Chapter 207: Cut off All Means of Retreat
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Bang!
Zhou Zhengquan’s shoulders exploded as he swung out his left arm to block Lou Cheng’s fist. Upon impact with Lou Cheng’s fist, he felt like he was. .h.i.t with a bomb. After the large explosion, his ears even had the ringing sound. The blast wave spread across the whole field in an instant, making him bounce up and down, while all his muscles, joints, and tendons trembled uncontrollably.
Tremor Punch! Lou Cheng’s pupils slightly contracted as he took a short breath.
Lou Cheng straightened his waist and back to push his advantage. His left arm tightened and he got ready to throw a series of punches at Zhou Zhengquan, releasing a terrifying shock wave following the attack of the Frost Force. He would never leave any chance for the opponent to retaliate.
At this moment, he noticed Zhou Zhengquan’s rolling qi and blood, outer strength, and living spirit all contracted inward, along with the short breath he took.
Is it an eruption of Dan-stage Mighty One’s full power?
An idea suddenly came to Lou Cheng’s mind. Recalling the similar cases he had experienced or watched, he sprang his backbone to take a step to the side and thus avoided fighting head to head against Zhou Zhengquan with Thunder Roar Zen.
If he did not make this change, Zhou Zhengquan would suffer a more violent shock, but Lou Cheng’s stance would also be broken. His whole body might even be launched up into the air. Any carelessness would bring him great loss and put him further from weakening his opponent.
He should bide his time instead of yielding to impulse!
However, as Lou Cheng flashed aside, Zhou Zhengquan calmed his qi and blood down, moving his abdomen to adjust the distribution of energy. There was no sign that he had just contracted all his energy to form a Human Body Big Dan, as if it was purely Lou Cheng’s hallucination!
Since the shock was immediately eliminated, Zhou Zhengquan put on a casual smile as if he was saying “I’m just playing you!”
Straightening his knees, he again pounced towards Lou Cheng at lightning speed with incomparable power. This placed an enormous strain on Lou Cheng’s heart.
It was so depressing to see his well-designed movements simply destroyed by his opponent, but Lou Cheng soon shook off the negative feelings with the help of the Freeze Water To Ice method in his Heart Lake.
Though it disappointed Lou Cheng, it could still benefit him!
At least he convinced Zhou Zhengquan that he was not tired at all. As a result, he should be more careful and find a better opportunity to make the most of his delaying tactics. Having cut off all means of retreat, one could be as fierce as a tiger or wolf that would fight to the death no matter who they met!
He was going to take actions that were outside of Zhou Zhengyun’s expectations!
In face of Zhou Zhengquan’s flood-like attack, Lou Cheng remained calm and took a few steps back. While doing so, he maintained his center of gravity and footwork with super ability to control his body, as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
While Lou Cheng was stepping back continuously, Zhou Zhengquan kept attacking and narrowing the gap between them. When Lou Cheng had acc.u.mulated enough energy and was about fiercely counterattack with the strategy known as Cut off All Means of Retreat, which Lin Que had once used, he saw Zhou Zhengquan swing the center of gravity, straighten his back and flash to his side without any warning.
By strategically timing his moves, Zhou Zhengquan succeeded in frustrating his opponent. Lou Cheng felt as though he had used full force to hit some puffy cotton.
Absolute Reaction, the special ability of a Dan-stage master!
Because of their entirely different fighting style, Lou Cheng failed to apply the same strategy, with which he successfully defeated Wei Shengtian, to defeat Zhou Zhengquan!
Failing to gather strength and launch a new round of attacks, Lou Cheng was forced to approach Zhou Zhengquan and once again trapped under the continuous blows of his Fly Fall Punch, which was actually a combination of a Low flying kicks, an eruption of shoulder strength, an abrupt explosive force, a pointing claw, and Burst Fist.
Having learned a lesson, this time Lou Cheng kept calm while using his Listening Skill to borrow strength from his opponent. Instead of putting strength beneath his legs, he made movements with corresponding body parts to the 24 Blizzard Strikes, which helped him compensate for his weaknesses in strength and movement connections.
Sometimes he strained the tendons on both sides and threw quick punches, sometimes he bulged the muscles in his back and bounced to pounce towards his opponent, and sometimes he tightened the muscles in his abdomen so he could borrow strength to fight back… Gradually he understood more about the 24 Blizzard Strikes and thus repaired many omissions in the connection between movements. Therefore, he became crazier, fiercer, and faster through fighting!
Pam Pam Pam! Bam Bam Bam! There was a series of collisions between the two fighters in such a small area. Even the audience outside could hear the dull thud from the hand-to-hand combat and sense the boiling blood.
Indulging in the fight, Lou Cheng deeply understood the united strength of a Dan-stage master, as whatever effort he had made, he could not escape from his current inferior position.
During this process, Zhou Zhengquan, who was in a black martial arts suit, kept changing his position using Mercurial Balance, and thus changed his fighting tempo in a disgusting way. Lou Cheng was unable to use force and compress his strength to use Tremor Punch. On the other hand, the strength Lou Cheng had gathered with his Listening Skill would be broken up and thus the connection of his 24 Blizzard Strikes would be destroyed. What a solid martial arts foundation Zhou Zhengquan had shown through his strategy!
Lou Cheng was not discouraged. Though he had made great progress with the help of the Jindan and his own hard work, which seemed as if he had shed his mortal body and exchanged his bones, he was still an amateur who had just started learning martial arts half a year ago. So there was still a large gap between him and Zhou Zhengquan, who had been learning kung fu from childhood and was used to practicing in actual combat.
As long as he addressed the problems and the gap between them, Lou Cheng would certainly take actions to make up for it!
No one could be a first-cla.s.s player as soon as he logged into a new game.
Zhou Zhengquan’s strategy was known as “dripping water wears through a stone” or “boiling a frog in warm water,” which aimed at destroying Lou Cheng bit by bit without using too much stamina and energy. Sensing his opponent’s attempt, Lou Cheng suddenly regained his centre of gravity and lowered his body into a half-sitting position.
He pressed both legs inwardly, abruptly turning his waist and back the moment his arm touched Zhou Zhengquan’s fist. With all his muscles and joints widely opened, he threw a powerful Swing Force at Zhou Zhengquan, like a volcanic eruption.
Zhou Zhengquan immediately swung his upper body to avoid Lou Cheng’s attack while fixing both feet in their original position.
Crack! A number of cracks appeared on the black bricks under his feet as they fiercely sprang back along with his body!
This did not come as a surprise to Lou Cheng. So he seized the opportunity to visualize a rolling thundercloud in his mind and tightened his corresponding muscles.
Crack! He stepped heavily onto the ground, shattering both the black bricks and his own shoes into pieces, which turned into a number of flying b.u.t.terflies.
The strong rebound conducted along Lou Cheng’s ankles and knees, forcing him to straighten his waist and back as he flung his right arm to punch at Zhou Zhengquan with great power.
Boom!
The thundercloud exploded in his mind, bursting out with a great shock.
In the face of Lou Cheng’s sudden movements, Zhou Zhengquan, who was attacking actively and thus unable to dodge, also visualized acc.u.mulated streams to absorb Lou Cheng’s borrowing-force movement into his own body.
Cras.h.!.+
Running water cascaded down and crashed against the ground!
The Fly Fall Punch, “Waterfall”!
Bang!
Loops of invisible ripples sprang out from where the two fists collided with each other. Lou Cheng felt his blood burning as well as his muscles and joints trembling, making him feel nauseous.
Fortunately, he had already made preparations for it. Moving his abdomen muscles to cooperate with the thundercloud in his mind, Lou Cheng’s body made a loud sound and counteracted most of the influence with another shock to the opposite side. On the other side, Zhou Zhengquan also made the same sound to defuse Lou Cheng’s attack.
Pausing for a second, Lou Cheng tightened his bare instep, twisted his waist, and threw out a whip kick.
However, it seemed that Lou Cheng’s opponent had regained energy sooner than him. Bulging his leg muscles unhurriedly, Zhou Zhengquan blocked Lou Cheng’s leg, precisely, with a flying kick.
Bang!
When their legs collided with each other in the air, some frost appeared and then vanished all of a sudden!
Sensing the incoming danger, Zhou Zhengquan felt the rolling cold wave piercing into his skin and bones, blending with his blood, freezing his whole body.
Ice Sect Force? His lips suddenly turned blue, with astonishment and confusion in his eyes.
Lou Cheng withdrew his right foot, bent his body, and was about to swing out his arm. At this moment, he felt the river in his mind was totally frozen and unable to be activated.
The so-called Force could not be merely thrown out with his bare hand!
Ever since Lou Cheng defeated the Azure Dragon Squad, though he had not mastered Severe Warning yet, he had managed to apply Frost Force to his feet movements after the one-month practice!
Though his supernatural ability was not powerful enough, the cold wave could be weakened by two pairs of martial arts shoes. Thus, an ordinary fighter could bear it. Therefore, Lou Cheng broke his shoes to make the unexpected kick!
Zhou Zhengquan’s body froze for a short while. Noticing that Lou Cheng was taking this opportunity to launch a surprise attack, he gave up hiding his strength until the next round.
In an instant, all of his qi, blood, spirit, willpower, and the force of his whole body flowed towards his abdomen, where he started to compress it. Just like they were uniting to form a Human Body Big Dan, even the cold and stiff feelings were absorbed!
Knowing he would be facing a Dan-stage master’s explosive force, Lou Cheng took no actions to protect himself. Instead, he adjusted his body state unhurriedly and once again visualized a murky river flooding onto an ice field.
Having no extra energy and stamina to wait for a better chance, he decided to cut off all means of retreat and launch a last-ditch attack!
While the cold current was flowing, the river froze rapidly along with the splas.h.i.+ng waves, which immediately turned into ice crystals. At this moment, when everything seemed to be still, Lou Cheng slammed his foot down and exerted force with waist and back, throwing a fierce punch at his opponent.
This was the power of frost and the flood of cold current!
Bang! As Zhou Zhengquan’s Human Body Big Dan exploded, a powerful current of energy spurted out to dispel the cold and stiffness.
Crack! He punched his right fist out as the gigantic flood waters burst through the d.y.k.e.
Bang!
While Lou Cheng was directly sent into the air by this blow, Zhou Zhengquan’s right arm was covered in frost for a brief moment.
Thump, thump, Zhou Zhengquan’s heart rate suddenly accelerated as if the audience outside could hear it. Then his blood made a sound of loud-pouring floods, quickly breaking through the layer of ice and the stiffness!
On the other side, Lou Cheng barely made the last blow with Frost Force since his energy was already at its limit. Now, no matter how hard he tried to adjust his muscles to restore his center of gravity, there was not enough strength left for him to take further action.
Thud, suddenly, he fell to the ground in the arena, which was a heartrending scene in Yan Zheke’s eyes.
Walking towards his opponent, Zhou Zhengquan was a bit slow but managed to approach Lou Cheng before he was able to stand up.
Crack! All of a sudden, Zhou Zhengquan tightened his leg muscles and threw a whip kick towards Lou Cheng.
Lou Cheng was struggling to block the attack with both arms since he had lost his stance.
Crack! Leaving Lou Cheng no chance to take a breath, Zhou Zhengquan threw interlocking kicks at him, finally stopping just before his instep was about to touch Lou Cheng’s neck.
“Round Two, Zhou Zhengquan wins!” The referee raised his right hand.
Taking a deep breath, Lou Cheng stood slowly and firmly, showing no signs of tiredness. He slightly nodded to Zhou Zhengquan and then turned around rapidly to leave the arena.
Though his first blow with Frost Force was weakened by Zhou Zhengquan’s martial arts shoes, and the second one was just like an arrow at the end of its flight, the superposition of them was of greater destructive force than an accurate single blow of Frost Force, from which Zhou Zhengquan must have suffered a lot. So they must seize the opportunity and leave this Eighth-Pin master at the Dan stage little time to renew his strength!
In view of this, Lou Cheng had narrowly accomplished the goal he had set in the beginning!
In the visiting team area, Lin Que remained calm as he took off his coat and stepped out in strides.