Chapter 23 – The Right Solution and the True Opening

Lu Yuan’s body shook violently, and he staggered backward several steps.

The middle-aged man who had kicked him was also forced back by the recoil.

With a graceful backflip, he used the momentum to land steadily on the hood of the minivan behind him.

From his elevated position, he looked down at Lu Yuan with indifferent eyes.

“His leg strength is only on par with mine, his strength points should be around 10.”

“Also, there’s no pain in battles within the consciousness space!”

With a single glance, Lu Yuan assessed the middle-aged man’s strength points.

He shook his forearm lightly, the one that had just blocked the kick, and looked up, meeting the heavy rain.

Just as he locked onto his opponent’s position and considered his next move, a splash of water exploded in front of him. The middle-aged man on the hood suddenly lifted his leg and kicked fiercely at his face.

Lu Yuan’s pupils contracted sharply, and for a split second, the world seemed to slow down to a thousandth of a second.

He could clearly see the man’s leg lifting, the tip of his black leather shoe smashing through the raindrops, coming straight at him.

“Swish•”

Lu Yuan sidestepped perfectly, dodging the middle-aged man’s kick.

This was the advantage of having 10 agility points.

Before this, Lu Yuan’s reaction speed wouldn’t have been enough to make such a dodge.

“Come down here!”

After dodging the kick, Lu Yuan spun around and swept his leg at the middle-aged man’s lower body.

The man’s response was quick; he retreated and swiftly jumped onto the roof of the minivan.

Lu Yuan stepped on the front bumper, using it to propel himself onto the hood. He launched his right fist at the middle-aged man’s face.

Their fists and feet clashed, and the two exchanged blows rapidly.

Lu Yuan’s attacks were fierce, and in no time, he forced the middle-aged man off the roof, continuing their battle on the rain-soaked street.

The fight began to take a turn completely different from reality.

With improvements in strength points and agility points, along with upgrades in four basic martial arts techniques, Lu Yuan felt significantly stronger and believed he could quickly take down the middle-aged man.

But quite the opposite happened.

As an imagined enemy constructed by Lu Yuan from his consciousness, the middle-aged man, stripped of all emotions and left with only pure combat instinct and techniques, exhibited a level of strength far beyond Lu Yuan’s expectations.

After a few rapid exchanges, Lu Yuan found himself completely caught up in the rhythm of his opponent’s attacks.

“How did he suddenly become so strong?”

“Or is this his true strength?”

The middle-aged man’s leg techniques were exceptionally refined and sharp.

Ferocious and ruthless.

Every kick seemed to carry a thick, bloody scent wafting from his pant legs.

His legs alternated like whips, striking Lu Yuan repeatedly.

The speed of his kicks was incredibly fast, like a storm, overwhelming Lu Yuan to the point where he could barely catch his breath.

Even though Lu Yuan’s strength points were supposed to be higher, he found himself constantly on the defensive, blocking and dodging.

He couldn’t find a suitable opportunity to strike back.

On the rare occasions when he did counterattack, the opponent slipped away like a slippery eel, quickly creating distance and then seizing the right moment to attack again.

It was incredibly frustrating!

The ambition he had before the fight now seemed like a joke.

“If this continues, he might kick me to death with these relentless attacks!”

“His leg techniques fall within the range of basic leg techniques, but the level is incredibly high, probably Level 6? Level 7?”

“The gap in technique is too wide, and his combat experience far exceeds mine.”

“How should I resolve this fight?”

It would be utterly humiliating if someone he had defeated in the real world turned around and pummeled him in the consciousness space.

No matter what, Lu Yuan was determined to win this battle.

While he was thinking, his left arm took another heavy hit.

The massive impact of the kick made his entire body shake violently.

Although there was no pain in the conscious space battle, the prolonged passive beating left Lu Yuan with a growing sense of frustration.

After taking this kick, he couldn’t hold back any longer and suddenly became fierce.

His blood boiled, and as the middle-aged man prepared to deliver another kick, he met it head-on with his own kick.

“Bang!”

This kick was extremely heavy.

Both of them staggered backward.

Lu Yuan felt his right foot becoming sluggish.

The intense collision between their legs had caused a fracture in his right shinbone.

The injury was perfectly simulated in the conscious space.

“Damn it!”

Lu Yuan suddenly regretted his impulsive response. The injury to his right leg would undoubtedly affect his ability to dodge, making an already difficult situation even worse.

“Whoosh—”

The middle-aged man’s next kick tore through the rain, whistling as it came.

Lu Yuan stumbled on one foot, barely managing to dodge.

Under normal circumstances, this would be followed by the opponent’s second and third kicks in rapid succession, like a storm.

But to his surprise, the middle-aged man’s second kick came much later than expected.

Moreover, it was aimed in the same direction as the previous kick.

“Wait a minute!”

Lu Yuan raised his hand, barely blocking the kick, but his eyes were fixed on the middle-aged man.

Noticing the opponent’s slightly unnatural approach, a flash of insight struck Lu Yuan like lightning.

In the pouring rain,

The young man, looking somewhat disheveled, shielded his head with both hands, constantly fending off the opponent’s relentless side kicks.

Rain and sweat splattered around him as they dripped from his hair.

But beneath the wet strands of hair, a light began to shine in his dark eyes.

“I think I know how to counter this.”

“Whoosh—”

He exhaled a long breath.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes, emerging from the consciousness battle.

The fresh, dry clothes he had changed into after a shower were now slightly damp with sweat.

His first experience with the [imaginary enemy] had ended.

Lu Yuan had won in the end.

But it was a hard-fought victory, far more difficult than in reality—

He had used a strategy of trading injuries, disabling the middle-aged man’s legs, and then relying on his superior strength to beat him to death in the rain.

It was not a glorious victory.

“If it weren’t for the fact that they saw me as just a senior high school student with clumsy martial arts techniques, and they were surrounded by their group, maintaining a mindset of contempt and mockery—

Plus, my last-minute attribute allocation that caused my strength points to surge—

In reality, it would have been almost impossible to defeat him so quickly.”

Reflecting on the ferocity and ruthlessness displayed by the middle-aged man in the consciousness battle, Lu Yuan found it incredible that he was now sitting comfortably in his bedroom with only a few minor injuries.

There had been too many close calls in that battle. If it had happened again, the outcome might have been entirely different.

“No matter what, I was the one who won in the end.”

This experience served as a huge wake-up call for Lu Yuan—never underestimate any opponent!

He definitely didn’t want to end up like the middle-aged man called “Hei-Ge.”

Despite his powerful and sharp leg skills, Hei-Ge had met his downfall. In the end, he was beaten with a baseball bat by a “martial arts novice” who had been training for only a month, resulting in his legs being broken.

Now, he was probably lying in the police station, sipping tea.

“The [imaginary enemy] effect was even stronger than I imagined!”

Lu Yuan didn’t expect that the imaginary enemy constructed from his memory would replicate the strength from reality so perfectly in the consciousness battle.

It wasn’t based on his shallow understanding of the opponent.

Recalling the consciousness battle again, Lu Yuan’s expression grew complex.

The middle-aged man’s set of sharp and domineering leg techniques was something he deeply envied.

Even though the moves were just basic leg techniques, not particularly difficult, each kick under the opponent’s execution was as sharp as a military knife.

And that ferocious, savage, and bloody aura—God knows how many opponents he had crippled to develop it.

“If I could master leg techniques to a level close to his, combined with my strength advantage, this battle wouldn’t have been so tough.”

“Wait! Why am I envying him? I can learn from him!”

“What could be better than having an enemy as a practical teacher?”

As this thought struck Lu Yuan, his eyes lit up, and the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

He even felt that this might be the true, correct way to use [imaginary enemy]!

“Unlimited practical lessons—I refuse to believe I can’t grasp the essence of his leg techniques!”

Feeling excited and thrilled, Lu Yuan couldn’t wait any longer and immediately closed his eyes again.

“Skill activation, [imaginary enemy]!”