Martial Arts Master

At the meeting room of the TV station, the director bent down and braced his hands on the table, roaring at the employees.

“The tournament is over, and you still haven’t thought of any good nicknames?”

“Do you still want to stay in this area?”

His surging voice and splattering saliva made the young employee tremble and back way. He raised his hand in a very timid way and said, “Me, I have an idea!”

“Why didn’t you say so before?” the director asked, staring at him.

“The meeting just began! I didn’t get a chance to speak yet!” The young employee silently complained about him, but he dared not say it out loud, and then he honestly gave his idea, “Considering that we already have the name Four Heavenly Sons, we can continue to name the rest in this way. We can name them after mythical creatures that fit them but also classifies them according to their strength.”

The director remained silent for a moment and then said, “Well… tell me your opinion then, what name should we give to Lou Cheng?”

The young employee expected this question so he replied immediately,

“The Sky Shaking Roar!”

The woman in glasses glanced at him secretively and bent her head, pretending to write something in the notebook. Some had different facial expressions but most of them were trying not to laugh.

“The Sky Shaking Roar?” The director frowned expressing doubt in his voice.

“‘The Sky Shaking’ because Lou Cheng is good at Tremor Punch, and it also means he gave this Youth Tournament a shocking impression. I think it… fits?” The young employee was so confident before but now he felt more and more nervous.

The director nodded slightly, “It’s kind of Ok, because you made a pun. But why Roaring? Why not a hornless dragon? Lou Cheng has already achieved Frost Force, and he has also mastered some Simplified Physical Invulnerable techniques. Isn’t Hornless Frost Dragon more suitable?”

“Hornless Frost Dragon is too soft, and it doesn’t fit well with Sky Shaking… it loses the strong and manly feel. Plus, when Lou Cheng defeated Zhang Zhutong in the semi-finals, he roared, right?” The young employee tried to explain.

“Then The Sky Shaking Roar it is. We don’t have much time.” The director gave some final words, “Since we have decided on the nickname for Lou Cheng, I have ideas for the others as well. Give me your opinions. Void Roc for Han Zhifei, Wind Fire Dragon for Zhang Zhutong, and Formless Eagle for Liu Xunzhen. What do you think? Any comments?”

The young employee and the woman in glasses looked at each other and replied simultaneously.

“No!”

“Really? I came up with these names just now, so they aren’t perfect.” The director said it very modestly.

“Indeed not, but I think they’re better than the nicknames we’ve used the last two years.” The girl in glasses replied honestly.

At least they’re not as bad or as weird!

Only… only that… they seem like the name of Mountain King, or the names of passersby A, B, C, D…

Anyway, it’s progress!

The director beamed with joy as he happily announced,

“So it’s settled then!”

…

The gentle sound of singing was heard for quite a long time, and the tune still lingered in the air. Lou Cheng somehow managed to fall asleep after totally relaxing. He kept dreaming until he was woken up by Yan Zheke, and saw the light from the suspension lamps.

“The award ceremony will begin in just a few minutes, you’d better hurry and get a quick shower,” said Yan Zheke with a smile. “Actually it’s ok if you don’t take a shower. You can just suffocate them to death with your stinky smell!”

The short nap only made him even more tired, so he didn’t care about the details anymore. He turned around, held onto his little fairy, and went back to sleep. However, his mind wasn’t as empty as before. He sat up, strong willed, and began to massage her lap out of instinctive pity, which helped ease the pain that she felt from being used as a pillow for 20 minutes.

At the same time, he spoke in the laughter, “If so, then tomorrow I will be nicknamed ‘Monk.’ Then I’ll really be infamous.”

“Aha, infamous… ” Yan Zheke was laughing because of his joke, but her eyes were still fixed on the protective behavior in his gentle expression. She pushed him a little bit and said, “So why don’t you hurry up!”

Lou Cheng didn’t procrastinate. He jumped back a step and stood up, taking out his new boxer briefs and martial arts suit, after which he went into the bathroom.

Yan Zheke took out her phone, which was on mute, and looked at the messages that she had ignored.

Among them, Gu Shuang asked in excitement,

“Ke, has your man recovered enough? How about we go out tonight? Take him out to celebrate! He is the champion of our province’s Youth Tournament!”

Yan Zheke smirked and chuckled as her hands tapped on the screen keyboard.

“He’s rested but he still needs to keep his schedule for training. How can he have time for a party? He still has to exercise very early tomorrow morning! So do I!”

When she finished typing, she waited to send it, temporarily leaving it as a draft.

After Lou Cheng finished his quick shower, she looked at him while he was drying his hair with the towel and asked with a smile that exposed her dimples, “Gu Shuang wants to have a party later tonight to celebrate your victory, do you want to go?”

“Do you want me to go?” Lou Cheng asked in return, smiling.

Yan Zheke smiled as well with her curved eyebrows, “I’m ok with either, you decide.”

“Then just forget it. I’m too tired and I have to keep my schedule. I can’t miss morning training.” Lou Cheng resisted the temptation to go to the party, and he said it resolutely but in a very gentle way to her.

The victory is temporary, but the training is forever.

Yan Zheke immediately gave him a smile and looked at him delightfully. Then she looked down and clicked the “send” button. She sent the draft that she had written earlier to Gu Shuang.

I knew he would refuse!

It’s not the meeting of minds, but the mutual affinity and mutual understanding accumulated little by little over time!

Of course, even if I knew he would say so, I wouldn’t make the decision for him either. It’s necessary to ask him for his own opinion. It’s basic mutual respect. I just typed it in advance to save time.

“What’s wrong?” Lou Cheng was a little surprised by how she reacted and he added, “I think you don’t want to go either, because right now your strongest desire is to become a Professional Ninth Pin fighter. You wouldn’t want to miss your morning training either.”

Yan Zheke turned her eyes to him and lifted up her head. She was about to say something when they heard a knock on the door.

“Mr. Lou Cheng, the ceremony is about to begin. You can prepare to enter the stage.” Fang Siqi reminded him.

“Ok.” Lou Cheng answered loudly.

Then, he looked at the girl and asked her in a hurry, ” Ke, how about staying at my place tonight? And we can do the exercises together tomorrow morning? I, I have no bad intentions, it’s just that my head is still throbbing and I want my little fairy to massage it a little bit.”

Suddenly Yan Zheke thought of Dirty Tong’s joke about men, “I swear I won’t do anything”. She couldn’t help feeling shy as she rolled her eyes at him. Then she smiled and said, “It’s a pity but my parents are in Gao Fen as well. They are watching the game right now. I have to see them tonight.”

It’s not like we are travelling together. Why is he always thinking about sleeping together!

“Ok.” Lou Cheng forced a smile and sighed, realizing just how powerful the Empress Dowager was. Somehow, she always showed up at the most inopportune moment!

Seeing his reaction, Yan Zheke secretly smiled and murmured,

“However, we can go on a date tomorrow!”

“Ok!” With his spirit lifted, he turned around to open the door, walking out of the lounge.

Yan Zheke followed him with her eyes and took out her phone again, receiving Gu Shuang’s message,

“He had two fights tonight and he also won the championship yet he doesn’t even get to take a break? Still thinking about his morning training? Oh my godness, doesn’t he know there has to be a balance between work and rest?”

What a crazy man!

Yan Zheke smiled and hung up the phone. She left the lounge and quietly walked along the aisle. She went back to her seat while everybody’s attention was on the arena.

…

Just after Lou Cheng appeared on the stage, there was a wave of sound from many vuvuzela and the inflatable sticks. The atmosphere was very animated.

He walked to the center of the stage slowly and waved to the audience. The enthusiasm of the audience created a festive atmosphere.

In this environment, he ascended the arena again, and he saw Han Zhifei, whose left arm was in a bandage, Zhang Zhutong, who was fully recovered, Liu Xunzhen, whose complexion was pale white, and the previous judge, who had changed into a white and clean martial arts suit.

“Next, Mr. Yin Huaming, the chairman of the Martial Artist Association, and the government of our province, will present the prize to the Top 4 winners of this Youth Tournament!” the voice from the broadcast was enormous.

While the host was speaking, Miss Etiquette entered the stage with four crystal trophies. In the center of the tray was the symbol of the champion’s fist.

If it was just a competition that wasn’t held by the government, there would probably only be a large check. But in this case, the experts wouldn’t seem so honorable, and the higher level management of the Martial Artist Association would reject them.

“First, the provincial government will present the award to candidates Zhang Zhutong and Liu Xunzhen.” After the broadcast, most of the big screens in the stadium were separated into two kinds, each showed Zhang Zhutong and Liu Xunzhen performing during the championship respectively. From the fourth and fifth, all the way up to the double-elimination competition. Top 32, Top 16, Top 8, and then it finally played the video of the Top 4 elimination matches.

When the video stopped, the guest in a suit took the trophies and gave them to Zhang Zhutong and Liu Xunzhen respectively.

Then, in the same way, Han Zhifei took his award as the second prize winner.

“Finally, Mr. Yin Huaming, the chairman of The Martial Arts Association of Xing Province, will present the champion award to the candidate, Lou Cheng!” The voice in the broadcast announced very loudly.

Lou Cheng saw the kind-looking Yin Huaming, and he also saw the video of how he won this prize on the big screen.

The first round, beating down Xiong Yu. the fifth round and the two rounds before the double-elimination game were easily won by Lou Cheng.

The last round before the double-elimination match, he ran into the No.9 seed fighter, Liu Xunzhen, where he declared his presence by using Tremor Punch six times in a row.

In Top 32 elimination match, with him beating Xing Jingjing, who was a very tough competitor with a resistance ability.

The Top 16 elimination match, where he repulsed Qiu Lin using Severe Warning.

The Top 8 elimination game, when signs of danger appeared everywhere, but he still finally defeated Meng Jiefeng because of his superior capacity.

Then in the semi-final, he defeated Zhang Zhutong, the No.1 seed fighter, after going through a difficult fight.

The images showed scene-by-scene, summarizing Lou Cheng’s excellent fights in several minutes.

Yin Huaming raised up the trophy, gave it to Lou Cheng with his two hands, smiled, and said,

“You deserve this prize!”

Lou Cheng was still thinking about the images that just played, so he took the trophy unconsciously.

Suddenly, the screen fixed on the moment when he vanquished Han Zhifei with his unexpected counterattack!

The crowd broke into a chorus of the hottest and craziest cheers of the whole evening.

“Champion!”

Lou Cheng raised his trophy, and he felt like he could only sense the bright light in front of his eyes, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of people and their waves of cheering voices.

…

At ten o’clock in the evening, he returned to the hotel, subconsciously moving to the window, and once again overlooking the Gao Fen City martial arts arena that brought him so many beautiful memories.

The arena’s lights were not yet out, and there was a dreamy glow against the darkness all around.

At this moment, Lou Cheng’s phone rang, so he picked it up and looked at it. Suddenly he couldn’t hide his joy.

Yan Zheke sent him a sentence with a smirking face.

“I have good news, Empress Dowager’s weight is back to normal, so she doesn’t need me do the morning exercises with her anymore!”

…

At nightfall, inside the hotel room of Ming Qi International Hotel.

Lou Zhisheng’s heart was extremely excited, and it was difficult for him to sleep. Right then, he felt his wife Qi Fang turn over and he heard her muttering something in her dream.

“Cheng’s the Champion!” “Cheng’s the Champion!”