Chapter 228 – Fighting Ta Ku
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*Feet measurement is a bit shorter in this world. 7 Feet = 6 Feet. 9 Feet = 7.5 Feet
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“The second round of the competition will immediately commence. Do you two need any time to rest?” The referee Elder symbolically asked Lin Ming and Ling Sen. In truth, his opinion was that neither of them had wasted any effort at all; the two of them most likely didn’t need to recuperate.
Sure enough, Ling Sen and Lin Ming simultaneously shook their heads.
“Mm. Then let’s begin the second round.” The referee Elder took out the drawing box again. This time, the drawing box only held two plates. One was to fight, the other was a bye. Ta Ku had already drawn a bye, so this time it was up to Ling Sen and Lin Ming to draw lots.
At this time, Ta Ku spoke up, “There’s no need to draw anything. There’s only three people left, and I can defeat neither of them. But, I still want to have a match against Lin Ming. This has already been scheduled far in advance,” Ta Ku said as he looked at Lin Ming. “How about it Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, let’s have a little match on stage, is that cool with you?” You still have defeat me if you want the Blue Miracle Pill!”
Lin Ming laughed and agreed, “Why not?”
“What great fun, now we’re talking! Come on!” Ta Ku said as he jumped up onto the martial stage. He also took out his own eight foot staff. The dark purple elastic iron staff was as thick as an egg, and two golden bands circled the staff. These golden bands were put in place to prevent the opponent’s weapon from sliding down the shaft and wounding his fingers.
Lin Ming looked at Ta Ku’s weapon and thought for a moment. Then, he pulled out his own Penetrating Rainbow spear from his spatial ring. Ever since he obtained the Heavy Profound Soft Spear, he hadn’t used the Penetrating Rainbow spear for a long time. This time he took it out because he didn’t want to take advantage of Ta Ku’s weapon.
It was just too difficult to find a treasure staff, especially when one needed it to be elastic. For all these years, Ta Ku had been using the dark purple elastic iron staff.
Ta Ku saw that Lin Ming had swapped his weapon and smiled. “Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, there is no need for you to change weapons. To tell you the truth, since I came on stage today I didn’t plan on competing against you in martial arts.”
“Mm?” Lin Ming was startled, “If we’re not going to have a martial arts match, then how do you want to settle this contest?”
Ta Ku cheekily grinned, and chuckled, “I want to compare strength!”
His voice was loud and clear; the entire audience could hear the words he said.
Hearing this, Murong Zi didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. If they weren’t going to compare martial arts but instead just strength, then it was obvious that Lin Ming would be the one to lose. Ta Ku had inborn divine strength, and the cultivation method he practiced also tempered the body and increased strength.. He was the strongest disciple of the Seven Profound Martial House.
Lin Ming wasn’t weak, but how could he compare to Ta Ku? She couldn’t help but mutter to Jingyun, “Humph, Ta Ku that big gorilla, he usually looks so honest but who knew he was such a tricky beast. Although Lin Ming is a farm animal, a farm animal’s strength is certainly less than a big gorilla…..”
Bai Jingyun smiled at Murong Zi and vexingly said, “Since Ta Ku says that then he has already give up this match. He only wants to have a contest of physical strength with Lin Ming.”
And just like Bai Jingyun had predicted, Ta Ku said, “Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, in terms of total power, I am far from being your match Therefore I will concede in advance.”
“My speed is bad, my striking power is poor, and my cultivation isn’t great. However, my physical strength is something that I am decent at. I know that Junior-apprentice Brother Lin also excels in this aspect. When you first entered the Seven profound Martial House, you were considered as having inborn divine strength and your early forms of fighting mostly involved meeting your opponent head-on physically. At that time I was thinking of waiting until your cultivation reached the same as mine, before having an earnest competition of body strength so we could see who the number one in terms of strength at the Seven Profound Martial House is. So how about it?”
As Ta Ku said this, he casually bent the eight foot staff in his hands. The dark purple elastic iron staff, that was as thick as an egg, easily bent like a thin wooden stick, taking any shape that Ta Ku wanted it to.
Lin Ming saw this and burst into laughter. “Good! Then let’s compare strength! However, I will not take advantage of you. Our match will be decided by who has the greater strength. The one with the most physical strength will win!”
Ta Ku was stunned, he immediately rejected the idea, “There’s no need, I’m also looking forward to your showdown with Ling Sen. If I battle him there won’t be any meaning to it, and it would be quite boring. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been abused by that vicious fellow, I’d rather not have him publically embarrass me under the watch of such a big crowd of people.”
Ta Ku infectiously laughed as he explained. Lin Ming also smiled and challenged, “Even though you say that, do you think I will necessarily lose to you in strength?”
“I didn’t say that you would definitely lose, but….” Ta Ku slyly grinned, revealing a straight row of gleaming white teeth, “There’s a high chance that I’ll win today.”
“Haha, say nothing more, we’ll have a look ourselves!” As Lin Ming said this, he shook the Penetrating Rainbow spear in his hands. The eight foot Penetrating Rainbow spear wobbled back and forth like a fiercely trembling spring.
“Good!” Ta Ku gave a loud shout, and there was a giant ripping sound as all of the clothes covering his upper body was torn apart, flying in all directions. He revealed a massive body glistening with thick and hard muscles, just like granite.
Ta Ku was nine-feet tall, nearly two heads taller than Lin Ming. When he stood in front of someone, he would block the sunlight from reaching them, like a massive iron tower. Normally a good man of Sky Fortune Kingdom was around 7 feet tall. If they were at this height, they could proudly call themselves a 7 foot tall son. But if someone like them stood in front of Ta Ku, they wouldn’t even reach his shoulders.
As Ta Ku exercised his strength, all the muscles of his body began to send out explosive popping sounds. His impressive chest was thicker than a water barrel, and his massive thighs were larger than buckets. The blue veins that wound around his body were just like twisting earthworms. His build and size were simply too exaggerated, making the entire audience called out in alarm as they feasted their eyes. This fellow was simply…a big bear!
“Come!”
Ta Ku stamped his foot, and immediately squatted down in a horse stance. As his foot hit the floor, there was a loud explosion as the tiles underneath him shattered apart.
Lin Ming was unable to restrain a sigh of praise. The tiles of this martial stage had gone through special processing and were extremely durable. But with just a casual step by Ta Ku and only his human body strength, these tiles had been broken into pieces. This really was inborn divine strength!
Lin Ming also slowly stripped off his robe, revealing the well corded and shapely muscles he had been hiding underneath. Compared to Ta Ku’s rock like muscles and solidly rugged exterior, Lin Ming’s body seemed somewhat tender and supple.
As he had practiced martial arts for four years, Lin Ming had been exposed to countless hours of wind, rain, and exposure to sunlight. As he had also deboned for a long time, Lin Ming’s body had been left with countless scars and callouses. However, after absorbing a colossal power of vitality and also having undergone the washing of his muscles and marrows multiple times, his callouses and scars had slowly flaked away over time. Now looking at the present Lin Ming, he seemed just like a wealthy young master that had never worked before.
Lin Ming was almost 16 years old. He had grown up into a tall young man. The child-like tenderness of his face had gradually vanished. Together with his beautifully sculpted muscles, it was very easy to overlook his true age. Although Lin Ming’s looks couldn’t be considered heavenly jade, he was still a very handsome and outstanding male specimen. As he stripped off his robe, there were some girls present that couldn’t help but hysterically scream as they reached out their grasping hands at him.
“What a bunch of sluts!” Murong Zi disdainfully curled her lips. In her opinion, Lin Ming’s crazy Linmaniacs were just selling themselves off at a loss, because it was impossible that he would marry any of them. They likely knew that there was no hope in even becoming concubines, so what was the point of being such a bunch of sex-crazed nymphos?
Bai Jingyun smiled but didn’t say anything. She also agreed with Murong Zi. It was impossible for Lin Ming to be contained within Sky Fortune Kingdom. One day, he would leave here.
As Lin Ming and Ta Ku faced each other on stage, their body structures were completely beyond compare. This really made many of those present worry; how could Lin Ming beat this big bear fellow in strength?
Lin Ming held the spear in his right hand, his forearm touched the spear shaft, and his elbow pressed down on the base of the spear. He extended Penetrating Rainbow horizontally, and took the Iron Bridge Blocks the River stance.
“Watch out!” Ta Ku fiercely tread both feet on ground. The tiles underneath him shattered apart, and his body was no different from a massive warship as it came rushing forwards.
“Hah!”
Ta Ku gripped the dark purple elastic iron staff in both hands and smashed down at Lin Ming.
Lin Ming dropped down into the horse stance, lifted the Penetrating Rainbow spear above him, meeting this strike of Ta Ku’s head-on!
Bang!
The massive impact caused the tile under Lin Ming’s feet to fracture. The two of them did not use any martial skill or cultivation method; what they used was completely and only physical strength!
Zhi Ga Zhi Ga —
As the staff and spear struck each other, they began to creak as metal bent. The spear shaft and staff shaft had already been bent together like a bow, overwhelmed, on the verge of being broken.
As the two powerful forces collided, the ground underneath the two of them began to produce thin cracks that spread out like a spider’s web. The audience was watching with bated breath and fear; was this really the strength of a human?
Lin Ming felt the danger the Penetrating Rainbow spear was in. It wasn’t hard to endure this strike, but he knew that if he gushed out with his full strength, he would definitely cause irreparable damage to his Penetrating Rainbow spear. This spear had followed him for such a long time; he couldn’t bear to see it damaged like this.
“Let’s switch to another way. If we keep this up our weapons won’t be able to bear the load.” In such a tough fight, Lin Ming was still able to calmly speak. Obviously, he hadn’t used his full strength.
“I agree. How do you want to do this?”
“Let’s not use weapons. Let’s wrestle.”
Ta Ku thought for a moment, then growled, “I’m bigger than you are. If we wrestle, you’ll be at a disadvantage. We shall use the strength measuring pillar; that’s the most direct way!”
“Strength measuring pillar?” Okay!” After Ta Ku mentioned the strength measuring pillar, Lin Ming also wanted to know the limit of his own physical strength. He had forgotten how long it had been since he last used a strength measuring pillar.
This martial arts contest and taken a bizarre turn. Now this match boiled down to competing with a strength measuring pillar. The audience was also waiting with high expectations; they were curious as to what the limit of these two youths’ strength was.
“Referee, can you prepare a strength measuring pillar?” Lin Ming asked.
“Yes, of course I can.” The Seven Profound Martial House’s strength measuring room wasn’t too far away. The referee Elder gave a command and two martial artists ran over.
“Hehe, strength measuring pillar? I remember that just last year, this boy Ta Ku was able to achieve an 8000 jin result. At that time, he was only at the early Bone Forging stage. At that time, his cultivation was unstable as he had just started true essence Bone Forging. Now, he has reached the middle Bone Forging stage. Perhaps he might already have achieved the Large Success of true essence Bone Forging. This time he will definitely be able to hit over 9000 jins. 9000 jins….even a peak Pulse Condensation martial artist only has around 8000 jins of physical strength. This boy Lin Ming has really fallen into Ta Ku’s trap this time.” Sun Youdao smiled as he stroked his beard.
It wasn’t easy to increase one’s physical strength. Starting from early Bone Forging to middle Bone Forging, one’s true essence force would enhance several times over, but physical strength wouldn’t grow by that much. Therefore the advantage of inborn divine strength was less obvious the further one cultivated.
Qin Ziya smiled without a word. To Ta Ku, victory or loss was unimportant. All he wanted was to be known as number one in physical strength at the Seven Profound Martial House.
Ta Ku wanted to try his hardest and never give up.
“Lin Ming isn’t weak himself. I’m curious as to how high his level of strength is.”
The strength measuring pillar was quickly moved over, and affixed onto an array formation on stage. The black crystal strength measuring pillar quickly stood in the center of the martial stage, waiting. The light in the crystal pillar could go up 12 feet. Every foot represented 1000 jins.
Ta Ku took to the stage with a wry smile. “Junior-apprentice Brother Lin, I’ll be going first.”
“Alright, you go first.”