Chapter 113: Being Ordinary is to be Innocent, but Being Talented in Martial Arts is to be Guilty (1/2)

Chapter 113: Being Ordinary is to be Innocent, but Being Talented in Martial Arts is to be Guilty

Seeing that Cheng Shanming didn’t leap forward, Wang Chao let out a brief sigh in relief. His entire body loosened like the tides receding away without the slightest amount of power.

His right leg pressed against the ground while his left leg stood on its toe as if he was trying to loosen the blood vessels in it.

This was the result of Cheng Shanming’s chest breaking out with Hidden Jin in retaliation. Stabbing into his leg, Wang Chao had felt an uncomfortable feeling in it.

When Wang Chao used his “Flying Horse Treading on Sparrow”, he had borrowed the Jin of Cheng Shanming’s arm to launch upwards. Then, he stamped fiercely down with his second kick onto his opponent’s chest. If it were a regular person, then they would have their chest smashed to bits and their inner organs crushed, resulting in their swan song.

But Cheng Shanming had already reached the Transforming Jin realm with his Baguazhang. His entire body could break out with Hidden Jin from any point, and in both soft and hard amounts. In the face of danger, he could break out without much thought. He was not that far away from the “A feather cannot be added, and a fly cannot alight” stage.

While an expert of martial arts with enough command over Hidden Jin were to be hit with a wooden staff by a regular person, they would be able to defend themselves from harm. But they would not be capable of defending themselves from another practitioner’s strongest leg and fist.

Even Yang Luchan or Dong Haichuan wouldn’t be able to stand their ground and withstand the Hidden Jin reinforced strike of a master without injury.

But in that instant, Cheng Shanming had manipulated his chest muscles to affect the joints and brought his inner organs back an inch before using the Hidden Jin to strengthen his heart, muscles, and bones. In that instant of collision, the Hidden Jin had stabbed into Wang Chao’s leg.

Because their shoes had been reduced to scrap cloth, leaving Wang Chao barefooted and allowing the Hidden Jin easy access.

It hadn’t even been ten minutes since the start of the fight, but danger had been all around as the two men teetered on the line between life and death, providing the ultimate thrilling experience for everyone.

In the final most moment, Wang Chao could have crushed Cheng Shanming’s throat and end his life. But he had recollected his Jin so that it went from hard to soft Jin and leapt off instead.

From this, one could infer that Wang Chao had been holding back so as to spare Cheng Shanming’s heart. That had been half of the reason. The other half had been because Cheng Shanming’s final strike had been especially terrifying. When Cheng Shanming’s palm moved to strike Wang Chao’s leg, it’s power was inhuman. Even if Wang Chao had killed his opponent, he wouldn’t be able to keep his own leg afterwards.

With Cheng Shanming’s palm strength, if it connected, then Wang Chao’s leg would be shattered in the joint. The outer muscles would suffer from necrosis, and the injuries would be totally untreatable. All that was left was amputation and then have a prosthetic limb to replace it.

In the case of that, it would be hard to say whether or not Wang Chao would become like Tieguai Li.

It was not a situation where both sides would lose, so Wang Chao had naturally desired not to exchange his leg for Cheng Shanming’s life and took the risk to show mercy. His retreat was basically the same as being in danger. If Cheng Shanming were to pounce at that moment, then he would gain the upper hand once more.

As long as the master of Baguazhang gained the upper hand, then Wang Chao would for sure be killed within a dozen exchanges.

“His skill at martial arts is more pure than mine. Just now, my fist was one with the universe and reached a never before seen heights. After that barrage where all my talent was brought out, I barely avoided losing the upper hand. If not for sis Chen’s “Rising Wave of the Dragon and Snake”, then I would have lost. This Cheng Shanming is very close to overpassing his ancestor Cheng Tinghua.”

When Wang Chao retreated, he had bet completely on morality.

But clearly, Cheng Shanming had inherited the spirit of Cheng Tinghua’s Martial Way and heroic air. He had not pounced forward and instead moved back.

Combat experience could not be faked. It could only be gained through actual experience.

Experience is an extremely rich way of learning. Aside from real combat, one had to look at the person and see their personality. Opponents with different personalities would choose different ways to deal with their opponent. This was what it meant to have a high quality match between experts.

If it were Xu Zhen, then Wang Chao wouldn’t retreat in this case. Instead, he would try to kill his opponent. If he retreated, then the enemy would make sure to take advantage of the chance and strike back. A counter attack to kill, that was how it worked.

Seeing Wang Chao loosen his muscles and drop all his hostility, Cheng Shanming stood there without moving a muscle. With his eyes, he stared at Wang Chao for the longest time.

Wang Chao was also evening out his Qi so as to loosen the numbness in his left leg. After being struck by the Hidden Jin in Cheng Shanming’s chest, it had been like his leg was struck by lightning. He had practically lost all sense of feeling in his leg, and his opponent’s skill was still far more pure than his. This was leading into a bad situation.

The sudden stop of a fierce battle had caused the entire lounge to go so quiet, a pin dropping could be heard. Between the two masters, Cheng Shanming and Wang Chao, both of them were no longer in their prime state as before.

Both fighters were barefooted and Wang Chao’s entire upper sleeve had been torn off so that his arm could be seen. Cheng Shanming’s clothes was crumpled and his flesh was red from where he had rolled over the glass. Such, his stature right now was similar to that of a beggar.

“Master Cheng, your Baguazhang is far too pure. There should be no need to compete anymore.” Wang Chao spoke, breaking the atmosphere.

Cheng Shanming let out a loud exhale, causing his long black beard to rise and fall. “What a youngster. How spectacular. From the very beginning, my inspiration was not yet at your level, and in the final moment, you had even showed mercy and did not crush my throat. I cannot continue like this, so let us end this match then. You are a friend of Chen Aiyang; because of his injuries, you became his support with a loyal spirit. I have neither grievance nor hatred with you, so there is no need to fight to the death. But Chen Aiyang on the other hand. He has killed my brother in martial arts, how could I let a grudge like this fade into nothing so easily? At the same time, he is injured, I cannot take advantage of him like this. I will wait for when he recovers, and by then we will fight!”