Hard and Soft

Chang Kuanghai stood there. The laceration above his collarbone was gradually closing and knitting back together; not a drop of blood even seeped out, completely reined in by the mutated tissue within. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, not a trace of the wound remained visible. He glanced at the axe still wedged firmly into the ground, pondering how to retrieve it. Fighting bare-handed put him at a definite disadvantage. Although damaged flesh and skin could heal rapidly, it still took time; accumulating too many lacerations would eventually hinder his combat performance. Yet he noticed that while Chen Chuan had retreated, he was clearly waiting for him to go for it. A hesitation of even a fraction of a second would give Chen Chuan the opening to suppress him again. After a brief calculation, he simply abandoned the idea, deciding to seek another opportunity in the fight to come. Chen Chuan made a brief adjustment where he stood, flicked the Xuejun Saber lightly, and stepped forward. His first two strides were relatively measured, but with the third, his pace abruptly surged, charging straight ahead. With a weapon in hand while his opponent was unarmed, he had far fewer concerns holding back his attacks. Chang Kuanghai parted his legs front to back, sank into a slight crouch, and held his arms horizontally before him—one high, one low. His eyes locked onto Chen Chuan through the gap between them, bracing to meet the strike. Seeing the tip of the blade thrusting straight toward his face, his eyes narrowed slightly. He arched his back and actively surged forward to meet it, simultaneously rolling his arms outward with clawed fingers spread, intending to use his body like an anvil to withstand the blade before clamping down with both hands to wrest it away. Rather than letting the strike commit fully, Chen Chuan twisted and leveled his blade, slicing cleanly across the surface of the man's thick arm. A thin streak of blood was grazed open, yet Chang Kuanghai’s expression never shifted, and the wound sealed almost the instant the blade pulled away. By then, Chen Chuan had stepped to his side, whipping backhanded to slash at the bend of his knee. Chang Kuanghai flared his knee outward, blocking the strike. Chen Chuan feigned a forward lean as if trying to circle behind him. But the moment Chang Kuanghai’s center of gravity shifted in response, Chen Chuan suddenly stepped back, sank his waist and back, and guided the long saber downward with both hands—a flash of cold light striking straight for the ankle. Chang Kuanghai’s expression hardened. He immediately channeled jin downward, planting both feet firmly to weather the blow. His entire body was dense and rock-hard; this cut wouldn't sever his foot, but the force imbued in the blade was enough to knock him off balance. Yet just as the slash was about to land, the light flickered as the blade suddenly swept upward, diagonally slicing toward his lower abdomen. Chang Kuanghai slapped his hand downward to stifle the momentum, but Chen Chuan suddenly stepped forward, arriving at his flank in a flash. The blade swept along with the motion, carving a bloody gash across the crook of his other knee. In these exchanges, Chen Chuan fully exploited the reach of the Xuejun Saber and his superior speed, scoring hit after hit. With a long blade in hand, the other man’s fists and kicks couldn't reach him at all, leaving him unable to mount an effective counterattack. This created a dynamic where Chen Chuan attacked at will while his opponent could only passively endure. Chang Kuanghai remained remarkably composed. Superficial injuries like these meant virtually nothing to him; those who excelled in external conditioning were renowned for their combat resilience, capable of enduring for days and nights on end without their expression faltering. The problem was that he had come here seeking a breakthrough in mental strength, aiming to complete himself and advance to a higher realm. The Tianshu Fist he practiced was an art that placed heavy emphasis on relentless aggression, requiring combat to catalyze spiritual sublimation. The firmer the fighting will and the fiercer the fray, the higher the spirit soared. Standing passively in place absorbing blows ran directly contrary to the martial path of his style, which meant he would reap no benefit whatsoever from the opened Heavenly Gate. Thus, he had to find a way to shift the momentum. After taking several more slashes from Chen Chuan, his chest heaved abruptly. In that instant, one could almost hear his heart thumping like a war drum. Visibly, his entire physique seemed to tighten, appearing slightly leaner. As another flash of the blade arrived, he raised an elbow to meet it with a resonant clang, knocking the edge aside. Shaping his elbow forward like an ox's horn while keeping his upper body still, he exerted a subtle yet explosive burst of force through the soles of his feet—and shot forward with a deafening roar. This short, explosive burst was a signature secret technique of the Tianshu Fist known as the Elephant-Bull Ram. If one were trapped within a military formation, hemmed in by layers of spears and shields with no room to maneuver left or right, unleashing this burst could instantly shatter the ranks and break through the encirclement. In that instant, both his speed and power were doubled! Seeing him cross the distance almost instantaneously, Chen Chuan knew it was too late to evade. He stomped his rear foot into the ground, leaned his body forward, and threw out his free hand, slapping it firmly against the incoming elbow with a loud smack. Concentric shockwaves of dust and air erupted around them. Though he checked the strike, he was still pushed backward by the tremendous momentum. This time, he was forced back a full seven or eight meters. Bricks and cobblestones flew from beneath his feet, plowing two deep furrows into the ground. The moment his slide halted, Chang Kuanghai exerted force through his waist and back. His raised elbow led his forearm downward in a chopping arc, and his leading fist suddenly smashed forward like an axe-hammer. This was the Air-Shattering Mallet unique to Tianshu Fist. Towering far above Chen Chuan, he delivered the blow from high to low, blanketing Chen Chuan's entire body within its striking zone. It looked as if Chen Chuan had nowhere to dodge, yet his eyes remained tranquil. As the fist descended, he shifted laterally as if entirely unhindered by the previous impact, slipping clear of the strike. Chang Kuanghai had not expected him to evade even that. However, with his mastery of Tianshu Fist, his control over jin was completely fluid. Seeing the miss, he checked his momentum instantly, preventing his body from overextending. Yet that momentary pause was all Chen Chuan needed. In that very instant, Chen Chuan let go of the Xuejun Saber. His hands clamped onto Chang Kuanghai's arm, one in front of the other, his fingers sinking deep into the dense muscle—unleashing seizing jin. Chang Kuanghai sensed danger. Thanks to his externally conditioned physique, even under the assault of seizing jin, he was not immediately rendered helpless. Shifting his jin, he swung his other fist at Chen Chuan, attempting to force him to let go. Chen Chuan raised an elbow in a wing-arm block. The impact jolted both of them, but it failed to free Chang Kuanghai from the hold. Chen Chuan’s hands alternated rapidly, seizing and advancing along the joints and pulse points of Chang Kuanghai’s arm, climbing swiftly toward his throat while unleashing continuous bursts of seizing jin. Chang Kuanghai felt half his body growing numb and limp. Once his throat was clamped, the battle would effectively be over. He exhaled sharply. The muscles across his captured arm swelled taut, erupting with a powerful shockwave of concussive jin. Chen Chuan's fingers were jolted loose by the shock, but he did not pull back. Taking advantage of Chang Kuanghai’s exertion, he closed the distance and pressed flush against his torso. His hands slid downward in the same breath, grabbing firmly at Chang Kuanghai’s hips and waist—attempting a grappling throw. From seizing to grappling, the transition of jin was seamless and natural. Chang Kuanghai’s expression shifted. If this grip was secured, his jin would be locked from circulating, leaving him completely at the other’s mercy once again. At this critical juncture, he abruptly executed a reverse breathing technique. In that instant, his body turned from hard to soft. His rock-solid frame seemed to lose its bones entirely; the grappling jin permeating into him dissolved into nothingness. Simultaneously, he smoothly reversed his breath back to forward flow, snapping from soft back to hard. Between the contraction and expansion, a resilient burst of power erupted from deep within his body. This was Heaven-and-Earth Uproot from the Tianshu Fist, an art that inverted hard and soft through reverse breathing to counter all manners of hostile jin. Sensing these shifting transitions, Chen Chuan knew pressing the grapple further would bear no fruit. He immediately retreated, snatching the still-falling Xuejun Saber out of the air as he backed away, stopping only when he reached a distance where he could fully unleash the reach of his blade. Having unleashed several consecutive bursts of power, Chang Kuanghai also needed a moment to re-center himself, so he did not pursue. Chen Chuan looked at his towering opponent. If Wei Wusheng had sought the union of hard and soft, Chang Kuanghai had brought both rigidity and suppleness to their pinnacle purely through his own external conditioning, truly achieving the harmony of hard and soft. This man possessed virtually no discernible weakness, paired with a spirit that was solid and concentrated. Against someone like him, unless his physical stamina and vital essence were utterly depleted, attacking him from the outside was futile. In that case, there was only one way... He raised his hand and thrust the Xuejun Saber into the ground. Seeing this, Chang Kuanghai said in a deep voice, "You're not using it anymore?" He was baffled; with a blade in hand, Chen Chuan clearly held the upper hand. He couldn't understand why he would make such a choice. "Because there's no need," Chen Chuan replied. Earlier, when he had repeatedly grazed and sliced at his opponent's body, it had appeared to be mere skirmishing from the outside, but his true intent had been to provoke the man into an aggressive attack so he could finish him with seizing and grappling techniques. Now that this avenue had proven ineffective, there was no point continuing along that line. Though his opponent seemed devoid of flaws, that didn't mean he was invincible. No matter how formidable external conditioning was, it still had a threshold of endurance. Chen Chuan took a deep breath. Having unleashed the restraints on the mutated tissue in his body, he pushed the Furnace Breathing Technique to full throttle. Wisps of white vapor began rising from his frame. He looked up, the tips of his hair whipped back by the turbulent currents gusting from the fissure. An instant later, his silhouette blurred where he stood. Chang Kuanghai’s guard rose to maximum alert. He sank his center of gravity and braced forward, preparing to withstand an oncoming impact. Yet halfway through assuming his stance, he realized Chen Chuan was already right before him, leaping into midair. His raised fist seemed to pause for the briefest fraction of a second—before smashing downward with savage fury! In that split second, the surrounding air seemed to detonate with a concussive roar! Chang Kuanghai reacted swiftly. Driving his breath, he drew jin up from the soles of his feet and raised his arms to intercept the blow. Boom! At the point of impact on his forearms, an overwhelmingly fierce tide of power bore down from above. He grunted, nostrils flaring as blood rushed to his face. His entire frame sank uncontrollably; the ground beneath his feet fractured and caved in, and as the muscles in his legs bulged to their limits, his pant legs ripped open. Yet before he could even re-adjust, Chen Chuan’s second punch came crashing down from midair. Because of its blinding speed, the reverberations of the first strike had not even subsided. Unable to neutralize or disperse the incoming jin in time, his strength buckled under the unbearable load. With a resounding crash, he was driven down onto one knee. ... ...