Extreme Lightness and Extreme Heaviness

"Moo!!"

"Yaaah!!!"

The bull's bellow and the man's roar clashed at full force.

The wild bull slowed sharply, but its four hooves dug into the ground, and it continued forward one step at a time.

Wu Tugu's face flushed red and the veins on his forehead throbbed. His feet half retreated, half slid as the bull forced him back. Only when he felt his footing was about to give way did he finally lift a foot and stamp it down a step behind him.

After the bull had shoved him back more than ten meters, his hands were still locked tightly around its horns. He felt its strength ebb a little.

"Down you go!!"

Wu Tugu seized the moment and let out a thunderous roar. Twisting his waist and back, he bent to the left, pulling with all his might with his left hand while his right arm swept in and strained.

The people at the edge of the pit could see from above that, in that instant, the muscles on Wu Tugu's back bulged and shifted, their lines as sharply defined as if carved with blade and axe.

They looked like blocks of hard stone that had been ground down and squeezed together, as if to press the essence out of the stone.

"Down!!!"

He forced the bull's head to one side, throwing it off balance and sending it toppling sideways.

Crack! Crash!

The wooden antlers on that side of the bull snapped and splintered under its weight. Its entire body fell to the ground, and it bellowed as all four hooves kicked wildly.

Wu Tugu pulled a wide strip of cloth from his body, wrapped it tightly around the bull's head, and covered its eyes.

The wild bull's struggles gradually weakened.

Wu Tugu unclenched his teeth, got to his feet, and raised both hands with a great laugh.

All the onlookers cheered for the hero of their stronghold.

Old Yu exclaimed, "People who grow that tall are rare to begin with, but when a person's frame gets that big, the muscles stretch out and look thin. This man is so tall, yet the muscles on his shoulders and back are still so formidable. He truly has extraordinary natural gifts."

Zhong Jinqiu also praised him. "His shoulders and back are too strong, and he hasn't yet brought them fully into coordination with the rest of his body. His attainment in fist techniques hasn't reached the point of mastering Dragon Coils Around the Body."

"But the brute strength in those arms of his is probably even greater than that of someone who has mastered Dragon Coils Around the Body normally!"

Faced with that wild bull, Cai Shanjun's side had no need to consider anyone else.

Only Chu Tianshu could give it a try.

"I dodged three times and only succeeded on the fourth."

After climbing out, Wu Tugu gestured to Chu Tianshu. "If you can bring it down within four tries, it'll definitely count as your win!"

Chu Tianshu merely smiled, seemingly pondering something.

Over on the other side, people had already gone down to replace the antlers on the bull's back.

The bull's hide was indeed tough. The antlers on one side of its body had been crushed, yet it had not suffered the slightest injury.

Once the antlers had been replaced and the people had climbed out of the pit, Chu Tianshu did not use the ladder. He lightly pushed off one foot and leaped into the pit.

He dropped three meters. The instant he landed, the ball of his foot touched first, followed by his heel. His knee bent slightly, and the muscles and tendons in his leg and foot slackened and tightened like a bowstring, dispersing the force without a trace.

The only sound was a faint tap.

Anyone with slightly poorer eyesight could scarcely tell that his knee had bent.

Yet the moment Chu Tianshu landed, what seemed to be an extremely faint layer of dust in the air around him rippled outward for more than five meters.

In his pupils, pinprick glimmers expanded slightly outward, then contracted again.

His art of insight, which could open apertures both inside and out, had already been activated.

A bamboo pole lifted away the blindfold, and the bull opened its eyes again, meeting Chu Tianshu's still, crystalline gaze.

The wild bull sprang to its feet, faster than when it had pushed itself up on all four hooves before.

Although its bout with Wu Tugu had used up a little of the wild bull's strength, it had also served as a warm-up.

This time, the wild bull did not wait for its opponent to come over and provoke it. It charged of its own accord.

Chu Tianshu stood motionless, calmly watching the bull charge. He even placed his left hand behind his waist.

The horns were nearly within a meter of him.

His center of gravity suddenly shifted left. He pivoted on his toes, and his body spun away to the left like a cloud.

A Bang cried, "That's the old gentleman's dance from yesterday too!"

Zhong Jinqiu shook his head. "No."

The greatest hallmark of Dragon Coils Around the Body was not merely the brutal force of its power, but its fluidity.

The flowing-cloud, running-water quality of Eating Makes an Immortal came from a determined pursuit of detail, analyzing it until it was understood, and finally reaching the point of having the whole bamboo in one's mind and remaining composed at every turn.

Dragon Coils Around the Body, on the other hand, built on coarseness in pursuit of even greater coarseness.

The muscles of the human body were like many thick hemp ropes. To make them thicker, simply spreading them out separately would not do; they had to be twisted together into one strand.

Then that thickest hemp rope had to be set in motion like a whip, so that the power of every part surged toward its tip.

This was a sense of fluidity achieved by making the coarse even coarser, the exact opposite of what Eating Makes an Immortal pursued.

Yet in outward appearance, the qualities of fluidity and composure seemed somewhat alike.

In Chu Tianshu's movement just now, the strength of most of the muscles in his body had surged into his toes at once, so a twist of his foot had sent him darting several meters away.

Anyone could see that the wild bull had no chance at all of touching Chu Tianshu.

In the bamboo grove halfway up the mountain, the shrine-keeping granny stood hidden in the bamboo shade, watching the earthen pit in the distance as she raised a bamboo flute to her lips.

The wild bull had already charged a second time.

Chu Tianshu still watched quietly, then spun aside when it drew close.

Seeing that he had no intention of even trying to grab the horns, the onlookers all grew a little anxious.

Wu Tugu also found it strange. "He should be observing and making his move at the same time. Unless he tests the bull's speed and momentum himself, he'll never judge them accurately. What use is just watching?"

Cai Shanjun said quietly, "He probably isn't watching the speed and momentum of the horns. He's looking at something else."

A realization flashed through Zhong Jinqiu's mind. "Could it be..."

Chu Tianshu was exceptionally skilled with needles and could locate acupuncture points with precision.

Although he could not use weapons against the wild bull, he was already able to release force like needles in place of real silver ones.

As long as he did not direct it at the horns, hooves, or places like that, his force should be enough to penetrate the bull's hide and reach inside.

If he struck certain points on the bull, there was a good chance its strength would drop sharply.

But the question was, had any medical predecessor ever been bored enough to make an acupuncture chart for this kind of wild bull?

With a body that massive, even if it did have acupuncture points, where exactly were the ones that would take effect quickly?

He had to keep the number of dodges within four. Was this brief time spent observing really enough?

The third time!!

The wild bull charged at him for the third time.

This time, Chu Tianshu raised both hands, his eyes showing a steady state of mind.

Using his art of insight into both the internal and external, he had faced the wild bull for only a short time, but it was enough for him to understand the whole process by which its muscles exerted force, from its four hooves to the area around its head and neck.

He was, of course, still far from being able to treat the wild bull's ailments through its acupuncture points, but it was already more than enough to disrupt the way it exerted force.

The bull's hoofbeats sounded like war drums. After several charges, dust had risen into the sunlight, and mosquitoes and flies danced within it.

The wild bull came within a meter, and Chu Tianshu was just about to act when his expression suddenly changed. He spun away to more than three meters.

Everyone could see that he had meant to act just then, only to dodge abruptly instead. It was as if their heartstrings had been plucked hard.

Wu Zewa blurted out, "He's dodged three times now. Even if he brings the bull down on the fourth, it won't count as a win!"

Zhong Jinqiu frowned deeply, sweeping his gaze over the pit.

He could be said to know Chu Tianshu's fighting habits better than anyone, and there was definitely something wrong with that dodge.

At that moment, Chu Tianshu's gaze was following several mosquitoes through the sunlight and dust, a hint of anger showing at the corners of his eyes.

There were already an enormous number of mosquitoes and other insects in the jungles of Yi Province. Every household in the stronghold had its own way of keeping them away, so that was manageable.

But the measures taken against insects on this bull and in this earthen pit were clearly not as thorough, and some mosquitoes and flies had been brought in.

Chu Tianshu had originally paid them no mind.

But just as he was about to act, several mosquitoes had flown toward his back and thighs.

Given his attainment in both arts and martial cultivation, and with him in a fighting state, ordinary mosquitoes and insects really should not have dared approach him.

Besides, these mosquitoes had broken almost straight away from the others and come directly for him.

If there was nothing wrong with that, he would eat those mosquitoes alive!

Several strands of silver light flashed between Chu Tianshu's fingers.

The mosquitoes that were a little closer were all struck by silver needles.

But the instant the needles hit, those mosquitoes burst apart.

It was not an effect of the needles, but a trait of the mosquitoes themselves.

Only the silver needles remained, embedded in the earthen wall. Not a single mosquito corpse had been left as evidence.

But two mosquitoes had been a little farther away and escaped that fate. They were flying straight toward him.

"Moo!!!"

The bull's bellow reverberated through the earthen pit.

The monstrous wild bull had also turned and was charging at him.

Some of the people above the pit had noticed nothing, while others could tell something was wrong, but none of them had managed to intervene.

The wild bull had already arrived, hooves raging and horns thrust forward. This was the fourth time!!

Chu Tianshu's gaze had scarcely left the two mosquitoes, yet his right hand had already shot out.

Swift as a thunderclap, it split into two afterimages.

A palm struck each side of the bull's head.

Yet the crisp sounds of impact did not come from its head. Instead, a spot the size of a copper coin on each of its front legs suddenly jolted.

Stimulated by the force, the hair at those spots snapped off, exposing patches of skin the size of copper coins.

The third strike of Chu Tianshu's right palm had already landed on the wild bull's head.

Boom!!!!

Amid the loudest bellow the bull had let out so far, its head was pressed down in an instant, and its front legs fell to their knees.

Its body, nearly three meters long and so heavy, even showed signs of pitching forward, its rear half lifting off the ground.

But its body was heavy enough after all, and once its hind hooves left the ground, they crashed back down.

Amid the dull, tremendous impact, Chu Tianshu also drew his left hand back from the air.

The wild bull lay flat on the ground.

Chu Tianshu straightened up without using a strip of cloth to cover its eyes.

The bull had already been knocked unconscious.

"It was the fourth time for me too, but I used one arm. I wonder if that counts as a win?"

Chu Tianshu looked up toward the edge of the pit.

Most of the onlookers did not have good enough eyesight. All they saw was Chu Tianshu raise one hand and press the wild bull to its knees, and they were so shocked that they forgot to cheer.

Wu Tugu understood what had happened. He could not help scratching his head as he murmured, "Impressive skill, impressive skill!"

Stronghold Chief Wu took a deep breath, looked at the bull, and declared, "Good! This round should naturally count as your win."

Chu Tianshu sprang up, brushed his toes against the pit wall, and climbed out.

"In that case..."

He walked up to Stronghold Chief Wu and raised his left hand. "Stronghold Chief, could you tell me what these are?"

Chu Tianshu's thumb, forefinger, and middle finger had been pinched together. Now he slowly opened them a little.

The few people nearby could see mosquitoes beating their wings between his fingers.

Their first reaction was not to identify the mosquitoes. Instead, they suddenly thought of what Chu Tianshu had just been doing.

This man had actually caught two mosquitoes with one hand while subduing the Wild Bull King with the other!!

His fingertips had been as light as goose feathers and snowflakes, pinning down their wings and mouthparts without crushing them to death, so they had not burst apart.

When Stronghold Chief Wu realized this, astonishment showed on his face. Once he took a closer look at the two mosquitoes, his astonishment deepened, and he blurted out:

"The shrine's Great Acid Mosquitoes?!"