Martial Arts Master

Yan Zheke, who was in the middle of her class, wasted no time in giving a short and sweet reply to Lou Cheng’s declaration.

“You can do it hubby!”

Lou Cheng chuckled at the reply, then replied with a reaction image of a person in red headband striving to work hard. Putting his phone aside, he got into a stance and began visualizing the dense “Emperor Yan Statue”, clad in liquid flames— in order to control the “Flame Force” in his body, guiding and gathering it before compressing it.

With some breaks in between, four to five hours of training quickly passed. By that time, eighty percent of the world’s lights had seemingly been switched off, and darkness ruled the world again. Lou Cheng’s eyes snapped open, a flare flashing across his irises— dazzling white to red, like the dangling sun during dawn.

Enhancing forces was neither an easy task nor a hard one. After the basic mastery of the essence of “Emperor Yan Diagram”, and with the experience from practicing “Ice Spirit Force” as reference, he successfully completed the enhancement from “Zhurong Force” to “Emperor Yan Force”. The flame force in him turned from scarlet to white, became dense and heavy, and barely formed a circulation that saved him the trouble of having to train from the start after each use.

Lou Cheng twisted his neck, then shook his head about as his joints cracked like beans in a pot.

He took a moment to regulate his breathing, then grabbed his keycard and set off for the hotel pool on level 31, everything still fresh in his mind.

It was midnight. The pool had been closed off and not a person was in sight, but this was not a problem to Lou Cheng. He flipped in through a window, then hopped past the obstacles on the outer walls as if he was traveling on flat ground, before easily sliding in from the other side.

In the darkness, the silent pool stretched endlessly deep to the extent that one could barely see its bottom, much like the ones in those horror films.

Lou Cheng slipped out of his shoes and socks, then T-shirt and shorts. Half-naked, he dived into the pool. His entrance did not leave so much so as a splash, only ripples that slowly fanned out in rings.

He didn’t decend long before he touched the bottom. He crossed his legs and sat down before shutting his eyes.

Holding his breath, his body was sequestered from the air. All that was around him was gentle waves , and it was as though Lou Cheng had returned to the time when he was still in his mother’s womb. Calmness enveloped his heart, as his internal circulations naturally adjusted, and he no longer had to envision his organs, tendons, blood vessels and muscles.

“Ice Spirit Holy Light Diagram” and “Emperor Yan Diagram” intersected distinctly, and as Lou Cheng worked out the two forces, he slowly began to understand their reliance and influence on the delicate parts of the root pulp.

In the environment he was in, the feelings were mysterious and unique!

Every once in a while, Lou Cheng has to resurface to renew his breath before sinking to the bottom again— feeling his control and attempting to manipulate it.

He failed over and over again— even though he had stepped into the realms of Inhuman, morphing had its own difficulties, and it was not something that could be achieved overnight.

Huff… it was just past five A.M. and the sky was still dark. Swimming to the edge of the pool, Lou Cheng held on to the ledge with both arms then heaved a heavy sigh along with his impatience.

When he regained his composure, the mirror of ice began forming again. Reluctant to give up, he tumbled and dived down once more.

This time, when visualizing “Emperor Yan Diagram” and “Ice Spirit Holy Light Diagram” bore no fruits, he began thinking from another direction and attempted to use “Force Concentration”.

He withdrew his Qi and blood, then his spirit. Ice and flame formed a balance, swirling and intertwining, forming a human body big dan that blended well with the starry sky in his lower abdomen.

Within the “Big dan”, a sudden change occured, as the “Ice Spirit” spread out and stretched into an endless expanse of starry sky in the background— extremely cold, extremely vast and extremely dark, without a hint of heat or sound. Then the “Emperor Yan” collapsed, and when it gathered again, it spat out liquid flames and other substances that turned into globes of suns and stars.

The perfect harmony between the two was like a reflection of the universe. It was similar, yet different from before.

Lou Cheng shuddered, and felt like the “human body big dan” he had generated was beginning to resonate with the night sky above him and his surroundings.

With a buzz, something caused the Jindan in his lower abdomen to quiver. Ripples spread out on the water, below the dazzling radiance of the starry sky, unexpected causing a disharmony and imperfection.

The “Big dan” exploded, sending blasts of force out. At that instant, Lou Cheng felt a slight tremor in his root pulp, giving him a vague sense of confidence.

He suddenly realized he was rising up in the water, all the way until he surfaced at the top. Opening his eyes, he recollected a summary of the events that just transpired. He felt as if the balance between ice and flame and his human body big dan was closer to perfection as compared to the Longhu Immortal’s Jindan. It was also more natural which was crucial when it came to connecting heaven and earth to achieve the physical invulnerability state.

As expected, as times change and things improve, so did training, thought Lou Cheng.

He was lucky to be able to stand atop the shoulders of all these amazing people!

You can learn from people of the past, but you cannot copy them!

After he had inspected his body, he sank to the bottom again, following the path of thought he had come up with earlier, using “Force Concentration” to balance ice and flames, in an attempt to influence his root pulp.

The sky began to light up. Daylight shone across the pool water, revealing large shards of frozen ice and frost marks, and also the gurgling spots of “hot spring” where hot, white steam rose into the air.

Splash! Lou Cheng stood up, right on top of the surface of the water, with only the sole of his foot submerged in water.

His wet hair laid flat. His exposed muscles were well-defined and beautifully shaped. Droplets of water slid down the surface of his skin, accentuating his masculine charms.

One step, two steps, three steps… Lou Cheng treaded on the water, without any signs of submerging. He ambled to the edge of the pool, collected and carelessly slid into his T-shirt, shorts, shoes and socks… then left the place.

Perhaps it was due to his natural possession of supernatural ability, but the miracle he had created was much more ridiculous than Peng Leyun’s one.

When he returned to his room, he grabbed his phone as a smile crept up his face, and began frantically typing away.

“You are going to see my 5th Pin certificate by September! [snickering]”

Yes, he had tasted success in leading his root pulp to mutation, which meant that he had officially began to morph. In a matter of ten or so days, he will be reborn into an Inhuman.

And starting from then, until the end of morphing, he will literally be getting stronger day by day— a visible change that anyone would be able to see.

Yan Zheke, in the midst of her last lesson, replied in a flash.

“[snickering] Cheng, the other way of describing an “Inhuman” is that they are not a human, and Cheng, you are definitely not a human~ [hammers the ground while laughing]”

Sensing the joy and excitement in her words, Lou Cheng felt like he was on cloud nine. Shaking his head gently, he let out a laugh, and suddenly he wanted to see her. He wanted to act on impulse and video chat with her— especially since he had been sparring for the past few mornings and missed out on the best times for video chatting.

But remembering that Ke was still in class, he managed to hold back and settled with a text reply.

During her class, Yan Zheke felt joyous and prideful, but there was also a tiny tinge of melancholy mixed in between.

Cheng is becoming better and better, what about me?

She lifted her head and looked towards the lecturer, as a new found motivation for schoolwork coursed through her.

I too need to become a better version of myself!

…

norrmal

“It’s freezing!” exclaimed a girl.

“Ow, it’s scalding!” screamed a guy flopping out of the water, as if he just dove into a hot spring without mental preparations.

At the same time, Lou Cheng made a call to Geezer Shi to deliver the good news.

“Master, I have mastered the “Emperor Yan Force”!”

He did not mention anything about the morphing. He wanted to tell his master when the time was right.

“Hm, not bad,” replied Geezer Shi. He was hardly surprised since he already expected it to happen. Smacking his lips, he said, “Looks like you can attempt to morph now, smelly brat. Actually, other than making the breakthrough underwater, there are many other methods that I suspect might be more suitable for you, for example…”

Lou Cheng was thunderstruck.

“Master, w-why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he stuttered after some silence.

I already began morphing!

After a gruelling session underwater!

With Geezer Shi’s experience, he instantly guessed the current status of his disciple and gave a heh-heh laugh.

“This is the first time in this old man’s life to see such a silly disciple. Who doesn’t consult their master before attempting to make the breakthrough?” he said, before continuing,

“Even if we talked about these things before, it was hardly in depth… Haha, cough….”

He was laughing to the extent that he was coughing. This was definitely going down as his joke of the year.

Lou Cheng reddened and secretly cursed at his master’s playfulness.

“I was just planning to test it out myself and consult you only if I ran into any problems…” he replied with smiles.

“Don’t bother explaining, cough, haha, smelly brat, you have a long way to go…” laughed Geezer Shi, who before he hung up, began humming and dug out his treasured wine.

…

The day and a half after that, Lou Cheng caught a wink and carried on his morphing; he also found a suitable timing to video chat with Yan Zheke.

On August 20th, Shengxiang stadium was packed with people, the sea of enthusiasm returning along with more fierce battles.

After finding their respective seats, Lou Cheng and the rest had to sit through a theatrical performance before the guest of honor walked up the stage to draw the lots for the Top 16 matches. Four matches were scheduled for that night, and four more on the following night.

The guest of honor dunked his hand into the box and retrieved a ball. Then he took a glance at the words.

“China, Lou Cheng!” he announced, displaying the words for all to see.

Shit, I’m the first to get picked… thought Lou Cheng as he let out a laugh. Straightening himself up, he waited for the confirmation of his opponent’s identity.

Once again, the guest of honor rifled through the ball box before grabbing one out and displaying it.

“Japan, Mouko Yamashita!”

The fifth seed, Mouko Yamashita!