I am Really a Superstar

There was a state of confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“Was the stunt double dancing? Why didn’t he use any strength?”

“How did Zhang Ye manage to do that?”

“Why couldn’t Dalong’s double even match up to an artist like Zhang Ye?”

“This display is so beautiful that I’m afraid to look at it! What’s the situation?”

“Hello, double bro, did you seriously try to fight at all? How could you still not break through after three stances? Are you afraid of hurting Teacher Zhang Ye?”

Everyone was busily chattering and discussing away!

None of them could accept this scene that played out in front of their eyes!

The stunt double was nearly in tears. I didn’t fight seriously? He swore that he had really given his best and even used up all his strength for it. For some reason, even though he felt that his opponent was not strong and had a form that was was full of openings, he still could not bring him down!

Wang Chengpeng’s expression was full of curiosity.

The martial arts director was also surprised.

Zhang Ye spoke at this moment, “Still want to have another go?”

“No! I’m not fighting anymore!” The double quickly admitted defeat and said, “My techniques are not good enough yet as I just learned Taiji Fist a short while ago.”

Your technique? Taiji Fist?

Zhang Ye was at a loss for words. He decided that he was not going to carry on with this farce any longer.

In the end, the double quickly defended himself because he felt a loss of pride. He said, “If I had used my specialized external style of fighting, the results would not have been the same. The strength of my blows would certainly increase by thirty to forty percent and my stances would not have any openings. Then you couldn’t have handled it.” Actually, he was not purposely giving an excuse, as he really thought that this would be the case as well. Having just learnt Taiji Fist, he was unfamiliar with it. Besides, it would require day after day and year after year of practice to hone his skills before the effects of his training would manifest itself. Internal style martial arts were not like external style martial arts. They required patience in training and needed to be nurtured slowly. He felt that if he had used his external style of fighting against Zhang Ye, the outcome would have turned and Zhang Ye would definitely not have been able to take three stances from him!

Zhang Ye looked at him. Do you really think that if you had used an external style of fighting instead, it would’ve been enough? Hur hur. But he eventually did not say another word since he did not want to deal another blow to his opponent!

Wang Chengpeng and the rest of the film crew understood after hearing the explanation.

“So that’s the reason!”

“That stunt double only has a superficial understanding of Taiji Fist since he had only just learnt it.”

“Just like I said. If he had used his specialized martial arts, how couldn’t he win against Teacher Zhang? So the reason was that he did not put in too much effort and was just doing an exchange of skill with Teacher Zhang.”

“That explains it.”

“That gave me a fright. I really thought that Teacher Zhang was a hidden Chinese martial arts expert but it was just an illusion and the stunt double was only messing around with him.”

The martial arts director seemingly realized something at this point, nodded vigorously, and then said to the double, “Go back and train some more. That’s what internal style martial arts are like. Unless you spend a few years in training, you won’t see any results since it is unlike external style martial arts which can be picked up very quickly. Besides, Taiji Fist is already a lost art with the mnemonics, breathing techniques, and meditation ways missing, so this path will surely be tougher to walk down. I can only teach you up to here. As for the rest, it will have to depend on you.”

Zhang Ye thought to himself, You want to continue practicing just based on this technique alone? Even if you trained until your arms fell off, you wouldn’t be able to learn anything!

The double clasped his hands together and said with a smile, “Thank you!”

The martial arts director pointed out, “But for the reason of shooting the movie, we just need to show the movements of Taiji Fist and it will be good enough. Teacher Zhang, I saw your technique from earlier.” Saying so, he turned to Zhang Ye and advised, “Although it looked pretty good, you need to know that it’s not because the forms were good but because your opponent used a set of techniques that he wasn’t good at. Even if anyone else were to spar against him, it would have been a similar outcome. Your technique is too messy and doesn’t have a focus at all with no proper stances. You were only moving around clumsily in all directions with no objective, like a move that someone would pull out in a street fight. I don’t know where you learned that from, but in any case, as long as it helps strengthen your body, it’s fine with me. But still, we can’t possibly use that in the movie. The techniques are too crass.”

Crass?

His techniques were crass?

Zhang Ye nearly rolled his eyes. Your sister! This bro was kind enough to show you guys that Taiji Fist was not done that way, but you all turned it all around to teach me a lesson instead? Initially, he had thought of using the authentic Taiji Fist style to shoot the movie, but who could have expected that these bunch of people were complete amateurs. Even if the real Taiji Fist that has been lost for several hundred years were displayed before your very eyes, you would not be able to recognize it!

The martial arts director said, “I will demonstrate Taiji Fist once more, so watch carefully, Teacher Zhang. You have to remember it well this time as it will be needed for this afternoon’s shoot.”

The assistant director exhorted him, “Little Zhang, it will be hard on you.”

Zhang Ye helplessly said, “OK.”

“Observe carefully.” The martial arts director demonstrated again his version of the so-called “Taiji Fist.”

It looked very powerful with the large movements!

Several of the staff members of the film crew continuously sang the praises of it!

“Good one!”

“Amazing!”

“This is what real martial arts is about!”

“Taiji Fist is indeed worthy of its reputation. Earlier on, the stunt double did not do too well with it, but the martial arts teacher is truly a professional. His demonstration of Taiji Fist is too mesmerizing!”

“That’s because he was ranked in a national free combat competition before.”

After the demonstration, the martial arts director said, “Teacher Zhang, you try it once.”

Zhang Ye imitated it without any spirit at all. This time, it was different from earlier when he imitated the Eight Trigrams Palm which he had seen before. But for this this idiotic style of “Taiji Fist” was something he had never even come across before, so how could he imitate it well? He could only roughly execute some techniques while stumbling through the moves!

The martial arts director said, “That’s wrong! Taiji is classified as yin and yang and it is shown in the opening form of Taiji Fist. That is the key and no mistakes can be made at this point!”

Zhang Ye: “…”

The martial arts director continued, “The depth of Taiji Fist is so profound that you won’t be able to understand it even if I explain further. Just remember my forms and follow accordingly. There’s no need to know the reason.”

Zhang Ye: “…”

The martial arts director said, “No, that’s not it! Why are you still executing the same unorthodox moves like earlier? Taiji Fist’s parry move is not done like this! You should push it outwards!”

Zhang Ye: “…”

The martial arts director said, “You’re getting there, that’s right, try again.”

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Zhang Ye was executing the moves one by one while learning from the martial arts director.

The moves were looking more and more alike!

The moves were looking more and more alike!

The moves were looking more and more alike!

The martial arts director finally praised him, “That’s how it should be!”

The assistant director agreed and said, “You are a quick learner.”

Wang Chengpeng also nodded and said, “It’s getting more similar. If we shoot the scenes this way, it will definitely turn out well.”

Upon seeing Zhang Ye’s “improvement” and “growth,” the film crew was delighted and the martial arts director was even happier. He felt that Zhang Ye was a promising student and worthy of being taught. If not for Zhang Ye’s towering reputation, he would be interested in taking Zhang Ye as his disciple and imparting all of the Taiji Fist techniques to him so that he could do his own training.

Finally, with each stroke and movement, Zhang Ye surprisingly mastered most of them with his moves looking basically the same as the martial arts director’s moves. Of course he also felt a tinge of sadness and pain as his familiarity at “Taiji Fist” improved while his intelligence was also rapidly decreasing at an alarming rate!

Whatever!

You guys win!!!