Chapter 1 - The Emergence of Liu Shui
The story began at around the 14th & 15th year of Emperor Gwang
Shui's reign in late Ching dynasty of China.
One fine afternoon, a crowd of tens of local residents gathered at the
front of a red pillars house in the place called Guãn-Yin Gé of
the Dõng Yang Xiãn province. These people were doing nothing
in particular, simply stretching their necks and gazing at a young handsome
and talented man, who was demonstrating the well-known 18 styles of martial
arts to the students. The crowd broke into rapturous applause and excitement
at the peak of the demonstration.
The Founder of Chow Gar Tong Long
This young man, whose name is Liu Shui, is no ordinary fellow but the
3rd generation disciple of founder of the much respected style of the
Chinese Martial Art - Chow Gar Tong Long (Praying Mantis style), who
had established a reputation in Hong Kong. Liu Shui was originally from
Dõng Jiãng area of China. He was gifted with much talent
in martial arts and had inherited the typical characteristics of the
people from that area - hard working, endurance and persistence. He had
already achieved a lot by the age of 14 and had mastered all sorts of
fist styles as well as martial art weaponry within the period of 7 or
8 years which he learned from several well-known shifus. At the
age of 21, there was an incident one evening when he was on his way back
from a visit to friend and got to the hill sides of the Hui Yang Province
(known to be the habitat of many wild animals), he was attacked by a
hungry wolf that suddenly dashed towards him along the grass foot-path
and leapt at Liu Shui. Liu Shui reacted swiftly, as he was prepared for
it, and by moving to the side avoided the wolf’s initial attack.
Liu Shui was unbelievably calm and when the wolf turned round for another
attack he struck back with a powerful side-kick right at the wolf’s
belly. The wolf could not withstand the blow of Liu’, and simply
fell down and rolled along the foot-path. Liu Shui saw that there was
an opportunity and moved forward swiftly to add another heavy blow with
his foot – the wolf did not stand a chance against Liu Shui.
Impact of the wild wolf incident
There were actually a few villagers near the scene when Liu Shui was
being attacked by the wild wolf. These people were absolutely stunned
by the fact that Liu Shui killed the wild animal so quickly with just
two kicks (well, two powerful kicks to be precise)! This became a topic
of idle gossip among the villagers. They were amazed that Liu Shui, although
young fellow, was incredibly skilled in martial art and was of a sifu’s
level. Because of Liu Shui’ skill, the villagers did not mind that
Liu Shui was young and gathered in front of Liu Shui’s place, hoping
to learn from Liu Shui. They all regarded it as an honor to be Liu Shui’s
student. Because of this, each day when Liu Shui demonstrated his skills
to his students they also attracted a large crowd as well. By doing this
Liu Shui could not only demonstrate the skills and styles of his martial
art but the students could also learn by observation. One day, while
the crowd was acclaiming at another exciting demonstration, a Taoist
priest, who did not appear to be from the local area, greeted Liu Shui
with a loud voice.
How dare a junior teach the public
According to this Taoist priest, he reckoned Liu Shui was simply a junior
with shallow skill and how dare him teach the people in public! He said
it was an insult to the villagers really, and not something a respectful
shifu would do! Liu Shui was a little shocked to hear such a comment
and stopped and looked at the Taoist priest carefully. As he gazed at
him for a little while, he thought that the Taoist priest appeared to
be a very ordinary thin Taoist priest. What gave him the right a judge
on martial art masters’ business he thought! Other martial art
practioners would have simply urged him to leave and not to cause any
trouble but Liu Shui was puzzled by the Taoist priest’s act, and
acted calmly. Amongst the great strengths that Liu Shui had been cultivated
over the years were endurance, patience and respectfulness, so Liu Shui
calmly stepped forward with a gentle smile on the face and enquired to
the Taoist priest if he was into martial art specific practice as well,
otherwise why he would give such comments openly to another practioner. However,
Liu Shui judged that by the look and build of the Taoist priest, he did
not appear to be a martial art master at all. So, Liu Shui asked politely: “Mr.
Priest, if you’re the master of any martial art stream, why would
you dare give such a comment?” The Taoist priest replied: “If
you’re discontent, why don’t you try me out?” Liu
Shui was indeed an open-minded martial art learner and wanted to know
how skillful the Taoist priest was, so he agreed.
Liu Shui’s down on his knees
The Taoist priest told Liu Shui to strike first as he would fight a
real enemy, i.e. at full power. Liu Shui was an innocent minded
person, so he thought “You asked for it!”, and he then took
a breath and struck at the Taoist priest with the similar powerful fist
skill. As Liu Shui was about to hit the Taoist priest, something unbelievable
happened. As the pair was about to come into contact, the Taoist priest
suddenly turned his shoulder a little bit and miraculously Liu Shui missed
the target and fell to the floor, several a yards away - just like that! Liu
Shui was able to stand up shortly, but soon realized that the Taoist
priest in front of him was no ordinary Taoist priest! He decided that
this Taoist priest must be a super talented senior master. So, he stepped
forward in front of the Taoist priest and got down on his knees, hoping
to learn from the skilled master. However, the Taoist priest said he
was an outsider, a traveler with no definite home, and not tempted by
wealth and power. And finally, he said: “The last thing I want
is to be the companion of those people who knows a little bit and pretend
to be master!” He then left, leaving Liu Shui on his knees and
contemplating his earlier behaviour!
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Translation : Brian Tsang
All names are in Mandarin Pin Yin form.
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