Sparring!

Sparring!

"Hm?! This is!"

Ba Liming's expression jolted. His hair stood straight up as though electrified, then fell back down! The massive iron chains dragged iron balls the size of footballs, sending them rumbling back and forth!

His emotions had suddenly undergone a tremendous upheaval, causing his muscles to tremble involuntarily!

For a Grandmaster who had "Embraced the Core and sat the hips," every muscle, tendon, bone, and joint throughout his body could be controlled perfectly! Such a thing should have been utterly impossible!

One could well imagine just how great a shock this Tiger Roar Fist had dealt Ba Liming!

"This fist art! This method! Unbelievable! Unbelievable!" Ba Liming's entire body shook wildly. The thick shackles around his hands and feet rang out with bang, bang as his swelling muscles stretched them taut, before they split apart with a crack!

"Haha! Haha!" The King of Martial Arts had his beard and hair bristling, his laughter roaring like thunder! Rolling waves of sound spread outward!

Even the ground around them trembled faintly, and the iron-barred window in the wall shattered with a clang!

Gu Shaoshang clamped his hands over his ears, scarcely daring to believe that an ordinary person who had not reached the Establish Fate Realm could produce such a sound!

"The road ahead! The road ahead!" Ba Liming muttered, his eyes burning like blazing torches!

Just like Wang Chao's sigh during his final battle against God: "There is no road ahead!"

Generation after generation of Guoshu experts and Guoshu Grandmasters had bitterly sought the road ahead!

Without regret their whole lives!

"Master, great shock and great joy can easily harm the body! You should calm yourself first!" Gu Shaoshang shouted with his ears covered, suspecting that if Ba Liming laughed any longer, he would go deaf!

Ba Liming slowly fell silent. His expression was incomparably complex, and only after standing dazed for a long while did he finally speak.

"Sun Lutang! Dong Haichuan! Yang Luchan! Li Shuwen! For hundreds of years, countless Grandmasters and exceptional figures have bitterly pursued the road ahead in martial arts! I never imagined that I, Ba Liming, would be fortunate enough to see it!"

Ba Liming casually took down a jar of medicinal wine steeped with huge chunks of tiger bone from the cabinet beside the bed and began gulping it down.

The entire five-pound jar of medicinal wine, bones and all, was swallowed into Ba Liming's stomach.

"Today's shock and joy were too excessive. It isn't suitable for practicing or teaching fist arts!" Ba Liming put down the wine jar and casually handed the manual recording the Tiger Roar Fist to Gu Shaoshang.

"Then rest well, Master. I'll go get settled in first."

Gu Shaoshang secretly admired him. This was a manual tied to the path ahead of his martial arts, yet Ba Liming showed not the slightest reluctance to part with it.

The cultivation of temperament possessed by these Guoshu masters was truly profound.

"Go on!"

Ba Liming waved a hand. He had spent thirty years in prison; not only had his fist arts reached an unfathomable level, but his cultivation of temperament far surpassed that of ordinary people. He had never experienced such turmoil of mind before and truly needed to calm himself.

After leaving the prison cell, Gu Shaoshang followed several armed police officers to the quarters arranged for him.

"Comrade, the cafeteria provides three meals a day. Just go there when it's time! Prison security is strict, so aside from the old man's room, please don't wander around at will!"

Once they arrived, the young armed police officer leading the way suddenly spoke.

"Don't worry. I'm only here to learn fist arts! I won't cause you any trouble!" Gu Shaoshang smiled faintly.

"What's your name? Have you learned Tongbei Fist?"

Tongbei Fist was said to have originated when Guiguzi saw white-backed apes leaping and fighting in Cloud-Mist Mountain, then imitated them to create this style of fist art.

While being led here earlier, Gu Shaoshang had noticed that this young armed police officer walked with both arms hanging low, seeming almost to reach his knees. His body rose and fell like that of a great ape! Clearly, his kung fu had entered his body; even his walking, sitting, and lying down carried the form of an ape!

His mastery of Tongbei Fist was plainly no shallow thing!

"My name is Wang Yan! I've studied Tongbei Fist under the old man for two years!" the young armed police officer replied.

"How about a spar?" Gu Shaoshang's eyes lit up, and he was eager to give it a try.

He had yet to exchange blows with a martial artist from this world! Seeing an expert whose kung fu had entered his body, his hands inevitably itched.

"Sorry, regulations," the young armed police officer said regretfully, before his eyes suddenly brightened.

"Why don't I come find you after I get off work tonight?"

"Fine!"

Though Gu Shaoshang's hands itched, he knew he could not force the matter, so he returned to his room alone.

The room was less than twenty square meters. There was a single wooden bed, a desk, two cups, a thermos, and a chair.

It was utterly simple, with nothing else inside.

Gu Shaoshang sat cross-legged on the bed, carefully contemplating the road ahead.

"Once I return, I'll have to face Qi Gang directly. In Dragon-Snake Romance, I must gain the strength to confront him head-on! Otherwise, the moment I return, I'll die!"

Gu Shaoshang understood this with crystal clarity as the plot of Dragon-Snake Romance flowed through his mind.

The sun set, and the sky gradually darkened.

Gu Shaoshang's ears twitched. He heard footsteps approaching—light and quick, with small but rapid strides. They had seemed more than ten meters away at first, but in the next instant, the person was at his door.

"It's me! Wang Yan!"

"Wait a moment!"

Gu Shaoshang got up and opened the door, only to see Wang Yan had taken off his military uniform and changed into a loose black tracksuit.

"The old master is proficient in all manner of boxing arts. His martial skill has reached the pinnacle—he's no worse than Sun Lutang or Li Shuwen of the Republican era! Though my aptitude is limited, I did learn Tongbei Fist after all, and have barely touched the threshold of Hidden Force!"

Wang Yan entered without ceremony, sat down in a chair, and spoke.

"Guoshu is divided into Clear Force, Hidden Force, and Transforming Force. Brother Wang is already remarkably gifted!"

Gu Shaoshang poured two cups of plain water, and Wang Yan took one.

"Let's go outside and exchange a few moves! In prison, I rarely get the chance to see a practitioner like you!" Wang Yan's fighting spirit surged at the sight of worthy prey.

The two said no more. One after the other, they went outside and faced each other in the open space before the door, clasping their fists in salute.

Wang Yan assumed his stance. This youngster, who looked like a middle-school student, had sharp eyes, supple yet powerful limbs, and carried himself with the gait of dragon and tiger. One look showed that he had truly entered the door of Xingyi Tiger Form.

Gu Shaoshang lightly tapped the ground with his feet and shook both arms, producing two sharp pops in the air as he launched the first attack!

Clear Force! Wang Yan's heart tightened. His arms shot out like springs, carrying a whistling gust of wind.

Bang!

Their arms collided. Wang Yan's expression changed at once, and like an ape, he retreated six or seven meters at the first touch, evading Gu Shaoshang's following tiger-claw strike.

"What tremendous strength!" Wang Yan was badly startled. Though they had separated at the first contact, both his arms still ached faintly, so numb he could barely feel them!

Wang Yan stepped forward, his body shooting forth like an arrow loosed from the bow. His arm stretched straight out, thrusting at Gu Shaoshang's face like a great spear.

His wide sleeve cracked through the air with sharp pops, like waves smashing against a ship's side!

His body shifted with nimble agility, like a long-armed ape.

Gu Shaoshang did not move his feet. His body suddenly bent sharply backward, evading the straight punch! Force burst from beneath his feet as he kicked toward Wang Yan's chest, abdomen, and face!

Wang Yan's strike missed, and his fist pressed downward!

Bang!

Wang Yan flew backward, tumbling repeatedly through the air like an ape as he shed the impact.

Gu Shaoshang sprang like a fish, flipping back onto his feet. With one step, he chased after him like lightning.

"When facing an enemy, be as if fire burns your body!"

Gu Shaoshang struck swiftly and attacked fiercely, leaving no path of retreat. His feet skimmed flat across the ground; as his fist-force erupted, his arm rose high and chopped down, truly as cold and peerless as a steel saber!

"Xingyi Splitting Fist!"

Wang Yan's face twitched as soon as he landed. His body abruptly lowered, and he slid forward along the ground, passing beneath Gu Shaoshang's crotch!

Then, with a backhand, he unleashed the most famous ultimate move of Monkey Form Fist—"Monkey Steals the Peach"!

"Excellent Monkey Form!"

Rather than being angered, Gu Shaoshang silently praised him!

His legs clamped together, locking Wang Yan's arm like iron pincers. Then came a backward elbow, stabbing toward Wang Yan's chest and abdomen like a great spear!

"I concede!" Wang Yan's face turned green as he hurriedly admitted defeat.

As the saying went, better to take ten punches than one elbow! This youngster possessed immense strength. The force of one elbow was comparable to an ancient fierce general thrusting a lance from horseback. If it truly landed, even if it did not kill him, it would leave him grievously wounded!

At his words, Gu Shaoshang stopped. The tip of his elbow came to a halt brushing against Wang Yan's clothes.

What a pity. Gu Shaoshang could not help feeling disappointed. This armed policeman was no slouch at kung fu, and his forms were well-practiced, but his real combat experience was simply too lacking!

Gu Shaoshang rather felt like, I haven't even exerted myself, and you've already fallen.

Thank you to Wu Qu Han Bing oniy and the reader Lazy Cat Eats Mice for the rewards, and to all the brothers for your recommendation votes. Tu Gou offers his thanks!