34: Chapter 34 Crushing Fist Against the Enemy

"Hoo!"

Early the next morning, Li Changsheng went for his morning run as usual.

As his stamina continued to improve, the distance he could run kept increasing, but he always maintained a running duration of half an hour.

Li Changsheng was the type of person who, once he set his mind on something, would put effort into studying and researching it.

His daily training already counted as aerobic exercise, so half an hour of running was sufficient; any more would lead to muscle loss, which was not beneficial for the body.

"One minute left, how about a full-force sprint?"

Looking at the stopwatch in his hand, Li Changsheng felt tempted.

He could clearly feel that running three to five kilometers was easy for him now, but he had never done a speed test.

However, just as Li Changsheng was preparing for his final sprint, a startled cry rang out by his ear.

Hearing the sound, Li Changsheng turned his head and saw a spot near the curb at the edge of the park.

A motorcycle passed by a middle-aged woman, and at the moment of passing, the young man on the back seat reached out and snatched the woman's bag, even snapping a gold chain in the process.

Seeing this, Wang Meili shouted anxiously and, disregarding her image, broke into a mad dash to catch up with the two young men on the motorcycle.

But how could she possibly catch up? With a weight of seventy or eighty kilograms, she was panting heavily with her hands on her knees after only a few steps, her eyes nearly filling with tears of anxiety.

Drive-by robbery was a relatively frequent and heinous occurrence in recent years. These people thought they could be lawless just by wearing helmets, and in fact, there was a high probability they wouldn't be caught.

Wang Meili kept shouting "Robbery!" her voice filled with a sob; in that bag was tens of thousands in hard-earned money she intended to save.

Just then, she suddenly felt a gust of strong wind blow past her.

Immediately after, she saw a dark shadow swiftly dash out from beside her, heading straight for the two criminals.

The two criminals were unemployed youths from the neighborhood who, dissatisfied with the hardship and exhaustion of factory work, had taken up this line of business.

"Damn, bro, there's cash in here! Quite a lot! We've hit the jackpot!"

The youth in the back seat opened the leather bag, felt around, and immediately beamed with joy.

Hearing this, the older brother driving also chuckled. It wasn't easy to rob people these days since few carried cash; this was indeed a big haul.

"Bro! Someone's chasing us from behind!"

Suddenly, the youth in the back seat felt something unusual and turned around, only to be startled.

The driving brother was also stunned as he looked through the rearview mirror. What was going on? Where did this kid come from, and why was he running so fast?

"Bro, speed up, speed up!"

Hearing this, the driving brother nodded. They couldn't go too fast earlier because they needed to snatch the bag, but now that someone was chasing them, they couldn't afford to slow down.

This was a gasoline-powered motorcycle; could it really be caught by a human?

Vroom! Vroom!

Seeing the driver ahead rev the engine, Li Changsheng's brow furrowed as he estimated the distance—about ten meters.

At this distance, it might be worth a try; if it didn't work, there was nothing else he could do!

Li Changsheng quickly adjusted his breathing, settling his mind with abdominal breathing; his consciousness, breath, and movements began to coordinate within his body.

This was the breathing technique combining Taiji and the Eight Brocades taking effect, achieving the state where the mind leads the Qi, the Qi Moves the body, and internal and external are unified.

In that instant, every one of Li Changsheng's pores closed, and surges of heat rapidly flooded into his liver area.

His right foot stomped down like a stone mill, and his front foot lunged forward with the Sliding Power of the Half-Step Crushing Fist, while his back foot provided a powerful kick.

Almost simultaneously, the liver fire within his body was ignited. The Crushing Fist belongs to Wood, and Wood belongs to the liver. As the saying goes, when liver fire rises, one becomes furious.

His eyes quickly became bloodshot and red, and his body shot out like an arrow under the sudden explosion of power from his feet; as the saying goes, the liver Moves like a flying arrow.

From a distance, Li Changsheng looked like a cannonball on flat ground. With every step, his waist twisted like a hemp rope being tightened, and when it released, it was like a giant bow snapping back.

One step, two steps, three steps—with the third step, he leaped over ten meters.

Mid-air, his waist twisted again, and his arms, spine, and legs became like five great bows fully drawn.

The lackey who had been watching behind was now completely dumbfounded.

In the next instant, he faintly heard a loud boom in the air.

Bang!

Accompanied by a muffled thud, the lackey in the back seat was the first to be sent flying. The powerful force also caused the motorcycle to flip; both men were thrown out, and the motorcycle slid sideways for dozens of meters, its tires still spinning wildly.

Thud!

Landing on the ground, Li Changsheng panted heavily. His pores quickly opened, and wisps of heat steamed from the surface of his body.

Looking at the bloodstains on his knuckles, Li Changsheng only frowned slightly, but a look of joy spread across his face.

He had actually managed to perfectly execute the Crushing Power in actual combat.

Dashing out in a straight line, the punch followed a straight line; the Crushing Fist is like shooting an arrow.

At that moment, his body, arms, and fists were all perfectly aligned, and the punching power he unleashed was incredibly fast, ruthless, and fierce.

It perfectly matched the description of the Crushing Fist: the body is like a crossbow firing, and the hands are like a hundred arrows piercing through.

"But if it weren't for my moderate success in Stance Training and the Eight Brocades, I wouldn't have been able to catch them without enough Qi."

Li Changsheng muttered to himself; overall, he was very happy this time.

This was a perfect answer to his period of bitter cultivation.

"I still need to remain calm and unhurried. The old man was right; I'm only at the Visible Power level. Only when I can develop Hidden Power will I be considered an expert."

The concepts of Hidden Power and Visible Power were a direction he had recently been discussing with Zhang Youdao.

So-called Visible Power, simply put, is power that stays on the surface. One indicator is that a punch produces a sonic boom, which is what Traditional Martial Arts calls 'a sound that a thousand gold pieces cannot buy.'

This level is quite difficult to master, often requiring at least ten years of foundation, plus actual combat practice. Because when kung fu reaches this Realm, the punch thrown integrates the power of the entire body.

The principle of 'power permeating the whole body' refers to this.

Li Changsheng had achieved this because his Taiji Stance and Eight Brocades were already well-established. Coupled with the guidance of the Great Master Zhang Youdao and the System's memory solidification, he had reached this level of skill.

While regulating his breath, Li Changsheng carefully sensed the feeling from that moment.

He was only a beginner at this level and lacked sparring practice.

One must know that in an emergency, some beginners often resort to wild swinging, forgetting all their routines, Moves, and power techniques.

As for Hidden Power, Li Changsheng had asked the old man, but the old man only said one thing.

"If your kung fu isn't up to par, listening to it is useless."

At first, Li Changsheng didn't quite understand, but thinking about it carefully now, it indeed had deep meaning.

Although he previously felt he should be at the Visible Power level, he had never truly thrown a punch with the integrated power of his entire body.

"However, the Half-Step Crushing Fist belongs to the Xingyi Five Elements, and Crushing Power is a manifestation of integrated body power. The fact that I could demonstrate Visible Power so quickly in combat is largely thanks to the Half-Step Crushing Fist."

Just as Li Changsheng fell into thought, repeated sounds of gratitude came from beside him.

"Young man, thank you! Thank you so much!"

The middle-aged woman bowed repeatedly while clutching the bag she had recovered. She really didn't know how she would have faced her family if it had been stolen.

Hearing this, Li Changsheng snapped back to reality and waved his hand with a faint smile. "We're all neighbors; I help when I can."

"Young man, I think I've seen you before. Do you run here every day?"

The woman thought Li Changsheng looked familiar. In fact, over these days, almost all the elderly people in the vicinity had become very familiar with this young man's face.

Li Changsheng nodded. He had seen this woman too; she usually liked to do square dancing and often competed with another woman for dance partners—quite an interesting lady.