Li Yan opened the door and wiped his face with the cold towel around his neck. He walked over to the wooden dummy and wiped the Deerhorn Knives with an eiderdown cloth.
Name: Li Yan
Condition: Right arm severely injured
Speciality: Ancient Martial Arts 82%
The fierce, continuous fights over the last month had increased Li Yan’s Martial Arts skills by 1%.
Plus, Li Yan had already exhausted the ES cell booster the day before. It would be absurd for him to fight on the stage with his illness and a disabled arm.
A pretty woman in sunglasses appeared at the door.
“Where are you going dressed like that?”
Li Yan walked to her and held her waist.
Judy smiled sweetly.
“Let’s go and have supper after your fight.”
Li Yan tried to dodge her stare, but he answered with a smile, “Sure.”
“It will be your farewell supper.”
Li Yan hesitated for a moment before asking, “How did you find out?”
“I checked your account and saw that you withdrew all the money. I find it hard to believe that you earned five million dollars just through fighting.”
Li Yan touched his nose and searched for something in his pocket.
“Since you’re already here. I want you to have this.”
Judy took it. It was a petticoat ring for cigarettes that looked like it was from the late Qing Dynasty.
“Did you get this from your grandparents,” she asked.
“I bought it from Wan Chai yesterday.”
Judy was silent.
“With this, your fingers won’t get yellow when you smoke. I thought you’d look good wearing it, like a movie star.”
Li Yan didn’t know how to react and straightened his shirt.
“Take care.”
Judy fiddled with the ring.
“When will you be back?”
“I’ll be back when I get the chance.”
“Sure.”
Judy smiled deeply, showing her dimple.
“I have a present for you in your room. Remember to take it with you.”
Judy hugged Li Yan lightly and turned around without another word to keep him.
As she walked down the hallway, she took out a pile of documents from her handbag and threw them in the trash. The first had Li Yan’s picture on it.
His profile was perfect, flawless.
But Judy knew that the man in the photo wasn’t him.
…
Li Yan frowned as he walked towards the tenth floor of Fu Yi Tower.
There was an old man sitting in the corner of the deck looking very calm, which set him apart from the audience.
Xu Tianci was staring at the ceiling of the ring. He turned to Li Yan as he walked onstage with his Deerhorn Knives and smiled.
“You’ll die faster with those weird weapons. You know that?”
Li Yan didn’t respond. He seemed to be zoning out.
“Hey, did you hear…”
“I’m Li Yan from He Jian.”
His face muscles contracted, looking fierce and cold.
Xu Tianci looked at him with scorn.
He placed his Butterfly Knives in front of his chest and said,
“I am Xu Tianci from Wing Chun.”
Xu Tianci walked towards his opponent as he introduced himself, holding his Butterfly Knives tight. Li Yan stayed still and grounded in a horse stance.
Xu Tianci sped up and dashed to Li Yan. He lowered his knees and stabbed at Li Yan’s chest with the Butterfly Knives.
“Bang!”
At that moment, Xu Tianci realized he was at a disadvantage, because Li Yan’s short knives could cut his wrist at such a short distance.
Xu stopped and used another sword to tackle Li’s knives, trying to force them down.
Li Yan pressed his thumb down and took advantage of the occasion to turn his Deerhorn Knives around.
The Deerhorn Knives were made up of four short knives. That turn could have easily cut off Li Yan’s thumb if he wasn’t trained enough. He dodged the inner blade, and the outer one sliced into the back of Xu’s left hand.
Xu Tianci’s facial expression didn’t change. He pushed his sword up as if pretending to attack Li Yan’s neck as he slowly stepped back.
Li Yan didn’t chase after him. He said, “I’ve never seen the Butterfly Knives before. It’s a real pleasure for me. The knives I’m using here are called the Deerhorn Knives, from the North. Hope you like them.”
He raised his knives.
“That move was called ‘The Sun and the Moon’.”
The cut wasn’t deep and just made Xu Tianci even more excited to fight.
“But it’s not authentic to fight with only one arm.”
“If I’d been fighting with both of my arms, your neck would be bleeding instead of your hand.”
“Let’s see!”
Xu Tianci leaned forward to strike Li Yan’s weapon with his sword.
“Bang!”
Li Yan looked away and saw Xu’s backhand aiming at his neck.
If Li Yan turned his blades, he could at best slide his wrist off of it, but Xu would then have the chance to stab through his neck.
After all, he was fighting with just one arm.
Li Yan frowned and stepped back with his right leg.
Xu Tianci laughed and stepped forward to fill the gap. He pressed against Li Yan and chopped at Li Yan’s chest, which Li Yan couldn’t dodge because his left leg was supporting his entire weight.
Xu Tianci was surprised that Li Yan turned his body around at 150 degrees, purposely exposing his left arm.
“Ah, choosing the lesser of two evils. You are pretty decisive.”
Li Yan was sacrificing his healthy left arm!
Xu’s Butterfly Knives cut two inches deep into Li Yan’s shoulder. He could feel his bones!
How could Li Yan possibly win the match with a disabled right arm when his left arm was hurt?
All of the sudden, Xu Tianci couldn’t see anything.
And then came Li Yan’s right hand, wrapped in bandages!
Xu Tianci was too close to Li Yan’s right hand. He wasn’t prepared for this!
Li Yan bent his thumb and index finger like a claw and poked into Xu Tianci’s eyes without hesitation.
“Tianci!”
The old man stood up; even his gray brows were trembling.
“Ahhhhh!”
Xu Tianci bellowed like a monster. He grabbed his sword even tighter and extracted it from Li Yan’s shoulder. The Butterfly Knives was aimed at Li Yan’s chest!
Li Yan dodged his attack and stepped back. Bloody mucus covered his fingers. The cut in his left arm was so deep that it couldn’t stop bleeding.
Li Yan still did not initiate any attacks but instead stared at him quietly.
“That move just now was ‘Swiping Brows’.”
Xu Tianci was breathing heavily. His left eye was a bloody hole and his right eye was red and swollen. He could only see stars.
The pain was so unbearable that he almost fainted. He bit his lower lip until it bled.
“I respect Eight Trigram Palm’s vicious attack.”
Li Yan did not reply, but nor was he persuaded to end the game. He resituated himself and stared directly at Xu.
“Let’s go!”
The nineteen-year-old shouted and initiated his attack towards Li Yan again.
Xu Tianci was holding one sword at each hand, aimed at Li Yan’s chest and right wrist respectively.
Li Yan twisted at his waist and leaned to the left to dodge his swords, at the same time trying to use his knives as defense.
When he went to turn his blades, Xu Tianci moved his waist to change the direction of his left sword and take control of the Deerhorn Knives.
Li Yan opened his eyes wide and felt something was wrong.
That move was “Tied-up Eight Slashing knives.”
Although Li Yan was experienced, his disabled hand couldn’t help him. He had to pull back his defenses so that he wasn’t controlled entirely by Xu Tianci.
Xu followed tightly and twisted his swords like two dragons flying out of the sea, both aiming at Li Yan’s neck!
“Pfft!”
Blood came out from Li Yan’s body.
Li Yan kicked at Xu Tianci’s shin bone and used the force to step back.
Two wounds extended from his chest to his neck, each of them eighteen centimeters. Xu had almost sliced his throat!
His wrist was also hurt. Li Yan could barely hold his knives anymore.
That move originated from the “Tied-up Eight Slashing Knives!”
“Hahahaha!”
Xu kept laughing. His hollow eyes were terrifying!
He pointed his sword at Li Yan, “That was called ‘Two Dragons Out of the Sea!'”
Li Yan took a deep breath and stared at Xu Tianci who was obviously still riled up. He no longer felt sad about leaving, and he smiled fiercely in the boxing ring for the first time.
“Wing Chun, Clouded Knife Stance. Impressive!.”
They both shouted together, “Come on!”