Sparring

In addition, last year there was also a boy named Tai Xiaochan who entered the orphanage, but he did not live there for even two full weeks before someone adopted him away. After all, this child looked both smart and well-behaved, and his appearance was also quite endearing. Although Yao Bilian said that his acting skills were superb, being outwardly loyal and inwardly treacherous, and even wanted to warn the couple who adopted him, she was stopped by Si Ming.

In Si Ming's view, abandoned orphans could hardly avoid having this or that psychological problem. Perhaps past experiences made Tai Xiaochan understand how to use disguise to protect himself, which was an understandable matter. As long as he grew up in a normal family environment in the future, it would certainly be able to smooth out the scars of his soul and return him once again to the ranks of normal people.

Thus, after comings and goings, the orphanage still only housed four people.

According to the Mohist School's emphasis on population, this was the normal situation. After all, many families were willing to adopt orphans. Aside from couples unable to have children, there were also those couples who did not want to suffer through having children, yet still hoped to find someone to care for them in their old age.

Because of his father's notorious reputation outside, no one dared to adopt Ying Zhou. Si Ming was indeed able to practice internal martial arts now, but his guardianship had already been entrusted to Yan Jinghong's name, no longer belonging to an orphan. He had become like Hongdou, living in the orphanage and freeloading food and drink.

Coming down from his room, Si Ming arrived in the courtyard and found that a not-too-thick layer of snow had already accumulated outside, while the joyful sounds of children playing drifted from afar.

At this moment, a piercing sound suddenly rang from behind the back of his head. He hurriedly tilted his head to one side, and a snowball whined past, the fierce wind scraping his face with a stinging pain.

Turning around, he saw Yao Bilian holding a pair of rolled snowballs in her arms, laughing aloud: "Since you are a child, you should have the appearance of a child. Seeing snow should make you excited and shouting at the top of your lungs. Putting on an old man's serious face will not make people like you."

"Clearly you're the one who wants to play, and you won't even think about how old you are."

"Oh-ho, you said the most shouldn't-be-said words. Your truly-senior sister here is naturally forever in her prime at eighteen years old. Take my move! Houyi Shoots the Sun!"

Yao Bilian used a special technique to throw a snowball, and its speed was no less than a discus thrown by an Olympic athlete.

Yet such an attack still could not stump Si Ming, whose lightness skill was preeminent. With a light tap of his toes, his figure swayed like willow branches, and he easily dodged past it.

Thwack!

The sound of a snowball striking an object came from behind. Si Ming turned his head and saw Ying Zhou, who had just entered the gate, holding his hand in front of his face, blocking the snowball he had just dodged.

Ying Zhou shook the snow from his palm, looked at the two people in the courtyard, let out a cold snort, and said, "Boring."

"Hey!"

Ying Zhou decisively threw a snowball again, but Ying Zhou, who had long been prepared, sidestepped in time to dodge it.

Who would have thought that this snowball was actually given a spin force, making an arc midway and hitting dead-center on the back of Ying Zhou's head.

"Hahaha, stinky brat, see if you still dare to look down upon an adult's wisdom. Take this, Nine-Star Alignment!"

Yao Bilian used internal Qi, throwing the snowballs out rapidly. They were like cannonballs. Although Ying Zhou's martial prowess was good, he was ultimately limited by his age. After barely dodging four shots, he was hit by the other five. One of the snowballs even struck his nose, beating his face and nose red.

"Are you happy, little brat? This is a New Year's greeting from an adult, wishing you great success and prosperity in the new year."

"...You are courting death!"

Ying Zhou could no longer hold back, letting out an angry roar. He also grabbed snow from the ground, rolled it into a ball, and hurled it out.

Yao Bilian dodged while provoking: "Oh, is that all the ability you have? Throwing like this, even if you threw until the snow melted, it's impossible for you to touch me. You might as well obediently give up resisting and take your grand-aunt's ravaging!"

The words had just fallen when a batch of snowballs flew over simultaneously from behind. She managed with difficulty to dodge to the side, yet still was hit by five or six of them.

Only to see that Si Ming had somehow piled up a snow fortress, with snowballs packed full behind him. He said toward Ying Zhou: "Dealing with outer Dao demons and heretics, there's no need to talk about Jianghu rules. Let's attack together!"

Chapter 47: Sparring

In the courtyard, two figures exchanged blows with fists and palms, fighting fiercely. Fierce Qi surged wildly, stirring snow flowers to flutter all across the sky. Yao Bilian stood to the side holding a paper umbrella, from time to time using the umbrella's surface to block the splashing snowflakes.

Abruptly, the chests of both people emitted a buffalo's long bellow at the same time, crashing into each other. Muscle impacts and crisp joint cracks connected into one continuous sound.

Half a year ago, the two had fought to a draw in terms of strength, and Ying Zhou had even been slightly superior after going berserk. But after half a year of basic training, Si Ming already firmly suppressed the other party by a head. The result of a head-on clash with the exact same move, "Ox Demon Charge", was that Ying Zhou was sent flying.

Yet Ying Zhou still retained remaining strength, his steps shifting continuously to tread on the snowy ground without a sound. Opening his arms slightly, his body seemed as though it were gliding, yet he had converted the Ox Demon Fist into the Vulture Demon Fist. The instant he retreated to the edge of the wall, he stomped fiercely with one foot, borrowing the rebounding force to lunge fiercely back.

Only to see Ying Zhou's neck straighten and his head lift slightly, both hands opening slightly, his right leg raising and his left leg cushioning. The entire person seemed to rise into the air, darting urgently toward Si Ming, his ten fingers transforming into claw shapes, the inner arms coiling and spiral fierce Qi billowing――

Vulture Demon Bone Shattering!

This move was a fatal strike within the Vulture Demon Fist, borrowing the momentum of the descent to deal a lethal blow to the enemy. Should the strike fail, one was bound to suffer backlash, because even with lightness skills, once a martial artist leaped into the air, changing direction was no easy matter.

Ying Zhou clearly knew the flaw of this move, but he knew even better that he had been completely suppressed. Without using this move, he did not even possess a shred of possibility to turn the tables, because the opponent was equally proficient in the Five Demon Fists, and even used them more skillfully than he did.

Confronting the Vulture Demon fatal strike head-on, Si Ming immediately felt a fierce, vicious gale rush toward his face, as if he truly saw a ferocious vulture extend its two claws and fiercely stab toward his pupils. At this moment, he suddenly recalled the Nine Yin White Bone Claw from Jin Yong's novels.

To deal with this move, the best method was to use the footwork in the Dunjia Heavenly Movement to dodge. As long as he evaded the fatal strike, the opponent's momentum would plummet, and by then they could be rolled into whatever shape desired and casually manipulated.

Yet Si Ming did not want to use Dinghu Sect martial arts. Only to see his arms shake, both hands hanging downward as if dislocated, actually increasing his length by an inch out of thin air. Following that, his two feet stepped upward, striding out with his pace. As his legs walked, they naturally carried a sense of a bouncing leap, just like an ape running back and forth among mountain forests.

With this leap, Si Ming shifted from the front to the side, avoiding the opponent's attack range. He looked as though victory was already in his grasp, but Ying Zhou's right leg kicked out abruptly, stirring a piercing sound like a chopper slashing forth, aiming to chop at Si Ming's neck.

Vulture Demon Bone Shattering actually still had a hidden change!

If this kick landed solidly, it would be enough to kick a person's cervical vertebrae broken. Ying Zhou had manifestly once again fallen into a berserk state, losing his composure and unable to gauge his strength properly. Seeing this scene, Yao Bilian hurriedly tossed away her umbrella, preparing to lunge out and save him.

Yet right at this moment, Si Ming's drooping arms also lashed out like two large iron whips, swift and fierce, seizing the first opportunity to strike Ying Zhou's flank and directly sending him flying out.

Ape Demon Mad Staff!

This move was originally supposed to be continuous chopping force, with the arms frantically lashing out, cooperating with footwork in a pursuit that gave the opponent no chance to catch their breath, relying on a series of offensive maneuvers to beat a person to death alive. But after all, this was merely sparring for now, and Si Ming reined in his momentum in a timely manner after striking once.

Yao Bilian's original purpose in lunging out was to save Si Ming, but as a result, victory and defeat reversed in the blink of an eye. Thus she simply maneuvered her soft Qi to catch Ying Zhou, neutralizing the charging force to prevent this brat from crashing into hard objects and getting injured.

Si Ming reined in his Qi and exhaled, saying, "Over these past six months, your martial arts have basically made no progress."

Half a year ago, he could only rely on talent to narrowly win against Ying Zhou by a sliver, whereas now he could completely defeat the other party while controlling the rhythm. The progress within was self-evident.

Even the result of defeating an opponent was divided into several tiers. The smallest gap was a narrow victory in a life-or-death struggle; one tier higher was a great victory where one sustained injuries and the enemy died; next was a stable victory with light injuries; and finally, a complete victory capturing the opponent alive.

Being able to capture an opponent alive in combat proved that the gap in strength between the two parties had already reached an extent where it could not be made up for. Si Ming was now able to accomplish capturing Ying Zhou alive.

Actually, it was not that Ying Zhou had made no progress at all. After all, he was currently in a growth phase; as his body grew stronger, even without intentional training, his abilities in all aspects would rise along with it. What Si Ming referred to as making no progress meant in terms of martial skill.