Xu Qing kept dodging, swerving left and right. He looked as though he was being driven steadily back, utterly unable to defend himself.
Song Qian fought more fiercely with every exchange, and more urgently.
Heng Mountain Crushing Sweep, Heng Mountain Drilling Heaven-one punch followed another, like mountains collapsing and earth splitting, like floodwaters bursting through a dam. Every blow carried the force to shatter stone and startle the heavens.
The bluestone paving outside the courtyard gate vibrated with a low hum, and loose pebbles rattled down from the wall.
Yet Xu Qing was like a loach. Just when a fist seemed about to strike him, he slipped away in that hairbreadth instant.
Sweat appeared on Song Qian's forehead, and his breathing began to tighten.
He had thrown fifty or sixty moves. He seemed to hold every advantage, yet he had not inflicted the slightest real damage on Xu Qing.
His punches grew heavier, and increasingly disordered.
The fifth form: Song Mountain Subduing Hammer.
This was his strongest punch. All the force in his body twisted into a single current, like a cannonball fired from its barrel.
It was exactly like the punch Xu Qing had used against Fang Yin. The fist whistled through the air, arriving before the sound of its passage.
This punch was just as fast.
Xu Qing seemed unable to dodge in time. He had been driven back with nowhere left to retreat.
Song Qian's eyes lit up. His fist drove straight toward Xu Qing's chest, holding nothing back.
Just as the fist was about to touch his chest, Xu Qing suddenly dropped low. He had not crouched-he had used the movement technique Startled Swan Step.
In that instant, his speed reached its limit. His whole body slipped beneath Song Qian's fist like a shadow.
Song Qian's