277: Chapter 274 This Old Six

After the two formally announced their names and cupped their fists in salute, they officially settled into their stances.

However, after waiting for about a minute, neither of them made a move.

"Master Zhang, are you not planning to strike first?" Li Changsheng asked with a smile.

"You go first. You know that Iron Sand Palm is the only thing I can bring to the table. Asking me to compete with you on footwork and speed is just bullshitting!"

Zhang Zhao, not afraid of exposing his own shortcomings, laughed and retorted.

"Then Master Zhang, be careful!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Changsheng lunged forward in the next instant.

Theoretically, the greatest characteristic of Southern Fist is using sound to augment power, often requiring a loud shout, but Li Changsheng was genuinely afraid that if he used his Lions Roar Skill, this sparring session would be over before it began.

To suffer such a roar while completely unprepared was no different than being temporarily incapacitated.

In an instant, Li Changsheng's hands moved like butterflies weaving through flowers, swiftly cutting into the centerline, thrusting forward like a long spear.

With a move from Nanzhi Fist, "Fierce Tiger Leaving the Cave," followed immediately by "Flowers Blooming on the Ground" chain punches, since he was attacking first, he had to establish an advantage in Aura.

Although he didn't unleash the Lions Roar Skill, with the Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, sunken waist, and planted stance, his Integrated Force was overflowing and venting wildly as he moved, raining blows down directly toward Zhang Zhao's face.

He was taking advantage of the clumsiness inherent in those who Cultivate the Iron Sand Palm.

Strictly speaking, Iron Sand Palm is merely a palm-power technique. During the martial arts tournament in '29, Liu Gaosheng, known as the "Copper Head and Iron Arms" who shook the South of the Yangtze River, was an expert in Iron Sand Palm.

Breaking bricks and splitting stones with Hard Qigong were mere parlor tricks to him; he had trained his Hard Qigong to the extreme. "Invulnerable to blades and spears" might be an exaggeration, but he no longer feared strikes to vital areas like the groin.

He even performed the stunt of being hit in the groin with a sledgehammer, yet facing the Martial Champion of that year, Cao Yanhai, he was defeated by constant, rapid, mobile attacks.

Before he could even channel his palm power, Cao Yanhai had already punched him in the head and face several times, leaving him dazed, until he was finally knocked flying by a final blow.

However, just as Li Changsheng's fists were about to strike his chest, abdomen, waist, and ribs, he saw Zhang Zhao shift his body slightly, his front leg quickly tracing a semicircle around him.

Immediately following this, he twisted his waist and turned his body, dodging the two consecutive punches. In the next instant, his body moved with speed several times greater than usual, swiftly stepping forward while simultaneously driving his shoulder into Li Changsheng.

In an instant, Zhang Zhao's entire shoulder felt like a long spear, slicing straight along Li Changsheng's centerline in the manner of a Middle-Flat Spear.

The shoulder and elbow were aimed directly at Li Changsheng's collarbone and throat.

While dodging Li Changsheng's fists, his arms also moved, flicking downward and then immediately stabbing toward Li Changsheng's ribs, like two venomous snakes striking from both sides, aiming to bite into the soft ribs on both sides of Li Changsheng.

His five fingers closed into a palm blade, using horizontal movement to drive the stab, containing hardness within softness. His wrists rotated slightly, like two spiral drill bits, carrying Silk Reeling Power, stabbing like spear tips. It was swift and vicious, stepping into the center, seizing the centerline. In a flash, he reversed the precarious situation, completing a 180-degree turn in the dynamic.

Seeing this, Li Changsheng's expression remained unchanged. He quickly changed his fist techniques, shifting like twisting flower branches, turning fists into palms, and suddenly clamping inward, using the "Sunken Bridge" method of Southern Fist to rapidly drop his elbows.

With his five toes gripping the ground, rooting himself, his elbows suddenly clamped shut like two closed heavy doors, both deflecting Zhang Zhao's palm stabs and perfectly blocking the shoulder strike.

Utilizing the force of that impact, Li Changsheng leaped backward with agility, landing steadily with a push-off jump.

"Master Zhang, you really do like to hide your light under a bushel. Iron Sand Palm, Swastika Hand, and now you've got spherical springs, hidden Sword Qi, and evenly distributed force flowing through everything."

"Don't tell me you're some descendant of the Gu Clan; you might as well say you're a descendant of Sun Style Tai Chi."

Li Changsheng smiled; just now, this guy Zhang Zhao had successively displayed the "Opening and Closing Hands" of Sun Style Tai Chi, as well as its active step framework.

It was a perfect interpretation of what active-step Taiji with advancing, retreating, opening, and closing is all about.

Damn it, I got tricked by this sly fox again.

Although he had known in his heart that this sly fox must have been hiding something, anyone with a brain would know that since he had lived and eaten with the Gu Clan for many years and had also Cultivated at Shaolin, even through mere exposure, he wouldn't have learned nothing but Iron Sand Palm.

Besides, this guy dared to come to Chinatown to challenge gyms; if he relied solely on the clumsy palm power of Iron Sand Palm without any other backing, how could he dare to do it?

"Master Li, you know that Iron Sand Palm is at best a palm-power technique; the routines are neither numerous nor refined. In a martial arts contest, without some refined footwork, how can fist and foot techniques possibly work?"

Zhang Zhao replied with a chuckle, his words sounding reasonable and well-grounded.

"Master Zhang, just how many more techniques are you hiding?" Li Changsheng asked helplessly; he was truly impressed by this sly fox.

"That's it, that's it. Let's continue, continue!"

Zhang Zhao smiled exceptionally happily, but in the next instant, his eyes suddenly turned sharp. His legs stepped forward rapidly, causing the ground to slap and pop with each step. In the next moment, he lunged forward with a large stride, while his arms simultaneously whipped out to the left and right like long lashes, his hips driving his waist in a violent twist.

Snap!~

The twisting of his spine drove the swinging of his arms, like two long lashes whipping out rapidly. When Zhang Zhao was relaxed, he was incredibly soft and pliable; when he was hard, he was instantly taut like steel cables.

When his arms whipped out, they were like spring-loaded Cloud Hands, swinging rapidly like a mane that hadn't been groomed, parting left and right in the rapid motion, elegant and smooth.

His body sank, his center of gravity shifted to his left leg, and he quickly stepped forward to the right. After landing, his left foot pivoted, allowing his right palm to first slice upward diagonally and flip outward. At the same time, his left hand coordinated with his right to draw a counter-clockwise arc. The move wasn't particularly flashy, but it had great rhythm and was extremely smooth.

It was directly a "Right Parting the Wild Horses Mane." The movement looked complicated, but in reality, it was done in one breath with extreme speed.

Zhang Zhao's movements were too fast; one second he was chatting, and the next he was unleashing a charged "Parting the Wild Horses Mane." This move was truly integrated offense and defense, and Li Changsheng could only retreat again.

However, Zhang Zhao refused to let him off, his hands turning like flying wheels. One hand reached up toward the Baihui acupoint, while the other reached down toward the Changqiang acupoint. His hands were like two rings, alternating up and down.

Pop! Pop! Pop!~

The dense sound of palm strikes rang out as both palms consecutively imprinted toward Li Changsheng.

Seeing this, Li Changsheng could only retreat while using both hands and feet, employing Nanzhi Fist techniques like wrist blocks, side kicks, and chopping hands, continuously parrying and deflecting force with a mix of defense and offense.

However, Zhang Zhao's palms came one after another. Every time a palm struck out, even if it just grazed his skin, Li Changsheng felt as if the contact point had been harshly rubbed by coarse iron sand.

Pulling back to create distance, he looked down and saw that his elbows, wrists, and palms had already been abraded until they were bleeding.

He sniffed, and Li Changsheng's face instantly darkened; the air seemed to be giving off a faint scent of rust.

This "Tetanus Palm"... after being hit by this, he was probably going to need a tetanus shot.