Chapter 23: Mecha Plus Martial Arts

Chapter 23: Mecha Plus Martial Arts

"Mimetic Martial Arts?"

A look of surprise crossed Li Jun's face. While gathering intelligence on the Martial Dao Sequences, he had once come across this category of martial arts.

Or, to be precise, it should be called a combat method.

Humans can learn martial arts; bio-chips naturally can as well.

With the bio-chip as the primary driver, manipulating the host to fight according to preset martial modules—this method is called Mimetic Martial Arts.

It is a shortcut; the combat power formed in a short time can even surpass that of practitioners who use Martial Arts Injectors.

Because this method has no limitation of the body's load-bearing capacity. As long as the bio-chip in the skull has sufficient processing power, you can load as many martial arts as you want.

Moreover, martial modules are dirt cheap. Just hang around an underground fight club for a few sessions, or watch a few promotional videos for Martial Arts Injectors, and you can write stacks of them.

However, the drawbacks of this method are numerous, the foremost being a ceiling that is far too low.

Because Mimetic Martial Arts lacks the single most critical element of the Martial Dao Sequence—Internal Force.

For instance, the Mecha-Heart is the core of the Weapon Dao Sequence; Internal Arts are the core of the Martial Dao Sequence.

Internal Force is the key to unlocking the seal and advancing in Sequence; gene awakening then enhances the physique, which in turn nurtures Internal Force.

This is a complete and closed internal cycle.

Martial techniques, on the other hand, are merely the methods of utilizing Internal Force; the higher the grade, the higher the utilization efficiency.

Lacking this core of Internal Force, many martial techniques simply cannot unleash their due power.

Take a simple punch: a practitioner of Internal Arts can blast out a thousand catties of force with one fist; Mimetic Martial Arts cannot achieve this.

At most, through perfect force generation mechanics, it can erupt with power slightly greater than usual.

But overall, it still cannot exceed the host's inherent limit of strength.

This determines that the value of Mimetic Martial Arts is extremely limited. After all, no matter how you apply a hundred catties of fist force, you cannot beat a bull to death with bare hands.

And the higher the grade of the martial art, the lower the value of the mimicry.

Others use an Eighth-Grade martial art to snatch a bare blade with empty hands; you, under the bio-chip's control, also try to snatch a bare blade with empty hands. The most likely outcome is having your skull split open.

Mimetic Martial Arts has another major flaw: it lacks spirituality.

Mimetic Martial Arts is extremely stable. The opponent throws scissors, you know to throw rock. You can even predict the next move by the twitch of their fingers.

But the end result of excessive stability is rigidity. What if the opponent suddenly forms a Daoist hand seal?

The martial program running in your head might just crash on the spot.

Because the program contains no answer to counter that move.

Gu Ding obviously knew the flaws of Mimetic Martial Arts as well. He decisively chose to abandon defense, driving both fists straight at the opponent's chest.

His momentum was irrepressible, a desperate, fierce posture of trading lives, utterly different from his previous cautious, battle-avoiding demeanor.

Crouched on the rooftop watching the spectacle, Li Jun smacked his lips and muttered to himself: "Holy cow, he's flipping the table. How are you going to fight this?"

Sure enough, the ghost-masked bandit's rigid, by-the-book fist movements suffered a momentary lag, as if caught in a dilemma between pressing the attack and falling back to defend.

This was the bio-chip, which had seized control, communicating with the host's consciousness.

The Grand Ancestor Long Fist was originally a fierce, long-range striking style, emphasizing an overbearing, forward-only momentum.

Once the mind wavers, flaws instantly appear everywhere. Gu Ding's fist slammed squarely into the center of his chest.

"Mmph!"

The ghost-masked bandit groaned in pain, his figure hunching over as he stumbled back repeatedly.

Having landed a blow, Gu Ding instantly closed the distance, following up with a barrage of punches, kicks, elbows, and knees—a torrential rapid assault dense as pouring rain, determined to kill the opponent in a single breath.

Faced with such ferocious offense, the ghost-masked bandit still rigidly ran through the forms of the Grand Ancestor Long Fist, and in the blink of an eye, took several heavy hits in succession.

"Hiding your head and showing your tail! Show me your face!"

Gu Ding roared, sinking his waist and twisting his spine like drawing a heavy bow. His right fist shot out like a powerful arrow, streaking straight for the bandit's face.

He intended to smash that ghost mask—and the human face beneath it—to pulp.

But just then, an arrogant, domineering voice suddenly rang out:

"Motherf*cker, I was just teaching a practical class a moment ago, look at you getting carried away. Trading lives? You think I'm scared of you?!"

Gu Ding's expression froze, horror welling in his eyes.

In his field of vision, the ghost-masked bandit—who had been suppressed and beaten—suddenly dropped his center of gravity. In the space of a hair's breadth, he dodged the heavy punch, his arm curling and elbow thrusting forward like a great spear aimed at Gu Ding's chest.

"Interesting!"

Li Jun's eyes lit up. At this moment, the ghost-masked bandit was no longer rigid; his fists and feet displayed a remarkable agility.

He had wrested control from the bio-chip and taken command of the fight himself!

*Bang!*

Gu Ding's fist grazed the upper edge of the ghost mask, snapping off the protruding horn, but his own chest took the elbow strike. He couldn't help but stagger back a step.

"Hiss!"

The force behind that elbow was tremendous. Gu Ding even heard the crisp snap of his own sternum fracturing.

Metal filaments buried beneath the skin with exquisite craftsmanship snapped, emitting a translucent blue light. Leaking current made his scalp tingle faintly.

"What Sequence is this guy? How can his strength be this great?!"

Terror surged like a tidal wave in Gu Ding's heart. Although he hadn't yet crossed into the Weapon Dao Sequence, he was only a single Mecha-Heart—one compatible with his genes—away.

Yet this bandit before him showed not a trace of mechanical prosthetics on his entire body, yet a single elbow strike had pulverized his sternum along with the high-strength ceramic protecting it.

It was simply inconceivable.

The bystander sees clearly; the participant is bewildered. Gu Ding puzzled over it in vain, but Li Jun, watching from the side, saw it with perfect clarity.

The instant the ghost-masked bandit's bent elbow pressed against Gu Ding's chest, the metal ring on his wrist extended a multitude of black threads. In a split second, they formed a weapon resembling an elbow blade at both elbows!

And after shattering Gu Ding's chest defense, the black threads silently retracted along the arm back into the metal ring.

The entire process was incredibly fast. Had Li Jun not maintained a state of hyper-focus, he likely would have missed the detail.

The ghost-masked bandit, having seized the battle from the bio-chip, now radiated a blazing, fierce aura. The ferocity of his offense far exceeded the previous moment.

He tanked two of his opponent's fists head-on, only to brutally crash into the three feet before Gu Ding. Dropping into a bow stance and arching his back, he drove his elbow upward toward Gu Ding's jaw.

At this life-or-death juncture, Gu Ding could no longer afford any Confucian concern for face. The skin on both arms cracked inch by inch. Vast amounts of scorching airflow jetted from the fissures. Power output maxed out, he brought his hooked fist crashing down!

But the instant fist and elbow collided, a sudden look of panic flashed across Gu Ding's face.

He saw black armor plates extend along the bandit's right arm, forming a inch-long elbow spike in a heartbeat, stabbing straight for his throat.

This time, Gu Ding finally saw the black threads clearly. He cried out in alarm: "You are Mo—"

*Pfft!*

The blade pierced through the throat, severing Gu Ding's remaining words.

Pale blood flowed ceaselessly from his mouth and nose. His congested eyes were a terrifying, bloody red.

As the blade dragged free, Gu Ding’s body crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom.

"Hunbing Dao cultivators rebuild yourselves openly and aboveboard, yet you ape the Confucians and drape a layer of human skin over yourselves. Skulking in the shadows—if you don’t die, who will?"

The ghost-masked bandit flipped up half his mask, curling his lip to spit a mouthful of bloody phlegm.

This time, he did not retract the black blade at his elbow. He twisted his head to look at Li Jun, who had at some unknown moment already leapt onto this stretch of roof ridge.

"The men from Shu Dao Logistics arrive in five minutes. If you want the credit, you’d best be quick."

Li Jun fixed the ghost-masked bandit with a deep look, his voice low: "If it’s only this strange qimen weapon, you are no match for me."

The words had barely fallen when a clangor of mechanical transformation suddenly rang out from the bandit’s body. The metal rings on his wrists deformed and disassembled at blinding speed.

Dense, fine black metal filaments extended rapidly along his frame, ultimately fusing upon his body surface into a suit of exoskeletal armor, rugged in the extreme!

*Clang!*

A blade the length of a forearm ejected from the ghost-masked bandit’s palm. He tilted his head and grinned: "And now?"

Li Jun’s expression froze in shock. He finally understood why the opponent had employed Mimicry Martial Arts.

Mecha plus martial arts—who could stop that?

Goddamn it!