inspire-indiana Chapter 158 The Fist Surges Straight In!
Chapter 158 The Fist Surges Straight In!
Chapter 159 The Fist Surges Straight In!
"BOOM—!!"
The stage, made of century-old elm wood, seemed to be turned upside down by Lu Cheng's step.
Centered on his landing point, the thick wooden planks within a radius of ten feet instantly turned to dust.
A huge crater appeared on the platform, and wood chips shot into the sky like a tornado, blotting out the sun.
In mid-air, Funakoshi Kazuo, who swooped down like a black old owl, finally showed a crack of utter horror on his face, which was covered with age spots and was usually calm and composed.
As one of the three grandmasters of Japanese martial arts, although he was blind, his "mind's eye," honed through countless trials, was already able to see the smallest details.
The moment he pounced, he clearly felt that the person below, who was just a Chinese actor at the peak of the Dark Force according to the intelligence, suddenly unleashed a terrifying blood energy that made him tremble!
That's not the "transformation of strength" (化劲).
That is————
"Embracing the elixir?!"
A hoarse gasp escaped from Funakoshi Kazuo's throat.
That energy was like lead and mercury, smooth and flawless, yet it also carried a violent force capable of reversing the universe. It was clearly the kind of aura that could only be found when one broke through the void and reached the indestructible realm of gods!
"Impossible, there is absolutely no way a twenty-year-old immortal could possess the elixir of immortality."
But he had no choice but to believe it; Lu Cheng's soaring aura had already transformed into a tangible storm of qi.
[Overlord's Armor Removal], triple combat power!
Once this life-or-death technique was activated, Lu Cheng felt every inch of his meridians burning. The pure internal energy he had accumulated over a hundred years underwent a qualitative change at this moment, transforming into an overwhelming force.
Instead of retreating, he advanced, facing Funakoshi Kazuo's [Swallow Flight - Chain Attack], a strike powerful enough to shatter steel plates. His figure shot up from the ground like a shooting star flying in reverse.
Instead of using the broken ash wood handle, he brought his right hand together and unleashed a powerful Xingyi [Drilling Fist] strike.
His fists were like drills, his aura like cones.
"Bang-!!!"
They exchanged blows.
There was no muffled thud of physical contact, only a deafening roar like the explosion of a powder keg.
A visible white shockwave rippled outwards from the center of their battle.
The stage curtains that were nearby were instantly torn into hundreds of tattered pieces by the gale, which danced wildly in the air.
The two gas lamps overhead shattered with a "crack," and shards of glass rained down.
"Ugh—!"
Funakoshi Kazuo, suspended in mid-air, let out a muffled groan.
His legs, which he was so proud of having broken the bones of countless Chinese martial arts masters, felt like they had struck an erupting volcano the moment they collided with Lu Cheng's fist.
An extremely domineering and fierce force, like a red-hot steel needle, forcefully drilled into his meridians through his Yongquan acupoint.
His gaunt body suddenly stopped in mid-air, and then, like a kite with a broken string, was violently thrown out by the recoil.
"Snap, splash."
Funakoshi Kazuo tumbled three times in the air before he could barely dissipate the terrifying force. When his feet landed, they carved two half-foot-deep furrows in the wooden planks on the other side of the stage. He only stopped when his back hit a thick, red-lacquered stage pillar.
"puff----"
The old monster's chest heaved, and a trickle of black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
The entire venue was deathly silent.
More than two thousand spectators in Tianjin, including foreign firm executives, warlords, and ordinary people, stared at the scene on stage with wide eyes, as if their throats had been pinched.
one move!
That old Japanese man, who seemed to have descended from the heavens like a demon god, was actually blasted away by Master Lu's single punch!
Behind the side curtain.
The four old masters, including Liu Wenhua, who had just raised the cymbal, froze in mid-air, their faces filled with expressions of utter disbelief.
"This—this—"
The old Tongbei Quan master stammered, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
"Old Liu, pinch me! Am I dreaming? That's Funakoshi Ichiro! Back in Fengtian, he was the living Yama who single-handedly suppressed the martial arts world outside the Great Wall!"
Mr. Yang Chengfu gasped in shock; his hands, which had been smooth and warm from practicing Tai Chi, were now trembling uncontrollably.
"Just now—if I'm not mistaken, that aura just now—that was the threshold of the Core Formation stage."
"Brother Lu—has he really broken through the void?"
The four masters' hearts pounded like drums. If a twenty-year-old Grandmaster of the Dan realm truly emerged in the Chinese martial arts world, then not only these Japanese ronin, but even the Japanese Emperor would have to politely offer them a cup of tea.
However, just when everyone thought Lu Cheng would press his advantage and kill the old Japanese monster on the spot.
Lu Cheng stopped.
He stood at the edge of the enormous pit, his tattered white, blood-stained clothes fluttering in the remaining gale.
With his "eagle eyes," he clearly saw the circulation of Qi and blood within Funakoshi Kazuo's body.
Although the old ghost coughed up blood, his internal energy was as deep and endless as the ocean.
Although that punch broke through his defenses, it did not harm his core.
"What a formidable old monster at the peak of the Transformation Realm."
Lu Cheng secretly praised him.
This Funakoshi Kazuo is definitely the strongest enemy he has encountered since coming to this world.
That level of physical refinement, where the body is perfected and flawless, and the essence, energy, and spirit are united as one, is far beyond what Wanyan Lie and Liu Shengjingyun could achieve.
"If I take advantage of the three times the power of the [Overlord's Armor Removal], I will definitely be able to kill him within ten moves."
As Lu Cheng felt the terrifying power within his body that seemed to be bursting him apart, a thought flashed through his mind.
"But this old ghost's inner energy is inexhaustible, and his every move subtly harmonizes with the energy of heaven and earth. If we were to kill this living 'whetstone,' standing at the peak of the Transformation Realm,' with just one punch, wouldn't that be a terrible waste?"
He had just entered the Transformation Realm and was in the initial stage of Marrow Cleansing. What he lacked most was to hone his still somewhat rough "Divine Intent" through life-and-death battles with masters of the same level.
Moreover, the "Overlord's Armor Removal" technique is a desperate last resort; once time passes, the user will inevitably fall into extreme weakness.
In Tianjin, a place teeming with danger, revealing all our cards too early would not be a wise move.
Thinking of this, the golden light that had been shining like a pillar in Lu Cheng's eyes suddenly began to slowly recede.
He took a deep breath and forcefully severed the threefold increase in combat power of the [Overlord's Armor Removal] technique.
"Coo-quack-quack"
Inside the abdominal cavity, the golden toad emitted a muffled sound.
The surging blood and qi, like boiling water, were forcefully suppressed back into the depths of his dantian by his extraordinary comprehension of the [Exquisite Heart] and absolute control over his physical body. It transformed into a domineering yet restrained qi, lying dormant in his limbs and bones.
At the same time, he even closed his eyes, completely shutting down his [Fiery Eyes].
Out of sight out of mind.
He wanted to use his purest physical body and the most primal "sincere way, which can foresee the future" to meet this great master from the East!
Beside the pillar, Funakoshi Kazuo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his blind white eyes fixedly "staring" in Lu Cheng's direction.
He was really scared just now.
For a moment, he even thought he was facing the old immortal who had been in seclusion on Mount Wudang for a hundred years.
That incomparable power made him think of "certain death" for the first time in his life.
but.
Just as he was preparing to risk everything to drag Lu Cheng down with him.
The terrifying aura emanating from Lu Cheng actually receded like a tide.
"Um?
'
-
Funakoshi Kazuo frowned, his withered hands forming a circular starting stance in front of him, his mind's eye fully open, carefully sensing Lu Cheng's aura.
It has become weaker.
Although he was still at the level of Transformation Force, the divine power he had just felt when he touched the threshold of "Embracing the Elixir" had completely vanished.
Funakoshi Kazuo was taken aback at first, and then a look of sudden realization appeared on his face, which was covered with age spots.
"Hehehe—hahaha."
He burst into laughter in broken Chinese, his voice hoarse.
"You Chinese actor, you really are a fraud."
"I knew it. There could never be a Grandmaster of Core Formation as young as you in this world. That surge of energy just now was nothing more than you using some low-down secret method that overdraws your life force and burns your potential, just a fox borrowing the tiger's power."
Funakoshi Kazuo seemed to have seen through the truth, and his confidence swelled to its peak once again.
"The secret technique backfired, didn't it? You couldn't control that power at all. Right now, you're just at your last gasp."
"boom!"
Funakoshi Kazuo moved.
This time, he didn't leap up; instead, he kept his feet firmly on the ground.
The wooden clogs tapped out a strange rhythm on the floor, and his figure seemed to shrink the distance to an inch, instantly covering a distance of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) and closing in on Lu Cheng.
Karate and Aikido are perfectly integrated.
It combines strength and gentleness, and is characterized by its expansive and dynamic nature.
His withered hands transformed into countless palm shadows, the wind howling around them, enveloping Lu Cheng like a storm.
With each strike, the air hissed and tore, a testament to the terrifying power of the external release of internal energy.
Faced with this fierce and relentless attack.
Lu Cheng did not open his eyes.
He stood quietly in place, listening to the sound of the wind tearing through the air.
Under the perception of the "Way of Sincerity," Funakoshi Kazuo's movements were fast, but the flow of his energy and the direction of his killing intent were as clear as the lines on his palm.
"Good timing."
Lu Cheng smiled faintly.
Just as Funakoshi Kazuo's palm strike, powerful enough to shatter stone monuments, was about to land on his chest...
Behind the curtain, Mei Lanfang, sitting in front of the drum stand, suddenly flashed a sharp light in his eyes, hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
As the king of the entertainment industry, although he did not know martial arts, his control over "breathing" and "rhythm" was unparalleled.
He keenly sensed the change in the aura of the two people on the stage.
It was a tension about to erupt, a tension powerful enough to destroy everything!
"Boss Lu, I'm here to lend you a hand."
Mei Lanfang silently shouted to himself, gripped the bamboo drumsticks tightly with both hands, raised them high, and then slammed them down hard on the single-skin drum.
"Thump!!!"
The drumbeat was crisp and explosive, like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
This is the most classic "tear-edge strike" in Peking Opera, specifically used for the instant before a battle between military generals, right at the same microsecond of the drumbeat.
Lu Cheng's body moved.
Instead of using the fierce power of Bajiquan to meet the attack head-on, he floated backward like a willow catkin, stepping on the Monkey Form from the Twelve Forms of Xingyi Quan!
Light, elusive, and cunning.
When Funakoshi Kazuo's palm strike missed, the resulting gust of wind shattered a wooden chair three meters behind Lu Cheng.
"Trying to run away?"
Funakoshi Kazuo snorted coldly, pressed forward, and his fists, like dragons emerging from the sea, struck Lu Cheng's ribs with a "Double Dragons Emerging from the Water" technique.
Mei Lanfang, backstage, moved his hands with incredible speed.
"Cang! Cai! Cang! Cai!"
The rapid drumbeats sounded like a downpour pounding on banana leaves, dense and rhythmic.
At this moment, Abing's erhu suddenly rose in pitch, playing a stirring melody that sounded like ten thousand horses galloping.
Lu Cheng's figure changed again amidst the drumbeats.
He closed his eyes, trudged through the mud with each step, and twisted his waist as if it had no bones.
[Snake-like]!
Its body was like a giant python, coiling and slipping away.
Funakoshi Kazuo's fists grazed past Lu Cheng's ribs, but Lu Cheng used the force of the passing blow to turn and move to Funakoshi's side. His right hand, with fingers like a sword, struck at Funakoshi's vital point under his armpit.
"Um?"
Funakoshi Kazuo, being a veteran master, reacted extremely quickly. He suddenly slammed his arm down to lock Lu Cheng's fingers, while simultaneously delivering a knee strike straight for Lu Cheng's lower abdomen.
"Thump—Clang!"
Mei Lanfang's drumming suddenly stopped at this moment, followed by a loud gong bang, which is called "severing the beat".
It is the moment when the warriors on the stage are locked in a stalemate.
Lu Cheng seemed to become one with the sound of the drums.
The moment he struck the gong, his originally effeminate serpentine form instantly transformed into a fierce and unparalleled bear form!
"Depend on!"
Lu Cheng neither dodged nor flinched, but instead slumped his shoulder to meet Funakoshi Kazuo's knee strike head-on.
"Bang--!!!"
A dull, loud bang.
The two people's internal energy clashed violently in mid-air, unleashing a shockwave visible to the naked eye.
The audience below the stage felt a gust of wind rush towards them, and those in the front row were even unable to open their eyes.
"Is this a fight, or an act?!"
An old Manchu remnant, mesmerized by the sight, held his prayer beads in his hand, forgetting to turn them.
He was dumbfounded.
Because the two players on stage were playing such a "good show".
Although Funakoshi Kazuo's moves were ruthless, Lu Cheng's responses were full of indescribable artistry.
Every punch and kick, every dodge and maneuver, was perfectly timed to the rapid drumbeats from backstage.
The drumbeats were urgent, and Lu Cheng's punches were like a torrential rain.
As the drumbeats slowed, Lu Cheng's movements flowed like clouds and water.
He thoroughly incorporated the Five Elements and Twelve Forms of Xingyi Quan and the fierceness of Bajiquan into the "singing, recitation, acting, and fighting" of Peking Opera!
A single "flip-like somersault" dodged a fatal blow; that was the agility of martial arts, and also the skill of a martial arts performer.
With a single "Overlord's Armor Removal," he shook off the close-range grappling, a burst of powerful energy and the debut of a star.
"So beautiful—this is true violent aesthetics!"
Jack, the reporter from Time magazine, frantically pressed the shutter button on his camera, constantly exclaiming in surprise.
He doesn't understand Chinese Kung Fu or Chinese opera.
But he could sense that the blindfolded man on the stage, dressed in blood-stained clothes, was engaging in a primal life-or-death struggle in an extremely elegant manner.
This was simply a visual feast of blood and fire.
On the stage, the battle had reached its climax.
As Funakoshi Kazuo fought, he became increasingly alarmed and frustrated.
He clearly sensed that the young man's vital energy was far less than his own, but the boy's body was as slippery as an eel and as hard as diamond.
-
Every time he was certain of a decisive kill, this kid could sense it half a second in advance and neutralize it with an extremely strange, even somewhat "teasing" action.
"Damn it, what kind of sorcery is this?"
Funakoshi Kazuo was furious. He, a grandmaster of the great Japanese Empire, had been made a fool of by an actor, treated like a supporting character on a stage.
He took a deep breath, his withered chest suddenly bulged, and his black kimono was instantly torn apart by his aura, revealing his shriveled yet iron-like muscles.
"Aikiri - Omikami!"
Funakoshi Kazuo fought desperately.
He no longer cared about the consumption of his physical strength, and gathered all his cultivation in his hands, transforming it into a visible, transparent stream of air, like two huge millstones, which he used to strangle Lu Cheng.
This force is enough to crush steel and iron.
Behind the curtain.
The four grandmasters, including Liu Wenhua, were sweating profusely, their hands gripping the hem of their clothes tightly.
"That old devil Funakoshi is going all out! Once you're trapped by the strangulation power of Aikido, even a god can't save you," Old Master Han roared anxiously.
"Brother Lu, you're overestimating yourself. He could have easily defeated him in one move, so why did you hold back and try to outmaneuver him?"
Only Mei Lanfang, sitting in front of the drum stand, still had eyes as bright as stars.
He raised the drumstick high in his hand, as if a general were raising a command flag.
"He's training the hawk to maturity."
"The play is almost over. It's time for Xiang Yu to lift the tripod!"
The voice just fell.
On the stage, Lu Cheng was just about to be hit by Funakoshi Kazuo's terrifying strangulation airflow.
He finally opened his eyes.
The left eye depicts a white tiger emerging from the mountain, while the right eye shows Zhong Kui suppressing demons.
During this long period of life-and-death trials, he had thoroughly mastered the flow of Funakoshi Kazuo's Qi and polished his newly achieved Transformation Realm to perfection.
I'll borrow your top-grade whetstone to sharpen my newly forged, peerless demonic sword.
Now, the blade has been sharpened.
"Kazuo Funakoshi."
"Your scenes are over."
Lu Cheng did not back down.
He slightly bent his knees, lowered his waist and hips, and his spine emitted a deafening roar.
【Form and Meaning: Dragon Form】!
But what he used was not the ordinary dragon form.
Instead, it combines the "Reversing the River Chariot" method he gleaned from the "Shengping Department Opera Archives" with the ultimate killing blow of the "White Tiger True Meaning".
"boom-!!!"
The pure, dormant inner energy within Lu Cheng's body, which had been dormant for a hundred years, erupted like billions of volcanoes at the same time.
Without the boost of three times the combat power, his control over power at this moment has reached a divine realm that mortals cannot attain.
His right hand transformed into a simple and unadorned "half-step collapsing fist".
It slammed straight into Funakoshi Kazuo's hands, which were meant to strangle everything.
"Thump—!!!"
Backstage, Mei Lanfang used all his strength to strike the drum that would decide his fate.
The sounds of drums and fists overlapped perfectly.
Under the watchful eyes of more than two thousand people in the audience.
Lu Cheng's punch, though seemingly slow, created a visible white vacuum channel.
"Bang!"
There is no suspense.
Funakoshi Kazuo's proud "Great God" aura, which he claimed could crush steel, was like a fragile soap bubble in front of Lu Cheng's punch, shattering instantly with a "pop".
The fist slashed straight in.