20demayo Chapter 77 Fists Hit Hard, A Stormy Shower
Chapter 77 Fists Hit Hard, A Stormy Shower
Cai Zhongtie stomped his foot hard.
"Click!"
A crack spread outwards from where his foot landed.
"Whoosh!"
He shot straight toward Chen Yu like a cannonball.
The distance of ten steps was compressed to zero in the blink of an eye.
"They're here!"
On the outer court stands, Cheng Daqi suddenly gripped Xiahou Fei's sleeve tightly.
"Master, look!"
Xiahou Fei had closed the fan in his hand at some point.
His fingers tightened slightly on the fan handle, causing the fan ribs to creak very softly.
But he himself seemed unaware, his eyes fixed on the rapidly moving figure on the ring, his lips pressed into a thin line.
Chen Yu reacted the moment Cai Zhongtie started the attack.
With his keen senses, he spotted the first signs of force coming from the opponent's shoulder.
The sudden, intense contraction of the deltoid muscle warned him of the direction and angle of the attack.
Lean your upper body forward, lower your right shoulder, and clench your fist into a bony shape.
The target was not somewhere else, but his face.
"Bone-Breaking Fist!"
Someone in the inner courtyard stands cried out in surprise.
"Senior Brother Cai used the Bone-Breaking Fist right from the start?"
The disciples in the inner courtyard all sat up straight.
They understood better than anyone what Broken Bone Fist meant.
That was one of Cai Zhongtie's most prized killing moves, an extremely powerful strike specifically designed to break through defenses.
The second joint of the middle finger protrudes slightly, forming a sharp bony ridge.
With the increased bone density from the initial stage of bone refining, a single punch can leave a dent even on an iron plate a finger thick.
When they sparred in the inner courtyard, Cai Zhongtie rarely used this move right away, because if it landed, it could kill someone.
"Senior Brother Cai isn't going to hold back."
"A disciple from the inner court said in a low voice, his tone tinged with fear."
Chen Yu did not intend to take the punch head-on.
He took a half step back with his right foot.
The entire upper body was turned to the left at an extremely small angle.
Cai Zhongtie's bone-breaking fist whistled past him less than two inches from the tip of his nose.
"call out!"
The force of the punch grazed his cheek.
Although there was no actual contact, the sheer force of that energy still stung his nerves.
A wisp of hair drifted down from Chen Yu's forehead.
The force of the punch cleanly severed the stray hairs on his forehead from the roots.
Strands of black hair drifted slowly in the air between the two.
One punch misses, then another is thrown.
Cai Zhongtie's left fist had already slammed out from his side.
"call!"
This punch changed tactics; it no longer went in a straight line.
Instead, it was lifted diagonally upwards, its target aimed directly at Chen Yu's ribs.
In a flash, Chen Yu placed his left forearm across his ribs.
"Bang!"
The impact of the fist and arm produced an extremely dull thud.
The moment they made contact, Chen Yu's brow furrowed slightly.
It hurts! It really hurts!
The remaining force penetrated his forearm's defenses, jolted into his ribs, and caused a dull echo in his chest.
But Chen Yu's position remained intact, and his center of gravity remained stable.
Cai Zhongtie frowned slightly.
He originally thought that this punch would break Chen Yu's defense, and then he could close in and finish the fight with his knee.
But Chen Yu's block was much more solid than he had expected.
That seemingly fragile arm was not broken by his full-force punch, and there was not even any obvious deformation.
"But that's okay."
"The close proximity has been reduced."
Cai Zhongtie stepped between Chen Yu's feet.
His knees were slightly turned outwards, and his center of gravity was very low.
Then, he started punching outwards.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
It wasn't just one or two punches, but a storm of punches.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
Left fist, right fist.
Then left fist, then right fist.
Cai Zhongtie threw out punches in alternating motions.
Each punch carried enough weight to shatter bones.
The impact covered all the vital points of Chen Yu's upper body.
This includes the face, throat, chest, shoulders, and both sides of the ribs.
The speed of his punches wasn't extremely fast, but his ability to keep the airtight was unparalleled.
One punch after another, giving the opponent no chance to breathe.
The disciples of the Central Academy in the stands watched with trepidation.
From their perspective, Chen Yu looked like he had been caught in a storm of fists.
Cai Zhongtie's figure almost completely enveloped him.
Only occasionally, through the gaps in the fist shadows, could one catch a glimpse of Chen Yu's clothing.
"It's over!"
Sha Bao's face was pale, and his lips were trembling.
"How can we fight this? There's no way we can fight this!"
"The gap is too big. A close-range combo attack from someone who has just reached the initial stage of Bone Refinement is simply unbearable for someone who has only reached the beginner level!"
Ouyang Qing stood at the very front of the central courtyard's stands, his hands gripping the stone railing tightly in front of him.
On the arena, Chen Yu was struggling to make his way through the eye of the storm.
The first punch was aimed at his face, but he dodged it by turning his head.
The second punch landed on his chest, and he raised his arms to block it, his heels sliding two inches off the stone slab.
The third punch landed diagonally on his left shoulder. He leaned back to absorb most of the force, but the muscles in his shoulder still twitched violently from the impact.
Cai Zhongtie's fourth punch has arrived.
This punch was a right uppercut, aimed at Chen Yu's jaw from below.
It blends into the inertial rhythm of continuous attacks, suddenly changing direction from horizontal to vertical, making it extremely stealthy.
The jaw is the most vulnerable part of the human body. Being hit by a heavy punch can cause fainting at best, and death on the spot at worst.
Chen Yu caught a glimpse of that fatal arc out of the corner of his eye at the last moment.
His neck snapped back, his chin lifted, and his entire body tilted backward.
"call out!"
Cai Zhongtie's fist grazed an inch in front of his jaw.
The rough surface of his fist grazed the skin around his Adam's apple, leaving a faint red mark.
The force of the punch entered his throat, his trachea contracted instantly, and his breath froze for a beat.
Cai Zhongtie's killer moves are not over yet.
His right uppercut had just missed when his left elbow swept across.
The knuckles of his elbows bulged out, their target aimed directly at Chen Yu's temple!
Elbow strike!
Cheng Daqi suddenly stood up, his voice breaking into a scream of horror.
"Chen Yu, watch out!"
He didn't need to remind me.
Chen Yu's feet had already reacted on the stone slab.
He pushed off the ground with his right foot and shifted half a body length to the left.
The move was clumsy; the center of gravity had shifted backward, and the person was almost flying out at an angle.
He instinctively reached out with his left hand to brace himself against the ground, his fingers scraping against the rough stone slab, leaving several bloody marks. Then, using this foothold, he rolled over and stood up again.
Three steps away, Chen Yu regained his footing.
His breathing was noticeably more rapid than before, and his chest was rising and falling much more dramatically.
The area on his left arm where Cai Zhongtie had repeatedly struck him was swollen, and a bluish-purple ridge had risen under the skin.
The tip of my right finger was scraped when I braced myself on the ground, and a few drops of blood were seeping out from under my nail.
But he stood there, back straight, eyes calm, without taking a single step back.
Cai Zhongtie did not pursue them.
He stopped moving, stood up straight, and stretched his shoulders.
Looking at Chen Yu three steps away, a smile appeared on his lips.
"You've managed to get through this round," he said slowly, "but the next round won't be so easy!"
On the stands of the Intermediate People's Court, Sha Bao, who had been ashen-faced, suddenly came to his senses.
"We made it! Senior Brother Chen made it!"
Sha Bao shouted excitedly, his voice filled with the ecstatic joy of surviving a disaster.
"He withstood Cai Zhongtie's relentless attacks!"
"That was a series of blows from someone at the Lesser Completion stage of Bone Refinement! Who in the Central Academy could withstand that? But Chen Yu did!"
Someone nearby chimed in.
"call--"
Ouyang Qing finally let out the breath she had been holding for so long.
The pressure in my chest lessened a bit.
But her fingers still gripped the stone railing tightly.
Holding out for one round doesn't mean anything.
She heard what Cai Zhongtie said.
The next round won't be so easy.
On the inner courtyard stands, the disciples who had just been looking smug now had serious expressions again.
An inner court disciple frowned and whispered to the person next to him, "This kid's movement technique is quite something. Few people can escape unscathed from Senior Brother Cai's combo attacks. He not only dodged them, but he also regained his footing very quickly."
"It was just luck!"
The person next to him snorted, but his tone was no longer as confident as before.
"Senior Brother Cai won't give him a chance in the next round!"
But at that moment, something unexpected happened on the stage that no one present had anticipated.
Chen Yu took a step forward.
This action was so simple that it required no explanation, yet it caused the entire sword-testing arena to fall silent for a moment.
The cheers from the stands at the Intermediate People's Court abruptly ceased.
The whispers from the inner courtyard stands suddenly froze.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at Chen Yu on the arena.
"What happened?"
"Was he so stunned by what happened last time that he went the wrong way?"
Chen Yu did not go to the wrong place.
His left foot landed firmly on the stone slab, and then he took another step forward.
This is an aggressive stance; he wants to fight back completely.
Cai Zhongtie's pupils contracted slightly.
He rarely saw anyone who, after withstanding a barrage of his attacks, would not react by catching their breath, but instead would actively move forward.
There are only two possibilities for this reaction.
Either this person is a fool who doesn't know his own limitations, or he still has a trump card up his sleeve.
Chen Yu was clearly not a fool.
Cai Zhongtie lowered his center of gravity and readjusted his defensive stance.
He decided to take another look to see what other skills this disciple of the Central Academy had up his sleeve.
Chen Yu threw a punch.
This was the first punch he threw in the two duels.
There were no fancy spins, no powerful roars.
It was a very simple and basic straight punch down the center, aimed directly at the center of Cai Zhongtie's chest.
With such a simple and mindless attack, Cai Zhongtie didn't bother to dodge at all.
His pectoral muscles tightened sharply just before the punch arrived, turning into a living meat shield.
"Bang!"
Chen Yu's fist struck above his sternum, producing a loud thud.
Cai Zhongtie's body remained completely still, and his upper body didn't even sway.
"this one?"
Cai Zhongtie looked down at the spot where he had been hit, then looked up again, his eyes filled with undisguised mockery.
He didn't even raise his hands to block; he just left his chest exposed, as if inviting Chen Yu to throw another punch.
A burst of laughter erupted from the stands in the inner courtyard.
"Is that all the strength you've got? Not even enough to tickle Senior Brother Cai!"
One of the inner disciples slapped his knee and laughed so hard he almost fell over.
"I thought he was hiding something, but it turns out this is all?"
"Hahaha, that's all the Intermediate Court is capable of. They don't even have the strength to fight, so what kind of life-or-death duel are they talking about?"
The people who were just worried now felt relieved.
His expression changed from tense to relaxed mockery.
One man leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and said to the person next to him, "Even if Senior Brother Cai let him fight, he couldn't move him. This duel is a foregone conclusion."
In the stands of the Intermediate People's Court, the newly ignited flame of hope was extinguished again by Cai Zhongtie's cry of "That's it."
The disciples all looked embarrassed; some lowered their heads, while others bit their lips and remained silent.
Those who had been shouting the loudest earlier fell silent.
"The gap is too big."
Sha Bao shook his head with a wry smile.
"Senior Brother Chen's speed and agility are indeed remarkable, but his strength is insufficient. He can't defeat Cai Zhongtie, so all his skills are useless."
Ouyang Qing bit her lower lip, leaving a shallow bloodstain.
She wanted to refute Sha Bao's words, but found that she didn't have the confidence to do so.
Cai Zhongtie's unwavering stance was incredibly disheartening.
That absolute physical dominance makes you feel that all your skills and efforts are in vain in the face of it.
On the stage, Chen Yu was unaffected by Cai Zhongtie's taunts and the laughter coming from all sides.
His second punch had already been thrown.
This punch landed in the same spot as the first punch, without the slightest difference.
Cai Zhongtie accepted it all without question, his chest muscles thumping again from the impact.
The corners of his mouth even curled up, as if he was about to utter an even more sarcastic remark.
But Chen Yu's third punch had already followed.
It's the same spot again.
Then the fourth punch.
The fifth punch.
Cai Zhongtie's smile froze.
He noticed something.
Chen Yu's punches landed with unsettling precision.
The five punches landed almost perfectly at the same point, as if an invisible mark was drawn on the skin of his chest.
I didn't feel anything from the first or second punch.
The skin started to feel numb after the third punch.
The numbness from the fourth punch turned into itching and pain.
The itchy pain from the fifth punch began to penetrate deeper.
"This isn't right!"
Cai Zhongtie no longer stood there and took the beating.
His right palm suddenly shot out, like a shield blocking his chest and cutting off the trajectory of Chen Yu's fist.
He can't keep letting this guy from the middle court play in the same position.
Even if you can't break through his defenses for the time being, if you keep hitting the same spot, a hundred or a thousand punches will eventually crack anything.
"You won't let me play anymore?"
Chen Yu's voice rang out the instant his fist was intercepted.
"Let's go somewhere else!"
As he finished speaking, his body turned forty-five degrees to the right.
Lower your center of gravity, with your left foot forward and your right foot back.
The person changed from standing facing forward to turning to a sideways posture.
Then his left fist slammed out from his waist.
This punch was completely different from all the previous straight punches.
Its power chain is complete and smooth.
Starting with the stomp of the feet, the power travels along the calves, thighs, waist, hips, spine, shoulders, and arms, all the way to the fist.
Chen Yu's entire body suddenly loosened like a bamboo stalk twisted to its limit, all its elastic potential energy being released at the moment of contact.
"Bang!"
The fist slammed into Cai Zhongtie's right ribs.
The sound of the impact was completely different from before.
The sound of a fist piercing through the muscle layer, the force acting directly above the internal organs.
Cai Zhongtie swayed slightly.
The swaying was very small, with a lateral shift of less than half an inch.
But it was this tiny inch that plunged the entire sword-testing arena into a terrifying silence.
Cai Zhongtie, the sword guard commander who had achieved minor success in bone refining, was moved by the fist of a disciple from the middle academy!
On the inner courtyard stands, the disciples who had been crossing their legs put them down.
The smiles on the faces of those who were just laughing vanished like candle flames blown out by the wind.
They sat up straight, leaning slightly forward, their eyes wide, staring intently at Cai Zhongtie's right rib area on the ring.
"Just now...did Senior Brother Cai move?"
The voice of an inner court disciple was ethereal, as if he was trying to convince himself that he had misread it.
No one answered him.
Because immediately afterward, Chen Yu threw his next punch.
The left fist is followed by the right fist.
After the right punch, it was followed by the left punch.
Chen Yu unleashed a flurry of punches, more than twice as fast as before.
His fists were no longer limited to the same spot, but poured down on Cai Zhongtie's body like a torrential rain.
Both sides of the ribs, abdomen, chest, and shoulders.
Each punch carries the weight and acceleration of the entire body, and each punch lands with a dull thud.
Cai Zhongtie began to block.
He crossed and waved his arms in front of him, trying to intercept Chen Yu's punches.
But Chen Yu's landing point changed too quickly and was too tricky.
His punches didn't move on a single plane, but rather surged into Cai Zhongtie's defensive range from different angles, heights, and rhythms.
Before Cai Zhongtie's hand even arrived, his fist had already slipped in from the other side and slammed solidly into his body.
The atmosphere in the stands completely changed.
The disciples of the Central Court jumped up from their seats.
Hundreds of disciples from the Central Academy stood up at the same moment.
Their eyes widened, their mouths gaped, and their expressions shifted from shock to an unbelievable ecstasy.
The change happened so fast that many people's expressions were still frozen on their faces.
His expression, alternating between shock and ecstasy, looked distorted and ridiculous, but no one cared.
"You...you were moved?!"
Sha Bao's voice trembled with excitement.
"Senior Brother Chen impressed Cai Zhongtie!"
"Left fist! That punch landed squarely!"
The people next to him shouted and gestured wildly in the air.
"Did you see that? Cai Zhongtie's body swayed! He swayed!"
"Wow!"
Wow!
More people are screaming.
It has no meaning whatsoever; it's just a pure emotional outburst.
Someone took off their outer robe and swung it in the air, making a whooshing sound.
Someone was frantically pounding on the stone railing in front of them, completely unaware that their palms were turning red.
Some people even jumped up while hugging the person next to them, regardless of who the other person was.
"Inferiority overthrows superiors!"
I don't know who shouted those four words.
Then the entire stands in the middle courtyard started roaring.
The voices of hundreds of people combined, causing the stone walls of the sword-testing arena to vibrate.
Ouyang Qing also stood up from the crowd.
She looked at the figure on the ring who was launching a fierce attack, and her eyes suddenly welled up with tears.
On the stands of the outer courtyard, Cheng Daqi was completely stunned.
After a long pause, he finally managed to squeeze out a distorted shout: "That's Cai Zhongtie! He's hitting Cai Zhongtie!"
Xiahou Fei stood beside his apprentice and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good lad!"
He slammed his fan down on his knee, his voice brimming with barely suppressed smugness.
"It wasn't in vain that I taught you this punch; the power behind it is... uh, it seems..."
He didn't finish speaking.
Because something happened on the stage that made him swallow the rest of his sentence.
After taking seven or eight punches from Chen Yu's barrage, Cai Zhongtie finally found an opening to retaliate.
He suddenly raised his right knee, using it as a punch, and slammed it into Chen Yu's lower abdomen.
The knee strike came extremely suddenly, without any warning.
Cai Zhongtie's upper body posture remained almost unchanged.
While his arms were still blocking the punches from above, his knees were already coming up from below, fast and powerful.
Chen Yu didn't have time to retract his fist and block.
His fists were leaning forward due to the momentum of his attack, and his body weight was pressing down in front of him.
To move backward, one needs to reset their center of gravity, and that time difference is enough for Cai Zhongtie's knee to slam into his abdomen.
He chose to tough it out.
Just before his knees touched his abdomen, Chen Yu deliberately contracted his abdominal muscles to their maximum extent.
"Bang!"
Cai Zhongtie's knee slammed heavily into those taut abdominal muscles.
Chen Yu's body was pushed back two steps by the knee.
A visible trace of pain crossed his face, and a thin layer of sweat seeped from his forehead.
But he stood firm on his feet, his body didn't fall, and his center of gravity didn't shift.
The cheers from the stands at the Intermediate People's Court were momentarily silenced by the knee strike.
But when he regained his footing, an even louder roar swept through the stands.
"He took it! He took that knee!"
Sha Bao lay on the stone railing and roared at the arena.
"Chen Yu! Chen Yu!"
There were no extra words; everyone was simply repeating the same name.
Hundreds of voices, in a disorderly fashion, shouted "Chen Yu".
The shouts gradually blended into a unified rhythm, spreading to every corner of the testing ground.
The inner courtyard stands were deathly silent.
The disciples sat in their respective seats.
All the sarcasm, laughter, and ease from just now have shattered into pieces.
Now they are watching Cai Zhongtie, who has been hit in the ring.
An unprecedented chill crept up my spine, vertebra by vertebra.
"What level of cultivation has he reached?"
The voice of an inner court disciple was so soft it sounded like he was talking to himself.
"How could Senior Brother Cai, who has only achieved minor success in Bone Refinement, be beaten up like this..."
"I can't see through it!"
The person next to him shook his head, his voice hoarse.
"From the moment I spoke until now, I still can't see through his true nature."
"His punching power only started to show after the fifth punch!"
An older inner court disciple sitting in the front row had a solemn expression and tapped his fingers lightly on his knee.
"It's not that he lacks power, but rather that he builds up power layer by layer! With each punch, he adds force to the next punch, building up the power layer by layer. This is a very skillful technique for generating power."
After he finished speaking, the people around him fell silent for a moment.
Then someone gritted their teeth and voiced the question everyone was thinking but no one dared to say: "So, the fact that he withstood Senior Brother Cai's combo attacks just now... wasn't it just luck?"
"It wasn't just luck," the older disciple replied firmly.
On the ring, Cai Zhongtie's breathing had begun to become heavy.
He took the heaviest punch from Chen Yu to his right rib, and the muscles there were spasming involuntarily.
I took two punches to my left shoulder, which limited the range of motion in my shoulder joint.
These injuries are beneath the skin and above the bone, and on the outside they look like just a few bruises.
But Cai Zhongtie knew better than anyone that these injuries would affect his power chain.
The power of each punch will be reduced, and the range of each dodge will be limited.
What bothered him even more was Chen Yu's expression.
He took a series of blows from him, and then a knee strike.
His body was covered in bruises, and his skin was covered in blood and sweat.
But he stood there, his breathing heavy yet steady, his gaze weary yet clear.
Cai Zhongtie suddenly realized a problem.
From the very beginning, Chen Yu in front of me was not on the defensive, but actively observing!
Observe his boxing style!
Get used to his rhythm!
Calculate his power exertion habits!
Every punch and elbow strike I made had been dissected by those eyes and pieced together into the opponent's mind!
Then, the counterattack had only just begun.
The sunlight streamed down from above, casting long shadows of the two people on the stage.
A gust of wind swept through the sword-testing arena, bringing the sound of water from a distant mountain stream and the scent of grass and trees, but it could not dispel the thick, almost solidified killing intent on the arena.
Cai Zhongtie spat the blood from his mouth onto the ground.
He lowered his head, staring at the small patch of dark red saliva on the stone slab, and remained silent for a breath.
Then he raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, his gaze like that of a beast driven to the brink of despair.
"Good lad, you're definitely worth getting serious with!"
"Next, I'm going to show you what it truly means to fight to the death!"