Chapter 177: Fists and Weapons

Zhang Shan felt that the man in front of him was truly a bit scary.

He engaged in actual combat every day; what on earth had he done before coming here?

“I…” Zhang Shan said a bit awkwardly, “then I’ll introduce myself as well. I’m called Zhang Shan. I’ve learned a bit of Sanda and Qinna. I served as a soldier for three years, and after retiring, I became a chef.”

“A chef?” The others were all stunned upon hearing this.

Zhang Shan’s demeanor didn’t match that of a chef at all. He had an extremely tall and sturdy build, with muscles all over his body. People might believe he was a fitness coach, but he turned out to be a chef?

Qi Xia nodded slightly. No wonder Zhang Shan had insisted on taking the bear paw last time—it must have been his professional instinct.

“What about you?”

The two turned their heads at the same time to look at the dark-skinned girl, Li Xiangling.

This girl had wheat-colored skin and extremely delicate features.

What stood out most were her eyes—Qi Xia seemed to see a sparkling light in them.

She was wearing ordinary sportswear and sat very straight.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Li Xiangling suddenly stood up with a “whoosh.” Every move she made was full of energy, like a gust of wind sweeping by.

“I’m called Li Xiangling. I grew up in a martial arts family and have been practicing Liu He Qiang since I was young—it’s been twenty years now.” She bowed with clasped hands to the group. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Liu He Qiang?” Qiao Jiajin showed a surprised expression. “The so-called ‘internal three harmonies of essence, energy, and spirit,’ and ‘external three harmonies of waist, hands, and eyes’—that Liu He Qiang?”

“Exactly!” Li Xiangling looked very happy. “Have you studied Liu He Qiang before?”

“Yes, I was going to practice it, but ‘long spear’ isn’t very practical for me, so I gave up in the end,” Qiao Jiajin said.

“Now isn’t a time of war, so a long spear isn’t practical, of course. We practice martial arts to strengthen our bodies and train ourselves,” Li Xiangling said with a smile. “If you’re interested, I can teach you a set of spear techniques sometime.”

“Mm, sure,” Qiao Jiajin nodded.

After listening, Qi Xia slowly raised his eyebrows. No wonder this girl seemed to have much stronger essence, energy, and spirit than ordinary people—she was a practitioner of traditional martial arts with extremely solid basics.

Although traditional martial arts no longer emphasize killing, after twenty years of practice, her flexibility, coordination, reaction speed, and physical fitness should all be top-notch.

“Looking at it this way… this team is really not bad,” Qi Xia nodded. “We have strength, technique, and agility all covered.”

“Qi Xia… you’re being too optimistic,” Yun Yao said. “The opponents are the ‘Hui Xiang Zhe,’ and on top of that, they’ve had plenty of time to prepare. Maybe the ‘Ji Dao’ we’ll face tomorrow are all combat-skilled ‘Hui Xiang Zhe.’”

“Is that so?” Lin Qing thought for a moment and said, “I feel they won’t be able to find many other allies.”

Yun Yao was startled and turned to look at Lin Qing. “How do you know?”

“Just a guess,” Lin Qing said. “How many people did you all see today? And what were their abilities?”

Yun Yao recalled for a moment and said, “I only know one person’s ability—Jiang Ruoxue, whose ‘Hui Xiang’ is ‘Yin Guo.’”

Qi Xia added, “And Xiao Xiao, with ‘Jia Huo.’”

After saying that, he gave Lin Qing a meaningful look, and Lin Qing nodded in understanding.

She had crossed paths with Xiao Xiao and Jiang Ruoxue before, but it seemed only Xiao Xiao was suitable for participating in a “Hu” category game.

If Jiang Ruoxue were to compete, even with her powerful “Yin Guo,” she couldn’t possibly stand against Zhang Shan.

If she got injured by accident, she might even backfire on herself because of “Yin Guo.”

After all, she would think she was “injured,” so she would “die.”

Yun Yao continued, “As for the third person, from his performance, it seems he joined ‘Ji Dao’ not long ago.”

Then she turned to Qi Xia. “Qi Xia, you fought him—did you figure out his ability?”

“Speaking of his ability… that’s really strange,” Qi Xia replied.

“How is it strange?” Lin Qing asked.

“He can make stones appear out of thin air,” Qi Xia said. “But the shape of the stones seems to be whatever he wants.”

Lin Qing nodded after hearing this. “His name is ‘Yuan Wu.’”

“‘Yuan Wu’?” Yun Yao furrowed her brow. “How do you know?”

Han Yimo interjected from the side, “The three of us were in front of the display screen at the time and saw their three ‘Hui Xiang.’”

“‘Yuan Wu’…” Qi Xia murmured the two words quietly, still feeling puzzled.

Lin Qing continued, “I think ‘Yuan Wu’ and ‘Jia Huo’ might participate in tomorrow’s match, but ‘Yin Guo’ won’t. That means they can bring at most one more helper.”

“Is that so?” Yun Yao looked at Lin Qing with some doubt. “How do you know again?”

“Just a guess,” Lin Qing said. “I feel the people in ‘Ji Dao’ don’t have great connections, so their reserves probably aren’t many.”

“That makes sense…” Yun Yao nodded meaningfully.

The group fell silent.

“But there’s good news too,” Yun Yao changed the subject and said, “The ‘Ji Dao Zhe’ are a bunch of lunatics—they like to show off their individual abilities and never think about team coordination. That’s our biggest advantage!”

After saying that, she glanced at Zhang Shan, Qiao Jiajin, and Li Xiangling.

The atmosphere grew a bit awkward.

These three had barely known each other before—how much better could their cooperation be than that of “Ji Dao”?

Qiao Jiajin chuckled naively and said, “Oh, so we need to coordinate? Ha ha…”

This man had once taken down thirty-seven people by himself.

Zhang Shan scratched his head in embarrassment and said, “Uh… I thought it was just three-on-three individual fights…”

This man had once killed a bear single-handedly.

These two had never relied on others for help when facing danger.

Qi Xia slowly covered his forehead.

This team was basically two “fists” plus one “weapon”—it was all about individual ability anyway.

Qi Xia knew that if tomorrow’s game was really three-on-three one-on-one, it would be better. In a pure fight, even with “Jia Huo,” Xiao Xiao couldn’t gain an advantage.

But Yun Yao had said that “Di Hu” games involved some degree of team cooperation—could these three really pull it off?

Yun Yao thought for a half moment and said, “How about this… I have some small games for building team trust. We used to do them a lot when our group first formed. I can teach you now, and you can quickly practice to build some team chemistry.”

“Uh…” The three showed embarrassed expressions. “Games for building team chemistry…?”

Just the day before, Qiao Jiajin had wanted to kick Zhang Shan. Now, after just one day, they were supposed to build team chemistry between the two.

Seeing this, Qi Xia reached out to stop Yun Yao and said to the three, “I don’t think that’s necessary. A hastily formed team is nowhere near as strong as maximizing individual abilities. You three just go all out with your own skills tomorrow.”