Liu Hai's team had won.

"Beautiful!"

"Well done!" People around them cheered. Mother Xu and Li Miaomiao were also happy, and Old Master Xu was smiling with glee. Wang Yi, Heng Fang, Yang Qingshuo, and Liu Chongyuan also admired the old senior. Only Xu Jingming himself... stared blankly at the scene before him.

His father's double shields struck out, his entire being erupting with energy, his eyes filled with fervor, making him seem like a living, breathing tiger.

One pounce, and the enemy was sent flying!

Scenes flashed through Xu Jingming's mind.

When he was young, his father taught him the Bajiquan (Eight Extremities Fist) Tiger Pounce hand-in-hand.

His father loved this move, practicing the Tiger Pounce every morning and evening for forty years. To his father, it was a technique that had become ingrained in his life.

"I understand."

Xu Jingming murmured.

"Jingming, what's wrong?" Li Miaomiao asked, looking at Xu Jingming.

"I'm going to the training hall to practice for a while. Call me before the competition starts," Xu Jingming said.

"We're in the eleventh match, which is about five hours away. There's still plenty of time," Li Miaomiao said immediately, sensing her boyfriend's state.

Xu Jingming nodded and disappeared from the stands.

******

Xu Jingming appeared in his personal space's training hall.

Now, very few people were in the training hall instead of watching the competition.

"I love spearmanship, I love every move and stance!"

"I'm obsessed with the speed of spearmanship. I thrust my spear thousands of times every day. I remember when my thrusting speed reached 18 meters per second, I was so excited in the national team that I jumped up and down and couldn't sleep all night." Xu Jingming murmured, "I even gave up the fluidity of spearmanship to pursue extreme speed. To this end, I studied anatomical charts, the anatomy of muscles and bones, and drew picture after picture of muscles and bones. I studied my own exertion from a physics perspective, and I never studied so hard even for exams. Finally, I created the Shadowless Thrust! By giving up the fluidity of spearmanship and giving up defense at the same time, I achieved an extreme speed thrust… reaching 25 meters per second! In the World Martial Arts Competition, as long as I find an opportunity to use the Shadowless Thrust, my opponent will surely be defeated!"

"I love Bajiquan, and I created the ultimate move, Mountain Breaker, using the explosive force technique of the Bajiquan Iron Mountain Lean."

Xu Jingming thought, "I have practiced Bajiquan Stomping Feet and Great Spear since I was a child. As for weapons, I only love spearmanship. In the virtual world, I still practice spearmanship the most."

"But what about shield techniques?"

Xu Jingming recalled the past, "That was purely a tool, taught to me by my master, Liu Hai, to better control my body's strength. It was a Tai Chi practice method. Practicing shield techniques did make me more precise in controlling the strength of my whole body… but from beginning to end, shield techniques were just a tool."

"When have I ever loved shield techniques?"

"Perhaps… only when I used shield techniques to perform the Bajiquan Tiger Pounce."

Xu Jingming thought.

He remembered the first time he fought a God-level battle and used the shield technique Bajiquan Tiger Pounce to blast Sun Yuting away. He felt happy and joyful.

Because using this move involved intense emotions, emotions that naturally integrated from his childhood of hard practice of the Bajiquan Tiger Pounce.

Xu Jingming thought, "My father didn't practice shield techniques much in the past, and only started practicing them after entering the virtual world. Using double shields to perform Bajiquan! Everything went smoothly."

"In fact, after retiring, I also gradually integrated Bajiquan into shield techniques. It's just that I didn't continue in the virtual world!"

"I also love Bajiquan very much."

"This is the first kung fu I learned since I was a child. Bajiquan elbows, shoulders, back, fists, palms… all can exert force." Xu Jingming thought, "The shield technique taught by my master is very clever, using force to deflect force, and controlling the enemy is also very clever. I have only practiced a smattering of it and have already reached Tier 2 99%, but a clever shield technique does not mean it is suitable for me."

"No matter what shield technique, I have to love it from the bottom of my heart." Xu Jingming realized at this moment, "If I don't love it in my heart, how can my mind perfectly mobilize every part of my body?"

"I want to practice shield techniques, Bajiquan shield techniques!"

Xu Jingming's eyes were blazing with heat. He then clicked on the panel, set up a sparring assistant, and a metal dummy appeared in front of him, "Set the weight to 100 tons."

The metal dummy was connected to a base, which probably accounted for half of the weight. It was very stable and landed on the ground.

"Completely Bajiquan shield techniques! Just thinking about it makes me a little excited!" Xu Jingming stretched out his hands, grabbed a shield in each hand, and walked up to the metal dummy. He raised his right shield and leaned his shoulder against it, directly crashing into the dummy.

"Bang."

The dummy shook, and the base moved back slightly.

"Let's warm up my whole body first." Xu Jingming leaned his right shoulder against the shield and crashed into the metal dummy a few times. He leaned his right shoulder against the shield and crashed into the dummy a few more times.

Then he simply crashed into the dummy directly with his body, crashing with his chest, crashing with his back. Xu Jingming enjoyed himself. His whole body swayed, like a bear, leaning against the dummy here for a while, and leaning against the dummy there for a while.

Each 'bear lean' made the 100-ton dummy tremble and move, showing that Xu Jingming was able to explode the force of his whole body through every part of his body.

"Weapons are just extensions of the body. The body must first be able to exert force perfectly, and then the weapon can exert force perfectly." Xu Jingming thought, body exertion is the most basic part of the weapon's realm.

Xu Jingming 'bear leaned' against the metal dummy hundreds of times before stopping.

"The warm-up is over. Actually, the bear lean is quite comfortable." Xu Jingming looked at the dummy in front of him, "Next is… Baji Burst!"

His father loved the Bajiquan Tiger Pounce the most.

Xu Jingming wasn't as obsessed as his father. He loved many Bajiquan moves, and his love for 'Baji Burst' was no less than that of Bajiquan Tiger Pounce.

"Bang." Stomping his feet to exert force, the earth trembled faintly. Xu Jingming's pair of shields crashed into the dummy like thunder, and the dummy was knocked back more than ten centimeters, plowing a groove in the ground.

"Baji Burst, like a thunderbolt, exerting force faster and more abruptly." Xu Jingming practiced happily. With a stomp of his feet, the shields crashed into the dummy with a bang, and the dummy moved back another ten centimeters.

Xu Jingming kept using it, all moves were close-range, and every time the shield hit the metal dummy, the power of the impact was quite terrifying.

Baji Burst is the most practiced move in Bajiquan, while the number of practitioners of 'Bajiquan Tiger Pounce' is relatively small.

The Bajiquan Tiger Pounce is the most ferocious, but it is a 'pounce', which requires a pouncing distance! It requires rushing out two or three steps to completely accelerate the body, and it is a pounce that explodes with the rushing force of the entire body. Sometimes in fighting, there is no chance to use it at all.

Just like in the first God-level battle, Xu Jingming suddenly rushed out and pounced abruptly when Sun Yuting was running towards the archer.

But Baji Burst is different. It doesn't need distance, and it can be used even in close combat. The sweeping moves in Xu Jingming's spearmanship originated from Baji Burst.

He practiced Baji Burst hundreds of times in one breath.

"Baji, Mountain Split!" Xu Jingming changed his move again, holding double shields and looking at the metal dummy in front of him, he suddenly raised his double shields and stepped forward.

Whoosh!

The raised right shield suddenly exerted force, and the right arm holding the shield was like a large axe, suddenly劈down! (Note: There is no direct translation that encapsulates the action of 劈 (pī) which is a downward chopping motion with an axe. It will remain as Pī for now until a more appropriate word is found.)

"Heaven and earth, connected by one breath! Mountain Split!" Xu Jingming still remembered the Bajiquan formulas in the books at home. The ancients may not have had such a thorough understanding of the body, so they could only use artistic conception to guide them.

Xu Jingming's shield Pī was with the edge of the shield on the metal dummy. The edge of the shield was also very sharp, no less than a heavy weapon slashing!

This Pī naturally united the power of the body. From a physics point of view, it was also a strike carrying 'gravitational potential energy'!

"Bang." A dent was Pīed out of the metal dummy's chest, and it also trembled and moved back slightly.

"Baji, Mountain Split!" Xu Jingming continued to practice, again and again, the edge of the shield Pīing down like a large axe, Pīing on the metal dummy.

As Xu Jingming practiced, a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

Just like when he was a child, he happily practiced Bajiquan in front of the wooden dummy. At that time, he practiced bear lean, shoulder lean, back lean, elbow strikes… and he also practiced the five ultimate moves of Bajiquan passed down by his father: Tiger Pounce, Burst, Mountain Split, Heaven Cannon, Fierce Tiger Climbing the Mountain.

Other children were playing football, taking interest classes, and other entertainment, but Xu Jingming was practicing Bajiquan, and he practiced happily.

After mastering Bajiquan, he then practiced Stomping Feet, and then the Great Spear.

Bajiquan was the kung fu he practiced for the longest time.