Centipede Claws versus Myriad Poison Hand

The Thousand Spider Ten Thousand Poison Hands—one of the advanced arts A'zi had specifically emphasized earlier.

That Mingzhuzi could master this technique meant he was certainly no weakling among the registered disciples. Judging by his single strike, the move was simple, yet the speed was exceptionally fast. Mingzhuzi had been confident of success, certain that Jiang Mingzhe would be left kneeling on the ground, howling in agony.

However, as the finger lunged out, Jiang Mingzhe shifted his body to the side and flicked his right hand sharply. With a "Pulse-Pecking Strike," his three fingers hooked like claws and viciously grabbed at Mingzhuzi’s wrist.

Mingzhuzi had never imagined that someone who had joined the sect only a day ago could execute moves with such proficiency. Startled, he refused to retreat; instead, he twisted his wrist, thrusting his fingers toward Jiang Mingzhe’s clawing hand. He thought viciously to himself: *Master taught him for a long time yesterday, so it’s no surprise his moves are practiced. But no matter how smart one is, there are no shortcuts to internal energy. I have already opened three acupuncture points; one strike from me will be enough to cripple his hand!*

Seeing that Mingzhuzi intended to meet him head-on, Jiang Mingzhe was ecstatic. In an instant, he jerked his wrist upward, and Mingzhuzi’s fingers struck empty air. Before Mingzhuzi could react, Jiang Mingzhe retracted his arm, his three fingers grabbing and tearing. The skin on the back of Mingzhuzi’s hand was instantly shredded, exposing the bone beneath. This was only because Jiang Mingzhe’s finger strength was still limited; had his cultivation been deeper, this single strike would have surely ripped out several bones.

Mingzhuzi shrieked in pain and lashed out with a kick. Jiang Mingzhe, as if he had anticipated it, ducked and sidestepped, dodging the leg while thrusting his left claw out from under his right arm—a variation of the thirteenth move, the "Abdomen-Piercing Strike." As the claws passed, Mingzhuzi’s outer robe and inner tunic burst open, and three strips of skin were torn from his stomach, revealing the tender, pink flesh beneath.

A moment later, blood surged out. Pale-faced, Mingzhuzi hopped backward several feet to escape Jiang Mingzhe’s follow-up strike and turned to flee, leaving a trail of blood that stained the blue bricks of the floor.

Knowing he could not catch him, Jiang Mingzhe cupped his hands toward the retreating back and chuckled, "Many thanks, Senior Brother, for sparring with me. I hope you aren't offended by my clumsiness."

No sooner had the words left his lips than someone giggled, "Impressive, truly impressive. Our 'Big Ginger' is indeed a remarkable piece of ginger. To defeat Mingzhuzi on his first day—I wonder how many people will be unable to sleep tonight."

Jiang Mingzhe turned to look and saw A'zi standing gracefully at the entrance of Building A-36, her hands behind her back, grinning.

Jiang Mingzhe smiled and was about to speak when he noticed A'zi looking past him. "Senior Brother Duanchangzi, don't you agree? Brother Jiang’s strike just now nearly tore open Mingzhuzi’s guts." She emphasized the words "tear" and "guts" with particular relish.

Jiang Mingzhe whipped around to see a gaunt, somber-faced young man standing at the entrance of Building A-27 to the right of his own. The man shot him a cold, icy glare before turning back into his room. Jiang Mingzhe gave a cold smile; he recognized this man as one of the disciples who had been inspecting his door lock earlier.

A'zi waved at him, sending a cloud of gray dust into the air.

Jiang Mingzhe quickly pinched his nose, asking in surprise, "What kind of poison is that?"

A'zi rolled her eyes, retorting, "It’s flour! What poison? Do you think I’d just poison you for no reason? Come into my place and we can talk."

Relieved, Jiang Mingzhe walked over, noticing her hands were covered in powder. A'zi pulled him into her courtyard and slammed the door shut. She lowered her voice, "I went to find you after I woke up, but I heard you practicing, so I came back to make some 'Dog-Pissing-on-the-Wall' pancakes. Then I heard someone screaming and thought you were being bullied. I came to save you without even washing my hands, but I never expected you were the one doing the bullying."

She looked at Jiang Mingzhe with bewilderment, puzzled, "But Mingzhuzi has been in the sect for over three years. Although he hasn't perfected the Thousand Spider Ten Thousand Poison Hands and has to wear iron finger-guards to boost his power, he isn't someone you could defeat. How exactly did you win?"

Jiang Mingzhe recounted the spying and the provocation, explaining, "The others were just taunting me, but he used a spider to scare me and then tried to extort me for it. Later, when Xingxingzi intervened, I knew a fight was inevitable, so I immediately started thinking about how to execute my moves."

A'zi became even more intrigued, asking, "You mean you started planning your moves before the fight even began? Who fights like that?"

Jiang Mingzhe smiled slightly, "Isn't the reason martial arts have so many moves precisely to prepare for how to deal with an enemy in different situations? Of course, in theory, one should practice these moves until they are second nature, allowing one to counter naturally. But I’ve practiced for such a short time that I’m afraid my brain would turn to mush once the fighting started. I had to plan ahead and just follow the script once things began."

A'zi stared at him with eyes wide as a manga character, "How can you plan ahead? How could you know which move your opponent would use?"

"It’s simple. We guess the opponent’s psychology. Take Mingzhuzi: I’m a new disciple, and he couldn't officially challenge me, so he used the excuse of his dead spider. But for such a small matter, would he really kill me? He said he just wanted to beat me up to vent, so he wouldn't use lethal force. He also said he wanted me to taste his Thousand Spider Ten Thousand Poison Hands, so he surely wouldn't use his feet to kick me."

Jiang Mingzhe gestured as he spoke, "I stood like this. If he attacked my lower body without using his legs, he would have had to crouch. But for a senior to crouch down to fight a newcomer would be undignified. Therefore, I guessed he would attack my upper body and avoid my vitals. That narrowed his targets down to here, here, or here." He tapped his shoulders, arms, and stomach. "If he attacked here, I would dodge and grab like this. If he attacked there, I would do that..."

Jiang Mingzhe demonstrated a few moves, mostly focused on body evasion and using the "Pulse-Pecking Strike" to seize the opponent's wrist. "Seeing me resist, he relied on his superior power and was sure to go for a head-on collision. So, I didn't need to watch his movements; the moment his hand moved, I changed my own move..." He performed the motions of lifting his wrist to dodge and hooking his claws. "If I succeeded, I would follow up with this; if he dodged, I would transition to that..."

As Jiang Mingzhe continued to demonstrate, A'zi’s mouth hung open. She realized that unless Mingzhuzi deviated completely from Jiang Mingzhe’s predictions, as long as the first move went according to plan, Jiang Mingzhe could trade blows with his opponent for at least five rounds!

In other words, Jiang Mingzhe had calculated the opponent’s every response for five moves. While five moves might not sound like much, given Jiang Mingzhe’s method—where the opponent had at least three highly probable choices for every strike—the number of permutations was staggering.

A'zi shook her head vigorously, thinking, *I’m losing my mind. Why am I calculating this? It’s not like I could do it.*

"But!" A'zi suddenly found a flaw, "You can only defend for five rounds! What happens at the sixth?"

Jiang Mingzhe smiled triumphantly, "That won't happen. According to my plan, I start running by the third move. I’d fight while retreating, and by the fifth move, I would be inside your place. You would naturally protect me, right?"

"Hmph!" A'zi pouted, unable to corner him, "Tomorrow I’m going to lock the door with a giant iron chain!"

Yet, deep down, she was secretly delighted, thinking that this "Big Ginger" really did view her as his pillar of support, knowing to come find this big sister when he was in trouble.

At that moment, Jiang Mingzhe’s nose twitched, "Huh? Something is burning?"

"Oh! My pancakes!" A'zi’s expression shifted, and she dashed toward the kitchen.

Jiang Mingzhe followed with a smile. In truth, he hadn't even known if A'zi was home, so how could he have planned to run here? His real plan had been that if he couldn't win within five moves, he would abandon defense on the sixth and unleash all his internal energy to land a single heavy blow, aiming for a mutual injury. Since the opponent had no intent to kill, he would have at most been severely wounded. Given Ding Chunqiu’s current favorable attitude, Jiang Mingzhe wasn't worried about lacking medical care.

As it turned out, achieving a draw in a fight with a registered disciple on his second day of training would make others think twice before bullying him in the future. And the current outcome was an unexpected delight: Mingzhuzi had been far less formidable than imagined, losing in two quick moves and giving Jiang Mingzhe a boost in prestige for nothing.