Martial Arts Master

Next to the lake, the green grass grew, and the tree leaves renewed. It was just the scent of spring in the morning air.

Lou Cheng breathed in the refreshing morning air and jogged to his usual morning training spot while carrying the things to bring to the martial arts club later. This helped him to somewhat start his warmup.

His recovered right arm made him feel lighter. He could not wait to start practicing the “Thunder Roar Zen” tactic that he had been enlightened on.

When he reached the location, Geezer Shi was already waiting for him. He saw how Lou Cheng was running and exclaimed in shock.

“Your injury is all good?”

“Yes, perhaps because of the awakening of the Power of Frost. The body got stimulated and became stronger.” Lou Cheng explained and had a hard time hiding his smile.

Geezer Shi clicked his tongue and said, “You really don’t follow the rules huh… As your master, I was thinking of seeing your Power of Frost and try to understand its unique points so that I can teach some moves after you have recovered. Who would have thought that you are all fine now. Forget it, you still have the Thunder Roar Zen to train for, and we’re not in a hurry anyway. Let’s see the Power of Frost first.”

“Yes, master!” Lou Cheng placed his bags next to the trees and got into position. He started to move the cold currents within his body.

Pam! He shook his left arm, struck a palm and left a mark on the tree bark.

While Lou Cheng was executing his moves, Geezer Shi’s vision was coated in a frost blue color, as though he had become a never-dying crystal icy soul.

They quietly lit everything around them. Although the clothes were not transparent, and the flesh and blood were still solid, the tracks of where the things were interacting could be seen. Everything, every detail too.

Seeing that the white frosty palm print disappeared after Lou Cheng retracted his hand, Geezer Shi nodded lighted and said,

“Alright, I think I’ve got the grasp of it. Let me work on it and I can teach you tomorrow. You can start practicing the other moves first.”

Lou Cheng said “OK” but did not rush into practicing the “Thunder Roar Zen”. Instead, he remained where he was and as per his usual routine, started to train his still stance, the trick movements, cleansed his internal body and practiced the 24 Blizzard Strikes.

Since his right arm had just recovered, it was still somewhat weak and uncomfortable for Lou Cheng to stretch it to warm up. It looked like the arm was still not ready for pound training. If he were to practice the “Thunder Roar Zen” immediately, it would probably be injured again. To injure the same place time and time again would result in an old ailment which would keep coming back and would be difficult to heal completely.

So, Geezer Shi’s original judgment of two weeks for the injury to heal was accurate—five days for quiet recuperation, another one week plus for rehabilitation training. This would help him to return to the Challenge Tournament as good as ever, without any burdensome ailment.

Pam, Pam, Pam! The sound of air cracking through repeatedly rang through the woods. Lou Cheng was striking the 24 Blizzard Strikes time to time again. Finally, he felt that the right arm was once again part of him. Every twitch of the muscle or every release of force was within his control!

After he completed the rest of his practices, Lou Cheng took a short break. He stood upright and straight, closed his eyes and recalled the moves of the “Thunder Roar Zen” once. Then, he visualized the scene of heavy thunder clouds and lightning strikes.

In the midst of the thunder rumble, he controlled his body, and followed his previous experience where he was passive. He tightened the muscles of his hands, lower arms, upper arms, shoulders and back, as though he was doing a pressure treatment. Then, with force from his feet, the crazy rebound force wrapped around the joints of the ankles, knees and all the other muscles surrounding them was channeled to the waist. It combined and propelled through the spine and burst out through his left fist.

When his fist got nearer the target in midair, Lou Cheng “expanded” each and every muscle within him. Just like an exploding bomb, tearing through air and giving off a deep rumble.

Bam!

One fist out, Lou Cheng’s whole body shook. However, he did not feel or receive any obvious vibration.

This attempt of the “Thunder Roar Zen” failed!

“Not tight enough, not pressured enough, the rhythm is wrong too…” Lou Cheng was not frustrated. In fact, he felt that the failure was expected. Even if he had grasped the way and threshold of it, it was never easy to be good at a martial art skill. Failures were inevitable!

Bam! Bam! Bam! Both hands took turns to give the punch. He failed repeatedly and retried repeatedly.

Thanks to Jindan to help replenish energy, or else he would probably have to wait till tomorrow to continue practicing.

But all these failures were not for nothing. They helped him eliminate errors bit by bit, gain new ideas and check the adjustments he had done. He only felt closer to the mastering the skill!

With a good four, five days of pounding practice, whenever Lou Cheng’s muscles tightened, both legs bent in, working with bouncing rhythm at the end of the spine and the force from the lower back, his right arm sprung out with a tight fist smashed down.

Boom!

Within his mind, lightning and clouds rolled and the thunder rumbled, matching the “expansion” of the tight muscles of his hands, arms and shoulder.

Bam!

The air space directly in front of Lou Cheng’s fist seemed to have exploded and there were invisible air waves and waves that radiated out.

“Phew… This’ll do!” Lou Cheng exhaled a long breath and felt the rebound tremors.

Geezer Shi looked on the side, giving advice from time to time. These helped to cheer Lou Cheng and at this time, he laughed and said with a not so nice tone,

“Only you, only you would use such crazy way to train… Just make sure you don’t overdo it. Your right arm is still weak.”

“Alright, we can count that you’ve mastered the “Thunder Roar Zen”. You only need to practice a little more and familiarize yourself with the moves, before you could fight.”

After saying that, he put his hands behind him and walked away from Lou Cheng slowly. It was not until he reached the Long Bridge, he started cursing.

“This rascal is completely inhuman. He’ll probably use up that thing in no time to come…”

Lou Cheng did not feel anything about whatever his master had said. He was completely immersed in familiarizing himself with the “Thunder Roar Zen”. He hoped to train till it was intuitive.

Bam! Bam! Bam! After his left hand was out, his right hand pounded. The quick succession of move resulted in some tremors, like he had transformed into a beast in human form.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed. He finally got the stance, pinched his right arm and decided that practice hours were over.

He took a towel from his bag to wipe his sweat before he started his last training item to increase his endurance!

After hiding his bag properly, he started to jog along the lakeside, pressuring his body along the way. Then, he saw a familiar face.

Li Mao was standing by the lake, with his eyes shut practicing his stance!

“Senior Brother Li? ” Lou Cheng approached him with curiosity.

Li Mao opened his eyes and smiled brightly. “Cheng! We meet again!”

“The main thing is that you’re seldom up this early to train…” Lou Cheng joked.

Li Mao smiled again and said, “I don’t have the insane physical stamina you have. After four hours of special training I’d be exhausted, if I still go for morning training, sooner or later I’ll be hurt from the fatigue. But after the battle yesterday, I relieved a lot of the burden in my heart. Since it’s rare that I could feel so much at peace, I thought perhaps itwould be nice to practice and improve my still stance, and see if I can get any inspiration and succeed in concealment of spirit and qi.”

“Not bad.” Lou Cheng praised him and then encouraged him. “There’s hope! ”

Li Mao nodded in agreement and gave a mysterious smile. “Actually, I also met Senior Brother Sun Jian earlier.”

“He also starts morning training?” Lou Cheng asked with great surprise.

Sun Jian did not seem like that kind of person… He was just fooling around with martial arts!

“No, Senior Brother Sun Jian was memorizing some books in the morning. He said that he wants to return to Huahai with Senior Sister Lin after graduation and work hard there.” Li Mo explained.

“I see…” The truth dawned on Lou Cheng. He raised his fist and said,

“Then, let’s work hard together!”

“Yeah, let’s do it!” Li Mo raised his fist too.

As he turned to continue his jog, Lou Cheng suddenly recalled a scene from the celebratory dinner yesterday:

Li Mo raised his beer mug and with teary eyes, he looked around and said,

“I’m someone who doesn’t say mushy words, but I’ve to say, I owe everyone a thank-you for all this time. And now, I’ll quote a line from an old song to express my thoughts.”

“One word, one lifetime, one-lifetime relationship, one cup of wine!”

After singing that line, he downed all the beer in his mug and continued to drink a few more mugs.

…

The Tiantong Taoist temple was located at Mount Shaoheng in Songcheng West. With a tranquil environment, many martial arts experts prayed here.

As expected from the ever-popular spring season, there were many tourists during the weekend. This only made the quiet temple more lively, but without damaging the beautiful greens and serene feeling of the surroundings.

“I’m heading to the side yard. Feel free to walk around by yourself.” Yan Zheke looked left and right. Cautiously but cutely, she said, “Let’s continue on QQ!”

“Yes!” Lou Cheng waved the phone in his hand and saw her walk into the side yard.

He put both hands into his sweater and started to stroll around leisurely, breathing in the air so fresh that it just refreshed the mind, as well as the faint scent of sandalwood from burning incense.

After he took his time to look around the front hall, the Taoist School statues in the side hall, he walked into the main hall (Mahavira Hall) and saw the statue of the Three Pristine Ones (Sanqing) facing the front of the hall majestically.

The Primeval Lord of Heaven(Yuanshi Tianzun) stood tall in the middle, his head adorned with a crown, his face with a strict and serious expression. The Heavenly Lord of Dao and its Virtue (Daode Tianzun) stood on the left, his hair all white, his face natural and bright looking. The Heavenly Lord of the Numinous Treasure (Lingbao Tianzun) stood on the right, tall and exquisite with a dominating aura. Three of them all stood tall above, looking down on whoever stepping in the hall. Combined with the somewhat empty hall, there seemed to be a holy and solemn feeling. A feeling so strong that even guests would feel the need to pray.

“Such grandeur…” Lou Cheng sighed in awe. Since he was already here, he decided to offer some prayers.

He turned, fished out his wallet and bought three incense sticks. He walked to the urn, facing the Primeval Lord of Heaven(Yuanshi Tianzun), and he prayed for his family’s safety, long-lasting romance and success in martial arts.

After all these, he put the three incense sticks into the incense burner and prayed again.

After leaving the hall, with the pure heart and mind of a tourist, he walked towards the backyard. Just as he turned past the corner of the wall, he saw a crowd gathered with continuous sharp sounds of fists and kicks in the collision.

“A fight?” Lou Cheng’s curiosity was stirred. Like a fish, he slid his way through the crowd and managed to get to the front. What greeted him was a small square lined with limestone. Two figures were in a fierce fight, with a middle-aged Taoist priest as the referee.

Just as he made himself comfortable at where he was, he saw one of the young fighters decked in a black martial arts suit, lower his weight into a squat, move his back muscles, and use his right arm as a huge spear to “pierce” forward.

This move seemed simple but it made Lou Cheng feel that he was currently in an ancient battle ground, with people holding long spears, and charging ahead on horses.

“Good! ” He could not help but shout out loud.

This expert’s back muscles were so toned and well-trained that he had absolute control over them. This was rare even amongst the Professional Ninth Pin experts!

Bam!

With one hit, the opposing young Taoist priest lost all his stance.

“I’ve lost…” The young Taoist priest did not struggle. He just smiled bitterly and shook his head in resignation.

The black martial arts suit man did not seem satisfied. He looked around and said,

“Is anyone else interested in having a round with me? Especially since we have a Taoist practitioner as the referee!”

Lou Cheng was tempted. Suddenly, he felt the urge to fight and try.

He had finally mastered the “Thunder Roar Zen”, so he really wanted to try it at an actual fight!

As for the right arm that was still weak, he could just be defensive on that end…

Again, the bushy browed, large eyed lad clad in black martial arts suit said arrogantly,

“Is anyone else interested in having a round with me?”

Lou Cheng exhaled and stepped out of the crowd. While he took off his shirt, he smiled and said,

“Right here!”