Martial Arts Master

As a well-known warrior, Lou Cheng’s name was enough to shock people. Everyone in the martial arts community would know that he was the Heavenly Son who ranked just below those inhuman masters. He was a fighter of Peng Leyun’s level before Peng Leyun had advanced. They stood no chance against him.

Besides, Lou Cheng was not a single fighter, for there was a giant force, the Ice God Sect, supporting him. Hence, Huang Zihua had to rush back to his sect to ask one of the most powerful elders for help.

Maybe Lou Cheng came here alone without notifying his sect, but now he is likely to ask them for help. Though the Ice God Sect’s forces haven’t permeated to the surrounding areas, they have many masters, and we can’t defeat any one of them.

Well, our elder will arrive before tomorrow morning and then search for Old Nanny Qiu in a one-day period. If we still can’t find that woman and get the trace of the Fighting Formula, we’ll release it to Daxing Temple and get a reward!

As all kinds of thoughts flashed across Huang Zihua’s mind, he simplified the whole explanation into a name and a serious tone.

After hanging up the phone, Huang Zhihua suppressed his feelings and then took a glance at Xixi and Shen. He nodded reluctantly. “I still have something to do, but I’ll invite you for dinner another day.”

The investigation of Old Nanny Qiu’s disappearance had been putting some pressure on him. He had no time to date the girls. It was only when he received Xixi’s message that he decided to come out and relax, hoping to get some new ideas.

Now that he had heard that Lou Cheng was here, he was in no mood to flirt with the girls.

“Okay…” Xixi and Shen looked at each other in confusion, trying to understand what had happened.

Concerned, Xixi asked another question. “Brother Huang, will that guy come back?”

Huang Zhihua looked at her and murmured,

“Don’t worry, you’re not his target.”

He turned to leave the alley and went back to his hotel, leaving the two girls behind.

His target is not me… unconscious Brother Huang… the stalker who didn’t appear again… Xixi looked at Shen with some feelings of discernment.

We seem to have been pulled into something larger than we thought…

That stalker’s target might be Brother Huang, and I’m only a smokescreen…

Relieved, frightened, curious, and disappointed… Xixi was caught in a whirlwind of emotions after figuring out the whole thing.

At this moment, she frowned and mumbled to herself,

“Lou Cheng… that name sounds so familiar…”

…

Now that he had exposed himself, Lou Cheng knew the other party would soon call for assistance, but he did not want to do the same. He did not want to be like a spoiled child. Going back to the hotel with lots of take-outs, he began analyzing the information got from Huang Zihua, intending to speed up his actions and be one step ahead of the other side.

They had found Zhou Wei, the local villain, through official channels, but did not manage to get any useful information from him…

They had sent someone to keep watch on Li Wanquan, hoping that Old Nanny Qiu would bite the hook and surface herself. For such a weird and secretive woman, if she was exposed, she would think that Li Wanquan was the one who betrayed her, and she might take revenge…

They also kept some men to monitor 15 Wanhe Street in case Old Nanny Qiu went back home to grab something…

All kinds of possibilities flashed across Lou Cheng’s mind, but he had not found anything new except to rule out many of the possibilities.

Not before long, it was 8 PM. Lou Cheng’s phone began ringing a special ringtone.

Yan Zheke sent a “laughing and thumping the ground” emoji. “Haha, it’s so funny. How are you, Pervert Cheng?”

“What can I do? I don’t know how to trail someone at all…” Lou Cheng replied with a “crying” emoji.

It was not a fine experience to be regarded as abnormal, unless it was Ke thinking so.

“Are those two girls pretty?” Yan Zheke smiled.

“So-so. If I see them, I’ll probably recognize them, but if I don’t, I think I’m already forgetting how they look like. ” Lou Cheng gave an exaggerated reply.

Yan Zheke sent a “biting lip and looking up” emoji, “Don’t cheat on me. Huang Zihua wouldn’t flirt with them if they were plain-looking.” Plus, he is a Dan-stage warrior!

“Maybe it’s difficult for me to go from extravagance to average.” Seeing that the little fairy was trapped by him, Lou Cheng snickered.

Yan Zheke paused and then replied, “I almost burst out laughing just now and spouted out the milk from my mouth… Mom has been looking at me weirdly… Well, any new clues?”

In a good mood, she moved the conversation back to the main topic.

“Can we consider all clues one as a new clue? ” Lou Cheng gave his wife his conclusion.

“Okay.” Yan Zheke sent a “thinking” emoji. “As inferential fiction always says, we should go back to the beginning and start again. Now that we can’t figure out how Old Nanny Qiu left her yard, we should come back to where she disappeared and start again…”

“So I intend to go to Old Nanny Qiu’s home tonight to see if there are any clues we might have missed. I can do better than those guys since few fighters below the physical-invulnerability stage can manage special skills like Ice Mirror!” Lou Cheng said. They always had a tacit understanding.

“Haha, couples think alike!” Yan Zheke tittered.

The joyful conversation was disrupted by noises after Yan Zheke got dressed and left the house. Before long, it was Lou Cheng’s rest time.

After saying goodnight to Ke, he sighed and then fell asleep through visualization and meditation.

…

At 3 AM, Lou Cheng woke up fresh and rested.

After putting on his dark martial arts suit, he told both Yan Zheke and himself, “Move.”

The night was deep and everywhere was dead silent. Lou Cheng walked along the dark areas and soon arrived somewhere near 15 Wanhe Street. With the help of his keen senses and experience, he found two hiding monitors.

He waited patiently for a good time. Once a drunk man passed by and attracted the monitors’ attention, Lou Cheng took this opportunity and jumped into Old Nanny Qiu’s yard over the wall like a swift black bird.

He landed silently and rolled forward like a black cat. With quick and soft movements, Lou Cheng pushed open the room door, slid in, and then closed the door quietly.

With the moonlight pouring into the room, he started to take everything in. He saw numerous antiques, vintage plates, books, art pieces, and decorations.

According to the rumors of Old Nanny Qiu, she didn’t like these things at all… Lou Cheng was confused and began checking the decorations one by one. But he found no useful leads.

He went from the living room to the bedroom and then to the kitchen. He checked everything carefully, but again found nothing.

Finally, Lou Cheng had to put a stop to all the thoughts and visualized Ice Mirror in his mind. This helped to calm him down and showed him all the details for many centimeters around.

As everything appeared, he traced back his earlier footsteps. He only felt peace and serenity in the surroundings, there was not much change.

From kitchen to the bedroom and then to the living room, Lou Cheng just took two steps, then suddenly he heard a heartbeat! It was definitely not his own!

Thump!

Being startled by the sound, he stopped to listen carefully. He was prepared to make his move.

One minute passed and he heard another “thump” from his “heart”!

Thump, thump, thump… The heartbeat was slow and deep. As though it was somewhere far below, like a chant for the devil.

Lou Cheng took a deep breath. With the help of the Heart Lake Ice Mirror, he managed to dispel all these hairstanding thoughts.

Several minutes later, he took several steps back and looked at where he was just now.

The entire living room floor was unboarded, nor was it tiled. It was just soil and dirt to make the floor sturdy.

And that eerie thumping heartbeat was from under the soil!

Here!

Damn it, what the hell is this… Lou Cheng swallowed hard and his mind immediately started to churn all sorts of ideas and guesses. Suddenly, he hunkered down to visualize the corresponding ancient character of Army in his mind.

Invisible forces immediately burst out of his body to darken the room and lowered the temperature like a terrifying snowstorm. It roared and pounded at the ground, right where that beating sound was coming from.

Bang! Lou Cheng hunkered and stretched out his right hand. With the help of the forces roaring around him, he knocked at the ground lightly and said in a low voice,

“Come out, I won’t harm you.”

Just as he finished his sentence, a change occurred. Starting from some wiggling movements from the ground, more and more colorful worms push through the earth and creeped out from the ground. They crawled along his fist and arm, just waves threatening to engulf him. This was enough to scare anyone with trypophobia into unconsciousness!

Lou Cheng shook his head, and a blaze suddenly appeared above his fist, burning all the worms. Their charred bodies fell off his arms like raindrops.

Bang, bang, bang. Pitter, patter, the hurried “raindrops” started to cover the ground around.

Soon, only a few worms were left. The swarming of the worms finally stopped. Then a somewhat wrinkled and not too big feminine hand popped out from the earth.

Then Lou Cheng saw the other hand, the head, body, and both feet, and finally an old woman in dark red.

“Old Nanny Qiu?” Lou Cheng sighed with relief secretly. Then he withdrew all the forces restraining the woman and gave her a smile.

Though the old woman was trembling, she still tried to correct Lou Cheng seriously, “Qiu Huazhen.”

It’s her… Lou Cheng looked carefully at the woman, who appeared to be an elegant lady with grizzled hair and a pale face. She looked younger than her age and was not odd or scary as the rumors stated.

After all, she used to be a charming beauty with so many pursuers… Lou Cheng nodded and said,

“Supernatural ability?”

If Old Nanny Qiu were powerful enough, she wouldn’t dodge me in this way… but it’s hard for warriors below the physical-invulnerability stage to hide in the mud for several days like a hibernating animal…

“Yes.” Qiu Huazhen stared at Lou Cheng like a snake. She then asked him coldly, “What are you up to?”

When Lou Cheng was about to show her the photo of that kettle with the Dou character on it, something occurred to him.

“These are all antiques, right?” He pointed at the decorations in the room.

“There, you got it…” Qiu Huazhen’s facial expression suddenly changed.

“Not much.” Lou Cheng replied, “Think it’s better if you said it yourself.”

It seems like Old Nanny Qiu and her fellows are all grave robbers. No wonder they found something related to the Fighting Formula. Maybe they were also involved in some homicides or murders. That’s why they keep running from the two gangs and refuse to negotiate anything. This is a clear sign of guilt!