“小笨蛋， the monkey squats down, its tail raised and supporting itself on the ground. Humans don’t have tails, so this hand is used as a tail. An animal’s tail keeps it balanced; when using this move, your hand also needs to keep your body balanced. When a person squats down and grabs at the crotch but misses, if someone kicks you, you can use your hand to support yourself and jump away.”

“The monkey squats, using its tail for balance. If you fail to grab the sparrow, you can grab some sand instead. Even if there’s no sand, you can still guard against someone’s kick. This move is really sneaky.” Charles Warren felt that the image of Tai Chi in his mind had been shattered.

“Silly boy, fighting isn’t a performance, nor is it just practice. Fighting is all about striking to kill in one blow, attacking the vulnerable parts of the body! In a life-or-death struggle, who cares if it’s sneaky or not?”

Catherine Turner stood up: “Alright, today I’ll tell you, martial arts have three forms: one is fighting, one is practice, and one is performance. Don’t be fooled by those practicing Tai Chi, moving slowly and gracefully—that’s just performance, not even real practice. As for real Tai Chi fighting, very few people know it anymore.”

“Fighting, practice, and performance… there are so many distinctions?” Charles Warren felt that every time his sister spoke, she led him into a whole new world.

“Tai Chi looks soft and gentle, emphasizing using four ounces to move a thousand pounds, but that’s just on the surface. The fighting aspect of Tai Chi is actually the most fierce and forceful. This forcefulness comes from the word ‘chui’ (strike). Look, the Tai Chi forms: ‘ban lan chui’ and ‘pie shen chui’.”

Catherine Turner demonstrated two moves, both with a sharp swing, her whole arm making a crisp snapping sound, as if she was cracking the air itself.

Charles Warren watched, his heart pounding, thinking: If that strike landed on someone, what would happen?

“In ancient times, the great generals who used hammers were all fierce men. Look at Li Yuanba, the top hero in the Sui and Tang legends, who swept the world with two giant hammers. When the Tai Chi masters created the art, they borrowed the prestige from novels, so naturally, they named the most forceful move ‘chui’ (strike).”

“Back then, the Bagua master Cheng Tinghua said, ‘When practicing Bagua Palm, it’s like pushing a mountain; when fighting, it’s like swinging a whip.’ The Xingyi master Shang Yunxiang said, ‘When practicing, use jin (internal force) not li (brute force); when fighting, use more li and less jin.’ They were all talking about the difference between fighting and practice. The ‘Liao Yin Palm’ and ‘Monkey Steals the Peach’ I’ve taught you these past few days are both fighting techniques, skills for combat, not for building stamina or increasing strength.”

“What is li, and what is jin?” Charles Warren asked.

“Li is inertia, a sudden burst of power.” Catherine Turner made another gesture, swinging her arm through the air with a sharp snap. “When using li, you have to be fast, fierce, and swift.”

“Jin is when the muscles are tensed, moving slowly.” As she spoke, Catherine Turner demonstrated again, as if grinding a millstone or squeezing water from a sponge. “When using jin, you have to be slow, heavy, and steady.”

“Fast, fierce, swift… slow, heavy, steady…” Charles Warren carefully pondered these six words, grasping the difference between li and jin.

After finishing her demonstration, Catherine Turner sat down: “Alright, you practice ‘Monkey Steals the Peach’ for three more days. Once you’ve mastered it, I’ll officially teach you something new.”

Charles Warren nodded, and secretly practiced for another three days, hiding in a deserted place at night, repeatedly practicing ‘Liao Yin Palm’ and ‘Monkey Steals the Peach.’

Especially ‘Monkey Steals the Peach’—the difficulty of squatting in this move was high, and the muscles in his legs ached from the strain.

However, after standing in horse stance for half a month, Charles Warren’s waist and leg muscles, as well as the strength and flexibility of his feet and toes, had greatly improved. While practicing the ‘Monkey Steals the Peach’ posture, he squatted down thousands of times, finally reaching a level of great proficiency.

Three days later, Charles Warren met Catherine Turner again in the park.

Chapter Three: Spine Like a Dragon, Head and Tail Exploding, Center of Gravity Dropping, Hair Standing on End

Catherine Turner had Charles Warren demonstrate the ‘Liao Yin Palm’ and ‘Monkey Steals the Peach’ moves, nodding: “Not bad, your posture is correct, and you’ve adjusted your force and center of gravity well. You have potential. Now, I’ll officially teach you a form for building stamina.”

“As for fighting, one good move is enough to get you through anything before you’ve mastered more. These two moves are enough for self-defense for now.”

As she spoke, Catherine Turner drew a straight line on the ground with her foot, and had Charles Warren stand with one foot in front of the other on either side of the line.

The straight line divided his body into two halves.

After seeing Charles Warren stand properly, Catherine Turner had him press one hand under his ribs, the other hand raised and extended forward, his whole body as if holding a spear, or supporting a bayonet.

“This is the center line. The body’s center line is the spine. The top of the spine is at the back of the head, the bottom is the tailbone. Any martial art that doesn’t train the spine is meaningless.”

“Listen carefully. What I’m about to tell you is the foundation of all martial arts, the source of Chinese martial arts. If you don’t understand this, you’ll always be stuck at the threshold.”

Charles Warren saw Catherine Turner’s solemn and serious expression, and immediately perked up his ears, focusing intently, afraid to miss a single word.

“When it comes to martial arts, you must talk about a key word: ‘qi.’ This qi is not the breath, nor any kind of air in the atmosphere.”

“When a person moves, the whole body heats up. If you get hot enough, you sweat. This heat is qi. The so-called ‘refining essence into qi’ is the heat produced by the body’s movement.”

“But the human body has countless pores. When you move and heat up, the qi dissipates through the pores.”