32: Chapter 32 Boxing Gym

The day after finishing his broadcast, Li Changsheng went out for an early morning run.

Daily exercise had already become a habit; if he didn't run for a day, it felt unusual.

He met the old man as agreed, but by the time Li Changsheng finished a lap, he could see from a distance that the old man was already preparing to leave.

“Senior Zhang!”

“What is it? Has the Bazhen Soup lost its effect?”

Seeing it was Li Changsheng, Zhang Youdao thought the medicinal soup's effect had failed again.

“Elder, the Bazhen Soup is still effective. This Junior wishes to ask Senior for advice on some questions regarding boxing techniques,” Li Changsheng said truthfully.

He had intended to ask for guidance today; from their previous conversations, he knew this old man seemed to be an expert in hand-to-hand combat and weapons.

“Boxing techniques? With that body of yours, can you even... Huh!”

As Zhang Youdao spoke, his gaze toward Li Changsheng became fixed. Without waiting for Li Changsheng to react, he grabbed his wrist to carefully examine his pulse.

The old man stroked his beard while closing his eyes and frowning in deep thought, as if he had encountered an extremely baffling problem.

“Elder, how is my condition?”

Li Changsheng asked with some uncertainty. His physical strength had increased quite a bit now; logically, he should be fairly healthy under normal circumstances, unless the cancer cells started acting up again or he stopped his Cultivation.

“If I hadn't seen your condition before, it would be hard to believe you were a dying man not long ago.”

Zhang Youdao opened his eyes and smacked his lips, speaking with some emotion.

“Your situation is truly unheard of, but it must be related to your Cultivation.”

Zhang Youdao didn't say anything more, though he was dying of curiosity. While Health-preserving Qigong indeed has good health-preserving and body-strengthening effects, saying it could pull someone back from the brink of death was somewhat unbelievable.

“By the way, have you gone to the hospital for a check-up? There should be a major problem with your liver.”

Zhang Youdao said with a frown. Although he could see Li Changsheng's liver had a major issue, Chinese medicine might not necessarily be able to clearly identify something like cancer.

“There is a problem with the liver. I had it checked, and they said the condition has stabilized for now, but it's not fully recovered yet.”

Li Changsheng smiled. He didn't want to tell others about his cancer; once exposed, even if people didn't say anything, that kind of concern and pity would make him uncomfortable instead.

“That's good then. Keep it up. Based on how your condition is developing, you should be able to recover fully.”

Hearing this, Zhang Youdao nodded. He thought for a moment and smiled, “Right, you've been learning boxing recently? Then do you want to come see where I teach?”

“Sure!”

Li Changsheng remembered the old man had given him an address, but he hadn't had time to go. This was a good chance to take a look.

—

Looking at this place named 'Hongyi Wing Chun Hall', he was secretly surprised. He had originally thought the old man worked at some combat club, but it turned out to be a Traditional Martial Arts hall.

“Elder, did you use to practice Wing Chun?”

Li Changsheng asked curiously. Mainly because Wing Chun was so famous, he was actually quite interested in this art.

“No,” Zhang Youdao shook his head.

“Then...”

“Hehe, I teach Chinese Kickboxing.”

“?”

Hearing the old man say he taught Chinese Kickboxing, Li Changsheng was a bit dazed.

Isn't Chinese Kickboxing a type of modern combat?

“Curious why I teach Chinese Kickboxing?” Zhang Youdao looked over with a smile.

Li Changsheng nodded silently. He really found it hard to associate Chinese Kickboxing with this ninety-year-old man.

“You probably don't know the origin of Chinese Kickboxing. In ancient times, it was also called Xiangbo, Shoubo, Bian, Bian, or Baida.”

The old man paused, seeming to reminisce about something as his smile grew wider.

“Of course, back then it wasn't called Chinese Kickboxing. The first time this name truly appeared was in the 17th year of the Republic, when the National Martial Arts Institute's national exam first referred to unarmed combat as Sanda. ”

“I used to be an instructor at the National Martial Arts Institute.”

Uh...

Li Changsheng understood. It turns out this martial arts hall had brought in the very source of Chinese Kickboxing.

This was one of the living founders of Chinese Kickboxing!

Entering the martial arts hall, he expected to see things like the wooden dummies from the Ip Man movies, but it wasn't like that. Instead, there were modern glass doors, a polished counter, and a young lady at the front desk.

The overall feeling was no different from some combat clubs, until they actually went inside where various wooden dummies and constantly practicing students lined both sides.

“Don't just stand there dazed. This is the trend now; we can't let the Karate dojo next door look down on us.”

Zhang Youdao really kept up with the times; Li Changsheng felt like he was being looked down upon by the old man.

“Elder Zhang!”

Seeing Zhang Youdao, the young lady at the front desk greeted him very respectfully.

It was clear the old man had a lot of prestige here.

The old man also smiled and greeted her, like an old man strolling in a park, then walked straight toward the inner part of the hall without even glancing at the student practice areas on both sides.

On the way there, Li Changsheng had actually learned from the old man that he wasn't just any ordinary teacher.

He was a private tutor specifically hired by the martial arts hall for some students who were preparing for competitions.

Yes, the kind that costs ten thousand USD per lesson, so the old man was very wealthy.

As for the practice areas on both sides, a glance showed that most were office workers wearing glasses, followed by children.

According to the old man, these people were only there for interest, practicing just for self-defense.

Of course, there were also some employees of foreign companies preparing to go abroad to the US; everyone knows what the public security is like over there.

Zhang Youdao led Li Changsheng all the way to the General Manager's office.

The General Manager's surname was Nie, Nie Shi, a middle-aged man who looked very genial. He was quite thin and didn't show much muscle.

“Elder Zhang, you've finally come. Those students are about to compete soon, and everyone is waiting for your special training.”

Manager Nie immediately looked delighted upon seeing Zhang Youdao. Elder Zhang's reputation was well-established, and he indeed had real skill.

“This is...”

Manager Nie's gaze turned toward Li Changsheng.

“A Junior of mine, here to look around and learn.”

“Haha, since he was brought by Elder Zhang, then he is a friend.”

Facing Manager Nie's enthusiasm, Li Changsheng also exchanged a few words with him, getting to know each other.

But it had to be said that Manager Nie had strong traits of someone from Guangdong Province—that is, enthusiasm. When he got excited, he would even throw in a few sentences of Cantonese.

The group arrived at the innermost, relatively spacious training room, where they saw two people already clashing on the ring, with several people nearby constantly saying something.

“You can watch from the side first. Although Chinese Kickboxing is different from Traditional Martial Arts, it still has many shadows of Traditional Martial Arts within it,”

Zhang Youdao reminded him seriously.

Li Changsheng nodded at his words. He was also quite curious about Chinese Kickboxing, since people online often said Traditional Martial Arts couldn't beat Chinese Kickboxing, and that one Chinese Kickboxer could beat five Traditional Martial Artists.

Since it was talked about so highly, it likely wasn't without reason.

The fighting on the ring was very intense, but the two fighters weren't the type with exceptionally full and intimidating muscles; they were the well-proportioned type with a bit of body fat.

He estimated their body fat percentage to be around 12% to 15%.