The Way of Restraint

In older martial arts novels, there were often descriptions of how seizing someone’s pulse point would render them completely immobile.

In reality, grabbing the pulse point was largely useless and couldn’t paralyze anyone.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the pulse point was also called “Inner Pass” — said to be the gateway for the release of inner qi, like a faucet valve. Only when the pulse point was unobstructed could inner qi reach the palm and be discharged.

Inner qi referred to an internal emotional force, not the fictional ability to strike someone from a distance or deliver “air-splitting divine fists.”

When a person was angry, their strength increased beyond normal levels — this emotion of anger could be considered a form of inner qi.

Since learning the “Nine Palaces Great Yu Thunder Section Orthodox Method,” Su Jie had deepened his understanding of the human body’s qi, spirit, and internal aspects. Though he hadn’t yet begun practicing this martial art, it had greatly enriched his knowledge and deepened his comprehension.

Thus, in that instant, he applied slight pressure to the female teacher’s pulse point, seizing the key sinew.

The fingers connected to the heart, and the joint that linked them was the pulse point. Seizing the pulse point required extremely advanced technique and formidable finger strength — without at least ten years of eagle claw training, reaching such a level was impossible.

After holding the female teacher’s pulse point for just a few seconds, Su Jie released it. The female teacher regained mobility and was visibly alarmed: “Grappling has three levels: seizing flesh, seizing bone, and seizing sinew. Ordinary wrestling is seizing flesh. Advanced small and large grapple techniques are seizing bone — using skeletal leverage to subdue an opponent. Seizing sinew, however, can only be performed by masters at the grandmaster level. With a slight pinch anywhere on the body, you can seize the sinew and meridian, manipulating your opponent like a marionette. Who exactly are you? How could a student have such profound skill? Even my master can only do this much.”

“Seizing flesh, seizing bone, seizing sinew — those are just the outer three levels. Beyond them are seizing intent, seizing spirit, and seizing emptiness,” Su Jie said. “But ninety-nine percent of those who claim to practice the latter three levels are frauds. Those who can truly achieve them are one in a hundred million.”

The “air throw” in judo was a form of “seizing intent” — fooling the opponent’s psychology, effectively seizing their intent.

As for seizing spirit and seizing emptiness, Su Jie hadn’t yet reached those levels.

“Who exactly are you?” the female teacher asked again.

“I’m just a student,” Su Jie said. “A first-year undergraduate. But I studied martial arts at Minglun Martial Arts Academy for quite some time.”

“Minglun Martial Arts Academy? Are you a disciple of old Principal Liu Guanglie? How long have you been practicing? Did you start training from the womb? That grappling move just now required at least ten years of finger strength,” the female teacher said, still unconvinced.

“Hello, Teacher Xue.”

Just then, Tan Dashi and the others finished their sets of exercises. They were too exhausted to speak, but seeing Su Jie and the female teacher in physical contact, they suddenly regained their energy.

“Boss, Teacher Xue is our taijiquan PE instructor,” Tan Dashi quickly said.

“So you’re Teacher Xue. My apologies.” Su Jie nodded, without any particular humility. His manner in dealing with others had changed. Before, he had been a modest student who treated everyone as a teacher. But since advancing to the Living Dead realm, he interacted with everyone as an equal — neither humble nor arrogant, having achieved a state where all beings were equal.

Anyone who interacted with him would be affected and want to become a friend worthy of conversation.

“Since you’ve trained before, you must know the standardized 24-form taijiquan. Perform it for me now,” Teacher Xue said to Su Jie.

Su Jie didn’t decline. He began practicing each movement, one after another: opening posture, “Part the Wild Horse’s Mane” left and right, and so on. His movements were slow, light, supple, graceful, and grand — combining form and spirit perfectly — with an additional quality of riding the wind back home.

It had become a dance with an almost enchanting quality, not martial arts.

Ordinary people would only find it very pleasing to watch. But Teacher Xue could sense that all the essential points of taijiquan were present — this was truly the standard, a textbook example, and even contained things not found in textbooks: spirit and intent.

“You’re exempt from all my future classes. Your credits will be automatically approved,” Teacher Xue said. “But I want to have you in my class. Is your teacher Liu Guanglie?”

“You could say that,” Su Jie replied. He had obtained the true essence of the seven characters of Minglun from Zhang Jinchuan, which had enabled him to break through and survive Feng Hengyi’s attack — in that sense, he was indeed Liu Guanglie’s student. “By the way, I’ve studied taijiquan with Old Chen of Hunyuan Taiji. Do you have any connection with that lineage?”

“Hunyuan Taiji.” Teacher Xue’s expression flickered slightly, but quickly returned to normal. “I don’t know him. I practice Yang-style taiji — it’s a different branch. Continue your training.”

With that, she turned and walked away. She had been quite interested in speaking with Su Jie, but upon hearing “Hunyuan Taiji,” she suddenly became cold and unwilling to talk further.

“Could this be a school rivalry — some kind of grudge?” Su Jie quickly inferred. Taijiquan had developed widely into many schools. The major ones were Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu, Sun, Zhaobao, Meihua, Wudang, and so on, with countless minor ones. Old Chen’s Hunyuan Taiji was derived from Chen-style, combined with his own insights — a small branch he had founded as a new school.

With many schools came conflicts of interest and reputation, leading to complicated grudges. Some hatreds ran so deep they nearly came to blows.

“Continue training!” Su Jie didn’t dwell on it. This was just a small episode in daily life, not affecting his studies or plans.

Wang Shun, Tan Dashi, and Lin Tang let out a collective groan.

Once again, they were caught in the grip of demonic training.

Meanwhile, Teacher Xue walked to a secluded spot and dialed a number.

A man’s voice came through: “What is it, junior sister?”

“Senior brother, I just encountered a Hunyuan Taiji expert. He’s only a first-year undergraduate, about eighteen years old,” Teacher Xue said urgently. “His skill is terrifying — his grappling technique has reached the level of seizing sinew, comparable to our master’s.”

“Eighteen years old? Able to seize sinew? Are you sure?” The man on the phone was also shocked. “From the Hunyuan Taiji side?”

“I crossed hands with him, just a test. Why don’t you come and try — then you’ll know I’m not lying,” Teacher Xue said. “At this year’s Taiji Convention, if Hunyuan Taiji has someone like this, we’ll all be shown up. And we have that grudge with them. We absolutely cannot lose this year.”

“Wait for me. I’ll come immediately,” the man on the phone said, now also anxious.

“Don’t rush. We should probably inform the master about this,” Teacher Xue said.

Su Jie knew nothing about Teacher Xue’s phone conversation. He received a call of his own — from Old Chen.

“Su Jie, can you help me with something?” Old Chen of Hunyuan Taiji asked without preamble.

“No problem,” Su Jie agreed without even asking what it was. He knew, first, that Old Chen was a grandmaster-level figure who would never do anything fraudulent — otherwise, he couldn’t be friends with Master Ma. Second, although Old Chen wasn’t his formal teacher, he had instructed Su Jie in taijiquan, making him one of Su Jie’s coaches.

If not for that month of training at Master Ma’s courtyard to deepen his skills, Su Jie wouldn’t have achieved what he had today.

So this cause required some effect in return.

Old Chen hadn’t expected Su Jie to agree so readily. He paused for a moment, then got straight to the point: “The World Taijiquan Exchange Association is holding a conference in Japan. Hunyuan Taiji needs to select a representative for the exchange. I hope you can represent our school.”

“What kind of conference is this?” It sounded to Su Jie like some kind of martial arts convention. Without waiting for Old Chen’s answer, he began searching for information online.

It was an exchange conference organized by many taijiquan enthusiasts, schools, and martial arts halls, hosted by the Japan Martial Arts Taijiquan Federation and inviting many schools and enthusiasts.

There were now close to 300 million people practicing taijiquan worldwide. Granted, most did it for health and wellness, not combat. But that didn’t negate their enthusiasm and sincerity.

Su Jie continued researching and found that the number of people learning taijiquan in Japan was extremely high. They held various competitions annually, and taijiquan had even entered their schools — many Japanese universities had taijiquan martial arts clubs that stood alongside judo.

The most famous event in taijiquan’s history in Japan was in 1978, when Japanese Speaker of the House Miyake Masayoshi visited China. Because of his fondness for taijiquan, Chinese leader inscribed four characters — “Taijiquan is Good” — as a gift to Japan. Thereafter, civilian taijiquan exchanges between the two countries grew increasingly frequent, flourishing to the present day.

Every year, Japan held numerous taijiquan competitions: taijiquan form performances, taiji sword forms, the competitive activity known as taiji push hands, and even taiji calligraphy and other cultural activities.

Taiji push hands competitions weren’t as intense as full-contact fighting, but they could still reveal differences in skill level — hidden killing intent beneath a gentle breeze. Japan had a similar martial art in aikido.

In short, Old Chen wanted Su Jie to attend a world conference of taijiquan practitioners. There would be competitions, and perhaps he would need to establish a position in the martial arts world.

Hunyuan Taiji didn’t have a very high standing — perhaps no one capable of holding their own. Old Chen had no choice but to call on Su Jie to support the school.

Su Jie gladly accepted.

“Then it’s settled,” Old Chen said, also explaining some details about the conference. “The exchange will last just two days, conveniently on the weekend. Many notable figures from the Japanese martial arts world will attend, especially the new generation’s ‘God of Judo,’ Ōmoto Mukai. If you defeat him, you’ll instantly gain a very high status in the Japanese martial arts world.”

“This martial art is about exchange, not about violent competition, right?” Su Jie was slightly embarrassed. “But meeting the God of Judo would be a good experience.”

“Then it’s settled. You’ll fly directly there and meet up,” Old Chen said without further ceremony.

Su Jie put down his phone and didn’t dwell on it.

These were all minor episodes. The most important matter was finding his sister Su Mochen’s whereabouts. Having come up empty with Zhang Manman, he needed to find new methods and start from the source.

“It’s time to begin dealing with the Feng family,” Su Jie thought to himself.

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