Martial Arts Master

There was a pause in Yan Zheke’s breathing before she continued scrolling down:

“It is known that experts who have reached the stage of All-Seeing God all have extremely powerful regenerative abilities. They would only need two to three days to make a full recovery from wounds that would take, say, ten to twenty days to even stabilize for the average martial artist; as for severe injuries that takes more than half a year for the average martial artist to recuperate from. They would only need three to five days to get it under control and be back on their feet. In the maximum of a month, they would have made a full recovery. Presently, however, a full week has elapsed since Lou Cheng was injured. The fact that he has yet to make a public appearance bespeaks the graveness of his condition!”

“Could it be because he doesn’t want to appear publicly? But what would prompt him to do so, when accepting a short interview would clear all these doubts? There is only one answer to that— until this point in time, he remains bedridden! Making an appearance would expose his illness to everyone!”

The Weibo post wasn’t written by prominent figures or news reporters, but merely the speculations of an average user with the ID of Guan Tiger. It was merely on the ‘hot posts’ page due to a large number of reposts and comments.

Biting her lips gently, Yan Zheke tapped into the comments section and scanned through a few of them.

“Yeah! It’s already been a week, yet there isn’t any explanation from Lou Cheng or the Longhu Club! Very suspicious!”

“Honestly, I’m not even sure if Lou Cheng is still alive.”

“Weren’t there others before him who failed to awaken their supernatural ability? It didn’t end well for any of them.”

The girl scrolled rapidly with her thumb, then eventually threw down her waist and closed the application impatiently. Her eyes were fixed before her, sullen eyes that held the tears from falling.

“What’s wrong?” Lou Cheng’s present mental conditions didn’t allow him to maintain the state of Self Reflection for long. When he paused for a break, he happened to notice his little fairy spacing out.

Yan Zheke pressed down hard on the corner of her eyes, then snuggled up to Lou Cheng with a lovely, dimpled smile. A smile that lifted his mood.

“Talker was asking about your injuries. I was mulling over what to reply,” she lied.

“Talker? You don’t have to think too much into it, we are real tight! Just tell him ‘Tis but a flesh wound’!” laughed Lou Cheng.

“Okay. You boys have a really strange way of getting along…” said Yan Zheke, her smile unceasing. Picking up Lou Cheng’s phone, she unlocked it and sent the reply.

The reply from the other side came quickly.

“Hah, one look and I’m talking with the real deal and not someone answering in your stead! Just like I thought, bad things never die! As if you would die so easily!”

Yan Zheke giggled as she read it out. “What do I say now?”

“More like you are the bad thing! I’m just blessed by the Lady of Luck!”

Oddly, Lou Cheng felt like a boss ordering his secretary to do his typing.

Hmm, I guess I’ll keep that to myself, or I’ll be sleeping on the sofa when I recuperate!

The comedic chat with Talker lasted for a while. Suddenly, his phone began vibrating. An incoming call from Qi Fang. Mom.

After being fed with equivocation for a week, the online speculation that was on the lips of all their friends, neighbors, and fellow townsmen finally got to Qi Fang. Quite worried, she called directly.

“It’s from your Mom…” Yan Zheke subconsciously lowered her voice.

“Put it on speaker mode and set it by my lips,” decided Lou Cheng.

Yan Zheke nodded, answered the call, and put it on speaker mode.

“Hello? Cheng?” Qi Fang’s voice was tremulous.

“Mom? Shouldn’t you be working at this hour?” asked Lou Cheng, feigning surprise.

“Can’t I make a call at work?” Qi Fang was audibly relieved. “What happened?! Are you badly injured?”

“Not at all, it’s nothing serious. Just a blunder during training. I would be confined to bed for a period of time,” lied Lou Cheng, trying not to make his Mom worried.

“How can you say it’s nothing serious when you can’t even leave the bed!” Qi Fang contemplated. “You don’t even know anyone in Linfu, who’s going to take care of you? Should I go over?”

“It’s alright, Mom, the club has hired professional nurses and they are taking care of almost everything. Plus, Ke Ke’s here as well. She’ll take care of me.”

“Zheke’s there too?” Qi Fang sounded surprised.

“Her grandparents are in the Martial Arts industry, so she received first-hand information about my injury. She rushed here before I could stop her, and has been taking care of me for almost a week,” replied Lou Cheng, lying a little.

“Zheke’s such a good girl! You better not take her for granted! A well-born lady like her normally has everything served to her on a silver platter, yet here is she attending to your every need!” Qi Fang said with a hint of happiness.

Since it was on speaker mode, Yan Zheke heard their entire conversation. She dipped her head shyly, her cheeks suffused with color, but could hardly hide the smile on her face.

They spoke for a while before Qi Fang finally hung up. Before Lou Cheng could say anything, Yan Zheke chided playfully.

“Jeez, what is Aunty saying, calling me a well-born lady and all that. No one uses those terms these days.”

“The bulk of my Mom’s vocabulary comes from drama series,” jested Lou Cheng. “And, call her Mom!”

Yan Zheke shot a glance at him, gritting her teeth gently, but the look in her eyes softened when she saw Lou Cheng’s forehead. She picked up the towel.

“Look at you, you are sweating so much just from talking.”

Pursing her lips, she continued, “I’ll only leave for America when you are up and about. Anyway, taking a couple of weeks of leave wouldn’t affect me much.”

As though she was afraid of Lou Cheng protesting, she quickly added, “I can self-study and get my classmates to scan the lecture notes for me! I can definitely catch up!”

Lou Cheng regarded her with a smile and simply said, “Okay.”

Yan Zheke froze, then smiled gently once more. When she had cleaned him up, she dawdled to the washroom, twisted the tap open, and began rinsing the towel. The smile on her face gradually wore off, and once again her expression turned gloomy with apprehension.

She twisted the towel dry and drew a deep breath, before returning to the sickbed donning a bright smile.

…

At the buffet restaurant of Wanhua Hotel.

The Longhu Club party, out of which only Tu Zheng was still in the competition, sat down with plates in their hands. They talked about last round of double-elimination that would determine the top 16 contestants, then about the subjects revolving around Battle of the Kings, among which indubitably included the topic of Lou Cheng’s injury that was blowing up on the internet.

“Captain Tu, do you think Lou Cheng would take two to three years to return to his peak form? And would it jeopardize his chances of attaining Physical Invulnerability?”

He carelessly picked up a piece of salmon sashimi and dipped it in wasabi-infused soy sauce before stuffing it in his mouth.

“You really believe what you see on the internet? We all know Lou Cheng didn’t fail his third awakening or whatsoever!” replied Tu Zheng, amused.

As the Longhu Club’s Mighty Ones who were nearby at the time of Lou Cheng’s incident, they were the first to receive the news and assisted in guarding and transporting the wounded and informing Empress Luo. They had all seen the details.

“But, Captain Tu, we all saw how grave and critical Lou Cheng’s injuries were at that time. I don’t mean anything when I say this, but previously I wasn’t even sure if he would survive. A wound like this, even with the microscopic reparations using Self Reflection, it’s hard to return to peak form,” Yu Wangyuan said half-sentimentally and half-matter-of-factly. “When all has been said and done, we are martial artists and not Immortals. Even Inhumans have mortal bodies…”

In truth, Tu Zheng did feel a hint of guilty delight at the incident. Still, as a martial artist, the abrupt and tragic fate of a fellow martial artist so extraordinarily gifted pained him. Not only was he gravely wounded, but his future was also now shrouded in uncertainty.

No one can predict the future, and who knows if it would be my turn someday!?

“Sigh. Let’s not talk about this anymore and pray that Lou Cheng can make a full recovery. We have all put in blood, sweat, and tears in Martial Arts, and it hasn’t been easy for any of us to come to where we are now. No one wants something like this to happen,” sighed Tu Zheng. A piece of sushi swayed at the end of his chopstick, but he left it hanging.

This incident only strengthened his desire to make the breakthrough. The only way for him to fearlessly go wherever he pleases would happen if he attained Physical Invulnerability!

Putting down her chopsticks, Jia Lu propped her chin in one hand.

“Normally speaking, a rising star that leaps to fame needs to encounter three calamities and nine trials to attain true enlightenment. This must be what Lou Cheng is experiencing right now.”

“Three calamities and nine trials? Have you been reading too many novels?” scoffed Lu Shaofei.

“So you think what Lou Cheng needs right now is for Peng Leyun to land a few calamity bolts on him?” Yu Wangyuan said in amusement.

“A trial by lightning is a novel cliché, but a trial by people is more common than you think,” replied Jia Lu with an enlightened air.

“A trial by people…” Tu Zheng and the others frowned, chewing on the significance of the words.

…

Inside the Lou Cheng Fan Club forum, there was a heated discussion about Lou Cheng’s ongoing incident.

“If it wasn’t serious, he would have just updated his Weibo or made a public appearance to drive away the rumors!” deduced ‘A Plumber Eating Mushrooms’.

“Why must he succumb to the demands of others, making public appearances and updating his Weibo just to please others? Don’t you find that embarrassing?” argued ‘Brahman’.

Just as they were squabbling, Yan Xiaoling popped out and sent a sticker of a glowing fist.

“Big Sister Yan has replied to me! She told me that Lou Cheng’s injury wasn’t the result of failing to awaken supernatural abilities!”

“I trust her words!”

Whew…The fans all heaved a sigh of relief, but the crowd of trolls couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

“What happened to him then?”‘Unparalleled Dragon King’ asked curiously.

Yan Xiaoling went blank.

“Forgot to ask about that…”

“You are useless!” chided ‘Nie Qiqi’ and others in disappointment.

…

On the afternoon of that day, Peng Leyun, Ren Li, and Ann Chaoyang partied up to visit Lou Cheng at the hospital. After passing through the checkpoints, they saw him in person.

They were rather nervous at first, but seeing that the immobilized Lou Cheng could hardly move a finger, let alone check through his phone records, they all heaved a sigh of relief. Beside them, Yan Zheke had a hard time holding her laughter.

Unlike other visitors, right after inquiring about his injuries, they began discussing the mortal combat that had transpired on that day; excitedly expressing their views on the time, place, and how he responded in each scenario. Ann Chaoyang thought that he should have exerted strength at his feet, breaking the metal ropes so that the lift fell to the bottom. Then, he wouldn’t have had to directly confront his enemy. That view was met with criticism from the other four, saying that even if he managed to break the metal rope, having such irrelevant thoughts during mortal combat would get him killed. By the time the lift hit the bottom, he would have most likely been reduced to a corpse.

Eventually, the visitors were all gratified and took their leave.

The Battle of the Kings was also at its end. In the end, Peng Leyun, Ren Li, Tu Zheng, and Zhi Ren prevailed, successfully making it to the main competition, leaving the great senior, Fa Zhen, with defeat and disappointment once more.

Eleven days later, in the ward.

Supported by Yan Zheke, Lou Cheng stood up unsteadily and took a few slow, steady steps. She then let go and watched as he hobbled about. It was tough, but he was smiling throughout.

This was exactly how potent an All-seeing God Inhuman’s regenerative abilities are!

“You can show yourself to the public now, so they can stop worrying and speculating,” Yan Zheke smiled with pursed lips.

“Let me visit the toilet first. Whew, can finally go there on my own!”

In a penguin-like motion, Lou Cheng waddled to the bathroom.

Right as he was about to enter, he felt a harsh coldness gushing out from deep inside him, instantly freezing his legs!

He pulled, and pulled, but simply could not move his right leg. It wasn’t until ten or so seconds later when he finally recovered and regained control of his leg.