Body Tempering
"Brat… Who are you..?"
One of the bandits asked…
Zhu Shen didn't answer. He just ran in the direction of another bandit.
Swoosh…
Already prepared, the bandit avoided Zhu Shen's punch and attacked with a blade.
Seeing his first blow fail, Zhu Shen retreated immediately. He narrowly avoided the attack.
This sudden exchange only took a few moments.
Soon all the bandits realized what happened and ran in Zhu Shen's direction…
"Kill this damn brat first…"
Zhu Shen felt really thrilled…
'Bring it on…'
He lunged towards the nearest bandit.
"Boom…"
This time the punch landed on the bandit's abdomen.
The bandit's body flew 5 meters and landed with a deep Thud…. There was no life in the bandit's eyes…
Zhu Shen saw more and more bandits reaching his way. He felt his blood boiling. Excitement, thrill, fear, all kinds of emotions dwelled inside him.
"Boom…"
Another punch landed on the bandit's body.
'3 down… 17 more to go…'
Unknown to Zhu Shen, His eyes turned golden as he saw golden steps appear on the ground. Like before, he followed the golden steps and soon realized that he was able to avoid all the attacks coming his way.
The dragon steps…
Using dragon steps Zhu Shen was able to deal with bandits much more easily…
Until
'Swoosh…'
Zhu Shen saw a bright silver light coming his way from a blind spot. He tried to avoid it using dragon steps but it was too late…
'Shplitch…'
A deep wound appeared on Zhu Shen's right shoulder. Blood flew, Zhu Shen hastily backed away and looked back…
He saw a muscular man standing in front of him. The man had a few scars on his face.
He sinisterly smiled at Zhu Shen and rushed forward to attack again.
This time Zhu Shen was a bit prepared. He avoided the blow and punched the man's arm…
'Boom…'
For the first time in his life, Zhu Shen felt scared. His hand went numb from the impact, but the man was standing in front of him as nothing happened… His sinister face was still smiling at Zhu Shen.
Zhu Shen retreated back, but the scar-faced man followed closely behind him.
'Swosh…'
Another blow came directly at Zhu Shen's throat… Zhu Shen avoided it by hair's width.
"Che~...."
Snickered the scar-faced man as he attacked Zhu Shen once again.
'I need to do something quick…'
Zhu Shen was purely avoiding the blows because of his Dragon Steps… but he had no way to attack…
As Zhu Shen was feeling really troubled about what to do… a faint voice came from inside him…
'Use the dragon breath…'
'Haah… haah…'
While Zhu Shen was avoiding the attacks he started practising the dragon breath…
His body instantly became heavy… Everything around him slowed down.
'I can see the blade now…'
Zhu Shen felt his five senses getting stronger. Now he was able to see the trajectory of the blade…
He avoided the next attack as he punched in the direction of the scar-faced man.
Boom..
"Ahhhh…"
The shrill painful cry awoke all the people present as they saw the scar-faced man fly backwards with a broken hand.
Huff…
Zhu Shen took a deep breath. He was surprised at the effectiveness of the dragon breath technique.
He thought that dragon breath was just a cultivation technique, but he never thought it was also an effective combat technique.
The scar-faced man picked up his blade with his other hand as he ran towards Zhu Shen with everything he had…
"Brat… I will kill you today…"
His eyes were red. Like a maddened beast he lunged at Zhu Shen.
'Keep calm…'
The best way to tackle any combat situation was to keep calm and analyze your opponent. That way you might spot more weak points in your opponent's attacks.
Zhu Shen kept his head cool as he dodged the blade attacks coming his way.
Sure enough,
After the initial push, the scar-faced man made a mistake. Zhu Shen, like a viper, took that mistake and attacked.
"Boom…"
His attack landed on the scar-faced man's chest…
Crack Crack…
The sound of bone-cracking can be heard as the scar-faced man flew more than 10 meters and landed.
"Wait…"
The scar-faced man finally felt fear and tried to talk with Zhu Shen. But Zhu Shen didn't give him any chance to speak as a kick landed on his chest again.
The Scar-faced man was dead.
Zhu Shen looked at other bandits.
'Run…'
That was the only thought in their mind and they started running in multiple directions.
Zhu Shen didn't give chase. He just whistled as a massive black figure landed in front of him.
"Time for cleanup buddy…"
Said Zhu Shen to Abyss. As he picked a nearby blade to behead the bandit king.
"Rawr…"
Abyss understood and flew in the direction of bandits.
All the remaining villagers looked at Zhu Shen with a worshipping gaze. One of the girls in the front gathered her courage as he walked towards Zhu Shen.
She handed a piece of cloth to Zhu Shen. Zhu Shen rubbed her head and accepted the piece of cloth.
"Thank you…"
'Huuu…'
Zhu Shen tied his wound as he took a deep breath.
He looked around and saw the bodies of people. He felt something inside him changing.
In the last month, his view of the whole world has changed.
Life and death was just a circle through which mortals viewed life. But through his experience, Zhu Shen knew that there are some things out of that boundary of life and death.
Something much more sophisticated. Something which he never experienced until now.
It was 'Dao'.
"BOOM…"
A loud noise came from Zhu Shen's body. His first shackle of mortality broke.
A wave of energy burst from Zhu Shen in all directions.
"Huuuuu…."
Zhu Shen took a deep breath. He finally became a cultivator. A true cultivator who despite life and death follows the path of Dao.
---
Authors Thoughts:
Hello everyone,
Today let's talk about fighting.
In this chapter, you saw Zhu Shen dodge the attack of the bandit king until he found an opening.
This thing applies in real life too.
Here are my insights,
1. Always keep a cool head. Even if your opponent is stronger than you they can also make mistakes. Keep your head cool and find those mistakes.
2. Try to analyze your opponent's strengths and weaknesses. In this scene, the bandit king was physically strong but with his blade, his movements were far too wide. Blade or Swords are usually used to first defend and then attack.
3. Use as smaller movements as possible. Wider movements will give you a momentary advantage but as the battle drags on, your stamina might not last as long as your opponent.
4. Always check your opponents breathing. In my experience, most beginner level opponents will always take a slightly longer breath before performing any attacks.
Thank you.