don’t like as nice as yours.” Nguyễn Hồng Tú gave a hollow laugh, “The people from the Huo family didn’t seem to have any good impressions of me at first. It was only after I demonstrated my movements to evade their bullets that they begun to respect me.”

“Master Nguyễn, I speak honestly. Your killing intent is far too much. Even when I was meeting with you, I felt as if my heart would burst out from my chest any second.” Choi Jang Baek laughed elegantly.

“My thoughts differ.” Nguyễn Hồng Tú laughed darkly for a moment, “Ah, that Chinese friend of yours, who is he anyways? What’s his martial arts like? Are we here in Beijing to reclaim the honor that he lost for him? A Chinese martial artist isn’t that easy to fight. My first loss was against such a martial artist. If you aren’t bitter enemies with him, I don’t think it’s necessary to take such a course of action.”

“Half and half really.” Choi Jang Baek kneaded at his slim fingers and the web between his thumb and forefingers. The sound of his knuckles cracking could be heard in a rhythmic sound that illustrated the strength of an iron plier being used.

“China and India are both nationalities with an ancient history and culture that has spanned for several thousand years. They both have their own unique method of cultivation for health. Whether it is Taekwondo, Muay Thai, or any other killing discipline in the world, they must coordinate with any secret method of cultivation in order to unlock the secrets to the body and reach the pinnacle of fighting. You and I have blended in many different disciplines to establish our own styles, but we are not yet perfect.”

Choi Jang Baek started. He did not speak his intentions clearly and had instead made it even more vague.

“That much is indeed true. What about it?” Nguyễn Hồng Tú cracked a smile.

“That friend of mine has been made aware of that a long time ago. He is a man who has fought with the Chinese martial artists many times. An expert of the utmost level, he was taught by a mysteriously strong school of Taichi. This man has studied the art of true combat and renounced his school and every shackle that bound him to his country for it. After we got to know each other, we kept in contact through our letters; even now, we can be said to be friends. Just last month, I heard that he fought another and lost, resulting in an arm of his to be lost. My friend has never taken in a true disciple, so my idea this time to go see him is partially to wish him well and the other is to see if we can obtain any information from him. If a man can receive assistance from a friend in his time of need, he would be more willing to divulge his secrets.”

“There is more!” Choi Jang Baek closed his eyes. “The one who defeated him poses a great threat to me.”

The friend that Choi Jang Baek spoke of was Zhou Binglin. Back in his prime, Zhou Binglin had fought across the entire world of martial arts in southeast asia. He had even paid a visit to Korea when Choi Jang Baek was about ten years younger than him. As a younger man, Choi Jang Baek had respected Zhou Binglin deeply and received several pointers from him as a result.

In the future when Choi Jang Baek began to make his appearance, Zhou Binglin was retreating into seclusion. But Choi Jang Baek was deeply aware that Zhou Binglin’s martial arts was an original style that should be learnt. So with time, he had come to receive guidance from Zhou Binglin. Later, he had even invited Zhou Binglin to be a chairperson to his Taekwondo school. Zhou Binglin wouldn’t need to do anything and would receive a generous salary for it.

Zhou Binglin was not suited for the world of martial arts due to his narcissistic personality comfortable way of living. But no one would have imagined that it was all made possible due to Choi Jang Baek’s timely sum of money sent to him.

This salary and Zhou Binglin’s status was naturally much higher than when Wang Chao had first started as an overseer to the Taekwondo dojo

When Wang Chao opened his school in Shandong, his business partnership with Liao Junhua and the backing of the army had not only struck a blow towards the Shaolin Temple, it had also deeply impacted the profit of Taekwondo schools in Shandong.

Shandong was merely a body of water away from Korea, so a ninth-dan grandmaster of Taekwondo and the world of fighting like Choi Jang Baek had naturally paid attention to it.

So this time when he heard Zhou Binglin had lost to Wang Chao and sustained a serious injury, he had decided to kill two birds with one stone.

The first bird would be going to meet Zhou Binglin in Beijing in a friendly capacity to try and regain Zhou Binglin’s reputation for him. This would most certainly make Zhou Binglin feel indebted and would perhaps be willing to loosen his purse of martial arts knowledge.

The second bird was Wang Chao himself. Originally, Wang Chao had been no threat to them, but just faintly, Choi Jang Baek felt that this school of internal martial arts in Shandong would in the future become a intersecting business with his own. He wouldn’t be first in culture or even second in martial arts. The world of martial arts was as fickle as that. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Choi Jang Baek begun to seek for a way to resolve this hidden danger.

But since Wang Chao was able to defeat Zhou Binglin, his fame had grown even bigger than his. Yet in his heart, there was no guarantee that Choi Jang Baek would be able to defeat Wang Chao, and so he had called for the Muay Thai master Nguyễn Hồng Tú.

Nguyễn Hồng Tú wasn’t some nameless wonder in Thailand. He was a great master of Muay Thai and had also another identity of being a general that would train the special ops soldiers in the art of killing.

Each and every individual with great martial arts and an illustrious name of being a master would normally be held in great interest by the military. This held true for every nation in the world.

For example, all of the experts Wang Chao had fought at the Yiquan dojo had been martial art instructors.

For a person like Zhou Binglin, it was because of his extreme haughtiness and hatred for social niceties and speeches that made people feel embarrassed to be around him. It was for that reason that the major officials did not like him. Otherwise, a position as a military instructor for the central government would be a simple task.

“I see what you mean.” Nguyễn Hồng Tú’s eyes glistened with an easily detectable light.

“Your friend Zhou Binglin must be very strong. But with his age, his physical strength surely had to have atrophied a bit. But even then, the one who defeated him has to be an expert as well. You wish to have me get involved and butt heads with him, then depending on the situation, you’ll act appropriately, correct?”

“It is as you say.” Choi Jan Baek admitted. “But I didn’t invite you here today to butt heads without compensation. I know that your dojo in Thailand is lacking in funds and cannot expand. Your influence is lacking as well while the military is not willing to invest in you. So, my price for inviting you here this time will be twenty million euros invested into your dojo. This joint cooperation, what do you say?”

“Twenty million euros!”

Nguyễn Hồng Tú had been startled. He had indeed came across some money trouble for his dojo in Thailand and could not expand as a result. If he were to gain twenty million euros however, the benefits would go without saying.

His martial arts contained his own unique ideas which had been enough to form his own style. But because of the lack of money, he was unable to expand and turn this into a brand.

If he could truly expand and become a brand, then his name would forever be written into the history of martial arts. He himself would develop the school into a great name that would be similar to the Japanese Karate schools.

He and Choi Jang Baek were friends, but they were not friends that had gone through thick and thin together. It would be unwillingly that Nguyễn Hồng Tú would be the road paver for Choi Jang Baek, but if there was a price for it, there would be no way that he would refuse it.

Muay Thai at its very center was very bloody and cruel. Whether it was to the practitioner themselves or their opponents, it reeked of blood and cruelty.

Nguyễn Hồng Tú was a grandmaster in Muay Thai with a difference in ideology. It had taken no consideration for him to agree to Choi Jang Baek at all.

“Master Nguyễn seems quite delighted. That lass from the Huo family had originally been brought to me to be taught. I recommended you to them in place of a courtesy gift. With the Huo family, your business in Hong Kong would increase with plenty of assistance.”

Choi Jang Baek laughed merrily.

“Let us compare notes for a few days and then set out to Beijing later to pay a visit to Zhou Binglin.”

Plenty of maple trees could be seen outside the windows to the hospital. With the scarlet leaves and the autumn wind blowing to them to the ground, it was quite the poetic scene.

Opening the windows, Wang Chao took in a deep breath of the air with closed eyes. His hand extended out to the window with an open palm. After several moments, a single red maple leaf had floated right on the center of his palm.

Detecting the presence of the maple leaf, Wang Chao’s mind became like autumn itself–austere and silent with just a tiny amount of joy.

As one practices day in and night out to cultivate the health, one also had to cultivate during all four seasons accordingly.

Today would be the day Wang Chao would be discharged from the hospial.

For two months, Chen Aiyang had treated Wang Chao’s internal injuries. With this treatment and Wang Chao’s new strength from the Transforming Jin, he was now completely better.

“Master, you’re getting discharged today, what great timing! My older brother’s in Beijing right now. When I told him about me being apprenticed to you, he wanted to invite you over, how about it?”

Right on time, Huo Ling’er had entered.

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