Martial Arts Master

Handing his phone to the supervisor, Lou Cheng climbed up the flight of stairs into the ring. Cameras flashed in his face from all directions for the moment.

“I thought the big BOSS would wait until the last moment to reveal himself.” Lou Cheng, very relaxed, joked during the conversation time.

To be honest, he was kind of in shock that Ye Youting was in the ring waiting for him, quite different from her previous style.

Ye Youting’s hair tied up, showing her silken forehead. She chuckled. “Are you calling yourself the big BOSS?”

“Sure. The big BOSS is doomed to be defeated by the protagonist,” said Lou Cheng with a smile. In his heart he pissed on himself.

This is the ideological level of celebrating the win cheerily and accepting the loss joyfully. The only problem is I’m to lose and only to lose…

“You are pretty good with words.” Ye Youting seemed surprised but soon straightened her face. “I lost 1,000 yuan because of you!”

“Ahh?” Lou Cheng was puzzled. “Say what?”

“I betted on your loss yesterday… ” A smile was brought back to her face. “No big deal. I feel full of strength knowing you are to be my opponent. Defeating a fast-rising martial artist is more exciting than anything else. It’s gonna be a great experience for you as well, preventing you from becoming wildly arrogant and supercilious and saving you from bigger setbacks in the future.”

Her deliberate maturity failed to stir up a ripple in Lou Cheng’s heart and almost made him laugh. Around the same age with Lou Cheng, she went for full-time martial arts training instead of advanced education like most professional martial artists. It was why Peng Leyun, Ren Li, Lin Que and Li Xiaoyuan attracted so much attention in the university martial arts circle.

Isn’t it too much for a girl of her age to talk like that?

“I’d like to consider myself modest and self-effacing.” Lou Cheng tried hard to make himself look sincere.

Ye Youting didn’t expect the opponent to be so good-tempered that her planned sarcasm couldn’t continue. “Anyway, I’m gonna show you the difference between you and a real Professional Ninth Pin martial artist!” said her, biting her lips.

“Looking forward to it!” Lou Cheng grinned, showing eight of his teeth, calm and carefree.

He stopped talking and started to gather his thoughts and adjust his body. As his muscles moved slightly, he gradually prepared himself.

The difference between him and his opponent was probably huge and he had accepted that his defeat would be the only possible outcome. But in the ring, he would still do his best and practice what he had learned, living up to the reputation of a true fighter!

Time flew fast. The referee raised his right hand and swung it down with great force.

“Fight!”

His shout for start was closely followed by cheers and noises from the stands. Ye Youting and Lou Cheng’s names were called out loudly, echoing through the stadium.

“Sister Ye, come on!” The young girl with a ponytail in Ye Youting’s style cried shrilly. Next to her was the childish young girl Yan Xiaoling blowing a trumpet like those primary school students.

Like a leopard, Ye Youting dashed out and closed up the distance between them in two or three strides. Her body rose as if a ferocious tiger flourishing its claws.

Knowing her astonishing might and explosive force, Lou Cheng shifted his weight, straightened his back and slid to the side to avoid the frontal engagement.

At the level of Professional Ninth Pin, Ye Youting had long mastered the meditation and practiced Yin-Yang Stance and lightning and fire stance in order to achieve the Danqi stage. As Lou Cheng dodged away, she twisted her waist and adjusted her muscles, turning towards Lou Cheng in the air at a very high speed in a nimble manner with no hesitation or delay. Those who could understand it gave a good round of applause.

She was much faster than Lou Cheng. After one breath’s time, Lou Cheng could already hear danger right behind him. He immediately made a step to the left, his heart sinking slightly.

As soon as his foot touched the ground, his spine moved like a dragon just waking up and pulled all his muscles, moving his body to the right forcibly to keep away from Ye Youting.

Ye Youting followed to the left, seemingly wrong-footed by her opponent, but all of a sudden her left leg tightened up, pushing the ground to bounce her body to the right to Lou Cheng’s side. Her right arm raised and cut down with great might like a tiger howling with the rise of winds.

Lou Cheng had no time to shift his weight again. In response, he quickly lowered his body and threw his right fist out like a hammer. In his mind was a lightning bolt came down from heaven, starting a prairie fire and within his body a stream of heat rolled on in waves.

Memories of Ye Youting’s strange might and explosive force were very clear in Lou Cheng’s head. He dared not take her lightly.

Pang!

Lou Cheng blocked Ye Youting’s pound but his body, from hands to the tips of his toes, was shaking as if hit by a giant wood. He felt his weight falling apart and pressure from her might, which made him impossible to gather everything at once.

Ye Youting twisted her waist again, wringing her strength into a strand. Her tightened thigh suddenly threw a kick like a whip cracking through the air, aiming at the back of Lou Cheng’s knee.

After one deep breath, Lou Cheng adjusted his muscles as fast as he could and tightened up his left leg. He then raised the leg and exerted his abrupt explosive force to confront Ye Youting’s whip kick.

He felt a sharp pain in his shin. It was not broken but in desperate need of some good rub, which he was not given any time for. When his leg landed on the ground, Ye Youting’s next punch was already very close to his chest with enough force to break a mountain, sending a crispy sound to his ears.

When his left foot was withdrawn, a lightning struck in Lou Cheng’s head, followed by a snow-capped mountain crashing down. He lifted both of his hands in a hurry and barely blocked the punch. His body was shivering again as if a man inside an old bell was hit by sound waves from all directions after a toll. He felt dizzy and close to faint.

Ye Youting gained the upper hand and pushed her advantage by a series of whip slaps with both hands like a tiger pouncing on its prey. It might not look pleasant but was definitely fearful.

Bam… Bam… Bam… Lou Cheng fenced with Mega Avalanche and lightning and fire stance, struggling to hang on. His strength had been drained by the first few moves and Jindan started to rotate, sending a hot stream to smooth his weariness and recharge his body to keep him going.

On the stand, Jiang Lan was enjoying a cup of yoghourt with no concern at all about the fight, taking it as a matter of course. In her ears cheers and yells got louder and louder after each punch of Ye Youting’s. The heat and enthusiasm were about to break through the roof.

Bam! Bam! Bam! The audience continued shouting while Ye Youting carried on with her mad offence. Lou Cheng’s arms hurt so badly that he could barely breathe under the pressure.

He was literally running out of breath!

How intense this charge can get?

Lou Cheng was choking, unable to continue his defense. Ye Youting took a step back and then immediately sprang back with two blast punches of full strength to blow Lou Cheng away!

She is chucking her weight and might as one man of great strength can conquer ten men of skills.

Pressing Jindan (the Golden Elixir) harder and harder to keep himself going, Lou Cheng was reaching his utmost limit. He felt drowning, unable to get air into his chest and unable to exert his strength. His arms were still in defensive position but he couldn’t effectively block her offence any more. In his head was dead silence and peace, free from worry right before suffocation. Tons of snow was still avalanching and rolling down.

At this very moment, he saw Jindan (the Golden Elixir) in his lower stomach and the glorious nebula inflating and expanding. One by one, tiny ice crystals flew out of orbit to join his imagination.

On one side was tons of snow crashing down from high peaks and on the other white cataract flooding and rolling, burying all traces of lives!

Changes occurred beyond the utmost limit!

A cold wave broke out, rolling in Lou Cheng’s body and very close to tearing his organs apart. He was forced to throw a punch!

Pang! Glacier mountains collapsed. A vast expanse of whiteness. Lou Cheng’s one hand collided into Ye Youting’s two fists.

Bang! The two separated after the dull sound. It was Ye Youting who moved back!

On the stand Jiang Lan and Li Xiaoyuan got to their feet in a flash. Not a single sound came from the audience!

Lou Cheng noticed Ye Youting’s astonishment but the avalanche and flood were beyond his control. He stepped forward and compressed every muscle of his. A left blast punch broke out.

Ye Youting managed to stabilize her weight and engaged the punch with a cross pound. The collision forced her left leg to move backwards to dissolve some of the strength.

She could clearly feel the opponent’s might was much greater than hers in the last collision. She was terribly in shock and dared not to act recklessly.

How was it possible?

Where did he get such terrifying might?

How could he exert such terrible strength like a monster at the brink of ruin?

Pang! Ye Youting’s arm was numb. She had to take another step back to dissolve more strength.

Before she could stand firm, she saw Lou Cheng approaching with a side elbow hit.

She hurried to take a breath and made up a scene of a river breaking through its banks and flooding around in her mind. Her body pushed forward with full strength to confront Lou Cheng’s offence.

Pang! An even louder sound of collision echoed in every spectator’s heart, sending a shiver down their spine.

Ye Youting warded off the punch but her body was shaking with cold. Fear and panic filled in the audience’s eyes. Lou Cheng followed up with another whip punch, pushing Ye Youting out of her stance.

The force of avalanche is invincible!

The cold wave quieted down within Lou Cheng’s body but the remaining chill kept his left leg tight. He was about to utterly destroy Ye Youting with a final whip kick.

His body was grabbed and shook and his strength was scattered.

He turned around and saw the referee.

The referee raised his right hand and announced loudly,

“Lou Cheng won!”

Lou Cheng won? This must be a dream, very unreal even for Lou Cheng himself!

Ye Youting was still shivering, a bitter smile and fear climbed on her face.

“So I’m not the protagonist… ”

Lou Cheng didn’t answer. He felt he was dying. The chill was replaced by flames from Jindan (the Golden Elixir) in a state of imbalance, burning his body and forehead and turning his face red abnormally.

“Thank you for your instructions… ” said Lou Cheng with great difficulty. He grabbed his mobile and returned to the locker room in a hurry, leaving thousands of spectators in shock and professional martial artists stunned.

In the locker room, Lou Cheng jumped into the shower. Putting away his phone and stripping off his clothes, he turned on the cold water to the full.

The chill on his skin didn’t seem to help with the burn inside. The burnt black fish came to his mind. He moaned miserably.

Damn it! This boomerang is too scary… Am I to die here…