Chapter 111: Sparring and the Past

When Ability Users engage in close-quarters combat, if their strengths are comparable, the level of their fighting skills becomes the key to victory; therefore, conventional martial arts routines are very popular on Blue Star and have developed even more vigorously, so basically all Ability Users dabble in them.

At this moment, in the training room, two figures were exchanging blows rapidly, using only fists and feet, meeting move with move, and for a time, they were evenly matched.

Zhao Mingze, standing to the side, shouted that it was brilliant and couldn't help but clap in approval.

Within ten-plus minutes, Chen Fan consecutively used the Empty Bright Fist, Eight Trigrams Palm, Wind Slashing Leg, Shadowless Leg, and more than 20 other combat techniques, yet they were all neutralized by Gao Yuan one by one.

Both were martial arts prodigies; their fists, feet, and moves were neck and neck.

However, compared to Gao Yuan, Chen Fan's attainments in Leg Technique were clearly higher, and finally, after another few minutes, Chen Fan caught him off guard and slashed a kick onto Gao Yuan's chest, causing his body to stagger.

"Watch out!" Chen Fan warned, and immediately followed up by kicking Gao Yuan with the Eighteen-Style Mandarin Duck Continuous Kicks, each move linked to the next.

Gao Yuan could only defend passively; he utilized the Cloud Waving Hand, retreating as he fought, and for a time, he actually managed to block the subsequent kicks from Chen Fan.

However, the so-called continuous kicks meant each kick was stronger than the last, and each kick faster than the last; by the tenth kick, Gao Yuan had already shown signs of defeat.

Just as Chen Fan thought the fight was about to end, the next moment, Gao Yuan suddenly yielded half a step, and using his hands to borrow force to strike back, he lifted and flung the airborne, kicking Chen Fan away.

Chen Fan's body was thrown into the air; he was startled, hurriedly performed consecutive backflips, and quickly adjusted his center of gravity.

His figure was like a swallow as he landed steadily, also without suffering the slightest injury.

"Good technique! Lao Gao!" Chen Fan stopped his attack, looked at Gao Yuan, and couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised.

Just a moment ago, Chen Fan had even thought he was about to win.

Yet Gao Yuan's god-like move had instantly disintegrated his offensive.

"Lao Gao, what was that move you just used? I've never seen it before!" Chen Fan became interested and asked.

Gao Yuan scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "Brother Fan, what I just used was a move from the Taiji Combat Technique, called the Dragon Sparrow Hand! It emphasizes borrowing force to strike back and following the momentum to push."

"A technique from the Taiji Combat Technique?" Chen Fan muttered to himself.

"I can certainly ask Gao Yuan for more pointers in the future!"

Gao Yuan was equally impressed by Chen Fan; in terms of hand and foot skills, this was the first time he had encountered a match among his peers.

"Brother Fan, in the future, I will also ask you for more pointers on Leg Technique."

The two felt a sense of mutual appreciation for a moment.

Zhao Mingze had been immersed in their brilliant duel just now and only then came back to his senses.

"Brother Fan, Lao Gao, your skills are too monstrous; I feel like I wouldn't last three moves against you with my bare hands!"

"Your task is to practice your sword well; of course, if you are willing to learn hand and foot combat, I can teach you too," Chen Fan said with a smile.

"Better not, practicing the sword is already very mentally draining..." Zhao Mingze shrugged his shoulders and asked curiously, "Brother Fan, Lao Gao, how did you both train to get such skills?"

"I spent years hanging around the fighting rings of martial arts halls to support myself and my younger sister; after a long time, I just trained it out," Chen Fan replied, then looked at Gao Yuan.

"Lao Gao, what about you?"

"I'm an orphan; I grew up in the village eating food from a hundred families. I had no parents, and when I was little, I was bullied a lot, so I started practicing fists and feet and developed a knack for fighting."

"When I was 14, a Tier 1 Red-Tailed Tiger broke into the village and bit dozens of people to death. I lost my head at the time, grabbed an axe, and charged up. Luckily, I fought to the death and hacked that beast to death!"

"Later, this incident reached the city. They said I had natural strength and was gifted, so they took me to a school in the city."

"My homeroom teacher was a practitioner, a famous combat master. I studied martial arts with him for three years, and my fighting style became systematic; it was no longer the ruffian, hooligan style from before."

Chen Fan and Zhao Mingze listened to Gao Yuan recount his experiences and couldn't help but sigh.

So Gao Yuan was an orphan; no wonder back in the cafeteria, when Bai Zun froze everyone's food into ice shards, he was the first to stand up and point angrily at Bai Zun, shouting that he hated guys who wasted food the most.

Chen Fan had originally thought he just had a big temper; it turned out he grew up eating food from a hundred families and had experienced real hunger and cold, which was why he cared so much about food!

Furthermore, the two were incredibly astonished; it was hard to believe that a 14-year-old child had hacked a Red-Tailed Tiger to death with a wood-chopping axe.

After all, that wasn't an ordinary tiger; that was a Strange Beast! Even if it was only First-Rank Early Stage.

Zhao Mingze couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

"Lao Gao, with your grades, you should have been able to go to Beijing University; why did you choose the National Martial Arts Academy?"

Gao Yuan did not hesitate at all and said, "I was the second place in Yu Province; I chose the National Martial Arts Academy because I want to be a soldier in the future."

"Also, I don't like Kyoto; it's too noisy there!"

Chen Fan and Zhao Mingze both nodded, expressing their understanding; after all, everyone has their own preferences.

Chen Fan then looked at Zhao Mingze and said, "Ming Ze, what about you? Why did you choose the National Martial Arts Academy?"

Zhao Mingze shrugged and held the only remaining Peerless Sword at his waist in his hand: "I came to the National Martial Arts Academy because I want to follow in my grandfather's footsteps! He graduated from here."

"My grandfather was my idol since I was a child, and he is also the person I admire most."

"He was the first person in the history of Ability Users to kill a Ninth-Rank Exotic Beast as an Eighth-Rank Grandmaster!"

"Could your grandfather be the senior Zhao Qixian, known as the Sword Saint?" Chen Fan was startled and blurted out.

Everyone in the world knows that the gap between the Eighth Rank and the Ninth Rank is like a chasm!

In the early stages, Ability Users can indeed rely on high-level Otherworldly Abilities to easily kill Strange Beasts across ranks, but those Strange Beasts that can grow to the Ninth Rank have extremely strong bloodline talents; for an Ability User to fight across ranks, it is simply harder than ascending to heaven.

Yet, someone in history had done it!

And the first to create this miracle was Zhao Qixian; his person was like his name, as famous as the sages! His name is printed in textbooks! Making people remember him!

"Yes! Zhao Qixian is indeed my grandfather!" Zhao Mingze nodded heavily.

Seeing him admit it, Chen Fan was even more surprised: "The book says that senior Sword Saint gave his life for the country three years ago to stop two Ninth-Rank Exotic Beasts from rushing out of the Other-dimensional Space."

"Right, he killed one and severely wounded one!" Zhao Mingze seemed extremely sad, yet also extremely proud.

"The Peerless Sword was a gift he gave me before he went to the battlefield. Although its rank is not high, it was the first weapon he used when he was young and practicing the sword. He hoped I could inherit his mantle and be peerless in the world of sword arts!"

"Unfortunately, only this one is left now." Zhao Mingze looked at the Flying Sword in his hand, and feelings of sadness flooded his heart again.

"Ming Ze, the dead are gone, and the living must go on. Practicing your sword arts well is the best response to him," Chen Fan said to comfort him.

"Yes!" Zhao Mingze gripped the sword hilt tightly and nodded heavily.

"Ming Ze, I remember you always wanted to apprentice under Zhang Kun of the Sword God Academy. Why didn't you reveal your grandfather's identity? If you had, he certainly wouldn't have refused," Chen Fan was a bit puzzled at this point.

"Brother Fan, that's not the path I want to take. I want to be accepted as an apprentice in a dignified way! I don't want to live under the shadow of my grandfather," Zhao Mingze said with a firm gaze.

Chen Fan could not help but look at him in a new light; although Zhao Mingze was usually boisterous and somewhat unserious, in reality, he was also a person with great ambition.

After the few of them chatted for a while longer, Chen Fan and Gao Yuan began sparring with their fists and feet again, while Zhao Mingze began to contemplate sword moves.

Unknowingly, the sky outside had gradually darkened, and all three of them showed signs of fatigue.

Just as the few of them were preparing to end today's training session, a message from Tian Xiong was received in their squad's WeChat group: special squad training tomorrow!