63: Chapter 63 Techniques for Tempering Willpower

Chapter 63: A Cultivation Technique to Temper the Will

Creak—

The iron chains and bracket emitted a harsh friction sound.

The 400-kilogram punching bag hanging in mid-air swayed continuously like a pendulum.

Fang Cheng extended his fists forward, striking the most classic tiger stride posture in Muay Thai.

Accompanied by a shout, he thrust his hips to exert force, whipped his hands and twisted his body, stepping diagonally forward to fiercely kick out.

Then he quickly retracted it.

What he was practicing at this moment was the signature Kicking Techniques of Muay Thai, the roundhouse kick.

This stance had a relatively high center of gravity and leaned slightly toward the rear leg.

It was beneficial for enhancing kicking power and blocking with the front knee, and keeping both hands apart also helped maintain body balance during the roundhouse kick.

Meanwhile, the punching bag in front of him was the largest one in the entire gym, specially used for practicing heavy leg Kicking Techniques.

It looked to be of very good quality right now, and combined with the characteristics of the internal stuffing, there was no fear of kicking it to pieces at all.

Although Muay Thai gave people a "barbaric" impression, many of its combat techniques truly had their unique aspects.

Just like the roundhouse kick technique, which possessed immense power and was often used to KO opponents in the arena.

Even if blocked by an opponent, it could still inflict damage upon them.

This was similar to the whip kick in Sanda, yet not entirely the same.

The Sanda whip kick emphasized the "unity of waist and horse", executing the movement in one go.

The force exertion time was short, and when exploding, it sounded crisp like swinging a "soft whip".

The Muay Thai roundhouse kick, on the other hand, placed more emphasis on driving leg force through the rotation of the body's core.

The force exertion time was relatively long, relying on the inertia of the heavy leg to sweep and smash out like a "stick".

Therefore, the whip kick was relatively flexible, making it more suited for close-range encounters characterized by quick entry and exit.

Just like the situation when Fang Cheng and the Man in Black fought.

As for the roundhouse kick, it was more suitable for gathering strength to attack from a relatively long distance, pursuing the maximum degree of lethality.

For instance, kicking and hitting the punching bag with all his might like right now.

After practicing the roundhouse kick for a while, Fang Cheng's understanding of this combat skill grew increasingly profound.

The Kicking Techniques in Muay Thai primarily used the shinbones to strike opponents.

The human shinbones were very sturdy and relatively long, making them very suitable to act as a "weapon".

But as the saying goes, "Since ancient times, sharp steel blades break first." If he encountered a tougher opponent or kicked the wrong area, it was extremely easy to suffer a fracture.

Such situations occurred from time to time in the competition arena.

In pursuit of greater lethality, Muay Thai fighters often ignored the damage they themselves suffered, carrying a hint of the Seven Injuries Fist.

However, it was precisely because of this characteristic of Muay Thai that it could perform so fiercely and sweep everything before it in the combat arena.

It was even hailed as the "strongest standing combat skill on the surface of the earth".

Although there was an element of boasting in that, it also indirectly revealed Muay Thai's strength in terms of offense.

Fang Cheng continuously kicked and hit the punching bag, unleashing all kinds of Kicking Techniques he had learned during today's sparring sessions.

In his concept, there was never any absolute strongest Martial Skill, only executing the most appropriate technique under the right circumstances.

Moves were dead, but people were alive.

Only by mastering all techniques thoroughly could one become a stronger Martial Artist!

After finishing the practice of Kicking Techniques.

Fang Cheng then began to practice two exceptionally important techniques in Muay Thai.

Elbow techniques and knee techniques.

Although there were differences between Muay Thai's punching and Kicking Techniques compared to Boxing and Sanda, the distinctions were not very large.

Therefore, if he wanted to unlock this skill, the Focus still lay on the elbow and knee techniques.

And these two techniques happened to also possess extreme lethality.

The so-called "elbows pass like knives, knee strikes like hammers"—the power unleashed in actual combat could always exceed an opponent's imagination.

Through sparring with Muay Thai fighters a few times, Fang Cheng had basically mastered various elbow strike and knee thrust techniques.

All that remained was to improve proficiency and flexibly use combination skills.

The training hall after off-duty hours.

It was so quiet that only the sound of his own breathing and the snapping sounds of his fists and feet exerting force could be heard.

Fang Cheng's gaze was full of Focus, every single move executed decently and cleanly.

Horizontal elbow, upward elbow, downward smashing elbow, turning elbow; rushing knee, straight knee, flying knee, smashing knee...

As the elbow and knee techniques were used in coordination, the more he practiced, the more it gave off a fierce, wind-whipping sensation.

He even vaguely grasped a momentum of growing ever-braver the more he fought.

If he could master this momentum, let alone entering the threshold of the skill, promotion to a Great Master would also be just around the corner.

Half an hour later.

After finishing his Muay Thai practice and taking a shower.

With a "bang", Fang Cheng closed the gym's main door and was the last to leave the club.

Hidden in the cross-body bag on his back were two discs that were already one day overdue and needed to be returned as soon as possible.

...

Eight o'clock at night.

Inside Wuyou Audiovisual Store, Wu Datong carried a thermos flask and poured boiling water into a large bowl of instant noodles.

Besides the noodle cake and seasonings, the side dishes included ham sausage and shredded mustard tuber, and he specially added a braised egg.

It could be described as extremely lavish, smelling fragrant just from the aroma.

Just at this moment, a tall and thin young man pushed open the glass door and walked in.

He placed the two discs on the counter and said:

"Boss, sorry, I'm a day late. How much money needs to be deducted?"

Check every single one without any errors!

Wu Datong looked up and saw that it was Fang Cheng, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

His eyes instantly lit up, and a trace of a smile squeezed onto his face.

"Forget it, we're all old customers; there's no need to calculate accounts so clearly..."

He waved his hand very generously, and then asked quite casually:

"Right, A-Cheng, what did you think about what I told you last time?"

Hearing this, Fang Cheng was slightly stunned.

He immediately recalled the matter Wu Datong had mentioned, and thus deliberated:

"May I ask what kind of fighting friends they are? If..."

As he spoke, his gaze involuntarily glanced toward Wu Datong's somewhat inconvenient left foot.

Although he very much wanted to find opponents to temper his own skills, he couldn't possibly fight with the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, right?

"What kind of look is that? When I was young, I was young too, and I even won a combat competition championship!"

Wu Datong muttered a few words with dissatisfaction, and then simply made the final decision:

"How about this, there is an activity gathering next Thursday, I will personally take you to meet them, how about it?"

Fang Cheng pondered slightly and nodded.

Previously, he hadn't cared much about his words mainly because after becoming a sparring partner, there were so many targets in the club to grind experience from.

He could practice skills and make money at the same time, so there was simply no need to branch out into extra complications.

Now, along with the enhancement of his strength and the upgrading of skills, the growth rate of experience was becoming slower and slower.

He indeed needed to find some stronger opponents as targets.

Thinking of this, Fang Cheng subsequently brought up the request for renting discs this time:

"Uncle Wu, I want to watch some documentaries about Muay Thai."

"Also, do you have any instructional films here that can teach foreign languages, such as Japanese Language, Latin..."

"Yes, we have all of them!"

Seeing Fang Cheng agree, Wu Datong instantly became as enthusiastic as fire.

Soon dragging his limp leg, he specially carried out a pile of discs from the inner room.

"These are all my treasured foreign language teaching materials, considered as lent to you for free to study for a few days."

Fang Cheng looked closely and saw that the covers were all photo shoot girls dressed very scantily.

He couldn't help but slightly open his mouth in astonishment.

"This kind of... isn't very appropriate, right..."

"Just tell me whether you want to learn or not?"

Fang Cheng immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum.

Wu Datong felt somewhat disappointed at his failure to live up to expectations:

"Do you know what the best Cultivation Technique to temper one's willpower as a Martial Artist is? It's enduring temptation while studying."

"If it weren't for seeing that you have some martial arts talent, I wouldn't even bother telling ordinary people..."

Listening to an elder give such earnest guidance, Fang Cheng reluctantly nodded.

Of course.

He wasn't curious about what the teachers of this world actually looked like, or whether they still possessed both moral integrity and artistic skill.

He simply wanted to challenge his own weakness.

"Besides these few, I also want some more serious ones."

Fang Cheng put away the teaching materials and continued to make requests.

"Hiss, aren't these enough to satisfy you? Young people truly are formidable!"

Hearing this, Wu Datong drew a sharp breath.