The Nine Godheads Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Act Not The Hidden Dragon

He’s asking me to stop now?

Suddenly, everyone present were completely dumbfounded. Ye Jinning almost tripped on himself. What kind of person would stop just because somebody else said so at such a crucial moment?

Though, it wasn’t like he could just attack like that either. Hong Wenqing came straight up and took Ye Jinning’s strike and split up the two of them. “My son, say what you need to say. Today, your father emperor will not let you take the short end of the stick.”

The emperor was right. Who was Ye Jinning? Even if he was a genius who could only be found once every hundred years, he had only trained for a decade or two at most while Hong Xiaobao only just started his path of cultivation. The duel was unfair the moment it began, so it wasn’t an overstatement to say that the situation was rather unfavorable to Hong Xiaobao.

“Alright. I’ll see what kind of trick you dare to pull next!” Seeing that he couldn’t continue attacking even if he wanted to, Ye Jinning sheathed his sword and glared at Hong Xiaobao, desperately suppressing his desire to cut him into a thousand pieces.

“Hoho, just you wait!” Hong Xiaobao ran to a corner of the Xuan Yang Pavillion while he said, “Let me try out a move for a bit. I’m pretty confident that it’ll take your puny life!”

Trying out a move that will defeat Ye Jinning? Was he spouting nonsense?

Now that it has come to this point, Ye Jinning was no longer anxious and said cooly, “Sure. I’ll see what kind of move you use to take me down!”

Quickly, Hong Xiaobao entered a room. The moment he closed the door behind him, Meng Xianji’s consciousness appeared from within the bracelet and laughed. “Hahaha, I really didn’t expect that you would act like this. When he attacked you, you dodged and ran nonstop but when you couldn’t dodge, you called him to stop! You’re really good at running away!”

“Can you say something I don’t know? I just started training and don’t even know any techniques yet! What could I do other than run?” Hong Xiaobao asked urgently. “Quick, teach me something fast that I can use to flatten that fella!”

“That goes without saying,” said Meng Xianji with a savage tone. “That b.a.s.t.a.r.d is really overstepping his bounds! You definitely need to teach him his place! It’s a shame that there are so many people witnessing the duel. With his father there, he definitely wouldn’t let you kill him so easily!”

It was true that the old fellow really had a move that could easily take Ye Jinning’s life and wasn’t just bragging.

“There’s no need to kill him just yet. Surely you have something that I can use to just incapacitate him?” asked Hong Xiaobao. “Since I can’t kill him in front of this crowd, I might as well teach him a lesson and make him start over a new leaf as a better person!”

This wasn’t just some arrogant bragging. Given that Hong Xiaobao couldn’t practice martial arts in the past, he researched and studied many other methods that he could use to protect himself which he could use to settle Ye Jinning if it were a crucial moment.

But with his father, Ye Feihong over here, he would definitely complain if Hong Xiaobao used such methods. While Hong Xiaobao wouldn’t really care about what he had to say, he was afraid that Ye Feihong would attack his father in a fit of rage.

“I only know of killing techniques,” said Meng Xianji. “Any random move out of my a.r.s.enal could easily take his puny life — that’s why I won’t be able to teach you anything useful for today. However, Xi Hong has always liked to research some other peculiar methods. Why don’t you ask him and see?”

Xi Hong? That always smiling small fatty?”

“Master Xi Hong,” said Hong Xiaobao with his eyes wide open as he called out towards his bracelet, “Please teach me one or two moves that I can use to handle that b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

Silence.

In about the time of three breaths, a smiling fatty’s apparition materialized from within the bracelet. “You want to learn some techniques?”

Hong Xiaobao: (⊙o⊙)

That fatty looked really cute with his round little head floating about…

“That’s right,” nodded Hong Xiaobao fervently. “Is there anything you can teach me?”

“Hm, I have created a simple technique some time in the past which should be pretty good. Try it,” said Xi Hong after giving it a little bit of thought. “This move was created when I had nothing better to do. I call it the Qiankun Transformation.”

Qiankun Transformation, what a good name!

Xi Hong nodded and paused for a bit, before continuing, “However, I can only summarize the essence of the move to you and give you a simple demonstration. Whether you can grasp it is completely up to you.”

Having said that, a small humanoid appeared on top of Hong Xiaobao’s bracelet and thrusted out his palms in a pattern with his left hand shaking unpredictably twice and after that, his right hand thrust out towards Hong Xiaobao’s chest. He finished up the demonstration by going back into a neutral stance. “That’s the move.”

Was that it?!

Hong Xiaobao only continued to stare. “That move doesn’t seem as impressive as I imagined it to be…”

“Hehe, then how powerful would you like it to be?” asked Xi Hong.

“Well, at least let it be something that’s super flashy and looks like I’m dancing about in the skies or throwing around a mountain…” said Hong Xiaobao with drool leaking out of his mouth. “Your move seems too simple.”

“It’s no doubt simple,” said Xi Hong. “But in reality, the simpler a move, the more effective it usually is. Just try to understand the mysteries of that move. If you can comprehend it, I’ll tell you the key points to it.”

“Oh…” Hong Xiaobao nodded and said without thinking, “It seems pretty obvious. The left hand is in charge of defending, the body moves around to evade and the right hand strikes when there’s an opening.”

“Eh?” When Hong Xiaobao finished speaking, both Xi Hong and Meng Xianji were surprised. “This fellow really is a smart one. Most people won’t be able to understand its true profoundness. I didn’t think that you would be able to see through it that easily.”

“Hehe, it really is quite impressive. No wonder Meng Xianji looks after you that much,” said Xi Hong as he nodded. Smiling, he said, “This move allows you to stand calm and still normally and suddenly move with explosive motion to attack the enemy’s weakpoint.” Xi Hong demonstrated it another two times and clearly explained the use of Fa Jin and the stances of the moves.
(TL note: Fa Jin is a concept that is pretty common in Chinese martial arts. Here’s a wikipedia link)

Given Hong Xiaobao’s comprehension abilities, within an hour, he could already execute the move quite nicely. In another hour, he completely mastered the move.

Hong Xiaobao laughed and said, “Master Xi Hong, this move reminds me of a quote that I’ve seen in a book before.”

Xi Hong asked, “What was it?”

“Chu Jiu asked, ‘What is the meaning of the words “The dragon lies hidden in the deep”?

Is it not time for action?’ The Master said, ‘There he is, with the powers of the dragon, yet he lies in hiding. The temptations of the world would make no change in him; he would do nothing just to secure fame. He can live, withdrawn from the world, without an ounce of regret; he can experience disapproval without being troubled by unnecessary worries. Rejoicing when there is opportunity, he carries his principles into action; sorrowing when opportunity isn’t there, he does not act. Yes, he is not shaken in the slightest.’ This is ‘the dragon lying in hiding.'”

“What that says is when the true opportunity to unleash your potential isn’t there, one should stay humble and reserved and wait for the opportune timing. When the time comes, strike fast like a hidden dragon. To not act doesn’t mean to not take any action, but it actually means take action only when the time is right. That’s why one has to wait for the best possible time and use it to one’s advantage.”

“Hmmm… Act not, the hidden dragon…” Xi Hong repeated the line one more time and laughed. “Alright, then this will be the name of the move! To not strike all the time and only activate it during the right time and shake even the heavens! Use this move, the ‘Unacting Hidden Dragon’, to gain victory!