Martial artists can never be ultimately insulted

The original version of this book had 130,000 words, but when I rewrote it, only about 30,000 words of the core setting were usable. Everything else, from the plot to the characters' personalities, was drastically changed.

Those who know me from the past six months should know that I've been working on new books for a long time. Looking back now, I realize that I was too focused on grades and trending topics, and neglected what I truly love.

The current readership of this book is definitely not comparable to the previous books that had tens of thousands of subscriptions.

After all, given the subject matter, fighting games are notoriously difficult to pick up and play, as evidenced by the fact that Street Fighter 6, despite being three years old, has only sold seven million copies.

But it can only be said that passion does have an effect; even niche novels have much better results than those rigid, trend-chasing articles.

And more importantly, it's fun to write, and I can think about the plot development, what kind of sparks will be generated when the ideologies of those distinctive fighters and martial artists collide, how I am happily humiliated multiple times, and how the despicable female villain forcibly takes my forbidden fruit.

I'm just having a bit of a headache. I thought I had saved enough chapters for a big update, but this afternoon I discovered that there was a problem with the word count displayed in the backend. After hurriedly adding the words, I found that I actually only saved one chapter... I guess I'll have to resort to the old method of manually typing it out on the spot for a big update.

Then there's the issue of the plot. In this book, the main storyline will only incorporate elements from Street Fighter, Baki, King of Fighters, and Kengan Ashura.

In order to fit the progression of Kengan Ashura, Street Fighter will start from the storyline of Street Fighter 2, King of Fighters will start from the storyline of '95-'96, and Baki was originally supposed to start from the death row arc, but considering that some readers are not familiar with the character of Baki, and in order to fit the setting of Kengan Ashura, it was decided to change it to start from the strongest on Earth tournament.

At the same time, the world view will incorporate some slice-of-life anime as non-main story content, such as Heavy Duty Free and Grand Blue.

Although there are many worldviews, in order to prevent power struggles, the absolute foundation is a modern, classic, spirit, and intention setting.

For example, the strange physics in some fighting games and anime are presented in different ways, such as modern, classic, qi, and yi, to ensure that the worldview can be logically consistent to a certain extent.

Overall, the main theme of this book is still killing, fucking, and debauchery.

Nowadays, they might add a fight scene. For example, after a fight, many characters would be covered in injuries, eating and drinking, and then discussing which one is better, the modern or the classic one, whose aura is stronger, whose will is more domineering, and whose "life" is absolutely masculine, etc.

I won't say anything more. I'll start writing and then update like crazy after it's published tomorrow.

Volume 1: 56. The Intent of a Trapped Beast (1/5)

He rolled awkwardly to the side, looked up and glanced at the cracks on the ground caused by the axe elbow, then hurriedly looked at Yuan Chen before frantically pulling a shattered mirror from his lower back.

He then forced himself to remove the mask, revealing a face that was somewhat effeminate for a man but absolutely exquisite and beautiful for a woman.

"It's alright, it's alright, it's alright!"

At first, Baroque's voice was somewhat flustered, but after confirming that its delicate face had not been seriously damaged, it let out an excited roar.

Yuan Chen found this somewhat difficult to understand.

Judging from the feel, the Baroque mask is definitely the most technologically advanced thing on his body - although it looks like an ordinary iron mask, it obviously has excellent energy conduction and can work with his own internal energy to relieve the damage he suffers.

Even under such circumstances, Baroque preferred to suffer greater impact on other parts of his body rather than allow his face to be damaged in the slightest...

The reason why his face was not seriously damaged by Yuan Chen's continuous bursts of fighting spirit is that he actively stopped his attack during the Barcelona Flying Fall Kill.

Is this a good choice?

No.

Forcibly blocking the flow of one's own internal energy is tantamount to creating a blockage in the smooth flow of qi for classical martial artists. Even for modern martial artists who specialize in external techniques, it represents a serious muscle strain.

It can be said that, in terms of terminating an attack, both classical and modern martial artists use it with great restraint.

For example, even with life energy protecting him, Yuan Chen would rather continuously rotate his center of gravity by bursting out his fighting spirit than interrupt his turn and punch—continuous bursts would at most cause internal and external damage to his body, and he would not be able to burst out his fighting spirit again for a short time.

However, forcibly interrupting one's own attack... the potential energy generated by the attack will not simply disappear, but will directly backfire on oneself.

But that's just how Baroque is. Faced with the choice between exchanging injuries with Yuan Chen and inflicting further injuries on himself, he resolutely chose the latter without hesitation...

Although it may not seem like much on the surface, Yuan Chen can tell with just a simple look that Baroque's meridians are damaged in many places, and his organs and muscles are bruised and contused.

Although his face remained intact, the actual damage he suffered far exceeded the consequences of withstanding Yuan Chen's attack and exchanging blows with him.

Even if the goal wasn't to achieve a completely intact face, but rather to retain some of its power, the Baroque wouldn't be in such terrible condition now...

Just as Yuan Chen was still thinking, Baroque seemed to have noticed something. His excited voice faltered slightly, and then he reached out with trembling hands to brush a stray strand of hair from his forehead. Looking at the scar left by the forceful cut, Baroque's eyes darkened.

In an instant, a multitude of phantoms appeared in his mind.

He thought of his mother, his ugly stepfather, and that filthy night... that night when ugliness and violence destroyed beauty and tenderness.

This caused a look of despair and fear to appear in Baroque's eyes. In a daze, he realized that the person standing here was not one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Shadow Luo, nor the chief assassin, but just a simple, helpless child.

But in the blink of an eye, this fragility and helplessness vanished, as if it had never existed, leaving only a face filled with a deep-seated hatred.

Looking at Yuan Chen, Baroque's voice was cruel and cold.

"I'm going to kill you, I'm going to... tear you to pieces!"

Hearing that utterly devoid of beauty and elegance, filled with a frenzied hostility like that of a trapped beast, Yuan Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.

Despite having lost his mind, the life energy within Baroque's body... showed signs of rising along with this extreme state?

Thinking about it, Yuan Chen nodded thoughtfully.

"So that's how it is... This is your 'intention'."

Intent, the core of a martial artist—more important than realm, technique, qi, body, and strength.

According to Lao Yuan, only a martial artist who remains unfazed in the face of death and fully embodies their own will can be considered a true martial artist.

This spirit, this power at the level of the soul, will directly influence a martial artist's growth, and even constitute and shape the projection of the soul, and even the form of muscles and bones in the material world.

Now, what the Baroque movement pursues, without a doubt, is absolute 'beauty'.

While pondering, Yuan Chen suddenly felt a tremor in his chest and waist. He put his hand in his pocket and then remembered that he had put the communicator in his pocket earlier because he felt it was a bit noisy.

Now, as soon as I put it on, I heard a series of worried questions.

"Ah Chen? Are you alright? Where are you now? Are you alright?" It was Chun Li's question, her voice filled with worry.

"Communicator coordinates confirmed! Special operations team, provide support immediately!" It was Uncle Tong Ang's voice. Yuan Chen had been so engrossed in the battle that he forgot to respond. He was now arranging for Interpol technicians to locate the device directly.

"Brother Yuan Chen? Hello? Are you there? Damn it, we're coming to find you—you little rascals, don't stop my Lord Huo Yin Dan!" Dan, nothing much to say, let's skip that.

"I've taken care of things here." Finally, it was Sagat's voice: "Have you found Yuan Chen's location? I'm on my way."

Sensing the danger, Yuan Chen calmly said, "Don't worry, we've just dealt with some gang thugs, and we're currently fighting Baroque."

"Baroque?" Upon hearing this, Sagat's voice paused slightly, then became even more solemn as he said, "You encountered Baroque? Wait, hold on, I'm coming right now."

Not only Sagat, but as a former undercover agent, Colossus also knew Baroque's position in the Shadow Organization.

He is ranked alongside Sagat as one of the Four Heavenly Kings—it should be noted that Sagat nearly, or rather, actually killed Yuan Chen back then.

Thanks to the miraculous awakening of life energy, they achieved a victory that was even more devastating than defeat. Now, having encountered Baroque again—without hesitation, Tongang immediately said:

"Yuan Chen! Hold on! Maintain your defense! We're on our way!"

"Ah."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Chen nodded.

"Then hurry up and come... He's not as good as Old Sha by much. I think I'll be the one to win next."

Copper Ang, Chun-Li, Sagat: "?"

Without saying anything more, Yuan Chen simply stuffed the headset back into his pocket, and then, under Baroque's hateful gaze, walked towards him while saying:

“You are very strong, so I will not give you more time to recover. Instead, I will do everything I can to kill you as soon as possible.”

Volume 1: Chapter 57 - Entanglement (2/5)

Upon hearing Yuan Chen's words, Baroque laughed in fury.

He straightened up, put his mask and iron claws back on, and looked at Yuan Chen with cold indifference.

"I'm not as good as Sagat? Is it because my initial teasing led you to some unrealistic ideas? Come on, let me show you what true...beauty is!"

Upon hearing Baroque's words, Yuan Chen shook his head and calmly replied:

“You are indeed inferior to Sagat in every aspect…whether it’s strength, striking power, resilience, or fighting spirit, Sagat is stronger than you. In comparison, the only thing you can be proud of is your speed and evasion.”

"Unfortunately, we are incompatible. When you took my attack because of your contempt and carelessness, your speed, which you were so proud of, went from being far superior to me to being only slightly stronger than me."

As he said this, Yuan Chen pointed at Baroque: "Now, you are the challenger."

Upon hearing this, Baroque remained silent, but the eyes behind his iron mask suddenly turned even more sinister.

But perhaps because of his injuries, or perhaps because of the exhaustion from the battle, almost instantly, all his rage was compressed into something more dangerous—focus.

Previously, Baroques were perceived as cheetahs: elegant, silent, and deadly, yet they still spent a great deal of time grooming themselves, exhibiting an almost narcissistic habit of cleanliness, and were fond of 'overkilling behavior,' enjoying repeatedly poking, tossing, and playing with their prey with their claws, relishing the process of their prey slowly weakening in extreme fear.

So now... he seems to be just an assassin, a real assassin, not one who can be consumed by anger.

The next moment, Baroque moved.

Without gathering power or warning, her tall and graceful body tilted to the left, her left foot touching the ground, and she launched herself forward and to the right. She cut in a zigzag pattern towards Yuan Chen.

The steel claws on his hands reflected three dazzling beams of cold light that pierced Yuan Chen's eyes, and then, like lightning, they stabbed towards Yuan Chen's upper arm.

Although it's not the same flying claw as before, or Barcelona's signature flying strike, which is considered a finishing move, it's just a simple and unadorned slashing attack. However, in terms of threat level, it far surpasses the former.

For those martial artists who are just starting out, whether it's classic or modern, their favorite thing to do is to unleash all their ultimate moves at the very beginning of the game, depleting their stamina and even their fighting spirit.

But for a martial artist like Baroque who has already achieved a certain level of skill, those so-called powerful and heavy finishing moves are often just used as finishing techniques.

If it were an ordinary martial artist, they might lose sight because their eyes were blinded by the light reflected from the steel claws, thus failing to protect their vital points.

Baroque will then be able to anticipate their reaction and turn his attention to attacking other, less vital, but crucial areas that could significantly influence the outcome of the battle.

Unfortunately, this level of flashing light was not enough to illuminate Yuan Chen even slightly.

The cut is made diagonally from the right side, targeting not vital organs, but the arm—more precisely, the brachial artery, the major artery of the upper limb next to the biceps brachii muscle on the inner side of the upper arm.

If the brachial artery is damaged or ruptured, a person will lose consciousness within 3-5 minutes due to massive blood loss. If the person is in the midst of intense combat, this window of opportunity will be reduced to less than 1 minute.

Even with the sealing of vital energy, it will not last more than two minutes.

The so-called secondary vitals are those limb areas that, once injured, almost end the fight.

Unfortunately—"I have no blind spots."

Accompanied by a deep voice, Yuan Chen stepped forward, lowered his waist, and thrust his right shoulder forward.

At the same instant that the three sharp blades pierced the flesh, Yuan Chen's shoulder also collided with Baroque's wrist.

The flesh was ripped open, and three bloody gashes extended from the inside of the upper arm, splattering blood. Along with the major artery that had been directly severed, Yuan Chen's shoulder also collided directly with Baroque's chest.

With a muffled thud, the heavy blow caused Baroque to feel his heart skip a beat for a moment. As his blood pressure fluctuated drastically in a short time, Yuan Chen used his arm, whose arteries had been severed, to pin Baroque's arm and steel claws together, while his other hand delivered a fierce elbow strike at close range towards Baroque's face.

At the last second, Baroque twisted his body forcefully, but even so, as the force swirling around his elbow swept past, several severed hairs appeared before Baroque's eyes, accompanied by a scraping sound like a knife cutting through his mask.

This guy... saw through my attack?

Sensing the coldness in Yuan Chen's gaze, a look of seriousness appeared in Baroque's eyes as well.

Judging solely from the blood flow, Baroque was certain that he had severed Yuan Chen's brachial artery. However, what Baroque couldn't understand was why the guy in front of him seemed oblivious to this.

Yuan Chen didn't speak, and didn't even care that his elbow strike missed. In the next moment, he burst out with fighting spirit, which made the missed elbow strike restart under the force of the energy, and it turned into an axe elbow that smashed down.

But Baroque was clearly prepared for this. As he lowered his head, he also raised his other arm, which had been injured in the previous collision, to shield himself and take the blow.

Unfortunately, for Muay Thai, also known as the Eight-Body Boxing style, being blocked in the upper body does not mean the end of the attack. Instead, with this close-range mutual restraint, Yuan Chen, whose axe elbow was blocked, immediately adjusted his strength, suddenly lowered his center of gravity, and forcefully bent Baroque's waist. At the same time, his right knee turned into a blur and thrust towards Baroque's abdomen.

Unable to dodge, Baroque could only tense his muscles, but even so, his body was still bent at nearly ninety degrees by Yuan Chen's knee. His lower limbs lost their center of gravity in that instant and bounced backward, his feet dragging two ear-piercing long sounds on the ground.

But at that same moment, Baroque became increasingly aware that he was no match for Yuan Chen in terms of strength and resilience. So, while being knocked back, he twisted his body forcefully. With a series of cracking sounds, his dislocated joint was forcibly pulled out of Yuan Chen's lock, and he quickly widened the distance with three backflips.

But before Baroque could even catch his breath, he noticed that Yuan Chen showed no regret whatsoever, as if he wasn't surprised by Baroque's forceful breakout. Instead, he took advantage of the moment to plunge his left hand into the wound in his right brachial artery, then used his thumb and forefinger, and his little and ring fingers to press down on the two severed ends of the artery before pulling it out.

……

Did they pull it out?

Upon first seeing this scene, Baroque even thought he was seeing things and couldn't help but rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't mistaken.

This guy actually pulled the severed brachial artery out of the deep muscles?

Volume 1: Chapter 58 - Yuan Chen, WIN! (3/5)

Is this... reasonable?

As the chief assassin of Shadow Luo, Baroque is well aware of the importance of arteries to the human body.

When an artery is severed, it immediately retracts into the fibrous connective tissue and spasms violently.

Trying to pull it out by hand is not feasible due to both anatomical limitations and insufficient tissue strength; it will break easily with the slightest movement.

Now, Yuan Chen used an almost brutal method to pull out the muscle by pinching both ends, and then directly used his fingers to pinch it and stuff it into the wound to rub it back and forth.