Republic of China era: Actor? Please call me Martial Arts Master!

Chapter 165 The Arrival of Commander Shi

In the short time that Lu Cheng was pondering...

"Chinese, stop your arrogance!"

The Kazama brothers simultaneously let out a strange cry.

The two men stomped their wooden clogs hard on the floor, their figures splitting in two like ghosts. Amidst the blood and screams, they transformed into two streaks of black lightning, one on the left and one on the right, and charged towards Lu Cheng.

"Hokushin Ittō-ryū, the ultimate kill."

"Natural flow of mind, returning like a swallow."

There was not the slightest probing.

Two Grandmasters who had reached the 70th level of the Marrow Cleansing Realm unleashed a deadly move that sealed off all escape routes.

Two gleaming blades intertwined in the mist, forming a web of death. The chilling blade energy even instantly froze the puddles on the ground into ice shards.

Faced with such a decisive blow.

The cold glint in Lu Cheng's eyes finally exploded completely.

"So what if it has four hands?"

"Then I'll smash your hands too."

He didn't back down an inch. Instead, he took a deep breath, his chest bulging like a bellows, and the [Toad-Hunting Force] within him was pushed to its limit.

A hundred years of refined internal energy transformed into boiling magma.

Lu Cheng abandoned Xingyi Quan, which is known for its body movements, and slammed his feet down with both hands.

"Thump!"

The earth cracked open.

He adopted the most powerful, domineering, and unreasonable stance in the world of martial arts—[Bajiquan]!

"boom!"

Lu Cheng was like a heavy cannonball, crashing headlong into that impenetrable net of knives.

"I clang I clang I clang I clang," a deafening clang of metal clashing exploded wildly in the air above the dock. Sparks flew everywhere, like iron filings flying in a blacksmith's shop.

Lu Cheng fought two opponents alone, his bare hands, enveloped in powerful internal energy, forcefully clashing against two samurai swords forged through countless hammer blows.

He mastered the "crushing, shaking, sudden, and striking" techniques of Bajiquan to a state of perfection.

"A fierce tiger climbs a mountain with unwavering determination."

Lu Cheng's right arm tendons sprang up like a coiled dragon, and a powerful, unparalleled punch, accompanied by a sonic boom that tore through the air, slammed into his brother Kazama So's blade.

That terrifying, bone-piercing force directly ripped open Kazama So's tiger's mouth, causing blood to spurt out, and he slid backward several meters, sword and all.

"The King of Hell's Three-Point Technique".

Almost simultaneously, Lu Cheng twisted his waist, his left hand forming a knife-like shape with his fingers, breaking through his younger brother Kazama Tsuki's net of blades at an extremely strange angle, aiming straight for his throat.

Kazama Tsuki was terrified and could only awkwardly roll backward to avoid the fatal blow.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The exchange lasted only a few dozen breaths.

The entire dock was riddled with deep pits from the combined energy of their battle.

Lu Cheng was not suppressed by the tacit attack of the "four hands and four feet". Instead, he relied on his incredibly powerful century-old internal strength and the unstoppable ferocity of Bajiquan to forcefully suppress the two masters who had completed seventy years of marrow cleansing.

They pressed forward relentlessly, each move potentially fatal.

The Kazama brothers grew increasingly terrified as they fought. During a lull in their exchange, they glanced at each other and saw undisguised shock and fear in each other's eyes.

"How is that possible?!"

The older brother, Kazama So, gripped his trembling katana tightly, a storm raging within him.

"When I clashed with him just now, I clearly felt that his bone tempering level was not as good as ours, at most only 70% of the marrow cleansing."

.

"But why—why is his internal energy so vast and boundless, even more terrifying than those ancient monsters who have lived for a hundred years?!"

"His fist technique is fierce, violent, and continuous, which is not something that a human body could produce."

The younger brother, Kazama Tsuki, was also deathly pale.

His prized agility was like a leaf in a storm before Lu Cheng's ferocious Bajiquan, always in danger of being torn apart.

"Brother, we must not fight them head-on. This Chinese man is a monster who defies the common sense of martial arts."

Kazama Tsuki bit his tongue, using a secret technique of the Japanese ninjas to transmit his voice.

"Switch to guerrilla tactics."

"Hold him back!"

"If we can stall him for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the warships' cannons will lock onto this spot."

"When that time comes, once the cannons fire, at this distance, let alone a mere Transformation Realm cultivator like him, even if he were a true Immortal of the Core Formation Realm today, he would die on the spot and turn into a pile of minced meat."

Hi.

Kazama Sōshin understood perfectly.

The two men's minds raced, and they instantly changed their tactics.

Instead of confronting Lu Cheng head-on, they relied on the telepathic connection between the twins to transform into two black whirlwinds, frantically circling and battling around Lu Cheng.

The blade flashed, yet it moved swiftly and decisively.

They were like two cunning hyenas, trying to use this war of attrition to hold back the tiger coming down the mountain.

"Trying to stall for time?"

Lu Cheng, at the center of the storm, curled his lips into a mocking smile.

Linglongxin had already seen through the intentions of these two.

Lu Cheng sneered, then suddenly stopped without warning.

"Get out of here."

He stopped pursuing and instead took a deep breath, causing his internal energy to reverse wildly at that moment.

[The King's Armor Removal]!

Although they didn't fully unleash their triple power, the destructive aura that erupted instantly still made the Kazama brothers feel suffocated.

Lu Cheng advanced instead of retreating, unleashing the full power of the [Ghostly Shadow Step].

He seemed to transform into a formless shadow, miraculously passing through the gaps in Kazama So's impenetrable net of blades like mercury spilling onto the ground.

"What?!"

Kazama So was shocked; he had never seen such a movement technique before.

Lu Cheng had already moved close to him.

There are no fancy tricks, just a clenched fist with the right hand.

[Half-Step Crushing Fist]!

This punch combined the domineering power of the White Tiger True Meaning with the righteous spirit of Zhong Kui's Demon Suppression.

"boom!"

With a single punch, the air was compressed, creating a visible white air burst ring.

Kazama So only had time to hold his katana horizontally in front of his chest.

"Snap!"

With a deafening roar, the forged samurai sword was broken in two by Lu Cheng's bare flesh and blood with a single punch!

The force of the punch penetrated the body.

"puff!"

Kazama Sōkyō spat out a mouthful of blood, his entire body flying backwards like a kite with a broken string for more than ten meters, crashing heavily into the cargo bed of a military truck, creating a horrifying human-shaped dent. His sternum was shattered, and his fate was unknown.

one move!

With just one move, he severely injured a Grandmaster who had completed 70% of the Marrow Cleansing stage.

Kazama Tsuki on the other side was terrified.

He finally realized that this seemingly frail actor was a monster they couldn't possibly hold back.

He wanted to back out, but Lu Cheng had already arrived.

Lu Cheng slapped lightly on the back of Kazama Tsuki's blade.

"Buzz".

A spiraling force instantly pierced into the blade, and Kazama Tsuki felt a numbness in his hand as the katana flew out of his grasp.

Lu Cheng pointed his fingers like a sword and tapped Kazama Tsuki's chest three times.

"Pulse-cutting technique".

Kazama Tsuki froze, his blood and qi instantly reversed, his knees buckled, and he knelt helplessly before Lu Cheng, unable to move, his eyes filled with endless despair.

Completely crushing everything in its path!

This was a completely unequal, one-sided crushing defeat!

Lu Cheng stood proudly amidst the wailing Japanese soldiers and the two crippled grandmasters, his moon-white robe still spotless.

He stood with his hands behind his back, coldly watching Sato, who was already paralyzed with fear on the ground.

Just as Lu Cheng was about to speak.

"Ugh—!!!"

A powerful whistle suddenly came from the depths of the Haihe River.

The sound was so loud and so powerful that it seemed as if the entire city of Tianjin was trembling.

Lu Cheng frowned slightly and turned to look.

Within the thick fog, a colossal creature slowly tore through the mist, revealing its ferocious outline.

That was a warship.

A Japanese destroyer with a very deep draft.

The Rising Sun flag fluttered atop the towering bridge.

What's most unsettling are the two dark, imposing naval guns at the bow.

At this moment, the two naval cannons were slowly rotating their muzzles amidst the mechanical roar.

The target was the dock of Warehouse No. 13.

"Hahaha, Lu Cheng, so what if you're a good fighter? Can you even beat a cannon?!"

Sato, who had been slumped on the ground, suddenly burst into wild laughter as if he had grasped a lifeline.

"Fire! Bomb this dock, along with these Chinese monkeys, to smithereens!"

Facing those dark, gaping cannons.

Huo Zhenxiao, on the merchant ship in the distance, was deathly pale.

In the face of this steel behemoth, individual strength seems so laughable and insignificant.

Even someone as strong as Lu Cheng, how could his flesh and blood withstand the power of a naval cannon?

"Master Lu, hurry up and run! With your agility, you can definitely escape!" Huo Zhenxiao shouted from the bow of the ship.

But Lu Cheng didn't move.

He looked at the warship, his eyes remaining calm and still.

escape?

If he escapes, the Huo family members in warehouse number thirteen, the innocent laborers on the dock, and even the merchant ship that hasn't gone far will all become victims of gunfire.

He not only couldn't escape, he had to meet them head-on.

"My fate is in my own hands, not in the hands of Heaven."

Lu Cheng took a deep breath, and the blood and qi in his body burned wildly.

He was prepared to forcefully activate [Overlord's Armor Removal], risking serious injury, to attempt the almost impossible—to shake a warship with his bare hands!

however.

Just when they were in a critical moment, facing a dead end with the shell about to be fired.

"Boom boom boom—"

'

The earth suddenly trembled violently.

A roar of motors, more intense than ocean waves, rolled in from the other side of the concession like a torrent of steel.

"What's going on?!" Sato's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

The thick fog was forcibly torn apart.

Rows of blinding headlights, like dozens of roaring monsters, broke through the darkness.

That wasn't just a few vehicles, but an entire armored convoy.

The fleet consisted entirely of American military jeeps and troop transport trucks, each equipped with heavy machine guns. There were even two armored vehicles, their dark machine gun muzzles pointed directly at the Japanese military police on the dock and the warships on the river.

The convoy braked suddenly outside the dock, the screeching sound of friction cutting through the night sky.

"Click click click".

Hundreds of elite soldiers in military uniforms and fully armed jumped off the vehicles like wolves and tigers, instantly taking control of the entire perimeter of the dock and surrounding the Japanese military police.

Right in the middle of this steel torrent, in a convertible Willys Jeep.

A young officer was standing there.

He was wearing a crisp woolen military overcoat, but no military cap, and his black hair was disheveled in the wind.

His face was as hard as if carved by a knife, and he had an unlit cigarette between his teeth.

On his shoulder, the star of a major general brigade commander was prominently displayed.

This man was none other than Commander Shi, the youngest and most powerful figure in Beiping who had briefly appeared in the newspapers!

That is, the "Stone" who gave his childhood sweetheart "Er Ya" (Yao Hong) to Marshal Ma for the sake of power, and later struggled in the vortex of power!

Commander Shi stood in the jeep, coldly observing everything before him.

He didn't look at the swaggering Japanese warship, nor at the terrified Japanese soldiers.

His gaze passed over the crowd and landed on Lu Cheng.

Looking at that man in white, who stood tall even amidst a hail of bullets.

Commander Shi slowly pulled a lighter out of his pocket.

"bite."

Flames shot up.

But he did not light the cigarette in his mouth.

Instead, he took out a letter and a slightly yellowed photograph from his pocket.

The photo shows a girl with braids, smiling innocently.

That was Yao Hong in her youth, the wings he had broken himself in his quest to climb the social ladder, the soul he had lost in this lifetime.

"brigadier!"

The adjutant beside him was sweating profusely, his voice trembling with anxiety.

"What are you doing?"

"We've received a strict order from above: we absolutely cannot engage in conflict with the Japanese. If we do, it will trigger a diplomatic incident, and if the higher-ups find out, we won't be able to explain it to Nanjing."

Brigade Commander Shi ignored his adjutant's advice.

He looked at the photo in his hand, a hint of pain and reminiscence flashing in his eyes.

But in the end, that underlying weakness was replaced by a resolute determination that burned like a raging fire.

"Explain?"

Commander Shi chuckled, took the unlit cigarette out of his mouth, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"My whole life has been about giving explanations to others. Explaining myself to my superiors, explaining my future, explaining myself to that damn 'big picture'!"

"To justify these actions, I lost the woman I loved most; I personally sent her to the abyss. I sold my integrity and my conscience to the devil!"

He slowly brought the lighter flame closer to the edge of the letter and the photograph.

The flames licked at the paper, instantly engulfing it and turning it into ashes, which drifted away into the night with the river breeze.

It's as if he has completely severed ties with all the hypocrisy and compromises of the past.

"But today, I don't want to make the wrong decision again."

"To hell with explaining!"

Commander Shi's eyes were bloodshot. He suddenly drew his sidearm from his waist, pointing the muzzle directly at the vast night sky.

"This is fucking Chinese land!"

"Even a mere opera singer could stand up for himself and face the foreigners' cannons single-handedly. I, Shi, hold thousands of guns and eat the people's food; am I supposed to cower like a coward?!"

Commander Shi roared, his voice echoing across the field.

"Everyone has it!"

"Snap!"

The sound of thousands of bolts being pulled simultaneously, in perfect unison, converged into an overwhelming killing intent that soared into the sky.

"Aim the cannons at that Japanese warship."

Commander Shi's voice boomed through the night sky like a thunderclap.

"If the Japanese dare to fire a single shot."

"Burn them, men and boat, to smithereens!!!"

This roar carried the iron will of soldiers and the backbone of recovery.

The sound lingered over the Haihe River in Tianjin, deafeningly loud.

Standing on the pier, amidst the mess, Lu Cheng watched the young general who had risen from the ashes in the jeep.

stunned.

The play has finally come to life.

The spirit of integrity that permeates the world has not yet died out.