Roadmap to the Boundless Sky-Chapter 52Book 3, : Attack And Defend

How infuriating!

How could he say he didn’t use much energy to defeat Han Kuang?

Since the disciples were still young, none of them could stomach what Chen Chuan had said. Immediately, a large number of them glared at him and stepped forward.

Ni Qianqian instantly stopped them. “One by one. You already lost a fight. Don’t embarrass yourselves on top of that.”

The disciples were all prideful, so they had no interest in ganging up on Chen Chuan and most of them stepped back.

Chen Chuan was actually fine with them ganging up on him. There were ways to fight mano a mano, and there were also ways to fight one-against-many. At worst, he could use his second self to absorb the damage and a bit of the Furnace Breathing Technique. Just by doing that, he could increase his strength to the point where he could defeat most of the people here.

The ones who didn’t step back exchanged looks before stepping back, except for a well-built young man with short, thin hair.

“Hello, Chen Chuan. I’m Dou Bing,” he said with a fist-and-palm salute. He had a powerful voice and was built in such a way that it was obvious he was skilled in takedowns. It seemed like the disciples wanted to make their comeback from where they stumbled.

“Let’s have a good fight.” Chen Chuan returned the salute.

Chen Chuan was quite familiar with takedowns. Zhong Wu, his very first proper opponent, was an expert in takedowns. Qiu Xin, his bedridden friend, was also a takedown expert.

In Yangzhi City’s branch campus, the Takedown Department also happened to be the Mutual Aid Group’s main base, so Chen Chuan had researched takedowns in private due to being most wary of them.

Takedowns weren’t just about going up to someone like an idiot and grabbing them. Out of all the fighting styles, it was the one that relied on technique and good judgment. Thinking that someone was dumb just because they were big was a negative stereotype. In truth, while martial artists mainly had to train their bodies, they needed to use their heads to put food on the table.

Chen Chuan had come up with plenty of strategies to fight against takedown experts, though he didn’t have a lot of chances to test them out. Now, he could try out one of them. It wouldn’t be much trouble if it failed, and besides, winning and losing meant nothing here. Chen Chuan wouldn’t get such a good opponent to test his strategies again.

With his plan set, he didn’t take up any stance and just stood casually.

As for Dou Bing, he acted as if he was facing a great enemy; he didn’t look down on Chen Chuan because of his attitude. The fight before was proof enough that Chen Chuan was no easy opponent, but after testing the waters a little, he found that Chen Chuan seemed to not be on guard against him at all, and that puzzled him.

Even though he remained wary, he wouldn’t shrink back from attacking because of it. No matter what, he was still quite confident in his technique.

So, he began shuffling closer before suddenly closing in, straightening his body, and grabbing Chen Chuan with both hands. If anyone saw where he was grabbing, they would find that they were the exact same places where Chen Chuan had grabbed Han Kuang. Clearly, he wanted to use the method Chen Chuan had used to defeat Han Kuang to win against him.

But against most of the spectators’ expectations, Chen Chuan didn’t move to avoid the attack. He just let Dou Bing grab him, which shocked his attacker the most.

Ni Qianqian and some of the older spectators were surprised as well. They couldn’t figure out what Chen Chuan was trying to pull.

Still, they had a lot more experience in life and immediately thought of a possibility. Could Chen Chuan be thinking about doing that?

The moment Dou Bing grabbed Chen Chuan, his refined force surged into Chen Chuan’s body. At this point, he felt much less wary. No matter what Chen Chuan was planning, there was no way he could break free unless he was much stronger than him. Dou Bing was in control of the match now.

In one swift move, he lifted Chen Chuan high in the air before proceeding to slam him on the floor, just like what Chen Chuan had done to Han Kuang. Everyone watched with anticipation thrumming in their veins, and some people even cheered before Dou Bing’s inevitable victory.

Yet they didn’t notice that Chen Chuan’s expression was still one of calm. Just as his back was about to land on the floor, he suddenly moved.

He bent his body, brought his legs up, wrapped them around Dou Bing’s neck, grabbed his elbows, shoved a wave of refined force into him, and tensed the muscles in his core and back.

Dou Bing felt numb all over. He lost his balance and tumbled forward until his back landed on the floor with a loud bang.

Meanwhile, Chen Chuan used the momentum of the attack to land on his feet and rushed forward. He slammed Dou Bing’s head back on the floor when he tried to raise it up.

Bam!

Dou Bing stopped moving.

The spectators were stunned.

The tides had turned so quickly that none of them could wrap their heads around it or accept it. Chen Chuan was about to be defeated, but in the blink of an eye, he turned the tables, and Dou Bing ended up flat on his back.

It’s just as I thought, Ni Qianqian commented in her mind as she tapped her purple lips. Takedown-type refined forces practically had no weaknesses while the martial artist was gathering and releasing them. Their one vulnerable point was when their control over the person caught grew weaker as it was being released.

But when mutated tissue was caught by a takedown-type refined force and released, it needed a short moment to recover and get used to being free again. Most people weren’t able to react in time, much less counterattack effectively.

Yet Chen Chuan did it. He used that one moment available to him to counterattack.

It was a bold choice. If Chen Chuan had been slightly slower or if he hadn’t been able to activate his mutated tissue in time, he would have been foiled by his own plan.

It wasn’t as if no one else had ever thought about such a strategy or were blind to this opportunity. No, they never used it because they didn’t have the courage or the willingness to take such a risk.

The audacity.

Still, Ni Qianqian couldn’t help it. She started clapping. Even though it was a risk, it was an exciting one, and Chen Chuan won, which proved that his choice was right and not to be criticized.

Once she started clapping, Liu Yin immediately followed with a serious expression. He had believed that winning and losing was a common thing, and losing was nothing big. If a person lost, all they needed to do was find the reason they lost and get rid of that weakness. Every opponent deserved respect. If anyone found themselves unable to accept their defeat, that was no different from them shutting themselves in their own room and declaring that they were the strongest in the world.

Since he was really popular among the younger generation, many of them began to clap as well, though reluctantly. Lukewarm claps rose here and there in the arena.

Once Ni Qianqian was done clapping, she looked at Chen Chuan and asked, “You’ve fought two rounds now. Do you need to rest?”

“Thank you, Officer Ni, but the fight just now lasted about the same time as the first one. I don’t need to rest just yet,” Chen Chuan answered sincerely.

His words caused a few of the disciples to clench their fists so hard that cracking sounds rang in the arena.

Ni Qianqian huffed after giving them the stink eye. “Who’s up next?”

After a while, a disciple came forward. His body was well-proportioned, and his muscles were lean but powerful. He gave Chen Chuan a fist-and-palm salute. “I’m Ren Qiao. Let’s have a good fight.”

“May the better fighter win.” Chen Chuan saluted him back.

Ren Qiao watched Chen Chuan warily. The previous two rounds had taught him to not get close to Chen Chuan. He had to keep him at a certain distance.

Since Chen Chuan had managed to defeat two disciples in just one move, Ren Qiao didn’t give himself the lofty goal of immediately defeating Chen Chuan. Instead, he intended to dance around him and make sure he didn’t lose before coming up with a way to win.

At that moment, a round-faced, short-haired woman in her thirties went to Ni Qianqian and said, “Ren Qiao has always been pragmatic. While he’s not as strong as Liu Yin, he’s a solid martial artist. He knows that he has to reach victory step by step. I’m pretty sure he can dance around Chen Chuan for some time.”

In response, Ni Qianqian flicked a coin at the short-haired woman, who grabbed it and checked it. “A one-dev coin from the Great Shun Empire? That’s rare. Isn’t it worth almost two hundred devs now?”

“I bet Chen Chuan will win in one move,” Ni Qianqian declared.

“I’ll take it.” The short-haired woman put the coin away.

Chen Chuan remained standing casually. It looked like he would fall the moment someone shoved him, but Ren Qiao didn’t look down on him because of it.

Still, they couldn’t remain in this stalemate for too long. It would whittle away his fighting spirit. There were also plenty of people watching, and they had no interest in seeing him glare at Chen Chuan. With the pressure weighing on him, he launched his attack.

He didn’t attack rashly. Instead, after getting a little closer, he brought a leg up, as if poised to kick Chen Chuan. He even moved it a little as a feint to tempt Chen Chuan to make the first move, but Chen Chuan stayed still.

When Ren Qiao saw that this was ineffective, he took half a step forward to deliver a kick. It appeared powerful, but he held back a little so that he would be ready for his next move regardless of whether Chen Chuan met his attack or retreated.

While Chen Chuan appeared relaxed after Ren Qiao stepped forward, he wasn’t actually looking down on the young man. He never looked down on his opponents and had been observing Ren Qiao from the moment he announced himself as the next fighter.

The moment he saw Ren Qiao’s attack, he noticed that there was a lot of mental pressure on Ren Qiao. That was why he had decided to play it safe. Such a mindset was not wrong. If they were in a tournament, they would be bound by rules and couldn’t use a lot of the techniques they had learned. But this was an exchange. There were no obvious rules restricting them, and that made his strategy the wrong one.

Chen Chuan could make use of this.

As Ren Qiao tested the waters, Chen Chuan bent his knees a little, spread his hands slightly, and tilted his body forward. To everyone, this looked like Chen Chuan getting ready to grab Ren Qiao’s waist the moment Ren Qiao delivered his kick.

Ren Qiao was shocked, but he was on guard, so he immediately brought his leg down and shifted back so that he could lower his center of gravity.

At that moment, Chen Chuan changed his movements. He brought his hands up and took a step forward.

Immediately, Ren Qiao realized that Chen Chuan wasn’t going for his waist but his head. If he succeeded, Ren Qiao was going to lose, regardless of whether Chen Chuan used refined force or not. He quickly brought his hands up to block and counterattack.

But at that moment, from the corner of his eye, he saw Chen Chuan bringing a leg up from the floor, as if he wanted to kick him. Shock filled his system, because if he managed to deliver that kick, it would land squarely on his undefended waist. All the movements before were just feints to make him create a gap in his defense. If Chen Chuan managed to land a kick, regardless of whether it hurt Ren Qiao or not, it was definitely going to knock him off balance.

Once he realized this, he had to do something to salvage the situation. Quickly, he retracted his strength in an attempt to protect his waist. To his surprise, not only was he unable to complete setting up his defense, he ended up moving too much, leading to him swaying and stumbling half a step to the side.

Oh no!

When he realized that things were about to go terribly, Chen Chuan closed in, reached over with both hands to grab his waist and shoulder, and blasted a wave of refined force into him. Numbness spread through his body, and he fell to his knees with a loud thud.

Then, he felt Chen Chuan grabbing his nape gently, and he trembled before laughing bitterly.

“I lost.”