Chapter 180: The Cultivation Method for Heroic Spirits
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Meng Chao scratched his head. “Do we need to fight?”
“Duh. I’m also a military school student. There’s no reason for me to not fight together with my comrades!” Chu Feixiong strode forward. The spirit flames surrounding him burned brighter to form Stupid Soldier Xu Wanshan’s honest and determined form behind him.
No, he should be called Soldier now.
Chu Feixiong stared at Meng Chao and said, “Besides, Soldier doesn’t like your Army Fist. He said your fist technique is dark and filled with bloodl.u.s.t as well as destruction. It’s a killing fist. The real Army Fist shouldn’t be like this!”
Meng Chao laughed in spite of himself. “Regardless of whether it’s the Army Fist or any other martial art, they’re all used to destroy things and kill others. What else could it be besides a killing fist?”
“The other martial arts might be designed for slaughter, but the Army Fist is used to protect our homeland. It should be a protective fist!”
Just like the other military school students, Chu Feixiong took up the stance for the Army Fist. The difference was that Soldier turned into wisps of army green spirit flames behind him and surrounded his temples, eyes, arms, and every inch of his body.
Chu Feixiong’s originally rather loose camouflage uniform instantly became tight. Rippling sounds rose, and he was like a sleeping volcano that just woke up. Explosive strength started gathering in him.
His dark and shiny skin, which was the result of the sun shining on him for many days, gained the texture of obsidian because of the additional power provided by the heroic spirit.
At that moment, Chu Feixiong’s presence was completely different from when he was a high school student half a year ago.
“Black Bear, good luck!”
The flames of hope burned in the military school students’ eyes.
Even though Chu Feixiong was infamous for being weak in the heroic spirit course and even lost to many logistics course and engineering course freshmen, when it came to the Army Fist, he was the strongest in the entire military course. Even most of the uppercla.s.smen could not win against him.
The reason for it was simple.
To a large extent, the Army Fist was a basic fist technique for normal people. If a superhuman practiced the Army Fist, they would mainly use it to strengthen their bodies or to warm up.
There were plenty of amazing martial arts to learn. Who would be so free as to explore the Army Fist day in and day out?
When it came to the other martial arts or when it came to the lowly methods Meng Chao used to sneak into the girls’ dorm, Chu Feixiong was definitely not Meng Chao’s opponent.
But what if the military school’s strongest Army Fist went up against Meng Chao, would he be able to win against this monster?
Whoosh!
Right after this question rose in the onlookers’ minds, the best friends from high school crashed into each other like armored trains.
Lunging Punch went up against Lunging Punch.
Throat-piercing Kick went up against Throat-piercing Kick.
Horse Stance Side Punch went up against Horse Stance Side Punch.
Inner Side Downward Hook, Intersecting Side Kick, Outer Side Side Hook... The two young men executed their attacks methodically and faced each other head-on without any flashy movements. They displayed an incredibly insightful tournament for the students.
In an instant, the cultivation room filled with the shadows of fists and kicks. When the st.u.r.dy bodies crashed into each other, it sounded like thunder. Waves of wind tore through the air, and visible ripples surged. The two displayed the strongest power of the Army Fist, and it was one that the onlookers had never imagined to see.
“This is... the real Army Fist?”
“Heroic spirit users do live up to their name, huh? Even if he’s the weakest heroic spirit user in Dragon City, once he enters the field he knows well, his heroic spirit is able to bring out incredibly great strength!”
“Based on what you said, isn’t Meng Chao ridiculously strong? He doesn’t have additional power given to him by a heroic spirit who’s skilled in the Army Fist, and he fought against dozens of us just now in a marathon fight. But his stamina isn’t gone, and he’s still able to put up such an exciting fight against the Black Bear. He’s insane!”
“Look, their Army Fists are very different. They might use the same attacks, but they’re completely different. Meng Chao’s attack speed is much faster, and he has a lot of fine movements that can confuse his enemy. He’s trying to interrupt his opponent’s thoughts. He wants the enemy to fall into his rhythm and get trapped, so his fighting style is really strange and cunning.
“And once the opponent shows an opening, his Army Fist turns ten times fiercer. All his attacks go for the opponent’s vitals, and he even sacrifices himself to damage his enemy. Such a fighting style is just too fierce.
“It’s strange, devious, and brutal. It’s no wonder why the Black Bear said that his fist technique is dark. It’s really a true killing fist.
“The Black Bear’s Army Fist is the most orthodox and normal version, the one pa.s.sed down in the Red Dragon Army for half a century. But he looks like he has improved every single cell in his body to perfection, and with the help from his heroic spirit, his Army Fist looks even better than the instructors’.
“He shouldn’t be ranked at the last place in the heroic spirit course with that Army Fist. So why is he ranked last?”
“Wait. I saw the Black Bear practice the Army Fist before. At that time, he wasn’t this strong. I feel like... Meng Chao’s corrupted Army Fist angered the Black Bear’s heroic spirit, and it brought out his unprecedented potential!”
“That’s right. The Black Bear’s heroic spirit is famous for being stubborn. He will do everything he can to persist and defend his beliefs. He believes that the Army Fist is the supreme martial art, so he couldn’t just watch someone use such a strange, devious, brutal, and corrupted version of the Army Fist to defeat all of the military school students.”
“I heard that in the beginning, when the heroic spirit users just awaken their heroic spirits, many of the heroic spirits aren’t able to bring out 100% of their power due to the disruption from their spirit energy magnetic fields or because their brainwaves are not in sync.
“Take the strongest specially recruited student in our batch for example. Shao Jianqing’s heroic spirit is the Female Battle G.o.d, but she can’t bring out even 10% of her power. She needs all sorts of actions and events to continuously resonate and be polished so that she can upgrade her heroic spirit and grow together with her.
“Could this be the Black Bear’s turning point? Did his heroic spirit’s potential explode under his rage?
With the onlookers discussing what they saw, Meng Chao finally got the gist of what was happening, and he could not help but moan about it.
He had wanted to hold back a little and fight a few rounds against Chu Feixiong so that they could keep up appearances, but after exchanging a few blows with him, he realized that he was getting ahead of himself. When it came to the Army Fist, he might not actually win against Chu Feixiong.
After all, he did not really use a cheat and put an infinity stamina hack on himself. He had just fought against dozens of military school students in one go, so there was no way he would not be so tired that he wanted to die.
The dozens of honeyed Ghost-arrow Pigs and smoked toad legs he ate earlier turned into heat and sweat. Not a single bit of energy that came from them was left. They all disappeared from his oesophagus to his small intestines, and his stomach started growling again.
But Chu Feixiong looked as if he had been injected with a war-issued stimulant. Each of his punches was stronger than the last, and when he stared into Meng Chao’s eyes, his gaze was filled with anger. He was just like an honest person who just saw his favorite thing having been slighted.
“Feixiong, what are you doing?”
After they exchanged all sixteen basic moves of the Army Fist once, Meng Chao was unable to continue the fight anymore. He whispered, “Are you here to help me promote the Ultimate Style or to pull the rug from under my feet?”
“I don’t want to, but I just can’t control myself.” Chu Feixiong threw a punch at Meng Chao’s nose. “Soldier doesn’t like your Army Fist, and he says that your fist technique took the evil path, so he must correct you. You should know by now just how stubborn Soldier is!”
“Enough with that. Do you think I don’t know the theories related to heroic spirits?” Meng Chao gritted his teeth. “There is a spiritual resonance between the heroic spirit and heroic spirit user, and they affect each other mutually. The heroic spirit can’t hypnotize the heroic spirit user, just stimulate the heroic spirit user’s subconscious! If Soldier really controlled you to hit me, this means that your subconscious has been wanting to beat me up for a long time!”
“Does it?” Chu Feixiong thought about it, then said seriously, “Yeah. Makes sense. From the moment you suddenly started pretending to be cool and stuff a month and a half before the national college exam, I’ve been increasingly unable to quell my desire to beat you up!”
“Big Brother Xiong, I’m wrong, okay? I won’t dare to put up a facade in front of you anymore, so please help me preserve my reputation today?” Meng Chao asked. “I didn’t think that your Army Fist is this fierce. Even if this is an ancient version, you managed to display such terrifying power with it. Looks like we’ve found a way to train Soldier, but you have to hold back a little. We can explore this in private!”
“Remember your words. You have to promise me to spend half an hour every day to practice the Army Fist with me,” Chu Feixiong said, “Soldier thinks that while your Army Fist is evil, it’s really strong and more exquisite and fiercer than all the fist techniques he saw from instructors in the past. You’re a good opponent, so if he can beat you up once in a while, he’ll become stronger.”
“... I’m going to repeat myself. Heroic spirits are spirit fragments left by our seniors which fuse with the heroic spirit users’ subconscious. In simple terms, heroic spirits are the subconscious of heroic spirit users,” Meng Chao gritted his teeth. “It’s not that Soldier is thinking about becoming stronger by beating me up once in a while! You’re the one with those thoughts!”
Bang!
Their fists landed against the other’s chest once more, and it was as if the armor-piercing sh.e.l.ls from two tanks had rammed into each other’s gun turret.
Both of them retreated five steps at the same time and sat down on their b.u.t.ts.
“Again!” Chu Feixiong struck the ground and crawled up with gritted teeth. It looked like he had not had his fill in fighting.
“Again?” Meng Chao broke out in cold sweat. He did not know whether he should laugh or cry. “I was just sparring with all of you so that you can see how terrifying the Army Fist can be when the Ultimate Style super-endurance is added to it, despite the fact that it’s the most normal fist technique.
“We’re comrades on the same side, and you’re all pillars of the future Red Dragon Army. I want all of you to become stronger, so why must we decide a victor?
“Besides, everyone knows that the strongest point of the military school isn’t your heroic spirits, your guns, and most definitely not your cold weapons, but your formations. It’s the war souls you refine when dozens, hundreds, of even thousands of soldiers become united in spirit.
“When I see so many students from the logistics course, engineering course, and commanding course joining hands and fighting together, I can just imagine how strong the Red Dragon Army’s war soul will be.
“I don’t mind if you want to continue fighting against me, but I’ll have to bring out my shameless spirit and run away. Then, when it’s three or four at night, I’ll ambush your tents.”