Chapter 13: Only Allowed In Life-And-Death Situations

Chen Chuan watched Ding Shuo. Since this wasn’t a regular training session, he decided to use his second self in order to avoid getting injured and to win.

Due to his improvement, the time he could overlap with his second self had increased to around fifty-five seconds.

The duration wasn’t fixed, though. If he got hit and transferred his injuries and pain to his second self, the time they could overlap went down.

Hence, Chen Chuan had to end the fight as soon as possible.

The more it dragged out, the lower his chances to win would become.

At that moment, he had already come up with a strategy.

Ding Shuo observed Chen Chuan for a bit. Based on his breathing patterns, he could tell that Chen Chuan had also mastered the breathing technique, so he slammed his fists together in excitement.

Finally, he got a somewhat promising opponent. He could use this chance to prove himself to Qi Wu.

After they gave each other the salute, Ding Shuo chose to launch the first attack again. He closed in on Chen Chuan and threw a punch straight at his face.

Chen Chuan did not bother dodging. He answered it with a high roundhouse kick.

He used this attack to defeat Shan Xiong during the entrance examination, which was why he had been focusing on this attack. The moment he launched the kick, his second self merged with him. The movement created a loud whoosh, and even the grass under his foot swayed.

Chen Chuan’s kick was incredibly fast and reached Ding Shuo first. Ding Shuo’s eyes widened in shock. Fortunately, he remembered to protect his head even while attacking. He tensed his arm muscles in time, and with a loud bam, the powerful kick made him stumble back. He flicked his arm to relieve the numbness.

Chen Chuan didn’t waste time after landing the kick and immediately moved forward. But Ding Shuo was not the type to defend. He did not back down in the slightest. Instead, he wanted to attack, but Chen Chuan kicked him with a force so great he once again stirred up wind. Ding Shuo was forced to abandon his attack again

to hastily defend himself. It pushed him to the side, and he looked quite pathetic.

Everyone had a sense of deja vu. Wasn’t this the exact thing that happened when Ding Shuo attacked Lu Ke? The people involved had just changed, that was all.

Qi Wu was surprised. He turned to the middle-aged man behind him. “That kid is good.”

“His footwork and form look decent, but he’s clumsy. His muscle coordination also isn’t fully developed yet, so he should be a beginner. But he’s strong and fast. His reaction speed is also good, and he has learned the basic breathing technique. He’s a natural-born genius. As long as the kid’s stamina is up to par, Ding Shuo will have a hard time winning against him.”

Qi Wu smiled. “Is that so? He’s a talented kid, huh?” He did not sound as if he was worried Ding Shuo would lose the fight.

Ding Shuo did not like the feeling of being overpowered. He tried a few times to counterattack, but didn’t succeed. Once, he even made a mistake, and Chen Chuan kicked him in the ribs. The pain made him wince, and despite his stubbornness, he learned not to fight Chen Chuan head on. For the moment, he had no choice but to fight defensively and wait for Chen Chuan to reveal an opening or for his stamina to run out.

As Chen Chuan delivered his barrage of kicks, he noticed that Ding Shuo put practically all of his attention on his legs. When he felt that the time was right, he brought his knee up a little, as if he was about to deliver another kick. Ding Shuo brought his arms up out of habit. Then, Chen Chuan crouched low and thrust forward with both hands, as if he was about to take a dive.

Ding Shuo shuddered; he knew that something bad was about to happen. Chen Chuan had to have used so many kicks to create a false sense of safety in him, while his real goal was to win through a throw, but Ding Shuo no longer had the time to lower his center of gravity. Yet Chen Chuan’s execution stuttered for a moment, and Ding Shuo rejoiced gleefully.

Now’s my chance!

Sometimes, the body reacts faster than the mind. Ding Shuo did not choose to jump back and lower his center of gravity. Instead, he tried to ram his knee into Chen Chuan’s head.

Chen Chuan charged forward and took the blow to his forehead. It was a powerful strike. Anyone else in his place would have lost the duel right there and then, but with his second self absorbing the damage, Chen Chuan did not even stagger. He launched the counter he had been holding back: a punch that landed squarely on Ding Shuo’s face.

Ding Shuo grunted, and his world went dark. His nose stung, too. If it were not for his strong neck muscles and his increased durability courtesy of his breathing technique, he would have already collapsed.

Chen Chuan did not stop after hitting Ding Shuo. He sprang forward and tried to grab Ding Shuo’s neck with both hands while he also brought a knee up. He wanted to execute a chokehold and a knee strike.

Ding Shuo’s vision was blurry, so he could not see what was ahead of him, but his experience made him sense danger. Goosebumps broke out all over his skin. He let out a short, deep, and powerful huff. At the same time, he swung his arms outward, and a powerful gust split the air.

Before Chen Chuan could put his hands on Ding Shuo’s neck, he felt a strong force bounce them away.

Yu Gang could tell what it was at a glance. The Whipping Cloth Force…

Once Chen Chuan’s hands were knocked aside, he lost his balance, and he could not put any power in his knee strike, so he froze for a moment.

Ding Shuo, too, seemed to be unable to immediately launch an attack after using that move. He appeared to be scared of Chen Chuan closing in on him, since he quickly moved back to widen the distance between them.

He took in a few deep breaths and observed Chen Chuan, still shocked that he seemed completely fine after the punch to his forehead. Right then, he felt a burn on his nose. After touching it, he noticed blood flowing out, and frustration flared in him.

Honestly, the pain was secondary to him; he was more ashamed of the fact that he had just embarrassed himself in front of Qi Wu.

Chen Chuan was also observing Ding Shuo. He had not expected such a strange attack to knock his hands away. Also, Chen Chuan had put all he had behind the punch, but Ding Shuo got off with only a bleeding nose. He did not seem to be hurt in any other way and was still moving around fine. Astonishingly, even the bleeding stopped moments later. If Lu Ke had been in Ding Shuo’s place, he would have been knocked out. The other’s recovery and durability were stupidly good.

Chen Chuan started wondering how he should continue the fight.

While Chen Chuan’s second self had mainly overlapped with him while he was attacking, he had still used up around fifteen seconds. The attack to his forehead should have reduced the overlap time by around six seconds. That meant that he had used up around a third of the overlap time.

But Ding Shuo was really durable. Chen Chuan was beginning to suspect that even if he succeeded in hitting him a few more times, he might not be able to take him down.

Fortunately, they were neither in a tournament nor in a fight to the death. If he wanted to win, he did not need to really knock Ding Shuo out. Perhaps he could make use of one particular rule…

Soon, Chen Chuan came up with a new strategy and sucked in a deep breath.

Ding Shuo immediately raised his guard. If someone with a breathing technique suddenly changed their breathing rhythm while having a lot of stamina left, it was highly likely that it was a prelude to a powerful attack.

Chen Chuan took a step forward and charged. This time, he ran with great speed and closed the distance between them in an instant, then rained down a series of punches and kicks like a whirlwind.

Ding Shuo hurriedly dodged and defended against them. Even though the blows felt like raindrops on his skin, he gritted his teeth and endured them.

If anyone paid attention, they would have noticed that even if Ding Shuo’s skin turned red after being hit, that redness faded after a breath or two.

Qi Wu watched intently. Even if he wasn’t a skilled fighter, he could tell that the winner would be decided after Chen Chuan’s offense.

After attacking for more than ten seconds, Chen Chuan punched Ding Shuo’s solar plexus. His punch wasn’t strong, but when he pulled his hand back, he grabbed Ding Shuo’s wrist and yanked it toward him so that Ding Shuo would move a little.

Any martial artist could tell that this was Major Sanshou’s Hook-Seize Grip. It was designed to destroy a target’s balance by yanking them forward.

Ding Shuo tried to break free of Chen Chuan’s grip, but all of the punches and kicks had been used to create this chance. The moment the tug-of-war began, Chen Chuan closed in and thrust his arms forward to execute the Coiling Palm Lift. But Ding Shuo reacted quickly. Just when the base of Chen Chuan’s palms was about to connect with Ding Shuo’s chin, Ding Shuo pushed four of his fingers against the bend of Chen Chuan’s elbow to disrupt his attack. Even so, the force from the other palm still traveled straight to Ding Shuo’s head.

Chen Chuan clenched his fist and pressed it lightly against Ding Shuo’s neck before stepping back and distancing himself from Ding Shuo. He also lowered his defensive stance and turned to Qi Wu and the others.

Ding Shuo was surprised and pissed. “What’s this about? The fight’s not over yet!”

The middle-aged man whispered something into Qi Wu’s ear, and the latter nodded before he said, “We lost, Mr. Yu.”

Ding Shuo was stunned. He whipped his head toward the middle-aged man and tried his best to suppress the rage in his heart. “It hasn’t ended yet! Why are you saying I lost?”

“The kid used Principal Sanshou’s Curtain-Tearing Palm for his final attack. If he had put any strength into his attack, your windpipe would have been ripped apart. That’s why he won,” the middle-aged man said calmly.

“Bullshit! I already grabbed his elbow! How could he still put any strength into his attack?” Ding Shuo snapped back.

“I’m sure that he could have.”

Ding Shuo still refused to admit defeat and turned to Chen Chuan. “I’m not going to believe it until you show me!”

“If this had been a fight to the death, you would have died. You wouldn’t have had a chance to see whether he can ‘show it to you’,” the middle-aged man deadpanned.

Ding Shuo cursed up a storm in his heart. If they had been in a fight to the death, he would not have fought this way.

Chen Chuan felt relieved. His gambit had succeeded.

Due to Ding Shuo’s durability, it would have been difficult to win against him by overpowering him. But since “the fight would end when the winner was clear”, something could be done about that.

What exactly did that phrase mean? It meant executing a decisive, potentially fatal move that made contact with a vital point, then pulling back just in time to avoid killing them.

Based on this rule, regardless of whether Chen Chuan had actually mastered the fatal move under reasonable conditions, as long as he touched the vital point, it counted.

But it also depended on whether Qi Wu and the middle-aged man respected the rule or were just running their mouths off. If they shamelessly denied it, Chen Chuan could do nothing about it. Either way, it was his best option.

Fortunately, the two cared about their dignity.

Yu Gang considered it for a moment before walking over to Qi Wu. Then, he saluted him and said, “Mr. Qi, give me half a year to take care of certain things. If you still want me in the Chain Links Gang by then, I will join you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep