Martial Arts Master

Phew! Wu Qian and other supporters finally heaved out their worry and anxiety upon the referee’s announcement. Although they had little to do with martial arts and rarely watched competitions of the body refining and the Danqi stages, they were shocked and impressed by Zhou Zhengquan’s imposing bearing and terrifying strength that was beyond human limit. Unconsciously they felt nervous, horrified and perturbed.

Encountering a tiger in person would be the most impressive and intuitive way for a man with no knowledge of how fierce and brutal a tiger could be to feel its force.

As pressure faded away, joy started to show. They raised their hands up high in the air, shouting out for the victory despite sitting in an away stadium, ignoring the bearing they were expected to hold as ladies.

How handsome and charming Lin Que is! Lou Cheng has a girlfriend already. Is Lin Que available?

Similar thoughts flashed by Wu Qian’s roommates’ mind. By their side, Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao indulged themselves in this victorious moment.

The feeling of oppression from that eighth pin rival of the Dan stage was deadly.

Zhou Zhengquan patted his dark martial arts suit and slowly turned around to walk out of the ring listening to the cheers scattered in the mostly quiet stadium as if time didn’t matter at all.

“It’ll look ugly if I walk faster!” thought him, feeling his calves cramping, thighs shivering, and body at the rim of collapsing. Strolling was the only way for him to maintain his elegance and grace.

“Would this give Lin Que more time to recover?” It was beyond his concern. “The problem is Senior Sister Zhuo’s now.”

The distance for him to get down the ring is shorter than hers to come from the home seats!

I won’t cause any delay as long as I can make it to the bottom of this flight of stairs before she gets here.

…

At Songcheng University Martial Arts Club’s seats, Yan Zheke’s tensed body relaxed and pursed lips softened upon Sun Jian and Li Mao’s cheers.

She leaned towards Lou Cheng and whispered, “I thought my cousin would lose…”

In her voice there was obvious fear.

The horror of Zhou Zhengquan’s triple blow could probably smash any Professional Ninth Pin fighter!

Lou Cheng grabbed her hand under his clothes, comforting her with a gentle smile. “I was shocked as well.”

Yan Zheke’s eyes shone like gems, looking at the figure standing inside the ring. She asked as if she was unsure about her own judgment, “What do you think about my cousin’s next fight?”

“Your cousin is not yet a true master of the Dan stage. Two imitated Dan stage explosions driving the Meteor force were quite something for him,” answered Lou Cheng, pondering while watching. He used professional terms wherever he couldn’t find a better expression. “He also underwent Zhou Zhengquan’s continuous blows. I’m guessing he’s already close to his limit…”

He was trying to tell her by implication not to expect a victory over Zhuo Yanjun or consuming much of her physical strength.

Yan Zheke’s sparkling teeth exposed as she bit her lower lip and sighed. “I agree… Hmm… Can’t you say something nice to make me feel better?”

“Something nice?” laughed Lou Cheng. “We’ve already taken two rounds. Even if your cousin can’t consume much of Zhuo Yanjun’s strength and Senior Brother Sun Jian can’t, can’t win in defiance of nature, we’d only lose by 2:3, which still leaves us a good chance to turn the table in our home game.”

He paused a little while before continuing, neither arrogant nor humble. “I’ve learned my lesson today of Hou Yue’s supernatural ability that I won’t be affected by it this much next time, so I’ll have more strength to confront Zhou Zhengquan, consume him more, and hopefully force him to launch his continuous blows earlier, setting up better for your cousin to do better in the last match.”

“We have a decent chance of taking it by 3:1!”

Yan Zheke’s eyes glittered at her boyfriend’s high-spirited face and confident words, the corners of her mouth turning upward and her head nodding.

…

On the fans’ forum, the Eternal Nightfall Yan Xiaoling sent an emoji of touching the chin. “I’ve suddenly noticed Lin Que’s charm, pretty good looking and attractiveness. How come he doesn’t have a fan forum?”

“Yeah. I still like our idol better but I have to admit that Lin Que is actually more handsome,” responded the Brahman with an emoji of confusion.

The Unparalleled Dragon King replied, “It seems pretty odd to me. Normally you girls are more into good-looking cool guys like Lin Que. He appeared quite a character in the interview earlier, with a unique, unspeakable feeling.”

“Pretty cute, isn’t it? Little Dragon, I get it and stop hiding your girly heart.” Yan Xiaoling sent an amused emoji. “To be honest, I’m a masochist and I’m super into cold and unconcerned guys. But I met Lou Cheng first. Ha-hah… Right now on my mind is the line “meeting Lou Cheng causes the waste of my life.”

“what? You’re a masochist… I don’t know you anymore… we’re no friends…” The Brahman used a shocked emoji.

The Unparalleled Dragon King sent the emoji with a hand wiping off cold sweat. “Little Nightfall, no girls are more self-deprecated than you…”

He quickly added, “I think Lou Cheng’s fan forum is also attributed to his miraculous achievements in the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament, which gave him a legendary color, drawing wide attention. Attention lasts long enough, turning passers-by into fans.”

“I was kidding…” Yan Xiaoling flung up his hands bitterly. “Little Dragon, you’ve got the point. I was impressed by Lou Cheng’s wild bearing when he defeated the Professional Ninth Pin rival, and went on to look for his information, which was very fascinating.”

The All Good Names Are Taken by Dogs jumped out. “Who said Lin Que had no fans? I’m a big fan! And I like him and Lou Cheng being a couple, which is why I’m hanging around here. Ha-hah!”

A girl Nie Qiqi replied with a smile, “I think the credit of Lou Cheng’s forum goes to Little Nightfall, a persevering supporter. I’m quite a fan of Lin Que myself and thought about creating a forum for him. But the possible boringness from only one or two users put me off. Only you and the Brahman can handle it.”

Lou Cheng’s forum had a couple of hundreds of fans but only less than two dozen would show up upon his matches, among whom no more than ten were active users. That was how hard for a professional martial artist of a low rank to win supporters. Most people’s passion and interest in a particular fighter would die shortly after it developed.

“Ha! A compliment for me… That makes me shy…” Yan Xiaoling sent an emoji with the shy face.

The Brahman interrupted. “Little Nightfall, why not create a forum for Lin Que? We’ll help keep it hot!”

“Hmm… I’d love to but my love can’t be shared (manual pride). Forget about it unless I register another account.” Yan Xiaoling replied shamelessly.

“Leave it. Save the opportunity for a true fan of Lin Que’s,” suggested the Unparalleled Dragon King.

Yan Xiaoling agreed with a nod. “That’s right… Little Dragon, do you think Songcheng University will win today?”

“Damn it! Why did you bring up such a frivolous topic while others were discussing so seriously?” The Unparalleled Dragon King teased before answering. “Well, it depends on how much strength Lin Que has left. If he can manage to throw a Tremor Punch at Zhuo Yanjun, Sun Jian will score an easy win. Otherwise, they ‘ll probably lose by 2:3, which gives them an opportunity to turn the table at their home game. They have been performing pretty oddly today. It’ll be a whole different story after their coach’s summary.”

“Hmm… Got it. I’ll hold my tears back if they lose today!” The Brahman cut in a comment.

…

In the stand, Ye Youting was lost for a while before turning her face aside. “Sister Lan, what’re you thinking?”

Jiang Lan was brought back from a trance and smiled. “I was thinking how big a chance I have to win over Brother Zhou after his triple blow at his best.”

“How big?” asked Ye Youting out of curiosity.

“My maths is too bad to reach a result.” Jiang Lan rolled her eyes at her. How could she give a number on such a matter where only instinct and feelings were accounted for?

She took another moment on this matter. “I’d be on the downside for sure. It’ll be tough… After the preliminaries, I thought I had a good chance of taking the seventh pin certificate. He-heh… Seems like I was too confident…”

The ranking events for the sixth pin and seventh pin might be held for a region of several provinces, such as the southwest district. For cities rich in martial arts resources and talents like the capital, Huahai, an event could be held alone. The events for the fourth pin and fifth pin of the Dan stage would be national. Rules applied to the top three pins were completely different.

“I thought I was pretty good among all the Professional Ninth Pin fighter.” Ye Youting joked at herself with some self-deprecation.

Jiang Lan turned to look at her and advised earnestly, “You’re already at the peak of the body refining stage. After the preliminaries, it’s time to calm down and converge, preparing for the Dan stage. Otherwise, Lou Cheng and even Xiaoyuan might overtake you. He has improved dearly in Guangnan, with a large potential of reaching the Dan stage within this year or as late as the first half of next year.

In the National University Martial Arts Games finals in April, Li Xiaoyuan’s team of Guangnan University Martial Arts Club made it to the top four. In the end, Peng Leyun successfully led Shanbei University to defend their champion title.

“Hmm…” Ye Youting nodded her head thoughtfully.

…

As Zhou Zhengquan leisurely walked down the last stone step, Zhuo Yanjun was already in front of him.

Their hands clapped as Zhou Zhengquan lowered his voice, trying to sound genteel.

“He’s pretty much done. Don’t dash forward prematurely. Watch out for his last charge.”

“Got it.” Zhuo Yanjun took a deep breath before passing Zhou Zhengquan onto the flight of stairs.

Different from most Wensheng School disciples, she had been practicing an extra style called the Black Water Sword, originated from the brilliant Xuanwu Divine Sword. She seemed extremely sincere about martial arts that she would bow to show her appreciation for martial arts which had greatly changed her life every time she got in the ring.

I’m an ordinary girl with a pretty nice name and an ordinary face, ordinary disposition, ordinary background and ordinary intelligence. I’d graduate from an average college, get an average job, date an average boyfriend, experience once or a few times love before entering an average marriage and living an ordinary life just like my father and mother.

Fortunately, I’m talented in martial arts. Now I’m on an entirely different path of life.

Zhuo Yanjun walked towards Lin Que during her thanksgiving, recalling Zhou Zhengquan’s words and waiting for the match to begin.

In spite of Lin Que in the middle of the expiration and inspiration exercise, the referee raised his right hand and shouted,

“Fight!”

Zhuo Yanjun immediately started to move about, smartly slashing, cutting, pointing and poking with her arms like two swords, avoiding frontal confrontation.

Lin Que stood there firmly, struggling bitterly to block the attacks with his hands, elbows, arms, shoulders, and kicks from both legs.

Zhuo Yanjun agilely slid to Lin Que’s side, slashing down her right arm with great force.

An abnormal flush suddenly appeared on Lin Que’s face, his dorsal muscles inflated and spine wiggling, pulling his body by force to confront Zhuo Yanjun face-to-face and duck this slash.

His right foot stepped forward like a meteor, closing in on his rival. His left arm rose to block and his right fist punched out, temples swelling.

The series of moves smoothly and swiftly took Zhuo Yanjun by surprise. She managed to block with her elbow.

Bang!

Her body shook upon the hit. Descriptions about the Tremor Punch flashed by in her head.

When she was about to practice breathing exercise to cancel out the force, she noticed how weak the tremor was. She barely felt anything.

“An arrow at the end of its flight?” The classic line Junior Brother Zhou often chanted came to Zhuo Yanjun. She threw her right arm out towards Lin Que’s neck, seeing the sweat dripping down from his head and an expression other than coldness in his eyes. It was an expression of disappointment and unwillingness.

“Round Four, Zhuo Yanjun wins!” The referee announced the result.

Lin Que turned around to go down without a word. His face didn’t change much but his legs were obviously heavier than before.

Lou Cheng dashed out from his seat to give him a hand.

When he reached his future brother-in-law, Lin Que slightly lowered his head and forced a word out very quietly.

“Sorry…”

“Sorry?” Lou Cheng was puzzled, unsure what he was apologizing for. But soon he felt Lin Que’s stubborn desire for victories and undefeated pride.

Last time, I fought two matches after defeating Wei Shengtian, putting the nail in the coffin and making his desperateness meaningful.

This time he knocked Zhou Zhengquan out but had no strength left to fight on. He felt disappointed and painful. He felt sorry!

Everybody can accept this defeat but he cannot. He can accept nothing but victories!

This is Lin Que!

Lou Cheng reached his hand out to pat Lin Que’s shoulder and said in a very serious tone,

“Win it next time!”