Chapter 13: Short Staff Mastery

The people in front of me are all practitioners.

In a one‑on‑one situation, his chances of winning aren't great, especially against the guy leading them, let alone when the opponent has several people.

At this moment, if he dared to show even a hint of dissatisfaction, it would give the other side an opening to exploit.

Time passed bit by bit.

Finally, the leading man spoke, breaking the oppressive atmosphere.

"Turns out you're a coward, weak, get out."

After saying that, he turned and left.

"Kid, remember to keep your eyes sharp from now on, understand?"

"Demanding money from us? Do you even deserve that?"

"Third Senior Brother is right; he's just a coward, a scaredy‑cat."

His voice faded away.

Everyone on the scene let out a sigh of relief, glanced at the few Roasted Sweet Potatoes trampled on the ground, then looked at Jiang Cheng, who kept his head down in silence; some felt sympathy, others sneered.

Anyone doing business on this street knows the people from the martial halls are not to be trifled with; even members of the Wild Wolf Gang are courteous when they see someone from a martial hall.

Vendors, fearing trouble, automatically give things away for free to anyone from a martial hall who comes to buy.

So this kid actually tried to charge money—doesn't that make them look foolish? This guy, not only would the trampled Roasted Sweet Potatoes be a loss, even the whole three‑wheeled cart being smashed wouldn't be unfair.

In just a few short seconds, Jiang Cheng felt as if years had passed.

His mind had indeed panicked a moment ago.

He feared those few people, relentless and unforgiving.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm in the end.

Frankly, if it were my original self, I could never make such a low‑level mistake; upon hearing they wanted Roasted Sweet Potatoes, I would have laughed and handed them over with both hands.

Not casually remark that I couldn't bear to lose money.

Just like this morning when those two thugs blocked me, my original self certainly wouldn't have resisted, obediently handing over dozens of kilograms of sweet potatoes.

Instead of choosing to draw a weapon and fight them to the death.

One can't say which method is better or worse; just as nothing in this world is perfect, every choice has its pros and cons.

Making a choice and being mentally prepared to bear the consequences is enough.

"I am Jiang Cheng, not the Jiang Cheng from before; moreover, I did nothing wrong here—the ones at fault are them!"

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath, hiding his hatred deep inside.

He lifted his head, looking at the trampled Roasted Sweet Potatoes on the ground, his face full of sorrow.

"Jiang Cheng, are you okay?"

Lu Zicheng asked softly.

He had just been so frightened that he dared not even breathe, fearing a fight might break out.

With Jiang Cheng's slight frame, he feared he would be torn apart.

"I'm fine."

Jiang Cheng shook his head at him, smiling wryly: "Too bad about those Roasted Sweet Potatoes."

"What era is this, still talking about that? Do you realize you were almost beaten to death?"

Lu Zicheng realized something, quickly covered his mouth, glanced around, and seeing few onlookers, he let out a sigh of relief and said:

"In short, if you meet those people again, give them whatever they want, don't bring up money. Also, put your Short Staff away quickly; it was you wielding the Short Staff there that provoked them."

Jiang Cheng nodded, saying nothing more.

He stepped forward, picked up the trampled Roasted Sweet Potatoes; they were no longer edible, but leaving them would look terrible and hurt future business.

The incident came abruptly and left just as suddenly.

Soon, no one paid attention here, as if nothing had happened, since such incidents are so common that, even among a series of robberies, this was relatively mild.

Before long, Jiang Cheng began twirling the Short Staff again.

He took half of Lu Zicheng's suggestion. If similar people came again, he wouldn't say anything; if they wanted Roasted Sweet Potatoes, he'd give them, treating it like feeding a dog.

But he would remember these people and repay them properly in the future, including the faces of those just now, which he had etched deeply into his mind.

Just wait.

Lu Zicheng, standing nearby, saw Jiang Cheng resume twirling the staff and instinctively moved the cart farther away from him.

This guy loves courting death; don't drag yourself into it.

Two hours passed.

On the Panel, the Short Staff's Experience Value jumped instantly to three hundred points.

At that moment, Jiang Cheng seemed to be hit by an Immobilization Technique, frozen in place.

A flood of information flooded his mind.

When he came to his senses, Jiang Cheng looked at the Short Staff in his hand, feeling as if he had trained with it for over a year.

Not only had he become much more familiar with the three basic moves—Chop, Sweep, Lift—and could execute them in any order, both forehand and backhand, but he also gained an advanced technique and a footwork!

The added advanced technique is the Stab.

As the name suggests, it uses both ends of the staff for rapid, powerful strikes, especially the tail end, which is even stronger.

However, this means giving up the advantage of a long reach, so if the move is not used it's fine, but once used it must cripple the opponent in a single, fatal blow.

Another piece of information is the footwork Jiang Cheng has been yearning for.

In Real Combat, enemies aren't wooden posts; they close in. To most, a long‑staff wielder isn't frightening—once you survive the first few strikes and they close the distance, the staff‑holder is finished.

Whether that's actually the case, we'll leave aside for now.

The importance of keeping distance is self‑evident for a staff wielder.

And the Short Staff footwork is neither many nor complicated; there are only four in total.

Inch step: based on the guard stance, the front foot moves forward half a step propelled by the rear foot, and the rear foot immediately follows with half a step.

Support step: from the guard stance, the rear foot steps forward onto the position of the front foot, and the front foot immediately advances one step.

Flash step: the front foot moves diagonally forward half a step, the rear foot follows half a step, or the rear foot shifts diagonally half a step and the front foot immediately catches up.

Shatter step: using the support step quickly and in small increments, continuously moving in any direction at will.

It can be seen that among the four basic footwork moves, the first three are offensive, focusing on advancing; only the fourth involves retreat, and even then only briefly, because shatter step refers to continuous movement in all directions, including retreat, even left‑right retreat, which is only part of the possible directions.

"Cold‑weapon combat emphasizes a one‑hit kill; the two sides resolve the fight after one or two contacts, not like fist‑and‑foot kung fu where you trade blows for ages."

Jiang Cheng muttered the sentence that surfaced in his mind.

He seemed to understand, yet also seemed not to.

At the thought of an actual enemy appearing before him and charging, his first reaction might not be to rush forward for a surprise attack, but to keep a safe distance and wait for an opening.

Nevertheless, he has already Proficiently applied the three basic techniques, and has begun to master the thrust and the footwork.

If he raises his proficiency to the next level, achieving Mastery, perhaps he will deeply understand the essentials of Short Staff footwork and acquire new knowledge.

"It's not early yet, but I should head back. If nothing goes wrong, those two people from this morning are definitely watching me from the shadows, right? Maybe it's more than two."

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath.

At this point, fear or regret is useless; he can only give his all in the battle.

He looked up toward his side and saw that Lu Zicheng had left at some point without his noticing.

"You didn't say hello as usual?"

Jiang Cheng gave a wry smile and shook his head.

It seems the other party thought he was a nuisance and chose to keep distance.

He stopped dwelling on it, pushed the cart, found an alley different from the ones of the past few days, and entered it.

After all, it's better not to run into them tonight.

What Jiang Cheng didn't see was that Li Wei and the other person were hiding in the corner, watching him as he entered the alley.

(End of chapter)