Chapter 64: One battle to make oneself known (Second) (1/2)

Chapter 64: One battle to make oneself known (Second)

“This guy’s footwork is nimble and quick. Even his hair is standing up, he must be a strong internal practitioner.”

In the moment Qin Maojiao was walking towards him, Wang Chao had already begun to observe his movements.

“He walks like an ape, that must mean he definitely learned the White Ape style of Tongbei Quan.” In an instant, Wang Chao had formulated a series of thoughts.

Tongbei Quan was transmitted down from the Sage of Ghost Valley in Yun Mengshan. It was from there that he saw a white ape leap into the air and used the ape’s movements to derive a new style of martial arts.

But the facts were unknown. After so many years, there was no more contextual clues to find out the truth.

But in the course of Chinese martial arts, they did not come from humans, but rather from observing the behaviors of animals.

An animal was nimble and sturdy while a human’s mind was sharp. Naturally, the Yin and Yang between the two would have an equilibrium to it.

Tongbei had gone through several eras of development before having multiple different branches. The earliest branch had been the White Ape styled Tongbei Quan, the Five Fists Tongbei, Chopping Fist Tongbei, and etcetera. Each one of the styles had their own focal points, and the White Ape style Tongbei specialized on a nimble movement with power that was like lightning.

“Those who move nimbly are the worst to fight against.”

Wang Chao had already reached the Hidden Jin stage, meaning he could leave an impression on even steel plates. But with all this strength, within a fight, no matter how fierce the Hidden Jin was, it was useless if he couldn’t hit someone with it.

This had been the case for many experts in the past. Back during the Republic of China in the year 1929, it had been very common to see in the Hangzhou Guoshu competition. That year, the Iron Palm master Liu Gaosheng had faced off against the “Sparrow” Cao Yanhai in such a manner.

Liu Gaosheng’s Iron Palm could shatter stones, but within the competition, he had been unable to hit anyone. In the end he had been knocked down by Cao Yanhai’s swift usage of Tantui.

In a split moment of observation of both Xu Zhen and this disciple, Wang Chao had already analyzed Qin Maojiao’s martial art’s characteristics.

With his opponent specializing in a nimble movement, Wang Chao didn’t dare to drop his guard in fear of dying himself.

As soon as the two were on the platform, the spectators began to cry out one after another.

“Hurry up!”

“Fight already!”

“Fuckign hell, why aren’t you fighting? Don’t dawdle!”

“Kill that kid, I’ve 30,000 on this for a 1:2 stake!”

“Who cares for your 30,000? I’ve 50,000 riding on this!”

Naturally, Wang Chao had turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to them all. But the sister of Chen Aiyang had a strange look in her eyes as she looked at Wang Chao.

A fight between experts was usually highly sensitive, meaning many things could be learned just from a single glance.

“Begin!” The announcer boomed.

Qin Maojiao instantly sprung into action.

Wang Chao was but a speck of dust in his eyes.

In the next step, a long arm was thrusted forward at Wang Chao like a sharp spear.

His loose sleeves had rustled as it traveled through the air with a series of “pi pa pi pa” sounds like the rhythmic sounds of a wave slapping against a ship.

This was the true art of a Tongbei practitioner.

“A speed like this is far beyond Boulder and the others. It’s even stronger than Zhao Xinglong and maybe the Wing Chun practitioner Lin Lijun killed by Zhu Jia. At the very least, he’s even stronger than the first two.”

It only took a single glance to know who was an expert and who wasn’t.

When Wang Chao saw Qin Maojiao come rushing over, it was like the water rushing down a river. Like a strong gale of wind, it had interrupted his own breathing. With this, Wang Chao knew that this disciple had already learned the Clear Jin and was in the process of Chain Linking. His clear Jin wasn’t all that far away from Wang Chao’s.

“Seeing how arrogant he is, he must not have fully mastered himself of his emotions. This means he cannot break out with Hidden Jin.”

When breaking out with Hidden Jin, one must be calm but fierce. The pores had to loosen while the muscles had to be flexible.

With these two requirements, one also had to be strong in will and have a tempered mind. Even one strong in body would not be able to use the Hidden Jin without these requirements.

Crack! Wang Chao’s left arm bent at the elbow to put up a guard against Qin Maojiao’s arm. In the next moment, his arm extended to swing at the other fist.

Qin Maojiao was 26 years old at this moment, but he had started learning martial arts when he was 15. He had already 11 years of experience and tutelage, but with the arrogant personality he had he would never be able to reach the Hidden Jin stage. However, he had already reached the pinnacle of the Clear Jin stage, so each fist and arm had been extraordinarily strong.

Wang Chao had improved his physique with the Tiger’s Thunder. So that meant while he had only learned martial arts for a mere three years, he had already reached the summit of Clear Jin as well.

Thus when both fighters struck each other, neither side had been at an advantage or disadvantage.

“Where did an expert like this come from?! This iron arm of mine from Tongbei can force even master to use 70% of his strength to counter! But this guy’s strength is the same as mine? Crossing Fist Jin, he is an expert at Xingyi!” Qin Maojiao’s arm had immediately become numb after the clash. Forming a stance resembling that of an ape, he bounded forward.

“Xingyi disciples rely on a hard strike down the median line from straight ahead, I’d better focus on my agility to avoid him. When he loses energy, he’ll be open up to my attacks.”

Qin Maojiao was an expert of reputable name. Upon noticing the hardness of the strike, he had recollected his thoughts straight away. Taking advantage of the nimbleness of the ape stance, he had forged ahead to strike.

Qin Maojiao’s ape style movements was considered excellent even amongst his peers. Back when he was learning the movements, he had watched the movements of a monkey for two years. After imitating the leaps and somersaults for many years, he had finally reached a stage of perfection with it.

Every expert had a brilliant past that helped them.

On the otherside, Wang Chao had realized just how strong the enemy was.

His block had been using the Xingyi style’s Crossing Fist Jin.

“The Crossing Fist requires one’s arm to be bent, but within it there is a hidden straight strike.” When both arms struck, it was like two maces colliding against each other.

In this clash, Wang Chao hadn’t used the Hidden Jin.

He had to be prudent with his usage of it.