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Chapter 37: Chapter 35: Who is Whose Sparring Partner
Shijima Gorou was taken aback. 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
He disengaged from his aggressive state and stood panting heavily in place.
The kick he just attempted made him feel terrible, nearly causing a waist injury and making him almost stumble and fall.
It was like belting out a high note on stage when suddenly someone chokes you in the middle of it.
Shijima Gorou couldn’t help but frown, fixing his gaze on Fang Cheng who seemed as if nothing had happened, his expression calm.
Before this, he hadn’t taken this refined-looking, young man from Xia Country seriously.
Now, he suddenly came to his senses and was a bit surprised.
This guy was actually able to withstand his ferocious kicks until now.
Shijima Gorou took a deep breath, his eyes slowly regaining a measure of reason.
Then he curled the tips of his toes inward, raised his hands, and resumed the offensive stance of the three-battle stance.
This move meant that he was starting to get serious.
Swoosh!
Tiger Claw ground on the floor as Shijima Gorou suddenly stepped forward, twisted his hip, and lifted his knee.
It seemed he was about to execute a side snap kick.
In an instant, however, he feinted and in mid-air, abruptly changed his move, the tips of his toes once again drawing a crescent arc.
Shijima Gorou was actually using "Three Moon Kick," a fatal karate technique in such a situation.
It was a difficult move with a tricky angle, using the Tiger Claw area as the focal point to jab upwards diagonally.
Similar to a stabbing strike with a bladed weapon aimed at the opponent’s abdomen, it was rarely used on the competition stage but often resulted in a direct KO, hence it was also known as the Violent Liver Kick.
If it connected, even with protective gear, it would be extremely painful.
Snap!
Fang Cheng simply sidestepped slightly and caught the attack with his foot pad, securely.
Then with a gentle push, he flicked away the hooked leg.
Shijima Gorou hastily retracted his leg, stumbled, and retreated several steps backward.
When he lifted his head, his eyes were slightly red, as if anger was reigniting.
He immediately exerted force again, swiftly unleashing high Sweep Kicks, followed by a spinning kick with his rear leg.
Snap! Snap!
Fang Cheng remained composed and easily blocked again.
The recoil forced Shijima Gorou to prop himself with his hands on the ground to stabilize his posture as he staggered backward.
The two continued the offensive and defensive drills as before.
But now, Fang Cheng had shifted from passive to active, establishing his own rhythm.
Every time he raised the pad, it was just before his opponent made his move, intercepting midway to disrupt his attack.
Yet it seemed impossible to point out what was wrong.
Clearly, it was Shijima Gorou who was volunteering his leg to Fang Cheng’s hand.
And Fang Cheng seemed quite eager to make his employer’s kicks more "comfortable and easy-going."
It was just the feeding motion that was slightly ahead of time.
As for the outsiders’ view.
It was entirely as if Shijima Gorou was unskilled or already fatigued, unable to control his sense of distance properly.
One side was attacking furiously with unsteady steps.
The other side was calm and unflustered, maintaining a stable posture.
Fang Cheng even had the leisure to silently score each of Shijima Gorou’s moves.
That snap kick lacked sufficient power, this side kick was a bit off in its angle.
What if he could combine Sanda experience or throwing techniques for a counterattack at this moment?
Fang Cheng estimated that even if his strength was not equal to Shijima Gorou’s, he still had the chance to subdue his opponent.
Of course, his current role was merely that of a sparring partner.
But wasn’t his opponent also serving as his sparring partner?
Through this special training of capturing opportunities and anticipating attacks, Fang Cheng’s real combat experience was unknowingly improving.
At the same time, however, Shijima Gorou felt increasingly frustrated with each attack, feeling exceptionally irritable.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his heavy legs gradually became weak and powerless.
In his view, Fang Cheng had become the most despised type of rival in a fighting match.
Constantly defending with his head tucked, trying to wear him down until he was exhausted, and then easily knock him out with a single punch.
Bang!
Shijima Gorou kicked fiercely, seeing Fang Cheng still easily neutralize it.
He immediately roared and abandoned leg techniques, spreading his arms wide for a bear hug and fiercely pounced.
He abruptly repeated his trick, seeking to grab hold of Fang Cheng’s waist and shoulders to again execute the "Waist Back Strike" move.
Fang Cheng, having anticipated Shijima Gorou’s action before it even started, had already guessed his intentions.
So, he quickly discarded the target, sidestepped, and neutralized the opponent’s charging momentum.
As their bodies crossed paths, he reached out to grab Shijima Gorou’s left wrist, not backing down but instead stepping further in, breaking into the inner circle.
Then, he hugged the single arm, using the momentum of turning his body to fling Shijima Gorou out.
This move is a combination of the Boxing Grappling Skill’s Small Entangling Hand and a following technique—the Side Takedown.
Since he couldn’t match the opponent’s strength, wrestling was certainly out of the question, necessitating more nimble tactics.
Shijima Gorou was short and solidly built, with an extremely stable center of gravity, and he was skilled in the use of various karate throwing and locking techniques.
The moment his arm was controlled, he promptly dropped his hips and leaned forward, dissipating the Grapple Force.
At the same time, he pushed against Fang Cheng’s waist with his shoulder, trying to overturn Fang Cheng’s posture.
Fang Cheng had already clamped his other arm around Shijima Gorou’s neck and back, continuing to neutralize this Counter-slam attempt.
Shijima Gorou changed tactics once more.
Fang Cheng adapted and countered the new move just as quickly.
From a distance, several professional players who had finished their physical training were resting and looked over.
They saw the two entangled in each others embrace, twisting their bodies, unable to discern what exactly they were doing.
Suddenly, they both lost their balance and fell onto the ring floor.
But they still clung tightly to each other’s limbs and neck, refusing to let go.
At this moment, a polite voice came through.
"Excuse me, gentlemen."
"The training time is up, and the ring needs to be used for a private lesson next."
Upon hearing this, Shijima Gorou tapped the ring floor twice with his palm, signaling his surrender.
Seeing this, Fang Cheng immediately released the arm that was wrapped around his neck.
Shijima Gorou’s face turned red, panting heavily.
It took him a while to stand up and give Fang Cheng a thumbs up.
Not a hint of anger or madness in his eyes.
He blabbed something to Shen Haoming, who was preparing the lesson.
Fang Cheng was equally panting, his chest rising and falling erratically.
Actually, being a human punching bag was rather relaxing.
But being forced into this stranglehold stalemate, he had exhausted more than half of his strength in a short period of time.
And this Shijima Gorou guy, not only did he possess incredible strength, it seemed his stamina was even more abundant than Fang Cheng’s.
Such a freak...
Chen Xiaohai came over at this time and congratulated him:
"Shijima Gorou was praising you highly."
"What’s highly praising?"
"It means you’re awesome."
"He seemed quite satisfied with the sparring service you provided and wants to schedule you again next time."
Listening to Chen Xiaohai’s explanation, Fang Cheng smiled slightly to himself thinking:
"I would also give this sparring session a five-star review..."
Shijima Gorou quickly left the venue with his assistants.
Shen Haoming, with a smile on his face, approached Fang Cheng who was taking off his protective gear.
"Ah Cheng, I hope you’ll keep up the hard work and do well."
"Mr. Shijima said he wants to increase your hourly wage from 500 yuan to 1000 yuan."
Chen Xiaohai spontaneously let out a gasp of envy.
Upon hearing this, Fang Cheng was momentarily stunned.
His gaze lingered more on the prompt that appeared.
[Sanda experience +50]
...........
In the back seat of a high-speed black sedan.
Two assistants sat in the front driving seats.
Shijima Gorou sat with his legs crossed on the leather sofa in the back.
He took off his shoes and socks, revealing the black and blue soles of his feet.
It looked as though he had kicked a block of iron hundreds of times during the earlier training.
Then he rolled up his sleeves to reveal an even darker, purplish bruise on his wrist.
The sight of the injuries was startling.
But Shijima Gorou’s expression showed no sign of discouragement, instead, he was unusually excited.
His voice trembled slightly as he murmured to himself:
"Finally found someone who can take a beating, maybe I don’t have to keep waiting for the new Boxing King, Zheng Haokang..."
