Zhou Family Child Monkey Fist

The humiliation sent Zhou Bai into a towering rage.

Yet, because of it, he instead calmed down.

The jianghu of Xianyang City was not very large. Zhou Bai had known that for a long time, so even though he had been fawned over since childhood and praised by his elders, he had always dreamed of venturing out and making his mark.

He had never expected Li Yan to appear halfway through.

A country boy, and two years younger than him at that!

He counted as a genius. What did this fellow count as?

The humiliation brought a surge of resentment with it.

Although Zhou Bai did not want to admit it, he knew clearly that he had begun to feel jealous.

He had completely cast aside all his earlier boasts. Now, Zhou Bai unleashed his signature Child Monkey Fist, wanting only to butcher the boy before him and vent the hatred in his heart.

Zhou Bai came springing forward like an ape. He extended his claws in midair and raked them toward Li Yan's head.

Li Yan hooked his fingers into the wooden planks for leverage, then raised his leg and delivered a Heaven Facing Kick.

Zhou Bai seemed to have anticipated this. He flipped in midair, looking down from above, then stretched out his right leg and swung it in a full circle, smashing down like a hammer.

Bang!

The two legs collided with a muffled boom.

Zhou Bai's footwork was superior. On this straight wooden wall, he clearly held the advantage. Using the impact to spin around, he gripped the planks firmly with both claws once more.

Li Yan was suspended in midair, and his only point of leverage was that section of broken wooden plank.

The blow had not broken his arm, but the plank in his hand cracked apart with a snap. He fell two meters downward, then thrust his fist into the planks and finally halted his descent.

"Get down!"

The moment he stabilized himself, Zhou Bai attacked again from above.

This time, he did not use his legs. Instead, he half-clenched his right fist as the wind roared around it.

That fellow is using Hidden Strength!

Li Yan's heart jolted, and he hurriedly changed moves.

He knew that if he were struck, falling from the platform would be the least of his worries. His internal organs might suffer serious damage, leaving him no choice but to use his Great Luo Dharma Body to repair them.

With his opponent attacking from above, Li Yan could only temporarily avoid his edge.

He twisted his body and pushed off with his foot. At the same time, he drove both fists forward, actually punching a string of holes into the wooden wall. He flipped and shifted to the wooden wall on the other side, intending to leap back onto the platform.

However, Zhou Bai was even faster.

Seeing Li Yan evade, he withdrew his move in one fluid motion. His legs flailed as both claws clung to the wooden wall. Like an ape traversing a precipitous cliff, he reached the wooden wall on the opposite side one step ahead of Li Yan.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

He was just about to pounce down when he saw Li Yan suddenly raise his leg and kick apart the entire wooden wall in front of him, revealing the framework behind it. Li Yan slipped straight inside.

"Where do you think you're hiding?!"

Zhou Bai gave a cold snort and moved to follow him inside.

Who could have expected that before he even moved, his heart would jolt in alarm and he would hurriedly retreat.

Crack!

The section of wooden wall where he had been standing exploded with a thunderous crash.

Li Yan had leaped upward along the log framework inside. Through the wooden wall, he unleashed Hidden Strength and delivered a Mountain-Piercing Ox Strike.

The blow's momentum was astonishing.

Because he had used Hidden Strength, and because he had used Yang Power, the entire stretch of wooden wall erupted as if buried thunderbolts had gone off. It was smashed apart, and large sheets of planks came raining down.

Once Hidden Strength was used, not only did the striking power soar, but all kinds of variations became possible as well.

Yang Power possessed astonishing explosive force. Yin Power could reach directly into the viscera. There were also spiral force, coiling-silk force, and other forms of Martial Power—truly, a hundred twists and turns, with endless variations.

But both of them had only just entered this realm, and their power was still shallow. A few uses would leave them exhausted, so they could only employ it at crucial moments.

If one cultivated Hidden Strength to a profound level, every attack and defense would carry Hidden Strength. One could lift great weights as though they were light, and would no longer have such concerns.

Li Yan's sneak attack with Hidden Strength had nearly succeeded.

Although Zhou Bai dodged in time, he had lost his footing. He could only yank himself upward with both hands, perform a backward somersault, and return to the platform.

On the other side, Li Yan also shattered the planks and sprang out from the opposite wooden wall, flipping back onto the platform.

Beneath the platform were rows of thick, neatly arranged logs. Although Hidden Strength could shatter them, there was no need to waste that much effort.

The two faced off once more on the platform.

That string of attacks had been like a violent storm, thrilling and perilous in equal measure.

Not to mention the ordinary commoners—even many jianghu practitioners held their breath and widened their eyes, watching without daring to breathe too loudly.

Sha LiFei and Wang Dao Xuan were even more terrified, cold sweat beading on their foreheads.

Only after seeing Li Yan escape the crisis did they finally let out a breath.

"Good!"

At the same time, a thunderous chorus of cheers erupted from the surroundings.

Not much time had passed since the two stepped onto the platform, yet the moves, fighting methods, and improvised reactions they displayed had already dazzled the spectators.

Some of the younger men frowned deeply.

They had originally been somewhat unconvinced. After all, they had all bitterly trained from a young age—who could lack a little pride? They had merely felt that they had been born at the wrong time, or that no one had praised them enough.

But now, they understood clearly that if they went up there, facing either person on the platform, they would probably have already been defeated.

On the platform, meanwhile, the atmosphere had grown even more oppressive.

After that exchange, Zhou Bai no longer dared to underestimate Li Yan in the slightest. He half-crouched, hunched his chest, and curled his back. First, he made a Backhand Gazing at the Moon pose. Then he scratched his neck, alternated his two claws before and behind him, and stared at Li Yan.

Zhou Family Child Monkey Fist!

He fixed his eyes on Li Yan. A fierce light gradually rose in them. As he half-clenched a claw, it made a crisp series of popping sounds.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, used a Side Step Shoulder Shift, and heightened his guard.

The claws of Monkey Fist had to be hard.

Zhou Bai had clearly put in painstaking effort. Each of his fingers was like a steel pick.

Red Fist emphasized agile footwork and combining deceptive strikes with attacks. Zhou Family's Monkey Fist incorporated White Ape Immortal Tongbei Fist, placing even greater emphasis on breaking through within attacks and attacking within breaks.

At the first contact, one had to be able to change moves by sound alone.

On top of that, his opponent was familiar with the variations of Red Fist techniques. One careless mistake, and defeat would follow.

"Hmph, scared?"

Seeing Li Yan retreat a step, a fierce light flickered in Zhou Bai's eyes. With a Monkey Leap, he flew forward, his arms bent as he formed the stance of a vicious ape pouncing on a person and tearing them apart.

Yet while still in midair, he suddenly changed moves. He twisted his body, braced his right palm against the ground, and, like a sliding tackle, kicked toward Li Yan's Underworld Journeys.

This move was called Ape Lying on Lotus.

Monkey Fist was sly and slippery, its movements agile. Many of its moves were like this: they looked comical, but at any moment they would strike the lower regions, the eyes, the throat, or other vulnerable areas.

Li Yan reacted even faster. He turned aside to evade the vital point, then immediately lashed out with his right leg like a whip, using a Horse Blocking Leg Sweep.

The art of striking began with force from the ground.

Zhou Bai's move was fierce, but it also left him lying sideways, making it difficult to exert force and exposing his face.

As long as Li Yan kicked him, he could blow his head apart.

However, Zhou Bai's reaction was just as fast. His Ape Lying on Lotus had missed, so he immediately twisted both legs. Borrowing the rotational force, he rose violently while rolling sideways around to Li Yan's weaker side.

At that moment, Li Yan's whipping leg had yet to retract.

Zhou Bai reached out and snatched at it, using a Mischievous Monkey Pulling Snake to seize Li Yan's right leg.

This move was a grappling technique. With a simple twist of the joint, it could make a person topple over and expose their lower regions, after which one could kick them apart.

However, Zhou Bai abandoned the follow-up.

A savage light blazed from his eyes. Hidden Strength erupted, and his steel-pick-like claws suddenly exerted force, intending to cripple Li Yan's right leg outright.

Feeling the agonizing pain in his leg, Li Yan also grew ruthless. He bent his body and sent Hidden Strength surging through him, then slapped his palm toward Zhou Bai's forehead.

An injured leg was nothing. At worst, he could use his Great Luo Dharma Body to mend it. As long as this palm landed, he could smash Zhou Bai's head apart on the spot.

Madman!

Zhou Bai's heart jolted, and he hurriedly turned aside.

Even so, his shoulder was struck by the palm. He flew sideways, then twisted his body halfway through the air and forcibly halted himself before glaring viciously at Li Yan.

His left arm hung limply. It had been dislocated.

Moreover, the palm's Hidden Strength had been fierce and violent, severely injuring his muscles and fascia. Swelling appeared visibly across the area, turning it black and blue.

On the other side, Li Yan was in no better condition.

Although he maintained his stance, five bloody holes had appeared in his right leg. Blood continued to seep out, staining his leg wraps red.

The spectators below watched with pounding hearts.

They had not expected both sides to move so swiftly that they would both be injured after only a few exchanges.

At this rate, it would not be long before one of them met their death!

"Heh-heh!"

Zhou Bai let out a cold laugh and slowly rose. He gripped his left arm with his right hand, twisted it with a crack, and reset the joint, then shook his shoulder.

"Kid, your leg's crippled. How are you going to fight me now?"

The Zhou Family's Monkey Fist was already known for its agile footwork. With Li Yan's injured right leg added to the equation, Zhou Bai had now gained the upper hand completely.

The moment he finished speaking, Zhou Bai shot forward.

His hands and feet touched the ground as he moved swiftly like a nimble monkey. In the blink of an eye, he reached Li Yan. He seemed about to attack, but then twisted his body and circled around behind Li Yan.

Li Yan hurriedly used a Side Step Shoulder Shift, preparing to attack.

But Zhou Bai's movements were extraordinarily agile. Hunching his chest and curling his back, he spun around Li Yan like a top, constantly shifting between feints and false moves, making it impossible to distinguish the real from the fake.

Li Yan finally remembered what Zhang ShiTong had told him.

When he had been preparing to leave the martial arts academy, Zhang ShiTong had said: if he could not break through Zhou Bai's "circle," he would have no hope of victory.

The so-called "circle" was the essence of Monkey Fist: the whole body was a ball, twisting without pause; the entire body was a circle, and without a circle, there could be no fist.

At that moment, Zhou Bai's footwork was perfectly rounded, his movements swift and fierce, and his moves true and false in equal measure, making them difficult to distinguish.

Sssht!

Caught off guard, Li Yan was struck by another one of Zhou Bai's moves.

Although Zhou Bai had not used Hidden Strength, his claw technique was astonishing. He directly tore five bloody marks across Li Yan's back.

Li Yan reacted extremely quickly, immediately delivering a Yin-Kicking Strike.

Unfortunately, Zhou Bai rolled along the ground and easily avoided it. After getting up, he even screeched like a monkey, apparently extremely excited.

His eyes were lively, savage, and filled with wildness.

Every movement, every leap and bound, was no different from that of a monkey...