Chapter 27: Limit Breaking Strike VS the Pulsing Wave Force

Chen Chuan noticed that Gu Mao’s breathing had not changed since he stepped into the ring. This meant that he was maintaining his breathing technique for long periods of time. Since he was an instructor, it was highly likely that he knew refined force, so he had to be on guard.

Gu Mao gave him a fist-and-palm salute, and Chen Chuan did the same.

After Gu Mao lowered his hands, he warned, “Careful, kid.”

He extended his hands, as if he was parting grass. Then, he bent his head and shot forward. Chen Chuan could see all his movements clearly, but the instructor closed in on him in an instant. This did not seem like a technique from Heroic General Fist, so it caught Chen Chuan by surprise.

Gu Mao’s hands moved in an unpredictable mix of real attacks and feints. He also shifted his body from side to side, so Chen Chuan could not tell just where Gu Mao was going to attack. All he could do was put on a proper, steady stance to deal with the unpredictable moves.

Gu Mao switched between another set of real attacks and feints before he did a lunge and threw a punch at Chen Chuan’s solar plexus. Chen Chuan lowered the center of his gravity and used Major Sanshou’s Thrust-and-Guard Palm to meet Gu Mao’s attack. This technique was both a defensive and offensive move. It could block an attack and counterattack at the same time.

But to his surprise, when he touched Gu Mao, he suddenly felt a powerful, explosive force coming from Gu Mao’s fist. Even his feet left the floor.

Alarm bells rang in his head, but Gu Mao did not stop. Before Chen Chuan landed on the floor, he performed a jumping spinning kick.

Chen Chuan crossed his hands and clenched his core. Even though he managed to block the kick, he was still sent flying and crashed into the ropes behind him.

When Gu Mao landed, he maintained the posture of the kick before he lowered his leg slowly. Cheers erupted around them.

It had been a long time since the others had seen Gu Mao fight so seriously, because their veteran martial artists usually defeated those who came to spar in just a few moves. Gu Mao never had the chance to fight.

Chen Chuan straightened his waist and stood up. Even though he had been thrown back, he became fired up. He could tell. That was refined force.

He found the right person.

This was the sort of opponent he had been hoping to fight.

Chen Chuan cast a glance at his second self: A large part of him had blurred out. He was surprised by how much damage his second self had sustained from a single kick. He only had a little over a minute to overlap with his second self. Based on experience, after that kick, he could at most overlap with his second for around fifty seconds.

If he got hit a few more times, he might as well throw in the towel. He might even get hurt from it. It seemed that if he wanted to fight against someone who knew refined force, he had to end the fight within the shortest amount of time possible.

When Gu Mao saw Chen Chuan standing up with ease, his expression remained the same, but his heart was not as calm as the surface.

He had used the Pulsing Wave Force—the secret technique of the Heroic General Fist—at the start of the fight. Anyone clueless about this technique would feel their bodies go numb, and their muscles would lose all strength. While he seemed to have only thrown Chen Chuan back with the final kick, he had used refined force in it to deal a second heavy blow.

He had thought that Chen Chuan would be unable to fight anymore, but by the looks of it, he was completely fine. He did not seem to have used refined force to defend himself but taken the hits with his body.

This was troublesome.

He did not actually want to run into opponents with outstanding physical abilities, because refined force was not just a weapon, but also a tool. While it was useful, using it too many times put a burden on the body.

Even more troublesome was that Chen Chuan now knew that he could use refined force and would be on guard against it. It would no longer be so easy to hit him, and if he could not hit him, he would just be wasting his stamina.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Gu Mao sucked in a breath before exhaling. With a light bounce and a tap of his front foot, he fell into a stance. The floor of the ring sank a little.

Chen Chuan did not wait. If Gu Mao was not going to charge at him, then he was going to go to Gu Mao. He stepped forward, and with his breathing technique guiding him, he soon drew close to his opponent.

Gu Mao brought his knee up to slam it into Chen Chuan’s face, but Chen Chuan was ready for it. He raised one hand, ready to change direction at any moment. But then, Gu Mao suddenly brought his raised leg down with a stomp, and the floor rippled.

Chen Chuan felt the floor shift under his feet, as if he was floating.

If Senior Brother Yan could tell that Chen Chuan’s center of gravity was affected because he was not used to fighting in a ring, then Gu Mao could see it too. This time, he sent the Pulsing Wave Force through the floor.

Meanwhile, Gu Mao leaned forward and charged to grab Chen Chuan’s right forearm. With a spin of his feet, he pressed his back against Chen Chuan’s chest before he bent his back to throw Chen Chuan over his shoulder.

Immediately realizing what was happening, Chen Chuan quickly pushed down on Gu Mao’s waist with his left hand and tried to free his right arm, but Gu Mao suddenly changed the center of his gravity and fell backward using the momentum of Chen Chuan’s pull.

If Gu Mao managed to pin Chen Chuan’s body to the floor, he might break some of his bones and rupture some tendons. Upon noticing this, Chen Chuan tensed up his right arm, which remained in Gu Mao’s grasp, and grabbed onto Gu Mao. He also twisted his waist to attempt to flip their positions so that Gu Mao would end up being the one pinned.

But Gu Mao reacted quickly as well. He spun around in the direction of Chen Chuan’s pull and then shifted back. In an instant, he broke free of contact with Chen Chuan.

Gu Mao also used the momentum to shove at Chen Chuan in the end, and Chen Chuan stumbled back a few steps. They ended up in their starting positions.

Both sides had needed to react instantaneously during the brief exchange. They had a back-and-forth of counterattacks, and both were nearly thrown to the floor at different points. The people watching all clapped and cheered. It was a rare exciting match.

Gu Mao marveled at Chen Chuan’s strength and reaction. They were definitely not something someone his age should be able to have. He had somehow managed to neutralize his disadvantageous situation.

Only Chen Chuan knew the truth of the situation. He had relied on his second self to improve his overall physical abilities. Otherwise, he would have been pinned against the floor, then the fight would have turned into a battle of takedowns and chokes. Gu Mao still had refined force, though. By then, even if Chen Chuan had his second self, the fight would not last long.

Chen Chuan could not possibly win against Gu Mao’s experience and skill. So why should he bother trading blows with him? He should have launched a fierce attack and made full use of his advantage of not having to worry about getting hurt because of his second self.

At that moment, he seemed to have come up with something, and he said, “I made a mistake.”

“What?” Gu Mao was puzzled.

All the unnecessary thoughts disappeared from Chen Chuan’s head, and he smiled. For some reason, Gu Mao felt that he was about to be in danger.

The sound of friction came from under Chen Chuan’s feet as he charged forward. At the same time, his second self overlapped with him, and he seemed to leave an afterimage as he whizzed through the ring.

“What...?”

Gu Mao was shocked. Chen Chuan was so fast? He could retreat at this moment, but if he did, Chen Chuan would catch up to him within half a step. Then, Chen Chuan would overpower him because he had not managed to put on a proper stance. At this point, Gu Mao no longer had the time to bring his leg up, so he could only push his hand forward.

Chen Chuan met it without dodging. He just extended an arm to block it. The moment their arms touched, he felt the power from before charging at him. Gu Mao had managed to use his refined force.

This time, though, Chen Chuan flipped his wrist and used the Hook-Seize Grip to grab Gu Mao’s arm. He let the force slam into his body without budging.

Gu Mao’s eyes widened in shock.

The next moment, Chen Chuan made use of his body’s advantage to yank Gu Mao’s arm to the side while he took a side lunge to slam his elbow into Gu Mao’s chest. With the power granted by breaking his limits, he executed Major Sanshou’s Gatebreaker Elbow.

The impending danger made Gu Mao let out a shout. He did not dodge, but instead, he pulled the arm Chen Chuan had yanked to the side and generated a counterforce. With his arm serving as a pivot, like the handle of a hammer, he swung his body forward like the hammerhead, channeling refined force as he met Chen Chuan’s attack head-on with his chest.

A dull thud rose, and both of them trembled.

Everyone watched with bated breath, but both of them stayed still and did not do anything else.

“Let’s end this here.” Gu Mao watched Chen Chuan calmly.

Chen Chuan nodded.

They lowered their arms at the same time, straightened their bodies, and met each other’s gazes.

“That was amazing!” someone shouted from outside the ring, and his words were followed by excited claps.

Chen Chuan gave Gu Mao a fist and palm salute and said sincerely, “I’ve learned a lot today. Thank you, Mr. Gu.”

He found it a pity that even if he used the Limit Breaking Strike, he did not manage to defeat Gu Mao. The instructor was truly powerful.

But after facing someone of this caliber head-on, he had a general grasp of the level of someone who could use refined force. He had to increase the intensity of his training later.

Gu Mao saluted him right back and smiled. “You flatter me. Our doors are always open, and we welcome outstanding youngsters like you to visit us whenever you want.”

“Okay!” Chen Chuan’s eyes lit up, and he eagerly agreed.

Gu Mao’s lips twitched at the eager reply.

After Chen Chuan got out of the ring, he found that a large group of people had surrounded it at some point of time and filled up most of the martial arts school. When they saw him get out, they opened up a path for him automatically.

Just then, someone in the crowd waved at him. “Hey!”

Chen Chuan looked over and recognized Liang Tong, the one who gave him the flyer. He smiled and nodded at him in acknowledgement before he left the martial arts school.

After Chen Chuan left, Gu Mao said, “Alright. We’re done here. Go back to training, all of you.”

Everyone listened to him and left in small groups, but they were still excited and talked fervently about the fight.

Gu Mao was about to leave the ring when Liang Tong ran up to him. “Mr. Gu, that’s someone from my school! I heard that he got into Martial Valor University.”

Gu Mao looked at him and hummed.

“Take a look around,” he said and left behind a puzzled Liang Tong.

After he shut the door of his lounge, his stern expression finally faded away. He cradled his chest and winced. As he removed his shirt, he found that a huge, dark bruise had formed on his chest.

He grabbed a bottle of medicinal wine from a cabinet and spread it across his chest while hissing in pain.

“That kid throws a mean punch. He broke at least two of my ribs... No, make it three...”

If he had not used refined force as a counterforce at the last moment so that Chen Chuan could not attack him with his full strength, he might even have injured organs.

He didn’t seem to have used refined force. It felt like pure strength and a special technique...

Thank goodness he didn’t have refined force. He’s already so strong, so if he learned refined force on top of that, he’d be a monster. He would have killed me with a punch.

“Martial Valor University, huh?” he mumbled to himself. “How many years has he been practicing martial arts? The students who get into the university are really powerful... I just hope he won’t come again.”

Chen Chuan had already left the martial arts school at this point and saw that most of his second self had blurred out. In the final clash, aside from getting hit with two consecutive attacks laced with refined force, his Limit Breaking Strike had also dealt a certain degree of damage to his second self. Right now, he could only overlap with his second self for less than ten seconds.

As he recalled what had happened, he thought that Gu Mao really befitted his title as a martial arts instructor. He had so much experience and could always find a way to counterattack. If Chen Chuan had the chance, he would come and ask for more guidance.

It was the end of a work day, so the roads were full of cars and people. The setting sun dyed everything a golden red. Chen Chuan exhaled. With light footsteps, he soon blended into the bustling crowd.