Chapter 373

Chapter 373: Chapter 373

By the time An Xiaoqing looked over at the sound, Yan Rongrong’s face was just hitting the ground.

The next instant, she caught sight of the exquisitely made-up face, now smeared with mud and grime.

Perhaps the force of her lunge was too great, or perhaps her braless chest was just too smooth. After she landed face-first, her body slid forward. Not only did she get a face full of mud, but her top was also soaked through with dirty water.

As Yan Rongrong struggled to get up, her wet shirt turned semi-transparent, and the shadowy outline of her chest was particularly eye-catching.

Of course, An Xiaoqing and Liu Yue were in no mood to appreciate such a beautiful sight. Instead, they exchanged a look, both wearing expressions of incredulous shock.

’How is this possible?’

Yan Rongrong had been a soldier for five years, and she was an expert in Taekwondo and Sanda.

’She was always the one knocking others down. How could she be the one who had fallen now?’

Besides, Chenyang hadn’t moved at all when she was winding up her punch just now.

Even now, Chenyang was still standing in the same spot, his right hand merely hanging in the air. But his posture was limp and listless, as if he hadn’t eaten.

’Even if he blocked or pushed her, the force shouldn’t have been enough to make Yan Rongrong fall so pathetically, right?’

"What in the world just happened?"

Having not witnessed the full sequence of events, An Xiaoqing and Liu Yue were both completely baffled.

But Yan Rongrong, who had experienced it firsthand, knew exactly what had happened.

When she had thrown her punch, Chenyang hadn’t moved, even when she was only half a meter away.

But just when less than ten centimeters separated them, Chenyang’s figure suddenly flickered like a phantom.

That flickering motion was like the wind rustling a willow branch.

The branch would suddenly bend to one side before instantly snapping back to its original position, so fast it was as if it had never moved at all.

But in that single instant, Yan Rongrong’s fist met only empty air.

Sixty or seventy percent of her strength slammed into nothing. With no point of impact, her own momentum sent her hurtling forward.

With her skill level, even if the punch missed, she should have been able to regain her balance. But as she lunged forward, it felt as if something had tripped her. Her body instantly lost its center of gravity, and she crashed to the ground.

It all happened too fast.

So fast that Yan Rongrong had no chance to react.

The moment she fell, her mind raced, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Her first instinct was that Chenyang was not as simple as she had thought.

Because whether it was the dodge or the trip, she had still perceived them, however fast they were.

When she was learning Sanda, an old master had once told her that when martial artists trained to a certain level, they couldn’t teleport or walk on water like in the movies,

but they could move a body length or two at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye. For some who reached the grandmaster level, leaping onto a two- or three-meter-high wall with a single push-off was as easy as drinking water.

Chenyang had said before that he practiced Tai Chi.

Yan Rongrong had seen an old veteran practice Tai Chi in the army. The blend of softness and speed was truly beyond compare to ordinary martial arts.

So at that moment, she immediately felt that Chenyang was an expert who had already reached a very high level of training.

But on second thought, she immediately dismissed the idea.

Because that same old veteran had told her that Tai Chi was incredibly profound. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world only practiced its *form*; very few could cultivate its *intent*. And even those who had just reached the entry-level of grasping the intent were skilled enough to open their own schools and take on students.

To put it bluntly, those who only practiced the *form* of Tai Chi were no different from the elderly people in the public square. They would slowly go through a few movements, which served only to look nice, stretch their limbs, and get a bit of light exercise.

But those who understood even a little of its form and intent were already capable of actual combat. According to that old veteran, a beginner could take on ten two-year soldiers without a problem. Against ordinary people, one could handle fifteen to twenty.

Someone with a deeper understanding of the form and intent could hold their own against three bare-handed special forces soldiers.

As for a Mahayana Practitioner who has comprehended the form and intent of Tai Chi, they would essentially be considered a Kung Fu Master within a city, or even an entire province.

Take that old veteran, for instance. His ancestors had all practiced Tai Chi. He started learning as a child and trained for over twenty years, yet he had barely grasped half of the mysteries of its form and intent. As for combat ability, Yan Rongrong could take on ten soldiers from her company at the time, but that old veteran could defeat her with just one hand.

Chenyang was only in his early twenties.

Even if he had started learning at six or seven, at best he would only have reached the beginner stage by now.

With that level of skill, it would be impossible to perform that kind of evasive maneuver, let alone defeat Yan Rongrong so humiliatingly without even appearing to make a move.

So, she concluded that what just happened had to be a coincidence!

With this in mind, Yan Rongrong struggled up from the ground. "I just tripped by accident. That doesn’t count! Let’s go again."

Chenyang said teasingly, "A trained fighter using ’it was an accident’ as an excuse? Don’t you find that a bit ridiculous?"

"Cut the crap! This time, I’ll definitely take you down in one blow!"

After speaking, Yan Rongrong immediately fell into an offensive stance.

Chenyang waved his hand dismissively. "Let’s not waste any more time. Just use your full strength."

"To deal with you? I don’t need my full strength!"

Yan Rongrong snorted coldly and charged straight at Chenyang.

Seeing this, Chenyang said, "You stole my line. I was supposed to be the one to say that to you: to deal with you, I don’t need my full strength!"

As he spoke, Chenyang’s right leg bent slightly as he took a slow step forward. At the same time, his right hand, which had been hanging at his side, rose slowly. His palm met Yan Rongrong’s heavy punch with a surprisingly soft posture.

Yan Rongrong was very confident in her punch. She felt that even if she couldn’t knock Chenyang down, she could at least send him stumbling back several steps and make his arm so painful he wouldn’t be able to lift it again.

However, the instant her fist made contact with Chenyang’s palm, the look of anticipation and triumph on her face vanished.