Chapter 38: Striking Out in Anger

At this moment, Cao Mao struck with anger, holding nothing back; the golden spear tip of the Dianqiang drew out several dozen gold threads, encircling Tian Shi.

Swaying Dragon Tail, Green Dragon Emerges from Water, Mad Dragon Covers the Top, Flood Dragon Roils the Sea — all were vast opening-and-closing battlefield spear techniques, immense momentum and heavy force, utterly disregarding life and death, only offense and no defense.

Tian Shi, however, remained unhurried; his martial arts surpassed Qian Yang, who stole jade and fragrance daily, by an incalculable margin.

He stood with feet crossed, shifting his weight back and forth between front sole and rear heel, rapidly moving and swapping positions forward, backward, left, and right within a space of less than a meter, his figure swaying slightly with the footwork; though Cao Mao's long spear was fierce, it surprisingly did not make him leave the inch of ground beneath his feet.

Tian Shi did not merely dodge; he operated his palms, which took on a faint dark-gold hue, his palms seeming slow but actually fast, daring to meet Cao Mao's heavy iron spear head-on, striking the joint of spear tip and shaft with several consecutive palms, producing metallic collision sounds; Cao Mao's iron spear was knocked aside every time it neared.

Cao Mao roared in rage continuously, while Tian Shi's face remained calm, the bearing of a master, like a cat toying with a mouse, fundamentally not anxious to attack.

The onlookers watching the fight were momentarily dazzled and bewildered; just as everyone had anticipated, this Tian Shi's martial arts were far above Cao Mao's.

Lu Dage stared intently at both sides' moves while muttering: "Tian Shi is actually using Shaolin Temple's Vajra Palm, truly fierce and profound, fearing no ordinary weapon; even within Shaolin Temple few can master it. Cao Mao undoubtedly loses."

But Wu Chengyu saw a completely different scene.

At first Tian Shi opposed the Dianqiang with bare palms, seemingly effortless, but how could flesh and blood colliding with metal possibly remain unscathed; if that were truly so, The Legend of the Condor Heroes would not merely be a Middle Martial World — back then Wang Zhongyang, acknowledged as Number One Under Heaven, could not even carve rock with finger force, let alone metal.

With Wu Chengyu's keen eyesight, he had long noticed that every time Tian Shi forcibly blocked the spear shaft, his brow would furrow imperceptibly, and the joints of his arms and palms would tremble slightly, proving Tian Shi was absolutely not as relaxed as the surface showed.

This monk's mindset has a problem; seems he overdid the posturing.

Wu Chengyu had just thought this when the situation on the field changed again.

Seeing Cao Mao attack continuously for twenty-odd moves in one breath, all resolved one by one by Tian Shi, the saying goes: the unyielding cannot last; external martial arts most emphasize one continuous surge — once a prolonged assault fails, one's own strength inevitably exhausts, and momentum inevitably suffers a setback.

At this moment Cao Mao's offensive slowed, Tian Shi's face held a smile, just preparing to counterattack.

Who could have imagined that at this moment the watching Qian Yang, seeing his senior brother display divine might, couldn't help but cheer loudly: "Senior Brother truly deserves to be the chief disciple of our Shaolin Dharma Hall."

As these words fell, Tian Shi became somewhat smug; he satisfactorily looked back at Qian Yang.

It was precisely during this moment of looking back that Cao Mao was given the chance to seize the initiative again.

Cao Mao changed his opening style, gritted his teeth, stepped forward, gripped the spear with both hands, assumed the spear art's most basic Four Level Three Points posture, and thrust rapidly.

The so-called Four Level: crown level, shoulders level, feet level, spear level.

Three Points: nose tip, spear tip, toe tip — the three points connected.

This is the most fundamental skill of every spear practitioner; Cao Mao has put at least thirty years of bitter practice into this move.

His attack now has only one word: pierce; spear shaft held level, straight in and straight out, level, agile, swift, waist and tendons issuing force, power penetrating straight to the spear tip, like a hidden dragon appearing and disappearing.

Spear art has a saying: the level-center spear is the king of spears, the center point is hardest to guard against; what Cao Mao now employs is the most basic-skill-testing and also strongest level-center spear in spear art.

Every spear of his points straight at Tian Shi's brow center, throat, heart, and dantian; taking these as the center line, no matter how Tian Shi dodges and maneuvers, no matter what exquisite palm techniques Tian Shi uses, the spear tip never leaves the center line; one spear misses, swiftly withdraws, immediately followed by a pierce at another spot.

Once this move appeared, Tian Shi had no more chance to attack actively; the piercing spear's greatest trait is speed — so fast that in everyone's eyes the Dianqiang can no longer be seen, only a black light flashing in and out; Tian Shi's Vajra Palm just touches the spear shaft and the spear has already withdrawn, before a blink the spear tip pierces another part, fundamentally no time to block.

Now Tian Shi no longer had the previous composure, retreating repeatedly to create distance, while Cao Mao pressed closer continuously, not leaving the slightest gap for the opponent.

Tian Shi secretly cursed; Cao Mao's this fighting style saves much more effort than before, and the spear speed leaves Tian Shi struggling to cope.

The key is the Broken Temple's space is not large, unable to use lightness skill to roam in all directions; a battle originally with victory in hand unexpectedly turned into a protracted fight due to a moment's carelessness.

If Tian Shi had gone all out from the start, immediately closed in and seized the attack, not giving Cao Mao's long spear room to maneuver, his Vajra Palm could have subdued Cao Mao in no more than ten moves; now because of underestimating the enemy, he instead lost the initiative, and can no longer turn the situation around.

Tracing the cause, it is still that Tian Shi was too arrogant, looking down on Jianghu grassroots like Cao Mao, plus having Qian Yang this pig teammate; now fallen into passivity he can only struggle to defend, the lightning-fast level-center spear and the one-zhang distance opened by the spear shaft leave him no chance to counterattack.

So it is said in the Middle Martial World, there aren't so many exaggerated moves like one saber splitting a mountain or one sword severing a river, nor pure realm crushing; no matter who fights, it is move by move.

Martial arts height cannot determine final victory, unless encountering Supreme masters like the Five Absolutes where the gap cannot be bridged at all; otherwise mindset in battle, tactical application, move countering, and death-defying courage etc. can all decide who is the true victor.

Seeing Tian Shi fall into passivity, the trouble-making Qian Yang could no longer restrain himself; he also disregarded maintaining his sycophant posture, suddenly rushed at He Zhiyu, wanting to strike first and subdue her, but was intercepted by Niu Dajie and the others who stood faintly around He Zhiyu, blocking her behind them.

Qian Yang immediately spoke to intimidate: "Since all of you are people who mix in the Jianghu, you should know my Shaolin's prestige; this matter has nothing to do with you, please do not bring trouble upon yourselves."

Niu Dajie held a Tong Qian in each hand, her face full of fierce flesh, sneering, looking at Qian Yang with disdain.

"Pretty boy, you lecherous monk, this old lady disliked you long ago, yet you still dare threaten this old lady."

Lu Dage beside them broke the silence, suddenly saying loudly: "I have heard Shaolin Temple has been sealed for many years, long without disciples walking the Jianghu, and Shaolin Temple is far in Henan, separated from Zhejiang by a thousand li; how could two Shaolin monks suddenly appear? One of you is lustful, the other shameless; how could you come from an Orthodox Sect like Shaolin? You must be Jianghu villains falsely using Shaolin's name; we grassroots have always drawn swords to help when seeing injustice; today let us subdue you two impostor scum."

As the words finished, Niu Dajie immediately moved; right-hand Tong Qian raised high with whistling wind, a Force-Splitting Mount Hua smashing toward Qian Yang's forehead.

Qian Yang didn't expect the other party would truly disregard Shaolin's prestige; greatly shocked, he lost color; his martial arts were not high, in Shaolin Temple he belonged to the sort who habitually flattered and fawned, but basic reaction remained — he knew now he was fundamentally no match for Niu Dajie, even less able to withstand the twenty-odd catty Tong Qian; in panic he retreated repeatedly, barely dodging Niu Dajie's right Qian.

Who knew Niu Dajie's right-hand Tong Qian was a feint; her left-hand Tong Qian, like a silent venomous snake, swiftly stabbed at Qian Yang's left ribs.

Qian Yang's left arm had just been swept by Cao Mao's spear; though the short crutch blocked, it still ached unbearably, left side numb, fundamentally unable to make any reaction; just like that he watched helplessly as his ribs were smashed to pieces by the Tong Qian.

Qian Yang screamed miserably and flew out, crashing heavily on the ground, no longer able to rise, only able to wail: "Senior Brother save me."

Yesterday noon my book made the Qidian New Book Ranking overall list; at first it was last place, rank 100; as of now it has risen to 84, and currently appears to still have momentum — truly all thanks to everyone.

My previous book was a Marvel fanfic; data so poor I'm embarrassed to mention it; mainly first time writing, made many self-righteous mistakes early on, couldn't retain readers; by mid-to-late stage I felt I improved, but readers had all run off; anyway looking back now, only the title satisfies me; that book never had a chance to hit the New Book Ranking — it was the Light Novel sub-ranking under the New Book Ranking, further sub-ranked as Newcomer New Works; even so, highest was only 50-something, and soon vanished.

My previous book was a Marvel fanfic, its data was so poor I'm embarrassed to mention it, mainly because it was my first time writing, I made many arrogant mistakes early on, couldn't retain readers, by the time I felt I had improved in the middle and later stages everyone had already left, anyway looking back on that book now only the name satisfies me, where would that book have had the Opportunity to get on the new book ranking, it was the light novel ranking under the new book ranking's categories, further categorized under the newcomer new works ranking, even so the highest was only fifty-something place, and it disappeared very quickly.

So now this book receiving everyone's favor, this humble author has three-lives fortune.

Thank you everyone, I will continue to work hard.

Thank you everyone, I will continue to work hard.



(Chapter End)

(Chapter End)