Chapter 1599 Sparring Session
One of the reasons Rui was eager to witness the man's Martial Art was because the Martial Path was a manifestation of the essence of one's being, a path born from the culmination of a person. It inherited their affinities, biases, inclinations, and strengths and weaknesses.
Much about a person could be learned from their Martial Path. His words could be deceitful, but his Martial Art would not. This was especially the case ever since Rui had become a Martial Senior. His senses and instincts had elevated to a much higher level, and his insight into Martial Artists of the Lower Realms grew as a result.
Prince Raijun took a largely neutral stance that didn't place too much emphasis on any one particular domain or field of combat. This suggested a well-balanced Martial Art, which in turn was usually a sign of a well-balanced temperament.
He had long noticed the correlation between temperament and the affinities of Martial Art. It was hard not to. Most offensive Martial Artists he had run into possessed highly active and aggressive temperaments.
Most defensive Martial Artists possessed tempered fortitude.
Most maneuvering-oriented Martial Artists possessed possessed dynamic personalities.
Nothing was absolute, but it meant that the prince most likely had a balanced Martial Art.
Rui walked over to him slowly, gauging his reaction. It wasn't until he reached a meter away from the prince that he finally attacked.
WHOOSH!
Although the attack was quite swift for a Martial Apprentice, to Rui it may as well have been frozen in time.
Rui lightly shifted, moving out of the way. Yet much to his surprise, the prince's attack had already been corrected and redirected toward Rui without even the slightest hint of lag.
POW!
The attack crashed into Rui's hand, stopping it midway.
"Interesting," Rui murmured. That one attack alone had given him a lot of insight into the prince's Martial Art.
"You haven't seen anything yet!" The prince confidently declared as a flurry of blows erupted, flying at Rui. Rui found that ordinary maneuvers were less effective in evading the prince's attacks one after the other. Every time Rui shifted, the attack rapidly followed suit, altering its trajectory midair with remarkably agility and fluidity, forcing him to block.
Of course, he could still effortlessly evade him with a fraction of his opponent's speed if he truly wanted, but that wasn't the point. He was trying to show-off, he was trying to be a good sparring trainer and gauge the prince's capabilities.
POW POW POW!
Rui blocked several strikes from the prince before gently throwing an attack at the prince to test his defensive reactions.
WHOOSH!
The prince rapidly shot out of the way at the last moment throwing his fist at Rui Yet when he tried to evade, the attack shifted instantly, crashing into Rui's palm once more.
Yet his eyes widened when he found his balance crumbling as Rui twisted his fist.
CLASP
"Then, let us test your grappling," Rui wrestled him to the ground in the blink of an eye. Yet he could only be impressed as the prince held his ground, fighting back against Rui's attempt to wrangle over him and choke him out. Yet Rui could sense his discomfort and unfamiliarity. This man was firmly a striker, without a doubt.
"You're neither particularly good at grappling nor good at avoiding. Anybody more competent than you at it will defeat you most of the time," Rui found himself behind the prince as his arm carefully wrapped around the prince's neck.
Rui felt particularly nervous as he felt a directed wave of pressure from the two Martial Masters who looked to be on the verge of activating their Martial Minds.
In this position, it would be trivially easy for Rui to kill the prince, which is why they were on extremely high alert. Yet he delicately restricted his strength as much as possible while still exerting just enough to pressure the prince.
TAP TAP
Rui immediately let go when he felt two taps on his arm, indicating his submission.
"Huff…You're as tough as an ox!" The prince heaved a sigh. "I wasn't even able to come close to overpowering your grip."
"It wasn't that I was strong," Rui replied. "The fact of the matter is that rear choke holds give the choker far too much leverage over the most vital part of the human body. It is almost impossible to break out of a rear choke hold, and the best way to fight it is to ensure that it doesn't happen in the first place. That is why it is important to never allow your opponent to get your back."
While it was true that Martial Art and martial arts were different, there were some fundamental commonalities that the two of them shared. Rear choke holds were game-enders in both the UFC and MMA, as well as Martial Art combat of Gaia.
"You're right," The prince heaved a sigh, standing up. "It is indeed an area where I have to improve."
"Let's go again," Rui replied. "This time I will test your combat against an aggressive offensive Martial Art."
"Bring it on then," The prince smiled confidently.
The sparring session ensued as Rui tested the prince's combat prowess against various kinds of opponents. He did a good job replicating different styles, having fought against many Martial Artists, he recalled their patterns, replicating them on the spot.
This made the prince feel like he was fighting a different Martial Artist each time. The Martial Masters carefully overseeing the training session grew curious at Rui's ability to alter his combat approach to such a degree.
Normally, even against low-level opponents, it wasn't easy to replicate the experience of fighting against different Martial Artists with different Martial Paths.
It became evident to that the existing intelligence on Rui Quarrier was insufficient and incomplete. They had already updated their knowledge on his compatibilities.
Rui Quarrier was able to steal the essence of a Martial Art during combat, perhaps that had something to do with his ability to adaptively evolve to them. Too much was unknown about the source of the prodigious Martial Artist's strength.
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