The Nine Cauldrons

Translator: Iamgt  Editor: Lucas

Chapter 7: Tiger Cannon Fist

Teng Qingshan lightly touched the ground with his toe and suddenly leapt to the side while increasing the distance between him and Dolgoterov.

“Coward, don’t run if you dare.“ Dolgoterov began to get restless.

With one leap, Teng Qingshan landed on the roof. His fist wasn’t injured much; practicing ’Iron Palm’ secret technique hardened his fists until their hardness was comparable to steel. Even after exchanging strikes with the metal glove, his hand didn’t receive any injuries. However, his upper arm was damaged. When Teng Qingshan took a glance at his right upper arm, he noticed that there was a bit of blood already oozing out from it.

Feeling the pain from his arm, Teng Qingshan had a bad feeling “This monster’s body is too tough. When I got shot by Sun Ze’s bullet, my internal muscles were already injured, but now, they got worse. Even my explosive strength got weakened, currently I can only use half of my power.”

“Against such a monster… my throwing knives are useless.” Teng Qingshan concluded in his mind.

‘Body Crusher’ Dolgoterov sneered: “Teng Qingshan, if you’re afraid, you can try to flee.”

Dolgoterov didn’t say it out of generosity, but rather because…

His speed couldn’t compete with Teng Qingshan’s.

If Teng Qingshan wanted to flee, there was no way to stop him.

However, when comparing strength, Dolgoterov was not afraid of Teng Qingshan at all.

Although Teng Qingshan had his throwing knife techniques, the “Saddened Knife” skill which could suddenly break a knife into fragments, making the trajectory unpredictable, had a disadvantage. The flying knife’s fragments had their momentum dispersed and therefore the powers of those fragments were not as strong!

Unless the fragments attacked his fragile face, this skill was useless against the big Russian fellow. ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgoterov had a tough body and he was wearing a special defensive battle garment. Furthermore, he was already prepared against “Saddened Knife” and only needed to cover his face with his hands.

As for their ability to fight in close combat…

Teng Qingshan was a master in Xing Yi Martial Arts and was only a step short of reaching the Grandmaster Realm.

However, the big tall Russian man was also frightening.

Dolgoterov was born with great power and had dominated the underworld of boxing. His body was as tough as steel and he practiced Ancient Yoga to combine hardness with flexibility.

However, the area he excelled in the most was the Joint-locking techniques he obtained by coincidence in China. After successfully practising it, Dolgoterov became the most fearsome close combat fighter with the nickname ‘Body Crusher’ and joined the ranks of the other S-level hitmen of the underworld.

“Scared?”

Teng Qingshan’s fighting spirit was set ablaze “Don’t make me laugh!”

After his wife’s death, ‘The Martial Way’ had been Teng Qingshan’s sole aim. Right now, he was only one step away from the Grandmaster Realm, but this step was like a natural barrier and extremely difficult to go beyond. By having a life-and-death battle, it might be possible to comprehend what was beyond his current level and reach a new realm.

Finding a suitable match however, was hard to come by.

Without being worried, how could Teng Qingshan give up such a great opportunity?

“It is fortunate that you decided to stay. You better prepare to join monkey in the afterlife.” Dolgoterov body moved like a lightning bolt and with each of his five consecutive steps, the ground cracked open. Teng Qingshan’s actions, however, forced his body to suddenly jump up.

“Come.”

Teng Qingshan threw a flying knife with a flawless motion.

“Bang!” Dolgoterov, who was already prepared, stretched his big hand like a palm-leaf fan and easily blocked it while breaking it to pieces.

While blocking the flying knife, Dolgoterov was still in midair. Using this opportunity, Teng Qingshan looked down from his high ground before diving. Flying downwards with an unyielding momentum, he twisted his left hand, placing it in front of his face and blasting his right hand like an artillery shell directly onto Dolgoterov’s head.

“ Oh?” Dolgoterov kept calm despite the chaos and used his big, hammer-like fists to pounded against Teng Qingshan’s fists.

“Boom!” “Boom!” …

Both of Teng Qingshan’s fists madly exchanged turns and continuously punch at his target, making people unable to see clear what was going on. It seemed as if a shadow was boxing Dolgoterov, who was jumping up a moment ago, literally smashing him onto the ground.

His Cannon Fist pounded like shooting stars.

The moment Dolgoterov landed on the ground, he unexpectedly jumped back.

“This fellow has a really frightening strong body “. Teng Qingshan was extremely surprised. Just a moment ago when he hit Dolgoterov’s body, it gave him the feeling that he was smashing into cotton supported by a layer of steel. “Having a body of steel and knowledge in Ancient Yoga, he will not be injured easily.”

Even though Teng Qingshan was shocked by this outcome, his action didn’t show the slightest hesitation. Still having the advantage, he used his whole body to exploit this opportunity and continued the onslaught.

Taking a deep breath, Dolgoterov‘s chest inflated and flattened before his body started to grow in size. Suddenly roaring like a polar bear, he increased his ferociousness and launched a fist barrage that had the same destructive power as exploding artillery shells.

“Bang!”

Teng Qingshan bent his body to its limits, even his spine started quivering. Like a living bow, he shot his left fist like an arrow.

Bursting Fist was a technique similar to an arrow, with the force of a speeding boat ploughing through waves! One could use Bursting Fist when walking backwards, twisting steps, and stepping forward.

Teng Qingshan’s body moved like a water dragon and surrounded Dolgoterov, cleverly avoiding his punches while at the same time continuously attacking him.

“Pu.” Taking all this damage, Dolgoterov couldn’t help but spurt out a mouthful of blood as his cold eyes started flashing, “This wolf’s Internal Martial Arts is so strong that it can even injured me. There is only one technique I can use to defeat him.” After exchanging blows, Dolgoterov noticed that if he didn’t use his “Joint-locking Techniques” he would probably be unable to win today.

“What a monster, even after getting hit by my Eighth Burst Fists, he still only sustained light injuries.” Teng Qingshan was quite shocked, since if it was him who got hit by his own Eighth Burst Fists, he would already be gravely injured.

“Chi-“

Taking advantage of an opening, Dolgoterov used his fingers to grab Teng Qingshan’s wrist.

“Haha” Using this chance, Dolgoterov suddenly pulled Teng Qingshan towards him and used his familiar sweep kick!

Among the techniques of Underground Boxing , the sweep kick was the most frightening technique.

“Joint-locking technique?” Feeling the pain on his wrist as if a needle was piercing it, Teng Qingshan swept his inner strength his arm while turning his fingers into a helix to burst his opponent’s fingers. Like a mud fish, his left fist slipped out of the confinement.

A leg suddenly bashed into him the moment his left fist escaped.

Like a guillotine, a huge leg, out of nowhere, smashed towards Teng Qingshan’s chest, denting it three inches in. Even though he just narrowly avoided the full force, the leg still ruptured his chest and the sound of breaking bones could be heard. Teng Qingshan’s whole body was sent flying while he vomited blood midair.

“Not good!” The moment Teng Qingshan fell to the ground; his face was pale as a ghost.

The ground trembled!

Like a bulldozer, Dolgoterov impatiently rushed towards his target while laughing boisterously.

Lying on the ground with bloodshot eyes, Teng Qingshan suddenly stabbed his fingers into the concrete floor and suddenly pushed his feet against the ground. Flying forward like a stone shot from a trebuchet, he swung his right fist in a large arc and smashed it into Dolgoterov.

“Haha….” Dolgoterov immediately countered and fiercely kicked Teng Qingshan.

“Pa!” Opening his left fist back into a palm, Teng Qingshan slapped Dolgoterov’s lower leg and the shock immediately made his palm feel sore. Nevertheless, using this opportunity, he smashed his right palm into Dolgoterov‘s chest.

Almost at the same time, Teng Qingshan‘s face suddenly reddened as he bent the middle of his body. With one twist, he nearly channelled his complete muscular strength into his left fist. His entire left arm muscles swelled and veined while its speed moved twice as fast as his left fist. Flying in an almost straight line, he launched another attack against Dolgoterov’s chest.

“Ah!!” Dolgoterov growled in pain and swung a terrifying blow towards Teng Qingshan’s head.

If this fist hit Teng Qingshan’s head, it would have been his end!

“Press forward with indomitable will and without fear…”

The moment Teng Qingshan was determining whether he would fail or succeed, he suddenly felt the Cannon Fist’s real meaning. The power steadily spread throughout his entire left arm’s bones and started to tremble until this amazing force spread from his shoulder into his fist.

“Roar” The faint but deep roaring of a tiger could be heard.

“Hu!”

Like an artillery shell shooting out of the cannon, Teng Qingshan’s left fist collided with Dolgoterov’s chest like a falling meteor. With the powerful force from his fist, he instantly broke his target’s ribs that were hard as steel. All the organs within his body were pulverized from this shock and Dolgoterov’s life force instantly vanished.

Dolgoterov’s body trembled and his punch that was aimed at Teng Qingshan’s head instantly lost its strength. The moment it hit the head, it didn’t even manage to damage the skin.

“This…”

Dolgoterov still stared with an astonished look as he could not believe that his defense would be broken by a single punch. As his body crashed on the ground, his vision immediately turned black.

“Pu.” Teng Qingshan was so heavily injured that he could not help but spurt out a mouthful blood. Dolgoterov’s sweep kick had broken two of his chest bones a moment ago and gave him a severe internal injury. Being forced into this kind of situation, Teng Qingshan could not fight a prolonged battle and therefore instantly displayed his strongest and most dangerous technique –

Tiger Cannon Fist!

In the Xing Yi Five Element Fists, Slashing Fist was like an axe, Bursting Fist was like an arrow, Drilling Fist was like a screw, Horizontal Fist was like a beam and Cannon Fist was exactly what the name suggests, like a cannon. The cannon punches should be the strongest of the Xing Yi's Five Element Fists, and the “Tiger Cannon Fist” was a mix of Tiger and Cannon Punches. Thus, its power was even higher than the normal Cannon fists and was the oversea Teng Family’s secret weapon.

Even though “Tiger Cannon Fist” had the greatest power, it had its own share of disadvantages.

The disadvantage of his strongest technique was that once he used it, he wouldn’t have time to follow up with another technique for a period of time. If he didn’t kill his enemy with this move, the other side could seize this opportunity to easily kill him!

Although the Tiger Cannon fist was powerful, it was originally impossible to defeat Dolgoterov with it. Who would have thought that during the moment between life and death, Teng Qingshan would be able to touch the threshold of the Grandmaster Realm.

The Xing Yi in the Xing Yi Martial Arts meant shape and will. Xing Yi Martial Arts is the imitation of the shape and will, with the shape being secondary and will being the most important.

Upon reaching the Grandmaster Realm, one could perfectly use the power of every muscles, and higher realms meant that you could perfectly use the power of every muscle and every bone. Once one’s bone strength was unleashed to its maximum power, it would cause a kinetic shock that could produce an unimaginable animal roar. Just like a moment ago, when he used the Tiger Cannon Fist, he unleashed a tiger roar.

“That was…”

Realizing what just happened, Teng Qingshan’s eyes immediately lit up and his face could not conceal his surprise. Ever since his wife died, he had never been this excited before.

After all, the goal of an expert of Internal Martial Arts was to reach the Grandmaster Realm!

Now that he had perfect control over each muscle, bone strength and inner strength permeating his whole body and meridians, he would be able to unleash the roar of tigers and dragons with each punch or kick. However, Teng Qingshan used his strongest punch – The Tiger Cannon Fist and it just barely emitted a roar. He still didn’t fully reach the gate of the Grandmaster Realm.

“This feeling…” Teng Qingshan remembered clearly the time when he unleashed that punch.

Reminding himself of that time, Teng Qingshan couldn’t bear smiling. Once his breathing was disturbed, he suddenly felt pain in his chest and coughed.

Taking a glance around, he thought to himself, “I am seriously injured and I can’t stay here anymore.” A rabbit has three holes to go. Teng Qingshan already prepared ways to deal with his enemy and had rented some places to stay in Yang Zhou. Not even entering the house, he pressed a hand against his chest and slowly walked toward the wall next to him. While supporting himself with the other hand on the wall, he left with a jump.

In the destroyed courtyard, two S-Rank hitmen, ‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze and ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgoterov laid dead on the floor devoid of even the slightest trace of life.