Chapter 49
Except for his vital part, he had no intention in defense.
After his loss to Zhou Yuanning, Tang Yue no longer hoped for qualifying. All he wanted was a decent leave from the tournament. w.a.n.g Ye was too powerful an opponent, so Lou Cheng, known as the strongest fighter of under Professional Ninth Pin of this tournament, was the only target for Tang Yue to take.
Among the thoughts, Lou Cheng's heart settled like an ice mirror. Peacefully and leisurely the hidden strength in his right palm broke out.
A crispy sound came from the shake of his forearm. His palm rose up like the head of a snake and sprang out towards Tang Yue's face. His fingers turned into sharp fangs, aiming at the opponent's temple with no portent. Many of the spectators made a fist unconsciously.
Quick and quiet, coldness could go on everywhere, making it impossible to stop it.
Lou Cheng had never got an opportunity to perform this side of Biting Chill or tried to trigger the hidden strength to change moves. Finally, in front of Tang Yue's extreme offenses, the big fish got out of the small pond.
His fingers pierced rapidly towards Tang Yue's vital part. Surprised but not rattled, Tang Yue swung up his left arm to block.
He had studied too many videos of 24 Blizzard Strikes and such a move change was nothing new to him. He didn't expect Lou Cheng to see through his intention at such an early stage but it was not enough to throw him into frenzy.
Pang!
Lou Cheng's fingers sank into Tang Yue's arm as if it was a piece of fat meat, too soft to feel any strength or cause any harm.
Without turning sideways, Tang Yue lowered his weight and threw a left side kick, tearing the air and starting the wind.
Seemingly in front of Lou Cheng was a violent giant elephant, kicking with its full strength to stamp the opponent from an elevated position.
Tang Yue's kick was as powerful as Jin Tao's blast punch. Lou Cheng couldn't parry it until performing Mega Avalanche and Lightning and Fire Stance simultaneously!
Lou Cheng didn't want to parry as once his weight dropped, he would lose the flow and all his advantages. Instead, he adjusted his muscles to absorb energy from the rebound and moved to Tang Yue's back before the side kick's arrival.
If Tang Yue didn't raise his left arm to protect his temple, his side kick would probably hit Lou Cheng!
Tang Yue withdrew his left leg after the miss and stood still like a piece of wood, waiting patiently despite Lou Cheng was right behind him.
Lou Cheng continued to s.h.i.+ft his weight. Suddenly his left arm tightened, shooting at the back of Tang Yue's head like a spear. He was unable to exert his full strength but this part of Tang Yue's body couldn't stand much force either!
Woo...
Tang Yue smelt danger. His right hand swung backward and downward like an elephant trunk, cracking towards Lou Cheng. The power and terror were very close to Ye Youting's explosion.
Elephant style! Sweeping Elephant Trunk!
Lou Cheng adjusted his weight and moved away swiftly. His left hand drew a curved line in the air to dodge the offense and avoid frontal confrontation. He treated Tang Yue as if he was the weaker w.a.n.g Ye with thicker layers of fat who would play offensive against every offense in spite of heavy consumption of his own energy. Considering Tang Yue's body build, he was probably suffering more burden.
Tang Yue resumed his standing posture as soon as Lou Cheng was forced to step back. He had no intention to attack and stuck to guarding his own vital parts, easy, simple, reducing vitality consumption and earning time to breathe
The core of his fight today could be summarized into one word,
"consuming"!
Tang Yue knew he didn't have w.a.n.g Ye's accurate move prognosis and excellent body coordination to limit Lou Cheng's area of guerrilla hit, so he figured out this strategy instead.
He wasn't confident that he was better than Lou Cheng regarding physical strength, but no one's strength could last forever. Sooner or later his opponent would be tired and exhausted. Sooner or later.
Lou Cheng's maintaining Mercurial Balance would consume much more than Tang Yue's steady defense. His mental burden would also be much heavier than Tang Yue's who needed only to watch several vital parts of his body. Even if his physical strength could stay high, his mental focus would drop over time, making it hard for his weight to keep s.h.i.+fting, which would become Tang Yue's opportunity.
Besides, the wind had been at Lou Cheng's back since the beginning of the tournament. He was very close to defeating the Professional Ninth Pin w.a.n.g Ye. Wouldn't he take the opponent lightly and feel too good about himself? The other side of confidence was called pretension!
If his strikes kept on missing, he would become impatient and made mistakes!
Once the decision was made, Tang Yue's mind settled on playing defense like a giant elephant ruling the central land.
Lou Cheng continued to move around and attack Tang Yue's vital parts. In return, Tang Yue either blocked the strikes or met offense with offense. The match came to a stalemate and neither of them could gain the upper hand.
The perplexed audience found the match very exciting, one on offense and the other defense with frequent collisions and equal chance to win. Almost sickened by their concern for the outcome of the match, they couldn't help yelling out their support.
Ye Youting yawned, bored by the match. "What are they waiting for? Is it a martial arts match or an endurance game?"
"What else can they do? Tang Yue's style is completely restrained by Lou Cheng's. The gap between their overall strength is pretty much nothing. Tang Yue has to play this way." Jiang Lan was engrossed in her mobile. Now and then she glanced at the ring.
Ye Youting worked hard to stop herself from lying down and sighed, "It Looks like Wu s.h.i.+tong is quite smart. Of a similar style with Tang Yue, he would have been cornered into the same situation of an endurance game if he didn't set up a trap for Lou Cheng. Unfortunately, he overreached himself.
"Ha... You will enjoy the next match. Zhou Yuanning is an expert at Wuthering Eight Movements, best known for his smooth and agile moves. Lou Cheng's immature Mercurial Balance is exactly what Zhou Yuanning likes." Jiang Lan smiled.
Different styles had different restraints!
15 minutes pa.s.sed. Tang Yue in defensive position had exhausted himself. As he panted slightly, Lou Cheng to his side was still calm like a deep pool with no impatience in his eyes or imbalance in his breath. His physical strength seemed still at its peak.
"How is it possible?" Tang Yue was filled with panic.
Before he could think about it, Lou Cheng already moved away, throwing a downward cut with fist at his eye.
No point sacrificing his eye for such a battle of honor, Tang Yue crossed his elbow to block the punch.
Bang! Tang Yue turned his left fist into an elephant leg and punched downwards with full strength to smash the opponent into a meat pie.
He could tell Lou Cheng would for sure dodge this punch by moving to the other side.
At this moment, Tang Yue's eyes fixed as Lou Cheng lowered his body and solidified his weight.
In Lou Cheng's mind a majestic glacier mountain with strength acc.u.mulated for millions of years suddenly collapsed against the bright lightning bolts, rolling forward and devouring everything.
Lightning and Fire Stance! Mega Avalanche!
Pang!
Lou Cheng's right hand reached out, warding off Tang Yue's stamp. His body sank a little bit.
"Lou Cheng warded off my attack?
How the heck did he ward off my attack?"
Very confident in his own physical strength, Tang Yue was terribly shocked but soon came to realize that he had been drained and weakened considerably!
"It can't go on like this!
Lou Cheng doesn't seem tired at all."
Tang Yue gritted his teeth and made a decision. As Lou Cheng's weight was fixed, he thumped the floor with full strength before withdrawing his left hand, das.h.i.+ng into Lou Cheng like a mad elephant.
Elephant style! Crazy Elephant Charge!
Even a tiger, lion or bear would avoid frontal confrontation with a mad elephant as a touch meant injuries and a collision death.
The ground seemed to shake under this ma.s.sive force but Lou Cheng remained calm as if he had seen this coming. He advanced instead of dodging away, grabbing and pulling Tang Yue's left arm while squatting down himself.
The force in Tang Yue's b.u.mp and Lou Cheng's casting technique dragged Tang Yue into the air over Lou Cheng.
A giant elephant's weight was hard to move but once changes occurred, it couldn't adjust due to its huge inertia. Tang Yue tried his best to control his body but failed. He fell to the ground. A very painful fall!
Dizzy and confused, he heard the referee's announcement.
"Lou Cheng wins!"
He saw Lou Cheng drew his leg back.
After shaking his head, Tang Yue stood up and saw a big smile on Lou Cheng's face.
"To be honest, I have never met anyone that volunteered to compete on physical strength consumption with me."
How courageous!
Staring at Lou Cheng's calmness and ease with zero fatigue, Tang Yue felt sick in his heart with emotions floating. He blurted out, "Will you ever feel tired?"
"Of course," said Lou Cheng sincerely. "If you could hang on half an hour more, I would collapse."
"Half an hour?" Tang Yue's lips twitched and walked away at once. He seemed to be holding his tears.
"Half an hour more... Better you just kill me!"
Looking at his back, Lou Cheng spoke to himself, "I'm serious. Half an hour more and I'll be exhausted. Practice and actual combat are quite different. But my physical strength can probably last another one hundred bouts!"
The restraints of the opponent's style gave him a relatively easy victory.
On the stands were waves of applause and cheers for the wonderful match.
"I don't understand why they don't just go for a marathon?" Ye Youting rubbed her nose while p.i.s.sing on the audience's appreciation level.
The second round of Group Four Lou Cheng scored a win, coming back from the edge of the cliff and heading towards the top 16.