Martial Arts Master

Li Shaokang stood at a little above five feet, gaunt and dark skinned with the typical features of a Nanzhengese. However he looked older than his actual age (around twenty two or three), and his dark pupils were mesmerizing and demonic.

His powerful spiritual supernatural ability could hypnotize his opponent, tampering with their emotions and inviting out the negative ones, such as fear and cowardice. It had a similar effect as Army Formula and Roaring Lion Voice. Plus he could activate it without any visualization, making him a dangerous opponent—evident from his status as the eighth seed.

Ann Chaoyang took off his headphones as he watched Peng Leyun head towards the arena. He looked at Lou Cheng with great interest and asked,

“Any thoughts on what his game plan might be?”

“Spiritual supernatural abilities are a pain in the ass, and things tend to go wrong if you drag out the fight. If it were me, I would begin with a move along the lines of “Thunder from a Clear Sky. Cloudless Thunder Blade” to intimidate and damage the opponent. It comes with paralyzing effects too, heh. Unless Li Shaokang predicted it beforehand, he’s not going to effectively avoid it. From there I would aggressively attack and suppress him to prevent him from activating his spiritual supernatural ability. With Peng Leyun’s abilities, he might be able to close the fight within ten to twenty seconds,” replied Lou Cheng after some thinking.

“That is the best approach indeed,” nodded Ann Chaoyang. Then, as if reliving a past memory, he shook his head with a bitter smile. “But that wouldn’t make him Peng Leyun… The Peng Leyun I know is more than happy for a chance to fully experience the combination between a strong spiritual supernatural ability and the assassin styled Miluo Martial Arts…”

Hearing that, Lou Cheng remembered the first proper fight he had with Peng Leyun.

“You are right, that is something Peng Leyun would do,” he agreed wholeheartedly.

Glancing towards Ann Chaoyang as he spoke, the two shared a laugh.

Once, they were both victims of the “The Devil King”!

“I doubt he’ll do that…” said Ren Li with a tinge of uncertainty.

Her image of Peng Leyun was someone who would always go all out.

Lou Cheng and Ann Chaoyang exchanged a glance before answering in unison.

“You don’t get it.”

Even though he seemed to go all out when he fought weaker opponents, Peng Leyun always went easy on the rhythm and selection of his moves, allowing them the chance to unleash everything they had to satisfy his inner Martial Arts maniac.

By then, Peng Leyun and Li Shaokang had entered the arena and were standing face to face.

The referee waited, then raised his right hand.

“Begin!”

As the words hit the ground, Peng Leyun lowered himself, then swung forward, causing the arena to tremble as he “drifted” towards his opponent, instantly closing the distance between them.

“Flash attack!”

I knew it… Lou Cheng and Ann Chaoyang exchanged looks, both equally amused and impressed.

As they expected, Peng Leyun did not begin the fight with “Thunder from a Clear Sky. Cloudless Thunder Blade” or any similar moves!

A person with capabilities is bold enough to take risks!

Compared to when he was in his pre-morph state, the biggest difference in Peng Leyun’s abilities then was that all of his moves were imbued with “Divine Wrath Force”. His punches and kicks were enwreathed with purple lightnings, as if surrounded by dragons, sizzling and crackling along with his movements. Li Shaokang was trying his hardest to defend against it, but the paralyzing effects came crashing into him harder and harder each time, and soon he began to struggle.

In the process, he kept looking for the chances to manipulate his opponent with his spiritual supernatural ability. Each time he created the opportunity he saw hope, but it was always vanquished by a “timely” counter-attack from Peng Leyun.

As time elapsed, Li Shaokang eventually used up everything in his arsenal, and his spiritual supernatural ability was at its limits. Had the situation be any different, had his opponent been someone else, he felt as though by now his enemy should be kneeling down and begging for mercy. However, the Chinese Martial Artist standing before him handled him with ease. His opponent’s true strength remained unknown to him, and no matter how hard he tried, his moves were being countered easily.

Li Shaokang grew more desperate by the minute, and began taking more risks, hoping to force his opponent to his limit.

However, his risky attempts were unsuccessful and his plans went to shambles with the final result being the referee making the announcement: “Peng Leyun wins!”

“So strong…” Mouko Yamashita heard a female voice commenting beside him.

Looking over his shoulders, he saw Tang Zexun, wearing a solemn expression over her sweet one.

What happened next was: Ren Li taking her opponent down easily, a sweeping victory for Ann Chaoyang, and the second round of double-elimination coming to its end. After the bouts that night, thirteen contestants were disqualified due to accumulating two losses, leaving the remaining twenty three of them to fight over sixteen positions.

Enter top 16, or say goodbye to the prize money.

…

The next morning, Lou Cheng woke up on time, had a chat with Yan Zheke, then eagerly proceeded to begin the day of training. His goal was to comprehend the essence of the “Emperor Yan Diagram” in the shortest time and bring an enhancement to his “Zhurong Force.”

Holding the diagram, he let his mind indulge it and began carefully visualizing it, but the immense gravity and erupting flames kept getting in the way of his inner peace. The flashing epiphany was so close yet so far. Compared to the previous days, there had been improvements, but something was still lacking.

He felt his impatience grow, so he retracted his thoughts and visualization, heaved a sigh, and began envisioning the mirror of ice to calm himself down.

After a round of kungfu practice, his body and heart had both calmed down. He stopped, brooded, and formed a new plan- by extrapolating from other visualization experiences.

This time, he stopped looking at the “Emperor Yan Diagram”, and adjusted his muscles, fascias and organs according to the “Prairie Fire Diagram”. He felt the flowing flames in him getting under control as he visualized the image of the God of Flames, Zhurong, with his head of a beast and body of a man, standing barefooted on a scarlet dragon.

Since he knew that “Zhurong Force” can be enhanced to “Emperor Yan Force”, he could likely find inspiration in this direction that could help his progress.

Based on his own understanding of the “Emperor Yan Diagram”, Lou Cheng carefully manipulated his “Zhurong Force”, weaving wisps of it together, moulding them into one solid entity in hopes that it could bring about extreme changes.

After a time, he slowly compressed the two streams of condensed “Zhurong Force” into one, causing a strong suction force to form at their cores and quickly pulling in the outer layers of flames. Liquid flame was spit out as the strong change occured.

Lou Cheng shuddered, and the image of “Flame God Zhurong” nearly collapsed. Barely keeping it in rein, he released the mutated “Flame Force” in a punch.

Boom!

Flame ignited before him, smoke expanding and spreading. Nearby, civilians ran for their lives, thinking it was a terrorist attack.

Looking at it, Lou Cheng could not hide the joy from his face. “I think I’m starting to get it…”

A few minutes later, sirens shrilled through the air, followed by a group of military police rushing towards him, as he stood there not knowing what to make out of it.

Thanks to the interference of Coach Zhong and a call to the embassy, Lou Cheng was let off with a stern warning before the military police made their way off.

“Cough, try not to make such a scene during your training sessions. We need to conduct ourselves properly when we are abroad,” advised Zhong Ningtao, exasperated.

He thought Ren Li was the only troublemaker, but little did he expect the most reliable and matured Lou Cheng brought about his own share of problems…

He just can’t leave any of them alone, can he?

Amid the amused gazes of Peng Leyun, Ren Li and Ann Chaoyang, Lou Cheng laughed drily and gave his assents. He turned back, found a desolate place, and began to visualize the “Emperor Yan Diagram” once more, making use of what he had learned previously.

Dust gathered, swirling, then reached its limit and crumbled, “squeezing” out heat and igniting itself, erupting into liquid flames, brightening the darkness… Even with this as a guide to begin, Lou Cheng failed a couple of times before barely grasping the tricky spirit of the painting.

The flames got under control, turning into raiments and crown and forming the statue of Emperor Yan in his mind, but once again fell into shambles just when it was about to take shape.

To that, Lou Cheng, who was huffing and puffing, was happy instead of upset.

Even though he failed, it was evident that he was making progress— he had opened the door and was stepping onto the right path, all that was left was just the dull and tedious part.

This achievement was partly due to the change in method, but of course also from his hard work accumulated over time.

Huff… he was on the edge of shouting. Whipping out his phone he sent a text to his wife.

“I’m starting to get the Emperor Yan Force! For that, I was almost arrested by the cops in Shengxiang…”

“Pfft, how did that happen? Did you put too much volume into your outbursts of joy that it scared the children?” replied Yan Zheke, who was in the middle of lesson breaks, delighted and pleasantly surprised at the news. “My Cheng is the best! [animated kiss, from far to close] ”

“Which part are you complimenting me on? The part where I made a breakthrough in my Emperor Yan Force, or the part where I scared children? [snickering]” replied Lou Cheng joyously.

“Figure it out yourself~!” A dimpled smile appeared on Yan Zheke’s face. After getting the full story from Lou Cheng, she was happy for Lou Cheng at his deepened comprehension of “Emperor Yan Diagram”, and amused at his blunder that had caught the cops’ attention.

The following day, Lou Cheng did not spar with Peng Leyun, Ren Li and Ann Chaoyang and told them that he was close to making the breakthrough. Then, he began studying the “Emperor Yan Diagram” with immense focus, and during his breaks he would chat with Ke to soothe himself.

At 3 P.M., sitting with his legs crossed, he finally visualized the image of a heavy, scorching and majestic “Emperor Yan Statue”.

The streams of flames in his body gurgled, then condensed and gradually turned steady.

Lou Cheng opened his eyes, cracked a tired smile and picked up his phone to send a text to Yan Zheke.

“I got it!”

He found the key to the “Emperor Yan Diagram”, and it wouldn’t be long before he could complete the enhancing process!

At that point, he began feeling drowsy, so he sent another text to his girl.

“Ke ke, I’m gonna catch a wink, and if I don’t text you by the time you are awake, call me to wake me up.”

He felt that he might not be able to wake up on time in his current state, and it would be a disaster if he overslept and got disqualified.

Meanwhile, it was midnight in America.

After sending the message, Lou Cheng collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep slumber of many dreams.

What woke him up was a series of sudden knocks that went thump thump thump. He got it, struggling to break free from his strengthless state.

Holding his phone, he realized it was not even six, which meant that Ke was still in her dreams. Carrying his wrinkled clothes, he lazily walked to the door and pulled it open.

Peng Leyun was standing outside, one hand in his pocket, relaxed and smiling as he spoke, “Guide Zhong sent me here to remind you that we are gathering in ten minutes.”

“Okay,” replied Lou Cheng, a little dazed from having just woke up.

Peng Leyun smiled. “You are beginning to morph aren’t you? Hm, try making your breakthrough under the water, it works wonders.”

“Thanks,” replied Lou Cheng as he smiled to express his gratitude. He kept it to himself that he had already heard the piece of advice from his Master.

Watching as Peng Leyun left, he walked to the bathroom, rinsed his face with cold water and styled his hair, feeling completely refreshed as the tiredness seeped away.

Cracking a smile, Lou Cheng took out his phone and sent another text to Yan Zheke.

“I’m awake now. Feeling charged up!”

As he hit send, he looked at his invigorated self in the mirror, and muttered, “Round 3, Here I come!”