Chapter 254.2 Lu Yuan Challenges a Martial Arts Center! Extreme Martial Dao Shakes Pan City! (II)

Having made the decision to become the number one martial artist in Pan City, Lu Changsheng immediately summoned the core members of the Extreme Martial Dao Center.

"Master, there are too many martial arts centers and methodologies in Pan City, each teaching its own style. That makes it much harder for us to spread the Extreme Martial Dao," Lu Changsheng said firmly. "So I intend to challenge them all and defeat them one by one. In the end, Pan City will have only one path, that of the Extreme Martial Dao."

There was no hesitation in his voice. He had clearly made this decision long before calling everyone together.

"You want to challenge every center in Pan City?" asked Fei Qianliu, his expression changing slightly.

Frankly, the challenge itself was not what concerned him most. It was that making the Extreme Martial Dao the only martial arts practice in Pan City would effectively cut off the livelihood of every other martial arts center and force them out of the city.

Far too many interests were tied up in those centers, so if Lu Changsheng truly went through with this, the resistance they faced would come from every direction.

"Lu Yuan, there's no need to push things this far," Fei Qianliu advised. "We can build the Extreme Martial Dao slowly..."

"Slowly?" Lu Changsheng shook his head. "The Martial Dao is not for cowards. I created the Extreme Martial Dao to break through the limits of martial arts itself, but if I don't even have the guts to fight for the number one position in Pan City, how can the Extreme Martial Dao ever hope to overcome those limits?

"Save your words, Master. I have already made up my mind. What we need now is to prepare, and to turn this challenge into something that shakes all of Pan City, something that carries the name of Extreme Martial Dao far beyond these walls."

As the founder of the Extreme Martial Dao, once Lu Changsheng had made his decision, there was little left for others to debate.

"Understood!" Fei Qianliu said, then quickly turned to the others to discuss how best to proceed.

If Lu Changsheng was certain that he could defeat every opponent, then maximizing the impact of the challenges was actually quite straightforward. All they needed was publicity, the wider the better.

Television stations and news outlets could be invited to cover the challenges. Videos could be recorded and uploaded online as soon as each match ended, or the fights could simply be broadcast live. If everything went according to plan, the spectacle would attract attention throughout Pan City and might even spread across the entire Jade Dragon Kingdom.

The only condition for the plan to work, however, was that Lu Yuan had to keep winning. A single defeat could turn all that publicity against them and undo everything the Extreme Martial Dao Center had built so far.

***

Three days later, Lu Changsheng proceeded with his plan.

In the name of the Extreme Martial Dao Center, he had already sent a formal challenge to the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center. Whether they accepted it or not hardly mattered, because once the challenge had been issued, Lu Changsheng intended to show up regardless. And if they really did not accept, they would just suffer immense embarrassment.

In the martial arts community, challenging another center was one of the gravest provocations possible, almost equivalent to declaring a mortal feud. After all, a martial arts center depended on its reputation to survive. Defeating its experts in public could ruin that reputation and drive away its students, effectively cutting off everyone's livelihood.

There was an old saying that cutting off a person's livelihood was no different from killing their parents.[1] Under such circumstances, no one expected either side to exchange pleasantries.

The Extreme Martial Dao Center made extensive preparations. Fei Qianliu had used his connections to arrange for a television crew to accompany Lu Yuan and film the entire challenge. Several students were also live streaming the event online, while reporters stood ready to publish articles as soon as anything noteworthy happened.

Ultimately, live streaming was the most efficient method of broadcasting. A livestream had already gone live on the country's largest streaming platform with the title "Extreme Martial Dao Founder Lu Yuan Tests His Fists in Pan City. Who Can Rival Him?"

And that was only one of many. Other students had started their own streams with even more sensational titles.

Shocking News! Twenty-Year-Old Martial Arts Genius Creates the Extreme Martial Dao. The Pan City Challenge Begins!

Founder of the Extreme Martial Dao Challenges Pan City's Major Martial Arts Centers!

Who Is Pan City's Number One? Find Out at 10 A.M.!

Many clickbaity titles were blatantly fishing for views, and they worked. Before long, curious viewers began pouring into the streams.

"Extreme Martial Dao? What kind of style is that? I've never heard of it."

"Looks like the challenges are happening in Pan City. I've been there before, but I've never heard of any Extreme Martial Dao. Are these streamers just clickbaiting?"

"Some guy created his own martial art at twenty? Yeah riiight..."

Mockery quickly filled the livestreams' comment sections, but every skeptical remark only brought more attention to them. Then, once the cameras began showing actual footage from Pan City, local viewers soon recognized where Lu Changsheng was headed.

"Wait, isn't that the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center?"

"It is. I heard their Center Master is a Hidden Force martial artist, and there are several other Hidden Force martial artists there too. They placed in the top ten at Pan City's last Martial Arts Tournament. They are really strong."

"So the Extreme Martial Dao Center is starting by challenging them?"

"Seriously? Their first target is the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center? Then who's this supposed founder of the Extreme Martial Dao? That young guy?"

"Looks like it. He's awfully young, but I'll give him this—he carries himself like a real martial artist."

"Yeah. If nothing else, he certainly looks strong."

Lu Changsheng naturally knew nothing of the flood of comments filling the live streams, nor would he have cared if he knew.

Surrounded by members of the Extreme Martial Dao Center and followed closely by cameras and reporters, he continued toward the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center.

Lu Yuan was hardly the same man he had been three months ago. He had grown so much stronger that people might have walked past him without recognizing him at all. His frame had bulked out considerably, and his presence alone now carried an oppressive weight that made people instinctively wary.

That was an unavoidable result of how the Extreme Martial Dao worked. It drew nourishment and energy from food, using them to drive the body through continuous growth until it approached the very limits of human potential. As the body became stronger, it naturally became larger and more muscular as well.

Perhaps the only drawback of the Extreme Martial Dao was that it was not suitable for women who cared about maintaining a slender figure. The teachings made no distinction between men and women. Anyone who practiced it would continue gaining muscle as their physique strengthened, and a woman who trained long enough could become just as strongly built as a man.

Lu Changsheng had even asked Senior Sister Xiang whether she still wanted to continue after realizing this, and she agreed without the slightest hesitation.

She had only practiced the Extreme Martial Dao for a month, yet the changes were already striking. Senior Sister Xiang had once possessed a dashing, graceful appearance, but now her arms were thicker than the thighs of many ordinary men, and her entire body was packed with dense muscle and explosive strength. Whatever delicate figure she had once possessed was long gone, but she could not have cared less.[2]

Senior Sister Xiang had always been something of a martial arts fanatic. After personally experiencing the effects of the Extreme Martial Dao, she had thrown herself into it completely. Compared with becoming stronger, maintaining a feminine figure meant nothing to her. What she wanted was muscle and power. As far as she was concerned, these were more important to her than any slender figure.

Even so, Senior Sister Xiang's transformation still paled beside Lu Changsheng's. His progress in the Extreme Martial Dao was far ahead of everyone else's, so naturally, the changes to his body were the most extreme.

As they neared the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center, Lu Changheng pulled off his jacket and tossed it aside, leaving only a sleeveless undershirt. His heavily muscled arms and shoulders were immediately exposed as he strode toward the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center.

By the time he reached the entrance, even the people waiting inside the Bear-Hugging Martial Arts Center had begun to look uneasy.

"Center Master Liu! Lu Yuan, Founder of the Extreme Martial Dao Center, has come to challenge you!" Lu Changsheng called out directly. "If you lose, neither you nor your disciples may continue accepting students or operating a martial arts center anywhere in Pan City. The same condition applies to me if I lose."

1. Money and work mean survival. Taking them away puts a person and their family in deep danger. The comparison to killing parents uses the most extreme loss in traditional culture to show how cruel financial ruin is. ☜

2. Mommyyy? ☜