Martial Arts Master

“Army!”

His deep and low voice echoed in Wei Rong’s ear. It made him feel like he was fighting in a fierce war, surrounded by violent enemies. The atmosphere became so heavy that Wei Rong felt as if one of his enemies had put a sharp knife against his neck and the ferocious power was about to penetrate his body. It gave him goosebumps.

Just as he was wavering and had lost all his spirit, Lou Cheng reverberated and condensed his qi, blood, and spirit. Then he exploded.

CRACK!

He rushed about seven meters forward and came to stand face to face in front of Wei Rong. He raised his arm and made a downward cut with his fist while visualizing a scene of tidal waves rolling. The waves froze, including the ones that seemed to contain immense power.

POP!

With the Thunder Cloud Roaring in his mind, Lou Cheng struck out a movement, Severe Warning!

At this point, Wei Rong had barely recovered from his fear and anxiety. He saw a fist coming towards him. Covered in a chilly white and blue-black mist, it grew as it approached him, gradually occupying his sight and the whole world in front of him.

“Not good!” He had no time to dodge and it was too late for him to do the Dan Stage explosion. All he could do was pull the fascia to raise his arms quickly and cross them above his head.

BANG!

Wei Rong suddenly felt a flow of cold force exerted into his arms. It froze his mind instantly and he passed out.

When he finally recovered from the temporary shock and was able to see other colors, the first thoughts to come into his mind were “Crap”, “I need to escape now”, and so on. However, he found that Lou Cheng had already taken a step back and was standing with his hands crossed behind him. He was looking calmly at the referee.

The referee raised his right hand to announce the result.

“Round four: Lou Cheng wins!”

“Lost? I’ve already lost?” Even Wei Rong knew clearly that there was no hope for him to win against Lou Cheng. However, he had never thought that he would be defeated at the very beginning of the match. It was what they called a second-kill.

This was a defeat that he had never experienced. Even back when he was a Professional Ninth Pin fighter and needed to fight with an Eighth Pin fighter, he had never encountered such a situation!

He blushed at his poor performance. He felt so embarrassed that he wanted to find a hole to hide in.

This match, it’s just like bullying an elementary school kid, and I’ m that kid… 

I haven’t even had time to perform and I’ve lost! 

In the broadcast studio, Liu Chang was momentarily shocked. Then he let out a smile and glanced over at Chen Sansheng. He said,

“How many seconds did it take?”

“Well, if we don’t count the time that Lou Cheng took a step back and when the referee announced the result… Not more than three seconds…” Chen Sansheng tried to hold back his laughter.

He had predicted that Lou Cheng would have a quick victory, but he had never expected that he would defeat his opponent within such a short time span. Especially when his opponent was a weak Seventh Pin!

If this was a match for life and death, Lou Cheng could have killed his opponent in two or three seconds! 

Filled with emotion, Liu Chang sighed before asking, “Well, to be honest, Wei Rong is strong enough to trade more than ten blows with Lou Cheng. How did he lose the match in mere seconds?”

Chen Sansheng thought for a while, then answered him in a deep tone,

“This was a problem of mentality. Let us put it this way. After the first round, Gao Shengli and Wei Rong had probably already lost all hope.

“They probably didn’t harbor much hope to begin with. In such a condition, even though they couldn’t release their full strength, they would still be able to withstand pressure. Probably like normal. Then, when they realized that Songcheng University didn’t have any intention of letting Lin Que fight – not seeing his name in the list of competitors, Jingfeng most likely felt angry. Like they had been slighted. They wanted to take the gamble. To gamble, they would need the first fighter, Gao Shengli, to quickly take down Cai Zongming and Li Mao so that they could retain three fighters to battle against Lou Cheng. Only like this would they have had a glimmer of hope to win.”

“Well, in the end, Gao Shengli was infuriated by Cai Zongming and beat him down at all costs with several movements. I’m not an expert on lip reading, so I have no idea what Cai Zongming said during the first round. Even though he made a quick victory, his consumption was way more than what he estimated. So, in the second round, relying on his Iron Cloth, he still held hope to save stamina to fight with Lou Cheng. He didn’t want to perform Force Concentration easily. But he was confronted with Li Mao, who was never afraid of getting injuries and tried his best to fight with him. Under such conditions and within such a short distance, Gao Shengli had no time to play Absolute Reaction.

“In this match, Gao Shengli not only underestimated his opponent, he also became too conservative. We can use one idiom for everything that he has done today – fighting in a dilemma. He failed to play out all of his strengths.”

Liu Chang gave considerable thought to his words. He said, “Is mentality a significant factor in martial arts competitions?”

“Yes, of course. Why else would we have the conversation time? Some fighters are good at creating a nervous fighting atmosphere and dealing with the mind. They could easily make their opponents feel angry, depressed, or frightened. As a result, their opponents would fail to play all their strengths out. Someone wrote about ‘defeating your opponent with tricks’ in ‘The Art of War.’ There is also an antithetical couplet that reads: ‘One who is good at dealing with the mind can solve his own weaknesses.’” Chen Sansheng boasted his knowledge with a grin. “Gao Shengli was infuriated in the first round, so he made a mistake. Then he continued to make more mistakes, which made him fight in a dilemma in the second round and lose his calmness. Even though he lost this match, he actually had some stamina in the end, enough for him to win against another Professional Ninth Pin fighter.”

Liu Chang thought for several seconds. He was confused. “I’m not surprised that Gao Shengli lost the match. It’s clear that he had difficulty when he was fighting in the second round. He made some mistakes and failed to perform all his strengths. But how does it relate to Wei Rong? When he found that Gao Shengli had lost the match, did he still hold any hope? In such a situation, he would enjoy the match with his positive mentality. But why did he become so negative?”

At some point, everyone made mistakes and failed to play as well as they could, including fighters of Dan stage. When they had mental problems or when they felt exhausted, they would experience similar things. This was also why top Professional Ninth Pin fighters would choose to go all out when they were fighting in the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament.

“It would be an exaggeration to say that Wei Rong lost his calmness, but he definitely didn’t enjoy the match…” Chen Sansheng continued to say, “It’s better for people to have no hope from the beginning to the end. Once they have hope, they will be disappointed when their hope is ruined. So they’d rather escape from the hopeless situation as soon as possible, or they’ll feel frightened instead of fighting with all of their strength. What’s more, I’ve told you before that fighters of Dan stage always use Will to control their Spirit and connect it with their body. It turns out that Will can also reflect their own momentum. The more powerful the fighters are, the stronger their Will and their momentum will be.”

“Is this the reason why there is a confrontation of momentum?” Liu Chang was familiar with this kind of common sense about Dan stage.

“Yes, it is. This effect won’t be so obvious if you are only a fighter of Professional Seventh or Eighth Pin. But when you become a Sixth Pin fighter, your momentum will be strong enough to affect your opponent’s Spirit. Do you still remember the previous match between Lou Cheng and Zhang Chaoyang? Because of this effect, I said that these two fighters performed with the same strong momentum in that match. Also, this effect is one of the uses of the conversation time.” Chen Sansheng explained to him in detail, “When you are fighting with such a Mighty One, once you have a mental ailment, he’ll absolutely take this opportunity to use his momentum and suppress your Spirit directly.”

Liu Chang nodded slightly and said, “No wonder people talk about the impact of psychological shadow. Even normal people would be influenced. So if a fighter is suppressed by another fighter’s momentum, the result will be very obvious.”

“Wei Rong experienced what I’ve said just now. Because of his flinch and his negative mood, he was easily caught by Lou Cheng. He was then suppressed by Lou Cheng’s momentum and lost his normal state. Then he was attacked by the Bing Formula. His opponent moved to his side using the Dan stage explosion and controlled him with the simplified physical invulnerability of the Ice Sect. With these continuous attacks, he had nothing else to do but to be beaten down by his opponent.” Chen Sansheng took a glance at the replay and ended his commentary just on time.

…

In the Jinfeng University Martial Arts Club, seeing that the club president, Wei Rong, had lost the match within several seconds, Liu Chunlai’s brows jumped a little. He turned to his coach, Zheng Fei, and asked in an embarrassed tone,

“Can I throw in the white flag now?”

He felt a bloodthirsty glare from Gao Shengli.

“Haha, I’m just joking. One can only be regarded as a true man, a true fighter, once he has lost in the ring. If he gives up without even trying, he must be cowardly. No balls, a eunuch,” Liu Chunlai said with a wry smile. He walked toward the stone stages. One inexplicable phrase flashed across his mind:

“Bring your opponent down in seconds!”

He passed Wei Rong, who was rushing back to the team with embarrassment, and stood in the arena. His heart and mind were at peace. All he could think about was how long he could stay in the arena. Every second counted.

“Only if I can keep fighting for 100 seconds can I be regarded as a true man!”Sometimes his jokes included himself.

The referee lifted his right arm like a machine and announced,

“Start! ”

Just as the referee said the magic word, Liu Chunlai started to make his move. He copied Piao Yuan’s stance from a match a few days prior. He lowered his waist and back and shifted his weight to his feet. He sprinted towards the right like a rabbit that had been shot by an arrow.

Even if a fighter had mastered the best body refining, he or she would still leave some traces or signs of their upcoming moves. Since Lou Cheng had mastered the Ice Mirror, he could sense the change in the muscles and fascia of his opponent’s hands. After accumulating so much experience, he could be considered an expert in this matter. Before Liu Chunlai even took a step, with just a look, he had already predicted the move accurately. He took half a step forward and arched his body a little. He then threw out his left arm in a hook and shot a freezing light beam towards his opponent’s right.

POOM!

In an odd-sounding explosion, Liu Chunlai, who was rushing to the right side, was hit directly by a beam of cold white light. Ice Burning! The surface of his body was covered in a layer of glittery frost!

Lou Cheng moved toward the “ice sculpture” with large steps.

Liu Chunlai trembled and struggled to escape from the ice-bound state. He saw Lou Cheng smiling. Then he heard the referee’s announcement,

“Round five: Lou Cheng wins!”

“The final result: Songcheng University Martial Arts Club wins!”

The whole arena cheered and trumpets sounded. For some strange reason, some of the audience members started to take pity on the Jinfeng University Martial Arts Club.

“I only took a sip of water!” Yan Zheke crinkled her nose and pursed her lips. She shook her thermos cup to greet Lou Cheng, who looked at her from the ring. She kept smiling because she was so proud.

…

In the live broadcast, the guest presenter, Chen Sansheng, smiled and chided Lou Cheng in a joking manner.

“Lou Cheng is spoiling the market for everyone! If everyone fights like him, how will we sell the tickets and rights for martial arts in the future!?”

How will the TV stations profit from the advertisements? 

“Haha. How many seconds did he take this time?” Liu Chang laughed.

“Eh, less than two seconds… ” Chen Sansheng decided not to continue this embarrassing topic, so he said, “First of all, let’s congratulate Songcheng University for advancing to the final round. There will be some tough matches waiting for them.”

A moment later, Lou Cheng and the other members went back to the locker room. Except for Li Mao, who had gone to the emergency ward to deal with his injuries. He was accompanied by Cai Zongming and was warned not to do any vigorous exercise for the next two weeks.

They watched the match between Capital and Guoyang University in the locker room. Ren Li had not yet gained much strength because she had only fought with one weak opponent, one whom Chen Diguo and Jiang Jingfeng had forgotten to defeat. With this, it was difficult for Lou Cheng to estimate her level.

— Kongtong School was famous for setting up the Wind Sect and had part of the Plague Sect.

…

After the dust had settled, the commenter, Liu Chang, did a closing.

“In this match, both Chen Diguo and Jiang Jingfeng of Capital played in a conservative way. They chose to get down in the ring when they felt tired, saving their stamina well.

“The other two quarter-finals have also ended. If there are no unexpected events, Songcheng University will win against Capital in the semi-finals.

“Let’s look forward to this match!

“Let’s look forward to the match between Lou Cheng and Ren Li. Both of them are favored fighters of the age!”