164 Groin Kick, Alligator Form - Water-Splitting Left and Right Movement

"Shut up."

Disgusted by the saliva, and especially worried that his newly changed clothes might get stained with blood and drool, Du Ruo simply reached out, grabbed the black bear by the chin, and jerked it upward, cutting the creature's roar short.

Enraged, the black bear spread its front limbs, extending sharp claws from its paw pads, and whipped its body around. It was impossible to tell whether the shoulders drove the torso or the torso drove the shoulders, but it lashed out with a paw straight at Du Ruo's face.

Du Ruo was capable of subduing a five or six-hundred-pound tiger and making it completely docile; he didn't care at all about this black bear, which probably weighed around two hundred pounds.

Du Ruo extended his arm, blocking at the wrist of the bear's paw. The force of the bear's strike now appeared somewhat weak. With Du Ruo's own body weight standing at three hundred pounds, he utterly crushed the black bear in every aspect.

Therefore, after blocking with his arm, Du Ruo's arm smoothly slid upward to wrap around the bear's upper limb—this was precisely the Great Encompassing Coiling technique of Baji Quan.

(Grappling has a major characteristic: it relies not only on technique but also on force. Without sufficient force, one cannot lock an opponent's joints; moreover, if the opponent possesses greater strength, one might even end up being grappled in reverse. However, Du Ruo vastly exceeded this black bear in both strength and physical conditioning, which is why he dared to do this.)

It was unprecedented for anyone to dare apply grappling techniques to a bear.

With one of its upper limbs (arms) constrained, the black bear instantly used its other paw—which was too close to strike—to close in and form a bear hug. Not only that, but the bear also whipped its head around, opening its jaws wide to bite at Du Ruo's neck.

As the bear made this motion, Du Ruo's acute perception picked up on the creature starting to generate power from its feet, lifting its body to maximize its size advantage, while its upper body pressed forward in an attempt to knock Du Ruo down.

It intended to embrace Du Ruo, pin him to the ground, and bite him to death.

Such a tactic was the instinctual hunting method of large beasts; hunting with sheer strength and size was what they excelled at most.

Whether it was a tiger launching itself to pounce and tear, a black bear executing a crushing embrace and closing in, or even an alligator biting down and beginning to roll (foolish though alligators might be), these were all hunting instincts of large creatures, bringing their greatest assets into full play.

The only difference among them lay in their application of force, specifically the point of origin for that power.

A tiger initiated its power from the pelvic bones, maximizing the advantages of its body size and strength.

Meanwhile, a black bear's power initiation clearly arose from the ground.

Having figured this out, Du Ruo felt not a trace of panic and instinctively formulated a countermeasure.

Du Ruo shifted his footing, thrusting one leg directly between the black bear's legs, and drove his lower leg forward with force.

"Well, well, looks like it's a female bear."

Du Ruo quipped aloud, yet showed no mercy with his foot, slamming his instep squarely into the black bear's groin.

"!!!"

The previously ferocious black bear stiffened entirely, then abruptly widened its jaws and threw its head back, as if wanting to scream, yet failing to produce even the slightest sound.

Du Ruo released the bear's constrained arm. The black bear, whose feet had already been pointing inward, instantly went bow-legged, staggered back two difficult steps, and collapsed from its upright posture onto all fours on the ground.

At the same time, the black bear stuck its rear end in the air, reached its paws toward its crotch, and rolled around on the ground.

Never assume that a groin strike or kick is only effective against men or male creatures; in truth, it is effective against both sexes. It is simply that men are more easily struck and injured due to their external anatomy.

In reality, a heavy blow to the groin of a woman or female animal might not cause the exact same injury as it would in a male, but the intensity of the pain is hardly any less.

"I wonder... was I a bit too ruthless with that strike?"

Watching the black bear's agonizing display, Du Ruo couldn't help smacking his lips and letting out a sigh.

Then, Du Ruo lowered his body to inspect the navel area of the musk deer. There was a clear cutting mark there, which confirmed his suspicion: the expert archer must have been nearby not long ago.

After examining the musk deer's carcass, Du Ruo looked at the bow-legged black bear trying to crawl away in the distance, hoisted the musk deer in his hand, and walked toward the bear.

"Sorry about that. Why don't you have a bite before you go?"

With that, Du Ruo tossed the musk deer right in front of the black bear.

Seeing Du Ruo, the black bear hurriedly clutched its crotch, shaking its head like a rattle-drum while backing away simultaneously.

"..."

Witnessing this, Du Ruo developed a head full of black lines. He recalled being quite careful when delivering the kick, at least avoiding any fatal force; he just hadn't expected that single blow to leave such a profound psychological trauma on the creature.

"Forget it, I'd better get moving."

Seeing the black bear's pathetic state, Du Ruo hesitated no longer, turned around, and departed swiftly.

Logically speaking, Du Ruo should have stayed a bit longer with the black bear, because their brief clash had only allowed him to slightly comprehend the bear's power-generation techniques, and there was actually much more worth learning.

However, Du Ruo refused to let that poacher go. He loved nature and cherished those lovely animals, which was why he ate no animals in the forest other than rabbits and wild boars these past few days, strictly to avoid disrupting the ecology.

Poachers, on the other hand, hunted wantonly for profit, which easily led to ecological destruction.

Therefore, he had no intention of letting the culprit off, especially since the individual seemed to be a master and a murderer to boot. Du Ruo felt no need to hold back, and his interest was piqued; clashing with such people promised to be far more entertaining than disciplining punks with dyed hair.

Du Ruo sprinted through the jungle, pushing his five senses to their absolute limits, scanning in all directions while searching for the footprints left behind by the poacher.

Through observation, Du Ruo discovered footprints belonging to two distinct individuals, making it clear that the poacher was not operating alone, but had a partner.

Du Ruo pursued them for several kilometers. As he sprinted through the jungle, he suddenly felt an itchy sensation between his eyebrows—a feeling Du Ruo was quite familiar with, though previously it used to manifest as an itch on his back. It was the sensation of being watched.

"Hmm? Someone is observing me?!"

Maintaining his composure without breaking stride, Du Ruo kept moving while preparing to change direction at a moment's notice.

"There they are!"

Mid-stride, Du Ruo suddenly jerked his head up, fixing his gaze on a tree on a distant slope ahead. Through the gaps in the branches, Du Ruo's sharp eyes caught a faint glint of reflection. He smiled toward that direction, then began altering his path, abandoning his straight-line sprint and darting back and forth behind large trees.

"Old Hu, someone has caught up. It's a young man, coming straight for us, and he's moving fast!"

At the very top of the tallest tree on the slope, a lean, wiry middle-aged man clung to the treetop, holding a high-power monocular telescope. Continuously observing Du Ruo's trajectory, he spoke down to another middle-aged man at the base of the tree.

"Alright, get down and get ready. Looks like we'll have to head out of the mountain now. Let's wrap this up quickly; this haul is already enough for us to live comfortably."

As Old Hu spoke, he glanced at a large, bulky black cloth bundle beside him. It was stuffed full and emitted a thick, heavy stench of blood, suggesting a substantial yield.

"Got it, get ready. Southeast direction, four hundred meters. The target is moving fast."

The lean man in the tree did not lose focus, keeping his eyes locked on Du Ruo. Down below, Old Hu stood up, picked up a traditional recurve bow, adjusted the carbon-fiber arrows in the quiver on his back, faced southeast, and readied himself to loose an arrow at any second.

The two men occupied a slope—a rare high ground in the vicinity. Below the slope lay a massive clearing of grass formed by unknown causes, acting much like a natural barrier that instilled them with absolute confidence in hunting Du Ruo.

"Three hundred meters, about to reach the clearing."

"Two hundred and fifty meters, twenty meters away from the clearing."

"He's reached the edge of the clearing. He didn't stop—is he out of his mind?"

The lean man in the tree kept calling out positions. He had expected Du Ruo to halt at the edge of the clearing; after all, crossing a grassy belt nearly two hundred meters wide without cover meant Du Ruo would be rushing in like a sitting duck. If not for Du Ruo's clear and unwavering target direction, the man would have started doubting whether the youth was actually coming after them at all.

"I see him. Since he's courting death, I'll grant his wish."

Old Hu had already drawn his bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed squarely at Du Ruo.

By this time, Du Ruo had stepped out onto the open grass. With no cover available, he stopped altering his movement patterns and simply ran in a straight line at a steady pace.

"His target is my heart."

Yet the moment Old Hu aimed his bow, Du Ruo felt a tingling sensation in his chest—a psychic response triggered by the intense hostility of the archer's gaze, which resonated with Du Ruo's "Shen" (spirit/mind).

Martial artists typically possessed a specific trait: they avoided staring directly at the precise spot they intended to attack, instead utilizing peripheral vision to observe an enemy, precisely to prevent the target from growing alert and raising their guard ahead of time.

Even ordinary people could sense when they were being watched, let alone seasoned martial artists with practical combat experience and heightened concentration; their sensitivity was far greater.

There was only one exception: archers or modern marksmen, whose livelihood depended on their eyesight. Staring fixedly at their target was pure instinct.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

A rapid succession of piercing sounds echoed through the air. The arrows traveled at extreme velocity, their flight noise actually minimal—it was only Du Ruo's freakish hearing that picked them up. If Du Ruo had remained standing still, the foremost arrow would have pierced him; yet by sprinting forward rapidly, he would inevitably intercept the trailing arrows.

Moreover, the assailant had loosed four arrows simultaneously, completely sealing off Du Ruo's left and right evasion routes.

"Heh heh~"

Du Ruo grinned, neither dodging nor slowing his pace. Instead, he reached out with both hands, his arms sweeping through the air with a motion reminiscent of gentle ripples. He caught the first arrow in his left hand and the second in his right.

This was precisely the True Meaning of the Alligator in Xingyi Quan: Parting the Water and Striding Left and Right.