Lou Cheng talked no more but lowered his body and shifted left and right to approach Wu Dong.
After three weeks of martial arts practice, he had mastered basic and simple moves and could put them into practice. Although he hadn't come to complicated techniques, he could observe and imitate, which differentiated humans from animals.
Facing Wu Dong, an opponent much stronger than himself, Lou Cheng subconsciously longed to do better. Chen Changhua's meandering footwork of a terrifying snake in the combat with Lin Que came to his mind.
Comparing to Chen Changhua at that time, Lou Cheng was new to this footwork with little control over subtle movements. However, his grasp of Yin-Yang Stance had strengthened coordination of his body and concentration of his mind. In a semi-meditation, he delicately shifted his weight with ease. When his body leaned to the left, his weight was kept slightly to the right and vice versa. Virtuality and reality could hardly be separated apart and his actual target became unclear.
The experienced martial artist Wu Dong felt cornered. Chen Changhua’s snake footwork usually had an opening for him to predict and prepare in their previous combat practice. However, he didn’t have a clue when would this martial arts beginner approach. One second he thought for sure he was going for his right but then next he felt unsure about it.
"Is he a beginner of three weeks' training?"
"Has he been playing weak to prey on us?"
Hesitation would bring destruction in combat. With rich actual combat experience from several ranking events, Wu Dong understood this principle thoroughly and had always been sticking to it until that moment, when he felt unable to respond to Lou Cheng's coming close.
If in his normal form, Wu Dong would play on his strength and move about until he saw through the snake footwork. But tired and out of breath as he was at that moment, moving about would be courting death.
Well, all he could do was to play defense!
Wu Dong got in the fighting stance, awaiting Lou Cheng's approach.
Lou Cheng seemed delighted with Wu Dong's careful play as it was exactly what he expected!
Before Wu Dong revealed himself, Lou Cheng had planned to wear those two troublemakers out with his running prowess and then kick their ass. As soon as he spotted Wu Dong, he slowed down on purpose to lure them into more running to further exhaust them. He remembered the master once mentioned that Wu Dong had wasted his body on smoke, booze and women. Suffering severe lung malfunction, he couldn't recover fast once he tired out.
In this state, Wu Dong could no longer bring out his strong points, like agility, speed, and guerrilla hit and sneak attack, and would be forced into a defensive stance.
Lou Cheng shifted his weight and took a big step forward to Wu Dong's right side. His strength sprung from his feet to his right hand through his entire body and formed a metal hammer around his fist. Lou Cheng threw a powerful punch at Wu Dong.
Phew...
The punch went forward with wind. Wu Dong failed to detect the actual target of the snake footwork and missed the best time to respond. He secured his body thoroughly and wielded both hands, one guarding and the other blocking, to receive Lou Cheng's right punch.
As their hands collided, Lou Cheng didn't feel overwhelmed at all and realized that Wu Dong was still short of breath after the run. To be fair, this martial artist of Amateur Second Pin was slightly on the downside.
To push his advantage, Lou Cheng stepped his right foot forward to block Wu Dong's advance while throwing a blast punch with his left hand at Wu Dong's stomach.
Unable to dodge, Wu Dong had to take another heavy strike with his body.
Bang!
As Lou Cheng's punch hit Wu Dong, he pulled strength from his feet and turned sideways to launch an elbow hit.
Considering Wu Dong’s current situation, Lou Cheng must stick to a close melee to take advantage of his weakness at close engagement, and thus he would win this fight while Wu Dong was still short of breath.
Once the fight turned into a skirmish fight, Wu Dong would take the chance to catch his breath.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A few bouts passed but Wu Dong didn't leave Lou Cheng any good opportunity, thanks to his years of martial arts training.
He again and again warded off Lou Cheng's attacks with his hands. Finally, Lou Cheng noticed a slight lean backward of Wu Dong's body.
As if a rock finally loosened in the storm!
Wu Dong was running out of strength!
"Take his life when he's down!" Lou Cheng thought as he strengthened his waist, coordinated the tiniest parts of his body and adjusted his weight before throwing another punch.
Bang!
Wu Dong collapsed and staggered backward. To kill Lou Cheng's attempt of throwing another punch, he dived down to the ground and rolled to the side.
Seeing him rolling on the ground, Lou Cheng was thrilled. He had forced Wu Dong of Amateur Second Pin to roll on the ground! A victory was one step away!
He slid closer and intended to end the fight with a whip kick like what Lin Que did.
At this very moment, Wu Dong showed a squint. He grabbed some dust with his left hand and threw it at Lou Cheng.
It was completely to Lou Cheng's surprise. He acted on instinct, closing his eyes and covering his face with his left hand. His body turned sideways.
Things happened too fast. As dust got into his eyes, Lou Cheng felt sore and couldn't keep them open. All was hurry and confusion. His head was empty and indeed at a loss.
Bang!
Lou Cheng felt pain on his back from a heavy punch. He then lost his balance and staggered forward, about to fall. The familiar situation and experience made him start to meditate by instinct, subtly adjusting his body and shifting weight.
One at peace had a clear mind. During the fall, Lou Cheng resumed his ability to think. He realized how little combat experience he had and forced himself to stay calm in front of Wu Dong's series of attacks.
The Jindan (the Golden Elixir) rotated slowly and the nebula shrank and expanded. His muscles acted coordinately, and adjustments took place naturally. Lou Cheng staggered a few big steps until the balance was restored.
Meanwhile, he took steps toward different directions to get away from Wu Dong's strikes from behind.
Lou Cheng's feet finally stabilized, but his eyes still hurt badly. Tears ran down along his face as if he was crying from the fight. Surrounded by utter blackness, Lou Cheng had no idea from which direction Wu Dong would launch the next attack. Moreover, he didn't hit the vital part of the two rogues so they could maybe rejoin the fight at any second.
Calm...
Calm!
Lou Cheng quickly made up his mind. Focusing on the process of water concreting into ice, he felt his thoughts also concreting into ice and his senses became extraordinarily sharp.
Ice Sect's Condensation Stance!
Everything seemed calm and peaceful. While the Yin-Yang Stance emphasized the subtle feeling within oneself, the Condensation Stance was all about the surroundings. A gentle breeze along with a light patter of feet sounded in his ears, and a faint fragrance of alcohol prevailed in the air.
In a trance, Lou Cheng’s ear sensed someone coming from the left.
While maintaining his composure, Lou Cheng lifted his hands into a defensive pose and waited patiently for his vision to recover.
A heavy breath came to his ear. His focus turned to a silver flash of lightning shooting down to a tree and starting a fierce fire.
Thunder Sect's Lightning and Fire Stance!
The emergence of fire and lightning triggered his muscles to wiggle. Lou Cheng’s tailbone was warmly numb and his body became heavy. A hot stream flew along his spine through his waist down to his left leg as if struck by a lightning bolt, blocking all his pores and preparing for a terrifying explosion.
His left leg launched a powerful kick without warning.
Bang!
Lou Cheng knew his kick landed on something—probably a bone—before a horrible scream came from the ground.
"Got it..." He kept calm without lowering his guard. Lou Cheng raised one hand to rub his eyes. Tears had finally got the dust out and his vision was restored.
From blur and dim to clearness was the image of Wu Dong wallowing in dust with pain in his thigh. The short-haired youth and the tattooed man were still on the ground, gradually recovering from the earlier punches.
"Phew... Actual combat is very different from pair exercise…" Lou Cheng heaved a sigh of relief when the ache became clear on his back.
Had he not achieved inward vision through Yin-Yang Stance and Jindan, sharpened his senses and concentration through Condensation Stance or mastered the sudden intense burst of Lightning and Fire Stance, he would have been clobbered by the well experienced Wu Dong!
The keys of Yin-Yang Stance, Condensation Stance and Lightning and Fire Stance seemed simple, as if anyone could do it. However, as the basic stance training of the Thunder Sect and Ice Sect, they surely had their own difficulties—how to reach peace, how to focus and what to focus on. Without explanation and guidance on these matters, possibly only one out of a thousand students was talented enough to master them simply according to their description.
The basic of all the basics, Yin-Yang Stance was all about how to reach peace, how to focus, how to Remain in One and how to focus on one. Geezer Shi taught them this during their very first session and then spent three weeks to guide them through it and correct their mistakes. Yet, only Yan Zheke and Lou Cheng himself could achieve peace by focusing on one. Guo Qing, Li Mao and Sun Jian were not there yet, whereas Lin Que wasn't new to this.
After this thrilling and intense combat, Lou Cheng's stance training and fighting moves had reached a new level of integration and harmony. The level of his martial arts skills was unclear.
As Lou Cheng began to relax, fear came to his mind. His momentary hot blood and gallantry had pushed him into this fight but worries quickly grew once his Qi and blood calmed down. He could be punished by the University for this or even be locked away if their injuries were severe.
Fortunately, he didn't go for the two rogues' vital parts and although Lou Cheng couldn't see or control, his final kick at Wu Dong shouldn't be too bad as Wu Dong was still wallowing and rubbing his leg.
The saying "warriors break rules with violence" was so true... Lou Cheng packed away his concerns and remained placid as he turned to Wu Dong with a smile.
"Senior Brother Wu, you are in your final year, aren't you?"
Holding tight on his leg, Wu Dong looked up at Lou Cheng blankly. This freshman, calm and mature, had gone straight for his weak point without any trepidation. Recalling the swiftness of his last kick and the calmness when he lost his vision, Wu Dong no longer believed the information he had on Lou Cheng.
Under Lou Cheng's gaze, Wu Dong looked away.