Book 14: Chapter 99
Gulu and Xun Feng
Boom! The new dent in the ring that Che Gulu created was tiny compared to the one Bai Ju made, but it was still a respectable demonstration of strength.
Xun Feng lightly moved out of the way before Che Gulu’s punch could land, demonstrating a high-degree of proficiency in using disciplines requiring little – relatively speaking – physical strength.
Although Xun Feng and Che Gulu put on an interesting back and forth, the unbelievable performance Tang Ye and Bai Yumo put on stole all the attention. Xun Feng and Che Gulu’s last one-hundred-plus exchanges were thrilling if you were interested in a fight with numerous close moments, come backs when one was on the cusp of defeat, breaking previous limits and fast pace, but Bai Ju stole their thunder with his tornado. Ever since Bai Ju pulled the big card out, Che Gulu and Xun Feng were relegated to the fate of invisible side characters. When Che Gulu countered Xun Feng’s complicated combo of locks, people shouted, “Nice dodge!” Someone else shouted, “How did they dodge that when I can’t even see the whip?!” Another person shouted, “I’m cheering for you two!”
The atmosphere demotivated Che Gulu. “How about… we pause this for a while?”
“Sure,” responded Xun Feng.
Che Gulu’s father was one of the top fighters in Beijiang. Che Gulu was a born natural when it came to pure might, and he was always the strongest among those in his age bracket. He never slacked off on his training after coming to the Central Plain.
There were hardly any students at Daren Academy interested in learning martial arts despite Principal Huang’s prowess, not to mention that not everyone was built for martial arts. Martial arts weren’t a part of the imperial exams, and success in it didn’t take one very far in politics. Scions of nobility weren’t willing to suffer if they weren’t learning at home already. Hence, Che Gulu was a rare talent that the martial arts instructors liked – though his slowness in grasping internal disciplines was painful. When it came to learning physical techniques, especially when it came to overwhelming opponents with strength, he learnt unbelievably fast. The best part about him was his attitude; he never complained no matter what hardships he was put through, which was the rarest trait to find among Confucians.
Under the tutelage of Daren Academy’s martial arts instructors, Che Gulu finally added a tiny bit of softness into his repertoire of all-out hard strikes and blocks. At the moment, he had his hard-hitting techniques synthesised with Confucianism’s mental discipline that gave even Shen Yiren trouble.
Xun Feng’s martial arts abilities were shrouded in mystery. It was quite surprising to realise that he hardly got into fights when he had no trouble flirting with women, drinking and making enemies daily. Till this day, he was still most known for going to Lotus Cult in the Western Regions and shutting them down in a debate – not with fists. His mentor, the abbot of Cold Mountain Temple, was also an individual few knew details about. In spite of him managing so many monks, both his combat prowess and even appearance were a mystery for he spent the majority of his time tucked away on the mountain, reading scriptures.
Cold Mountain Temple’s monks had been active in the pugilistic world for decades, so their fame in martial arts had spread, but the nature of the martial arts they were known for was incredibly diverse. The Venerable Monk’s four senior disciples earned their temple a place in heaps of categories; however, each one of them were well-versed in multiple facets of martial arts, and it was hard to see common denominators. As such, it was difficult to determine what exactly Cold Mountain Temple specialised in. By extension, nobody was sure how much effort Xun Feng put into the fight with Che Gulu.
While the environment between them continuously suffered major damage, neither Xun Feng nor Che Gulu had no time to bother with any of it. Thanks to the respite, they were able to catch a glimpse of what had unfolded. Although the two of them had a part in ruining the ring, it was unlikely they contributed even 10% of the damage that they witnessed. At most, they put a few holes in the ring. At this point, losing by way of ring out probably needed to be removed.
“My goodness me! Uncle! I told you that you can’t fight him!”
Che Gulu’s uncle might’ve been the toughest man of Kiliya, but his opponent was the reincarnation of a god, a man who could command the seven states of the Western Regions, not to mention Divine Moon Cult. If Lord San Shen didn’t join Liu Shan Men for free rent, food and women, then he had some other goal. Regardless of what the goal was, he wasn’t someone they could afford to cross! If rabbits bit people, why would Lord San Shen be an exception? Their entire race could be at risk of extermination if Lord San Shen wanted revenge? Even if he didn’t pay with his entire race, Che Gulu would lose his uncle, his strongest soldier. Long-story short, it was a terrible deal!
Che Gulu prepared to run over and stop his uncle, when he sensed a wind arrow comparable to those fired back home coming, coming for his head.
Xun Feng never took his attention off the other fight in the ring, even whilst dodging punches, though the damage to the ring exceeded his imagination. It didn’t change the order of his priorities, nonetheless.
Bai Yumo and Tang Ye winning against Bai Ju didn’t sound possible. Howbeit, Bai Ju shouldn’t have had a desire to win; he must’ve just had an itch and couldn’t hold back. By that reasoning, Bai Ju would’ve lost his reason to compete and pull out once the source of his motivation was eliminated.
Xun Feng’s finger spear landed exactly where he wanted it on Che Gulu’s back. To his surprise, though, it felt two clamps on his extended arm. Though he landed his sneak attack, Che Gulu leapt up and used his legs to lock Xun Feng’s arms as he spat blood in the opposite direction. Che Gulu was still in the fight, but he was hurt bad. Xun Feng tried to mould energy to push through three times, only to remain in the same spot.
“You conniving monk! I’ll cripple you if it’s the last thing I do!”
Xun Feng knew very well that Che Gulu was the type to really throw his life away for a goal, so he desperately tried using a flexible method of getting away. Unexpectedly, Che Gulu utilised Confucianism’s mental cultivation to maintain control of Xun Feng’s arm.
Feeling his arm about to break, Xun Feng resorted to using his free hand to spear Che Gulu on the back of the head. No matter how impulsive Che Gulu was, even he knew it would’ve killed him if he took the spear. Accordingly, Che Gulu released his hold. Xun Feng immediately switched back to his free arm, pushing forward from close quarters to palm Che Gulu flush on the chest!
Hit with 90% of Xun Feng’s full power, Che Gulu inevitably went reeling out of the ring. In saying that, he managed to wind up and smash Xun Feng’s shoulder with a huge punch before he was sent out of the ring. Due to their position in the exchange, Che Gulu flew across the entire ring and out, while Xun Feng, who was already at the edge of the ring, landed outside despite Che Gulu’s weaker punch. Alas, nobody noticed they had been eliminated.
All eyes were on the erect black whip resembling a sword drawn from the ether.
“Ready?” questioned Bai Ju. Perhaps it wasn’t deliberate, but even he failed to notice his nephew had lost.