Tai Chi vs. Soft Skills

"Soul skill?"

Cheng Xiao had been so absorbed in the fight that he had not noticed the power unleashed by Tai Chi. Xiao Wu's sudden question caught him off guard.

"Yeah, yeah!" Xiao Wu nodded repeatedly and pointed at a bowl-sized crater not far away. "Look, you just swung your hand like that, and then boom, it turned into this."

As she spoke, Xiao Wu imitated Cheng Xiao and performed a Grasp the Sparrow's Tail. It looked utterly awkward and mismatched, yet somehow made her seem adorably clumsy.

Following the direction of Xiao Wu's finger, Cheng Xiao's eyes immediately filled with surprise. Tai Chi could produce an effect like this? He had been too immersed in the moment just now and had thought Tai Chi could only compensate for innate deficiencies. But now, it seemed Tai Chi was clearly far more than that.

Did Tai Chi count as a soul skill? Or was it a kind of Meditation Technique?

For a moment, Cheng Xiao could not figure out what exactly had resulted from combining Tai Chi with the Meditation Technique.

"More or less..." Cheng Xiao answered vaguely.

Xiao Wu tilted her head, her eyes rolling about. One look was enough to tell she was up to no good.

"What are you planning?" Cheng Xiao immediately grew wary and leaned back slightly, putting some distance between himself and the little imp.

Who knew what was going through her head? This little girl had become the big sister of the school, always acting on whatever whim struck her.

"Hehe!" Xiao Wu immediately grabbed Cheng Xiao's hand, swaying as she coquettishly pleaded, "I want to see how powerful it is! Please?"

Could anyone really stay unmoved when a soft, adorable rabbit-eared girl acted cute like that?

Cheng Xiao sneered. My heart is made of stone.

"No. This soul skill isn't mature yet..." Cheng Xiao shook his head and refused.

It truly was not mature enough. This was his first attempt at combining Tai Chi with the circulation methods of the Meditation Technique, and it was far from complete. He could not be certain whether he could enter that state of "selfless formlessness" again.

That state could only be encountered by chance. It had merely been a coincidence born from his first contact with it, something that could not be perfectly replicated.

It was like the first time someone tasted a certain delicacy. That feeling held a unique place in memory; no matter how many times they tasted it afterward, they could never recover that very first sensation.

Therefore, he needed to study it carefully and make further adjustments based on this Meditation Technique before it could better match Tai Chi.

He had heard that the breathing techniques of Eight Extremes Fist and Tai Chi Fist in his previous life were completely different. Even among different schools of Tai Chi, such as Yang-style Tai Chi and Wu-style Tai Chi, their breathing techniques varied greatly.

Could Yu Xiaogang's Meditation Technique possibly be some high-grade method that could adapt to everything?

Obviously not.

What was more, Yu Xiaogang's Meditation Technique still contained many errors. Among the Twelve Meridians, there were still many cases where difficult Acupoints were bypassed. From Cheng Xiao's perspective, this Meditation Technique was far from perfect.

Xiao Wu did not know what Cheng Xiao was worrying about. Seeing that acting cute had failed, she blinked, and a faint glint flashed through her moist eyes.

Cheng Xiao's heart tightened. Something was wrong. He hurriedly tried to shake off Xiao Wu's hand and pull away.

However, it was already too late. Xiao Wu gripped his hand tightly and refused to let him go. She was extremely curious about Cheng Xiao's seemingly soft yet surprisingly powerful soul skill. Since he would not demonstrate it, she would test it herself.

"Hehe, take this!"

Xiao Wu was light and supple. She lifted a leg and hooked it over Cheng Xiao's arm, the one she had grabbed. In the blink of an eye, she stepped on Cheng Xiao and closed in, while her other leg snaked swiftly toward his neck.

"You little brat, you're seriously doing this!?" Cheng Xiao shouted.

He had personally seen how Xiao Wu's Soft Skills could nearly snap someone's bones. If Tang San was not careful, even he could fall for Xiao Wu's moves.

Seeing that Xiao Wu had no intention of stopping, Cheng Xiao hurriedly responded. His palm caught Xiao Wu's round yet firm thigh, blocking her attack. Otherwise, if Xiao Wu completed her lock, he would definitely be thrown until he was thoroughly disoriented.

But Cheng Xiao's response had been too rushed and did not achieve much. Xiao Wu's slender waist, soft as a water snake, curled and twisted. Borrowing Cheng Xiao's force, she raised her other leg in an extremely twisted posture and wrapped it around his neck from the other side, intending to lock him with the hollow of her knee.

If she completely locked his neck, Cheng Xiao would surely lose all ability to resist and could only let Xiao Wu do as she pleased.

Cheng Xiao's mind went blank in an instant. Almost instinctively, his left hand, pinned by Xiao Wu's two hands, rose. His forearm blocked across Xiao Wu's waist and abdomen, while his right hand, holding Xiao Wu's thigh, exerted force at the same time.

In that instant, Xiao Wu felt as though Cheng Xiao had turned into a soft ball of cotton between her clamped legs. She could not get a hold of him at all, leaving all her strength with nowhere to go.

"Tai Chi Cloud Hands!"

In an instant, Cheng Xiao's muscles and bones seemed to achieve a wondrous coordination. His movements were gentle, yet for some reason, an immense force surged from his left forearm and entered Xiao Wu's twisted waist and abdomen.

Force originated from the waist. The moment that force entered, more than half of the strength in Xiao Wu's entire body strangely dissipated.

Cheng Xiao exerted force together with his right hand and directly flung Xiao Wu away.

"Ah!"

Xiao Wu cried out as she toppled toward the ground face-first.

"Oh no!"

Seeing that Xiao Wu had been thrown headfirst toward the ground, Cheng Xiao's eyelid twitched violently. He hurriedly withdrew his force and grabbed her slender ankle, thin enough to be held in one hand.

Her fair, tender skin felt rather smooth, but Cheng Xiao was too nervous to savor the wonderful sensation. His other hand climbed up along her body and wrapped around her waist, pulling her back.

The back-and-forth force sent Xiao Wu directly crashing into Cheng Xiao's arms. Her petite body seemed boneless, and the wondrous softness unique to a girl instantly spread through every corner of Cheng Xiao's mind, making him silently curse his own sinful thoughts.

"Hehe, you fell for it!"

Cheng Xiao had thought it was over. Holding Xiao Wu, he could not help relaxing, but Xiao Wu's playful voice instantly made him tense up again.

"Whoosh!"

Xiao Wu flicked her head, and her scorpion braid tightly wrapped around Cheng Xiao's neck. Cheng Xiao's arms loosened, and the soft sensation in his embrace disappeared. His arms were immediately twisted tight, leaving him unable to move.

"First Soul Skill: Waist Bow!"

Xiao Wu leaped up, extending both legs to plant them against Cheng Xiao's lower abdomen. Her upper body suddenly bent backward as her scorpion braid and hands pulled hard.

Under the amplification of her soul skill, Xiao Wu's waist strength doubled. An enormous force pulled Cheng Xiao off the ground, and he immediately lost his balance. Xiao Wu released her hands in time, exerted strength with her legs, and with one kick and one push, sent Cheng Xiao flying.

As Cheng Xiao's body rose into the air, he could not help cursing inwardly. She had actually summoned her martial soul and used a soul skill, while he did not even have a single soul ring skill yet!

Wasn't this bullying an honest man?

"Think you can get away? No chance!"

He had watched this move of Xiao Wu's countless times when she fought Tang San and had long since considered many ways to counter it.

Almost at the instant Xiao Wu released him, Cheng Xiao's hands shot out like agile snakes and wrapped around Xiao Wu's arms instead, dragging her into the air with him.

"Ah!"

Xiao Wu was stunned by his response. As her body rose into the air, her mind went blank for a moment. But she quickly came to her senses, stepping on Cheng Xiao to borrow force as she tried to break free from his restraint.

Yet for some reason, no matter how Xiao Wu reacted, Cheng Xiao seemed to have no bones. He wrapped around her instead, like a mass of gentle water enclosing her completely, making escape impossible.

"That soft strength again!"

For a moment, Xiao Wu grew rather irritated by this strange force that she could neither shake off nor break free from.