Martial Arts Master

After being exposed to “Braham”‘s cockiness, Lou Cheng was influenced and felt immeasurably satisfied. His heart was filled with a vague brightness, and he hurriedly skimmed through the responses, eager to see what they were.

“Beautiful World” used ellipses to express her mood. “This isn’t science… ”

“Outspoken” said with more skepticism, “Is Lou Cheng taking red pellets or something? Otherwise, how could he possibly have won against Master Road?”

“First off, the rules allow for this. Second, what about the 5000 yuan for the 16 fighters? Don’t similar things hurt the body even more?” “Plumber Eating Mushrooms” retorted against “Outspoken”.

That’s right; I can use that money to buy some red pellets. Why shouldn’t I use that 5000 yuan and splurge a little? Lou Cheng nodded his head slightly.

Like they say, your surroundings make you who you are. Husbands and wives, and boyfriend and girlfriends become more and more like the longer they are together. He’d already unconsciously learned a few phrases that Yan Zheke was prone to using.

“Unparalleled Dragon King” responded first with an emoji that had a blank stare. “How to explain? After this message, I can see how stupid I was then. That was unreasonable! I’ve been thinking for a long time about when I watched the fight on video. I discovered that although Master Road was the most popular, and had a chance to win, he hit…hit…how to say? He wasn’t determined enough, not adventurous enough. On the other hand, Lou Cheng seized that brief moment of opportunity and his energy was like a rainbow. He was firm, decisive, and fought like his life depended on it.”

“Ah, so foolish road came across a brave victor… ” “Pig-Riding Knight” replied.

“In other words, Road to the Arena lost because of his attitude? Because I confronted him and took a photo when he was half naked, he wasn’t moving at all… ” The younger girl “Wonton Seller” said.

“No Hooligans” snickered as he replied to her, “So you think Master Road’s body isn’t as good as Little Punch’s?”

“No no no, my mind’s just racing, how did Road to the Arena manage to lose? how could he lose, just like that?” “Wonton Seller” sent an emoji with its hands outstretched helplessly.

“Okamoto’s Fan” said with tears flowing, “You’re all terrible people! Yesterday in the forum everyone was speaking with such certainty, like they were 100% confident, that it made me think Master Road was sure to win. I made a special bet, and today I was at home paralyzed, just waiting for heaven to take me.”

“Really? for real? don’t scare me like that!” “Wonton Seller” replied without delay.

“Okamoto’s Fan” said, “No, not really… but I did lose a month’s worth of cigarette money. I’ve already gone and wept in the bathroom.”

“A Plumber Eating Mushroom” said with a sigh, “Just for the sake of debate, and not to say this is his actual strength, but Lou Cheng really does seem like he’s at the Amateur First Pin level. Against a Professional Ninth Pin fighter who’s been out of practice for a few years, the difference isn’t really that significant. Showing up and doing your best is what’s more important, your attitude and willpower are more important.”

Hehe, thanks for the praise… every comment made Lou Cheng jump over the moon with joy. It was like a secret pleasure that he had all to himself!

He continued to look further down. The young girl “Braham” had come back and with a big laugh said, “Do you see the reality now? Do you know how awesome my new idol is now? That’s right, do we have an agreement on those pictures? You can’t cheat a little kid!”

“Unparalleled Dragon King” responded to her, “I’m pretty sure I saw The Last 16’s photos on the official website, I’ll help you look.”

About ten seconds later, he uploaded a photo of Lou Cheng standing in the middle of the arena wearing a navy blue Longhu Club martial arts suit. The lighting fell on the top of his head, which seemed to bath him in a radiant aura.

When was this taken? It was pretty good! Lou Cheng was flabbergasted at first, and pleasantly surprised shortly after. It seemed like this photo was taken by the official website photographer just after his victory against Zhou Yuanning. The angle was great, and all of the corners and contours were sharp. It made him look much more handsome than in a regular photo.

Whoever you offend, don’t offend the photographer… he entertained the notion while he saved the photo and sent it to Yan Zheke.

Nowadays, there were more folders on his hard drive about “Yanling Martial Arts”, videos he’d especially saved related to the competition, as well as other photos and information that served as souvenirs. Included amongst these was a file labeled “Yan”. Inside there were saved copies of all the voice messages and records of all the chat messages he had had with her. Since he was afraid of losing them, he’d backed up this file numerous times and saved it on several hard drives.

“Pretty good, I almost didn’t recognize you!” Yan Zheke responded quickly with an emoji pushing up its sunglasses.

“I’m convinced the photographer did some photoshopping and worked some magic on my face. The latter two don’t look like this. It’s like I’ve been changed beyond recognition.” Lou Cheng replied with a snicker, “Looks like I’ve found out you’re not too fond of photos that have been altered too much?”

Yan Zheke responded clearly and concisely, “It’s lazy, annoying, and shouldn’t be allowed in the photography trade.”

“Then I better improve my photo taking skills, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take photos to your satisfaction.” Lou Cheng said subtly.

“Then you need to work hard. If you make me look ugly in a photo, you know what’ll happen.” Yan Zheke teased.

While they spoke, Lou Cheng continued to look at the replies, and just saw “Brahman” say, “Wow, my new idol is pretty good! It looks like he’s also wearing the Longhu club colors! It is fate!”

“Wonton Seller” scratched her head and said, “Why does it feel like he looks familiar?”

“I feel that way too… ” replied Above the Sky, a longtime lurker, “I remember, everybody waits a sec!”

She quickly posted a link. “Go look! It’s that boy we saw before at the very beginning of the National University Martial Arts Competitions program! Damn, even then I was saying that that goofy-looking guy was cute! When did I become a master of telling someone had intrinsic supernatural abilities just by looking at their appearance?!”

“What? What?” “Brahman” used an adorable emoji staring blankly as she said, “I saw first!”

Shortly after, “Wonton Seller” replied, “… it really actually is that passerby guy from before… how is it that that goofy-looking guy who was babbling about how honored he was could suddenly some mysterious expert that can prevail against a Professional Ninth Pin?”

“Are you saying he’s putting on an act and is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or that he’s normally that goofy but becomes a master when he steps into the arena?” “Above the Sky” also displayed a mixture of astonishment and doubt.

“So it was him all along… ” “Unparalleled Dragon King” was unable to conceal his surprise, “He didn’t seem like he was putting on an act then, but surely he couldn’t go from being an ordinary person to a powerful Amateur First Pin through just four months of work? That’s f*cking impossible!”

“Could it also be that maybe he does have a supernatural ability? But for a rookie fight with only four months of training to defeat a master… if Master Road knew, he’d be sick… ” “A Plumber Eating Mushrooms” responded.

“Unparalleled Dragon King” still wasn’t too convinced. “I’ve done a bit of research, there’s really no information on him. I’ll see if I can get any of his classmates from Songcheng University and ask them.”

Shocked, “Brahman” burst into laughter and said,

“I never expected that! So my new idol has this kind of dim-witted past, I need to save that! I’ll enjoy that over and over! I’m gonna make it into an emoji pack! After he becomes a really famous fighter, this’ll be a dark history, a real low point!”

Damn it! This had come up yet again… Lou Cheng stared as his mouth started to twitch. It felt like this “goofy looking passby”, this dark history would follow him his entire life…

He skimmed through the forums for the entire night and spoke with Yan Zheke, replying to messages that he hadn’t had time to handle before, and also watched some comedy videos. His mind and body were relaxed, as if he were on vacation, leisurely and carefree.

Coming back from training the next afternoon, Lou Cheng still was looking at Ye Youting’s fight videos, looking for any relevant information. No matter what, this was ones of the customs of being a fighter. No matter what, surely he wouldn’t suffer too unsightly a loss?

…

As it was getting closer and closer to the Spring Festival, gradually more companies were going on vacation. Heading towards the Yanling martial arts arena, one could see that the Challenge Tournament’s crowds were no longer mainly comprised of students on winter vacation.

Somewhere on the viewing platform, two young ladies were watching. One had her hair fastened in a ponytail and was wearing a “Yiye Martial Arts School” exercise outfit. She held a small bullhorn and was glancing all around her in excitement. The young girl beside her was quite delicate and only 1.5 meters tall, with a cute face like that of a child. She was engrossed in her phone, her ears oblivious to the news and happenings outside of the window.

The young lady with the ponytail turned around, saw that her friend wasn’t the slightest bit engrossed in the atmosphere of the stadium, and immediately roared,

“Yan Xiaoling!”

The petite girl with the child’s face instinctively trembled as she looked up in bewilderment at her friend, “What?”

“You tell me! We’ve been on vacation for a few days, and you’ve spent every day lying on your bed playing with your phone. I ask you to come out shopping with you, you won’t come. I ask you to go out and have dinner, you won’t come, and you won’t come with me to watch a martial arts competition together! It’s just the same as if you were glued to your bed. Other than eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom, you tell me how many days you haven’t gotten out of bed!” The girl with the ponytail spoke like someone who had been betrayed by her own confidante.

Yan Xiaoling looked towards her friend and said in a whisper, “5, 6, 7, 8 days… ?”

Her voice was very delicate like a small child’s.

“5, 6, 7, 8 days… tell me, what’s the point in spending most of your vacation lying on your bed?” You don’t think that you wasting your time and wasting your life?” The girl with the ponytail exploded with the anger of someone who had been stood up time and time again.

Yan Xiaoling didn’t dare look at her face to face. “I don’t think staying in bed is wasting my time or my life… ”

“You still dare say that? If you stay like this, what are you going to do afterward? How can you find a boyfriend? You’d be better off marrying your bed or your phone!” The girl with the ponytail looked at her in disgust, then turned her head and looked into the distance, pretending to ignore her.

Yan Xiaoling looked towards where her friend was looking, trying to catch a glimpse. With her back turned towards her, she whispered one word at a time,

“If… it… was… possible… ”

“What did you say?!” The girl with the ponytail turned her head suddenly.

“I didn’t say anything!” Yan Xiaoling eyes were bright.

“Forget it, I don’t feel like talking to you. Just wait a moment and remember to help me cheer on Senior Sister Ye!” The girl with the ponytail sighed.

“Okay.” Yan Xiaoling answered quickly.

…

While the crowd was waiting for the match, in the women’s locker room, Ye Youting was in the middle of exercising.

“Even though it won’t be a problem for you to win against Lou Cheng, don’t be too careless. Who knows what else he’s got up his sleeve.” Beside her, Jiang Lan smiled and reminded her.

During the afternoon competition, she, Huang Zhenzhong, Li Xiaoyuan, and Wang Ye had all taken the lead and come in the first 8.

“Relax Sister Lan, I’m not too careless now. On the contrary, when I think about that fighter who’s time and time again shocked everyone, on the verge of being finished by my hand, I’m rather inspired.” Yu Youting replied with gusto.

…

In the men’s locker room, Lou Cheng took out his phone and with a smile on his face sent Yan Zheke a message.

“Only five minutes away from my bitter tears.”

He darkly poked fun at himself for amusement.

“Haha, you can’t lose too badly. Otherwise, when I watch the video I’ll pretend like I don’t know you.” Yan Zheke replied with a devilish grin.

“I’ll do my best!” Lou Cheng replied with a grin.

After a moment, he logged out of QQ, put away his phone, pushed open the doors of the locker room, and headed towards the center of the ring. He still wasn’t near when he saw Ye Youting already waiting there, her white silhouette straight as an arrow.