paranoianovel Chapter 65 Fox Face
Chapter 65 Fox Face
Lin Mu bolted the door and walked back to the pear tree.
Start practicing boxing.
The Mountain-Crushing Fist delivers power over short distances, with the force twisting directly from the waist and hips, creating a very short and muffled booming sound in the air.
The Piercing Heart Fist, with its force like a cone, pierces straight to the back of the heart. The force of the punch strikes the pear tree stump, causing the wood to shatter and crumble.
The Rift Fist, with its second burst of force, caused the fist to tremble three times with minute subtle movements upon contact, each tremor shaking down a withered leaf.
......
He kept throwing punches, but his punches never went any further.
Until a very faint sliver of blue appeared on the eastern horizon.
The first light to shine was on the top of the broken stump of the old pear tree. Then the light flowed down the cracks, past the claw marks and fist prints, and finally over the dried sweat stains on the blue bricks, climbing onto Lin Mu's fist.
He practiced boxing all night.
At 1:15 PM, he arrived at the gate of the Zhao residence.
The backyard of the Zhao family's old house remained deserted, with a few locust leaves blown by the wind falling on the yellow earthen ground.
Zhao Hu was standing in the center of the arena, his long sword held horizontally in front of his knees, the blade still glistening with morning dew.
"What do you want?"
"Where does the strength of neutralizing force lie?"
Originally, I should have consulted Master Hu about the matter of martial arts cultivation, but since Yan Lin broke through last night, Master Hu probably doesn't have time to deal with him.
That's why Lin Mu came to the Zhao residence to ask.
Zhao Hu bent down and picked up a locust leaf, placing it in his palm. The leaf was still covered in dew, shimmering in the morning light.
"Transforming internal energy is achieved by refining the spirit and transforming it into emptiness."
"Intention directly affects force; where the intention goes, the force follows."
He raised his other hand, his fingertips hovering an inch above the locust leaf.
He didn't touch the leaves, but the locust leaves suddenly trembled, and dewdrops rolled off the leaves.
A tiny hole, no bigger than a pinhead, appeared in the very center of the leaf. It then slowly enlarged, its edges curling and turning yellowish-brown, as if it had been scorched by an invisible flame.
"The key to neutralizing force lies in the fact that the intention precedes the fist."
"The use of hidden force in a move involves three steps: first, the thought; then, the intention; and finally, the force."
"The transformation of internal energy occurs only when the fist has reached its destination, and only then does the intention arrive."
"It's like the body knows how to throw this punch before the brain does."
He tossed the locust leaf into the air and casually flicked his right fist forward.
The fist stopped three inches from the leaf, but the locust leaf suddenly exploded, shattering into more than a dozen extremely fine fragments that swirled and drifted down in the morning breeze.
Each piece was curled up and charred yellow, with very faint white smoke rising from its edges.
"So, in other words, attacks from the Transformation Force are something that the Hidden Force cannot dodge?" Lin Mu grasped the key point.
"You could say that."
......
Lin Mu bid farewell to Zhao Hu and returned to the training ground.
A gong sounded in the drill ground.
One hundred and sixty people were eliminated in the first round, and the remaining one hundred and sixty people will continue to fight in pairs today to determine the top eighty.
The arena for the sixteenth group was located on the east side against the wall, where the sun shone obliquely from the direction of the old locust tree, casting a bright golden light on the surface of the arena.
Lin Mu, wearing the Black Impermanence mask, stood on the west side.
Foxface slowly walked onto the stage from the east side.
He wore a short gray cloth jacket and walked with a very steady gait, each step crushing the sand on the ring, sending debris flying from the soles of his boots.
The white mask with red accents had an eerie quality under the midday sun, its fox-like eyes narrow and upturned, and its lips curved into a half-smile.
"There's nothing interesting about a fox facing off against Black Impermanence."
"Fox Mask finished the previous three matches within three moves. Black Impermanence struggled even against Ming Jin last time. Black Impermanence is probably going to be defeated."
The referee waved.
Without testing the waters, Foxface stomped his left foot on the ground and threw out a straight punch with his right fist.
The force of the punch struck Lin Mu's crossed arms as he blocked.
Lin Mu took a half step back, letting the remaining energy dissipate into the ground, his boot soles carving two three-inch-deep furrows into the rammed earth.
He countered with a backhand entanglement strike aimed at the fox-faced man's wrist joint.
The moment the five fingers touched the opponent's wrist, the fox-faced man flicked his wrist, and a burst of force exploded from his wrist, forcefully dissipating the soft force.
He changed his moves extremely quickly; the instant he withdrew his Dragon Entangling Hand, he had already switched to the Stone Claw, with three fingers hooked inward and locked onto the fox-faced elbow joint.
Foxface neither blocked nor dodged; his second punch was already upon Lin Mu's face.
Lin Mu turned his head to dodge, his fist grazing the edge of the mask, the force of the blow causing the bull horns on the mask to vibrate and hum.
The two were locked in combat on the ring.
Lin Mu used his wolf claw technique to tear, his dragon-entwining hand technique to bind, his stone-cracking claw technique to lock, and his iron sleeve technique to sweep.
The martial arts techniques he had observed for many days were now being displayed in rapid succession between his fists and feet.
The styles of boxing vary greatly from school to school. The onlookers thought that Hei Wuchang's style was extremely diverse and they could not tell that each of his changes of moves was a prelude to a powerful punch.
Foxface's fists were extremely pure and fierce. From the first punch to the fifteenth punch, they were all real. Each punch was heavier than the last. The rammed earth beneath his feet was shaken by the force of the punches, and the sunlight refracted into a hazy golden mist in the dust.
By the fifteenth round, Lin Mu had figured out his opponent's punching patterns.
He stopped dodging.
With his left foot slamming into the ground, he suddenly lunged forward, his Dragon-Entwining Hand gripping the fox-faced man's right wrist. His five fingers coiled like dragons and snakes, the gentle force winding upwards along the opponent's wrist joint.
With a flick of his wrist, the fox-faced man unleashed a burst of explosive force, shattering the soft energy.
But Lin Mu's next claw was already there—the Stone-Splitting Claw, three fingers curled inward, locking onto the fox's elbow joint.
Foxface dodged to the side, but Lin Mu's left palm was already waiting in his path. Iron Sleeve Technique, the sleeves were infused with hidden force and became as hard as iron plates. It swept across Foxface's shoulder, sending him staggering three steps to the side.
He chased after him.
The wolf claw technique tore at the back of the fox's neck, leaving five faint tear marks in the air.
Foxface ducked to avoid it, but Lin Mu's knee was already coming down.
The footprints on the ring stretched from east to west, each one plowed out by the soles of Foxface's boots as he retreated.
The sun was blazing, and debris from the rammed earth flew between the two like golden mist. The white fox mask appeared and disappeared in the dust, and its long, upturned fox eyes still held a half-smile, but now it looked less like a provocation and more like the expression of someone being chased and beaten who hadn't had time to change.
The commotion from the audience gradually subsided.
In the twentieth round, Lin Mu swept his dragon-like hand across the fox-faced mask, causing it to fall off and revealing the opponent's true face.
It was a face so handsome it seemed unreal.
His skin was almost translucent white under the glaring midday sun; his cheekbones were slightly high; his jawline was extremely narrow; and his features looked as if they had been carved out of ivory with a knife.
Her brow bone was high, her eyebrows were very light, her eye sockets were slightly sunken, and her pupils were very light, between gray and amber. At this moment, they shone slightly under the direct sunlight, like two extremely thin glass beads.
His nose was straight and narrow, his lips were extremely thin, and a trace of blood hung at the corner of his mouth, mingling with the sweat dripping from his chin and onto the ring.
Stray hairs clung to his forehead with sweat, their color a very light grayish-brown that shimmered with an almost metallic sheen in the sunlight.
Several girls from the Drunken Dream Pavilion among the onlookers simultaneously let out soft gasps of amazement.
What's most unforgettable are those eyes, burning with an unmistakable resentment.