Yet in the face of absolute strength, every flashy trick was ultimately futile.
With a flurry of killing moves bearing down on every vital point, the old man looked utterly at ease. To show his opponent respect, he unleashed the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist in full.
As his hands moved with effortless grace, an impenetrable defensive web formed around him. The instant Combo's ten doubles touched it, the immense force of the counterattack shattered them all, leaving only the original standing alone.
With the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist fully unleashed, its flowing defense gave way to a new variation. Now it was about to show its rock-smashing side.
As the old man swung a devastating blow toward him, Combo's pupils contracted. He grasped the danger almost at once.
Though the old man was using a fist technique, his hand was held in a strange way. Rather than making a fist, he pressed his index and middle fingers together against his thumb.
Like an eagle's beak.
Greedy Wolf, watching from below, knew that hand position all too well.
Despite its name, the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist was the culmination of Master Gu's many years of martial study, bringing together the best of both offense and defense. Its defense relied more heavily on footwork, while on offense, Master Gu had altered the basic fist posture to make its strikes even more destructive.
Master Gu called this new hand position the Fang-Piercing Fingers.
This bold shift from fist to fingers greatly increased the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist's destructive power. Fingertips had a much smaller contact area than a fist, so when the same force struck a vital point, they could inflict several times the damage.
Of course, using the move came with a prerequisite.
The user's fingers had to