Martial Arts Master

by Stayrr

Here martial arts are no longer intangible legends. They have been passed on from generation to generation and from century to century. After the confrontation with science and technology, they have completely integrated into modern society and all kinds of martial arts competitions are taking place across the country as superiority among scholars are hard to reach a consensus but

4. 97 - 128

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Chapter 97: Gift

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

"These days the youth can't do anything without the mobile, laughing like an idiot." Lou Cheng's mom Qi Fang clicked about him playing with his phone in the car while taking the lead towards her sister Qi Yan's building.

Carrying alcohol, cigarettes, meat, and fish for this new year visit, Lou Cheng chuckled instead of retorting.

Fortunately, there's a generation gap between mom and I or she would know it is love!

Is it all one-sided? Based on Yan Zheke's recent responses and our interactions with each other, I feel pretty confident we have gone beyond the friend zone. Whether we're ready to get more intimate will be another story. Don't get the false sense and don't feel too good about myself. Most importantly, don't act recklessly and ruin the excellent trend!

The revolution is not yet completed, and I must struggle on!

"You are so out. Interpersonal communication of this generation lies on the internet, quite different from our days." Lou Zhisheng also held bags of new year presents.

"I'm out? If I really don't get it, will I only give him so little problem? On TV I saw some brutal, irresponsible parents send their children to rehabilitation centers." Qi Fang talked without getting to the point as she pressed the doorbell on the third floor.

About his aunt's home and their small supermarket developed slowly from a grocery store, Lou Cheng had great memories. He loved to come here and play in his childhood.

Whenever he had his pitiful eyes on some snacks, his aunt Qi Yan, firm in speech and soft in heart, would give him to eat, satisfying the poor kid from not so opulent circumstances.

The door was opened by Qi Yan in a white down coat. She took bags from Qi Fang's hands and sneered at Lou Cheng after a quick glance. "Cheng, your mom finally gave you some work to do!"

Looking rather similar to Qi Fang, Qi Yan took great care of her skin thus having few lines in her eyes as if she had just entered her 30s.

"No longer a kid. Of course, he can help with carrying stuff." Qi Fang changed into slippers casually.

Feeling sorry for her son having so much homework during his high school years, she hardly let him do any housework. He would always get the lightest bags when visiting relatives and friends.

Lou Cheng raised the bags and showed off his muscles. "I'm very strong now. These are just pieces of cake."

The three of them went in, seeing Lou Cheng's grandparents and uncle-in-law Chen Wenguo.

"Grandpa, grandma, uncle!" Lou Cheng greeted politely. He felt slightly bad they couldn't celebrate at his grandparents' house.

His uncle was a live-in son-in-law and his grandparents were in their 60s, hale and strong. Unwilling to part their familiar life and old neighbors, they still resided in their family house in a village with some farmland and a few chickens.

In front of the family house was a small river of ankle height at the deepest where fish could be caught if fortunate. Further up there was a dam, perfect for fishing. Along the mountain roads were their relatives' farms of fruit trees, beside which there were bunches of tadpoles swimming around. During each holiday, Lou Cheng would be over-excited to spend his time there.

Other than all these fun things, the filthy and smelly dry toilet was Lou Cheng's only fear for his grandparents' house. He wouldn't go to the toilet until he had to.

Lou Cheng's grandpa glowed with health. He called loud and bold,

"Why didn't you come back a few days earlier? Waited until the last minute for Chinese New Year! Come and sit. Have some peanuts and sweets. Pick whatever you like."

Lou Cheng wanted to tell him peanuts and sweets were not his cup of tea but instead he took a soft candy under his grandparents' eager eyes.

He had always been the precious one of his grandparents probably because he was the eldest in his generation.

Although poorly educated, his grandpa was a very capable man, good at woodwork, cooking, farming, cultivating, fishing, catching birds and more. He was an absolute idol for Lou Cheng.

The big family sat down and chatted about Lou Cheng's university life for a long time before moving to the next topic, giving Lou Cheng a break.

"Where is Fei and Xiao?" he asked something about his two younger cousins.

The two girls were both in junior high. Qi Yunfei was in Grade Nine while Chen Xiaoxiao in Grade Seven.

Qi Yan answered irritably, "They left early morning. Dare they not come back for lunch by noon, I'll break their legs!"

Lou Cheng switched to the point, "Aunt, where can I buy Ningshui County Brewery's original-proof spirits? And Maojian green tea?"

"Doesn't our market carry them both?" Uncle-in-law Chen Wenguo interrupted, puzzled.

From the same village with Lou Cheng's grandpa, the second boy of his family, he fell in love with Qi Yan at a very young age and won his parents-in-law's heart by becoming a live-in son-in-law. Very hardworking, the couple had moved to this county town for years, from part-time workers to grocery shop owners to have their own small supermarket and houses with no debts.

Lou Cheng was simmering with laughter. "Uncle-in-law, don't fool me with your original-proof spirits and Maojian green tea. Who's gonna believe it is real at that price?"

Chen Wenguo laughed loud. "Don't you look down upon our supermarket. Our original-proof spirits are actually from Ningshui County Brewery, mixed with our local sorghum brew. Very delicious!"

"Why? Those on the market are either fake or of low quality. You can't find real ones without some solid connections." Qi Yan asked, confused.

Lou Zhisheng and Qi Fang also turned to their son, searching Lou Cheng's face for a clue.

Lou Cheng gave half of the truth. "A friend of mine is gonna visit a senior relative who is originally from Ningshui County and very fond of the Brewery's original-proof spirits and Maojian green tea. He knew I would be in Ningshui and asked me to help him get some."

Throwing out Director Xing's name will probably scare my parents…

"Without connections, it's sheer luck. And it's almost new year. Sigh," said Qi Yan, helpless.

Lou Cheng's grandpa Qi Jiayu said, "Yan, doesn't Deng the Third often brag about his extensive connections? Ask him for Cheng."

"Phew! Deng the Third has his nose up in the sky. Every time I see him and hear him talking like a creep, I want to punch his face. Why would I bring myself to him?" Qi Yan answered snappishly.

Lou Cheng smiled. "Don't trouble yourself. I'm just asking for a friend. No big deal if I can't get it."

"Asking a question for Cheng won't kill you!" Lou Cheng's grandma Kong Meizhen pinched her daughter.

"Fine. Fine. I'll go. Come with me, Cheng. Just downstairs." Qi Yan twitched her mouth.

"Aunt indeed has a sharp tongue but a soft heart…" Lou Cheng snickered while standing up to follow Qi Yan.

The pair took a few steps down and soon arrived at Deng the Third's home.

Qi Yan warned Lou Cheng as she rang the doorbell. "Cheng, keep your temper later. Nice things never come from Deng the Third's mouth. Pretend he's a crazy dog."

"Got it." Lou Cheng felt his rashness and precipitancy had been rounded off after yesterday.

The dark red door opened a while later and a man with very thin hair answered, "Qi Yan, you never come to my house for no reason. What can I help you with this time?"

He combed his hair from one side to the other with his fingers to cover the bald crown of his head. Several whelks on his face argued his internal heat.

"Deng the Third, I heard you've got extensive connections. Can you get some original-proof spirits from Ningshui County Brewery and Maojian green tea?" Qi Yan asked bluntly.

Deng the Third stared these uninvited visitors up and down and clicked his tongue, "For you? Is it necessary? Why waste the money on your relatives? Don't go beyond your depth. Gonna be a waste of money and relations."

"I'm asking if you can get it. Do you have the connections?" Qi Yan took a deep breath.

Lou Cheng could feel his aunt was close to explode. He put on a smile. "We are asking for someone else."

Deng the Third kept them at the door and let out a long breath. "Let me be frank with you. Yes, I can get them but no, I won't get them for you. These two things don't seem that expensive, but the demand is way exceeding the supply. So it takes relations. You know, relations. My connections can get me a limited amount which is not even enough for myself. Who are you? How much can you pay? Why should I help you?"

"Fine! Fine!" Qi Yan was irritated.

He could have said no in a much nicer way! It would lead to a big quarrel if Lou Cheng didn't pull his aunt.

Lou Cheng had no intention to pay Deng the Third extra for the alcohol and tea as it wouldn't be a small present anymore. Back home, Qi Yan threw a blizzard of complaints about Deng the Third at her mother, cursing sores on his head and pustules under his feet.

"Aunt has no connection and I know no one else in Ningshui County. Who can I seek help from? Should I just buy regular Ningshui hard liquor and green tea?" Lou Cheng considered within himself.

If Wang Xu is still here, the original-proof spirits should be easy to get…

Besides Yan Zheke in Jiangnan, among all his friends only Tao Xiaofei, Qin Rui and Dai Linfeng might be able to get it…

Still a student, Lou Cheng's social circle was mostly made up by students. He walked to the balcony and dialed Tao Xiaofei's number.

After a long wait, Tao Xiaofei finally answered in a very sleepy voice,

"Brother Lou, what's the matter?"

"Still in bed?" Lou Cheng started with a casual weather talk.

Tao Xiaofei replied with a wry smile, "I didn't go to bed until six this morning."

"Young as you never run out of energy." Lou Cheng poked fun at him before cutting to the point. "Do you know where I can get some Ningshui County Brewery's original-proof spirits and Maojian green tea?"

Tao Xiaofei was lost. "Brother Lou, what for?"

"The thing earlier bothered Director Xing quite a bit. I'm thinking to pay a new year call with something nice to his taste." Lou Cheng told the truth.

Tao Xiaofei burst into a laugh. "Brother Lou, you've come to the right guy! I'll bring it to you. Two bottles and two boxes, enough?"

"Enough! I'll pay you." Lou Cheng was delighted.

"Brothers talk no money! He-heh. Honestly, my dad has the same taste. We've got quite some in the house. I'll just sneak some to you. He'll get more anyway," said Tao Xiaofei in a cheerful manner.

Lou Cheng could not refrain from laughter. "Aren't you afraid of Uncle Tao kicking your ass?"

"Nope! My skin is too thick for that! He wants to kick my ass everyday anyway!" Tao Xiaofei finally spoke like a young man in his late teens, not a punk who spent most of his time in bars and pubs. "Brother Lou, where are you now? I'll bring it to you."

"Not now. I'm in Ningshui. Meet me before the seventh." Lou Cheng smiled joyfully.

Tao Xiaofei insisted. "I'll bring it to you. It's under an hour by car. My mom is planning to spend the holiday in Nanhai. I'm not sure when I'll leave from Xiushan."

After giving him the full address, Lou Cheng returned to the living room and rejoined the conversation with his family.

Just over 40 minutes later, his phone rang and it was Tao Xiaofei.

Lou Cheng walked out of the building while speaking to him on the phone. At the entrance of the complex, he saw a sedan of the BMW 7-series.

"Brother Lou!" Tao Xiaofei got out of the car and greeted, passing him a bag of two bottles of the original-proof spirit and two boxes of Maojian green tea.

The original-proof spirits were in very rough package, as if from a small house brewery.

"Don't judge it by the bottle. The rougher it looks, the greater it tastes!" Tao Xiaofei laughed.

Lou Cheng quickly glanced at it and took it over. He said sincerely, "Thanks a million!"

"No problem! A piece of cake!" Tao Xiaofei answered with alacrity. "We are classmates!"

He clicked his tongue.

"I don't want you to fight for me. I was really shocked yesterday… I don't feel like dancing or seeking excitements as much as before. I'm actually pretty old in bars. Last night a chick I picked was taken away by another dude but I didn't say a thing. Whatever. She was neither my wife nor my girlfriend. Places like that never run out of girls. What's the point getting angry and fighting for girls?"

Lou Cheng looked at him, surprised. "Good for you! Your family has great power and wealth. No point losing everything for a girl. Who could you cry to?"

Tao Xiaofei nodded with great solemnity. "Life matters more than anything else! One can only enjoy if he's alive."

"Ha-hah! You sound like an old man in his 70s." Lou Cheng laughed at him.

Tao Xiaofei resumed his usual bearing. "Brother Lou, I won't ask more from you. Considering your current strength at such a young age, one day you'll be big on TV. Please don't pretend you don't know me so I can brag in front of my friends. Look! That hero Lou Cheng had BBQ with me last night! An old friend of mine!"

"Deal! He-heh. How sweet of you!" Lou Cheng promised merrily.

Watching Tao Xiaofei leaving in his luxury vehicle, Lou Cheng phoned Yan Zheke before heading back to his aunt's place.

Before reaching his aunt's, he heard Deng the Third's voice.

"Okay or not, be straight with me! You guys are lucky. A friend of mine has it left. A bottle of the original-proof spirit for 800 yuan, and a box of Maojian green tea for 1,200 yuan. 2,000 yuan in total. Let me know you want it or not!"

"Yes, it's more expensive than the market price but I can guarantee you it is real and you won't get the same deal if you pass this. Does your family have any connection? You can't get it if not extremely lucky!"

Lou Cheng laughed while pushing open the half closed door.

"No need. I got it already."

Got it? Qi Fang and Qi Yan turned towards Lou Cheng, in shock.

Cheng answered a call ten minutes ago and came back just now with the liquor and the tea already?

"Got it? Is it fake?" Deng the Third's face darkened and approached his bag recklessly without asking for permission. He took a close look and remained silent.

After a moment, he questioned, "How much did you pay? It is real but you might be ripped off!"

Lou Cheng answered with a bright grin,

"It's a gift. Free."

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Chapter 98: Happiness Knows No Bounds

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

"A gift?" Deng the Third half opened his mouth and raised his voice.

Before Lou Cheng could answer, Deng the Third's face turned red like the piece of cloth used in a bullfight, blood about to drop.

He was desperate to figure out the truth but unable to talk. His confusion came out as a chuckle. "As long as you got what you want."

He put that bag down and rushed to leave but stumbled over the threshold and almost fell by the door. He dashed down the flight of stairs without looking back.

A dead silence hovered above Qi Yan's living room for dozens of seconds until Lou Cheng's mom asked confusedly, "Cheng, who presented you these?"

A fresh year university student with little social connections could find his way to get Ningshui County original-proof hard liquor and Maojian green tea?

She felt responsible as the mother to dig out the truth to protect her son from a big scam!

Lou Cheng began to explain with a smile. "Mom, remember Tao Xiaofei, the boy sat right in front of me in high school? You probably met his mother or father during a parent-teacher meeting."

In normal Xiushan No.1 Middle School practice, parents would sit in their child's seat accordingly at parent-teacher meetings.

"Of course! His mom used to speak highly of your good grades and stability, making you a role model for Tao Xiaofei." Qi Fang started to recollect memories. "She looked fancy, glittering with jewelry…"

Lou Zhisheng couldn't help commenting. "Emm… Very well said. Glittering with jewelry. Perfect!"

Qi Fang glared at him. "My language is nothing in front of the well-educated. An illiterate woman as me can use such a big word. Shouldn't you a big scholar learn to cook? The kitchen is all yours from now on!"

Lou Zhisheng chuckled and quickly turned to Lou Cheng. "A gift from Tao Xiaofei?"

"Yeah. I was just trying. He said there were tons in his home and he offered me some." Lou Cheng closed the door behind him.

"Must be a good friend of yours. He came all the way here to give it to you." Qi Yan interrupted.

Chen Wenguo seemed pondering. "The Tao family must be doing well."

"Not bad." Nobody knew whether Lou Cheng's answer was for his aunt or uncle-in-law.

Qi Yan suddenly clapped and said with excitement, "Cheng, I can barely recognize you now. Ha-hah! I've never seen Deng the Third in such a wretched condition! Hmm! Can't we get it through our connections in this life? We got two for free!"

She sounded like a breath of foul air had found a vent.

Qi Fang came to heel. "I wanted to slap Deng the Third earlier!"

Her eyes were filled with joy, very pleased with his son. The thing the adults in the family couldn't solve was taken care of by her teenage son.

"Your friend offered it to you for free but we can't just take it," said Lou Zhisheng after a long thought.

Lou Cheng laughed. "Dad, don't worry. I'll be careful with consorting with my classmates."

Qi Jiayu was about to add on some compliments when the door was opened, two young girls coming in joyfully. He smiled at them. "Fei and Xiao, your mom would break your legs if you came a bit later."

"My mom? She always has her tongue in her cheek." Qi Yunfei snorted, rubbing her nose.

Qi Yan straightened her face. "My tongue is in my cheek? You are courting punches?"

"Mom, pardon me!" Qi Yunfei suddenly changed her tone sharply, leaving Lou Cheng in shock.

Bubbly and naughty, these two younger cousins of Lou Cheng together were quite hard to handle. Possibly the best-looking ones in their generation of the family, they were adorable and lovely, small featured and exquisite in the Ningshui dialect.

"Brother Lou Cheng, when did you arrive?" As her older sister adulated their mother, Chen Xiaoxiao looked at Lou Cheng with a sweet smile.

Looking very similar to her older sister, of the same fringe, her baby fat was still there and her eyes were slightly bigger, less pretty but much cuter.

"Long, long time ago." Lou Cheng exaggerated in a deliberately heavy tone.

After a few casual chats, the two girls went to their bedroom, getting themselves ready for lunch, with Lou Cheng following behind. He closed the door with his heel and crossed his arms in front of his chest, sneering.

"Be honest with me. What is going on heading out so early on the second day of the new year?"

Chen Xiaoxiao pretended to shiver. "Brother Lou Cheng, I'm nothing but a cover for Sister Fei's romantic date."

"My goodness. A romantic date is already at such a young age!" Lou Cheng teased, looking at Qi Yunfei in disbelief.

Qi Yunfei glared at Chen Xiaoxiao.

"Traitor!"

She grimaced at Lou Cheng. "I'm 15, in 9th grade. No longer a young age."

"Well, I don't really care as long as your mom is okay with that." Lou Cheng's eyebrows shot upwards.

Qi Yunfei turned pale from fear. "Brother Lou Cheng, you are not gonna sell me, are you?"

"Well, it depends. If you can't get in Xiushan No.1 Middle School or Ningshui No.2 Middle School… He-heh. You know…" Lou Cheng acted as if a unearthly god.

Qi Yunfei lowered her guard seeing his exaggeration. "That's enough about me. Brother Lou Cheng, any love story from university?"

"Getting there." Lou Cheng raised his right hand, with his thumb pressing against the first line of his pinky finger.

"Emm…" The two girls showed great interest. "So you are falling in love? Who is she?"

"I'll tell you when I succeed." Lou Cheng didn't want to set himself up.

The day of the family gathering was full of joy and laughter thanks to the two bubbly, interesting girls. After dinner, Qi Jiayu and Qi Yan convinced Lou Cheng and his parents to stay for the night.

Chen Xiaoxiao moved to her sister's room, giving hers to Lou Cheng's parents. Lou Cheng would be sleeping in the living room.

Since Qi Fang casually mentioned Lou Cheng's new habit of going to bed early at 10:30 p.m. and getting up early for morning exercise, they turned TV off at 10 p.m. and went to their room respectively.

As the night deepened, Lou Cheng logged out his QQ and remained in silence and clarity in preparation for sleep. Abruptly his mobile vibrated, waking him up from a dreamless state.

A phone call from Yan Zheke at midnight sharp.

"Why is she calling me all of a sudden?" Surprised, delighted, puzzled, worried and perturbed, Lou Cheng picked up his phone and answered.

"Hello, Cheng?" From the phone came Yan Zheke's lovely voice, cheerful.

"Hmm. It's me." Lou Cheng sounded confused, half awake.

Yan Zheke laughed gently. "Cheng, happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday?" Lou Cheng suddenly sobered up, remembering it was his birthday after middle night. The second day of February.

"Ha-hah! I forgot about it until this phone call." Lou Cheng's voice became louder with joy, echoing in the quiet and peaceful living room, his eyebrows dancing and his spirits soaring.

Yan Zheke waited until midnight just to wish me a happy birthday!

How wonderful!

She is adjusting her biological clock, adapting herself to morning training.

"No one but me celebrates the birthday for you?" Yan Zheke asked with a grin.

Afraid of waking up others, Lou Cheng grabbed his phone and put on a jacket, making his way to the balcony quietly. "The last birthday celebration I can remember was back to my primary school days. My parents usually just make me a bowl of longevity noodles."

Domestic difficulties didn't allow him to celebrate with cakes and luxury meals in junior high school and no celebration became his usual practice in senior high school as if it was unnecessary and immature.

As soon as he pulled open the door to the balcony, he saw a black shadow crouching in the corner and yelled in a very low voice,

"Who is this?"

The shadow jumped up with fear and turned around to face Lou Cheng, patting her chest. "Brother Lou Cheng, you almost scared me to death!"

It was his cousin Qi Yunfei in Grade Nine, wearing a nightgown with bunny ears under a light down jacket. Her hand holding her phone was slightly shaking.

"Same here. I thought you were a thief." Lou Cheng replied without covering the speaker on his mobile.

Qi Yunfei heaved a sigh. "Have you ever seen a thief cute like me? My boyfriend called and I didn't want to wake Xiao up. So I'm here on the balcony."

She stared at Lou Cheng, moving her brows with a sneer. "Looks like someone is in the same boat."

"Yes." Lou Cheng found it rather amusing. "What a coincidence!"

As if there was a tacit agreement, the pair occupied a corner each and got back to their phone call respectively.

"What was that?" asked Yan Zheke curiously.

Lou Cheng laughed. "I'm staying at my aunt's home. To not awake others, I came to the balcony but walked into my cousin on her phone."

"Phew… What's she doing on the balcony so late?" Yan Zheke chuckled.

Lou Cheng laughed. "Puppy love. She's on the phone with her boyfriend."

He turned his head, meeting Qi Yunfei's hot glare full of blame for his betrayal!

Lou Cheng wasn't bothered at all. He pretended he saw nothing and continued with Yan Zheke on the phone for several more minutes until he realized it might affect her early rising.

"May I ask for a birthday gift?"

"Sure but I have my right to say no." Yan Zheke teased. Lou Cheng could almost see her pursing her lips and chuckling.

Lou Cheng secretly pressed the recording button on his phone and then continued with excitement, "Please sing a happy birthday song to me."

"Hmm! Only because it is your birthday!" Yan Zheke started to hum. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you… What's your birthday wish? Hurry!"

Lou Cheng's heart was flooded with joy. He hinted after a long pondering. "As the old saying goes, many happy returns of this day!"

Many happy returns of this day with you!

"That's a good wish!" A faint pride and joy could be heard from her voice. She added, "I'm going to sleep. You, too. Rise early tomorrow for your training! Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" Lou Cheng felt great as her voice didn't turn cold. He hung up the call and tried hard to maintain the boiling happiness within himself as he didn't want to lose his dignity in front of his cousin.

He kept his emotion in until back in the living room he finally swung his arms in silence.

My 19 years old couldn't have a better start!

He turned to look at Qi Yunfei with a guilty conscience—her eyes secretly laid on him and her hand covered her face tightly, losing her usual self.

The pair smiled at each other and a tacit agreement developed. They made a gesture to encourage each other.

…

Lou Cheng enjoyed his holiday life to the full in the next couple of days. There was no class or homework lining up after his morning exercise and he didn't need to split his time between training and study.

Besides family gathering time were his everlasting phone calls and video calls with Yan Zheke, some fiction reading, internet surfing, mingling in group chats, spying on his forum, playing games with Jiang Fei and Cheng Qili while instructing their body exercise. His life was relaxing and enjoyable, mentally and physically. The brutal fight on the first day of this year seemed to go far away and he no longer dreamed about it at night.

Time flew and here quickly came the seventh day of this year. The date to pay Director Xing a new year visit.

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Chapter 99: The Director Is Just Another Human

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Lou Cheng called Director Xing to confirm the visit out of courtesy before setting off. Even though the Director said he would be home all day on the seventh, he didn't want just to show up. What if his family was still in bed? What if he had important guests?

"Lou, what time are you coming?" Once the call was connected, Director Xing asked open heartedly.

Lou Cheng smiled. "I'm about to leave. Just wanna make sure I won't disturb you and any important guest."

"Ha-hah. I do have some visitors here at the moment but they won't stay long. Feel free to come over. I'll let the guards know." Director Xing sounded very relaxed.

"Okay!" Lou Cheng hung up and reserved a taxi. He walked down with the bag of alcohol and tea and a very complicated feeling.

This is my very first time paying a new year visit on my own. I'm actually an adult stepping into society.

In less than 20 minutes, he arrived at Mingshan Residence on South Zhuangyuan Street and passed the entrance guard easily after giving his name. He started to make his way to Director Xing's home at Unit 2, Block 3.

There was only one home on each floor, so Lou Cheng confidently approached the copper door as he got out of the elevator and sounded the bell.

As the bell rang, the door was opened and a young man came out backward smiling and bowing low. "Director Xing, please don't see me out. You have other guests coming."

Xing Chengwu laughed nobly. "Drive safely. Improve and do good in the new year!"

Then he turned to Lou Cheng. "Come on in. Please feel at home."

The young man stared Lou Cheng up and down, heading to the elevator without a word.

Lou Cheng went in and changed to a pair of house slippers. He just noticed how strapping Director Xing was. His witted and capable bearing was sharp even in his housekeeping outfit.

"Holy cow! That day I was too shocked to take a good look at Director Xing… I won't be able to recognize him if chancing upon on the street…" Lou Cheng swept off some imaginary cold sweat and handed over the gift bag.

"Uncle Xing, happy new year. I wish you and yours every joy in life."

"You young boy should bring no gift! I just thought if I should give you some lucky money!" Xing Chengwu joked while accepting the bag.

He opened the bag and frowned. "Original-proof spirits from Ningshui County Brewery and Maojian green tea. It cost you a fortune, didn't it?"

"Not really. We happen to have some in the house. So I borrow flowers to offer to Buddha." Lou Cheng answered politely as his shyness and strangeness faded away.

Xing Chengwu wiped the frown off and laughed. "I'll take it if it comes for free. Good, the Buddha happens to like these flowers very much. Actually, I fancy nothing more than these two!"

"A master hinted me." Lou Cheng made a joke.

Xing Chengwu put the bag down on the tea table and signaled Lou Cheng to sit down. "A master?"

Lou Cheng grinned. "Yan Zheke is a classmate of mine. She told me you like to have a cup of tea during the day and a shot of wine at night."

Xing Chengwu appeared surprised and delighted. "Ke is your classmate? You didn't need to reach me through your master! Ha-hah! It's kind of fated. I'll accept these as if you were a nephew of mine."

"I've called you uncle already!" Lou Cheng tried to be funny. "Yan Zheke told me you are specialized in Gold and Jade-Like Method and modern Xingyi?"

He intended to leave early after some casual greetings as he was not familiar with Director Xing at all and uncomfortable to stay in an awkward silence.

"That's right." Xing Chengwu was obviously proud. "I wouldn't be here talking to you without my training in Gold and Jade-Like Method. I bet I would be either high paraplegia or dead by now."

Director Xing couldn't stop once he started off on this topic. "I studied in formal martial arts schools and got in the Police Academy in the end. This kind of hard style of close melee is the most suitable for this job. You guys have referees and supervisors in the tournament, but we have only one life to fight facing armed criminals. Gold and Jade-like Method can't block bullets but it secures the vital parts of the body, turning a severe injury minor and saving lives in the Police Department."

Less advanced in life, Lou Cheng had never heard such things until that day. He listened with full attention and agreed from time to time.

"It seems like Director Xing was not one of those big forces. The government trained him…" Lou Cheng thought to himself.

Director Xing's storytelling was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. A tall young girl came out of the bedroom with a middle-aged woman with her hair tied up. Delicate and thin, the girl with very long legs talked like a spoiled child, "Daddy, mommy and I are going shopping. We can't have a moment of peace when you are here during the new year holiday. Groups of guests have come in turn in an hour."

Seeing a strange man sitting in the living room, she suddenly straightened her face, turning herself callous and keeping him a thousand miles away.

Lou Cheng felt awkward sitting there. He stood up beside Director Xing as he began to introduce. "Jingjing, this is Ke's classmate, the young master Lou Cheng I mentioned before."

"Lou Cheng, this's my daughter Xing Jingjing, two years older than Ke but just one year senior to you in Huahai University. She and Ke are best friends." Chief Xing continued with a beam of joy, "And this is my wife. You can call her Aunt Ding."

"Hello, Aunt Ding. Hi, sister." Lou Cheng didn't know how to address Xing Jingjing and decided to call her sister simply.

With Yan Zheke's warning in advance, he had fear for Xing Jingjing and was very afraid of offending her with wrong words.

"My husband talked about you at home. Young and capable, remarkable." Aunt Ding smiled. "You and Ke are classmates? You must be still in school. Which university?"

"Songcheng University, same school with Yan Zheke." Lou Cheng had no intention to lie as Xing Jingjing could easily find out the truth from Yan Zheke.

Aunt Ding would like to chat more but Xing Jingjing dragged her impetuously as if she couldn't bear staying in the same room with Lou Cheng.

"I'll leave it to you guys. We're going shopping." Aunt Ding frowned briefly but managed to maintain her composure.

Lou Cheng found Xing Jingjing's behavior rather odd but didn't comment on it. He politely said goodbye.

I didn't talk like a rogue, bully or pervert. Why was Xing Jingjing so disgusted with me as if I was a cockroach? She didn't even care about her manners.

Putting on her knee-height boots, Xing Jingjing left with her mother. Noticing Lou Cheng's confusion, Xing Chengwu sighed as he sat down. He opened one of the original-proof spirits and poured himself a shot on the tea table.

"Lou, I suddenly feel like some booze. Hope you don't mind." He forced an involuntary smile.

Lou Cheng answered at once, "Of course not. Help yourself."

Xing Chengwu drank half and closed his eyes to taste the fragrance and the spice. After a while, he broke the silence. "Lou, do you know which two kinds of criminals are the most terrifying?"

"I don't." Lou Cheng answered frankly. He had no idea why Director Xing suddenly threw this question at him.

Xing Chengwu chuckled. "Gang heads like Zhang Mingle are not our biggest problem. With their roots and family here, they have their boundaries and concerns. They won't cross the line unless cornered and desperate."

"Among them are reckless, brutal trouble makers like Jian the Third but they are under control in general. If I could get in touch with Jian the Third prior to the first day of this year and warned him to send the Ninth Pin martial artist of the Dark Sect away from Xiushan, this big case wouldn't ever take place."

Reflecting on what Director Xing just said, Lou Cheng murmured, "Uncle Xing, those passing by criminals, committing a crime and running away, are the biggest fear for you police."

Xing Chengwu nodded. "Yes, these criminals are used to flee from one place to another, fearless and ruthless. They dare to commit major crimes with no concern for possible future trouble. Just like that Ninth Pin fighter of the Dark Sect. As long as his crime is not filmed and no important evidence is left behind, he pretty much can't be traced once we lose him. After all we have no idea who he is and what his background is."

He took another sip and seemed in a trance. "Another group is those under age. Capable of causing big problems, lacking family and school education, protected by laws, they have balls to pierce open the sky!"

"And most of their crimes are on the spur of the moment. No plans or signs like those prior to murder for love or hate. Impossible to keep a lookout… They'd kill a passerby just to show their courage and rape a young woman after watching a film."

Chief Xing's bitter look reminded Lou Cheng of a conversation he had with Yan Zheke.

In their second year in senior high school, an attempted rape happened to a girl on her way home from school. Stories and rumors scared the girls and the boys volunteered to escort their female peers home.

Considering Xing Jingjing's overreaction towards rogues and perverts and Director Xing's looks, could she be the victim?

Watching Director Xing sipping on the shot glass bitterly, Lou Cheng felt deeply sorry for him. "An influential and capable figure in Xiushan, the deputy director of the Police Department, he would also feel helpless, painful and self-reproving.

He is just another human. He makes mistakes, suffers and aches…"

Xing Chengwu didn't know Lou Cheng had already guessed the truth. He swiftly changed the topic as soon as he calmed down.

"Lou, train harder so you can protect your family and friends. My Jingjing used to hate police officers and martial arts because of my frequent absence during her growing up. Somehow she's joined the Martial Arts Club of Huahai University. Maybe one day you'll meet each other in the National University Martial Arts Competitions."

"Uncle Xing, rest assured. I take martial arts seriously as my future," answered Lou Cheng genuinely.

They chatted a bit more when Lou Cheng stood up to leave. Director Xing didn't ask him to stay longer.

Lou Cheng soon threw this matter behind and went back to his leisurely holiday life. In a flash, the new school term was about to start.

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Chapter 100: Food Operation

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Thinking about the new martial arts set Geezer Shi promised, the upcoming preliminaries, himself becoming one of the pillars of the Martial Arts Club, and Yan Zheke whom he had been missing for the entire winter holiday, Lou Cheng was looking forward to the new school term more than ever.

One day apart seems like three years. How many days have we parted?

However many phone calls and video calls can't match having the beautiful girl standing by his side!

He wanted to buy a ticket for the next train and set off tonight, but he needed a message to make sure whether there was a right premise.

"I'm in my dorm, unpacking." Yan Zheke sent a "fist of encouragement" emoji. "When is your train? You didn't get your ticket again?"

Lou Cheng felt delighted and answered with no hesitation. "I got a ticket for tonight. See you tomorrow morning!"

He knew Yan Zheke's flight was today so he booked tonight's train ticket. But he was ready to change his ticket in case Yan Zheke's flight got delayed or canceled. So he didn't share it with her yet.

Game on!

Operation Food, bringing all the delicious food from Xiushan to his loved girl!

As Yan Zheke was unpacking her bag and cleaning her dorm room, Lou Cheng rushed out with his wallet, key, and mobile.

"Sigh… Cheng, will you have dinner at home tonight?" Lou Cheng's mother Qi Fang shouted at his back.

"Yes!" Lou Cheng answered loudly without stopping. He reached the entrance of the residence in no time.

It's 3 p.m. now. I must hurry or braized quail eggs, and tamale bread will be sold out!

A few minutes later, the car arrived. Lou Cheng threw himself in and gave his destination.

"Old Xinhua Book Store!"

It took Lou Cheng 20 minutes to get to the old Xinhua Book Store through traffic. He felt relieved upon seeing the stall selling braized quail eggs. He strode over, took a quick glance and blurted out,

"One potion, please."

He would love to bring more but the limited capacity of his large thermal insulation lunchbox had to be shared with other delicious food.

He waited until the last second to buy these so everything could stay in a comparably good condition when presented to Yan Zheke.

To make sure these stalls would be open and not sold out, he had come twice to figure out the best route. If Yan Zheke arrived in Songcheng two hours later today, he would have changed his ticket to tomorrow night.

The stall owner glared at him and murmured,

"Only one potion for such a growing man?"

His hands didn't slow down. He opened a small bag and filled it up until it could accommodate no more.

The owner accepted the money and handed over the bag. Lou Cheng quickly ran into a taxi and shouted out his destination without catching his breath.

"The back entrance to No. 1 Middle School!"

With no traffic jam, he reached the familiar food street outside the back entrance to his middle school in merely ten minutes. Lou Cheng took the change and rushed to the stall selling tamale bread.

About a dozen was left. Thank goodness… Lou Cheng glanced over the cart and ordered with joy. "Mister, please give me two."

He carefully recalled the flavor of eating of Yan Zheke before requesting,

"No spring onion, please!"

"No problem." The middle-aged stall owner poured the top four potions of tamale into a basin and started to add seasonings.

His moves brought Lou Cheng back to his senior high years when he and his school mates would run to the locked gate during the ten-minutes break to order this bread as if prisoners behind bars.

This tamale bread was very popular among No. 1 Middle School students for its perfect location and amazing flavor. Lou Cheng had tried many, but none of them was as tender however good their smell was.

Not a restaurant critic, Lou Cheng didn't have better words than chewy, tasty, smooth, tender and lively to describe this tamale. Cao Lele who used to sit right in front of him and hate tamale eventually became a fan of this stall.

According to the owner, they cut beef off the bone and chopped it into small pieces to achieve the tender and smooth texture. The bread made from high-quality ingredients provided a slightly sweet aftertaste, working up a healthy appetite.

Coming back from his random thoughts, Lou Cheng saw the stall owner shaking his hand full of chopped spring onion.

Spring onion?

He came back to reality and stared at the owner with anger. "I said no spring onion!"

The owner looked embarrassed. "Sorry! I got used to it… Look! Only a few pieces on the top. I'll take them out."

Lou Cheng's anger was mixed with amusement.

"Forget about it. I'll eat these two myself. Please make two more with no spring onion!"

"Yes!" The owner, much relieved, went back to make food. He gave the first two with spring onion to Lou Cheng and mixed another basin without it.

Lou Cheng gazed at the owner like a tiger watching its prey, ready to take action in case the man reached his hand to spring onion again. He took a bite of the bread and this familiar chewy, tasty, tender, smooth and lively tamale almost made him cry with satisfaction.

He finished the two potions in no time as if he hadn't had any for years. But actually he just had four yesterday on his exercise trip.

He double checked there was no spring onion before he paid and took the bag. On the way out of the food street, he booked a taxi online.

The next stop, House Wang Rice Noodles!

He arrived in just over ten minutes. When he saw the bamboo steamer at the takeaway counter, he felt completely relaxed.

One last step and the mission will be completed!

Originally a crossing-the-bridge noodles restaurant, House Wang blended in Xiushan characteristics over the years. The soup slowly boiled in a clay pot would be poured on cooked rice noodles, with powerful flavors and a long finish.

Their sticky rice cakes were fluffy and cute, smooth and sweet with an extra refreshing fragrance from the wrapping bamboo leaves.

"Two, please!" Lou Cheng said to the waitress with a big, bright smile.

His watch kicked 4:10 p.m. when he completed Operation Food. He took a taxi home as he practiced before and sneaked into his bedroom. He took out the newly purchased mini vacuum device to suck the air out of the bags of tamale bread, braized quail eggs, and sticky rice cakes and sealed them before placing them into different layers of his large insulation lunchbox.

He was chatting with Yan Zheke all this time not to expose his operation.

Before 6 p.m., he walked out of his bedroom and said to Qi Fang,

"Mom, I'm taking tonight's train."

Watching TV on the couch, Qi Fang suddenly jumped up. "What? I thought you didn't decide when to go back to school! Why so sudden?"

"The Martial Arts Club has a special training." Lou Cheng told a white lie.

Qi Fang frowned. "I was planning to make you a big meal before you go… We don't have much at home now… Sigh… I'll go to the supermarket."

She rushed out before Lou Cheng could respond.

Watching his mom dashing out of the door, Lou Cheng slightly felt guilty. He waited until 5:45 p.m. and took a taxi in a rush again.

When he got to Old Liu Barbecue in the old town, the restaurant was just open, getting the BBQ rack ready.

"Two eggplants for takeaway. No spring onion!" Lou Cheng emphasized.

"Sure. Take a seat and wait." Old Liu smiled, very friendly.

When the eggplants were ready, Lou Cheng couldn't help reminding before Old Liu took it in for seasonings.

"No spring onion, please!"

Old Liu laughed. "Young man, get off my back! Telling me once is enough."

"Sure. Sure…" Lou Cheng laughed at himself but unconsciously he shouted again at Old Liu's back before he disappeared into the kitchen.

"No spring onion, please!"

Several minutes later, Old Liu came out with a disposable container, a bit annoyed. "Your eggplants. No spring onion!"

"Thank you. Thank you!" Lou Cheng didn't care. He quickly paid and left.

Back home, he put eggplants and sauce into a bag, pumped air and sealed the bag before putting it in the bottom layer of the lunchbox while his mom busy in the kitchen.

He heaved a sign as closing his lunchbox, with joy all over his face.

Double protections. Should be safe!

Take tonight's express train and I'll be there tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock. It might still be warm by then!

…

Around 10 p.m., he said farewell to his parents and left with his luggage and the disguised lunch box by illegal taxi to the station.

He waited for over an hour and Yan Zheke already fell asleep when the train finally pulled in. He found his seat with ease.

Placing his backpack on the rack, he wasn't sure what to do with the lunch box. He didn't want it to fall down during the night.

Putting it on the table would cause inconvenience to others and disturb his own sleep as he didn't have a window seat.

After thinking all this over, he kept the lunch box in his arms and adjusted his backrest, calling it a night.

Yan Zheke will be surprised by this, won't she?

Will she be touched?

I spent quite some money this new year but I also got some lucky money from senior members of the family. Plus my secret savings—16,000 yuan in total should be enough for taking her out…

Sigh… The preliminaries and study… How much time do we have to date?

However, I can train with Yan Zheke… He-heh…

Don't know how big the difference between Lin Que and me is…

In his imagination, lust, expectation, intimidation, and considerations of loss and gain, Lou Cheng hugged the large lunchbox tightly, falling asleep. The last clear thought in his head was:

Songcheng, I'm back!

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Chapter 101: Practicing Again and Again

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

It was 5:30 early in the morning. Lou Cheng woke up naturally, and the sky outside was still looking dark, covered in shiny stars.

He subconsciously checked his thermal lunch box and made sure there were no issues before going to the toilet to clear his bladder. He washed his face and rinsed his mouth.

After that, he switched on his phone, logged into QQ and held his lunch box tightly again. He closed his eyes, meditated and started practicing the 'Condensation Stance', seizing every precious second.

After about 20 minutes later, the beeping message tone sounded. Lou Cheng took out his phone and saw that it was Yan Zheke who sent him a "determined face with a red ribbon across the forehead" emoji. "The beautiful lady has woken up!"

This is what I've said before… He could not hold back from breaking out into a soft laugh. Then he quickly replied, "I am the one who woke up the earliest!"

They exchanged a few messages before Yan Zheke then went out for her morning training. As for Lou Cheng, he held back and kept mum about the fact that he had packed a lot of delicacies for her. Pleasant surprise, pleasant surprise. Where would pleasant be if not with surprise?

At 6:13 a.m., the bullet train had arrived at Songcheng North Station. Lou Cheng carried his luggage on his back, hugged his lunch box and moved towards the exit following the crowd. The sky outside was faintly bright and the damp winter breeze blew on his face as he stepped out of the station.

At this time, there was no online car-hailing, and cab drivers would be unwilling to drive him to Songcheng University due to the short distance. As for illegal taxi, they would charge him with a high fee. In the end, Lou Cheng decided to wait for the bus at a nearby stop. After a while, the bus came and he got on it. It was almost empty as there were only a total of five people on the bus, including the bus driver.

Instead of getting himself a seat, he stood at the wide space near the back door with his feet apart. As he went into meditation, he could feel the pausing and bumping of the bus. He tried to stable himself as he took this opportunity to practice Yin-Yang Stance.

Martial arts live in daily routines!

The bus stopped and moved for a few stops before Lou Cheng finally reached the old school region of Songcheng University. He arrived at the bus stop familiarly and waited for the shuttle bus to come over and drive him towards the new school region.

While waiting, he placed his luggage and thermal lunch box at a clean area, took out his outer down jacket, and placed it on top of them. Dressed in fleece and long casual trousers, he slowly practiced his every movement as well as tricked set practice routine to train every part of his body, looking like the grandpa and grandma that usually practiced tai chi to strengthen their bodies. Towards the mocking and curious looks of the surrounding few people who were also waiting for the shuttle bus, he turned a blind eye.

Six months was enough to change a person. When faced with martial arts, he no longer felt embarrassed or unconfident about exhibiting his skills in front of others.

At 6:40 a.m., the first school shuttle bus departed on time, and drove towards the new school region on the outskirt. Lou Cheng was acting out Big or Small Hand Wrap tactics in his mind, attempting to challenge himself.

The small ripples were seen on Weishui Lake as the breeze blew, the scenery of the surrounding trees and hills reflected on the water, the inverted image of the school buildings with lit lamps shown on the surface of the lake. These familiar scenes made Lou Cheng felt at ease, calm and a sense of belonging.

The morning mist filled the air, making the weather chilly. He walked into the cold spring breeze, along the pedestrian walkway that was filled with groups of people. It was about 7:20 a.m. and to many Songcheng University students, this was the final semester for them to self-study and prepared for the final examinations.

Upon reaching Room 2-302, Building No.7, Lou Cheng took out his keys and consecutively opened the two doors.

He entered the small bedroom and realized that Zhao Qiang, Qiu Zhigao and Zhang Jingye were not in the room. However, the things were placed neatly and it was obvious that they had gone to the cafeteria for breakfast, in preparation for a brand new beginning of their independent study lives. As for the room next door, faint snoring sounds could be heard.

"Little Ming that fellow must have played the online game with them the whole night…" Lou Cheng silently judged as he put down his luggage. He then opened his thermal lunch box, took a pair of scissor, cut open the wrappers and poured the dishes into the different tiers of his lunch box.

"It's indeed still warm, and just microwaving it for a few minutes will do…hmm, but the braized quail egg can't be microwaved, I guess it's still edible to eat like this." He inspected the food and stacked them nicely back into the thermal lunch box. With an excited and nervous heart, he carried them out of his room and towards the One Cafeteria located near the female dormitory. He found the microwave and heated up the food. Then patiently, he sat at one of the tables and waited for Yan Zheke to return from her morning training.

While waiting, his mind ran wild and he could not calm down. His heart was beating faster as he started to feel nervous, worse than the first time he got to the arena.

What should I do later?

I'll just tell her that I've bought her sticky rice cake and want her to come over, for that's the easiest to take away and the least obvious to reveal my real intention…

When she sees others, I guess she'll be surprised? Then should I take that opportunity to say something?

Erm, what should I say then? If she were to say "You still remember what I told you", then I should reply "Whatever you say, I'll always remember them in my heart"…

No, Little Ming said that before the girl makes the final decision, the guy shouldn't give an obvious hint, or the girl will feel pressurized and not at ease. This'll lead to a least wanted outcome…

What about changing the words and tone? If I reply with "Of course I'll remember the things you said", there's not only a hint but also some ambiguity, yet not very obvious…

Yeah, that's it. Gonna take note of my breathing pace as well, can't appear to be too panic and nervous. Need to be steady, calm and easy…

…

All sorts of thinking started to appear in Lou Cheng's mind as he imagined how he should respond in different scenarios. He continually deliberated and practiced his replies, to the extent that he even took into consideration of his breathing pace. In the end, he could not even sit still as he stood up and walked up and down. He imagined Yan Zheke was right in front of him as he kept practicing his sentences, aiming for perfection and to hopefully leave a great impression on the girl.

At around 8 a.m., Yan Zheke finished her morning training and started to message him on the phone.

After he confirmed that she had taken her bath, Lou Cheng took a deep breath, "chuckled" and said,

"I've brought sticky rice cake for you, come and eat!"

Yan Zheke sent a "surprised face with mouth covered by a hand" emoji and added, "You seriously brought the sticky rice cake? Hee hee, not bad, you still remember Coach Yan! Just right I am really hungry now, where are you?"

"At One cafeteria, near the microwave." Lou Cheng replied, feeling excited. He then quickly placed the grilled eggplant, tamale bread, and sticky rice cake separately into the microwave, each warming them up for a short while before displaying them neatly on the cafeteria table. He stood behind these delicacies, looking at the entrance in the distance.

Thud-thud, thud-thud, his heart started pounding hard like a drummer beating his drum. He could feel his blood flowing fast into his head, which caused him to shiver a little. He then revised his speeches all over again.

After a while, a silhouette of his lover whom he kept thinking day and night appeared at the entrance. Yan Zheke dressed in a white woolen sweater topped with a long plain color down jacket, and wore a dark-colored pair of jeans with a pair of snow boots, attracting many passersby's attention.

She stood there and glanced around the area to look for signs of him, seemingly a little lost. Her tilted forehead was similar to that a dragonfly's, as her black hair flowed down like a waterfall, making her beautiful and mesmerizing. Her beauty dazed Lou Cheng that he had forgotten about his breathing pace, which he had earlier practiced on.

Finally, she found the microwave location and saw Lou Cheng by the side. The corner of her lips curled up as she grinned and lifted up her right hand, gesturing to him before she quickened her pace towards him.

Lou Cheng hurriedly stepped forward two steps and met her by the table.

Just when Yan Zheke was about to speak, she suddenly saw a variety of delicacies displayed on the table beside her. There were Old Liu grilled eggplant, tamale bread, House Wang sticky rice cake, braized quail egg, as well as three other piping hot dishes placed in front of her.

Her mouth was half-pouted, half-opened, forming a cute O-shaped. She then raised his right hand and covered her mouth as she turned around. She swayed her long hair, showing her side-face to Lou Cheng. He noticed her sharp nose, healthy-looking face, fairly smooth skin, and long eyelashes that pointed downwards, blocking her eye.

After a short moment of silence, she turned her head. Her eyes shone like diamonds as she studied Lou Cheng.

Lou Cheng had heard before that eyes were the windows to the soul, where you could see through a person's feeling, but at this time, he could only see shock and happiness within Yan Zheke's eyes. As for other feelings, they were too complicated to be put into words.

Yan Zheke put down her right hand, lowered her head, smiled and said,

"You really bring all of them here…"

"Yup, I've said that I'll need to thank Coach Yan for the help. Afterall, you are my life mentor." The moment Lou Cheng blurted out his reply, he regretted. "What the hell did I just said?

That's totally different from what I've practiced just now!

His mind went blank as he stood there frozen. He must not have presented himself well.

Just then, he heard Yan Zheke giggled as he saw her pursed lips and smiling eyes. She seemed amused.

Yan Zheke tilted her head again to the side, acted as if nothing had happened and said,

"Let's eat together. It's too much just for me alone, and it won't be nice when it's cold."

"Sure!" Lou Cheng agreed, beaming with joy. The only regret was that the tables and chairs in the cafeteria were fixed together, so he could not act like a gentleman to pull out the chair for her.

Just as he was about to sit, he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly stood up. He was upset as he chanted.

"Chopsticks! Chopsticks!"

How can I forget about chopsticks!

Points are gonna be deducted again!

He dared not look at Yan Zheke, as he hurriedly ran towards the windows to get the chopsticks. He could hear the girl's soft giggling sound from his back.

While grabbing the chopsticks, he did some mental preparation before turning around. To his surprise, Yan Zheke was giving him a beaming smile, and there was no sign of detest or dislike from her look.

He heaved a sigh of relief as a smile revealed on his face. He hurriedly returned to the table, handed the chopsticks to the girl and sat opposite her. Watching her delicately picked up a piece of eggplant, elegantly chewing it with her set of neat white teeth and her long black eyebrows revealing a sense of comfort and satisfaction, he was admiring another side of her. She was so beautiful.

Lou Cheng could not get enough of her as he kept peeping at her with every opportunity he had. To him, Yan Zheke's passion towards the food was equivalent to her affirmation towards him, and this gave him a great sense of satisfaction.

All of a sudden, Yan Zheke raised her head and stared at him. She caught him peeping at her.

Subconsciously, Lou Cheng looked down. He grabbed his chopsticks, randomly picked up a pea and put it in his mouth, covering up his embarrassment.

On the other hand, Yan Zheke seemed to be getting a little warm as her face reddened. She looked down once again. A faint smile crossed her face as she spoke softly, "Coach Shi sent an email to all Martial Arts Club members, stating that martial arts lesson is starting the day after tomorrow when school reopens. As for special training, it'll start tomorrow as soon as everyone has arrived. If not, it'll start on the day after tomorrow, so it's to be confirmed. Have you seen it?"

"Ah?" Lou Cheng was confused at first, then he finally came to himself and said, "Saw it, saw it. He might discuss the preliminaries then."

A long-distance communication during the school break had caused the face-to-face interaction between Yan Zheke and himself seemed anxious and awkward. He was not sure what to speak about, but luckily, the girl initiated the conversation and talked about the stuff in the Martial Arts Club. This enabled him to go with the flow as he went on with other topics, not letting there be any awkward silence in their meeting.

Unknowingly, Yan Zheke placed down her chopsticks. There was only residue left in the multi-tier lunch box, and of course, part of the food was eaten by Lou Cheng. However, he was too focused admiring the girl who sat opposite of him and too mesmerized with her smile, so he did not focus much on the food he ate…

"I've eaten so much… gosh, will I grow fat…" Yan Zheke gasped, feeling worried.

Lou Cheng hurriedly consoled her. "Nah, you've been practicing martial arts, which consumes a lot of energy. That's why you should replenish it."

Yan Zheke slightly nodded, took a glance at the thermal lunch box and commented. "This works so well? The braized quail egg is still warm, not cold at all."

"Works better than I thought." Lou Cheng grinned widely as if he was being praised.

After chatting for a while, he packed his lunch box and sent Yan Zheke back to her dormitory.

The two of them walked side by side. Lou Cheng could smell the sweet light fragrance from her and this triggered his heart, making him felt as if he was in the Fairyland.

Not sure if the fragrance was from her shampoo or her body… his thoughts started to run wild as he, again, quietly studied the girl. He noticed the fair looking skin under her dark black hair, her tiny-looking ears, and her non-stop chatting mouth that kept rambling on.

Soon, the two of them had arrived in front of the entrance of Block 3 at Yan Zheke's dormitory.

Before bidding goodbyes, Lou Cheng suddenly thought of an idea as he hopefully yet anxiously tried his luck by asking, "Well, I did say to treat you to a big meal to thank you for the luck you brought to me, so when are you free?"

Please don't go back on your words… Hope I can successfully date you out…

Yan Zheke tilted her head to the side, closed her lips lightly and smiled. She then replied, "Then you get to prepare a strategy, I don't want to eat any awful food."

"Strategy…" Lou Cheng looked dazed all of a sudden, then finally realized that the girl had agreed to a date!

His mind was in a mess as he felt ecstatic, and he quickly replied,

"Sure, sure, I'll do my best, no, I'll immediately come out with the strategy!"

"Alright, I'll go back first. I still yet to finish my winter break investigation report!" Yan Zheke left without turning back as she waved her hand and walked towards the Block 3 entrance.

Lou Cheng stood outside the entrance. He was feeling very restless and joyful, as his eyes followed Yan Zheke's back until she entered the unit entrance.

Her hair is already as long as her sweater. Ah, what a great hair texture…

She seems to be about 1.65m tall with such a perfect ratio, and her legs are long and slim…

…

Just when his mind was straying off, he suddenly noticed the girl looked back!

This shocked him, and was afraid that the girl saw his "lecherous" look.

Looking him at a loss, Yan Zheke looked around before she broke into a sweet smile.

A loud thud sounded in his mind. Lou Cheng stared blankly. This was the first time he deeply understood what the ancient Chinese poem meant by "Her charms dazzled many as she turned back and smiled."

It was till the girl left the unit entrance, did he started to wake up, feeling ecstatic and restless.

What should I do next?

Can I take this opportunity to try holding her hand as we are crossing the road?

He could not calm himself down and decided to return to consult Little Ming about it. When he entered the dormitory, before he could knock on the door of the opposite room, Cai Zongming popped out from the door, with a black hero head kerchief on his head.

"What's up?" Lou Cheng said, shocked by his sudden appearance.

Cai Zongming replied with a "stern" look on his face,

"I, Cai Zongming, am f*cking displeased with your strength!"

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Chapter 102: The Cross Talk Duo

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Hee… Lou Cheng almost burst out laughing as he replied him with a popular internet slang,

"Duh, you're gonna bite me?"

Cai Zongming was filled with determination at first, but his spirit wilted immediately after as he replied sourly, "I'm just expressing my determination, got it? Determination! Wait till I join the special training this semester, and I'll rechallenge you before the summer break!"

"Great, I shall wait and see!" Lou Cheng did not pursue on with this matter but moved on with what's on his mind. He glanced left and right before he whispered, "Talker, to the balcony, I've something to consult you."

Cai Zongming took down the hero head kerchief on his head, gave an evil laugh and said, "Your goddess and you have a breakthrough, and you need my advice on what to do next?"

"F*ck, how did you guess that?" Lou Cheng replied with a shock.

Cai Zongming tsk-tsked. "Look, you just don't carve the matter out into words. Your lecherous expression tells it all!"

Lou Cheng touched his face, smile forcefully and said, "Is it that obvious?"

While chatting, both of them arrived at the balcony. They had closed the glass door that led to the living room, isolating themselves from the rest of the world.

Just as Lou Cheng was about to start, Cai Zongming grinned cheekily and said,

"Well, feel like there's a need for some cigarettes whenever we're here to chat. How about this? You pretend to give me a cigarette, while I pretend to smoke."

Hee… Lou Cheng gave him a despising look and pretended to take a cigarette from his pocket. He then handed "it" to him and added, "Come, Casanova, here's a 'cigarette' for you."

"Great!" Cai Zongming grinned and took "it". He placed "it" in his mouth.

Just when he was about to "light it", Lou Cheng smiled and added, "I've fire, I've fire. Let me light it up for you!"

"Not bad, you're pretty observant!" Cai Zongming praised and stretched his head forward, waiting for someone to light his "cigarette".

Lou Cheng tried to suppress his smirk as he stretched out his right hand and snapped his finger loudly in front of Cai Zongming.

Bam!

A small fire appeared, and burnt Cai Zongming's two strands of hair.

"Dafug…" Cai Zongming blurted out. His eyes seemed as if he was still looking at that fire and said, "Bastard, you know magic?"

"Magic? Have you seen cool magic like this before?" Lou Cheng boasted as he snapped his finger again and again, creating several small fires.

Cai Zongming touched his hair on his forehead as his expression kept changing. He then blurted out.

"Cheng, I'll take back my words about challenging you before summer break. Bastard, how can you bully people with your supernatural ability?"

Lou Cheng smirked and asked, "Why take back your words? Don't tell me you're getting cold feet?"

"Why would I? This's a promise between men, so we're gonna keep our promise!" Cai Zongming promised, giving off a sense of righteousness and justice. "But you're gonna tie up one of your hands, to be fair!"

"Sure, sure, sure, I'll just fight you with one hand." Lou Cheng beamed with happiness.

By then, Cai Zongming had finally calmed down as he asked surprisingly and curiously, "When did you awaken your supernatural ability? Is it strong?"

"Thought you've seen the video on my battle with Ye Youting?" Lou Cheng questioned him back instead.

Cai Zongming saw the light and added, "That battle? If you talk about other battles, perhaps I can't remember, but I've got a vivid impression of that battle. Yeah, that lady is not bad looking… Anyway, you mean that your final fierce attack is your supernatural ability awakening?"

"Yup, currently it's not strong, I'm gradually working on it. Now it can only be used to light a cigarette." Lou Cheng honestly stated the power of his supernatural ability.

As for how he could work on it, he was sure there would be a way. Perhaps he got to wait till he had the body quality of Professional Ninth Pin, before he tried to exert pressure onto the Jindan (the Golden Elixir) again. As long as he did not overdo it to the extent greater than that day at the Challenge Tournament, he was sure that he could slowly digest that Jindan (the Golden Elixir) into his body as one.

Cai Zongming touched his chin and took a glance at Lou Cheng. "Within this half a year, you seem to have gone through lots of changes… Just feel that what you've been through can't be explained with science at all…"

"Haha." Lou Cheng forced a laughter before he added. "I've dated Yan Zheke to go for a big feast a couple of days later. Casanova, do you think I have the chance to hold her hands?"

Because he had yet to prepare any strategy, nor booked any restaurant, nor fixed a date.

"Hold hands?" Cai Zongming looked doubtful. "Which stage are you all at now? If you aren't clear about it, it'll be difficult for me to make a judgment…"

Lou Cheng pondered about it before answering. "During our free time, we can chat on QQ from morning till night. At times, we'll chat on the phone or via video calls. On my birthday, she even waited till 12 a.m. sharp to call and wish me. When I requested for a birthday song as a present, she sang. Today, I brought the food she likes for her. She seemed very surprised, happy, and had even promised to go with me for a big feast…"

The moment he finished his sentence, he looked at Cai Zongming, waiting for his comments and guidance. However, the Casanova just reacted with a half-opened mouth and a dumb face.

"Casanova?" Lou Cheng waved his hand in front of Cai Zongming.

Cai Zongming was taken a back as he said, "Why you guys proceed so fast? Do I miss anything in between? I recall you two are just friends before the break, even if both of you are to send messages on QQ everyday, things shouldn't advance that fast either. Moreover, with your personality, it's impossible for the relationship to improve by leaps and bounds…"

Seeing the old hand was surprised by how fast their relationship had progressed, Lou Cheng was ecstatic. He recalled and said,

"I feel that our relationship breakthrough started during the few days at Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament. Since both of us shared a common interest in martial arts, and also it was my first time participating in a Challenge Tournament, not forgetting the shocking experience I had in the later battles, our relationship had become stronger and better…"

Cai Zongming pondered and said, "No wonder… I always think your goddess will be hard to pursue, or else you won't need to try all means to please her and be prepared to fight a long-term war. Never thought that you could take advantage of the Challenge Tournament to win the girl's heart, what a lucky bastard you are!"

Lou Cheng did not despise the way he put it, his eyes widened as he gazed at him instead. "You mean she likes me too?"

Cai Zongming smiled gently and answered, "Don't say it so directly. Women are complicated, all I can say is that she certainly has a good impression of you. As for to what degree, I'm not a mind reader, nor did I see her firsthand reaction there, so how would I know?"

"However being at this stage also means that this's a very dangerous period. To most of the girls, in particular for those who are more conservative, they'll need to be very careful when deciding whether to be in a relationship with a guy. It's better that you don't pressurize her too much, or it might lead to rebellious mentality, or worst, her good impression of you will decline. Even so, you can't stop flirting with her and can't stop presenting the best side of you. If you didn't do anything for the next one and a half year, you this bastard will end up becoming her bestie. By then, you'll only have the leftover girls to pick from.

"Now that you say this, I'm feeling anxious again." Lou Cheng commented, taking a breath of cool air.

Cai Zongming jested. "Chill bro, you're almost near the finishing line. As long as you continue to perform your best, there's still chance! Moreover, you still have me as your strong backing, isn't it?"

"Why your words sound kinda disgusting… Strong backing…" Lou Cheng joked, trying to make himself forget the worries and feel better.

"I kinda start to understand. You goddess must have chosen to focus on studies while in junior high school, so no matter how outstanding her pursuers were, she wasn't bothered by them. If you tried your luck at that time, even with the same Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament experience, I believe there would be zero chance for you to win her heart. However, by the time she goes college, she'll feel that she's an adult and will no longer be very stressful about studies. Subconsciously, she starts to look forward to falling in love. That's when a crack appears in her inner defensive wall and just then, you appeared." Cai Zongming excitedly analyzed the situation.

Upon hearing, Lou Cheng was impressed by it and said, "What you've analyzed in the first half is exactly what Yan Zheke told me!"

Student Killer!

Cai Zongming initially grinned, then followed by a sigh before he displayed an old hand look. He then added, "This's about meeting the right person at the right time."

"Then I shouldn't try to hold her hand when I date her out, or else I may give her too much pressure?" Lou Cheng went back to the main topic as he voiced out his concern.

Cai Zongming cackled and said,

"It's only your first date and you've already thought of holding hands? Are you planning to leave her an impression that you're a lecher? Holding hands is much more significant than kissing, and it's a critical stage that can transform quantity into quality. Once you manage to hold her hand, it means a relationship is established. Kissing is just a matter of time."

"Of course, if the both of you are just planning for a one night stand, then ignore what I've said."

Lou Cheng was suddenly enlightened and he added, "I never know that holding hands can be so critical… Casanova, how do you think I should present myself on that day?"

"Just present yourself like you always do, and do things that please her as usual. You gotta know that she's nervous as well, so do your best to create a comfortable atmosphere." Cai Zongming paused all of a sudden, chuckled and whispered, "Also, I'll teach you another thing."

"What?" Lou Cheng answered excitedly.

Cai Zongming coughed twice and continued, "Since she'd already promised to go out with you alone on a date, the girl will look forward to it. If you really did nothing special for her, she might be disappointed. She'll be weighing the pros and cons of this relationship, and start to think if you haven't loved her deep enough. So you gotta do something, without making her nervous and stress."

"What I gotta do?" Lou Cheng immediately asked.

Cai Zongming grinned and added, "Gotta find a chance to hold her hand! Oh, but don't really hold it. You must express your excitement and expectation, yet at the same time, your unfamiliarity, nervousness and act as if nothing has happened. Show her your upsetting look when you 'fail' to hold her hand twice and give up. Let her know your feeling so that you can make her feel nervous and stress without overdoing it."

"Even if within her heart, she feels that both of you are not yet to the stage of holding hands, and cause her impression of you to worsen a little after the matter, both of you can continue to flirt and work on the relationship since you have not successfully held her hand.

"After you're done with this, come back and observe her attitude. If there's not much change, then there's more than 70% possibility that you have succeeded. If she starts to become slightly colder towards you, this means the time hasn't ripe and you gotta work harder. So let's say it's the former, you should try to date her again after a period. If she agrees to go out with you again, this means she's ready, and you can just be brave to hold her hand when the time is right!"

Lou Cheng stared at him in astonishment as he felt that Ming was really godlike. He listened and digested the details before he spoke. "Have you tried this move before?"

Cai Zongming spread out his hands.

"Of course not!"

Lou Cheng twitched the corner of his mouth and yelled. "Then how can you still teach me that!"

"Do you think I need such techniques to test a girl? Based on my judgment, experience, and standard, do you think I don't know when to initiate hold hands?" Cai Zongming questioned him as he felt pleased with himself. "Relax, I bet it on my 'Casanova' nickname that this move will definitely work. Of course, if the other party is too obtuse and doesn't realize your intention of holding hands, then I'm helpless. Also, you gotta learn how to observe the situation. If the ambiance and her reaction are good enough, then change your plan. Hold her hand for real."

Lou Cheng frowned and asked, "Do you think a newbie like me can handle such a complicated stuff?"

"Well, just being your true self is good enough." Cai Zongming teased.

But my true self will be shaky, nervous and try to pretend that nothing has happened!

Lou Cheng did not retort as he kept silent in agreement and confirmed his plan. After which, he said, "Is Qin Mo around? I need to come out with a food strategy. He's from Songcheng, asking him directly is better than googling it."

"Still sleeping, you gotta wait till noon." Cai Zongming replied as he patted Lou Cheng's shoulder and gave him a you-can-do-it hand gesture. He then pulled open the glass door and returned to the living room.

Lou Cheng took out his phone and gave Geezer Shi a call.

"Master, I'm back at the dormitory."

Geezer Shi pretended to reprimand him. "Finally bear to come back? Alright, since all are back, we'll begin our special training tomorrow at 8 a.m.. You'll wake at 5:30 a.m. and wait for me at the old place."

"Sure." Lou Cheng answered without any hesitation.

It's time again for martial arts practice from morning till afternoon…

But now I'm no longer an ignorant person!

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Chapter 103: Two New Kungfu

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

For the entire morning, Lou Cheng spent his time changing and washing four new set of clothes each while chatting on and off with Yan Zheke. It was only when the bedroom next door had opened that he went in and found Qin Mo sleeping on the opposite bed of Cai Zongming.

Qin Mo was a local rich kid, but he wasn't as hedonistic as Tao Xiaofei. His indulgence had limits, and he had a relatively smart head up his shoulders. He wore a pair of gold rimmed spectacles and had a tall and thin figure. His countenance was clear and defined. He was the standard appearance of a cultured animal.

"Qin Mo, I need your help with something." Lou Cheng said with a beaming smile.

Cai Zongming, who was chatting with his girlfriend opposite to him turned around to look at him with a look of gossip.

Qin Mo pushed his spectacles and asked with slight surprise, "What is it?"

"I've been here at Songcheng for half a year, but I haven't got around and learned about this place. I'd like to experience the local delicacies during this time. Do you have any good recommendations?" Lou Cheng used a random reason and clarified his intent.

Qin Mo's face was filled with sudden realization. "Yo, you're chasing after a girl, aren't you?"

"Why do you say that?" Lou Cheng replied with a question in surprise, On the other side, Cai Zongming could no longer hold back his smile.

Qin Mo chuckled and said, "If not a girl, are you looking to go out with a group of men then? Or are you planning to become a lonely gourmet? If that's the case, then allow me to hold five minutes of silence for you."

"Alright, alright, get to the point!" Lou Cheng let out a dry laugh and urged him.

After pondering for a moment, Qin Mo said, "Avoid Jiuxi Street. That place was fine in the past, but after it became famous it has been a place to fool foreign tourists. I'm just going to say whichever spots I prefer; you'll have to select the right tastes yourself. There is some food that non-locals really can't get used to…"

"Mm!" Lou Cheng put on the attitude of a young student paying attention in class and recorded the restaurant names, addresses, specialties and so on Qin Mo told him into his cell phone's memorandum.

About ten minutes or so later, Lou Cheng was filled with a sense of accomplishment as he stared at the numerous records and sighed. "I'll go on the internet later to check for reviews and confirm the tastes. Then I'll circle out two or three places and check them these few days."

"Check them?" Qin Mo looked a little confused.

Cai Zongming on the opposite side knew Lou Cheng very well, and he said after letting out a soft laugh, "He's saying that he's going to taste the food and make sure that his goddess will be satisfied with them."

Lou Cheng added with a little bit of embarrassment, "She and I come from the same place, and she likes the local specialties I enjoy too. Concerning taste, we should be pretty similar to each other. If what I'm fine with those places then there shouldn't be a problem."

"Plus, checking doesn't just mean testing the food. I have to know the surrounding areas as well. For example, I need to know if there's a cake shop in the area, and whether the cake shop has the kind of cake she enjoys, so she can bring it as her tomorrow breakfast. I may also need to check if there are cafes or quiet places to spend some time, if the theater is far away, if there are any movies suitable for girls recently and so on. At any rate, I need to familiarize myself a little with the surroundings so I wouldn't be taking her on a pointless trip if we really are to head someplace."

Qin Mo was stunned by what he heard. "So that's what you mean… Cheng, seriously, you're so earnest that I'm embarrassed to say I've chased a girl before!"

Back at middle and high school, he had spent quite a lot of effort in chasing the girls he liked. But even then he was never as earnest as Lou Cheng.

Of course, this was mainly due to the differences in their behavior and attitude in dealing with things. It was not a question of the sincerity of one's feelings.

Student Xiao Ming turned on his taunt ability and mocked.

"He is what you call a diligent fool doubling his efforts to fix his own weakness!"

"As long as it can be fixed." Lou Cheng paid no thought to his taunt and chirped, "Didn't you always say that girls care a lot about intentions and attitude? My attitude is definitely in the right place, isn't it?"

Cai Zongming let out a 'heh' and said, "It is more or less, but the problem is that the other party doesn't know about it. What's the bloody point if your counterpart doesn't know how much effort and thoughts you spent!"

"Er, I never thought about letting her know about this. I just want to see her satisfied with the food, enjoy a good time, and be happy…" Lou Cheng said after a momentary blank.

"Sigh, student Cheng, when it comes to chasing girls you can't just say and not practice, or practice and not say either. You have to let the other party know that you spend so much effort on her and touch her. Only then your efforts will be worthwhile." Qin Mo at the side shared the same opinion as Cai Zongming's.

Lou Cheng frowned and said, "But I can't tell her these directly. It just looks like so extremely shallow and false."

Cai Zongming scoffed. "Who told you to tell her directly? If it's too direct then it'll lose its hazy beauty and give the other party the feeling that you're forcing them to feel moved. You'll be adding pressure to her. Mm, when she asks you about something relevant, you can just mention indifferently that you've checked the spot for the date and it'll be okay. Just stop here and let her fill in the blanks with her own imagination. The imagined beauty is also the kind of beauty that can touch oneself the most."

Holy shit, Mouth King, your theoretical knowledge seriously just doesn't stop coming!" The one who let out the exclamation wasn't Lou Cheng but Qin Mo.

Cai Zongming spread out his hands with an arrogant look on his face. "Not only do I have theoretical knowledge, but I also have practical experiences as well!"

Lou Cheng memorized the instructions firmly and opened the calendar on his cell phone. He was confirming the time he would check out the spots, and then set the day right for the date.

Suddenly, he was startled when he saw the date. "Thursday is Valentine's Day. S-shouldn't I express a little something?"

It doesn't look like right if I chose not to express anything. This's a question of attitude!

There is no way to set the date on Valentine's day directly either. I have to practice martial arts in the morning, and I have class during evening and night. This is my own timetable, and Yan Zheke should be just as busy.

Even if I could muster the courage to skip class, the girl who enjoyed studying might not necessarily be willing to skip class!

And even if she was willing, we couldn't bloody get out!

Songcheng University's new school district was under close management, and after the official start of a term, they were only allowed to enter and exit the venue during the weekends. Normally, they would need a teacher identity card or a postgraduate, Ph.D. student's or final year student's student identification card to ride on the school bus. For the first half of the semester, they could at least buy a few more spare tickets during the weekends and save it for other times, but later on, this tactic was defeated by the dates and 'for use today only' letters imprinted on every ticket.

In reality, with his skill, it really wasn't a problem for him to get out of the university if he wanted to. he could do this just by finding a place where no one was looking, flipping over a wall and fence and resolving this. However, this didn't look like the right thing to do when bringing a girl out on a first date…

Cai Zongming mouth twitched once. "Just what're you trying to express? Just make sure you're prepared for your date!"

"If you're really worried, then select two or three dates with Valentine's Day among them and let the other party make a choice. After all, you have to match times with her, right? This way, she'll understand that you plan to date her on Valentine's Day. You have presented your attitude, and whether she chooses to come out on that date is her problem. Of course, you'll have to be more attentive and drop more hints on that day."

"Understood!" Lou Cheng couldn't help but feel that listening to the words of Casanova was superior to studying ten years of books!

Once he was done, he recalled another thing. "Mouth King, I brought up your request to Coach Shi. If you wish to participate in the special training, then you only need to meet up at the gathering tomorrow 8 a.m. at the martial gym."

"Alright, I'll pull my socks up!" Cai Zongming said with purposeful pretension.

…

After a day of web inquiry, review reading and selection, Lou Cheng locked down about two or three targets. he planned to take the two days before the term began to check out the spots.

It was early morning, and the sky was dark. He put on Songcheng University's white martial arts suit with black borders and slow jogged to the quiet and secluded place he trained martial arts daily. He saw that Geezer Shi was already waiting for him.

"Show me your supernatural ability." Geezer Shi said straightforwardly.

Of course, Lou Cheng wouldn't rub his fingers and ignite his fire like a lighter. That would be way too 'low'. He suddenly moved his arms and activated abrupt explosive force. With a pop, a layer of blaze appeared on the surface of his fist.

"That's it?" Geezer Shi's face was disdainful.

Lou Cheng sweatdropped and said, "Yeah. I'm still adapting and haven't raised its power yet."

"Maintain it. Let's see how long you can maintain this blaze." Geezer Shi muttered to himself.

The tiny blaze flickered under the cold wind. Lou Cheng had to spend tremendous effort to keep it from extinguishing instantly.

Before he knew it, Geezer Shi had fished out a cigarette and held it in his mouth. Then, he moved closer and lit the end of the smoke. He inhaled deeply before exhaling a puff of green smoke from his nose.

Then, Lou Cheng's blaze was gone…

"This is all your blaze is worth right now to light up this cigar." Geezer Shi ridiculed him and said, "In actual combat, it can only display a certain level of effect in a surprise attack. I was originally planning to teach you how to combine your supernatural ability to imitate a physical invulnerability move, but now? Hehe."

"Combine supernatural ability to imitate a physical invulnerability move?" Lou Cheng replied with a question in surprise.

Geezer Shi said with slight disdain, "Many supernatural abilities are the weakened expression of a physical invulnerability move, so of course it can be imitated. That is why a supernatural ability user who can't use supernatural abilities are at best the level of Amateur First Pin or Professional Ninth Pin. But when coupled with supernatural abilities, they have the chance of defeating a Dan stage martial artist at Seventh to Eighth Dan.

While speaking, he suddenly took a step forwards and curved his right arm, striking out a ball of translucent, snow white force. He wandered across the ground, and wherever he went foliage turned to ice, and the surroundings became frozen. When his fist hit a tree, a sheen of silver instantly covered its body and extinguished all of its life force.

Lou Cheng was somewhat frightened and stunned by the sight. As compared with watching a televised battle between physical invulnerability martial artists, being able to watch a move like this at close range was even more realistic and stunning!

His master really was a physical invulnerability Mighty One!

"Cough cough cough!" Geezer Shi coughed intensely for a long time before he cast a pleased glance at Lou Cheng. "Is my Ice Spirit Force not very similar to the Power of Frost?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lou Cheng subconsciously nodded.

Geezer Shi calmed down and snickered on the inside. So what if you surprise me from time to time? You'll still be shocked when facing my Ice Spirit Force!

He muttered to himself irresolutely and said, "Let me observe your Power of Blaze for some time and see if there is anyway to train it and increase its strength. Alright, let us begin today's training. Today, I'll teach you two new kungfu. One is based on your great attainment in meditation, ability to perceive and listen and Condensation Stance. It is called 'Ice Mirror', the weak version of Ice Sect's 'Enemy Heart Freezing Move'. At its peak, this kungfu will enable you to sense the general changes in your opponent's muscles within a radius of two meters without touch."

"However, this kungfu is extremely hard to train. Do strive to master the basics in two or three years' time. Of course, you can't completely rely on it, and you should combine it with the feedback you obtain from your eyes, nose, ears and so on. After so many years, there are plenty of sects who have developed moves to counter it. There are exceptions that can hide, mix up or cancel out the activities you should be sensing too."

"There is also another new fighting style you need to practice, and it is called 'Thunder Roar Zen'. This is a kind of kungfu your master has created himself by combining 'Thunder Sect's' Lightning Force and 'Ice Sect's' Freeze Force. Its expression at body refining state and Danqi Realm is eruption and collapse. This kungfu is also what is commonly known as Tremor Force. When a blow is connected, the force behind it will erupt explosively, causing your opponent's body to tremble from outside to inside. It shakes the qi and blood and affects the five viscera and six bowels. It's not something that can be blocked normally."

"Before being a physical invulnerability martial artist, I once ventured into the war-torn zones and fought a life or death battle with a powerful enemy. I struck him with the Thunderous Zen Punch nineteen times in a row, and although he managed to block every hit in time, the shock still caused internal bleeding inside him. As a result, the longer we fought the weaker he became, and he ultimately died by my hands."

Lou Cheng grew excited listening to his words. "It's that powerful?"

Geezer Shi chuckled,

"I saw your competition videos. Didn't you encounter a kid who uses the Modern Blast Punch? He hadn't mastered his kungfu yet, and he only wielded the strength of a blasting artillery, but not the force behind a missile exploding upon contact. Otherwise, your stance would have been completely blown wide open, and you would not have been able to regain your balance as easily."

"It is unfortunate that the supernatural ability you awakened isn't frost. Otherwise, you could have mastered the killer move of 'Thunder Roar Zen', 'Severe Warning' beforehand. If that was the case, when you throw a punch at your enemy their entire body including their brain would become shaken. Your enemy would feel as if his mind was frozen by frost and show an obvious moment of stiffness."

"I'll try to 'awaken' the Power of Frost…" Lou Cheng quietly said on the inside. He was saying it as if awakening a supernatural ability was as easy as picking up a Pak Choi.

For the next period, he began learning the corresponding sets of practices, techniques of exertion and special visualization. Before he knew it, the time had approached 8 a.m. already. After finishing his breakfast swiftly, he hastily made his way to the martial arts gym.

The special training members and the newly joined Cai Zongming had already arrived at the venue. Lou Cheng swept a glance across the place, and he immediately spotted Yan Zheke beside Guo Qing. As the saying went, "men look good in black, and women look good in white." Songcheng University's white colored, black bordered martial arts suit seriously looked good on her and made her look full of vigor.

They both looked at each other and smiled with overflowing warmth. Lou Cheng walked up to Cai Zongming and the senior brother Li Mao who had paired up with him in an exercise last semester with light footsteps.

"Lou Cheng, you look like you're in good spirits." Li Mao greeted him.

Lou Cheng smiled and said, "Senior brother Li, you look a little stronger too."

Li Mao said with great pride in his success, "I haven't grown lax during the holidays, and I've mastered the 24 Blizzard Strikes taught to us. I believe I'm at the level of Amateur Second Pin now. I'd like to obtain more actual combat experience and strive to overcome my nervousness."

"That's great!" Lou Cheng praised sincerely.

The club manager Chen Changhua beside Li Mao also smiled and said, "Very good. It'd seem that our Martial Arts Club has qualified successors to take on the mantle."

"Club manager Chen, I thought you have an internship to attend this term and can't show up." After the association at the district contest, Li Mao and Chen Changhua were no longer too estranged with each other.

Chen Changhua chuckled and said, "I've told the HR department of my company that I'd focus on preparing for April's Ranking Event and strive to be of Professional Ninth Pin in one go. To my company, this's no different from cutting down on costs, and when the chairman brings me along he can even hire one less bodyguard on his outings! This's the advantage of a hybrid talent!"

"Relax, Li Mao, I won't take away your chance to participate in actual combat. Lou Cheng, you'll have to train hard too."

Lou Cheng left quite the impression on him, who was the new student busy with logistics preparation last year, right?

While the crowd was busy talking and laughing with each other, Geezer Shi walked in and surveyed the surroundings one time. He motioned for everyone to fall silent, coughed twice and said,

"There'll be no competitions this year. We'll have to find our own opportunities to temper ourselves in actual combat. Therefore, my plans are for our Martial Arts Club to form a team and register to participate in the preliminaries."

"Preliminaries?"

There was a buzz. Other than Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke who knew about this a long time ago, everyone else had lost their usual cool. Some people were surprised, and some were shocked.

They were actually going to use the entry competition into the professional martial arts circle as training!

After a while, everyone calmed down and looked to be brimming with joy. They awaited Geezer Shi's latter words with high expectations.

Geezer Shi smiled slightly and said, "After a winter break, I can no longer grasp the full extent of your abilities quite accurately. Let's have a versus battle latter so I can figure out your limits. But before this, I'll announce the two leading players of the preliminaries."

"Two leading players?" The crowd looked towards Lin Que and Chen Changhua.

"First lead, Lin Que." Geezer Shi's voice was slightly louder.

No one was surprised. They all thought it was only natural.

Geezer Shi coughed once before continuing.

"Second lead, Lou Cheng."

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Chapter 104: A Battle That Was Brought Forward

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

"Second lead, Lou Cheng."

When Li Mao heard this name, he subconsciously raised his hands and dug his ears. He had a feeling that he had just experienced an auditorial hallucination.

Lou Cheng?

The preliminaries' leading player?

He just couldn't connect these two at all!

It wasn't that he was disappointed by the fact that he wasn't able to become a leading player directly. According to his estimations, Chen Changhua, whose skills approached the level of Professional Ninth Pin was stronger than everyone else but Lin Que. Even if he was about to leave the Martial Arts Club, no longer taking up a chance for actual battle training and had informed Coach Shi about this beforehand, wasn't there still last semester's district contest leading player, senior brother Sun, Sun Jian?

He had not slacked off during the winter break either. He had practiced hard everyday and finally transformed all of his hard work and accumulated efforts into rewards. He now had the fighting level of Amateur Second Pin. Would senior brother Sun, Sun Jian really work by fits and starts?

If that was the case, then what other motivation would he have to participate in the special training?

Moreover, senior brother Sun, Sun Jian's girlfriend Lin Hua was not much weaker than himself. She had had a moment of enlightenment and mastered the Still Stance, and she used the winter break to chase up to their footsteps. It wasn't necessarily anything worth to be astonished about.

However, the second leading player of the preliminaries wasn't Chen Changhua, senior brother Sun or Lin Hua. It was Lou Cheng!

If it was any other name, Li Mao would probably just accept it after a moment of surprise. While Jiang Fusheng, Li Xiaowen and Wu Meng had average talent, and their greatest objective in participating in this special training was to increase their rank within limits and gain more job seeking channels in the future, it wasn't like the story of a sudden awakening leading to the meteoric rise of a martial artist was uncommon. If they did experience such a thing, he would at worst let out a sigh, be envious for a long time and feel a sense of loss for half a year. Meanwhile, the two new first-year undergraduate students Guo Qing and Yan Zheke were rumored to be pretty talented, so it was not unreasonable to think that they might create some miracle.

But the name that was announced was Lou Cheng!

It was that Lou Cheng whom he first taught and pair exercised with. It was that Lou Cheng who normally gave him feint training!

As someone who personally witnessed Lou Cheng's growth from a bewildered newbie to an amateur fighter with a practiced form, Li Mao was most familiar with his strength. He was once rather surprised by Lou Cheng, but that surprise was practically nothing to the astonishment he was feeling now. The distance between a regular greenhorn to a fighter with practiced form, was much, much shorter than the distance between a fighter with a practiced form and the leading player of the preliminaries.

Right now, the strange silence in the surroundings confirmed that he hadn't heard incorrectly. He could not help but feel a moment of absentmindedness.

Was fiction more reasonable than reality?

He would not, could not, and did not dare to believe that the newbie who had just grown familiar with his form in his head had suddenly reached a height just second to Lin Que. Just how long had it been?

Wu Meng. Jiang Fusheng and Li Xiaowen were all very unfamiliar with Lou Cheng. They only knew that he was a fellow special training teammate and remembered in general how he looked like. Their daily interactions only went as far as a nod and a greeting. They did not know about his rank, and they were unfamiliar with the progress of his martial arts. Right now, they were feeling a lot more bewilderment than actual astonishment.

Was it that Lou Cheng?

Was it that Lou Cheng we normally meet?

Or was it some other guy sharing the same name and surname?

If it was the former, then how did he skyrocket from a body to a preliminaries' leading player?

Chen Changhua, Sun Jian and Lin Hua's feelings were in between their feelings and Li Mao's feelings. They stared straight at Geezer Shi, unwilling to believe that Lou Cheng, a guy who could not even enter the substitute list of the district contest more than two months ago, a guy who could only perform logistics and odd jobs, a guy who was completely lacking in presence would leap to become the leading player of their Martial Arts Club without having to fight for it at all!

They just stared at Geezer Shi and waited with expectations for the words "I was just kidding" to tumble out of his mouth. It was to the point where they had forgotten that Lou Cheng was right beside them, and he could see their every move just by turning his head!

Lou Cheng looked at Yan Zheke amidst this unspeakable silence. She simply wrinkled her pretty nose at him, seemingly saying: Look! Look at the 'sins' you've caused!

The corner of his mouth lifted unconsciously, and he nearly could not hold back the smile on his face. He then cast a glance at Lin Que beside him, wanting to see if this captain of the Martial Arts Club had any opinion to share about his appointment as the second leading player. He wanted to see what his brother-in-law thought about him…

Perhaps it was because there was a delay in-between, and that the other party had the time to recover from his shock, Lou Cheng wasn't able to glean anything from Lin Que's face. He was as cool and as withdrawn as ever, looking as if he wasn't interested in anything but martial arts.

"Cheng? How did Cheng become the second leading player all of a sudden?" The person who broke this unnatural silence was Guo Qing. She blurted out the exclamation and stared in astonishment at Yan Zheke beside her, seemingly wanting to get an explanation from the girl.

Very soon, she turned her head and looked for Lou Cheng through several figures. She wanted to confirm if the other party had grown three heads and six arms!

"Cough!"

Geeze Shi coughed once and attracted everyone's gaze back to him. Then, he instructed casually,

"Lou Cheng, Lin Que. The two of you will do battle with each other. I'll be the umpire."

"Do battle? With Lin Que?" Li Mao, Sun Jian and the others finally looked towards Lou Cheng, unsure what kind of expression they should be wearing on their faces. It was as if they were saying, "This is for real!"

Do battle? With Lin Que? At first, Lou Cheng was surprised. Then, he felt a tremble rippling through his body. He could not describe his feelings right now.

This day actually came earlier than he had expected it would!

After the Jindan had begun displaying its effects in his martial arts, he had often imagined that his strength would rise day by day, and that he would ultimately realize the embodiment of everything he admired as a man that he saw from Lin Que, back when he met him for the first time during the third or final year of his study. He had imagined that he would have the level to challenge Lin Que for the position of captain of the Martial Arts Club.

After he had finished the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament and had a whole new level of recognition of his own martial arts level, he thought that if given half a year, and Lin Que hadn't broken through his limits and reached Dan stage, he was not without a chance of victory if they were to fight each other.

When he began practicing 'Thunder Roar Zen' this morning, he thought again that if he had mastered the basics of this martial art, then challenging Lin Que would not be a pipe dream. The fighting style of this martial art was to shock the enemy, and its training method was to shock oneself. Through 'the sound of thunder,' he would send tremors throughout his bones, veins and five viscera and six bowels, and slowly train them. The purpose of this training was to pursue perfect unity of the force all over his body and obtain Absolute Reaction, thus building the most solid foundation for achieving Dan stage.

But he did not imagine that his master would make him fight a battle against Lin Que on the first day of a new semester, the first day of their martial arts special training, and without any prior preparation at all!

He closed his eyes and pacified the tremors rippling throughout his body. Excitement rose as his fighting will was raised.

This was a battle with the goal of his past!

This was a battle against the tall, big and powerful image of a young fighter he once held in his heart!

To be honest, he was pretty worried that Yan Zheke would have a crush for Lin Que in the past, but he wasn't able to feel any sort of jealousy due to the fact that he was way behind Lin Que in every aspect at the time. Therefore, he could only feel a strong sense of envy, fear, reluctance to admit that he was inferior and a definite sense of shame at his own weaknesses. This feeling had mostly disappeared after he learned that Lin Que was his 'brother-in-law,' and the last of these feelings would also entirely evaporate during this upcoming battle.

No matter what the outcome might be, the fact that he was able to stand on the same arena as him and challenge him to a terrific battle was more than enough to bury his past sense of inferiority!

Lin Que's eyes seemed to brighten a little as he strode with wide steps up towards the arena. Lou Cheng subconsciously looked at Yan Zheke and found her looking at him as well with slight worry.

"Worry?" Lou Cheng's heart became filled with warmth and even greater strength. Unhurriedly, he walked forwards and climbed up the stone steps on the opposite of the arena.

"You have three minutes time to talk with each other." Geezer Shi made everything look incredibly standard.

Then, a soft voice entered Lou Cheng's ears. It came from Geezer Shi, and he said, "Don't use your Power of Blaze. Let your master have an accurate grasp of the pure strength of your martial arts."

"Mm." Lou Cheng nodded and pursed his lips slightly. While looking at the relaxed but cool-looking Lin Que standing at the opposite side of the arena, he realized that this was the first time he examined him this way.

Lin Que was no longer a goal but his opponent now!

So how much did Lin Que know about his martial arts?

While recalling, Lou Cheng abruptly realized that he didn't know enough about Lin Que's martial arts!

On the surface, he had watched all of the few battles Lin Que had participated in from the sidelines. There was no way he lacked in recognition of his skills. However, he discovered a huge problem with the close analysis. The martial arts Lin Que had displayed were either the most common combinations of the blast, pound, pull, tear, tug or stir moves, or the 24 Blizzard Strikes he had cultivated only after he arrived at the Martial Arts Club. But what about his martial arts passed down in his family?

He knew from Yan Zheke that their grandfather and grandmother were pretty powerful experts and that they possessed the inheritance of unique skills. So why had Lin Que never used them?

Although the fighting style of 24 Blizzard Strikes was also a combination of the pound, lash and other common moves, they grew a characteristic of their own and became split into different styles when merged with a different kind of force, exertion technique and visualization. For example, Huxing (tiger form tactic) was a traditional style Xingyi, and Blast Punch was a modern style Xingyi. The same went with Wuthering Eight Movements and Pulsating Quake. However, Lin Que's moves were absolutely common and standard to the max. He had not reflected the characteristics of his style on his martial arts at all!

Could it be that he hadn't cultivated his family's unique skills?

Impossible! On the first day his master taught them Yin-Yang Stance, he was already able to use a technique that changed his center of gravity to beat Chen Changhua. He had obviously reached the entry level of Solemn Silence and had a corresponding visualization while cultivating. He had great mastery over his own body, and he had a complete inheritance to inherit!

So why did he not use it?

Judging from Yan Zheke's worried look, could the unexpected twist of this battle come from his family's martial arts?

While conjecturing, Lou Cheng was also analyzing Lin Que's weaknesses. However, since he wasn't familiar with the foundation of Lin Que's martial arts, the only weakness he could confirm was his stamina. Back at the district contest, Lin Que was only able to sustain a full round of 24 Blizzard Strikes.

But that was last term. Lin Que now…

Lou Cheng closed his eyes. He could vaguely hear his opponent's powerful, pulsating heart and the rushing sound of his blood.

According to Yan Zheke's explanation, his qi and blood had reached the height of exuberance, and he was at the peak of body refining state. The problem he had with his stamina must have been fixed quite a bit.

Since he did not understand his opponent, and he could not grasp his weaknesses either, he would 'emphasize his own self'.

And if he were to 'emphasize his own self', then he must exhibit all of his advantages to the max from the beginning as if he was in a life or death battle!

His thoughts rose and subsided back into his mind. Lou Cheng opened his eyes. There was serenity deep within his pupils, as if a layer of ice that had appeared on the surface of a lake. The balance of his body adjusted itself naturally and shifted continuously like mercury. Meanwhile, on the other side Lin Que never spoke a word. He looked like an old monk who was cultivating a silent vow.

It was at this moment Geezer Shi said with a cough,

"Begin! "

The crowd beneath the arena held their breaths and waited for the moment they got to 'recognize' Lou Cheng's skill.

With crisscrossing footsteps, Lou Cheng approached Lin Que meanderingly while shaking his balance non-stop, easily causing misperception among others.

Suddenly, he saw Lin Que taking a step and a slide, instantly switching from a stationary state to a sprinting state. His movements were like the amalgamation of Ye Youting's leopard form and Zhou Yuanning's Wuthering Eight Movements. It was so quick that it was unbelievable, not to mention that the timing he chose was just perfect too. Lin Que had exceeded his expectations and appeared right in front of him, assuming a position where it would be difficult for him to exert force and get out of the way of an attack.

What insight, what judgment, what footwork!

Pop! Lin Que's right hand shot out, and it was a Half-step Burst Fist. The distance between them was short, the force exerted was strong, and the air seemed to shake under his attack. He gave Lou Cheng no chance of avoiding his strikes.

Lou Cheng did not wait until his body stopped moving forwards. With a sway of his balance, and with a bounce of his spine, his back twisted like a coiling dragon and forcefully shifted his position to the side, enabling him to avoid this punch with just inches to spare.

If he hadn't readied mercurial balance from the beginning, there was no way he could avoid the blow all of a sudden with his current mastery of his body!

Ss… Li Mao and the others let out different sounds from their mouths.

They did not have a straight impression of Lin Que's level when he was attacked earlier. They simply thought that it was as it should be. However, they were shocked by Lou Cheng's near eerie movement.

One could imagine the level of his strength just from this one dodge alone!

Li Mao subconsciously looked at Cai Zongming beside him and smiled bitterly and absentmindedly, saying,

"Why do I feel that reality had turned a little fantasy?"

"I thought so since a long time ago…" Cai Zongming lamented as he watched the arena.

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Chapter 105: Lou Cheng, After the Winter Break

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

He pulled himself to the side of Lin Que and avoided the aggressive Half-step Burst Fist. Lou Cheng did not rush to attack. Instead, he readjusted his balance and tried to move elsewhere.

This life and death fight with the Dark Sect Ninth Pin helped him to understand a logic – killer moves often do not appear alone, they are executed one after the other, never giving the opponent a chance to retaliate. Just like how the "Poison Sting Force" followed immediately after the mind aura secret discipline.

No experts would relax after one killer move and not make any other preparations. If this was the case, it meant that Lin Que was sure that Lou Cheng would not be able to avoid his continuous shower of attacks?

After avoiding that one time, how would he react, what other moves had he prepared?

With such a gap in our abilities, I can't afford to act thoughtlessly. I've to be careful.

Just as such a thought flashed through Lou Cheng's mind, his body already instinctively made a move. His back bounced, his spine curved, and with a tap of his foot on the ground, he bounced and moved behind Lin Que in ghostly speed.

A whish of wind whipped through where Lou Cheng had moved away from. Lin Que's right leg struck silently and anyone could hear the sharp whishing of his pants as he kicked.

The hidden killer move, Silent Leg!

Such a leg move gave Lou Cheng the chills. There would be no hint or sign where the legs would go next, so if he were not careful about where he moved to, the next time he saw the leg, he would take an unavoidable hit.

During the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament, he used the Condensation Stance to lift his senses. Through the fine sound and movement of Jin Tao's thighs against his pant, Lou Cheng could predict where the "Tiger Tail Kicking Tactic" would land next, so he managed to block each move.

But now, there was no movement or sign before each silent kick. It was almost like the moves were paced randomly. If they were paced randomly, the energy bursts should follow the abrupt explosive force, tearing through like the wind, crushing through the air, giving off short but loud whishes. It was nothing like that. The moves were so silent that even the normal sounds of any move could not be heard, and there was nothing Lou Cheng could do about it!

Regardless of the skills and tactics Lin Que choose to use, they were all intricately linked to his powerful control of his body. This was not possible if he was not near achieving a Dan stage.

In a flash, Lou Cheng found the opportunity for himself. He moved first and was already behind Lin Que by the time Lin Que made his Silent Leg move. Thus Lin Que fell into an awkward position, neither able to avoid Lou Cheng's attack nor able to exert his force!

Since this was a chance, how could he let it go!

Lou Cheng lowered his weight and steadied his legs. With this fleeting chance, he visualized majestic snow capped mountain peaks and lightning striking the heavy snow.

Boom!

The heavy layers of snow started to crumble. The snow came tumbling down like ferocious white waves. With a move of Lou Cheng's spine, he shifted his right leg and kicked the floor so hard, sending the Lightning and Fire Stance and Mega Avalanche towards the arena.

Any movement on the arena would result in a crazy violent rebound. Lou Cheng's leg bounced off the floor, and like a dragon, his spine curved. In a flash, the strength from the legs was transformed into a force of the hand, pulling every strength of the body together!

The aggressive palm strikes and punches were not on the upper body. They were between the legs!

After the grueling practices of the winter break, after the reflections of his problems through the Challenge Tournament, after the surreal life and death duels, Lou Cheng definitely improved quite a bit. Though he could not say that he no longer had any weaknesses, more importantly, he now knew how to release forces, how to use his surroundings to support his every move. Even more, he had gained a deeper and more in-depth understanding. Although there was not much change in the body's strength, his aura was stronger than it was during the Challenge Tournament. Even though he was not up to the level of Professional Ninth Pin, he had the strength and level to fight with one.

With a mad gush of strength from his back, he clenched his right fist. A downward cut with his fist smashed into the back of Lin Que's back. With the crisp and loud thud, he used the rebound force and kicked against the limestone surface. Little bits of the limestone cracked off and puffed up in the air.

Chen Changhua, Sun Jian, Li Mao and the rest were all shocked after seeing how the low profile and usually quiet Lou Cheng managed to avoid Lin Que's attacks with mysterious steps, and even found the opportunity to attack. Their eyes were all wide with shock. Even Cai Zongming, the buddy who had watched his match clips, was taken aback and took a deep breath.

No matter how powerful the Professional Ninth Pins were in the video clips, they were just on screens. This fight with Lin Que, someone whom they see and practice with everyday, was another story. The feeling of battling him and being able to beat Lin Que was completely different from a stranger holding a Professional Ninth Pin!

Yan Zheke had seen how Lou Cheng had grown. She also "experienced" the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament with him. Nonetheless, she only saw the actual match through video recordings after it happened, so she already knew his next steps and had a clear idea where he was heading. This time, it was different. Nobody knew who was going to win, she could not predict what was going to happen next. With a bubbling curiosity, she watched the match attentively.

When she saw how Lou Cheng grabbed the chance to retaliate, she did not seem relieved or happy. In fact, signs of worry flashed across her face.

Pam!

Just as Lou Cheng made his fist move, Lin Que retracted his leg. Lin Que's back was facing his rival and he clearly did not have any time to make another move.

Suddenly, Lin Que's body stiffened and he sprung to the left. Right in front of Lou Cheng's eyes, Lin Que avoided the fist strike on his neck, and with a shake of his shoulders and head, explosive forces burst from Lin Que and went head on with Lou Cheng's fist.

Bam!

When the two came into contact with each other, Lou Cheng felt that Lin Que used his stance to absorb his force, then he went with the flow of the force, slanted downwards and fidgeted. Lou Cheng's fist seemed to have hit a wad of cotton.

This is no good… Lou Cheng suddenly realized what was happening. He tried to readjust his balance and returned to his previous stance. Lin Que gave him no chance to do so. Like a long pole, with one end lowered while the other end lifted—as he leaned backward, the force traveled through his spine, his thighs tightened, and his left leg stretched out, giving a kick.

Lou Cheng was not in time to move away. So he lowered himself again, and his left hand was thrown into action. He held on to Lin Que's leg like it was a chick being caught by an eagle.

Bam!

His ice cold heart took a shocking blow. The strength of Lin Que's feet was greater than he imagined. It was surging with energy. Its strength was probably greater than Ye Youting's bursts. Ye Youting was known to have extraordinary strength. It almost felt like two Professional Ninth Pins giving a kick at the same time.

Would it be possible to borrow strength?

He absorbed half of my force earlier and reused it?

Such a horrifying and threatening borrowing skill!

Within a split second, Lou Cheng flew backward and lost his balance. His left hand went numb with pain. He could only fall backward, without any stance, without any footwork.

Lin Que would definitely not let this chance slip away. For sure, he would strike when the iron is hot and continue to attacks in quick succession, just like how he beat Chen Changhua previously. Once Lou Cheng recovered from his shock, his Heart Lake also got back its icy cold state. Without much thought, based on his experience, he gave up on adjusting his balance and immediately lay backward. Riding on the momentum of his body, he kicked his left leg.

Iron Bridge Moves! Dragon Turning Over Moves!

Lin Que just got closer, and saw the leg striking him. Unfazed and without giving Lou Cheng any chance to borrow his strength, his spine arched like a dragon flying in the sky and bounced off to the side. That was a move that was impossible given his current position. The muscles of his right leg tightened again and were all ready to strike out one more time.

When Lou Cheng's kick missed its target, his stomach turned a little and his chest tightened. He decided to give up on the strategy on borrowing strength. He curled up into a ball, and instead of retreating, he went full force ahead towards where Lin Que was standing.

As he got closer, as Lin Que's was about to do a whip kick, Lou Cheng's left hand hit and pressed against the cold hard ground. Bouncing back, he let the force travel through his hand and his back to his right hand. His right hand swooshed, throwing the Rocket-like Punch, going straight towards Lin Que's package between his legs!

He learned this from the Dark Sect Ninth Pin. He could not forget its impact and decided to replicate it, hoping that it will give him a chance to win.

Since it would not result in death or life-threatening injury, he did not consider that much before striking. He will leave it to the referee to decide!

This was a Challenge Tournament, not a performance! No time for hesitation!

As he released his Rocket-like Punch, anyone could feel its force and it drew gasps from the audience. There was a hint of hesitation in Lin Que's eyes, but he did not choose to kick Lou Cheng's temples. That would have put Lou Cheng in the fine line between life and death. Instead, he took a small step back and aimed for Lou Cheng's fist, tearing through the air.

Bam! The two fighters hit. The moment they did, Lou Cheng adjusted his muscles to feel and absorb the strength. He straightened his back and in no time he was up. He swung his left fist towards Lin Que's chest with the force of the Mega Avalanche.

Lin Que also borrowed some strength and turned his body to one side. His right hand did a hook and pounded against Lou Cheng's fist.

Bam!

Lou Cheng's left fist was swung back due to the force, but with a shake of his wrist, his fist made a nice curve and looped back to grab Lin Que's right wrist.

This was a move from the Big or Small Hand Wrap!

I don't believe that you have reached the same meditation level, and have seen such powerful Listening Skills!

He had just grabbed Lin Que's wrist, Lin Que's body and shoulders twitched. With a shake of his left arm, he exploded with energy and shook off Lou Cheng's left hand. Like it was a slippery snake, Lin Que stretched and tried to do a Reverse Catch of Lou Cheng's fist.

Within inches, the hands of the two fighters continued to exchange blows. Every time they separated they tried to listen to each other's forces, and adjusted their moves accordingly. Their joints and ribs were often subjected to tug and pull. There was no time at all to use the other arm or their legs.

After a few rounds, Lou Cheng used his superior Listening Skill and successfully caught Lin Que's wrist.

Just as he was about to apply force, Lin Que took a deep breath suddenly. The skin pores of his wrists closed and opened, and his skin seemed to have expanded. It did not only lightly pushed Lou Cheng's fingers away, they also stopped him from using his Listening Skill.

At this moment, Lin Que's temples swelled, his left arm pulled lightly and within an extremely short distance, bam, a Forward Punch flew forward at lightning speed. His body looked like it just grew bigger in that few seconds!

Lou Cheng could not move away in time and also could not use his Listening Skill. All he could do was lean forward and quickly duck.

Bam!

Lou Cheng was hit! He felt the force through and through, all the way to his bones. He felt like he was bombed and his body, shaken. From the blood vessels to the tendons and ligaments, from blood to joints, every molecule was in shock. In that very moment where qi and blood were all churning, there was nowhere to draw energy and force to retaliate.

Lin Que saw the chance. He stepped forward and used his shoulder to hit Lou Cheng's Danzhong.

Geezer Shi coughed and said,

"Lin Que wins. "

Although Lin Que won, every other witness of this fight, like Li Mao, Guo Qing and Chen Changhua thought they saw a monster. They saw a miracle and were speechless.

The Lou Cheng they saw was not only professional-to-be level, but he fought just like a Professional Ninth Pin!

He just started practicing martial arts half a year ago, half a year…

Lin Que panted and looked at Lou Cheng coldly. For the first time in the day, he nodded his head and said,

"Not bad. "

Near the bottom of the stage, Yan Zheke covered her face with both hands and looked at Lou Cheng with teary but proud eyes.

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Chapter 106: A Weak Version of Lou Cheng

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Lou Cheng's was experiencing mixed feelings. He was happy that he was able to fight Lin Que, something he'd wanted to do for quite some time. There was a satisfaction in meeting his match and being able to fight until his heart's content. However, he was also inflicted by a kind of feeling called 'f*ck my life.' Lou Cheng wanted to challenge Lin Que after mastering the 'Thunder Roar Zen,' but he was instead defeated by a similar martial arts force which had left his body shaking. The experience was pretty uncomfortable.

One should never underestimate a strong, mighty, youth with great talent and deep family roots.

As for the feelings of upset and the pain of defeat, he wasn't feeling them quite as strong this time. Could losing to your brother-in-law really count as a defeat? This was just a tactical victory!

Didn't his brother-in-law just label him as "pretty good"? This meant that he would get a "vote of approval" when he visited Yan Zheke's family one day and asked for their daughter's hand in marriage!

"There was a moment where I thought I could defeat you." Lou Cheng flattered Lin Que while pushing off the sting of defeat.

Lin Que nodded his head imperceptibly and then turned to go down the stairs of the arena. Looking down at Yan Zheke, Lou Cheng found the girl pursing her lips to cover her smile, while her eyes shone like stars. The moment their eyes met, Yan Zheke turned to evade Lou Cheng's gaze, her face flushing slightly.

'She seems to be satisfied with my performance.' Lou Cheng had all eyes on the girl. It was as if he had turned into a camera and was recording Yan Zheke's nice gestures frame by frame.

Noticing the concentration and adoration in Lou Cheng's eyes, Yan Zheke wrinkled her pretty nose and turned around with a ferocious expression, posing with her right hand in a Rocket-like Punch.

Humph!

Lou Cheng could almost hear the girl's unsaid humph and then she complained, "How dare you try to use that skill on my brother!"

"Well… " Lou Cheng hurried to put his palms together and smiled submissively in hopes of begging her forgiveness.

"It's game over. Why are you still up there? Come on down!" The old man Shi's voice greeted Lou Cheng's ears.

"Pfft!" Yan Zheke could no longer keep her "fierce" look. Instead, she raised her eyebrows and put on a charming smile, showing her shallow dimples.

Entranced by her smile, Lou Cheng scratched his head awkwardly and felt himself in a hurry to leave, so he jumped down from the arena.

Even though they had no idea what had happened, Li Mao, Chen Changhua, and other fellow members burst into laughter at Lou Cheng's funny behavior. Being the only person who had been watching carefully, Cai Zongming almost fell to the floor laughing.

The way Lou Cheng was advancing by leaps and bounds seemed almost miraculous, but this humorous incident helped to tone down their astonishment as they acclimated to his growing abilities. Afterall, it didn't matter how powerful he was, Lou Cheng was still the same freshmen they were all familiar with.

Watching Lou Cheng get back to his team, Li Mao allowed himself a wry smile. He then asked with surprise, "You were not this powerful in the last sparring exercise. How did you reach the level of Professional Ninth Pin overnight?"

Even though he was quite pleased with Li Mao's words, Lou Cheng stayed calm and modestly explained, "Brother Li, the last time we had a sparring match was before the district contest began. That was maybe three months ago? We all know that even three days is enough to change a man."

"Even if it had been three years you could not convince me. Do you know how much effort it took me to improve from the level of Amateur Third Pin to Second Pin? Your massive progress has greatly discouraged me!" Li Mao exclaimed, only half-joking.

Lou Cheng smiled. "I think I have a knack for meditation and that is why I was able to acquire the method of visualization of the YinYang Stance and the 24 Blizzard Strikes so quickly. They helped me enhance my control over my physical body and strengthen the effects of training. This way every single workout I did had the impact of five!"

The joking manner in which Lou Chang explained this process sounded like a slogan.

Lou Cheng's explanation comforted Li Mao and the others, they didn't need too many details after all. Once another round of sighs and a few more words of praise had passed, Chen Changhua said with regret,

"If only I had known, I would have applied for a graduation delay and requested to join your team. Having Lin Que and you as our lead players, we would have been able to qualify and made it to the National Championship… "

Not knowing what to say, Lou Cheng nodded in response.

Cai Zongming smiled blandly and asked in a lowered voice, "Cheng, remember our arranged competition before summer break? Maybe we could reconsider it… "

Without waiting for him to finish, Lou Cheng replied with a smile, "Again you want to call it off? Can't you keep to your commitments like a man?"

"Of course I can!" Cai Zongming said, immediately changing his tune, "but what do you mean by 'again'? I just want you to keep both hands behind your back instead of just the one during the competition!"

Lou Cheng found this to be funny. "Shall I bind my legs as well?"

Cai Zongming gave a shy smile. "If you wish."

"Get out!" Lou Cheng replied in feinted angry tone.

Waiting for the crowd to calm down, old man Shi coughed and then asked,

"Any problems with Lin Que and Lou Cheng's being the leading players in the preliminaries?"

"No!" The crowd answered with one loud voice. From the chorus of voices, Lou Cheng could easily distinguish different hidden emotions. This made him quite proud and yet a bit embarrassed too.

Old man Shi nodded in satisfaction and said, "Let's continue with the competition. It's Sun Jian and Li Mao's turn to fight against each other."

Again Lou Cheng fixed his eyes to the arena, along with his fellow members. This time he paid close attention to his senior Li Mao. In an excited flurry of fists and feet, Sun Jian and Li Mao fought fiercely. They came at each other with movements that included the 24 Blizzard Strike. The competition went on a long time without there being a clear winner.

"They haven't crossed the threshold of Solemn Silence, and their so-called 24 Blizzard Strikes were flashy but without substance… " Lou Cheng could not help but sigh. He used to think highly of the two senior brothers, but their performance today was greatly flawed.

One of the core skills for the 24 Blizzard Strike is a kind of meditation named the visualizing skill, which distinguishes the 24 movements from other martial arts skills. Another core is borrowing strength to enhance one's own aggressiveness and endurance. This might not work though if one hasn't mastered the YinYang Stance and Condensation Stance. While the YinYang Stance helps to get good control of one's body, Condensation Stance helps to improve one's listening skills and sensory discrimination.

After about seven or eight minutes, the match came to an end when the two reached the limits of their strength. Li Mao lost the competition to Sun Jian in a single move, but Li Mao had shown signs of obvious progress and thus lived up to his title as Amateur Second Pin.

The one-on-one matches continued and Lin Hua defeated Li Xiaowen, and Wu Meng defeated Jiang Fusheng.

"Next up, Guo Qing and Yan Zheke. Step forward." Old man Shi stated as he swept his eyes over the team.

Turning his eyes to Yan Zheke, Lou Cheng found the girl chewing on her lower lip nervously. Suddenly Yan Zheke turned around to look at Lou Cheng.

The moment their eyes met, Lou Cheng made a gesture and mouthed words of encouragement. While doing all of this, he kept smiling calmly in hopes to comfort the girl and ease her tension.

Smiling at him in return, Yan Zheke beautifully batted her eyes and then walked towards the arena.

In the three minute window for conversation, Yang Zheke stood still without saying a word as if she were preparing for the competition. As a close friend of Yan Zheke, Guo Qing naturally wouldn't bother her while she prepared. Looking at them nervously, Lou Cheng was concerned for Yan Zheke's safety and the results of the match. "What if she fails the match," Lou Cheng thought, "will it make her upset?"

He even didn't know what level Yan Zheke was at…

As soon as old man Shi announced the start of the fight, Yan Zheke kept her back low and went on the offensive with Snake Steps, though she looked unstable.

Guo Qing's face changed slightly because she didn't know Yan Zheke had already mastered Snake Steps. Not daring to attack blindly, Guo Qing immediately moved into a defensive posture.

Yan Zheke took a step and 'slipped' to the left side of Guo Qing, and then lashed with her right fist. The girl's movement was bold and fierce, which was in deep contrast with her delicate and flexible posture. What a blend of delicacy and force!

Guo Qing's natural strength and strong arms protected her from being shocked by Yan Zheke's attack, quickly she retracted her left arm and gave her opponent a blast punch.

Bang!* Colliding with Guo Qing's fist, Yan Zheke swayed for a moment but soon countered, pouncing weirdly while punching down on Guo Qing with her left hand.

"That's one of 24 Blizzard Strikes, the borrowing strength skill… " Lou Cheng was comforted to see her use it.

Yan Zheke had already crossed the threshold of Solemn Silence and mastered the YinYang Stance. Now she had a chance to mix them together with the 24 Blizzard Strikes.

Managing to borrow strength, Yan Zheke stayed on the offensive while her movements became fiercer. Guo Qing tried to attack back with 24 Blizzard Strikes, but she was out-matched since she hadn't mastered Solemn Silence. Gradually, Guo Qing was made impotent.

Guo Qing's family owned a martial arts studio from which she acquired a lot of combat experience. Noticing that she was losing Guo Qing roared and leaped at Yan Zheke, trying to break her continuous movement formed by the 24 Blizzard Strikes.

In response, Yan Zheke used her back muscles to shift her momentum and narrowly avoided Guo Qing's attack. Immediately she struck back with the 24 Blizzard Strikes, giving Guo Qing no time to relax.

Failing to avoid Yan Zheke's attack, Guo Qing could do nothing but struggled and wait for the announcement of her defeat.

"Yan Zheke wins!" exclaimed old man Shi. At this Lou Cheng raised his hands in celebration, while noticing that Yan Zheke was looking at him.

The beautiful girl was out of breath and her chest heaved as she gasped. Her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes sparkled much to Lou Cheng delight.

Looking at Yan Zheke's happy face, Lou Cheng made a congratulatory gesture with both of his hands. He then pretended to throw himself down at the girl's feet in admiration, expressing his respect and joy!

Yan Zheke smiled brightly, eyes curved and mouth tilted, showing playful pride.

Watching Yan Zheke walk down the arena stairs, Lou Cheng recalled the match and realized that she was actually imitating his fighting style. Perhaps this was because they had been spending more time together.

This made sense since they were both good at performing the same movements and skills. Other than the fact she lacked the same physical strength as Lou Cheng, there was little difference between them. Other than the obvious fact Yan Zheke hasn't used her ancestral martial arts skills yet!

So far it looked like Yan Zheke had already reached the level of Amateur Fourth Pin or even Third Pin if she uses her ancestral skills.

"Last fight, Chen Changhua and Cai Zongming." Old man Shi announced.

Cai Zongming's face changed. He turned to look at Lou Cheng and groaned,

"Must I fight against Chen Changhua, that abnormal ape? I just joined the team…"

Lou Cheng looked at him cordially and said,

"What a pity…"

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Chapter 107: "The Girl Is Partial to Her Lover"

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

When Cai Zongming was closed in by Chen Changhua, Lou Cheng could not help but cover his eyes. He could almost imagine what would happen next.

Little Ming was in fact quite talented, but he had been working by fits and started all this time. Forget the fact that he didn't participate in the martial arts special training previously; he would often attend once or twice the martial arts lesson which were only taught three times a week. Under such circumstances, even if Geezer Shi had taught every student the front part of 24 Blizzard Strikes, it would only enrich his fighting style but not make him stronger. It would only improve his abilities as an Amateur Fifth Pin a little. The moment he ran into a professional-to-be expert like Chen Changhua, the outcome was imaginable no matter how deadly his mouth was.

As expected, Lou Cheng saw that Cai Zongming was pressed down by Chen Changhua. They rubbed together on the ground, looking tragically like a beautiful maiden who was being trampled down by a strong man.

"Don't laugh, don't laugh…" Lou Cheng admonished himself again and again. Then, he put on a "sympathetic" attitude and welcomed the return of Cai Zongming.

"Damn, I feel like I was raped by my opponent." "Talker" Cai Zongming belittled himself mercilessly while still wearing a bewildered look on his face.

"I can't hold it any longer…" Lou Cheng covered his mouth and laughed softly to himself, enduring "Casanova's" aggrieved stare before he finally calmed down. Then, he said with a 'serious' face, "Now you understand why people practice day after day? With your talent, it shouldn't be a problem for you to rise to the level of an Amateur Third or Fourth Pin after a semester of special training. Have you made up your mind? Do you understand that you should train hard now?"

"Of course I know… Now I feel f*cking embarrassed that I want to quit our Martial Arts Club. After this battle, my handsome image has totally disappeared!" Cai Zongming sighed, giving the impression that his life had no hope. "Luckily, this's special training. Only a few of you guys saw this fight, or I'd be ashamed of myself!"

Lou Cheng pretended to answer him seriously, "As the saying goes, news travels fast beyond your imagination. A person can pass messages to ten people and ten people can pass messages to a hundred people. There are more than ten people here…"

Cai Zongming stunned a little and said, " Please strangle me…"

At that time, Geezer Shi coughed a little.

"Good, after the special training of the last semester, you little boys have made significant progress. Some of you even have promoted several Pin, but you can never be too proud because this kind of progression is very normal in the Amateur Rank.

"Well, now I announce that the third leading player of this preliminary is Sun Jian. Sun Jian, you have to practice a lot to improve yourself to be of Amateur First Pin as soon as possible."

"The substitute members are Li Mao, Lin Hua, Yan Zheke, and Guo Qing. And the rest students should keep practicing hard."

Hearing that, Lou Cheng could not help but look to Yan Zheke with his eyes full of joy to congratulate her being selected into the preliminary team.

Yan Zheke also looked back and she slightly lifted her chin to show her joy. The atmosphere between them became very tacit and warm with their keen eye contact.

Geezer Shi continued, "Starting today, I'll teach the rest of the 24 Blizzard Strikes. Guo Qing, your character isn't suitable for this playing style. In order to make full use of your power, I'll teach you a fist position called 'Mountain-moving Punch', which focuses on ferocity and strong power. Although 24 Blizzard Strikes is also famous for its ferocity, it mainly emphasizes the tiny points, especially the aspects of mind, state, and perception. All of these are your weaknesses. And we should strengthen our strong points and avoid the weaknesses, am I right?"

"Coach Shi, I listen to your guidance!" Guo Qing answered excitedly.

Losing to Yan Zheke made her a little unhappy, even though she was very blunt and outgoing. Last semester, Yan Zheke was obviously not as good as she was, but now, just a few months later, her 24 Blizzard Strikes were so strong that they could beat her. How could she be happy?

Until Coach Shi said it was because she wasn't suitable for this playing style, she felt more relaxed and happier. Yan Zheke also quietly relieved when she saw that.

Lou Cheng had practiced a lot, so he achieved a professional level. Although he was skilled enough to be a teacher, he also listened very carefully because he thought that remembering the past could help him to know the future. He also listened to the additional lesson about the Mountain-moving Punch which Coach Shi taught Guo Qing. To learn more Kungfu could enrich his playing style. Maybe one day, he could beat the enemy with the Mountain-moving Punch.

Practicing the still stance, tricked set, playing style, power, footwork… Time flew during such a dedicated atmosphere. At last, all the members started to do pair exercise. Except for Cai Zongming who was paired with Chen Changhua, all the pairs stayed the same as before. Lou Cheng changed his position with Li Mao, and now it was time to give hand to Li Mao to learn the rest part of 24 Blizzard Strikes.

During this process, he learned a lot. If you put your feet in others' shoes, you could recognize a lot of problems you have ignored before. Li Mao was like a mirror. Some of his weaknesses could help to reflect out Lou Cheng's bad habits.

Practice referred not only to exercise but also to "beat". By constant beating, one could force the impurity out of his body. This was one of the methods to achieve body perfection.

Around noon, Geezer Shi announced that the special training had finished. Then Lou Cheng and Cai Zongming came together and watched Yan Zheke nervously.

"What are you nervous about?" Cai Zongming asked contemptuously.

Lou Cheng took a breath and said, "I want to ask her when she'll be free. And whether the 14th or the 16th is a better time for us to have a date… But the 14th is Valentine's Day. Would that be too straightforward?"

"Will it cause a bad reaction?"

Cai Zongming laughed and said, "There's nothing to be nervous about. However, if you asked her with your present mood, the effect might be better."

"Why?" Lou Cheng was confused.

In the romantic area, Cai Zongming is skillful enough to be my professor!

Cai Zongming said casually, "Just think about it: a mighty young fighter who behaved very calmly and ferociously on the ring like he can rebuke heaven, however, he felt nervous and shy to talk with you. Such an apparent contrast can make the girl feel that you are abnormally cute. I can bet that most of the girls like it!"

"Oh my God, abnormally cute…" Lou Cheng thought it over and found that it really did make sense. However, he would not admit this to Cai Zongming.

Cai Zongming laughed proudly. "I am the old hand swaying the entire internet!"

Lou Cheng gained courage and walked towards Yan Zheke quickly. At the moment that he stood in front of her, Guo Qing snickered and said, "Here it comes again… You two can talk now. I'll not bother you anymore!"

In that instant, Lou Cheng thought he had blushed. So he ran the Condensation Stance by instinct to try to suppress his emotion. However, he saw that Yan Zheke also blushed, which made her complexion whiter and more luminous than usual. His mind bombed and drew a blank, which smashed the Condensation Stance he used just now.

Yan Zheke looked at him with her lovely eyes and she felt so shy. "Don't listen to Qing's nonsense…"

"Okay, Okay." Lou Cheng nodded. He was so nervous that he blurted out his entire plan. "I'll pick out a few Songcheng restaurants, taste their food this afternoon, and choose one restaurant in the end. So when are you free, on the 14th or the 16th?"

After saying that, he wanted to slap himself in the face. "Casanova" had said that I should say it easily and casually when Yan Zheke asked. How could I directly say it out loud?

No matter how good the practice set is, the plan will fail if I misbehave under the actual situation!

Yan Zheke smiled softly with her faintly discernable dimple. She glanced at Lou Cheng, who was nervous from her soft smile and grave mouth. She seemed to think out loud. "On the 14th, on the 14th…"

Suddenly, she lowered her head to avoid the sight of Lou Cheng. Her ponytail also shook with her nodding head, and her crimson cheeks had not faded yet.

Seeing this scene, Lou Cheng once again thought of a poem: The most was the head of attraction, like a water lotus very gentle.

After getting along with Yan Zheke for a long time, it seemed that my literary knowledge has improved…

When he was dispelling his apprehension by self-mockery, Yan Zheke said softly, "I'm afraid that I'm full of classes in the afternoon and evening on the 14th. But Saturday is available! I have nothing to do except martial arts training."

"Ok, Ok, Ok!" Lou Cheng was so glad when he found Yan Zheke didn't show an indifferent attitude.

Then, he thought of what happened before, he added, "In the last combat, I was not deliberate to play the last fist. I played it subconsciously."

Yan Zheke raised her head and smiled with her crimson cheeks fading away. "At first, I planned to pretend to be angry, but I just let it go. My grandfather has said you shouldn't consider any problem about restricting your power or whether you could play the ferocious style or not, and these problems are judged by coaches and supervisors. Otherwise, fighters on the ring can never compete with the one who has experienced serious fights."

"As long as you don't hit the opponents fiercely when they have lost resistance or obviously lost the competition. Except for this situation, others are acceptable and encouraged."

"Thanks for the guidance of Coach Yan!" Lou Cheng blurted out.

Hearing this sentence, Yan Zheke raised her right hand to cover her mouth. She chuckled with her eyes curving like a crescent. Lou Cheng also started to smile warmly after he realized this.

Coach Yan, who only belongs to me…

After this episode, the embarrassing atmosphere caused by Guo Qing completely dissipated. Lou Cheng casually mentioned. "Your cousin's playing style has changed a lot. Is that your family disciple?"

Yan Zheke nodded. "My grandparents come from Shushan Study. And they created several family Kungfu according to Unique Skill of the Fighting Sect and Yin-yang Magneto-optical Sword, such as Yin-yang Twist, which was derivated by the Swirling Star from Fighting Sect and Yin-yang Disorder Move from Yin-yang Magneto-optical Sword, and mixed Tai Chi. It can be considered as the basic move for a fighter in Danqi State and the body refining state for the kernel of family Kungfu. Without it, all the other movements would be too normal."

"Although my cousin is talented, he has been stuck in this movement for a long time. Not until he learned the 24 Blizzard Strikes could he comprehend this movement by analogy."

Lou Cheng suddenly understood. "No wonder your cousin didn't play your Family Kungfu before."

"Not exactly", Yan Zheke smiled and showed her clean and tidy teeth which looked very cute. "The final punch, called Meteor force, is a unique skill from the Fire Meteor in the Fighting Sect. It is similar to Modern Blast Punch, but it puts more emphasis on quick movements and does not give people the opportunity to avoid it. So when you get to a certain level, you even can use some methods such as opening and closing your pores to counteract the fist punching sound. And once you hit your opponent, you ignite the power to shake his body. After one gets into physical invulnerability, he can blast out fire directly with somersaulting air billow.

"However, Meteor force requires good physique. Before this fight, my cousin can play it out only once. If it wasn't in a critical situation, it would be more convenient to use 24 Blizzard Strikes. And now because he has reached the top of the body refining state, he might use it three or four times."

Lou Cheng heard it with interest. "Oh, that makes sense…"

Unconsciously, I have learned all the secrets of my Brother-in-law… haha, is this girl treating me better than her cousin?

Thinking of this, he remembered one thing and asked, "Have I said that I want to be your sparring partner? So what do you think if I tell Coach Shi to make us a group tomorrow?"

"No. That would be so embarrassing!" Yan Zheke blurted out, and then she eased her tone, chuckled. "If you really want to be my sparring partner, then please spare one hour on Saturday and Sunday."

"Spare one hour on Saturday and Sunday? That means I could get along with her privately every weekend?" Lou Cheng felt so happy and he couldn't stop laughing.

"Okay, definitely, no problem!"

Yan Zheke turned around with her head slightly lower and she smiled. "Well, I'm going to take a bath, and you should go too. There's the stink of sweat on your whole body~"

"Uh-huh." Lou Cheng nodded and watched Yan Zheke walking into the women's locker room. He quickly went back and he felt so happy that he felt like he was walking on clouds.

I'm really happy today!

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Chapter 108: Interviewed Yet Again

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Returning to the men's locker room and entering the shower area, drenched in the spray of warm water, Lou Cheng couldn't help but hum a tune to himself as he washed away the exhaustion from his heart and mind.

He changed into some better clothes. He used a towel to dry his hair, and as he walked out, Cai Zongming was the only person left.

"Not bad, you're positively beaming." the impatient classmate Little Ming said.

"Hehe." For Lou Cheng, laughter had replaced every other response.

Cai Zongming tsked and sighed, "Man, in life this kind of purity only comes once. A burning fire from the bottom of one's heart, leaving you unable to consider any other kind of emotion. You have to treasure it completely! When you date again, it won't have that same emotion to it, so you can't hold back at all or have any reservations.

Lou Cheng furrowed his brow, "Why do you say after dating again? If you take this kind of pure feeling and continue to preserve it for forever and forever, is that a bad thing? Or is that you don't want to have a girlfriend for the sake of marriage?"

Cai Zongming laughed, "Feeling these kinds of emotions isn't simple in any way. To get a grasp is the beginning, there's no shortage of conflict and twists and turns. This is an era brimming with temptation. To want your first love also to be your last, this is difficult! I'm only giving you a heads-up. Two people's interactions with each other aren't always beautiful."

"I believe that as long as both people work hard to communicate with each other, and learn to forgive one another, it's possible." Lou Cheng said with sincerity.

Cai Zongming mouth twitched, and he clapped his shoulder.

"I think there's something in the way of our communication here…"

…

Leaving the cafeteria with a somewhat filled stomach, Lou Cheng checked the journey ahead of him as he stepped on.

After taking a window seat on the bus, he took out his phone as if he was the only person in the world and logged onto QQ.

"Have you left?" Yan Zheke sent him an emoji with its hands covering its mouth.

"Just got on." Lou Cheng replied with a gentle face emoji.

Yan Zheke didn't mention it again and sent an emoji with tears flowing and fists clenched, "I feel super tired today, even more than after training yesterday. My waist is sore and my back aches…"

Oh…Lou Cheng quickly sent an emoji patting someone's head, "Maybe it's because you got up so early to train."

"That's right, I'm not only merely doing the special training…" Yan Zheke replied using a "Who am I, where am I, what am I doing" emoji.

Lou Cheng laughed upon seeing the emoji, and said with concern, "How about you stop getting up so early for more training? For the sake of your body, having four hours of special training is already enough. Having any more is actually not that good and will make you get injured from fatigue. I'm not saying that your body isn't good enough, I'm just saying you don't have the kind of abnormal endurance that I have and you're not able to take it. A half hour of still stances in the morning to raise your spirit, that would be best."

Yan Zheke used an emoji with its right hand to scratching its chin in thought and said, "This is true…Hey, I can get more familiar with my covers instead! Hmm, tomorrow I'll start to get up at 7 am, and do some still stance for a half hour in the dorm balcony. Otherwise, I'm really afraid that I won't be able to be able to listen to any afternoon or evening classes."

"Coach Yan, you really do accept advice readily."Lou Cheng praised, then turned around and said, "I've noticed my appetite has gotten bigger again. Today I ate 50 cents worth of rice, and it felt like I hadn't eaten anything at all…Although it's necessary to keep your stomach in check, I reckon after eating 1.5 yuans worth of rice I still wasn't full, and this isn't even counting the other food!"

Yan Zheke sent an emoji of someone crouching in the corner miserably, "Me too…I only ate enough food suitable for a delicate and fair maiden, but now, now I have to go to several windows in shame. I'll go to one and order 30 cents worth of rice, then go another and order 30 cents more, and finally I'll go another window and order another 20 cents worth. No less than 80 cents worth of rice, it's like I'm a total chowhound…"

"Then what am I? Two chowhounds? Some kind of food receptacle?" Lou Cheng replied, smiling from ear to ear and ignoring the looks and stares from those beside him.

While chatting, time flew, and he hadn't even raised his head to look out at the scenery going by. Arriving at the Songcheng University old campus, he hailed a car online to find the first order of business: Dingshang Sautéed Crab in Hot and Spicy Sauce

Now it was getting later in the day, and the rush hour had already finished, so Lou Cheng did not have for long as he took his place in line.

Seeing that he was by himself, the waitress was slightly surprised and blurted out, "Sir, how many are with you? Do you need to wait for everyone and come back?"

"Just one." Lou Cheng laughed awkwardly, but not shrinking back in the slightest. After all, this was this was his "Divine Mission".

The waitress was unable to look at Lou Cheng in the face; it seemed like she was looking at a desperate single person. She didn't probe any further and said politely, "What kind of crab would you like? We have a few different kinds of quality. The cheapest is 99 yuan for half a kilogram, and the most expensive is 499…"

Lou Cheng was still fairly frugal. As he looked at the stickers on the water tank, he said, "The 199 yuan one, just give me two."

According to what Qin Mo had said, this place was also half composed of a hot pot restaurant. You'd first order some glutinous rice, lotus root, and some spicy crab and toss it all into a hotpot. To cook all of the meat, boiling hot broth would be added to cook it, and you could boil some Steamed Shrimp Dumplings, beef, handmade noodles, and other things. They didn't just depend on the crab to fill you up.

After ordering, he was led by the waitress to his seat. Along the way he sized everything up, taking in and observing the environment. According to what his classmate Little Ming had said, during the first time you take a girl out to eat, if you're not sure what her favorite kind of atmosphere, you at least need to find a place that's not too noisy, chaotic, or messy. Otherwise the great flavor of the food won't be able to counteract the terrible impression created by the environment, unless it was truly divine.

Right, two person and four person tables big difference with the larger tables was that on both sides, inbetween there was a block. This environment wasn't too bad…Lou Cheng nodded his head satisfactorily as he waited for the fresh spicy lobster to be brought over.

In this moment, he ate happily. The crab was cooked fresh, the spiciness was ingrained with a little sweetness, and it really hit the spot. After cooking the handmade noodles in the hot pot, as well as the 'Vitality Meatballs', it could be considered a great meal.

"She should enjoy it…" Lou Cheng thought happily as he compared it to a different person's tastes.

After paying, he hurriedly went outside and looked through the surrounding stores as he still had to try out two other places. He was strapped for time and couldn't afford the luxury of casually and carefreely wandering around. Instead he ran, ignoring the staring of passerby as he glanced left and right.

It's commonly said that, if you run in this way, it's impossible to avoid running into other pedestrians or telephone poles, but he was all eyes. All of his energy was focused in his footsteps as he avoided everything just in time, running through flower shrubs and not walking away with the smell of flowers on him afterward.

"Is this like some kind of alternative martial arts training?…." he thought to himself, amused.

…

300 meters outside, behind the shopping area, Lou Cheng found a secluded coffee shop that seemed to have some character. He sat down and carefully sampled the beverages and pastries.

Yan Zheke has said before she didn't like coffee, but she seemed to love milk tea really, and there were several kinds offered here…Lou Cheng looked at all of the cups in front of him. Suddenly, he felt that there was a lot of pressure in his bladder.

He was delighted with the environment here. It didn't seem like a Starbucks at the main entrance of a shopping mall where there were tons of people and the seats were arranged in a way that there was no privacy, like a McDonalds or KFC. Those were absolutely not acceptable for a date, and this place also didn't feel the least bit pretentious.

…

100 meters to the left of the coffee shop, Lou Cheng discovered a cake shop.

He walked to and fro, looking out for different pieces of bread, and chose a few that Yan Zheke usually mentioned. After buying them, he immediately sat down and began to eat.

"The quality is really nice!" he patted his stomach with a sense of gratification.

…

Lou Cheng took the elevator to the mall's fifth floor and surveyed the posters of the newest movies that were showing. He asked the employees about the characteristics of each film, as well as whether it would be easy or difficult to purchase a ticket for each.

"If it turns out we want to watch a movie then, I can directly give her a recommendation, make it seem like I'm confident and have my own opinions. It'll leave a good impression", he fantasized the scene playing out during the date.

…

Afterwards, Lou Cheng again researched the local bus routes nearby. This way he could avoid not being able to find a car online or a taxi. It wouldn't be acceptable to make a lady standing waiting with nothing to do, would it?

He had bustled around like this for the entire afternoon, running here and running there, While his stomach was ready to burst, his spirit was incredibly excited. Finally he'd chosen two other restaurants close to the Dingshang Sautéed Crab in Hot and Spicy Sauce that had the perfect flavor, and that they could go to afterward during the date.

…

The next morning, Songcheng University's Martial Arts Club first class of the semester officially. The people who came weren't numerous, but they were all even more serious.

During the bitter training of the Ice Mirror's 'Thunderous Roar Zen', Lou Cheng, rather than training in the same way as the fellow members, instead acted as Geezer Shi's assistant. Other than his own physical training, he also would point out advice to his surrounding classmates.

When Geezer Shi told the group to go to the Strength Training Gymnasium to train, a sea of people came through the entrance. There was a man carrying a video camera on his shoulder, a female reporter holding a microphone, as well as staff members of the school.

"Hey, Cheng, do you see this? It's that reporter from last year! Shu…Shu Rui!" Cai Zongming eyes sparkled as he stopped training and slapped Lou Cheng's shoulder.

Lou Cheng past had followed him. Here he was looking the source of his own black history. This Shu Rui, whose name was carved in the pit of his stomach, didn't seem nearly as mature as she looked in her videos. Her dainty face had already been rid of any trace of seeming like a student, and her eyes glowed with energy and vigor.

Due to the weather, she had a black down jacket this time, which set against her skin made it seem all the more white and dainty. Her thigh high boots accented the curves of her long and straight legs.

"An interview…"

"There's a reporter for an interview!"

All of the voices of the Martial Arts Club Members remaining could be heard whispering together.

Shu Rui's gaze swept through the ranks of the Martial Arts Club, then brightened suddenly as she quickly headed over. She directly approached Lou Cheng and Cai Zongming, smiling sweetly as she said, "Fellow classmates, do you remember me?"

"I remember." compared to the last time he'd accepted the interview, Lou Cheng wasn't that nervous or uneasy.

Cai Zongming followed suit, nodding his head. "I remember, that was my first time being on TV."

Shu Rui said with a smile, "Before I set off earlier, I looked through the footage one more time. I still have a strong impression of you two, so it only took a quick glance to recognize you both. How do you feel about accepting another interview today?"

"Sure." Lou Cheng answered concisely.

To be honest, he wasn't all that excited about an interview on the local TV station, but he had to take into account making sure not to have his teacher lose face.

"No problem!" Cai Zongming was always pumped.

Shu Rui nodded, "Then I'll interview you one by one. Classmate, okay if I start with you?"

She fixed her gaze towards Lou Cheng.

"Go ahead." Lou Cheng replied politely.

Shu Rui suddenly broke into soft and delicate laughter. "I can see that you've changed a lot! Last time when I interviewed you, you were incredibly nervous and stiff. But today, today….how to say…in a novel they'd say cool and collected."

"Because I've got experience now." Lou Cheng casually blurted out.

Shu Rui nodded her head slightly, "Then I'll start the interview proper. According to the information given to me by your Propaganda Department, your Martial Arts Club plans to join the preliminaries this time around. Did you know this information?"

Upon hearing this, all of the Martial Arts Club members around them burst out in a din of sound. After listening to this, there was an indescribable excitement.

The Preliminaries? The Martial Arts Club would organize a group to join the Preliminaries?

"I know." Lou Cheng finally realized why the reporter had come.

Shu Rui gave an encouraging smile, "Then how do you feel about this? What kind of expectations do you have?"

"Hmm, I think it's a really good thing. There is no official match this semester, so to fill in the gap and get some practical fighting experience and training in, joining the preliminaries is the best method. That way we can exchange blows with real experts. We'll all surely be able to improve by a lot." Lou Cheng replied honestly.

Shu Rui furrowed her brow, feeling that this answer was a little strange. However, she couldn't say exactly what was strange about it, and could only reply teasingly, "Classmate, don't you think your response is a little too formal? It feels like you're the official spokesman for the Martial Arts Club."

"I'm a Martial Arts fan, but I also watch a lot of news and news reports." Lou Cheng explained humorously.

Shu Rui chuckled, "Fine, next question. When I was on the way I took a quick look at the list of names that your Propaganda Department gave me. I noticed a strangers name on there, called Lou Cheng. Last year, he at the start hadn't joined the district contest of the National University Martial Arts Competitions, but this year he's lept ahead and become the preliminaries leading player. Is there any story behind this?

"Do you know what kind of person Lou Cheng is? Is he a private person? Last semester did he or did he not join the Martial Arts Club. What level is his strength at, is he a Professional Ninth Pin?"

Lou Cheng faltered, and then forced a smile, "I can't really answer these questions that well."

Beside him, Cai Zongming painfully kept himself from smiling.

Shu Rui furrowed her brows further, then relaxed and chuckled, "Fine, in that case can you point out to me who Lou Cheng is? I'll go and interview him directly."

Ha! Cai Zongming was unable to contain himself as Lou Cheng pointed at himself and helplessly said.

"I am Lou Cheng…"

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Chapter 109: I'm Just a Good Person

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

"You are Lou Cheng?" Shu Rui's mouth opened wide. She would have spouted water out if she were drinking.

How does this average looking passer-by I interviewed last year suddenly become the leading player of Songcheng University Martial Arts Club for the preliminaries? He must be of Amateur First or Second Pin.

Am I wrong about him?

During my one year experience working at the TV station, Martial Arts Competition has been my main focus. I've met over 50 local martial artists, if not 100. The silly looking Lou Cheng appears nothing like them!

Other Martial Arts Club members began to wag their tongue. They didn't expect this easy going, amiable senior of great patience in giving instructions to be one of the leading players of the club. They knew they should never judge people by their appearance.

Lou Cheng saw disbelief in the reporter's eyes and laughed. "Would you like to check my student identity card?"

"Ahh? Err…" Shu Rui was brought back from the shock. Realizing this could make a fascinating story, she showed a note of excitement in her voice. "No need. Who lies about this kind of stuff. The truth will come out easily during a small chat with Coach Shi. Lou Cheng, you seem to be a man of stories. Can we arrange an exclusive interview later?"

With no intention to expose himself in front of the camera, Lou Cheng found a pretext to refuse. "We are training now…"

"No problem. Lou Cheng, feel free to have the interview. It's a great propaganda for the school to have a martial arts expert!" advised a teacher from the Propaganda Department.

Shu Rui pointed at the Strength Training Gymnasium. "What about this? I'll ask Coach Shi first. If he doesn't grant permission, we'll wait for next time."

"OK." Lou Cheng decided to ask his master to refuse the exclusive interview.

The group immediately moved towards the Strength Training Gymnasium, leaving Cai Zongming standing there in a trance, whispering to himself,

"What happened to the one-to-one interview?"

…

Entering the Strength Training Gymnasium, Lou Cheng picked up his pace to reach Geezer Shi before everyone else. He lowered his voice and said,

"Master, a reporter wants to interview me. Please help me turn her down."

Geezer Shi laughed. "What's wrong with having an interview? You'll have many of it if you keep up with your fast progress. It's important to learn to deal with the media. Your speed rising from zero will be dug out by someone at some point. Why not take this opportunity and explain yourself?"

Lou Cheng mused and nodded. "Fine."

On his way to the Strength Training Gymnasium with Shu Rui and the cameraman, he glanced at Yan Zheke unconsciously and saw her bright smile, beautiful eyes, and an encouraging gesture.

As warmth filled in his heart, his resistance to the exclusive interview seemed weakened.

"Lou Cheng, relax. Take it as a casual chat between two friends. Just a casual chat." Shu Rui was no longer a new recruit. She seemed professional and confident about the interview.

Lou Cheng was not nervous at all. It was just an interview with the local TV station which had a very limited coverage. He answered with a smile, "I'm very much relaxed. You can start."

Shu Rui didn't have a chance to prepare this off-the-cuff interview in outline. She worked in her thought at high speed and improvised there. "You are a freshman, right?"

"Yes. I just joined the Martial Arts Club when you interviewed me last year," Lou Cheng added some information.

Shu Rui nodded. Hundreds of threads flashed in her head during this brief pause. She gave her second question. "Which level were you at prior to your training at the Martial Arts Club? You've made progress by leaps and bounds during these months, is that right?

"I was simply a martial arts enthusiast before. I knew nothing about Still Stance, styles or moves. My level? I don't think I could beat a goose before." Lou Cheng had learned a new phrase "the strength of a swan" recently, which was supposed to satirize some measurement units used to measure strength in some fictions.

Apparently, Shu Rui didn't get his humor, neither did the cameraman. Much puzzled and surprised, she said impulsively, "You were a green hand half a year ago? Not even of Amateur Ninth Pin?"

"That's right. I have practiced martial arts for about half a year," answered Lou Cheng genuinely.

A well-experienced reporter, Shu Rui returned to her normal state much quicker than the cameraman and made a sort of gasp. "So it took you a mere six-month to become the leading player of the club from a nobody? Err… What is your current level?"

"I haven't attended any ranking event but I'd like to think I'm close to the professional level. I plan to sign up for Professional Ninth Pin in April's Ranking Event," said Lou Cheng humbly.

"Half a year from a newbie to an expert of Professional Ninth Pin…" Shu Rui seemed thrilled by this big news, her eyes and brows filled with joy and excitement. "Are you the incarnation of a Living Buddha?"

"No." Lou Cheng shook his head to deny.

"Then you must be highly gifted?" Shu Rui's voice turned light and quick.

Lou Cheng reflected on it and nodded slightly, "I noticed my talent in Solemn Silence when I first started my martial arts training here. It didn't take me long to enter a meditative state where my mind concentrates on one. Also, my endurance seems much better than average."

He gave some decorative details.

"You quickly achieved concealment of spirit and qi? Still Stance must be easy for you. Once you have mastered Still Stance, you can get twice the results with half the effort." Specialized in martial arts related interviews, Shu Rui had a thorough understanding of Solemn Silence's importance.

"Yeah." Lou Cheng smiled and added sincerely, "It's my fortune to have Coach Shi in the club. A true master, he has taught us many Still Stance styles and visualization in battle. His instructions helped me improve day by day and reached the Amateur Ninth Pin level before the district contest. But back then I was way behind the seniors. I couldn't even be a substitute."

Shu Rui smiled gently. "No wonder your name was not on the list. What happened next? How did you become the leading player of the Martial Arts Club?"

"I kept practicing through the first term until the past winter break. Because our pair exercise was ceased before the district contest, I had no way to tell my level. I was desperate for some actual battle experience when I heard of the Phoenix Cup Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament from Coach Shi. He helped me get an invitation and I attended the competition in Yanling." Lou Cheng didn't try to hide his experience in the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament.

Shu Rui let her right hand rest on her lower belly and asked with interest, "Did you set a goal for yourself before the tournament?"

"Yes. I wanted to make it to the second round so it wouldn't be too humiliating!" Lou Cheng joked at himself.

Shu Rui chuckled. "And then? How far did you make it?"

"The top eight. I learned a lot and improved fast from each match. I think I have become a real martial artist after that tournament, inside out." Lou Cheng added with a tinge of emotion.

"The top eight? Did you encounter any professional level contestant?" Shu Rui was obviously surprised.

It doesn't sound like an amateur level competition!

Lou Cheng answered frankly, "I fought three of Professional Ninth Pin. Win two and loss one."

"Wow! That's really impressive! You are more than just professional-to-be!" Shu Rui sounded amazed and impressed.

"You are flattering me. Luck was on my side in those two victorious matches. One of the Professional Ninth Pin experts hadn't had any real combat experience for a very long time before the tournament…" Lou Cheng went on to explain in short.

A series of questions and answers led this unprepared interview to the end in less than ten minutes. Lou Cheng had pretty much sketched his story.

"Thank you, Lou Cheng. I'll let you go back to your training. Sorry for the interrupt," Shu Rui said cheerfully.

"No problem." Lou Cheng answered politely.

Shu Rui gave a little chuckle. "No matter what, thank you for your cooperation. I'll interview your Coach Shi."

Lou Cheng felt relieved and turned around to join his club mates. As he was passing by Yan Zheke, he heard her whisper, "That reporter is so pretty!"

"She does have a good set of features…" Lou Cheng held his tongue before speaking out his thought and changed his answer.

"Pretty? I find her rather plain."

Yan Zheke sent one glare at him. "Hypocrite!"

"I'm honest with you. I guess she's just not my cup of tea," answered Lou Cheng sincerely.

Yan Zheke laughed in spite of herself. "Hah. Your aesthetic conception sounds quite special. Well, tell me what your cup of tea looks like?"

Lou Cheng looked at her and smiled. "Have a guess."

Yan Zheke waited for a second before spitting at him. She turned her face away. "Not a fan of your guessing game!"

Under the watchful eyes of his club mates, Lou Cheng couldn't say more. He retreated into the team and continued with his training.

…

Songcheng TV Station.

Shu Rui reported Lou Cheng's story in brief to the head of her department.

Director Guo said in a muted voice,

"Don't air this interview yet. Wait for Songcheng University Martial Arts Club to have some good performance in the preliminaries. Last time we made a whole program but they didn't go far. Just mention their participation in the preliminaries in the news."

"Okay. I'll find more materials." Shu Rui saw this coming.

Back to Newsroom Two, she answered a call from her boyfriend and chatted with her colleagues about what they saw and heard before turning on her computer to search for materials related to Lou Cheng's exclusive interview.

The first thing that came to her mind was the Phoenix Cup Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament. Lou Cheng barely said anything about it.

She typed in the title of the competition and added Lou Cheng's name in the search bar.

Many results were returned. She browsed the headings without clicking on any link.

"These few are from the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament's official site… These… Hmm? Lou Cheng has a personal forum?" Shu Rui gave out a surprised shout. She opened the forum to check if it was real, seeing "Eternal Nightfall" and "Brahman" grumbling at the serious lack of Lou Cheng's news.

A smile climbed on Shu Rui's face as it reminded her of her days being a fan. She cut parts of the interview, made a crude preview trailer and posted with her almost forgotten ID "Lush Gives Birth To Light".

"The preview of Songcheng TV Station's interview with Lou Cheng!"

She then uploaded the edited video and typed.

"Don't bother asking who I am. I'm just a good person!"

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Chapter 110: The Full Moon Night

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Yan Xiaoling, an art student didn't need to go through the national college entrance examination as other students did. She stayed in bed browsing the internet on her mobile while others left early and returned late for school. In the background was an old song called White Moonlight playing on his laptop.

Soon her responsibility half took charge and dragged her back to inspect the forum, making sure the site was not polluted by ads or scams.

"Preview of the Songcheng TV Station's interview with Lou Cheng… Preview…" Her eyes opened wide like a shocked cat as soon as the page was loaded.

She clicked on it before her head could think it through and played the video.

"Who is Lou Cheng? How skillful is he? Has he reached Professional Ninth Pin yet?

"I don't have answers to any of these questions."

…

Joy gradually replaced the shock on her face. Yan Xiaoling murmured joyfully,

"It is Lou Cheng… It really is!"

"Ha-hah. How interesting! She asked who Lou Cheng was in front of Lou Cheng…

"He didn't have any martial arts training until half a year ago?"

The shock trailer was soon over. Yan Xiaoling felt unable to suppress her exaltation and astonishment. She quickly replied to Lush Gives Birth To Light's post.

"Long live the good person!"

"It really is our Lou Cheng!"

"Hah! He is a caring boy!"

After three replies in a roll, she opened her QQ to inform Brahman of this good news.

"Hurry up! Check the first post on the forum. The first one under those topped ones!"

The words were not enough to express her excitement and joy. She switched to voice message mode and moved her phone close to her lips.

"Ha-hah! I'm so happy! Finally some news about Lou Cheng!"

"He's so caring! So caring. So, so caring! It is so important that I have to repeat three times!"

"Unbelievably the Challenge Tournament was his very first actual combat. He has practiced martial arts for only six months. He's amazing, amazing, amazing!"

"I'm so happy right now! I'm rolling on the floor with my face buried in my hands! Don't you ask me how I can send you voice messages in this position!"

…

Those voice messages traveled far along with her exaltation and excitement. After a while, "Brahman" sent back an emoji of wiping cold sweat off. "You are such a nympho. I thought you were a pretty and cute fan…"

She also sent a voice message in her crispy young girl voice. "Little Changye, you liar! You sound like a little girl in elementary school. How could you trick me that you were a high school senior?"

In a perfect mood, Yan Xiaoling wasn't bothered by being called a liar. She cleared her throat and put on a more serious voice as if a radio host. "You have to accept that some people are gifted with a naive voice. Wait to see me become a student of Songcheng University this fall!"

"Hmm! I'm waiting. I'll go and check the post first." Brahman opened the forum and clicked on the post.

As the video played, her facial expression slowly changed. She pulled her two braids hanging above her shoulders with excitement and quickly typed a reply to "Lush Gives Birth To Light".

"Too short… I want more!"

"My idol came to the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament after only six months martial arts training with zero actual combat experience and made it to the top eight… No wonder he's so mysterious… I love him more!"

There is no conflict at all between a mysterious, hidden expert and a talented youth with half a year training and a top-eight record!

Sharing the same excitement and joy with Yan Xiaoling, Brahman couldn't wait to spread it out.

Hmm… I'll share it with Uncle Pig Riding and Uncle Arena so they can learn something about my idol! They blamed for their defeat on a lack of actual combat… He has trained for only half a year!

Brahman hesitated if she should post it in the douche section or the Longhu Club forum.

The former one was probably better for Road to the Arena and Invincible Punch's face, but the limited number of viewers was obviously not satisfying for her…

After one second of serious thinking, Brahman decided to share it on the Longhu Club forum!

Adults think about potential consequences. Kids seek for fun!

Soon a new post was published on the Longhu Club forum with the title

"My idol's latest news!"

Brahman tagged many in the post and introduced with her nose in the air: "Check it out! An exclusive interview with my idol! Allegedly he's only trained for six months…"

Soon Unparalleled Dragon King replied a shocking emoji: "Six months only… No wonder he's not in my database and no one seems to know anything about him… Only six months…"

Road to the Arena closely followed: "Speechless… I'll buy a piece of tofu and kill myself."

Invincible Punch sent an emoji of crying to faint in the toilet: "Master Road, I need no tofu. I'll just end my life in my toilet!"

Pig-Riding Knight replied the sticker of Yao Ming's signature laugh: "Come on. Let's queue and die."

Comments flooded in rapidly, making Brahman's eyebrows dance. She copied and pasted some to share the joy with Yan Xiaoling.

"Beautiful World" commented: "He seems to have some talent. This kind of fighters always improve fast at the beginning thanks to their great potential's explosion, but soon they'll reach the bottleneck. His future is not yet bright."

"Outspoken" questioned: "What if he's a reincarnation of a living Buddha and will achieve physical invulnerability in a few years? Who can match him then?"

"Okamoto's Fan" joked: "I've made up my mind and I'll start my martial arts training. What if I also have some talents? Maybe a glare of mine can cause pregnancy and orgasm!"

"Wonton Seller" wrote: "I think I have just started admiring him… However talented, he couldn't defeat Professional Ninth Pin fighters in half a year without hard training. I love this hard-working genius!"

…

Lou Cheng came across this scene while browsing the forum and it muddled his wits. Watching on the side quietly, he felt great inside.

It is spreading too fast!

…

Shu Rui had no idea what was happening in the Longhu Club forum, but she saw Eternal Nightfall and Brahman's replies with great joy and excitement. She smiled and followed Lou Cheng's forum.

"Brahman" was trying hard to develop more fans for Lou Cheng. "Wonton Seller" was successfully induced and became a follower.

…

In a flash, Valentine's Day came. Following Cai Zongming's advice, Lou Cheng heated up and flirted whenever he could to deliver his intention without causing her too much pressure or burden.

Back to the dorm after dinner, he took out his mobile to reply Yan Zheke's message and start new topics.

However, he heard nothing from her.

One minute, two minutes, ten and 20 minutes passed and Lou Cheng started to worry. It never happened in the past. He usually knew exactly what she was busy with when she couldn't respond to his message in time. But this time he had absolutely no clue.

"She told me she had dinner already… Could anything bad happen to her? But what could happen in school? Any reckless man won't be a problem for her considering her current martial arts skills… Did she fall in the lake by accident? She can't swim!" Standing by the window, Lou Cheng's head was filled with random possibilities. Tortured by his bad conjectures, he could stay there no longer and shouted at Cai Zongming,

"Talker, let's go!"

Cai Zongming moved his eyes away from his laptop, confused. "Isn't it too early?"

"Let's go now. It helps our digestion," replied Lou Cheng insincerely.

"Fine…" Cai Zongming frowned while turning off his laptop.

The two began their walk to the classroom building. Lou Cheng kept his eyes sharp, looking for anything unusual or suspicious but spotting nothing but loving couples which made him jealous. "Yan Zheke left with her classmates, so there would be some uproar in case any accident happened."

Abruptly his head clicked and his wild conjectures turned to an entirely different direction.

"Today is Valentine's Day…"

"Did anyone confess his love for her? What would her response be?"

"No reply from her for so long… Did she…?

Lou Cheng dared not continue this thought. His face turned gray and his heart felt plugged, sulking. He wanted to call and ask her but he understood it was no good. He didn't even know what to say once the call got connected.

Half an hour. An hour… Time quickly went by and Yan Zheke wrote him nothing. Sitting in the classroom, Lou Cheng didn't listen to the teacher. Lost and suffering, he checked on his mobile frequently every a few minutes. Cai Zongming curled his lips and cleared his throat, whispering,

"Having a fight?"

"Not really…" Lou Cheng found it hard to put his thoughts into words.

Cai Zongming smiled. "Relax. Conflict is normal. It's the time to play some communication skills…"

He continued on to explain his philosophy of dealing with girl problems but Lou Cheng was too lost to listen. No more than three out of ten lines reached his ears.

Dee!

Ten minutes before the end of the class, a notification for Yan Zheke's new message flashed on his screen.

She began with an emoji of collapsing to the ground. "Phew… Finally back to my room."

Moody and rather bothered, he simply replied an OK.

He suddenly remembered what Cai Zongming just said that same content delivered differently would become completely different for girls; anger couldn't solve conflict but communication could; good communication demanded a good attitude.

After a long deep breath, he added, "What happened? You sound tired."

"Very! Physically and mentally!" Yan Zheke used the emoji of crying while making a fist. "Someone declared love to me after dinner. Candles and flowers in front of so many people… How embarrassing! I don't understand what is wrong with his head! He only wants to touch my heart but ignore my feeling? Who enjoys being watched like an animal? So embarrassing!"

Lou Cheng was delighted, his anger and gloom fading away. "So… You said no?"

"Of course! Right in his face, ruthlessly!" Yan Zheke confirmed. "I ran away after refusing his affection. Scared of being bothered by him, I went to a classroom instead of my dorm. My phone was dying and my roommate was on the way with my charger but a phone call from School of Psychology came in about my cousin… Emm… After that call, my phone totally discharged…"

"Her phone had no power…" Lou Cheng felt relaxed inside out with a tiny portion of emotion still trapped in his heart. "School of Psychology?" He was puzzled.

"My cousin is studying in School of Psychology. We thought it might help his Mild Autism but it was not the case at all… Psychological services didn't seem to work… Sigh… Teachers called me over for this matter. I came back to my room, had my phone plugged in and immediately started my English test…" Yan Zheke added an emoji of panting and squatting.

Lou Cheng came to a sudden realization. "You completed your paper early?"

"Yeah… I'm so exhausted…" After a pause, Yan Zheke showed her acute senses. "Cheng, you sounded a bit weird earlier."

Thinking about denying, but Lou Cheng eventually chose to be honest. "You didn't reply for such a long time… I was concerned and went off into wild flights of fancy. I was afraid you might have fallen into the lake or encountered bad guys… I became very worried and disturbed… I always phoned you…"

"Ha… You are so good at cursing me…" Yan Zheke chuckled. "Didn't know you are so easily disturbed and worried."

This message lit up Lou Cheng's last bit of emotion. He blurted out, unable to contain himself.

"Because I like Yan Zheke. I like Yan Zheke very much!"

Regrets hit him right away.

I screwed up… What happened to no declaration of love before starting a relationship?

What about expressing love and affection face to face not by phone or through the internet?

Supposed to wait for two more days to use the tricked set on our date…

Damn it! I screwed up… Big time…

Nervousness, upset, worry and expectation all came at once. Lou Cheng heard his heart beating fast, more violent than ever.

Yan Zheke relapsed into silence again. The longer Lou Cheng waited, the more desperate he felt.

"You… Aren't you gonna say something?" He took heart and asked again, waiting for his doomsday.

A dozen seconds later, Yan Zheke sent a shy emoji.

"Let me enjoy it for five more minutes first…"

The implied meaning hit Lou Cheng hard as if the most beautiful fireworks blasted in his heart, brilliant and bright.

This is a yes from Yan Zheke!

The most beautiful thing in this world is the girl I love happens to love me back.

Lou Cheng wanted to jump up high. Joy and flashes of fireworks went on and on in his mind.

He looked out of the window, seeing the full moon becoming brighter and brighter.

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Chapter 111: Two Ends of Mind

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Holding back his intense desire to scream and run in the classroom, Lou Cheng lowered his head and revealed the pure joy in his heart to Yan Zheke.

"I feel I can't calm down anymore. I'm so happy that I want to jump off the classroom building and then swim a few rounds in the lake!"

Yan Zheke used a shy emoji and laughed. "Don't scare your teacher…"

"Wish I were not in class! I want to shout out loud!" Lou Cheng was delighted to the point of incoherence. His body was so full of joy that it was close to spilling out. He couldn't help asking, "You… When did you start to like me?"

Yan Zheke replied an emoji of a stunning dog. "When did I say I like you? When did I say yes to your confession? I just wanted you to enjoy for five more minutes!"

"Ahh…" Lou Cheng's passion died at once as if in an icy cold cave, his heart uneasy and restless.

Yan Zheke continued, "He-heh… To win my heart, you have 81 challenges to pass. There are still many requirements for you to meet beside the prerequisites that I agree to be your life mentor."

"Phew…" Lou Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and joy once again occupied his mind. His mood went on a roller-coaster ride, rising and falling rapidly and abruptly.

She is just being bashful and playing hard to get…

"No problem. I'm ready for 10,000 challenges!" He spoke out his resolution with no hesitation.

"Don't you forget what you just said…" Yan Zheke added a shy emoji. "When did you start to like me?"

Possessed by joy and excitement, Lou Cheng opened up with Yan Zheke. "Actually… To be honest, I was secretly in love with you in high school…"

"… I need five more minutes to laugh on the balcony…" Yan Zheke flushed before coming to a sudden realization. "You! It was not a random encounter between two school mates outside the stadium. You came to chat me up! I was so glad to meet someone from the same school, trustworthy and reliable with no bad intention… I wouldn't have given you my QQ number! Hmm!"

Although Yan Zheke couldn't see his face in text messages, Lou Cheng scratched his head unconsciously, beaming at all this. "He-heh…"

He continued, "You have no idea how nervous I was so afraid you would see me through and refuse to give me your contact information."

Yan Zheke chuckled. "What if I didn't give you. What would you do? Give up?"

"Naive and inexperienced, I wouldn't have any courage left if I was turned down. However, I might get up on my feet and march on following Little Ming's advice…" Lou Cheng thought while typing. "No way! I have joined the Martial Arts Club for you. I would certainly enjoy special advantages from this favorable position."

"You joined the Martial Arts Club for me?" Yan Zheke was genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. I saw you at the Martial Arts Club's recruitment fair and signed Little Ming and myself up. Well, it's not a coincidence. It's fate." After the confession, Lou Cheng could tell his skin was becoming thicker and thicker. Those loving words he used to imply vaguely now could be said easily.

Yan Zheke sent a emoji of smiling and asked, "Why do you like me? What do you like me about?"

"The true fondness can't be explained. I don't know why I like you. I used to walk by your classroom just to admire your beauty. Then your figure started to lock my eyes, and any topics about you stole my full attention. And I would guess your exam results every time. I suddenly realized I like you." Lou Cheng expressed his feeling with no decorative words.

He continued before Yan Zheke could interrupt, "Back in high school, I simply admired a perfect goddess, putting all my imagination about beauty and sweetness on you. I touched myself and hinted myself. After spending some time with you, I began to see you as a real girl who would feel happy, angry, sad and joyful with her little weak points."

"The more I know you, the more I like you. I like your lips twisted into a smile. I like your head turning away to cover your emotion. I like your bubbliness and brightness under your elegance and delicacy. I like your passion for martial arts. I like your taking part in my growth. I like your analysis of my enemy. I like your singing and cheering for me. I like your dislike of annoying boys. I like your staying in bed late in the morning. I like your pout. I like your longing to improve your martial arts. I like you very much. All of you!"

Lou Cheng was quite impressed with his own romantic talk after reading it through.

Is it because these words are all from the depths of my heart?

Yan Zheke waited sometime before responding.

"You are bad! My face is so red and hot now. And I have tears in my eyes… My roommates are coming back… I have to wash up now so they won't notice anything unusual and laugh at me…"

"Okay. Okay. Go!" Lou Cheng could barely hide his joy.

Raising his head, Lou Cheng was shocked by the emptiness of the classroom. Only Cai Zongming and a few students on their study were there.

"The class is over?" Lou Cheng asked, puzzled.

Cai Zongming cackled and said, "Apparently."

"How come I didn't notice anything?" Lou Cheng murmured unconsciously.

"Occupied by love, how can you notice anything?" Cai Zongming moved his brows. "I think you are about to get naked and streak. Any breakthrough? I can't believe just now your face was gloomy like hell… After all, small friction is beneficial to romantic relationships."

Lou Cheng hastened to share his happiness.

"Yeah! I declared my love and she accepted it!"

"Cough…" Cai Zongming was almost choked by his own mouth water. "You declared your love just like that? On QQ? And she accepted it?"

Lou Cheng was flushed with success. "Yeah… I typed my love on the spur of the moment…"

"Type? Didn't you calm down a little bit while typing?" Cai Zongming glanced at other students in the room and lowered his voice.

"You know… When you are at the moment, you can't think thoroughly… My confession was only a dozen words, not an essay. When I calmed down, it was already sent… I was all like 'How the heck am I? Where the heck am I? What the heck did I just do?'" Lou Cheng explained his mental process.

Cai Zongming was lost for a second and heaved a sigh. "Very normal. Seriously. Puppy love is all about making mistakes and acting on the spur of the moment. Otherwise, we wouldn't call it pure and hot! Lucky you! You foreshadowed well in advance or you would have been refused brutally!"

"Phew…" Lou Cheng also breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm rather scared when looking back… I wouldn't have any more chance in case she turned me down…"

Cai Zongming chuckled. "At least you have fear after the confession. Following my advice, you would have at least a 90% chance of holding her hand and becoming her boyfriend within three months. But the outcome of a rushed declaration of love would be hard to predict."

"If she turned you down… Well, that's nothing. Sometimes girls say no when they kind of like you but not like you enough to change their life style. All you need to do is to stay closer and try harder.

"Be confident and imprudent and stick around as if no confession ever took place. Do it right, and you may still succeed. The saying 'A hot girl is afraid of men who pursue and paw without giving up' makes sense. However, if she became very cold and desolate after your confession and stayed this way for a while, it would be time for you to quit."

Lou Cheng grinned, his eyes squinting. "Thank God she likes me!"

He suddenly rose up, packed his bag and dragged Cai Zongming, longing to let off his ecstasy.

"Talker, let's run back!"

"Run?" Cai Zongming was not given any time to finish his sentence. Lou Cheng pulled him and began to run, down flights of stairs of the classroom building, passing several school structures, a long bridge, and the pedestrian walkway all the way to Building Seven of the boy's dormitory.

"Phew… Phew… Phew…" Cai Zongming was panting hard, close to throwing up. "Damn you… You run… Why drag me? Drag me for what? Bloody hell! I didn't confess my love…

You ran… And you ran so fast…

Lou Cheng answered with a smirk,

"I'm too excited!"

He pulled out his phone to check on if Yan Zheke had finished washing and cleaning, but saw a few new messages from her.

"Hmm, Cheng, you must be on your way back to your dorm."

"Here are something I'm too shy to tell you in person. I'll say it quietly here."

"You asked me when I started to like you. I realized it when I suddenly decided to wish you a happy birthday at midnight. I realized I had started to feel happy, sad, worried and angry for you."

"When you brought grilled eggplant for me, I was really happy and thrilled. I turned my head away because I didn't want you to see my ugly crying face… To treat me to a nice meal, you went to check and try restaurants in person. Your silly earnest made me smile… I was thinking to myself that I'd like you more and more over time. But you suddenly confessed your love to me today…"

"I was very happy earlier. It is something I never experienced before. However, I have hesitation and bewilderment as I'm not ready yet. I haven't liked you enough to change my current life style and I don't have enough courage to invite one more person into my life. So I didn't write you anything until you asked again."

"I was also asking myself when you asked me. Do I want to miss you? Miss this silly Lou Cheng? I know I'll be very sad and sorry if I lose you. As I have already started to like you, why don't I give it a try?"

"Cheng, I think I need a bit more time to accept all the changes, to like you as much as you like me, to overcome my timidness and take the heart of grace to be your girlfriend. Will you wait for me?"

Lou Cheng had tears in his eyes. He nodded heavily though she couldn't see.

Lou Cheng replied after a deep breath.

"I will. I will wait for you for the rest of my life."

His heart and soul became lighter and lighter. The earlier ecstasy was replaced by a gentle but everlasting joy and peace as if the lustrous moonlight was shining on the softest spot in his heart.

Different emotions but same beautiful!

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Chapter 112: Work Harder for Her

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Lou Cheng found everything so beautiful, every student coming in and out so lovely, even noises so pleasant to listen and damp air so sweet to smell. The bright moon close to the full indicated perfection and satisfactory.

Yan Zheke responded to his loving promise immediately with a silly but cute emoji. "What are you talking about? I don't get it. My account was hijacked… Yeah, it was hijacked!"

Phew… Lou Cheng almost burst into laughter. He could see Yan Zheke shy and haughty, trying to be serious. "Bad person hijacked my Coach Yan's account… I'll write down all these words in my notebook and read one hundred times every day to recollect this memory and denounce the bad person!"

After this confession, he felt less constrained and more comfortable talking to his loved girl.

"…" Speechless, Yan Zheke sent an apostrophe. "Forget about it. Delete it! Are you already planning on recollecting memories shortly after your love confession?"

"Okay, okay. I'll forget about it right now!" Lou Cheng laughed before continuing, "But I will never forget what I just promised."

Yan Zheke used the sitting at a loss emoji. "… Did you have many relationships before? Why are you so good at this? I'm a square…"

"These days cute girls love to say square whenever they are flustered…" Lou Cheng hurried to explain himself. "No, you are my first love! I'm not good at it, just sharing with you the sincere thoughts of mine. Be honest and frank with no decoration."

"First love…" Yan Zheke chuckled. "What a pity I didn't go to your classroom often as I was afraid of being watched in high school. I missed the Lou Cheng arriving at puberty, sillier and cuter.

Lou Cheng's joy was spilling out. "That's true. I was sillier back then and had very little confidence. I drew back from everything other than study and games. I'm glad you didn't notice me, or it would become part of my dark history…"

He talked about his past frankly, revealing the most real side of himself to Yan Zheke.

"I was the same at that time, very self-abased as everyone else was fine but only I was congenitally deficient. I was very interested in martial arts but could only watch it enviously…" Yan Zheke didn't seem to mind Lou Cheng's uselessness in high school but found some sympathetic response.

Lou Cheng changed the topic as he didn't want Yan Zheke to soak in the past sadness. "I was so happy earlier… I wanted to shout but was afraid of scaring others… So I dragged Little Ming and ran all the way back at the speed of hundred-meter dash. He's still catching his breath… I still want to cry out my joy…

"Phew… Poor Little Ming." Yan Zheke chuckled. "Don't show off in front the single. They will kick your ass!"

"Little Ming is not poor. One day I'll give him a fat red envelope for teaching me, guiding me and answering my questions." Lou Cheng put on a smirk. "To be honest, I was so tempted to go to your building just to have a look at you… Err… When I saw the messages sent from your hijacked account, I realized it might scare you so I held it back. We have a long journey to go. No rush…"

Again he was impressed by his talents in sweet talks. "Is it men's instinct or my gift?"

Yan Zheke replied a shy smile. "This is the good Cheng!"

Lou Cheng was very glad for the compliment. He asked out of curiosity, "Did you notice my fondness of you long, long time ago?"

"Err… A little bit…" Yan Zheke used the emoji with rolling eyes. "I was all like what is wrong with this friend… Why does he talk to me every day? Why every day? Yes, we have a lot to talk about. However, dare he confess his love for me, I'll say no crudely!"

"Thank god I am making progress in a stepwise manner!" said Lou Cheng after the emoji of wiping cold sweat off.

Thank you, Little Ming for your persuasion and contrivance!

My good teacher and helpful friend never fails me!

"I was too silly, fooled by your innocent looks. Hmm!" Yan Zheke sent an emoji in tears.

"I'll fool you for the rest of my life…" Lou Cheng was too shy to say it. Abruptly his shoulder was tapped. Cai Zongming had recovered from the long run, pointing at the time on his mobile and then looking at their dorm.

"Holy cow! Already past ten! Time flies when you are having fun!" Lou Cheng felt melancholy.

The evening class ended at 9:35. He wasted some time in the classroom and chatted with Yan Zheke for a good while. It was actually pretty normal to be past 10 o'clock.

But 10:30 is my bed time… I hate to do it! How disappointing!

He thought about it and revealed her true feeling to Yan Zheke. "It's already 10 something… I better go to bed now so I can get up early tomorrow for my training. I wanted to stay up until midnight, but Little Ming's advice just came to my mind. I shouldn't hold back my feeling for her as I'm not good enough. Instead, I should improve myself to become a suitable match for her.

"I want to become a man that deserves your love so I can't spare myself from my training."

They were not his exact words but pretty much the same.

Yan Zheke replied a shy smile. "I would urge you to sleep if you didn't volunteer. Go and wash up. Say goodnight to me after."

"Yes!" Lou Cheng agreed gladly.

Yan Zheke sent another message.

"Hmm… Err… That… I like the silly Cheng. And the Cheng focusing on martial arts training…"

"Ahh… How annoying! My account was hijacked again! Don't reply!"

Lou Cheng's eyes curved with joy and his heart warm and tender. He couldn't hold back his smile at this adorable Yan Zheke. He liked her very much.

"Hmm… I didn't see anything and I didn't reply." He tried to sound serious.

Putting the mobile back in his pocket, Lou Cheng raised his head, seeing Cai Zongming shaking his head with a bitchy sneer. "Look at you. Your face reminds me of myself in my first relationship back to my primary school days…"

"Say whatever you like. I'm in a really good mood!" Lou Cheng responded in a merry tone.

Cai Zongming chuckled. "Well, let me tell you some brutal truth… In a relationship, the one that confesses first will become the provider and lose the initiative and the position of prominence."

Lou Cheng looked at him, puzzled.

"Why do I need to seize the initiative and the position of prominence over her? I like her more than she likes me. So I cherish her and spoil her. Isn't it good?"

Cai Zongming appeared speechless, his lips twitching.

"I need to vomit… That's gross!"

"He-heh…" Lou Cheng wasn't offended at all. He went back to the dorm room and washed up quickly. He wanted to climb up to his bed without chatting with Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao but decided to back up his messages with Yan Zheke in his laptop and on several cloud servers.

This is worth looking back for the rest of my life!

How would we feel when we reread this in each other's arms when our hair is gray and teeth are loose?

After turning off his laptop and taking off his clothes, Lou Cheng went up to his bed and sneered. "I'm lying in my bed now. Can't sleep until you say goodnight to me!"

Slowly it will become a hug goodnight and then a kiss goodnight!

Yan Zheke used the emoji of laughing behind its hands. "OK. Goodnight. Sweet dreams. I'm going to bed myself soon. Today has been intense. I'm pretty tired."

"Goodnight. Dream about me!" Lou Cheng threw a bold flirt.

"Bah! No way!" Yan Zheke felt shy from embarrassment.

The night was drawing on. Lou Cheng fell deep asleep with a sweet smile, just as happy in his dreams.

…

The next early morning he showed up at the lake on time. Gazing at the foggy dimness, he was hit by a sudden pity that he couldn't do better as a boyfriend like those in fictions delivering breakfast to their university girlfriend because of the morning training.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind.

"I can totally make some time. If I start my training 20 minutes earlier, I can finish it 20 minutes earlier. During the endurance training, I can run far to buy breakfast for Yan Zheke from some restaurant other than the school canteen. He-heh… That's what I'll do once I figure out what breakfast she likes in Songcheng."

Having his spirits raised, Lou Cheng trained harder and harder. Geezer Shi was very impressed and confused if his student had taken any stimulant.

Between punches and kicks, Lou Cheng visualized thunder clouds vibrating to pull his throat and chest and drag his five viscera and six bowels, giving out a low thundering sound matching with the tremor force. Little by little his bones and marrow shook and those corners in his body that couldn't be reached usually were one by one touched.

Before he noticed it, the morning training was over. He quickly finished his breakfast and ran to the martial arts stadium to see Yan Zheke!

As he walked in, his eyes found Yan Zheke instantly like a radar. Four eyes met.

Yan Zheke quickly moved her eyes away, her long eyelashes flapping and her face flushing. She took a quick glance at Lou Cheng before turning her head away with a look of pretended annoyance. Unconsciously Lou Cheng's face also turned red.

Knowing girls were shy and she needed more time to adjust, he didn't recklessly run up to say hi. Instead, he went straight to his spot, frequently checking on her.

Every time he had his eyes on Yan Zheke, she had hers on him briefly, which filled up his heart with sweetness and tacit understanding.

The pair glanced at each other like that the whole morning. The training soon came to the final pair exercise part.

Geezer Shi coughed to clear his throat.

"The schedule of the preliminaries has been confirmed. Over 20 teams have signed up in Songcheng. Together with a few neighboring cities, our division will be divided into four groups of eight or nine teams. One round of single cycle home-and-away competitions settled by lot. The best top of each group will advance to have home-and-away elimination matches with each other, fighting for the two places of our division.

"We are in Group Three with other seven teams. So we have seven matches to attend no matter we can advance or not. Our first opponent will be the Hongluo Martial Arts School from Songcheng on the afternoon of 17. An away competition for us. I'll send all videos and materials to our members who will attend the preliminaries. Have a good study in the next couple of days."

Lou Cheng pulled himself together and itched to have a go.

Friends from the Hongluo Martial Arts School! Feel my joy and excitement!

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Chapter 113: The First Date

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

After he was done with the pair exercise, Lou Cheng cast a glance at Yan Zheke and was just about to head over to her.

Cai Zongming, who had just been ravaged by 'Gorilla' happened to pass by and mocked him once. "Isn't it enough that the two of you have made eyes at each other for the whole morning during exercise? Spare some thoughts for the other damn singles, will you? Consider the feeling of this foreigner too!"

"Hehe…" Lou Cheng let out a laugh first before throwing him an excuse. "I need to confirm tomorrow's arrangements!"

After he said this, he strode away with wide steps before Cai Zongming could reply and made his way right in front of Yan Zheke.

"How punctual of you~" Guo Qing teased him once while wiping the sweat from her forehead. She returned to the female's locker room.

Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke smiled at each other, as they noticed the embarrassment in both their eyes. However, the awkwardness of being teased a few days ago had already vanished, and there was the hint of some indescribable sweet happiness instead.

"She knows about us already?" Lou Cheng randomly sought out a topic to start the conversation.

Yan Zheke crossed her arms before her chest and turned towards the side. Her cheeks had blushed once more as she feigned a spit and said,

"Is there nothing between us?"

"You're the one who's looking a little obvious, you know. She loves using this to tease me, saying that Cheng is most likely to chase you or something. What on earth are you thinking?"

"What on earth are you thinking then?" Lou Cheng asked, beaming.

Yan Zheke threw him a glance immediately, and the movement of her eyes caused his heart to pulse wildly. "I'm not thinking about anything at all! I normally turn it around and joke about her and Qiu Zhigao during such a time."

She seemed to have relaxed quite a bit after seeing that Lou Cheng did not display overly close affection towards her, and simply flirted a little more than he used to do. Her hands were no longer grasping at each other, and she used one hand to comb the hair that had escaped her ponytail while keeping the other hand downward.

"Are they making any progress then?" Lou Cheng took the opportunity to ask.

Yan Zheke wrinkled her beautiful eyebrows slightly, "No progress, I suppose. Guo Qing has been pretty troubled about this as of late. You and Qiu Zhigao share the same bedroom. Do you know what he thinks?"

"He's a nerd, always leaving early and returning late every day. Other than meeting each other in some classes, we'll only chat half an hour before I go to bed. At any rate, he wouldn't bring up Guo Qing on his own unless we start to joke about their relationship." Lou Cheng sold Qiu Zhigao out without any hesitation at all.

He had successfully chased Yan Zheke, so he didn't bother whether he could maintain a friendly relationship with Guo Qing!

After he said this, he changed the topic and said, "Are we having lunch or dinner outside tomorrow?"

He had his answer long ago in regards to this question, but no matter what his thoughts might be, he felt that he should still consider the girl's view first, and should only make a swift decision if the girl looked a little hesitant about it. This way, he was able to show both respect to the girl and his confidence in making his own judgment.

Yan Zheke's eyes looked up adorably and she replied after a moment of pondering, "Let's go during lunch. If we were delayed by anything unexpected during the night, we might not be able to catch the last school bus."

"Okay." Lou Cheng agreed without any hesitation at all.

In reality, he was hoping to eat dinner since the special training would only end at noon. It would be a little rushed if they were to head out for lunch during this time. He was fine after the martial arts training in the morning, but Yan Zheke would most definitely be feeling a little tired. The proper way would be to allow her time to take a bath, take an afternoon nap, and rest for a while. However, since the girl had made a choice to date during the afternoon, then he had to agree even if it meant raising all four limbs into the air. In the text 'having a date with Yan Zheke', the important word was 'Yan Zheke' and not the 'date'!

Moreover, he vaguely understood that Yan Zheke's choice was propelled by the fact that he had made his confession too hastily and consequently forced her to accept it just hurriedly. She wasn't used to the change in their roles yet, and she was instinctively afraid about what might happen next if they could not catch up to the school bus. This was the part where he needed to put on a good show of performance and allow her to lay down her defenses little by little.

When he thought up to this point, he wore a slight smile on his face and said, "I'm gonna analyze every inch of the data and videos on Hongluo Martial Arts School later today, so I can hurry up and ask your guidance tomorrow, Coach Yan."

"Pu…" Yan Zheke laughed involuntarily before her countenance smoothened. "Very good, it'd seem that you have a very positive attitude! So you haven't forgotten that I'm Coach Yan~"

Both parties chatted quite happily about this subject. There was faint happiness resonating between the space where their eyes met.

By this point, Guo Qing had finished bathing, tidied her stuff and walked out of the female locker room. As she stared astonishingly at the duo, her mouth turned into an 'O' shape as she blurted out. "You guys are still talking to each other?"

"How long have they been chatting?" She cast suspicious glances between Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke.

Yan Zheke hurriedly feigned normality as she said, "We'll talk more about Hongluo Martial Arts School when there's time. I'll be taking my bath now."

After she said this, she hurried her way into the female locker room without daring to look at Lou Cheng or Guo Qing. A blush seemed to rise on her face yet again.

"Haha, I'm gonna take my bath too." Lou Cheng avoided Guo Qing's interrogative gaze, let out two burst of dry laughter and headed towards the male locker room.

Their strange actions caused Guo Qing to curl her lips involuntarily and mutter under her breath,

"Something's off!"

…

The next day afternoon, the second the pair exercise had ended, Lou Cheng flew into the male locker room with unsurpassable speed.

He didn't seek out Yan Zheke to talk today because they had already agreed to meet each other at twelve fifty at the bus station!

After he had bathed himself from top to bottom carefully, he rushed straight back to the dormitory without waiting for Cai Zongming and opened his wardrobe. Following 'Casanova's' guidance last night, he picked the short leather jacket that gave him a spirited look, and put on a pair of beige colored casual pants in pursuit of a clean and refreshing appearance.

After he was finished changing his clothes, he arrived before the basin, gave himself a serious shave and tidied his hair style while suppressing his excitement. He wished that he could do every detail to perfection.

After he was finished with his preparation, he checked his cell phone and discovered that it was only 12:30 p.m. There was still a full 20 minutes before the encounter, and even if he walked all the way from the dormitory to the bus station it would take at most 5 to 6 minutes.

"Let's go there early and wait for her…" Lou Cheng thought while feeling both excitement and nervousness.

This is the very first date of my life!

When he walked past the supermarket, he suddenly had a flash of thought, took a turn and walked right into the store.

It would probably take at least 50 minutes between getting on the bus until the sautéed crab was cooked. This meant that Yan Zheke would only be able to eat after 1:40 p.m. She had trained for an entire morning, and now it was the time where she needed to replenish energy the most. She would be uncomfortably hungry by the time the sautéed crab was served!

I'll buy her some snacks to eat on the way!

When he was making his selection, Lou Cheng recalled the words Yan Zheke once said to him and sought out her preferences.

"Mm, she dislikes sweet biscuits and enjoys crackers more… I can't buy too much or it'll affect the next arrangements…" A few minutes later, Lou Cheng bought a small bag of biscuits to the counter. After a moment of consideration, he then added another small bottle of mineral water into the purchase. He did not ask for a plastic bag but stuffed the items into his left and right pocket.

Hehe, I should give her a pleasant surprise!

After arriving at the bus station, he stuffed both hands into the pockets of his leather jacket to conceal the fact that they looked swollen. He didn't wait long before an immeasurably beautiful figure gracefully walked towards him.

Yan Zheke wore a pink colored sweater on the inside, and a long white down jacket on the outside. Her clothes had a hat with the same fluffy edges attached to it. It accentuated her beauty and made her look both beautiful and tender. She wore a pair of black leggings at the bottom, and her legs looked both long and straight. She wore a pair of girlish snow boots on her feet, which made her look both charming and cute.

Lou Cheng was a little spellbound by her appearance, and after inhaling once deeply, he told himself that he needed to appear generous and dignified. He could not look like he was cowering before her appearance. Then, he pulled out his hands and welcomed her and said, smiling slightly, "It seems like you would always arrive ahead of time?"

It was only when he approached Yan Zheke that he noticed that she was wearing a cute shoulder backpack with thin strappings. It gave her a very student-like atmosphere.

Yan Zheke did not look as open as she usually did. She bowed her head and smiled faintly, saying, "I very much dislike people who arrive late of time, and after I put myself in another's shoes, it became a habit for me to arrive at a meeting ahead of time too."

"She hates those who arrive late…" Lou Cheng memorized this and turned his body to the side. He pointed at the school bus and said,

"This bus is just about to head out right away. I've already bought the tickets already."

"Mm." Yan Zheke nodded almost unnoticeably and looked a little shy. She quietly followed Lou Cheng and fell half a step backward behind him. They got up the school bus together and found a pair of joined seats.

After letting her take the seat beside the window, Lou Cheng gave himself a boost of encouragement and got ready to dispel the discomfort the girl was feeling. And he purposely said, "It's quite late already. Are you hungry?"

Yan Zheke was startled for a moment before she slowly nodded. "A little."

"It would take twenty or thirty minutes to reach the old school district, and we have to switch transports later and wait for the dishes to be served later. We may not be able to eat anything before fifty minutes have passed." Lou Cheng purposely voiced his analysis before taking out the small bag of biscuits from his pockets. "I, I bring a bag of soda crackers for you. Have some of these so that your stomach won't feel unwell."

Yan Zheke raised her right hand and covered her mouth, looking somewhat surprised at Lou Cheng. It was vivid that joy had flowed out of her eyes when she saw the bag of crackers appear in front of her.

"I'll have some then," she said in a soft tone as the corner of her lips curled upwards unconsciously.

Lou Cheng hurriedly opened the bag for her and handed it over to her. Yan Zheke grabbed and took out one cracker using her delicate fingers.

She was just about to put it in her mouth when she suddenly paused and said with a soft voice, "Ay, I didn't bring water with me. It'll get pretty uncomfortable to eat crackers without water."

Lou Cheng 'conjured' a small bottle of mineral water smilingly and opened the bottle cap. He stared straight at her eyes and said,

"I've prepared it already."

Yan Zheke's pink lips opened slightly, as a layer of haziness flashed past her beautiful eyes. She turned her head and looked out the window, biting her lips softly with her teeth and said smilingly, "I was wondering what's inside your pocket. So these are what you're holding…"

When Lou Cheng saw her gracefully finish the crackers and drink the water, he struck while the iron was hot and took out his cell phone. He replayed a video he had downloaded beforehand and said, "This's the collection of the best matches fought by the captain of Hongluo Martial Arts School, Jiang Guosheng. What do you think, Coach Yan?"

The master of Hongluo Martial Arts School was a Sixth Pin Dan stage expert called Wang Hui. He was old, and his disciple's disciples would be the leading players this time. The leader of the team was the Professional Ninth Pin Jiang Guosheng. He was the direct disciple of the martial arts line, ranking at fifth place at thirty-four years old.

Yan Zheke moved her head closer and watched the video with bright eyes, saying, "I've given it a serious research. Looking at the data available on the internet, it would appear that the school master Wang Hui once had a background at 'Longhu Club'. Therefore, their fist style obviously carried a resemblance with the 'Fire Sect's Unique Skill'. They are well versed in explosive power, attack, and possessed the secret inheritance called 'flaming force'. Once this move struck an enemy, the force would burst apart, causing a burning sensation on one's skin. It's somewhat similar to your Power of Blaze, but it did not contain the tremor force that you speak of."

Lou Cheng also moved a little closer to her, and almost out of one's mind as he stared at her supple black hair and caught a whiff of her near indiscernible scent. He was so distracted that he nearly couldn't focus on what they were talking about at all, so he had no choice but to force Condensation Stance onto himself and answer seriously, "Their fighting style is very much like the 'Fire-like Invasion Move,' exploding into bursts of power again and again. They aim to break their enemies through sheer force before their own strength is depleted."

"In this regard, Jiang Guosheng's fighting style is more prudent, whereas Fang Tong's fighting style is more frantic. Fang Tong is like an uncontrollable blaze of fire, but Jiang Guosheng has better mastery when it comes to dealing a killer move. He seemed capable of compressing the force in his entire body into a tiny area before exploding it outwards. It does share some semblance to a dan stage martial artist's move." Yan Zheke said in glowing spirits. Before she knew it, the anxiety and uneasiness she was feeling had mostly vanished.

Fang Tong was the other Professional Ninth Pin in Hongluo Martial Arts School and a disciple's disciple under the school master Wang Hui. He was a powerful twenty-three years old fighter, and Hongluo Martial Arts School could be considered to be at the middle level in the preliminaries with two Professional Ninth Pins in the team.

While exchanging words about this matter and arriving at the old school district, Lou Cheng discovered with joy that Yan Zheke seemed to have regained a state of normalcy. She would only blush during the occasional moments he was staring at her.

The duo walked inside the campus and rushed towards the closest north gate. The online hailed car was waiting right there. The cold snap of spring hadn't decreased along the way, and every blow of the wind felt very cold.

Lou Cheng subconsciously sneaked a glance at Yan Zheke's left hand. The girl's skin was white and tender, and her fingers were thin and long. Her fingernails were a healthy pink color.

If I hold her hand, would she shake it off away?

Thump thump thump! Lou Cheng's heartbeat abruptly quickened at the sudden appearance of the thought. Varied thoughts ran through his mind as they started a tug of war.

Although she has said that she wants some time to get used to dating life, it should be fine if I held her hand for a little while since we have already confirmed our relationship, shouldn't it?

Would this make her unhappy, and make her think that I don't respect her enough because I forcefully hold her hand before she has adjusted?

…

Just as he was hesitating, Yan Zheke suddenly put both hands into her down jacket's pockets and said smilingly, "It's pretty cold."

"Yeah…" Lou Cheng choked out.

Alright, I guess there's no need to struggle now!

Yan Zheke cast a glance at him and asked strangely, "What's wrong, Cheng?"

"It's nothing. I was just feeling a little guilty and afraid that you might get a little too hungry…" Lou Cheng spoke the truth, but it wasn't what he was really thinking just now.

Yan Zheke pursed her lips into a smile and said, "I'm the one who've chosen this timing. Why would it be your fault?"

While chatting about trivial things, the duo reached the north gate and got on the online-hailed car. They soon arrived at 'Dingshang Sautéed Crab in Hot and Spicy Sauce'. Lou Cheng had checked and confirmed a long time ago that this restaurant would only close after two thirty, so there was no need to worry if they might miss lunch.

"Six crabs please, the 499 yuan kind." Lou Cheng blurted out the words he had prepared a while ago the second he saw the waiter.

He had no intentions to mind about money at all during his first date!

The waiter was just about to jot this down when Yan Zheke pulled Lou Cheng, pursed her lips and said, "I think it'll be better if we take the 199 yuan ones. All crabs taste about the same, and the bigger they are the heavier their shell is. It's not worth it. The one hundred and ninety-nine kind is just perfect, and anything smaller would not have meat in their legs."

Her distinct black and white eyes stared straight at Lou Cheng as she expressed her own opinion.

Seeing that the girl was so insistent, and recalling that her grandfather's house was at Jiangnan—a place also most well-known for its taste in crabs—and not to mention that Lou Cheng wasn't the kind of person who impressed others by feigning to be more than he was, he nodded. "Alright, then we'll take the 199 yuan crabs then."

"Let's ask for four crabs for now. Didn't you say that we'll eat hotpot later on? Didn't you say that their handmade noodles are pretty great? It'll be boring if we just eat crabs for the whole day." Yan Zheke said seriously.

Lou Cheng gave it some thought and felt that it made a lot of sense. And so he said smilingly, "As I thought, Coach Yan's considerations are more comprehensive after all!"

"You got it~" Yan Zheke raised her chin. There was a smile between her eyebrows.

They found a quiet place to sit and began babbling about all kinds of things as they normally did. It was as if they could never exhaust their subjects of conversation until the waiter brought them their sautéed crab.

A fragrant scent slipped into their noses, and Lou Cheng made a hand gesture for Yan Zheke to taste the crab first.

The girl smilingly picked up a crab and bit it softly. Suddenly, he was a little worried that the crab might not be suitable for her tastes.

Yan Zheke sucked out the meat inside the crab's leg in familiar fashion before closing her eyes. With a smile, she said, "It tastes really good. The sweetness of the crab's meat isn't lost, and it's spicy in a way that really whets one's appetite.

Phew… Lou Cheng let out a sigh of relief as if he was the one who was praised by her. He chuckled and said, "Eat some more then."

"Don't just watch, you're the main big eater who can eat five bowls of cooked rice." Yan Zheke joked with curved eyebrows.

When they were done sweeping through the sauteed spicy crab and new year cake, and were waiting for the hotpot to boil up, she asked with great interest, "Cheng, how are you planning to fight tomorrow?"

Lou Cheng had thought about this a long while ago, and after deliberating for a moment he said,

"If Hongluo Martial Arts School paid any attention at all, they would not just set my name aside and not search for my information. That means they should understand how I fight and know what I'm good at, except my supernatural Power of Blaze."

"Since this is an arena battle, naturally I'll be doing my best to win and not leave my trump card for the future. Therefore, the second the battle starts I'll use my Power of Blaze immediately, take down my opponent and open a path towards a swift victory…"

"I'd lose the element of surprise when the second opponent arrives, so I'll first pretend to wander around using mercurial balance. The moment I find an opportunity, I'll immediately suppress them with the 24 Blizzard Strikes, not giving them the chance to unleash their explosive power at all…"

How could I not do my best when I'm fighting an official contest before the girl I like?

Yan Zheke held her face with her left hand and listened to his words with great attention. There seemed to be a sparkle in her eyes.

After discussing how he was going to fight for a bit and enjoying the hotpot, they footed the bill with a full belly. Since there was a discount, they spent a total of nine hundred yuan or so. Lou Cheng, who was 'rich and overbearing' after participating in the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament did not feel any heartache after spending this much money at all. In fact, he even felt that the money was very much worth it, and it was acceptable as long as the girl was satisfied!

After he got out of the store, Lou Cheng unconsciously coughed once before he said with feigned casualness,

"Let's walk around the shopping mall over there and digest the food a bit."

"Mm." Yan Zheke did not object to the suggestion.

The duo walked shoulder-to-shoulder, and the girl's near indiscernible scent slipped into the tip of Lou Cheng's nose again. it made him feel a sense of impulse and expectation once more.

He swiftly cast a glance at the girl and found that her hands were swaying slightly at the sides. She had not put her hands into her pockets probably because they had just finished eating a hotpot and feeling a little warm.

Thump thump thump. Lou Cheng heard the sound of his quickening heartbeat once more.

Should I hold her hand for a bit?

She wasn't completely prepared, but didn't she say that she's a little attracted to me, and agreed to my confession? Holdings hands should be within permission, right?

Thump thump thump! Thump thump thump!

Lou Cheng felt like holding her hands, but he was afraid to do so. He was afraid that the girl would be unhappy, and that he would leave a bad impression in her heart.

Suddenly, he experienced a flash of inspiration, and he recalled the method Cai Zongming taught him earlier!

Should I try that?

I'm just pretending to hold her hand, and not holding it after all!

Thump thump thump! Thump thump thump!

This thought completely dominated all of his mind, and Lou Cheng could finally hold back his thoughts no longer. While he was still chatting idly with Yan Zheke, and while his eyes were staring straight at the front, his hands slowly, very slowly made its way to the side.

Thump thump thump! Thump thump thump! Although it was just fake hand holding, he still felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest. It was because he had no idea how the girl would react and feel about this.

It was because of the unknown outcome that made him nervous. It was because of its great importance that made him afraid!

Thump thump thump! Thump thump thump!

Lou Cheng gulped once with difficulty as his right hand somewhat stiffly and tremblingly made its way towards Yan Zheke's delicate hand. He touched the back of the girl's hand and just felt that her skin was soft, tender and slightly cool.

From the perception of his Listening Skill, he could hear Yan Zheke's left hand abruptly shrinking away from him. However, it had frozen the spot just as quickly and did not move away, maintaining a tiny and near indiscernible distance.

"Is this!?" Light seemed to descend inside Lou Cheng's head and cast away all the darkness in his mind. Not daring to look at Yan Zheke, he abruptly flipped his palm over and grabbed her somewhat thin palm. His excitement, elation and nervousness had reached the absolute limits.

So Listening Skill could be used this way too…

The girl beside him kept her head low and counted the ants beneath her feet. Lou Cheng felt as if he was stepping on clouds as he held her soft and almost boneless hand. His head was only filled with the thoughts about the place where their skins were touching each other, and he had completely forgotten the time of day. Sweat was forming in his palm because of excitement and nervousness. He just wanted to hold Yan Zheke's like this and walk on forever, praying that there would never be an end to their journey.

He had no idea what kind of sceneries were around them, or what stores they just passed by.

He didn't know how much time had passed before Yan Zheke finally asked him a question with a softly spoken voice, "Where are we going?"

Lou Cheng let out a hiccup of bewilderment before he abruptly broke out of his trance. he looked at his surroundings with a dumb look on his face.

Where on earth have we walked to?

He explained in a somewhat panic voice, "I, I was too excited and nervous, and I didn't pay attention to the road…"

And this is not to mention that my palm has gone all sweaty and wet. Yan Zheke must be hating this a lot… Great upset filled every corner of his heart.

Yan Zheke cast a sideward glance at him from the corner of her eyes before pursing her lips into a sudden smile. She withdrew her left arm and took down her backpack. She took out a napkin and passed it over to him. She said, smiling beautifully, "You didn't sweat as much even when you are fighting in the Challenge Tournament…"

He accepted the napkin and wiped off the sweat on his right palm. Lou Cheng felt a wave of emptiness and loss overcoming him. He hadn't performed well enough today, and he might not have a chance to hold her hand any longer. He would have to wait until next time.

It was at this moment he felt a softness entering his palm suddenly. The girl's cool, left hand had entered his hand and gently grabbed the edges of his palm.

"This is!"

Wild joy overcame Lou Cheng as he returned the hold strongly. When he lifted his head to look at Yan Zheke, he found her twisting her head to a side. The blush over her small and delicate ear was incredibly attractive, and the skin of her inclined face looked as smooth as a jade and as delicate as a flower. A blush had appeared on her face which made his heart pounded, and made her pretty as a peach.

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Chapter 114: Secret Weapon

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Lou Cheng felt like he would never forget the sight before his eyes. This girl's beautiful and embarrassed look had filled not only his eyes but also his mind.

While holding her delicate hand it felt so smooth he imagined that it could accidentally slip away from his grasp, he thought that he could say something to express the happiness and excitement in his heart. However, he intentionally held back this impulse. Yan Zheke had had to muster her courage and overcome her hesitation before she finally dared to hold his hand. It would be best if he gave her some quiet time to calm down. The more he spoke and confessed to her, the more pressure she would feel because of his actions. She might even become angry out of embarrassment.

There was a good saying by an elder—the silent toad catches the fly!

"Let's head that way." Lou Cheng feigned nonchalance and pointed in a direction. His hand holding Yan Zheke's right hand had tightened though, gripping it tightly.

"Mm." Yan Zheke responded with a voice that was as soft as a mosquito's.

With a happy look on his face, Lou Cheng led the way and did not look at Yan Zheke, giving her some time to adjust as well. Along the way, he felt as light as air as if he were becoming immortal, and there was this wonderful feeling that he was returning home with his wife.

The two didn't talk much when they arrived at the cake shop he had chosen. However, before they knew it, their fingers had locked into one another's.

"This shop's fresh cream cake is pretty great. It's not too sweet, and it's not greasy either. I think it's pretty suitable for your taste. Would you like to take one back with you for breakfast tomorrow?" Lou Cheng pointed out the cake to Yan Zheke in an attempt to encourage her to go inside.

Yan Zheke's thin, yet supple, black eyebrows moved slightly as she asked in puzzlement, "How do you know that their fresh cream cake is pretty good?"

"I…" Lou Cheng was going to say he had sampled their food before, but suddenly he had a feeling that he would be forcing the girl to feel touched if he did so. After she had made a move to hold his hand, any intent to go further than that might put pressure on her to the point of having the opposite desired effect. After all, she hadn't completely fallen for him yet, lowering the defenses inside her heart and fully accepting the fact that they were dating each other. If he forced too much it might very easily go awry. And so he paused and said, "I checked it out on the internet and just happened to see this."

"Checked it out on the internet…" Yan Zheke repeated it once in a low tone before lifting her head to look up at the shop sign—Meimei bread.

She seemed to be moved by Lou Cheng's descriptions and did not object to his suggestion. She walked cheerfully into the store, selected a cream cake for herself and bought five meat floss bread to go, for Lou Cheng. Previously, when they had chatted about light refreshments on QQ, Lou Cheng once mentioned that the bread he loved the most was meat floss bread.

After he paid the bill, Lou Cheng feigned calmness and held the girl's hand once more, spreading his fingers and making them intertwine with hers. It was only when Yan Zheke had returned the hold that he quietly let out an internal sigh of relief. While enjoying the wonderfulness of interlocked fingers, he chatted idly with the girl while carrying the cake and the bread, bringing her to another spot that he had planned.

"Are you tired from walking? The environment here looks pretty neat and clean. Should we go inside and have a seat?" After arriving at the spot, Lou Cheng pretended to observe the interior of a cafe before pointing at it and mentioning it. He then added, "A shop like this normally wouldn't just sell coffee."

Yan Zheke pursed her lips into a smile, her dimples vaguely appearing in her cheeks. She said, "And here I thought you would hold my hand and keep walking on forever…"

Her cheeks blushed slightly yet again when she mentioned the word 'hold'. She did her best to divert her attention away from the fact their skin was touching, and their fingers were interlocked.

Seeing that the girl had calmed down enough to poke fun at him made Lou Cheng even happier, and he even joked himself. "Do I look like such an inconsiderate person?"

"Who was the one that kept walking aimlessly?" The dimples on Yan Zheke's face deepened as she laughed softly while saying this, mercilessly exposing Lou Cheng's temporary loss of his soul earlier.

"Haha, I was too moved and excited…" Lou Cheng finally had the chance to voice his feelings out loud. At the same time, he pushed open the coffee shop's door and headed towards the quiet, sheltered table at the back.

When they arrived beside the four-seater table, he released Yan Zheke's smooth, delicate, hand and watched her slide into her seat. He felt a sense of loss as he felt the emptiness of his palm.

As Lou Cheng watched Yan Zheke sitting across from him and the empty seat beside her, an idea suddenly came to his mind. He said with a straight face, "Why don't you take the inner seat. We'll sit together and take a look at the other videos of Hongluo Martial Arts School. We can mull over them for a bit, I still need guidance from Coach Yan too!"

Thank you, master! Thank you, my friends at Hongluo Martial Arts School!

"So you still remember that I'm Coach Yan~~" Yan Zheke joked. After a moment's thought she decided that he was right and she stood up once more to move to the inner seat.

Lou Cheng hurriedly sat beside her and took the menu from the waiter, opening for Yan Zheke.

He did not show her anything in particular this time, because all of the milk tea in this cafe was relatively acceptable. Yan Zheke couldn't go wrong, no matter which flavor she selected. As for the pastries, since she disliked those with chocolates or those that were extremely sweet, her scope of choice was naturally limited. 'Coincidentally,' he had tested every kind of pastry within her scope, and he confirmed that their quality was all above standard!

"I'll have a Hong Kong-style milk tea and a Chiffon cake…" Yan Zheke made her choice after mulling it over for a brief moment.

Lou Cheng also ordered a cup of Yuenyeung for himself before he found a cellphone prop, he then took out his cell phone and displayed the device on the table. His cell phone began to play the best of the best battle videos of the various fighters in Hongluo Martial Arts School.

Seeing that Yan Zheke was watching the video intently, he slyly stretched out his right hand and grabbed the delicate palm she had laid on her thigh. He pulled her hand close to and placed it on top of his own thigh.

At first, Yan Zheke was taken by surprise. Then she said with a touch of annoyance and amusement,

"Pay attention!"

Be it sitting together to research battle videos, or asking for guidance from Coach Yan, they are both merely a pretext!

"Mm-hmm, I'm paying attention." Lou Cheng's eyes were aimed straight at the phone's display, but his five fingers were tightly interlocked with the girl's scallion-like fingers, unwilling to give an inch. He caught a whiff of the faintly discernible scent that stirred his heart as it drifted past his nose.

Before they knew it two hours had passed while they were researching the videos, discussing the battles, occasionally straying off the topic, talking about nothing and watching some funny things. Their hands only parted one time when they had both gone to the lavatory.

As Lou Cheng recalled the various visions of Yan Zheke smiling or scolding lightly, he thought that even life as an immortal would not be better than this. Unfortunately, the time of this happiness was always brief, and night would ultimately arrive.

Suddenly, Yan Zheke noticed that the sky outside had already begun to darken. She hurriedly lit the screen of her cell phone and checked the time. With a slight surprise she said, "It's almost six… let's head back now, shall we?"

"Do you want to eat dinner before we head back?" Lou Cheng hadn't checked just one delicacy shop, so he took the opportunity to suggest this.

Yan Zheke's eyes lifted once before she said charmingly, "Let's go back to the school to eat. I'll treat you in the cafeteria."

"Alright." Lou Cheng did not persist. One must know not to overdo things during a first date.

When he closed the comedy video and started booking a car, Yan Zheke took another sip of her milk tea and said with satisfaction, "The milk tea in this cafe is pretty great. I didn't think a cafe you randomly picked would have such high standards. Your moral standing today is quite Okay, I see."

"Hehe, how could it possibly be random?" Lou Cheng thought complacently as he said with a smile, "No no no, it's all thanks to Coach Yan's moral standing. My moral standing has all but been used somewhere else."

After he said this, he purposely swung their interlaced hands.

Yan Zheke's face blushed red as she pretended to spit and turned her head to the side.

They appeared to have forgotten to let go of each other's hands upon returning to the old school district. They just continued holding each other's hands and slowly walked across the road that was lined with maidenhair trees. They passed by the old and ancient-looking school building and they were immune to the gazes of onlookers by this point.

Once they had gotten on the bus, Lou Cheng noticed the vehicle had started to move after they had sat for a while, he was just about to speak when he noticed that Yan Zheke's eyes were drooping. Her long, black and dense eyelashes trembled slightly like a pair of small fans, and her head dipped occasionally. She had fallen asleep.

She had trained for four hours straight and then she came out for the date without taking an afternoon nap. They had been out until six in the evening, and her stamina wasn't as abnormal as his. It was no wonder that she would be feeling sleepy and tired… Lou Cheng felt tenderness for the girl as he watched her. He used Delicate Force on her hand that he was tightly holding to change the direction she was falling in and pulled her towards him without waking her. He allowed her to slowly and gradually lean against his shoulder.

At the same time, he used the muscles in his body to counter the movements of the bus. The second the vehicle ran into a rough patch on the road, he would add a counter force to Yan Zheke to cancel out the turbulence. He did his best to ensure that she slept peacefully and did not fall off of his shoulder.

Her beautiful forehead leaned against his shoulder, and a serene scent teased the tip of his nose. The girl's soft skin was right next to his head, and her soft and long breaths resounded around his ear. Peace, serenity, and happiness filled Lou Cheng's heart. He felt the girl's weight on his shoulders, and he also sensed the pressure of wanting to make her have a better life.

Perhaps this is what dad once meant by the responsibility of a man…

After the vehicle had reached the new school district, Lou Cheng gave Yan Zheke a gentle push while laughing softly,

"Wake up, we're about to be late for the martial arts special training."

"Ah…" Yan Zheke's dark and beautiful eyes were filled with bewilderment. Her confused expression made Lou Cheng's heart tremble at the sight. When she was fully awake she let out an exclamation and said with a red face, "Turn your head away quickly, quickly! Don't move!"

Lou Cheng was puzzled, but he obediently looked to the corridor all the same. He heard the girl pulling on the zipper of her backpack, taking out a napkin she began wiping the elbow and shoulder area of his leather jacket repeatedly.

"So that's why…" He blurted out, but his words were interrupted vehemently by the girl before he could finish. "Haven't you ever seen someone drooling while they slept?! Humph!"

"The Coach Yan, who drools while she sleeps, is so cute." Lou Cheng could not help but praise her from the bottom of his heart.

Yan Zheke pouted.

"I don't want to talk with you anymore!"

Lou Cheng was all smiles as he pulled the 'angry' girl down the bus aisle. All the way he kept an eye on the girl's reactions, ready to let go of her hand obediently if she wasn't ready to hold hands in the school district where there were more familiar faces around. However, other than a bright red face, Yan Zheke showed no signs of withdrawing her hand.

When they entered the cafeteria, Yan Zheke brought him to the rice window first, she took out her meal card and said,

"Rice worth 2.30 yuan, please."

The rice-serving worker glanced at the two of them in astonishment. He seemed to be checking if they were asking for a group of people so he could confirm how many bowls he needed for preparing the rice.

Yan Zheke said innocently, "The guy beside me is a glutton who is good at eating. Even without dishes, he could eat rice worth 2 yuan!"

Pft… Lou Cheng nearly burst out laughing.

Did you just attribute your appetite for rice to me?

"He doesn't look like it." The rice-server sighed.

Yan Zheke snickered upon hearing this and she cast a sideways glance at Lou Cheng. Some traces of playfulness flowed from her eyes.

Lou Cheng simply thought that Yan Zheke was a feast for his eyes and he felt like just sitting there and watching her. He did not even desire to eat his rice anymore.

Their dinner had lasted for a very long time, and the two of them reluctantly made their way to the entrance of the Third Dormitory Building where Yan Zheke stayed.

Yan Zheke covered her mouth as she broke into a yawn. She wore a light smile while she said, "I feel so tired from skipping my afternoon nap."

"Go on and get to your bedroom then. Wash up and lie down. I know you're tired, you need to get some sleep." Lou Cheng said with concern.

Yan Zheke nodded obediently. Then, she suddenly put on a deadpan expression and talked like an old mum,

"You should get some rest soon after you return to your room. Don't just research battle videos all the time. You have to strike a balance between work and rest so that you won't feel tired tomorrow, got it?"

Her words warmed Lou Cheng's heart and he teased. "Got it, Coach Yan!"

Yan Zheke nearly broke into laughter as she pursed her lips and waved good bye.

"See you tomorrow, Cheng."

Lou Cheng mimicked her usual tone and said seriously,

"See you everyday!"

When she heard this, Yan Zheke covered her mouth and smiled softly. She turned around and took two steps, but came to a stop again. Turning her head she smiled at him timidly, expressing slight embarrassment.

"Cheng, I, I am very happy today."

After she said this, she half ran into the dormitory, like an agile rabbit, without waiting for Lou Cheng's reply. It was only when she approached the unit's entrance that she slowed and turned around to glance at Lou Cheng, where she found him still staring at her like a fool. She gave him a bright smile.

When Yan Zheke's back finally disappeared into the passage, Lou Cheng finally smiled gently and said to himself in a soft voice,

"I'm very happy too, one hundred times happier than usual…"

…

In a certain room on the second floor of Hongluo Martial Arts School, the schoolmaster Wang Hui, whose white hair had a few lines of silver in it, asked the three men beside him,

"Have you found any data on Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's Lou Cheng? The one without a rank."

Jiang Guosheng had practiced martial arts for many years, and the environment and his self-cultivation had improved his temperament. He possessed some masculinity even though his countenance was relatively average. Seated properly on his knees, he said, "We've investigated him. He's not your average person. He once participated in the Phoenix Cup Warrior Sage Candidate Challenge Tournament and fought his way into the top eight. He was able to beat a Professional Ninth Pin although he had just practiced martial arts for only half a year. This's proof of his talent and strength. Although he isn't stronger than Lin Que right now, he's definitely not someone to be underestimated."

Wang Hui nodded slightly and smiled at another man.

Cheng Yun. You have met your match. Songcheng is very big, but it's also very small. There're only so many youngsters with potential if you think about it carefully."

Jiang Guosheng also followed his gaze and looked at the young man with stern eyes.

This was the last disciple his master took in after turning down other candidates for many years due to his reluctance to see talent slip by. Pan Chengyun was just twenty years old, and he had only been practicing martial arts for a little over two years. For a while now he had been an Amateur First Pin, but based on the usual sparring exercises he conducted, he believed that he already was at the level of Professional Ninth Pin. The only thing left for him to prove it was the Ranking Event.

He was his martial arts school's secret weapon for the preliminaries. He would give Songcheng University Martial Arts Club a 'pleasant surprise'.

A team with three Professional Ninth Pin fighters was strong enough to fight for a division's quota!

Pan Chengyun said as cold as ice,

"I've seen his match videos, and his weaknesses are as obvious as his strong points. He's the kind of fighter who can take out a Professional Ninth Pin, if he does well, but would lose even to an Amateur First or Second Pin, if he is properly countered."

"I'm confident enough that I can beat him."

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After Pan Chengyun finished what he was saying, Wang Hui nodded slightly and said noncommittally,

"Confidence is a good thing."

He said as he turned around and looked at Fang Tong, "But too much confidence is a bad thing. You must be prudent and not arrogant in your competition tomorrow."

Fang Tong's hair was combed straight up looking wanton and arrogant. His angular face made him an imposing figure and even playing children would quiet when they saw him. Without expression he replied,

"Yes, Grandmaster."

Seeing his attitude, Wang Hui quietly sighed. This disciple was good, at everything, but he was also too impatient and anxious. This meant, there was no way for him to attain a united form of strength, and while he was capable of releasing energy, he was not able to withdraw it. Even though he was only one step away from Dan stage, in three years, he wasn't able to improve. This had dropped him from the status of a slightly reputable genius fighter in Songcheng to an after tea joke at other martial arts schools.

They could only hope that Cheng Yun's rapid improvement would put pressure on him and he would shake off his arrogance and impatience…

While looking around, Wang Hui told Pan Chengyun,

"You have not participated in the last three months and those three months were when you would have progressed the quickest. Your enemy certainly can't touch your bottom line, and will still treat you as a fighter of Amateur First Pin. But, you mustn't be careless. Usually, practices with Guosheng and Fang Tong are different from an arena battle. You have to adapt to the changes and master your new strength, just in case, the difference throws you off."

Finishing, before Pan Chengyun could answer, he replied with emotion,

"This is an excellent opportunity for our martial arts school. You have to go all out in the fights for the fame."

And fame equals money!

Through underground gang connections, the martial arts school received benefits. In a larger city, the connections are hidden and harder to find.

Because of the attention of the public, the focus of the media, and the involvement of the government, all aspects of the Songcheng was more standardized and legal when compared to the small cities. Many martial arts clubs wouldn't dare to waste their own staff, so they made their fortune by exploiting their wealthy students.

With out a good reputation for fame, it would be hard to recruit disciples, and after many years they would shut down, or have to take a risk.

In addition, talented and high-quality disciples are sought after to produce a reputation of fame. Without the reputation for fame, no one will choose your martial arts studio for an apprenticeship.

In today's society, the creation of a warrior is actually established in two major steps. The first is at their primary school graduation when a child begins to develop physically. This is when they can begin practicing martial arts and go through a unified test. The test would identify the specific martial arts specialization they would be placed in. The second part is normal schooling, which every person should receive to run a society. People of all talents are needed, not just warriors and some jobs are considered more important, like a scientist's.

After the evaluation, unless the family is wealthy and able to pay the high fees related to practicing martial arts, most of the students give up practicing. They look for other activities to spend their energy on. This is why Lou Cheng hadn't met many martial arts fighters and the ones he did were mostly amateurs.

Most of the martial arts schools were established by the state, where they could pull resources to fill their organizational needs. These state run schools create an assembly line of fighters to fill the military forces and the police department. In light of this, the Shangqing Sect, Longhu Club, and other forces had also opened their own martial arts school. They did this to cultivate a large number of disciples, by creating a reputation. For example, Jin Tao of the "Invincible Punch" was a student from the Jiuqu Branch of Haiyuan Martial Arts School.

However, even though there are lots of martial arts school, when compared to the number of suitable students, there were not enough. The schools would only take students on merit, so it appeared talent driven and some of the students were "late bloomers." Maybe around fourteen or fifteen years old and even some as late as seventeen or eighteen would slowly start to show their talents. So, the martial arts school took this second opportunity to conduct another exam.

The form of martial arts club in cultivating a large number of fighters was lagged. But if only a few like a dozen disciples could take the elite education, it was the same as the martial arts master's transmission, which was better than the martial arts school. And therefore it built a lot of illustrious famous experts. So many young people carrying dreams, who could not enter the major martial arts forces, would abandon the martial arts school and take the embassy of the martial arts club.

So, the martial arts club regarded talented disciples as the core, and even began to pay the disciples of Amateur First Pin a certain salary to maintain their own strength. And then through advertising, trials, and local challenge tournaments, etc. to gain fame, they attracted external hobbies and wealthy disciples, which could not only get the money, but also might pick out talented people buried by a variety of reasons, develop their social relationships and get other opportunities to make money.

They spoke of martial arts, but it was actually a business.

And as a business, it would be weird if they were not enthusiastic about the local and peripheral television broadcast preliminaries!

Who did not like free "ads"?

…

Humming pop songs, Lou Cheng went back to the dormitory. With the same beautiful feeling brought by drinking some wine, he felt that everything was very good. He couldn't wait for everyone to have the same happiness as his own.

He knocked on the next door, with no surprise to see the rich kid Qin Mo and his girlfriend Mu Yuanxing not being there. The "game fantastic" Tang Wen was diligent with his study. Last time he was so addicted to playing games to forget the date when he should take the exam nearly. If people around were not in the same class to take the exam, he would have definitely failed the exam for this ridiculous reason. Of course, no doubt, he still failed in three subjects. Now he was preparing for school examinations again, or he would have to rebuild. So he gave up games for a while.

"Where is Mouth King?" Lou Cheng asked.

Tang Wen was absorbed in books. He carefully recalled and said, "He went to the balcony to call his girlfriend."

"Oh." Lou Cheng calmed down, vaguely hearing a voice from the balcony.

Saying thanks, he closed the dormitory door not to disturb Tang Wen. When he was about to return to his own small dormitory, he saw the balcony glass door opening. Cai Zongming came in with a smile.

"Damn the weather! Making a phone call can freeze you!" Little Ming breathed out white air when he closed the door.

Lou Cheng laughed. "Why don't you video chat in the bedroom?"

"Someone is in the bedroom, so some private words are not convenient to say, you know." Cai Zongming deliberately rose his brow.

"You dirty guy!" Lou Cheng scolded, with a humorous tone.

"Pooh! You are the dirty guy! I mean nauseating love words. What did you think of? Recently fallen in love, blood calls?" Cai Zongming scolded Lou Cheng badly but in a good way.

Lou Cheng clicked his tongue and said, "Are your love words clean? Old hand!"

He then checked his surroundings, and said softly, "Casanova, you tell me if there is any problem…"

He said all the things of Yan Zheke's reactions in their first date, and finally said, "Will this seem disrespectful of her thoughts, too reckless?"

Cai Zongming replied with a laugh, "Darn your indiscriminate love! You wouldn't have any of these questions, if you followed my steps. But you did a good job today. You can't let girls lead you in this case. You go fast!"

"Really?" Lou Cheng got into a serious student attitude.

Cai Zongming grinned, "Your Goddess is now in a state like standing on the swamp. There are full of temptations in the world of love below. It's difficult to resist, but give up resistance, and slowly sink. She has not adjusted the mind yet, so she slows this speed and adapts this gradually. If you pull too fast and make her sink too fast, out of fear, uncertainty, or inadequate love, it really will cause a rebellious sense and may let her start to hate you."

"But you can't do nothing, let her make her own mentality. Only ghost knows what adjustments she'll make, maybe good, maybe not. Furthermore, when it takes longer, the feelings of the impact will get weak. She's going to calm down and start over again. If you think about enhancing the good impression then, it'll be Half the Results for Twice the Effort and she might say that she doesn't think you are the ones for each other and should better break up."

"So you have to seize the current state of warmth, limit the distance, and enhance a good impression, which is the meaning of hot ironsmith. You can't really do not get close when girls say so. Sometimes they themselves don't know if they want it or not."

Lou Cheng had the feeling of reading for ten years. He sincerely nodded. "No wonder you are Casanova…"

Cai Zongming said with smiling, "To answer the confession is to determine the relationship, and to determine the relationship is equal to holding the hand. For this, she'll not be too resistant. She should have some psychological preparation. But don't go further. Don't give her pressure which causes rebellion. Keep the trend, step by step with the affectionate, and slowly pull her over. Hey, even I am jealous!"

"Unfortunately, you have no time to go to the Capital." Lou Cheng glared at Little Ming with pity.

Cai Zongming clicked his tongue and said, "I can't go, but she can come! I have succeeded to confuse her. This time I don't have to save money. The lucky money is big! "

"Cool!" Giving a thumbs up, Lou Cheng said,

"Right, are you ready for tomorrow competition" As a member of the special training, Cai Zongming cared about this.

Lou Cheng nodded with a smile and said, "Almost, I'll think through it again."

"I'll help you find the audience." Laughing badly, Cai Zongming suddenly went outside, unscrewed the door, and said to Zhao Qiang, Qiu Zhigao and Zhang Jingye who were relaxing at home on weekends, "Good news! Good news! Cheng will represent our Songcheng University to participate in the competition tomorrow. Let's go to cheer him up!"

"On behalf of Songcheng University? Cheng?" Zhao Qiang stunned, and then pushed his black box glasses.

"Martial Arts Competition?" Qiu Zhigao surprisedly turned his head.

Only Zhang Jingye looked dumb, like he didn't seem to understand.

Cai Zongming grinned. "Yes, Martial Arts Competition. Didn't Coach Shi organize to participate in the preliminaries of the team? Cheng is the leading player. Tomorrow, he'll compete with Hongluo Martial Arts School of Songcheng."

Qiu Zhigao did not take the first three martial arts lessons because of his own arrangements, so he didn't know anything about this. He suddenly stood up, surprisedly and shockedly staring at Lou Cheng who was behind Cai Zongming. "Are you the leading player?"

Is this a little unscientific? No, not a little, it is too unscientific!

Lou Cheng didn't have to explain. Cai Zongming smiled and said, "Cheng is recognized as a genius in martial arts, and now he is of Professional Ninth Pin. That day he fought so badly with Lin Que. He lost by one step."

"Professional Ninth Pin…" Qiu Zhigao breathed in.

For the difficulty of enhancing the rank, he had a profound experience.

A new with no rank to being of Professional Ninth Pin actually only spent half a year!

"A genius in martial arts?" Zhao Qiang looked at Lou Cheng up and down, like wanting to see flowers out from him. "You don't know yourself before?"

"Well, I did not get in touch with the martial arts before, and Coach Shi is very professional." Lou Cheng said casually.

Zhao Qiang exclaimed. "Human, of course, rely on self-struggle, but also have to consider the process of the history…"

"The competition is at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Are you coming?" Cai Zongming asked again.

"Of course, I'm going! Why not? An expert from our dormitory! It's so cool to say!" Qiu Zhigao came over with excitement and coax.

Zhang Jingye hesitated and stammered. "Can I take someone else?"

"Whom?" Zhao Qiang asked with bewilderment.

Cai Zongming cackled and said, "Model Worker, I can't see huh. You get a girlfriend in silence?"

"Haha, almost." Zhang Jingye smiled simply.

"Sh*t…" Zhao Qiang blurted out, pointing to Zhang Jingye. "I figured out the dog not barking bites hard. When did you get a girlfriend?"

Lou Cheng also had a burst of admiration. He spent so much time and effort to catch Yan Zheke, but Zhang Jingye suddenly got a girlfriend!

"Oh, last term, when I came back, I met a bunch of students in the art school making micro-video. Due to curiosity, I watched for a while. They invited me to do the extras, so I met one of the girls, and then we got familiar…" Zhang Jingye simply said.

After everyone sighed, Zhao Qiang seriously said, "Model Worker, you have to learn even though you have a girlfriend. You can't indulge in beauty. Right, when do they make the next micro-video?"

Puff! Everyone laughed together, and the atmosphere became quite warm.

…

Yan Zheke finished washing and climbed to her own small bed, leaning on the minion. Covered in the quilt, she unlocked the phone.

Her smile consciously appeared. She was waiting to use QQ to send Lou Cheng a message. Suddenly she remembered a matter, so she clicked the browser, and got into the search page.

"Meimei bread…" She entered the name of the cake shop. She would like to see if the comments of fresh cream cake were as good as Lou Cheng said.

During a blink of an eye, the search results came out, but Yan Zheke got confused.

Because there were no search results of Meimei Bakery, but only related adjectives.

"Online search…" Yan Zheke got an idea. She seemed to understand something. Getting out of the quilt, she climbed down and tasted the fresh cream cake on the desk.

"Not too sweet, just as well…" Yan Zheke sat there. Her left hand was gently hanging around the hair. Her right hand was holding a spoon, unconsciously shaking. There were two sugar plums around her mouth. Her eyes were staring at the cake, with the tender that couldn't be spoken.

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Chapter 116: We Cannot Lose

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

On the next day, after he was done with morning exercise, Lou Cheng went straight to the cafeteria while drinking his soy milk and finished his meat floss bread in one go. He felt extraordinarily satisfied and had the feeling that he was enjoying a lunch box made of love.

Stepping into the martial arts club, he was just looking at the scattered crowd before his brain automatically picked out Yan Zheke's figure from them. The girl just happened to look towards his direction too, and when their eyes met they smiled warmly and sweetly at each other.

Yan Zheke bit her bottom lip softly with her teeth, and she opened the pocket button on her martial arts suit and took out her cell phone. She lowered her head, combed through her hair and typed quickly over the phone for a brief moment.

"Di…" The beep of a QQ message came from Lou Cheng's pockets, and as if realizing something he took out his phone with a smile on his face. When he unlocked his phone and took a look, he discovered that it was sent by the girl as he had expected.

"The fresh cream cake was delicious," Yan Zheke said.

"As long as you're satisfied." Lou Cheng was filled with a sense of accomplishment. "The meat floss bread you selected is perfect too!"

Yan Zheke used a "panda scratching its head" emoji and said, "The only problem is that I had to brush my teeth one more time!"

"Why do you need to brush your teeth one more time?" Lou Cheng sent her a "bewildered and confused" emoji.

"Guess~~ I'm going to put my stuff now!" Yan Zheke closed her cell phone, looked with curved eyes and a faint smile on her face before heading into the female locker room along with Guo Qing. She was going to lock her cell phone, other items she carried with her, and spare clothes into her locker.

"Guess? Could it be that she had to brush her teeth a second time because she ate too many sweets? Or did she eat some after she brushed her teeth last night because she failed to resist temptation? But she hadn't brought this up while we were chatting that time…" Lou Cheng stepped into the male's locker room while he was using his imagination.

Since they had a match later this afternoon, the level of intensity of today's special training was reduced, with a focus on maintaining their form. In fact, pair exercise was canceled in the end.

Geezer Shi gathered all members at one spot, curled his lips and said, "Songcheng University seriously is stingy, giving such a small amount of subsidy. A better martial arts school would have nurtured sparring partners of all styles so that the participants could undergo targeted training before a match. We though, hehe, could only rely on our mouths!"

If the Martial Arts Club's members were to act as sparring partners, the effects of a targeted training would be lost because the characteristics of their kungfu were similar to each other.

"If only there is a supernatural ability that could create a corresponding battle figure just through verbalization…" Cai Zongming muttered in a small voice.

Lou Cheng cast a glance at him and ridiculed him with a soft laugh. "If there is such a thing then you would be amazing. The Talker has arrived, and then who dares stand against the Talker!?"

"Unfortunately, God did not give me this chance." Cai Zongming sighed with relative regret.

Geezer Shi coughed twice and said, "The kids who aren't leading players and substitutes of the preliminaries may leave now. Those who are willing to watch the match may wait by the bus station at one thirty. Li Xiaowen, we'll not have any audience since we are fighting away, so you don't have to organize a cheerleading team. You'll help to get the logistics prepared."

After Yan Zheke had been promoted to a preliminary substitute, the cheerleading team she used to lead was passed on to her senior female schoolmate Li Xiaowen.

When the other special training members had left, Geezer Shi finally said, "You have all seen the data and videos related to Hongluo Martial Arts School, haven't you? I'll briefly explain things and analyze their fighting style so that you all have something to mull over on your own along the way."

Normally speaking, while targeted training would usually be performed based on the opponents two or three days before a match, specific fighting arrangements would only be put in order inside the locker room before the match. This was to prevent a spy inside the team from selling intel to the enemy and cause them to fall under the control of the enemy. The higher the level of competition was, the stricter security in this regard became. However, the first stage of the preliminaries and competition at this level was the equivalent of nothing in Geezer Shi's eyes at all, and he did not think that Hongluo Martial Arts School would make a big fuss over such a minor competition either. Therefore, he had made his explanation ahead of time so that these young and inexperienced kids would have sufficient time to digest his words.

After seeing that everyone's attention was focused on him, he chuckled and said,

"That is all there is to Hongluo Martial Arts School, so you lot don't have to worry too much. Follow this old man's instructions, and your chances of victory will be pretty huge. You have all watched the videos already. Hongluo Martial Arts School's fighting style is an evolution of the 'Unique Skill of Fire Sect' called 'Fire-like Invasion Move.' It emphasizes on aggressiveness and explosive power."

"At the max, their explosive power may very well equal the full powered strike of a seventh to eighth Pin Dan stage martial artist. However, this level of eruption wasn't something that could state of mind anytime they wanted to. They had to adjust their states bit by bit and receive feedbacks again and again so that their bodies could gradually compress and store energy like a spring."

"Therefore, the heart of this fighting style was to use small bursts of power to push even greater levels of bursts of power, accumulating power steadily until they reached their limits. Normally speaking, the ninth strike after eight pushes would pretty much sweep anyone beneath Dan stage. However, they are humans and not living immortals. Their strength would more or less be exhausted after a round of eruption. Taking the burning fire as an example, a fire would continuously ignite the things around it and grow fiercer and fiercer with each passing time. Once everything around it had been burned to ashes, the fire itself would become extinguished."

"In this regard, this is a fighting style that is very suitable for life and death fighting. The victory would normally be decided within just a few moves."

"Now that we've analyzed up to this point, some of you must be thinking: in this case then let's just stretch out the battle and delay until they've exhausted themselves. However, unless the martial artist who chooses to fight this way have the exceptional agility and is extremely well versed in hit-and-run tactics, they would quickly find their zone of activity compressed to a point where they could not escape by the time the people of Hongluo Martial Arts School had erupted a few times and displayed terrifying levels of speed and agility."

Lou Cheng nodded indiscernibly at the coach's words. He knew this very well from experience. During the fight against Ye Youting and the fight against the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin, he had attempted to stretch out the fight using mercurial balance. However, he was either quickly forced into a head on clash, or given no chance to stretch out the fight at all.

Geezer Shi coughed a few times and reached the main point of the explanation. "The best way to deal with this fighting style is to clash against them directly, disrupting their burst rhythm and suppressing their aggressiveness so that their eruptions will grow more and more dissatisfactory…"

He began talking in detail how to disrupt the enemy's rhythm and suppress their aggressiveness. Lou Cheng and the others listened with great interest, and before they knew it it was already noon.

After eating lunch and resting for a brief moment, Lou Cheng arrived on time at the bus station and got on the school bus the logistics of the club had purposely prepared.

Because Yan Zheke was shy and wasn't brave enough to sit next to him with so many familiar faces around them, she pulled Guo Qing with her and found a pair of seat for themselves. Lou Cheng had no choice but to sit together with student Little Ming at the seat behind them.

He didn't speak much along the way, and had started to adjust his form and state of mind. He had only opened his eyes only after they were about to arrive.

"Ay, Cheng, Qiang and the others had quite the luck with women…" Cai Zongming smartly decided against voicing his words and instead typed it on his phone and sent it through QQ to Lou Cheng.

Lou Cheng replied in surprise, "Why is that?"

"Model Worker was going to ask his girlfriend out only, but it was found out by the girls in his girlfriend's bedroom. They were very interested in the match and wanted to come and take a look too. They would be joining Qiang and Old Qiu and depart together later." Cai Zongming sent the message while looking at Lou Cheng with a sneaky expression.

"That's great. What a pleasant surprise!" Lou Cheng replied swiftly before stuffing his phone into his pocket, getting ready to stand up. They had already arrived at their destination!

Hongluo Martial Arts School was situated at the bottom of a large building where it was quiet amidst a noisy environment. The environment was pretty good.

Lou Cheng observed the situation carefully and waited until Guo Qing entered the corridor. Only then he abruptly stood up, pushed his way forwards and stuck close to Yan Zheke following behind her just in time.

He "casually" looked towards the front, stretched out his hand and pulled the girl's tender hand.

At first, Yan Zheke was surprised. Then, she looked at Lou Cheng and saw the faint trace of a smile vaguely tugging at the corners of his mouth. He turned around and blinked at her.

She was both annoyed and amused by this, blushing slightly in the face. Pretending that nothing had happened just now, she returned the grip before hurriedly pulling back her hand. After observing her surroundings and discovering that no one had noticed the gesture, she then experienced a wave of indescribable happiness.

Lou Cheng, who was equally happy and filled with strength followed his team and stepped through the main entrance of Hongluo Martial Arts School.

Naturally, this martial arts school was incomparable to Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's arena. It was only about the size of two classrooms, not to mention some spaces were used as locker rooms, strength training rooms and so on. It was sufficient for teaching and practicing martial arts, but it was seriously cramped for a preliminaries' match.

Right now, the limestone ground at the center of the martial arts school was present to act as the arena. Tatamis were laid out around the arena so that audiences could sit down and watch the match. Corridors were left out on all sides, and the place had a vague Japanese style to them.

"Thank goodness there aren't many audiences, or how on earth are we going to fit in such a small place…" Cai Zongming clicked his tongue and said.

He was not fated to enter the locker room, so after finding the tatamis arranged for the away team he took off his shoes and sat on his knees.

Not far away beside him, Shu Rui led the team and nervously but orderly lay out the arrangements for live broadcast.

After the preliminaries schedule had been announced on Friday, the first thing Songcheng's television station needed to confirm was which matches they should do a live broadcast, and which matches they should do recording broadcast.

This was nothing worthy of consideration for the other television stations of other cities. This was because there were only so many teams who participated in the competition, not to mention that the match times might not even clash with each other. On the other hand, as the provincial capital Songcheng attracted a lot of talents, and there were at least twenty teams who registered and participated in the preliminaries. The selection of teams alone would dazzle one's eyes.

For a television station at this level, competitions of lower professional ranking were in fact more welcomed. For the audiences, the professional martial practitioners at the bottom three ranks were relatable and not too inhuman even though they weren't strong enough. Every battle was very intense, and every blow threw in a match this level struck flesh. It could incite the passion in the audiences' heart. Naturally, the decision to do live or recorded broadcast must be deliberated carefully.

As the reporter who chased mainly the news related to martial arts, Shu Rui had participated in the meeting and voiced out her own opinions. She said that Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's Lou Cheng and Lin Que were very much great subjects of gossip and suited for live broadcast. In the end, the leader of the television station had accepted her plans.

Right now, Shu Rui very much had the impulse to interview Lin Que and Lou Cheng for a while after seeing them walking into the martial arts school. However, the rules stated that they could not come in contact with the fighters half a day before the match to avoid affecting their state of the mind. They could only be interviewed after the match.

Lou Cheng and the others entered straight into the locker room. Inside the partitioned area, they changed into their white martial arts suit with black borders and returned to Geezer Shi's side once more.

"I've said everything that needs to be said, and I have nothing else to add. Take the time to rest and recuperate your spirits." Geezer Shi coughed and made them find their respective seats and hone their strengths.

…

At two fifty, inside Hongluo Martial Arts School's locker room.

Wang Hui looked at Jiang Guosheng, Fang Tong and Pan Chengyun all with a different expression on their faces and smiled slightly, saying,

"Chengyun, you'll enter last and give them a pleasant surprise. That being said you may not need to show up, so if that's the case then we'll leave the pleasant surprise to the future."

"Fang Tong, you'll be the vanguard and fight to obtain an immediate victory."

"Guosheng, you'll enter the arena second. You bear a heavy responsibility in case anything happens. You must stabilize the situation."

"Yes, master (grandmaster)!" all three Professional Ninth Pins answered in unison.

Wang Hui nodded in satisfaction and pointed outside the locker room, declaring loudly.

"Go out there and show them your strength and bearing!"

…

At Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's side, Geezer Shi clapped his hand and awakened the crowd who were quietly practicing pranayama. With a rare, serious smile, he said,

"First battle, Lou Cheng."

"I'm the first…" Not only Lou Cheng wasn't anxious, he felt a shiver that came with excitement. He sneaked a glance at Yan Zheke and found her looking at him as well. She gave him a pumping hand gesture.

Geezer Shi continued to speak, "Lou Cheng, you'll enter the arena first and feel out their depths. Do not worry if they really have something wicked up their sleeves. You have Lin Que behind you."

"Lin Que, you'll watch the battle closely and know what's going on by heart. Sun Jian, you'll enter last. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to take advantage of their exhaustion."

"Alright, let's head out, everyone."

Lou Cheng and the others glanced at each other's eyes once. No one purposely organized it, and no one took the lead. Suddenly, they opened their mouths in mutual understanding and shouted out in unison,

"We cannot lose!"

After they were done the shouting, Lou Cheng took the lead and entered the stage.

What greeted them were the audiences seated on the tatamis, the arranged cameras, and the enemy who walked out from the opposite locker room.

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Chapter 117: The Depressed Caster

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

It was Sunday afternoon, and Yan Xiaoling was still clinging to her bed. However, she had switched to a leaning posture with her laptop placed on top of her thighs.

"Fanfan, Fanfan, you are sure it's available?" She cast a glance at her laptop, holding her cell phone and swiftly sending a message to Brahman.

"Brahman" sent an "absolutely comical" emoji and replied, "In any case that 'Lush Gives Birth To Light' sent a post just now and said that there is a live stream on 'Qidao Video Site,' and that the site had bought the rights from Songcheng television station. She already managed to acquire the preview earlier, so she wouldn't make a mistake about something so trivial, would she? I'm so annoyed! The website is laggy, and the internet speed is so slow! The stream still hasn't fully buffered yet!"

After listening to Brahman's words, Yan Xiaoling who had just woken up during afternoon continued to search for the live stream at "Qidao Video Site" with a dumb look on her face. A few minutes later, she finally found the phrase "Hong Luo Martial Arts School VS Songcheng University Martial Arts Club" at the corner of the 'preliminaries' subpage. There were even two channels consisting of the television station's caster and the website's caster setup at the side.

Yan Xiaoling's hand glided, and she selected "Home Website Casting." After a period of buffering that was long enough to drive people crazy, she finally saw the tatami covered ground of the martial arts school. She saw group belonging to Songcheng University Martial Arts Club filing out in a line and sitting on their knees on the tatamis. She saw that the leader of the line was Lou Cheng.

The broadcast rights of the first stage of the preliminaries had been sold to the television stations of each division by the organizational committee, whereas the television stations had recouped a portion of their capital from the streaming websites. The cash flowing into the committee's pocket would ultimately become the competing fighter's insurance fee, match transportation fee and the bonus of the broadcast of the division's top eight matches.

Since there were no registration restrictions, there was no way a participant was given bonuses the moment they participated in the match. Most of those kinds of participants were only masquerading as having abilities so they could scam some funds for themselves. Only those teams who had gone through seven or eight matches and arrived to become the top eight team of the division would have the qualification to profit from the preliminaries.

"Heya, there actually is a stream!" Yan Xiaoling happily sent a message to "Brahman".

"Brahman" quickly replied, "I saw it too. Our idol is looking more and more of a model example! Ayayayaya, I'm posting the link to Longhu Club forum and show it to those people!"

The two girls busied themselves respectively for a while before watching the live stream once more with slight trepidation and excitement. They waited single-mindedly for the competition to start.

…

Deng deng deng. Two minutes before 3 p.m., Zhao Qiang, Qiu Zhigao and Zhang Jingye finally defeated the Sunday jam and made their way to Hongluo Martial Arts School in time. Four girls who were relatively student-like but dressed very fashionably followed behind them.

After looking around the whole venue once, Zhao Qiang saw Cai Zongming and pointed at him joyfully, saying,

"We'll go there!"

The "spectator seats" provided for the away team were sparse, and seats had an ample amount of space too. Cai Zongming greeted them cordially and helped arrange for the girls to take their seats. He secretly complained to Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao,

The aesthetic judgment of the arts institute truly is different from us ordinary people. Shouldn't they be wearing clothes that accentuated their youthfulness and student identities as fitting of their age? Aren't they dressed a little too maturely? Are they seriously afraid that they won't have the chance to wear these a few years later?"

Zhao Qiang sneaked two glances at the girls before smiling reservedly,

"I thought it looks pretty good."

The sunlight from outside the window reflected off his black framed spectacles.

Cai Zongming chuckled and did not say anything more. This was because the match was about to begin.

After they had all taken their respective seats, the girl sitting close to Zhang Jingye then pulled his sleeves and asked smilingly, "Who was that awesome roommate you told me about?"

This girl had a cute and likable round face. She had put on a little bit of foundation and worn a light pink overcoat that was less mature-looking. She was none other than Zhang Jingye quasi-girlfriend, Wu Qian of the arts institute.

The other three girls also looked curiously at Zhang Jingye after hearing her question, looking forward to the answer. This was the first time in their lives they had a friend that could appear live on television—the friend of a friend of a friend, that was.

Zhang Jingye pointed at Lou Cheng sitting on his knees in the first row of the away team's tatami,

"That guy. Do you see him? The guy furthest to the left and looking pretty spirited…"

Wu Qian stretched her neck and giggled.

"I saw him. He looks pretty classy."

Just when the other three girls were about to say something, they saw the referee dressed in black walking to the center of the limestone ground and declaring in a loud voice,

"Round one between Hongluo Martial Arts School and Songcheng University Martial Arts Club…"

"Fang Tong versus Lou Cheng!"

…

Enthusiastic claps and shouts resounded from the surroundings the second the referee finished making his announcement. Although there weren't many audiences, they were all groups of families and friends, so they naturally went out of their way to cheer for the participants as much as possible.

Lou Cheng slowly stood up as the cries of "Hong Luo will win" and "Fang Tong cannot fail" resounded in his ears. He first turned his head sideways to look at Yan Zheke, not trying to conceal his actions at all.

Yan Zheke returned his gaze boldly with a fluid glance that seemed like there were stars hidden behind them. Her face was blushed slightly with a bright red color due to excitement, nervousness, worry and other emotions. She gripped her fist and pumped into the air once. Her pink lips opened and closed, seemingly mimicking a cheering cry.

With a smile, Lou Cheng calmly bent his waist, put on his shoes and walked along the corridor unhurriedly towards the arena amidst many other gazes that could not be considered friendly. The strength in his heart slowly settled down and became accumulated, ready to be activated when the battle officially began.

At a rough estimate, there were a hundred and ten or so audiences present on the surrounding tatamis. The majority of them were outer disciples of Hongluo Martial Arts School and the friends and families they pulled to watch the match together with them. The minority of the audiences who were the friends and families of the disciples participating in the match. Of course, this amount of people was incomparable to the vast crowd inside Songcheng University Martial Arts Club, but because they were much closer to the arena, the sounds of cheering and provocation were actually even more impactful. It felt just like someone was roaring right beside his ears.

Lou Cheng could be considered a fighter who was quite experienced now, and he wasn't afraid of this spectacle in the least. He passed through abusive yells, spurring remarks, the defense line formed by countless gazes and entered the arena built from limestone.

During this process, he was even able to think about some trivial stuff,

"This pair of shoes probably isn't suited for wearing much longer. It would be practically unusable after a couple more intense exertions. The path of martial arts really costs a lot of money…"

Above the arena at the referee's left-hand side, Fang Tong was already standing with his hair standing on its end and his bearing fierce and aggressive. He looked like he was liable to erupt at one wrong remark.

His figure was tall and above 1.85 meters. Somehow he managed to give the impression that he was wearing a body hugging formal suit, even though he was in fact wearing a simple martial arts suit that was as scarlet as fire.

"You have three minutes to talk with each other." The referee looked at his watch and took a step backward.

Fang Tong gave Lou Cheng a predatory stare as he smiled disdainfully.

"You feel very proud and pleased with yourself, don't you?"

"You've used only half a year's time to grow up from a rankless newbie to a Professional Ninth Pin fighter. You do have the rights to be pleased and proud."

"However, I enjoy fighting against fighters who claim to be geniuses like you the most. I love to see people like you panicking and struggling futilely under my attacks. I love to see the doubt in your eyes after people like you suffered a terrible defeat, and your cringing appearance when people like you appear before me. Do you know? There was once an eighteen years old Ninth Pin genius fighter who literally broke into tears under my beating. Tears!"

"Heh, cry all you want if you want to cry later. Don't hold back and go look for your mother for comfort later!"

Lou Cheng listened quietly as a line of introduction on Fang Tong's data suddenly flashed through his mind,

"Fang Tong, well versed in trash-talking and provocations…"

He closed his eyes and confirmed his fighting style one last time:

The moment he climbed onto the arena, he would go all out and fight as if it was in a life or death battle. He would not consider saving up any trump cards at all!

He had only gone through one life or death battle and thus wasn't sufficiently experienced. He could only use it as a point of reference.

The moment he thought this, Lou Cheng recalled the minute details of his battle against that Dark Sect's Ninth Pin: a whip kick striking against the temple, causing two bloody and compressed eyeballs to fly out of their sockets; a Rocket-like Punch rising and bursting a person's groin, causing blood and piss to spray all over the ground; a secret discipline of mind aura assaulting his mind directly and shaking up his mind…

As compared to the fear the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin had caused, Fang Tong's trash-talking was literally like a child's abusive swears…

Slowly, Lou Cheng ignored Fang Tong's trash-talking to the point where it sounded like a distant cry. It could not affect his recollections at all.

The temporary stiffness caused by the secret discipline of mind aura, the fear brought by the Poison Sting Force, the stance that he forced himself to assume… he was well prepared, and he bit the tip of his tongue softly… he used mercurial balance and was able to dodge out of the way in time… his ears were attacked by a sound art, followed by another killer move… he used abrupt explosive force to fight hand-to-hand, followed by the Power of Blaze to seize the initiative…

The images flashed past his mind one after another, ultimately freezing at the scene where the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin bled out of all seven apertures of his body. The light faded swiftly from his eyes, leaving behind many qualms for life.

The image froze, and Lou Cheng opened his eyes. He looked at Fang Tong with eyes that were as frozen as ice.

"What good is a guy like you who hasn't weaned off his mother's milk no matter how strong you get? If we really…" Fang Tong was in the middle of an energetic trash-talking, but when Lou Cheng gave him an entirely unintimidating stare he suddenly stopped in surprise. He did not know why, but he suddenly felt a little chilled in his heart and was unable to say anything more for a time.

"Fight!"

It was at this moment the referee waved his right hand.

Fang Tong abruptly inhaled, causing his calves and thighs to swell up in unison. The swelling was so big that it actually caused the martial arts pants to have well-defined corners. The clothes on his upper part of his body also twitched as his muscles began to bulge in succession.

To invade like fire, and to erupt like fire!

Pa! He swiftly approached Lou Cheng and threw a Forward Punch after taking a striding step. His poured every bit of power into his right arm and punched fiercely at Lou Cheng with an enraged wind, bulged muscles and tugged skin.

If an average person took a punch like this, they would suffer grievous injuries even if they were to survive!

Lou Cheng lowered his waist as lightning struck down on his head and snow mountains collapsed. A turbulent energy surged to the bottom of his feet in an unstoppable fashion.

His right foot opened horizontally, and he exerted force against the floor with a half turned posture. As a loud bang ensued, he felt a rebound entering his body. The energy spiraled slightly and flowed from his feet to the thigh, waist, and spine. With this as the axis, he conducted every energy that the stream of energy passed by into his right hand.

He felt a bulge in his right arm, and his skin felt as if they had been stretched wide. Lou Cheng made a fist and pounded downwards towards Fang Tong's attacking arm.

Just as the two fists were about to impact against each other, his joints twisted and his muscles pulled. He unleashed a rapid and robust abrupt explosive force.

Pa! A layer of fire rose into the air, covering the surface of Lou Cheng's fist before it clashed against Fang Tong's.

The Power of Blaze VS Flaming force!

Bang! There was a dull sound of impact, and Lou Cheng felt as if his right hand had been scorched by fire. However, he had expected this from the start and used the recoil to toss his right arm backward, bringing himself a reactive force on the opposite side. Meanwhile, Fang Tong's face changed slightly as he instinctively threw his right arm outward in an attempt to extinguish that burning sensation on his fist. His chest and stomach were immediately exposed to attacks.

At the home team's tatami area, Wang Hui, Jiang Guosheng and Pan Chengyun's expressions immediately changed.

Lou Cheng gave no quarter after gaining the upper hand, twisting his back and clenching his thighs. Borrowing the push beneath his right foot and the force created after swinging his right hand backward, his left leg was like a flexible whip that abruptly tightened and whipped fiercely and violently towards the area between Fang Tong's legs. Moreover, he was still assuming a striding and charging posture.

Shock and fear appeared in Fang Tong's eyes, and he instantly visualized the image of Flaming Body in his head. His buttocks were subconsciously clenched as he exerted his muscles, pushed his tailbone, spurred his back into a bounce and induced his legs into an abrupt leap to the side.

A person shall rush into the house when the fire of passion burnt them!

This one leap allowed Fang Tong to put several meters of distance between himself and Lou Cheng. He successfully avoided that deadly whip kick.

Meanwhile, Lou Cheng unhurriedly lowered his center of gravity after missing the kick. He adjusted his muscles and stepped heavily on the limestone ground. He continuously conducted the visualized "Mega Avalanche" and "Lightning and Fire Stance" in his head to the bottom of his feet.

Dong! There was a sound that sounded like the ground was struck, and Lou Cheng bounced into the air and chased Fang Tong's leaping figure closely. His speed wasn't slower than Fang Tong's at all, and there were faint foot marks on the limestone where he stood earlier!

The one figure at the front and at the back looked like two eagles in pursuit. Fang Tong had just stood still and used the recoil to turn around when Lou Cheng had already arrived beside him. Lou Cheng turned his body sideways, lowered his shoulders, swelled up his muscles and rammed forwards strongly. He looked a little like a snow avalanche crashing down on Fang Tong.

Fang Tong could no longer dodge out of the way, and he was only able to raise his arms and block them in front of him in a hurry.

Dong! Fang Tong's arms were in pain after being rammed by Lou Cheng. His arms were pushed right before his chest.

Lou Cheng followed up the charge with a lift and a toss. The moment Lou Cheng put strength into his shoulders, Fang Tong flew into the air and out of the arena. He fell in front of the tatami and nearly knocked over a few audiences.

The referee nodded slightly and felt a tinge of appreciation for Lou Cheng's mercy at the end. Otherwise, he would have to interfere and stop the fight to avoid casualties.

He raised his right arm and announced loudly,

"Lou Cheng wins!"

Lou Cheng had won the match in just a few breaths!

The space in the entire martial arts school belonging to the home team became as silent as the grave.

…

Yan Xiaoling was staring at the screen in annoyance. This was because there was an interruption in the signal just now.

A dozen of seconds later, the signal recovered. She saw the duo's clash and heard the caster's voice,

"Welcome back everyone to our match. The match has just begun, and there aren't many delays in between. Just as I had introduced during the three minutes talking period, the fighter clad in scarlet martial arts suit is Fang Tong. He is a young expert ranking among the top on Songcheng, and he was already a Professional Ninth Pin more than three years ago… Er, he just lost…"

But I had only just f*cking started casting!

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Chapter 118: Handsome With A Capital H

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Yan Xiaoling felt just as dumbfounded as the caster was. The signal had hardly recovered when she saw Fang Tong throwing himself out of the way hurriedly and Lou Cheng chasing after him closely from behind. Before she understood what's going on, the fight had come to an end.

As satisfactory as the result was, the bewildering and astonishingly short battle made Yan Xiaoling feel as if she was dreaming. She was greatly suspicious that someone had forged the broadcasting and hired two actors with similar looks to fight a fake battle after the signal was interrupted, just like the old gambling movie she had once watched.

The caster finally recovered himself after a short silence.

"Hello, everyone! This is Wang Peng speaking. Welcome to the first live broadcast of the preliminaries in Songcheng. The first match between Fang Tong from the Hongluo Martial Arts School and Lou Cheng from the Songcheng University Martial Arts Club has just ended. The battle was intense, and the winner was decided in just several exchanges, which surprised me a lot. I believe you all are feeling just the same. Let's review the battle and figure out what happened just now."

The scene changed, and the replay began. Yan Xiaoling fixed her eyes on the screen, with her mouth slightly agape and her eyes opened wide. Not ten seconds had passed when she suddenly exclaimed,

"Fire!"

With her cry still echoing in the air, she came to realize what was happening for she had immersed herself in the network for a long time. Giving out an unrestrained laugh, she murmured to herself in both surprise and delight.

"Lou Cheng has got supernatural ability!"

"He has never used it before, quite low-profile! Aha, I like him!"

Picking up her cell phone, she sent a voice message to Brahman.

"Brahman, haven't you seen it? Lou Cheng is so handsome, quite a handsome boy!"

Brahman replied her with a voice message in an excited tone. "Yeah! Yeah! I've seen it. Quite handsome! It has never come to my mind that Lou Cheng has a supernatural ability. He deserves the title as a cryptic and mysterious expert! Step aside, I can't quit my anthomaniac for him!"

After a burst of a melodious laugh, she said like sleep talking, "With his Power of Blaze and his potential in martial arts, Lou Cheng will probably become a well-known fighter. Till then, when I ask him for his autograph, I can say to him proudly that I'm his fan from the earliest time and I've witnessed his growth little by little!"

Yan Xiaoling said with her hands clamped on her chest, "My heart's crying…You have robbed the title as the first fan!"

Brahman chuckled. "How could you use the word 'rob'? I'm truly his first fan! By the way, it was rude for you to call me like just then, and you should call me Daddy!"

The two girls joked and laughed for a while. Excited as she was, "Brahman" waited for the fight of the second round, while she opened the "Longhu Club" forum, expecting to review the comments from familiar net friends.

There was no reply for almost one minute from the release of the fighting results. Then within a dozen or twenty seconds, plenty of posts appeared.

"Unparalleled Dragon King" replied with a "NIKE Mouth" emoji: "I've finally figured out the cause and effect of his last burst when he fought with Ye Youting…He has awakened the Power of Blaze!"

"Road to the Arena" followed afterward: "… It's not too pitiful for me to lose. Besides his Power of Blaze, he has the roughness and coolness to grasp the opportunity. Watching his later strikes, I have the sense of feeling that I'd be killed by him if there was no judge when I fight with him one more time…"

The "Invincible Punch" Jin Tao also replied in a complicated tone: "Each time when I watch his competition, I have the feeling that the gap between us has enlarged a bit more. I'm ambitious to chase after his steps. But now, I guess I'll just be myself…"

"Beautiful World" consoled Jin Tao and said: "Little Punch, don't be so upset. You can still become an outstanding young fighter if you reach the Professional Ninth Pin and get better Kongfu of Haiyuan Martial Arts School this year. Don't compare yourself with this "cheater," he's just a lucky guy…"

Though she still got no fondness for Lou Cheng, she had to admit that he was fast in his martial arts improvement, which weakened her courage to slander him.

"Outspoken" replied: "Did he win this fight by supernatural ability? Why are you taking it so seriously? He would lose the game if Hongluo Martial Arts School made an adequate preparation."

"King of Fancy Leg Attacks" said jokingly: "A young fighter with strong potentials and the Power of Blaze is well suited with our Longhu Club. It's perfect to match the unique skill of Fire Sect of the Taoist School with the Power of Blaze! Maybe one day Lou Cheng will join our club."

Brahman took no different attitude on cordial or defiant replies. Feeling good, she watched smilingly yet made no reply, and just pressed like button at the comment from the "King of Fancy Leg Attacks" and sent a " 10086″, wondering about his new idol joining her favorite martial arts circle.

That would be awesome!

…

Inside the Hongluo Martial Arts School, over a hundred audiences suddenly fell into an incredible irritancy. There was a short silence among them, just like they got patted on the shoulder unexpectedly when they were enjoying pissing, only to find they had to contain their piss forcibly.

Honest speaking, they were mentally prepared for the possibility that Fang Tong might lose the competition, which had been chosen by Songcheng TV Station for broadcasting on the presumption that the two sides had the strength of similar level. Also, they had got the impression of Lou Cheng—the rising star early through data and oral teachings. They understood that it would be normal for Lou Cheng to win over Fang Tong because this genius fighter had once defeated an expert of Professional Ninth Pin, and they would just felt depressed for a moment at most.

But it was absolutely beyond their minds that Lou Cheng could win so quickly and swiftly!

They had hardly organized to cheer up for Fang Tong when interrupted by Lou Cheng's Power of Blaze. Screeching to a halt, they focused on the following situation nervously and worriedly. When Fang Tong avoided Lou Cheng's attack with "Flaming Body" tactic, they raised hope once again, trying to shout out and cheer Fang Tong up. While Lou Cheng seized the time to get close to Fang Tong and ended the fight swiftly.

The cheering atmosphere was interrupted for two times successively, and the professional expert whom they counted on was defeated. That would be normal for them to feel depressed and fall into silence.

When Yan Zheke sat upright, she looked just like an ancient noble woman. But at this time, she held her red cheeks with the left hand unconsciously, tipped her head a little, and watched Lou Cheng on the platform with sparkling eyes.

She didn't show the slightest degree of surprise at Lou Cheng's quick winning. Not just because she had already known about his Power of Blaze, but also because she had inquired Lou Cheng about the details of his fight with the Ninth Pin Fighter of the Dark Sect and was deeply impressed by the breathtaking scenes. Thus she could imagine the result when Lou Cheng decided to go all out and spared no efforts at first while his opponent had no idea of his moves.

She was delighted about Lou Cheng's imperturbability and calmness after he had created the opportunity with the Power of Blaze.

—The opportunity wasn't the guarantee of winning, and the opponent still had tactics to fight back. Just like the Ninth Pin Fighter of the Dark Sect who had once created an advantageous position with the secret discipline of mind aura and the Poison Sting Force, finally died in his shoes for he had lost the opportunity.

And just when Lou Cheng had made the strike, he continued his victorious pursuit and thoroughly destroyed Fang Tong's hope with the calmness and toughness exceeding his ages. The accurate control of the change of fighting as well as the position which left his opponent in despair, banished Fang Tong's struggle in the air.

When Yan Zheke was falling into a reverie, she suddenly realized Lou Cheng had turned his body with his eyes gazing at herself in the distance. Lou Cheng, with his eyes glittering with a smile, was varying the mouth shapes by opening and shutting his lips.

Although she knew nothing about the lip language, she suddenly got to understand it with the feeling of empathic intuneness that Lou Cheng was saying.

"Thank you for your instructions, Coach Yan!"

"Still that silly Cheng…" Yan Zheke couldn't help laughing. Slightly showing her teeth, she smiled with dimples on her face while her face was turning red.

A sudden dizziness overpowered Lou Cheng on the arena. He had never thought that the pretty and smart Yan Zheke, though under nineteen years old, showed a bewitching beauty without even looking back.

Their interaction was nearly unnoticed by the whole audience who were still immersed in shock and astonishment. There was only one exception, Geezer Shi, who twitched his mouth and coughed.

"Coach Yan? Didn't you know that I understand lip language? Damn kid, you dare to favor the pretty over your teacher! I'll throw you out if I hadn't behaved like you in the old days!"

When he murmured in silent judgment, Li Mao and Sun Jian who were standing beside him stared at each other, both with a complicated smile on their face.

"I have never expected that he has the Power of Blaze!"

"This kind of junior brother leaves us in despair…"

They opened their mouths simultaneously making different comments. Chen Changhua, who was sitting behind them, murmured with a wry smile. "The junior brothers nowadays should be feared. Time makes it inevitable that in every profession, young men replace the old."

Still emotionless as Lin Que was, his eyes bright with a slight excitement. While Guo Qing, who was sitting on his right side, made a fuss and said,

"How cryptic Cheng was, when did he bring out the supernatural ability?"

Marveling at Lou Cheng for a while, Guo Qing turned back to Yan Zheke at her side and joked.

"Ke, were you moved by him? Cheng looked so cool and impressive just then…"

She had hardly finished her words when she saw Yan Zheke watching at the arena with her face turned red and her eyes bright and gentle. Guo Qing got startled, lowered her voice, and then said in mandarin to Yan Zheke, "Are you seriously moved by him? I was just kidding before! You can't accept Cheng as your boyfriend. He's so good at hiding himself and cheating others! He has become awesome suddenly and got the Power of Blaze unexpectedly…"

"I know all about these…" Yan Zheke interrupted her words in a low voice.

"Know what? You know that he tells lies? Or you know that he has the Power of Blaze?" Guo Qing asked in surprise.

Yan Zheke puckered her face in a smile. "He hasn't hidden anything from me."

Guo Qing fell into astonishment. She stared at Yan Zheke for a while and suddenly came to realize the truth. "Have you guys already started dating?"

Face flushing to the ear, Yan Zheke lowered her head and said,

"Yes."

…

Behind the audience seats of the guest team, Shu Rui got astonished and excited. She was very anxious to climb across the arena and make another interview of Lou Cheng.

Worthy of being the fighter I choose!

He has made the topic himself!

Sooner or later we shall depend on him as a topic of the big news!

Cai Zongming was sitting in the front. Although he knew about Lou Cheng's Power of Blaze, he had never expected that he could win over Fang Tong so fast and so unconventionally. Getting dumbfounded for a while, he muttered to himself,

"Spring is coming, and everything on earth comes to life. It's the season for mating of animals on the prairie. And Lou Cheng, in his estrus, becomes too aggressive and unapproachable…"

Hearing this, Wu Qian and other girls sniggered and looked at Lou Cheng with surprise and admiration.

"Quite handsome!"

"He's truly an expert."

"Haha, have you taken a fancy to him? Why don't you ask Wu Qian to get his contact number?"

In the hushed whispers, Wu Qian dragged Zhang Jingye smilingly.

"Has your classmate got a girlfriend?"

Thinking for a while, Zhang Jingye answered, "Not yet, but he has set his heart on someone."

When they joined the social meetup earlier, the boys all became aware that Lou Cheng had a feeling for Yan Zheke.

"Who?" Wu Qian and the others asked in a gossiping tone.

Pointing at Yan Zheke, Zhang Jingye said, "That girl."

Looking at Yan Zheke with a fixed gaze, the girls got dumbfounded and said a long while,

"How beautiful is the girl…"

Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao didn't join their discussion. Instead, they cast a glimpse to each other, both astonished at the charm of Lou Cheng on the arena.

Although Lou Cheng had changed a lot since this semester, they didn't notice that they were inconspicuous and even ordinary roommate had gotten the demeanor of an expert until now, because they met him every day and became insensitive to his changes.

…

Seeing Fang Tong came back in low spirit yet unwillingly, Wang Hui swallowed his words of consolation and straightened his face.

"Do you think your opponent has trounced you easily all because he used his supernatural ability unexpectedly?"

"No…" Fang Tong answered in a muffled voice, but the expression on his face was indicating the opposite meaning.

With a snort, Wang Hui said, "What he showed out during the later confrontation was not that simple. It seems that he had once engaged in a life-and-death struggle…"

"Life-and-death struggle?" Jiang Guosheng and Pan Chengyun asked in one voice, and Fang Tong also raised his head.

"Yes, once he fights with the others, he'd spare no effort to win the fight with just several tough and forceful tactics." Wang Hui said with his eyes closed, "Surviving from the life-and-death struggle indicates one thing that he killed his opponent…"

Hearing this, Jiang Guosheng was terrified. He had experienced the street battle before, but it was just like helping his friends to bully fighters inferior to himself, which would be useless to face a fighter survived from the life-and-death struggle. Thus he felt a bit weak in the momentum suddenly.

I can't imagine what kind of life-and-death struggle it is!

Hadn't he got any trouble?

Serious hit or if some other Mighty Ones was coming forward to stop the fight?

Seeing that Fang Tong's unwillingness and anger had disappeared, Wang Hui laughed and said,

"But you might not be afraid. As far as I know, Lou Cheng's Power of Blaze is still weak and his overall strength is inferior to Guosheng. It's undoubted that Guosheng can defeat him under full preparation."

"Also, we don't need to worry about the thing I was afraid before. It was the awakening of gift that Lou Cheng had inspired when he fought with Ye Youting at last. It's hard to happen for the second time."

Jiang Guosheng settled down gradually and recovered faith. Both Pan Chengyun and Fang Tong nodded their heads, smoothing their former moods.

Just then, the judge waved his hand to the crowd of Hongluo Martial Arts School, signaling them to send the second fighter to the arena.

During the broadcasting, there would be a little longer time between each competition, to spare the TV station or video website with the opportunity to make comments, introduce and interact. But the time wouldn't be too much to surpass the limit for rest of the fighter who had won the previous competition.

Lou Cheng didn't mind this at all.

Wang Hui nodded his head and said to Jiang Guosheng,

"Go and take him down!"

Squinting his eyes, Jiang Guosheng stepped toward the arena in a steady pace.

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Chapter 119: A Truly Fierce Battle

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Jiang Guosheng had a strong physique. As he straightened his back and strolled over, he not only displayed his calmness, but also exhibited the manly spirit of a fighter to its maximum. The way he controlled his pace made every step he took in rhythm, like a drummer who was beating his drum, and with every drum beat and every blast, brought his vibe to a greater height.

"Fire-like Invasion Move", projecting his strong vibe was his priority!

Facing with the constantly increasing pressure he was exerting, the people in Songcheng University Martial Arts Club was feeling easy. There was nothing for them to worry, and nothing for them to be anxious about, as to them, the fact that Lou Cheng had rapidly finished Fang Tong meant that he had already accomplished his responsibility as a vanguard. Next, he would just need to trigger Jiang Guosheng to erupt a series of fierce attacks to deplete his energy. As long as Jiang Guosheng's energy became weary, Lou Cheng had already won the battle.

As for whether Lou Cheng could succeed in depleting Jiang Guosheng's energy via erupting a series of fierce attacks?

That was needless to ask!

Based on his performance just now, his current high energy level, and the fact that he had obtained a Professional Ninth Pin standard within half a year, the answer was obvious.

At this arena, only Yan Zheke, who was used to Lou Cheng creating multiple miracles in battles, was still looking forward to the next battle. On the other hand, people who were not familiar with Lou Cheng, such as Wu Qian and Zhao Qiang, were still cheering on, eagering for the second victory.

Following Jiang Guosheng's appearance, Hongluo Martial Arts School's external trainees and supporting disciples got rid of their disappointments as they resumed their peace. They were confident that their Senior Jiang would defeat his opponent.

They had only lost one round, what was there to be afraid of?

In the recent years, as Wang Hui had reached old age, he had self-trained lesser disciples and trainees. On the other hand, Jiang Guosheng had gradually replaced his master's role and had started accepting disciples, as well as personally guiding them in martial arts. Thus, he had now become the real moderator at Hongluo Martial Arts School and held a high status in everyone's heart. All of them were also impressed by his martial arts standard and were confident in him.

The only thing that required their worries and prayers was: How many times must he erupt to defeat Lou Cheng?

If he needed to erupt for seven to eight times, most likely both sides would be injured. Then how could they deal with the opponent leading player, Lin Que, in the following round?

Even with five to six times of eruption, he would also deplete lots of energy and this would affect his performance for the following rounds, which worried many.

They could only pray hard that Senior Jiang could defeat Lou Cheng with his five eruptions, so their school's reputation would shine again and let the mass audience recognize Hongluo from a different light!

A smile crossed Lou Cheng's face as he transformed the sweetness with Yan Zheke a moment ago into a burning passion and his determination to win. This made him crave for the victory.

A fighter should always challenge himself, and must not admit defeat lightly!

He shut his eyes as he imagined him freezing the water to ice, where he suppressed all his wants and waiting for the golden opportunity to erupt. He ignored the unseen pressure that Jiang Guosheng was accumulating and exerting, as he finally recalled a series of counterattacks for his upcoming battle:

To pretend to be wandering around the arena using mercurial balance while accumulating his strength. As soon as Jiang Guosheng drew near, he would launch a counterattack to disrupt his momentum for eruptive attacks. Lastly, he would use 24 Blizzard Strikes to suppress the opponent!

The strategy was simple. Yet on an arena where the situation would vary from minute to minute, the more straightforward the strategy, the more useful it was!

At this moment, Jiang Guosheng had arrived on the other side of the referee. His vigor had already reached its peak, looking as if it could set the prairie ablaze. He stared sharply at his opponent that stood opposite him, who still retained much of a schoolboy look in him.

As though telepathic, the second his opponent stared over, Lou Cheng gradually peeled open his eyes. His eyes were as deep as the sea, and as cool as the ice, looking as if they could put out all the fires.

They exchanged glances. On one end was a Ninth Pin fighter for years and had accumulated many years of arena battle experience. On the other end was a brand new fighter with experience in a life and death battle, whose eyes did not show any signs of hesitation and retreat. It was a fair battle.

The referee waited no further as he raised his right hand and swung it down with a large force before announcing.

"Second round. Fight!"

The moment he said his words, Jiang Guosheng's temple swelled and his thighs' muscles expanded, stretching his pants tightly. Next, he moved his body as he dashed towards Lou Cheng like a rapidly spreading fire.

Lou Cheng maintained his mercurial balance state. He bent his back and adjusted his center of gravity, which enabled him to escape from the opponent's attack. His move was out of expectation, fierce and rapid, that within a few seconds, he was already a few meters apart.

Jiang Guosheng had expected such a move and was prepared for it. He wiggled his back like an earthworm, in a curl and a stretch, he switched his body direction. He was way faster than Lou Cheng and much fiercer than him. He was like a wolf or a tiger chasing after another so closely and had no fear for the opponent's strange variations.

And this was a Professional Ninth Pin fighter, someone who could adjust his own situation based on the current circumstance, similar to Lin Que. He would only need to break through the last threshold to achieve Dan stage!

However, it seemed like Lou Cheng was only waiting for such situation to happen. He steadied his center of gravity as images of heavy lightning and collapsing snow mountains appeared in his mind. Using the force of the hot currents that rushed down and flooded the large plains, he aimed towards the opponent's thigh, where the force stretched all the way to the sole of the opponent's foot.

He stomped both his feet and bounced up with violent force. With such force, he turned his body and pulled back his arms. Like a launching cannon, he flew with a blast and was instantly pulled towards Jiang Guosheng. His counterattack was ferocious, rapid and violent, which not only torn apart the sound of the wind, but was also accompanied with a buzzing noise. The surrounding spectators from their home ground grew concerned over the situation and several gasping sounds could be heard!

Jiang Guosheng did not appear anxious. He tightened his hips and coccyx as he erupted with "Flaming Body" to counter his opponent's attack.

He neither hid nor escaped after the attack. Instead, he made use of the energy which he had reserved just now to expand the muscles all over his body, till his body looked bloated by an inch. He then sprung his back and guided "all of his blaze" towards his right hand. Finally, he deflected and parried the opponent's moves before giving Lou Cheng a hammerblow.

One pound for two punches!

Bam!

This was the first time both of them collided. The impact was so loud that it echoed throughout the arena, causing people to feel depressed and offended. With the help of his listening skill, Lou Cheng retreated his double punches from the rebound and immediately adjusted his muscles. He shifted his center of gravity, tightened his thigh muscles, and used the force to launch his attack once more.

Bam! A whip kick, which was more ferocious than the double punches just now, hit Jiang Guosheng's shin violently. He had used the shortest way and the fastest speed to disrupt his opponent's momentum.

Continuous strong gales and major storms hit. It was the 24 Blizzard Strikes!

Jiang Guosheng had actually intended to adjust his body, to prepare for his second eruption based on his opponent's counterattack and his corresponding visualization. However, just when an image of a spreading fire had appeared in his mind and before he could expand his muscles to the next attack, Lou Cheng's whip kick had already hit him. He had no choice but to hastily spread the half-accumulated strength to his right leg, as he tightened the tip of his toe and low-kicked his opponent.

Bam! The moment both of them started attacking each other, Lou Cheng went with the flow and retreated his leg. He took advantage of the borrowed strength to lean his body slightly backward, and like a catapult, he instantly threw a blast punch towards the opponent's chest!

Just then, he noticed that Jiang Guosheng suddenly took a deep breath. His right hand was no longer facing out for an attack. Instead, he retreated it and placed it in front of his chest. Then he realized that his opponent's mental spirit, vibe, blood, and breath had disappeared, or no, they had been reserved.

A thought struck Lou Cheng's mind like pieces of Hongluo Martial Arts School video images and his pre-battle discussion with Yan Zheke had suddenly appeared in his mind.

This was another killer move of Hongluo Martial Arts School. The fighter would compress all the strength and energy in his body to a certain extent before erupting the killer attack, which was uniquely violent and horrifying. Without having the gathering skill of the Dan stage, it would be tough to bring the attack to its maximum power, but once you had that skill, the attack was certainly not a move that a normal Professional Ninth Pin fighter could withstand.

Extreme compression would also mean extreme rebound.

"Spark Fall Move," and Spreading Blaze!

Judgement and decision were made within that split second. Lou Cheng took a breath, adjusted his muscles and shifted his center of gravity. Both his arms were stretched out like a horizontal frame.

Just as Lou Cheng had gone into the stance, Jiang Guosheng was suddenly bloated, and his body appeared to be two times bigger. He seemed much more ferocious than usual as his temple was vividly puffed up. In an instant, he shifted his feet inwards, drew out his right hand from the front of his chest and hit his opponent. His actions were as quick as lightning, as they split through the air.

Bam! Unfortunately, that move had hit right on Lou Cheng's arms and he realized that the power of that move was too strong for him to stop it. Furthermore, he felt sharp piercing pain in the area where he was hit and he knew sooner or later, his stance would be fully destroyed.

Fortunately, he was prepared. Instead of holding on to his stance, he stretched his back, twisted his body, and through strength exerting on both his legs, he broke off the stance on his own. He then leaped backward and flew like a kite with a broken string. He was in "Backward Flight".

Normally if a fighter was beaten to this extent, one could say that he was in a dangerous state. However, for Lou Cheng, he was the one who had initiated this outcome, and was still able to maintain his balance.

In Tai Chi, there was a move where one had to step back when being caught in a continuous attack to deflect the opponent's strength. In Lou Cheng's case, he had taken an extreme way of applying that move. Without great control of one's own body and the absolute confidence in balancing oneself, such move would be digging one's own grave!

During the "Backward Flight," Lou Cheng took the situation to his advantage as he flipped his body with his back facing Jiang Guosheng. Under the pressure of the great strength, he carefully advanced his way towards his opponent without any confusion in his footwork, looking like an agile owl. On the other hand, Jiang Guosheng, who had the upper hand, was not prepared to give in. He exerted the force on his feet as he swiftly moved towards Lou Cheng. He was ready to use the final move that Lou Cheng had used to defeat Fang Tong.

Just at this instant, Lou Cheng, who had used up most of his strength, had managed to borrow the remaining strength from the situation. He adjusted his muscles and quickly channeled all the strength towards his legs.

Dong! With his "heavy" legs, he stomped onto the ground, causing the ground to tremble slightly. He then took advantage of the situation as he twisted his body and leaped forward. His skin was stretched and his body muscles were expanded. With his legs as support, he immediately threw a Mountain Blast Punch towards his opponent. Once again, he had launched an offensive counterattack!

Jiang Guosheng, like a heavy lorry that stepped on its brake, paused immediately, but in the next second, he dashed straight towards Lou Cheng. He had channeled all his accumulated strength to his legs, and as he leaped from the ground and with the help of the strong rebound, he rapidly lashed his leg. He was determined to split open what was in front of him, even if it was a millstone!

Bam!

The blast punch had stopped the leg lash, and the impact had caused a low muffled noise. Both fighters had stopped.

This had temporarily silenced the surrounding cheering noise as the spectators at the arena and the audience in front of the broadcast were stunned by the current situation. Everyone was nervous and excited about what was going to happen next.

Crack crack crack. The martial arts shoes on both fighters were split open.

The ground was marked with their footprints and cracks were revealed.

After a short moment of absolute silence, a round of reverberating applause burst out from the spectators within the stadium. No matter which side they were supporting, everyone was joyful and excited to see the battle that was purely against body strength on the arena.

Shu Rui clenched her fists tightly as a sense of hope was revealed in her eyes. She then softly heaved a sigh of relief. With this kind of battle, her live telecast would not be an issue. This meant that she would not have to be blamed for suggesting the live telecast!

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Chapter 120: The Battle Is to the Strong

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

It was still unsure when Pan Chengyun had finally straightened his back and placed his full attention on the arena. His expression was unusually stern, and he was fully focused on the battle.

Lou Cheng perhaps, maybe, possibly, seemed to be stronger than what he expected…

Since the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament till now, it had been more than 20 days. Based on the scary advancing rate his opponent had displayed, knowing that he had achieved the power of a Professional Ninth Pin fighter merely within four months, there was a possibility that he had "more than enough time" to make a breakthrough within these days!

If he could use three months to upgrade from a level of Amateur First Pin to a level of Professional Ninth Pin, why couldn't a genius like Lou Cheng accomplish much more within a month?

Moreover, he seemed to have many battle experiences, including battles against life and death, and his vibe was not any weaker than his seniors who depend on martial arts for a living.

At this moment, Lou Cheng was indeed weaker regarding strength and speed, but compared to a Professional Ninth Pin fighter, he was not far from it. Furthermore, he was good at controlling his body and was quick in grasping the techniques of exerting his strength. This included the way he adjusted his strength for every punch and kick, as well as being able to create a higher explosive degree of attacks. All these could have overcome his shortcomings.

In other words, besides the poor body quality, Lou Cheng had achieved a level of Professional Ninth Pin in all other areas. In addition, his coordination, listening skill and meditation skill were way better than a Professional Ninth Pin fighter. All in all, though one was not able to say that he was invincible among the Professional Ninth Pins, he was definitely a worthy opponent for any Professional Ninth Pin expert.

Of course, all these analyses were excluding the fact that he had just acquired the Power of Blaze, which was still too weak to affect the battle outcome!

Unconsciously, Pan Chengyun had viewed Lou Cheng as a young fighter who was much genius than him, and had somewhat taken that view for granted. His despising attitude at the start had a 180-degree change, and instead, he had now thought too highly of his opponent.

"He doesn't have any rank yet, and there's a possibility that he'll sign up for the Professional Ninth Pin Ranking Event at the end of April. If only a few participants have signed up for it, we would meet again…" Pan Chengyun murmured. No matter how calm he was, he still felt that it was a pain in the ass.

His current certified rank was only Amateur First Pin, and he had signed up for Professional Ranking Event at the end of April.

Yan Zheke noticed Lou Cheng's martial arts shoes had split open where its base was torn and tattered, looking like a hindrance for him during battle. She felt it amusing yet heart-aching. At the same, she felt that his body could deal with all kinds of trials and hardships, and handle all responsibilities.

"I don't remember buying him a gift yet…" She suddenly recalled, feeling embarrassed yet heart-warming.

On the arena, Lou Cheng's martial arts shoes had finally given way. He felt pain and soreness in his arms, as though he had endured a thousand hits on his arms. If he did not take the opportunity to step back when Jiang Guosheng launched the killer move "Spark Fall Move," besides destroying his stance, he might have lost the battle. Both his arms and hands would not be able to handle that attack, and if they continued to battle on, he would have suffered from either a bone crack or a fracture!

Purely based on strength, it would be impossible for him to win Jiang Guosheng.

But in a tournament battle, pure strength only played the primary factor in determining the outcome, but not the only factor!

Under such circumstance, Lou Cheng did not think much. He knew that he had no time to delay or wait for his arms to recover from the soreness, as his opponent might take the chance to launch another explosive attack. At this time, the battle was to the strong!

He forcefully took a breath. Feeling as though it was a battle to life and death and without making any adjustment to his body, he leaped forward. He strengthened his legs, and tightened his thighs, as he drew out his right leg from the back and aimed straight in between Jiang Guosheng's legs.

Geezer Shi, who had initially sat and watched the battle without any expression, adjusted his sitting posture upon seeing that scene. He chuckled and said,

"That's pretty keen of him…"

On the end, Wang Hui from Hongluo Martial Arts School frowned as he murmured to himself,

"If only that's Fang Tong…"

Jiang Guosheng was trying to regulate his breathing and preparing his body for the fourth explosive attack when suddenly, he saw Lou Cheng's leg aiming towards him. Instead of defending, Lou Cheng chose to attack. Instead of slowing down, Lou Cheng chose to speed up, which showed that he was totally serious about this battle. This made Jiang Guosheng panicked as he immediately channeled his just accumulated energy towards his right leg. He forcefully straightened his right leg and swung it out like a whip, aiming straight at Lou Cheng.

Bam! The two shoeless legs hit one another in mid-air and withdrew. Lou Cheng sped up as he swiftly moved his back and shifted him beside Jiang Guosheng. He lowered his back and lifted with his right arm. In an instant, he ferociously launched a Downward Cut with Fist, towards the opponent's temple.

His master had reminded him once that to disrupt the opponent's momentum, one need not foolishly to keep attacking from the front, but to bring your strength to the play by influencing the opponent. Through influencing, one could force the opponent into a position that was inappropriate or incorrect to battle with oneself!

Because Lou Cheng had yet to regulate his breathing and due to his lack of strength, he could only attack the vital point.

Every strike needed to be fast and crafty!

"He catches it pretty fast…" Geezer Shi nodded in satisfaction.

Jiang Guosheng caught a breath before he straightened his shoulders and lifted his left arm to block the punch towards his temple. The moment their arms contacted, the muscles in his body started to expand. With his left arm as the connecting point and his back as the energy absorber, Jiang Guosheng suddenly launched a massive Swing Force, violently pushing his opponent away. This caused Lou Cheng to lose his balance as he unsteadily fell to the side.

The fifth explosive attack, "Fire-like Invasion Move"!

The moment Lou Cheng lost his balance, he was clear that he would need to recover his footwork fast, and that he would soon be welcomed by Jiang Guosheng's sixth explosive attack. The fate of this battle was now in Jiang Guosheng's hand, that there would not be any possibility for Lou Cheng to win.

At such desperate situation, an idea struck his mind. While he was falling off, he flicked his finger at the opponent's temple with his right hand.

Bam!

A small fire appeared, which burnt a few strand of Jiang Guosheng's hair.

Thud thud thud, Lou Cheng moved back three steps as he quickly adjusted his body and recovered his balance. On the other hand, Jiang Guosheng felt a scorching pain at his head. He was worried that his hair and head would get burnt, so he quickly used his hand to put off the fire, and was not in time to pursue his opponent.

Seeing such situation, an idea struck Lou Cheng as he took a breath and suddenly pounced towards Jiang Guosheng, who had just started to chase him. This had instantly drawn the two fighters closer. Lou Cheng stepped his right foot forward and with a jerk on his shoulder, he threw a blast punch towards the opponent's abdomen.

Lou Cheng's bravery was beyond Jiang Guosheng's expectation. He had no choice but to push forward his sixth explosive attack. He rapidly lowered his hands, like a descending eagle, preparing to suppress Lou Cheng's blast punch.

Seeing the situation, Wang Hui, the owner of Hongluo Martial Arts School, could not help but sigh. He initially thought that his disciple had grown through the years and was becoming more mature, which was good. He was in high hopes that he could achieve the Dan stage someday. However, with a battle experience like today, he saw its pros and cons. If nothing had forced his disciple to his edge, he would not even have the courage to take a risk and to do his best.

If today it was Fang Tong, why would he waste those opportunities away regulating his breath? Why would he care about whether his hair was burnt?

To create opportunity, one must first know how to seize the opportunity, which was the essence of Fire-like Invasion Move.

The difference between Jiang Guosheng and Lou Cheng was not only that the former had never experienced a battle with life and death, since that could be offset by the years of fruitful battle experience. It was due to his lack of courage which he had when he was young. Those who did not have much courage had their own tricked set and advantage in battle, but the main skill Hongluo Martial Arts School taught their disciples was "Fire-like Invasion Move," which contradicted with his own personality!

And today was the day to see if he could get rid of his problem on his own!

Bam! The instant Lou Cheng's blast punch was suppressed, he jerked his right arm and moved his wrist, drawing a small curve in the air before grabbing Jiang Guosheng's wrist.

Big or Small Hand Wrap!

Jiang Guosheng was not an easy fellow either. He gathered all his energy to slap his opponent with his hand, as though he was a mosquito or a fly.

And at this moment, Lou Cheng, who was continuously exerting his energy forcefully, had reached his limit. He breathed out the turbid Qi from his lungs through his mouth.

He cleverly avoided the slap from his opponent. Before he could breathe out all his turbid Qi, a thought crossed his mind as he recalled seeing a broadcast. At the critical moment, when Dragon King's body was suppressed by the opponent and was about to experience a massive knockdown attack from his opponent, he threw out fire from his mouth, which burnt the opponent's face. This then turned the situation around and made him a winner.

Such a thought turned into an idea. Lou Cheng made use of the Jindan (the Golden Elixir) in his body to perceive his inner body. After making a slight adjustment, together with the image of Brutal Blizzard in his mind, he opened his mouth, exhaled his Qi and shouted,

"Ha!"

The turbid Qi turned into arrows and flew right into Jiang Guosheng's face. Though no real injury was inflicted, such move had temporarily blinded his eyes, making the opponent to shut his eyes in fear.

Now is the time!

Seizing the opportunity, Lou Cheng grabbed Jiang Guosheng's left wrist, and like lifting a snake, he swung his opponent with delicate force.

Clap clap clap! Jiang Guosheng tried to resist, but several of his joints had already loosened. His muscles had also become sore due to the injuries and dislocation of his bones, and his left arm was temporary useless!

"Ah!" He roared angrily. After being forced to such an extent, he could no longer care. He inflated his body once more, and slanted to the left. His heavy shoulder hit onto Lou Cheng.

The seventh explosive attack, "Fire-like Invasion Move"!

However, by this time, Lou Cheng had already made use of his strength, Listening Skill and Perceiving Technique. He lowered himself, bent his back and tugged in his body. His body went with the flow when Jiang Guosheng's shoulder hit him. Making his left arm as the pivot point, he swung his opponent out and over his head. Jiang Guosheng was swung out of the arena.

The referee was slightly shocked by the situation, but he lifted his arm and announced the outcome,

"Second Round. Lou Cheng wins!"

There were still two more "Fire-like Invasion Move" remaining, but Jiang Guosheng had already lost the battle.

Dong! Watching their Senior Jiang fell in front of them and struggling to stand up, the disciples and trainees at Hongluo Martial Arts School were depressed and miserable. No one spoke a word.

Did this mean Lou Cheng had defeated the martial arts school all by himself?

Songcheng University Martial Arts Club kept silent. Everyone was stunned by this surprise outcome. It was clear that Jiang Guosheng was so much stronger and was at the upper hand throughout the battle. Why had he lost to Lou Cheng in the end? Not only that, he had lost in a way which was much uglier than Fang Tong, and the injury on his left arm would not be cured anytime soon!

Yan Zheke's pinkish lips appeared nervous. She instantly shut her mouth, revealing a mischievous and gentle smile. This was exactly how she had reacted when she heard the news on the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament.

Pan Chengyun could no longer suppress his anger and his rage to battle on within him, as he hurriedly stood up and stomped towards the arena.

Now, Lou Cheng, who was joyful about his achievement, swung his arms and massaged his fists. He felt some slight pains in his bones and if they were to continue with the battle, there was a possibility that he might injure himself. Furthermore, his next opponent was only of Amateur First Pin, how could he snatch all the limelights and not leave any for his future brother-in-law, wasn't it?

As Pan Chengyun came forward, he turned his body and left the arena barefooted. He did not even take a look at the upcoming opponent.

"He walked off…" Pan Chengyun was stunned by the situation.

He just walked off like this?

I'm of Professional Ninth Pin, not Amateur First Pin!

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Chapter 121: A Warrior Girl's Tenderness

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

It was on Sunday when the bright sunshine was pouring through the windows of Hongluo Martial Arts School, lightening the whole ground. Lou Cheng felt as if he was walking on a golden road with bare feet, happy and glad, as if having released all his pressures.

He kept looking at Yan Zheke while turning back briskly under the background where all the club's disciples and students stayed silent.

This was the taste of victory!

Lou Cheng paused to nod at Cai Zongming and the other fellows when he passed by them, not feeling a bit embarrassed for his bare feet.

"What an expert's demeanor he is showing!"

"He's not a fighter with physical invulnerability, but yet he can be so powerful that the shoes couldn't even bear him…"

"Haven't you seen the cracks and footprints on the stony ground? He could easily knock anyone of us flat! "

"He's really something!"

Several girls from the college of art raved. They only had watched competitions between fighters with physical invulnerability before and thus knew little about Dan stage and body refining. For the first time, they got a clear idea how fierce one could be with bare hands, and thus revolutionized their view on the Martial Arts Club.

"Warrior boys are so vigorous and graceful…" Seeing Lin Que stand up and come towards Lou Cheng, the girls kept their eyes lingering between the two and reached a unanimous conclusion.

Listening to their undisguised discussion, Cai Zongming was close to tears. Never had he regretted so much to refuse the special training of Martial Arts Club, otherwise… otherwise… otherwise he still couldn't be Cheng's match, either… Cheng was an absolute deviant!

On the other side, Zhang Jingye was feeling a little jealous. Wu Qian noticed it keenly and hurried to comfort him. "We're just talking gossips, as always when we see a movie star, a singer, a famous warrior, etc. We rarely take it seriously. "

"Right." Zhang Jingye was suddenly relieved.

But will Cheng be someone that couldn't catch up with from this time on?

Qiu Zhigao sighed. "How I envy Cheng… I often dream of that scene. Only in the dream could I see the scene…"

Being a warrior was Qiu Zhigao's childhood dream. When he was in freshman year, Qiu's kungfu was already at club level, and now he still liked to show muscle in his dorm. However, Qiu Zhigao had long seen the reality as his talent was growing weaker with age, so he rationally adjusted his goals and poured his time and energy into study.

Staring at the arena in a daze, Qiu Zhigao felt his blood boiling. However, he could do nothing but to sigh and relapse into silence.

May Cheng walk further on his road to pursue advanced martial arts, and to show his fellows how wonderful the brilliant road is…

Being lost in thought, Zhao Qiang blurted out. "Old Qiu, have you noticed how Cheng just said 'ha' and won the competition? Maybe he has gotten help from a numinous power at the expense of his life…"

"What?" Qiu Zhigao asked in bewilderment.

"Forget it. You haven't heard this joke before…" Zhao Qiang lowered his voice and sighed. "However hard we tried to please them all the way, it was Cheng's performance that impressed them the most."

Qiu Zhigao giggled. "That's quite normal. They look favorably on Cheng just like how you prefer beautiful and cute girls."

"I prefer to study." Zhao Qiang pushed back up his black-framed spectacles and said seriously, "I'm going to prepare for the postgraduate qualifying examination."

"Isn't it too early? You're still a freshman!" Qiu Zhigao was surprised.

Zhao Qiang smiled, packing up all his emotion. "Everyone has his own strong point and prospects, so it's unwise of us to blindly follow the trend when it comes to planning for the future. Going for further study is most beneficial to me, and I've made up my mind. Anyway, it's always good to make early preparation, and then I'll have enough time to better myself. I won't always remain unheralded, right?"

Qiu Zhigao was stunned at his words. "Qiang, isn't it my illusion that you've gotten more ideological profundity?"

Zhao Qiang again pushed back up his spectacles, on which sunlight glinted.

…

When Lou Cheng approached Songcheng University's tatami, all his fellows applauded to welcome him following Li Mao. In the crowd, he saw Yan Zheke's smiling face and sparkly eyes.

Seeing Lin Que stand up and come up to him, Lou Cheng smiled and raised his hand to get ready for a high-five.

Though that was a bit surprising to Lin Que, finally he gave Lou Cheng a high-five as expected when he passed by the boy at a rapid pace.

"Come on!" Lou Cheng said with a smile. "My brother-in-law," he added in his heart.

Lin Que nodded while looking at his opponent on the arena over Lou Cheng's shoulder.

Brushing past Lin Que, Lou Cheng came back to his tatami and sat next to Guo Qing and Yan Zheke.

"Cool!"

"Cheng, you're brilliant!"

"The Ranking Event in April is in your bag!"

Li Mao, Sun Jian, Chen Changhua and other fellows gave Lou Cheng the thumbs-up sign, which greatly pleased him.

When Lou Cheng was about to return a salute, he felt a surge of pain in both arms and hands and hurried to roll up his sleeves, only to find a few bruises and swellings. Meanwhile, his bones began to ache.

"All you okay? I put the ointment in the locker room." Yan Zheke squeezed in and asked anxiously.

"What?" The crowd's eyes were all attracted by the girl, and then lingered between Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke.

Realizing that her initiative behavior had made her the center of attention, Yan Zheke blushed with shame.

For Lou Cheng, the girl's words sent a pulse racing. "Go to apply the ointment in the locker room? Just the two of us?"

He asked tentatively, "Lin Que is going to fight. As his teammates, isn't it proper for us to be absent?"

Sun Jian could not bear his 'hypocrisy' and heckled him. "Don't worry. Lin Que's opponent was only of Amateur First Pin and it must be a one-horse race. Hurry to apply the ointment in case of any invisible injuries that may affect you in the next week's competition!"

"Okay!" Hearing what he wanted to hear, Lou Cheng seized the opportunity to stand up and look at Yan Zheke.

Yan Zheke had already regretted making that suggestion. When she was about to give Lou Cheng a reproachful stare, all those injuries softened her heart in an instant. Making up her mind, the girl turned towards the locker room with a blushing face.

Lou Cheng hurried to follow her with a pounding heart, leaving his fellows' cachinnation behind.

"Tsk-tsk, junior brothers today were much better than us!" Sighed Chen Changhua.

Being in the same martial arts club, why did I make myself remain single in the past four years?

Li Mao also sighed. "I had never expected that he could succeed in chasing her…"

Just like the comment he had made on Lou Cheng's martial arts prospect…

There was no one else in the locker room. Yan Zheke turned around and began to complain, hands behind her back.

"Tell me, why did you agree with me and come here? You could ask me to fetch the ointment and help yourself to apply it!"

Being pleased by her coquetry, Lou Cheng replies with innocence, "I'm unable to do it myself. Both my arms were injured, and they have been aching."

"Really?" Yan Zheke hurried to examine his wounds, and then sighed with relief. "Didn't hurt the bones. Sit still, I'll get the ointment." Born in a martial arts aristocratic family, Yan Zheke was quite familiar with these things.

She ran to the locker, took out the ointment, and then applied it to Lou Cheng's right hand in a special manipulation maneuver.

Being drawn to Yan Zheke's delicate skin, florid cheek and soft lips, Lou Cheng never took his eyes from the girl. "She was concerning about me." Lou Cheng found himself enjoying everything at the moment though his right hand was still aching under external stress.

How he wished the moment could become eternal.

Having eliminated the bruises on Lou Cheng's hands, Yan Zheke said with a forced calm, "Where's your locker? Shall I fetch your shoes since keeping barefoot will harm you?"

"That one." Lou Cheng pointed at a locker, submerging himself in the girl's tenderness.

"Keep massaging it yourself." Yan Zheke wiped her hands and turned towards the locker.

Yan Zheke blocked Lou Cheng's view with her back when she took out the sneakers and took a quick glance at their size. When coming back with the shoes, the girl could not conceal her smile.

"Why are you so happy?" Lou Cheng asked curiously.

Yan Zheke smiled. "You would come back with bare feet if you hadn't brought the shoes!"

"Nobody will carry a pair of martial arts shoes as daily necessities." Lou Cheng felt relaxed.

He had to wear shoes without socks, for the latter had also been torn just now.

…

"Wow! Lou Cheng was so cool!" Yan Xiaoling was sending a voice message to Brahman while staring fixedly at the large screen, where it showed a playback of Lou Cheng's competition.

Brahman giggled. "Have you seen him exit with bare feet? It perfectly fulfills my fantasy about a mysterious martial arts expert!"

"According to the commentator, Lou Cheng's opponent was a strong one of Professional Ninth Pin and close to Dan stage. Ha ha, the commentator speaks highly of Lou Cheng and has been telling everyone how talented he is as to reach Professional Ninth Pin within half a year. Besides, Lou Cheng is good at seizing every opportunity in actual combat…" Yan Xiaoling was quite satisfied with the comment.

While talking and joking with her friend, Yan Xiaoling opened the web page and logged in the forum, getting ready to post something related to the preliminaries.

Suddenly she rubbed her eyes, being greatly shocked by the refreshed fan numbers shown on the web page.

There were just 4 fans yesterday, how come the number becomes 368 now?

How many times has it increased?

"Brahman, Brahman, go to see the forum! I think there's something wrong with my eyes!" Yan Xiaoling sent a message to Brahman.

After a while, Brahman replied in a weak voice, "There must be something wrong with my eyes, too."

Unparalleled Dragon King had just made a post in the forum:

"Lou Cheng's Files"

"Name: Lou Cheng"

"Profession: Student"

"Age: 19"

"School: Songcheng University"

"Martial Arts Rank: Advanced Professional Ninth Pin"

…

While most disciples and students in Hongluo Martial Arts School had already lost hope, those who knew Pan Chengyun's true level were still waiting for the game result, expecting that he could turn the tables as the secret weapon of their school.

As long as Lin Que was defeated, Songcheng University would be no threat to them since their third opponent wasn't even an Amateur First Pin warrior!

Standing opposite Lin Que, Pan Chengyun was controlling his respiratory rate. It was their first play, so they didn't need time to restore the body's vigor. But the referee was in no hurry to start the round, but instead, he asked some stuff to clean the arena for the forthcoming competitions.

When everything's ready, the referee waved his hand and announced,

"Fight!"

Pan Chengyun knew Lin Que would soon see through his true level as Professional Ninth Pin accordingly, so he intended to go all out from the beginning when Lin Que was still kept in the dark and thus underestimated him.

Visualizing spreading blaze which "lit" his body, Pan Chengyun tightened his back muscles, rose on his toes, and then pounced on Lin Que a few meters away.

Instead of retreating, Lin Que strode forward and then came to an abrupt pause. Quick as a flash, he finished the outbreak of strength and gave Pan Chengyun a meteor-like punch with his right hand.

At the same time, Pan Chengyun also finished his first outbreak of strength and hit down on Lou Cheng as if he was holding a hammer.

Bang!

The moment they collided with each other, Pan Chengyun began to shake as if being hit by a bomb. He felt his bones trembling, qi and blood burning, vital organs groaning, and was unable to make any movements.

Lin Que approached him, whipped out the left hand and stopped it beside his neck.

"The third round, Liu Que wins!" The referee resisted an impulse to smile. The third round finished even earlier than the first one, so there was indeed a large strength gap between Professional Ninth Pin and Amateur First Pin.

Without taking a glance at Pan Chengyun, Lin Que lost in thought while whispering to himself,

"Sure enough it's best to strain with all my might from the beginning just like him?"

Meanwhile, Lin Que saluted his opponent and then left the arena with his emotionless face. There was nothing to be happy about since the one he had defeated was mere of Amateur First Pin.

Watching Lin Que's back with a blank expression, Pan Chengyun felt an urge to tell the truth to everyone here.

I'm of Professional Ninth Pin, not Amateur First Pin!

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Chapter 122: Keep Secret to the End

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Wang Hui, owner of Hongluo Martial Arts School looked at Jiang Guosheng and Pan Chengyun. While the former came back with a sad face and an injured left arm, the latter was still in the arena, rooted to the spot. Wang Hui gave a deep sigh.

Maybe losing the competition could benefit him as a frustration coping training. They have been staying in the small group of martial arts clubs in Songcheng, which is easy for them to become bumptious.

Besides, in the forthcoming six competitions, they're still able to repair the school's image and gain fame.

Losing only one game doesn't mean losing the qualification.

Inviting a reporter to write an article about this competition and illustrating it with some photos showing the cracks and footprints on the stony ground. Then the public will realize what a fierce battle it is, and thus know Hongluo Martial Arts School is worthy of its reputation though it has lost the first game.

…

In Songcheng TV station, Fang Juexiao, the professional commentator and Gan Le, the special guest of Professional Seventh Pin were looking at each other and at a loss for words. They had never expected that this competition should end so quickly.

Fortunately, this was not the first time for low-level professional competition to see such a case, so the TV station had already made some emergency plans such as showing some game highlights to fill the gap between two competitions.

Receiving the director's instruction, Fang Juexiao prepared himself and then smiled at the camera.

"The third competition ended too quickly, even quicker than Lou Cheng and Fang Tong's. Considering it was a fight between Professional Ninth Pin and Amateur First Pin, this kind of seckill was quite normal and not worth a playback. Let's switch the screen to the competition site, where we'll conduct a post-match interview."

"Today, we are fortunate to know Lou Cheng, a talented fighter. He was purely a green hand half a year ago, but he had just defeated a Professional-Ninth-Pin opponent with his fierce fighting style, showing bravery and self-confidence as a warrior."

"Given another half or one year, what level will Lou Cheng reach? I can't imagine it since even Danqi State is not impossible. Maybe the young fighter will soon make his mark in martial arts in the foreseeable future."

"To be honest, I heartily sympathize with Jiang Guosheng. He's quite famous in the martial arts group of Songcheng with recognized reputation and strength, and is about to take the last step to Dan stage. However, the reality is harsh, and the new generation will soon replace the old ones, which is particularly obvious in the martial arts field. Jiang Guosheng is over thirty but still stays outside the door of Dan stage, so naturally he is in a weak position when facing someone young and vigorous. Ah, it reminds me of mid-life crisis as middle-aged men like him."

"Both Lou Cheng and Lin Que are gifted 19-year-old fighters come from Songcheng University Martial Arts Club. This young club will surely create a storm in the upcoming preliminaries. Though the two talents have just reached body refining state, they'll grow rapidly within one or two years. I'm afraid Songcheng University Martial Arts Club will receive piles of applications after the match."

"I think we've spoken enough for the competition, so let's sum it up and wait for the next match of Songcheng University Martial Arts Club. Well, they'll go to Yimo and fight against Fearless Squad, a self-organized team of several local fighters. Fearless Squad is also one of the pre-qualification favorites with Wei Shengtian as their key player. Wei Shengtian is of Professional-Eighth-Pin, Danqi State!"

"Okay. Let's turn to the next competition and look forward to the post-match interview of Songcheng University Martial Arts Club and Hongluo Martial Arts School."

…

Still looking at the increasing number of fans, Yan Xiaoling pinched herself to prove that it wasn't all a dream.

Being broadcast live on television and the internet could bring a Martial Arts Competition a lot more audiences. When watching the game on the Internet, many people liked looking up related information and might incidentally click to follow a certain fighter. Considering the gigantic audience base, no wonder Lou Cheng's fans had been increasing rapidly.

Not to mention that it was just a small video website with relatively few hits on its Internet pages!

However, different voices would naturally be emerged along with the increasing number of visitors. Yan Xiaoling soon saw a post entitled

"Lou Cheng is quite ill-mannered as fighting like a hooligan. His style is vicious, ugly and disgusting!"

Humph! Being angry as hell, Yan Xiaoling clicked on the post and was ready to call the poster's name… no, to reason with the poster. As Lou Cheng's fan, she should be polite and well mannered!

The poster's name was "Despise You," who had written a lot in the post.

"Look at his dark deeds, Lou Cheng liked attacking opponent's crotch. Is it a manner befitting to a martial arts expert? He even blew toward the opponent's face regardless of his bad breath!"

Rolling down the web page, Yan Xiaoling found Unparalleled Dragon King had already replied the poster with a picture showing a dragon king spouting flames at its enemies.

"Dragon King is guilty of it as well." He wrote.

Following a new fan named Nie Qiqi, who also posted a picture showing Qian Donglou, the Warrior Sage whipping his opponent's crotch. "Warrior Sage gave a thumbs-up." She wrote.

Next was Vampire Cat: "Dong Baxian curses you as an idiot."

Followed by a photo showing Dong Baxian, the leader of Yanzhao League making Crotch-grasping Movement when he was young.

…

Looking at the replies one by one, Yan Xiaoling gradually calmed down and was finally amused. How clever her forum mates were!

Yan Xiaoling found it dumb to reason with the poster seriously. So she clicked off the post and set another post for registering the fans' attendance at the top of the forum, in which she made a new reply:

"Come one, everybody registers your attendance here!"

Seeing the forum's first improvement under the attention of Brahman and her, Yan Xiaoling had a sense of achievement and fulfillment. The two of them were growing up with Lou Cheng in such a special way.

She kept laughing a silly laugh at the increasing number of Lou Cheng's fans.

…

Seeing Lin Que defeat Pan Chengyun within seconds, Shu Rui was speechless.

Today's match was great but quite shot!

In general, a preliminary involved three fighters would at least last half an hour, as long as the two sides were approximately matched in strength. But for now… She took a glance at the wrist watch and found the needles stopped at 3:11 p.m.

The match began at three o'clock!

Within the 11 minutes, the fighters had chatted with each other, cleaned the arena and done something else. So what a short time had the preliminary actually taken?

Not to mention that it was Lou Cheng and Jiang Guosheng's competition that had taken up most of the time.

"All the ad guys must be cursing me…" Shu Rui self-deprecatingly smiled, picked up her microphone and walked towards Lin Que, who had just left the arena. Meanwhile, she was rapidly making mental notes for the interview.

Defeating an Amateur-First-Pin fighter meant nothing to Lin Que, and it was not newsworthy, either. So she had to find something special to report…

Blocking Lin Que's path, Shu Rui gave him the microphone while smiling with only eight teeth exposed. "Hi, Lin Que. I'm a reporter from Songcheng TV station. I have some questions for you. Your fighting style just now seemed kind of different from before?"

As a martial-arts-oriented reporter, she also had good taste in it.

Lin answered coldly,

"Shouldn't I go all out it from the beginning?"

"Er, of course, you should, but I've never seen you do it in this way before. Besides, your opponent was just of Amateur First Pin." Shu Rui felt a bit embarrassed.

Standing on the arena, Pan Chengyun looked at them and heard the conversation, which distressed him. "Actually, I'm of Professional Ninth Pin!" He thought.

On the other side, Lin Que answered without hesitation,

"People always change with time."

"What he's said is reasonable. I'm convinced…" Shu Rui forced smiled and changed the topic. "What do you think about Lou Cheng's performance? Does it surprise you that he's defeated the leading opposing player?"

After thinking for a while, Lin Que said,

"I have some ideas here, but I don't want to share them with others."

"…" Shu Rui was stunned. Then she saw Lin Que nod to finish the conversation and brush past her, walking towards Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's tatami.

She had interviewed quite a lot of fighters in Songcheng, among which some were also eccentric. But she had never seen anyone like Lin Que before!

Is it a character flaw of him, or just because he's good at telling a cold joke?

Comparing with Lin Que, Lou Cheng is indeed a nice interviewee!

Turning to look at Songcheng Martial Arts Club's position, she intended to interview Lou Cheng to comfort herself.

But where is Lou Cheng?

He isn't in the celebrating crowd. Where is he?

Shu Rui stood helplessly, feeling that these guys from Songcheng University Martial Arts Club were quite wayward!

Couldn't they cooperate with me just for a while?

Hadn't I suggested to hold this competition, I would try my best to slander you!

Having no idea where Lou Cheng was for the moment, Shu Rui went to interview Wang Hui, Jiang Guosheng and Fang Tong from Hongluo Martial Arts School.

Wang Hui sighed. "Sure enough they are talented and powerful, but it doesn't mean we're not their match. Had we known Lou Cheng had gained the Power of Blaze, we might perform better in the match and change the game result. Anyway, they did better than us in the competition. Congratulations."

Jiang Guosheng gave a mirthless smile and answered, "It was my fault. Lou Cheng was a brave man of firmness of will, and he deserves the success. As for me, of course, I feel a sense of grievance, but there's no excuse for my failure. Now I need to address the problems, resolve them and try to do better next time! I still need two weeks to recover from my broken joint, so I hope that Chengyun and Fang Tong could take the burden in my absence."

"There's nothing to say about the match. I'm looking forward to another chance to fight against them, and I won't be so careless." Fang Tong seemed to be refreshed. "Of course, I've also found my flaws through today's match since a good opponent could be a mirror for you."

Ending the conversation, Shu Rui went to interview some audiences at random.

Pan Chengyun looked at her back helplessly.

What about me? Why don't you interview me?

I'm of Professional Ninth Pin, not Amateur First Pin!

Taking a glance at his last disciple, Wang Hui suddenly wanted to laugh. They had kept a secret to the end in another way…

…

The guys from Songcheng University Martial Arts Club flooded into the locker room and broke the romantic atmosphere. Yan Zheke hurried to put down the ointment and stood up with blushing cheeks. "Did we win? So fast!"

"Of course, it wouldn't take Lin Que much time to defeat an Amateur-First-Pin guy." Li Mao answered with a smile, and then turned to look at Lou Cheng. "You guys have stolen the treasure of our Martial Arts Club. How will you solve it? You must invite us to dinner!"

Immersing himself in Yan Zheke's tenderness, Lou Cheng answered with shyness and happiness, "How about tonight? We can celebrate our success!"

He didn't care about Lin Que's opponent, who was just of Amateur First Pin. In fact, he had already forgotten the poor guy's name…

He again looked at Yan Zheke when talking with his fellows. The girl was angry with embarrassment and soon turned around, but she didn't refuse Lou Cheng's invitation.

So he had gotten his girlfriend's permission!

"We still have activities then, so it'll be difficult to call us together tonight. What about tomorrow noon? We can go to the cafeteria together after the special training, so you can save money for something more important!" Sun Jian teased him mildly, and then his girlfriend Lin Hua gave him a pinch.

Canteen foods were quite cheaper than those in the outside restaurant.

Since Yan Zheke and the other fellows all agreed with him, Lou Cheng immediately made the decision. "Okay, that's settled then!"

Then they separated to take a shower, changed clothes and packed their stuff. When stepping out of the bathroom, Lou Cheng saw Yan Zheke standing in front of Lin Que with a pleading gesture. Lin Que thought for a while and then nodded slightly.

When Lin Que left, Lou Cheng approached Yan Zheke and whispered, "What were you asking for just now?"

Yan Zheke smiled shyly. "I begged him not to talk our affairs to my family."

"They don't want you to get in a relationship at school?" Lou Cheng noticed something and hurried to ask.

Yan Zheke nodded. "Yeah, my parents want me to focus on study and delay other affairs until after graduation. Don't worry about it, since my mother herself had broken my grandparents' rule to marry my father!"

"So?" Lou Cheng asked quickly.

Yan Zheke turned her head away and snorted. "Like mother, like daughter!"

She was quite proud yet a little shy, which moved and warmed Lou Cheng. He felt an urge to hug the girl and kiss her, pouring his love into it.

Considering they were still in the crowd, and the girl hadn't adapted to their relationship yet. Lou Cheng just stretched out his hand and grasp Yan Zheke's palm, making eye contact with her.

After a few minutes, everyone had finished his or her preparation. Yan Zheke withdrew her hand and said, "I'll go shopping with Qing. Will you go for dinner with me in the canteen tonight, just as a celebration party for you?"

"Okay." Lou Cheng had intended to company Yan Zheke himself, but Guo Qing was so outgoing and they might both feel embarrassed.

He still had two pairs of martial arts shoes, so there was no need for him to go shopping. Maybe he could make an appointment with Yan Zheke next time!

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Chapter 123: Our Own Lives

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Seeing that the members of preliminaries have packed up, Geezer Shi clapped his hands to attract their attention.

"I'm not going to say anything about winning the combat, because it's only the beginning of the preliminaries. There are a lot of combats waiting for you, so never be intoxicated in your victory. People should always move on. Am I right?" He slightly rained on the cheerful atmosphere. "Our next combat will still away from home, so we'll go to Yimo where is not far from here. It's only forty or fifty minutes' ride, so we can go there and back in the same day to save money for our stingy University."

Sun Jian did not get the opportunity to play today, so he was still full of energy. He asked excitedly, "Coach Shi, which martial art club do we fight with?"

"Our opponent is not a martial art club. Several outstanding young local fighters had broken the barrier of martial art club and organized their own team. The key fighter named Wei Shengtian who is in the Danqi State and of Professional Eighth Pin. His goal is to win a spot to advance in this division and win the Martial Arts Unique skills reward. The remaining two members of this team are of Professional Ninth Pin, even their substitutes are above the Amateur Third Pin. So this team is considered as the favorite of this division." Geezer Shi took a piece of crumpled paper out of his pocket and read it to us. Although he described them as tough opponents, it didn't feel like he was all too serious.

"There is one fighter of Professional Eighth Pin and two fighters of Professional Ninth Pin…" Lou Cheng felt his club had no chance to win this combat when he heard of this. "However, our Martial Arts Club set our goals on National University Martial Arts Games, and we had just participated in the preliminaries for practicing in actual combat, so we wouldn't care too much about the results.

Even if we lost the combat with experts, we would learn much more than just beating the inferior team.

With a relatively strong strength, this team still has a certain distance from Shanbei University Martial Arts Club. It even couldn't surely win the combat with the Sanjiang College, and the results would depend on whether they can restrain the supernatural ability of their opponents."

"Coach, can you explain it specifically?" Young people weren't afraid of failure and did not set any goals on the preliminaries. So Li Mao asked with interest instead of being frightened.

Geezer Shi coughed and said, "I'll email the relevant information to you tomorrow, you can study them carefully. The reason why I don't email you today is that I want to leave you some time to enjoy the victory today."

Heard of this sentence, students like Lou Cheng felt very funny and they all remembered the joy of having beaten the Hongluo Martial Arts School. They looked at each other and cried to show the hot and unabashed youth. They called out loudly,"

"We win!"

"Songcheng University is invincible!"

Their cheering voice spread out of the locker room which made the audience who were leaving the arena feel sad and aggrieved. They hoped the two teams could fight with each other again.

…

The school bus came out of the parking lot slowly to the entrance of the Hongluo Martial Arts School. Lou Cheng waved to Yan Zheke and Guo Qing reluctantly and got on the bus until he saw them get in the online car-hailing.

"Guo Qing is like a third wheel!" Sun Jian who was sitting with Lin Hua said. He was trying to show his sympathy for Lou Cheng, but then he turned back and said with a grin, "Darling, I have thought for a while. How about we have a date later for time is available? Seeing how sweetly Cheng gets along with Yan Zheke, I recall our great past. Let's go! Let's have a date!"

"I won't date with you!" Lin Hua said and fiercely pinched Sun Jian. But at last, she was still pulled away by him, waiting for the taxi with a shy face.

The single members like Chen Changhua and Li Mao said nothing but they together showed the middle finger to the silhouette of Sun Jian.

Lou Cheng felt a little angry but funny. Suddenly he regretted that he did not go there with Yan Zheke. "Why should I care the third wheel!"

He looked around and found Cai Zongming didn't get on the bus. Just when he was going to take out the phone to call Little Ming, he received his call.

"Hey, hurry up! Or you'll miss the bus." Lou Cheng quickly reminded him as the phone was connected.

Cai Zongming laughed and said, "I won't take the school bus this time. You know that Model Worker had a girlfriend, so he offered to treat our roommates and the roommates of his girlfriend today. And because he came from a normal family and had to save money for dates, we decided to pay the dinner by ourselves. Do you want to come? First of all, we'll go to the KTV, and then to eat hotpot. How terrible the weather is! Ever since the sun went down, it would be freaking cold outside. So hotpot is the best. Right, do you go with us or not?"

"How can I answer you when you never stop talking? Talker?" Lou Cheng complained. "No, forget it. I already have a date with Yan Zheke about dinner. We'll eat in the cafeteria."

"Hello, Cheng, you ditch friends for a girl! And goodbye! "Cai Zongming teased and said," I mean since you have your girlfriend now, are you ready to treat us a big meal now? Look what Model Worker does today! "

"Haha. Of course, I'll treat you when we are free." Lou Cheng decided to treat them in the cafeteria!

I should save money for the important things.

In the Hongluo Martial Arts School, Cai Zongming hung up the phone and said to other people like Zhang Jingye and Wu Qian, "Cheng has a date with his girlfriend, so he can't participate in our group activities."

"A date? Has he already got Yan Zheke?" Qiu Zhigao said astonishingly with his half-opened mouth.

Because he sometimes would chat with Guo Qing, he was certain that Lou Cheng was chasing Yan Zheke. However, he always thought that such a beautiful girl might turn her nose up at him. "Even though Cheng has increased a lot in the ability of martial arts and become more confident and attractive during this semester. But next, doesn't it at least need about a year to pursue her?

However, Cheng even wins both martial arts and love!

How does he move Yan Zheke, a girl who has so many pursuers?"

Cai Zongming smiled and nodded, "Yes. Everything comes to people who wait. From last term, he began to pursue her, and all his works finally paid off."

Zhao Qiang froze there for a while and said,

"God, he is the real winner of life!"

Wu Qian asked curiously, "Are you talking about the beautiful girl in the Martial Arts Club?"

"Yes, at that time I didn't hold any hope to it. However, you never know the results of this kind of love story until you really tried. What if he made it? What if he was very lucky? What if the girl didn't care his ugly face?" Cai Zongming couldn't stop but tease Lou Cheng who even wasn't here now and then he said, "Even as an exotic boyfriend, I still feel so envious of them."

"Exotic boyfriend… Have you also had a girlfriend?" The other roommate of Wu Qian asked with a smile.

Cai Zongming nodded and replied frankly and humorously, "Of course, do I look like the kind of boy who has no girlfriend, such as Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao?"

Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao was so embarrassed, so they said,

"Let's go now. Do not waste any time!"

Cai Zongming laughed and said, "You are right. Here can be recognized as a hostile place. And all the members of the Martial Arts Club have gone. If we still stay here, we'll be beaten!"

After saying this, he suddenly felt there was chill around, and then he saw that many members of Hongluo Martial Arts School were looking at him complicatedly. He was suddenly shocked and quickly took the other friends out of the martial arts school. When they went out, the sun was still shining in the sky. He said like he just escaped from hell,

"Let's go! Let's have fun!"

…

On the online car-hailing, Guo Qing couldn't help but ask Yan Zheke, "Ke, why do you suddenly come out of the idea of going shopping?"

Yan Zheke put off her ponytail and flipped her hair. Then she turned to look out the window and said with a slight smile, "It's because Cheng's shoes have broken just now…"

"Oh, I get it…" Guo Qing suddenly understood and then she said with grievance, "Could you please stop showing off your sweet love story like this? I feel so envious!"

Yan Zheke didn't feel shy due to her cute reaction. She smiled and said, "So you need to get your boyfriend as soon as possible."

Guo Qing sighed, "Why do we not have a lesson about how to get a boyfriend? I even want to knock out Old Qiu and then make him be my boyfriend."

Seeing Guo Qing looking at her, Yan Zheke laughed and said, "It's useless to look at me. I have never pursued any guy! You need an expert to instruct you. Qing, in fact, you have regular features. So if you pay more attention to your appearance and don't wear the clothes which would expose most of your arms and legs, you'll find a boyfriend."

"Yes, I think so!" Guo Qing was naturally optimistic and she was very outgoing. So she forgot this thing almost in a flash.

In the shopping mall, Yan Zheke and Guo Qing strolled from shop to shop. They selected and compared the martial arts shoes very seriously like they were doing a great thing.

…

There were few people in the moving school bus. Lou Cheng occupied two seats by himself. He took a nap under the warm sunlight. Sometimes he woke up to chat with Yan Zheke for a while and he was totally relaxed in the warm and idle atmosphere.

This's what weekend should be like.

After arriving at the new campus, he said good bye to people like Li Mao, Lin Que and so on and then return to his dormitory.

Li Mao stood still and watched everyone leave. He recalled the combat just now, and his mind froze in the moment when Lou Cheng was fighting with Jiang Guosheng so drastically that his shoes even were fallen apart.

He reflected upon himself and thought of the tension he had whenever he got on the ring. He was suddenly afraid of being much behind his team members that he had no chance to catch up and make up the mistakes he made last year.

"Well, that's okay. I'll practice as much as possible and change all the movements into my instinct so that I can use them even when I'm nervous…" Li Mao took a deep breath and walked directly to the Songcheng Martial Arts School instead of returning to his dormitory.

Not long after, he carried his change clothes into the martial arts arena which was not empty. On the weekend, many students preferred to come here to keep fit and they could use all the things here, except the locker room.

Li Mao looked around and went to the men's locker room. When he was going to take out of the key to open the door, suddenly he found a person was standing next to him.

"Oh, Senior Brother Chen…" He turned to look at that person and was surprised to find that person was Chen Changhua. "Why do you come here, either?"

Chen Changhua smiled with sorrow. "I have some pressure after I watch the combats of those two younger brothers. I'll participate in the Professional Ranking Event in April, and definitely will run into Lou Cheng. He's so good that I hope we aren't on the same team. Thinking that I didn't practice much in the morning, I thus come here to do more exercise this afternoon. Do you think so?"

"Yes." Li Mao answered with a tacit smile.

This is our weekend.

…

When Lou Cheng went back to his dormitory, he opened the computer and clicked on the browser to find out what had changed with his personal forum after the live show today.

"God, there are four hundred and thirteen fans now." He looked at this number and felt unbelievable.

Are there four hundred and thirteen people supporting me already?

This equals to the students of seven or eight classes combined in high school!

Looking through his forum, he found the post and the active ID were less than he thought, but it was also normal. Most of the people were silent online and the people who followed him might not be his supporters.

He read every post and he was amused by the talented answers of his fans. He was surprised that "Unparalleled Dragon King" had become his fan, and he was moved that "Eternal Nightfall" and "Brahman" had tried so hard to keep the order. And he picked up the phone to chat with Yan Zheke, and he planned to share this thing with her tonight when they were having dinner.

Lou Cheng also looked through the posts in the Longhu Club forum and he commented a little. At that time, "Wonton Seller" found him and asked curiously," 'Little Tiger', why do you hide again recently?"

"Because I fell in love!" Lou Cheng said it humorously. He couldn't wait to share his happiness with people all around the world.

"Hey, how can you get a girlfriend so quickly? The university students now are really good at it and make the old guys like us envy." People like "Road to the Arena" began to tease him.

"Brahman" even incited Lou Cheng to update photos of his girlfriend, but he refused him mercilessly.

"Well, okay, do not force our 'Little Tiger' to do that. He is very shy ~". "Wonton Seller" said with a smile.

At that time, "Road to the Arena" @ the moderator: " 'Riding pig', it has been a long time that we knew each other, so how about organizing a party for us at some time?"

"OK, how about we meet when 'Little Wonton' finishes her entrance examination?" "Pig-Riding Knight" agreed.

"Okay! Let's have a party until I finish my exam!" "Wonton Seller" said happily.

This group of people quickly began to focus on the discussion of gathering party. Lou Cheng watched them silently, and occasionally he would also cut in the conversation. He felt so leisurely, sometimes barked with Fatty Jiang and other friends, and sometimes called his mom to tell her that he had won the game.

For him, living like this was very comfortable. He was not only the calm and strong Lou Cheng on the arena who was talented in martial arts and could beat down his enemy, but also a living person who had his own social contacts, his friends, his daily lives and his emotions. Similarly, everyone had their own lives and they were also the main characters in their own world.

When all the roles and feelings mixed together, people called it "Life".

The leisurely afternoon had passed away soon, and Lou Cheng received a message from Yan Zheke,

"Cheng, I'm back to school!"

"Please wait for me on the Mapletree Crossroad outside the First Cafeteria~".

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Chapter 124: Nothing Good Comes Easily

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

"Mapletree Crossroad? Why not wait at the cafeteria? It's cold outside…" Lou Cheng was puzzled by choice of location but did not give it much thought. He rushed to the bathroom without changing his clothes and washed his face in cold water to stay sharp.

Then he went out, walked downstairs and headed straight to his destination. Once he had arrived, he did not need to purposely look for Yan Zheke and simply followed the unconscious glances of boys passing by from the front to spot her.

Yan Zheke was sitting on a wooden bench outside a red maple forest with head buried in her cell phone. The black hair hanging behind her shoulder caught the lingering light of the setting sun, and the scene looked so tranquil and beautiful that it was like a flawless picture.

Lou Cheng almost held his breath for fear of destroying such an aesthetic view, but his heart urged him to quicken his pace. He arrived beside Yan Zheke and blurted out.

"Are you cold?"

Gee, what kind of greeting is this? Did I just speak out my concern over her?

Yan Zheke stood up with circling gaze as she watched the somewhat flustered Lou Cheng. She looked down and broke into a smile. "My cotton-padded jacket keeps me warm."

Like most young girls at her age, she wore a pink padded jacket.

Before Lou Cheng could respond, she looked sideways and pointed at a paper bag on the ground as casually as possible.

"When shopping with Qing, I happened to see a discount store selling martial arts shoes. And I recalled your shoes wore off during the match, so I bought a pair for you. Try it on for size."

When she was talking, she blushed suspiciously.

Lou Cheng was surprised for a second and then became exhilarated all of a sudden. He felt like his heart was about to explode with joy like rolling stones running through the ground, what left in his head was this question.

Did she make a special trip to the mall just to buy a pair of shoes for me?

The timing was by no means coincidental. After the match, she abruptly brought up the idea that she wanted to go shopping with Guo Qing.

Otherwise, how could she run into a discount store selling martial arts shoes by coincidence?

Yan Zheke was embarrassed and annoyed at Lou Cheng's sudden realization and his smiley face.

"I just happen to see one! What are you thinking…"

Before she could finish the sentence, the shadow of Lou Cheng came near her and she found herself in a firmly-built chest.

"You!" Yan Zheke whispered and struggled to get out of his arms.

By using Listening Skill, Lou Cheng sensed her attempt wasn't for real. So he held her firmly and refused to let her go.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Yan Zheke gave up resisting. She lightly clenched her fists and shyly hit at Lou Cheng's shoulder. "How could you hug me in front of so many people!"

"Because I grow too excited and happy…" When Lou Cheng held the girl in his arm, looking at her smooth black hair, smelling its breath, touching her lithe and soft body, he gradually calmed down. The thrill of joy he was experiencing just now weakened but lingered on.

Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong! Lou Cheng heard two racing heartbeats. When he looked down, Yan Zheke buried her face in his shoulder and he could see a rosy glow on the part of her crystal skin where she failed to cover.

At this moment, the world seemed to quiet down. Lou Cheng wanted to kiss her hair stealthily but Yan Zheke still felt uneasy at this intimacy. She was worried that somebody might stare at them, so she refused him again.

"Try on the shoes, please!" said the girl with a blush.

Lou Cheng knew girls were timid, so he did not insist and soon released his hold. He sat down on the bench with an everlasting smile and took out the shoe box from the paper bag. From the corner of his eye, he saw several boys passing by became frustrated at the scene. Seeing Yan Zheke with Lou Cheng was like good Pak Choi being twiddled by a stupid dog.

Till this very moment, it dawned on Lou Cheng why Yan Zheke did not wait at the cafeteria. After all, it was kind of weird to try on shoes in a place where people had their meals.

And when he had new shoes on, he immediately walked around and made a few fighting poses to test its performance when pulling the strength. He was satisfied with the result and gave a sincere compliment. "This pair of shoes fits me well, better than several pairs of my old martial arts shoes. But how did you know my size?"

Catching a satisfying look on his face, Yan Zheke pursed her pinky lips and slightly raised her jaw with pride. "I'm a hermit who knows everything~"

Lou Cheng guessed she peeked at his size when fetching shoes for him, but he did not say it because he could not burst the bubble here. It was not the right thing to do.

He chuckled and said, "No, no, no. You're not a hermit."

"Then who am I?" Yan Zheke asked in doubt.

Putting a serious look on his face, Lou Cheng answered, "You are a fairy who knows everything!"

"Phew…" Yan Zheke turned to him with a smile and said in a seemingly bitter tone, "Cheng, I did not expect you to be this nauseating!"

When they were done with flirting, Lou Cheng changed back to his old shoes. He was happy to receive this gift but was also in a dilemma. "I do not want to fight in this pair of shoes. This's the first gift you have given to me. What if I break them?"

He made up his mind that this pair of shoes was only for daily practice.

Yan Zheke snickered. "If this pair of shoes was broken, you need to collect every piece of it, put them together and preserve it safely."

They made small talk on this topic as they walked toward the cafeteria hand in hand. When they arrived, they ordered a single-pot stir-fried dish.

After the meal, Lou Cheng still did not want to separate with the girl. He lowered his voice and said, "I remember you don't have any classes tonight, right?"

"Yep." Yan Zheke answered with a big smile, "So what're you trying to say here?"

"Have I said before that I'll be your sparring partner on weekends? But we don't have time for this because we spent yesterday dating and there's a match today. How about practicing in martial arts club tonight? I'm free as well." Lou Cheng suggested.

Yan Zheke was on the bench for several challenge tournaments and was dying to have a try in person. After a minute of hesitation, she replied, "Well, fine with me. I haven't come back to the dormitory anyway, so I still have my practice suit with me."

"Since it's just a casual training, I'll not fetch my practice clothes. And I can try my new martial arts shoes thanks to your gift." Lou Cheng said in a delight, "We'll walk there for better digestion."

He picked up all the bags and naturally grabbed the girl's left hand with his right hand, intertwining his fingers with hers and walking toward the long bridge.

"Well, my fans created a forum for me." Lou Cheng recalled this and told Yan Zheke with pride.

Adorkable and surprised, Yan Zheke slightly opened her mouth and replied, "Fan forum? For you?"

She was incapable of connecting Lou Cheng with these two words. Fan forum?

"Yep, those fans who supported me after watching my challenge tournaments built this forum." Lou Cheng added. He was afraid that Yan Zheke might misunderstand his meanings and take him as a despicable man who seduced young girls to be his fans.

"Really?" Yan Zheke acted a bit excited and curious. She took out her phone and asked, "Where? Where can I find this forum?"

Upon finishing this sentence, she pouted and laughed at herself. "How silly I am! Just search your name and the web page will show up immediately."

Entering his name, finding the forum and clicking the link, Yan Zheke concentrated on reading the posts. However, Lou Cheng had an evil intention right now. On the excuse that he feared Yan Zheke might fall, he reached an arm around her slender waist but failed to grab anything because she wore too many clothes.

"These two moderators are so funny. I guess they are two little girls." Yan Zheke turned to Lou Cheng and her eyes were sparkling. "You unwittingly gained fans who support you so much."

"I didn't expect either." Lou Cheng frankly answered.

Yan Zheke chuckled. "I'll be your fan as well. Hum, I'm going to register an ID first. What should I name myself? It must be simple, direct and tasteful."

"Simple, direct and tasteful?" Lou Cheng thought about her requirements, trying to help her decide a nickname.

Suddenly Yan Zheke let out a laugh. "I got one!"

"What name?" Lou Cheng asked in curiosity.

Yan Zheke moved her phone to the other side and turned her back to Lou Cheng. "See for yourself after I replied."

Her reaction made Lou Cheng itching to reveal the secret. He patiently waited for a moment. Upon hearing Yan Zheke say "all done", he immediately took out the cell phone and entered the forum. There was a new reply in the signing-up post, and the replier's name was "Lou Cheng's Girlfriend".

With muscles twitched at the corner of his mouth, he was stunned and looked at Yan Zheke, smiling. "How simple! How direct! How tasteful!"

"Of course!" Yan Zheke narrowed her eyes with laughter and slightly raised his head.

Meanwhile in another city, Yan Xiaoling in her room blurted out upon seeing this ID.

"Holy high, my sister!"

…

It was still early but there were quite a few teachers and students exercising in the martial arts club.

Lou Cheng took off the coat and changed into his new shoes while Yan Zheke put on martial arts suit. They found a quiet place to do simulation training of the actual combat.

During the whole process, not only did Lou Cheng have to play defensive, but also he needed to attack Yan Zheke for real. At the beginning of the training, he was overcautious because there was no referee to stop his attacks in time. In order to not hurt the girl, he must be careful in pulling the strength. As the training progressed, he seemed to get the hang of it and become more familiar with his body, mastering at will without breaking the rules.

Owing to her light footwork, Yan Zheke moved fast. She used her spine as the shaft to bring out the bouncing force from her feet and threw a chop fist to Lou Cheng's head.

Lou Cheng straightened his shoulders and lifted his left arm to block the punch. By swinging the lower back and shaking all the muscles and joints, Lou Cheng imitated Jiang Guosheng's move and explosively launched a massive Swing Force.

It was not until his seventh or eighth attempts that he finally succeeded. But still, he left Yan Zheke no opportunity to turn the situation around thanks to his rich experience in actual combats. And he seemed to grasp some tips after several failures.

Bang! Yan Zheke threw a chop fist straight at Lou Cheng's arm, at the same time she lost her balance, stumbled and fell sideways as if being pushed.

Lou Cheng was concerned that she might tumble to the ground, so he lunged forward and held her forearm to pull her back to his arm swiftly.

They looked straight at each other in this pose. Their distance was this close that Lou Cheng's body was against Yan Zheke's. Looking at her sparkling eyes, he felt that the silence swallowed up everything around them. Yan Zheke also sensed this strangeness and fluttered her eyelashes nervously. This pose seemed to make her shy.

Lou Cheng's breath unconsciously became heavy when he smelled the fragrant and sweet scent of her body, especially when he glanced at her rosy and smooth lips.

He did not know if other people had the urge to kiss a girl when their eyes met during an emotional outburst, but he did know he was a beast. His feelings became less important here. He wanted to kiss her because the girl was beautiful and her lips looked so sweet and tempting.

His breath grew heavier and heavier, eyes aglow with excitement, heart pounding faster and faster, head unconsciously moving closer to the girl in eager and anxiety.

Dong dong dong! Lou Cheng could no longer tell whose heart was beating this fast. And at this moment, Yan Zheke seemed to be uncomfortable at their distance and dared not confront his sight. She slowly closed her eyes, face blushing and eyelashes fluttering.

As they drew closer, her scent and charming rosy lips became more tempting to Lou Cheng.

He held his breath and was about to make the next move. Then came a sudden loud noise.

Yan Zheke got shocked and pushed him away by instinct. Like a little rabbit, Yan Zheke took two steps backward, shy and timid.

Right now, Lou Cheng felt both disappointed and angry. He turned around, trying to locate the source of the noise. It turned out to be two boys practicing buttock.

"I have to teach them a few lessons. If they were not trained professionally, they should be careful in training so as not to get hurt!" Lou Cheng panted angrily.

Yan Zheke was still blushing. She let out a laugh and rolled her eyes at him. "Let's go back. We have been practicing for almost an hour."

"What a pity! I don't know when I can have such a good opportunity again…" Lou Cheng cried out in an exaggerated facial expression.

Yan Zheke pursed her lips and looked up into the sky.

"You wait!" said she in a mischievous tone.

After they took a shower and changed their clothes, two of them strolled back to the dormitory, enjoying the peace and happiness of the night.

Yet the longest journey had its destination. When they arrived at the entrance of Yan Zheke's dormitory, Lou Cheng found it hard to say goodbye.

Yan Zheke suddenly quipped while puffing out her cheeks.

"Close your eyes."

"Why?" Lou Cheng asked subconsciously.

"No reason. Just close your eyes." Yan Zheke gave him an angry glare.

Lou Cheng suddenly recalled that it was Yan Zheke who took the initiative bashfully when he tried to hold her hand for the second time.

"So this time she is going to kiss me first?" Lou Cheng's heartbeats suddenly quickened when he thought about this.

He closed his eyes, held the breath and waited for his best gift.

At this very moment, he could only sense somebody flicking a finger at his lips. So he opened his eyes in astonishment and saw Yan Zheke "flee" to her dormitory in big smiles.

"Ha ha, this's what you get when you try to bully me!"

Annoyed and amused, Lou Cheng burst into laughter. He turned his head several times even he had already seen Yan Zheke getting into the dormitory with light footsteps.

"If I were proficient in Ice Mirror, I might perceive her action and seize the opportunity to grab her hand, hold her in my arms and kiss her…" Standing outside girls' dormitory, Lou Cheng was lost in fascination while disappointedly touching his lips. At least it gave him the motivation to progress more in martial arts.

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Chapter 125: A Small Goal

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

The pedestrian lamps were lit, and the shops were still open for business. The passersby were all brimming with the air of youth and full of energy.

Lou Cheng slowly and leisurely walked as he carried the paper bag with shoes in it. With a settled mind, he stared rather interestedly at his surroundings with the point of view of a spectator. "Mm, did that boy forget to eat breakfast? He's gorging down those baked sausages like a wolf… That pair of lovers are most likely disciples of the same master; the kind dares to kiss each other to oblivion the second they find a secluded corner…"

From time to time, he would take out his cell phone and reply to Yan Zheke's messages. He listened to the girl's complaints about just knowing that there was a specialized class she was taking which required homework to be submitted in advance.

When Lou Cheng returned to his dorm in this leisurely state, Cai Zongming, Qiu Zhigao, and the others hadn't returned just yet. The small bedroom was quiet and suffused with some peacefulness.

He took out the shoe box and stared at it gently for a while. Before he knew it, his mouth had drawn itself into an obvious curve.

Yan Zheke's present… Yan Zheke's present!

He searched for the receipt after laughing foolishly for a moment, afraid that the girl had spent too much money on the present. However, he could not find anything but the shoes inside the plastic bag or the shoe box. It was obvious that Yan Zheke had attentively taken it away.

"This can't stump me, however!" Lou Cheng chuckled and turned on the computer. He searched for the shoes' brand and series, discovering its official website and the corresponding web page.

"This is so expensive… even with a discount, this had to be seven or eight hundred at least, right?" he muttered inside his stomach as he stared at the monitor.

Martial arts shoes were purely expendables to a professional fighter. No matter how good the material might be, it would wear down after a few intense battles as long as it wasn't made through some fantastical technology. Therefore, the price of regular use martial arts shoes was on the cheap side, and two or three hundred yuan a pair would be a pretty fair price already. Most fighters would at best equip themselves with a pair of shoes made of better and more comfortable materials for daily training. That way, the shoes could be worn for a very long time.

Lou Cheng watched and fondled the pair of martial arts shoes admiringly while holding in the tiny bit of warmth and happiness inside his heart. Suddenly, a thought entered his mind:

I should give her a present too!

As her boyfriend, I should give her first present!

Once the thought was born, it repeated itself again and again and was pretty much impossible to suppress. He fell into deep thought while staring at the monitor, wondering what kind of present he should give to Yan Zheke.

She doesn't look like she lacks anything…

I can't ask Talker about this. My first present has to have my thoughts and feelings in them…

While thinking like a youngster of the Information Age, he subconsciously opened a search page and typed in the phrase, "gift for girlfriend" and the like. He studied the information he found very seriously in search for inspiration.

It was at this moment the sounds of key turning came from outside. The door was opened as a series of noisy footsteps closed in from afar.

Lou Cheng withdrew his gaze and looked towards the entrance. He saw Zhao Qiang pushing open the door and coming in while Cai Zongming and Qiu Zhigao carried Zhang Jingye on one side each, following right behind him. All four faces were as red as cooked crabs, and the stench of alcohol assailed everyone's nostrils.

"It looks like you guys drank a lot, didn't you?" Lou Cheng let out a laugh.

Zhao Qiang shook his head. "We're okay. You have no idea that how good of a drinker those girls are! If they hadn't restrained themselves, I would be sleeping under the table today!"

"It's not that they have restrained. They're just smart. If they were all drunk after drinking with a couple of boys they aren't too familiar with, who'll be responsible for sending them back home? They would've been the ones in trouble in the end." Cai Zongming sneered. His face might be red, but he wasn't really drunk. His mind was quite clear.

Lou Cheng chuckled and said, "So that's why Model Worker was focus fired?"

"You don't say! He's the main character of the day, you know!" After Cai Zongming and Qiu Zhigao carried Zhang Jingye to his seat, one of them went away to bring over a footbath. They were worried that he might lose control and vomit in the room. Another person wetted a towel and helped spread it across his face.

Some time later, Zhang Jingye recovered slightly and wore a bitter smile. "I've always thought that my capacity for liquor as a man of northwest would hold against four little girls. As it turns out, I was just slightly better than Wu Qian."

"Your girl is also drunk? Why didn't they just send you into your bridal room straight away then?" Lou Cheng joked.

Qiu Zhigao said helplessly, "That's because we're a little dizzy from the drinks too…"

After some teasing and laughing later, Zhao Qiang suddenly looked at Lou Cheng and asked curiously, "Cheng, with your current skill your salary should be around ten thousand a month, right?"

Lou Cheng thought for a moment before saying, "It's around that."

According to the relevant posts he saw while he was undercover in the Longhu Club's forum, he learned that the monthly salary of most Professional Ninth Pin fighters began at ten thousand. Adding that to the award money bonuses they got from participating in Challenge Tournaments and all sorts of other tournaments, the lucky ones could earn up to three or four hundred thousand per year. Even unlucky ones could get a hundred thousand or so Chinese yuan, and that was discounting the entanglements of other profiting organizations such as martial arts school properties and the underworld. But even the legitimate earnings were quite a lot of money already; it was at least much better than those working as white collars.

Of course, people like Jiang Guosheng and Fang Tong would earn a lot fewer salaries because they were working in their own master's martial arts school. However, all of their martial arts expenses were basically sustained by the martial arts school too.

Meanwhile, the fighters who stepped into Dan stage and surpassed the threshold of being a Professional Ninth Pin would enjoy vastly increased income. However, since this particular stage was comprised of Professional Eighth Pin to Professional Fourth Pin, the gap in strength between fighters of different Pins was quite huge. The same went with their salaries. A professional fighter who had just entered Eighth Pin might earn at best five to six hundred Chinese yuan a year, but a veteran of Fourth Pin could easily earn six to seven million Chinese yuan a year and not surprise anyone. This was not to mention that this amount of earnings was just considering their publicly announced income, and not the various bonuses they might earn due to affiliations with various industries brought about by their strength.

As for physically invulnerable Might Ones, they could no longer be measured simply by money. The yearly salary they enjoyed from the forces they belonged to was at best pocket money to them, and even then this pocket money started at a minimum of tens of millions.

This was exactly how the reward money set up by the Little Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament had effectively kept Mighty Ones from participating. This was because the amount of reward money offered was the kind that only nearby Professional Ninth Pins or fighters with a desperate need for money would participate for.

For a kid who had once had a taste of poverty like Lou Cheng, the thoughts of these incomes were always capable of adding to his motivation to practice martial arts.

When Zhao Qiang heard a definite answer from Lou Cheng, he could not help but sigh. "I can't shake the feeling that you and I aren't in the same world already. I can only say, don't…"

"Ah?" Lou Cheng was confused by his pause.

Zhao Qiang turned back to the conversation and chuckled.

"Don't forget your friends when you become rich!"

"Of course, who do you think we are? If you've mastered the right technology, successfully established your business and became a big boss, you mustn't forget about the rest of us either!" Lou Cheng followed suit and cracked a joke too.

After teasing each other for a while, the lot then 'delivered' Zhang Jingye onto his bed and went away to wash their faces and sober up.

When Lou Cheng paced his way to the living room, he saw Cai Zongming standing beside the glass door of the balcony and staring blankly towards outside.

"Why did you talk so little just now, Talker? It's not like you!" he asked in concern.

Cai Zongming smiled at him and said, "What you guys said made me sigh a little."

"And what on earth are you sighing about?" Lou Cheng broke into a puzzled smile.

Cai Zongming let out a sigh and said, "I told you before that I enjoy martial arts, and I wish to see if I'm capable of walking this path. To tell the truth, my father has always wanted me to return to that little rundown city of ours and help him manage his company. But that's not what I wanted."

"Wow, I see now. You're a Saudi Arabian!" Lou Cheng ridiculed him for a moment before continuing, "but why don't you want to succeed your father? This's something many people wish for!"

Cai Zongming broke into a laugh as he shook his head.

"Do you really think this's great? If someone were to do things always according to their parent's wishes, they would have the feeling that they hadn't grown up, and they definitely wouldn't be economically independent either. They would be able to see all the money I earn, and they'd be able to control all of it too. Although I could always ask for more money from them if I didn't have enough, don't you think that it's a pretty oppressive situation? If I really have differing opinions that I want to bring up about an issue, I would lose confidence to argue it the second I recall this fact. This will change only if my father retires, but he's just around forty years old and has a very fit body. It's a given that he'll be able to work for another twenty years down the line."

"Plus, I can already predict clearly what I'd become and what kind of life I'd lead a few years or tens of years down the line the moment I think about it, and every time I think about this, I'm scared that I'd ultimately accept fate and return to that run down, stagnant city of us."

"That's why I need to fight now while I still can, and see if I can walk out a path of my own in martial arts. If I can't, I would then consider building my own business and not give in to reality unless I've exhausted my all."

After saying this, he turned his head sideways to look at Lou Cheng. He let out a bright smile and said, "Cheng, I really do envy you so much, so you should keep pushing onwards too and keep me envious!"

Lou Cheng was rather touched by his words, and he made a fist to punch at Cai Zongming's shoulder lightly.

"Do your best!"

Cai Zongming also returned a punch.

"Ganbatte!"

Lou Cheng's expression immediately froze as he felt that the atmosphere had been destroyed by Talker. He said through gnashing teeth,

"Get lost!"

…

The next day in the early morning, Lou Cheng grew more and more focused on his cultivation. He combined the inward vision brought by the Jindan and slowly expanded his senses towards his surroundings. He learned the bits and pieces of the visualization of Ice Mirror, and he had completely shed away the anxiety he felt caused by the fact that he wasn't able to step through the primer despite all his training.

He was also slowly grasping the edges of Thunder Roar Zen when he practiced that later too.

Geezer Shi clicked his tongue at admiration as he watched Lou Cheng. "Here I thought you'd lose yourself in the loveliness of women and lower your expectations for a short while, you little brat. Contrary to my expectations, you have only become more focused, however."

"She's my driving force." Lou Cheng answered seriously and sincerely.

Geezer Shi nodded in satisfaction and said,

"I can let go of my worries then. How about this. Let us set a small goal for you."

"What small goal?" Lou Cheng asked in astonishment.

Geezer Shi chuckled.

"I won't ask for you to win the overall match against Fearless Squad tomorrow. But if Lin Que and you were to be matched up against that Wei Shengtian in your best condition, that Professional Eighth Pin fighter, and then I want you to bring him down by attrition warfare!"

There was nothing to be ashamed of to admit that he was a long way from Danqi State. Plus, Lou Cheng was boiling up in passion and expectations the second he thought that Lin Que and he would challenge Wei Shengtian in succession and combine their strengths in an attempt to bring down their opponent.

Why should he not dare to dream?

Why should he not dare to give it a try?

No one was a coward here!

He nodded strongly and answered to his own master,

"Okay!"

…

Inside Yimo Martial Arts Club, Wei Shengtian was baring his upper body and revealing many well-defined muscles. His skin's coloring was a little green and black, looking like they were forged from stone.

"Are you alright?" he asked the big boy who looked a little upset before him.

Qiu Yang was with a refreshing appearance and gifted with fair and clear skin. It seemed that he was at most seventeen or eighteen years old. The boy said disgruntledly, "I can't quite put strength in my left arm. But I should be able to fight somewhat if I really have to."

Wei Shengtian let out a sigh and said, "If I knew this would happen I' not have let you be the vanguard. Your fighting style makes you way too liable to injuries the moment you fight two battles in a row. You won't be stepping into the arena during our next match against Songcheng University Martial Arts Club. Focus on recuperating. Brother Dong and I will handle them no problem."

Qiu Yang did not insist on participating once he recalled that Songcheng University Martial Arts Club only had two of Professional Ninth Pin. He agreed and said,

"Alright, Brother Wei, I'll cheer for you two!"

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Chapter 126: The Terror of Dan Stage

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

At the noon, Lou Cheng turned on his computer, logged on to his email, and downloaded the data on "Fearless Squad" sent by his master.

Earlier, he had just participated in the lunch meeting with every martial arts special training member. It was to celebrate their victory against Hongluo Martial Arts School, and a personal 'apology' by himself for kidnapping their 'team's treasure.' Since the majority of these people had an astounding appetite, they forcibly ate a total of six hundred or so Chinese yuan even though the cafeteria cooked in small portions. This was without counting the wine he bought to show filial respect to Geezer Shi too.

After the meal was done, Sun Jian, Li Mao and the others found him and said that the treat was just a joke. The primary objective of the lunch meeting was to have everyone to share the cost and meal together. They wanted to return some money to him since they were all students without a steady income and relied on their family's allowance to survive. It.'wasn't a good idea to rack up half a month's food expenses in one meal.

Since Lou Cheng had the reward money from the Little Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament and the money from his red envelope, not to mention that his mum had increased his allowance to two thousand on purpose, he appreciated their good will inside his heart and replied that he must do what he had already promised.

Li Mao and Sun Jian had sought out their junior schoolmate's data before while they were free, and they knew that Lou Cheng had earned quite a lot of Challenge Tournament income during his winter break. Therefore, they did not force the issue after seeing his insistence in the matter.

After this meal, Lou Cheng could be considered to have completely familiarized himself with the high-grade senior brothers and senior sisters. Under their rowdy influence, Yan Zheke's skin slowly grew thicker as she no longer felt embarrassed at the slightest teasing. She was able to warm up to the others and throw a tease of her own right back at them.

This allowed Lou Cheng to get intimate with her from time to time, no longer needing to worry about her fear of other's attentions.

—When the party involved no longer felt anything in regards to a certain matter, the spectators would also lose their interests to tease further.

Lou Cheng wore a mysterious smile on his face as he recalled Yan Zheke's little tsundere act just now. When the data had been downloaded completely, he opened Wei Shengtian's introduction first.

"Wei Shengtian, 25 years old, broke through to Danqi State and was graded as an expert of Professional Eighth Pin a year ago. He mainly cultivates the 'Bright Stone Style' and is well versed in 'Giant Spirit Pounding.'"

"Bright Stone Style is a physical body type hard martial art. Its cultivation begins once the fighter has entered meditation, and it's cultivated through continuous Spirit visualization, external beating and consumption of medicinal soup and ointment. It's incomparable to other top-grade physical body martial arts such as Golden Bell Cover, Immortal Flesh, Forging Jade Spell, etc. and supernatural abilities that transform a part of the body into metal. However, it's not to be underestimated and is much stronger than Iron Cloth that doesn't require visualization. It makes the fighter's body as hard as a stone to effectively decrease the damage from sharp weapons, stick beatings and so on…"

When he read up to this point, Lou Cheng nodded with a pensive look on his face. So it would seem that 'Bright Stone Style' was comparable to the police academy's master technique, 'Mental-like Refined Body.'

After swiftly browsing through the introduction, he clicked open one of Wei Shengtian's most recent demonstration video. He saw that every punch thrown by this Dan stage expert was brutal, and he had forcibly shattered a piece of limestone into pieces with his bare hand. Moreover, when his eyes were closed and he was met with an ambush, he quite literally reacted the second the enemy attempted to attack and accurately counterattacked the blow.

"The force all over his body is as if unified as one like a human body big dan that reacts absolutely…" Lou Cheng quietly repeated this phrase and gained a better understanding of its meaning.

When a fighter had delved deep into the cultivation of 'Danqi State', not only would their martial arts be trained into their very bones and five viscera and six bowels, it would literally reach every minuscule spot of the human body and enable a fighter's control over his skin and pores to enter a new level of precision. Their body would truly become a whole entity, and their senses would become so acute that it was inhuman. Fighters at this level would be able to perform all kinds of seemingly miraculous feats such as 'not allowing a feather of strength to become applied to one's body or flicking a fly's weight of strength from one's body'.

Wei Shengtian had just entered Dan stage, and it was obvious that he had not reached that level of skill yet. However, even without the big picture, Lou Cheng could see that he had attained a trace of that level of skill already.

At his level, his strength had become extremely scary due to the outer to the inner evolution of his physical body. Moreover, he would truly be able to go 'all out' to output 100% of his strength with every punch and kick he threw unlike Lou Cheng and Lin Que. Although it was said that one must use his back as the axis to control his body and exert every force from within, there was absolutely no way his outputted strength could go up to 99%. Among body refining state fighters, those who could output 60% or 70% of their strength could be considered outstanding already. Even then, Lou Cheng could only do it because he had achieved great attainment in meditation and his skills were practiced, whereas Lin Que was close to Dan stage to begin with. It would be tough for anyone else to do what they could.

"Wei Shengtian himself is a strength type fighter and not like the more technique and agile-based Jiang Lan I met on the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament. The sheer amount of strength that might be contained in one punch is just terrifying when you thinking about it…" Lou Cheng grimaced a little when he began checking out combat videos instead.

The only advantage they had was that his body was far from reaching the profound state where the invulnerable Qi was formed, and his body was transformed at the micro level. He was still 'human.' If he were to attack using the entire force of his body every time, he would not be able to bear the load for long. He would definitely run into problems if he sent out three or four blows like this and become 'overloaded.' Therefore, Wei Shengtian would not fight this way unless it was at a critical moment. He would normally mix the occasional eruptive blows amidst normal attacks.

Meanwhile, his normal attacks almost had the same power as Jiang Guosheng's seventh or eighth eruption. It was the kind of attack that Lou Cheng could defend only if he threw his entire strength behind it.

"Master lied to me… there isn't much hope that Lin Que and I can take him down in an attrition warfare… this isn't a small goal at all!" Lou Cheng shook his head in 'grief' and 'indignation'. Then, he looked through the two of Professional Ninth Pin, Dong Yi and Qiu Yang's data.

The former was passed down his family's martial arts, 'Rolling Thunder Palm'. The latter had the title 'Mad Dog'. His own master had even added a personal comment saying that his fighting style was somewhat similar to the Unique Skills of Death Sect.

After roughly browsing through the data, Lou Cheng sent a 'frightened to tears' emoji to Yan Zheke and said,

"Have you seen the data? Dan stage is so terrifying. This adorable newbie is shaking like a leaf!"

Yan Zheke replied with a 'floor pounding laugh' emoji, "Come on, cry for your coach!"

"Will there be a reward if I cry?" Lou Cheng asked shamelessly.

"Sure there is. The reward is one slap to the face~" Yan Zheke cracked a joke before propping both hands beneath her chin and wore a pondering look on her face. "Let me tell you a piece of good news and a piece of bad news."

"What's the good news?" Lou Cheng asked in doubt.

Yan Zheke laughed sneakily. "It's rumored that Qiu Yang of Fearless Squad had suffered a bit of injury during the last preliminaries."

"He's hurt? Why isn't this mentioned in Coach Shi's data?" Lou Cheng shot back a question in astonishment.

Yan Zheke replied with a 'spread hands and shaking head' emoji and said, "Maybe it's because Coach Shi found them unworthy of his attention and could not be bothered to gather the data actively. I've only noticed this after looking through their last match. Quickly, tell your Coach Yan that she's awesome!"

"Coach Yan is so awesome!" Lou Cheng immediately replied before asking pensively, "What's the bad news?"

They only have one fighter of Professional Ninth Pin left?

"His injuries may not be severe, so it's hard to say if he'll meet us on the field." Yan Zheke replied with 'tears through her laughter,' "There's no need to worry about this anyway. If you guys can win a match or two between the fighters of Professional Ninth Pin, and then this trip could be considered a success already. After all, they do have a Dan stage expert."

Lou Cheng replied with an 'I'm so squared (scared)' emoji, "But Coach Shi gave me a small goal."

"What small goal?" Lou Cheng asked with 'bright eyes.'

"He said that if your cousin and I could meet Wei Shengtian in our best condition, and then we should take him down in a battle of attrition…" Lou Cheng 'gripped his fist and let his tears flow.'

"What a small goal that is…" Yan Zheke was dumbstruck by the news, and it was only at the end of her reaction that she replied with a crooked grin and said, "It's not a big hope, but it isn't completely unattainable either. Cheng, I have high expectations for you~"

"I'll work hard!" Lou Cheng replied with a 'determined to do better' emoji, "No one will be surprised if I lost anyway, but he'll lose face if he loses the match. I'm not scared of anything!"

For the next few days, he worked especially hard in his training, but neither Ice Mirror nor Thunder Roar Zen were martial arts that he could get results overnight nor master just because he entered 'SEED' mode. He could only say that he still needed some time to get the former martial art, but he understood the latter martial art more and more.

As for his association with his Yan Zheke, they did not have much time to stay together alone because they were both busy with martial arts training and study courses. However, they had a lot of opportunities to meet each other's eyes, chat over the phone, dine together during lunch and dinner, hold each other's hands and take the occasional walk. He was already delighted and happy with this outcome.

The days passed by, and in the blink of an eye, it was Friday afternoon. Lou Cheng sat inside the lecture hall and waited for the politic related basic course to start.

A basic course like this did not involve specialized content, and the stuff during the end of the term was usually open-book. This course was pretty simple too, so the majority of people were able to pass it easily. Since this course did not affect the transcript used to seek jobs in the future, there were absentees everywhere.

Lou Cheng was going to come to class with Cai Zongming, but the latter had worn himself out for a week and felt like taking a moment of relaxation for himself. After letting out the shout that 'a university life without truancy is not a complete university life', he chose to stay in his bedroom.

To be frank, if the course Yan Zheke was attending right now wasn't a specialized course in a small classroom with only thirty or forty or so students inside and thus, not easy for him to infiltrate, he would have skipped class to accompany his girlfriend already. If he could not accompany his girlfriend, and then what's the difference between working in the bedroom and working in class? It was easier to focus during the latter!

Just as his thoughts reached up to this point, he abruptly saw Zhao Qiang carrying a single strap bag and coming into the lecture hall. Therefore, he raised a hand and greeted him, inviting him to come over and take a seat.

"Qiang, why have you come over to this class?" Lou Cheng asked in surprise.

Courses like these were called 'individual study courses' for study maniacs like him. They would go to the library when they needed to!

Zhao Qiang put down his bag and chuckled. "Isn't it the same no matter where I self-study? I won't need to worry about attendance if I self-study here at least!"

"That's true." Lou Cheng laid out his homework and decided to work hard and save time.

It would be a problem if a large scale basic course that was supposed to fit in at least two hundred or so people did not even have one hundred people attending.

"I have a feeling that there may be a roll call today." Zhao Qiang looked around with a great awareness for hardships.

Lou Cheng followed suit and looked around before nodding. "The professor should be mad seeing that there're so little people today…"

"What can you do? Everyone's thinking that since there're so many people in the class, it doesn't matter if they don't show up, not to mention that they can ask other students to answer the roll call for them. That's why they all skip class, not to mention today is a Friday no less…" Zhao Qiang was used to this by now, and he took out his cell phone planning to summon his roommates over for self-study.

Lou Cheng also unlocked his cell phone and got ready to call student Little Ming.

It was at this moment Professor Yu, the professor responsible for this course walked in and cast a deep glance at the empty seats.

The second the class bell rang, he immediately turned around and closed the front door. He also ordered the students to lock the back door.

Then, the professor took out a stack of test papers under many blank gazes and announced,

"There'll be a random test today, an open-book exam. It'll take up to 20% of the end of term total points. The questions are very simple. If you did it, you'd all get these 20 marks."

His unspoken implication was that those who did not do this question would lose twenty points straight away at the end of term!

"Holy sh*t, I didn't expect this…" Lou Cheng and Zhao Qiang looked at each other and felt a sense of rejoicement at their own good luck. Then, they offered a minute of silence to Talker and the others.

Once the message was sent out, and the responsibility of notification was achieved, the test papers were distributed to the students. As he said, the questions were very simple.

"Professor Yu must have planned this for a long time!" Lou Cheng sighed.

Zhao Qiang nodded repeatedly. "And he didn't show any signs that he would do this at all! no wonder I heard from a senior brother that he was one of the famous 'polices' in the university… and to think that we actually didn't believe him!"

While talking, he thought longingly back to the past and said, "Professor Zhang who taught calculus the last term is still the best. He never does a roll call, and he's an extremely upright character too."

"Why do you say that?" Lou Cheng asked curiously.

"Do you remember that Tang Wen failed calculus? He thought that since it was almost time for the makeup exam, he ran to the old school district last weekend and gave Professor Zhang a call. He was going to give Professor Zhang some presents and facilitate things so that the professor would leak some questions to him." Zhao Qiang gossiped.

"Professor Zhang didn't accept?" Lou Cheng came to a realization.

Zhao Qiang chuckled. "Not only did he not accept, he even told Tang Wen to wait for him at the old school building and lectured him an entire afternoon on the essential points of calculus. His head was spinning, and he felt like crying at the end of it."

"Professor Zhang is a pretty good person." Lou Cheng sighed.

It isn't easy to meet a lecturer like this!

While speaking, he shared the 'test as roll call' incident with Yan Zheke.

Yan Zheke quickly replied, "Our professor is even crazier than yours. He took five roll calls during two small segments of a single class! He's not as ruthless as your lecturer though, taking off twenty marks in one go…"

After chatting for a few lines, he put down his cell phone and began answering the questions. Since he hadn't really listened to this course well, the speed at which he sought out the answers was very slow. However, Zhao Qiang was sweeping through the test paper like lightning.

Lou Cheng was surprised and he broke out into a question. "Qiang, you read through the book seriously before?"

The book of this course?

Zhao Qiang nodded seriously. "I'm a true fan…"

…

It was 1 p.m. Saturday in the afternoon. Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's group had arrived at Yimo City bullet train station.

Along the way, Geezer Shi told them to sneak in an afternoon nap during this time and recover their spirits so that they wouldn't be distracted during the afternoon later.

While carrying Yan Zheke's luggage for her, the duo walked shoulder-to-shoulder out of the train station and looked at the slightly gray dark sky. They could smell the near indiscernible smell of coal smoke and fog.

Yimo was an old industrial city, and it was known for its combination of coal and steel industries. Its pollution rating was on the high side.

Minerals were rich here, and the folkways valiant.

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Chapter 127: Not Afraid

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

The sky was foggy, and the sun itself looked a little cold today. Songcheng University Martial Arts Club was heading towards a bus parked at the side of the road with Geezer Shi in the lead. Lou Cheng carried his luggage and dragged Yan Zheke's little luggage with his left hand. His right hand was clasped with the girl's hand, warming her tender palm. They walked at the end of the line and whispered sweet nothings to each other, discussing today's fighting style.

The bus driver opened the driver's door and welcomed them passionately.

"You are Songcheng University Martial Arts Club, right? Are you Coach Shi? I'm Cui, the guy who had you a call just now. I'm responsible for sending you guys over to the arena."

Geezer Shi brought up his call log and gave him a look. After confirming their identities, he let out a soft laugh and said, "Yimo organized themselves pretty well I see. I old man thought we'd have to hitch a lift ourselves."

The outcome was also the puzzlement and pleasant surprise for Lou Cheng and the others. They did not think that there would be specialized welcoming personnel at the station!

The driver said full of smiles, "You give too much praise, Coach Shi. This's a grand occasion for the martial arts world of Yimo. We finally see hope to get out of the divisions of the preliminaries, so everyone is pretty passionate today. The government has purposely sent people over to coordinate and organize things."

"That's true… You Yimo folks have an incredibly rich atmosphere in martial arts, and if we are to speak of overall strength, you have the hope to fight for the top eight spot of the final stage of the preliminaries. The only problem you have is that, tsk, there are too many martial arts school and family inherited martial arts. No one is willing to submit to the other, and so they could only participate as separate entities in the competitions." Geezer Shi did know a little something about Yimo.

The driver nodded vigorously and said, "You are too right, Coach Shi! If Invincible Wei hadn't shown up to start the organization; challenging one martial arts school after another and taking down those seniors and reputable fighters, we Yimo would still be as scattered as a sheet of loose sand. Sigh, even then, 'Fearless Squad' had only gathered at best fifty to sixty percent of talent in one place. If our entire martial arts world were to work together, we would have at least 2 experts of Dan stages and 5 or 6 ones of Professional Ninth Pin!"

"Invincible Wei?" beside Geezer Shi, Sun Jian asked in surprise and curiosity.

The driver chuckled and said, "Wei Shengtian had always been pretty famous here local wise. He won all of his battles as the challenger too, so it could be said that he no longer had a match in the entire Yimo. Therefore, we gave him the nickname 'Invincible Wei.' Do excuse us. Alright, please get up the bus quickly. It's pretty cold outside."

Invincible Wei… while listening to this title, Lou Cheng was suddenly overwhelmed by emotions and yearned to have himself a title like this too.

Yimo governed over three regions and seven counties. Their total population was over five million, and their folkways were leaned towards the intrepid. They had many martial arts school and inheritance too. The mere thought that there was a man who could beat every local fighter in Yimo without a loss and was called Invincible amidst five million people was both fascinating and heroic-sounding.

Plus, I have a small goal of my own. I'd join forces with Lin Que and take down this 'Invincible Wei'!

This place feels almost the same as us Xiushan. There should be a secret government organization there too." Yan Zheke moved her mouth beside Lou Cheng's ear and whispered in a small voice. She was also walking along the corridor to the back row.

Lou Cheng felt an itch in his heart as he felt the girl's breath brushing past his ear. Therefore, he pressed closer to Yan Zheke to whisper, "You are right, Coach Yan! However, our martial arts atmosphere in Xiushan is incomparable to Yimo's, and our fighters' strength is behind theirs too. We are more obedient and respectful to the government…"

While breathing, he noticed that Yan Zheke's cute and delicate ear slowly turning red and a little translucent. It was incredibly attractive.

"Don't come so near to my ear!" Yan Zheke gave him a soft pound before dashing into the seat beside the window.

Lou Cheng sniggered to himself on the inside and took the seat beside the girl for himself without any hesitation at all. He ignored Guo Qing's 'aggrieved' gaze at him.

This time, only the leading players and substitutes who participated in the preliminaries had come on this 'expedition' to beat Yimo. The only other special training member who followed them was Li Xiaowen, who was responsible for logistics. Since the school did not allow for reimbursement of transport fare, and this match was obviously one without hope for ultimate victory, Cai Zongming and the others could not be bothered to be on the move constantly and thus, chose to stay at school.

Yan Zheke suddenly let out a soft laugh after she was seated and glanced at Geezer Shi in front of them. Then, she lowered her head and spoke with a voice as soft as a mosquito's, "Speaking of which, to this day we didn't know what Coach Shi's full name is. We just keep calling him Coach Shi."

"Eh?" Lou Cheng inhaled a cold breath at her words. "She's right!"

Half a year had passed, and yet he, the direct disciple still knew nothing about his own master's full name. He was a little too inattentive, wasn't he?

He repented his sin seriously for a moment before deciding to fetch his master's ticket for him when they were on the return journey. He would take a peek at his identity card!

This wasn't something that he could ask directly. If his master retorted with "I can't believe you still didn't know!", and then he would have to find a hole to hide himself in!

It was at this moment the bus started its engine, and the driver spoke up with a chuckle, "In reality, I have another reason to welcome you today. If you guys try to head in yourself, not only will you not be able to enter the arena probably, you may be put in danger too."

"Can't enter the arena? May be put in danger?" Lou Cheng and the others looked at each other in puzzlement. Geezer Shi was the only experienced person who knew about this and was thus not surprised. He took out his little wine pot and happily began to drink.

"Why can't we go in ourselves?" Guo Qing asked in a loud voice.

The driver chuckled. "You'll understand later."

This wait was twenty minutes long. When the bus arrived outside Yimo City martial arts arena, Lou Cheng saw huge groups of people outside the building. Some were holding little trumpets and blowing it cheerfully, causing the sound to resound throughout the area. Some were hitting the steel fence and other objects nearby, causing a rhythmic pounding sound, looking like they had a lot of excess energy… even at a glance there looked to be several thousands of people outside!

When there were more than ten thousand people at one place, they would look like their numbers were endless. The several thousands of people at the empty space outside the martial arts arena were giving the students of Songcheng University Martial Arts Club a similar feeling. They had all subconsciously held their breaths inside.

Once the crowd awaiting entry noticed the bus driving towards the side entrance, they immediately understood that it was the challenger Songcheng University Martial Arts Club. In an instant, countless audiences rushed over and surrounded the two sides of the bus, leaving behind only a narrow passage in between them. This caused the bus to trod forwards at a snail's pace.

Many faces were pressed next to the bus's windows and they opened their mouths and shouted,

"Get out of here!"

"Get out of here!"

"Get out of here, you leech from Songcheng!"

"Get out of here, your hairless brats!"

The voices penetrated the windows and deafened the ears. Countless mouths opened and closed, revealing the red tongues and white teeth inside. The sight had intimidated Sun Jian, Li Mao and the others who hadn't experienced too much of the world. Facing with the sudden change, they felt as if they were in an apocalypse where they could only rely on the fragile bus to resist against countless zombies. They felt as if their little 'boat' would capsize at any moment and result in them becoming 'devoured.'

"Idiot, believe it or not, we'll end you!"

"Clench your butt and get out of here!"

The crowd grew more and more numerous, and the waves of shouts and swearings rose and subsided like waves. Some people were doing it in great delight, while some people were doing it to vent the emotions they normally kept repressed inside their hearts to the point where even their faces had become distorted. They looked scary enough to scare a child to tears.

It was completely silent inside the car. Everyone including Lou Cheng was a little frightened by this. This was something they had never experienced before, and they had the feeling that the people outside would turn into zombies over one brief argument.

Suddenly, someone rushed beside the slow moving bus and slapped the window intensely with both hands. The window he chose was none other than the one beside Yan Zheke's face!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of rattling glass frightened Yan Zheke so much that she shrank backward and broke out of her trance. She let out a soft cry. The moment Lou Cheng saw this, he forgot his fear and squeezed his way beside the window. He blocked the sight and stood protectively before the girl behind him, staring bravely and firmly right at the man hitting the window. He was poised to attack at any moment.

The man slapping the window was startled by the icy gaze staring at him, and for some reason, he lost a part of his courage. And so he lifted two thumbs instead and turned them down in a scornful gesture.

Lou Cheng was unmoved as he stood guard beside the window. He stretched his left hand back and gripped Yan Zheke's soft arm, feeling her heartbeat slowly returning to the norm.

A long while later, the bus finally reached the side entrance. The security guards rushed over and isolated them from the crowd, escorting Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's people down the bus and straight to the locker room.

It was only then Li Mao and the others recovered and said with lingering fear,

"It's just a preliminary match. Isn't that going a little overboard…"

Hongluo Martial Arts School's home atmosphere was practically kindergarten kids playing house as compared to Yimo's.

The bus driver who accompanied them to the outside of the locker room smiled and said,

"Didn't I tell you earlier? This's a grand occasion for us Yimo martial arts world!"

Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke glanced into each other's eyes once, feeling both a tinge of sweetness and relief at the same time.

Different away-game venue styles truly were so different from one another!

…

Yimo martial arts enthusiasts who failed to purchase a ticket all turned on their televisions on time and watched its live broadcast.

The host said full of smiles, "I'd like to thank the reporters at the front who delivered this scene back to us. It had my blood pumping just now. Yimo's martial arts atmosphere really is pretty good, and everyone is so filled with passion towards the preliminaries this time."

"Alright. We've invited a heavyweight guest caster today, and he shall complete the televised and internet live broadcast of this match with us. He's none other than the famous martial arts commentator, He Xiaowei!"

He Xiaowei's body was round like a Maitreya, and he had a thick beard beneath his chin. Not only did he not look scary, he even looked a little cute too.

"A good day to everyone who's receiving this live broadcast. I'm your old friend, He Xiaowei." He made a bow first before walking beside the host and sitting down.

"Xiaowei, what do you think about today's match?" the host said smilingly.

For this preliminaries, Yimo City had allocated sufficient resources to invite even the nation-famous commentator to their city.

He Xiaowei chuckled.

"What could I think? A stomp of course, this's just a stomp!"

"I don't know if Qiu Yang could participate in the match later, but if he could then this match is 200% a stomp! Even if he couldn't, with Wei Shengtian and Dong Yi around victory is practically in the bag already!"

"There's absolutely no way to turn around a match like this. I refuse to believe that Songcheng University Martial Arts Club could turn this around!"

…

The referee walked up the stage as time pushed forwards and was about to hit 2:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the crowd had all entered the arena already and taking up rows of seat. The vast crowd numbered over ten thousand.

When they saw the referee arriving, the crowd at one side of the spectator's grandstand immediately shouted in an organized fashion,

"Yimo!"

The crowd on another spectator's grandstand shouted loudly in unison,

"Invincible Wei!"

Yimo the Invincible Wei!

…

Inside the away team's locker room, Lou Cheng and the others were startled and awakened by the passionate shouts.

Inside the home team's locker room, Dong Yi wrapped white bandages around his wrist while sighing ruefully at Wei Shengtian.

"What an enviable treatment."

"Brother Dong, as long as you work hard and ascend to Dan stage, there'll be such a day for you too." Wei Shengtian half closed his eyes and enjoyed the roars supporting him.

Dong Yi shook his head and smiled bitterly. "With you at the front, when will my turn ever come?"

He came to a pause after saying this before letting out a sigh, saying,

"That, you'll eventually leave this little circle in Yimo someday."

Wei Shengtian did not answer him. He inhaled deeply and said,

"Today, I'll take vanguard and give them no delusions of victory."

…

"You heard that? Are you envious? Are you afraid?" Geezer Shi glanced across the room once calmly.

Sun Jian could not help but said, "An atmosphere like this could practically kill someone."

"Unfortunately, your strengths aren't sufficient just yet. Otherwise, if you could beat their fighters in such an atmosphere, and if you could beat them so hard that the entire arena falls silent and stifle all of their shouts behind their mouths, now that, it is what I call pleasure." Geezer Shi chuckled. "Improve faster. I'll be waiting for this day!"

His words made Lou Cheng and everyone else feel incredibly pumped. The mere imagination of such a scene caused their bodies to become filled with shiver and desires.

It was at this moment Geezer Shi looked at Lin Que and smiled faintly.

"We're the weaker team, so we must do our best from the very beginning. Fight to win one or two matches and make us look good. You're the captain, so you'll head up first."

"You may meet Wei Shengtian directly at his best condition. Are you afraid?"

Lin Que abruptly looked up and stared straight into Geezer Shi's eyes. His hands subconsciously tightened.

"I'm not afraid!"

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Chapter 128: A Newborn Calf Does Not Fear a Tiger

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Geezer Shi matched eyes with Lin Que for several seconds before he smiled suddenly.

"Good! You should not be afraid! A newborn calf should not be afraid of a tiger!"

After saying this, he looked at Lou Cheng and tightened his fist in a rare gesture and said,

"You'll go second. Lin Que is the hammer who'll make a breakthrough. You're the chisel who follows closely behind him. Even if the enemy is an impenetrable fortress, you'll bore a hole in him!"

Lou Cheng was in the prime of his youth, and he felt spurred by Geezer Shi's words until his blood pumping. He said without hesitation,

"Got it!"

Geezer Shi nodded in satisfaction before clapping once. "As long as we can bore a hole, dampen their spirits and suppress their shouts, and then today's victory is ours. The next time we're here, we'll penetrate this place fair and square!"

"Sun Jian, you'll have to prepare seriously. You'll get the chance to enter the stage today. Perform well."

"Yes, coach!" Sun Jian was both slightly nervous and excited.

The fact that they appeared on stage in such an atmosphere made them felt both nervous and excited.

After he was done raising morale and arranging the order of appearance, Geezer Shi checked his watch and said, "There're still ten minutes, don't be in a hurry to get out yet. Let's do a warm up in the locker room first to pull some muscles and get your body familiarized. I've already talked about fighting style during morning training, so I won't be repeating myself long-windedly."

Lou Cheng assumed a stance and slowly stretched his hands and feet, slowly pushing his status towards a peak. He had cultivated 'Thunder Roar Zen' for over a week, and he had slowly figured out the martial art's threshold. If he wished to deliver the 'Force of Tremors', and then his force must have an 'eruption' process when he was hitting his opponent. Just like how a bomb would hit its enemy before exploding outwards, he would create an impact using a single point to carry over a shockwave.

To complete this point, his force must have a 'withdrawal' and 'compression' process beforehand. Moreover, he must maintain them until he hit his opponent before venting, and he could not unleash it with the usual push and explosive behavior of a punch. This was a great test of his control over his body, muscle and skin.

Thanks to the training he had with Yan Zheke last time, he had gained some understanding on how to 'withdraw' and control. He could not wait for the moment he mastered them thoroughly.

Time passed slowly. His sleeves were tugged, the air flowed slowly, and his mind was clear. Lou Cheng withdrew both arms and stood properly once more, exhaling.

He had just withdrawn his stance before Geezer Shi coughed twice and said,

Alright, get ready to head out."

The rest of the people hurriedly ended their warm up and followed behind Geezer Shi. They walked out of the locker room and stepped into the 'pool of dragons and den of tigers.'

The audiences who numbered over ten thousand let out deafening noises in unison the second they saw them, causing one's heart to jump and their breath to shorten.

"Get out of here!"

"Crawl out of here!"

Despite facing the foul mouthed shouts, Geezer Shi looked relaxed as he strode leisurely towards the front. While clicking his tongue, he said to Lou Cheng and the others, "Do you hear that? If you can shut them up for even a moment, and then today's trip is not in vain!"

Speaking of which, it was strange that his low chuckle clearly entered every preliminaries member's ears despite the deafening noises around them.

Infected by Geezer Shi's easy nonchalance, Lou Cheng made a fist as his expectations for the match later overcame his own fears.

He stretched out his left hand and held Yan Zheke's right hand. He used his own calmness to calm down the girl's heartbeat that had quickened without her realizing it.

Yan Zheke was initially startled. Then, she turned her head around and cast him a glance. There was a smile in her eyes, and a pair of dimples appeared faintly on her face. She held her head high and walked to the front while still holding hands with him like a proud princess.

The crowd had just arrived at the away team's seats when they discovered that Li Xiaowen, the person responsible for submitting the name list to the match supervisor was waiting for them already. She spoke as quickly as a machine gun, "Qiu Yang isn't up. The contestant who replaced him is Tan Ming of Amateur First Pin. Wei Shengtian will take the helm personally with Dong Yi at the second."

The slightly jumbled words caused Lou Cheng and everyone else to become startled. They all looked at Lin Que in unison.

It would seem that the rivals had come face to face with each other!

Lin Que turned his head sideways and looked towards the ring. He slowly pulled off the clothes draped outside his martial arts suit.

The referee glanced at the electronic clock before he summoned the force in his Dantian and spoke with a voice that overcame all the shouts in the entire place.

"The second round of the Songcheng division preliminaries, Fearless Squad versus Songcheng University Martial Arts Club."

"Round one, Wei Shengtian versus Lin Que!"

He had just said this when shouts several times louder than before erupted from the spectator's grandstand,

"Yimo!"

After a short pause, they roared again,

"Invincible Wei!"

Yimo the Invincible Wei!

Lin Que's face was still expressionless as he tossed his coat onto the seat. While walking towards the shouts that filled the entire martial arts arena, he took one step after another to the edge of the ring, climbed up the stone stairs and got on the ring.

Under everyone's cheers, Wei Shengtian also stood up from his seat like half a steel tower and reached the ring in just a couple of large steps.

When both parties had stood still, the referee quietly counted the time and said,

"The three minutes dialogue time begins now."

The surrounding crowd immediately began hurling waves of abuses and greeted Lin Que's ancestors and female relatives. Yan Zheke's face was flushed when she heard the abuses, and she was so angry that even her breathing had grown uneven.

Lou Cheng held her soft hand and sensed the change in her body brought by intense emotions. He shook her hand slightly and said,

"Don't be angry. Just think of them as a bunch of barking mad dogs."

It wasn't that he wasn't pissed off either. He made up his mind on the inside to silence the entire arena even for just a dozen or so seconds!

Yan Zheke pursed her lips and nodded. "I know they're trying to disrupt my cousin's mind. This's a ring match, and one should not be scrupulous about their methods. But, but still! I'm so angry! I've never been yelled at this badly in my life!"

She pouted as she spoke.

"I'll fight to complete my small goal!" Lou Cheng said seriously.

"Ah?" Yan Zheke immediately shook her head like a rattle-drum. "I'm not angry anymore!"

"You have to maintain your state of mind and not be affected by your surroundings, got it?"

"I got it, Coach Yan!" Lou Cheng laughed in a low tone.

Yan Zheke snickered and matched his smile. She had forgotten about the background noises.

After this talk, she had forgotten about her initial nervousness and fears too.

…

On top of the ring, Wei Shengtian stared at Lin Que who was adjusting his physical condition and smiled faintly, saying,

"Your qi and blood is at its vigorous peak, and you are only one step away from achieving Dan stage. How unfortunate. In the end, one step is one step."

"I know that you guys are planning to take one or two rounds of victories so that you may leave Yimo proudly. But I'll not allow you to succeed. I'll personally dispel all of your delusions!"

While speaking, he swayed his head side to side as if stretching his muscles and displaying his scorn.

While listening quietly, Lin Que suddenly said,

"The more you speak, the more you show the fear inside your heart."

"I'm afraid? You think I, as a fighter of Dan stage, am afraid of you, a Professional Ninth Pin? Tell me, on what basis do you think that's true? On what basis?" Wei Shengtian was both amused and annoyed as he snorted disdainfully at Lin Que's words.

However, Lin Que no longer said anything from the opposite side of the ring. Just like a Buddha that was carved from stone, he did not show any signs of emotions at all no matter how Wei Shengtian tried to provoke him.

After taunting for two full minutes, Wei Shengtian suddenly came to a stop. It was because he discovered that he had grown a little flighty and impetuous.

His opponent had only spoken up once, but somehow he managed to make him flighty and impetuous!

His grasp of the human mind is pretty good, I see…

Wei Shengtian withdrew his mind, adjusted his mind and restored himself to his usual state. It was at this moment the referee raised his right hand and shouted loudly,

"Begin! "

There was a flash in Wei Shengtian's eyes, and with a bow-like back he darted away from the ground and shot towards Lin Que. The muscles all over his body bulged, and he looked as if he was a little taller and bigger than he should be. He raised his right hand and formed a fist, looking like he was holding a giant hammer over his head. He looked like he would swing downward at any moment and blow away any enemy standing in his way!

Lin Que did not attempt to forcibly defend himself against Wei Shengtian who was charging towards him like a giant spirit statue. Instead, he suddenly retreated backward.

Normally speaking, a fighter would not dodge like this. This was because they could not see the path behind them, and it was difficult to maintain their own center of gravity. This was the equivalent of putting them in an unfavorable position. However, Lin Que was like an agile mountain goat whose footwork was quick and orderly rhythmic. His center of gravity was steadily maintained.

Even more important was the fact that he had 'retreated' so he could move 'forwards'!

He retreated three steps in a row, forcing Wei Shengtian to chase three steps further for him. When Wei Shengtian's imposing energy was starting to subside, Lin Que suddenly paused like a nail that was nailed deeply on the spot. He put strength beneath his legs, twisted his back and threw out a Mountain Blast Punch loudly with his right hand.

Confident in his abilities, Wei Shengtian's hammer-like right hand did not change its course and continued to smash fiercely towards Lin Que.

The Hammer That Opens Mountains!

Bang!

The duo had just clashed against one another when Lin Que's back abruptly wriggled like a turning dragon. His right arm withdrew itself like a spring and borrowed a tremendous amount of force from his opponent. If the end of a lever was pressed down, the other end would most certain rose upward then. His temple bulged, and his back twisted. He formed a fist with his left hand and punched out as quickly as a meteor.

Unable to dodge in time, Wei Shengtian lowered his shoulders and raised his left arm horizontally in defense in front of him, blocking the punch.

Bang! Wei Shengtian felt as if a bomb blasted him. He felt as if every joint of his bones, every inch of his skin and every piece of flesh in his body was shaking. For a short time, he wasn't able to summon his strength.

Yin-yang Twist and Meteor Force!

Lin Que was afraid that his own strength wasn't enough to shake Wei Shengtian, so he had purposely taken the risk to execute 'Yin-yang Twist' and borrowed a portion of the enemy's strength!

Wei Shengtian had watched Lin Que's earlier match video before, but because he had dispatched his Amateur First Pin opponent instantly, he wasn't able to glean anything from it at all. As such, he actually fell for the trick.

Lin Que did not relax just because he had scored a successful strike. Seeing that Wei Shengtian had turned stiff, he clenched his thighs and whipped out his right leg towards the spot between Wei Shengtian's legs with a bang.

The surrounding abuses grew even more intense when the crowd saw this.

At a critical moment, Wei Shengtian's body abruptly withdrew unto itself as his spirit, qi and blood, aura and strength seemed to condense into a single entity and wrapped unto itself into a big dan that was round and flawless. He stopped shaking.

An instant later, his strength erupted and gushed out from a single point of his body. His right leg kicked outward to block Lin Que's whip kick.

Bang! The two legs clashed, and Lin Que immediately sensed a tremendous amount of strength from his opposition. He could no longer maintain his center of gravity, so he let the energy wash over him as stumbled backward.

Despite such a tremendous eruption of power, Wei Shengtian's feet actually did not break the ground surface or his martial arts shoes. One could see that his control over his own body had reached a terrifying stage.

Scoring a blow, he mercilessly stepped downwards and dashed abruptly towards Lin Que. In the blink of an eye, he had made it in front of Lin Que as he bulged up his muscles, wanting to ram into the opponent fiercely using his entire body as a giant hammer.

Body Hammer Pound!

Lin Que had just stabilized his center of gravity before he was immediately met with the attack. His situation looked precarious, and the attack seemed impossible to dodge. Yan Zheke was so nervous she could not help but tighten her grip over Lou Cheng's palm and hold her breath.

It was at this moment Lin Que instantly visualized the image of a meteor crossing through the sky and slamming into the ground. His muscles abruptly tightened, and a force abruptly exploded inside his body and pushed him two steps to the side. The dodge made Wei Shengtian missed and exploded only the air.

'Meteor Force' could be used on more than just attacks!

After dodging Wei Shengtian's Body Hammer Pound by the skin of his teeth, Lin Que chose not to turn around and instead pushed with both his legs, tightened his right arm and whip towards the back of Wei Shengtian's head at the side.

Pop!

Forget Bright Stone Force. Even an actual rock would be whipped into pieces under such a fierce whip strike!

The audiences subconsciously clenched their fists.

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