Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 254 - 231: Astonishing Change

Chapter 254: Chapter 231: Astonishing Change

Gunshots rang out, and everyone present was experienced in handling intense situations; they remained calm and seated, only turning their gazes toward the organizer, Zheng Yingrong.

Zheng Yingrong, completely unfazed, sat in his seat, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then said, "Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no need to worry. Since Hongmen has invited you all here, we can surely guarantee your safety."

Today, Hongmen had summoned many leaders of organizations and associations in New York. They had also invited the Guandong Association, but they didn’t send anyone.

Hongmen’s intentions were clear; they were openly throwing down the gauntlet, and of course, the Guandong Association would not send anyone. However, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t make an appearance in another way.

Everyone was smart enough to realize that the Guandong Association might not sit back and relax, so Hongmen had made preparations early. The entire seventh floor of the building was filled with Hongmen’s people, and aside from the two elevators, there were two stairway entrances, all guarded by men. Moreover, they left manpower on every floor, ready to provide support or block the enemy from any direction.

In essence, if Guandong Association dared to send people to disrupt today’s meeting, they would be met with certain death!

Hongmen’s display today was a warning to the Monkey by punishing the Crane, and instead of simply killing someone like Xiaoze Wutian, Zheng Yingrong thought that too trivial. A better result would be to deal a heavy blow to the Guandong Association’s New York branch or even uproot it entirely. Therefore, even though he had detected some clues beforehand, he deliberately didn’t send anyone out to scare them off. Instead, he spread out his net, waiting for the Guandong Association to blunder into it.

"Let’s begin," Zheng Yingrong said softly to the person standing behind him.

Everything outside had been arranged in advance, and he didn’t think the Guandong Association could penetrate their defenses today, so the competition would proceed as normal.

Thump!

The middle-aged man behind Zheng Yingrong struck the golden gong, signaling the start of the competition.

After Xiaoze Wutian stepped onto the stage, his eyes were firmly fixed on Li San, not the slightest bit distracted by the earlier gunshots; it seemed that even if the sky fell, his world contained only the opponent, Li San.

As the golden gong sounded, Xiaoze Wutian burst forth, exhaling a forceful breath, full of intense momentum. With one step, he charged at Li San with the sound of wind trailing him!

Faced with an opponent like Li San, he intended to seize the initiative!

Li San watched the charging Xiaoze Wutian, a glint of admiration in his eyes. The opponent already had a faint aura of presence, having improved even in such a short span.

What a pity, in a few more years, he could have been a worthy rival.

With that thought crossing his mind, Li San too made his move.

Sidestepping, twisting his waist, pivoting his hips, his right arm swung out like a whip and hammered down!

As Li San unleashed his strike, his entire body vibrated with the force of his muscles and bones, causing a thunderous clap, and the air around him was violently stirred, creating an impressive display of power.

Tai Chi, Side Body Hammer!

To Xiaoze Wutian, the force of Li San’s strike seemed like a mountain hurtling towards him.

His right foot slid across the ground, producing a grating sound like a blade scraping the surface.

Sole Knife!

This move was not meant to injure the enemy but to adjust the muscles and bones’ power output, channeling the force from the foot.

Xiaoze Wutian’s body twisted, his hands reaching for Li San’s swinging arm.

The Gangrou Style of Karate primarily utilized close-range grappling and joint techniques; the hand and foot techniques inherited characteristics from the Hua Country southern fist style of White Crane, characterized by Inch Force and Inch Release, with graceful movement techniques.

Swoosh!

Xiaoze Wutian captured Li San’s right arm, but as Li San’s arm bent, adopting a shape that was almost rounded, Xiaoze Wutian found his power couldn’t fully express. Suddenly, he felt like he was engulfed by a massive wave, and his body involuntarily rotated in the direction of Li San’s pull, similar to a spinning top.

Unsurprised, Xiaoze Wutian’s breathing changed abruptly, no longer forceful and quick but rather prolonged and gentle. His body softened significantly, moving with the pulling force of Li San’s strike, dissipating the power and steadying his center of gravity.

This was the defining characteristic of Gangrou Style, the Method of Soft and Hard Swallowing, centering on breathing; the interplay of hard and soft in the breath drove the body and power to adapt similarly.

As Li San’s punch swung out, without a moment’s pause, his left foot tucked in beside his right, and his right hand, clenched into a fist, descended before his abdomen, fist heart inward, fist eye to the right. His left hand then moved upward, tracing an arc in front of his body.

Still the Side Body Hammer!

Xiaoze Wutian took Li San’s first strike, and though he didn’t absorb the full brunt of the power, he still felt his blood and chi in disarray, and his muscles and bones shook. This showed that Li San’s Tai Chi Hammer Technique had reached a realm where a strike at any point could resonate through the opponent’s entire body, agitating their blood and chi as well as muscles and bones.

Xiaoze Wutian was certain that if he took a few more of those hammers, he would lose control over his body’s muscles, bones, and chi - leaving only one fate: death.

Past opponents who had faced Li San often found themselves slowed down after a few moves and then killed.

As Xiaoze Wutian rotated his body, his right foot suddenly kicked upwards with great speed, leveraging the power from Li San’s first hammer.

In this move, his body leaned back, dodging Li San’s second hammer while targeting his groin.

Li San’s right hand, forming a fist, naturally fell, colliding solidly with Xiaoze Wutian’s incoming kick.

Sea Floor Hammer!

Tai Chi’s Listening Skill did not require contact with the opponent to "listen"; when Xiaoze Wutian lifted his foot, Li San had detected his intent through the vibrations on the ground and preemptively responded with a Sea Floor Hammer to neutralize it.

Xiaoze Wutian’s right leg shook from the impact of Li San’s Sea Floor Hammer. His body softened once more, using the force to pull his upper body back and swiftly punching towards Li San’s eyes with even greater speed.

Li San remained expressionless, utterly unfazed.

Using the method of Borrowing Force to Strike to counter his Tai Chi hammer technique was a sound idea. It could indeed lessen the shock of the vigorous hammering to the body, but to contest against him in methods of borrowing and striking was still a losing fight - it would just delay the inevitable.

Li San admired Xiaoze Wutian’s talents and will displayed in the fight, but that didn’t interfere with his determination for a decisive strike.

As he once said, he never pulled his punches in the ring.

Boom!

Just as the two contestants exchanged their third strike, colliding arms, a thunderous explosion reverberated through the hall, followed by a violent shaking of the ground and dust falling from the ceiling.

Sounds of shattering glass and screams arose.

Of course, this was not something caused by the clash between the two fighters.

The Martial Arts Hall’s left side featured a row of floor-to-ceiling windows, but now, near the middle, a large hole had been blasted open, glass shattered everywhere, with shards embedding into several people who had been near the windows watching the match.

Suddenly, an unexpected incident caused everyone to be taken aback, but they quickly reacted. The big shots near the windows, under the protection of their underlings, rapidly moved away.

Zheng Yingrong abruptly stood up, his face filled with disbelief as he looked toward the gaping hole.

The glass in this layer was bulletproof, designed specifically to guard against sniper rifle bullets. What could possibly blast such a hole through it?

The next second, he had his answer.

There was another building opposite this one, and through the windows, he could see a dark shape accompanied by a burst of flames shooting straight toward them from the other side.

Boom! Another explosion.

A huge fireball erupted in the air; the ground shook violently once again, and another set of windows shattered.

RPG, rocket-propelled grenades!

Such a turn of events left everyone dumbstruck, including the two combatants on the stage who also ceased fighting.

Li San wore a complex expression, while Xiaoze Wutian’s face was filled with shock.

The Guandong Association had resorted to firing rocket-propelled grenades to rescue Xiaoze Wutian, and this was how they did it?

Had they gone completely mad?!

That was the thought that flashed through everyone’s mind, including Xiaoze Wutian himself, in that instant.

Normally, organizations like the Guandong Association and Hongmen might have skirmishes, with private gunfights or assassinations as long as they didn’t cause too much of a stir. The United States government would then turn a blind eye.

Take, for instance, the night the Guandong Association attempted to assassinate Li San, resulting in a street shootout. Even though no additional casualties occurred, the FBI already had gotten involved as the commotion was too great. They, like Hongmen, were investigating who orchestrated the events of that night.

If it was so for that night, what about today?

Launching rocket-propelled grenades at a commercial building, what’s the difference between that and a terrorist attack? This was something the U.S. government absolutely could not tolerate!

Over Xiaoze Wutian alone, the Guandong Association dared to go this far? Did they really think the United States’ influence couldn’t reach Japan? Were they still planning on operating after this?

Numerous doubts shot through Zheng Yingrong’s mind. He thought he had everything under control, and whatever means the Guandong Association used today, he believed he could handle them. But he never anticipated this kind of method.

It was as if everyone were playing chess on the board following the rules, move by move, until suddenly, the opponent flipped the board over and began slapping the referee wildly—how could anyone anticipate that?

Bang! A loud gunshot rang out, and the head of a big shot near the window burst open like a watermelon.

"Sniper!"

Li San’s pupils shrank as he swiftly dodged away while shouting aloud.

The middle-aged man behind Zheng Yingrong, the moment he heard the gunshot, pressed Zheng Yingrong’s body down, pinning him under the table.

"Sixth Master, we need to get out of here!"

"This is madness..." Zheng Yingrong murmured.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of the sniper rifle rang out again; more people were struck by bullets and fell to the ground. The first floor of the Martial Arts Hall erupted into chaos as everyone hurried away from those two large holes, heading toward the main exit.

Boom!

A fireball exploded; the third rocket-propelled grenade shot over, this time directly through the previous hole and into the Martial Arts Hall.

...

A few minutes earlier, on Rune Street, Wu managed to sweep through the crowd, almost every move resulting in instant kills.

Whenever someone made a move, he easily dodged and then quickly subdued the opponent, never pausing for a moment.

About five minutes later, Wu had crossed half of Rune Street, arriving in the middle of the crossroads where a flag had been placed, marking the endpoint.

At this point, he could see about 100 meters across the street where Charles was grappling with someone on the ground. It took Charles over fifty seconds before he could subdue the man and quickly stand up. That’s when he saw Wu standing next to the flag, his face turning ashen, his eyes blazing with anger.

Charles knew he had lost again, and this time in front of the entire American audience.

"Wu!!"

Charles bellowed with rage at Wu, suddenly stepping forward and rushing as if to start a fight with him.

At that moment, everyone on the street heard a loud bang.

Boom!

Wu looked up to see the sky lit up with flames.

A few seconds later, he observed a shadow flash by, and another explosion occurred in the middle of the building to the left.

Shattered glass fell from the sky, injuring several bystanders.

Screams rose up as the crowd dispersed, followed by loud gunshots, and then another explosion.

This time the blast came from inside the building, red flames shot out from the shattered windows followed by black smoke.

Wu’s mouth hung slightly open as he looked up, his face a picture of shock.

"Fuck..."

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