Book 1 Chapter 6: Battle between Life and Death
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” Sun Ze couldn’t help but sneer as his eyes grew cold.
He did not say this out of consideration for Teng Qingshan but because they wanted to influence his will. If he committed suicide, that would be the best outcome for them, allowing them to complete the mission without much effort. If a real life-and-death battle broke out, even if they could kill Teng Qingshan, they might suffer serious injuries.
“Dolgoterov was hit by my sword and didn’t receive much damage,” Teng Qingshan looked over at the big Russian. “Both he and Sun Ze are wearing black uniforms, which must have strong defensive capabilities.”
The brawny Russian was indeed hit by a knife when he was on the roof. However, both of them already knew that Teng Qingshan was quite skilled with knives, and had in advance prepared by wearing clothes with strong defense capabilities . When the knife pierced the cloth, its power was considerably weakened, and “Body Crusher” Dolgoterov could easily use his muscles to stop the blade.
“Monkey, this wolf is courting death. Let us grant its wish!” The big Russian, Dolgoterov, spoke fluently in Chinese.
“The biggest threat is ‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze. I need to kill him first if I want a chance to survive.”
Teng Qingshan suddenly crouched low, and his feet quickly stomped the ground while his hands scratched the earth like a tiger descending from the mountains. Like a lightning bolt, he leapt nearly ten meters and shot his cannon fist towards Sun Ze.
‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze, who was standing in front of the courtyard door, gave a slight smile before his whole body began to move. This movement transformed him into a mirage, sliding to the the side while the golden pistol in his hands began to send out a subtle, almost inaudible, noise.
“Piu! Piu!”
The split second the enemy raised his gun, Teng Qingshan twisted his body like a snake and jumped to the side.
In close combat, when comparing body flexibility within the three major Internal Martial Arts, the Eight Trigram Palm was ranked the highest. The steps of the Eight Trigram Palm were: one, the motion; two, the vision; three, the stance; and four, the understanding. The Eight Trigram Palm’ Master Sun Ze performed the most basic step motion which transformed him into a flood dragon. He was as fast as lightning and as elegant as the wind.
Moreover, the bullets fired from the guns were tricky and deadly.
The combination of the Eight Trigram Palm’s agility and the power of modern firearms was very scary indeed.
“My speed can’t be compared to Sun Ze’s, and I can’t catch him so he would be able to continuously attack me. There is also ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgoterov … if I make one wrong step, I am dead. I have only one chance!” Teng Qingshan clearly understood the current situation.
“Pwew!” Another bullet flew towards Teng Qingshan, but he couldn’t react in time to dodge it. At the same time, the horrifying monster, ‘Body Crusher’ Dologotov, launched an attack from the side.
“Not good!”
Immediately, Teng Qingshan’s abdomen became as soft as cotton, and as soon as the bullet made impact, a forceful inner strength burst out, severely weakening the bullet’s strength. At the same exact time, his muscles vibrated and became as hard as steel. The head of the bullet was stopped by his abdominal muscles, while the inner muscles pushed the bullet out. Teng Qingshan’s posture was like that of an iron bridge; his hands slapped on the ground while his body became like a water dragon surfing the waves as he fled to the side.
Sun Ze, who was not far away, sneered.
“Haha …” The big Russian laughed before rushing towards Teng Qingshan.
“Now!” Teng Qingshan’s figure turned towards the peach trees inside the inner yard while clenching a throwing knife in each hand. His eyes suddenly became dejected and sorrowful, both throwing knives shooting out of his hands. Each small blade produced an icy cold trajectory through the air while flying separately towards Sun Ze and Dolgoterov.
Sun Ze sneered and shot at the incoming throwing knife. When considering shooting techniques, he was ranked in the top 10 of the entire world, so shooting a throwing knife was a very easy thing for him.
“Humph,” the Russian ‘Dolgoterov’ growled as he aimed his metal gauntlet towards the blade.
Teng Qingshan’s eyes became deep and cold, with a hidden hint of grief. The two throwing knives were infused with his inner strength, although it was unbelievably faint, and connected to his mind.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Just as the throwing knife was about to hit the bullets, although nothing had come in contact with it, the blade suddenly and bizarrely cracked into seven or eight iron pieces. By cracking in midair, the trajectory of those fragments slightly changed but still flew towards Sun Ze at an incredibly high speed while his bullet naturally hit empty air.
“No.” Sun Ze’s face suddenly turned ashen.
At first, he and Teng Qingshan were less than ten meters apart, and when Teng Qingshan threw his throwing knife, Sun Ze instantly shot at it. The moment the knife broke up into fragments, it was only about two meters away from Sun Ze.
At a distance of two meters and with the high speed of the incoming fragments, the fragments required only a short movement to reach Sun Ze. Just when Sun Ze’s mind started to react, the flying debris had already arrived before his eyes.
“Poof! Poof! Poof!”
Three flying fragments from the throwing knife directly penetrated Sun Ze’s face and pierced through his skull.
“Urgh…” There was still an astonished look in Sun Ze’s eyes before they quickly lost all light , and his body fell limply to the ground.
‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze, one of fifty-two S-Rank hitmen from the Underground World and an expert of the Eight Trigram Palm, had died.
For the strongest people in the world, the face was generally the least defended area, unless someone had reached the master state, in which case the body had no weaknesses. For Sun Ze, who had yet to reach the master state, this situation was certain death.
“Bang!” Dolgoterov suffered the same dangers, but luckily, he blocked the knife with his right hand, and his left was habitually in front of his face. When the blade fragmented, two pieces flew towards his face; however, he easily blocked them with the gauntlet on his left hand.
“You, you …” The Russian fellow looked at his partner’s dead body and then stared at Teng Qingshan, his face full of shock.
A trace of a smile finally appeared on Teng Qingshan‘s face.
“Monkey, monkey…” Dolgoterov looked at Sun Ze’s corpse. “The throwing knives… the throwing knives, how did they break into pieces?”
The throwing knives fragmented without reason?
Teng Qingshan looked at Dolgoterov with a sigh of relief in his heart.
During his time back in the Red organization base, he had fought many hitmen single handedly. Two fists were no match against four hands, and he had been close to dying during the siege. On the edge of life and death, when he had a desperate and dejected mentality, he suddenly realized that under these kind of special conditions, he could establish a bond with the inner strength he injected into the knife before throwing it. This bond allowed him to control the throwing knife and force it to fragment at any time.
When a flying knife shot towards the enemy and all of a sudden broke into several fragments, how would the enemy have time to react? Take Sun Ze: When the knife was only two meters away, he didn’t have the time to react and therefore was pierced through his head.
An absolute killing move!
Even though Teng Qingshan did not understand why he could create this bond under such a state of mind that allowed him to control the knives with his inner strength, he he never forgot that specific state of mind or and this technique. He even called this technique “Saddened Knife.”
“Wolf, get ready for your funeral!” Dolgoterov’s eye flashed faintly red and he suddenly started roaring like a lion. In front of Teng Qingshan’s eyes, Dolgoterov’s clothes suddenly expanded as the crazy killing machine stomped the ground. The cement floor cracked open, as if a heavy truck had crashed into it at high speed.“Haha, come!” Teng Qingshan laughed, while preparing to meet him head-on.
Teng Qingshan continuously stomped the ground like a giant, each of his steps leaving cracks on the ground. His body moved elegantly like a water dragon. While his left palm rested in front of his face, his right fist shot forwards like a roaring dragon. Using his waist to manipulate his center of gravity, he focused all his strength on his right arm.
“Chi Chi!” His right arm started to bizarrely expand.
Blue veins bulged as if they wanted to burst out, and each of his muscle fibers became as thick and elastic as a bull’s tendons. A forceful strength was produced by the spiral, turning his right arm into a drill that was moving while producing a sharp whistle
“Ha!” The monstrous Dolgoterov jumped up and raised the metal gauntlet on his left hand while letting out a powerful roar. He shot towards Teng Qingshan like an artillery shell.
Dolgoterov’s huge fist created an afterimage before suddenly colliding with Teng Qingshan’s fist.
“Chi!”
Dolgoterov could clearly feel a strange energy passing through his gauntlet, which forced his right arm to twist and issue a lumping sound. Dolgoterov’s face became pale, and it was only because he practiced ancient yoga that he could withstand this helical strength. “If my strength had been a little bit weaker, I’m afraid that my arms would have been broken. After this attack, my right fist can only use about eighty percent of its strength!”
Dolgoterov was having a hard time, but Teng Qingshan was in an even worse position.
When their fists met, Teng Qingshan’s body was sent flying.
“Hahaha…” Dolgoterov let out crazy laughter and didn’t show the slightest hesitation before shooting towards Teng Qingshan.