Chapter Eleven: Scheming for the Tiger’s Hide (Please support with bookmarks, monthly votes, and recommendation votes)

“Next, I will speak of abandoning form yet valuing intent!”

“To abandon form does not mean truly forgetting what one has learned, but rather to break free from conventions, to transcend rigid rules and not be bound by mere techniques.”

“Every movement—walking, sitting, lying down—is a manifestation of form and intent. This is what we call having mastered the skill; upon reaching this stage, form and intent can be considered a modest accomplishment.”

“Following this is valuing intent. After abandoning form, one must focus on cultivating intent. Imagine oneself as a tiger, a dragon, and so forth. There are twelve forms of form and intent, each expressed through walking, standing, sitting, and lying.”

“Lying like a tiger, standing like a bear, crouching like a monkey, running like a horse, stretching like a snake, pulling bones like a dragon…”

“The twelve forms each possess their own subtle wonders and practical uses!”

“Once you reach this realm, every move you make is imbued with form and intent, and this can be called a great accomplishment!”

“In other schools of form and intent, this would be considered the level of a master, but in the style of form and intent boxing that I have created, this is merely half-formed skill.”

As Yue Huyang spoke, Meng Fan suddenly felt as if he had truly found an extraordinary master.

Yue Huyang seemed to sense the scheming thoughts in Meng Fan’s mind; he patted the boy’s head and continued, “Next is the third level where I reside: 'attaining intent and imparting form.'”

“What does ‘attaining intent’ mean?”

“Certainly not the meaning of being boastful. It is akin to ‘obtaining qi’—it means having gained something profound, much like winning laurels in the Moon Palace or Sun Wukong obtaining the celestial peaches. You deeply grasp the essence, understanding its invaluable nature.”

Fearing Meng Fan’s youth might cause misunderstanding, Yue Huyang carefully explained the words.

“Intent is very difficult to cultivate.”

“What is intent?”

“You can understand it as willpower and spirit. From the heart comes intent, from intent comes form. The greater the heart, the greater the intent!”

“Therefore, form and intent boxing was originally called ‘Heart-Intent Six Harmonies Boxing’; the ‘heart-intent’ here refers to the spirit behind the techniques, and the techniques themselves are merely expressions. Intent is the foundation.”

“Form and intent boxing requires reference to the twelve forms of form and intent, cultivating a unique intent of one’s own. I have cultivated the tiger’s intent.”

“What is tiger’s intent?”

“A fierce tiger descending the mountain, surveying all under heaven. In the forest, the tiger is king, supreme over all beasts, unmatched by any!”

“When I was young, I encountered many masters, but it was by relying on the tiger form of form and intent that I carved a path through them, accompanied by bloodshed and ruthless ferocity. Employing the methods of tiger and wolf, I cultivated a fierce tiger’s spirit.”

“The process of cultivating the fierce tiger spirit requires not only fostering the tiger’s ferocity but also binding the tiger’s gate at all times, continuously honing one’s mental will.”

“To nurture the fierce tiger in the heart without being consumed by it. Among the twelve forms of form and intent, according to my path, cultivating the tiger and dragon forms is the most difficult because one must subdue both dragon and tiger.”

“The dragon is a mythical creature; I have no reference but imagination—like a flower in a mirror or the moon’s reflection in water—elusive and intangible. Even the first step of cultivating form and intent is hard to achieve, let alone the subsequent stages. True accomplishment is rare.”

“Therefore, excluding the ethereal dragon form, the tiger form is the most challenging!”

“To be a fierce tiger, one must undergo battles and bloodshed to succeed!”

“Otherwise, what distinguishes a tiger’s spirit from a caged cat’s?”

“But your elder brothers failed. In these times, such things are no longer permitted, and their own talents are limited. None of your three elder brothers have become accomplished; they remain only at the second stage.”

“After attaining intent comes imparting form!”

“To give form to one’s intent—in other words, to cloak the intent in a layer of false skin. It is easier to draw the tiger’s skin than its bones. In the form and intent boxing I created, intent is the tiger’s bones; with the bones established, the skin can be drawn!”

“This tiger skin cannot be taken lightly; it must be woven from qi gang!”

“To weave this tiger skin, continuing on the path I contemplated when young and beginning to cultivate tiger intent, I sought out renowned masters many times.”

“Eventually, I knelt for three days and nights before the door of a southern lion dance master. Because I was seeking to learn from a master, I was initially turned away, but upon seeing my sincerity, some of the skills were imparted to me.”

“Do not underestimate lion dance; it is also a long-standing school of exceptional practitioners. To me, its inheritance shares much with form and intent boxing.”

“The old man I apprenticed under was named Wu Shiyuan, a successor of the southern lion dance tradition. Even then, he was in his sixties or seventies.”

“Yet he remained vigorous, his countenance majestic and imposing. The true lion spirit had penetrated his very bones; every movement—walking, sitting, lying—was like that of a lion.”

“Of course, the essence of lion dance lies in their unique Qilin stepping method, which itself has a history. The Qilin steps evolved from the Ta Gang steps, and practitioners cultivate a unique heavenly gang qi.”

“This art follows specific rules and sequences of steps and stances, opening the body’s meridians to absorb scattered energy lost in the environment, called gang qi.”

“As long as the steps are not disrupted, the user can maintain abundant energy for long periods. Specific steps also allow one to inhale gang qi that repairs the body.”

“After accumulating heavenly gang qi to a certain degree, Master Wu could even transform this qi into a tangible form, conjuring a living azure lion.”

“A person dwells within, controlling the qi with their spirit; qi becomes the lion—that is lion dance. Combined with the returning gang qi of the steps, it is both powerful and enduring.”

“What I desired was precisely this method of materializing qi gang into form!”

At this point, Yue Huyang paused, recalling his youth with evident joy.

Meng Fan listened intently, feeling his master resembled a protagonist of legend—truly, everyone is a legend in their own life.

Yue Huyang scratched his forehead and smiled sheepishly, “Of course, the core Qilin steps themselves, I wished to learn, but they never taught them. That was my greed.”

“However, just the method to materialize qi gang into form is already enough. That method requires the body’s meridians and acupoints to cooperate, projecting innate primordial qi outside the body into a visible form. For you now, this is still far beyond reach.”

Rubbing Meng Fan’s head, he added, “Ordinary qi from most practitioners cannot compare to the endurance of those who cultivate the heavenly gang steps.”

“Reluctantly, I had to find another path, combining boxing qi gang with condensed innate primordial qi to develop ‘qi gang,’ which has greater explosive power.”

“Qi gang, to put it simply, is just condensed innate primordial qi combined with compressed air, much like sword qi in principle—not something to be overly exalted.”