Chapter 301 - 216: Heir of the Ancient Martial Arts
"Come on, Sister Dong! You can do it!"
Dongdong had the upper hand, and the Edge Mercenaries were cheering loudly for their second-in-command.
However, Su Mo didn’t join the cheer; he just quietly watched the battle unfold.
Dongdong was dealing with it correctly; this was the way to fight.
She truly gained an advantage with this strategy.
But Su Mo knew this advantage was only temporary.
If Shangguan Li were so easy to deal with, how could she be the "Best Rookie of the Year" in her prime?
Among the New Moon Seven Stars, there are no weaklings.
The power Shangguan Li is displaying now is just the tip of the iceberg.
At this moment, Su Mo keenly noticed something unusual.
Shangguan Li’s hands, which had been kept behind her back, finally moved.
Su Mo thought to himself: Is she going to use "those moves" now...
...
"Dong!"
During a clash, Shangguan Li flew back, creating distance from Dongdong.
Dongdong seemed to deliberately flaunt her strong control over her artificial body, activating bullet time as she circled Shangguan Li, taunting, "No way, no way, is there really someone who can’t handle bullet time for a few minutes? Is Yao Guang Star really that weak?"
Shangguan Li ignored the provocation, she shifted her left foot sideways, raised both arms with her wrists level, palms lowered, her knees bending alongside.
As her wrists descended slowly, a transcendent aura arose, her eyes reflecting Dongdong’s silhouette, yet she appeared indifferent, as if everything was void.
An Edge Mercenary at the scene asked in confusion, "What’s this stance?"
Su Mo squinted his eyes and said softly...
"Tai Chi."
Dongdong, with her street background, had never trained in authentic martial arts and didn’t recognize the Tai Chi opening stance, still going "No way, no way."
Seizing the right moment, she doubled her speed, her artificial spine enhancing her drive, sweeping up a storm as her heavy punch, laden with force, targeted Shangguan Li’s face, intent on knocking her down.
Suddenly, an unforeseen change occurred.
Shangguan Li’s hands moved with the force of Tai Chi, like precise surgical scalpels, one grasping Dongdong’s wrist joint, the other pinching her elbow, both precise and steady.
In an instant, Dongdong felt a powerful force entering her body, the energy she had just gathered in her fist dispersing completely, disappearing without a trace.
As Shangguan Li pushed with her hands, Dongdong couldn’t stop her momentum, becoming like a puppet out of control, her feet leaving the ground.
Shangguan Li, like a white crane spreading its wings, spun Dongdong swiftly, her feet tracing a sharp arc on the lawn, turning the borrowed force against Dongdong.
"Dong!!!"
At the moment of impact, an intense force surged through Dongdong, her vision filled with snow-like noise as if she crashed into a wall of reinforced steel.
She flew a dozen meters away, collapsing to the ground trying to stand, but her senses were thrown off by the rapid spin and collision, her vision swirling, nausea from organ vibration overwhelmed her.
"Ugh! Ugh..." she curled up, holding her stomach, unable to stop the dry heaving, attempting thrice to get back up but stumbling back each time.
The Edge Mercenaries watched the disheveled Dongdong in shock.
Dongdong was known at the Edge for her toughness, but to have her beaten down to vomiting, how powerful must Shangguan Li be?
Yet among everyone present, only Su Mo knew that Shangguan Li’s pure strength wasn’t that powerful, as the Surprise Sparrow-type Artificial Body wasn’t designed for enhancing strength.
Her ability to deliver such a powerful impact was completely by using Tai Chi Pushing Hands to transform Dongdong’s own force, combining her own energy to double the counterattack’s power.
This is one of Shangguan Li’s signature techniques, ancient martial arts.
Before Su Mo crossed over, Tai Chi and similar ancient martial arts had become mere internet memes.
Mentioning ancient martial arts would have netizens joke about "receiving, dissolving, emitting," "Lightning Five-Chain Whip."
In the pre-crossing world, Su Mo didn’t know whether ancient martial arts existed or were effective.
He could only say he had never seen it firsthand.
Unseen things were left uncommented.
But in the Dawn Realm, ancient martial arts are real and effective.
The reason is simple, because blood codes and artificial bodies grant humans extraordinary physiques.
Once the physical capabilities become strong enough, mastering various techniques and moves becomes possible, creating vast potential for the so-called "styles."
Take Shangguan Li, born into an ancient martial family, mastering martial arts generation after generation.
Although lacking fantasy elements like Golden Bell Shield, Iron Cloth Shirt, or Inner Strength, with her powerful physical augmentation, various ancient martial arts techniques become lethal skills for Martial Artists on the battlefield.
From a young age, Shangguan Li trained in martial arts, her skillful mastery of kicks, punches, and body techniques honed to perfection, further enhanced by the physical prowess from her military-grade level 2 artificial body, she is the embodiment of martial arts masters reborn from wuxia novels.
So when Dongdong previously remarked that fighting isn’t just about artificial body performance, but also about technique, Su Mo nearly couldn’t hold back.
With the "skills" Dongdong developed from street fights, they are perhaps nothing more than calisthenics in Shangguan Li’s eyes.
After a while, Dongdong finally regained her composure, struggling to rise.
Unwillingly, she gritted her teeth, activated bullet time again, and charged toward Shangguan Li.
She clenched her fist, channeling her power into the strike, first aiming for Shangguan Li’s liver area, then immediately pulling back, swinging a sharp arc from below to above toward her chin.
This feint followed by real strike was quite skillful, yet completely anticipated by Shangguan Li.
Her expression calm, she casually raised her palm to intercept Dongdong’s fist, once again dissolving her force with Pushing Hands.