Martial Arts Master

“Yimo!”

“Invincible Wei!”

Screams and shouts went up again and again like an antistrophe, starting a tempest in the closed arena. The antistrophe was strengthened by its echoes, shaking Lou Cheng’s eardrum. The sounds eventually took form and became part of Wei Shengtian’s imposing bearing, making him an invincible being.

This deliberate provocation caused changes on Lou Cheng’s mood and substance. Under the age of 20, in the heyday of his youth, he didn’t experience many big scenes and ever fewer life of death moments. Very different from the well-experienced Geezer Shi, he couldn’t remain calm like a stopping water.

Shaking, nervous and somewhat angry, he had a mix of feelings mingled with the earlier vituperation that had affected Yan Zheke, which was fermenting into a strong desire for war.

Heaving a sigh, Lou Cheng concealed his spirit and qi and visualized a scene of water freezing to ice, letting calmness and unhurriedness in charge of his psyche state and pushing up his bearing. When he got in the ring, the roaring cheers echoing in the arena had been filtered out and Lou Cheng appeared just as strong and confident as Wei Shengtian.

…

In 302 Unit 2 Block 7 in Songcheng University, Cai Zongming put his laptop on the tea table in the living room, watching the Yimo TV Station’s live broadcast with Zhao Qiang and Qin Mo.

Watching Lou Cheng standing tall and straight like a pine tree, neither servile nor overbearing, he couldn’t help sighing.

“Cheng seems more charming than me…”

Zhao Qiang and his roommates didn’t respond to his narcissism. They gazed at the screen, stressed and strained. Through the signal and wireless waves, they could feel the heat and wildness in the arena and how terrifying that Professional Eighth Pin fighter in the Dan stage was. Unconsciously, their heart and body were tightened for Lou Cheng.

Please don’t get hurt…

Please don’t have an ugly defeat…

…

In the studio, the professional commentator He Xiaowei quickly squeezed in some introduction in this short break.

“As we have introduced earlier, Lou Cheng from Songcheng University Martial Arts Club has only started martial arts training not long ago. His physical attributes are not perfect but his force exerting technique and achievement in mercurial balance, meditation and listening skill has raised his overall performance to the Professional Ninth Pin level. At a simple, when he has the skill, he can eat his fill.

“Today he has to confront a real master in the Dan stage. His force exerting technique and mercurial balance are comparably inferior, all his advantages no longer exist and disadvantages are exposed thoroughly. Although Wei Shengtian is quite exhausted from the last match and he’s probably still suffering from the last collision, defeating Lou Cheng shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t believe he can collapse in this very easy task. You tell me how he can collapse?”

“Okay. Cut the cackle. The second round is about to start. We shall wait and see!”

…

To shorten Wei Shengtian’s recovery time and cherish this opportunity Lin Que risked his body to create, Lou Chen strode to the ring quickly. Very soon he was already facing the opponent on the other side of the referee.

No bullshit, no waiting or pausing, the referee raised up his right hand and swung it down with strength.

“Fight!”

Wei Shengtian certainly wouldn’t go on a protracted war with Lou Cheng. While waiting for him to get in the ring, he had adjusted his body as much as he could. Putting up with the horrible discomfort in his five viscera and six bowels, bones and muscles, he turned his spine into a bow, one pull followed by one flick. Strength in his feet smashed two gray bricks, firing his body out like an arrow.

Taken by surprise, Lou Cheng didn’t have any time to adjust his weight or duck when the opponent reached him rapidly.

One wouldn’t know how scary a master in the Dan stage could be until he met one himself!

Watching battle videos and others’ fights wouldn’t be enough. Lou Cheng was in such an unfavorable situation.

As soon as the distance between them was shortened, Wei Shengtian made his hands into fists. Drawing his right shoulder and elbow half way, he quickly threw a downward punch.

Completely different from his earlier punches, he adopted Li Yuanba’s style of knocking out a master with disorganized strikes, replacing the long-handled giant hammer with two small ones, seeking might and speed despite distance and moves.

Giant Spirit Pound… Disorderly Double Pounds!

Keeping his head cool, Lou Cheng heaved a quick breath and visualized a lightning striking down from heaven, hitting a withered log and starting a prairie fire. The hot stream ran down from his tail bone into his legs.

His left leg pressed inwardly, and his waist twisted to launch a mountain opening blast.

Bam! As the hammer crushed into the blast, a splendorous might fell upon Lou Cheng, pushing him out of stability.

There was a big gap between their strength!

Wei Shengtian was still suffering from the last fierce fight. Lou Cheng engaged in a rush with Lightning and Fire Stance.

Lou Cheng came prepared. As soon as their hands touched, his right foot stepped back to dissolve part of the strength and absorb the rest into his feet. One gray brick was smashed and his weight was held steadily.

That was a force dissolving move from the tai chi, widely used in the martial arts circle. Lou Cheng originally learned it by imitating Ye Youting and earlier achieved more understanding from watching Lin Que’s neutralizing and countering. He performed it here and blocked this punch.

However, Wei Shengtian’s Disorderly Double Pounds had way more than that. His left punch closely followed his right punch, and many more disorderly punches were to come until the opponent was crushed.

Lou Cheng was left with two options. The first was to jump back with the rebound strength from his right foot and then resume his stance like what Lin Que did in the last match. But he was in an entirely different situation. With the very short distance between them and Wei Shengtian’s rapid and fierce style, his jump might be slower than Wei Shengtian’s left downward punch and he had a big chance of being hit.

The second was to take another strike before moving backward, maintaining the current situation until Wei Shengtian became utterly exhausted. However, Lou Cheng understood how big the gap between them in physical strength was and how crude his force dissolving technique was comparing to Lin Que. Playing defense couldn’t last him long enough to see the opponent collapse.

Neither of the two was satisfying. In a fight with a real expert, it would be tough to get out of the predicament once he lost the upper hand.

Lou Cheng’s mind was calm like water. At this life or death moment, Lou Cheng suddenly straightened his waist and slid left with the rebound force from his right foot as Wei Shengtian’s left hammer arrived. Instead of retreating, he advanced, lowering his shoulder and launching his body into Wei Shengtian’s chest.

No ducking about and no blocking, he betted everything on this one charge!

In his mind a snow covered mountain collapsed. His body, merging with the white flow, rolled towards Wei Shengtian. His left slide and sudden advance perfectly dodged Wei Shengtian’s left punch. High winds blew over his face, causing a bitter pain.

The short distance between them took Lou Cheng no time to reach Wei Shengtian’s chest!

In an extreme dangerous disadvantageous situation, he fought on with fearless valor, life or death determination, and calm judgment, and seized the only opportunity to win!

With the absorbed strength from Wei Shengtian’s pound, this bump was violent and raging, able to crush rocks.

The audience didn’t seem to catch this table turning moment. They kept on cheering and shouting, roaring and yelling.

At this critical moment, Wei Shengtian was neither surprised nor frenetic. He lowered his hips and drew back all the ferocious force from his two hammers to one spot in his body along with his spirit, determination, and blood, turning himself into a dead man.

Wei Shengtian’s body felt like a phantom when Lou Cheng hit into his chest, soft and tender, with no place for power to land.

In a flash, the spot inside Wei Shengtian broke out. All his might, bearing and spirit jetted out, his muscles expanding, his membranes swollen, and his dark skin turning into a hard stone.

Bam! With most of his strength dissolved by the emptiness, Lou Cheng didn’t crack the dark stone but only had Wei Shengtian’s upper body shivered a little.

His body quickly swung back and his hands reached out to strangle Lou Cheng in his arms.

Mega Bear Body Lock!

This hug and squeeze were powerful enough to smash bones and kill an ordinary person. Not many martial artists could take it!

Seemingly, Lou Cheng had seen this coming. He fired his body backward with the rebound strength from the bump, probably even faster than his earlier dash, putting more distance between Wei Shengtian and him and resuming his stance after a few steps back.

His risky advance and side bump was both for this moving back!

On the exact contrary with Lin Que’s retreating to advance.

Lou Cheng knew it very well that an expert in the Dan stage couldn’t be defeated in one bout. He must drive off his impatience and take his time to approach victory!

Wei Shengtian drew in a deep breath before striding forth to start another wave of strikes, evaluating Lou Cheng higher secretly in his mind.

Opponents that are fierce and only fierce are not terrifying. Those fierce and cautious are the most dreadful.

In Songcheng University Martial Arts Club’s sitting area, Yan Zheke pursed her lips tight, very nervous and concerned about every change in the ring.

She didn’t expect Lou Cheng to fall in such a passive situation at such an early stage of the match and didn’t think Lou Cheng would advance instead of retreating, meeting offensive with offensive. Her palms were sweaty.

When Lou Cheng jumped back with the rebound strength from the bump, distanced himself further away from the opponent and resumed his stance, she finally heaved a sigh of relieve. Her eyes were shining for her boyfriend’s sound judgment, determination, and soberness displayed in such a short time.

Watching quietly, Geezer Shi suddenly burst into an acclaim. “Not bad…”

Lin Que regained mobility after a simple treatment, his face pale like a piece of paper and left arm hanging down with no strength left.

His eyes were locked at the ring and his right hand was made into a tight fist unconsciously.

…

In the studio, He Xiaowei shuddered at the possible outcome while commentating on this part of the fight. He put on a smile of relief.

“Lou Cheng from Songcheng University is very reckless. Wei Shengtian could have ended the match if Lou Cheng was less lucky. Ha! With that distance between them, however great the referee is, he might not be saved in time. At least a few bones would have been broken.”

“How lucky he is! A reckless attack got him a good opportunity. However, unfortunately, the final decisive factor is the true strength.”

“He didn’t win in the last bout. I can tell you he’s not to win this fight!”

“You tell me how he can win?”

…

As the audience slowly recovered from the shock, Wei Shengtian once again brought himself close to Lou Cheng. His right arm stretched out like a giant hammer, smashing into the opponent’s trance.