603 Exchanging Kung Fu Pointers (1/2)
On the first day of the competition, Shangguan Fei had won three games in a row and earned a small reputation. But there were no deaths and no splatters of blood, so the audience was more interested in the Dragon King who had left early and King Kuari who had been forced to hand over the gambled items.
The next day, the grumpy King Rizhu had unexpectedly relented and canceled the bet, which caused the audience's expectations about the contest to plummet. They didn't expect that Shangguan Fei would bring them a surprise.
He won yet again, three games in a row.
In the first contest, he still appeared frightened and only circled around the enemy, eliciting the catcalls of countless scorners. Only after a dozen or so moves did he gather enough courage to fight back. Feeling that his opponent was not that strong, he slowly calmed down and gradually shortened the distance between him and his opponent, and finally hit the target with his thirty-fifth move.
The most hesitant punch was also the most powerful one. Half of his opponent's body had disappeared, leaving only two legs supporting a mangled body, standing stiffly.
Shangguan Fei didn't run away from the flesh and blood spraying at him and instead stood there in a daze, his heart bursting with fear. He didn't expect that the combination of his internal energy and the Five Hole Punch technique taught by Old Man Mu would exert such a horrific power.
The Five Hole Punch, which was originally a set of Taoist kung fu moves to build one's body, had been transformed into a ruthless killing move by Old Man Mu. This set of fist technique was very hard to practice, and even Old Man Mu hadn't reached the highest level after spending so many years practicing. But Shangguan Fei's internal energy was unique and the two strands of internal Qi, one yin and one yang, greatly eased the difficulty level of the most intricate portions of the Five Hole Punch.
Time was short so Old Man Mu only taught him some simple theories of the fist technique, which he had tried out and they really were powerful.
Anxious and doubtful, Shangguan Fei had a bloodstained faced, but to the audience, it looked indescribably ferocious.
The silence respect given to the dead only lasted three breaths. When the legs collapsed, loud cheers rang out across the western suburbs of the Royal Court. This was the kind of scene they had wanted to see and this was the kind of scene that worth postponing work and making a special trip for.
It was not that Shangguan Fei had not received any praise or appreciation before. Praise from servants and relatives was actually a part of his daily life in the castle. After following the Dragon King, he had occasionally been praised for his service, but even all this added up together was not as real and exciting as the cheers that filled his ears now.
When he was very little, he already knew that the praise of the servants was not reliable because that was their job. Even if the lord fell, they would first compliment and then start thinking up excuses. Ever since he had been abandoned by his family, his success was due to the Dragon King's plan and none of it could be attributed to himself.
This time, he was sure that the Dragon King hadn't made any arrangement. This time, the cheers of the strangers were all for him.
Shangguan Fei still felt fearful, but under the fear, there seemed to be a layer of something that could repel the fear and prevent it from spreading all over his body.
The next two contests were shorter and cleaner than the first one. Shangguan Fei beat his opponents to death in the twenty-first and twelveth moves respectively. He had better control of his internal energy and as a result, the scenes caused by his fist techniques were not as bloody as the first, but the crowd nonetheless cheered more generously than before.
”This is the man who killed the brother of King Kuari!”
”This is the fist technique he used to kill the brother of King Kuari!”
For the first time in his life, Shangguan Fei felt like a 'hero.' Like a teenager who had taken his first drink and was experiencing his first bout of drunkenness, he felt dazed yet wide awake simultaneously. He seemed to be floating among the clouds, up and down, looking down upon the human masses and drawing delicious nourishment from their feelings of respect, fear, fondness, disgust, and so on.
He couldn't describe the feeling, only wishing that the Dragon King could give him some suggestions, but the Dragon King was not there. The guards of the Dragon Army all came up to push and shove him affectionately but could not say anything meaningful.
Back at the camp of the Land of Fragrance, he finally found a soul mate.
Old Man Mu was still lying in bed and munching on a large bone. With a simple glance at Shangguan Fei, he immediately described how he felt with pinpoint accurately. ”Have you had your first taste of freedom?”
”That's freedom?”
”Haha, of course not. If that is freedom, isn't it too easy to get? You're not even close. There were no so-called 'martial arts experts' on the competition field. On top of you, there are still a lot of guys who can shit on your head and piss all over your body as they wish. If you want real freedom, you gotta beat them all.”
Old Man Mu's 'outlook on freedom' had had no effect on Shangguan Ru but it caused a storm in Shangguan Fei's mind.
”I can defeat everyone if I master the Five Hole Punch?” His voice was quivering.
Old Man Mu pointed at Shangguan Fei with the bone in his hand. ”If the old me, who had an average amount of power, wanted to shit on your head, would you dare resist?”
Shangguan Fei really didn't like this kind of metaphor, shaking his head in response. ”No. Even others would not dare.”
”That's it. I can live freely with my Five Hole Punch. Why can't you?”
Shangguan Fei giggling asked, ”I want to learn your fist techniques.”
Old Man Mu nibbled the last bit of meat on the bone, threw it on the ground, and held up his oily hands. ”Do you know how I mastered my peerless kung fu skills so well at the beginning?”
”No.”
”By carrying a urinal and running errands for my Master. I had to figure out what my Master was thinking with a simple glance and I had to get what my Master wanted even if I had to risk my life and pretending that it was easy later. If you want to be free, you have to start with enslavement. To put it bluntly, you have to be more humble than the lowliest slave, and more shameless than the most shameless bitch.”
Shangguan Fei's face paled. If he could bear such pain and humiliation, he wouldn't have been abandoned by his father. ”Do I have to suffer so miserably?”