Zui Wu Dao. Part 2 -Chapter 13.

To my dear readers,

This chapter took me forever near the end. I’ve never told you guys, but I use the Chinese dictionary to help me translate. I probably use this at least a hundred times when I work on a chapter (I can understand the main idea when I read it on my own, but when I translate, I try to be as exact as possible). If I am still confused, I go on baidu (a Chinese search engine) to see how the word is used in a sentence. After that, I go on thesaurus.com to help broaden my vocabulary (because I don’t want to keep using the same words over and over again. Ex. “quickly”, “said”, “yelled”).

I also have to rewrite the sentence structure in a way that it make sense in English. (For greater understanding, if I were to say, “What do you want to do?” in Chinese, it would be, “You want do what?” We do not have a word for “to”). It can take forever.

Therefore, if you guys appreciate my work, please donate to me! Any amount is appreciated. It would mean so much to me.

This is my promoted post: Hospital in China <– This is a more personal post.

This is the Chinese version of this chapter.

Chapter 13     Ba Gua Stage

As a matter of fact, what Tian Yu Zi said were not all true. But one thing that is true is that Wu Dang  definitely has many different types of nei gong xin fa. The best xin fas are the ones that are the most difficult to learn; although it would depend on the person.

But Tian Yu Zi lied about something significant. The thing is, Tian Yu Zi actually cannot produce nei li. His body state didn’t allow him to learn it. As a result, he switched to wai gong instead. Wu Dang’s style was actually created by Tian Yu Zi. Although it didn’t consist of nei li, the amount of damage it could conceive was still quite substantial.

Hence, when Tian Yu Zi saw that Xuan Luo wasn’t able to produce nei li, he didn’t care at all. He still wanted him.

Although, this situation was rather unique. After all, usually there were only two outcomes. It’s either:
1. The person cannot produce the nei li
2. The person is able to produce the nei li, and continues practicing the xin fa

This situation was strange because usually those who come to Wu Dang are after the xin fa. Although many want to learn the Wu Dang style, the xin fa was what most thirst for. Wu Dang style was hard to learn, but xin fa was even harder (and not everyone can learn it).

After fighting with Tian Yu Zi, Xuan Luo’s desire to learn Martial Arts deepened even more.

——-

After having a gloomy morning, Xuan Luo decided to go and take a walk. Since he was new to Wu Dang, there were many new and exciting things for him to see and understand. Therefore, he wanted to take this opportunity to explore.

The mountain of Wu Dang was a lot bigger than he’d imagined. And so far, he had just seen the gate entrance. If he were to count the whole area from the border, the size of Wu Dang could be comparable to a city.

“Hey, Radish! I heard Tian Yu Zi zhang lao took you in as a disciple!?” Xuan Luo was walking aimlessly, but suddenly heard a familiar voice.

He turned and saw Zhang Ri. Smiling, he said, “Zhang da ge, why are you here?”

Seeing Xuan Luo, Zhang Ri was quite excited. Although he wasn’t exactly clear of what had happened in Tai He Dian, but knowing the fact that Tian Yu Zi wanted Xuan Luo made him jump for joy.

“Haha. This is where us disciples are supposed to rest. But most of them went to ba gua stage to practice. They won’t be back so soon. When are you moving here?”

Xuan Luo was confused. Moving here? Tian Yu Zi never told him about that. He anxiously asked, “Zhang da ge, are disciples supposed to live together?”

“Of course!? What else do you think?” Zhang Ri rolled his eyes; Xuan Luo asked a question that should have been totally obvious.

“But the old man never told me. Today, I got lectured too! Ughhh ruined my day.”

Zhang Ri could hear some resentment from Xuan Luo’s voice. He chuckled, “Tian Yu Zi zhang lao is a very good elder master. He does not act superior to anyone else. You are one lucky boy!”

“But he forced me to go to his residence without my consent!” Xuan Luo grumpily muttered.

“Oh, you must be wrong. Tian Yu Zi zhang lao has never ever forced anyone to be his student. He must like you a lot, but you aren’t used to the way he demonstrates it. But don’t worry, Tian Yu Zi zhang lao is very skillful. Any moves that he make is spectacular. It is also very difficult to imitate.” Zhang Ri looked enviously at Xuan Luo. (Note: The fact Zhang Ri keeps saying “zhang lao” also shows he respects Tian Yu Zi a lot)

Xuan Luo tried to digest what Zhang Ri said. Was Tian Yu Zi really that amazing? How come he couldn’t tell?

But thinking back to earlier, Tian Yu Zi never showed him his true potential. While he was testing him, he barely lifted a finger; yet he was able to put him through so much agony.

Xuan Luo decided to change the subject. “Haha, it looks like you’re about to go somewhere. Where are you off to?”

“Oh my goodness. I almost forgot! I was about to head to Ba gua stage!” Zhang Ri smacked his head.

“Ba gua stage? What is that?” Xuan Luo was confused.

“Haha. Since you’re new, I’ll take you there!”

——-

As he followed Zhang Ri, Xuan Luo lost track of how many steps and turns they made before they arrived at a public square. In the middle of the public square, there was a platform. The platform was about half the size of the square. As Xuan Luo looked closely, he noticed that the platform was designed like the Tai ji ba gua.  Xuan Luo was extremely curious. Ever since he had arrived at Wu Dang,  he had been seeing the ba gua symbol everywhere. He wanted to know why.

“Zhang da ge, why is the ba gua symbol everywhere in Wu Dang?” Honestly, Xuan Luo had no idea what the ba gua symbol meant. The only thing he knew, was that the symbol was called ba gua.

Zhang Ri was flabbergasted by Xuan Luo’s question. “You don’t know what the ba gua means? Oh my god. You don’t know anything. I am starting to wonder why you wanted to come to Wu Dang to begin with!”

After a few moments, Zhang Ri calmed down and explained, “Ba Gua is a representation of yin and yang. The “–” represents yang, while “- -” represents yin. The Ba Gua has 8 sides (like an octagon), and each of the side has 3 strokes that consist of either “–” or “- -” or both. (Please refer to http://baike.baidu.com/pic/%E5%A4%AA%E6%9E%81%E5%85%AB%E5%8D%A6/2566445/0/ae8267314e071235ebc4afa4?fr=lemma&ct=single#aid=0&pic=ae8267314e071235ebc4afa4 if you are confused). Each “gua” (the 3 strokes) represent a thing (Heaven, Earth, Water, Fire, Thunder, Mountain, Wind, and Moisture* Note: this part is very difficult to translate so this is all I can explain because I am confused myself).

“Bascally, Wu Dang’s style, Tai Chi sword, Tai Chi fist, Ba gua fist, and so on are all inspired by the ba gua symbol. That is the reason why the ba gua is such a symbolic thing to us here.”

Zhang Ri looked at the ba gua symbol and smiled at Xuan Luo. “Also, the stage right here has good feng shui. If you practice here, you’re more likely to see results.”

Regardless of whether it is the past or the present, feng shui has a lot of believers. Those who believe in feng shui care greatly about where things are located. Depending where the things are located, it could affect the environment tremendously. Wu Dang’s ancestors clearly cared a lot about the feng shui of their location. (Note: Feng shui is common amongst Chinese people. Some people believe it, but some people see it as superstition).

After listening to Zhang Ri, Xuan Luo realized his knowledge was extremely thin, and vowed to improve himself.

“Hey. Zhang da ge, what are they doing over there?” Xuan Luo was referring to the ones on the stage.