Ying Quan threw another punch at me again, but I dodged it before trying to counter. However none of my strikes got past his guard, the veteran boxer holding up both arms to shield his face and chest.
If he was guarding his head and chest, then I should attack from below. I could sense no movement from the bottom, other than his rapidly changing footwork, but he evidently had no intention of using kicks.
Well, he was a boxer, after all.
I kicked at his knee, but he bent his leg slightly to absorb the blow. Then he retaliated with a swipe that would have taken my head off if I hadn't sensed his intent beforehand and ducked. I stumbled a few steps backward and launched another low kick, but he shifted his leg back before replying with another vicious punch that forced me several paces back.
"I didn't just box in a ring, you know," Ying Quan taunted. "I honed my skills on the streets. Dogfighting, scraps, dirty tricks, sneak attacks and low blows…I've experienced all of them. You're naïve if you think I wouldn't be able to defend against kicks."
"Oh, I did think you would be able to guard against low kicks," I responded wearily. "But I just thought it was worth a shot."
"True," Ying Quan conceded before throwing another one-two punch that I weaved through by a hair's breadth. I countered, but my strike was too shallow. My fist glanced off ineffectually against his heavily muscular arm. "You are impressive for someone your age, make no mistake, but you're nowhere near the level of the Black Snake boss."
"I never said I was at his level," I replied and dodged another three punches. I cracked my elbow against his guard, and he deflected my knee with his elbow, causing me to stagger back. I bent my back backward to avoid getting a fist in my face, and then whirled away from his follow-up punch.
"Your movements are good, but they are too clean. Too…rehearsed." Ying Quan threw another hook. "You lack experience."
Well, that made sense. Hei She was obviously much more experienced than a high school student like me.
"Yeah, but you still haven't landed a hit on me yet," I pointed out, unable to suppress my annoyance. What was this guy gloating over?
Ying Quan laughed while delivering another three jabs. "Perhaps so, but it's only a matter of time. You can't keep this up forever."
He underestimated my stamina. To be fair, he wasn't aware that I was also a cultivator. However, as much as his words rankled me, he was right. I lacked experience.
Otherwise, how could a cultivator like me fail to bring him down even after so long?
Taking a deep breath, I tried to strategize. My attacks were failing to hit. Ying Quan's defense was too tough. I had no way of penetrating them…
…or did I?
High risk, high reward.
That was a concept ingrained into every battle. If I wanted a breakthrough, if I wanted to smash apart the current stalemate, then I would have to gamble and take a risk. I couldn't just rely on running away forever.
Only by throwing myself forward and betting everything on a tactic would I be able to deliver a decisive blow.
I steeled my resolve and stepped forward, heedless of the punches that Ying Quan was throwing at me. He was taken aback by my sudden change in tactics, but couldn't hide his glee. His blows came fiercer and faster, and I actually felt blood trickle down my cheek when his knuckles grazed the skin.
However, I ignored the stinging pain on my face and rushed under his guard. Ying Quan growled and brought his elbows down on me from both sides, intending to crush me in a pincer maneuver. At this range, I couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
If I was even a millisecond slower, then I would be knocked out.
Trusting in my ability to read the flow of his movements, I seized the tiny window of opportunity and closed in. My opponent's elbows swerved just above my head when I ducked, and then I thrust my hand upward, slamming my palm against his jaw with tremendous impact.
"Gah!"
Ying Quan's head was blown back, blood leaking from his mouth as he accidentally bit his tongue or something. He staggered back, but I was brought a knee into his solar plexus while his hands were still flailing about on either side of me.
Honestly, I would have preferred a kick, but at this range where I was so close to him, I had no room to stretch my leg for a full kick. Even so, a knee to his solar plexus was devastating enough and he actually crashed into his rump.
I wanted to finish him off with a kick to his head while he was still sitting, stunned, but the veteran boxer had been through enough fights to read my intent. He quickly dropped down and rolled away before I could deal the final blow. Having read his movements with Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths, I held back because I knew my kick would miss.
"Not bad."
With one hand rubbing his jaw and the other clutching his abdomen, Ying Quan glared at me. There was also grudging admiration in his eyes, and he nodded respectfully.
"That was a good strike. Even though I was prepared for how good you are, I still ended up underestimating you in the end. You are worthy of praise."
I said nothing and merely inclined my head to express my gratitude for the compliment.
"It's really a pity. Honestly, I would love to recruit you into the Ghost Bear Clan. But I burned that bridge with this stunt, huh?" He glanced at a trembling Shi Ting sourly. "Then again, if Young Master Shi hadn't mentioned you, I wouldn't have known there was such a gem hidden in his high school. What a waste."
Whoa. I never imagined that I would ever draw the attention from gangs. I did hear rumors that a few cultivators had chosen to hide among them, but I never sought them out because of how dodgy they were. Furthermore, I couldn't bring myself to trust secret societies. Honestly, part of my mistrust was due to me encountering Qi Fu Ren and the others, the only known students in my high school who had connections with a gang. Before this, I didn't know Shi Ting had ties to the Ghost Bear Clan.
That said, I didn't feel overly aggrieved. I wasn't afraid of gangsters. On the contrary, I looked forward to challenging them in combat.
Like Ying Quan said, this was quite the missed opportunity. If the circumstances were different, then perhaps I would have been gotten a better impression of the underworld.
No use crying over it, though. I merely changed my stance and waited, with one hand forward. Despite myself, I was impressed by Ying Quan's tenacity. Despite taking a palm strike and a knee, he was still able to stand and fight.
I couldn't underestimate someone who was just taking his first step onto the road of cultivation. Or perhaps it didn't have anything to do with cultivation. Ying Quan had achieved such strength and endurance by relentlessly training, fighting, tempering his body and honing his skills. His muscles were probably at the peak of what humans could reach.
We shouldn't be too obsessed with cultivation, spiritual qi and magic, and end up neglecting the fact that the human body was sometimes capable of miraculous feats.
"On the other hand, I'm glad that you aren't with the Black Serpent Gang. If you were also there that day, then the outcome could have turned out very differently."
I snorted. "To hell with the Black Serpent Gang. I'll never join them."
Ying Quan raised an eyebrow quizzically, but he didn't pursue the matter. Instead, he hopped about, swinging his hands and preparing himself for another round. I watched him cautiously, but remained very still.
With a growl, Ying Quan threw himself forward, delivering another punch.
Instead of evading, I decided to meet him head-on this time. My earlier tactics hadn't worked, and despite my gamble, it didn't seem like I had done enough damage to subdue him. If that was the case, then I should try something else.
Since I could read the flow of his movements and predict his attacks, why not go beyond evading it? Why not use his own strikes against him?
Standing my ground, I deflected Ying Quan's first punch to the side, and then knocked his second jab away. Almost whirling around, I used Ying Quan's momentum against him and tripped him. The burly boxer almost tripped over his own feet and had to struggle to steady himself.
He lashed out desperately with a backhanded swing, but I casually knocked it to the side. Then I used his own force against him, reflecting his strike by pushing him back. Spinning around, I swept his feet out from under him as he stepped forward to hammer his fist into my face, almost causing him to fall.
"Ugh!"
Ying Quan then retaliated, but I shoved both his arms to the side before slamming my palms against his chest. The burly boxer gurgled and crashed backward.
However, he was quick to rebound, almost bouncing back up with another series of punches that drove me to the defensive. Even though I was tempted to evade and draw to a safe distance, I clamped down on my fear and went for broke. Weathering his strikes, I parried, deflected and stopped them before they could be fully executed.
Reading the flow of his movements, I then redirected his energy and struck his solar plexus with my hand. Ying Quan coughed as he was driven several steps backward. Clutching his chest, he stared at me in disbelief, blood trickling down his mouth.
Meanwhile, I was still slowly maneuvering at my own pace, my hands circling through the air as I redirected the excess flow of energy and corrected my stance.
"The fuck?! Am I seeing things?!"
One of the students gaped and rubbed his eyes. The others were also watching in awe, staring at the shimmering spiritual qi behind me.
"Is that…a yin-yang symbol?"
"Tai Ji Fist?!"
"This has to be an illusion, right?"
"You know Tai Ji?" Ying Quan spat a mouthful of blood. I shrugged and merely stretched a hand out, as if beckoning for him to attack.
"I guess you can call it that." I shrugged. Despite myself, I was thoroughly impressed. Unlike that time with Shi Ting and his cronies, I didn't hold back. I had struck with all of my strength and still Ying Quan refused to go down.
He was quite the sturdy fella.
"Hmph. I guess it has been an honor. But just because you know martial arts doesn't mean you can defeat me!"
Kicking off the ground, he threw several more punches, each stronger than the last. I was hardly able to deflect them all, knocking them aside and deflecting them as best as I could. Even though I could read his movements and predict where his attacks would come from, I was hard-pressed to keep up because of the speed, ferocity and power of his punches.
All the foresight in the world wouldn't be of any use if my opponent was too strong and fast for me to block or evade.
Even so, I stood my ground and defended as best as I could. I wasn't going to let Ying Quan dictate the pace or rhythm, and thus I adopted my own pattern. Spinning around, I countered with parries and deflections.
"Countering Hard with Soft."
Martial arts was almost like a dance. It wasn't just about overwhelming the foe with sheer strength. It also involved reading your opponent's rhythm and disrupting it. I couldn't just go with the flow – I had to dictate it.
Using my elbow to crack Ying Quan's forearm to the side, thus directing his punch to the side, I then lashed out with my hand to catch him in the chin. My other arm smacked Ying Quan's wrist, driving his fist in the other direction, and then I rammed my palm into his solar plexus.
"Argh…!"
Ying Quan staggered, but I didn't allow him to recover. Now that I had seized control of the flow of battle, I needed to impose my rhythm upon it. Before he could shield his face, I struck his collarbone from both sides, causing his knees to buckle.
But the burly boxer refused to fall. With a roar, he caught me in clinch, only for me to duck to the side. Spinning about, I then placed a hand on his waist and shoved him to the side. Caught off balance, he fell to a knee.
"Where did he…?"
From his blind spot, I kicked his face. His head snapped back and he groaned. Lashing out in reflex, he almost caught me with a punch, but I had predicted that and whirled away. Still blinded, Ying Quan groped for me, but I kicked him in the temple and caused him to stagger.
Snarling, he sprang at me, both hands outstretched. Stepping to the side, I then grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around and then threw him right into the wall.
Boom!
There was a thunderous crack as he smashed a crater into the concrete and was buried by debris. With one final groan, Ying Quan tried to rise to his feet…only to sink under the weight of the rubble and finally lose consciousness.
"No…no way…!"
Shi Ting was practically shitting his pants, just like his nickname. He turned toward the four other Ghost Bear Clan members.
"What are you waiting for? Get him!"
The four of them exchanged glances, but seeing that I had taken down their big brother, they didn't protest. Moving menacingly, they sprang toward me.
Turning toward them, I pushed my glasses up and sighed tiredly. Despite their size, none of them seemed to be on the same level as Ying Quan.
Spinning about, I sent one of them crashing into the other, and then smacked their heads together. As the both of them fell, unconscious, I then ducked under a punch. Unlike Ying Quan, this dude didn't train his lower body as much and he fell when I kicked him in the knee. Slamming both my palms into his chest, I sent him flying. Whirling about, I caught the last guy with a kick in the head before his punch could reach me.
The human's leg was longer than a human's arm. So even if my opponent was much larger and had greater reach than me, I could still make up for the difference by kicking him if he chose to punch me.
With a groan, the poor guy's eyes rolled in his sockets and he collapsed.
Lowering my leg, I then turned to stare at Shi Ting.
"You…you…" he spluttered as he backed away. "What do you plan to do?!"
I glanced around and saw that the teachers had yet to arrive. No, that wasn't accurate. The teachers were here, but they couldn't do anything. Now that they had seen me take down the five big guys from Ghost Bear Clan, they decided to back off. Especially when they saw me turn toward Shi Ting.
Their message was clear. They were not going to intervene in whatever grudge he had against me.
Inclining my head as thanks because even though I couldn't see them visually, I could still sense their presences, I then approached the trembling Shi Ting.
"Don't…don't come near me!"
"You hurt my feelings, Young Master Shi," I said. "All I want is for us to get a bit more acquainted with each other."