strokinit Chapter 16 Whip Kick
Chapter 16 Whip Kick
The next morning, Lin Mu pushed open the courtyard gate and saw a group of people standing on the ridge of the field not far away.
Leading the group was village chief Lin Tianyou, dressed in a gray-blue robe, who was bowing and pointing at Lin Mu's old house.
Behind him were five or six burly men, each with a bronze plaque hanging from their waist—about the size of a palm, with the words "Jinsha" engraved on the front and a crescent moon and several sand patterns engraved on the back, with a sheathless short knife attached below the sand patterns.
It looks a size smaller than the one Lin San is wearing.
Lin Mu remained expressionless and gently closed the courtyard gate.
……
He then went to the Chang Le gambling den twice more.
Each time, he would first activate his body-strengthening technique to distribute his qi and blood throughout his body before entering the qi and blood cage.
He was first beaten, then fought back. After two matches, the audience gave him a nickname – "Sandbag".
Even so, the Body Tempering Technique made no progress and remained stuck at the Unripe 98 level.
However, these two experiences were not entirely fruitless.
He discovered that the man wearing the tiger head had a waist tag belonging to the Golden Sands Gang.
Tiger Head is extremely fierce in combat; he can usually take down an opponent completely with just one set of leg techniques.
Leg shadows were as dense as a torrential rain, and as cunning as venomous snakes.
The opponent was like a wooden stake being hacked at by a flurry of kicks, his body covered in bruises, his nose collapsed, several ribs broken, and he finally curled up on the ground, no longer recognizable as a human.
Lin Mu watched several matches attentively and unintentionally triggered the booklet.
[After observation, you may replicate the technique: Whip Kick - Wild Dance (Incomplete, Unmastered).]
[Will it be reissued?]
"Yes." Lin Mu answered without hesitation.
A strange flow of energy surged from the dantian, rushing down the outside of the right leg like a snake from the waist to the instep.
Unlike the straight line of the Long Wind Fist, this flow of qi and blood moves forward in a spiral—it twists with force at each joint, and by the time it reaches the instep, it has twisted into three strands, taut like a fully drawn bowstring.
This is the secret of the whip kick.
Every night thereafter, Lin Mu practiced repeatedly in front of the courtyard wall of the old house.
Lift your right leg, thrust your hip forward, and spring your lower leg forward. Your blood and qi surge downward from your dantian with twisting force—at first, it's crooked and the leg you kick out is limp, like a dead snake.
After ten repetitions, it finally started to look somewhat natural;
After fifty repetitions, the moment the instep is straightened, it can already produce a sharp whistling sound.
……
No matter how diligent he was, he never mastered the whip kick.
Perhaps due to the lack of a complete leg technique, the spiraling flow of qi and blood was not smooth enough.
On a night of full moon, the moonlight is as clear as frost.
Lin Mu entered the Chang Le Casino again.
Tiger Head had just finished a fight. He took the towel from the one-eyed old man and slowly wiped the blood off his fingers. His gaze swept over the crowd like that of a well-fed beast.
His opponent, whose collarbone he had broken, was being dragged out of the cage like a sack of potatoes.
In a corner of the basement, the light was dim and the noise of people was deafening.
Lin Mu stood against the wall, an eagle-head mask on his face.
He took out a bag of dragon scale water from his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it up, and pressed the other bag under his tongue.
Blood and qi surged instantly.
He quickly activated his body-strengthening technique, and an itching sensation crept out from between his bones, dense and numerous, like ants building a nest in his marrow.
Lin Mu arrived at the tiger's head's blood energy cage.
"Still have the energy?"
Tiger Head licked the blood that remained on his fist, and a slow grin spread across his face.
"Killing you is a piece of cake."
The iron gate closed, and the two men, like wild beasts tearing at each other, had nothing but each other in their eyes.
Instead of pacing around in circles as usual, Tiger Head pounced straight at them.
The first punch landed on Lin Mu's abdomen, the force of the punch sharp and accompanied by the sound of air being cut.
Lin Mu's blood and qi surged to his abdomen instantly, condensing into a thin layer under his skin.
The fist slammed into it, producing a muffled thud, like a punch hitting water, splashing everywhere but the bottom not being visible.
The dispersed blood and energy merged into that patch of skin.
Tiger Head frowned, and his second punch followed immediately, aimed at his ribs.
The Qi and blood rush to the rib area in advance, and the dispersed Qi and blood are absorbed by the rib area.
Lin Mu simply turned his body to the side, and not a trace of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He raised his eyes, and the eyes behind the mask calmly looked at Tiger Head.
Tiger Head's face darkened.
He attacked with both hands, his fists raining down on Lin Mu's chest, shoulders, and abdomen.
Every punch was delivered with the full force of his body, every punch aimed at vital points.
Lin Mu stood still, barely managing to avoid vital areas.
Driven by his will, his vital energy surged to every part of the body that was struck—when a fist slammed into his chest, his vital energy gathered there, waiting to be dispersed and driven into that part of his body.
When a fist sweeps towards the ribs, the blood and qi protect the ribs, neutralizing the force.
The sound of fists colliding was so dense, like the sound of drums, that the muffled thuds echoed in the basement, making the eardrums of the onlookers buzz.
Lin Mu's body swayed under the fist, like a bamboo in a storm, bending and straightening, but never breaking.
Tiger Head's forehead veins bulged. He took a step back, lowered his waist, and unleashed his signature move—a whip kick.
The leg lashed out at Lin Mu's thigh like an iron whip, so fast it whistled through the air, and the trouser leg burst open with a loud bang.
Lin Mu was familiar with this kick—he had observed it countless times from outside the cage, and he knew by heart the subtle movements of Tiger Head before each kick.
The angles of the hips sinking, the knees buckling inward, and the calves folding are as clear as if they were etched into my mind.
Blood and qi surged to the thighs, where they condensed under the skin.
Tiger Head's foot struck it with a sharp "smack," like hitting a piece of waterlogged cowhide, the sound both muffled and crisp.
Lin Mu's thigh instantly turned bruised and burned, but he managed to steady his leg.
Tiger Head's second leg followed immediately, heading straight for the ribs.
Lin Mu turned to the side in advance, his blood rushing to his head, and took the hit head-on.
The instep brushed against his side, leaving a red mark on his skin, as if it had been branded with a hot iron.
Lin Mu stood there, patted the dust off his thighs, and didn't say anything, just looked at Hu Tou.
Tiger Head let out a low growl, and his whip-like kicks came one after another, alternating between left and right, like two venomous snakes flicking their tongues in the air, the shadows of his legs as dense as dark clouds before a storm.
He kicked more than a dozen times, and every kick hit its mark, but each kick was blocked by Lin Mu's qi and blood.
Lin Mu's arms, thighs, waist and abdomen were covered in bruises, the bruises spreading under his skin like ink.
The qi and blood, combined with the tiger's whip kick, were scattered the moment they were hit, and then, with the force of his kick, the qi and blood were driven into every corner of the body like a pile driver.
Tiger Head performed two sets of whip kicks, and sweat began to bead on his forehead, trickling down his brow bone and stinging his eyes until they turned red.
His inability to defeat Lin Mu for so long was making him somewhat irritable.
But Lin Mu wasn't feeling particularly good either.
His vital energy and blood are being rapidly depleted.
Each block consumes a wisp of vital energy within the body.
Qi and blood begin to decline from the full pool.
70%...
50%...
Thirty percent...
The itching sensation had dissipated, replaced by a hollow exhaustion, as if the body had been hollowed out.
He knew he couldn't endure it any longer.
So he moved.
It's not a retreat, but an advance.