“Little Yun, you look too comfortable fighting,” Lui Dashui.
“I have been watching a lot of competitions,” Li Yun replied.
Lui Dashui scratched his head. Although it explained some things, he thought Li Yun had likely practiced on his own. A hardcore boxing fan wasn't always someone who could become a boxer unless they physically trained themselves. Without the experience of sparring an opponent, it would be difficult for even a genius to fight a serious opponent. As for Li Yun, there was another problem, “You have a very serious weakness, are you here to resolve it?”
Li Yun nodded. He wasn’t sure if the coach had noticed it, but there was something Li Yun was struggling with. He could train himself to attack and even defend using Zuowang, but the one thing he couldn’t overcome was fighting against an opponent using all his strength.
"You're afraid of hurting the opponent?" asked Lui Dashui. It wasn't an uncommon problem, especially with casual fighters. Most people treated martial arts as a hobby, self-defense, or exercise regimen. It wasn't meant to hurt the opponent. If there were two things that prevented a fighter from becoming a great fighter, it was the fear of pain and the fear of hurting others. Li Yun used to have both fears.
Li Yun had overcome the fear of pain, but as he grew stronger, he was also subconsciously afraid of his own strength and ability. The top fighters’ mentality was very different from Li Yun. They gave it their all to win against their opponents. They didn’t care that their opponent may suffer in the future with chronic headaches or if they were hitting too hard. They knew that once they stepped into the ring, the only thing that mattered was the fight. Be it their bodies or their opponents' bodies, everything would be damaged eventually.
The only time Li Yun had fought with all his strength was when the drunken hoodlums attacked him and his friends. In the woods, he fought for survival and it was against strange beasts. So during his matchup with Fatty Fang and Guhan, he was more concerned about their well-being. He didn’t want to injure them, but it was also hindering him from advancing.
To overcome his fear, he needed more sparring experience and the ability to control his own strength. Every other day, Li Yun returned to the gym and sparred with whoever came in. Li Yun needed to understand how much strength to exert and how much to hold back.
****
During training, Li Yun realized another problem that hindered his improvements, conflicts, or the lack of. He had no major conflict other than to prepare against triggering another episode like the woods. While he was in the woods, his physical and mental ability was heightened by fear of death and desperation. It was probably the reason why so many characters in wuxia novels often created conflicts with each other. It was also why great sports rivalries produced great matches and competitors. If there was no conflict or motivation, there would be no way to gauge improvements. It was an odd sort of scenario, but it was ultimately about improving oneself by using others as a stepping stone.
Li Yun wasn't the type to seek conflict but he wasn't the type to ignore the conflicts in front of him. During his time in the ER, he noticed more injuries from gang-related fights and crime. He recalled Qi Sho's friend was involved with gangs and called Qi Sho.
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Qi Sho updated Li Yun on the situation. Shudi’s underground gang was appearing in Qinbei, taking over nightclubs. The sequence of events was surprisingly quick. Although everything appeared fine on the surface, it was only a matter of time before violence escalated in Qinbei. After hearing the info, Li Yun hung up and visited Bu Tao in the police station.
"What do you know about this Shudi's guy and his business?" asked Li Yun. It had been a while since he had asked Bu Tao to look into Shudi.
“Their business seemed legitimate at first, but it is possible that they are fielding out cops and officials,” said Bu Tao in his private office. Qinbei was not Bu Tao's jurisdiction, so he had to investigate on his own with his department’s involvement. “Their business registrations are all handled quite professionally, I might add.”
Li Yun looked over a floor plan of a nightclub that was rumored to be where Shudi liked to have business meetings. The floor plans were quite detailed, but Li Yun wondered how Bu Tao got the information, “Where did you get this?"
"From my informant."
"Informant?" Li Yun knew that the police had many informants, but it was rare for Bu Tao to have one in Qinbei. "How trustworthy is your informant?”
“I wouldn’t say he’s too trustworthy, but he knows a lot of people. He used to be a sanda fighter in high school, but got caught up with some bad crowds,” Bu Tao explained. “Now, he works in a pawn shop, and is a known scavenger around the area. He got the floor plans from the trash bin.” Typically confidential files were shredded, but some people often get lazy with drawings files because the rolls were typically too large. A lot of cleaners just dump them away. “I don’t know how accurate it is, but that’s pretty much the layout of the nightclub,” said Bu Tao. “What are you planning?”
“Just checking for an exit plan,” said Li Yun.
Bu Tao raised his eyebrow. An exit plan meant doing something dangerous beforehand.
“I’m just going there for a drink, I’m not stupid enough to cause any problem,” Li Yun reassured Bu Tao. “If it’s a legitimate business, there shouldn’t be any danger?”
Bu Tao grimaced, he wasn’t buying it.
“You know me, I’m not stupid…”
“You could be...” Bu Tao could recall plenty of occasions.
“What do you mean?” Li Yun was rather proud of his turtle stance in high school.
“The first time you landed in the police station, I had to bail you out.”
Li Yun was about to say something, but realized that Bu Tao was referring to an incident during college, “It’s Fatty’s fault."
“That’s not what everyone else says…”
"Oh, so we never told you everything that happened back then?" Li Yun asked. "I remembered it was freshman year when Fatty and I joined the sanda club."
"I remember," said Bu Tao. "I'm still pissed Bufu chose gaming and programming club over sanda."
Bufu was never into sanda, as it was only a means for self-defense and he knew that it wasn't for him. Generally, people who were serious about sanda and martial arts, were mostly people who had been bullied or outcasts. They wanted to learn and grow. It wasn't to say that someone from a so-called normal family couldn't make it, but they required a lot of self-motivation. Martial arts didn't make a lot of money and required a lot of physical pain and work. Most people who learned martial arts for money knew that the best way to succeed was to learn wing chun or aikido, styles that would look good on TV. They were following the footsteps of big-name action stars, otherwise, martial arts did not make any form of money unless they were in the top 1%.
Li Yun was in the sanda club briefly before becoming overwhelmed with classes and reading books for APs. Many people also dropped out of the club, but Fatty Fang remained one of the core members. However, near the middle of the semester, Fatty Fang was growing frustrated with the club. It seemed more like a body-building club. He often clashed with the senior captain who didn’t want to enter competitions or practice more sparring.
The captain was person who was easily vexed whenever someone questioned his authority. He also disliked Fatty Fang because his ability was noticeably better. Jealousy got the most of him, and he made everyone else in the club alienate Fatty.