Fists feared legs, legs feared throws; three years of martial skill could not match one year of wrestling.
A brand-new martial arts concept barged brutally into Li Changqing's mind.
The middle-aged man stood with his hands behind his back. He paused for several seconds, seemingly giving the apprentices watching through the screen time to digest it.
"Back in the Old Era, before Psionic Energy had appeared, boxing, Sanda, and Free Combat were the most popular combat sports."
"Among them, boxing was the most extreme. It prohibited every method of attack apart from the fists, making it the combat sport with the strictest rules."
"And precisely because of that, boxing rapidly declined after Psionic Energy emerged. By now, aside from recordings from the Old Era, there is no longer any place for boxing to survive."
"Why?" The middle-aged man raised a hand, curling his five fingers into a fist and displaying it to the camera.
"Before becoming a High-Rank Martial Artist and beginning to contain Psionic Energy, the human body is not stronger than steel. A weapon formed by clenching five slender finger bones is quite fragile. That is why boxers wear thick gloves: first, to protect their opponents, and second, to protect themselves."
"Otherwise, if a punch lands on a hard spot like someone's shoulder or forehead, it is the attacker's fingers and wrist that are more likely to fracture and be injured."
"The same goes for this." As he spoke, the middle-aged man took a step back, raised an arm, and extended it forward without touching the dummy.
Then he lifted a leg. This time, his leg reached the dummy.
"Do you see? An inch longer, an inch stronger. The legs possess the largest and strongest muscle groups in the entire body. Whether in attack range or striking force, they far surpass the fists."
"That is why people say that the hands are two doors, while the legs do all the hitting."
"When boxers face Sanda or Free Combat fighters of the same level who excel in Leg Techniques, they are particularly helpless."
"A simple low kick is already a strike from another dimension."
"However." The middle-aged man abruptly changed tack.
"Leg Techniques still have their limitations. Unless a high kick hits the head, it is difficult to achieve a one-hit kill."
"If fist techniques and Leg Techniques are both branches of unarmed combat, then throwing techniques are completely different."
The middle-aged man planted both feet on the ground and pointed down at the earth beneath them.
"Rather than calling it unarmed combat, I would rather call throwing techniques armed combat."
"Throwing techniques are not unarmed. They are a Combat Technique that borrows gravity and uses the planet beneath your feet to smash people."
"The ground in reality is not like those clean, incredibly soft, specially shock-absorbing rings from the Old Era. The impact of being thrown down once is enough to leave someone dead or crippled."
As he spoke, the massive dummy with half its body still embedded in the dojo floor perfectly underscored his point.
"Even if your enemy is lucky enough to endure it, devastating stomps and soccer kicks will still be enough to kill them."
Li Changqing listened with growing eagerness. He could hardly wait to learn the core technique of Ancient Martial Tai Chi.
Tai Chi Throwing Style.
He raised his arms, looked at his firm, heavy biceps, then glanced at the dummy beside him.
Then he removed the casters from beneath the dummy, wrapped both arms around it, and exerted himself fiercely.
"Hah!"
Yet the five-hundred-pound dummy merely swayed.
Li Changqing's eyes widened. He could not even lift it? How humiliating!
In an instant, every muscle in his body strained. Even his sphincter clenched, contributing its share of strength.
Vitality flowed, gathering the power of his entire body to the utmost limit.
The next second—
"Up!"
At last, the dummy slowly rose off the ground.
Before he could celebrate, the dummy swayed, instantly throwing Li Changqing off balance.
With a thud—
The dummy crashed heavily to the floor.
He landed on his butt, only then remembering that the weighting material at the bottom of the dummy was Liquid Metal.
The moment it left the ground, it would immediately disrupt the balance of force.
"Heh, I refuse to believe this." Li Changqing rolled his neck, placed a hand on the dummy, and exerted force sideways.
"Hah!"
With its base pressed flat against the ground, and the casters removed, Li Changqing had to turn red in the face under its five hundred pounds of pressure just to barely rotate it half a turn.
So heavy!
"The core of Tai Chi Throwing Style lies in Listening to Strength."
"As the name suggests, strength is the flow of your opponent's force, the location of their center of gravity."
"Fists and feet are both means of approaching the enemy and listening to their strength. You must understand that your goal has always been only one."
"Get close, destroy the enemy's center of gravity, then throw them to death!"
In the video, the middle-aged man took a metal ball from behind him. Like the dummy, this metal ball also contained flowing metal within it.
"The dummy is too advanced for beginners like you. Start with this instead."
Li Changqing sighed, walked into the bedroom, and took out an identical metal ball to the one in the video.
Under the middle-aged man's guidance, he began practicing.
"Flow. You must constantly grasp that water-like flow. The enemy's center changes at every moment. You must use the strength you listen to in order to judge their next move..."
"Imagine yourself as water—without fixed form, without fixed stance..."
The man in the video was very patient, gradually dissecting the core of Tai Chi Throwing Style for his viewers.
Li Changqing held the metal sphere, which weighed several dozen pounds. Its weight was secondary; the truly deadly part was the irregular maze of liquid metal filling the sphere.
With every roll, the sphere's center of gravity shifted unpredictably, making it extremely difficult to grasp.
He held the sphere in both hands, his movements clumsy and sluggish.
Once, because he failed to grasp the metal ball's center of gravity for a single instant, it slipped from his hands and smashed onto the floor.
If that happened a few more times, the downstairs neighbors would probably come looking for trouble.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man in the video played with the metal ball as though it were a weightless crystal globe in a magician's hand, as if it might spread wings and fly away at any moment.
Ten minutes passed.
Li Changqing's five fingers were aching and weak. At last, he completed the first round of training.
Tai Chi Throwing Style, Proficiency: 0%
It had finally arrived.
Li Changqing was overjoyed. He hurriedly dragged the progress bar back to the beginning of the video.
He continued practicing along with it.
The metal ball floated awkwardly between his hands, utterly lacking any sense of lightness.
One round ended.
Tai Chi Throwing Style, Proficiency: 2%
As his proficiency increased, numerous half-understood insights instantly appeared in Li Changqing's mind.
He picked up the metal ball again and rolled it between his hands.
The Liquid Metal flowed through the inside of the sphere. A sensation too faint to perceive suddenly made the hairs on his body stand on end.
He seemed to have sensed something, but that fleeting sensation vanished in an instant, impossible to grasp again.
The second time, until the video ended, he still did not sense that state a second time.
Tai Chi Throwing Style, Proficiency: 5%
Again!
As his proficiency rose once more, a thought suddenly flashed through Li Changqing's mind.
No matter what, this throwing style had been born from Tai Chi, and the Old Technique he practiced also originated from Tai Chi.
Li Changqing's heart stirred. He instinctively assumed a fighting stance, planting his legs in a horse stance.
Cloud Hands!
The Old Technique mobilized every muscle in his body, but this time, he did not mechanically execute the fist technique exactly as it was.
He drew an inward arc with his arms, his fascia and muscles pulling his neural reflexes to their limit.
Gurgle—
Li Changqing's pupils contracted sharply.
The next instant, his wrist turned. The heavy metal ball flew from his hand and lightly bounced upward like a rubber ball.
Li Changqing closed his eyes, his ears pricking slightly.
Gurgle—
He heard it again. This was the feeling!
His left hand extended forward. At the very instant the metal ball descended, his wrist suddenly trembled. A delicate force traveled inward through the metal ball, shaking the flowing Liquid Metal and effortlessly dissolving several dozen kilograms of weight.
"That's it. To listen to strength, every muscle and fascia in my body must participate, allowing my nerves' senses to reach their utmost limit."
Li Changqing understood.
His movements began to barely keep pace with the slowed-down actions of the middle-aged man in the video.
The metal sphere grew increasingly nimble in his palms. Though it still stalled a little, it would at least no longer fall onto the floor.
The third round was complete.
Li Changqing curled his palms inward, and the metal ball rolled onto the sofa. His eyes opened and closed.
Tai Chi Throwing Style, Proficiency: 10%
After all, this was merely a combat skill, not a martial arts method accompanied by vitality or even Psionic Energy circulation. Its proficiency rose much more easily.
He turned to look at the dummy that had previously taken all his strength merely to lift slightly, while leaving him unable to control its center of gravity.
He spread his legs slightly and assumed the stance of Old Technique Tai Chi.
From the first form all the way to the eighth.
As the Old Technique circulated, the vitality throughout his body was thoroughly mobilized. Li Changqing finely adjusted his control over every muscle in his body.
He gathered all his strength into his arms.
The ninth form, Double Peaks Pierce Ears!
Both palms shot out together.
At the instant they touched the dummy, Li Changqing did not rigidly follow the fist technique and fully erupt with his force and vitality.
Instead, he turned his wrists, borrowed a clever force, spread the fingers of both hands, and struck the sides of the dummy.
Buzz—
The Liquid Metal trembled along with Li Changqing's movements. Under the infusion of force, it began moving along the tracks within the dummy.
The nerves in his hands were taut, and even the tiniest movement within the dummy was transmitted into Li Changqing's heart.
With his eyes tightly shut, he continuously analyzed the movement of strength. His mind raced, while his surging vitality supported his body.
Gurgle—
A sound distinct from every other noise.
He heard it!
Bang!
A pair of fleshy palms struck out, landing precisely on a crucial point somewhere along the dummy's side.
With a crisp crack, the dummy that had previously required Li Changqing to exhaust every trick in his arsenal just to lift slightly suddenly spun violently.
This seemingly light palm strike had not even used half of Li Changqing's strength.
Agility +1
The world seemed to fall silent, its tiny flaws stripped from the chaos thread by thread.
It was an extraordinarily wondrous feeling.
Though there had not been the slightest change in his physique or vitality, Li Changqing could clearly feel it.
The world had become clearer.
The nerves across his body's surface grew increasingly nimble, transmitting minute changes in the air to his mind.
Looking at the heavy dummy spinning endlessly before him, its Liquid Metal sloshing and clattering.
Li Changqing stepped forward, closing in, and extended his right hand again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three palm strikes landed on different parts of the dummy. In an instant, the movement of the Liquid Metal inside it changed, and the differing paths within and without collided.
As one waned and another rose.
The rapidly spinning dummy was actually brought lightly to a stop in place.
Tai Chi Throwing Style, Proficiency: 25%
Ding—the alarm rang.
Looking at the motionless dummy before him, Li Changqing's smile deepened. He slowly returned to the kitchen, lifted the pot lid, poured in the remaining tomatoes, added half a spoonful of fine salt for seasoning, and turned the heat high to reduce the sauce.
Ten minutes later, a plate of brightly colored tomato beef brisket came out of the pot.
Another fulfilling day.
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