Madman!

Chapter 4: As If Facing a Great Enemy

Old Chen Hanliang didn't pay much mind to his son practicing stance training around the house.

After all, the boy was still a kid. Having just started at the martial arts school, of course he'd be excited for a few days.

Give it a little while, once the novelty wore off, then would come the real struggle.

Chen Hanliang wasn't particularly concerned about how well his second son learned martial arts. As long as the boy picked up dentistry from him, he'd never go hungry.

His third son was doing well in school and could go work as a white-collar professional outside someday.

As for his eldest... The thought of his firstborn drew a quiet sigh from Chen Hanliang's chest.

...

Over the next few days, Chen Wujun went to the martial arts school every morning and helped out at the shop in the afternoons.

Whenever he had free time, he practiced his stance right there in the shop. He even found his shoes getting in the way, so he kicked them off entirely, his toes gripping tight against the bare floor.

Chen Hanliang told him several times to put his shoes back on. He never listened.He didn't just practice at the shop either — he kept at it after returning home at night.

Even while walking, every step he took ended with his toes clenching firmly against the ground.

Chen Wujun understood with crystal clarity: if he wanted to rise above his station, he had to master everything the school taught him.

In the beginning, his legs felt like they were being torn apart every day. But after a few days, the pain gradually faded, and his stance training grew more and more effortless.

That afternoon, someone came into the shop to order a set of dentures. With no other work to do, Chen Hanliang dozed off in his chair.

He didn't know how long he'd been asleep when a prickling sensation — like needles stabbing into every inch of his skin — jolted him violently awake. His head whipped around, scanning the room.

What he saw was his second son standing barefoot on the floor, his toes hooked into the ground like iron claws. His hips were lowered into a half-seated position, rising and falling with subtle rhythm. His upper body leaned forward, as though he were mounted atop an invisible warhorse.

Every fiber of the boy's being was wound tight to the breaking point. His body coiled like a spring ready to explode outward. Every hair on his skin stood on end, like a wild beast with its hackles raised, radiating an aura of savage ferocity.

It was precisely this pressure that had torn Chen Hanliang from his sleep. Even as an ordinary man, he could feel the predatory violence poised to lunge at any moment.

The sight of his second son like this gave Chen Hanliang a terrible fright. His heart lurched — had the boy driven himself mad with training?

At that moment, Chen Wujun's eyes were locked straight ahead. His body gave a sudden, violent shudder, and like an arrow leaving the bowstring, he lunged forward. His elbow drove outward with vicious precision — and then, just like that, he snapped awake, gasping for air.

Sweat erupted from his forehead and his entire body all at once, drenching him from head to toe as if he'd just been fished out of a river.

"Son!" Chen Hanliang shot up from his chair.

"I did it! Dad, I did it!" Chen Wujun was too exhilarated to care about his exhaustion or the sweat pouring off him. His eyes blazed with an almost frightening intensity.

Just moments ago, it had felt as though he were facing an invisible enemy, locked into the primal fight-or-flight response that came with mortal danger. Every ounce of his focus had sharpened to a razor's edge. Everything around him had been impossibly vivid — he could even hear the sound of blood flowing through his own veins.

Shortly after, he'd lost control of his body entirely. It was as if he had no choice but to launch himself forward and fight his enemy to the death.

That was what had produced that explosive lunge and the crushing elbow strike.

The instant he completed the movement, sweat had come flooding out of every pore, cooling his overheated body.

Chen Hanliang stared at his son's euphoric expression, remembering the stance from moments ago, that feral savagery like a beast about to pounce. His mouth opened and closed. In the end, he swallowed the words "wipe your sweat, don't catch cold" back down his throat, his face a complicated knot of emotions.

That evening on the way home, Chen Wujun was still buzzing with excitement.

Dinner that night was a lavish spread.

"Bro!" A boy who bore a resemblance to Chen Wujun came bounding out of their parents' room.

"Little bro!"

The sight of his younger brother Chen Wuqi brought a genuine smile to Chen Wujun's face.

"School's out?"

"Yeah, finally on break!"

"How's school been? Anyone giving you trouble? If someone's messing with you, you tell me!"

After dinner, he settled onto the couch to watch TV — or so it appeared. He looked like he was sitting on the sofa, but his rear hovered a good two centimeters above the cushion. Neither his parents nor his brother noticed.

"At nine o'clock this morning, a homicide occurred in Hong Hum..."

The evening crime report always covered the latest violent incidents somewhere, robberies elsewhere, gang clashes in yet another district.

Chen Wujun loved watching these segments. He felt he could learn a great deal from them.

Especially when robbery suspects were caught on the spot — the news would show exactly how they'd been apprehended and why they'd been caught.

Then he'd put himself in their shoes, working through how he would have avoided getting caught.

His father, Chen Hanliang, always told him: it didn't matter if you weren't good at school, but once you left the classroom, you still had to keep learning, keep thinking.

He'd taken those words to heart.

After the TV programs ended, Chen Wujun returned to his room, gazed at the celebrity poster on the wall for a moment, then climbed into bed.

He was, after all, a teenager who'd just finished secondary school. A bit of daydreaming about a young, beautiful actress was only natural.

This room was one he'd shared with his eldest brother. Since his brother never came home anymore, it was all his now.

The youngest, Chen Wuqi, normally boarded at school. When he came home, he shared a room with their parents.

...

Early the next morning, Chen Wujun headed to the martial arts school and began his stance training.

He held his stance while replaying the sensations from yesterday's session in his mind.

Senior Brother Li watched the school's handful of disciples from nearby. Ever since Chen Wujun had joined, the school hadn't had many students to begin with.

Those with money all went to study New Arts instead. Those without money wouldn't bother with martial arts at all.

Even when the occasional new student signed up, not one in ten would stick with it.

So he hadn't really invested much attention in this current batch. In a few months, there probably wouldn't be a single one left.

Senior Brother Li's gaze swept across the students as they held their stances. When it passed over Chen Wujun, he gave a quiet mental nod.

This latest recruit was diligent, and his progress was remarkably fast. Any correction only needed to be made once — he never repeated the same mistake.

'Probably two weeks before he's got the Charge Stance down. About the same pace as me,' he estimated.

The real question was whether the boy could persevere.

His gaze had barely shifted to Lin Zetao when Senior Brother Li felt something. He snapped his eyes back.

Chen Wujun's toes gripped the ground like rebar. His body rose and fell with a rhythmic pulse, every hair on his body standing straight up, as if he were staring down a powerful enemy.

His entire frame was strung taut as a drawn bow, ready to loose at any instant.

"This... This!" Senior Brother Li's eyes went wide as saucers.

"What the hell?! Am I seeing things?!"

When he'd predicted that Chen Wujun would master the Charge Stance in half a month, he meant being able to hold it for thirty minutes without tiring or swaying, body solid as bedrock.

But this kid right now... He had achieved the state of "As If Facing a Great Enemy!"

It had taken Senior Brother Li himself an entire year of practice before he'd reached this level.

Yet this newest student — how long had he even been training? A week at most!

It was absolutely insane!

If he hadn't known the kid's background — Chen Hanliang the dentist's son, zero prior foundation whatsoever — he'd have sworn someone was playing an elaborate prank on him.

While Senior Brother Li's mind reeled like storm-tossed waves, his eyes round with disbelief, the others also began to notice the aura radiating from Chen Wujun.

Lin Zetao and the other students practicing their Golden Rooster Stance couldn't help but stop mid-exercise. Even the students sparring in the distance paused what they were doing.

"Senior Brother Li, is he..." Lin Zetao sidled over to ask.

"Your classmate — he really hasn't trained before?" Senior Brother Li's neck turned stiffly toward him.

"I don't think so!" Lin Zetao answered, though he didn't sound entirely certain himself.

"Unbelievable!" Senior Brother Li cranked his neck back around, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Chen Wujun.

A full ten minutes passed before Chen Wujun could no longer sustain the state. His body released like an arrow from a bow, surging forward as his elbow drove out in a crushing strike.

Sweat instantly erupted across every inch of his skin, drenching him as though he'd been hauled out of a lake.

Chen Wujun stood there, chest heaving with deep breaths, his gaze turning toward Senior Brother Li. While locked in that state of heightened awareness, everything around him had been crystal clear — including every word Senior Brother Li had said.

Chen Wujun's eyes and brows were alight with barely contained joy as he waited for the praise.

Every young man craves recognition.

Senior Brother Li circled him several times, looking him up and down, clicking his tongue in amazement.

"You really haven't trained before?"

"Never!" Chen Wujun declared.

"Still planning on going back to school?"

"Nah, I'm done with that. Books were never my thing!" A hint of pride stirred inside Chen Wujun, though his face maintained an earnest, humble expression.

"Good. If school's not your path, martial arts is a fine road to walk!" Senior Brother Li agreed with conviction.

Then his tone shifted: "Just now — did you feel like your body couldn't hold it anymore? Like you had to release all that tension? And then every sweat gland in your body opened up at once, and the moment the sweat poured out, all your strength drained away?"

"Exactly. Senior Brother Li, what's happening there?"

"In a real fight, you only enter the state of 'As If Facing a Great Enemy' in the split second before you strike. If you try to maintain it the way you just did, of course you can't hold it — your stamina won't allow it either."

"So during actual combat, you need to stay right at the edge — hovering just on the threshold of entering that state, but not quite tipping into it."

"Otherwise, before the fight even starts, you'll have already burned yourself out."

"When you drop out of the state, your body floods with sweat to cool itself down. After sweating that much, exhaustion is inevitable. It's like soaking in a hot bath — stay too long, work up a heavy sweat, and you'll feel drained the moment you step out."

Senior Brother Li explained each point carefully.

"In a bit, I'll teach you a breathing technique. When you train your stance, use it to keep yourself hovering right at the edge of 'As If Facing a Great Enemy' — close, but never crossing over."

Before today, Senior Brother Li hadn't paid much attention to any of the school's current students. As far as he was concerned, in a few months they'd all be gone.

But looking at Chen Wujun now was an entirely different matter.

The boy's stance training had progressed at a terrifying rate — achieving "As If Facing a Great Enemy" in a single week was nothing short of frightening.

He wanted nothing more than to drag Chen Wujun before their Master right this instant.

But he tamped down the impulse, deciding first to teach Chen Wujun a few other things to see whether his progress was equally monstrous across the board.

"Starting today, on top of your daily Charge Stance practice, you'll also train the Golden Rooster Stance alongside the others."

Chen Wujun had grasped the essence of the Charge Stance in just one week. Now Senior Brother Li wanted to see how long it would take him to unlock the "Kill" intent of the Golden Rooster Stance.

Senior Brother Li's gaze swept toward the other students, and Lin Zetao's group scrambled back to their positions to resume training.

Only then did Senior Brother Li turn back to Chen Wujun: "The Charge Stance is your foundation. It roots your feet to the earth and gives you the power to crash through a mountain. But if you want to actually hit someone, you'll need other weapons."

He faced Chen Wujun and suddenly dropped his weight. His right leg anchored into the ground like a pillar while his left knee drove upward past his waist. In an instant, he transformed into a posture that was both perilously precarious and utterly stable — like a heavy war bow drawn to its limit, with his knee as the arrow, poised and ready to fly.

"This is the Golden Rooster Stance. Your knee is the hammer! Your shin is the shield! And this raised leg of yours — that's Yama's Invitation!"

After a brief rest, Chen Wujun mimicked Senior Brother Li's form. One foot's toes dug into the ground while the opposite leg lifted past the knee, both hands guarding in front of his body.

His form swayed slightly.

All of Chen Wujun's focus poured into stabilizing his balance.

Senior Brother Li gave a light kick to his ankle, and Chen Wujun toppled to the ground.

"Where's your strength? Where's 'old tree, deep roots'? You can stand firm on two legs but can't manage one?" Senior Brother Li barked.

Chen Wujun gritted his teeth and hauled himself up. The toes of his standing foot dug deep into the flagstone beneath him as he raised his other leg once more.

"Imagine there's an enemy right in front of you. One knee strike, and you shatter every organ in his chest!" Senior Brother Li bellowed.