Martial Arts Master

“Senior Zhou, don’t compete!”

Yao Kang’s shrieking voice echoed in the small martial arts stadium, which had attracted everyone’s attention. Everyone was confused at how agitated, panicked and terrified this Mingwei Martial Arts School disciple was. Neither did they understand the reason for him to stop this friendly teaching match.

Zhou Zhengyao was already in the arena, so was Lou Cheng, who stood on the other side of the referee. The talk time was nearing the end but he had not spoken a word. He wanted the newbie in front of him to adjust his mood and be prepared for this battle.

Just then, he heard the commotion at the seating area which made him turn his head. He frowned, revealing a doubtful expression, yet feeling terrified within.

What happened?

Seeing that the foundation chairman, Wei Renjie, had also noticed the commotion, the owner of Mingwei Martial Arts School, Ning Xunli, suppressed his feeling and questioned the disciple with a stern face, “Yao Kang, why are you shouting? What happened?”

Don’t, don’t compete in this match!

The guy opposite you is not a cat, it’s a ferocious tiger! He’s not a noob. He’s someone who had used fearsome attacks to defeat a Mighty Ones at the level of Professional Ninth Pin!

This is a trap! A trap that will let Senior Zhou make a fool of himself in front of the chairman!

Thoughts flashed across Yao Kang’s mind, but subconsciously, he knew that he couldn’t say these words in the open, or they would fall right into another trap. For example, if the chairman became interested in Lou Cheng’s martial arts level, he might continue with the teaching match, but the roles played by both parties would be switched.

What should I do? Under the pressure of everyone’s attention, he got panicked and frustrated. He had perspired heavily till his vest was drenched. He felt that looking at Lou Cheng was like watching a devil. He stuttered his reply, and knew that he would soon be reprimanded for his action.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. He replied, looking terrified,

“Master, Senior Zhou, something happened to our school! The disciples at school couldn’t contact us, so they sent me a message on QQ, asking us to return immediately! Let’s talk about it on our way!”

Ning Xunli and Zhou Zhengyao gasped upon hearing the news, and many wild guesses ran through their minds because Yao Kang didn’t seem to be lying!

“Chairman, something had happened to our school. Could we postpone the match to next time?” Ning Xunli didn’t wish to delay further by questioning for more details. He looked at Wei Renjie.

Wei Renjie frowned slightly, before he returned to his neutral expression, nodded and said, “Since something had happened, you all can go. If you need more help, just contact Huang directly.”

Huang was his secretary.

Zhou Zhengyao stared helplessly at Lou Cheng. He thought of taking this opportunity to play up to the chairman, but now he could only force a smile and said, “Student Lou, we’ll fight another time.”

Lou Cheng was unclear about what had happened, but he politely told him, “No problem.”

Mingwei Martial Arts School was an old established school. What kind of bad things could have happened?

In less than a minute, under the lead of “panic-stricken” Yao Kang, the people from Mingwei Martial Arts School hurriedly left Beiyuan martial arts stadium, leaving Lou Cheng and the referee standing in the arena.

Seeing that his classmates’ attention were back on him, Lou Cheng spread open his arms, gave a helpless self-mockery smile and said,

“What a pity, seems like no one can see Young Hero Lou’s charm today.”

Hahaha! Most of the classmates laughed upon hearing him, while others unconsciously revealed a smile on their faces as they felt that Lou Cheng had responded to the situation well with humor, which simply diffused the awkward situation.

“Cheng, I find that you have a talent for crosstalk!” Du Liyu teased at Lou Cheng, who was returning from the arena.

“Yes, you are such a comedian,” Cao Lele added.

Lou Cheng shook his head, and responded earnestly, “No no no, you all are wrong. If you mean crosstalk, I am at most a supporting character. I know of someone who is the lead character, whose skills are far greater than mine.”

“Were you serious about my jokes?” Cao Lele and the others burst into laughter again. The atmosphere became unexpectedly relaxed.

After Qiu Hailin laughed for a moment, she acted as if she was really disappointed and remarked, “It was indeed a pity to be unable to see Young Hero Lou’s great martial arts skills today. When will you have the time to perform for us again?”

“If I have the opportunity,” Lou Cheng replied, grinning with his heart still as water.

Jiang Fei, who was beside him, felt really disappointed with the outcome and whispered, “I am waiting to help you to show off your skills, but it’s really a pity. Of all times, something chose to happen to Mingwei Martial Arts School at this time.”

After this incident, all Class 4 students knew that their once-not-so-cheerful “scholar” in class, Lou Cheng, had become a glib talker, a man with a sense of humor, fun-loving, very interesting and seemed to know a few martial arts.

Wei Renjie returned to the city after the group left Beiyuan, while the class gathering continued. Tao Xiaofei pulled Old Wu and his gang to the chess room, while Du Liyu, Xiong Tao and the others went to play basketball. A group of guys tried all means to gather some of the girls for table tennis and badminton matches, and a few of them chose to take a stroll outside in the chilly weather. Lou Cheng, Jiang Fei and Cheng Qili went for the free karaoke session.

Jiang Fei had also convinced Qiu Hailin, Cao Lele and a few girls to join them after Lou Cheng hinted to him that they should create an opportunity for their “Prince of Love Songs”, which was how they addressed Cheng Qili in private.

While listening to Cheng Qili singing the oldies “The Most Beautiful” with great emotions, and looking at the few girls discussing softly among themselves, Lou Cheng did not have an urge to snatch over the microphone. Instead, he sat at a corner, leaning on the sofa, took out his phone and sent a message to Yan Zheke with a “snickering” emoji, “I almost make a hit today!”

A while later, Yan Zheke sent a “sitting in daze” emoji and questioned, “Is it you managed to teach some thugs a lesson when they chased the girls in your class and kept on harassing them? Or someone confessed to the girl you secretly loved, and you got mad. Thus you stood out in time and despoiled the marriage, I mean, despoiled her?”

“… What kind of wild guesses are you making!” Lou Cheng used an ellipsis to express his feeling.

Aren’t you the one that I am secretly in love with?

Just then, the song verse echoed in the room, “You are the most beautiful in my heart.”

Yan Zheke sent him a “covered mouth” emoji, smiled and said, “I thought that’s what normally written in novels, no?”

“Seriously, what kind of novels are you reading?” Lou Cheng replied, with a “dazed” emoji.

Yan Zheke sent a “proud grin with shiny teeth” emoji and responded, “Love novels! You got a problem with that?”

“No, no problem. Who dare to have a problem with it, I will beat him up!” Lou Cheng flattered her before moving on to the main topic and added, “Did I mention before that Xiushan wanted to organize a team for preliminaries?”

“Yup, your classmate who is with Gushan Martial Arts School is challenging Mingwei Martial Arts School at Beiyuan Conference Villa, and had invited you guys to go there to support him. Don’t tell me you have challenged the two schools? That’s not your style… ” Yan Zheke said, with a “pushing my spectacles up” emoji.

She does understand me well… Lou Cheng felt pleased and smiled even wider. He remarked, “No one knows me better than Coach Yan!” We were on our way to Beiyuan with the people from Gushan Martial Arts School when we met a Professional Ninth Pin expert. He purposely found trouble with us and initiated a fight with Senior Dai from Gushan Martial Arts School.”

“A Professional Ninth Pin expert? Eh, could he be the Professional Ninth Pin one who had attacked your childhood friend that night? Else how do you consecutively meet two young Professional Ninth Pin fighters at Xiushan?” Yan Zheke commented with a “sat down in deep thoughts” emoji.

Lou Cheng sent a “gasped” emoji and replied, “Could there be such a coincidence? Since New Year is around the corner, it should be common for those Professional Ninth Pin fighters who are working outside to return home for New Year.”

Yan Zheke used a “Who am I, where am I, what am I doing” emoji and replied, “But I doubted that this isn’t a pure coincidence. I recalled that the next morning after your childhood friend’s pub was attacked by the Professional Ninth Pin, Gushan Martial Arts School had received a letter of challenge from Mingwei Martial Arts School, and thus the competition was held today. On the way, you all met a Professional Ninth Pin who tried to cause trouble. How could all these be pure coincidence?”

“Oh, now that you mentioned, it is indeed possible… Wang Xu told me that no one was dead that day, and the incident was suppressed. If so, that Professional Ninth Pin is really daring to wander around like this… ” Lou Cheng tried to recall the details again and realized that what Yan Zheke had analyzed was indeed logical. He was totally impressed and praised her from the bottom of his heart, “What a wise woman Coach Yan is!”

It seemed like Wang Xu’s enemy was closely related to Mingwei Martial Arts School. Since the Professional Ninth Pin had failed his mission to attack that night, they thought of making good use of him for the preliminaries!

Yan Zheke sent a “grinning in smug satisfaction with my white and shiny teeth” emoji and responded, “Now you know my talent in analyzing? I am someone who’s read numerous detective novels and comics such as Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Kindachi and Konan. A Mighty one who’ve mastered a thousand seven hundred and eighty-five locked-room mystery methods!”

“Are there this many locked-room mystery methods?” Lou Cheng asked subconsciously. He was also once an addict to such detective novels.

Yan Zheke sent him a “guffawing with hands on the hips” emoji and added, “Never mind about the details. Please address me as Great Detective!”

“Alright alright, Ms Great Detective!” Lou Cheng flattered her with a “bow to the ground” emoji.

“I’ve yet to reach the age for you to address me as “Ms”… but calling me “Student” doesn’t sound serious either… ” Yan Zheke commented with a “I’m so baffled” emoji.

An idea struck Lou Cheng as he sent an “evil grin” and responded, “Then I shall address you as Great Detective Fairy!”

“Hahaha… ” Yan Zheke seemed speechless with his response.

Beside him was Fatty Jiang, who took a glance at Lou Cheng, then turned to look at Cao Lele and Qiu Hailin who were singing a duet. He tsk-tsked and said, “Cheng, your smile is damn, eh, how should I put in, disgusting!”

“You can also find a girl to be disgusting with if you are capable of it.” Lou Cheng mocked at the forever alone Jiang Fei.

Upon hearing his words, Jiang Fei was stunned, he could feel an icy-cold breeze blowing towards him, injuring him by ten thousand damage points.

Lou Cheng didn’t bother with him, as Yan Zheke finally replied, “… I guess it’s fine as well… so what happened next?”

With a face filled with happiness, Lou Cheng rapidly typed his words, “That Professional Ninth Pin did not beat up Senior Dai as I expected, and instead, he brushed past Senior Dai and left swiftly. At that moment I was using the Condensation Stance and I felt as though I was situated in a deserted wild land facing a fierce wolf. At first, I didn’t care much for it. However, when I saw how timid Senior Dai had become during the competition, and that he seemed to have a hard time focusing, I then suspected that it might be the Professional Ninth Pin’s doing. His supernatural ability could affect one’s mind and spirit without one knowing it, and he had planted a fear within Senior Dai, causing him to lose.”

“… It might not be supernatural ability. Both ‘Secret Killing Method’ and ‘Dark Infinite Sutra’ have a similar arcane spiritual momentum, which are very strange. Eh, a simple yet inaccurate way of saying is that both of them are unique skills from the ‘Death Sect’ and the ‘Dark Sect’,” said Yan Zheke with a “I am dead serious” emoji.

This was the first time Lou Cheng heard of such things, so he was surprized and flattered her with admiration, “You really know a lot, Coach Yan!”

Yan Zheke sent a “snickering” emoji and said, “I had a weak body in the past, so I had no hope for martial arts. I then became paranoid about things related to it. Though I am interested in it, I wouldn’t specially go to Grandpa’s book shelves to look for such books. However, now that I’ve straightened out my thinking, I believe that even if I can’t enter Danjing, as long as I’m of Professional Ninth Pin and be able to work my way up to the National Martial Arts Championship with everyone, it will also be great. Hence, I became interested in Grandpa’s book shelves again, and would read some of his books from time to time.”

…

On a middle-sized bus going downhill, Zhou Zhengyao glared at Yao Kang and said with his deep low voice,

“So what happened? Nothing had happened to the school at all!”

He had already called back to check with the disciples who were stationed at school!

Yao Kang passed his handphone over and said, “Senior Zhou, take a look at these videos. They are videos of that student, Lou Cheng, in a competition.”

His face looked slightly pale, as he was still feeling terrified. However, his eyes revealed a sense of satisfaction since he felt that he had managed to save his martial arts school from falling into a trap.

Zhou Zhengyao looked at him suspiciously as he watched the videos with other disciples. Seeing that the school was safe and because of his status at school, Ning Xunli sat calmly at the side, waiting for them to report to him.

While watching, Zhou Zhengyao raised his head all of a sudden and looked at Yao Kang with a horrified expression. He blurted out,

“Is this really that Lou Cheng?”

Putting Lou Cheng aside, that Professional Ninth Pin young lady, who was his opponent, was already strong enough to beat the sh*t out of him just by seeing her power. What was more to say about that Lou Cheng who had defeated her with his rage attacks?

The outcome would be unimaginable if they were to proceed on with the teaching match!

Yao Kang recalled what he saw from the videos, shivered and replied,

“I’ve checked on his information, that’s him… ”

“This is a trap for us to fall into!”

The more Ning Xunli listened to them, the more he was confused. He immediately commanded, “Give me that phone.”