Martial Arts Master

In the last few days, Wu Dong had been feeling annoyed. Agitated by the short-haired young man, he slowly nodded after a few seconds of silence. “Okay, I’ll be on the lookout.”

“Deal!” The short-haired youth stood up and started to stretch his body.

The man with tattoos laid down his beer and asked with great caution. “Is he any good? Of which amateur level?

Wu Dong laughed and said, “Don’t worry. He’s new to martial arts, of no level. One of you would be more than enough to teach him a lesson.”

The short-haired youth and the tattooed man both left school early to join a gang. Fights were nothing new to them and they had picked up some martial arts basics. To rise in the gang, they consciously kept Chen Changhua and Wu Dong in their company to learn proper martial arts moves. In the past two years, besides booze and drugs, gambling and whores, they did put a decent amount of time and effort into training and practice and had reached the level of Amateur Seventh Pin. Wu Dong seemed confident that they were superior to Lou Cheng.

“Piece of cake, then? Brother Dong, we won’t disappoint you!” The short-haired youth scoffed.

The tattooed man thought for a while. “Hold on. Any of you can put on a northeastern accent? Teach me a line or two.”

“Ahh?” Wu Dong and the short-haired man didn’t get it.

The tattooed man went on to explain. “After all, Songcheng University is the best university in the city, with a reputation across the country. We could easily get in trouble for starting a fight here. Yeah, we will be measured, but never say never. What if some professor happens to pass by? Now it’s dark, and hard to see faces. If I put on some northeastern accent, no way we can be traced in case something goes wrong. Right?”

“Right. Right!” Wu Dong was very afraid of being implicated if they got caught.

The short-haired man seemed still puzzled. “What kind of professor would pass by here at this hour?”

“Isn’t it the perfect hour to date a young, fresh student?” The tattooed man answered with a leer.

…

Along the lakeside trail, Lou Cheng was jogging toward his usual spot for stance training. Half of the Weishui Lake was lit by lights from the living quarters and teaching buildings, glittering like a silver sea, whereas the other half was soaked in darkness and tranquility with the reflection of a few street lamps allowing lovers to meet secretly. Lou Cheng was in the dark as well.

Observing was a common habit for all martial artists. After a period of hard training, he had integrated it into his instinct. Noticing two shadows coming out of the lakeside grove while running, he subconsciously took an extra look.

The tattooed man shouted loud, “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing, my bad,” replied Lou Cheng meekly as he didn’t expect a quarrel from a brief gaze and wanted no trouble.

Martial arts could bolster up one’s gut. He was just looking forward to saving his beauty from some rogues. However, when trouble befell, one’s true personality and usual practice would still dominate. As Geezer Shi said, militancy and violence could not play the major part in this rule of law society. A martial artist should neither be a coward nor a troublemaker.

“Damn you! Watch your mouth…” These were the only two dialectal lines the tattooed youth learned. Afraid of being recognized, he signaled to the short-haired man to block Lou Cheng’s advance while he moved to burn his bridge.

Lou Cheng was no fool. Their aggressive behaviors echoed in his mind and soon he came to the realization, “They are here to cause trouble!”

The way they were approaching from two sides was better than the Amateur Ninth Pin level.

The ordinary people with interests in martial arts usually paid no attention to footwork. Those who could maintain their proper foot moves in a fight must be pros.

The distance between them was close enough for a fight to begin at any second. Right before the short-haired youth’s palm fell on Lou Cheng’s face, Lou Cheng suddenly dodged sideways and paced up towards the woods.

He ran into the woods…

He ran…

Ran…

The short-haired youth and the tattooed man looked at each other in shock. Did the guy run already?

According to their experience, a conflict was usually followed by a quarrel. When violence became obvious, the cowardly would beg for mercy while the hot-blooded would fight until a bitter defeat. But that guy ran like a rabbit after merely three words.

Damn! “Run? Where can you run!” The two recovered from the shock and started their chase after Lou Cheng. Their faces were twisted with shame.

Under a hot pursuit, Lou Cheng dared not slow down, dodging among trees in the grove that he had learned by heart. Soon he got out of the woods and arrived at a trail usually used in his regular endurance training.

The trail connected the teaching buildings and a small hill of ten meters in height, where the biggest library of the city was established. The path would circle the hill and continue onto the widespread western region under construction. Lou Cheng took a turn and ran toward the hill.

The two young men were thrilled to see Lou Cheng heading toward the hill as they came out of the woods.

“The guy couldn’t have picked a better route!”

If he headed toward the teaching buildings, for certain the two wouldn’t approach further. However, he went for the quiet hill, a great place to give him some good kicks!

As the two traversed the grove, Wu Dong could sit still no longer. He was concerned that the enraged two would get in some serious trouble and somehow get him involved, so he quietly followed behind.

Lou Cheng ran and ran with them in pursuit behind. The distance between them grew bigger and bigger as the two loafers got worn out. Both of them started to feel like quitting the chase.

“Damn! I once could run five blocks in one breath!”

At this time, they noticed Lou Cheng’s slowing down and shared a look of excitement and cruelty.

“We can’t run anymore, but neither can that guy!”

“Hang on there and we’ll catch him and give him a good lesson!”

They threw out their last strength and made it to the wasteland of the West District on another side of the hill. The distance between them seemed shortened little by little until the short-haired youth could run no more. He stopped and panted heavily.

“Bloody hell! This… this boy… really… can run… ”

The tattooed man also stopped not far ahead. He bent over with his hands on his knees for support and watched Lou Cheng’s figure get smaller.

“This run… I… My hands… Soft… My legs…” Words jumped out of his mouth as his chest heaved violently.

Wu Dong caught up with them, also panting and sweating. Seeing them standing still, he seemed to lose his breath and to be about to vomit.

“Forget… Forget about it… No point… A waste of time…” Cigarettes had harmed his lung, the core of endurance exercises. After such a long run, Wu Dong was close to fainting.

His voice was still in the air when he saw the dark figure of Lou Cheng running through the desolated area toward them.

“You…” The tattooed youth and the short-haired man both squeezed out a sound amidst their heavy breathing.

“How dare this guy come back?”

Fixing their eyes on Lou Cheng, they noticed how calm his face and breath was with no signs of weariness from the long run.

“Damn! What kind of monster is this?” The two loafers looked terrified.

Looking at the three with a smile on his face, Lou Cheng suddenly stepped up and threw a powerful punch with strength streaming from his feet all the way up to his fist at the short-haired man’s chest.

The short-haired man attempted to dodge but with no strength left in his legs he couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the punch.

Bam!

The short-haired man was hit at the Danzhong point, which is close to the bottom part of the sternum. His bones ached, and his breath nearly stopped. As he took two steps back, Lou Cheng advanced closely. He grabbed his shoulders and kicked his leg before throwing him at the tattooed youth who was coming up to join the fight. His legs sank under him, dragging his body to the ground.

Lou Cheng surely wouldn’t miss this opportunity. He took a step forward and twisted his waist to launch a whip kick at the tattooed man’s left shin bone.

“Ahh!”

The tattoo youth gave a horrible shriek. The bone was not broken but the pain was enough to keep him on the ground and out of this fight.

After taking care of them, Lou Cheng turned to Wu Dong with a slight smile.

“So Brother Wu wants to give me a lesson. Please grant instructions, then.”

Malicious and gloomy, Wu Dong gasped, “I… I’m tired. Aren’t you? We are about the same!

I am of the Amateur Two Pin level! Who the heck are you?”

“Sorry, but I’m not tired at all…” Lou Cheng got in the Fighting Stance calmly with itch and fire in his eyes.

According to their master, although Wu Dong was an Amateur Second Pin, his body had suffered severe effects due to the abuse of booze and smoke. Besides, he was worn out and out of breath at that very moment. How could a martial arts student as Lou Cheng miss this chance to challenge him?