Evil Awe-Inspiring

The sneering man turns to look at the other fellow, who’s sitting in the chair and raising his eyelids: “How?”

 “Just so so.” That fellow is saying this in a disgusting way, then simply raising his legs and closing his eyes, “Fighting skills are left to you, I don’t care.”

 Then he picks up a worn cowboy hat which didn’t know where to find out from the cabin and covers his face as if he has no interest in seeing us anymore.

 “Do you feel very dissatisfied? Do you think you’ve played pretty well?” The sneering man looks at me with a mockery on his face.

 “Yes.” I don’t hide my emotions and staring at his eyes, “I think I did it very well.”

 “Just not too bad.” He shrugs his shoulders, but there’s more mockery in his smile. His tone is like hiding a needle, “If you are going to a professional boxing match, or go to be a kickboxer, keeping training well, you may win a championship or something else. You have a good body and a good foundation of kongfu, but…”

 He utters a sigh in his mouth and then asking me slowly: “I ask you, before you punch, you were standing there breathing deeply, and suddenly shouting, what is it?”

 “… It’s the preparation.” I frown and can’t help explaining, “Before I punch, I need to concentrate, and then I need to use the whole body’s movements to drive the whole body’s strengths…”

 He interrupts me by waving his hand: “I’m not asking you the principle of this punch. Speaking of kongfu, I know a little too. I understand the principle. I just want to ask you, is it true that you have to adjust your body before you punch?”

 “… Yes.” I have a vague idea of what he’s going to say.

 “You just adjusted three or four steps and waited at least five seconds before punching…” He is shaking his head and feels as if I’m very funny. He’s staring at me and says, “If I am your enemy, do you think I would give you five seconds to adjust? I will stand in front of you, do not hide, do not fight back, just standing here and waiting for you for five seconds, until you finish your adjustment to hit me?”

 “… No.” I feel a little bitter in my mouth.

 “You’ve done a beautiful punch, but it’s not practical!”

 “Not really.” I can’t help refuting, “It’s just that I’m not good enough! If my master did it himself, he would not need any adjustment at all!”

 “I know.” The sneering man does not refute me, just says lightly, “Kongfu training to the real high level can be how powerful, I know it better than you! But it is impossible to reach that level without twenty to thirty years of hard practises. I’m afraid you’ll be over forty when you get to that level.”

 I don’t say anything, but I’m still not convinced. Then he’s sighing and staring at me: “You’re practicing split-and-hang, right? Many of the killing tactics in the split-and-hang are very powerful. Your puch, on the contrary, it’s a bit flashy. Didn’t your master teach you anything else? There are many really lethal killings tricks, can you?”

 “No.” I’m a little depressed, “Master didn’t teach me.”

 He’s nodding and then smiling. This time, the smile is not ironic, but sincere: “Your master loves you very much.”

 “What?”

 “Hey!” He’s laughing, “A man good at fighting dies for fight, a man good at swimming dies in water! Haven’t you heard that word? Your Master didn’t teach you all the real killing tricks. He was afraid you would cause trouble! I think he hoped you would find less trouble in the future. It was also for your good!”

 I’m stunned for a moment. I remember suddenly, when I was studying, Master was really reluctant to teach me how to kill. The only one I know was finally he sparing his feelings to some extent of teaching me. Unexpectedly, he still left a hidden hand. Master taught me this tactic seems to be very powerful and lethal, but it is not very practical.

 At my present level, in order to hit such a punch, I need to adjust it first! When fighting, who would stand in front of you and wait for you to adjust? I fought with people before. One hand, it is because Master warned of not to seriously hurt others for any tiny reason. On the other hand, I haven’t met any good fighter and no opportunity to use it.

 I never thought it would be of useless.

 If I achieve a higher level of Kongfu and can use it as freely as Master someday, I’m afraid just like sneering man said that I have to wait until I’m over forty years old. But after a man at that age, all aspects of the mind have matured, and people have become stable. At that time, I would be no longer young, no longer impulsive, even when I am available to use this killing puch freely, I would not easily make trouble. That was Master’s intention.

 “What else can you do?” The sneering man looks at my depressed expression and his attitude softens slightly, “Show me.”

 “OK!”

 I dare not to be arrogant this time, just seriously show a set of split-and-hang punches. I don’t show off, but the whole progress is very smoothful this time. Sneering man’s face is showing some satisfaction finally.

 “Not bad. You have a good foundation. I can see that you have practised very hard before. Your strength and speed are pretty good. Well, as I said, if you train on your own, go to free combat fight, you will be a good professional player. But…” He’s sighing again and does not continue speaking.

 I understand what he meant, and it seems that I’m not good enough.

 Then he’s thinkfor a while and laughing: “Well, you’re really good, at least among all 8’s boys, you’re the best I’ve ever seen. You’re a smart man, too. You have the foundation, so that I won’t teach you any ways to practice your body. You have strength, speed and a strong body. So, I’ll just teach you some ways to use it! First, I don’t have time to teach you a whole set of things systematically. Second, the conditions here are not allowed. Third, I don’t have that much time either.”

 I nod, with a respectful expression on my face.

 The sneering man… No, at this moment I have fully respects for him, and I dare not to slander anything. He comes slowly and looking at me: “I think you should be able to know something… What I can do is not what outsiders should learn… To be honest, what you will learn may not be good for you. I’m not going to teach you those beautiful postures. I’m not going to teach you the whole sets of Kongfu. What I’m going to teach you is the killing skills. Do you understand?”

 I’m shocked!

 “Killing techniques. The most direct, the most effective, and the simplest killing techniques!” He’s staring at me coldly and says, “I ask you, have you ever learned human structure?”

 “… No!” I say with the bitter laugh, “I only graduated from junior high school, and I’ve forgotten all the basic things I learned in biology class.”

 “Well, the first step in learning the killing skills is to understand the structure of the human body! Understand that the human body has those fatal defects, and those places are the key to fatality!” He’s looking at me and then pointing to the cabin, “You go to my room and carry the wooden stake out of here.”

 I’m puzzled, but I still do as he says. A moment later, I carry a wooden stake as tall as a man from his room. Or it can be said a wooden figure!

 I look at the knife-edge marks on it. They’re obviously pretty old. I can’t help wondering at him.

 “It was something I made it for fun last time I lived here, and it was used as a target to practice throw knives. I didn’t expect it could be used for you today.” He looks at my puzzled expression, laughing and scolding, “OK! Let me tell you, I’ve been to this place twice. Basically, I help 8 to do things. Every time we finish, we have to stay here for a period of time to avoid the limelight. This boring place is so stuffy that I have to do something to make fun for myself.” Then he’s staring at me again, “There’s another time to listen to the story! Now you concentrate on me!”

 When he’s speaking, he naturally has a strange momentum which let me uncontrollably body shocking and standing straight at once!

 “Look at those little words on this wooden figure, I wrote them last night. Your task today is to hold them to watch! Then recite all the parts I marked and the words! Memorize every word! And mark them into your heart!”

I look at the wooden figure, which were densely marked with small characters written in pens in all parts, and in some places were marked with circles!

 “Ear, auricular nerve is close to the brain. After being hit, it can damage the artery in meninges. It can cause bleeding in the ear or death in the serious case… Axillary, inferior nerve, hit the consequences: severe pain or temporary local paralysis… Right rib, lower side of the liver, where the skeleton is fragile, the liver can be severely damaged after beating, heavy death… Spine, 7-9 cm above the belt. Aftermath: paralysis, death…”

 The whole wooden figure is almost densely filled with these similar marking words, each circle points out all the body parts, the content is very detailed! Even a total of 100 bones in human limbs, each kind of bone will have what effect after being hit, were all marked out one by one! And how to use the right beating method to cause dislocation, fracture or ligament tear.

 I’m stunned and can not help looking up at him.

 I just find out that although he looks very energetic, but his eyes are a little red and swollen. Obviously, these things were written by him last night! This discovery immediately makes me feel a little heartfelt gratitude for him. Even the strange smile on his face is not so annoying.