Martial Arts Master

As their eyes met in the distance, like an ignited engine, Lou Cheng’s fighting spirit was fired up. The initial regret that he felt disappeared.

“Yes, Zhou Yuanning have left the martial arts world for a few years and is no longer as formidable as he was during his prime. Plus, he has already fought for a day, with continuous matches. His physical stamina should be almost depleted. With his fatigue levels at their peaks, he will be unable to recover fully anytime soon. With such handicap, why should I be afraid to challenge and fight him? Why do I have to pin hopes on Wang Ye injuring him further?

No!

Such battles are not for me!

It is good that he was not injured. Else, even if I won and got the prize money, I would be filled with regrets and feel that I have ridden on Wang Ye’s coat tail to win.

To give my utmost to beat the formidable ones, and step honorably into Top 16 is what I wanted. It is what I desired – the martial arts aspiration that I pursued!

If I lost, it would only mean that I had not attained the level. All I needed would be more training and hard work to make up for it. Then, I would return stronger than before!

The prize is essential, but this is not the only way to earn money, and there is no way to turn back time if there are any regrets.”

After self-enlightenment, Lou Cheng dispelled the irrelevant thoughts from his mind and looked straight into Zhou Yuanning’s eyes. Without fear and any sign of retreat, warm blood pumped through his body as he trembled with anticipation.

“Road to the Arena” Zhou Yuanning’s eyes met with Lou Cheng’s. Even though Lou Cheng was seated at the guest seats, Zhou Yuanning could feel the determined and sharp look of Lou Cheng. It was intimidating.

“Such a nostalgic feeling. Just like the old days when I was in the martial arts community…” Zhou Yuanning murmured softly, the fighting spirit in his eyes burning stronger than ever.

Lou Cheng took a deep breath and broke the eye contact. He calmed himself and picked up his phone. Lou Cheng was reminded of what he wanted to ask earlier, and sent a cheeky smile to Yan Zheke saying,

“So, how many suitors do you have now?”

“The prize money is not as important as the competition, but tomorrow’s fight doesn’t seem as important as this matter…”

Yan Zheke sent an emoji that was counting intently with its fingers and typed, “Maybe about four… four clearer ones…”

Four! Lou Cheng was shocked! And, these were only the clear ones!

Actually, with Yan Zheke’s popularity, four suitors were not so many. The bigger question was whether the four included him?

What did she think of him?

For a moment, Lou Cheng was lost, he pretended to be calm and replied, “Haha. That’s less than I have imagined. Who are they?”

“Because most of them didn’t continue after I rejected them, so those don’t count…” Yan Zheke replied with a “cold sweat” emoji.

“Not bad at all, I like such decisive people! Of course, please don’t reject me…” Lou Cheng softly prayed and sent a “sneaky smile” emoji. “These four are warriors? ”

“I don’t say it clearly. It’ll be so embarrassing if I misunderstood and rejected someone who was not interested, right? I can only keep my distance from them and reduce as much contact as possible.” Yan Zheke added a sighing onion head emoji after her messages.

“So, I’m one of the unclear ones… But from our interaction these days, she hasn’t kept a distance from me, nor did she reduce contact…” Lou Cheng was a little disappointed at first, but when he analyzed the situation, he got a little happier and seemed to see the light of victory.

“Of course, there’s the possibility that she hasn’t realized that I’m chasing her…”

Though Lou Cheng was going through an emotional rollercoaster, he controlled himself and made sure that none sneaked into the words he typed. He sent the next message, “There must be a high school classmate among those four warriors (cheeky action).”

“Yup, there’s one. If it were not because we’re in the same class, and I didn’t want to embarrass him, I would have put him on my blacklist. So now whenever I log on QQ, I just appear offline as if I’m never there.” Yan Zheke replied with a tearful emoji clenching its fists and shaking its head.

Secretly pleased, Lou Cheng responded. “The good thing is that he is not at Songcheng, if not, you’ll be so annoyed.”

“I also have them at Songcheng. There are two in our academy. Luckily, one of them is a senior brother, so our schedules don’t match. During his free time, I’m always at the Martial Arts Club. The other, he doesn’t say anything yet, so I’ll just pretend I don’t know and try not to be in contact with him. If not, it’s too troublesome.” Yan Zheke sent back an emoji with a blur look.

“Haha, too popular has its woes too, huh.” While he sent back the message, Lou Cheng was glad that he had the chance to understand Yan Zheke’s current love life better.

Yan Zheke sent an emoji of a monkey chanting. “Yeah, just a bunch of annoying admirers.”

“How about the last one? Also not clear?” Lou Cheng was not going to let go of any chance to obtain useful information about his love rival.

Yan Zheke sent a thinking monkey emoji and wrote,

“Why do you ask so much?”

“Damned, just make the mistake that Little Ming has reminded me not to make – when chatting with girls, never let them feel that you’re asking too much or what to know too much…” Lou Cheng laughed dryly and pretended that it was nothing important, “Just asking, because I don’t have any experience, nor I have any girls chasing after me. Just curious.”

He pounced on the opportunity to praise himself, and showed that he did not have any relationship issues!

Yan Zheke sent an emoji with a naughty smile, “Someone said before that we should never believe the words of a boasting man…”

She quoted what Lou Cheng said yesterday to tease him.

“It’s true! Just look at my sincere eyes!” Lou Cheng added a righteous looking emoji with huge eyes.

“Alright, alright. I’ll believe you for now.” Yan Zheke sent an emoji that was trying to hide its laughter, and wrote, “For that last one, it is nothing much. I ruthlessly rejected him a few times. He recently hasn’t been bothering me.”

“Not bad, not bad! This is how it should be!” Lou Cheng felt proud of Yan Zheke. She was exactly how Little Ming had analyzed her to be. A girl who would be terribly hard to woo, if not, she would already have a boyfriend and he would not stand a chance at all.

“This could be a good thing, or a bad thing. Good being that I did not need to worry about things like love rivals, and bad being that I may not succeed and I could be rejected any time.

She said she had four clear suitors. Looks like they don’t include me. She hasn’t realized my interest, or could it be that she knows, but because she is chatting with me so she’s pretending not to be aware?”

Since he was not confident about finding out more, Lou Cheng tried to change the topic, “I’m going to return to the hotel soon. Gonna focus on preparing for tomorrow afternoon’s fight! All for the prize money! All for giving you a better treat!”

“Hehe. Let me know when you reach the hotel. I’ll send you the video clip that my grandfather recommended.” Yan Zheke sent a sniggering emoji.

The whole afternoon and night, Lou Cheng watched the video clip. He exchanged views about the Wuthering Eight Movements with Yan Zheke. When he went to the little park to practice, he felt the movements slowly forming within him.

“If the Wuthering Eight Movements can fight the guerrilla hit tactics, I don’t need to rely on Mercurial Balance and have to change how I fight the first two battles.” Lou Cheng wrote to Yan Zheke.

Yan Zheke sent an emoji with crossed arms in deep thought and said, “If you use the Wuthering Eight Movements continuously in one go, its force will be great and difficult to defend against. Though you had leveled up quickly, you don’t have much actual fight experiences. If you use Tang Yue’s or Wang Ye’s fighting style, I am afraid you cannot hold it until his stamina drops. If he uses the defend-to-attack tactic, he could wait to attack. In any case, it’s a difficult fight.”

“In the forum, I read “Road to the Arena” discussion with the others, and realized that they have prepared various tactics to deal with my strengths. It seems like they are modifying their moves. For example, using abrupt explosive force to bring out more power. So, I thought about this, if Zhou Yuanning uses tactics that he isn’t used to fight me, he might have some obvious points of weakness, especially when he is attacking…” Lou Cheng shared his thoughts. He wanted to express some opinions on his strategies, especially since things were so volatile during battle. What he had planned might not be useful during the fight, so considering and preparing alternatives would be a good idea.

The two of them texted for a long time. Soon, it was 10:30 p.m. and Lou Cheng had to prepare to rest. He had to get up early tomorrow to practice.

“Cheng, don’t read the Longhu Club forum before your match tomorrow. It’s easy to be swayed by the words of others, especially those that dislike you. Your mood may be unnecessarily affected. ” Yan Zheke gently reminded him along with her good night.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be able to control myself. Oh yes, what’s the current bet ratio?” Lou Cheng asked.

Yan Zheke sent a secretly laughing emoji and wrote, “For him, the bet rate is one to one point three, and for you, one to three. Most are on his side.”

This ratio included the bet amount.

“This means that majority still think that there is quite a big difference in level between Zhou Yuanning and I…” Lou Cheng logged out QQ, and closed his eyes.

…

“One to one point three, one to three…” Next day’s afternoon, Zheng and his gang stood in front of the betting station, looking at the betting ratio of Lou Cheng and Zhou Yuanning.

One of his friends laughed and said, “I’ll bet 200 yuan on Zhou Yuanning. If Lou Cheng wins, I’ll take it that I bought happiness. If Lou Cheng loses, at least I have some cash as a consolation.”

“Not bad, that’s a good idea!” Zheng and a couple of his friends agreed readily.

After placing their bets, all of them looked at Zheng who had not made his move.

“Zheng, you’re not placing your bet?”

After thinking for a while, Zheng said, “I think I’ll bet 1-200 yuan on Lou Cheng winning.”

“You think he can win? His victory over Wang Ye was due to careful, strategic planning. But such opportunity only comes once. Once his plan is made known, it will no longer be effective.” His friends shared their views and tried to persuade him to do otherwise.

“Who knows? Anyway, it’s just 100 yuan. I’ll just take it as a ticket to the Challenge Tournament.” Zheng took out his wallet and said jokingly, “You all should also bet a little on him. If he wins, you could recoup some of your losses.”

…

“Sister Lan, you’re not buying?” Ye Youting was holding on ten 100-yuan bills.

Jiang Lan grumbled in a frustrated tone, “I can’t predict, so maybe I won’t bet.”

“Why can’t you predict? Zhou Yuanning’s fighting style can suppress Lou Cheng so well. They also have such a gap regarding general combat power.” Ye Youting returned her friend’s question, surprised that she had a hard time deciding.

Jiang Lan shook her head and said, “But Zhou Yuanning’s weaknesses and issues are equally obvious.”

“Alright, it’s up to you. I’ll just place my bets!” Ye Youting said confidently.

…

“Eldest senior brother, you’re betting on Lou Cheng?” Qin Zhilin looked at Liu Yinglong, astonished.

Although he was called the eldest senior brother, Liu Yinglong was also a young chap. He smiled and said, “Just take this as a reward for him showing us such brilliant fights. Just trying my luck, who knows, we’ll have a miracle.”

Similar conversations could be heard at the different betting stations. The betting ratio was still under adjustment, but it still favored Zhou Yuanning’s win.

…

“Master Lu, it’s the first duel of the afternoon.” “Invincible Punch” Jin Tao, and “Road to the Arena” Zhou Yuanning walked towards the martial arts hall together.

After hearing Jin Tao, Zhou Yuanning took a breath and said, “Not bad, no need to wait too long.”

When he saw the lit screen of Jin Tao’s mobile phone, he asked, “What are the comments on the live broadcast post?”

Jin Tao laughed heartily and replied,

“Everyone is rooting for you, Master Lu, to beat that Lou Cheng. Grass said that Lou Cheng’s real level is not even at Amateur First Pin, so you can rest assured and beat the shit out of him. Outspoken commented that Lou Cheng’s fight over Wang Ye was a lucky win, no big deal at all. Old Dragon, Plumber and Pig-Riding Uncle want you to make good use of your intelligence. The girls, Little Wonton and Sea-Blue, declared that if you lose, they will upload half-naked photos of themselves. The Brahman girl claimed that she supports you, but asked for photos right after saying so.”

“Heh.” Zhou Yuanning laughed lightly and straightened his sleeves. “Help me respond to them. Tell them that I am thankful for everyone’s support and will not let them down. In the name of the half-naked photos!”

“As for that Brahman girl, tell her that I’ll take photo with her new idol—as the winner of our fight.”

As they talked, the two men entered the crowded stadium.

…

In the locker room, Lou Cheng opened his eyes. His eyes were unfathomable, dark and peaceful like still waters.

He looked at the digital clock. Seeing that the competition was about to start in a couple of minutes, he stood up and started to stretch, before taking out his mobile phone. After logging on QQ, he sent a message to Yan Zheke,

“Going for the fight now.”

Yan Zheke replied speedily, “… What song do you want to hear?”

Lou Cheng’s heart skipped a beat, secretly pleased, he wrote back, “You still remember.”

Before his fight with Tang Yue, he had asked Yan Zheke to sing at the last fight of the group competition.

“Quick! What song! If not, I’m going to take it back!” Yan Zheke’s messages came in furiously.

Lou Cheng thought for a while. He smiled to himself and started to type,

“Young for You, especially the climax of the song.”

After waiting for a while, a long voice message was sent over. He tapped on the icon to listen, and Yan Zheke’s clean and mature voice went,

“Run forward, towards the cold eyes and laughter

The vastness of life cannot be felt without hardship

Destiny does not allow us to kneel and beg for forgiveness

Even if the hugs are filled with warm blood”

“Continue to run, with the pride of youth

Life’s brilliance can’t be seen unless we persevere

Rather than to live mediocrely, why not burn with passion

There will be a day where it will grow again”

While listening to the singing, Lou Cheng pushed the locker room’s door open.

Let’s burn with passion!