Passing through an alley, Li Xiuwen studied the terrain ahead, and the mnemonic from Three Streets and Six Alleys Battle Cases came to mind.
"Watch all six directions, seize whatever is at hand; use ladders as bridges, stools as barricades..."
There was a stretch of bamboo scaffolding ahead. His chance had come.
As Li Xiuwen walked, he suddenly sprang into motion and sprinted toward it.
He unleashed Thousand-Wave Floating Radiance, tapped down with his toes, and leaped onto the scaffolding.
"You don't know what's good for you! Then I'll cripple you for good!"
The Grimace Mask Man sneered, caught up in a single stride, and delivered a devastating Whirlwind Flying Kick.
Beneath his trousers, the muscles in his leg resembled great snakes waking from hibernation.
They writhed, intertwined, and rubbed together, producing a rattlesnake-like hiss.
As its name suggested, the snake-muscle realm made each strand of muscle coil and intertwine like a long snake.
At rest, they were still. In motion, a swarm of snakes danced wildly, unleashing the force of a dragon.
His whipping kick swept in, its wind howling like a tornado and rippling the puddles in the street.
Crack, crack, crack! Bamboo poles snapped one after another. The kick caught Li Xiuwen and sent him flying.
He landed like a sandbag on some distant scaffolding, got up as though nothing had happened, and continued climbing.
His face flushed, his blood surged, and all his internal organs trembled.
Li Xiuwen's heart raced despite himself. This was his first time facing a Second Gate expert head-on.
Beneath his training clothes, the flesh over his skin membrane had caved in by more than an inch. His Black-Gold Profound Pattern had been forcibly shattered, but as his qi and blood flowed into it, it formed again.
Anyone else at the black