chsdbacks Chapter 25 Xiong Kuo
Chapter 25 Xiong Kuo
The sound of horses' hooves grew closer.
Lin Yan gripped the broken blade on his knee, stood up, and whispered to Lin Xiu, "Take Mother to the back of the teahouse."
Lin Xiu didn't ask any more questions. She put down the tree branch, ran into the teahouse, and helped Chen Shi walk towards the back door.
Chen glanced back at her son, her lips moved, but she ultimately said nothing and followed her daughter inside.
The five horses stopped a dozen steps away from the teahouse.
The man leading the group was a man in his forties with a thick beard, a scar on his left cheek that ran from his brow bone to his chin, and a cloudy, white right eye; he was partially blind.
He rode a yellow horse, with a thick-backed knife hanging at his waist, the rope wrapped around the hilt polished to a shine.
"It's this mule."
A skinny man behind him pointed to the mule tied at the entrance of the teahouse and said, "Old Ma's, I recognize him."
The scarred man wasn't looking at the mule; he was looking at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan stood at the entrance of the teahouse, dressed in a worn-out short jacket, holding a broken blade that was polished to a shine. The blade was shorter than an ordinary knife, but the edge gleamed coldly.
His posture was relaxed, with his feet shoulder-width apart and his center of gravity slightly lowered.
This is the starting stance for the "Micro Dust Step".
"Where's Ma Laoliu?" the scarred man asked Lin Yan.
"He's dead," Lin Yan said.
"You killed him?"
"Um."
The scarred man remained silent for a moment, then dismounted.
He dismounted slowly, but Lin Yan's "Viewing the Mountain" skill immediately caught the difference.
The person's feet landed almost silently, and the angle of their knees was just right for them to exert force at any time.
This is not how bandits should dismount.
This is how cavalrymen dismount in the army.
This person is very professional!
"My name is Xiong Kuo."
The scarred man took the thick-backed knife from his waist and swung it around, making a series of whooshing sounds.
"I am the leader of Jiming Ridge. Ma Laoliu is my man. Kid, since you killed him, I have to get justice for him."
Lin Yan did not give her name.
He stared at Xiong Kuo's knife, which was nearly a foot longer than his broken blade. The back of the blade was as thick as a little finger, and there were subtle signs of chipping on the blade.
"You practice military swordsmanship," Lin Yan suddenly said.
Xiong Kuo paused, his cloudy right eye narrowing as he scrutinized Lin Yan in front of him.
"Have you ever seen military swordsmanship?"
Lin Yan did not answer.
He had indeed seen what the swordsmanship in the military looked like.
Zhou Kaiquan's grappling techniques bear the imprint of military martial arts, but his training was eclectic and not pure.
The way Xiong Kuo held the knife, the way he stood, and even the rhythm of his breathing all gave people a strong sense of rhythm.
This isn't some street hustles; it's something you learn step by step from the classic manuals.
"I've fought a few," Lin Yan said.
Xiong Kuo grinned, and the scar twisted in his hand, looking particularly gruesome.
"Interesting. A refugee who has practiced martial arts in the military."
He held the knife horizontally in front of him and roared, "Come on, let me see how capable you are."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiong Kuo's knife came slashing down.
This wasn't a test; it was a full-force, decisive strike.
The thick-backed knife whistled through the air as it slashed diagonally down from the upper right, its force both heavy and swift.
Lin Yan took a step back and parried with the broken blade.
With a clang, sparks flew everywhere. Lin Yan's entire right arm went numb from the shock, and a gash appeared on his hand, with blood flowing down the hilt of the knife.
The force of this strike was at least 30% greater than that of Zhou Kaiquan's.
Xiong Kuo gave him no chance to catch his breath, and the second slash followed immediately.
Lin Yan ducked to avoid it, the blade whizzing past his scalp and severing a few strands of hair.
He rolled forward and used the broken blade to slash at Xiong Kuo's calf.
Xiong Kuo raised his foot to dodge, and the thick-backed knife slashed down from above.
The third move in military swordsmanship: the decapitation strike.
Lin Yan could no longer back down.
He held the broken blade horizontally above his head and took the blow head-on.
when!
A crack appeared in the ground beneath Lin Yan's feet, forcing him to kneel on one knee.
Xiong Kuo's thick-backed knife pressed down on his broken blade, the two knives biting together, making a grating metallic scraping sound.
"Is that all you've got?"
Xiong Kuo looked down at him and said disdainfully, "Ma Laoliu died at your hands because he was too useless."
Lin Yan gritted his teeth, his arm muscles bulged, and his blood and qi surged from his dantian to his limbs.
He thrust upwards sharply, deflecting the thick-backed sword half an inch away. Taking advantage of this half-inch gap, he rolled out of Xiong Kuo's attack range.
He knelt on one knee, panting heavily.
The web between the thumb and index finger of his right arm was completely split open, and blood was dripping onto the ground from the hilt of the knife.
Xiong Kuo's strength, speed, and swordsmanship were all superior to Zhou Kaiquan's.
Although both were at the Body Tempering Realm, Xiong Kuo's foundation was much more solid than Zhou Kaiquan's.
"One against one."
Xiong Kuo slung his knife over his shoulder and walked over step by step. He looked at Lin Yan and said with a sinister smile, "You think you can fight me just because you're at the same cultivation level? I've fought in the border army for ten years and killed more enemies than you've ever seen a living person."
Lin Yan stood up and shook the blood off his right hand.
【Viewing the Mountains】spread out.
In front of the teahouse was an open space, to the left was the post road, to the right was a steep slope, and behind it was the earthen wall of the teahouse.
The open space was small, no more than twenty paces in length and width, and there were no obstructions on any side.
But the terrain of this open space.
There was something Xiong Kuo hadn't noticed.
Between the entrance of the teahouse and the post road, there is a slope about three feet wide. The slope is not steep, but it is covered with a layer of gravel.
When the two were fighting just now, with each step Xiong Kuo took, his feet slid half an inch off the gravel.
He wasn't used to this kind of ground.
Border troops fight on sandy battlefields, grasslands, and muddy ground; they don't fight on scree slopes.
Lin Yan made a move.
He used the "Micro-Dust Steps" to land on the spot with the fewest pebbles with each step.
The broken blade was not used for slashing, but for stabbing.
He focused the power of the three-section combo of the "Chopping Wood Chop" technique on the tip of the blade, moving his waist, shoulder, and wrist in unison, and the blade tip pierced Xiong Kuo's throat like a venomous snake.
Xiong Kuo parried with his sword, but his foot slipped on the gravel, causing him to sway slightly.
In that split second, Lin Yan's knife tip grazed his blade, leaving a bloody gash on his neck.
Xiong Kuo took three steps back, touched his neck, and found blood on his fingers.
The disdain on his face was gone.
"You've studied a wide variety of things."
Xiong Kuo narrowed his eyes. "Military grappling techniques, light-footed footwork, and this strange way of generating power shouldn't all appear in one person—did you steal them?"
Lin Yan neither admitted nor denied it.
His [Shallow Imitation] skill jumped on the panel: [Shallow Imitation (Rough Understanding) (332/800)]. In those few moves just now, he wasn't just practicing, he was also learning.
Xiong Kuo's swordsmanship follows a bold and straightforward approach, with each strike being direct and without any unnecessary fancy moves. However, it is precisely this straightforward fighting style that is the most difficult to learn, but also the most practical.
"Again," Lin Yan said.
Xiong Kuo snorted coldly and slashed down with his thick-backed sword again.
This time he held back, each strike accompanied by a whooshing sound, the momentum of his blade flowing continuously, like waves crashing one after another.
Military swordsmanship emphasizes continuity, with one strike following another, giving the opponent no chance to breathe.
Lin Yan retreated ten steps, the broken blade blocking seven blows and dodging three.
With each strike he blocked, his arm went numb a little more, and more blood flowed from his tiger's mouth. But even now, Lin Yan remained calm, constantly using the keen senses of [Mountain Observation] to keep track of Xiong Kuo's rhythm.