Martial Arts Master

The shouting voice pierced into the door of the locker room, in which all the resting fighters were cheered up and also began roaring in their mind.

When they were looking at each other in excitement, Geezer Shi coughed to attract their attention,

“Now it’s time to arrange the fighting order. Lou Cheng, you’re today’s anchor and join in the third round.”

“Me?” Lou Cheng was surprised.

Isn’t my Brother-in-law supposed to be the anchor and thus compensate for the game he lost last year?

I’ve even prepared to play with my towel on the substitute bench!

At the same time, Lin Que stepped forward and volunteered, “Coach, let me fight!”

Geezer Shi smiled, “Still obsessing about the game last year? Why do you even bother to remember someone of low level like him? It’s good to have the desire to win but don’t lower down yourself. Ok, that’s it. You’ll be the anchor last week.”

He made up his mind without leaving Lin Que a chance to say any more.

It was rare that Lin Que ever made some requests. He became even quieter with mouth closed tightly.

Geezer Shi looked around, took a sip of his wine and then said with a smile, “You all see it that Yan’s performance was the best during this period of training. Oh, forget those two guys, they are abnormal! So if Yan be the leading player, I guess there is no one against it?”

It was the first time that Coach Shi praised Yan Zheke publicly. Being too happy to hide her joy, the girl turned her gaze at Lou Cheng and nipped his hand secretly.

I’m so happy!

Yeah, it was only when Coach Shi gave me the compliments that he turned serious!

Obviously the Internal Training Methods had been helping Yan Zheke to make rapid progress, so all the team members shook their head to show they had no objections.

No one dared to lie about the truth since offending Yan Zheke was equal to offending Lou Cheng!

What they didn’t know was that offending Yan Zheke was also equal to offending Lin Que.

“You’re the first to fight today, just try your best in the purpose of improving yourself. Don’t worry, there are always someone supporting you.” Geezer Shi told her.

“Yes! Coach Shi!” Yan Zheke folded her legs and straightened herself to stand like a soldier. But her cute tone with excitement in it immediately gave her away.

Geezer Shi shook his head with a smile, for the girl’s action reminded him of what his daughter looked like at Yan Zheke’s age. Sighing slightly, he turned and asked Li Mao, “Are you confident enough to be the second one?”

Though Li Mao used to get nervous in the arena, he had almost gotten it over after so many actual combats and matches. Not to mention that he got Lou Cheng’s help this time, which thoroughly took the load off his mind. So Li Mao replied loudly,

“No problem!”

Though I’ve stood up from where I fall, I still want to challenge the gully that defeated me!

After arranging the order of leading players, Geezer Shi said while pointing at his team members casually,

“As for the substitute, I’ll put them in rank order and old members first, okay?”

“Sun Jian, Lin Hua, Cai Zongming”

According to the rule of this University Martial Arts Competition, which was slightly different from the former one, at most nine fighters were permitted to enter one locker room, and it was the capacity of a team. Besides, the number of substitutes was also restricted to three.

Hearing his name being announced, Sun Jian felt a little depressed, “You see, you’re really a substitute now… ” He said to himself.

Sun Jian hadn’t reached the stage of meditation yet and already fallen behind Yan Zheke and Li Mao. Maybe Cai Zongming would also surpass him within the next year.

On the other side, Guo Qing was even more depressed, feeling she was now placed in an awkward position in the Martial Arts Club. Not only did she fail to be a leading player, she was even not in the substitute list. What was sadder was that, considering her rank, she wouldn’t have been in the team if the coach hadn’t given consideration to elder members!

As for the new members He Zi and Wang Dali, they were curious about the locker room and kept recording everything with their eyes as if they were cameras. Obviously, they had no negative emotions at all.

Cai Zongming sighed with emotion and whispered, “Our preparation is in vain.”

“What preparation?” asked Lou Cheng, full of curiosity.

“I’ve made full preparation for the chat time before competition,” Cai Zongming sighed, “What a pity that my great victory is going to be postponed.”

Lou Cheng rolled his eyes at Cai Zongming. “You’re over thinking… ”

While they were satirizing each other, Geezer Shi let Jiang Fusheng write down their leading players and substitutes’ name and hand the list over to the competition monitor.

After no more than one minute, he applauded and said,

“Alright, let’s get out there!”

When they reached the entrance, Lou Cheng asked Geezer Shi with lowered voice,

“Master, there won’t be much difference whether Lin Que or I join in this round, so why must you stop him?”

It was so confusing and even coach Yan was wondering the reason.

Geezer Shi let out a “heh” and said,

“Haven’t you heard the saying that the hardest thing is usually easy to break off?”

“You are refining Lin Que?” Lou Cheng suddenly realized Geezer Shi’s attempt.

Geezer Shi smiled, “He should learn to soften his character, or else he might one day break himself off. Since great changes may trouble him, I have to refine his character from all these small aspects.”

“I see.” Lou Cheng took two steps back and came to Yan Zheke’s side, and then he told the girl what Geezer Shi had said.

After several seconds of silence, Yan Zheke sighed,

“My brother is too harsh to himself.”

Suddenly the door of the locker room was opened and all the shouts and cheering outside poured into everyone’s eyes, igniting their passion.

“Songcheng University! Songcheng University!”

At this moment, students outside saw Lou Cheng and his team members, which fueled their cheering as if they had made a burst.

“We’re coming!”

Lou Cheng blinked his eyes and then turned to look at Yan Zheke, from whose eyes he could read the same thoughts as him.

National University Martial Arts Competitions, we’re coming!

…

There was no broadcasting or webcast of competition at this level, and even no reporters recording the process. Only Shu Rui was recording something with the help of her team as a preparation for her show.

Standing at the edge of the stands, enjoying the cheering wave came from the crazy audiences, she could not help sighing with emotion,

“It’s so nice to be young… ”

I’ve once spend my youth on such things like them!

However, now she was a woman fighting to survive, to maintain her romance in reality, to see her future more clearly and to keep a good relationship with others. All the business wore her out and swallowed up almost all her young dreams.

But it might be a good choice to give vent to her pessimistic feelings and thoughts… Shu Rui felt her blood also began burning like the other youth, and she even wanted to follow her feeling to yell and scream, forgetting the reality.

Not far near her, Li Liantong and the other members had already raised their hands to make a Mexican wave. In a farther place, Zhao Qiang and others were also yelling with a flushing face regardless of their usual urbanity.

…

In the locker room of the guest team.

Hearing the cheering outside, which recalled him of the previous match, Gu Yue suddenly thought of a saying,

“Times have changed.”

Taking a glance at his father, he spoke first, “As the accepted practice, I’ll join in the first round and you decide your own orders. Let’s have fun, even if we are doomed to lose the game.”

Obviously the last fighter of Songcheng University would be Lou Cheng or Lin Que in order to give their substitutes enough chances to practice in actual combat. So Gu Yue and his team were able to take a breath in the first few games. Considering all this, he should appoint Ji Lan as the vanguard to gain more experience from joining in more game, and thus make a contribution to the upgrading of our Martial Arts Club. However, he was a senior student now and wanted to graduate from school with the honor he deserved, so he was eager to draw a perfect conclusion to his school life with a great victory in the last Martial Arts Competition.

It would not be called a failure if he lost the game to Lin Que or Lou Cheng after winning two rounds!

Fei Sanli encountered a tough group in the Ranking Event two weeks before and failed to advance, which made him depressed and unwilling to discuss Gu Yue’s arrangement with the other members. Taking a glance at Ji Lan, he accepted it in silence.

As for Ji Lan, she actually did not care about the arrangement and just wanted to gain more experience of fighting against mighty ones of Dan stage

They stood up one by one to leave the locker room, but the momentum of last year’s competition was hardly to be seen in them.

…

After calling the leading players and substitutes name along with the broadcast, the referee went onto the arena, make a gesture to stop the excited crowds and announced loudly,

“Competition between Songcheng University Martial Arts Club and Guannan School Martial Arts Club, round one.”

“Yan Zheke versus Gu Yue!”

Upon hearing the impressive beauty’s name, a new wave of cheering and vuvuzela burst out from the stands.

“Fighting against Gu Yue…” Lou Cheng gave Yan Zheke a smile without leaking his worries, “Your challenge comes.”

“Yeah!” Yan Zheke nodded with a serious look. Then she stood up, gave Lou Cheng, Lin Que and other fellows five, and then walked toward the arena.

The charming girl had put up her hair to show her bright eyes and white teeth.

Gu Yue had never expected that his first opponent would be this girl and was stunned for a moment. When he regained consciousness, he saw Yan Zheke standing in front of him and the referee’s raised hand.

“The talk time starts.”

“According to the collected information of Yan Zheke, she was just of Amateur Twice Pin but she was absent from the Ranking Event this September… Now that she replaced Sun Jian, who was of Amateur First Pin, to join in the first round, she should be at least an Amateur-First-Pin fighter and even higher than that… She looked graceful as a well-educated girl who didn’t know how to quarrel with others and was easy to be influence by opponent’s words… ” As the thoughts flashed through Gu Yue’s mind, he laughed deliberately.

“Though there are lots of female physical-invulnerability warriors, I have to say that the arena belongs to men and you women had better come home for housework! Special case is after a special case!”

Yan Zheke was immediately annoyed by him and was about to argue back. However, she calmed down before acting as she knew Gu Yue would not debate with her peacefully. When it came to cursing and calling someone’s names, she could not even match a pupil.

He was so disgusting!

Obviously he is being unreasonable!

Taking a deep breath, Yan Zheke closed her eyes to calm herself down regardless of Gu Yue’s continuous taunt. Then she began reciting in her mind a sentence Lou Cheng often told her.

It’s a competition of martial arts, not a debate. It’s a competition of martial arts, not a debate. It’s a competition of martial arts, not a debate…

When Gu Yue realized the pretty girl was not affected by his words, he stopped talking. The three minutes was nearly up.

Yan Zheke opened her eyes as she had adjusted the body condition to its peak.

The referee looked at the electronic clock and raised his right hand. Then he swung it down with great force before announcing.

“Start!”

The National University Martial Arts Competitions started!