Jiang Jinjiu's original name was Jiang Chao, and his father was Jiang Zhenye. His grandfather, Jiang Weiguo, started a small brick baking workshop in his hometown Luozhou. Starting from scratch, his grandfather became a well-known wealthy merchant in Luozhou step by step based on his own ingenuity and diligence.
Jiang Zhenye was naughty and active since he was a child, and the folk martial arts in Luozhou flourished at that time. Therefore, Jiang Weiguo invited a few masters to teach Jiang Zhenye martial arts, hoping his son would keep fit, and hoping this could cultivate the temperament of his son.
Indeed, Jiang Zhenye has a natural martial art talent and defeats his masters in 5 years. About that, Jiang Jinguo was very glad because he believed that his son was a person that got guts. So, he invited great masters with a higher expense. In a few years, Jiang Zhenye exceeded these great masters. However, he was not satisfied with his present achievement and started to look for challenges. As is said "fierce fists come from vigorous and young men", and Jiang Zhenye, as a young and strong man who has a great mastery of Kungfu, became almost invincible in LuoZhou.
Because of the reputation he achieved in his youth, Jiang Zhenye started to become arrogant. And his affluent family background is also a reason, which made a lot of bad guys try to flatter him intentionally. Having made friends with disreputable gangs, Jiang Zhenye started to idle away in seeking pleasure and bully others in his town. In the end, he was given a nickname "Bully Boy", and many people would privately talk about him.
Jiang Weiguo was very worried when he heard that his son was losing his reputation. He has talked with his son about this, but Jiang Zhenye didn't give a damn. He has tried to persuade him with force, but he was no longer the opponent of of his son. He beat his son with a thick stick, which didn't change a thing. Jiang Weiguo felt very terrible about this, he blamed himself being so busy in business so that he has little time to discipline his son.
Being haunted by this guilty feeling for a long time, Jiang Weiguo fell ill. Since he got sick, his family business started to degrade because his son Jiang Weiguo was only a play boy who could do nothing except fighting with others. And this didn't bother Jiang Zhenye at all, he continued to live the way he did before. The only difference was that, when he made a trouble before, his father would help him solve it. Now that Jiang Weiguo was ill in bed, he no longer had extra energy to clear up the mess his son created.
In the winter of this year, right after a heavy snow, Jiang Zhenye called a few of his friends to go hunting in the wild. When he took the hounds out of the house, he saw an old man walking over, who was a short guy with wrinkles all over his face and only wore a single layer of garment in the cold winter.
"You're Jiang Zhenye, right?" the old man stopped and asked five steps away from Jiang Zhenye.
"That's right! Piss off if you don't want to be a meal for my dogs." Jiang Zhenye was hurrying for the appointment, he didn't want to waste time with that old guy by saying that as an intimidation.
"I was told that you're good at Kungfu, but I don't think so now. What I can see is a sissy that is worse than a dog." The old man said scornfully.
Jiang Zhenye, who had never been humiliated like this, was in fury after hearing this " so you're here to look for death?"
"Young boy, it's easy to talk big while you're small. It's too early to make such a judgement."
"Since you do want to look for death, I won't show any mercy. To show my respect for the old, I will let you make the first move."
This aged man looked sickly with a pale complexion and bending back. Besides, he was really skinny, like a skin covered skeleton. It seemed that even a gentle wind could blow him away. In Jiang Zhenye's mind, this old guy must be out of his mind. He decided to grab this old guy when he rushed over and threw him to the side of the road. He didn't want to waste time with this old guy, and that's also why he wanted this old man to take the first move.
The old man was unhurried, took off the felt hat on his head, and dusted it. At ease, he said "I'm a guest from a far, who shouldn't take the first move in your town. Now that you insist, I will take this. However, in order not to let people say that I am bullying you, I will tell you the move I'm going to take so that you can be prepared. Listen carefully, it's from Hands of Lighting, The Scarlet Phoenix Flies toward The Sun.
After his words, the old man took a leap, crossed the five steps distance and stood in front of Jiang Zhenye. Having dropped shoulders and took a firm stance, he chopped with a single palm toward Jiang Zhenye's Zhonggong point (8 fingers below the heart).
Seeing the firm stance, Jiang Zhenye knew that this was not a lunatic old man, but a real Kungfu man. So, he started to be cautious. He was going to block the old man's palm with his right hand and hit this old man's temple with his right hand. But the weird thing is that this old man only trembled his hand, and Jiang Zhenye's left hand was out of his control and turned over. The old man didn't stop his attacking, by locking Jiang Zhenye's left hand with his wrist and hitting toward his chest. Jiang Zhenye's left hand was turned over with his palm turned toward the sky, so he couldn't gather his force. The old man's hand was obviously shorter than Jiang Zhenye, but Jiang Zhenye was hit first before his fist reached that old guy.
This palm on Jiang Zhenye's chest gave his a great pain. Retreating about 8 steps, he could barely stabilize his body. His face was flushed, and his blood was flowing violently in chaos. With a rust taste, there was blood in his mouth. He knew that he had suffered internal injuries, but he forced himself to swallow it.
Although he was defeated in one move, Jiang Zhenye was not willingly to admit that he was inferior to this old guy. He just believed that it was him underestimated this old man, so that this could happen. He told himself that Hands of Lighting was not a profound martial art although it originated from northern group, and he also learned some before. This palm emphasizes scalability, stretching out to hit further, winding and folding, virtual and actual shifts, coherent movements and fierce attack. It upholds that moving fast is better than slow, hitting far is better than short, attacking should be swift and fierce. And his strength is "Ten Shapes Fist", it requires firm stances and fierce punches.It advocates you to win your rival with force, which is to throw out hard fists straightly, and this is the best way to tackle Hands of Lighting.
So he yelled at the old man, "I was being careless just now, because I didn't want to hurt you, so only one third of my force was shown. But this time I will take its seriously, let's try again."
Jiang Zhenye thought to himself that, " The old man's body was not made of pig iron anyway. With a few punches, I will defiantly get this old fuck taken care of. Even though, he was flexible, I'm strong and vigorous. As the saying goes, disordered fists could even kill a master, as long as they are forceful."
And this thought gave Jiang Zhenye much more courage, he rolled his sleeves up to reveal two thick and solid arms. Waving his arms in the air, his joints cracked and snapped.
At this time, many people were watching in the alley. Seeing such a strong figure, and knowing his good Kungfu, these people all felt that Jiang Zhenye was even able to have a round with lions. Meanwhile, they also sighed for this poor old man. In their thinking, this old man really had no idea who he was fighting with, and this might get him killed.
This time, Jiang Zhenye dared not to be cocky, so he decided to take the first move. Rushing to the aged man with a loud cry, he took "Tiger Subduing", the most powerful move of this Ten Shapes Fist, which was also one of the Hung Kuen. While taking moves, you need to shout loudly at the proper time to deterrent your rival. With fierce force, Jiang Zhenye threw his fists toward this aged man.
Instead of retreating, this aged man lowered his body and hit Jiang Zhenye's knee with his palm. Seeing that, Jiang Zhenye immediately stepped back a little to dodge this attack.This time he decided not to face this old guy's palm straightly. But this old man turned his palm to the left suddenly and hooked Jiang Zhenye's right fist.
In Jiang Zhenye's mind, he was waiting for this moment. He gathered his force on this fist and was going to find a perfect time and hit back, to his surprise, this old guy moved behind Jiang Zhenye agilely and lightly like a cloud. While Jiang Zhenye's body was leaning forward, this aged man took this opportunity and caught Jiang Zhenye's elbow. Because his hand moved very fast, before you can clearly see what he was doing, Jiang Zhenye's arm were already turned back on his back. Given a gentle push on the back, coupled with Jiang Zhenye's previous punching force that hadn't been quieted down, he fell to his knees.
Jiang Zhenye knelt in the snow, with his left hand being turned over on his back, and his right hand pressed on the ground to support his body. The skinny arms of this old man, as if they were cast out of iron, were quit strong. Jiang Zhenye's left arm was firmly locked on his back by this old man, which made him unable to move at all. Each time he tried to move, he doubted if there was a mountain on his back.
Jiang Zhenye has always been confident that he is capable of tearing up leopards and tigers, moving mountain and shouldering giant cauldron, but now merely being locked by this old man with one hand, let alone stand up, he couldn't even stop his right hand from trembling, which indicates that he could no longer balance his body.
Seeing this, the onlookers all whispered, and some people who were bullied by Jiang Zhenye cheered and applauded for this. Jiang Zhenye was shamed and enraged, he raised his head and shouted to his two hunting dogs "go bite him".
These two hunting dogs are well trained and very smart. When they heard the call of the master, they immediately rushed to the old man. Jiang Zhenye also waited for the opportunity to kick back.
The old man laughed strangely, "like master like dogs". Remaining one hand pressed on Jiang Zhenye, he pointed at these two evil dogs coming to him with the other hand, at the same time raised his legs and stepped on Jiang Zhenye's that were going to kick back.
The two dogs wailed and fell to Jiang Zhenye's side, and there was a blood hole, about the size of a finger, on their head. Red blood, combined with white brains, flowed out of that hole. With a scream, Jiang Zhenye's legs were broken by that old man.
"Master, please, I beg you let go of him."
Jiang Weiguo trembled out of the house with the help of his family. Actually, there was a person went to inform him before Jiang Zhenye and this old man start their fight. Jiang Weiguo was going to come out to stop his son bullying an aged man, but what he saw was that this old man beat the shit out of his son.
"You are Jiang Weiguo, right?" the old man turned back and asked .
"Yes, it's me. I' sorry that my son offended you. That's my fault. As is said "to feed without teaching is the father's fault. Master, if you are still in rage, could you please punish me instead? Anyway he is my son,I'm really grateful if you can let go of him." as he was begging for mercy, he knelt on the ground.
"Dad, stand up, don't beg this old fuck! If he wants to take my life, let him do! Not a big deal for a true man!" Jiang Zhenye tried to suppress his pain and said this with resentment.
"True man? You are too far away from being a true man. On my way back home to visit my friends in Luozhou, I have heard there was a young boy who only bullies the meek and does evil. The reason for me doing this is to let you know that justice will never be absent."
As the aged man pushed harder, Jiang Zhenye was completely out of balance, his right hand slide, and his head was pressed into the thick snow on the ground.
"Don't talk offensively to master! Master, his is a young and ignorant boy, I hope that you can forgive him. This is my apology, please take it." Jiang Weiguo asked his steward take a few stacks of money, about hundreds of thousands in total.
The old man shook his head, "I don't do it for money. Jiang Weiguo, for the sake of your good reputation, I won't push hard. I won't take your money either. You can use it to build bridges and pave roads for public convenience. Hopefully, this can sooth the complaints people have toward your son."
After his words, this old man pushed Jiang Zhenye to Jiang Weiguo, turned back and walked away.
Jiang Weiguo expressed his thanks again and again and asked his servants to move Jiang Zhenye into the house. At this time, Jiang Zhenye already fainted from his rage.
Jiang Weiguo invited a famous doctor to correct the bones in Jiang Zhenye's legs. And thanks to this doctor, Jiang Zhenye didn't turn into a lame person. After this thing, Jiang Zhenye has changed a lot, he stops going out and making troubles, but stays home and practices boxing at the yard. Jiang Weiguo was greatly comforted after seeing this, and he thought that old master was the one to thank.
In the spring of next year, under the arranged marriage, Jiag Zhenye married a ladylike daughter of an eminent family, who was Jiang Jinjiu's mother. After getting married, Jiang Zhenye started going out again, not for fighting but to look for famous masters.
Although he was defeated by that mysterious old man last time, he didn't hold that resentment afterwards, instead he was suddenly enlightened. Compared with that old man, he realized the Kungfu he has learned is shit. He was impressed by that old man's profound martial art,especially when he pierced the bounds' skull with his finger slightly pointed at them, that's fucking cool!
The more he thinks about this, the more fascinated he is by that Kungfu. He felt that the past 20 years was wasted by him. Meanwhile, he also regretted that he missed that golden chance, he should have stopped that senior master leaving and asked him to be his teacher. Now, he doesn't even know how to find that old man. But he told himself that this world is full of undiscovered masters, the old man he met before is not the only one. As long as he has the perseverance, he will definitely find other masters, and learn from them.
Therefore, he often leaves home. Sometimes, he would go to some small towns and marketplaces, sometimes go to the mountains and deep forests. The more difficult this thing is, the more resolute he gets.
Not only running here and there all year long, he also spent lots of money. Jiang Weiguo was very pissed off by him, but had no way to stop him. His son wouldn't stay at home whether he had money or not. Jiang Zhenye was very determined, he had to find a real master to teach him Kungfu, even though he had to live on begging. As a father, Jiang Weiguo couldn't bear his son suffer, he still provided some money,not much, in order to prevent his son from going too far.
So, Jiang Zhenye only stayed a few days at home each year. Jiang Weiguo was in a poor health, and what his son did also depressed him a lot, so he passed away a few years later. But this didn't stop Jiang Zhenye either, he set his mind to look for the big Kungfu man no matter how many sufferings it may bring to him.
After Jiang Weiguo's death, the property he left very soon has been used up by Jiang Zhenye. Because Jiang Zhenye had a lot of foes, he took his wife and soon out of his hometown and started a wandering life. Jiang Jinjiu's mother was born and grew up in a prosperous family, so these sufferings were too much for her, and her health condition was getting worse during that time. But she was a very considerate woman who tried her best to support her husband. In her mind, Jiang Zhenye is a good husband, a true man and a hero. She would wash clothes and weave cloths for other people to earn household income. By the time Jiang Jinjiu was ten years old, she fell sick from the overwork and passed away.
The death of his wife was a heavy blow to Jiang Zhenye. All of a sudden, his hopes were dashed into pieces. Since then, he started drinking excessively to escape facing the real life and turned into an alcoholic. His enthusiasm for martial arts was not completely faded, but was pinned on his son. These years' wandering life was not totally useless, he did learn some very impressive Kungfu. It's him that was not satisfied, he felt that there should be more Kungfu that are powerful.
While keeping vigil beside the coffin of his wife, Jiang Zhenye organized what he learned throughout his life and taught Jiang Jinjiu little by little. He not only taught Jiang Jinjiu martial arts, but also taught him the principle of doing things.He didn't want his son step on the same life path he did and ended up with a loser. He also send Jiang Jinjiu to school. However, where did he get the money to pay school fees? He went to a black market playing underground illegal boxing. His had great Kungfu, due to his middle age, and drinking habit, his physical health was not pleasant. Besides, some injuries he had in his early age was not completely cured, which would affect him from time to time. Therefore, he often came home with wounds, and the young Jiang Jinjiu would apply medicine for him and massage him.
To stop his father playing illegal boxing, Jiang Jinjiu was reluctant to go to school. He was super stubborn, Jiang Zhenye had no choice but to buy some books to teach his son himself. Then they started wandering life again, walking from one mountain to another. Fortunately, there was a lot of wild vegetables and game to eat in the mountains. Due to Jiang Zhenye had been walking in mountains over years, he was an excellent hunter. So even when there are wild animals, as along as they are not in groups, it wouldn't be a big problem for Jiang Zhenye and his son. Sometimes, Jiang Zhenye won't deal with the wild animals himself, but left them to his son, so as to cultivate his real fighting skills.
One day, Jiang Zhenye was teaching Jiang Jinjiu to read a Tang dynasty poetry, and suddenly he murmured like being witched, then laughed, and hold Jiang Jinjiu in his arm, tossed him into the air, caught him, then tossed him into the air again. As he was doing that, he yelled with excitement "I got it, I got it."
It turned out that when Jiang Zhenye was reading Li Bai's poetry Chiang Chin Chiu, he was hit by an idea and discovered a set of means to cultivate internal strength.
According what he said, the poet Li Bai was a swordsman. In the book Biography of Li Bai, it records"Li Bai also said that he was obsessed with swordsmanship at the age of fifteen, and he had traveled to other countries with merely a sword. He loved learning strategic principle and sword, he was also a chivalrous man."
Jiang Zhenye felt that such a talented man, endowed with civil and martial virtues, would hide his martial arts into his poems so as to pass it on to future generations. Therefore, combining his martial arts experience, he learned Li Bai's internal strength cultivation method from this poem.
His idea was very astounding, and how he learned the internal strength cultivation method from a poem was also unbelievable. If it were not Jiang Jinjiu, this so called Kungfu would be taken as rubbish. But Jiang Jinjiu, who has lived with him since childhood, trusts his father. He obeyed his father's instructions and started to practice this "Chiang Chin Chiu Magic Power", and even changed his name into Jiang Jinjiu.
Such a whimsical martial art now is really mastered by Jiang Jinjiu. Fang Tang was thinking that in this big world, everything is possible. Who can imagine that a self organized Kufung which was inspired by a flashing idea 10 years ago could be so powerful. Due to Jiang Jinjiu's diligent efforts, he could finally master it. It's really fortunate that he didn't go mad in this process.