Madman!

Chapter 47: Borrowing Sparring Partners

Chen Wujun pulled his gaze from the ring and swept it across the venue, quickly spotting several people seated in a row of chairs along the wall.

Cun Bao was sitting right there, arms draped over the back of his chair, watching the bouts on the ring.

A towel hung casually over one shoulder.

Chen Wujun walked up to him. Several of the men looked up, and when they recognized who it was, one of the underlings gave up his seat.

"Jun, what brings you here?" Cun Bao asked with genuine curiosity.

Chen Wujun settled into the chair beside Cun Bao, crossing one leg over the other. "I want to borrow a couple of your guys. Need some sparring practice."

"Oh?" Cun Bao's interest deepened.

"What's your punch force at?"

"Never tested it."

"Want to find out?""Sure!" Chen Wujun perked up at the idea.

He genuinely had no clue what his punch force measured at. The martial arts school didn't have that kind of equipment.

"Follow me." Cun Bao stood and led Chen Wujun to the side, his underlings trailing behind them.

Two machines sat in the corner, each with a striking pad at center.

Cun Bao positioned himself before one of the pads and settled into his stance. His torso twisted first, then his rear foot slammed into the ground. Power surged upward from his soles, spiraling through his waist, and he unleashed a devastating rear straight punch.

Boom!

The electronic display above the pad flickered to life, blue digits racing upward. They blew past 500 kilograms without slowing, finally settling at 640.

"Not your best day, Bao-bro! That's a few dozen kilos less than last time." One of the underlings laughed from the side.

"Shut your trap!" Cun Bao shot back with a grin.

"Your turn, Jun?" Cun Bao raised an eyebrow.

He was curious to see what Chen Wujun could do.

An average person could barely manage about 50 kilograms of punch force.

The taller, bulkier underlings who trained regularly could reach 150 to 200 kilograms.

New Arts practitioners whose Enhancement Reconstruction Magnetic Field reached 25% could hit between 250 and 500 kilograms.

Only those whose Enhancement Reconstruction Magnetic Field exceeded 40% could break past the 500-kilogram mark. And if it approached 60%, punch force could even reach a staggering 1,000 kilograms.

Chen Wujun stepped up to the pad, fully aware that his raw strength couldn't match Cun Bao's.

Old Arts simply didn't enhance physical attributes through Enhancement Reconstruction Magnetic Fields the way New Arts did, and he'd only been training for half a year.

Still, he couldn't afford to put on a poor showing. Not here. Not in front of these people.

Chen Wujun had long since adapted to how these underworld types thought.

Every underling's gaze locked onto him, their eyes brimming with scrutiny.

Old Arts practitioners were a rare sight as it was, and Chen Wujun's youth only made it worse. More than a few of the New Arts underlings harbored quiet skepticism.

They wouldn't say it to his face, of course. But if his punch force proved disappointing, the whispers and doubts would spread fast.

'Spine as the bow, waist and hips as the string!' Chen Wujun drew a deep breath, his chest rounding slightly, shoulders curling inward just a fraction.

Though he appeared to simply be standing there, he was employing the power-storing method from the Tiger Descending Mountain stance he'd just learned, coiling every ounce of force in his body into a single unified current. His muscles compressed like a spring winding tighter and tighter.

Then his foot hammered the ground, and every fiber of accumulated power erupted outward.

Boom!

Chen Wujun stared at the digits dancing across the electronic display above the pad. They climbed rapidly past 400, pushed beyond 450, and only began to slow around the 490 mark. The numbers crept upward... 490... 495... 500...

They finally stopped at 513.

"Not bad at all, Jun! No wonder Shark Jiu thinks so highly of you!" Cun Bao's expression shifted to genuine surprise as he gave a thumbs up.

After all, Chen Wujun practiced Old Arts and had only been at it for half a year. Hitting 500 kilograms of punch force was nothing short of impressive.

"I was a little worried at first, honestly. But if you've already hit 500 kilos after just half a year, in another four months you might not lose to Yu Wei at all. When that fight comes, I'm putting my money on you for sure!"

"Betting on me is the smart play. I'm a natural prodigy, after all!" Chen Wujun laughed, his hands quietly clenching and unclenching behind his back. That punch had sent a sharp tingle through the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, but he'd be damned if he let anyone see it.

He knew the truth. Cun Bao had generated his force primarily through his legs and waist, while Chen Wujun had to unify his entire body into a single coordinated engine and layer on power-storing techniques just to reach that number.

In terms of raw physical attributes, he was far inferior to someone like Cun Bao, whose Enhancement Reconstruction Magnetic Field exceeded 40% and had reached the Resonance Phase.

In an actual fight, he could probably manage 350 to 400 kilograms per punch at most.

Still, going from ordinary civilian to generating 350 to 400 kilograms of unified force in just half a year was remarkable by any standard.

His master had said Tiger Descending Mountain was the best stance for building raw power. He still had four months. What those four months might bring remained to be seen.

"So you want people to spar with, right? Use the room in the back." Cun Bao led Chen Wujun to another room, which also housed a ring, this one sturdier than the one outside.

"Tommy Boy! Get in there and give Jun a workout!" Cun Bao jerked his chin toward one of his men.

A towering young man stepped forward, standing over 185 centimeters tall, muscles bulging across every inch of his frame, weighing north of 130 kilograms.

Tommy Boy was the strongest fighter under Cun Bao's command. Though his magnetic field enhancement sat at only 30%, his punch force exceeded 450 kilograms, and he had significant advantages in both height and reach over Chen Wujun.

Chen Wujun stripped off his button-down shirt and outer pants, revealing athletic shorts underneath and a body carved with muscle.

His physique wasn't the grotesquely swollen type common among New Arts practitioners, but his thighs and waist were impressively thick, and his back was broader than any ordinary man's.

When Chen Wujun had first begun training, he stood 1.70 meters tall and weighed 70 kilograms.

In less than half a year, he'd grown to 1.73 meters and nearly 95 kilograms.

"Bro Jun, your gloves!"

Chen Wujun caught the gloves tossed over by one of the underlings, grabbed the top rope with one hand, and vaulted over it, landing lightly inside the ring.

He pulled the gloves on at a leisurely pace. They were open-finger MMA gloves, covering only the knuckles and the base of his fingers.

He bumped his fists together twice and fixed his gaze on Tommy Boy across the ring.

"Careful now, Bro Jun!" Tommy Boy's eyes gleamed.

'If I beat Chen Wujun... maybe I'll finally get a shot at moving up. At the very least, my reputation will grow.'

"Come on!" Chen Wujun flashed a grin and beckoned Tommy Boy forward with a wave of his hand.

His mind was consumed with one thought: hitting people.

Tommy Boy adopted a standard fighting stance and pressed forward, leveraging his superior height and reach. His feet shuffled constantly, closing the distance.

His lead hand jabbed out in quick, probing strikes to maintain pressure.

'Almost identical to Cold Steel Combat Arts. Use footwork and offense to suffocate the opponent, find an opening, and end it in one strike.'

Chen Wujun's footwork was smooth and grounded, each step deliberate as if wading through mud, circling his opponent with unshakable stability. His upper body, however, was fluid and nimble, weaving past each incoming fist.

He'd scanned the room earlier and noticed that the fighting style these New Arts practitioners used bore a strong resemblance to Cold Steel Combat Arts, only simplified.

He couldn't tell whether this was a watered-down version of Cold Steel Combat Arts, or if Cold Steel Combat Arts had been developed from this kind of modern fighting as its foundation.

Over the past few days, Chen Wujun had gone through the Cold Steel Combat Arts manual twice. He now had a solid grasp of modern striking methodology.

The reason he kept his distance and avoided closing in was simple: he was wary of grappling and throws.

Wolf Fist included a whole set of grappling techniques called the Four Gates Eight Locks, but due to various circumstances, he'd never actually learned them.

Tommy Boy watched Chen Wujun constantly shifting angles and calculated his own move.

The moment Chen Wujun pivoted, angling toward his flank, Tommy Boy's rear foot exploded off the canvas. His fists accelerated, the lead hand transforming from a probing jab into a vicious straight punch aimed squarely at Chen Wujun's face.

The punch looked simple, but it carried 150 to 200 kilograms behind it, like a sledgehammer in motion.

If it connected with an ordinary person, it would knock them unconscious on the spot.

Chen Wujun's feet traced a Triangle Step, a single pivot carrying him to Tommy Boy's flank. But a sharp glint flashed in Tommy Boy's eyes. His feet shifted, his body whipped around half a turn, and his rear hand rocketed out in a devastating cross, hurtling toward Chen Wujun like a cannon shell.

His natural strength was enormous, and this punch channeled every ounce of power from his legs and waist. It was fast, brutal, and almost impossible to block.

He'd used this exact punch on other New Arts fighters before, smashing straight through their guard and leaving them concussed on the mat.

The fist arrived in front of Chen Wujun in an instant. The sheer force behind it made it clear Tommy Boy had thrown everything he had, aiming to end this fight right here.

But Chen Wujun had been waiting for exactly this moment. His lead foot stayed planted as his body snapped backward, compressing like a spring pulled taut to its limit. The instant Tommy Boy's punch sailed past him, just as he began transitioning to a kick, Chen Wujun rebounded forward like a crossbow bolt released from full draw.

Tommy Boy's eyes widened in alarm, and his lead hand swept across in a desperate horizontal block.

Crack!

Chen Wujun channeled every ounce of unified force into the point of his elbow. A piercing heart elbow crashed through Tommy Boy's blocking arm like a battering ram and hammered into his chest.

The blow launched Tommy Boy backward. He crashed onto the ring's canvas and lay there clutching his chest, unable to rise for a long moment.

Though Chen Wujun could only generate 350 to 400 kilograms with a punch, the shorter lever of the elbow concentrated the force into a far more devastating impact. This elbow was fiercer, heavier.

Clap, clap, clap!

Cun Bao applauded enthusiastically from ringside. The underlings stared with undisguised shock.

They all knew Tommy Boy's capabilities. He was second only to Cun Bao himself.

Before the bout, everyone had been speculating on who would win.

Even those who expected Tommy Boy to lose never imagined he wouldn't survive a single elbow strike.

Chen Wujun felt a surge of exhilaration after dropping Tommy Boy with that one blow, but a thought immediately followed: he hadn't projected that overwhelming aura of dominance, that 'nothing can stand before me' presence.

His first time in the ring, and he'd still been a bit too tentative.

"Send me two more!" Chen Wujun called down to Cun Bao below the ring.

"Saliva, Magic Lamp, you two are up!" Cun Bao pointed at two of his underlings. They were a step below Tommy Boy in strength, but each still packed 350 kilograms of punch force and could hold their own in a fight.

"Tommy Boy couldn't even survive one elbow and you're sending us up there to get pummeled, boss!" Saliva grumbled even as he clambered into the ring. He and Magic Lamp took positions on either side of Chen Wujun, sandwiching him between them.

Two other underlings dragged the groaning Tommy Boy out of the ring.

"Go easy on us, Bro Jun!"

The words had barely left his lips when Chen Wujun stomped the canvas and launched himself at Saliva. Two steps in, he shifted into a Triangle Step and cut to Saliva's flank.

The sudden, ferocious charge made Saliva's heart lurch.

He lashed out with a vicious roundhouse kick, his shin whipping toward Chen Wujun's thigh like a steel cable.

Chen Wujun snapped into a Golden Rooster Stance, raising his leg to intercept. Saliva felt his shin slam into something that might as well have been a stone pillar, the impact reverberating back and numbing his own calf.

Chen Wujun only slid back half a step, then immediately converted his retreat into a forward surge. He threw an Immortal Points the Way, his right hand streaking toward Saliva's head.

Saliva threw up a high guard to block, but Chen Wujun's feet never stopped. His hands suddenly crossed and seized both of Saliva's forearms, locking them down. In a fluid Southern Snake Coil, his right knee drove upward, only to collide with Saliva's own knee rising to meet it.

Saliva talked too much, but his skills were no joke. The instant Chen Wujun grabbed his arms, his right knee had already been rising silently toward Chen Wujun's abdomen.

If he could just buy a moment, he and Magic Lamp could pincer Chen Wujun between them.

But Chen Wujun's knee was iron-hard and backed by tremendous force. Saliva felt searing pain explode through his kneecap as though struck by a hammer. His face twisted in agony and he staggered backward.

Magic Lamp had closed in behind Chen Wujun by then and unleashed a savage roundhouse aimed at his skull.

As Chen Wujun drove Saliva back, his right arm shot up to shield his head.

Wham!

The high kick crashed into Chen Wujun's arm. It felt like getting sideswiped by a car, his entire arm going numb.

The raw force shoved him back several steps before he could turn and square up against Magic Lamp.

Magic Lamp's kicking leg descended and his body spun, the other leg swinging around like a windmill blade in a second sweeping kick aimed at Chen Wujun.

Chen Wujun surged forward, stepping inside the arc to avoid the devastating shin and virtually planting himself behind Magic Lamp's back. One arm hooked the kicking leg while his waist and hips torqued, his free hand whipping across to crack against Magic Lamp's temple.

Magic Lamp's head rang like a bell. His vision nearly went black.

Chen Wujun landed the hit and immediately withdrew to a safe distance. Magic Lamp stumbled sideways, leaned heavily against the ropes, and slowly slid down to a sitting position.

Meanwhile, Saliva was still off to the side, clutching his knee and hissing through clenched teeth.

Unlike his earlier bout against Tommy Boy, where he'd shown a measure of caution, this time Chen Wujun had been the aggressor from start to finish. His momentum was overwhelming, pressing both Saliva and Magic Lamp simultaneously without giving either a moment to breathe.

Ever since taking up martial arts, Chen Wujun had fought his way out of an ambush by killing his way through, then led reinforcements through a brutal street war.

Now, with his first real ring experience under his belt, his fighting spirit had fully ignited.

His gaze swept the room, sharp and piercing.

Between his brows, there was now an unmistakable edge of ferocity.