Capítulo 19: Challenge
In the last few days, Wu Dong had been feeling annoyed. Agitated by the short-haired young man, he slowly nodded after a few seconds of silence. "Okay, I'll be on the lookout."
"Deal!" The short-haired youth stood up and started to stretch his body.
The man with tattoos laid down his beer and asked with great caution. "Is he any good? Of which amateur level?
Wu Dong laughed and said, "Don't worry. He's new to martial arts, of no level. One of you would be more than enough to teach him a lesson."
The short-haired youth and the tattooed man both left school early to join a gang. Fights were nothing new to them and they had picked up some martial arts basics. To rise in the gang, they consciously kept Chen Changhua and Wu Dong in their company to learn proper martial arts moves. In the past two years, besides booze and drugs, gambling and whores, they did put a decent amount of time and effort into training and practice and had reached the level of Amateur Seventh Pin. Wu Dong seemed confident that they were superior to Lou Cheng.
"Piece of cake, then? Brother Dong, we won't disappoint you!" The short-haired youth scoffed.
The tattooed man thought for a while. "Hold on. Any of you can put on a northeastern accent? Teach me a line or two."
"Ahh?" Wu Dong and the short-haired man didn't get it.
The tattooed man went on to explain. "After all, Songcheng University is the best university in the city, with a reputation across the country. We could easily get in trouble for starting a fight here. Yeah, we will be measured, but never say never. What if some professor happens to pass by? Now it's dark, and hard to see faces. If I put on some northeastern accent, no way we can be traced in case something goes wrong. Right?"
"Right. Right!" Wu Dong was very afraid of being implicated if they got caught.
The short-haired man seemed still puzzled. "What kind of professor would pass by here at this hour?"
"Isn't it the perfect hour to date a young, fresh student?" The tattooed man answered with a leer.
...
Along the lakeside trail, Lou Cheng was jogging toward his usual spot for stance training. Half of the Weishui Lake was lit by lights from the living quarters and teaching buildings, glittering like a silver sea, whereas the other half was soaked in darkness and tranquility with the reflection of a few street lamps allowing lovers to meet secretly. Lou Cheng was in the dark as well.
Observing was a common habit for all martial artists. After a period of hard training, he had integrated it into his instinct. Noticing two shadows coming out of the lakeside grove while running, he subconsciously took an extra look.
The tattooed man shouted loud, "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing, my bad," replied Lou Cheng meekly as he didn't expect a quarrel from a brief gaze and wanted no trouble.
Martial arts could bolster up one's gut. He was just looking forward to saving his beauty from some rogues. However, when trouble befell, one's true personality and usual practice would still dominate. As Geezer Shi said, militancy and violence could not play the major part in this rule of law society. A martial artist should neither be a coward nor a troublemaker.
"Damn you! Watch your mouth..." These were the only two dialectal lines the tattooed youth learned. Afraid of being recognized, he signaled to the short-haired man to block Lou Cheng's advance while he moved to burn his bridge.
Lou Cheng was no fool. Their aggressive behaviors echoed in his mind and soon he came to the realization, "They are here to cause trouble!"
The way they were approaching from two sides was better than the Amateur Ninth Pin level.
The ordinary people with interests in martial arts usually paid no attention to footwork. Those who could maintain their proper foot moves in a fight must be pros.
The distance between them was close enough for a fight to begin at any second. Right before the short-haired youth's palm fell on Lou Cheng's face, Lou Cheng suddenly dodged sideways and paced up towards the woods.
He ran into the woods...
He ran...
Ran...
The short-haired youth and the tattooed man looked at each other in shock. Did the guy run already?
According to their experience, a conflict was usually followed by a quarrel. When violence became obvious, the cowardly would beg for mercy while the hot-blooded would fight until a bitter defeat. But that guy ran like a rabbit after merely three words.
Damn! "Run? Where can you run!" The two recovered from the shock and started their chase after Lou Cheng. Their faces were twisted with shame.
Under a hot pursuit, Lou Cheng dared not slow down, dodging among trees in the grove that he had learned by heart. Soon he got out of the woods and arrived at a trail usually used in his regular endurance training.
The trail connected the teaching buildings and a small hill of ten meters in height, where the biggest library of the city was established. The path would circle the hill and continue onto the widespread western region under construction. Lou Cheng took a turn and ran toward the hill.
The two young men were thrilled to see Lou Cheng heading toward the hill as they came out of the woods.
"The guy couldn't have picked a better route!"
If he headed toward the teaching buildings, for certain the two wouldn't approach further. However, he went for the quiet hill, a great place to give him some good kicks!
As the two traversed the grove, Wu Dong could sit still no longer. He was concerned that the enraged two would get in some serious trouble and somehow get him involved, so he quietly followed behind.
Lou Cheng ran and ran with them in pursuit behind. The distance between them grew bigger and bigger as the two loafers got worn out. Both of them started to feel like quitting the chase.
"Damn! I once could run five blocks in one breath!"
At this time, they noticed Lou Cheng's slowing down and shared a look of excitement and cruelty.
"We can't run anymore, but neither can that guy!"
"Hang on there and we'll catch him and give him a good lesson!"
They threw out their last strength and made it to the wasteland of the West District on another side of the hill. The distance between them seemed shortened little by little until the short-haired youth could run no more. He stopped and panted heavily.
"Bloody hell! This... this boy... really... can run... "
The tattooed man also stopped not far ahead. He bent over with his hands on his knees for support and watched Lou Cheng's figure get smaller.
"This run... I... My hands... Soft... My legs..." Words jumped out of his mouth as his chest heaved violently.
Wu Dong caught up with them, also panting and sweating. Seeing them standing still, he seemed to lose his breath and to be about to vomit.
"Forget... Forget about it... No point... A waste of time..." Cigarettes had harmed his lung, the core of endurance exercises. After such a long run, Wu Dong was close to fainting.
His voice was still in the air when he saw the dark figure of Lou Cheng running through the desolated area toward them.
"You..." The tattooed youth and the short-haired man both squeezed out a sound amidst their heavy breathing.
"How dare this guy come back?"
Fixing their eyes on Lou Cheng, they noticed how calm his face and breath was with no signs of weariness from the long run.
"Damn! What kind of monster is this?" The two loafers looked terrified.
Looking at the three with a smile on his face, Lou Cheng suddenly stepped up and threw a powerful punch with strength streaming from his feet all the way up to his fist at the short-haired man's chest.
The short-haired man attempted to dodge but with no strength left in his legs he couldn't move fast enough to avoid the punch.
Bam!
The short-haired man was hit at the Danzhong point, which is close to the bottom part of the sternum. His bones ached, and his breath nearly stopped. As he took two steps back, Lou Cheng advanced closely. He grabbed his shoulders and kicked his leg before throwing him at the tattooed youth who was coming up to join the fight. His legs sank under him, dragging his body to the ground.
Lou Cheng surely wouldn't miss this opportunity. He took a step forward and twisted his waist to launch a whip kick at the tattooed man's left shin bone.
"Ahh!"
The tattoo youth gave a horrible shriek. The bone was not broken but the pain was enough to keep him on the ground and out of this fight.
After taking care of them, Lou Cheng turned to Wu Dong with a slight smile.
"So Brother Wu wants to give me a lesson. Please grant instructions, then."
Malicious and gloomy, Wu Dong gasped, "I... I'm tired. Aren't you? We are about the same!
I am of the Amateur Two Pin level! Who the heck are you?"
"Sorry, but I'm not tired at all..." Lou Cheng got in the Fighting Stance calmly with itch and fire in his eyes.
According to their master, although Wu Dong was an Amateur Second Pin, his body had suffered severe effects due to the abuse of booze and smoke. Besides, he was worn out and out of breath at that very moment. How could a martial arts student as Lou Cheng miss this chance to challenge him?
Capítulo 20: Break Rules with Violence
Lou Cheng talked no more but lowered his body and shifted left and right to approach Wu Dong.
After three weeks of martial arts practice, he had mastered basic and simple moves and could put them into practice. Although he hadn't come to complicated techniques, he could observe and imitate, which differentiated humans from animals.
Facing Wu Dong, an opponent much stronger than himself, Lou Cheng subconsciously longed to do better. Chen Changhua's meandering footwork of a terrifying snake in the combat with Lin Que came to his mind.
Comparing to Chen Changhua at that time, Lou Cheng was new to this footwork with little control over subtle movements. However, his grasp of Yin-Yang Stance had strengthened coordination of his body and concentration of his mind. In a semi-meditation, he delicately shifted his weight with ease. When his body leaned to the left, his weight was kept slightly to the right and vice versa. Virtuality and reality could hardly be separated apart and his actual target became unclear.
The experienced martial artist Wu Dong felt cornered. Chen Changhua’s snake footwork usually had an opening for him to predict and prepare in their previous combat practice. However, he didn’t have a clue when would this martial arts beginner approach. One second he thought for sure he was going for his right but then next he felt unsure about it.
"Is he a beginner of three weeks' training?"
"Has he been playing weak to prey on us?"
Hesitation would bring destruction in combat. With rich actual combat experience from several ranking events, Wu Dong understood this principle thoroughly and had always been sticking to it until that moment, when he felt unable to respond to Lou Cheng's coming close.
If in his normal form, Wu Dong would play on his strength and move about until he saw through the snake footwork. But tired and out of breath as he was at that moment, moving about would be courting death.
Well, all he could do was to play defense!
Wu Dong got in the fighting stance, awaiting Lou Cheng's approach.
Lou Cheng seemed delighted with Wu Dong's careful play as it was exactly what he expected!
Before Wu Dong revealed himself, Lou Cheng had planned to wear those two troublemakers out with his running prowess and then kick their ass. As soon as he spotted Wu Dong, he slowed down on purpose to lure them into more running to further exhaust them. He remembered the master once mentioned that Wu Dong had wasted his body on smoke, booze and women. Suffering severe lung malfunction, he couldn't recover fast once he tired out.
In this state, Wu Dong could no longer bring out his strong points, like agility, speed, and guerrilla hit and sneak attack, and would be forced into a defensive stance.
Lou Cheng shifted his weight and took a big step forward to Wu Dong's right side. His strength sprung from his feet to his right hand through his entire body and formed a metal hammer around his fist. Lou Cheng threw a powerful punch at Wu Dong.
Phew...
The punch went forward with wind. Wu Dong failed to detect the actual target of the snake footwork and missed the best time to respond. He secured his body thoroughly and wielded both hands, one guarding and the other blocking, to receive Lou Cheng's right punch.
As their hands collided, Lou Cheng didn't feel overwhelmed at all and realized that Wu Dong was still short of breath after the run. To be fair, this martial artist of Amateur Second Pin was slightly on the downside.
To push his advantage, Lou Cheng stepped his right foot forward to block Wu Dong's advance while throwing a blast punch with his left hand at Wu Dong's stomach.
Unable to dodge, Wu Dong had to take another heavy strike with his body.
Bang!
As Lou Cheng's punch hit Wu Dong, he pulled strength from his feet and turned sideways to launch an elbow hit.
Considering Wu Dong’s current situation, Lou Cheng must stick to a close melee to take advantage of his weakness at close engagement, and thus he would win this fight while Wu Dong was still short of breath.
Once the fight turned into a skirmish fight, Wu Dong would take the chance to catch his breath.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A few bouts passed but Wu Dong didn't leave Lou Cheng any good opportunity, thanks to his years of martial arts training.
He again and again warded off Lou Cheng's attacks with his hands. Finally, Lou Cheng noticed a slight lean backward of Wu Dong's body.
As if a rock finally loosened in the storm!
Wu Dong was running out of strength!
"Take his life when he's down!" Lou Cheng thought as he strengthened his waist, coordinated the tiniest parts of his body and adjusted his weight before throwing another punch.
Bang!
Wu Dong collapsed and staggered backward. To kill Lou Cheng's attempt of throwing another punch, he dived down to the ground and rolled to the side.
Seeing him rolling on the ground, Lou Cheng was thrilled. He had forced Wu Dong of Amateur Second Pin to roll on the ground! A victory was one step away!
He slid closer and intended to end the fight with a whip kick like what Lin Que did.
At this very moment, Wu Dong showed a squint. He grabbed some dust with his left hand and threw it at Lou Cheng.
It was completely to Lou Cheng's surprise. He acted on instinct, closing his eyes and covering his face with his left hand. His body turned sideways.
Things happened too fast. As dust got into his eyes, Lou Cheng felt sore and couldn't keep them open. All was hurry and confusion. His head was empty and indeed at a loss.
Bang!
Lou Cheng felt pain on his back from a heavy punch. He then lost his balance and staggered forward, about to fall. The familiar situation and experience made him start to meditate by instinct, subtly adjusting his body and shifting weight.
One at peace had a clear mind. During the fall, Lou Cheng resumed his ability to think. He realized how little combat experience he had and forced himself to stay calm in front of Wu Dong's series of attacks.
The Jindan (the Golden Elixir) rotated slowly and the nebula shrank and expanded. His muscles acted coordinately, and adjustments took place naturally. Lou Cheng staggered a few big steps until the balance was restored.
Meanwhile, he took steps toward different directions to get away from Wu Dong's strikes from behind.
Lou Cheng's feet finally stabilized, but his eyes still hurt badly. Tears ran down along his face as if he was crying from the fight. Surrounded by utter blackness, Lou Cheng had no idea from which direction Wu Dong would launch the next attack. Moreover, he didn't hit the vital part of the two rogues so they could maybe rejoin the fight at any second.
Calm...
Calm!
Lou Cheng quickly made up his mind. Focusing on the process of water concreting into ice, he felt his thoughts also concreting into ice and his senses became extraordinarily sharp.
Ice Sect's Condensation Stance!
Everything seemed calm and peaceful. While the Yin-Yang Stance emphasized the subtle feeling within oneself, the Condensation Stance was all about the surroundings. A gentle breeze along with a light patter of feet sounded in his ears, and a faint fragrance of alcohol prevailed in the air.
In a trance, Lou Cheng’s ear sensed someone coming from the left.
While maintaining his composure, Lou Cheng lifted his hands into a defensive pose and waited patiently for his vision to recover.
A heavy breath came to his ear. His focus turned to a silver flash of lightning shooting down to a tree and starting a fierce fire.
Thunder Sect's Lightning and Fire Stance!
The emergence of fire and lightning triggered his muscles to wiggle. Lou Cheng’s tailbone was warmly numb and his body became heavy. A hot stream flew along his spine through his waist down to his left leg as if struck by a lightning bolt, blocking all his pores and preparing for a terrifying explosion.
His left leg launched a powerful kick without warning.
Bang!
Lou Cheng knew his kick landed on something—probably a bone—before a horrible scream came from the ground.
"Got it..." He kept calm without lowering his guard. Lou Cheng raised one hand to rub his eyes. Tears had finally got the dust out and his vision was restored.
From blur and dim to clearness was the image of Wu Dong wallowing in dust with pain in his thigh. The short-haired youth and the tattooed man were still on the ground, gradually recovering from the earlier punches.
"Phew... Actual combat is very different from pair exercise…" Lou Cheng heaved a sigh of relief when the ache became clear on his back.
Had he not achieved inward vision through Yin-Yang Stance and Jindan, sharpened his senses and concentration through Condensation Stance or mastered the sudden intense burst of Lightning and Fire Stance, he would have been clobbered by the well experienced Wu Dong!
The keys of Yin-Yang Stance, Condensation Stance and Lightning and Fire Stance seemed simple, as if anyone could do it. However, as the basic stance training of the Thunder Sect and Ice Sect, they surely had their own difficulties—how to reach peace, how to focus and what to focus on. Without explanation and guidance on these matters, possibly only one out of a thousand students was talented enough to master them simply according to their description.
The basic of all the basics, Yin-Yang Stance was all about how to reach peace, how to focus, how to Remain in One and how to focus on one. Geezer Shi taught them this during their very first session and then spent three weeks to guide them through it and correct their mistakes. Yet, only Yan Zheke and Lou Cheng himself could achieve peace by focusing on one. Guo Qing, Li Mao and Sun Jian were not there yet, whereas Lin Que wasn't new to this.
After this thrilling and intense combat, Lou Cheng's stance training and fighting moves had reached a new level of integration and harmony. The level of his martial arts skills was unclear.
As Lou Cheng began to relax, fear came to his mind. His momentary hot blood and gallantry had pushed him into this fight but worries quickly grew once his Qi and blood calmed down. He could be punished by the University for this or even be locked away if their injuries were severe.
Fortunately, he didn't go for the two rogues' vital parts and although Lou Cheng couldn't see or control, his final kick at Wu Dong shouldn't be too bad as Wu Dong was still wallowing and rubbing his leg.
The saying "warriors break rules with violence" was so true... Lou Cheng packed away his concerns and remained placid as he turned to Wu Dong with a smile.
"Senior Brother Wu, you are in your final year, aren't you?"
Holding tight on his leg, Wu Dong looked up at Lou Cheng blankly. This freshman, calm and mature, had gone straight for his weak point without any trepidation. Recalling the swiftness of his last kick and the calmness when he lost his vision, Wu Dong no longer believed the information he had on Lou Cheng.
Under Lou Cheng's gaze, Wu Dong looked away.
Regalos
-- Regalo
recibido Estado de energía semanal
200+ Ranking de
Poder 
47 Piedra de
Poder También te puede interesar
Comentario de párrafo