Ambushed

"Hmm!?"

Suddenly, Chen Qing's brows furrowed slightly, and his steps paused.

Having now broken through the gate for the second time, his five senses were exceptionally sharp. He could hear every movement within five zhang with perfect clarity.

The night had always been dangerous, with desperate criminals often robbing passersby before brutally murdering them. Such things were commonplace.

"Meow~!"

Just then, a stray cat darted out from atop the eaves, and a roof tile slipped down to the ground.

Crack!

A crisp sound rang out as the tile shattered on impact.

In the blink of an eye.

A black shadow charged straight at him, a fierce wind cutting through the air as a vicious, merciless attack came for him.

Grappling Art!

Grappling Hand was an exceptionally formidable martial art, specializing in attacking the weak points of the human body—joints, acupoints, and vital points. It had many schools, whose systems included groin kicks and arm throws, blocking holds, wrist carries, small coils, large coils, lamp holding, sheep leading, leg entangling, wrist twisting, and arm breaking.

It was chiefly divided into three methods: seizing bones, seizing tendons, and seizing veins. Its core principle was to use cleverness against clumsiness, softness to overcome hardness.

Once caught in a grappling twist, tendons and veins would snap, and even an arm could be torn apart.

The former leader of Gaolin County's greatest gang, the Boatmen's Gang, had once consolidated this Grappling Art into the Muscle-Bone Dislocation Hand, earning tremendous renown.

Chen Qing used Spirit Monkey Escapes to Earth, slipping straight past the grappling move.

The attacker's moves were exceptionally savage, his assault rolling in like tides. His five fingers formed claws like five steel spears, locking onto Chen Qing's throat.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A piercing howl tore through the air.

Chen Qing's body paused for an instant. Then his arms and spine exerted force together. As he dodged the vicious claw, he slammed fiercely into the attacker.

Bang!

This Spirit Monkey Offers Longevity was incomparably exquisite. It not only evaded the attacker's offensive, but also struck back.

Chen Qing let out a muffled grunt and slid half a step backward on the force of the collision, shedding the rebounding impact.

His gaze was sharp as an eagle's, instantly locking onto the man before him.

He was a short, burly fellow dressed in black night clothes, his face covered by a black cloth that revealed only a pair of eyes gleaming with savagery and greed.

The man had clearly not expected Chen Qing's reaction to be so swift or his moves to connect so flawlessly. The collision sent pain lancing through his chest and choked off his Aura.

I've run into some muggers?

Chen Qing's heart stirred, his brows knitting darkly.

"This one's hard to handle! Brothers, get him together!" the short, burly man growled.

Before his words had faded, two more blasts of force shot from the darkness like venomous snakes!

From the left, a thin, lanky figure skimmed low along the ground. A cold gleam flashed in his hand as a foot-long short blade silently stabbed toward Chen Qing's waist and ribs.

The thrust was insidious and tricky, its angle vicious. It was clearly aimed at crippling Chen Qing's mobility.

On the right, a sturdier figure charged out like a wild bull. His arm muscles knotted as he swung, bringing a muffled gust of wind with a powerful Double Peaks Pierce Ears.

Two fists as large as sand bowls smashed viciously toward Chen Qing's left and right temples! If that blow landed solidly, even an iron-forged head would burst like a flower.

Three men!

Just as Chen Qing had expected, this was a gang operation, and they worked in seamless coordination. They were clearly seasoned offenders.

The three men formed a deadly net, instantly enveloping Chen Qing within it.

In that flash of lightning, Chen Qing's left foot stomped hard on a broken roof tile. The tile shot out under the force, whistling sharply through the air toward the lanky man's face.

At the same time, instead of retreating, he advanced into the sturdy man's fists. His spine arched and snapped like a great dragon, and his upper body bent backward at an unimaginable angle, narrowly avoiding the heavy fists aimed at his temples.

Pfft—!

Though the broken tile was small, Chen Qing's kick had sent it flying at tremendous speed.

The lanky man clearly had not expected it. In his haste, he could only abandon his stab and raise his short blade before his chest.

Clang—!

The tile shattered instantly, but it also tore a gap in the three-man net.

By bending backward, Chen Qing had not only dodged Double Peaks Pierce Ears, but also caused the sturdy man's fists to miss. Their immense momentum sent him staggering forward.

At the very instant his body was nearly parallel to the ground, Chen Qing's right leg, like the tail-hook of a venomous scorpion that had lain in wait for ages, flicked upward in a lightning-fast strike!

Whoosh—!

The kick was tricky and vicious, a variation of Spirit Monkey Climbs Branch, aimed straight at the sturdy man's groin vital point!

"Fuck!"

The sturdy man's attack had missed, and his center of gravity was unstable. Watching that fatal kick rush toward him, he was scared out of his wits. He screamed and forcibly twisted his body aside.

Rip!

Chen Qing's shoe tip grazed the sturdy man's crotch, ripping open his trousers and scattering scraps of cloth. The man's back was instantly drenched in cold sweat.

"Third, watch out!"

The short, burly man reacted with astonishing speed. Even as Chen Qing swept up his leg, he endured the pain in his chest and lunged forward again.

This time, he did not use pure grappling. Instead, his five fingers hooked like claws, their finger force razor-sharp as they seized at Chen Qing's left ankle, which supported his body.

If that claw caught hold, the Muscle-Bone Dislocation Hand would activate and immediately cripple one of Chen Qing's legs.

Chen Qing was still bent backward, his old force spent and new force not yet born. His left foot was also his supporting point, making escape seem impossible.

At that critical moment, the power of Chen Qing's waist and abdomen erupted. His body twisted sharply as though boneless, and his supporting left foot instantly left the ground.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

His entire body completed an inconceivable midair spin. Not only did he evade the vicious hand reaching for his ankle, but the fierce wind stirred up by his rotation forced the short, burly man to twist aside as well.

This was Spirit Monkey Turns Over from Tongbei Fist.

The moment Chen Qing landed, he rolled away, opening some distance from the three men and finally gaining a brief chance to catch his breath.

He sprang to his feet and assumed the opening stance of Tongbei Fist: Spirit Monkey Asks for the Way.

"Get him together! Kill him!"

The sturdy man had also recovered from his fright. Humiliation and fury boiling within him, he roared and charged again.

This time, he had learned his lesson. He no longer used the broad, open Double Peaks Pierce Ears. Instead, he clenched both fists like two heavy hammers, sealing off Chen Qing's room to dodge left or right.

The short, burly man beside him fixed his eyes on Chen Qing's lower body and joints, his ten fingers slightly bent as he gathered force. The instant Chen Qing exposed an opening, he would unleash the killing move of the Muscle-Bone Dislocation Hand.

The three men closed in once more, their attack sharper than before, but also more cautious.

They knew the young man before them was difficult to handle. They had to finish this quickly, lest they draw others here.

Chen Qing narrowed his eyes, his mind taut.

At the instant the blade was about to touch his body, he suddenly lowered himself. His right arm shot out like a spirit monkey extending its limb, pecking swiftly and accurately at the Spirit Gate Acupoint on the inside of the man's wrist.

This move, Spirit Monkey Picks Fruit, turned fist into fingers and specialized in striking acupoints, fast as lightning.

The lanky man felt his wrist go numb, as though stung by a venomous bee. His short blade nearly flew from his hand, and his attack immediately stalled.

Chen Qing pressed his advantage without mercy. His left leg whipped out like a lash, and a low sweep of Spirit Monkey Wags Tail smashed viciously into the man's supporting shin.

Crack—!

The sound of bone fracturing rang out! The lanky man screamed, lost his balance, and pitched forward.

Chen Qing's kick contained Hidden Strength. The lanky man's lower leg looked unharmed, but the bone within had already broken.

"Second!"

The short, burly man's eyes nearly split with rage. He had never imagined Chen Qing's counterattack would be so swift and precise.

Seizing the instant Chen Qing's center of gravity shifted after his kick, he pounced like a predatory wolf. Both hands shot out: one seized at the knee joint of Chen Qing's extended left leg, while the other struck like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, stabbing straight at the Vital Gate Acupoint at Chen Qing's lower back.

This was the exceptionally vicious Knee Lock, Waist Break of the Muscle-Bone Dislocation Hand!

If that claw caught hold, Chen Qing would be crippled if not dead!

Yet Chen Qing seemed to have anticipated it. Rather than retracting his extended left leg, he drove it sharply downward, stomping it into the ground like an iron stake. Borrowing the downward force, he forcibly halted his forward momentum, while another supple rotational force erupted from his waist and abdomen.

This was one of the variation moves of Tongbei Fist: Spirit Monkey Twists Roots.

His whole body spun sharply in place like a top. Borrowing the centrifugal force of the rotation, the point of his right elbow slammed backward like a heavy hammer with a piercing whistle.

Its target was precisely the wrist of the short, burly man's hand stabbing toward his Vital Gate Acupoint!