Chapter 110: Fist Saint
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: Fist Saint
"Hmph."
Stung by the sharp reminder, Kim Yoo-Sung hastily distanced himself from her.
She had only thrown a single punch, but he could already tell.
She was more skilled than Captain Boris, whom he had fought in Akihabara.
"Not coming?"
Seeing Kim Yoo-Sung only hesitate, unlike the confidence he'd shown moments before, Li Meiling spoke and took a step forward herself.
"Then I'll go first."
Thud!!
The moment her foot hit the wooden floor, a heavy stomp echoed in all directions.
It was jingak, the trademark stomping step of Baji Quan.
A technique that used the principles of balgyeong—emitting power—to transfer the full weight of the lower body into the upper body.
Closing the distance with an Imunjeongju stance, she aimed her elbow, sharp as a spear, at Kim Yoo-Sung's collarbone.
It was a move made possible by her height; at 180cm, her eye level was only slightly lower than the 186cm Yoo-Sung.
He reflexively raised his right arm to block her attack, but Li Meiling's assault had only just begun.
A fierce combination of attacks from the Vajra Eight Forms, starting with the basic Rushing Hammer and flowing into Subduing Dragon and Crouching Tiger.
Typically, Baji Quan, having originated from spearmanship, is characterized by overpowering an enemy in a single, powerful blow. However, the style she had mastered, the Heaven-Shattering Six Harmonies Mahayana Baji Quan, was a practical combat art that combined the strengths of Xinyi Liuhe Quan and Baji Quan, and thus included combination attacks designed for ultra-close-quarters combat.
But Kim Yoo-Sung, as if his earlier hesitation had been a lie, smoothly blocked all of her attacks.
'She's strong, as expected.'
Though inwardly impressed, he showed no sign of it, instead striking her chest hard with both palms, putting his entire body weight behind the blow.
Smack!!
In that instant, Kim Yoo-Sung, who had been defending so well, suddenly took her Piguazhang strike with his bare body.
She thought, Oops— and tried to pull back, but he was faster.
A deeply twisted waist and a right fist loaded with immense power.
"Keuk!"
As the perfect counter slammed into her abdomen, Li Meiling swallowed a gasp from the unimaginable impact and quickly executed a breakfall.
The monstrous strength that sent her flying like a toy, despite her weighing nearly 70kg due to her overwhelming muscle mass, was truly befitting of his nickname, the Vajra Yaksha.
After all, another name for the Vajra Yaksha, a guardian deity of Buddhist law, was the Vajra Warrior.
"Wooooow..."
The spectators watching their fight couldn't close their gaping mouths.
It was a battle of offense and defense that had unfolded in a flash.
To the young judo hopefuls, the spectacular fight, like something out of a video game, looked nothing short of amazing.
But to those who understood the situation, it was simply nerve-wracking.
It was a good thing neither of them was using ki; if they had, the dojo would have been a complete wreck by now.
Yaguchi Kenjiro, the master of the Mujin-ryu Jujutsu dojo, realized he had been watching the sweat-inducing fight, completely captivated.
'Where in the world did a monster like this come from...'
He looked with fresh eyes at his daughter's classmate, who was fighting Li Meiling of China right before him.
Li Meiling was less surprising, as her origins were at least known.
But this boy had appeared out of nowhere and was now fighting on equal footing with Li Meiling, the "Fist Saint" of China and one of the world's top-class fighters.
It was truly overwhelming talent.
So much so that it made his own prized student, Ryuji, seem to pale in comparison.
"...So that's how it is."
He was then stunned to see Kim Yoo-Sung's capabilities growing in real-time before his very eyes.
Just moments ago, he had been in an awkward boxing stance, but now, he had somehow absorbed Li Meiling's fighting style.
Anyone else might have thought it was just a shallow imitation for show, but to his expert eye, it was a remarkably complete copy.
His once-disordered breathing was now perfectly controlled, inhaling and exhaling in perfect sync with Li Meiling.
Soon, after they had both caught their breath, they charged at each other and began to fight again.
The brutal sound of their fists and feet clashing in mid-air was truly violent, yet to Kenjiro's eyes, the scene somehow looked like a work of art.
*
It felt as if time was flowing in slow motion.
With extreme focus, we read each other's breathing, our trained fists intertwining.
At some point, both she and I were fighting in a trance-like state, as if we had forgotten everything else.
So much so that we even forgot our original purpose was just a spar.
Just as our stamina was about to hit rock bottom, Li Meiling stepped back to create distance and said with calm eyes, "Let's end it with this."
I instinctively knew she was about to use a major technique.
"Hooo..."
Swallowing my ragged breath from the fight, I tensed every muscle in my body.
Unlike her, I hadn't learned any proper techniques, so I had no choice but to react on the fly.
Suddenly, her body shot forward.
As if using the Shrinking Ground Method, she closed the distance in an instant with Baji Quan's characteristic stomp, then rotated her body and thrust out a straight gwansu—a penetrating hand—backed by her full body weight.
I reflexively raised my arm to block, but sensing the extraordinary power behind the attack, I instantly changed my mind and threw my body to the side.
Clatter! Crash!
The impact sent a loud noise echoing through the dojo.
Afterward, Li Meiling retracted the hand she had thrust into the empty air and asked me, "Why did you dodge instead of blocking?"
I answered with a grim expression.
"Because I didn't think I could block it."
That last attack... no matter how I thought about it, taking it head-on would have been dangerous.
As if confirming my guess, Li Meiling let out a small laugh and nodded.
"That was the right call. The technique I just used is called Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear."
"Fierce Tiger Piercing Spear?"
"It is the ultimate technique of the Heaven-Shattering Dance. If flesh blocks it, it pierces the flesh; if bone blocks it, it pierces the bone."
Speaking those chilling words, she approached and offered a hand to me as I lay on the dojo floor.
"Let's call it a day. It seems we won't be able to settle this properly."
"...For today?"
"I plan to stay in this town for a while. Please indulge me for the sake of improving my skills."
As Li Meiling said this, she smiled warmly for the first time.
*
After the spar ended, Li Meiling bowed to Yaguchi's father, thanking him for letting us use the dojo.
Since I was the one who had originally asked, I bowed along with her. Yaguchi's father said it had been a while since he'd seen something so good and told us we could borrow the dojo again if we needed to.
We left the dojo, seen off by the children who trained there and by the Yaguchis, father and daughter.
The sun had been in the sky when we arrived, but it had now grown dark.
I asked her, "What are your plans now?"
Li Meiling replied in a cheerful voice, "For now, I plan to stay at a nearby hotel. And thank you for indulging my whim today. You were even stronger than I expected."
Then, shaking her long black hair, she said, "However, it's a shame you didn't go all out. I want to fight the Kim Yoo-Sung who defeated Ivan."
In a way, it was a provocation.
It seemed she wanted to spur me on, since I wasn't fighting with my full strength.
But I feigned ignorance and saw her off.
"That probably won't happen."
Because, to begin with, I just didn't have that kind of competitive drive.
*
After my spar with Li Meiling, I went to the gym as usual.
No matter how tired my body was or how much I wanted to just lie down, I could never skip the gym.
Director Nakayama was shocked to see my face covered in bandages, but I ignored him and started my workout.
Fuma-senpai and that Kazu guy were just as shocked to see me.
"Kim Yoo-Sung, what on earth happened?"
"Hyung-nim?! What in the world happened! Should I call the boys?!"
I covered Kazu's mouth with my palm to stop his fussing and told Fuma-senpai that it was nothing.
But Fuma-senpai didn't look convinced.
That was probably because I wasn't the type of character to go around getting beaten up.
"Tell me the truth. Then I can help."
"No, really, it's nothing."
After somehow evading Fuma-senpai's persistent questioning and barely finishing my workout for the day, I took a quick shower and headed home, feeling relieved.
And that's when I saw her.
A Chinese woman, squatting next to the wall of our shop, looking pathetic as she fiddled with her phone.
