บท 24: Winning Beautifully
“That’s crazy!”
The fighting technique that Dong-Chu used to attack Zheng-Fu earlier already put people into a state of amazement, but the technique that Zheng-Fu used to attack Dong-Chu back was even more amazing because the force that came out was much more powerful…
“Did he know how to use the second stage of the Sword of the Wind skill?” Tong-Lang made an exclamation because he was surprised to see Zheng-Fu using the second stage of the Sword of Wind skill. Mo-Zi was also in awe widening his eyes seeing Zheng-Fu performing the skill…
This was all because Mo-Zi himself had practiced this skill too, but the result that he made was not powerful enough to use in a fight. So, he quit practicing it even though the skill was at a higher-level of the beginner-level fighting skill. Seeing it this time from Zheng-Fu, he got to witness its different level of power, which was completely different from what he produced. The intensity of the energy wave and the movement patterns that were not exactly like in the manual were perfect. It was flawless…
“Did you guys teach him that?” Kong-Shi asked Tong-Tieng and Tong-Lang because he wanted to know where his son learned to perform that, but both Monitors shook their heads while making sad and depressive faces instead of saying no. That made Kong-Shi understood something…
*Who did Zheng-Fu learn that from? How come he could achieve this skill and use it so smoothly and effectively? No one could get this far with this particular sword skill. His performance made it look like he had been practicing it for a very long time.*
There were a lot of questions flying around Kong-Shi’s mind. Come to think about it, he felt that there was something peculiar with Zheng-Fu. He talked and acted strangely and he could detect it since his son was three years old. Kong-Shi never really took that change in his son into consideration seriously, but let things be up until now…
“Zheng-Fu wasn’t bad at all. What kind of technique that he just used, father? Hai-Gang could not help but compliment Zheng-Fu after he performed that fighting technique. He turned to ask his father if his father knew that technique…
“The technique that Zheng-Fu just used was one of the skills from the Sword of Wind skill, but… I’m not certain that he practiced it from the same manual that we have in our clan because the result was so powerful. The result that we get from the movement patterns from our clan’s manual isn’t that powerful!” Hai-Gu was kind of sad when he answered his son’s question because he could not be sure that that was the Sword of the Wind skill…
“The Sword of Wind skill!?
“Are you telling me that what Zheng-Fu just performed was the Sword of Wind skill that no one actually ever succeeded in practicing?
“It’s not entirely true that no one had succeeded it before. There were three martial artists who could succeed in those sword skills. They could produce forceful energy from the skills too, but not as powerful as Zheng-Fu’s.” Tong-Tieng answered the question for Hai-Gu…
“Not as powerful as Zheng-Fu’s.”
“Yes. Even though they achieved those skills, they achieved them from the manuals that our clan holds, so the results were a lot less powerful than what Zheng-Fu produced. If those three martial artists didn’t possess high Qi energy levels, the skills would be as close as something ordinary. Maybe that skill that Zheng-Fu used could be something of a lower-leveled skill compared to what Dong-Chu performed.” Tong-Lang who was next to Tong-Tieng added…
“If we’re going to really compare the two skills, the skill that Dong-Chu used is at the higher level if the case was Zheng-Fu’s doing exactly according to the manual. However, Zheng-Fu seemed to move differently from the patterns in the manual. I think he definitely modified the patterns and it was the best modification for that skill. He is more than a genius for being able to achieve that.”
“Could he really do that? He’s only eight years old. The martial artists who’ve been cultivating energy for more than 10 years can’t even do that!”
Everyone chatted about theories that they came up with after seeing Zheng-Fu’s impressive performance. Tian-Qi who was watching Zheng-Fu from another fighting stage did not like what she saw. She was grinding her teeth so hard when she saw Zheng-Fu and his very powerful fighting technique…
Boom!
Dong-Chu’s fire from the Sword of Mountain Shatter skill was being pushed away and disappeared immediately. Only Zheng-Fu’s wave storm remained in the air. Even though he reduced the level of the wave storm force by five portions, the intensity of the result was still powerful, especially when it hit someone who did not focus on their Qi energy center to protect themselves from the force…
“Argh!”
“Khak!”
A big amount of blood projected out of Dong-Chu’s mouth right after he fell down to the ground. He had to rest his hand on his chest while fixating his eyes on Zheng-Fu with rage and feeling pain at the same time…
“Darn it! It’s impossible! It can’t be!” Dong-Chu growled deafeningly, unable to bring himself to believe what he was experiencing…
“Yah!”
Dong-Chu didn’t want to quit yet, so he got up to attack Zheng-Fu violently with all he got…
“The Fire of Rage!”
“The Fire of Mountain Shatter!”
Boom!
Boom!
No matter how much Dong-Chu tried to attack Zheng-Fu, Zheng-Fu could manage to ward off all attacks with the second skill of the Belt Sword skill…
“Huff, huff, huff!”
Dong-Chu started to lose strength from successively attacking Zheng-Fu. He barely had the energy left in him. The special pill that he took also started to wear off. He had to endure the pain which was the side effect of taking the pill too. Right now, it was like he got stung by hundreds of sharp pins all over his body…
The mediator could see that Dong-Chu might not be able to continue the fight any longer, so he prepared to announce the winner whenever Dong-Chu was ready to fall down or lose consciousness…
“Yah!”
“Stop!”
From out of nowhere, Lao-Chu shouted in a bid to halt the fight as Dong-Chu was about to deliver another attack. He could not stand watching his son get completely owned by Zheng-Fu any longer. He must stop this tremendous disgrace that his son caused for his family. It was better to have his son give up and end everything with fancy words. He thought it would somehow lessen the shame that had been built up for him by his son…
“Father! Why!?” Dong-Chu exclaimed with utmost confusion after his father stopped the fight for him…
“My son can’t continue with the fight anymore, mediator. He’s ready to give up. We all know that this is merely a fighting test, so we can see clearly by now the result of the fight. My son also disobeyed the rule. And as a great Elder, no, as his father, I have to say that I can barely stand such disgraceful behavior of my son. So, I’d like to have my son quit the fight and apologize to everyone…”
Lao-Chu said while grinding his teeth to keep his anger down. He also tried to smile like a person who realized the horrible thing that his son did. But of course, he was hiding his rage under those smiles…
“Why did you say that, father!? I haven’t…”
“I told you to stop! Didn’t you hear what I said?”
“I…”
Lao-Chu stared at his son with raging eyes. He never expected to see this horrible outcome. All of his mischievous plans had been crumbled down, so it was a waste of his time to stay further at the test venue. What was worse was that he already talked down at Zheng-Fu several times. In the end, his son had proved to be merely a big clown on the stage. It would be ridiculous if he wanted to stay and hang around there…
“Since Dong-Chu wanted to call it quit first, the winner of this fighting test is Zheng-Fu!” The mediator announced the result as soon as he knew that Dong-Chu wanted to give up…
“Next time, you’re not going to get away from me, you Zheng-Fu trash! I won’t forget this!”
“I think you should focus on yourself, for now, Dong-Chu. You will feel the pain all over your body in any shichen now. Besides,…” Zheng-Fu did not finish the sentence. Instead, he turned to Lao-Chu to make a gesture that Dong-Chu should start to be worried about his father too. Then he turned back to Dong-Chu and smiled at him with joy…
“Your son is very impressive, Kong-Shi, brother. Take good care of him!” Lao-Chu stood up and left the venue instantly after finishing the sentence. He could not keep his face straight any longer…
“Thank you so much, Lao-Chu, brother. Let me send you a gift to apologize for the…”
“No need to!”
“Tsk! If he hadn’t stolen your work that time, by now you would have been the great Elder instead of him, Kong-Shi, brother. You shouldn’t have let him that much!”
“That’s right, uncle. You should have been the great Elder instead of him!”
“Just forget about it. It’s been a long time ago. We can’t change anything now. Besides, I’m happy with where I am now. I kind of have peace of mind…”
Mo-Zi who was sitting not far away from the group overheard everything. He remembered that time well, but he could not meddle with the committee because the Elders back then were the ones who elected Lao-Chu. And from his personal point of view, both Kong-Shi and Lao-Chu’s works were similarly excellent…
“Your son was exceptional, Elder Kong-Shi. Let’s stop the test, for now, so he can get some rest. Shall we continue the next fight tomorrow?”
“Thank you very much the leader of the clan.”
“The third test will stop for now. We shall come back tomorrow. All young participants please go and take some rest to get ready for tomorrow!” After the fight between Zheng-Fu and Dong-Chu finished, the mediator announced to postpone the next fight to tomorrow according to the wish of the leader of the clan’s…
Everybody left the test venue for their places after the mediator’s announcement. Zheng-Fu had now become the talk of the town. Everyone in the clan was talking about him, even the older girls talked about him in so many ways…
“Father!”
Zheng-Fu was approaching Kong-Shi right after Kong-Shi finished talking with Mo-Zi. As the boy was about to reach the group, everyone turned to him and looked at him with twinkling eyes as if Zheng-Fu was a gigantic piece of diamond…
“You’re a badass. Why didn’t you tell us that you could achieve the second stage of the Sword of the Wind skill…well, well, well… You naughty student!” Tong-Lang talked to Zheng-Fu as he joined the group…
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, Master. Besides, you haven’t taught me this skill. I was just trying to practice it myself. It turned out that it was a coincidence again. Just a coincidence, Master!”
“What!?”
*This style of talking again, this darn kid…*
“It’s true. We’re not available most of the time, so we didn’t have a chance to teach you. However, you could manage to achieve it, couldn’t you? This means that the Masters are skillful, so the student gets to be skillful too!” Tong-Lang said while holding his head up high with pride. He was proud to be Zheng-Fu’s Master…
“Hahaha!”
“All right guys. Let him rest for now. We shall continue tomorrow. You just take a lot of rest, Zheng-Fu.” Tong-Tieng said while stroking Zheng-Fu’s head adoringly…
“Yes, Master!”
When everyone realized that the day was over, they started to walk back to their estates. Zheng-Fu, on the other hand, would like to tell everyone that he was not exhausted one bit. The energy that he used in the fighting test was merely a little drop of his full energy. He pretended to give all that he had, but of course, it was just a show…
The reason why he decided to move limitedly was that he learned from the Xianxia novels in the previous world that if a martial artist moved as little as possible or limited his pattern movements as much as he could, then he would save a lot of energy. The technique that he used helped him do so. It was also very quick, so quick that he made it look like he was standing still. Zheng-Fu ended up using not a lot of energy at all…
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