Thugs recovered fast with some given Overdox, preying once more on the boys. The boys felt heavy footsteps getting closer to their hiding spot. With the wounds, Thần failed to perform accurate movement. His friend, as well, lost stamina from the previous fight. As desperate time came, the boys suddenly sensed a Qi followed into them, healed their minds. The eyes could see the blue Qi flowing around the body, refreshing and calming as the wind.
"Stop this madness-" Thanh Thuận stepped in with men from afar. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"You don't understand!" The Fervent Master cried, pointing his arms to the men. "I can fix this, just give me time!"
"Brother, you're insane!" Tân Thành commented, step forward to the confronted man. "You are supposed to be the best of us."
The Fervent Master hesitated for a moment, then forced his arms to whoever dared to confront him. Thugs quickly created a formation, prepared to execute any obstacles on the way.
Khải Minh exhaled; loaded his arms and aimed at the target. Looking at the new commander, the Pokemen waited for a response. Thuận expressed a deep sadness in his eyes, as if he had known the story and carried it far too long. As Thuận turned down his mouth's corner in a deep frown, he held back his dried lips to say words which gave unspeakable pain. Thus, Thuận stood in silence; observed the man who used to be the best of the Pokemen currently pointing his arms at them.
"You point your arms at us, brother-" Thuận pointed his finger to the confronted men. "Charge!"
The air thickened with tension as two parties skirmished with each other in the heart of the District 1. Fists flew, and weapons were fired as the two groups clashed. Men screamed in the air, as bystanders fled everywhere, seeking for safety. The two sides evenly matched in power.
Commanders of the parties clashed, retaliated fists and counters among the men.
Thần and Lâm recovered from their hiding spots, fighting side by side with the Pokemen. Youngster Phong, especially, commanded a man in a yellow costume to use thunderbolts on the opponents.
"You were supposed to be the chosen one-" Thuận parried a jab from the opponent; retaliated with a kick to make distance in between. Thuận remembered the days when the Fervent Master first introduced him to the Pokemen. At that time, the man helped Thuận a lot in many ways. Thuận thought that the Pokemen would become a new step in his life as he devoted to the big corpus. When he heard the news, Thuận refused to think that his trusty man would ever do such a deed. "Is money making you mad?"
"You understand nothing!" The opponent struck back, hitting Thuận a few steps back. "We are not the same!"
The Fervent Master never was a chosen one, he claimed, since the man had tried his best to devote to the big corpus. The man looked up to Master Phong, an upper-man who introduced him to the Pokemen, and guided men as the Master would conduct such deeds. Yet, perhaps the man's deeds failed to please the big corpus as Master Phong always shook his head with the result.
"What does the big corpus want from me?" The Fervent Master implored at a coffee shop one day. "It has been years since I served in the group."
"You show prominent results-" Master Phong presented a speech, nodding in agreement. However, a moment of hesitation occurred between the speech, giving doubt to the other. "Yet, the corpus needs more time to evaluate the deeds."
The Fervent Master gazed beyond the horizon, seeking a proper explanation for the response. Yet, the more the man thought of it, the more the mind lost its patience. In fact, the Fervent Master had never done such a deed that would deter the growth of his men. Moreover, the man had nurtured some best candidates for the big corpus. Master Phong looked at the one in front who rubbed his hands endlessly in a slow motion, exhaled deeply.
"I knew you had done well," Master Phong swirled the ice black, creating a motion which mixed the dark content. "Just give me some time to talk to the others."
Master Phong left with promises that day, yet, never showed up with an exact result. The Fervent Master knew a phenomenon would occur when the Master used to call one of his best men to talk in private. In fact, the man never minded about such private matters since the mind trusted the big corpus absolutely.
Pow! Pow!
The sound of reality rang in the air. Two men traded their hand to hand combat; continued their retaliation.
平
Pooooongggggg!
The yellow-Qi ancient character thrusted forward to the opponent, preemptively stagnant the movement.
闹
Aaaaannnnnng!
The ancient character conflicted with the previous character, clashing in the air.
"You can't stop me with a weak spell," The Fervent Master grinned while maintaining the casting hand posture. "I knew your weakness."
闹乱
Aaaaannnnnng!
The Fervent Master added a second character to his casting; strengthened the previous spell casting and broke the stagnant.
Thanh Thuận stepped a few back; fell into Tân Thành's hand because of the breaking force. Lâm saw an opportunity, striked forward and traded hand-to-hand with the Fervent Master. Yet, the striker failed to inflict pain and became a punching bag to the enemy.
"Fuck! The force is strong with this one-" Lâm retreated to the men with heavy wounds. "What do I do now, magic milk tea lover?"
"I need some time to recuperate-" Thuận replied and rolled a motion to recover. "Buy time."
Khải Minh utilized his sharpshooting skills to distract the Fervent Master. Yet, soon enough, the boss knew all the tricks and stunned the hunter. Next, Youngster Phong commanded men in costumes to use all the thunderbolts and fire breath to the Fervent Master. Yet, soon enough, the boss knew all the tricks and took down the monster tamer. Tân Thành saw his fallen brother, unleashed the rage and attacked the Fervent Master. Yet, the boss knew that behavior well and tamed the mad beast with a single spell. Time was running out with the last few men, so Lâm and Thần had to try their best.
"Now, I deal with you mercenaries-" The Fervent Master smirked with glowing blue eyes, rushing towards the boys with a deadly intent. "Die, worms!"
Booom!
A sound of thunder bursted in the air, alerting the Fervent Master to step back.
"Bitch, you gettin' nowhere-" Lâm grinned with lightning surged in the body. The man had always been a trained fighter; practiced strenuously than ever if he wanted to inherit a family legacy. Lâm pursued the perfection of power, which his kin advised to master the art of Qi, a method of infusing Qi into combat. "I'm starting to get used to this."
Lâm jumped towards, landed a wide kick. As Thần observed the next kick, he realized that his friend was starting to awaken Qi. Lâm infused Qi to create lightning when performing the movements. The lightning movements seemed faster, Thần watched carefully, as the clock was ticking.
"A thunder striker-" the ghost noted on the scene while watching men retaliate in hand-to-hand combat. Although An Nam constituted a long history of fighting, a new type of hand-to-hand combat, Qi-infused combat was born. "Fighting is a delicate art and relies only on instincts."
The ghost explained that the traditional fighting had been shown on TV shows and entertainments. In Qi-infused combat, men trained for 7-9 years, from the time they knew how to use Qi to learn the basics of fighting. Because of that, Qi-infused combat maintained its uniqueness against other fighting styles. Qi fighters utilized the art of kicks and punches with Qi, unlike the fighting styles of weaponry and tools.
The Qi combat style movement range would pose much larger, and appeared to be more aggressive and resilient; nevertheless, the true nature of its power remained to those who complete training. In ancient times, all Qi fighters practiced only Qi; yet, the art itself produced many skilled fighters in many kinds.
爆火
Booom!
An explosion occurred amidst the air. Gray smoke covered the scene, slowly displaying a yellow hollow Qi guard protecting the subject.
Boom! Boom!
The Fervent Master dodged the rushing thunder jabs, yet lightning still scattered the skin.
"I see now-" The Fervent Master created distance between the opponent, concluding that the Qi Master followed the teachings of Qi. Lâm could fuse Qi to attack from a distance, or utilized Qi Guard to build a protective shield around himself. The man could also evoke his strong inner spirit to support teammates. Lâm became more powerful in close combat with Qi boosting his attack speed tremendously. "I know normal people cannot complete missions without some kind of tricks."
Lâm stood in a southpaw stance; tensed muscles tense and his eyes focused on the opponent. Lâm knew that every move had to execute quickly and precisely. As the Fervent Master rushed towards, Lâm stepped to the side and delivered a swift clutch to the side of the opponent's head. The enemy, yet, caught the movement; parried the blow. Undoubtedly, Lâm surged Qi to perform a lightning-fast series of punches. As long as Lâm conducted a chain combo, his punches became blurry as a thousand movements were delivered at once. The Fervent Master reeled while parrying the combos. As the final punch hit the opponent's body, Lâm triggered a power move, imbuing his leg with the power of lightning and kicking upwards. Lightning hit the Fervent Master, inflicting a thunder-strike with the electrocution. The boss, stunned, with a shock.
Men burst into cheers as Lâm landed on his feet, his fists relaxed. He had performed a lightning strike, Lâm cheered himself, had conducted the perfect chain combo, a move that his kin struggled to imbue. Before Lâm felt a surge of pride as he immersed in the adulation of the crowd, a hit landed and sent him a few meters away. The boy thought that he had trained well for this moment, but he let his guard down.
"You can't defeat me!" The Fervent Master snorted the Overdox; gained back the momentum and energy and shouted aloud. The Fervent Master surged his Qi; opened a full-circled, completed blue Bagua and posed his stance. "I am the leader of the Pokemen!"
Lâm fell on the ground, hugging his stomach in pain. Thần watched over his fallen pal, panting heavily. The boy knew his friend could have won the fight, but his reckless attitude leveraged a demise towards victory. Thần knew sticking around too long would pose a jeopardy. The sound of police sirens mimicked in the mind reminded Thần that the boys needed to get out before caught up in the chaos. However, his legs bled too much, Thần looked at the wounds, and he hardly could move even if the blessing of Qi could alleviate his mind. Suddenly, Thần sensed many winds converging towards a place where a blue Bagua was situated.
"This Qi is relentless-" the ghost touched one of the winds, sensing the flow of energy. "Seems like you meet some real deal, child."
"What do you mean?" Thần questioned the ghost. "How come many winds converge into one place?"
"I knew it!" The Fervent Master laughed in agony as he witnessed the blue Bagua converging into pure energy. Only those supposed to become the chosen one could inherit the technique. "I knew I was never the chosen one!"
"It should have been you-" Thuận performed a stance in the center of the blue Bagua with glowy blue eyes. Energy spiked as the blueish Qi illuminated on the ground. "Brother, I never expected this to happen."
"I knew you would ask-" the hood figure appeared out of the blue, replied to the perplexed boy. "Listen carefully, kiddo."
As the two forces clashed, the hood figure explained that the 六华功法 (Six Magnificent Gong Fa) posed a traditional martial arts technique which concentrated on the cultivation and harnessing of Qi. The method dealt with a series of movements and postures, each designed to build strength, flexibility, and balance. As Thuận performed slow, deliberate movements and deep breathing, that would regulate the flow of Qi throughout the body. The technique constituted both defensive and offensive maneuvers, with a focus on striking vital points on the opponent's body. Practitioners of the method learned to harness their Qi to burst powerful, focused strikes which execute an opponent with minimal force.
"I knew all of your secret little talk-" The Fervent Master grinned; retaliated with the swift blow. If Master Phong wanted the man to become the leader, he would never endow the technique on others. "Why must it be you to walk the walk?"
"I have to do this because of you!" Thuận moved with grace and fluidity. As his strikes blurred in each movement, Thuận executed a series of lightning-fast strikes and palms to stun and disorient the enemy. "Brother, the upper-man entrusted me to protect you!"
"Liar!" The Fervent Master surged his Qi, harnessing the energy in a maximum state. "You dare to use this on me, treacherous backstabber!"