Chapter 33: Southeast of Feng Prefecture Town (End)

Sancai boxing originates from Tianhua, which can be said to be even a generation older than the six grandmasters of Cantonese boxing, and he was also the first-generation grand master of Lingnan.

At that time, the six southeastern provinces had not yet opened their ports; the population was sparse, and refugees were numerous. However, even then, the scourge of the sea had already shown signs, and ronin from the Wa nation frequently crossed the ocean to eke out a living locally.

Naturally, anyone capable of crossing the vast sea was not some honest, hardworking peasant; these ronin were like bandits and robbers, surviving by plunder and theft.

Inevitably, some of them fell into the hands of boxing masters, and their fates were naturally miserable.

Back then, a young Wa ronin of seven or eight years old was caught by Qu Tianhua for theft. Because of his youth and the lack of any major wrongdoing, he was not heavily punished and was simply let go.

Unexpectedly, this young ronin was deeply awed by Master Qu’s martial arts and wept day and night, begging to become his disciple.

In those days, the people of the Wa nation were not yet synonymous with pirates, and Qu Tianhua was kind-hearted and honest, deeply believing in the Confucian principle of "education without discrimination." Thus, he accepted him as a disciple, taught him with all his heart, and treated him like his own children.

However, as maritime trade flourished, the pirate trade became increasingly lucrative. Relying on his identity and martial arts advantages, this young ronin gradually rose to become the leader of one of the pirate factions.

The situation at the time was that maritime merchants were pirates, pirates were ordinary people, and officials backed them from behind; almost everyone was involved in illicit deeds.

Yet the older generation of boxing masters mostly valued chivalrous code and brotherhood in the pugilistic world. When Qu Tianhua discovered this, he was filled with raging fury and immediately wanted to cripple the ronin's martial arts. But after all, he was raised by his own hands, and with his children pleading for mercy, Qu ultimately softened his heart. At the very last moment, he held back, merely recording a major demerit to observe his future conduct.

Who would have thought that this ronin possessed the treacherous nature of a jackal and never intended to turn over a new leaf? Instead, in collusion with another notorious pirate gang, he slaughtered Qu Tianhua's entire family. Enduring humiliation and carrying a heavy burden, Qu Tianhua spent ten bitter years searching before finally avenging this blood feud.

At the time, the entire pirate fleet had been burned to ashes, and Qu Tianhua originally thought that this ungrateful wretch had perished within it. To his surprise, the other party had survived and carved out a new reputation back in the Wa nation.

One of the Four Heroes of Guanzhong—the Fiendish Ghost Hero!

Enemies meeting face to face, Qu Tianhua's eyes instantly turned blood-red, and he raged, "You ungrateful wretch, you're actually still alive!"

"Dead? You have no idea. I've been waiting—waiting for you to age, waiting for you to become completely unable to fight. But I didn't expect you to still be as foolish as back then, dragging your decaying body to do futile things. My coming to the Central Plains this tour is to beat you to death completely, just like your sons, your daughters, and your little grandson—tearing them all thoroughly to pieces!" said the Fiendish Ghost Hero, burned and wretched as an evil spirit, with a gloomy voice.

Qu Tianhua suffered a wave of dizziness; he knew that this half-crippled body of his could no longer possibly be the opponent's match. Could it be that he was ultimately destined to die at the hands of his enemy?

The Fiendish Ghost Hero let out a mocking laugh, planting his feet outward and spreading them inward, his left arm rotating inward and extending from his ribs, his right palm held high with the back of the hand forming a hollow pit. This was the opening stance of the Yin-Yang hands, alternating between front and palm-strikes.

Yet this boxing posture, which ought to have been open and upright, was suffused with an eerie, ghostly aura when executed by him. Over the years in the Wa nation, he had combined this palm technique with grappling and throwing skills, forging the unique Fiendish Ghost Style.

In a split second, the Fiendish Ghost Hero's expression twisted. With his footsteps clawing and springing, his form resembling a vicious ghost, he lunged forward instantly, and piercing, eerie shrieks seemed to echo through the air.

"Die!"

His double elbows struck and clawed, executing the outer-sweep of the fiendish ghost. Qu Tianhua failed to dodge in time, and the flesh, blood, and bones of his right shoulder instantly blasted apart. At the same time, the opponent executed the Yin-Yang Wild Deity Turn, his figure resembling a wild deity haunting the forests of the Wa nation, flickering and flashing to appear at Qu's rear flank. With his toes tightly gripping the ground, the opponent took a deep breath, unleashing an explosive alignment of breath and vital energy that coursed down through his blood and Qi—the Fiendish Ghost Vicious Kick.

This kick was extremely vicious, stomping directly into the inner side of the joint. With a crisp snap, half the bone pierced straight out through the skin and flesh, leaving the kneecap hanging by the periomembrane, seemingly ready to detach at any moment.

"Jade Shatter!"

Another explosive sound rang out, and the shinbone shattered in the exact same manner. This Fiendish Ghost Hero had no intention of merely defeating his opponent; he wanted to thoroughly torture and execute the old man.

"Master Qu!"

"Wa nation people, we'll fight you to the death!"

At this moment, the pugilistic masters with backbone in the arena could no longer hold back. Disregarding the severity of their own injuries, they swarmed forward, attempting to rescue Qu Tianhua.

"Hahaha—"

The Fiendish Ghost Hero let out a shrill scream like a ghost or a demon. The Yin-Yang demonic energy transformed mutually, and his abdomen visibly bulged—this was undoubtedly the cultivation realm of internal alchemy in the Central Plains, sinking vital energy into the Dantian. Through the vibration of muscular force upon the abdominal organs, he forced the meridians to expand, surging blood and Qi inward to store up profound power.

Then came another bizarre howl—the Fiendish Ghost Frenzied Strike. Accompanied by ferocious bursts of power projection, his dual claws seemed to transform into a series of blurring afterimages. Wherever they passed, flesh and blood flew, and bodies were hurled everywhere.

"Not only will I destroy you, but I will also destroy the moral code in your heart!"

"Shouldn't we intervene?" a representative of the Bitchu clan whispered softly. Clearly, this had already exceeded the scope of a martial arts duel.

"Isn't this precisely what we wanted to do?" said the representative of the Oda clan coldly.

"Hee hee hee hee, the Dao of ghosts and gods, huh?" Kosomaru covered his mouth with a folding fan, smiling strangely. The gaze he cast at the Fiendish Ghost Hero was as if he were looking at a top-tier vessel.

The Fiendish Ghost Hero's claws and teeth, choked with bloody foam, had just torn open the throat of a young boxing master when the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly felt sticky, evoking memories from a long time ago.

That was when he had first become Qu Tianhua's disciple. Back then, a game the old ghost frequently played with him was forcing boxing postures through pushing hands. But his pushing hands were different from everyone else's; his palms faced inward, naturally generating an internal suction force from thin air. If one was the slightest bit inattentive, their entire body would be sucked right in.

He had once asked about it, but the other party had never answered, only smiling as he looked at him.

The Fiendish Ghost Hero suddenly realized that he had tortured the other person for so long, yet the old man had not uttered a single shred of a scream. The opponent was not already spent; he had simply been enduring all along.

This old bastard had held back a trick until the very end!

That eerie suction force erupted once more. Within both of their bodies, it felt as though a cauldron had begun to boil; their palms, the soles of their feet, their shins, and their thighs simultaneously grew numb and cold.

Sancai Palms, Yin-Yang Stance, Tai Chi Energy!

Tai Chi Whipping Body Whip!

This internal force did not erupt from Qu Tianhua's own body—he no longer had an ounce of strength left. This whipping strike utilized the opponent's own unleashed internal force to strike back as a hard whip of internal martial arts. It used force against force, compelling the opponent's own energy to backfire and shatter their internal organs.

This was not only a profound skill within internal alchemy, but also the mastery of skin-refining among the Four Refinements—twisting the skin into a whip and striking with the flesh.

It was not that Qu Tianhua had truly reserved a trick, but rather that the opponent, presuming he had learned all the techniques and beginning to look down upon Central Plains boxing, was naturally incapable of perceiving the essence of the Sancai Palms.

A muffled sound suddenly echoed deep within his body, and then, the Fiendish Ghost Hero's massive physique abruptly froze. Blood slowly began to seep from his facial features.

"Old ghost, you really did hold back a trick!"

Qu Tianhua managed a bitter smile and said, "A master teaching a disciple never holds anything back; the essence of boxing is found only in the minute details. If you failed to learn it, it wasn't because your aptitude was lacking, but because your moral character was substandard. You... were never worthy of being my disciple."

Before his death, the Fiendish Ghost Hero suddenly recalled the suction-palm skill used during their pushing hands sessions. So this most profound technique was something the opponent had been teaching him from the very first day he entered the sect—the Yin-Yang Stance, the Tai Chi Palm Exchange!

"Damnable!!!" screamed the Fiendish Ghost Hero in agony, dying with everlasting regret.

"Bastard!"

"Old fogey!"

The Tyrant Ghost Hero and the Divine Fang Hero among the Four Guanzhong Heroes lunged forward together. Then, with an explosive crash, they were repelled at an even faster speed as a figure with an aura as fierce as a mountain charged straight toward the powerful warriors of the Wa nation.

The jiu-jitsu Fiendish Ghost stomped his feet, inhaling endlessly until his physique seemed ready to burst his clothing. He crossed his arms high and low into a cross-arm lock, preparing to execute an aerial throw—a move he had once used to smash an iron training dummy to pieces.

However, the sensation of grabbing his opponent felt as though he were trying to hoist the entire earth. Then, amidst a dizzying spin, his entire body was flung a full ten zhang away.

The middle-aged man with a ponytail roared, planting his cat-stance and executing a roundhouse kick. Where his toes rotated, vital energy exploded; his foot was like a whirlwind. Unfortunately, before the whirlwind could churn heaven and earth, his chest sank, and he was completely flipped over.

The top-tier wandering samurai of the half-country had not even drawn his blade when a kinetic hand-blade struck, shattering his scabbard and making the webbing of his thumb tremble.

Smoke suddenly billowed, and two dark figures emerged from behind, shifting between reality and illusion. They were actually two extremely inconspicuous youths from the diplomatic mission, their short blades cleaving toward the opponent like venomous snakes.

Yet Kuli's figure moved just like theirs, flashing three feet ahead and instantly reappearing half a foot behind the pair. Executing a reverse-handed double whip, he lashed out with explosive gunpowder force. The mist burst apart, and the two assassins failed to dodge in time, their bodies blasted to pieces mid-air.

The Clasping Ghost Hero gritted his teeth and rushed forward with his one remaining intact arm. With a resounding 'bang,' his other arm was shattered as well.

Kuli charged all the way through, and wherever he passed, the formidable heroes recruited by the entire might of the Wa nation were incapable of withstanding even a single blow.

The final Three Heavenly Kings of the Wa nation—Miyamoto the Sword God, Onimaru, and Oda Tsuyoshi—stood up almost simultaneously.

The old ghost Miyamoto narrowed his eyes, obscuring his gaze, as his body seemed to slowly grow like a bamboo shoot breaking through the soil. Upon his greasy Wa-style sword, an unimaginable, colossal sword-intent gradually brewed.

The number one divine blade of the past fifty years—within this sword-intent was mixed an invincible spirit and vital energy, naturally carrying an irresistible, overwhelming force. If he were allowed to fully brew it, even a grand master of boxing might perish beneath this blade.

This was the sword of national destiny!

Yet before the veteran could even touch the hilt of his blade, Kuli suddenly turned his head. That gaze was like the beak of a falcon, stabbing straight into the depths of one's soul. Before the sword-intent could reach its peak, with a crisp 'clink,' the blade suddenly slid three feet out of its scabbard. Its aura resembled a mighty river flowing eastward, instantly vanishing into nothingness.

Oda Tsuyoshi wanted to strike, but a shrill cry resembling a hundred flocking birds rang out. "Don't go so easily plotting against the Grand Administrator, otherwise it would make us running dogs of the imperial court look utterly incompetent."

Following these words, the doors and windows were abruptly smashed open, and figures darted out to intercept the powerful warriors of the Wa nation who were preparing to pounce once more. In terms of aura, strength, and ferocious demeanor, they were not the least bit inferior to the enemy.

"It's the people from the Feng Estate!"

"The Feng Estate has made a move!"

"That Princess Feng has sent people!"

For a moment, the defeated Cantonese boxing masters looked as though they had just seen their saviors.

Kuli walked unhindered right up to the representatives of the Ten Heroes, stood towering above them, and slowly spoke, "Esteemed guests, it seems I need to explain the rules of the Southeast to you."

............

Ten miles away from the pagoda, upon the luxurious sedan chair of the Feng Estate, Young Master Huang leaned against the soft couch, looking like a jade pear blossom, casually flipping through a miscellaneous book.

The elderly eunuch hesitated to speak. "Young Master, we agreed on the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Today is only the second day, and there are still quite a few famous Cantonese boxing masters lingering in observation. Shouldn't we—"

"The plan has changed. We'll eat the mantis first, and when the oriole arrives, we'll beat the oriole to death as well. How do you like that idea?" Young Master Huang rolled her pretty eyes and said willfully.

The elderly eunuch instantly prostrated himself in total submission. "Brilliant, Young Master!"