Martial Arts Master

Standing opposite of Xing Jingjing, Lou Cheng greeted her politely.

“Hello, Senior Sister.”

Although in private and in front of Yan Zheke, he followed Yan Zheke to call her Sister Jingjing, in such a formal setting and considering their current relationship, he felt that it was more appropriate for him to call her Senior Sister.

Their relationship was not deep enough to call her so endearingly.

Xing Jingjing slightly nodded to him and then gave a one-word reply,

“Yes.”

After they exchanged greetings, she continued to be her cold and quiet self, putting everyone at an arm’s length, without interaction.

It seems similar to when we talked… Lou Cheng thought. So he shut his eyes to arrange his thoughts.

Based on Jingjing’s mental issue, if he could trigger something with their conversation, he would probably gain an upper hand. However, this would make him look bad, like a petty man. So unless it was a life-death situation, even if his opponent was someone he did not know, he would not be so despicable as to pour salt on a lady’s wound.

Forget it! I shall use proper martial arts capability to fight!

“Conversation time starts!” The referee opened the curtains of this competition.

Just as Lou Cheng had expected, Xing Jingjing did not speak a word. It was like she had turned into an ice statue.

On Lou Cheng’s end, he was preparing his physical and mental condition. He thought through how he wanted to fight and the strategy for critical moments.

Only at this moment, he really regretted missing that little bit needed to advance to the Dan stage.

Although he had grasped Force Concentration, Absolute Reaction, and the ability to make himself and everything surrounding him to be as one. He had most of the special abilities at this level and was almost equal to someone who was at the Eighth-Pin Dan Stage. In fact, he might even be a little better than some of them. But if we were to look from the perspective of his foundation, it was just a little insufficient. Unfortunately, it cannot be missing even a little bit if he wants to advance.

“Human Body Big Dan” is not only about having well-rounded strength throughout the body. It is also about spirit, qi, blood, and the force when the fighter first makes his or her steps. To completely merge them together in each skill.

So, even if Lou Cheng’s “Force Concentration” and thoughts of Circulating Balance were mixed together, it was not possible to come together at one point. He also knew himself whether he had managed to step into the standard of the Dan stage. That would be when spirit, qi, blood, force and etc, had been compressed to a certain level and started to influence and pull other each other along.

Once at this stage, only after mental strength and focus had become one would anyone be called a Mighty One Dan stage.

Moving forward, and using them together with the interaction of the body elements. The intuition that represents spirit, the sixth sense, the sense of danger will affect the muscles and the person senses, forcing them together. This helps Absolute Reaction to increase in power and mutate a little. This is an ability that only a Seventh or even a Sixth Pins Mighty One will possess.

When the consciousness can be used as an inward vision, and the spirit can be viewed openly, such ability to perceive will push the person beyond themself. This makes the surrounding react. The “Ice Mirror” is something at this level.

From his first day of training martial arts till today, Lou Cheng finally understood why he could not master his “Ice Mirror”. The “Ice Mirror” needs the spirit and mental strength to come together as one. Going into mediation to look within is not enough. Lou Cheng must break through this barrier. Only then he can make up for the other areas that he is insufficient in.

No wonder Master said that it’ll be considered good if I could mastered it in two or three years!

He had calculated the progress that I would have to make in terms of overall martial arts level!

This is simply doing his disciple in…

Soon three minutes had passed. The referee lifted his right hand and in a swift move, swiped it down.

Yan Xiaoling and the rest who were watching the fight did not have a good understanding of Xing Jingjing’s supernatural abilities, so they felt that there was not much difficulty in this match. They were eating snacks leisurely and enjoying the feeling of a sure victory.

“Begin!”

The voice echoed across the arena, silencing the audience.

Unlike previous matches, Lou Cheng did not spring forward to close the gap between them and initiate the first move. Instead, he set his pose. He lowered his waist and lifted his right hand in front of his face. It was to protect his eyes, as well as his temples and other points that were vulnerable.

He lowered his left hand, blocking his abdomen and crotch area. He was clearly in a passive defense mode.

The portion of the audience that somewhat understood martial arts were stunned. They could not understand why the fighter who exploded six times consecutively, blowing away the Ninth Seed martial arts prodigy, would be so careful now.

His opponent was not even ranked, neither did she have any substantive battle record or amazing performance.

At this moment, people who believed in Lou Cheng’s abilities knew that he would not be fighting like this without reason. They frowned as they realized that the icy beauty standing opposite Lou Cheng was not an easy opponent.

Yup, she seems like she’s from Xiushan. So, Lou Cheng must know something about her…

Seems like her supernatural abilities is not something to be looked down upon…

If he brashly started his attacks, exploding, he would probably punch air, exposing all his weak points!

Zhang Zhutong turned his head to look at Han Zhifei and Qiu Lin. Without surprise, their expressions had stiffened too.

On the arena, Xing Jingjing tiptoed as her tall slender body started to move swiftly towards Lou Cheng with arched foot movements. She immediately swung her right arm out. Her arm became like a whip and with a “Pam!”, it went straight for her opponent’s neck.

Somehow Lou Cheng had a prickly feeling on his neck before she actually struck. He did not dare to be slow, choosing to believe his “intuition” rather than risk making a mistake. His spine bounced, forcing his body to pull back. He swerved to the left to avoid the blow.

Just at this moment, he felt goose bumps on his right shoulder. It felt like something dangerous was closing in on him.

He believes his intuition because he felt an impact this time!

Bam!

A tight fist hit his shoulder. The fist only revealed itself the moment it made contact with his shoulder. This dissipated Xing Jingjing’s invisibility skill.

Her supernatural ability was really powerful, so much so that it could even obstruct many layers of “Absolute Reaction”! Watching this scene, Zhang Zhutong was not surprised. Only his iris contracted a little.

At this critical moment, the point where Xing Jingjing’s whip hit his shoulder, Lou Cheng’s qi, spirit and muscles all contracted, pulling all the internal perceptions into a small ball.

Force Concentration!

It was like he had been waiting for this moment all along!

In a split second, Lou Cheng’s body became empty, any sign of life seemed to have disappeared. Xing Jingjing’s fist seemed to have hit nothingness, so there was no force to release.

Xing Jingjing pulled straight back and started to prep her joints for her second attack. Her plan was to continuously attack to reduce this effect. Just as she was preparing to do so, that little ball in Lou Cheng’s diaphragm area exploded, giving off an overwhelming and terrifying force.

Ka Cha! Lou Cheng planted his two legs solidly, then twisted his waist and back. Every bone and joint in his body started to extend. Before Xing Jingjing could lash out with her next move, he threw her with a force so strong it could launch an elephant into the air.

It was impossible for Xing Jingjing to withstand such a force from the diaphragm. She immediately lost her balance, was thrown off the ground and flew like a kite with a broken string.

This was a precious opportunity that could not be ignored! Lou Cheng used Force Concentration again and exploded with immense force. With just one move, he was already beside his opponent who was still in mid-air. His torso muscles swelled, his left hand moved down as his right arm moved up to attack.

Rocket Punch!

Pam! Lou Cheng seemed like he hit Xing Jingjing, but he had only hit air. He missed his target and saw his opponent’s body disappear in front of his eyes.

It’s fake!

It’s a hallucination!

Lou Cheng’s heart skipped a beat. He did not dare to stay put, so he went with the momentum and took a large step forward.

Not far away, beside him, Xing Jingjing appeared and struggled to steady herself.

Tap, tap, tap! In a few steps, Lou Cheng was now at the edge of the arena. He borrowed some force to turn around and repositioned his stance.

This time, he was going to fight till the end. He needed to reduce the area he had to defend.

I don’t believe you can fly and attack me from behind!

Xing Jingjing looked at him coldly. With no hesitation, she stepped towards him.

The two hits earlier had stunned the spectators beyond words. Many could not believe their own eyes and were rubbing them to make sure they were not seeing things.

At this moment, they finally realized that the tall, slender, and quiet girl was not easy to defeat. In fact, she was powerful enough to threaten the dark horse of this competition, the martial arts prodigy who won yesterday.

Would she be another dark horse?

“What should we do, what should we do, what should we do… ” said Yan Xiaoling, with her big round eyes glued to the screen. Her hands subconsciously moving across the phone’s screen, sending messages.

Whatever snacks she had in mind were all forgotten now.

Yan Zheke pursed her lips tightly. She was worried but not panicking. She believed that Cheng had more moves up his sleeves. He would not be cornered so easily.

Before the competition, they had thoroughly discussed different methods and formed a strategy!

So is he going to risk it and use “that” move?

On the edge of the arena, Lou Cheng kept the positions of his hands, defending his critical parts and holding his defense.

His eyes were dark and deep. They were locked on Xing Jingjing’s fast moving body, trying to analyze and determine if they were real or fake.

Bam! Suddenly, Xing Jingjing planted her both legs, lowered her waist and shoulders, striking out with a normal but powerful punch.

Lou Cheng’s center of balance shifted to one side, bringing his waist and back to one side, moving away to the right. He was just like a crab moving horizontally, always holding on to the edge of the arena.

Bam! A fist appeared out of nowhere, landing somewhere near the left side of his ribs. Again, the force cracked through the air, and went straight towards its target.

Just at this moment, Lou Cheng’s diaphragm sank. Once again, all his qi, spirit, and muscles contracted within him, freezing the surroundings. It was like he had become a “human body big dan”.

Without surprise, Xing Jingjing felt a sense of emptiness around her fist. It did not feel like she had hit flesh and bones, instead, it was like she had hit empty space.

She was already prepared for it. Her knuckles gave off some force, turning her fingertips into bullets. They were ready to drill through muscles to crush his rib bones.

This is the moment!

Lou Cheng’s irises contracted and suddenly the “human body big dan” exploded. The force flooded through and at the same time, he tried his best to hold his spirit, trying to visualize stormy rough waves!

During the Force Concentration, due to the contraction of the mental stage, it was impossible to do any visualization. So, if he wanted to use the explosive force of the Dan stage to attack with core forces like the Frost Force and Meteor Force, he had to catch the tiny window of time after releasing the energy. At the same time, he had to quickly adjust his muscles and his inner organs. This was no easy feat.

Hence, this is something that Eighth-Pin or even Seventh, Sixth-Pin Dan stage fighters could not accomplish. It is only possible they attained an extraordinary level first. Only then could they lash out using core forces every move while releasing all the energy from their body.

Even for Lou Cheng, it was the same. When he was mimicking the explosion of Dan stage, he only had time to make the Thunderous Roar Zen move.

But this time, he was not going to use the “Power of Frost”, he was just using this method to strengthen his own Frost supernatural ability!

The cold wind howled and the temperature fell. The huge flowing river had turned into ice. Everything was frozen. The cold currents within Lou Cheng’s body started to transform into a large avalanche!

The muscles on the left side of his ribcage started to swell suddenly, exposing dark green veins and blood vessels. It seemed to have become a small fist by itself and it hit the five fingers that Xing Jingjing had thrown out.

Having complete control over the force and strength around him meant that he could use any part of his body to attack. The only point to note was that the attacking power of his chest wasn’t as strong as his hands and feet!

Because of this, Lou Cheng aimed to trade an injury for victory. Through actual contact, by taking a small injury, he could gain a chance to channel the cold wave into Xing Jingjing’s body!

Then, the moment she was frozen, considering the standard of her actual skills, he no longer had anything to be afraid of!

Bam!

Xing Jingjing’s finger reached into Lou Cheng’s flesh, and the cold wave came gushing out!