Journey to Sichuan (3)
Journey to Sichuan (3)
"I am Hong Ye. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Great Hero."
"Pleased to meet you as well."
Her name was Hong Ye—it meant "rainbow." She spoke more courteously than I had expected. The training hall where we met seemed rarely used, empty of anyone else. Inside that vacant room, a man and a woman were alone together, yet she showed not the slightest sign of unease.
"I heard you came from the Crimson Ring Sect. I can faintly sense a Shaolin aura about you—was your original martial art Shaolin?"
To find a weakness, I first had to build trust. To build trust, I needed to grasp her disposition. Judging from how she got straight down to martial arts the moment we met, she was extremely serious about Taijiquan. Making small talk now would only make her more guarded.
"I happened to meet a reclusive eccentric and learned a cultivation method from him—it seems to have turned out to be Shaolin. Everyone who sees me asks if I'm a Shaolin disciple. Might Shaolin cultivation methods be incompatible with Taijiquan?"
Hong Ye shook her head.
"Harmony and equilibrium are the principle of all things. As long as one does not possess demonic arts that violate that principle, Taijiquan accepts all."
She said that and assumed a stance. Like the forms in Taekwondo, she stood straight with her legs apart, then lowered her hands and took a deep breath. Her chest rose softly, and I could see tension settling into her shoulders.
"They say seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. Before I teach you the basics of Taijiquan, I will show you what kind of martial art it is. Would you care to attack me once?"
"Just attack however I like?"
"The method of attack doesn't matter."
Hong Ye gave me a flat expression. She had withdrawn all energy from her body, but her gaze quickly scanned me from head to toe. With her bronze skin, sharp features, and short-cropped hair, she looked like a woman interested in nothing but training.
I greeted her first and said:
"Then I shall learn a lesson from you."
And the moment she returned the greeting, I stepped forward and thrust my fist out powerfully.
Hong Ye's figure grew hazy and began to sway. Her body seemed to turn to paper, flowing along the trajectory of my punch. She bent backward at the waist, perfectly evading my strike, then seized my arm and pulled me forward.
However, up to this point, it was within my expectations. Even when using the Golden Capturing Hand, there was a technique that reversed the opponent's force to pull them and make them lose their balance. I hadn't come here to learn such standard responses that I already knew.
I shifted my weight to my back heel and pulled my arm back.
"Oh?"
At the same time, the hand that had seized my arm coiled around it like a snake and shot toward my chest.
Tung!
"Ugh!"
The moment her palm touched my chest, a shock ran from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, as if I'd been clubbed over the head with a tray. My body floated up and fell onto a spot in the corner of the room where cushions were piled.
"Four ounces deflects a thousand pounds."
Thanks to the cushions, I wasn't hurt. My insides churned a little, but I didn't seem to have sustained any internal injuries. As if to say she'd only given me a taste, Hong Ye still stood in the center of the room in exactly the same posture as before.
"This is the foundation of the Taijiquan you will learn from now on."
I rubbed my chest and laughed. Hong Ye showed no particular reaction even upon seeing me laugh.
******
"The most important thing in Taijiquan is reading the flow. Memorize the flow that corresponds to the opponent's attack, and move your body according to that flow to turn it against them. Then you can easily manage a thousand pounds with four ounces."
"That's an easy explanation to grasp."
"It's easy to understand in writing, but it's difficult to delve deeply into the principle. Especially when applying techniques, even the skilled often end up forcing the techniques with their own strength. I, too, often demonstrate techniques in that manner."
Hong Ye was an excellent teacher. She never got emotional, and she sharply pointed out what was wrong with my movements. But at the same time, she was humble about her own abilities—and had large breasts and a pretty face.
While training with her, a desire to have her surged up so fiercely that I could hardly focus on my training.
"We'll stop here today."
There was no set time for training. But if I dragged it on too long without results, I would be owing a debt to the Zhuge family, who had provided a letter of recommendation, and I would also lose face before my family and Sannyeo, who trusted me.
I needed to bang Hong Ye and learn the secret teachings of Taijiquan as quickly as possible and get back.
And to do that, I had to find her weakness. Just what could her weakness be?
******
To find a way to conquer her, during times when we weren't training, I decided to observe her every move using a tour of the training hall as an excuse.
"For the elders, this movement may be very difficult. However, the harder something is, the better it is for your health. If you slowly follow my movements, you won't have to worry about back pain at night."
When she wasn't teaching me, she mainly taught Taijiquan to the elderly. It was as if all the elderly people in Chengdu had gathered—hundreds of old folks swarmed in and learned Taijiquan, and the sight of them following Hong Ye's movements to imitate the techniques was truly a spectacle.
- Aigoo, how have you been lately?
- Don't even get me started. My second son has been begging me to lend him money to start a business lately, he's so damn persistent...
The senior Taijiquan classes of the Yang Family Taiji Gate apparently also served as a kind of social gathering for the elderly in the area. When break time came after class, the old folks paired up and chatted with each other, while those without friends sat in the corners to rest or ate rice cakes they had brought.
After the senior class ended, Hong Ye would go into her personal training room and begin her cultivation. Since I was a guest of the Taiji Sect and spying on a sect's training was taboo, I unfortunately couldn't know what kind of training she was doing.
And after finishing her personal training, she immediately conducted my private lesson, and once the lesson ended, she would go into her room, light the lamp, and study.
'Why the hell does she live so uprightly?'
"What did you say?"
"Ah, nothing."
She had no weaknesses. She lived her life meticulously, without a single careless aspect.
'Why does she work so hard at life?'
'Why does she live so meticulously without even creating a single point of vulnerability?'
After observing her steadily for several days, I bluntly asked Hong Ye a question.
"Whenever I pass by your room, I hear the sound of you reading. What sort of studies do you mainly pursue?"
"I cannot tell you about my personal matters."
When I posed a personal question, she sharply cut me off. She didn't seem to be married, but she drew a very firm line with me. I spoke:
"I only asked because I thought that knowing what the daughter of the Taiji Gate Grandmaster studies might give me some reference for the profound principles of Taijiquan. Are you studying the classics?"
Her eyes, which had turned sharp for a moment, thinking I was hitting on her, softened again. She spoke in a monotone:
"I am reading various books to find ways to better operate the Taiji Gate. Since I am not studying for my personal achievement, hearing about it likely won't serve as much of a reference for you."
Better operate? Her words sounded as if she were looking for a management method better than the current Taiji Gate.
"You must have many worries. With the training hall's large scale, it must be difficult to run. As someone who runs a sect myself, I have many concerns in various ways."
When I entered Chengdu, I introduced myself as a sect leader, but when I entered the Taiji Gate, I had just introduced myself simply as Docheol of the Crimson Ring Sect. Since I had introduced myself to her in the same way, Hong Ye tilted her head at my words and spoke:
"You run a sect? What position do you hold in the Crimson Ring Sect?"
"Somehow I ended up becoming the sect leader. Thanks to that, I have many concerns about how to grow the sect's size in the future."
Personal interest appeared on Hong Ye's face. I was revealing information she didn't know to arouse her interest, and through that, extracting information from her. Thinking of her earlier words "better operate," I asked:
"What Miss Hong wants is for the Yang Family Taiji Gate to become a massive sect comparable to the Nine Sects One Gang?"
Hong Ye hesitated for a moment at that. She seemed to be pondering her answer, then she assumed her stance again and said:
"...The idle chat has dragged on. Let us resume the training."
If she evades the question, she thinks she's not giving the other person information. But the mere fact that she evaded the question was information enough.
Hong Ye, in her own way, wanted to grow this sect larger.
And she was researching a method for that.
But the fact that she couldn't openly talk about it might mean she had a personality that ruthlessly excluded idle chat, or it might mean she had a difference of opinion with the Grandmaster.
I assumed my stance and, gazing quietly at her swaying breasts, sank into thought.
'This is worth digging into more.'