“But why are you suddenly interested in learning ‘Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear’?”
I scratched my cheek and honestly answered i Ling’s question.
“The truth is, I’ve never formally learned martial arts, so I didn’t know how to handle a situation like earlier.”
At most, in my past life, I learned so Taekwondo in the military.
That’s why I was even more curious about the principles of the technique she used.
However, i Ling looked slightly shocked upon hearing my words.
“You’ve never learned martial arts?”
“Yes. When I defeated Ivan before, it was partly due to luck.”
I explained to her about the ‘Extre Yang Constitution’ that Senior Fuma had told about before.
After hearing my explanation, i Ling asked seriously,
“There’s not a shred of falsehood in what you just said, right?”
“Excuse ? Oh, yes.”
Then i Ling said seriously,
“First off, Ivan Romanov isn’t soone you can beat just by luck. He might be past his pri now, but in his youth, he defeated my master, Li Senshen, who was also one of the Seven Powers, and held the title of the world’s strongest for about 10 years. If he hadn’t lost interest in competitions after being defeated by Japan’s Black Yaksha, he might still be active today.”
According to her description, he seed to have retired a long ti ago, but he was highly regarded.
He must have been quite a big deal.
To , who had t him personally, he was just a Russian man with anger managent issues.
“Anyway, even if you won because you took that ‘Ghost Pill’ and your Yang energy surged montarily, that’s still your own strength. If you start training now, you could definitely reach that level.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Then i Ling looked at seriously.
“You have more talent than anyone I’ve ever seen. You’re a natural-born martial artist.”
Saying that, she reached out and felt the muscles on my arms and chest.
“The fact that you’ve trained to this level of external strength without learning any martial arts is proof of your talent.”
Having my two years of effort acknowledged by one of the strongest fighters of this generation gave a tingling feeling.
It was then…
“Son, dinner’s ready. What should we– Oh my, oh my.”
My mother, who always seed to barge in at the worst possible monts, halted upon seeing i Ling touching my muscles in the living room.
“Am I interrupting again?”
“It’s a misunderstanding!”
I’ve lost count of how many tis I’ve had to say that.
After eating dinner together in the kitchen, we talked with my family about her.
Initially, it was just to break the awkwardness and out of curiosity about what she does, but seeing a post titled ‘StrongWomanDistortedLust.jpg’ circulating on a community board, it seed she was really famous.
Her real na was i Ling Lee.
She was 22 years old this year.
She was a female college student, five years older than .
Originally from Hebei Province in China, she beca famous as a prodigy at an early age. She caught the eye of ‘Invincible East’ Li Senshen, a master known for his expertise in various Chinese martial arts, and beca his disciple, learning his unique martial art, ‘Eight Trigram Palm of the Eight Extre Grandmasters’.“
Although traditional Chinese martial arts were often criticized for being less practical than modern martial arts, she participated in the UFC at a young age, astonishingly dominating three weight classes solely with Chinese Kung Fu.
Furthermore, she competed in the GOF, an open-weight competition regardless of gender or age, and eventually beca the first female champion, solidifying her status as an iconic female fighter.
“That’s an impressive title.”
“Are you just realizing how great I am?”
She said that proudly, puffing out her chest.
As a result, her rather large bust was accentuated, drawing my father’s gaze involuntarily.
Of course, he quickly averted his eyes before my mother noticed.
“How could soone like you lose your wallet?”
“Uh.”
Not knowing what to say, i Ling made a sound and avoided my mother’s gaze.
My father, sitting at the table eating fruit, asked curiously.
“So, Miss i Ling, can you show us any kind of martial art?”
“Of course. Please watch.”
Responding to my father’s request, she quickly stood up and assud a stance.
If it weren’t for the oversized T-shirt exposing one shoulder and the apple she was biting, the atmosphere would have been quite serious.
She straightened her palms, took a deep breath, and began to whip her arms like whips.
I realized that the martial art she was demonstrating was one of those used at the Yaguchi dojo earlier.
Her arms, swaying like willow branches, moved smoothly but occasionally with a powerful force, resembling a dance.
For about 5 minutes.
She displayed various flamboyant techniques in the limited space, srizing my parents, and concluded the demonstration with a final bow.
My parents, who had been watching in awe, simultaneously applauded and admired her performance.
“What was the na of the martial art you just demonstrated, Miss i Ling?”
“It’s a technique called ‘Wall-Defying Strike’.”
“You’re quite impressive, young lady. It was like watching a martial arts movie.”
“You flatter .”
Though she had complied with my parents’ request, i Ling blushed and waved her hands dismissively, as if embarrassed by her own performance.
We continued talking in the living room for a while longer before deciding it was ti to sleep, as it was getting late.
My parents needed to rest as they had to open the store the next day.
The next day.
As usual, I woke up early in the morning and went to my room to get clothes for jogging, but paused when I saw i Ling sleeping on the floor.
She seed to be sleeping deeply, probably tired from walking all day yesterday.
Her face, unguarded in sleep, was ordinarily beautiful.
I tiptoed around her, lying on the futon on the floor, and quietly opened my wardrobe.
There were three sets of training clothes of similar design hanging there.
I usually wore each set for about 3-4 days, so my wardrobe was almost never empty.
I picked out a set of training clothes for today and was about to quietly close the door and leave when I heard a voice that sounded like it had just awoken.
“Where are you going?”
“Did you wake up?”
I glanced back and asked.
Unlike a mont ago when she was lying under the blanket, now she was propped up, looking at with furrowed brows.
“I usually go jogging every early morning.”
i Ling, still seemingly half-asleep, yawned slightly and said,
“I’ll join you.”
“For jogging?”
She nodded slightly and got up from under the blanket.
“I can’t neglect my personal training just because I’m far from ho.”
“Well then, I won’t stop you.”
As I was about to leave the room, sothing occurred to , and I asked,
“Do you have training clothes?”
i Ling paused for a mont but then nodded.
“I have them.”
“I’ll wait for you outside. Take your ti.”
I decided to wait in the living room until she was fully ready.
Usually, it takes quite a while for a woman to get ready to go out.
However, i Ling, as if such conventions had nothing to do with her, simply washed her face quickly and ca outside.
Her long hair, tied in a ponytail, swayed gently.
I gestured to her to follow the route I always run.
Acknowledging this, i Ling started jogging alongside , matching my stride.
We ran for about 30 minutes from ho and arrived at a city park near the riverbank.
At this ti, the park was always empty, so the early morning park was quiet all around.
After jogging, feeling refreshed, she said to while doing so light stretching,
“I’d like to do what you requested yesterday, right now.”
“Are you talking about the ‘Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear’?”
“Yes.”
She nodded in affirmation.
Perhaps because we had talked a lot the previous night, I felt more at ease with her than before.
She approached , felt my arm muscles like the day before, and said,
“Yesterday, the technique I used, Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear, is originally derived from the Tiger’s Defiant Stance, one of the eight teachings of the Eight Trigram Palm.”
She grabbed my right arm with both hands.
“And the Eight Trigram Palm is a martial art derived from spear techniques.”
I moved my arm as she guided .
The joint of my extended right arm rotated in the middle.
“The most important aspect of Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear is to treat your arms as a single spear. Once you learn this, you’ll have a spear that can pierce through any shield in your hands.”
As she spoke, i Ling assud the sa posture as yesterday.
Her highly trained right arm pierced through the air.
Although the added rotation in the thrust might seem simple, it gave the feeling that it could pierce through anything.
“Since you seem like you can catch on quickly, I’ll start by teaching you the basics.”
She said that with a joyful expression, as if she was having fun.
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