Hunyuan Jin Stake

Upon hearing this, Mr. Qi's face lit up with surprise and delight. "Teacher Yu agrees? Half a year? Good! Half a year it is! We can afford to wait." He looked toward Chen Chuan as well, adding a conciliatory remark to win him over. "And this young brother here can come along too when the time comes." Yu Gang said in a deep voice, "After the new year, I will fulfill my promise." Mr. Qi agreed repeatedly, cupping his hands toward Yu Gang again. "I truly was presumptuous today, but it was only because I could not bear to lose a great talent like you, Teacher Yu. When an opportunity arises another day, please allow me to host some humble wine to apologize, and I hope Teacher Yu will do me the honor of attending. For today, we shall take our leave." With that, he gestured, turned around, and led his men away. The members of the Iron Chain Gang followed behind in silence, moving with impressive discipline. Ding Shuo blew out a handful of bloody snot, still glaring defiantly at Chen Chuan. "Next time we'll go at it again!" Saying this, he hurried to catch up with Mr. Qi and the others. Still brooding with indignation, he trotted up beside Mr. Qi and protested, "Mr. Qi, back there, I actually could've kept fighting..." Mr. Qi was in high spirits right now and showed great patience. "Ding Shuo, I know you can fight. But what did we come here for? Just to beat Yu Gang's student?" Ding Shuo answered without thinking, "Of course not! Didn't you say he's a talent, Mr. Qi, and that you wanted him to join our Iron Chain Gang?" Mr. Qi said, "Then isn't that enough? Didn't we achieve our purpose in coming here? What is there left to be unhappy about?" Ding Shuo thought to himself, *Except I was the fucking one who got beaten up! Am I supposed to be happy about that?* His spirits undiminished, Mr. Qi said, "As for Yu Gang, I looked into him beforehand. He's the sort of man where if you give him an inch of respect, he returns a foot. We could have argued back there, but I took the initiative to yield. Yu Gang saw our sincerity, so he was willing to give me face. See? Didn't the outcome turn out just as we expected?" At this point, as if remembering something, he looked toward the burly middle-aged man and asked, "Earlier, you said that young lad also has talent?" The burly man replied, "You can tell he hasn't trained any special jin yet, but his ability to take hits can already rival Ding Shuo's, and his explosive power is very strong. Without a doubt, he's talented." Mr. Qi's eyes brightened. "Is that so? It would be wonderful if we could recruit him as well. Our Iron Chain Gang needs talent like that. Still, there's no rush. Yu Gang is the main prize. Half a year... heh heh, it'll pass quickly." *** Once Mr. Qi's group had completely departed, Chen Chuan walked over to Yu Gang and said, "Mr. Yu, I acted on my own initiative just now. My apologies." Yu Gang did not mind in the slightest; on the contrary, he approved of what Chen Chuan had done. He said, "You did the right thing. For those of us who practice combat, when an idea forms in our mind, we should put it into action. Didn't you say before that your goal was to remain unbound and constantly surpass yourself? If you didn't even dare to step forward at a moment like this, I would wonder whether you were merely paying lip service. Not to mention that you won. You must remember: among combatants, more often than not, the victor is beyond reproach." Chen Chuan said candidly, "I only relied on a trick just now. In truth, I know that if the Iron Chain Gang hadn't been willing to give you face, Mr. Yu, whatever I did would have been useless. But if my strength and technique had been a bit stronger, allowing me to overpower him head-on, I wouldn't have needed to resort to such schemes." Yu Gang said, "You don't need to sell yourself short. Your strength is already quite impressive for this stage. Ding Shuo hasn't just trained for much longer than you; in the advanced progression of his breathing technique, he likely chose to specialize in enhancing his damage resistance, and he must have supplemented it with specialized medicines. It's not surprising that you couldn't knock him down." Chen Chuan asked out of curiosity, "Do breathing techniques have many different directions?" Yu Gang replied, "I should have mentioned that the breathing technique you learned is only the most fundamental form. Once your physical conditioning reaches a certain level, you can combine specialized medicines with higher-level breathing techniques to suit different fighting styles. "For example, leaning toward strike resistance like Ding Shuo, deliberately increasing the striking power of one's extremities, enhancing agility, and so on. All of these require different knacks, different routines, and even different breathing patterns to support them. But in the final analysis, all techniques are built upon physical foundation. So to truly master them deeply, sometimes what's needed is a bit of 'talent.'" He looked at Chen Chuan and said, "Take you, for instance. You might not realize it, but you possess 'talent' yourself. Ding Shuo is likely one of those people as well. Some people are simply born different from others, capable of doing things in certain domains that ordinary people cannot." Chen Chuan thought it over and realized Yu Gang might have misunderstood, interpreting his performance as some sort of "talent." In reality, the Second Self was not the same as this so-called "talent." Still, it was just as well if Yu Gang chose to see it that way; it saved him the trouble of explaining. Moreover, judging by Yu Gang's tone, people with such talent seemed quite rare. After some thought, he asked, "There's one more question I'd like to ask you, Mr. Yu. During our bout earlier, Ding Shuo threw my hands off so easily. That kind of power felt very unusual..." Yu Gang explained, "That is jin. Ding Shuo used 'Robe-Casting Jin,' also known as 'Great Robe-Casting.' Its movement resembles someone reaching upward with both hands so that a cloak draped over their back naturally slips to the ground. It carries the intent of breaking free from restraints, a technique designed specifically to counter clinches and holds. At the same time, it serves as a method of practicing how to shake off and disperse incoming force." Chen Chuan caught the key point. "Jin?" Yu Gang said, "Yes, jin! Breathing techniques are the necessary prerequisite and groundwork for cultivating jin, and 'jin' is a higher level of force utilization by combatants. You're still relatively far from that level right now, but you can learn a bit about it first..." As he spoke, he stood with his feet spread apart and held his hands as if cradling a large ball. "There are quite a few types of jin as well, and most can be practiced in conjunction with stake stances. For example, this one begins with the Qi-Embracing Stance, followed by the Sea-Parting Stance..." As he spoke, his palms turned outward to either side, then swept back inward and lifted upward. "Next is the Sky-Supporting Stance... and finally, the Mountain-Bearing Stance..." At this point, he suddenly turned his palms upward toward the sky, bent his knees, and sank his body downward. Chen Chuan immediately felt a tremor beneath his feet, as though an immense weight had genuinely crashed down from above and was being held aloft by Yu Gang. Yu Gang slowly straightened up and said, "This is the complete Hunyuan Jin Stake. Many combatants choose it to train their jin, and it is the most widespread variety. Yet that does not mean it is easy to master. It contains many subtle variations. 'Robe-Casting Jin' is a minor jin distilled from it, made accessible for ordinary fighters. Its advantages are that it's easy to pick up, has low stamina consumption, and unleashes force quickly and simply. "Those who master this technique use it specifically against clinches. For instance, when you moved in earlier to lock his neck, it was fortunate you didn't lock it tight. Otherwise, once his jin discharged, it could have popped your arm out of its socket." Chen Chuan nodded in understanding and asked, "Mr. Yu, jin like that probably can't be used at will, right?" Yu Gang said, "Indeed. Every use of jin places a burden on the body. At Ding Shuo's level, using it twice in a single bout is about his limit. Any more and his own body would give out first." He paused, then added, "However, if his opponent had also mastered jin, that Tray-Lifting Palm earlier would have been enough to shatter his jaw." Chen Chuan was lost in thought. "I see..." Yu Gang said, "You don't need to dwell on this too much right now. When you enter the martial arts university, people will teach you all of this. What I want to say is, you did very well today. "Combat isn't merely a physical contest; it's also a psychological game and a battle of wits. During the fight, you didn't rely blindly on brute force, but instead accurately seized upon the decisive turning point. That is a combat instinct possessed by very few. I believe you can go very far on the path of combat—perhaps even further than I imagine." As he spoke, he looked off into the distance, his eyes seeming to hold memories of the past. Chen Chuan did not make a sound. After a long while, Yu Gang looked back at him, a rare smile appearing on his face. "All right. Didn't you say you have a graduation gathering tonight? I'll give you time off today. Go home early." Chen Chuan said, "All right, Mr. Yu." He glanced toward the building and asked, "Is Brother Lu all right?" Yu Gang said steadily, "He trains in combat. He can look after himself." Chen Chuan said, "Then I'll head back first, Mr. Yu. I'll be here on time tomorrow."