198: Chapter 195 The Sky-Piercing Cannon

Zhou Guoli had already begun to assume the Tongbei School stance, while Li Changsheng watched him closely.

In martial arts, there are four aspects: nourishing, practicing, fighting, and performing. The fact that nourishing ranks first says everything.

If one practices martial arts without knowing how to nourish their health, then all their skills are in vain.

Zhou Guoli clearly belonged to the category of those who knew how to fight but not how to nourish. He was too fierce in his youth, often sparring with others and taking many hits.

Combined with various missions, he looked to be in his thirties or forties. If his stated age was true, then many health problems would likely emerge by the time he reached middle age.

"Take this!"

Swoosh!

Suddenly, with a stomp and a kick, Zhou Guoli's body moved like a hurricane sweeping the ground, swirling grass and fallen leaves. In an instant, he was in front of Li Changsheng, swinging both palms and using his back to drive the explosive power of his arms.

The Tongbei School places great importance on power originating from the spine, dominated by the back, refined in the back, and issued from the back. It then travels from the back through the shoulders to the elbows, from the elbows to the wrists, and from the wrists to the hands. The three gates remain unobstructed, Qi and power combine, and the strength reaches the fingertips.

This Move, Double Hands Propping Heaven, Throwing Single Whip, had a short range, fierce power, and incredible speed.

Li Changsheng felt that if this hit, even a steel plate would be dented, and a human head would be cracked wide open.

Tongbei is more like a balance of hardness and softness, seeking reality in emptiness, hardness in softness, straightness in curves, and speed in slowness, following nature completely.

However, perhaps due to his military background, Zhou Guoli's Tongbei Fist actually felt like the wide-open, fierce, and overbearing style of Baji Quan.

Facing such a fierce punch, Li Changsheng simply turned his wrist, using the Circling Hand from Xingyi Fist.

His arm and wrist seemed to shrink into a circle, as if a single hand were turning a large millstone. This Move's execution was very clever, yet its power was exceptionally heavy. With a wrap-around motion at the moment of contact, he immediately broke free from Zhou Guoli's punch.

Zhou Guoli was relentless. The moment his first punch missed, the next followed immediately. He rotated his head to the right, using his body to lead his hand. His right fist smashed down in a reverse back-fist, while his other hand turned into a hook, pulling downward. His left palm slashed down repeatedly as he stepped forward with his left foot. His right palm struck toward the face, followed by his left palm turning into a claw to strike the groin.

One action followed another seamlessly, as if his body and arms were being utilized to their fullest. Every Move and every action was a killing blow.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

His movements were accompanied by whistling sounds, like the constant swinging of ape-like arms.

Facing this frequent offensive, Li Changsheng raised his hand, curling several fingers while the remaining two slightly curved and closed together like the fangs of a venomous snake. They shot out quickly from his chest, following the centerline upward toward the philtrum.

Power surged through his fingertips as his arm and wrist flicked. The strike landed precisely on Zhou Guoli's wrist, as sharp as hitting a snake's heart.

This Move was White Snake Spits Message from Xingyi, while his body movement was the Three Powers Stance. Using the leg's push, he struck forward along the centerline like a long rainbow of a sword piercing the blue sky. The strike was clever and natural, hitting the vital spot exactly.

However, Zhou Guoli had built up his resilience over the years. Enduring the pain, he changed his Move again. His center of gravity shifted quickly to his right leg, he lifted his left leg, and as he stepped down, his leg power cut back. He countered with a Circling Step Palm.

This Move had some flavor of the Great Sage Pigua School.

Pigua Fist is also called Monkey Fist. Great Sage Fist mainly attacks the lower body, while Pigua Zhang focuses on the upper body.

In fact, the Tongbei School and Monkey Fist have many things in common.

This change suddenly made Zhou Guoli's punches exceptionally agile, like an antelope hanging its horns, leaving no trace.

"A bit interesting!" Li Changsheng smiled faintly. If the opponent was only fierce, they would lose the spirituality of Tongbei; showing that spirituality now was the real deal.

"Heh, watch out! Don't you know that monkeys possess the spirit of the mountains?"

As soon as he spoke, Li Changsheng felt the opponent's movements become even more sharp, agile, and varied.

Zhou Guoli was clearly a tough man. He said it was a spar, but once he acted, he showed no mercy.

The next moment, he leaned forward again, his fists spiraling outward from the inside. Right high and left low, fists facing each other, his strikes were like a storm—both agile and fierce.

Twisting his waist and hips, gripping in front and hooking behind, his Moves were wide-open with arms vertical. He struck in succession with hooked arms and closed wrists. His waist was like an axle, his hands like whip handles. His entire body's strength flowed through his arms like a rushing river. An overwhelming Aura was about to crush Li Changsheng.

Facing this series of rapid and agile attacks, Li Changsheng quickly took a step. Simultaneously, his right palm faced inward, fingers pointing forward, using the leg's push to shake upward forcefully.

The action was seamless, and Zhou Guoli's power was neutralized silently by this shake.

White Snake Shakes Body looked like a rooster ruffling its feathers. The movement wasn't pretty, even a bit funny; to an ordinary person, it looked like a convulsion.

But this was a clever technique to neutralize the combo, perfectly timed and executed with just the right amount of force.

"What a clever change! To handle Xingyi with such ease? His Xingyi Fist is almost at the level of perfection!"

Several consecutive fierce attacks yielded nothing, all neutralized silently by Li Changsheng's perfectly timed methods.

This was more damaging to one's confidence than being beaten up directly by Li Changsheng.

The next moment, Zhou Guoli's Aura suddenly surged. He stomped his feet and twisted his waist, his whole body like a spinning top. In an instant, both arms swung in full circles—flicking wrists, shaking arms—fast as a meteor and like lightning.

At this moment, Zhou Guoli's hands were like iron, his wrists like cotton, and his arms like steel whips, striking out with long-range power.

But while punching, his other hand was hidden behind, forming a palm blade that could change from palm to fist at any time. He planned that if the first strike failed, he would use the Eight Breaks of Tongbei to quickly transition to the next Move.

The so-called Eight Breaks are eight methods of changing and breaking between the two hands: Moving, Still, Empty, Real, Hard, Soft, Fast, and Slow.

It emphasizes using feints to lure and real strikes to hit, stillness to control movement, and movement like a cannon blast.

It must be said that competing with a master forced out an agility Zhou Guoli didn't previously possess; now, even the softness within was forced out.

Although soft, this softness hid killing intent. With a slight lapse in concentration, the Eight Breaks could truly break your bones.

Suddenly, at that moment, Zhou Guoli felt the ground tremble slightly. Then, Li Changsheng's fists quickly spiraled and retracted inward.

His stomp was like an earthquake. In the next moment, a gust of wind seemed to surge up Li Changsheng's pant legs, passing through his knees, hips, and spine, quickly reaching his shoulders.

As his fists retracted and spiraled, a gust of wind was drawn past Li Changsheng's back. Instantly, his form was like a heavy bow tightened to its limit.

"Standing Heaven Cannon!!"

Instantly, Zhou Guoli's pupils constricted as he made a judgment. This was one of the most famous killing Moves in Baji Quan.

The previous tremor in the ground was the process of the opponent generating and channeling power. The movement was too fast; before he could react, the power was fully charged like a bucket suddenly filled with water.

Seeing this, even a fool like Zhou Guoli understood that his forward leap was heading straight for the mouth of a cannon. He would surely be blasted until his bones were broken and his tendons snapped!