The Way of Restraint

“Sorry I’m late. The traffic was terrible.”

Just as Zhang Jinchuan, Xia Yi, and Zhu Qing were deep in conversation, another woman entered through the door. She wore sportswear, her features ordinary, but her brows carried a heroic spirit that would put most men to shame.

As she spoke, she reached the eight-immortal table. Her movements were precise and mechanical, unhurried in appearance, yet one could sense their extreme agility. Her balance and control were breathtaking.

A true master could be recognized simply by the way they walked.

In fact, Xia Yi was herself a master — otherwise she couldn’t have defeated Zhang Manman in the ring. Zhang Manman had trained since childhood under the guidance of a grandmaster like Zhang Hongqing, and her fighting skills were on par with national-level female professional athletes.

Xia Yi had also trained at Greenland Club, ranked second in the world.

Greenland’s fighting ability surpassed even Liu Long’s. In major international competitions, Liu Long had never defeated Greenland.

Greenland’s coach was Odell.

In a sense, Xia Yi and Su Jie were from the same school — though Su Jie’s seniority was slightly higher.

But overseas, the system wasn’t master-disciple — it was coach-student.

Coaches and students were friends — sometimes even employee-employer.

The woman who had just entered was far stronger than Xia Yi.

Until now, Su Jie had never seen a woman this powerful.

Not even Cass, who worked for Larry, could compare.

“This is my senior fellow apprentice, Huang Mulan. She’s now the head of our Mingxia Sports division.” Xia Yi introduced her. It turned out Huang Mulan was the person in charge of the Mingxia Sports Group. After Xia Yi’s promotion, she had placed a trusted and capable person in charge of that division.

“Dian Dao Martial Arts’ Su Jie — I know you,” Huang Mulan said. “Your Dian Dao Martial Arts is quite famous in the circles. I hear Liu Long’s Dragon Club is now cooperating with you. I’ve also heard that the reason Liu Long defeated the Muay Thai king Banjaron was because you helped with his training.”

“That’s an exaggeration. I just trained alongside Liu Long,” Su Jie admitted with a nod.

“I come from the Solomo Club.” Huang Mulan dropped this name — enough to shock anyone knowledgeable about the fighting world.

Because this was the holy land for fighting enthusiasts and professional fighters worldwide.

It was founded by “Solomo,” the highest-ranked, undisputed greatest fighter in the world.

The Greenland Dojo where Xia Yi trained was only ranked second in the world. That might seem close, but the gap was actually vast. Su Jie had watched many of Solomo’s matches and knew that this foreigner had also stepped into the realm of the “Living Dead.”

In the entire global fighting world, only Solomo possessed such psychological attainment.

Solomo had another title: “King Solomon.” In mythology, this king commanded seventy-two demons.

Solomo’s identity was said to be very mysterious. Besides being a fighter, he was also the leader of some secret organization.

Those trained in his club were all extremely strong fighters. His club wasn’t open to the public — one had to pass rigorous examinations to become a member.

Anyone who passed the examinations and became a member, after various kinds of training, could sweep many professional competitions.

That Huang Mulan had come out of Solomo’s training camp meant she was truly not to be underestimated. Though a woman, she was much stronger than average male professional fighters.

Liu Long’s reputation was at its peak domestically, but that was it — overseas, he was just a first-rate fighter. Solomo was different. In the eyes of fighting fans, he was a god — undefeated, and every heavyweight match he fought ended in a quick knockout of his opponent.

Even Greenland would struggle to last three minutes against Solomo.

Of course, Su Jie believed that no matter how strong Solomo Club was, it still fell short of Typhon Training Camp. Currently, the highest level of human kinesiology in the world was at Typhon.

It was even possible that Solomo himself was one of Typhon’s coaches.

Seeing that Su Jie showed no surprise when she revealed her “credentials,” Huang Mulan’s eyes sharpened. “Mr. Su Jie, Mingxia Sports is interested in cooperating with Dian Dao Martial Arts. What do you think?”

“Dian Dao Martial Arts’ specific affairs are all handled by Coach Hua Xing. I only handle teaching. If there are matters of cooperation, please contact him directly,” Su Jie said with a slight smile and nod.

“The most valuable thing about Dian Dao Martial Arts is you, Mr. Su Jie,” Huang Mulan said. “Your club placed second in the last Haoyu Cup — not bad. But you haven’t participated in any competitions since. Yet there are rumors in the fighting world that your skill surpasses Liu Long’s. I’m very curious about that. Are you interested in a match with me?”

“No,” Su Jie refused directly, very bluntly — which caught Huang Mulan off guard.

“You’re not thinking that because I’m a woman, defeating me would be dishonorable, are you?” Huang Mulan continued her challenge. “Tell you what — if you win, I’ll authorize an investment of fifty million yuan in Dian Dao Martial Arts for branding. How about that?”

“Dian Dao Martial Arts doesn’t need funding. We’re already profitable, and we’re not very interested in expansion,” Su Jie said. The thirty million yuan investment he had accepted from Song Qiong last time was already sufficient. Over the past six months, cooperation with Dragon Club had actually generated considerable profit. Dian Dao Martial Arts had a clear strategy — taking a high-end, mysterious路线, focused on connections rather than expansion. So additional funding wasn’t very meaningful to Dian Dao Martial Arts.

“Could it be that you don’t dare?” Huang Mulan issued a third provocation. She clearly didn’t believe the rumors circulating in the circles — that Su Jie was even stronger than Liu Long.

“Not at all.” Su Jie stood up and walked into the courtyard. “Let’s have a match then. What rules do you want to use?”

“No limits.” Huang Mulan also walked over and stood face to face with Su Jie. In a flash, she raised both hands to protect her head, her feet staggered one in front of the other, her knees like iron shields trembling constantly, ready to defend her entire body at any moment.

From this alone, one could see Huang Mulan’s exceptional leg skills. Her knee techniques were terrifying and sharp — not raised, but with casual movement she could both attack and defend, a shield in defense and a siege ram in offense, driving into the opponent’s body.

Facing such a posture, wrestling techniques were essentially useless — because any approach would be met with her knee strikes.

Knee strikes were the best defense against takedowns.

Any opponent trying to close in for close-quarters grappling would be dispatched with a single knee.

The “Hoe Strike” that Su Jie had learned involved bowing the body, raising the hand and knee, advancing, chopping downward, kicking, or sliding forward for a “head-smashing tablet.”

Huang Mulan’s stance wasn’t quite fighting stance, wasn’t quite Muay Thai — but contained elements of both, seemingly flawless.

This stance seemed to embody the essence of all martial arts — no technique could breach it.

No weakness.

In traditional martial arts, stance training was paramount. The most important aspect of holding a stance was being as still as a mountain — appearing unmoving, but when the opponent moved, you could find their weakness and strike second.

A true master, like Huang Mulan, could stand like this, making it impossible for anyone to attack — they could only retreat.

Just this stance alone proved Huang Mulan was an undeniable master.

No one could break this stance.

But Su Jie was the exception. After Huang Mulan had settled into her stance and her momentum had reached its peak — her strongest moment — he attacked directly.

He didn’t take an indirect route. He struck head-on.

As Su Jie advanced, his hand pressed downward, the other forward, somewhat resembling the San Ti Shi. In one move, he was before Huang Mulan. His lower hand pressed against her knee, like pressing a gourd underwater, preventing her from executing a knee strike. Then, his upper hand covered her face; even with her hands covering her head, she couldn’t withstand the pressure.

Crack!

Huang Mulan’s skeletal structure seemed unable to withstand Su Jie’s seemingly casual press. The sound was as if her body might split apart — giving the impression that she was as fragile as building blocks, that a child could push her over.

At this moment, Huang Mulan was extremely uncomfortable. She had believed her stance to be the best in the world — flawless — that no one attacking her could find a weakness, and that she could find counterattack points to knock down her opponent.

But she hadn’t expected Su Jie to break it so simply, leaving her completely unable to counter. She felt Su Jie’s hands moving casually, like ropes binding her, rendering her immobile, unable to move forward or backward, every part of her bound, only able to take the beating.

But Su Jie didn’t continue his attack. He stepped back and withdrew his hands.

“What happened?” Even Xia Yi was confused. She had been expecting to see an exciting fight, but all she saw was Huang Mulan assume a stance as if to attack, and Su Jie step forward — then they separated as soon as they touched, like a child’s game. This wasn’t a fight at all — it was a play.

Only Zhang Jinchuan understood what had happened. “This Huang Mulan is truly formidable. If I were up against her, it wouldn’t be so easy to dispatch her. She deserves her pedigree from Solomo Club. But compared to Su Jie, she still falls far short. Honestly, I’d really like to see Solomo and Su Jie fight — that would be a true battle of titans.”

Solomo was the undisputed world’s number one fighting king, while Su Jie, though less well-known, was considered a true powerhouse by Zhang Jinchuan. Zhang Jinchuan’s secret hope was that one day, Su Jie would break Solomo’s undefeated legend.

In fact, he had long wondered: Zhang Hongqing also had the strength to fight Solomo — even a chance of winning — so why didn’t he challenge him and win worldwide fame? Such low-key behavior didn’t seem logical.

Actually, ever since Su Jie had achieved the Living Dead realm, Zhang Jinchuan had been entertaining this idea. He wanted to execute a major orchestration — and meeting Xia Shang was precisely about making this happen.

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