If you were to observe the fight between Yu Sheng and the cultivator bandit, you can easily tell from a glance that the tempo of the fight was dictated by the bandit.
He was always on the offensive, throwing heavy punches at Yu Sheng, and all Yu Sheng could do was cross his arms and block the attack.
Yu Sheng regretted not taking more time in finding the strongest bandit present. If he could sneak up on this bandit and land a concussive blow, he was sure that the current fight would not have been so one-sided.
The bandit in front of him was definitely the true leader. He was very cautious, not dressing flamboyantly and disguising himself among his people so that he could take his enemies by surprise.
Every time the bandit attacked, Yu Sheng was forced to go on the defensive. Although he could keep track of the movement of the bandit, the punches he threw were very heavy.
Although Yu Sheng knows he was inevitably going to lose the battle, he realized that his opponent was not taking him seriously at all. The man was rightfully underestimating him, but Yu Sheng knew that one opportunity was all it takes for him to turn the tide of battle.
Instead of feeling offended, he was actually feeling elated. He knew that he could use this to create an opening for him to counterattack.
He jumped backwards away from the battlefield, giving him a few seconds to analyze the extent of the damage to his body.
"You already know the results of this battle. Surrender now and I will give you a quick death." The bandit leader grimly murmured. "I, Zao Ge Cheng, promise to give you an honourable burial."
It wasn't the case that he was not confident in his strength and odds of defeating Yu Sheng. It was because he could not be bothered to fight him seriously. At first, he was very shocked at seeing the strength of this boy who looked about the age of his son. But during the fight, he realized that the boy did not have a trace of spirit qi in his body. He was not a cultivator!
Admittedly, Ge Cheng was not a smart person. If he stopped for a moment and realized that a boy who was not a cultivator was fighting almost head-to-head with him, he would start to find the situation fishy. However, the thought did not cross his mind and vastly underestimated what this boy could do.
Seeing that he gained a bit of time, Yu Sheng closed his eyes and took a few seconds to check his body. Two broken ribs and a broken left arm. His left shin was shattered. His body was running out of the adrenaline rush he experienced at the start of the battle. The pain of his broken limbs was starting to seep in.
The excruciating pain made Yu Sheng regret his decision to rescue the Xiao family. Who asked him to try and be a saviour? He promised himself that in his next life, he would not be so stupid ever again.
However, Yu Sheng would not back down without a fight. Crouching down on the ground, he pretended to more even more injured than he actually was. He was trying to get Ge Cheng to get closer to him.
Ge Cheng saw this and knew what kind of schemes this boy was cooking up. A cornered rat would bite the cat. He would not let his guard down at a time like this.
Indeed, the boy was trying to a last-ditch effort to create an opening. He caught Yu Sheng slyly digging his fingers into the ground, palming some dirt on his hands.
He slowly approached Yu Sheng. Yu Sheng glared daggers at Ge Cheng.
"Why must you make this difficult for yourself?" Ge Cheng mocked. Since he already knew what Yu Sheng was planning, he decided to play along with the charade.
Expecting Yu Sheng to retort back, he was disappointed when Yu Sheng remained silent. He came to the conclusion that he was simply afraid of death and was not able to come up with words.
He continued to approach Yu Sheng. It was time to end it.
Ge Cheng decided to use a palm strike to end Yu Sheng. From a short distance away, Ge Cheng suddenly burst with energy, seemingly appearing right before Yu Sheng. He knew about the sand and dirt that Yu Sheng wanted to use to blind him, so he fully anticipated that move.
Almost like clockwork, Yu Sheng faked a blocking motion but instead threw the contents inside his palm at Ge Cheng.
"You fool! Your cheap tricks will not work on me!" Ge Cheng roared. He used the mighty aura of the first level of qi refinement to repel the projectiles. This took quite a bit of his qi reserves, but he wanted to send Yu Sheng out with a bang.
Was this the end of Yu Sheng?
No. Yu Sheng's dim eyes suddenly brightened. This was his opportunity to turn this precarious situation around.
Yu Sheng took a deep breath through his nose and splattered his deep red blood through his mouth onto Ge Cheng's eyes.
********
Right from the beginning, Yu Sheng's plan wasn't the dirt and rocks he planned to throw but the blood that he would use to blind Ge Cheng.
At the very start of the battle, he had used his feet to kick up a dirt storm. This gave Ge Cheng an idea of how scheming Yu Sheng was, and also implanted the idea that he uses dirt and sand to blind people.
It was also a part of Yu Sheng's plan to purposefully reveal his "intentions" by showing Ge Cheng the scene of him scraping sand off the ground. When one sets his mindset on a certain thing, it would be very hard for anyone to change that mindset or opinion.
In this case, Ge Cheng was so confident that Yu Sheng would use the sand that he completely forgot that it could have all been bait and that he had other ideas.
Lastly, right from the very moment that Ge Cheng was talking to Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng had bitten on his left cheek to let blood flow into his mouth. It wasn't that he was afraid to reply to Ge Cheng, it was because he couldn't speak due to the blood in his mouth!
All of this led to a small window of time in that Ge Cheng got distracted. Many thoughts went through his mind. Firstly, he was blinded while he stood in front of his enemy. He also did not know if what was sprayed onto him was poison or not.
Panic started to set in. He did not even realize that it could not have been poison as Yu Sheng had it in his mouth! This was a testament to his reaction to the unknown.
This small window of time was more than enough for Yu Sheng to counterattack. He gathered as much strength as he could, and aimed directly at his jugular vein. He was not confident in shattering the skull of Ge Cheng, so he settled for something softer.
But, Ge Cheng could still attack while he was bleeding out of his jugular vein. No, Yu Sheng had no other choice. He could only pierce his vein and hope for the best.
Yu Sheng winced in pain. He tried to gather as much strength as possible, but his arms became weak. He was at his limit. He was about to die. He was so close to accomplishing his goal, but it was to no avail. He had simply reached his limit. His body was about to break down.
"NO! NOT LIKE THIS!" Yu Sheng thundered.
How could he possibly fail at this critical juncture? He may not have known it right now, but Yu Sheng was indeed the blessed son of destiny. Something magical was about to happen.