Martial Arts Master

“Sequela? What’s there to fear? It’s all good as long as he lives! How severe can it be as compared to mine?” Geezer Shi scoffed at Li Waide’s reminder. He appeared to be very confident, not giving away any signs of apprehension.

Currently, the old Ji couple, Dragon King, Empress Luo, and the girly’s parents are all present. As the master, I have to keep up my silly disciple’s appearances so they don’t develop any bad connotations!

“Stop cursing little martial brother, Dad…” said Shi Yue conflictedly.

At that time, if the military-researched subproduct had not been able to suppress your wounds by chance, you wouldn’t be up and above right now!

“Don’t say that. It’s merely a possibility, and it’s not like it would definitely manifest,” Ning Zitong chimed in.

Yan Zheke inhaled and glanced into the operation room. In a room filled with the atmosphere of Physical Invulnerability Mighty Ones, she bit her lips, declaring firmly, “It doesn’t matter even if some form of infection develops. Technology is advancing, and so is martial arts. As long as he is alive, there is always hope. As long as he lives, there’s always the possibility of making a full recovery!

This was what she used to console Cheng with when he was fretting over Geezer Shi’s old wounds. Presently, she was saying it to both herself and Cheng who was lying unconscious, as well as her parents and grandparents.

Geezer Shi was slightly surprised. He wasn’t expecting Yan Zheke to be so composed at such a trying time. Her speech was guided by a clear objective, and she was not at all disoriented from sadness.

Mhm. The girly is gentle on the outside but tough on the inside. A decisive one… He nodded in approval. He turned to Chen Qitao. “Dragon King, we should head down to the scene and see if we can find any clues.”

“Ok.” Impassive, Chen Qitao nodded in a dignified manner. He was initially sitting and meditating on the long bench, but at some point in time he had risen up and was presently standing at the edge of the crowd.

After that, Shi Yue, along with Yan Zheke, Ji Mingyu, and Yan Kai stayed at the hospital to keep watch. To prevent any more incidents from happening, they guarded the ICU where Lou Cheng rested. Ji Jianzhang, Dou Ning, and Empress Luo all followed Geezer Shi and Dragon King to the B1 parking lot in Sky Moon Martial Arts Stadium.

At the place where the battle happened, a pillar lay broken, and some walls had completely collapsed. The ground was bestrewn with fragments of concrete and rebar, some with conspicuous burn marks, bespeaking the intensity of the battle.

The lift was destroyed beyond recognition, with twisted and deformed metal sticking out and jamming the lift at the level. However, whenever there were movements, the lift would shake unsteadily, as though it might fall to the bottom at any time.

“The final explosion had destroyed most of the traces of battle,” the military personnel explained nervously. The pressure from the gloomy Physical Invulnerability Mighty Ones was insane!

“An explosion of such magnitude and range is not easy. Not even by the ones in my league, unless it’s a last-ditch attempt for survival,” said Dou Ning, Yan Zheke’s maternal grandmother after pondering.

She looked 40-something at most, and her features were similar to Ji Mingyu, but gentler. She also had a more elegant air.

“The work of a Physical Invulnerability Mighty One?” inquired the military personnel.

But if it was done by a Physical Invulnerability Mighty One, how could he have died against a ‘mere’ Inhuman Mighty One?

“The power was not concentrated and the impact is scattered,” said Dragon King, the explosion specialist, with a hint of contempt. “He has the appearance of a Physical Invulnerability Mighty One but lacks the skills of one.”

“Then he might not have been a martial artist,” mused Ji Jianzhang, Yan Zheke’s grandfather, as he nodded thoughtfully.

Though he seemed scholarly and had the air of a retired and enlightened expert, he was once an assassin that roamed the Jiandan war-torn areas. In his time, he had seen many experts of different martial art systems and all sorts of strange sects.

Geezer Shi exchanged a look with Ning Zitong. This point alone had given them a vague idea.

He coughed. “Have you discovered anything from the assaulter’s belongings in the hotel?”

“He probably planned on fleeing once he succeeded and did not have any intention of returning to the hotel. There was nothing of importance among the items he discarded. There were hand-drawn maps of Martial Arts Stadiums such as Guanhai and Sky Moon, and the distribution layout of security cameras, suggesting that he had scouted the grounds multiple times… There was also a laptop that had been cleaned up. We performed data recovery and found certain contents—traces of surfing the net in Huacheng and research about Lou Cheng, and also browsing history in travel forums, which could likely be linked to his contingent hiding plans…” reported the military personnel.

Sadly, there was no use in these analyses, since Ge Hui was killed in action and failed to escape!

“It’s hard to tell his motives from these…” said Dou Ning, knitting her brows.

“If nothing else can be done, I’ll make a trip to Europe and pay a visit to the Samanno Royal Family. Their Princess Irina should know a thing or two,” said Dragon King evenly.

His words, however, sent a chill down the military personnel’s spine.

I will make you spit out what you know whether you like it or not!

Understanding the significance of those words, he quickly added, “We extracted the genes from the assaulter’s incomplete body, and we are currently running analyses and comparisons. His identity, whether he was a martial artist, or a fighter or whatsoever, will be revealed in no time.”

When someone enters the Inhuman stage, their genes undergo mutation to produce supernatural abilities. Every sect in the world had different stages in martial arts, but the difference at this particular stage was small. But with different methods of practicing, the gene mutation had unique features that could be identified through a primary analysis.

“Ok,” said Chen Qitao, turning taciturn. He scanned around the severely damaged scene, studying the details once more.

Being obstinate and meticulous was one of the key reasons for his success.

…

Yan Xiaoling logged into the forum that night, asking excitedly, “Is that name list for the next match released yet? Is it? Is ittttt?”

“Take a chill pill, please! There’s five minutes before the announcement,” replied Brahman, who presently had ample time to surf the net.

“I’m just making sure that they didn’t announce it in advance! [peeling petals off a flower]” replied Yan Xiaoling.

Their discussion went on for a while. Glimpsing at the bottom right corner of her screen, she hit the refresh button on the Battle of the Kings official webpage. A news banner caught her eyes.

“Lou Cheng retires due to injuries.”

Huh? Panicking, she clicked on it, only to find a few more words than what was written in the title.

“Lou Cheng has retired from this year’s Battle of the Kings and will not be participating any further due to injuries.”

“What’s going on? What’s going on?” asked Yan Xiaoling desperately as she posted the link to the news. She was no longer in the mood to type in a cutesy way.

“The shorter the news, the more severe the incident! [inhales sharply]” replied ‘Bull Demon King’.

“Don’t make me hit you!” replied Brahman and Nie Qiqi at the same time.

“How did Lou Cheng get injured? Could it be from fighting with Zhi Tong the other day? Perhaps the godly fists from Daxing Temple have a delayed effect, causing an internal injury that didn’t manifest until now?” asked ‘A Plumber Eating Mushroom’, who was equally baffled.

“How’s that possible? If Zhi Tong had such abilities, he would have been bragging about it from way back!” retorted ‘Unparalleled Dragon King’. “Perhaps the Daxing Temple had exacted personal revenge? But if that’s the case, Dragon King would be furious! Or perhaps, Lou Cheng’s buggy combos exceeded the limits of his body? Of course, it could have also been a blunder when he was practicing martial arts…”

‘Unparalleled Dragon King’ made many guesses, but none of them were concrete. Yan Xiaoling picked up her phone in a panic, logged out of the QQ group, and looked for “Big Sister Yan”. Typing frantically, she asked, “Big sister, big sister, what happened to Lou Cheng?”

She was fairly intimate with Yan Zheke and kept in close touch with her.

Before long, with her passable EQ, she realized that her words weren’t exactly appropriate.

Lou Cheng’s injuries must have saddened Big Sister Yan deeply, having me asking like this is like adding insult to the injury!

Realizing that, she tried to withdraw the message but failed miserably.

Forget it, it’s not as if I had any ill intentions! Yan Xiaoling thought optimistically as she waited for a reply, but Yan Zheke never came online.

…

In the ‘Lunch at Linfu’ discussion group, Ann Chaoyang sent the news of ‘Lou Cheng retiring due to injuries’, then added, “According to my master, Lou Cheng is now in a stable condition.”

There were many witnesses at the crime scene, and it was already too late when Dragon King caught wind and issued the order to prevent the word from spreading. The Inhuman Martial Artists who were currently in Linhai—the ones with decent social status or had many connections—had mostly heard about the news. It was only because they didn’t want to anger Dragon King that no one posted it online.

“Thank goodness. I knew he wouldn’t die so easily,” replied the Physics Worker, Peng Leyun, at once.

Ren Li assented his words, then asked, “When can we visit him?”

“Let’s wait for him to regain consciousness. We can only wait,” Peng Leyun replied after thinking.

“Right. Things have not been settled, and currently, he’s probably under protection. Even if we go now, we might not be able to see him,” said Ann Chaoyang, thinking from another perspective. He then asked with great interest. “According to rumors, Lou Cheng killed a Physical Invulnerability Mighty One this time?”

This was unbelievable!

“Not a Physical Invulnerability Mighty One. Just a practitioner from another martial arts system that displayed features of Physical Invulnerability,” Ren Li answered seriously based on what she knew.

“Still, that is incredible. To think that our Silly Husky, a guy who seemed to be wagging his tail whenever he was on his phone, came out on top in a mortal combat despite being the underdog. His mentality and determination are off the charts! If the fight was between him and I, I would probably be the one dead…” said Peng Leyun sentimentally.

“When I approach Physical Invulnerability, I’m planning to train in the war-torn zones for half a year to accumulate experience in actual combat,” said Ren Li eagerly. It had been her plan from the start. “What about you?”

“Me? Have you ever seen a physicist going into a battlefield?” Peng Leyun asked with amusement.

“It’s not as if others will go along with your wishes of not ever being in a mortal combat. No one can be certain about accidents. What happened to Silly Husky is the best example. It’s better to take the initiative to throw yourself into such fights and gain experience, rather than doing nothing and panicking during a surprise assault. It will at least prepare you for such situations,” explained Ren Li.

Peng Leyun was silent for a moment. “You do have a point there.”

“I need to learn from Silly Husky too!” assented Ann Chaoyang.

A few seconds later, Peng Leyun sent a blank-face sticker, saying, “Can Silly Husky see our chat history?”

“That goes without a doubt,” answered Ann Chaoyang with a baffled expression.

“What would he think about his nickname—’Silly Husky’? [sighs while covering face]” replied Peng Leyun.

Ann Chaoyang froze. Since Lou Cheng wasn’t present, they had inadvertently used ‘Silly Husky’.

“Would it work if we delete our chat histories?” Ren Li asked meekly.

“Nah… It’s not like we can delete his chat…” Ann Chaoyang replied helplessly

“Hipster, delete this group…perhaps that will work…” said Peng Leyun in a last-ditch attempt.

…

The darkness was beginning to fade. Lou Cheng, in search of light, mustered all of his strength to open his eyelids.

After some trying attempts, he finally saw a blurry scene as his perceptions of the surroundings returned to him.

His vision was beginning to become clearer. That’s when he heard hurried footsteps. In the reflection of his eyes came Yan Zheke’s pretty face, her body sprinkled with sunlight that ruddied her exquisite pallor and made her eyes glimmer.

I am alive. I can still see Ke Ke… Lou Cheng’s lips slowly curved into a smile.

“You are awake?” asked Yan Zheke, shocked and surprised. She didn’t dare to raise her volume in fear that Cheng would lose consciousness again.

After the question, she whirled her eyes and blurted, subconsciously, “What are you laughing about!?”

He’s giving me a silly grin right after waking up! Could it be that his brain isn’t functioning properly?!

“I was really afraid. Afraid that hell would be waiting for me when I opened my eyes. Thank goodness I’m seeing, seeing my little fairy…” said Lou Cheng rather breathlessly in a voice so hoarse it scared himself.

Yan Zheke’s eyes reddened. She violently turned her head to the side and wiped at her tears, chiding, “Nonsense!”

Don’t even think about hell or whatsoever!

She quickly turned and asked, “How are you feeling?”

She didn’t wipe away her tears properly. Now she looked like a little calico kitten… Lou Cheng stared blankly, trying to focus. Still feeling dizzy, he barely managed to complete his Ice Mirror and enter the state of Self-reflection.

“It feels like I have been run over by a ten-wheeled truck…” he smiled bitterly as he examined his insides. “It would take at least twenty to thirty days before, before I could be up and about. I would definitely need at least a year, a year or two, to recover. Also, I’m feeling odd, oddly fatigued. Fatigue that stems from my very core…”

He reported what he saw in his body truthfully.

“Whew, that’s alright. You will recover in time!” said Yan Zheke, elated and relieved. Suddenly, she made an ai-ya sound. “I forgot to ask for the doctor and update Coach Shi and my grandparents!”

She stood up, walking out of the door, and busied herself, finally conveying the news to Geezer Shi and Dou Ning, who then related it to their parents and other Physical Invulnerability Mighty Ones.

Lou Cheng smiled as she danced in and out. His heart was at peace. When the doctor had performed checks on him and left, he suddenly said in a rasping voice, “Ke Ke, I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for? You are the victim here!” chided Yan Zheke with widening eyes.

Lou Cheng turned his head to her with great difficulty, then said, earnestly and gravely, “I have been keeping a secret from you. It was the trigger to this incident.”

I have been hiding this knot in my heart for too long.