Golden Python Four Forms

"Su Ti."

Hearing this, Long Yuanzheng turned around and gave Su Ti a slight shake of the head, signaling with his eyes that he should not rashly step forward.

But Su Ti looked firmly at Long Yuanzheng. He could not let Long Yuanzheng bear everything for him. If he backed down now, it would be Dragon Gate Martial Hall's reputation that suffered.

Besides, Li Zong had clearly come for him. Su Ti could hide for a while, but not forever.

As for Demon Mountain, Long Yuanzheng had said earlier that he was only at the Inner Refinement First Layer. Su Ti could completely catch up to that realm with the modifier, so what reason did he have not to step into the ring?

Li Minggui chuckled.

"Hall Master Long, your beloved disciple said that himself. A man's word is his bond, and so many people are watching. You would not go back on it, would you?"

As soon as he said this, Yao Juan and the others' expressions changed. Su Ti had been too impulsive. Now that the words had left his mouth and someone had seized upon them, it was too late to regret it.

But Su Ti spoke.

"I can accept, but I have conditions."

"What conditions?"

Li Minggui asked instinctively.

"You put up ten million as my appearance fee."

The moment he said that, everyone froze and looked at Su Ti. Su Ti merely snorted.

"If every stray cat and dog came running over to challenge Dragon Gate Martial Hall, dreaming of becoming famous in a single fight, would we not be worked to death? We would be accepting challenges every day. Ten million is the minimum challenge fee."

Hearing the words "stray cat and dog," anger surfaced on Demon Mountain's huge face, though he did not flare up.

Li Minggui was also provoked by those words. This brat was money-mad. He sneered.

"Fine, fine, fine. No problem. After the match, win or lose, we will present those ten million with both hands."

Li Minggui's eyes were icy. He would treat this money as the coffin money to buy that brat's life.

Hearing the other side agree, Su Ti nodded inwardly.

Buying Cursed Antiques required a large sum of money. He was short on cash right now. Although he had received five million in compensation, it was still not enough. While settling this grudge, he could earn a fortune from this match.

Of course, that was only if he could survive and win the match. Only then would he live long enough to spend the money.

Li Zong stepped forward, his gaze flickering as he swept his eyes over Su Ti.

"We can pay the appearance fee, but the match must be conducted according to our rules."

"Seven days from now, a Death Fighting Competition. We sign life-and-death waivers. The winner lives, the loser dies. No problem with that, right?"

Li Zong stared coldly at him, undisguised killing intent hidden deep in his eyes. Su Ti met his gaze without fear, his own eyes equally cold and sharp.

"Of course. Since it is an Ancient Martial Arts challenge, we will decide both superiority and life or death."

"Good! You have guts." Li Zong smiled coldly. "When the time comes, I will invite many fellow enthusiasts to witness the skills of Dragon Gate Martial Hall."

After the matter was settled, the trip back was swift. It did not take the convoy long to reach the villa where Long Yuanzheng lived.

Long Yuanzheng dismissed the other three disciples and kept only Su Ti behind to speak with him in the courtyard.

Yao Juan seemed as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing and left as ordered.

At that moment, only master and disciple remained in the courtyard. Long Yuanzheng stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the bright moon overhead. After a long while, he spoke.

"Su Ti, others may not understand what you did today, but your master does."

"You accepted Demon Mountain's challenge partly because you did not want Dragon Gate Martial Hall to lose face. The second reason was that you felt you were troubling your master and wanted to settle this grudge yourself."

Su Ti remained silent.

Long Yuanzheng turned around. Su Ti's thoughts brought him comfort, but also made him very angry.

"Your intentions are good, but you were too impulsive. For the sake of a moment's pride, you fell into the trap laid by Li Zong and his two sons."

"Although Demon Mountain is a black-market fighter and not a proper member of the Ancient Martial Arts world, he has already reached the Inner Refinement First Layer. He has also trained external martial arts, possesses a strong physique, and was born with tremendous strength. Even your second and third senior brothers, both at the Inner Refinement Second Layer, might not be guaranteed victory against him. Yet you only recently entered the sect and reached the Tongli Stage not long ago, and you want to fight him to the death in the ring. I fear... the odds are against you."

At this point, Long Yuanzheng sighed.

But Su Ti shook his head and raised one finger.

"Master, I practice martial arts to fight for one breath of pride."

"I am not doing this to prove how strong I am! I only want to tell those bastards that I, Su Ti, am absolutely not some weakling for others to butcher at will! If they want to lay a hand on me, they must pay the price!"

"If I do not fight for this breath of pride, if I endure and yield, then why practice martial arts? Why cultivate? I might as well die!"

Su Ti's words rang like metal striking stone, powerful and forceful.

This was the first time he had revealed his true reasons for practicing martial arts to someone else.

Yes, why?

Since he had transmigrated here, what had he done wrong?

Li Mingyuan wanted to capture him again and again, wanted to use him as a tool for making money. Could he not resist? Did he deserve to be captured?

Just because Li Mingyuan's father was Li Zong, did he have to endure? Did he have to yield?

Fuck that!

Never before had the rage in his heart burned so fiercely. That was why he wanted to practice martial arts, why he wanted to fight, why he wanted to strike! Even death was worth it!

Long Yuanzheng was moved as well. From the moment he first saw Su Ti, he had vaguely felt something.

Now that Su Ti had spoken those words, he seemed to overlap with a figure from Long Yuanzheng's memories.

"Similar, too similar."

"Similar to what?"

Long Yuanzheng came back to himself. He slightly raised his head and gazed upward for a while before lowering it again.

"Su Ti, although you joined the sect last, among all my disciples, you are the one whose temperament most resembles mine."

"Acting on passion—how can those of us who practice martial arts not act on passion?"

"When an ordinary man is enraged, blood splashes five paces away. To uphold one's ideals with martial courage—this is what the earliest martial artists were like."

"Placed in the modern era, I do not know whether that spirit is right or wrong. But without it, martial artists today truly lack something."

"A person cannot live too rationally."

"Su Ti, since you have already made your decision, then as your master, I will naturally support you with everything I have."

"Demon Mountain was pushed out by Li Minggui to fight you, and he has already reached Inner Refinement. That means he must know combat techniques of the Inner Refinement Stage. In a battle against him, you are already at a disadvantage in realm. You cannot go without combat techniques."

"So now, I will teach you the true combat techniques, killing techniques, and fist techniques of our Dragon Gate lineage!"

"Watch carefully!"

Under the moonlight, Long Yuanzheng began performing a set of fist techniques.

Unlike the difficult Dragon Shape Five Forms, and unlike the slow and leisurely Golden Snake Molting, the fist technique Long Yuanzheng performed now was filled with domineering killing intent.

"The fist technique of our Dragon Gate lineage is actually called the Golden Python Fist!"

"Dragon Shape Five Forms and Golden Snake Molting are both the first portion of Golden Python Fist. They are training methods!"

"What I am demonstrating for you now is the second portion of Golden Python Fist, its true combat techniques!"

"These combat techniques have four forms in total, with endless variations!"

"The first form, King Python Hand!"

Long Yuanzheng thrust out one hand, and his arm rapidly swelled and enlarged!

His skin turned purple, veins rolling beneath it like earthworms. One arm forcibly expanded to three times its original size, thicker than a thigh!

Su Ti's eyes widened. Long Yuanzheng grabbed forward with one hand. His palm had also swollen as large as a fan, bluish-black all over, while sharp nails sprang out one after another like daggers!

Long Yuanzheng swiped with his claw, and a peach tree in the courtyard as thick as a leg was ripped in half at the waist. Yet that was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was that wood chips flew from his palm, and the piece of wood in his grip was crushed directly into a handful of sawdust!

"The second form, Double Python Whip!"

Long Yuanzheng crossed his hands before his chest, his whole body tightening like a drawn slingshot. Then, the next second—

Whoosh!

Su Ti only saw two black afterimages lash out. The rockery two meters away from Long Yuanzheng exploded with a thunderous boom! Fragments of stone flew everywhere!

Su Ti looked closely. The granite-hard rockery had been lashed with two enormous whip marks as thick as thighs and as deep as two fists!

"The third form, Scaled Python Armor!"

Long Yuanzheng clasped his hands together, and the muscles across his body suddenly bulged, stretching his clothes tight!

The next moment, countless muscles writhed and surged wildly beneath his clothes, as though countless rats were burrowing chaotically beneath Long Yuanzheng's skin!

Long Yuanzheng stomped forward and crashed into the rockery!

With that impact, stones collapsed. This rockery, several meters tall, had nearly half of it smashed down by the collision!

And Long Yuanzheng had used his flesh-and-blood body to ram solid rock. Other than his torn clothing, his skin beneath it gleamed with a faint bronze metallic color. His skin had not even broken!

"The final form, Violent Python Roar!"

Long Yuanzheng raised both hands and assumed a breathing stance. He drew a deep breath into his abdomen, his chest swelling high.

Judging by the stance, this should have been a Sound Strike technique. Su Ti covered his ears slightly, already prepared to endure a sonic attack, but the result was completely different.

Whoosh!

No sound came out. Long Yuanzheng opened his mouth and exhaled, shooting out a fierce stream of white qi as thick as an arm!

The stream of qi tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound. It flew roughly three meters, then pierced straight through a tree in the courtyard as thick as a thigh!

After penetrating the tree, the airflow did not stop. It blasted a small crater the size of a bowl into the ground before exhausting its final trace of force and turning into wisps of white smoke that rose into the air.

Su Ti's eyelids twitched. Of every move Long Yuanzheng had demonstrated, none had been as dazzling and shocking as this final move!

Exhaling qi through a tree, piercing a thigh-thick trunk from three meters away and then boring into the ground—this was something even modern high-pressure air guns could not accomplish.

If this had been in the ancient world of Su Ti's previous life, exhaling qi into a sword and killing with sword qi would have made one an immortal.

How powerful would Long Yuanzheng's internal organs have to be to compress air into a Qi Sword and exhale it? It was simply unimaginable!

After demonstrating all four moves, Long Yuanzheng finally began the formal lesson. He explained in detail the specific activation methods, precautions, and other aspects of each move to Su Ti.

"The combat techniques of the Golden Python Four Forms require a certain foundation of training methods. At the very least, one must reach the Inner Refinement First Layer to unleash their power."

"If you use them rashly before reaching that level, not only will their power be greatly reduced, but your body will also suffer serious damage."

"But Su Ti, you will be competing against Demon Mountain soon. There is no time to worry about that now. The more you learn, the better your chances of winning."

To give Su Ti a greater chance of victory, Long Yuanzheng explained everything in great detail. As he spoke, he slowly demonstrated the moves again, allowing Su Ti to observe carefully.

He also taught Su Ti every variation, combat method, and bit of experience without holding anything back. These were the precious fruits of more than forty years of martial practice.

Because Su Ti's intelligence was high enough and he was also a Tongli Stage martial artist, by the time the sky had begun to brighten, he had finally mastered all four combat techniques.

His martial arts section also displayed:

Golden Python Four Forms (Beginner 1%)+