67: Chapter 66 The Eight Extremes Show Their Power

Both men shook their hands; that last exchange of punches hadn't been pleasant for either of them.

"Very good, this is getting more and more interesting. It's only challenging to kill an expert like you who has mastered both internal and external cultivation!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Wenqiang moved rapidly. Li Changsheng had already been on guard against this; this guy had no martial ethics.

He saw the man draw a circle with a radius the length of his arm, then begin to circle along its perimeter.

He saw him quickly close the distance, but even while rushing in, he kept circling Li Changsheng. Suddenly, the opponent's control over distance became exceptionally sharp, avoiding the direct path to strike from an angle, waiting for an opportunity to attack, landing a punch on Li Changsheng from time to time.

His footwork became exceptionally methodical, always attacking while circling. It looked light and agile, lacking lethality, but every strike was incredibly tricky, combining hardness and softness—twisting, wrapping, drilling, turning—avoiding the direct to strike obliquely, circling to hit the mark.

It looked like boxing, but his footwork was as agile as a Dragon swimming through the air. As he twisted, turned, and circled, his punches seemed to transform into palm strikes, with endless variations in his attacks.

The opponent's sudden change in boxing style caught Li Changsheng off guard. Previously, this person's style had been the wide-open, powerful Hung Ga, and this sudden shift made him quite uncomfortable.

He wanted to dodge, but the opponent was like a swimming Dragon, constantly finding openings to land a hit, making Li Changsheng wince in pain.

"Since I can't see through it, then there's no need to. I will adapt to the situation, use hardness to break finesse, and use strength to overcome softness!"

The philosophy the old man had instilled in him at the beginning quickly surfaced in Li Changsheng's mind.

It was the same method he used when fighting Tom; since he couldn't see through the opponent's style, he would display his strongest side right from the start.

If one wave fails, continue with the next, endless like a violent storm, suppressing the opponent until they can't breathe and are overwhelmed. Naturally, the opponent's Moves will become chaotic and panicked!

Using coiling energy to neutralize the opponent's fierce palm strike, Li Changsheng quickly closed the distance.

Jiang Wenqiang's expression changed slightly, but the next instant, Li Changsheng used his shoulder as the point of force, instantly driving the twisting power of his waist and hips, combining the strength of his entire body to lean into the opponent.

Iron Mountain Lean?!

Opening the door to strike, six forces combined into one, Iron Mountain Lean!

The Baji Quan Iron Mountain Lean embodied the explosive power of Baji Quan, possessing the momentum to shake shoulders and topple the heavens, and stomp feet to shake the Nine Provinces.

The instantaneous transition from Xingyi to Baji Quan shocked Jiang Wenqiang. He stomped his feet rapidly, trying to stay close to Li Changsheng and circle around him to neutralize the strike.

But the next instant, Li Changsheng's movement suddenly paused. The soles of his shoes ground violently against the ground again, his ankle hurt, and the sudden stop caused his waist muscles to spasm.

Intense pain caused cold sweat to instantly appear on Li Changsheng's forehead, but he couldn't care about anything else. Use speed to defeat slowness, use strength to defeat weakness; since he was going to fight, he had to fight to the end.

One had to know that when unleashing a full-force killing Move using the inertia of the entire body, changing techniques suddenly placed an extremely heavy burden on the body.

At the moment of halting his forward inertia, Li Changsheng lunged forward with his right leg, his waist twisting rapidly in the opposite direction, like a high-speed car suddenly braking in an extremely short time and then speeding off in the reverse direction.

At this moment, even the steel gears of a car's mechanism would likely be destroyed, but Li Changsheng, eyes red, ignored it completely. Since it was a fight to the death, he would bet everything!

With the opponent's peculiar footwork, dodging a straightforward technique like the Iron Mountain Lean was easy, and he was aiming to catch him by surprise.

His footwork came to a sudden, screeching halt, his waist rapidly rotating and tightening in the opposite direction, like a crossbow once again coiled and ready to fire. His waist drove the airflow, causing the air to become slightly chaotic for an instant.

At this moment, Li Changsheng seemed to hear the sound of his waist muscles tearing and his bones cracking.

When Jiang Wenqiang reacted, his expression changed drastically. He had just been using Baguazhang, wanting to suddenly switch from hard to soft to catch the opponent off guard, but he hadn't expected the opponent to refuse to get entangled with him at all.

He went straight for such a fierce combo, and with such a reckless fighting style.

The next instant, his waist suddenly relaxed, driving his fist like a piercing arrow. The rotation of his body caused his fist to carve an arc, striking like a thunderbolt winding and coiling.

Fast!

Bang!

One strike. The feeling of his fist colliding with flesh and blood was fed back to Li Changsheng's mind with absolute clarity.

Jiang Wenqiang stumbled as if struck by lightning.

His eyes glazed over for a moment, pupils dilating slightly, but soon he bit the tip of his tongue and stomped his feet violently, trying desperately to steady himself. But the next instant, Li Changsheng's right fist rotated sideways and quickly withdrew to his lower right rib.

Like a rotating cannon ready to fire, he immediately stepped forward again, his figure turning rapidly like a willow in a gale.

His legs suddenly set into a Stance Training posture, and his right fist, following the inertia, blasted out again, the sound of whistling wind erupting.

Bang!

Another punch landed directly on Jiang Wenqiang's lower ribs. The immense pain made his eyes widen, and the breath in his chest was instantly knocked out, cold sweat streaming down.

But he still didn't fall. Blood was already flowing from his mouth, his teeth nearly crushed.

How could he die!

How could he die here!

A deadly fire hadn't been able to take his life, so how could he die here?!

Seeing the opponent still forcing himself not to fall, Li Changsheng's face was terrifyingly grim, his complexion somewhat pale—the consequence of forcing the change in technique.

But the result was gratifying. This was one of the Baji killing Moves, the "Three Unheeded Gates," and two of them had landed solidly!

Without dwelling on why the opponent hadn't fallen yet, Li Changsheng stepped forward again, intending to land another blow, but suddenly...

Hiss!

The tearing sensation in his waist muscles struck, intense pain swept through his entire body again, and his movements paused for a split second.

At this moment, Jiang Wenqiang also mustered his remaining strength. It had to be said that his willpower was terrifyingly strong; being able to endure the pain of fire poison at all times meant his nerves were long since numb, but on the other hand, it was sheer willpower.

Science had proven that when a person's willpower is extremely focused, the physical reaction speed and strength they can explode with are incredible; this stimulates a massive secretion of adrenaline.

He endured the heart-wrenching pain, knowing he had already lost the initiative. In a battle between experts, a split-second contest could determine life and death.

If not for his strong willpower, he would have already been lying on the ground.

Jiang Wenqiang held his arms in front, his body preparing to retreat rapidly.

Li Changsheng naturally wouldn't give the opponent a chance to turn the tables. He took a deep breath, relying on the fine control over his body brought by Foundation Establishment to suppress the intense pain, then stomped his back foot violently. His joints cracked, and his legs stepped rapidly to close the distance.

Since he had decided to bet everything, he couldn't hold back. He would not stop until he killed the opponent!

Both were following the way martial artists used to duel in the past: either I kill you, or you kill me. Simple and direct.

The next instant, Li Changsheng bent his front arm to store elbow power, his back hand grabbing the whip-end and pulling it behind him, his right leg stomping violently to release the vibrating force.

Guiding force through the ground, strength permeated his entire body.

His figure suddenly leaned forward sideways, his spine whipping like a Dragon's tail. The wind howled, like a heavy hammer striking directly at the eardrums, and an elbow strike followed fiercely.

Feeling the incoming wind, Jiang Wenqiang's face showed despair. He wanted to retreat desperately to neutralize the fierce power of this strike, but having suffered consecutive setbacks, the fact that he hadn't fainted yet was already a result of his willpower far exceeding that of ordinary people.

At this moment, his movements were severely deformed.

Bang!

Another strike. This blow was still a solid hit, unmistakably the Heart-Striking Elbow from Baji.

This Move by Li Changsheng perfectly displayed the characteristics of Baji: internally possessing the eight intents—startling, fierce, ruthless, explosive, divine, poisonous—and externally possessing the eight forms—Dragon, Tiger, Bear, Monkey, Swallow, Dog, Eagle, Quail.

The essence of the Heart-Striking Elbow is to enter the body and strike forward, the elbow slamming into the target. The person hit feels as if they have been struck by a small truck, and the reality was exactly that.

Jiang Wenqiang was sent flying like a torn sack, crashing into the heavy iron door of a resident's home, emitting a loud bang.

His spine collided with the iron door, and his body then fell heavily, sprawling on the ground.

Li Changsheng was about to step forward to continue the fierce attack, but as he rushed close and looked, the man was already without a sound.

At the same level, in a duel between experts, victory or defeat is decided in an instant. It's not as flashy as in the movies; although the two exchanged several rounds, it was only about three minutes in total.

Glancing at the dented iron door, then looking at the man's spine, Li Changsheng walked silently toward his plastic bag. He picked up the bag containing the groceries, his gait somewhat strange, and walked out of the alley, limping.

His body had been struck several times when the opponent was circling him, and his ankle joint had been injured during the rapid, sudden stops—it might be a fracture, or perhaps a dislocation or sprain.

The most serious injury was to his waist and abdomen; muscle tearing was certain, and it was possible that something even more serious like necrosis had occurred.

In the surveillance footage, one could only see a figure staggering along, very calm, terrifyingly calm.

Until the person disappeared from the screen, the several auxiliary police officers and Police Officer Zhang Wei gasped for air.

The fight just now had been too rapid and fierce, one chain linking to another, without the slightest pause between the two. Every Move was aimed at vital points, like mortal enemies, the kind that would fight to the death.

And the movements of Li Changsheng and Jiang Wenqiang were full of the aesthetics of violence; every time they threw a punch or shifted position, there was a whistling of wind.

Especially the final Heart-Striking Elbow dash and collision; even through the surveillance, they could hear the sound of that biting, whistling wind from afar.

— —

At this moment, on both sides of the alley, the entrances and exits were packed with tactical personnel waiting in full battle array.

"Huff, huff! Director Lu, you are in charge here, give the order!"

Captain Zheng glanced at Director Lu, who was waiting opposite, and said in a deep voice.

"Hmm!" Director Lu nodded imperceptibly, just about to give a low shout.

Suddenly, at this moment, a sound of staggering footsteps approached slowly from far to near.

In an instant, everyone was stunned, looking at each other, the surroundings so quiet one could hear a pin drop.

Eyes exchanged glances, as if to say, what is going on?

Especially Captain Zhang, Captain Zheng, and Captain Liu, who all looked at Director Lu, seemingly asking whether they should act immediately.

But Director Lu hesitated again and again, finally shaking his head and giving the order to arrest the person immediately once they walked out of the alley.

This order was hard to express with gestures, but everyone understood Director Lu's meaning, holding their breath as they waited for the owner of the footsteps to approach.

When the figure walked out of the alley entrance, just as the few people at the front were preparing to pounce, their movements suddenly paused.

The sudden pause of those in front caused several people behind to almost collide with each other.

Captain Zheng and Captain Liu were right at the front; they extended a hand to block, signaling those behind not to come forward.

Then everyone saw a somewhat unfamiliar young man walking out, limping, carrying a bag of vegetables, meat, and fruit.

This casual, homey appearance left everyone momentarily stunned, as if this person had just been strolling around a nearby vegetable market.

If he weren't limping, no one would have suspected a thing.

The person even looked left and right, wearing a confused expression.

"Why are you here?!"

And when the person looked around, Captain Zhang, Captain Zheng, and even Director Lu were finally able to confirm the person's identity, and couldn't help but blurt out.