Martial King's Retired Life
chapter-88

Divine (Part 1)

Blood from River Monster's bottom lip stained the top of her teeth and trickled down as she sealed her meridians to staunch the bleeding around her exposed flesh. The reason the wound wasn't neat was because her arm wasn't amputated using a blade but torn off using bare hands.

Huffing and puffing, River Monster belted, "How dare you chop off my arm!"

Master Ming marginalised River Monster as his attention was elsewhere. Abels advanced as soon as River Monster's scream drew attention. Nobody but one man caught Abels moving because he masked his movements using Eclipse. Abels had to spring fast before the attention was back on him. He, nonetheless, didn't let his desire to land a hit cloud his judgement.

Like Abels, Master Ming wasn't a reaction specialist. He, however, did have the ability to locate other Divine Realm adepts as they did. Master Ming was also extra mindful of Abels as there wasn't any chance Abels wouldn't use his ally's predicament to his advantage.

When all was supposed to be over, Master Ming raised an arm in a smooth motion to intercept the knuckles heading toward his face. Abels punch lacked any concept of technique; call it brawling style if you insist. Similarly, instead of using his mystifying flick technique, Master Ming's defence was no less unrefined than Abels' punch. The easiest way to picture Master Ming's one arm defence against Abels' punching combos was an unbridled toy bouncing off Abels' arms and fists. If there was a contest for fighting in an unbecoming fashion, Abels and Master Ming would be the top two contenders for the crown.

Nobody watching questioned the two's competence as their pace eventually reached a point where the audience was just seeing afterimages stacked on afterimages. Because of the two's Eclipse ability, those watching hallucinated white mist shrouding the two locked in combat.

Abels was merely jumping on a calculated opportunity that presented itself. Nobody had any strategy to counter Night Net Celestial Silk. If they traded hundreds of times, then Abels would be able to concoct something. In saying that, he didn't want to take that route when it meant he had to subject himself to tremendous hardship. Abels wasn't scared by any means. It was just that style supremacy wasn't always the key to victory.

Abels had identified two flaws. Firstly, Master Ming was livid. Once one was emotional in battle, they'd unsuspectingly show flaws. No doubt, Master Ming severed River Monster's arm faster than Abels could react and faster than Autumn King's Thread. That being said, it was physically impossible to consecutively utilise techniques requiring maximum physical output. If Master Ming threw three serious strikes, Abels would hibernate in the dirt for good. Abels' decision proved to be right. In their entire fight, it was the first time he had gotten so close to Master Ming.

Abels' blue energy had gone from light blue to a darker blue, indicating he was cranking up the power behind his punches and not just his speed. Laughing as he revved up his speed, Abels taunted, "What happened to your Night Net Celestial Thread?!"

Master Ming was unable to use his Enlightenment against Abels while using his threads. Abels' force, on the other hand, pushed Master Ming back. If Master Ming could put some distance between them, he might've been able to win. Abels wasn't going to let that happen, though, because he discovered Master Ming's second weakness.

Ever since his arrival, Master Ming never engaged Abels in close-quarters combat or even used a proper martial arts technique, for that matter, owing to the speed for Autumn King's Thread.

Abels' worst enemy was speed. Master Ming relied on speed to take River Monster's arm. His Autumn King's Thread was fast and difficult to defend against, but he didn't move fast. Furthermore, Master Ming minimised movement. Putting two and two together, Abels concluded Master Ming wasn't proficient at close-quarters combat.

There was a saying that went, "Speed sacrifices power." Accordingly, as long as Abels could close the distance, he could capitalise on his speciality - power.

Capitalise, he tried. Succeed, he did not. Master Ming's defence could be summed up in one word: impenetrable. Master Ming's arm flowed from one punch to the next and dismantled each strike without fighting against Abels' force.

This feels like I'm punching into a marsh. How is he able to keep up without his Divine Realm ability when I'm using Enlightenment and Evil Eminence Scripture? … What style is this?

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