The Angel's Descent Chapter 1

Life-or-death martial arts duels, the turmoil of the martial arts world caused by the involvement of Japanese and Chinese spies, the Nazi SS's search for purebred Aryans and the superior martial arts derived from Chinese literary and artistic cultivation, the exquisite blending of martial arts with literary history and the history of World War II into a landmark work. In the martial arts craze triggered by the movie "Ip Man", this novel is timely and better than the movie.

This is a long-awaited martial arts novel. The author Xu Haofeng is currently a teacher in the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy. He once interviewed Xingyiquan master Li Zhongxuan and completed the book "The Lost Martial Arts World". He is familiar with the process of learning martial arts and the stories of the martial arts world during the Republic of China period, and has long studied Buddhism and Taoism.

The story of "The Taoist Goes Down the Mountain" is set in the Republic of China. After the protagonist Mason He returns to the mortal world, his strange encounters not only make his martial arts increasingly profound, but also make him taste the bitterness behind love between men and women through accidental love. The more he experiences, the more he can realize that the path to seeking the Tao has already appeared in the world of martial arts.

Those who hide in the city, those who die early, those who live in the world

In 1992, before I graduated from high school, I saw a book about Taoist culture in the Republic of China at Sanwei Bookstore. There was a photo of the editor, and I thought I would meet this person in the future. In 1998, I met the editor of the book. He was over 80 years old. He was not a monk, but lived in a busy city.

In the early days of learning with him, my ability to express myself in words was at its lowest point, so I adopted a special communication method - writing articles for him to comment on. Because he had a strong accent, he also wrote while speaking.

He said about my articles that "I write like a god", which was a satire on me. Because for some questions, after reading my articles, he thought I already understood them, but when he asked me, he found that I didn't understand them. I really lacked understanding, and only occasionally wrote with inspiration.

Because of his introduction, some of these articles were published in Taoist journals. Some readers even enthusiastically invited me to become a monk. I quit my job to study, not to save time, but because of my state of mind. I unknowingly idled for three years. Three years later, my pen was used to write about men and women and fashion news. I miss the days when I wrote for the sake of studying. There was no struggle in those words.

I always visit the old man at 3pm. After he wakes up from his nap, he will first tell me some stories about the underworld during the Republic of China period, and then discuss academic matters. Those stories are the initial material for this novel.

The novel is in the form of a series of short stories. The origin of the novel is a friend of mine from high school. He was precocious but not mature. He had a high level of understanding in art and Buddhism. He was impatient with the ways of the world and hurt himself as he lived. He passed away on the third day of his marriage. Before that, he left me his martial arts novels.

It was his rewrite of Gu Long's work "The Sword of the Third Young Master", which only had three chapters, written when he was 32 years old. He recommended Gu Long's novels to me when I was in high school. The first one I bought was "Eagle on the Earth", the protagonist of which was named Pu Ying.

Those who do whatever it takes are heroes, and those who stick to their original intentions are heroes. Pu Ying has the qualities of both a hero and a hero, but in the end his heroic nature prevailed, and he failed and died. Gu Long's last work is called "The Falcon and the Gamble", in which Pu Ying comes back to life. The struggle between heroes and heroes was the topic that Gu Long pondered before his death, and so did my friend.

"Falcon Gambling" is a series of short stories, which are independent when read separately, and interrelated when read together. Each story is written with great self-control, and words are used sparingly, leaving blanks like Chinese paintings, so that characters and plots can be imagined. Martial arts is a kind of emotion, which does not need to be fully described, just like the sword of the Third Young Master, who stabbed once or twice, and the opponent would know whether he would win or lose - Gu Long's last work has this flavor, which he told me that year.

Gu Long's final writing skills taught me a lot, so I have to thank him for his initial recommendation. Every person who died young is a short story, leaving a lingering aftertaste at the end of the text.

The form of a series of short stories is rare in the martial arts legend literature, and Gu Long only wrote this one in his lifetime. When Gu Long's vitality was waning, he showed his creativity and left a fresh way of martial arts novels. This way will have successors, so I will try to write about the martial arts world of the Republic of China along this way.

I am thirty-four years old this year, two years older than my friend who passed away earlier. I never thought that both of us would feel the urge to create martial arts novels that we loved in high school after we turned thirty. Perhaps it is because we are both half-familiar with the adult world.

For high school students, the world outside the campus is full of underworld. At the entrance of the alley closest to my high school campus, there is always a fake blind man standing, with his eyes closed, a scale tied to his feet, and shouting to pedestrians on the street: "Give me a penny, and I'll weigh you!" This is paid begging.

He was a resident of the hutong for generations, and he loved to joke with students. We called him "Beng'er". Ten years later, I saw him at a subway station, still with his eyes closed, standing behind two blind people playing the erhu, pretending to play the erhu, but making no sound at all. I advised him: "Isn't this just a sham? Beng'er, can't you do something more technical?"

Five years later, I unexpectedly saw him downstairs in a shopping mall. He opened his eyes brightly and played the harmonica with a red face. It was a Xinjiang folk song collected by Wang Luobin - "Youth Waltz". He played it sonorously and powerfully, and also used complex techniques such as tongue shaking and cheek shaking. I immediately took out money...

Having written this far, I think that Lian Beng'er is living tenaciously and making progress day by day, so I must continue writing word by word.

July 3, 2007

In 1926, a Taoist priest was sleeping under a big willow tree beside the West Lake in Hangzhou. His robe was covered with dust, and he had walked a lot. When the sun was about to set, he stretched and woke up.

He had slept for six hours. When he saw the bloody sunset on the lake, he couldn't help but be obsessed. His name was Mason. When he was 16, he went to the mountains to practice Taoism because he admired immortals. Five years had passed without him realizing it. The great loneliness in the mountains made him nervous and on the verge of collapse. For inner peace, he returned to the mortal world.

Hunger came, listening to the rumbling of his stomach and looking at the tourists coming and going from near and far, Mason asked himself: "Can you get a steamed bun from the world?" He stood up, left the lakeside and walked towards the city of Hangzhou.

The city was bustling with wine and lights, and fashionable women with slim waists and long legs appeared frequently. Mason walked two streets but still couldn't stretch out his hand to beg. Finally, he stopped under a willow tree and stretched out his right hand.

Forty seconds later, a woman carrying an alligator leather handbag came over, took out a silver coin from her handbag and put it into Mason's right hand. Mason suddenly raised his right hand and grabbed a flying willow leaf, which seemed to be looking for the fun of life, not begging.

The woman looked at Mason strangely, put the silver coin into her handbag, turned and left.

Looking at her back, Mason took a long breath. The little self-esteem left in his heart made him continue to endure hunger. The strange feeling in his stomach made him unable to stand calmly, so he walked forward with his head down and shoulders hunched.

When I was practicing Taoism in the mountains, I learned a method to resist hunger called "eating air" - hold a breath in your mouth, wait for it to warm up, and then swallow it like a rice ball. This method will cause a large amount of saliva to be secreted, making a "gurgling" sound in the throat.

Mason swallowed the air of Hangzhou in big gulps and walked to a shop with gray bricks and green tiles. The shop was small, with a couplet hanging on it: "Say goodbye to loneliness in the mountains, welcome troubles in the world", and the horizontal banner read "Save yourself and save others". There was also a diamond-shaped lantern hanging on the door, with the words "male medicine" written on it.

The shop was dark, and a thin, skinny middle-aged man was sitting at the table using an abacus. When he noticed someone walking into the shop, he stopped what he was doing, stood up, and asked, "Master, what can I do for you?" Mason hesitated for a moment and said, "I came down from the mountains and returned to secular life. I haven't found a way to make a living yet. I wonder if you can give me some food?"

The shop owner chuckled: "To be honest, I am also a layman who came down from the mountains. Which mountain did you come from?" Mason: "Longjing Mountain." Shop owner: "I am from Cuihua Mountain, you know?" Mason shook his head. Shop owner: "How could it be? Cuihua Mountain Ziyun Pavilion is a world-famous Taoist temple!"

Mason said "Oh" and forced an expression of admiration. The owner's face immediately lit up and he kept saying "Sit down, sit down!" and made tea and poured water for Mason.

After a sip of strong tea, he felt even hungrier. The shop owner talked about the story of Ziyun Pavilion, and seemed quite interested. Mason drank several cups in a row, and the tea irritated his stomach so much that he couldn't help it and said with a smile: "Brother, please give me a steamed bun!"

The shop owner was startled, then burst into laughter, ran to the back room and took out a plate, filled with three steamed buns and a piece of pickled vegetables. Mason ate them ravenously, and the food tasted very sweet. The shop owner was also infected, swallowed his saliva, and murmured: "You are exactly like me in the past."

Mason: "Brother, why did you go down the mountain?" The owner: "Hey. It was all because of this food. I was disappointed in love, and I went to Cuihua Mountain. Who would have thought that there were only fruits and vegetables on the mountain, which made me feel hot. I thought that eating meat would increase my s3xual desire, but I didn't expect that eating vegetarian food would stimulate my s3xual desire even more. Brother, hotness is also fire!"

The shop owner sighed, as if he felt deeply wronged: "At that time, I would panic whenever I saw a female cat or dog. I was possessed by a demon. Alas! I went up the mountain to become an immortal, but I almost became an animal. I ran down the mountain, rushed into a restaurant, and ate a big bowl of braised pork before I calmed down. Brother, at that time, I looked at the mountains outside through the restaurant window and cried while eating. I have broken through the demon, but I can never go back!"

As the shop owner was talking, two tears rolled down his cheeks. Mason didn't dare to make any chewing sounds, and swallowed the steamed bun in his mouth, and asked: "Why didn't I have this situation?" The shop owner said: "Brother, how old were you when you went up the mountain?" Mason: "Sixteen years old."

The shop owner said, "Hey, you are still a virgin. I had already touched a woman before I went up the mountain. Once you start a relationship between a man and a woman, it is like jumping off a cliff. You will lose all chances of having good things and will only fall into depravity."

Mason was stunned. At this time, a little boy with a schoolbag walked into the store, called "Dad!" and walked into the back room. Mason: "This is you..." The shopkeeper wiped his tears with his sleeve and muttered: "Unjust, unjust." He looked very distressed.

A plump, fair-skinned woman came in carrying a basket of vegetables and said, "Mr. Li, are there any guests?" She nodded politely to Mason and walked into the back room. The woman had beautiful eyes, double eyelids.

Mason: "This is you..." The shop owner rolled his eyes and was actually a little proud: "How about it, my wife is not bad, isn't she? She is well-educated, and can give birth and raise a child."

Mason felt that the situation before him was beyond his comprehension, so he quickened his mouth, wanting to finish the steamed bun and leave.

After seeing his wife, the shop owner regained his composure, poured a cup of tea for Mason,   and asked, "Brother, it is not easy to return to secular life. I worked very hard to build this family business. Without a skill, you cannot survive."

Mason: "Before I went to the mountains, I worked as an apprentice in a medicine shop. I still remember the names of Chinese herbal medicines. At worst, I can start over again." The shop owner slapped his thigh and said in a high-pitched voice: "That's right! Look at what this is!"

The shop owner pointed at the lantern at the door, which was the word "male medicine" that puzzled Mason. Mason: "What?" The shop owner smiled, opened the wall cabinet next to him, took out a small iron box, took out a small knife from it, waved it up and down, and said solemnly: "I am a doctor! And I am a Western doctor."

Mason was in awe and said, "I heard that Western doctors can cut open the stomach, remove the liver and lungs." The shop owner said, "Oh, there is no need to go through so much trouble. I can feed the whole family by cutting off something small." Mason said, "What do you cut off?" The shop owner said, "The foreskin."

Mason was even more confused and didn't dare to react. Seeing Mason's expressionless face, the shop owner thought that Mason looked down on him, so he added: "I can also do double eyelid surgery!"

Mason understood what he said, and thinking of his wife's beautiful eyes, he couldn't help but admire her sincerely, and said, "Good craftsmanship!" The owner's cheeks immediately flushed, as if he had drunk fine wine. He patted Mason's shoulder and said heroically, "Stay here and learn from me."