The Way of Restraint

Chapter 174: The Unparalleled Power of the Living Dead

In this moment, the realm that Su Jie had been desperately searching for finally appeared within him. 

His mental fortitude had broken through in the heat of the moment. 

Only under the pressure of his impending death could he sever the last remnants of “intention” and step into the profound realm of the “living dead.” 

This realm has a scientific basis, representing the unparalleled clarity that one experiences at the very moment before death. 

However, for ordinary people who encounter this miraculous state, what awaits them is death. 

This has been a riddle for centuries. 

Whoever can unravel it, will begin their journey towards transcendence. 

A strong practitioner who steps into the “living dead” realm will maintain that supreme clarity and insight into everything at all times. How powerful must that be? 

What immense benefits would it bring to a person’s body? 

Ordinary people only experience that fleeting moment of “flashing light” right before death, while those in the “living dead” realm experience it continuously; this is also where the term “living dead” originates. 

In this state, an ordinary person is already dead, but the “living dead” are still alive. 

Life and death, psychologically, are indeed so wondrous. 

In this state, a person’s physical cultivation enters the deepest adjustments, approaching perfection, thus gaining powers unattainable by ordinary individuals. 

Even Olympic champions, who represent the physical limits of ordinary people, cannot compare. 

Of course, those who can step into this realm are exceedingly rare; there are probably not even a few globally, certainly far fewer than the number of presidents in the world. 

Once one steps in, they bid farewell to the mundane and are no longer an ordinary person. 

Time feels both very long and very short. 

Su Jie’s thoughts began to exhibit this characteristic. 

It seemed as if some force deep within his brain had been activated. 

Even ordinary individuals can recall their entire lives with remarkable clarity in the fleeting moment before death; how much more so for him, whose body was significantly stronger than that of an ordinary person? 

At that moment, Feng Hengyi’s fist was already near his body; once the power penetrated him, he would be struck dead. 

But under the control of his brain, his body suddenly sprang up at the instant it made contact with Feng Hengyi’s fist, without any delay in time. 

Bang! 

Su Jie took three punches from Feng Hengyi. 

However, at this critical moment, he managed to dissipate the force without allowing it to penetrate, causing Feng Hengyi to sway slightly instead. 

“What’s happening?” Zhang Jinchuan and Liu Long initially thought Su Jie was doomed, but in a crucial moment, he seemed to have suddenly been injected with a super stimulant; his physical abilities, reactions, and agility surged dramatically. 

“Feng Hengyi’s foundation is wavering; he thought these punches could finish me off in one blow, but he never expected I would break through to the living dead realm. This is his miscalculation.” Su Jie now found himself in a state where he could perceive every subtle change with extraordinary clarity; he felt many inadequacies in his martial arts, sensed that both “Hoe Strike” and “Hard Qigong” had significant room for improvement, and realized that Feng Hengyi was not invincible after all. 

As Feng Hengyi’s anticipated lethal strike failed, his entire foundation scattered. 

It was akin to a person missing their step on a staircase, resulting in a brief loss of balance. 

However, Feng Hengyi’s balance was incredibly strong; amidst several missed punches, he quickly withdrew, took a deep breath, and stabilized his essence and spirit to recalculate. 

But Su Jie would not give him the chance to recalculate. 

With a swoosh! 

A “Hoe Strike” struck down from above. 

Like a divine dragon soaring through the air and a white tiger surveying the mountains. 

The power of the dragon and tiger, their intention, form, and spirit all manifested in this one move, and the angle and timing he grasped were incomparable to even a second before.

It wasn’t that Feng Hengyi was afraid of Su Jie, but rather due to a miscalculation that he now needed to gather data to correct the error.

Puff! Puff! Puff! 

Su Jie continued without stopping; one attack missed, but he followed up with another, like a wave pushing forward, a tide rolling in.

The flowing water sifted through the sand without pause, the previous wave had not yet faded before the next wave surged forth!

The speed of this parabolic strike had completely ramped up, as if there was a centrifugal force of inertia; every strike was like a surging tide reaching its peak, making one feel as if the wave could reach the heavens, eager to compare heights with the divine.

The “Hoe Strike” rose and fell, striking and revealing, up and down, undulating like the crashing waves against the shore, ceaseless for thousands of years, embodying the power of nature.

Su Jie launched a series of attacks that brought forth this artistic conception, chasing after more than ten strikes in one breath. To the onlookers, it seemed like only two or three seconds had passed, a blink of an eye.

“Su Jie has broken through; he has finally reached the state of a living dead, which corresponds to the ‘Ming’ realm in the Mind-Guide Technique. This realm I have been desperately seeking, and I can’t even grasp the ‘Duan’ (severance) realm,” Zhang Jinchuan felt an inexplicable surge of jealousy in his heart but quickly suppressed it.

Liu Long also sensed something was amiss. His strength was formidable, but his training in psychological resilience wasn’t as meticulous. He felt that Su Jie had undergone some miraculous transformation, with hormones surging throughout his body, achieving a state of balance. He even suspected that Su Jie had injected some new type of stimulant, and now its effects were beginning to manifest.

“Kill!” Feng Hengyi, being relentlessly attacked, found himself at a disadvantage. Yet he remained chillingly calm; after several retreats, he steadied himself again. His body bent like a bow, his fist shot out like a sharp arrow, suddenly launching forward.

A hard strike to break through.

Bang! 

The fists collided once more; their arms crossed each other, producing a sound akin to weapons clashing in defense.

Many believed the two were wielding blades or swords against each other.

Su Jie suppressed Feng Hengyi’s fist and lunged again with momentum like a rainbow.

Feng Hengyi’s fist expanded and retracted, returning to his chest before suddenly vanishing, only to reappear above Su Jie’s head.

Both were targeting each other’s heads.

Su Jie combined slapping, grabbing, pulling, pinching, digging, pushing, and tearing techniques into one fluid motion. 

Meanwhile, Feng Hengyi kept it simple with straightforward punches. 

One fused various strengths into a single thrust, simplifying complexity into ease. The other remained consistent and direct.

Both displayed power that surpassed limits. Neither feared death. Their attitudes were clearly one of mutual destruction.

Crack! 

Just as they were about to strike each other, Feng Hengyi and Su Jie simultaneously used their second hands to block each other’s attacks. Their hands intertwined and unexpectedly turned into grappling techniques.

Both twisted all their strength, aiming to tear each other apart.

Su Jie’s “Hoe Strike” was inherently close-range—if it couldn’t hit, it would grab and tear in one seamless motion. For him, it was instinctual; after days of wrestling training on the arena, his grappling skills had become even more formidable and reached perfection.

Feng Hengyi’s martial arts revolved around straightforward punches; Su Jie had never seen his grappling techniques. But Su Jie knew that his opponent must also excel at grappling.

In an instant, they became entwined, arms pulling at each other. In that fleeting moment, they both felt an incredible force from each other that threatened to tear them apart.

Both Su Jie and Feng Hengyi heard the sounds of bones cracking and breaking from each other’s bodies.

Both sustained injuries to varying degrees and extremely serious ones at that.

Swish! Feng Hengyi seemed unconcerned; in the moment of tearing apart, he appeared devoid of any sensory perception or pain. Suddenly he spun around, one hand wrapping around Su Jie’s waist while the other choked his neck, forcefully lifting up while simultaneously smashing backward.

This was the Judo kill move “Tengu Throw,” created by Japanese judo master Yokoyama Sakuzō.

It involved choking the neck, lifting the waist, smashing down to break the cervical vertebrae. It had already been completely banned in judo competitions.

This is even more dangerous than a “naked choke”. Generally speaking, after getting a hold of the enemy’s neck and applying a “naked choke”, if the opponent holds on, the two will struggle for a long time, testing their strength. Even if the choke is successfully applied, it takes about five to six seconds, or even longer, for the opponent to lose consciousness. During this time, the judges will call for a stop, preventing any lethal effect.

In contrast, the “Tengu Throw” is different. After locking the opponent’s neck, if they struggle, one can immediately use their momentum to fall backward, smashing their head to the ground first, causing the cervical spine to fracture in an instant. It’s fast and ruthless, and even the judges may not react in time. When Feng Hengyi executes it, it typically doesn’t take more than half a second.

Feng Hengyi’s throwing technique is simply at the level of a judo grandmaster; it flows effortlessly without any conscious thought, embodying both softness and hardness to an extreme degree. 

In that moment, Su Jie felt the looming threat of death once again. As long as the Tengu Throw lifted him off the ground, he would be doomed because his “root” would be pulled out.

In an instant, the technique could claim a life. However, despite the threat of death looming in his mind, there was not a shred of fear within him; all he felt was the urge to explore and break through the technique. 

At the moment he was “de-rooted”, he felt completely empty, lacking any point of leverage. Following the momentum of Feng Hengyi’s throw, he grabbed the opponent’s clothing and exerted force towards a critical method, then squeezed his foot down.

Bang! 

Both fell onto the stage simultaneously. 

Su Jie’s pull disrupted the critical force point of Feng Hengyi’s “Tengu Throw”, rendering it ineffective. The immense inertia caused both of them to hit the ground at the same time.

“Air Throw!” Liu Long was once again astonished; he realized that Su Jie’s earlier move was actually the “Air Throw”. This is truly an exquisite technique in judo and also found in Tai Chi and various internal martial arts described as the realm of “Eighteen Falling Techniques”, which many consider to be a deceptive technique. 

Previously, only the “God of Judo”, Mitsubune Hisashi, could execute it. 

The “Air Throw” is an improvement upon the “Tengu Throw”. Mitsubune Hisashi’s master was Yokoyama Sakujirō. He surpassed his teacher.

After entering the realm of living dead, Su Jie naturally activated the “Air Throw” within his range of throwing techniques. As they fell to the ground, Feng Hengyi’s killing intent surged; he twisted his legs to apply ground techniques to strangle Su Jie to death, while Su Jie used all his strength, forgetting his injuries, fighting Feng Hengyi for life and death.

At that moment, the foreign judge suddenly rushed over. “Stop!” 

He wanted to halt the match. This foreign judge had sharp eyes and had already noticed that both fighters had numerous broken bones and were now in a state where they could kill each other. 

As an internationally renowned judge, having such a situation occur during his match would be a tremendous disgrace.