Chapter Fifty-Five: Divine Fist

Inside a small room, Old Feng listened quietly as Luo Yanzong finished speaking. He sighed and said, "I never imagined so much would happen in such a short time. When Old Zheng drank with me before, he said not only are boxing techniques changing, the martial world is changing, and so are people's hearts."

"So, Old Feng, what do you mean?"

"If you want to join the Boxing Guild, there are conditions. Either you're a native-born boxer, or you've apprenticed under a local master and inherited the technique. That young fellow from the Kou family is merely an apprentice, so he doesn't seem to meet the requirements. Unless your master is willing to come out of retirement and take the position of Guild Elder, then perhaps the young brother could be promoted to a steward."

Luo Yanzong's eyes flashed; he took out a letter and said, "Isn't there another rule in the Guild? If a local grandmaster recommends someone who has achieved mastery in the local techniques, he can join as well. Doesn't Old Eight qualify for this?"

Old Feng's expression froze, his eyes darted, then he laughed, "Ah, age really dulls the memory! I'd forgotten about that rule."

He pulled out a thick register from the cabinet, took up a pen, and asked, "Name—Kou Li. Place of origin?"

"Qingshui Village, Baima County, Jiangning Prefecture."

"Years practicing, technique?"

"Three years, Fierce Tiger Boxing," Luo Yanzong lied without hesitation.

"Three years, eh? Tsk tsk, your master has taken on another fine disciple," Feng said with envy. The years practicing started from the foundation stance—being able to reach such a level in just three years was impressive.

'Actually, it's less than half a year,' Luo Yanzong thought to himself. He did not speak the truth, fearing it would astound everyone.

"Without a Guild Elder, this list needs signatures from three senior members. Wait here, I'll find two more old fellows to hold the initiation for young Kou. Wait, there's fighting—someone's challenging the ring outside?"

Luo Yanzong peered down from the second floor and gave a low hmm, "Old Eight is fighting someone—and it's a continuous challenge."

The so-called continuous challenge meant the ringmaster must defeat five challengers in succession to leave the ring; otherwise, he was considered beaten.

On the stage, two figures exchanged blows, their fists gusting fiercely. One moved with ferocity and power, like a striped tiger, forcing his opponent to retreat again and again.

As for the other—

"Hmm, why can't I sense any boxing aura?"

Though the red-eyed envoy's moves seemed ordinary and vaguely on the defensive, Luo Yanzong's seasoned gaze immediately detected something strange in his technique—almost as if it weren't a person boxing at all.

"Oh, that Diao Fengsheng, ever since he became the so-called cult leader, has spent over ten years concocting a new teaching. He claims it's Divine Boxing, said to possess divine power. It looks unremarkable, but its explosiveness is impressive. Watch—victory will soon be decided."

Luo Yanzong frowned and then closed his eyes. At his level, discerning the energy by ear was clearer than sight.

In the darkness, with the wind and force of fists, the tiger gradually took shape. The other was but a human shadow.

No—something was wrong!

Suddenly, in Luo Yanzong's mind, there was an explosive crash; blood burst forth with red light. Another figure broke out from the human shell—a demon god with three heads and six arms, blue-faced and tusked. The most distinctive feature was the fist-sized red eyeball on each forehead, alive and spinning wildly. Within the eyeballs, countless vertical pupils writhed and squirmed, as if countless vipers crawled out, binding everything.

Luo Yanzong shivered all over, instinctively clenched his fists, unleashing a surge of hot air that flipped the table. Old Feng, caught off guard, staggered back several steps. The sound of gigantic breathing echoed like a whale beside his ears.

'What's Luo Yanzong doing, exploding his energy and loosening his pores? Is he about to unleash his full boxing power? I don't recall offending him!' Old Feng wondered.

Meanwhile, on the ring, the red-eyed envoy was executing the killer move of the Diao family's Divine Boxing—Six-Armed Prayer!

He visualized the guardian deity, invited the god to possess him, and had spent three days in advance chanting and offering sacrifices to empty his spirit. Thus, the punch he threw possessed supernatural power, overwhelming the opponent's resolve with divine majesty.

Hands, elbows, shoulders—all exploded with different lethal energies: hands like the blades of the Ashura, elbows like bone hammers, shoulders like iron mountains. Who could withstand the ritual of divine prayer?

The demon god offers his gift—flesh and blood as feast!

The sheer power of this move surpassed even the Tiger-Leopard Strike of the Five Elements Hall, not to mention the strange, intimidating force that accompanied it.

Originally, the red-eyed envoy's boxing skill merely hovered at mastery, but this punch reached the level of a grandmaster.

When gods and demons possess the body, it is power beyond all limits.

Suddenly faced with mortal peril, at that instant, Kou Li's whole body seemed to writhe. The full power of his Qi-Infusion Technique unleashed, metabolic rate soared fivefold, tenfold, producing vast amounts of gas. His lungs expanded, and with all his might, he exhaled.

Whooooooooo! Whooooooooooo!

The dragon rises from clouds, wind follows the tiger, tiger roars and dragon sings, wind stirs, clouds surge.

And in Luo Yanzong's mind, the tiger's hide split open along the spine, and a giant dragon soared forth, head raised, tail swaying, golden scales and five claws, unleashing boundless spirit that scattered the demon god's strange aura.

The dragon is king of scaled beasts, able to grow or shrink, rise or hide; rising, it soars among the cosmos, hiding, it lurks beneath the waves.

What is the spirit of the dragon? Infinite vitality and vigor, sweeping across the four seas, commanding wind and cloud—how could a mere evil cult deity withstand the might of a dragon in flight?

Unnoticed, Kou Li had slipped inside the opponent's guard, spine like a dragon, arm transformed into a tiger's bite—lift, swing, then a whip-like crack in the air, followed by a series of bone-breaking snaps: Fierce Tiger Boxing variation—Dragon Strikes Tiger. The red-eyed envoy was flung out of the ring.

The injuries were not the main issue; more crucial was the envoy's broken spirit. He drooled, gaze dull, mumbling over and over, "God... god... six arms... god..."

"Envoy!"

"Wake up!"

Two companions rushed up, shaking and slapping him, but his expression remained vacant, unable to even recognize his own people.

The other boxers looked at Kou Li with awe—and a touch of dread.

There were many who fought in the ring, some who killed, but never before had anyone struck a man into madness.

It was a first in their lives.

The opponent was a formidable man!

Yet Kou Li's mind was no longer on the ring, but within the divine dragon's spirit he had just unleashed. It wasn't the first time—the vigorous, dense, pure spirit was the very thought from deep within himself.

Why did Fierce Tiger Boxing contain the spirit of the dragon?

And it seemed, in that instant, the dragon spirit could break through the sea of murderous intent forged by tiger nature, shattering the previous paradox.

Kou Li took a deep breath, clearing all distracting thoughts, and declared distinctly, "Go tell the Water Dragon Gang—say I accept this challenge. As for the Diao family's cult leader, I will definitely go and meet him!"

"Brother!" Luo Yanzong called out; that hadn't been the original plan.

"What a powerful technique, what a remarkable presence—to fuse one's character into the art itself, I've rarely seen such a thing."

'Clap clap clap clap—' A round of applause sounded, and from the crowd emerged a man with ape-like arms and a slender waist, joints prominent, his gaze full of appreciative admiration.

"Who is he?" Luo Yanzong asked. From his bearing and stance, it was obvious his boxing was highly refined.

"You—how can you be the grandmaster of Lingnan and not know the rising stars of recent years? That's Guo Feng, inheritor of Lion Flying Phoenix Boxing, one of the top three of this generation."

Lion Flying Phoenix was originally three separate techniques from Desheng: Lion Dance, Cloud Step, Phoenix Nod. The previous grandmaster, Guo Jing, unified them into a single system—Lion Flying Phoenix Boxing.

"This Guo Feng is Guo Jing's son. They say his talent has surpassed his father. In the years your junior brother was absent, he and the young disciple from Chejia Gully have risen rapidly."

"Too bad you've spent half your energy, else I'd love to spar with you," Guo Jing praised. "But meeting by chance is better than a planned encounter—shall we test each other's hands?"

Kou Li regarded the man before him. His spirit was soaring and bold, surely as he said, integrating his character into his boxing.

A formidable figure!

"Test hands? Very well," Kou Li replied softly, his eyes shifting.

Testing hands, also known as "pushing hands," involved contact, entwining, friction, and the release of force through the hands to probe the depth of another's boxing skill.

Kou Li extended his hand; as their wrists touched, both exerted force. The Child's Stance and Qi-Infusion Technique worked together; his forearm thickened, veins bulged, fierce as a demon's claw. With a twist, his hand wrapped around like a steel whip, wrist and fingers snapping, fingertips extending half an inch—Wrist Flower!

The opponent responded in kind, arm rotating like a great roc spreading its wings, foot twisting and lifting as if stepping through clouds, finger joints flexing, tightening and snapping forward—Phoenix Nod.

Finger tip met bone tip—a thunderous boom shook the entire ring three times.