Cultivating through increasing my stats in America-Chapter 59 - Marching Onward with Heavy Burdens
Chapter 59: Chapter 59 Marching Onward with Heavy Burdens
Chapter 59: Chapter 59 Marching Onward with Heavy Burdens
Li Ang consciously stepped onto the stage and chose to perform the most basic Xiao Lian Shou routine without any complicated movements.
Honestly, for the coaches below the stage, they didn’t notice much difference between Li Ang’s techniques and those that head coach Wu Song had just demonstrated.
Even a few of Li Ang’s movements were not as standard as theirs, showing some deviations from what they had learned.
However, it was exactly when Li Ang executed these non-standard movements that Hua Tianming’s eyes lit up.
“Not bad, quite good, Wu Song, you tell us, where mainly lies the gap between him and you?”
Hua Tianming seemed to suddenly take an interest, asking Wu Song to speak not only served to provide a critique but also to assess him.
Wu Song looked somewhat embarrassed, yet he had anticipated that Li Ang’s mastery of Tongbei Quan was higher than his own. After pondering for a moment, he commented:
“The area where Coach Li is stronger than me mainly lies in the release of power. Although I can now move my clothing with my power to create a sound, this sound is not stable enough. In other words, I have only reached the initial stage of this realm of exertion and have yet to master it fully.”
Hua Tianming seemed to be looking for something beyond this explanation and continued to ask:
“What else?”
Wu Song frowned slightly, unsure, and said:
“I noticed earlier that a few of Coach Li’s movements differed from the standard postures. I am sure it isn’t because he would make a mistake on such basic things, so I speculate he might have made minor adjustments to the postures according to his own physical characteristics.”
Hearing this, Hua Tianming nodded in satisfaction:
“Being able to notice these things shows you haven’t been slacking off lately. The previous gap was mainly one of proficiency. It’s normal for you to encounter this situation so soon after reaching this realm; more practice will do the trick.”
“The latter point is where the real gap between you lies. It may look like the difference in your levels isn’t large, but in actuality, the progress has diverged significantly.”
Hua Tianming looked at Li Ang with some contentment and continued:
“You’ve only recently entered this realm, whereas Li Ang has clearly mastered it completely and is already moving towards the next realm.”
The more Li Ang was praised, the worse Yan Tianqi, the owner of the hall, seemed to look, but he couldn’t really say anything since all that was said were facts.
“Alright.”
With a wave of his large hand, Hua Tianming said, “The two of you, go ahead and have a match. Just looking at forms is useless, everything ultimately has to come down to actual combat.”
“The rest of you forget it, if you don’t want to fight, I don’t even feel like watching.”
Only after Old Master Hua finished speaking did Li Ang understand his true intention.
Praising him was secondary; what likely mattered more was to ensure Wu Song wouldn’t lose face and would fight with even more zeal when facing him.
Sure enough, as Li Ang thought, once Wu Song stepped onto the stage, he greeted Li Ang with cupped hands, then without a word, he began to move.
After his previous fight with Li Ang, Wu Song had also reflected on it.
Since he was still lacking compared to Li Ang in terms of skills, he decided not to clash with him head-on in that aspect; instead, he planned to use his own strengths to exploit Li Ang’s weaknesses.
Facing Li Ang’s poised hand slap, Wu Song did not intend to dodge but met it with his own palm.
If Li Ang dodged, then Wu Song would gain the initiative.
If Li Ang matched his slap head-on, then by relying on superior strength and resilience, Wu Song would definitely have the advantage.
“Slap!”
Just by the sound of it, those below the stage could feel how painful the clash of their palms must have been.
Wu Song hadn’t expected Li Ang to neither dodge nor retreat, matching his force head-on.
He could distinctly feel that the kid had definitely not given his all last time; otherwise, his strength couldn’t have increased this much in such a short period.
Moreover, what was abnormal was that Li Ang, unlike last time, didn’t show a pained expression, but just grimaced briefly before acting as if nothing had happened.
Just from this one move, Li Ang knew he should be stable now.
His action was also to test the level of his “hard kung fu” at present.
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It seemed quite good, almost catching up with Wu Song, who had not deliberately trained in Sideways Training Martial Arts.
As for strength, he had made significant progress during this period, and with a superior way of exerting force, he was in no way inferior.
Comparing like this, Wu Song no longer had the slightest advantage, and defeat was just a matter of time.
In the head-to-head combat style of both men, it was Li Ang whose skill was a level higher, achieving more effective strikes.
Soon, Hua Tianming stopped the match.
After all, this wasn’t a fight to the finish where one had to stand and the other had to lie down for it to end.
However, the victorious Li Ang made Hua Tianming’s smile recede.
Hua Tianming didn’t give much comment on the fight either.
After disbanding the group, he called Li Ang to his office.
“It looks like you’ve been training quite well in Sideways Training Martial Arts lately?”
While Old Master Hua praised him verbally, there was not a touch of a smile on his face.
But this smile did not disappear; it just transferred to Yan Tianqi’s face.
Li Ang, unconcerned, replied:
“It’s pretty good, thanks to your medicinal wine, the progress has been quite fast.”
The more Li Ang mentioned the medicinal wine, the angrier Hua Tianming became.
He had originally thought that after Li Ang trained in Sideways Training Martial Arts on his own for a while, he would understand the difficulty and the slow progress.
Then, without Hua Tianming’s input, Li Ang would give up on his own.
Who would have known that in just a few days, Li Ang would actually make progress.
But now that things had gotten to this state, there was nothing he could do.
He had to calm himself and continue to ask Li Ang about his feelings during his recent training and his plans going forward.
But Li Ang did not answer as he was expected to; instead, he expressed his intention to continue working hard, aiming to excel in both Sideways Training Martial Arts and Tongbei Quan.
Li Ang even asked whether he could learn another method of cultivating Qi to increase his physical strength and vitality?
In this way, not only would his combat abilities be assured, but he would also reduce the physical harm from practicing Sideways Training Martial Arts, which was a win-win scenario.
This question almost made Old Master Hua laugh out loud with exasperation.
“Comrade Xiao Li, if you trust me, then take my advice. Whether it is cultivating health techniques or Sideways Training Martial Arts, both require decades of dedicated practice. If you aim for comprehensive proficiency, you’ll end up not excelling in anything,” he said.
But looking at Li Ang, Hua Tianming was certain he wouldn’t take the advice to heart.
If Li Ang’s previous attempt at practicing Sideways Training Martial Arts could be considered a detour with room for correction,
now, it was as if he was determined to take that detour while carrying a stone on his back.
Hua Tianming sighed and said to Li Ang:
“Alright, I’ll guide you one more time. But the path ahead, you’ll have to forge on your own. Just be sure not to regret your decisions later.”
He understood that everyone had different pursuits, and with differing ideals, there was no need for him to impose his own views on others.
