Atlas of Heaven and Earth-Chapter 11: Interlude

After Yu Gang pointed out his mistakes and inaccuracies, Chen Chuan also reflected on his recent shortcomings. Although he had won, it was actually quite a fluke.

He had planned everything out beforehand: how to attack, how to fight, how to defend. But when it came to actual execution, it was a completely different story. Additionally, there were various issues such as distorted movements and inaccurate timing of opportunities.

Although that later palm strike hit Lu Ke, it was a coincidental opportunity that came up on the spot. If Lu Ke had grabbed his head while jumping at that moment, Chen Chuan might not have been able to deliver such a smooth strike, and perhaps he would have been the one to lose.

This practical confrontation taught him a lot, making him realize that no matter how well and proficiently he practiced his techniques, they might not necessarily come out in real combat because real combat situations are far more complex than training.

Lu Ke complained a bit at this point: "Master, you didn't allow me to use grappling techniques, I was restrained, many moves I just remembered I couldn't use after I started them, I'm just not used to it..."

Yu Gang said in a deep voice: "Every place has its own rules. Now, I am setting the rules for you, but when you go elsewhere, others will set the rules for you. If you don't comply, do you think you have any room to argue? You will only be marginalized and eliminated. If you're not used to it, then find a way to get used to it."

Lu Ke was resentful in his heart, but this was mainly directed at Chen Chuan. He always listened to Yu Gang's words, so he lowered his head and said: "Yes, master, I was wrong."

Yu Gang said: "You two take some time to rest, relax in the way I taught you, and we'll continue later."

Chen Chuan went to the side, he didn't sit down, picked up a water bottle and took a few sips. Under the guidance of his breathing technique, his depleted stamina quickly recovered, while he thought about how to fight the next round and how Lu Ke would make his moves.

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This kind of anticipation and analysis is not just about physical confrontation. If the strength of both sides is not much different, it's more about a mental contest.

Five minutes passed quickly, and the two began the second round.

Chen Chuan did not become conservative because he had won a round, still maintaining an active attitude, while Lu Ke also learned from the last lesson, using more combination of feints and real moves in his punches and kicks. However, he was still wary of Chen Chuan's moves, so overall he still leaned towards being conservative.

This time, until the end, neither could get the better of the other, so Yu Gang ruled that neither scored.After this round, Chen Chuan thought that Lu Ke must have placed the decisive move on the third round, so this round was the real test. However, he didn't feel bad about it; instead, he was quite looking forward to it.

Yu Gang stood quietly by the side, silently observing the performance and reactions of both.

Five minutes later, the two walked to the center of the arena again for the final round of the day.

Lu Ke immediately charged forward at the start. By now, he had more or less adapted to the rules, and since it was the final round, he didn't need to conserve his energy anymore. He could attack at all costs, and if he didn't knock Chen Chuan down in this situation, he would lose. Therefore, he was no longer so cautious about Chen Chuan's moves.

His strength was originally above Chen Chuan's, and now that he let loose, he immediately suppressed the latter.

Facing Lu Ke's fierce punches and kicks, his quick-moving steps, and the almost non-stop offensive, Chen Chuan could only defend passively without using Second Self, making it difficult to make effective counterattacks.

However, the existence of the breathing technique allowed his stamina and ability to withstand hits to be sufficient to cope with such a fast-paced offensive, and he gradually adapted. During this time, he never gave up looking for opportunities, occasionally delivering a threatening strike that forced Lu Ke to interrupt his continuous attacks.

Until the end of this round, Lu Ke did not succeed in hitting Chen Chuan.

After the third round ended, Yu Gang, considering Lu Ke's obvious advantage, awarded him one point. Thus, with a total of three rounds, Chen Chuan won, so the task of cleaning up everything today was still handed over to Lu Ke.

After coming down from the arena, Chen Chuan suddenly felt very hungry, knowing that the breathing technique had increased his consumption. He walked to the side and sat down, consuming three nutrient bars in a row, which restored some of his spirit and strength.

Lu Ke did not have such recovery ability. He was slightly panting there, sweating profusely all over. While drinking water, he massaged and kneaded various parts of his body to relieve the tension and stagnation brought by the confrontation.

Yu Gang said to them, "Today is just the first day. From now on, you will have confrontations every day, and I will gradually increase the frequency. You need to adapt as soon as possible."

Lu Ke took a gulp of water and said, "Master, Chen might not be able to handle those tiring tasks. It's better if I keep doing them, and we don't need to distinguish between wins and losses."

Chen Chuan said, "Lu Ke, you're too polite. A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. With the breathing technique, doing things won't be too tiring."

Lu Ke immediately fell silent, just drinking water in silence.In the following days, under Yu Gang's arrangement, the two mainly engaged in practical combat every day. After each confrontation, Yu Gang would analyze the reasons, letting them know where the problems were, how to correct them, and what the correct approach should be.

During this period, Yu Gang began to teach Chen Chuan some more complex Da San Shou[-] techniques, including elbow strikes, knee strikes, grabs, holds, throws, and chokes. As they progressed, the restrictions during confrontations were gradually lifted, which also benefited Lu Ke, as he was more familiar with these techniques, thus increasing his chances of winning.

Chen Chuan did not back down in the face of difficulties; instead, he welcomed such confrontations, as they allowed him to quickly familiarize himself with various techniques and accumulate more experience.

Lu Ke was just the right opponent, not too strong, yet providing Chen Chuan with the possibility to catch up. Therefore, Chen Chuan could feel his own strength growing almost every day, and honestly, this feeling was quite good. Especially since the overlapping time of "Second Self' also slowly increased during this period.

The only regret he felt was that Yu Gang only allowed them to compete three times a day, once in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. He actually felt that given his and Lu Ke's stamina, they could have arranged for more sessions, so he once suggested this to Yu Gang, but Yu Gang did not respond.

Until one time, after a confrontation, he noticed that Lu Ke's breathing suddenly became somewhat rapid, and he ran to a corner alone, as if swallowing something. Chen Chuan vaguely realized something and never again suggested increasing the number of confrontations.

Since combat training is highly consuming, it also requires adequate nutrition. His daily meals were also taken care of at Yu Gang's place, apart from nutritional paste, the fixed meal was a black meat pumpkin rice.

In Yu Gang's normal cognition, the damage caused by the breathing technique is deeply hidden and could accompany a boxer for a lifetime, so it's better to repair it as much as possible while young. Eating continuously for two months can achieve a certain degree of repair, but even so, some damaged areas ultimately cannot be fully repaired.

This is the helpless part, and also the price of taking shortcuts. After all, boxers from civilian backgrounds have limited money and resources, and the only thing they can consume is their own body.

Chen Chuan couldn't explain the matter of Second Self, but he didn't object to eating this either. Every day after training, there was physical damage, and this medicinal food could help repair it, while Second Self could be entirely used to transfer the physical burden caused by the breathing technique.

It's just that normally, a person eating the same food every day for dozens of days in a row might easily get tired of it, but he still enjoyed every meal, for which Lu Ke expressed genuine admiration.In the continuous and uninterrupted training, time unknowingly reached the end of June. The morning's confrontation had just ended when Yu Gang called Chen Chuan aside and said, "I need to remind you of something, it's time for you to pay again."

Chen Chuan nodded. Initially, he had paid fifty yuan, and by the middle of the month, he added another fifty Jianzhi coins. Now, it was time to pay again.

However, this was money that needed to be spent, and almost all of it was spent on himself. In reality, Yu Gang didn't take much. The continuous supply of nutritional paste, daily meals, equipment, venue, sparring partners, etc., all added up to much more than that.

He said, "I will bring it to you tomorrow."

Yu Gang was about to say something when suddenly, a commotion of footsteps came from outside, causing their conversation to pause involuntarily.

Chen Chuan looked outside. The place had only two long alleys for entrances and exits. In the more than a month he had been there, besides them, almost no one else had come. Now, it seemed the tranquility had been broken by the newcomers.

Lu Ke looked at Yu Gang and, under the latter's indication, immediately put down the water bottle and things in his hands and ran out. After a while, voices could be heard from outside; it was Lu Ke communicating with the other party. However, the tone of the newcomers seemed quite polite. After a while, Lu Ke ran back and said, "Master, it's Tie..."

Yu Gang interrupted him, "I know." He stood up and said to Chen Chuan, "You continue training, I need to go out to handle something." With that, he strode out, and Lu Ke quickly followed.

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