Legends Rise 24 Glaring Dragon, Soaring Phoenix Pt. 3

"One more time." he said with confidence.

"Oho! Quite enthusiastic, aren't ya?"

"I'll definitely get it this time!" Li Ming declared as he charged forwards with his spear.

Li Ming aimed his speartip at the center of the old man's chest, trying to get the old man to parry. As expected, the old man parried with his spear. However, instead of only parrying Li Ming's attack, he also stabbed at Li Ming's left shoulder right after brushing away Li Ming's spear.

Li Ming, who had his spear brushed aside, ducked while spinning his spear. He use this spinning force to knock aside the old man's attacking spear as well as continue his a.s.sault as soon as the spear completed a full rotation.

This worked for Li Ming, who now had the initiative. As the spear swung upwards as a stab towards the old man's chin, Li Ming also slightly shifted his feet to put more weight into his spear. The old man rushed to guard this by raising his spear with both hands and blocking with the center of his spear.

But before Li Ming's spear made contact with the old man's spear, Li Ming took advantage of his new foot position to pull his spear back and stab at the old man's chest! Because of Li Ming's current position, Li Ming had more control over his spear than the old man.

Seeing that he wouldn't be able to block Li Ming's a.s.sault using his spear that was already going upwards to block the previous attack, the old man used his left leg to kick his own other leg, effectively tripping himself. However, by falling to the ground, he had effectively dodged Li Ming's stab.

Li Ming was shocked by this! The old man had made himself fall, not by accident, but on purpose with the intent to dodge Li Ming's a.s.sault!

The old man was now in a vulnerable position. However, with his experience, the old man didn't panic. He swept his spear around in an arc, forcing Li Ming (who had just stabbed nothing but air) to retreat 3 whole steps. Using the momentum of the spear, the old man swung himself upright again, and positioned himself to attack.

Li Ming, who was now recovering from the sweeping arc of the old man, was now one step behind in the tempo of the fight. He had lost the initiative! Frustrated, Li Ming could only raise his spear to block the old man's spear that was now charging straight at him. This time, however, Li Ming wasn't looking to defend.

As the old man stepped in to stab at him, Li Ming instead parried the attack with his own attack. He targeted the old man's hands with an upwards sweep! Unfortunately, Li Ming's control over his spear wasn't as perfect as he would had liked, as he had struck just above the hands. However, this was enough to parry the attack for now.

Now it was a stalemate. However, the old man had other ideas. Pushing forwards, he swung his spears at Li Ming in an attempt to get Li Ming to move his feet back again. He had wanted to use that opportunity to put Li Ming back to defense.

However, he was greeted by the back end of Li Ming's spear. Li Ming had seen this attack coming, and reacted by using the back end of his spear to intercept the old man's swipe attack. With the old man's spear bouncing back, Li Ming swung down with his own spear, threatening to smack the old man right on the head!

But before he could, the old man once again slid his front foot forwards and pointed his shoulder at Li Ming. He was going to use the "Dragon's Breath" again! Li Ming was caught off guard now, as he was in the middle of an attack! If the old man was faster here, Li Ming would be laying flat on the floor again.

Li Ming didn't hesitate. Instead of pulling back his spear to defend, Li Ming instead chose to do what he had done earlier. He changed his target from the old man's head to his spear!

Li Ming's spear came crashing downwards, meeting with the old man's spear that was on its way outwards to stab at Li Ming. This had stopped the first attack! Li Ming was elated! He had finally stopped the attack!

Unfortunately for him thought, the attack hadn't stopped! The old man stabbed out his spear again! Caught off guard, Li Ming could only raise his spear to defend the incoming attack! Luckily, he had deflected this one too! Li Ming took advantage of this timing to close the gap between him and the old man.

Rather than giving the old man enough time to attack again, Li Ming chose to close the gap with a charging attack to push the old man backwards! As Li Ming approached, however, the old man simply shifted backwards with a light hop and stabbed at Li Ming again! This time, the first stab hit Li Ming directly on his forehead, knocking him backwards!

Once again, Li Ming was sprawled out on the ground.

"Pretty good for your second try!" the old man laughed heartily, "But not good enough!"

Li Ming could only smile dejectedly as he reflected on his match. He had seized the initiative twice, yet he had still lost the match. Perhaps he was mistaken in his approach? What could he have done differently?

"I'm off to school now, grandpa!" a feminine voice shouted outside.

...

School! Li Ming had completely forgotten that today was a school day! He had woken up super early to come over, but it seemed like school was already starting!

"Okay, have fun today!" the old man replied cheerily.

"Uhh..." Li Ming began awkwardly, "I have to get going to school too..."

"What?! Get going then!" The old man replied in shock!

Li Ming ran to the front door and rushed to put his shoes on. He had to run all the way to the train station to take a train back home to get dressed first before he could go to school!