Chen Tiezhi smiled contemptuously, his five fingers forming a claw. He crouched down and leaped up, arriving in front of Li Boyang. Before the eagle claws even got close, a heart-wrenching sound of air being torn apart reached Li Boyang's ears. The sharp killing intent made his hair stand on end.
Having learned his lesson, Li Boyang dared not confront his opponent head-on again. He lightly separated his left and right feet, and his entire spine, like a great dragon, arched and sprang up, instantly rushing to Chen Tiezhi's side once more.
With hands moving as lightly as if arranging flowers, the movements contained a restrained yet powerful force. Instead of directly clashing with the opponent, the strikes were aimed at Chen Tiezhi's weak points, a move that resembled the Dragon Form turning into Crane Form from the Five Forms of Hung Kuen.
"Innocent."
Chen Tiezhi's application of strength has reached the level of "transformation of strength". No matter how fast Li Boyang's attack is, as long as his body senses it, he will make a natural evasive movement.
The eagle's attack transforms into a predatory strike, showcasing its predatory spirit in the sky. No matter how fast Li Boyang's hand is, Chen Tiezhi's beak is always one step ahead. As long as Li Boyang doesn't change his move, a single peck from the beak can cripple his hand.
Forced by the eagle's beak, Li Boyang had no choice but to bend his left hand toward his chest, curling his five fingers inward to form a tiger's claw, and then lift it up in a "tiger lift" motion, aiming it at the opponent's wrist joint. If the opponent dared to take the hit head-on, the force of this lift could smash the eagle's beak to pieces.
But just as Li Boyang's tiger claw was formed, Chen Tiezhi changed his move even faster, thrusting his knee directly into the tiger claw. Intense pain shot through his palm; the force of his hand was no match for that of his knee.
"Oops!"
The moment Li Boyang had that thought, he received another blow to the chest with his shoulder, sending him flying through the air. He landed in a flowerbed next to the courtyard, trampling over many plants and covering himself in mud, looking utterly disheveled.
Fortunately, this lightning-fast series of parries did not involve any hidden force, otherwise Li Boyang would have completely lost his fighting ability after just one round. He quickly got up with a lazy roll, rubbed the blood and qi in his hands, and assumed a state of alertness.
"Prepare to die."
Before Li Boyang could catch his breath, Chen Tiezhi struck again with lightning speed. His feet moved in rapid succession, his body seemed like a ghost, and his fist pierced through the air, instantly striking Li Boyang's face with his eagle claw.
"We can't go on like this, or we'll surely die."
It was arguably the toughest battle he had ever faced since his debut. The natural burst of internal energy from a master of internal energy transformation, along with their terrifying sense of danger, was truly terrifying.
“My master said that youth is the greatest strength in boxing. Chen Tiezhi is at least 60 years old. Even if he has reached the level of Huajin, he is already on the decline. I need to exchange injuries with him to have a chance.”
The thought had barely formed in his mind when Li Boyang, with a death wish, charged forward. His fists flew like lightning as he lunged forward, unleashing a series of powerful strikes—Tiger Slash, Crane Peck, Monkey Leap, Leopard Pounce, and Dragon Soar—instantly stunning Chen Tiezhi.
"This kid is willing to risk his life for yours, so why would I be afraid of you?"
Having seen through Li Boyang's plan, Eagle Claw King stopped dodging. His clothes rippled like waves, his muscles and tendons twitched and tightened, and he slowly exhaled, his belly bulging like thunder.
Both of them started fighting desperately, and in the blink of an eye, they had exchanged dozens of blows.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of twelve punches landing in quick succession was deafening. Chen Tiezhi took four punches, and Li Boyang took eight.
All twelve strikes were executed with visible force. Both sides were extremely cautious, avoiding all the hidden force techniques, only selectively exchanging the power of their visible force with each other.
"Cough! Cough!"
Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Li Boyang's clothes were already torn to shreds. He wiped the blood from his mouth, took a couple of deep breaths, and laughed, "Old man, can you still hold on?"
Chen Tiezhi retorted, "I'm an old man, but I can still risk my life to save you."
Although he only took four blows of Ming Jin, Chen Tiezhi's condition was not much better than Li Boyang's. He also spat out a mouthful of blood. His application of force had reached the level of Hua Jin, but after all, he was getting old and his body was already declining. Although he had completed the exercise of one of the five internal organs, it only strengthened his aging body. Only when all five internal organs are fully nourished can he maintain his peak condition until he is 70 years old. He was still far from that. Even Huang Feihong had not achieved that.
"Then give it a try."
Although he spoke toughly, Li Boyang knew that what the other party said was true. Although trading injuries for injuries would be advantageous for him, if they really fought to the death, they would most likely perish together.
"Oh no, sir, you're in danger!"
"Go quickly and protect the gentleman."
"Stop right there!"
Dozens of muskets were instantly pointed at Chen Tiezhi. Under the dark muzzles, even if Chen Tiezhi had high martial arts skills, he would still die in despair in his current state.
The militia from the Hongmen headquarters finally returned and found Li Boyang and Chen Tiezhi confronting each other in the courtyard.
"Put down your guns."
Li Boyang stopped the militiamen who were about to fire.
"A martial artist should die in a duel, not from a gun."
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Chapter 20 The Rise of Po Chi Lam (Part 1)
Seeing the grateful look in Chen Tiezhi's eyes, Li Boyang turned around, his back to Chen Tiezhi, and said:
"Zhendong, go and see Eagle Claw King off." Without even looking at the final result, he called over a militiaman, and with the militiaman's help, he limped out of the Hongmen.
The Hongmen branch can be said to have been wiped out. Li Boyang felt a pang of emotion, not because he regretted the destruction of the Hongmen branch, but because he felt sorry for the decline of martial arts.
With the advent of firearms, the era of martial arts training was destined to be over. In fact, once martial arts practitioners reach the Huajin stage, they are not very afraid of firearms and can avoid them the moment a bullet locks onto them.
But how many masters of the "Transformation Realm" are there in all of China? Huang Feihong mentioned a few figures in the Chinese martial arts world who have truly reached the pinnacle of the Transformation Realm: Sun Lutang, the Martial Saint; Yang Luchan, the Invincible Yang; Dong Haichuan, the founder of Baguazhang; Li Shuwen, the Divine Spear; and Li Luoneng, the Divine Fist. Apart from these renowned grandmasters, there are at most a hundred or so unknown masters of the Transformation Realm.
In contrast, muskets are much cheaper. A group of qualified musketeers can be trained in three months, and as long as the equipment is adequate, they can be produced in an endless stream.
After taking stock of the militia members, more than twenty were dead and more than fifty were injured, which was more than expected. Fortunately, the Hongmen had very few firearms, and most of the injuries were from weapons, and most of them could be saved.
After checking his watch, Li Boyang ordered someone to bring the bodies of the deceased members of the militia, and then led the remaining people to the designated street location to meet up.
When Li Boyang arrived, he realized that he was the slowest.
"Battalion Commander Zhang Tiechui reports: The Liwan Gang has been completely wiped out by our militia, leaving no survivors. No one in the Third Platoon died, and eight were injured."
"Battalion Commander Kong Weiguo reports: The Haizhu Gang has been completely wiped out by our militia, with no survivors. The Second Company suffered 15 casualties."