The Gap in Real Combat
"The power that made me lose focus for an instant just now was Soul Capture, wasn't it? ...That's going to be hard to deal with!" Jiang Yiming exclaimed.
Yulan had even more questions than he did. Why did his Gu worm attack on its own after he was hit by Soul Capture? Don't Gu worms need a Gu Master to activate them before they can attack? Why did his Gu worm attack on its own? And why can he summon Gu worms so quickly without opening an essence channel first? Could it be that he doesn't keep his Gu worms in his dantian's qi sea?
Jiang Yiming had no idea that the things he considered perfectly normal had left Yulan puzzled.
Each gauged the other's strength, then they charged at each other again.
This time, Jiang Yiming had Red Tail burrow underground. With the Earth Escape skill, the ground was the best place for it.
Yulan didn't dare let her guard down either. As she charged, she summoned a pale blue frog Gu.
[Ice Arrow Frog: A Yellow-Rank Gu worm that can shoot poisonous ice arrows. Its attack power is extremely strong.]
Jiang Yiming instantly saw through its background.
The two closed in on each other, but Yulan didn't use Soul Capture again. Instead, she fought him hand-to-hand.
She was far better than Jiang Yiming at using Gu Essence.
Gu Essence complemented her every move perfectly, making her attacks both fast and vicious.
Jiang Yiming raised his right arm and swung it viciously at her, putting the force of his charge behind it.
"Whoosh!"
His fist cut through the air with a rush of wind. It was extremely fast, yet it still struck nothing.
Not only that, Yulan spotted an opening and seized his wrist. At the same time, the Ice Arrow Frog took the opportunity to open its mouth and spit out a three-inch-long ice arrow, aimed straight at Jiang Yiming's forehead.
"Void Spiderweb!"
Jiang Yiming fired a Void Spiderweb, successfully blocking the ice arrow. He took the opportunity to yank his hand back.
To his surprise, the slender-looking Yulan was incredibly strong!
For a moment, Jiang Yiming couldn't break free!
Luckily, Yulan's hand was soft and smooth, as if it had been soaped up. Though her grip was tight, it was so slippery that Jiang Yiming still managed to pull free.
After retreating to put some distance between them, Jiang Yiming sighed inwardly. Looks like you can't have slippery hands in a fight...
Yulan didn't rush to attack. "Judging by your movements, you probably never trained growing up. Compared to me, your fundamentals are terrible. Even without Gu worms, you're no match for me."
Jiang Yiming refused to accept that. Who says I never trained? When I was a kid, I was famous for getting into fights!
With that thought, he took the initiative and charged at her this time.
Sure enough, Yulan didn't use her Gu worms. She merely held out her hands, ready to deal with him using only her fists and feet.
Since she wasn't using Gu worms, Jiang Yiming didn't use his for the moment either.
Having only ever been in street fights, his attacks were crude, consisting mostly of left and right hooks, roundhouse kicks, and waist-grab takedowns.
Against such an agile opponent, he definitely couldn't get his arms around her waist, so his attacks became even simpler: just hooks and roundhouse kicks.
Yulan had begun absorbing Gu Essence and training in hand-to-hand combat at the age of six.
In her eyes, Jiang Yiming's every move was child's play.
Within a few exchanges, she had turned defense into offense, pressing Jiang Yiming so hard that he complained bitterly.
This girl is too nimble! I can't even touch a hair on her, and all I can do is defend.
If I keep defending, sooner or later I'll slip up. If I can't keep up with her agility, I'll lose eventually! What do I do...?
As he pondered, he suddenly remembered something in the System Store: Agility Pills!
One Agility Pill costs a hundred Gu Refining Points. I have 1,000 Gu Refining Points now. I wonder what effect buying ten Agility Pills would have?
Seeing that he could no longer hold her off, Jiang Yiming had no choice but to spend 1,000 Gu Refining Points on ten Agility Pills from the System Store.
Taking things out of the System Store couldn't have been more convenient.
He didn't even need to reach for them. He only had to open his mouth slightly and, with a thought, ten Agility Pills suddenly appeared inside it.
After swallowing them, he immediately felt the muscles all over his body grow sore and swollen. Then every part of his body felt as though it had been worked hundreds of times. His joints in particular became very... slick.
It was the kind of feeling where he was so flexible that he felt a little slippery. For example, he only meant to raise his hand thirty centimeters, but his shoulder joint had become so slippery that he raised it fifty centimeters in one go.
Now, the joints all over his body were as if they had been oiled, so flexible that he could barely control them.
Jiang Yiming had just barely been able to defend against her fists before, but now he couldn't adjust to his overly flexible body and suddenly couldn't block them at all. Seven or eight punches landed on his chest, arms, and head in an instant!
Another punch came at him, aimed at his chin. He reckoned that if it landed, he wouldn't be able to get back up.
Damn! I wanted to see how good I was at hand-to-hand combat, but I didn't expect to be this unable to take a hit!
I'd better stick to using Gu and save my life first!
With that thought, Jiang Yiming decisively used the Iron-Backed Black Scorpion.
"Transform into a Shield!"
With a thought, the Iron-Backed Black Scorpion instantly transformed into a shield in front of his chin.
Bang!
After successfully blocking Yulan's fist, Jiang Yiming promptly withdrew and ran for the main doors.
It wasn't that he didn't want to keep fighting. The ten Agility Pills had raised his agility so much at once that he couldn't adapt, leaving him worse off than when he started.
For now, he had to retreat. Once he was used to his body, he would come back for a proper fight!
The doors were still a long way off, but Yulan had already caught up behind him.
She pushed off with both feet and floated into the air, stepping through it to land in front of Jiang Yiming.
"She can fly?!" Jiang Yiming stared in shock, then hurriedly turned and ran for the stairs.
"It's no use. You have no idea how to use Gu Essence. You can't outrun me on physical strength alone!" Yulan's voice was like a death warrant.
Jiang Yiming ignored all that and raced upstairs, taking three steps at a time.
Unfortunately, no matter how fast he was, he wasn't as fast as Yulan.
This girl didn't take the usual route at all. She only had to push off once on each flight of stairs to float up to the next one like a ghost.
Jiang Yiming ran upstairs one step at a time, while she flew up one flight at a time. How could he compete with that?
Seeing that she was about to catch him, he could only use his trump card Gu—the Single-Horned Wandering Snake.
Besides Poison Dragon Drill, it could also block the way.
As soon as he summoned it, its enormous body completely blocked the stairwell.
No matter how formidable Yulan was, surely she couldn't pass through flesh?
Blocked like this, the Ice Arrow Frog on her shoulder opened its mouth and fired an ice arrow, trying to force the Single-Horned Wandering Snake back.
"Poison Dragon Drill!"
The Wandering Snake lowered its head, pointed its half-meter-long horn at the ice arrow, and used Poison Dragon Drill.
When it used Poison Dragon Drill, its body didn't spin. Only the horn on its head rotated at high speed, like an electric drill.
The moment the ice arrow touched the horn, it was ground into ice chips. The difference between the two skills was clear at a glance.
Yulan frowned slightly and raised her hand to summon another Gu worm, but just then, the enormous Single-Horned Wandering Snake vanished into thin air.
She hurried after him. As soon as she emerged from the stairwell, she saw Jiang Yiming in the elevator opposite her, waving goodbye.
Before she could get over there, Jiang Yiming decisively pressed the close-door button.