Damn! Talent Bro really didn't play fair!
Xie Yucheng's mouth twitched. The moment he called, "Begin!" hadn't even fully left his lips before Qin Shi, already in his guard, shot forward like an arrow.
"Is this the result of two hours of training? That's way too fierce!"
Li Yuan's eyelids twitched, his pupils contracted, and his relaxed muscles tensed in an instant!
Fortunately, he reacted in time and hurriedly dodged with a sidestep.
That jab had come out of nowhere. You'd never have guessed it was thrown by a beginner with no foundation in fighting.
At least when it came to footwork, Qin Shi's quick, nimble shuffling steps were extremely practiced.
Otherwise, he couldn't have exploded forward so fiercely in an instant and closed the distance!
"I nearly got caught off guard. A'cheng would've laughed at me!"
Li Yuan was rather annoyed as he dodged the jab.
Without a second thought, he reached for Qin Shi's wrist.
His thick, long fingers closed around it with tremendous force, like an iron shackle clamping tight!
His movement was lightning-fast, seemingly without any conscious thought.
It was the defensive instinct he'd gradually developed over several days of sparring and learning how to fight!
Attacking or defending by instinct, without a moment's hesitation!
In the martial arts world of the Old Era, they called it "having kung fu in your bones."
It was also why people in martial arts circles were so wary of anyone putting a hand on their shoulder from behind or grabbing their wrist.
As the saying went, once kung fu became second nature, it flowed from the heart!
Certain taboo actions could make a martial artist instinctively strike back.
If they failed to hold back, they could knock someone to the ground on the spot. A blow to the head, and that person could lose their life!
"Old Liang's grappling technique!"
Qin Shi felt pain in his wrist. He couldn't pull away in time; his whole arm seemed about to twist into a knot, and his body was locked in place, unable to move.
This was a common move used to subdue opponents in fighting.
If you didn't know how to counter it and tried to resist by force, either your wrist would break or you'd end up on the ground.
"Good thing my tendons are strong! I picked up the training method quickly!"
Qin Shi had already summoned his Muscle Memory, seizing that faint sensation of energy.
Huff, huff!
A faint warmth swirled through his body, coursing beneath his skin before suddenly surging outward!
Pop!
It was as if a layer of flesh suddenly swelled up, like a rubber ball hooked up to a pump!
His body seemed to grow by half a size in an instant!
Then Qin Shi put power into his shoulder, snapped his arm, and forcibly tore himself free of Li Yuan's grip!
"Did this guy really just start learning how to fight?"
Li Yuan's thumb and forefinger tingled, and his fingers loosened involuntarily.
At the crucial moment, Qin Shi's wrist had moved like a thick snake thrashing violently, with a slippery, yielding force that shook Li Yuan off!
Their first clash was enough to show that the kid's physical abilities far surpassed his own.
"So what if he's strong? He still has to be able to put that strength to use!"
Li Yuan's arm was flung aside, shifting his balance and throwing his stance off. He looked as if he were about to fall.
Just as Qin Shi prepared to launch a fierce attack, Li Yuan drew a deep breath, lowered his waist, planted his feet, and curled his toes into the mat. Bracing himself on his left leg, he suddenly snapped out his right!
A powerful, heavy roundhouse kick shot straight toward Qin Shi's head!
This was the most important test of a fighter's strength!
The transition between offense and defense!
No matter how skilled a fighter was, his stamina was limited.
In an intense fight, you couldn't always be the one attacking.
To knock your opponent down for good, you had to know when to defend and when to attack, keeping control of the rhythm.
That was what it meant to have mastered the basics of fighting!
"Too fast..."
Qin Shi's heart tightened. He saw the vicious roundhouse coming.
But by the time he tried to retreat and dodge, it was too late.
His movements couldn't keep up with his reactions!
All he could do was raise both arms as quickly as possible to shield his head!
Thud!
His body tipped sideways, like a bowling pin knocked over, and crashed hard onto the soft mat.
"So this is what it feels like to get hit!"
Qin Shi bounced twice and rolled several meters away, his head buzzing.
Thanks to his protective gear and the force absorbed by his arms, he hadn't suffered any real injury.
A few seconds later, he shook off the brief dizziness and got back to his feet.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Xie Yucheng asked hesitantly.
Brother Yuan's kick had been one of the Eight-Arm Stance's deadly attacks.
Obviously, he hadn't expected to fail to take Qin Shi down in one move. His pride had taken a hit, and he'd lost his temper.
That was why he'd used it!
"I'm fine! Brother Yuan, your offense and defense are so good. I was planning to break out of the hold, drive a knee into you, and rush in to fight at close range!
I didn't expect you to seize the opening and knock me out with one hit!"
Qin Shi spoke excitedly.
During that exchange with Li Yuan, in the instant between victory and defeat, his adrenaline had surged.
It brought back the thrill he'd felt trying extreme sports in his past life.
Real sparring was definitely more satisfying than working on the basics alone!
If the Monument Panel could display an experience bar,
that quick fight should've triggered a line of text: [You've had a thrilling fight. Fighting Spirit +50]!
"Let's go again, Brother Yuan! Help me find my rhythm on the attack!"
Qin Shi seemed fired up, inviting Li Yuan to continue without delay.
He wanted to spar for a few more rounds so he could use [Combat Rewind] afterward to burn the experience into his memory.
Did I kick his head in?
Li Yuan stared at him, baffled. He'd thought that after taking such a heavy kick, Qin Shi would lose his temper and storm off.
Instead, the other guy was acting as though nothing had happened and urging him to keep training.
Xie Yucheng tried to talk him out of it.
"Student Qin, you should call it a day. Brother Yuan's the best fighter at Ninth High School. You haven't even mastered the basics yet—the gap between you is too big."
Qin Shi shook his head. Perhaps because he'd lived two lives, he didn't have the excessive pride of an ordinary teenager.
As long as he could make progress and learn something, taking a few punches and kicks was no big deal.
Who could learn martial arts without getting hit or injured?
Even Yan Haishan, the founding Martial God who had once stood at the pinnacle of Eastern Xia,
had been chased around by a farmyard goose as a child, crying his eyes out. Later, he even wrote about it as a funny anecdote in his autobiography.
That was how the joke about a goose having "Martial God-level combat power" had spread.
"If you can take it, we can keep going."
Hearing Qin Shi call him "Brother Yuan" gave Li Yuan a secret thrill, though he kept his tone even.
"Your attacks have too many openings. You can't put all your strength into a punch—you have to hold back about thirty to fifty percent in case your opponent catches you off guard.
Let's do this: I'll attack this time, and you defend. We'll see how solid your guard is."
Qin Shi had no objection. He keenly sensed that Brother Yuan seemed to be treating him a little better now.
For the next hour,
the training room echoed with the dull thuds of the punching bag hitting the floor.
"Talent Bro really lives up to his reputation as a legendary training machine. Brother Yuan keeps throwing him around, and he still gets back up. I'd be done after five or six times!"
Xie Yucheng leaned against the wall by the window, clicking his tongue in amazement.
A body weighing over a hundred pounds kept getting slammed to the ground. Even without getting scraped or bruised, the impact alone could rattle your bones loose.
"Does this kid ever get tired? Feels like he could spar with me all day!"
Li Yuan was panting slightly in the middle of the room. Compared with Xie Yucheng, who was merely watching, he had a much better sense of Qin Shi's tenacity.
And that frightening rate of progress!
At first, Qin Shi had been like a training dummy, getting beaten mercilessly. Three attacks at most, and Li Yuan could knock him down.
Now, Li Yuan had to stay completely focused, draw on all his experience, and give the fight everything he had.
"A'cheng's been training with me for so many days, and he's never been this terrifying! It's like I'm a punching bag for him to grind levels on—every time, this kid gains experience!"
Li Yuan was astonished, but maintained the air of the top fighter at the training class. He broke through Qin Shi's guard once more and offered a calm bit of advice:
"When you're reading your opponent's moves, don't watch his hands. Unless his Life Force is over twenty, an ordinary person's reflexes can't keep up with the speed of a punch, let alone track its path!
You need to watch your opponent's shoulders. Every move relies on the arms and their joints for power..."
"I think I get it now, Brother Yuan."
Qin Shi suddenly saw the light. Old Liang had told him many of the same things.
But what you learned on paper always felt shallow. To truly remember it, you had to drill it over and over.
"Just getting it in your head is useless if your hands don't get it."
Li Yuan scoffed. For the sake of Qin Shi calling him "Brother Yuan," he took up the Eight-Arm Stance, pressed his feet into the mat, and leaned his weight forward. He planned to show Qin Shi what a fierce, relentless attack looked like!
His legs crossed as he drove forward, kicking up gusts of air as if he were charging at full speed!
His shoulders swayed slightly, using feints to bait a careless punch, then he twisted and struck with an elbow!
Even if Qin Shi blocked and defended, Li Yuan could follow up with knee strikes, jabs, kicks, grapples, and other moves.
With an overwhelming advantage, he could leave Qin Shi completely unable to fight back!
"This should finally make you admit—"
The smile had barely formed at the corner of Li Yuan's mouth before astonishment replaced it.
His elbow, powered by the rotation of his entire body, slammed THUNK! into Qin Shi's hands, crossed in front of him.
The fierce clash shook them both, and they staggered back several steps.
"He blocked it? Did he figure out how I fight?"
Li Yuan's heart jumped. He planted his rear foot deep into the mat, then shot forward like an arrow and threw a front kick at Qin Shi, who had already raised his guard.
But once again, Qin Shi had anticipated him. He crossed his arms in front of his abdomen and brushed the incoming foot aside.
Then Qin Shi moved forward instead of retreating. As Li Yuan's balance shifted, Qin Shi shoved his body in close.
His fists drove forward like a pair of bull's horns, slipping through the opening and striking Li Yuan in the chest!
Thump!
This time, the impact sounded like a punching bag crashing to the floor—much heavier than before.
"Holy crap!"
Xie Yucheng stared with his mouth hanging open, unable to believe his eyes.
Talent Bro had a sharp mind, and he was picking up the moves fast, too?
How could he understand everything at a glance and master it after one lesson?!
Before you continue