22 Sparring Match

Falling Star took a second to stabilize herself after her father stopped her backward momentum. Once stabilized she took her position in front of the students again. "Does anyone still think that I am exaggerating?" she asked the students in a severe tone. No one responded but Fang Tian narrowed her eyes at Falling Star. "Alright, since that is settled let's start the demonstration. The eagerness in Falling Star's voice was apparent to everyone.

"Master, how do you want to proceed?" Yu Chang asked. She hadn't given him any specific details about this demonstration earlier, so he wanted to clarify the guidelines.

"Mmmmm, just attack as you see fit. However, I'm going to raise my strength to that of a level 5. That should put us on equal footing I think." She wasn't exactly sure herself, the doctor said that Little Yu would be able to fight against level 5 cultivators, but she didn't really elaborate. After Falling Star answered, she released another level's worth of spirit energy before getting into an unusual combat stance. It was unusual because the stance was never really used in actual combat. Her left hand was extended forward while her right hand was behind her back. Her legs were similarly positioned.

While Falling Star raised her level and got into position, Yu Chang did a short warm-up stretch session. After finishing, he got into a more usual stance that most of the students recognized. His hands were up in front of his face while his arms were angled downward. His Right foot was positioned slightly back at a 45-degree angle.

Seeing the two in position, Cosmic Dragon took it upon himself to be the referee for the sparring match. "You may begin." His voice could be heard clearly throughout the auditorium even though he didn't raise it at all.

After getting the signal to begin Falling Star didn't move, she just grinned confidently at Yu Chang. Yu Chang, on the other hand, approached steadily with circular strides. Once he was within striking distance he released a flurry of kicks towards Falling Star. As the kicks approached her, she casually defended the strikes with her left hand. Yu Chang kept up the pace for several minutes without missing a beat, but never once landed a direct hit.

"Isn't he just way outclassed?" a student blurted out.

"He's got good form and stamina, but he's clearly not as fast or strong as Instructor Star." Another student started commenting with what seemed like an informed perspective.

"Is that what you all see right now?" Cosmic Dragon interrupted the evaluation the students were giving.

"Senior Dragon, are you suggesting that the problem lies somewhere else?" Fang Tian questioned. She didn't care much about combat, but she still wanted to support her beloved Yu Chang.

"You've got sharp instincts. To those who lack sufficient experience, it would look just how you all described it. However, to those of us that have seen our fair share of serious combat, we can see that this is indeed not the case. Tae-Kwon-Do is a more rigid school of martial arts, making it much easier for experienced fighters to predict their opponent. My daughter has been labeled a cultivation maniac, which isn't entirely inaccurate. Her focus lies about 95% in combat. It'd be easy for her to predict Little Yu's attacks and block them with the simplest movements. In fact, she is not so much block him as she is redirecting his momentum. It's similar to the concept of Tai Chi, though she is not actually using any martial arts currently."

"So are you saying that Tae-Kwon-Do is completely useless against Instructor Star?" Fang Tian replied with another question.

"It's not that it's useless, but Little Yu lacks practical combat experience. What he needs to do now is test his own limits while also testing his opponent's limits."

Yu Chang was listening to the assessment that Cosmic Dragon gave while attacking. 'He's right,' he thought. 'I need to become more unpredictable. With my experience, I can't do that with Tae-Kwon-Do. I guess it's time to switch it up.' With that thought in mind, Yu Chang 'stumbled' dropping his hands to the floor and twisting his upper body to bring a kick towards Falling Star.

Surprise flickered across Falling Satr's face and she was forced to bring her right hand up from behind her back to block the kick. Due to the unexpected change in attack patterns, she was unable to fully guard the against the attack and redirect it which forced her to stumble a bit.

Cosmic Dragon watched the shift in momentum and smiled. 'The boy has a good head on his shoulders. The question now is what will he do with the slight advantage.'

Yu Chang saw the change as well and entered into the capoeira jenga. He started moving right and left in a rhythmic pattern in almost dance-like fashion. Without warning, circular kicks came out at lightning speed mixed with three-point back kicks. Falling Star who had been caught off guard previously was forced to get serious and go into a full defense mode to block the kicks.

"You see," Cosmic Dragon spoke again. "The sudden shift in style broke the rhythm. Now Little Yu has the upper hand. It's a shame that he's fired up my daughter though, she's starting to take the match seriously. It's already very impressive that he was able to force her to get serious. If this weren't also a test for Little Yu, I would have stopped the match here."

The onlookers were petrified at Cosmic Dragon's words. If Falling Star got serious, wouldn't Yu Chang be in danger?