Martial Arts Master

“Mu Yu is a top Professional Ninth Pin fighter, specialized in ancient Xingyi, including the dragon, tiger, leopard, bear and eagle styles, and modern styles like the blast punch and the Shooting Fillip. However, his blast punch hasn’t awakened the Tremor force yet. He’s known as the Bane for his supernatural ability to cause misfortune to a specific person within 20 meters. The boomerang of this power is that a random friend or family relative within the range might suffer the bad luck. He’s also nicknamed the Old Fellow Mu for his over-matured looks.

“Lin Xiaozhi, female, is also a top Professional Ninth Pin fighter, highly gifted with a good chance of entering the Dan stage before her graduation. Trained by Mu Yu himself, she’s skilled in similar styles with her master. Although she loves to say that she once believed in science, she carries amulets from different sects and religions with her all the time. She’s still the one most frequently hit by her master’s supernatural ability.”

“Jin Dali is a capable Professional Ninth Pin fighter who just got his certificate last October. He’s of the same style with Mu Yu and Lin Xiaozhi but known for his aggressiveness and seeking death. Brought up in an engineering family, he likes car racing and often rides his powerful motor to school. Very easy going and a bit too active… ”

As the express train ran fast, leading members of the Shannan University Martial Arts Club flashed in Lou Cheng’s head. He discussed with Yan Zheke often to avoid shipwrecking in a ditch kind of accident. If they advanced in the second place of the group, they would have to confront Shanbei at the Quarter-final.

His mobile suddenly vibrated with the notification for a new message.

Lou Cheng picked it up and saw Mo Jingting’s name.

“O(∩_∩)O~ Junior master, I’m having a vocal concert in Songcheng next week. As an elder of mine, don’t you want to treat me well in your territory? I’ve saved you a few VIP tickets. Share with your friends if you want.”

“Attempting to be cute with no good intention… ” Commented Lou Cheng before passing the phone to Yan Zheke who was leaning to his shoulder. “I wanted to take you to her vocal concert before. But maybe no point.”

Going to a vocal concert is one of our date options.

Yan Zheke wasn’t in her best form, her lips pale due to blood loss. She took it over and read with a faint smile.

“Why not? Let’s go together.”

“Ahh?” Lou Cheng was surprised by Ke’s response and didn’t know what to say.

What show are we playing now?

“This kind of thing… Just be natural and poised. She is a younger disciple of your sect. You will meet her here and there no matter what. We take her out together and go to her concert. She will get the point.” Yan Zheke tilted her head and glanced at Lou Cheng. “She will know that her current attitude annoys you. Right?”

“Yes! Coach Yan has a point!” Lou Cheng answered without any doubt and added, “I’m just concerned she will dig out your background and spread it to the Shushan Study and your grandparents.”

Yan Zheke rolled her eyes. “She might if she found it out herself. But if we meet her generously, she’ll keep it between us. She wants to please you and gain advantage from all sides. She won’t do things to annoy you unless she actually falls in love with you.”

Teased by her, Lou Cheng hurried to clear things up. “No way! Girls in the entertaining industry never fall for anyone.”

He took his mobile back and replied,

“My girlfriend and I would love to take you to try some Songcheng specialities if we can get out of school.”

A few minutes later, Mo Jingting’s message came in. “Great! Looking forward to it! Please… How should I address her? Say thanks to her for me.”

Yan Zheke leaned to Lou Cheng’s shoulder and read the text with a smile, her chin raised. “See? The tone is a bit different now.”

“No emoticons… ” Lou Cheng nodded and then asked out of concern, “Is your stomach feeling better?”

In the middle of her menstruation, Yan Zheke couldn’t fight today and felt a bit down. Lou Cheng was quite pleased about it because odd things might happen during the fight with Mu Yu. Once a male fighter’s crotch broke open itself and revealed his everything in front the audience…

“Damn it! I hope nothing strange happens or it will be an embarrassing moment in my history forever…” Thought Lou Cheng with fear.

“Much better. I already felt okay before the train took off. Your ginger tea helped.” Yan Zheke played with her boyfriend’s fingers while watching the desolate early winter scenery in the distance.

The train pulled in right before noon. Members of the Martial Arts Club gathered at the exit.

Different from the preliminaries, no car was sent to pick them up. They had to split into groups and take taxis over.

“Anybody doesn’t know the direction?” Asked Cai Zongming thoughtfully as the club manager.

“I!” “I!” “I! I!” He Zi raised her hand. So did Li Xiaowen, Yan Xiaoling and Mu Jinnian who came as fans.

Cai Zongming’s mouth twitched. “Everyone in your dorm room has no sense of direction?”

“Things of a kind come together!” Answered Yan Xiaoling seriously, quite proudly.

“Then you better go separately with others. Don’t get lost,” said Cai Zongming with a smile.

Yan Zheke turned slightly sideways and whispered to Lou Cheng’s ear, “I’m pretty bad at directions actually.”

“I didn’t know that.” Lou Cheng was surprised.

“I can’t tell which direction north is… But my phone can navigate… ” Yan Zheke pursed her lips. “Also I have a human navigator.”

“I used to think people good at science have a pretty decent sense of direction,” commented Lou Cheng with a smile.

“I thought so, too… ” Yan Zheke looked helpless. “However, there are always exceptions.”

Once Shu Rui and her filming crew arrived, the group had a simple lunch in the station before taking taxis separately to the old campus of Shannan University.

Very thoughtful and caring, Ming didn’t assign anyone into Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke’s group to protect others’ ears and eyes.

There was not much traffic in the early afternoon and the taxi sailed smoothly. The driver took a look at them from the mirror and smiled, “Kid, you are a student of Shannan University?”

“Me?” Lou Cheng pointed at himself with one hand while holding Yan Zheke’s fingers with the other.

“Yeah. You look like a student. Just picked up your girlfriend from the station?” Asked the driver casually.

“Why did you guess so? Why can’t she be a student of the university who just picked me up from the station?” Lou Cheng asked in reply, amused.

The driver burst into a laugh. “In this world, only men come to pick up women. It’s never the other way round.”

“Not necessary.” Lou Cheng turned to Yan Zheke with a sneer. “Would you come to pick me up?”

Yan Zheke glared at him and snorted. “That depends.”

The driver continued as if he had confirmed Lou Cheng was a student in the university. “My daughter also studies in Shannan University. She’s in the macromolecule department.”

“Hmm? Not many girls take this major,” replied Lou Cheng at ease.

“What can I do? Nobody in my family really knows this. We picked it randomly,” answered the driver carelessly. “She should have gone home last night but she’s staying in school to cheer for some martial arts match. Why would girls watch this kind of brutal stuff?”

“It’s not bad. Get stronger and protect themselves,” said Lou Cheng apathetically.

“The Shannan University Martial Arts Club is pretty good. We often hear the Old Fellow Mu can take down ten rivals single-handed.” The driver didn’t seem to care about Lou Cheng’s opinion.

“Mu Yu with some supernatural ability is known by the name Bane,” added Lou Cheng enthusiastically. Yan Zheke was listening with full interest.

“Yeah. Yeah!” The driver felt more certain about Lou Cheng’s identity. “You are also a fan of Martial Arts Competition?”

Chatting casually with the driver all the way, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke gained some direct impression of Shannan University’s martial arts atmosphere. The driver was about to introduce his daughter to them.

At the north gate, all martial arts club members gathered and headed towards the venue through a road with hundreds years old trees growing on both sides. There was still one hour until the match. The stadium was quite empty with less than a dozen students doing exercise.

Fortunately the receptionist of the Shannan University Martial Arts Club had waited at the door after communicating with Li Xiaowen and guided them into the visiting team’s locker room.

At the entrance to the Strength Training Gymnasium, a tall figure with her hands in her pockets watched them walking in and sighed,

“The Songcheng University is here early.”

Wearing a high ponytail, the clean and refreshing looking girl was garishly dressed with Buddhist prayer beads, Taoist amulets, Christian crosses, and Arabic scripts. She was none other than Lin Xiaozhi, a leading member of the Shannan University Martial Arts Club.

Before the fight with capable rivals, she felt a bit uneasy and decided to come to the Martial Arts Club earlier to warm up.

Lin Xiaozhi stepped to the home team’s locker room while swing her key around. She put the key in but only to realize the door had already been unlocked.

As soon as she walked in, she saw the team leader Mu Yu the Old Fellow Mu who looked as if a man in his late 40s with little hair.

“Chief, you are early!” Lin Xiaozhi blurted out with surprise.

Mu Yu’s arms were hanging down and his body leaning forward. He heaved a sigh. “A bit nervous. Just like last time when we were confronting Shanbei.

“Two fighters in the Dan stage, where one of Professional Seventh Pin and the other capable Professional Eighth Pin. Pretty much identical to last year’s Shanbei.”

The locker room’s door was pushed open and Jin Dali came in wearing a hippie hair style. He was apparently surprised. “Holy cow! Even earlier than me! What the heck are you guys doing here?”

“Quite concerned about this match. If we lost, we would very likely meet Shanbei at the quarter-finals.” Lin Xiaozhi had no intention to hide her feeling.

She soon adjusted herself and burst into a smile. “However, we do have a decent chance. First of all, they might underestimate us and send only Lin Que or Lou Cheng to the ring.”

“Impossible. This is a vital match.” Mu Yu negated it.

“Second, they are still training their bench players. The first one we fight won’t be Lin Que or Lou Cheng because they must be very concerned about your supernatural ability. Lou Cheng with unbelievable physical strength will be the last one. As long as Jin and I can deal with their first fighter quickly, we can play dissipation warfare against Lin Que. We might not be as powerful as Lou Cheng and him that could team up to defeat a Dan stage fighter but we can greatly consume his strength which is his weakness.” Lin Xiaozhi continued with confidence, “He will be close to his limit and Chief, your supernatural ability will work very effectively on him so you can save most of your strength to fight Lou Cheng.

“I used to believe in science, but now I’m more into metaphysics.” She finished her opinion with a wisecrack.

“Songcheng University’s bench fighters have grown fast. They are no easy targets to be handled quickly.” Mu Yu heaved another sigh.

Lin Xiaozhi said while outlining her lips, “That’s great. I haven’t had a chance to perform my new skill yet. Everyone thinks Songcheng University will win this match. They will be bloated with pride… ”

She glanced at Mu Yu and Jin Dali and straightened her face.

“Here is another line.”

“An oppressed army fighting with desperate courage is sure to win!”