Wild Goose Formation Fist!
Lu Zhigang specialized in this fist art, named for its resemblance to racing geese carving trails through the sky.
Once the fist technique was fully unleashed, a gale rose from level ground, flinging yellow sand into the eyes and leaving enemies unable to act.
Martial Force flooded into his shoulders. The air trembled, gathered, and twisted, sketching the outline of a pair of wings.
Lu Zhigang had been starving badly, his eyes gleaming green. He spread his thick arms, and his body swelled into the shape of a gaunt wild goose.
A grave expression surfaced on Zhou You's face. His opponent was a formidable enemy.
In the past, he had possessed no direct understanding of Martial Force and had not known how fearsome it was.
But now...
"If that hits me, I'll really die!"
Lu Zhigang swept both arms out, striking like sharp black blades. They could shave off at least thirty jin of flesh.
Zhou You felt his neck grow hot, his blood speeding up with excitement.
He immediately mobilized his Martial Force. His body temperature surged, and with every breath, hot vapor gathered into two streams of white mist.
"Awoo!"
Zhou You opened with Hungry Tiger Pounces on Prey, his expression savage as every sinew and bone in his body twisted into one.
As he sprang forward, his body tautened like steel. His fists ripped through the air, gouging toward Lu Zhigang's chest.
"Martial Force? It's actually Martial Force! That bastard set me up."
The moment Lu Zhigang saw the Martial Force behind Zhou You's attack, every hair on his body stood on end.
This was bad. He had thought he could bully the weak with his strength, cripple Zhou You in two or three moves, then leave at leisure.
Yet his opponent had used Martial Force from the very first move. Things had become troublesome.
He had endured hunger for many days. His muscles and fat had nearly been halved; even with Martial Force, he could only wield forty or fifty percent of his usual power.
Zhou You, on the other hand, had well-proportioned muscles and a healthy flush on his face. His Essence Blood and vital energy remained at their peak.
Thinking of Tu Laosan, who had supplied the false information, Lu Zhigang wished he could drag him here and tear him to pieces.
"In Gongliang City sits a Sitting Tiger; his tiger cubs and grandcubs vie in fierce might."
The Sitting Tiger described by those words was none other than Wang Jianxiong, the renowned martial arts master of Gongliang City.
Wang Jianxiong was famed for the Jade Tiger Skill and Tiger Subduing Fist, and he had raised a group of capable disciples close to his heart.
Even back in Su City, Lu Zhigang had heard of his great name. If he had not been driven mad by hunger this time, he would never have dared lay hands on one of Wang Jianxiong's disciples.
"No. After this job, I can't stay in Gongliang City for long."
An apprentice who had cultivated Martial Force already concerned the martial arts school's reputation.
If Lu Zhigang crippled Zhou You today, the Jianxiong Martial Arts School's iron-blooded revenge would arrive tomorrow.
Wang Jianxiong would not even need to act personally. Any Qi and Blood Disciple from the school could easily kill him.
Lu Zhigang swung both arms out, colliding with Zhou You's fists. Their Martial Forces clashed like refined steel weapons striking with full force.
The leaked force directly blasted down the nearby wall, showering the ground with broken bricks and stones like flowing water.
Zhou You stomped down, sending mud flying in all directions and leaving a basin-sized crater in the flat ground.
The next instant, he turned into an almost transparent afterimage and pounced above Lu Zhigang's head.
In Lu Zhigang's pupils, Zhou You's outline nearly transformed into the elongated shape of a tiger, forcing him to withdraw and retreat.
Boom! A great willow by the roadside was snapped in half by Zhou You's pounce, sending dust billowing into the sky.
"Wild Geese March South, Snowflakes Flutter."
The muscles in Lu Zhigang's arms writhed wildly, fanning the surrounding air in all directions like feathers as he leaped seven or eight meters into the air.
He turned over Zhou You's head and raised his leg to kick down from above.
The style of the Wild Goose Formation Fist used lightness against heaviness and agility against clumsiness, often attacking from above.
"Not good!"
Just as Lu Zhigang gathered Martial Force at his toes, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him.
Before coming here, he had taken the money and eaten a full meal, but his prolonged starvation had still greatly depleted his stamina.
That brief burst just now had already consumed more than half his strength. At this critical moment, he felt hollowed out.
His body was warning him, urging him to end this quickly.
Martial artists often collapsed from exhaustion after a fierce battle, vomiting blood and fainting, precisely because they had overdrawn too much stamina and injured their bodies.
Lu Zhigang could not afford to delay. Martial Force filled his toes as he kicked at Zhou You's temple.
Against an ordinary person, this move would make their head burst like a watermelon on the spot, red and white splattering everywhere.
But Zhou You had cultivated Martial Force, greatly enhancing his defense. At most, he would be knocked unconscious.
While Zhou You was dazed and unable to resist, Lu Zhigang would deliberately unleash a chain of moves, sweeping his arms across to break Zhou You's leg bones.
"Come on, then."
Zhou You's pupils contracted sharply. Needle-sharp Martial Force was aimed straight at his temple, locking onto the target.
No matter how he dodged, the enemy poised in midair could calmly change direction.
The Wild Goose Formation Fist's advantage lay in its nimble, ever-changing footwork, often launching attacks from unimaginable angles.
The Tiger Subduing Fist, by contrast, excelled in offense and defense, while speed was its weak point.
So there was only one path: meet him head-on.
Zhou You sank his waist slightly and activated the Tiger Subduing Fist's unique method of storing power. The Martial Force in his limbs grew increasingly fierce.
He was a hungry tiger, a hungry tiger eyeing its prey with covetous hunger.
The prey was a great wild goose. It looked robust, but in truth, it had starved to the brink of death. It was a sick goose.
What he was doing today was called... a hungry tiger slaying a sick goose.
A fierce wind howled beside his ears, and a faint prickling spread across his skin.
Lu Zhigang glided down from midair. His toe stabbed viciously down like a sharp iron awl.
Young Tiger Rolls.
In an instant, Zhou You curled into a ball and rolled on the spot. As his opponent's toe descended, he used his back to receive the blow of Martial Force.
The toe pierced the ground like a blade point, and the blasted dirt scattered in all directions like raindrops.
Zhou You rolled five or six times in succession, then sprang up fiercely and stepped back into a killing counterattack.
His footwork was highly distinctive, possessing both the mighty tiger steps of the Tiger Subduing Fist and the nimble variations of the Square Step.
Within two or three breaths, he darted before Lu Zhigang in an arcing stride.
Lu Zhigang had exerted too much force just now. His legs below the knees were sunk into the ground, and before he could pull them free, Zhou You had already reached him.
A wild wind carrying the stench of blood rushed into his face alongside a fierce tiger's roar.
Zhou You hooked both hands over Lu Zhigang's shoulders and tore outward with all his strength. Blood sprayed outward, and white bones gleamed grimly.
"Why isn't he keeping me alive to interrogate me about who hired me?"
Even at the moment of death, Lu Zhigang clung to that doubt. His corpse split into two halves and landed with a dull thud like a torn sack.
Zhou You wiped the flecks of blood from his face, expressionless. He did not need an interrogation to know that Tu Laosan was undoubtedly behind this.
If anyone least wanted him to cultivate Martial Force and qualify for entry into the martial arts school, Tu Laosan was the prime suspect.
Besides, the only enemy who could afford sixty taels of silver was Tu Laosan.
The shattered body on the ground still steamed, and the earth had long been soaked through with blood.
Zhou You did not mind. He searched through the corpse and found a modest haul.
Sixty taels of silver in hiring money, along with a yellowed booklet titled "Wild Goose Formation Fist."
He flipped through a few pages. The booklet recorded the fist art Lu Zhigang had cultivated.
That fellow could read and write, but his memory was not all that good, so he had specifically written down the secrets of the fist art.
This Wild Goose Formation Fist was no inferior to the Tiger Subduing Fist, and it could help Zhou You draw inferences from one instance to another in his cultivation.
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