Martial Arts Master

After exchanging nods with Lou Cheng, Guo Jie walked away along the edge of the “lava lake”, surrounded by ground flames. The nervousness in her heart had vanished. She was more relaxed than when she attended the title tournament, as though she was fighting an unimportant match.

But that didn’t affect her fondness towards the match. As a martial arts fanatic, fighting different opponents, witnessing various martial arts, and experience different combat styles was one of her hobbies.

Her nickname of martial arts fanatic didn’t come to be without a reason!

Inside the Guanwai League changing room, the average height, malt-complected Zhu Xiaoyun (she looks willowy somehow) stretched her lips and sighed. She stood up reluctantly.

“Don’t let the pressure get to you, Sister Xiaoyun,” consoled Zheng Shiduo with a helpless smile.

It’s not the first time Boss Lu lost unexpectedly…

It’s not like we are expecting you beat the both of them, especially when it’s the renowned Empress Luo at the end…

Zhu Xiaoyun pressed her fingers against her lips and smiled.

“I’m not stressed. I was just thinking about how I couldn’t find out anything about the Martial Arts Fanatic. She doesn’t do anything apart from training, attending competitions, eating, and sleeping. Rinse and repeat. I couldn’t find out on her dark past. It’s gonna be tough later.”

There were two reasons for her to search for other’s black histories. The first was to satisfy her gossipy nature. The second was to gather material for her illusionary secret art, which becomes more effective through targeted arrangements.

She was, in a sense, powerless against people who had plain, boring lifestyles.

Before Zheng Shiduo said anything else, Zhu Xiaoyun stretched her neck and went for the changing room exit.

As she grabbed onto the handle, she glanced back at Li Pingao, whose skin radiated with a metallic sheen. He was deep in thought with his head dipped low. In her heart, she said,

“I’m heading out for the battle. You must come out of your slump…

Among us, you are the one with the highest chances of getting to First Pin and becoming a contender for titles…

…

As Guo Jie and Zhu Xiaoyun approached the “Lava Lake”, Lou Cheng took back his phone and special nutrients drink from Auman, who came over from the glass room. As he gulped it down, he walked into the room.

Ning Zitong was standing beside the window with her hands drooped low. Giving him a look, she chided,

“What were you thinking, wrecking our home ground like that? Dragon King’s like that, and now you are like that! Of all the things you could learn from him, you choose to learn the bad ones!”

Lou Cheng turned and gazed at the wide lava lake. He laughed dryly.

“My bad, my bad…”

However, if he hadn’t done that, he would never have beaten God Slaying Saber!

Then again, Sister Ning has a point there. If detonations on this scale were to occur a few more times, this place would truly become a lava lake with scattered stone pillars. By then, it would be more beneficial for martial artists with exceptional movement abilities or qinggong rather than Fire Sect Experts. Plus, it would be more perilous as well.

At that point, they will have to seek for another main home battleground, and there weren’t many similar ones in Huacheng either!

Hmm… Five years ago, the previous home battleground had been wrecked by the Dragon King…

Ning Zitong pretended to spit at Lou Cheng’s reply.

“Why are the two of you so good at home demolishing! If you clinch the title of “The King” in the future, I suggest you call yourself ‘The King of Demolition’!”

Lou Cheng knew better than to reason with Empress Luo and protest his new nickname. He laughed and retreated to his seat.

Putting the empty bottle of nutrient drink aside, he lit up his phone and saw Little Fairy’s plaudits. He smiled delightfully as he drafted a reply.

“I got reprimanded by Empress Luo right after going back to the changing room. She called me a demolition expert. [covers face and sighs]”

Due to the severe injuries on his left fist, he placed his phone on his knees and typed with one hand.

Drown in the excitement of his husband beating God-Slaying Saber in his peak form, Yan Zheke was a little stunned when she saw the reply.

Then it hit her. Pursing her lips tightly, a dimpled smile formed on her face.

“She’s right! [laughs while pummeling the ground]”

Eh, was it actually funny? Lou Cheng felt slightly puzzled but soon forgot about it. He began discussing the battle with Ke Ke, using the time in between to repair his wounds on a microscopic level to escalate recovery.

At the same time, Guo Jie and Zhu Xiaoyun had taken their respective positions at each end of the “Lava Lake”. However, they weren’t exactly separated by a “lake”, and merely took one side of the lake.

The referee did not send any staffs to clean up the battlefield. Not like it’s possible to in the first place. Therefore, without further ado, he raised his right hand.

“Begin!”

Just as Guo Jie was about the pounce forward and unleash a fierce flurry of attacks (she was a Fire Sect practitioner and not a Dark Sect practitioner), a strong light dazzled her eyes. Suddenly, she saw a beautiful, lithe woman before her with mysterious, spectacular movements.

Master? The fleeting thought puzzled her.

It was her master, Ning Zitong!

After a brief moment of bewilderment, Guo Jie quickly realized what was going on, despite it being her first fight against Zhu Xiaoyun. This was an illusion created by her opponent. By disguising as her master, she was trying to affect her performance.

Calming down, the ground flames around Guo Jie flared. A strong gale blew forth, speeding up her movements.

She threw out a fist enveloped in flames, catching the fake Ning Zitong’s claw attack.

Bam! Air burst outwards. The figure rippled and disintegrated, as though a rock had been thrown at the reflection of the moon in the lake.

Was that a fake?

It was!

It’s a two-staged trap!

Feeling a chill at her side, Guo Jie elbowed outwards, colliding into a malt-complected fist that was sneakily coming at her.

This was what Absolute Reaction looked like on the Physical Invulnerability Level!

Throughout the fight, Guo Jie felt moments where her senses and mind were playing tricks on her. She put on a solid defense with occasional AOE attacks, and somehow managed to stall for more than ten minutes. She even got Zhu Xiaoyun good for a few times.

However, Zhu Xiaoyun lived up to her name as a genius in illusionary techniques. After a drawn-out fight, she found an opening to deceive Guo Jie’s senses and followed-up with a close-ranged attack. By the time Guo Jie could react, it was too late for her to do anything. A sad defeat.

In the changing room, Ning Zitong sighed.

“I hate fighting against her. She almost makes me remember embarrassing and awkward moments that I dislike remembering,” she mumbled.

“In the olden days, her style of peeling old wounds would have courted death,” assented Lü Yan, darkening. “Her only redeeming trait is that she keeps what she knows to herself.”

So, uh, what kind of dark history does Sister Ning have? Lou Cheng was extremely curious but he lacked the courage to ask. He watched Empress Luo as she sashayed out of the door.

That was when a thought flashed past Lou Cheng’s mind. With great interest, he turned and asked,

“Could it be that you are letting Guo Jie participate because you don’t want to face Zhu Xiaoyun, Coach Lü?”

Does she have dirt on you?

Lü Yan’s expression stiffened.

“Me, afraid of her?” he hissed.

He stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the arena.

You might not be afraid of her, but you are afraid of facing your dark past… thought Lou Cheng with surreptitious amusement. He looked towards the big screen and began multitasking to repair his internal wounds.

The last battle ended as expected. The exhausted Zhu Xiaoyun didn’t put up much of a fight before getting taken down by the phantomlike Empress Luo. And so, Longhu Club gained its first victory in the new round of top-tier professional tournament.

It’s worth mentioning that Ning Zitong had a sick look on her face when she returned to the changing room.

…

After a night of recuperation, Lou Cheng returned to the club at morning despite his wounds to carry out recovery exercises.

At around eight, he entered the Physical Invulnerability restaurant. As he instructed Auman to bring him his breakfast, he glanced at a relevant segment in the web portal and read the online news and comments.

As he scanned it, he saw the headline of the day:

“The younger generation replaces the older one! The next King of Longhu has been decided!”

“The younger generation surpasses the older one! Longhu Club’s general for the next ten years emerges!”

…

The younger generation replaces the older one… Longhu Club’s general for the next ten years… Lou Cheng’s mouth twitched as he read the comments. Many thoughts flashed through his head.

Are they trying to get me into trouble?!

Don’t make me sound like some sort of usurper…

I can imagine the Dragon King saying: “Watch your step, Lou Cheng.”

Subconsciously, he looked around. He felt rather relieved.

Thank goodness the Dragon King is recuperating in the hospital!

…

In a hospital affiliated with Longhu Club, the Dragon King, in his patient attire, was demonstrating a slow set of punches on the balcony.

A French window away, his phone and newspapers were on the table in the room. Incidentally, they were all displaying the article on the battle between Longhu Club and Guanwai League.