The Way of Restraint

Chapter 132: Masters Challenge

“Come again!”

Mu Qiang, a professional judo player, was not discouraged after being thrown down. He quickly got back up and launched another attack.

Su Jie waited for him to approach, and the two grabbed each other’s clothing, starting to grapple once more.

Mu Qiang repeatedly employed various judo techniques—foot sweeps, hip throws, shoulder pushes, body presses, and a mix of feints and real attacks, all aimed at shaking Su Jie.

Su Jie, on the other hand, was intentionally assessing Mu Qiang’s strength. Coming from a prestigious school, Mu Qiang had a wealth of judo techniques, many of which were worth learning from. Su Jie had a solid foundation in martial arts, but to say he had reached a transcendent level would be far from the truth.

He prided himself on two aspects: first, his physical fitness and resistance to blows; second, his mental fortitude. Having experienced the chaos of war-torn areas where bullets flew, close combat felt trivial in comparison.

As for technical experience, he still had some shortcomings and had not encountered many masters.

Su Jie’s competition experience was also not extensive. He had participated in small-scale tournaments at the Minglun Martial Arts Academy, later fought on Gray Wolf Street and A Ding Street, and exchanged techniques with various enthusiasts at Starshine Club and Grand Ascent Club. Occasionally, he faced some professionals, but none were top-tier fighters. Defeating Zhou Chun was a notable achievement, but Zhou Chun was far from the best in the country. After that, he fought again in war-torn areas against Gray Wolves and Hungry Wolves.

The only time he felt real pressure was from Daru.

But it wasn’t a true life-and-death struggle.

Later, when he was preparing to exchange ideas with Daru, the latter was killed by Feng Heng Yi.

Street fights and facing a hail of bullets greatly enhanced his mental resilience, far surpassing the experience gained in the ring. However, in terms of technical skills, the ring was still more refined. If he could exchange techniques with top domestic professionals or even world-class fighters, it would significantly benefit Su Jie’s technical growth.

Thus, Su Jie took every opportunity seriously and respected every competitor.

“Courage, strength, and skill.”

Facing a hail of bullets, he had indeed developed courage. Practicing the “Thirteen Protectors’ Golden Bell Iron Shirt Dragon-Tiger Vajra Qi Gong,” his strength had grown immensely, leaving only some technical shortcomings in his martial arts skills.

This required extensive communication, exploration, and practical experience, especially with top masters to gradually accumulate knowledge; shortcuts were not an option.

“Flip!”

After grappling with Mu Qiang for several seconds and observing many judo techniques, Su Jie seemed to perform a big turtle flip, turning Mu Qiang upside down, leaving him lying flat on the ground.

Finally, Mu Qiang conceded, gasping for breath.

This exchange seemed to have exhausted all his strength.

“Indeed, there are many good techniques in judo,” Su Jie thought about the history of martial arts. The most popular modern mixed martial arts, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was taught by Mitsuyo Maeda, a disciple of judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano. After arriving in Brazil, he passed it on to the Gracie brothers.

These brothers improved ground techniques and dominated an era of mixed martial arts.

Even now, many victories in mixed martial arts are still decided by ground techniques. However, as everyone’s skills have improved, the instances of standing strikes resulting in direct KOs have increased.

“No wonder you could defeat Zhou Chun,” Mu Qiang said after resting for a moment, standing up. “Your judo techniques are still not very refined, but your stamina is incredibly strong, your stance is stable, and your strength is immense. I think only Brother Geng Tianyi could match you.”

“I hope we can exchange more in the future,” Su Jie knew that the Japanese martial arts community had already completed the modernization of martial arts. Back in the Meiji Restoration era, after the samurai disarmament, some martial arts masters emerged, innovating judo, karate, kendo, and founding aikido, finally achieving scale. This was much better than the traditional martial arts circles in China, which were stuck in their ways and rife with deception.

The modernization of Chinese kung fu was a significant matter, one that he could not accomplish alone.

Just as he was about to chat with Song Qiong and Mu Qiang, his phone suddenly rang.

It was a call from Hua Xing.

“Su Jie, you’re back? When are you coming to the club? There’s an urgent matter!” Upon answering, he heard Hua Xing’s anxious voice. “Several masters from the circle have arrived at the club, specifically requesting to see you, and they even brought cameras to film. I can’t stop them! Hurry over!”

“Challenging the dojo?” Su Jie nodded. “I’ll be there right away.”

“Can we go see?” Song Qiong asked excitedly upon hearing this.

“Sure,” Su Jie immediately called for a car, heading straight for Grand Ascent Club.

Grand Ascent Club had been operating for a while now, relying on Su Jie’s reputation from defeating Zhou Chun and Hua Xing’s connections. Although it was not open to the public, it was still thriving. A group of people exchanged ideas daily, rapidly improving their skills.

However, Su Jie’s popularity could not last long. As his mother, Xu Ying, had predicted, during the winter break, the number of people began to decline. After the holiday, with Su Jie absent again, the heat diminished, and income started to drop.

But Hua Xing didn’t mind; he was preparing to create some big events to stir things up in the circle.

However, before he could finalize his plans, someone came knocking.

Su Jie and the others quickly arrived at Grand Ascent Club.

This club was a rented warehouse, not very large, just over a thousand square meters, but the atmosphere was excellent. It was not open to the public, usually with the main gate tightly closed, only accessible through introductions from acquaintances.

But now, the iron gate was open, and it was noisy inside.

As soon as Su Jie entered, he saw two distinct groups.

His side wore the practice uniforms of “Dian Dao.” This practice uniform was neither the traditional Japanese gi nor the Tang suit but rather a sports outfit designed by a well-known designer hired by Hua Xing. It had some ancient Chinese elements but was also modern and convenient for fast-paced practice and fighting.

The outfit was quite popular, and Hua Xing even made some money selling it to the public.

He even began to consider a renaming plan to change the club’s name to “Dian Dao,” but the term “Dian Dao Wei Zhi” was proposed by Su Jie. In this club, Su Jie held a relatively small share, making it somewhat inappropriate.

With Hua Xing’s business intuition, he felt that he could expand the “Dian Dao” brand. Now was the time to build connections and reputation; once enough was accumulated, they could make a big splash.

“Feng Lei Fighting?”

Su Jie looked at the other group, which consisted of seven or eight muscular individuals, all wearing sportswear emblazoned with the words Feng Lei Fighting.

Upon seeing him enter, some of these seven or eight people took out their phones to film, while a few others nearby were adjusting cameras, seemingly wanting to capture their actions and expressions clearly.

“What’s going on?” Su Jie ignored the group and joined Hua Xing.

“I advertised on social media,” Hua Xing whispered. “These Feng Lei Fighting people claim we are frauds and have been attacking us online. Our students got into arguments with them. They came here to exchange ideas, but in reality, they are here to challenge us. They specifically requested to see you. The leader of this group is someone I know, named Xiong Zhiguang. He was once a professional fighter, on the rise, but after losing to Liu Long in a match, he disappeared. It was said he went to Thailand to train, then vanished completely, gradually being excluded from the fighting circle. But recently, he somehow returned, formed Feng Lei Fighting, reportedly secured investment, and obtained some training systems from Minglun Martial Arts Academy, starting to make a name for himself. However, Feng Lei Fighting, like us, is also part of a small circle. But I suspect there are connections to Haoyu Group behind this, as I found out that the registered capital shareholders of Feng Lei Fighting are a subsidiary investment company under Haoyu.”

“Feng Lei Fighting?” Su Jie instantly thought of Feng Heng Yi.

The name Feng Heng Yi actually concealed a mystery.

The term Heng is a hexagram from the I Ching. Above is thunder, below is wind, representing constancy! Thunder represents strength, wind represents softness. Strength is above, softness is below.

And Yi is also a hexagram. It is precisely the reverse of Heng. Above is wind, below is thunder, which is the “Yi Hexagram.”

Combined, Su Jie understood the meaning: the fusion of wind and thunder, the interplay of hardness and softness, following one’s heart.

“You must be Su Jie.”

At this moment, the leading man walked over, looking at Su Jie.

This was Xiong Zhiguang, as mentioned by Hua Xing.

Once a professional fighter, he lost to the top fighter Liu Long, fled to another place, and disappeared for many years, now making a comeback.

Su Jie sized up Xiong Zhiguang. The man had a noticeable scar on his face, knife wounds on his arms, and crisscrossed scars on his forehead. His aura was somewhat similar to Daru’s, but not as intense and not as robust as Daru.

Daru weighed 150 kilograms, while Xiong Zhiguang seemed to be around 80 kilograms, similar to Su Jie.

“This Xiong Zhiguang has also killed before; I can clearly sense that hint of treating people like livestock emanating from him,” Su Jie felt a chill in his heart. However, having encountered Daru, who had even heavier Baleful Qi, he was not surprised.

Su Jie nodded, “I am. What do you want?”

“What do we want?” A young man beside him stepped forward, looking aggressive, seemingly ready to fight. “Your students have been insulting us online; how do you plan to settle this?”

“We’re not here to bully you today,” Xiong Zhiguang waved his hand. “You agree to two points: first, publicly apologize online. Second, compensate us for our economic losses. Then we can settle this matter.”

“Clearly, they insulted us first, calling us frauds and challenging us to a fight,” a student from Grand Ascent Club interjected.

“Looks like they’re deliberately trying to bully us,” Su Jie shook his head with a smile. “I think you should apologize online and compensate us for our economic losses.”

“What did you say?” Xiong Zhiguang narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t hear you; say it again and see what happens?”

“I said I’m going to slap your face. Are you ready?” Su Jie said slowly.