Martial Arts Master

In his down jacket, Lou Cheng grabbed his mobile and logged on his QQ to contact Yan Zheke. “Victory or defeat?”

Yan Zheke replied with a leer, “Must be a victory! I can sense your complacency through the screen! You defeated an Amateur First Pin master…”

She added a stunned dog sticker in the end.

“He-heh… It was impossible until someone asked me to do my best, so I exerted 200% of my full strength!” Lou Cheng used the word someone on purpose.

Yan Zheke sent a smiling behind hands emoji. “If I cheer for you one hundred times, will you defeat Dragon King?”

“I think Dragon King is more than 100 times stronger than me…” Lou Cheng responded with a “Don’t scare me” sticker.

Yan Zheke gave him an “I’ll scare you to death” sticker. “Come on. Tell me how you did it! I can hardly believe you are still the Lou Cheng I know! Be honest! Did you steal his cell phone?”

“Watchword check?” asked Lou Cheng with a grin.

“Uh… What watchword?” Yan Zheke sent an emoji with question marks flashing above its head.

Lou Cheng replied a looking into the sky emoji. “But I know you, Miss Yan Zheke, one of the most popular girls in our grade… Actually in the entire school. A girl smart, friendly and beautiful as you are expected to go to the capital or Huaihai for university. Who’s to guess you are here in Songcheng.”

It was part of their very first conversation. Lou Cheng repeated according to his memory and felt a touch of warmth.

Yan Zheke sent a blushing face. “You were a martial arts beginner back then. Who could have guessed you would defeat an Amateur First Pin master in such a short time! Hold on. You didn’t say ‘beautiful’ last time! I knew you are a fake!”

“Really? I thought I was frank and open, telling you all the truth… I guess I was too shy…” Lou Cheng sent a shy emoji as a bright smile climbed on his face despite passers-by’s stare.

The two joked on a bit longer before cutting back to the match. Lou Cheng typed quickly. “I didn’t expect to defeat an Amateur First Pin master though I’ve mastered 24 Blizzard Strikes. I planned to do my best and forget about the rest. But he was playing extra carefully as he didn’t know anything about my background. So instead of breaking out at the very beginning, he chose the well balanced Huxing, which gave me the opportunity to adapt to a fight of such intensity at my own pace without being pushed into a bewildered, passive state…”

He detailed the entire match to Yan Zheke. She used a fish-dropping sticker to show her palpitations for Lou Cheng noticing the abnormal movement at Jin Tao’s thigh and blocking the fast, deadly Tiger Tail kick. She seemed very impressed by Lou Cheng’s Brutal Blizzard which had improved so much that he could absorb energy from his opponent to supplement his strength.

Approval, support and admire from the girl he loved brought great joy and satisfaction to Lou Cheng, greater than overwhelming cheers and applause from the entire stadium.

Towards the end, Lou Cheng sent a cunning smile. “Then I, again and again, used 24 Blizzard Strikes to suppress him and exhaust him. After his final blast punch was easily warded off by my Mega Avalanche and Lightning and Fire Stance, I strode forward with an elbow hit and ended the fight by pulling him in for a knee kick.”

“That sounds a little familiar…” Yan Zheke sent a lost emoji. “Got it! Brother Wu Dong was worn out by you before his rout!”

“Yeah. They are just bad at endurance.” Lou Cheng laughed out loud.

Yan Zheke sent an ellipsis. “… I don’t know what to say… If my cousin has your endurance, he would have nailed that three rounds against Guannan School.”

Lou Cheng replied a silly smile with the text “not that good.” “It’s all changed since I started the martial arts training. My endurance was not bad but pretty far away from being formidable.”

Once again, he foreshadowed for the truth that Jindan had been supplying him with physical strength. Otherwise, Yan Zheke from the same high school would quickly find out his long-distance running performance was just above average.

Yan Zheke didn’t hold on to it but sent a miserable emoji. “Cheng, I believe you are already stronger than me. Sigh… I better get up!”

“Get up to practice?” asked Lou Cheng with a smile.

“No, to eat!” Yan Zheke replied a hungry face.

Amused by her cuteness, Lou Cheng responded, “Speaking of eating, I’m pretty hungry now. Almost forgot to eat!”

He grabbed his mobile tighter and zipped up his down jacket while walking out of the stadium passing by the service desk.

All morning matches had finished for a while, and very few people were at the exit. Girls at the service desk spotted Lou Cheng from behind with ease.

“Look! Lou Cheng! He defeated an Amateur First Pin master this morning!” The girl who tried to cheer Lou Cheng up pointed at him very proudly.

The girl next to her mused. “Indeed a sleeper. Not by luck at all.”

“Fighters like this will certainly be popular among the audience. Shall we recommend his match tomorrow?” The cheering girl suggested.

Another girl laughed out. “Why so enthusiastic? Someone is fascinated by him?”

“Pooh. Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just active and positive at work. It’s for the audience’s sake!”

Three girls teased each other for a while and decided to send the cheering girl to request from the supervisor.

She gathered some information and went to the supervisor’s room passing the storage room. Three gentle knocks.

“Come in.” A male voice came from the office.

She turned the handle and pushed the wooden door to let herself in, a little nervous.

“What’s up, Ning Ling?” The supervisor was a middle-aged man bald in the middle of his head.

Making use of her youth and beauty, Ning Ling said with a smile, “Supervisor, we have discovered a very powerful fighter!”

“Very powerful? How powerful?” The supervisor put down his pen and leaned to the backrest of his chair.

Ning Ling handed over the information. “He came to our notice when several spectators asked for his information. He studies in Songcheng University, 18 years old of no rank. However, he has defeated Liu Yinglong from Baiyuan Martial Arts School and today an Amateur First Pin master.”

The supervisor took over the stack of information, browsing while listening to her. All of a sudden, his hands froze.

After adjusting his very thin hair, he replied slowly while thinking,

“Sounds powerful… And could become a hot topic… You are very attentive and active at work. Good job.”

“Well, tomorrow put his fight in Ring One.”

Ring One is the central ring!

Coming into the fourth round, the difference in power between fighters was minor and mismatch was no longer a concern.

…

Yan Zheke went to have lunch with her family while Lou Cheng was sitting in a poor-quality chair with a simple plate of fast food and reading the live broadcast post on the forum.

In the post, Road to the Arena uploaded a half-naked picture of Invincible Punch on the way to shower after training with a sorrowful face. The smooth lines of his muscles were very attractive. Road to the Arena wrote, “Little Punch lost… Here’s his picture as we have promised!”

Wonton Seller first responded to the picture with a nose bleeding sticker. “I suddenly felt grateful to that Lou Cheng…”

“Exactly! I would have bet on Punch’s defeat if I saw this benefit coming!” Sea-Blue sent a throwing punch with tears emoji.

Beautiful World replied, “You are so mean! I must stay strong. Little Punch, I’m here for you!”

Sun, a beautiful girl who often shared her photos on this forum, followed, “My goodness… I’m falling for this young body…”

Wine Loving Cat sent a pair of eyes with hearts. “What a rare surprise for girls!”

Reading all the female members’ comments, No Hooligans said, “Look at you! I’m seriously thinking about uploading my naked photos.”

Okamoto’s Fan replied, “Hurry! Take off your pants!”

“Holy crap! I thought you were my bro! How could you keep your eyes on my bum!” No Hooligans sent a ferocious emoji.

Their straying from the point as always amused Lou Cheng. Finally, Unparalleled Dragon King cut back to the topic and asked solemnly, “Any details about that Lou Cheng? I’m quite curious about his background. How is it possible that I know nothing about him?”

Invincible Punch replied, “A student from Songcheng University.”

“From Songcheng University? Because of Lin Que, I’ve been watching matches of Songcheng University Martial Arts Club. There was no one named Lou Cheng!” Unparalleled Dragon King sent a puzzled emoji.

The young girl using the ID Brahman came out. “Wow! This kind of mysterious masters is my favorite!”

Pig-Riding Knight followed, “Any video of Lou Cheng’s matches?”

“Let me see. There seems a replay on the screen. I’ll make a video.” answered Road to the Arena.

Not long after, he uploaded a video of two martial artists fighting fiercely. It was from Lou Cheng and Invincible Punch’s match.

“Not bad,” replied Lou Cheng after putting down his chopsticks. He copied the link and shared it with Yan Zheke. He also planned to download the video once he got back to the hotel room as a souvenir.

“24 Blizzard Strikes. He was indeed a student from Songcheng University.” Unparalleled Dragon King commented, “His 24 Blizzard Strikes are already pretty good, probably as powerful as Lin Que’s. How come nobody knows about him?”

“What a great match! Punch you’ve done great! It’s just bad luck to have met such a strong opponent.” said Wonton Seller.

Invincible Punch replied, “I know. To be honest, I blamed my bad luck for the worst draws when I failed the last two Ranking Events. But after today’s match, I know I’m not that good and there are Heavens beyond Heavens. I’m still far from the Profession Ninth Pin level.”

Reading genuine admiration from the one he used to envy at, Lou Cheng felt great about himself, filled with a sense of achievement and satisfaction. He tried to remain cool and reserved. “Invincible, you are very good already.”

Pig-Riding Knight agreed, “Your opponent was apparently a pro. Punch, you’ve already done an amazing job in the match!”

“Ha! A pro? Come on! Praise me more…” Lou Cheng refreshed the site with a shameless smile for more comments.

He saw No Hooligans, A Plumber Eating Mushroom, Wine Loving Cat, Beautiful World and Sun talk about how mysterious this Lou Cheng was for being this powerful but not representing Songcheng University Martial Arts Club in the competition. They all found his 24 Blizzard Strikes aesthetic and fascinating, bold and fierce, making the audience tremble with fear.

Lou Cheng felt tipsy from all these compliments. He couldn’t stop smiling and wanted so badly to impress Yan Zheke with these.

“An 18 years old pro. He will probably join the Longhu Club in the future. I love all the hidden, mysterious masters!” Brahman replied again.

Wonton Seller tagged Lou Cheng the Schrodinger’s Tiger in her next comment. “Little Tiger, I remember you have joined the Martial Arts Club in your university. There is a hidden master in Songcheng University. Any mysterious master in your Martial Arts Club?”

“Of course!” answered Lou Cheng with a grin.

“Who? Who is that?” Wonton Seller sent a curious emoji.

Lou Cheng sent an emoji laughing with its hands at its sides.

“Me! I’m the hidden, mysterious master!”

“Very funny. Little Tiger, you are getting better with your jokes!” said Wonton Seller.

Beautiful World commented, “Tiger, you have grown pompous!”

Lou Cheng left the conversation after a laugh and put down his mobile, concentrating on enjoying his meal.