Chapter 50: Sea Dog
Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Sea Dog
Golden Lane, basement level one of the Geta Club.
Fang Chen rushed over right after school. He had a match tonight.
From the staff viewing area, he happened to catch the end of Cai Long’s latest duel. Cai Long’s fighting style was indeed highly entertaining. His attacks were fierce, and he excelled at using techniques to neutralize his opponent’s momentum. He gave the impression that every single move was an offensive strike, drawing constant cheers from the audience.
"An offensive as fierce as fire, using skill to break force... No wonder Zhao Tianxiong chose him. A style like this easily attracts fans. He has high potential as an investment," Fang Chen calmly assessed in his mind.
"Master!" a familiar voice rang out.
Fang Chen turned to see Luo Wu hurrying over. His injuries had clearly healed for the most part; his Aura was steady, and his movements were unhindered.
"Master, my injuries are mostly healed! I can have matches scheduled again starting the day after tomorrow!"
Fang Chen looked at him. After observing him for a while, he actually had a rather good impression of the man. He was straightforward and a real man. More importantly, he possessed a focused, even obsessive heart toward the Martial Dao. He was not a mere sycophant.
Considering he had obtained the Iron Wall Strike manual and thirty thousand in cash from him, yet hadn’t given any substantial return gift as a master, Fang Chen felt it was time to offer some guidance. Now that his Iron Wall Strike had reached Perfection, he operated from a much higher vantage point. Guiding Luo Wu, who was still lingering before the threshold of Great Success, would be as easy as flipping his hand.
"I just can’t let him see that I’ve already cultivated it to Perfection," Fang Chen thought to himself as he nodded slightly, putting on an authoritative air. "Mm, you’ve recovered well. Since you’re about to return to the ring, you must not neglect your cultivation of the Iron Wall Strike. You mentioned earlier that you’ve been stuck before Great Success for many years. Are there any bottlenecks you’re struggling to break through?"
Hearing this, Luo Wu hurriedly replied, "Master’s insight is as clear as a mirror! I previously cultivated according to the manual, and the tempering of my palms has approached the limits of Minor Achievement. I feel my Qi and Blood are abundant, and my muscles and bones are tough.
"However, whenever I attempt to extend this ’Iron Wall’ intent along my meridians into my forearms, I always feel as if my True Qi hits an invisible barrier. It’s difficult to push through, and my Qi and Blood cannot effectively nourish my arm bones. My progress has been excruciatingly slow... I don’t know where the problem lies."
Listening to this, Fang Chen understood immediately. This was precisely the critical bottleneck for breaking through from Minor Achievement to Great Success in the Iron Wall Strike!
He pondered for a moment, as if deep in thought, then spoke in an exploring, speculative tone. "Hmm... Regarding your problem, I’ve also thought about the subsequent cultivation of the Iron Wall Strike during my free time.
"Think of your True Qi as the hammer and fire used in forging a Weapon," he said, pointing to Luo Wu’s arm. "Your palms are the roughly shaped ingots. If you want to extend that tempering effect to your arms, perhaps you shouldn’t rely solely on brute force to crash through.
"Have you ever considered that the intent of an Iron Wall isn’t just pure hardness?" he continued, guiding Luo Wu’s train of thought. "Why can rocks endure wind and rain without decaying? Aside from their inherent texture, it relies even more on the compactness and load-bearing capacity of their internal structure.
"If you feel your True Qi cannot penetrate past the crook of your arm, perhaps it isn’t a lack of power, but rather that your ’intent’ hasn’t arrived.
"When you circulate the Heart Method, try not to just think about impacting and hardening. Instead, sink your intent into your arms. Imagine that your True Qi isn’t a torrential flood, but countless fine, resilient threads. Like weaving a net, layer by layer, from the inside out, tightly weave and connect your arm’s meridians, bones, and muscles together. Make them form a unified whole capable of bearing and transmitting even greater power.
"What you call ’extension’ might not be about blanketing the area, but about assimilation and connection. Allow the foundation of your arm to first reach a level where it can bear the intent of the Iron Wall."
As Luo Wu listened, his eyes grew brighter and brighter! Fang Chen’s words were like a bolt of lightning, cleaving through the fog in his mind. He had always been obsessed with using stronger True Qi to impact and cover, yet he had never thought to understand it from the perspective of integration and compactness!
"Compactness... weaving... a unified whole... bearing..." he muttered to himself.
Subconsciously raising his arm, his internal True Qi involuntarily began to slightly adjust its circulation path in accordance with this brand-new concept. Although it felt rusty, it made him faintly sense that the invisible barrier had loosened a fraction!
"I... I think I’m starting to understand!" Luo Wu raised his head excitedly. "Master, your talent is truly unparalleled! To be able to see through the intricacies of this Martial Skill before even starting to practice it... your words have suddenly enlightened me! I’ll go to my room and properly meditate on this right now!"
After Luo Wu left, Fang Chen checked the time. Once the next match ended, it would be his turn to enter the ring.
He was just preparing to return to the preparation zone on basement level two when, right at the corner of the stairs, he bumped head-on into his opponent for the day—Sea Dog.
This man was exceptionally tall, easily over 1.9 meters. His physique was quite unique. He wasn’t purely fat; instead, a thick layer of blubber wrapped around his knotted, solid muscles like cotton armor, giving off a heavy and extremely resilient vibe.
Upon seeing Fang Chen, Sea Dog instantly plastered an enthusiastic smile across his face and proactively offered a handshake. "Oh my! This must be Feng Yuxiu, right? A pleasure to meet you! I’ve admired your name for a long time! Later in the ring, you absolutely must go easy on me. Let’s just keep it friendly, alright? Hehehe..."
When he laughed, his eyes narrowed into slits. His tone was slick and his posture was exceedingly humble, making him look like a harmless, good-natured pushover. But deep within that smile lay a sliver of shrewdness and cunning, honed from years of scraping by in the boxing ring.
Fang Chen’s expression remained impassive. He politely returned a few pleasantries, and the two brushed past each other, heading toward their respective preparation zones. He had already familiarized himself with this "Sea Dog" through the club’s files and match recordings.
The man was a notoriously sly old fox at the Geta Club, arguably the grandmaster of the turtle-style defensive fighting method! He had no flashy offensive moves, nor did he strive to knockout his opponents. The core of his entire strategy was simple: defend, run, stall, and draw.
Relying on his defensive layer of fat and muscle, as well as an extremely proficient set of grappling, force-deflection, and dodging techniques, he had forcibly set an astonishing record of twenty-three consecutive draws at the Geta Club! It was solely by accumulating points from these draws that he had hustled his way to a fifty-thousand appearance fee.
But precisely because his matches were overwhelmingly dull and lacked any entertainment value, he was heavily criticized by massive numbers of spectators as the "fighter they least wanted to see."
Several thoughts flashed through Fang Chen’s mind in an instant. "It seems the club has deep intentions in arranging him as my opponent...
"The first possibility is that they hope to use me—a ’new blade’ riding a wave of momentum—to chop down Sea Dog, this stinky and stubborn ’old shield.’ Beating down his points would give the audience who hates his turtle-style defense an outlet for their frustration, thereby boosting the club’s reputation.
"The second possibility is a test. If I can’t even crack Sea Dog’s defense to score points effectively, or worse, get dragged into a draw, it would prove that I, as a ’rising star,’ lack real quality and possess limited potential. Their so-called ’Star-Making Project’ might need re-evaluation.
"Furthermore, regardless of victory or defeat, the club can generate hype. If I lose or am forced into a draw, then once I make a name for myself in the future, Sea Dog will become the legendary gatekeeper who was the only one to force Feng Yuxiu to draw. The conversation around it would be maxed out!
"No matter how you calculate it, the club is guaranteed to profit. They secure both the buzz and the popularity."
BONG! BONG! BONG!
The gong sounded, and the fighters from both sides entered the ring!