Chapter 32: Flowery Fists and Embroidered Legs

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“What’s your name?”

“I never change my name, whether standing or sitting—Liu Monkey!” The monkey-faced man answered defiantly, emboldened by the number of people behind him.

“You think what I’ve taught you is useless?” Xiao Zhan asked in an even tone.

“Of course it’s useless!” Liu Monkey raised his voice. “Fancy moves! Fighting like a bunch of women! In a real battle to the death, what matters is this!”

He waved his bony fist.

“Well said.”

To everyone’s surprise, Xiao Zhan nodded.

He turned and beckoned to Wang Ba, who was not far away. Though one arm was dislocated, the man had continued training without pause.

“Wang Ba, come here.”

Wang Ba was startled, but he still dragged his injured arm forward and walked over in silence.

“My lord.”

He lowered his head, his voice filled with reverence.

The experience of his crushing defeat had completely stripped away his arrogance.

“He”—Xiao Zhan pointed at Liu Monkey on the ground—“says that what I teach is nothing but fancy footwork, like women fighting. What do you think?”

Wang Ba suddenly raised his head. A murderous glint flashed in his eyes.

“He’s talking nonsense!”

Now, more than anyone else, Wang Ba understood how terrifying those techniques were.

“Very good.” Xiao Zhan smiled.

He drew a sharp dagger from his waist and drove it into the ground between the two men with a ringing clang.

“Liu Monkey, I’ll give you a chance to prove yourself.”

“You will attack Wang Ba using the method you are best at.”

“Wang Ba”—Xiao Zhan looked toward him again—“your left hand is unusable. You may use only your right. Fight him with the moves I just taught you.”

“Life or death is irrelevant.”

Those final four words crashed into everyone’s hearts like four icebergs.

The entire training ground fell utterly silent.

Every eye focused on the three men in the center.

Was this for real?

And was it truly a fight to the death?

Zhang Wei and Qin Cang both sprang to their feet on the command platform, stunned.

He was insane! Xiao Zhan was completely insane!

He was actually ordering soldiers to slaughter one another on the training ground!

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Liu Monkey was stunned as well.

He stared at the dagger gleaming coldly on the ground, then at Wang Ba’s mountainlike frame and murderous expression. His calves began to cramp with fear.

“What’s wrong? Lost your nerve?” Xiao Zhan’s voice was full of ridicule. “Where did all that bravado go?”

“Who—who says I’m afraid?” Liu Monkey’s face flushed crimson under the provocation.

He clenched his teeth and sprang up from the ground.

He had seen clearly that one of Wang Ba’s arms was useless, drastically reducing his fighting power. He himself was agile. He might still have a chance.

“You said it yourself!”

A vicious glint flashed through Liu Monkey’s eyes. He did not reach for the dagger. Instead, he let out a strange cry and pounced at Wang Ba with the agility of a real monkey.

His fighting style was typical of a street thug’s—attacking the groin, stabbing at the eyes, using every dirty trick imaginable.

Faced with Liu Monkey’s attack, Wang Ba stood motionless.

His uninjured right arm hung loosely at his side.

Just as Liu Monkey closed in, just as his clawlike hand was about to stab toward Wang Ba’s eyes—

Wang Ba moved.

He neither blocked nor retreated.

He simply stepped forward half a pace and turned his body aside, causing Liu Monkey’s attack to miss.

At the same time, his intact right hand shot upward like lightning. With a single knife-hand strike, he struck the inside of the elbow joint of Liu Monkey’s outstretched arm with pinpoint accuracy.

Crack!

Another bone-snapping sound made everyone’s scalp prickle.

Before Liu Monkey could even scream, Wang Ba’s second move had already arrived.

His broad, fanlike hand seized Liu Monkey’s dislocated arm and violently yanked it toward his chest.

Liu Monkey lost his balance completely and staggered into Wang Ba.

Waiting for him was a vicious knee strike that Wang Ba had already gathered himself to deliver.

Thud!

The knee struck Liu Monkey squarely in the lower abdomen.

Pffft!

Liu Monkey’s eyes bulged. His body folded like a boiled shrimp and flew backward. A mouthful of fresh blood mixed with stomach acid burst from him in midair. He slammed heavily onto the ground, convulsed twice, and then fell utterly silent.

One move.

No—two moves in succession.

A living man had been destroyed just like that.

Fast!

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Far too fast!

It had happened so quickly that no one had even seen exactly what occurred.

Wang Ba stood there, breathing heavily. He stared at his uninjured right hand, then at Liu Monkey lying on the ground, his expression filled with shock and disbelief.

So this was the art of killing?

Killing a man could actually be this simple?

Silence.

The entire training ground was quieter than it had ever been.

Every soldier stared blankly at Liu Monkey. A chill rose from the soles of their feet, raced up their spines, and shot straight into the crowns of their heads.

At last, they understood.

What Xiao Zhan had taught them was not martial arts.

It was a cold, emotionless procedure for killing.

“Now…”

Xiao Zhan slowly pulled the dagger from the ground and walked toward the soldiers who had been making trouble moments earlier. He pressed the bloodstained tip against one soldier’s throat.

“Does anyone still think what I teach is nothing but fancy footwork?”

With the cold dagger against his throat, the ringleader felt a sudden urge to urinate surge straight into his bladder. The shadow of death had never been so clear. He could feel the sharpness of the blade and could even smell the blood of Liu Monkey that had not yet dried.

His body shook more violently than leaves in the wind.

The courage he had drawn from having numbers on his side had already been shattered by Wang Ba’s two swift, devastating attacks—and by the dagger now poised to take his life.

“No… no one does…” His voice trembled with sobs, faint as a mosquito’s buzz.

“Speak louder! I can’t hear you!”

Xiao Zhan applied the slightest pressure with his wrist. The sharp tip had already drawn a shallow line of blood across the man’s skin.

“Ah!”

The soldier was scared out of his wits. He could no longer hold himself together. His legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees. Tears and snot streamed down his face as he struck his forehead against the ground again and again.

“I was wrong! My lord, spare me! I was blind and failed to recognize a true master! What you teach is a divine technique—a divine technique for killing! I won’t dare do it again! Never again!”

His collapse spread like a plague to the other soldiers who had been shouting along with him moments before.

Thump! Thump!

Dozens more dropped to their knees in unison, their faces ashen and their bodies trembling.

“We know we were wrong! Please forgive us, my lord!”

“We’ll never dare again!”

Xiao Zhan snorted coldly and slowly withdrew the dagger. He did not even spare a glance for the kneeling cowards. Instead, his gaze shifted to the soldiers who had clenched their teeth and remained silent from beginning to end.

“Remember.”

Xiao Zhan’s voice was not loud, but it was like an ice pick driven into the ears of everyone present.

“In my camp, there is only ever one chance.”

He walked over to Wang Ba. Wang Ba instinctively straightened his back, his eyes filled with awe.

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