Chapter 259
Chapter 259
I climbed the stairs one step at a time.
One burly man in black raised a hand in a stop gesture.
Then he spoke in a deep, contemptuous voice.
“Important people are discussing business in the VIP private dining rooms upstairs. Loiterers aren’t allowed.”
The other man sneered.
“Important people are talking. What’s a brat like you doing here? Don’t disturb them.”
Oh?
I gave a cold laugh.
“Important people? The man you’re calling important is probably bringing in reinforcements because he can’t complete your boss’s task. By that reckoning, I’m the real VIP.”
That was admittedly rather arrogant.
I was not normally so ostentatious.
But I especially hated being targeted for no reason and looked down upon!
Honestly, who did they think they were?
How dare they treat me with contempt from the start!
“Get out of my way! Let this young master through, or neither of you will enjoy what follows. It won’t look good when you’re on your knees, wailing and begging for mercy.”
I showed them no courtesy at all.
If they refused to speak politely, then none of us needed to be polite!
The flesh on both men’s faces twitched. Their sunglasses hid their eyes, but they were probably furious.
I understood their thinking. Hired muscle who worked for a wealthy man in a big city naturally had some pride and looked down on small towns as backward country places.
Seeing that I was only a teenager, they had treated me rudely. But instead of yielding, I had answered sharply and humiliated them…
One of them strode toward me and reached for my collar.
“Idiot!”
I sneered inwardly and whipped my left hand upward from beside my body.
I caught his wrist with perfect accuracy!
My grip locked around it like iron pincers.
Before he could react, I spread the fingers of my right hand and swept it in from the side with a whoosh.
Smack!
My five fingers brushed across his arm. A rapid series of crackles, like beans popping in a pan, burst from inside it.
Both his arms immediately sagged like limp noodles!
I gave his chest a light push, and he stumbled onto the stairs. Staring in terror at his useless arms, he let out a shrill scream…
“Ah! My arms! What’s happened to my arms? Aaaah!”
The other man had already charged at me.
This time, instead of contemptuously grabbing my collar, he punched straight at my chest.
I did not dodge. My left hand traced a semicircle from the side and seized his punching wrist. At the same time, I spread the fingers of my right hand and swept them across as before.
Crackling sounds like popping beans erupted throughout his body, and I pushed him down onto the stairs.
“What happened? How are you so strong… What fighting style is this?”
His voice trembled with fear.
In seconds, I had easily deprived both men of any ability to fight.
Standing above them on the stairs, I looked down and removed their sunglasses.
I spoke indifferently.
“I don’t like people hiding their eyes unless they’re truly far stronger or more powerful than me. You’re only lackeys. How dare you act so insolently?”
Now I could see the terror filling both pairs of eyes.
They had copied gangsters from Hong Kong movies… Did they think black suits and sunglasses were enough to frighten people?
Ridiculous!
“This isn’t a fighting style. It’s internal martial arts. The move I just used was Taijiquan. Now at least you know what defeated you.”
That’s right!
The move I had used was Playing the Pipa from Taijiquan!
The three great internal martial arts each had their strengths, but in terms of boxing force alone, Taijiquan was the hardest to learn.
Its force combined hardness and softness in overlapping, resilient layers.
I had merely brushed their forearms with five fingers, yet I dislocated their forearms and wrists. The highly elastic Taijiquan force sent chained vibrations through their muscles and bones…
Their elbows and shoulders were dislocated as well!
Many joints in the human skeleton fitted together like building blocks. That was why excessive force could sometimes dislocate them.
The vibrating force of Taijiquan could directly knock those joints out of place!
Since reaching the hidden-force level, my Xingyi Boxing and Taijiquan had improved alongside my Bagua Palm…
That was why one Playing the Pipa could dislocate both arms of an opponent!
Of course, I had only meant to teach them a lesson, not kill them. Otherwise, Taijiquan’s fierce force could have broken their arm bones instead of merely dislocating their joints.
And this was only my preliminary application of hidden force, which I had reached quite recently.
Master once told me that Yang Luchan, the great Taijiquan grandmaster of the late Qing dynasty, had attained an inconceivable level of skill. Every part of the body could strike and release force!
Even a bump from Yang Luchan’s shoulder could send Taijiquan vibrations through every joint in your body, dislocating them and leaving you in a limp heap.
It was incredible.
Supposedly, Grandmaster Yang Luchan was also close friends with the head of Mount Longhu in that generation. The two even held a secret, private contest, although no one knew who won.
It remained a celebrated tale in the esoteric world, inspiring endless speculation among later generations.
“Taijiquan?!”
The two men froze, their faces filled with doubt.
“Isn’t Taijiquan that slow, fake, weak exercise old men and women practice in parks?”
That was how many people understood it.
They did not realize it was not true Taijiquan at all! It was merely something like calisthenics, simplified from the most basic and elementary parts of Taijiquan’s soft-force training methods.
I could not be bothered explaining that to these two bodyguards.
The man who had treated me worst at first now spoke cautiously.
“Y-you’re so young. Why are you so vicious? You broke both our arms… This is a law-abiding society. You have to obey the law.”
The other hurriedly chimed in.
“That’s right! We can sue you and demand compensation. We’re honest citizens, unlike a violent criminal like you.”
They made me laugh.
They had been so arrogant moments ago, yet now they were this cowardly. They even invoked the law and claimed to be honest citizens…
I snorted and bent down, reaching out.
Both men recoiled in fright and shouted,
“Don’t come any closer!”
They seemed terrified that I would keep beating them.
I was speechless.
What cowards!
I shrugged helplessly.
“I don’t break people’s arms at the slightest provocation. As you said, this is a civilized, law-abiding age. I only used Taijiquan force to dislocate your arms. I’ll put them back now.”
Though they had insulted me, this was modern society, in a large restaurant in a prosperous town. I could hardly do them serious harm.
After punishing them, I still had to restore their arms.
I reached out with both hands, wrapped them around the men’s fingers, and gave both their arms a sharp shake!
I shook their arms as though shaking out bedsheets.
Whoosh!
A rolling, vibrating force traveled from their fingers through their wrists, forearms, muscles, and bones.
A series of clicks sounded like building blocks snapping together.
The joints in their limp, noodle-like arms slid back into place. Their arms were no longer dislocated and returned to normal!