The Zhou Family's Zi Monkey Fist

The humiliation stoked Zhou Bai's fury to a blazing pitch. Yet paradoxically, that very rage forced him calm. The martial circle of Xianyang was not large, something Zhou Bai had known for a long time. Even though he had been showered with praise and lavished with flattery by his elders from a young age, his heart had always yearned to venture out into the wider world. He had never imagined a boy like Li Yan would cross his path. A country bumpkin, two years younger than himself! If he was supposed to be a genius, what did that make this brat? Alongside the humiliation came a surge of bitter resentment. Though Zhou Bai loathed to admit it, he knew he had begun to feel jealous. His earlier boasts were cast completely to the wind. Resorting to his signature Monkey Fist, he wanted nothing more than to slaughter the youth before him and vent the malice pent up in his chest. Zhou Bai sprang forward like an ape, claws reaching through the air toward Li Yan's head. Li Yan leveraged his grip on the plank and snapped his leg upward in a skyward kick. Zhou Bai, however, seemed to have anticipated it. He flipped over in midair, seizing the high ground, and swept his right leg in a wide, sweeping arc, hammering downward like a mallet. *Thud!* The clash of their legs resounded with a dull, heavy thump. Zhou Bai possessed superior agility and held a clear advantage on this sheer wooden wall. Using the recoil of the clash to twist his body, his claws dug firmly into the timber once more. Li Yan, suspended in midair, had only the splintered plank he had punched through to anchor himself. Though his arm held fast under the impact, the plank in his hand shattered with a sharp crack. He plunged down two meters before driving a fist into the boards once more, finally arresting his fall. "Get down there!" The moment Li Yan stabilized himself, Zhou Bai descended from above again. This time he did not use his legs. His right fist was loosely cupped, stirring a whistling draft of wind. *The bastard is using hidden jin!* Startled, Li Yan instantly shifted his technique. He knew that if that blow landed, tumbling from the ring would be the least of his worries—his internal organs would likely suffer severe trauma, leaving him no choice but to mend them with the Daluo Dharma Body. With his foe holding the high ground, Li Yan had to avoid the brunt of the assault. Twisting his waist, he kicked off with his feet while driving both fists into the wooden wall, punching a row of pit-like handholds as he flipped away. Scrambling toward the adjacent wall, he moved to leap back onto the stage. Zhou Bai, however, was faster. Seeing Li Yan evade, he smoothly reined in his strike. His legs kicked and swung as his claws caught the timber, navigating the sheer wooden wall like an ape bounding across a precipitous cliff, intercepting Li Yan on the other face of the ring before he could ascend. *Smack! Smack! Smack!* Just as Zhou Bai was about to pounce, Li Yan lashed out with his leg, shattering the wooden planking before him to reveal the timber frame of the platform underneath, and slipped right inside. "Where do you think you're hiding?!" Zhou Bai scoffed and moved to dive in after him. Yet before he could cross the threshold, an instinctive dread gripped him, and he scrambled backward in a panic. *Crack!* The wooden wall right where he had been clinging blew outward with a deafening blast. Li Yan had leaped up along the interior log frame and unleashed his hidden jin straight through the wall—a strike to fell the ox beyond the mountain. The force of the blow was staggering. Because he had channeled hidden jin, and an outward burst of yang power at that, the entire section of the wooden wall detonated like a buried mine. Splintered planks came crashing down in a torrential shower. Once hidden jin was brought into play, not only did a strike's destructive force multiply, but it also gained boundless permutations. Yang jin carried terrifying explosive power, while yin jin could strike straight into the organs; there were also spiral, silk-reeling, and twisting forces, endlessly versatile and subtly shifting. However, both youths had only recently stepped into this realm. Their cultivation was not yet deep, and tapping into it a handful of times would leave them drained, so it could only be unleashed at critical junctures. Only when hidden jin was cultivated to mastery could one weave it into every offensive and defensive move with effortless ease, completely free of such limitations. Li Yan's ambush with hidden jin had nearly struck home. Though Zhou Bai had dodged in time, he was left without a foothold. Grabbing the upper edge with both hands, he flipped backward and landed back atop the ring. On the other side, Li Yan smashed through the remaining planks, vaulted out from the wall, and flipped onto the platform as well. Beneath the ring lay a dense lattice of massive logs; though they could be shattered with hidden jin, there was no need to waste strength doing so. The two faced each other once more atop the ring. This relentless flurry of exchanges had been as swift as a tempest and fraught with mortal peril. Not only the common spectators, but even seasoned jianghu fighters held their breath with wide eyes, scarcely daring to exhale. Sha Lifei and Wang Daoxuan felt their hearts leap into their throats, cold sweat beading on their foreheads. Only when Li Yan slipped out of harm's way did they breathe a sigh of relief. "Brilliant!" At that moment, thunderous cheers erupted from all directions. Only a brief time had passed since they took to the stage, yet the techniques, combat methods, and split-second improvisations displayed by the two youths had left the onlookers thoroughly dazzled. Some of the younger martial artists in the crowd furrowed their brows tightly. They had initially harbored some indignation. Having endured years of bitter training since childhood, who among them lacked pride? They had merely felt born under an unlucky star, or lamented their lack of patrons to sing their praises. Now, however, they understood clearly: had any of them stepped onto that stage, they would have been soundly routed long ago by either fighter. Atop the ring, the atmosphere grew heavier still. After that exchange, Zhou Bai dared not underestimate his opponent in the slightest. Dropping into a half-crouch with a hollowed chest and curved back, he shifted into a posture of a backhand gazing at the moon, scratched his neck, and alternated his claws back and forth as he glared at Li Yan. The Zhou family's Zi Monkey Fist! As he stared at Li Yan, a savage gleam crept into his eyes. When his hooked claws clenched slightly, his knuckles cracked with a series of crisp pops. Li Yan narrowed his eyes, squaring his shoulder to the side as he raised his guard. The claws of a Monkey Fist practitioner had to be rock-hard. Zhou Bai had clearly put in grueling effort; each of his fingers was like a steel chisel. Red Fist prized nimble footwork and the seamless fusion of deceit and striking. The Zhou family's Monkey Fist, enriched by the White Ape Immortal Tongbei Fist, placed even greater emphasis on breaking within striking, and striking within breaking. At the moment of contact, the practitioner could read the opponent's force and adapt their technique instantly. Factor in Zhou Bai's intimate familiarity with Red Fist's transitions, and the slightest lapse would mean defeat. "Hmph, afraid?" Seeing Li Yan yield a step backward, a vicious light flickered in Zhou Bai's eyes. Bounding forward like a monkey, he pounced with curved arms, adopting the posture of a feral ape leaping to maul and scratch. Mid-leap, however, he abruptly changed form. Twisting his torso, he planted his right palm on the floor and slid forward, driving a kick toward Li Yan's groin. This move was called Ape Reclining on the Lotus. Monkey Fist was cunning and agile. Many of its techniques appeared comical at first glance, yet they consistently targeted the groin, eyes, throat, and other lethal soft spots. Li Yan reacted even faster. Slipping sideways to protect his vitals, he whipped his right leg out like a lash in a Bar-the-Horse Threshold Kick. In the martial arts, force rose from the earth. Though Zhou Bai's move was vicious, it left him sprawled horizontally, making it difficult to generate follow-up power while leaving his face exposed. If Li Yan's kick landed, it would bash his head in. Yet Zhou Bai was just as quick. The moment his Ape Reclining on the Lotus missed, he twisted both legs and used the rotational momentum to snap back upright, executing a lateral roll that took him to Li Yan's blind side. Li Yan had yet to retract his whip-kick. Reaching out, Zhou Bai executed a Naughty Monkey Drags the Snake, seizing Li Yan's right leg. This was a joint-locking maneuver. With a single torque of the limb, he could flip the opponent over, expose their groin, and shatter it with a kick. Yet Zhou Bai abandoned the follow-up. Cruelty flared in his eyes. Hidden jin surged as his steel-like claws clamped down with brutal force, aiming to maim Li Yan's right leg on the spot. Feeling agonizing pain sear through his leg, Li Yan turned ruthless. Bending his torso, he surged with hidden jin of his own and slammed a palm toward Zhou Bai's forehead. A crippled leg was nothing; at worst, the Daluo Dharma Body could heal it. But if this palm strike landed, it would pulverize Zhou Bai's skull. *Madman!* Alarmed, Zhou Bai twisted desperately aside. Even so, the strike caught him across the shoulder, sending him flying sideways. Midair, he wrenched his body to arrest his momentum, glaring venomously at Li Yan. His left arm hung limp, cleanly dislocated. Moreover, the fierce hidden jin behind the strike had severely damaged his muscle and fascia; visible swelling and a dark bruise were already spreading. On the other side, Li Yan was faring no better. Though he kept his stance, five bloody punctures gored his right leg, blood seeping steadily down to stain his leg wraps crimson. The spectators below watched with racing hearts. None of them had expected that, in a span of a few swift exchanges, both combatants would end up wounded. If this continued, life and death would be settled before long! "Heh heh!" With a cold laugh, Zhou Bai slowly rose. Gripping his left arm with his right hand, he snapped the joint back into place with a sharp crack, then rolled his shoulder. "Brat, with that leg crippled, how do you expect to fight me?" The Zhou family's Monkey Fist was already renowned for its nimble footwork. With Li Yan's right leg injured, Zhou Bai now held a decisive advantage. The moment the words left his mouth, Zhou Bai darted forward. Dropping onto all fours, he scuttled with the speed of an agile monkey. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Li Yan. Just as he appeared ready to strike, his body twisted, slipping behind his opponent. Li Yan hurriedly turned his shoulders to mount an attack, but Zhou Bai moved with uncanny fluidity. With hollowed chest and curved back, he spun around Li Yan like a top, weaving feints and real strikes into an indistinguishable blur. Li Yan finally recalled what Zhang Shitong had told him. Back when he was preparing to leave the martial arts school, Zhang Shitong had warned him: if he could not break Zhou Bai's "circle," there would be no hope of victory. The so-called "circle" was the very soul of Monkey Fist: *The body is a ball, twisting without pause; the whole frame is a circle, for without a circle there is no fist.* Zhou Bai's footwork was seamless and rounded, his movements lightning-fast and razor-sharp, his techniques alternating between real and false with dizzying deceit. *Rrrrip!* A momentary lapse in Li Yan's guard let another strike through. Though it carried no hidden jin, Zhou Bai's clawing strength was terrifying, gouging five bloody furrows across Li Yan's back. Li Yan responded instantly with a snap-kick to the groin. Unfortunately, Zhou Bai rolled along the floor to evade it with ease, chattering and screeching like a monkey as he rose, seemingly intoxicated with excitement. His gaze was sharp, feral, and brimming with savagery. Every gesture, every hop, and every leap was indistinguishable from a true ape…