Urban Martial Saint

The young man led a group to stand aside, watching Ye Qing and Bei Shisan as if watching a play, completely disregarding either party.

Ye Qing frowned. Bei Shisan was the biological son of Northern Martial Zen, and those he brought were disciples of Northern Martial Zen, representing Northern Martial Zen. Yet, this late-arriving young man didn’t even take Bei Shisan seriously, which meant he wasn’t deterred by Northern Martial Zen at all. What exactly was the identity of this young man, and why was he not afraid of even Northern Martial Zen?

Without a doubt, the identity of this young man was certainly not much inferior to Bei Shisan. This was also what puzzled Ye Qing the most — outside Shen Family Manor, how could such two groups suddenly appear? One must understand that in the past, not even people from the Twelve Green Halls would dare to approach Shen Family Manor so casually. Now, these two groups even dared to intercept Ye Qing here; what on earth was going on?

Bei Shisan also glanced at this young man angrily, but he didn’t say anything to him, only looked coldly at Ye Qing and said, ”Mr. Ye, last time my senior brother Ao Yangrong was defeated by this fool, none of us brothers were convinced. This time, I want to fight you again to prove my father’s strength. You and the fool, which of you will come out to fight?”

Ye Qing turned to look at Li Bing’en, who was still sitting in the car, not intending to get out, enjoying himself in the car. Seeing Ye Qing look at him, he immediately responded with a silly grin, likely not knowing what was happening outside.

Li Bing’en, though a fool, had a unique foolishness. During the previous battle with Ao Yangrong, and when he defeated Lu Zian before, it was difficult to tell he was a fool. However, last time he was almost killed by Chen Yongchang using a Double-headed Snake, proving he was indeed foolish. This time, Ye Qing originally wanted to see if he was prepared to fight. Seeing him so, it seemed unlikely he would come out.

”I’ll do it!” Ye Qing walked slowly to Bei Shisan, cupped his hands, and said, ”Please teach me!”

”Hmph!” Bei Shisan snorted, not intending to return the gesture, and with a right-foot stomp on the ground, he leapt up, swooping towards Ye Qing like a Big Eagle, both palms striking towards Ye Qing’s chest.

Ye Qing’s expression changed. As the saying goes, you can tell if there’s skill at a glance. With Bei Shisan’s move, Ye Qing could already see that his strength was far above Ao Yangrong’s. No wonder he dared to challenge so arrogantly — it turns out he was confident of his victory, hence his brashness.

Seeing Bei Shisan’s aggressive approach, Ye Qing dared not be negligent, quickly raising both palms to meet Bei Shisan’s palms. Upon collision, Ye Qing felt his hands hit granite, going numb from the shock. Moreover, a strong force pressed against him, forcing Ye Qing to take a full step back. With just one move, the gap in strength between the two was evident.

”Good!”

Seeing Bei Shisan’s successful move, the disciples of Northern Martial Zen instantly cheered, each exceptionally excited.

The young man on the side slightly furrowed his brows, scrutinizing Bei Shisan, and said coldly, ”Hmph, I thought Northern Martial Zen’s disciples were about the same strength. Who knew, Northern Martial Zen is also one to keep secrets, nurturing his son so well while all his disciples are like straw bags and waste barrels. No wonder Ao Yangrong lost so badly, hahaha...”

Upon hearing this, the disciples of Northern Martial Zen immediately turned to look at him and angrily argued. After a few shouts, Bei Shisan yelled: ”Stop arguing, watch me defeat this descendant of the King of North-South Boxing first!”

As Bei Shisan said this, he shouted again and swiftly charged at Ye Qing, engaging him in battle.

The disciples of Northern Martial Zen did not dare to argue after Bei Shisan’s shout. The young man on the side merely smirked, not showing the slightest panic at Bei Shisan’s strong skills; instead, a heavier look of mockery appeared on his face.

Ye Qing and Bei Shisan were locked in combat, Bei Shisan’s attacks were extremely fast and his reactions were exceptionally agile. Ye Qing, using Wing Chun Fist in close combat with him, couldn’t gain any advantage. On the contrary, Bei Shisan’s punches and power were terrifying, gradually putting Ye Qing at a disadvantage, which was somewhat shocking to Ye Qing.

In his previous encounter with Ao Yangrong, Ye Qing realized Ao Yangrong’s skills were lacking. Ao Yangrong is the top disciple of Northern Martial Zen, so Ye Qing assumed the other disciples wouldn’t be much better. However, seeing Bei Shisan today, he discovered he was wrong. Bei Shisan’s strength was far above Ao Yangrong’s, even surpassing Chen San.

Ye Qing had also sparred with Chen San, whose strength was formidable, and even Ye Qing was a notch below him. Yet, Bei Shisan’s strength was considerably higher than Ye Qing’s, and Chen San would likely suffer against him as well.

Previously, when Ye Qing was in Shenchuan City, he met masters like Chen San and Cui Yulong, thinking their skills were quite impressive. Later, a man named Lu Zian appeared and defeated these masters whom Ye Qing thought were formidable. And now this Bei Shisan has also left Ye Qing extremely shocked. Although Bei Shisan’s strength isn’t as great as Lu Zian’s, he’s definitely above this group of people, perhaps even able to rival Cui Yulong.

Being disciples of Northern Martial Zen as well, it’s impossible to know how he developed such excellent martial arts skills. Ao Yangrong, being the premier disciple of Northern Martial Zen, is much weaker in comparison. Could it really be, as that young man beside him mentioned, that Northern Martial Zen gave preferential treatment when teaching disciples? Passing the best martial arts to his own son while not being as generous with other disciples?

After exchanging blows with Bei Shisan for about ten minutes, Bei Shisan capitalized on a mistake Ye Qing made, delivering a punch directly to Ye Qing’s left shoulder.

Ye Qing winced in pain, involuntarily stepping back a pace. But Bei Shisan had no intention of letting him off the hook, immediately pursuing with a step forward, raising his hand for another punch. Judging by his stance, he clearly intended to press his advantage and severely injure Ye Qing.

With his left shoulder injured, Ye Qing could barely lift his entire left arm. Already being less skilled than Bei Shisan, he now stood no chance of blocking Bei Shisan’s advance with one arm. Instead, he took another step back to evade Bei Shisan’s strike.

”Trying to escape!” Bei Shisan shouted, lunging two steps forward, reaching with one hand for Ye Qing’s neck while keeping his other fist poised to strike down toward Ye Qing’s left ribs.

So fiercely pressed by Bei Shisan, Ye Qing had no time to retreat further. Moreover, he simply couldn’t fend off Bei Shisan’s attack and was about to be hit when he instinctively sidestepped a little.

It was with this single step that an unexpected change occurred. Bei Shisan’s outstretched hands both missed entirely, failing to catch Ye Qing. It seemed as if he intentionally sidestepped Ye Qing, which was very strange.

”What happened?” Bei Shisan called out in surprise, not only him but everyone around gazed wide-eyed, not understanding what took place.

The young man who had been watching the fight also widened his eyes. The step that Ye Qing just took seemed ordinary, yet in reality, it had a miraculous effect. It was due to this step that Ye Qing managed to evade Bei Shisan’s attack. To know, had it not been for this step, no other method Ye Qing could have tried would have allowed him to dodge this assault. Was this step truly so divine?

Ye Qing was also somewhat startled, but he quickly understood what had occurred. The step he took was precisely from the set of stepping techniques he had been practicing, ones used by the seven shadows of the Seven-Star Ancient Sword. Over the past days, Ye Qing hadn’t become completely proficient in them but had memorized many of the steps, even mastering two or three. The step he took was one of those he had practiced, surprisingly useful, evading Bei Shisan’s attack. Was this stepping technique really this effective?

After a brief moment of shock, Bei Shisan erupted in a roar and immediately swung his arm horizontally towards Ye Qing. Not knowing what had happened a moment ago, he only thought he had erred and was furious, intent on taking Ye Qing down quickly.

Bei Shisan was going all out, his power terrifying. With Ye Qing’s left arm injured, fighting back was impossible; he could only dodge. Seeing Bei Shisan sweep towards him, Ye Qing immediately stepped forward, using the same stepping technique he had practiced before.

Ye Qing had been standing in front of Bei Shisan, and the most probable way to evade Bei Shisan’s swing would have been to step backward. But instead, Ye Qing stepped forward, aiming directly at Bei Shisan’s arm—wasn’t that asking for trouble?

However, the truth was entirely different. After stepping forward, Ye Qing rapidly closed the distance to face Bei Shisan directly. This proximity was entirely unexpected by Bei Shisan, who hadn’t anticipated Ye Qing being so audacious. As a result, he had no time to react, and Ye Qing rammed into him with a Stick to the Mountain move. Even though Bei Shisan was powerful, his focus was entirely on his arms, leaving him defenseless and thus pushed back several steps by Ye Qing.

Seeing Bei Shisan suffer such a setback, the people with him fell into shocked silence, none having expected Bei Shisan to suffer any loss.

The young man watching flashed a sharp gleam in his eyes; the saying ”the onlooker sees more clearly” held true, as he clearly saw the peculiarity in Ye Qing’s step. It was this stepping technique that caused Bei Shisan, far stronger than Ye Qing, to suffer a setback. What was going on?

”Ah!” Enraged by the setback, Bei Shisan let out a furious roar, charging at Ye Qing with both fists flailing, ready for an all-out assault.

Seeing Bei Shisan coming with tremendous momentum, Ye Qing, however, only grew calmer. He had already realized that this set of stepping techniques was incredibly effective in actual combat. Previously, he had only practiced them alone without trying them out, but now, in this duel with Bei Shisan, he had fully adopted this stepping technique in battle.