Legends Rise 23 Glaring Dragon, Soaring Phoenix Pt. 2

Before the old man could charge at him this time though, Li Ming steeled himself, regripped his spear, and charged at the old man. This time, Li Ming was determined to control the flow of the fight. Stabbing his spear forwards, Li Ming aimed straight at the old man's wrists. However, before he could strike, the old man had also charged forwards too.

This created a weird situation for Li Ming. In the game, he would definitely had used a trinket such as his "Firelance" trinket or his "Wind Arrow Volley" trinket to interrupt the old man's advance and pacing.

However, this wasn't the game.

Li Ming was forced into a head on confrontation. However, the old man was aiming for Li Ming's heart and shoulders, while Li Ming was aiming at the old man's wrists. This led to a predicament, as Li Ming's target was at a different distance than the old man's.

Normally, Li Ming would have the upper hand here, as all he needed to do was. .h.i.t the old man's wrists. However, Li Ming had made this far too obvious. The old man swatted his spear out of the air and proceeded to stab at Li Ming once again.

Refusing to lose, Li Ming stepped to the side that his spear was swept to in order to dodge the incoming stab. As the old man turned to face him, Li Ming's spear shot forwards! This time, he would aim for the old man's spear tip instead of his wrists!

This was a common strategy for Li Ming, as well as most mages. If they couldn't get a large lead safely, they would rather take multiple smaller leads instead. It was this mentality that set him apart from other players that shared melee range. Li Ming would often go for their weapons while the would go for his head.

Li Ming's spear chased after the old man's spear tip! Li Ming combined this with his gentle parry technique from earlier to nullify all of the old man's spear stabs.

Then, the old man took a slid his front foot forwards a bit and pointed his shoulder at Li Ming's face. From this Li Ming expected the old man to go for a ramming attack next, but what followed was actually a myriad of stabs!

*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*

The spear tip jabbed at Li Ming over and over, threatening to bruise him all over. Unfortunately for Li Ming, he wasn't able to parry a single strike from the old man.

After a short beating, the old man stopped and looked at the now collapsed Li Ming, who was sprawled on his back.

"This is the first a.s.sault of the dragon," the old man explained, "its called 'Dragon's breath', and you'll find it quite difficult to dodge or block, even if you see it coming."

"I see..." Li Ming sighed in defeat as he lay on the floor, recalling the volcano of spear jabs that had just erupted upon him.

"How many of the spear stabs could you see?" the old man asked.

"... I think I saw all of them..." Li Ming answered thoughtfully, "But I didn't count them..."

"Well of course ya didn't count them! If you had time to count them, then you could have dodged them!" the old man laughed as he took a seat near Li Ming. "This is the technique that I'll have you practice against for now. If you manage to dodge or block most of it, I'll let you move onto the next stage."

Li Ming felt even more drained from this comment. Not only did he just get his life beat out of him by the old man's technique, he now also had to dodge or block most of it if he didn't want to encounter it again. This troubled Li Ming quite a bit, but upon thinking about it for a bit, he came up with a solution.

"Could you at least teach me the technique first?" he asked. This was a very old and overused strategy that was commonly seen these days. Li Ming would learn the technique, then dissect it bit by bit to find flaws in it.

"Of course not! You don't even have solid basics yet!" the old man harrumphed.

Li Ming internally collapsed in a comedic fas.h.i.+on. But of course the old man wouldn't teach it to him! This was one of the specialized techniques of the old man's unique spear style. Of course he wouldn't readily reveal such a prized secret!

The old man the flashed a devilish smile at Li Ming.

"That's what I would say if I was a traditional martial arts teacher." the old man's sly grin grew wider, "But, I am not! So I will teach it to you! Do as you please with it!"

"...eh?"

Li Ming was so surprised he forgot to give a proper answer. This was definitely not something that he had expected after the old man's precious statement.

"Is that really alright?" he asked.

"But of course! Hopefully you can learn all of the 'Dragon Ascends the Heavens' style and create your own style to use in your games."

Li Ming was suddenly no longer in pain from the old man's previous strikes. In fact, he was numb to the pain now. Having such an opportunity was certainly rare, and Li Ming would definitely not squander it. As Li Ming sat up from his sprawled out position on the floor, the old man commented:

"I pressured you to become more defensive after our first exchange, and in our second exchange, I made you overexert yourself in defense before unleas.h.i.+ng my technique on you," the old man said thoughtfully, "It was like I was a dragon sweeping my claws at you, the phoenix, before wearing you down, biding my time and watching your every move before unleas.h.i.+ng a fatal breath attack at you."

Li Ming found it amusing how the old man would use these types of mythological beasts in his a.n.a.logies. However, the old man was right. Their last fight was definitely as the old man had put it. Li Ming had been lulled into a mindset where defense became the first priority. A priority in which he had tunnel-visioned on. This led to him getting completely decimated by the old man's technique.

Thinking about this, Li Ming grinned. He felt like he had a counter to the old man's technique before the old man had even taught it to him!