The waijia martial arts pay attention to attacking. All the forms of waijia, including barehanded fighting and weapon use, focus on efficient attacks, such as the Shaolin Chang Cyhuan boxing. Opposite to waijia, the neijia sect of martial arts focuses on defense. When the opponent starts the attack the neijia knows how to strike back, even if the opponent is very aggressive. Taiji represents neijia.

      The Taoist priest Jhang Sanfong from the Wudang Mountain is believed to be the forefather of neijia. However his story is still unclear. Similar to the Shaolin, the School of Wudang did not become famous until the mid-Ming. Jhang Songsi (the name was used by Jin Yong in the wusia novel Yitian Tulong Ji) and Wang Jhengnan were two martial arts masters from Wudang. Jhang had defeated Shaolin monk troops by using the wushu similar to Taiji. Wang Jhengnan was well known in his lifetime.

      Apart from the different attitude toward fighting, neijia particularly practices internal strength. Furthermore it combines Taoist principles especially yangsheng, the way of keeping good health, and develops qigong also called neigong, which also significantly influences the wusia novels.