Su Jie embarked on the path of practical combat from the very beginning of his martial arts training.
In the ring, sparring with Josh, he encountered Odell and began practicing resistance techniques against strikes, followed by training in knife dueling and spear thrusting. In just a month, he lost count of how many times Odell had slashed him with a blade, and the sensation of blood splattering greatly enhanced his psychological resilience, not to mention the subsequent experience of being stabbed at randomly with a spear.
Later, he participated in small-scale competitions, often facing seven to eight matches in a single day, sometimes even more than ten.
Subsequently, he ventured into war-torn areas, enduring a hail of bullets, with projectiles whizzing by him, facing death at any moment.
This kind of training was something even professional fighters rarely encountered. His survival laid a solid foundation for breaking through the realm of the Living Dead.
He had been studying martial arts for nearly two years, primarily through combat experience. His understanding of practical fighting far exceeded that of ordinary individuals, so even those of equal standing might not gain any advantage over him. Furthermore, his training within the Larry Security Team provided him with invaluable experience, allowing him to assess combat effectiveness and estimate physical capabilities in an instant.
It could be said that the two top masters entering before him—Yang Shu, the foremost in Tai Chi, and Takeshi Omoto, the god of Judo—posed no life-threatening risk to Su Jie.
These two were martial artists, not fighters or assassins. They were not adept at killing techniques but excelled in cultivation. In terms of martial arts theory, they might not fall short of Zhang Hongqing; however, when it came to killing, they were far behind, even inferior to Feng Hengyi.
If a street fight broke out, Su Jie believed they could potentially be killed by Gu Yang. Gu Yang’s hidden weapons were unmatched.
Su Jie observed these individuals closely, and both Takeshi Omoto and Yang Shu seemed to sense something, their gazes shifting toward him. At that moment, beside Yang Shu stood a man and a woman—none other than Teacher Xue and the man who had appeared in the study room. Both quickly noticed Su Jie and whispered something into Yang Shu’s ear. Yang Shu nodded but did not approach to greet them; instead, he led his team to their designated positions.
Takeshi Omoto also had his own spot; he brought three disciples—two men and one woman—to engage in observation and exchange. Judo and Tai Chi push hands are remarkably similar, with about ninety percent overlap in techniques. Martial artists studying Judo greatly benefit from understanding some knowledge of Tai Chi push hands.
“The Tai Chi Martial Arts Exchange Conference has been held for ten sessions. This conference aims to facilitate academic exchanges in martial arts. The event will last two days; the first day features push hands competitions among representatives from major Tai Chi schools, prohibiting various fighting techniques under penalty of disqualification. The second day is dedicated to academic exchanges for collaborative research.”
At this moment, an elderly Japanese man stood up at the podium, announcing the opening with a microphone and briefly introducing the conference details before declaring it open.
This elder was Miyake Honin, the president of the Japanese Tai Chi Martial Arts Alliance.
Su Jie took a moment to observe; this elder possessed refined Tai Chi skills, but in a fight, a provincial-level fighter could easily take him down. However, under the rules of Tai Chi push hands, even a professional fighter from the national team might struggle to outmaneuver him.
The opening remarks for the conference were straightforward; soon after, the push hands competitions commenced.
“In previous exchange conferences, there used to be scoring for Tai Chi forms competitions, but this year it was deemed too time-consuming and completely eliminated, leaving only pure push hands competitions,” Old Chen explained to Su Jie. “It is said that this suggestion came from Liu Shi, who donated some money to the Japanese Tai Chi Martial Arts Alliance.”
“Everyone can actually learn the forms; even an ordinary person can master a set of Tai Chi in just three days,” Su Jie nodded. “The most important aspect of Tai Chi is understanding the flow of Qi during push hands; this is the enhancement of efficiency, and the reform of the conference is correct.”
“Later, you will represent our Minglun Martial Arts Academy in the push hands competition. I want to see what Yang Shu has to say,” Old Chen seemed to be holding back quite a bit of energy.
“Yang Shu probably won’t participate personally,” Su Jie remarked, “it should be one of his disciples.”
“That’s hard to say. If you bully his disciple too much, he might come down to play with you. After all, this competition is merely for exchange, and there are no prizes. Although there are procedures for the event, private matches can still take place,” Old Chen explained.
“Is it really that informal?” Su Jie was encountering this for the first time; it was completely like a grassroots ‘martial arts conference.’ The various competitions at Minglun Martial Arts Academy were extremely formal, with professional judges, match records, and even urine tests, video recordings, security, and doctors—everything was in place. Here, it was much simpler.
Soon, the competition began.
The announcer called out names from the podium; those called would go down to compete. Each martial arts school had its representatives.
The Tai Chi push hands competition was quick; usually, a winner could be determined in under a minute without exhausting much energy, and experts didn’t even mind a round-robin format. This was the advantage of the competition.
Su Jie also went down. In the designated area, a challenger appeared before him. In front of both of them was a white circle; they stood within it, and whoever was pushed out of the circle would lose.
Tai Chi push hands is divided into fixed-step push hands and agile-step push hands. Each has its drawbacks and makes it difficult to showcase one’s skill. Fixed-step push hands reveal a person’s strength but do not allow for full expression of Tai Chi, while agile-step push hands can easily lead to excessive evasion, resulting in neither side being able to push the other out. Thus, drawing a circle for the push hands contest perfectly resolved all issues.
Su Jie’s first opponent was a foreigner wearing Tai Chi clothing, with his hair styled into a bun secured with a hairpin, making him look like a Taoist priest.
The foreigner extended his hand and began to engage in push hands with Su Jie. The foreigner’s technique was quite good; as their arms intersected, he tentatively exerted three parts of strength while keeping seven parts in his back leg. This was somewhat similar to the three-body stance in Xingyi Boxing—three parts of strength in front and seven parts behind, solidly grounded and easily adaptable.
With this initial force, Su Jie realized that the foreigner had grasped some key principles. However, it wasn’t enough against him; at the moment the opponent exerted force, Su Jie rolled his arm to retain the opponent’s strength, which could not be retracted, then pressed downwards. The foreigner’s arm was pulled along with his body, causing his feet to become unsteady and lose their foundation.
Then Su Jie swept his arm outward, causing the foreigner to lose control completely and charge out, nearly falling over. He had been pushed out of the circle.
To outsiders, it seemed like as soon as their arms made contact, the foreigner pushed but missed entirely, losing balance completely. Many believed it was due to the foreigner exerting too much force himself.
*Strange, strange,* the foreigner thought it odd and was quite unwilling; he wanted to continue competing but was persuaded by the event staff to stop.
Su Jie merely smiled at him.
“This person is indeed a formidable opponent,” this scene caught the attention of Yang Shu and Takeshi Omoto in the stands.
Yang Shu had already received reminders from his two disciples that Su Jie was an expert, and after Su Jie went down to compete, he immediately began observing closely. When Su Jie effortlessly pushed out the tall foreigner, Yang Shu recognized his true strength.
“The previous technique was not simple; rolling the arms while maintaining strength, pressing the arms and pulling roots, guiding the Qi with the arms, throwing with the momentum, manipulating this foreigner effortlessly, he displayed his Tai Chi skills far superior to Old Chen’s. Where did Old Chen find such external assistance?” Yang Shu was extremely puzzled.
At that moment, Takeshi Omoto also approached: “Yang, this young man possesses remarkable skills, not inferior to either of us. How have I never seen this young man in the Tai Chi community? Does China have such a young Tai Chi master? Furthermore, his boxing style is not Tai Chi at all but rather the highest secret of Shaolin, the Heart Intent method, specifically the Hoe Strike technique. Just now, his retention, pressing, and guiding were the flipping, digging, and shaking forces from Heart Intent.”
Yang Shu glanced at Takeshi Omoto, knowing that this “God of Judo” was proficient in all martial arts and was a true expert. Although he was a judo master, his boxing skills were exceptionally formidable, holding an unparalleled position in the Japanese martial arts community. Perhaps there were martial artists in Japan with higher skills than him, but in terms of status and martial arts theory, he was undoubtedly the best.
“I also do not know where this young man named Su Jie came from; it seems there is no such figure in the fighting world.” Yang Shu pondered for a while without any clues.
“Master, is this young man very powerful?” Liu Shi, who was watching from the side, asked. His Tai Chi skills were average and he could not discern much, but he understood the conversation between Takeshi Omoto and Yang Shu.
“Extremely powerful, at the peak of excellence.” Takeshi Omoto was very polite to Liu Shi, knowing that he was a world billionaire, and building a good relationship with him would undoubtedly be very beneficial.
“Jin Xin, what is your perspective?” Liu Shi asked a man standing behind him. This man was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, wearing sunglasses and sportswear, carrying a black backpack whose contents were unknown, always guarding Liu Shi closely. Clearly, this person was Liu Shi’s personal bodyguard, equivalent to Su Jie’s role beside Larry.
“Boss, it’s best not to let him get close. If he comes within ten meters of you, I cannot guarantee your safety; this person is extremely terrifying and is not merely a martial artist,” Jin Xin said with a serious expression.
“How can you tell?” Liu Shi became quite interested.
“It’s a feeling.” Jin Xin actually had not observed any specific details.
“Use big data to check this young man’s information and see if we can find anything,” Liu Shi ordered another assistant nearby. He had five people with him; three were bodyguards and two were life assistants. For a wealthy individual like him, this entourage seemed rather modest and hardly ostentatious.