msmithbooks Chapter 12: Testing the Waters at the Inn, Beneath the Imperial City
Chapter 12: Testing the Waters at the Inn, Beneath the Imperial City
"I am coming."
Li Xin was short in stature, yet his feet moved with the speed of the wind.
With a slight touch of the toes and a sliding step, he had already darted two meters ahead...
He crossed his legs and slipped behind Li Cheng.
A gust of wind whistled past my shoulder, but it was a hand that pressed down hard. I was a fraction too slow and didn't get a firm grip.
Li Cheng heard a slight cracking sound from his spine, his grab missed its mark, and he could no longer see the person in front of him. His expression changed drastically.
He stomped heavily on the ground, his supporting leg becoming ethereal, his body spinning as he swept his body horizontally.
Slurp.
All I heard was a light footstep.
His single-arm sweep missed again, and he felt a faint sense of threat coming from the back of his head and his back.
Li Cheng made two moves, but couldn't even touch a hair on Li Xin's head. His face turned red, and his blood rushed to his head.
Half anxious, half embarrassed.
His body slumped slightly, suddenly dropping half a foot in height, and his legs swept backward with lightning speed, skimming the ground...
At the same time, he stood up, his hands moving with his body, frantically grabbing at all directions behind him.
This time, he not only used the Chuojiao Kung Fu he had practiced for eight years, but also used his arm as a stick to unleash the Madman Stick Technique.
He thought to himself that this time, no matter how hard his second brother tried to hide, he would be caught.
Of course, even at this moment, he still focused on speed and restrained his strength, worried about hurting Li Xin.
As it turned out, he was overthinking things.
The back sweep kick missed, and the frantic sweeping motion with both hands also missed.
Looking around, there was no sign of her second brother in front of her. She only saw Xiaoyue, the little girl next to the vase in the corner of the room, looking behind her with her mouth open.
Wait, behind me?
His shoulders slumped slightly.
A hand slapped down.
Li Cheng's body stiffened, and he remained motionless; his large face fell.
"When did you get behind me again?"
His voice was a little hoarse.
This time, I was really hit hard; I could barely speak.
He claims he's protecting his younger siblings, but with these skills, who can he actually protect?
"Just the instant my elder brother's body shrunk."
Li Xin shook his head, thinking that his elder brother rarely engaged in actual combat.
A person practices stance training, kicking tree stumps and stones thousands of times, but those are all dead objects.
In terms of details, however, they are far from good enough.
When masters compete, it's not just about strength and speed.
The ability to observe, anticipate, and adapt is even more crucial to life and death.
The older brother's weakness isn't skill, it's experience.
When facing his elder brother, he felt no pressure whatsoever, unlike when facing that short old man.
The old man attacked without warning, always preemptively striking and setting ambushes at every turn. Every move was purely instinctive; his claw techniques and movements were faster than his mind.
The eldest brother, however, was far from capable of doing that.
Once he lowers his shoulders, he will lift his legs; before he even turns around, his waist has already exerted force.
Under my own mental and visual observation, it was just like a clear and concise elementary school textbook.
It's obvious at a glance.
In essence, his agility was only a fraction of that of his elder brother.
After all, he had been practicing martial arts for eight years, so his physique and agility weren't too bad.
His physique is probably around 13 or 14 points, and his agility is around 12 points.
But he just couldn't use it.
Of all his skills, he only used 30% of his full potential.
"It seems the power of the mind is even greater than I imagined."
"Exquisite control of the body allows one to control not only the enemy but also oneself."
"How did you do that? I don't think the speed was devastatingly fast, but I just couldn't see or touch you. If it had been a life-or-death battle, even ten of me would be dead."
Li Cheng wiped his face, rallied his spirits, and asked earnestly.
He understood better than anyone just how terrifying a fighting style could be, one that could hide behind him and predict every punch and kick he made.
"My second brother will one day be invincible."
Never before had Li Cheng believed this so firmly.
He's only twelve years old.
What kind of monster?
This older brother is really finding it hard to continue being the boss.
"Practice makes perfect." Li Xin recalled the boxers he had seen in his previous life, who practiced certain combinations of moves thousands of times.
Although they follow the external cultivation path, which doesn't necessarily improve their physical strength, they are indeed at the forefront in terms of actual combat.
How many real battles can an ordinary martial artist fight in his lifetime?
Having sparred ten or a hundred times, and fought to the death ten or eight times, is already considered to have extremely rich combat experience.
But what about tech-savvy boxers who make a living by boxing?
Every day, I have to spar with a sparring partner of similar skill level for at least twelve rounds.
What about light combat, heavy combat, real combat...?
Throughout the year, I've experienced countless real-world battles, both big and small.
The number of punches thrown is countless.
In this situation, the experience gained from combat, combined with scientifically calculated attack strategies, makes their actual combat ability beyond doubt.
They truly managed to create a grand spectacle within a confined space, reaching the pinnacle on a certain level.
This is a method that my older brother can try in the future.
Of course, masters of traditional schools are quite different.
They cultivate inner strength, a skill they develop from a young age, nurturing and practicing throughout their lives. They even maintain a martial arts stance while eating and sleeping.
In some ways, it has transcended technology and involves the spiritual, which is another matter entirely.
It's no longer just about making a living; it's about life and death, and it's truly integrated into daily life.
It is more advanced and more brutal than the training methods used in boxing and Sanda.
A boxer loses fame and fortune, but a true martial artist loses his life.
Therefore, although Li Xin knew many advanced training methods from his previous life, he dared not underestimate the true inheritors of boxing in this era, whose lifelong cultivation was built on the foundation of their lives.
In summary, at the lower levels of martial arts, boxing and Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) are superior.
It's not only quick, but also scientific.
But at the highest level, everything becomes instinct...
At this point, it's not just about skills, but about mastery and spirit.
Before the autumn wind blows, the cicadas sense it first. When faced with a sense of crisis, even the most ingenious tricks and the richest experience are worthless.
In my past life, I rarely saw such masters; I only heard of them in legends, and I didn't know if they were true or not.
In this lifetime, perhaps it will happen, perhaps it won't; we'll see.
……
"Second brother is really amazing."
This brief exchange.
Xiaoyue summarized it in just five words.
After taking a shower and changing into new clothes.
Li Xin thought about it and was still a little uneasy. Fortunately, he was small and wouldn't attract much attention, so he decided to go down and find out what was going on.
Of course, he also wanted to find a place to stay.
Whether to buy or rent, you should always have a clear idea in mind.
Most importantly, I need to understand the current situation in Beijing and the boxing gym's teaching situation.
By absorbing spiritual energy to continuously improve his physical constitution and developing the [Divine Strike] as a burst-damage survival skill, he has become stronger, but this is still not enough.
To reach the pinnacle of power, one must begin with internal martial arts techniques.
Even if it doesn't necessarily improve physical strength, it would be good if it could improve combat power.
"Xiaoyue, you and your brother wait at the inn. We'll have dinner together when you come back tonight. I'll go look for a place to stay."
If you want to go out alone, you have to soothe the little one first.
In fact, there's no need to coax them at all.
Xiaoyue, dressed in her new clothes, lay on the soft, large bed, not wanting to get up at all.
"Go ahead, go ahead, Second Brother, find a big house, it has to be this big."
As she spoke, she struggled to get out of bed and took out a small purse from under the pile of tattered clothes at the foot of the bed.
"Give."
This was for Xiaoyue; it contained a few taels of silver and about twenty copper coins. The little girl always felt uneasy without money, and Li Xin could tell.
"I brought it with me."
Li Xin chuckled and patted his waist.
His sky-blue long gown made his tall, short figure look somewhat like a primary school student.
At this point, being addressed as "Young Master" or "Master" by someone would not feel out of place at all.
"Why don't we go together?"
Li Cheng was quite worried.
He was dressed in a light blue outfit, which made him look very heroic. Apart from his pale face and rough skin, it was hard to tell that he came from the countryside.
"Even though we've changed our clothes, going out together is still too conspicuous. I'll scout ahead first and wander around the area."
Li Xin said something, walked out of the inn, and slowly headed east.
"Robbery! Robbery!"
A slightly overweight middle-aged man collapsed to the ground, wailing.
Blood was gushing from his waist.
Someone carrying a cloth bag rushed into the alley.
People passing by glanced at him indifferently, but no one paid him any attention.
Li Xin paused, but before he could react, someone in the distance wailed again.
A burly, blond, blue-eyed man in riding boots was standing on a thin old man, spitting in disgust, perhaps because he had soiled the old man's clothes.
Still feeling angry, he picked up a riding crop and lashed it hard.
The old man didn't try to dodge; he just struggled to kneel on the ground and kowtow until his forehead bled.
A child next to him also kowtowed.
People came and went around me, but no one stopped or even glanced at me.
Li Xin gritted his teeth and glanced to the side, where he saw several constables gathered in the corner of a house, smoking.
Another person unzipped his pants, squatted in the corner, revealing half of his pale, white...
A foul odor wafted over, but the people on the street seemed oblivious to it.
Li Xin sighed, covered his nose, and walked away.
After walking several dozen meters, another commotion arose ahead.
The two groups fought each other with knives and sticks, shouting and yelling as they fought...
Whizzed past.
Pedestrians on the street quickly made way.
Three bodies lay on the road.
One person had blood gushing from their head; another had a knife stabbed into their heart; and yet another had their neck broken, their body lying face up on the ground with their eyes wide open.
"Murder! Murder!"
A squad of constables armed with muskets appeared around the corner.
The leader staggered, his face flushed with drunkenness. He glanced at the corpse, uttered a few shouts, and walked past without stopping.
The wind blows.
The streets were covered in yellow dust, and the surroundings were shrouded in a hazy gray.
The dust scattered on the corpses by the roadside made the blood appear less crimson.
"This is right here in front of the Imperial City, on Qianmen Street, hehe..."
Li Xin felt that his new clothes had become dirty again.
The air here isn't fresh; the smell of rotting flesh lingers in the air, refusing to dissipate.
At that moment, I heard a unified "Ho ha, ho ha" sound.
I looked up and saw...
The Temple of Heaven is magnificent. At the base of the wall, there are twenty or thirty people standing in a rather haphazard square formation.
He is throwing punches and kicks.
A young man in a long robe stood at the front. He would approach from time to time, patiently correcting the children's movements.
……