Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 217 - 195: Racing Against Time

Chapter 217: Chapter 195: Racing Against Time

Upon hearing Danny’s words, everyone’s expression became serious.

Although compared to yesterday, where only one person would be eliminated today, nobody wanted to be that one.

In the training area, there were two identical rows of poles set up for practice for the two groups, with Floreson and Charles each leading their team members to begin.

Floreson’s group had fourteen people, and he started by explaining the key points to pay attention to in the dodge training.

"Both hands and feet must completely move to the other side of the pole. When dodging to the right, the center of gravity should be on the left foot, push off the ground with force, and then shift the weight to the right foot..."

As Floreson explained, he demonstrated in slow motion.

Wu Li listened to the translator and nodded silently to himself; the focus of this training was weight-shifting. If one could truly master perfect control of their body’s center of gravity, reaching a realm akin to Mercury-like Center of Gravity, it would be incredibly useful in combat.

Initially, when Wu Li sparred with Jianghu Wind’s heavyweight Boxing Champion, Liu Jun, he used the Horse Jumping Creek step technique, deceiving his opponent with a second directional change, winning with a single move; later, against the Muay Thai King Basong, he went as far as to execute three directional changes, gaining the upper hand and finally defeating Basong with a killing move.

Whether it was the two or three-directional changes, the core was weight-shifting. If one could reach the realm of a Mercury-like Center of Gravity, then even a fourth or fifth directional change could be possible!

Among all the opponents Wu Li had faced, only Hu Shan, the former number one in Southeast Asia, had achieved this realm of a Mercury-like Center of Gravity. If it hadn’t been for Wu Li’s exceptional performance in that fight, he might indeed have died at Hu Shan’s hands.

Afterward, having exchanged for an S-level Virtual Battle Card, Wu Li fought Hu Shan numerous times in Virtual Reality and still lost more than he won. Later, Wu Li concluded that his Fist Intent and mental will were not inferior to Hu Shan’s; in fact, he occasionally gained the upper hand. The wins he secured were mostly due to his explosive Fist Intent that overpowered the opponent, allowing him to triumph in one fell swoop. In terms of techniques and moves, Wu Li, with a complete traditional heritage and an endless array of Secret Hand moves and Killing Techniques, was not inferior to Hu Shan; the only difference was in weight-shifting.

The mysterious moves of Killing Fist combined with the unpredictable shifts of a Mercury-like Center of Gravity made Wu Li suffer quite a bit in Virtual Reality, often losing in a sudden, unexpected moment, unable to defend against it.

After repeatedly engaging in life-and-death struggles against Hu Shan in Virtual Reality and utilizing the Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound Bone Changing to enhance his spine’s power generation, Wu Li’s control over his center of gravity had greatly improved since before, but he had yet to reach the Mercury-like Center of Gravity realm. Now that the TUF training also included this aspect, he wanted to see if he could use this as a stepping stone to further progress.

Once Floreson finished explaining the points of focus, he had the fourteen trainees begin practicing.

One trainee would start running, and about five seconds later, the next trainee would follow, with the fourteen proceeding one after the other.

Many things look easy until one tries to do them; they had watched Charles demonstrate with seeming ease, under the impression that it wasn’t difficult, but when it was their turn to run, they found it extremely hard to match Charles’ speed.

If the body lunged out with too much force and too quickly, it became difficult to stop abruptly and change direction; conversely, if the force was insufficient, the speed would seem too slow.

The ’zigzag’ running itself made it hard to gain speed, not to mention the poles that had crossbars in between. When the trainees focused on their footwork and weight-shifting, they often overlooked those crossbars, resulting in either hitting their head, waist, or tripping over completely.

And according to the rules of the dodge training, once the body touched the crossbars between the poles, they had to return to the starting point and run again.

Most of the trainees practiced quite clumsily, not because they were too weak, but because they were too impatient to increase their speed, which naturally made it easy to crash into the crossbars.

Floreson frowned as he watched his group practice, somewhat dissatisfied, until he saw Wu Li’s movement.

Wu Li moved like a galloping horse, deftly shifting left and right, barely showing any sign of pause.

A glint of admiration passed through Floreson’s eyes, very satisfied with Wu Li’s speed. If it weren’t for other trainees in the way, Wu Li could have been even faster.

After everyone had run twice, Floreson pointed out each person’s issues, advising them on how to improve. Yet for Wu Li, Floreson said nothing.

He felt that with Wu Li’s skill, there was really nothing to instruct at this level of training.

In fact, the current training was called dodge training, mainly aiming to enhance the trainees’ dodging abilities on the field. Once they became proficient with this kind of training, whether moving left, right, bending down, or retreating, the trainees would be able to make swift changes while maintaining their center of gravity, thereby significantly improving their dodge ability. Ordinary people, if they fought against them, would be exhausted to death without being able to touch them once.

Wu Li, however, had long utilized such abilities not just for dodging but in his attacks, so the current dodge training presented almost no difficulty for him.

"I feel like Wu Li looks more than capable, huh? Has he practiced this before?"

"Probably not. Does Traditional Martial Arts have these kinds of exercises?"

"Look at Blood Demon. All trainees were given some advice, but he didn’t say a word to Wu Li. Does he feel Wu Li doesn’t need any guidance?"

"Haha, I think so."

...

Chen Gang went out to take care of the task Wu Li entrusted to him, but the live broadcast continued as usual. Since it was a day for filming regular training, Wu Li couldn’t possibly come over to interact with the netizens in the middle of the stream, so Chen Gang was at ease, leaving the camera crew to just keep shooting.

The two-hour practice session quickly ended, and the staff placed a round podium with a button on it at the starting positions on both sides. This button was the timer.

"Ladies and gentlemen, practice time is over, and now we will start the team competition," Danny announced with a microphone in hand.

"That button on the podium is the timer. Press the timer, then take off. Upon your return, press it again to stop the timing, and your scores for both legs will be displayed on the big screen over there."

The crowd followed Danny’s pointing hand and saw a large electronic display on the far left wall. The screen was split in two, with zeroes displayed on both the left and right sides.

"Now, let the competition begin!" Danny declared loudly.

Floreson’s team had fourteen people, whereas Charles’ team only had eleven. To make the event more visually appealing, Danny suggested Floreson pick three students to run first.

After some thought, Floreson chose three students whose performance during the practice was above average.

A too good initial score could easily put pressure on the subsequent runners, as the final comparison was the average score, but it also couldn’t be too poor, as it needed to exert some pressure on Charles’ team members.

The first student forcefully pressed the timer and took off running.

Left, right, left, right, left, right...

After all, the athletes who qualified for TUF were fighting experts from various countries with strong control over their bodies. With two hours of training, they could already complete the course with relative proficiency.

On the electronic screen, the time raced swiftly. When the first student completed the 50-meter distance, the time had reached 52.87; then it was time for the backward run.

Although there were no poles to obstruct, picking up speed in a backward run was still quite difficult. Rushing could easily lead to a fall.

This student’s speed for the 50 meters remained around 6.5 seconds, but the backward run took more than twice that time. When he crossed the starting line in reverse and hit the timer, the screen displayed a time of 67.17.

Floreson nodded. The time was consistent with the student’s capabilities, and there was no performance anomaly.

Then came the second student from Floreson’s team, who was slightly faster than the previous one, finishing with a time of 67.03.

On the electronic display, the scores of the first and second runners were minimized and displayed in the top-left corner, with the numbers below showing their average: 67.1.

The third student stepped up. The first 50 meters went smoothly, but during the backward run, he hurried too much and accidentally fell.

Amidst gasps of shock, the student quickly got up and continued the backward run, but this time his performance suffered greatly: 70.15.

Consequently, the average time for Floreson’s team became 68.12.

The third student’s face showed his discontent, and he returned to the group with his head hung low.

Danny at the side signaled for another run. This time, members from both Floreson’s and Charles’ teams would race simultaneously, allowing a clear comparison of who was faster, thus creating a more intense scene.

Floreson selected another student, and Charles pointed to one of his own members.

Both stood on the starting line. At Danny’s start call, they almost simultaneously pressed the timer and set off.

A little over a minute later, Floreson’s student was the first to pass the starting line in reverse, faster than the previous three.

However, on the electronic display, Floreson’s team’s average time was adjusted to 68.07, while Charles’ team’s average came out to 67.58.

The contest continued, and as more students took their turn, the scores on the display kept changing.

When the penultimate students from both sides finished their runs, Floreson’s team’s average time stood at 68.89, and Charles’ team’s average was 68.27—Charles’ team was ahead by 0.62 seconds!

The outcome was clear, and a smile spread across Charles’ face.

Since the final calculus was the average time of more than ten people, Charles’ team’s lead over their opponents was considerable. Unless there was an immense gap in the last run, the average score was almost beyond reach.

For the final run, Charles saved for last Xiaoze Wutian, the martial arts prodigy from Japan, whose performance in the previous dodge training sessions had impressed Charles greatly. He didn’t believe his opponent’s last student could outpace Xiaoze Wutian by much, no matter how strong that person might be.

Charles looked over at the other side. The last unplayed student of Floreson’s group was Wu Li.

Wu Li versus Xiaoze Wutian should be the strongest match-up from both teams, making for an exciting duel. But as far as the team competition was concerned, the winner was already decided.

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