The two returned to their ranks, each pushing forward another burly man. The unprecedented battle between Da Hong Quan and Taekwondo was about to begin! I hurriedly woke Hu Sanniang, who rubbed her eyes and said, "It hasn't started yet?"
I said, "It'll be here soon, just watch." She immediately perked up.
The two men each stepped back two or three meters. The man in the taekwondo uniform bowed to the man in the sportswear, who returned the bow with a fist salute. Then, both men simultaneously took a few steps back and assumed a stance. The man in the taekwondo uniform stood with one foot slightly in front of the other, neither too far forward nor too backward, while the man in the sportswear stood with his feet parallel, his body slightly crouched, maintaining a horse stance. The two men stared into each other's eyes and slowly circled the area.
Hu Sanniang also became nervous. She put one arm on my shoulder and stared intently at me.
Then the two men circled around, both clearly cautious. It concerned collective honor and their own beliefs; neither acted rashly. Then… they circled around again.
Hu Sanniang's eyes immediately dimmed, and she murmured, "Attack! Why aren't you attacking yet?"
Suddenly, the man in the taekwondo uniform launched an attack, throwing a straight punch with a "Hey!" The man in the tracksuit dodged it with a "Ha!"
Just as Hu Sanniang was about to applaud, the two on the field kept their distance again and continued circling... Hu Sanniang stared in disbelief and said, "What the hell is this?"
My legs were getting tired from standing, and I was afraid of leaving and missing the show, but the two of them were just going around in circles. So I ran to the side of the field and pulled up a training mat to sit on. Li Jingshui and Wei Tiezhu saw this and each pulled one over, politely inviting Lin Chong and the others, "Sit down, sit down and watch."
After we were all seated, the two were still endlessly... circling around. With a point in the center of the field as the center and the distance to either of them as the radius, these two were circling like two satellites.
Just when we were about to despair, the man in the taekwondo uniform delivered a roundhouse kick to the waist. The man in the tracksuit seized the opportunity, grabbing him and trying to trip him up with a kick to the lower body. The man in the taekwondo uniform jumped to dodge, but unfortunately, one leg was still in the other man's arms, so he could only hop around with his crutch, swinging his fists. But he obviously couldn't hit the man in the tracksuit, and the man in the tracksuit tried several times to throw him down but failed each time. So the two of them just hopped around like that, one clinging to the other's leg and refusing to let go, the other like a one-legged immortal—his balance was far worse than Baozi's. Back then, I lifted Baozi's leg and... uh, that's too lewd. Let's continue watching the match.
At this moment, Lin Chong chuckled and said, "Watching this is not as good as watching those two arguing earlier." I wholeheartedly agreed.
When his words reached the bald man's ears, the bald man, feeling extremely ashamed, couldn't help but scold the man in the martial arts uniform on the field: "Swing your flying kick!"
A single sentence jolted him awake. The man in the martial arts uniform leaped into the air on one leg, aiming a kick at his opponent's face. The man in the tracksuit, of course, wasn't going to give him that chance to perform. He casually put the man down, and the man in the martial arts uniform cried out in pain as he fell to the ground. The man in the tracksuit, representing the glorious tradition of Da Hong Quan, lost his balance and also fell to the ground…
How embarrassing and disappointing! How embarrassing and disappointing!
To be honest, I don't have any narrow-minded nationalism, nor am I blindly worshipping foreign things. The truth is, these two were truly shameful, and I'm not exaggerating at all. Of course, considering the lineup, Tiger's side was almost entirely made up of newbies, which makes sense. As for the Red Dragon Dojo, I only later learned that it was actually a newly opened place, and the three masters were all Korean exchange students who, while dealing with their heavy academic workload, had only learned a smattering of martial arts, yet considered themselves exceptionally authentic and vowed to dominate the martial arts world. I heard that the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts School was very powerful, and although its master, Tiger, had some influence, he was absolutely a man of principle when it came to martial arts—if he was good, he was good; if he wasn't, he wasn't. That's why they listed him as their first target to defeat, in order to gain fame in the industry.
To put it bluntly, the two sides fighting now are just a bunch of hot-blooded thugs. It's just that one of them is carrying the banner of traditional martial arts, while the other is a vanguard who consciously takes on the responsibility of eliminating narrow nationalism. Thus, the classic battle of the Fierce Tiger Hall was born.
Both fighters collapsed to the ground. This time, the tuna came out first, looking embarrassed, and said, "How about we call this a draw? Let's go into a second match." The bald man quickly replied, "Great minds think alike."
So each side selected another person, and just as they were about to start fighting, a sweeping woman mysteriously appeared from the crowd, waved her hand, and shouted, "Wait!" She had wrinkled skin and white hair, slightly drooping white eyebrows, and a calm, serene gaze—the very demeanor of a sect leader. Everyone was momentarily stunned.
The woman reached behind her and pulled out an object. It was about twelve feet long, a pure white pole with a small castor bean-shaped head on top. Thousands of colorful ribbons were tied around the head, and when it fluttered in the wind, it exuded a thousand kinds of power and ten thousand kinds of menacing aura. It was a completely handmade mop.
The woman tossed the mop in the bucket a few times and said, "Let me wipe this place clean before you start washing, so your clothes won't get dirty and your wife will have to wash them when you get home."
...
Then we watched the old lady mopping the floor. Three minutes later, she straightened up and laughed, "Now you can go roll around, and I guarantee your clothes won't be dirty when you get up..."
The match resumed. Having gained experience from the previous round and with the auntie's interruption, both competitors were brimming with pent-up emotions. The second man in the taekwondo uniform immediately grabbed the second man in the sportswear uniform by the shoulder, his grip extremely sharp, though it was unclear whether he intended to use a dislocating technique or simply tickle his opponent. The sportswear man, in turn, grabbed his chest, clearly intending to use a "carrying sack" technique. The two wrestled for a while, neither able to gain the upper hand. The taekwondo man realized that to bring his opponent down, he needed to focus on his lower body, so he used a "tree root" stance, lying on top of his opponent to strangle him. The sportswear man wisely countered with a "pushing cart" move, causing the man on top of him to curl up. The taekwondo man, teetering on the verge of collapse, simply pulled the sportswear man down as well, quickly settling into a lotus position on top of him. The sportswear man then used a "lazy donkey roll" to throw him off…
Their moves became increasingly bizarre, and I gradually lost track of them. You see, I haven't bought Japanese DVDs in ages. Anyway, by the end, both of them were panting heavily, locked in a classic "69" position, completely still. The fans in their kimono and sportswear were thrilled, cheering them on.
Hu Sanniang yawned and said, "I can't live like this anymore. When will this ever end?"
I said, "There are still 8 sets left when they can't break them anymore."
Hu Sanniang exclaimed in surprise, "When will it be our turn to challenge the dojo?"
This woman... she's here to challenge us.
Hu Sanniang stepped forward and lifted the two men up, one in each hand. These two men were originally tall and strong, but because they had been writhing on the ground for a long time, their bodies were curled up. Now, with Hu Sanniang holding them, one looked like a koala and the other like a tarsier, which looked quite bizarre.
This caused an uproar on both sides: "They really did have accomplices!"
My heart sank. Hu Sanniang, as expected of a genius mature woman who caused trouble, kicked each of the two men in her hands without any politeness, and scolded, "With your paltry skills, you dare to come out and embarrass yourselves."
So the followers of the Daoist sect and the followers of the Movement Sect both treated us as their allies, and both sides rushed towards Hu Sanniang. Unperturbed, she threw the people in her hands like projectiles, and with lightning speed, she slapped each of the people at the front hard across the face. A series of "piapiapiapia" sounds rang out, repelling the first wave of people. Hu Sanniang waved her hand and said to Li Jingshui and Wei Tiezhu, "What are you looking at! Aren't you going to help?"
These two hadn't received orders to follow my instructions this time, and they were already seething with anger. Ignoring my gaze, they charged into the crowd from the left and right, attacking anyone they saw. Lin Chong stood up, and immediately several people stepped forward to challenge him. He pushed them away, and seeing that the fight was inevitable, he hurried a few steps to catch up with the cleaning lady, took the mop from her hand, and with a flick of his wrist, sent two men in sportswear flying. Then, with a counter-attack, he sent another man in Taoist robes flying. Because the mop was still wet, the mop head left a muddy stain on the white clothes, making it stand out like a black peony.
Lin Chong wielded the mop, deflecting and striking left and right, up and down, leaving no one in his path unscathed. Because the mop head cushioned the force, Lin Chong didn't have to worry about hurting people too badly. The mop became a dazzling display, and people were constantly being sent flying by his flicks.
The two groups initially charged at each other, but Hu Sanniang and her group disrupted things, causing them to turn on our people. Once about ten people were down, the two groups tacitly joined forces. Duan Jingzhu, who had been sitting on a mat with his back to us, was intently examining his dog bite wound, oblivious to the noise behind him, when someone kicked him, sending him sprawling. He then realized the situation had changed drastically. The man tried to kick him again, but Duan Jingzhu grabbed his foot and pulled him to the ground. Duan Jingzhu stomped on his stomach several times, cursing, "Damn it, everything's going wrong today, I get bitten by dogs everywhere I go." Being a former horse thief, he was ruthless; the man in the Taoist robe he was stomping on cried out in pain, while several men in athletic uniforms rushed to his aid. Duan Jingzhu realized he couldn't handle the situation, so he grabbed the foot of the person lying on the ground and ran, creating some distance between himself and his pursuers. He took the opportunity to stomp on the man in the Taoist uniform a couple of times, and then continued running when they caught up.
As for me, I was puzzled for a long time: how did this fight even start? Of course, I wasn't slow; the moment Lin Chong took the old woman's mop, I grabbed her wooden broom. The old woman grabbed my arm and said, "Don't break it!"
I had originally intended to break the broom head off and use it as a short stick, but after hearing her suggestion, I had no choice but to hold it upside down. I quickly surveyed the terrain, then darted up the narrow iron staircase and positioned myself in the middle. Two reckless athletes came up to challenge me, but I promptly slapped them down. This place is truly a strategic pass where one man can hold off ten thousand, haha.
I stood on the stairs, broom upside down, shading my eyes with my hand as I observed the battle. Now it was entirely Tiger's men and Red Dragon's men besieging us. They were quite friendly among themselves, even exchanging brief words, concluding that our group was a "challenge + challenge" and must be eliminated completely.
But the situation was still in our favor. Although Hu Sanniang was a woman, she was a formidable general on horseback, formerly a double-sword wielder, and her arm strength was probably slightly greater than Zhan Xugang's. She swung her fists, carving a bloody path through the crowd. Quickly use the nunchucks, hmph ha hey... oh wait, I mean quickly use the double swords, hmph ha hey—damn, that doesn't rhyme.
With the cover and help of Hu Sanniang and Lin Chong, Li Jingshui and Wei Tiezhu naturally fought with ease. Moreover, these men couldn't compare to the Twelve Protectors; these two young virgins were quite formidable. However, Li Jingshui's habit of kicking people in the groin should be corrected; at most, we might kick someone in the groin, but that's not a problem.
Lin Chong, needless to say, wielded the mop like a summoned beast. The mop head, dark and heavy like a black dragon's head, would fall down wherever it went. Especially those in Taoist uniforms; those hit would turn into pandas, those flung around would become spotted dogs, and most strangely, Lin Chong himself didn't get a single drop of water on him. It seems I should learn this Lin family spear technique sometime; then, in future fights, I won't need to look for bricks where there are cleaners.
Looking at Duan Jingzhu, I broke out in a cold sweat. He was still dragging that guy around, circling the entire martial arts gym again and again. This guy's vengeful nature was too strong! The person being dragged had no choice but to cover his head and let him run, looking as if he were strolling in a garden, almost like riding in a rickshaw. Duan Jingzhu ran past the cleaning lady twice, and on the third time, the cleaning lady spoke up: "Child, you've swept clean enough, sprinkle some water on him and mop him up—"
Seeing that the situation was going very well and there was nothing for me to do, I sat down. Looking at my watch, it was time for dinner, and I started worrying about Xiang Yu again. I was about to call him, but after thinking about it, I called Li Shishi instead. When the call connected, I lowered my voice and asked, "Is it a convenient time to talk?"
Li Shishi smiled and said, "We have already finished eating."
"Oh, how is it?"
“I left Brother Xiang and Zhang Bing behind and went ahead, saying I had something to do.”
"What did Zhang Bing say?"
"He didn't say anything, but seemed quite happy. Brother Xiang did a good job; although he was a little nervous at first, he was chatting and laughing later on."
I sighed, "He always performs exceptionally well when picking up girls; it's just a man's nature." Then I asked Li Shishi, "So where are you now?"