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Morning · The Position of Flow
Morning.
The mist had not completely dispersed. The grass beside the field still carried a damp chill, and a thin sheen of water lay across the rubber track. The wind was light. The campus had not fully awakened yet. Only the distant sound of a ball hitting the ground could be heard from time to time.
Lin Hao and Liu Yeqing stood at the edge of the field.
The two of them were not truly sparring.
Yeqing was only moving her steps slowly, her body turning lightly with each shift of her footwork. Her movements were not fast, but they were smooth, like ripples circling around Lin Hao’s fist. Every time Lin Hao threw a punch, she did not block it head-on. She only placed her palm against his forearm, guided his force aside, then used her footwork to circle back from another angle.
Lin Hao frowned.
“…It’s that feeling again.”
Yeqing looked at him calmly.
“You’re too straight.”
Lin Hao pulled his fist back, somewhat unconvinced.
“Is being straight bad?”
Yeqing shook her head.
“It’s not bad. It just breaks.”
She raised her hand, signaling for Lin Hao to punch again.
Lin Hao steadied himself once more. His front foot stepped in, and his fist struck shortly toward Yeqing’s centerline. It was the directness of Bajiquan. There were no unnecessary changes. The force pressed up from the sole of his foot, passed through his waist and hips, and drove straight into his fist.
Yeqing did not retreat.
Her palm touched the outside of Lin Hao’s forearm. Her footwork angled in with a slight hook, guiding that straight-rushing force off course. Then, following the momentum of Lin Hao’s punch, her body circled around, and her other hand lightly rested on his shoulder line.
Lin Hao’s fist had not been blocked.
But it had not hit anything either.
His force seemed to rush out, then suddenly lose the next place it was supposed to go. It could only stop in midair.
Yeqing looked at him.
“Every punch you throw is trying to end something.”
She followed his arm and guided it outward, her steps circling to his side.
“But real force is not an ending.”
Her hand moved along Lin Hao’s force. She did not cut it off, nor did she push back against it. She simply continued it.
“It continues.”
Lin Hao froze.
Continues?
Yeqing returned to stand in front of him, her tone even.
“Do you want to try putting my boxing into yours?”
Lin Hao was startled.
“…Your boxing?”
Yeqing nodded.
“I’m not telling you to become me.”
She looked at his fist.
“I’m telling you not to let your punch die on the first strike.”
Lin Hao fell silent for a moment, then steadied himself again.
This time, he still punched with Bajiquan.
Short.
Straight.
Explosive.
But after the punch went out, he did not rush to throw all his force away. When Yeqing used her palm to guide his arm aside, he tried not to yank it back forcefully. Instead, he followed the direction in which his force had been led, his footwork hooking along with it, his shoulder line turning slightly.
The next instant, his punch did not stop dead.
That force continued along with the turn.
Lin Hao’s eyes changed.
For the first time, he felt that his fist did not have to end after one strike. There was still another path it could follow.
Yeqing looked at him.
“Again.”
Lin Hao nodded.
This time, he slowed down.
When his fist went out, it still carried the straightness and heaviness of Bajiquan, but his steps were no longer only pressing forward. He began trying to loosen his shoulders a little, turn his waist and hips a little, and give his originally rigid punch an angle that could continue.
Straightness within the circle.
Turning within the straight line.
Yeqing’s palm once again touched his forearm. Lin Hao did not rush to pull back. Instead, he followed the way she guided him and turned his body, letting his other hand reconnect from the centerline.
Smack.
A crisp sound rang out.
His fist did not land as a heavy blow. It only touched Yeqing’s palm clearly.
But this strike was completely different from before.
Lin Hao lowered his head and looked at his own hand.
“…Is this my punch?”
Yeqing smiled faintly.
“It’s still you.”
She withdrew her hand.
“It’s just not as dead anymore.”
From the basketball court, the sound of a ball came again and again.
Gu Chengyuan stood at the edge of the court, watching the people running across it.
Someone cut into the paint.
Someone filled the side.
Someone did not even have the ball, yet still drew the defender away.
The ball was moving.
The people were moving too.
A real opening was not something that simply appeared while standing still. It was pulled out, step by step.
Gu Chengyuan kept both hands in his pockets, his gaze following the ball once around the court.
Not watching the people.
Watching the flow.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Before the ball was passed out, the defender had already moved first.
The offense was not chasing people around. They were forcing people into certain positions, then letting the ball pass through the gap that opened.
Gu Chengyuan gave a low laugh.
So that was it.
His fists were not supposed to chase people either.
They were supposed to block them off.
He walked onto the now-empty basketball court and slowly moved his steps. His front foot landed. His body tilted slightly aside, as if an opponent were standing in front of him. He did not rush to punch. Instead, he thought about where the opponent would move next.
If the opponent retreated, he would cut off the retreat.
If the opponent dodged, he would block the angle in advance.
If the opponent waited, he would strike just before the moment they were about to move.
Gu Chengyuan raised his hand and threw a short punch.
The punch was not fully extended.
But its position landed exactly on the path where the opponent, in theory, would have moved.
The corner of his mouth lifted.
“Rhythm—is the opening.”
On the court, only one basketball remained, slowly bouncing on the ground.
Gu Chengyuan stood in the middle of the court, his footwork shifting little by little, as if he were fighting an invisible opponent.
“…Interesting.”
When the three of them returned to the center of the field, Lin Jing was already standing there.
She did not ask what each of them had been doing. She only looked at the three of them.
“Show me.”
Lin Hao stepped forward.
“I’ll go first.”
He steadied his stance and reminded himself quietly.
“Relax… relax…”
This time, he did not rush straight in like before. His feet moved first, carrying a trace of the circular steps Yeqing had taught him. His body slightly circled away from the front. His fist did not immediately strike itself dead. Instead, it prepared to connect into the next angle.
Lin Jing entered in an instant.
Her speed was not exaggerated, but the moment she stepped into range, Lin Hao still reacted instinctively with a jolt.
“Teacher!”
He immediately turned his body. His footwork circled away, and his forearm touched the hand Lin Jing had extended. Following that pressure, he carried his body to the side.
He could keep up!
Lin Hao’s eyes lit up.
He took the momentum and connected it back into the centerline, throwing his fist from the angle after the turn.
Bajiquan.
This punch was livelier than before.
No longer only dead straightness.
But just as the fist was about to touch Lin Jing, she merely turned her body slightly, letting it brush past the corner of her clothes and miss.
In the next instant, her hand had already reached the top of Lin Hao’s head.
A very light touch.
Like patting his head.
Then she had already passed by his side.
Lin Hao froze where he stood.
Lin Jing said calmly:
“Too much force.”
The sentence was not heavy, but it landed exactly on the punch Lin Hao had just thrown.
He had indeed allowed the force to flow.
But at the very end, he had still been too eager to hit it out.
Gu Chengyuan stepped forward.
His footwork was slower than in the morning, and his rhythm was cleaner. He did not rush to take the first move. Instead, he used his shoulders, his eyes, and his lead hand to force Lin Jing to react, trying to make her walk into the position he had already imagined.
His attack was tricky.
The angle was prettier than before too.
But Lin Jing met him directly.
First, she used her forearm to brush away his probing hand, making his first rhythm fall empty. Then she closed in, her palm connecting to his forearm and pressing down on the beat where he was about to switch. Gu Chengyuan tried to change. His foot had only just begun to shift when Lin Jing had already passed through the gap in his movement.
She did not throw him.
She simply passed through.
Gu Chengyuan stood in place and fell silent.
Lin Jing glanced at him.
“Your rhythm isn’t bad.”
She paused.
“But you are waiting for rhythm.”
Gu Chengyuan did not argue.
Because he knew that just now, he had indeed been waiting.
Waiting for Lin Jing to enter the beat he had prepared.
But a master would not move according to his rhythm.
Finally, Lin Jing looked toward Liu Yeqing.
She paused for a moment.
“No need.”
Lin Hao froze.
Gu Chengyuan also looked over.
Lin Jing looked at Yeqing.
“With her, I can tell just by looking.”
Yeqing stood where she was. She did not take any special stance, nor did she deliberately prepare. She only stood naturally, her breathing steady, her shoulders loose, her feet not rushing to root themselves dead into the ground.
She was not thinking too much.
So her body was not stuck.
Lin Jing looked at Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan.
“It is not that you two cannot do it. You are stuck.”
She first pointed at Lin Hao.
“You let it flow, but you are still using force.”
Then she looked at Gu Chengyuan.
“You can see rhythm, but you are waiting.”
Finally, she looked at Yeqing.
“She is not thinking.”
The field fell quiet.
The sentence was light, but it made Lin Hao and Gu Chengyuan fall silent at the same time.
Not thinking.
It did not mean she was not using her mind.
It meant her body was not bound by her thoughts.
Lin Jing turned and looked toward the school building in the distance.
“The inter-school fighting tournament begins in one week.”
Lin Hao froze.
“…Tournament?”
Gu Chengyuan’s eyes changed slightly too.
Lin Jing continued:
“I still have time to train you.”
She paused, her tone still calm.
“Since this is your first time participating, don’t think about winning.”
The air sank faintly.
Lin Hao did not speak.
Gu Chengyuan did not smile either.
Lin Jing looked at the three of them.
“Think about only one thing.”
Her voice was calm, but very clear.
“Whether the things you learned can actually be used.”
She withdrew her gaze.
“As for the result, that is luck.”
Lin Hao raised his head.
Lin Jing added one more line:
“There is a good chance you will run into each other.”
When those words fell, the wind across the field seemed to stop for an instant.
Lin Hao slowly turned his head and looked at Gu Chengyuan.
Gu Chengyuan also looked at him.
Their eyes met.
Neither of them spoke.
But both of their gazes had changed.
Just moments ago, they had still been standing on the same road, trained by the same teacher, stuck on the same problem.
But once the tournament began, that same road might also push them in front of each other.
Liu Yeqing stood to the side and said softly:
“When the time comes, we’ll know.”
Lin Jing turned and left.
The field became quiet again.
The mist had slowly dispersed.
But the hearts of the three had already begun to move.
The same road.
Could also become the path of opponents.6Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nghP0zdkO
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