Martial Arts Master

In Songcheng TV station, Fang Juexiao, the host, shook her head and smiled while saying,

“They finished this round much sooner than I had expected. Old Gan, could you please give us a quick analysis?”

Gan Le answered with a smile, “I have nothing special to say. On the one hand, under a perfect condition, Zhou Zhengquan’s able to fight face-to-face against an Eighth-Pin master with his Triple Bursts of Dan Stage. On the other hand, Lin Que had just defeated a Professional-Ninth-Pin mighty one, which cost him much stamina and energy. So the situation today is contrary to last week’s fight, when Zhou Zhengquan, who had just defeated Lou Cheng, met Lin Que in his best state. Thus, the game result is no surprise. I just wonder why Zhou Zhengquan used full strength at the beginning instead of hiding it as he used to. It seemed as if he never expected to enter the next round.”

“Lin Que should be proud of himself. Zhou Zhengquan regarded him as a well-matched opponent at the same stage. Anyway, he forced Zhou Zhengquan to use Triple Bursts of Dan Stage, didn’t he? So Lou Cheng won’t have to worry about it in the following round.”

Hearing the director’s cue, Fang Juexiao interrupted Gan Le in time,

“Okay. Cheng is in the arena. The second round is about to start. We shall wait and see!”

Yan Xiaoling, who was chatting in the forum while watching the sportscast, suddenly straightened herself, adjusted her sitting posture, and fixed her eyes on the screen attentively.

…

“Lou Cheng! Lou Cheng!”

Cheering sounds echoing around the whole martial arts gymnasium as Lin Que stepped down from the arena. He was a little shaky from the hand-to-hand fierce battle. He had burned his blood and Qi, which could not calm down for the moment.

Seeing the oncoming Lou Cheng, Lin Que slightly lowered his head and exhaled.

“A near miss… ”

That’s not good enough!

Though Zhou Zhengquan was forced to use the Triple Bursts of Dan Stage, I should have done better!

“That’s enough!” Lou Cheng interrupted him and stretched out his right hand.

Lin Que hesitated for a moment and then gave his response. Instead of merely giving Lou Cheng high-five, Lin Que pressed his hand.

Meanwhile, he said in a low voice,

“Come on!”

Lou Cheng nodded, adjusted his condition, and then strode up the stone steps.

It was time for him to find and even create an opportunity to give Zhou Zhengquan a Severe Warning!

As a killer move that could only be used once in the match, Severe Warning required Lou Cheng to make extra certain before using it. Other than that, he could at most use Frost Force once and Tremor Punch three or four times.

At this moment, Zhou Zhengquan was adjusting his breath to calmly refresh himself. His abdomen was swollen and constricted, letting out a humming sound through his throat.

Seeing Lou Cheng step onto the arena and then place himself, the referee immediately raised up his right hand and swung it down with great force.

“Begin!”

Through his last match and daily practice with Lin Que, Lou Cheng knew for sure that, though with the help of visualization method he could make some realistic-looking feints, it was still easy for him to be seen through by a real Absolute Reaction. Daring not to take the risk to visualize, he straightened his knees, moved his waist, and then directly marched over to Zhou Zhengquan.

Instead of pouncing at his opponent directly, this time Lou Cheng gathered strength, through adjusting corresponding body parts and bulging or tightening different muscles with his steps, preparing for a good Severe Warning!

If Zhou Zhengquan felt Lou Cheng’s posture fit his fighting style well, and could not help launching a face-to-face attack with an outbreak of strength, he would be caught in Lou Cheng’s trap. To say the least, even though Zhou Zhengquan was smart enough to see through Lou Cheng’s trick, it wouldn’t cost Lou Cheng much energy since he had just made somebody movements instead of stepping into the stage of visualization!

It was Lou Cheng’s first try in this round, yet he was actually baring the iron teeth behind his seemingly straight and narrow attack!

Clump! Clump! Clump! As Lou Cheng’s footsteps became heavier, the stone bricks under his feet began to crack. With the overwhelming presence, his body even seemed to be taller than before, which enabled him to “look down at” Zhou Zhengquan.

While Lou Cheng was twisting his waist and back, and stretching out his right arm, Zhou Zhengquan, who had been waiting, suddenly began to move. Swinging his center of gravity, he slid and flashed to Lou Cheng’s side, shook his right shoulder, and threw his arm at his opponent as if he was paddling!

Snap!

Knowing Zhou Zhengquan had seen through his trap, Lou Cheng gave up using Severe Warning forcibly so as not to make a vain effort.

Quickly adjusting his whole body, Lou Cheng tightened his waist and legs to throw a side kick at Zhou Zhengquan, which was fast, accurate, and ruthless.

Zhou Zhengquan lowered his shoulder to withdraw his force and then swung his center of gravity to change his position swiftly like a ghost, after which he appeared at Lou Cheng’s right side.

Gathering strength with his waist and back, he tightened one arm to form an air-piercing iron whip and threw it at Lou Cheng’s head!

Sure enough, it was a guerrilla hit under mercurial balance. If he hadn’t given up using Severe Warning blindly, he would have suffered a great loss… As the thought crossed Lou Cheng’s mind, he suddenly lowered his weight into a steady stance while swinging his fist upwards to block Zhou Zhengquan’s attack.

Bang!

With a dull thud, Lou Cheng’s right arm swung back using the strength he had borrowed. When he was about to make a whip kick at Zhou Zhengquan, with the 24 Blizzard Strikes, his opponent suddenly swung his center of gravity and again changed his direction. This forced Lou Cheng’s “wuthering wind” to come to an irreversible pause, preventing it from becoming more fierce and destructive.

Flashing to Lou Cheng’s back, Zhou Zhengquan tightened his abdominal muscles and the surrounding tendons, and then punched at Lou Cheng’s backbone as swift as lightning.

Continuation, one kind of Fly Fall Punch, which was famous for gathering strength swiftly and its perfect connection with other movements.

Swinging his waist and back to dodge the attack, Lou Cheng threw out his punches at the same time, exploding the air with a sharp snap.

After the collision of fist and elbow, Zhou Zhengquan bulged his back muscle and stretched right hand to make a blow, leaving Lou Cheng no chance to take action.

Crash! Crash! Crash! Bang! Bang! Bang! They kept colliding into each other within the small area, while Lou Cheng had to use intermittent 24 Blizzard Strikes to block his opponent’s continuous fierce blows.

Though he had learned from their last fight and wouldn’t soon be in great peril, he was unable to use Frost Force or Tremor Punch under such condition, not to mention Severe Warning.

Having totally devoted himself to the fight, Lou Cheng raised one arm to block Zhou Zhengquan’s Burst Fist. Then he took the opportunity to twist his waist and back, opened all his muscles and joints, and then threw a fierce Swing Force at his opponent.

Just as he did in their last match, Lou Cheng wanted to gain himself a second to tighten and compress his muscles for a Tremor Punch. Once Zhou Zhengquan’s body was shocked, he would be forced to calm it down with humming sound or Force Concentration. That would be Lou Cheng’s best opportunity to use Severe Warning!

However, this time, Zhou Zhengquan didn’t force himself to swing back. Instead, he flew to his original direction, leaving Lou Cheng no target to throw his Tremor Punch at.

Arching and stretching his foot, Lou Cheng broke the stone bricks with an outbreak of strength while pouncing at Zhou Zhengyun like an eagle chasing his prey. Meanwhile, he kept adjusting his muscles in preparation for a successful Severe Warning.

Crash! Crash! Crash! Just like a fierce barbarian, Lou Cheng broke the stone brick one by one with every step towards Zhou Zhengquan. While the latter kept moving back smoothly and swiftly as if having eyes in the back of his head. Occasionally, he would change direction with mercurial balance like a butterfly dancing on the arena.

Chasing and moving back in this way, they had almost gone around the whole arena while maintaining the same distance between them.

By this time, Lou Cheng was unable to keep adjusting his body to correspond with the Severe Warning. Thus, he had to abandon all the preparation actions, which suddenly weakened his strength.

Sensing Lou Cheng’s weakness, Zhou Zhengquan immediately stopped to gather all his energy into his muscles and tendons.

Crack! With the groan of another broken brick, Zhou Zhengyun visualized rising water and a waterfall roaring down onto the ground. Taking advantage of his opponent’s temporary weakness, he stretched arms to throw a fist out like lightning, giving Lou Cheng a powerful blow with explosive strength.

The Fly Fall Punch, “Waterfall”!

Continuation, one kind of Fly Fall Punch, which was famous for gathering strength swiftly and its perfect connection with other movements.

Bang!

The thundercloud exploded in Lou Cheng’s mind when his palms froze in the air. There were circles of invisible waves rippling outward with great speed, while the two on the arena both felt their muscles and tendons trembling, their internal organs burning and shaking, and all their Qi and blood burning, which prevented them from gathering and releasing force temporarily.

Moving his abdominal muscle and thus activating his internal organs, Lou Cheng’s body rumbled, releasing a similar humming sound as from Zhou Zhengquan’s throat.

They both made a reverse shock with their inner-body refining method to counterbalance most of the effects and restore their energy!

Swinging his center of gravity, Zhou Zhengquan again used the Continuation of Fly Fall Punch. As long as Lou Cheng had borrowed strength two or three times, he would immediately change attacking rhythms, as an experienced fighter, to interrupt Lou Cheng’s follow-up movements.

I can’t always be led by the nose… After a while, Lou Cheng was caught by this thought and decided to create an opportunity for his Severe Warning.

When Zhou Zhengquan one again moved around him with mercurial balance, Lou Cheng suddenly gathered strength with his waist and back to pounce forward widely, as if he wanted to keep out of the attacking range of Fly Fall Punch Continuation.

Clump clump clump! Listening carefully to the footsteps chasing him, Lou Cheng began adjusting his corresponding muscles and tendons in preparation for a back thrust as soon as Zhou Zhengyun approached him!

Crack! Stepping heavily onto the ground and breaking the black stones, Lou Cheng bounced back while visualizing a fallen sun with ice and thunder in his mind, preparation for pouncing at his opponent and giving him a fatal blow.

However, Lou Cheng froze as soon as he turned around, for Zhou Zhengquan was keeping a perfect distance from him, leaving him no chance to use combinational movements or pounce and attack because Zhou Zhengquan would have enough time to dodge his attack.

Noticing Lou Cheng’s blank expression, Zhou Zhengquan smiled and crooked his finger like a naughty cat that was chasing a mouse.

His bald provocation and contempt provoked all the audience’s indignation. Yan Xiaoling almost exploded with anger while watching the live TV broadcast.

It’s hateful of him to behave like that!

Lou Cheng held himself back, despite the anger that welled up inside him, because he had learned a lesson from Hou Yue’s example. In that split second, he realized something crucial.

Zhou Zhengquan was trying to annoy and provoke him deliberately!

Why would he do that?

Is he trying to trick me into making an active attack?

The thought flashed through Lou Cheng’s mind and suddenly woke him up.“Why must I create an opportunity for Severe Warning by any means?”  He thought,“I’ll certainly get the chance as long as I wait patiently!”

While in Zhou Zhengquan’s eyes, I have inexhaustible superhuman stamina, Zhou Zhengquan himself has just defeated Lin Que with a Triple Bursts of Dan Stage, which greatly weakened him. If he still keeps using Continuation to suppress me, his stamina will soon drain away even before I’m forced to show flaws. By that time he will be unable to make another outbreak of strength. 

So he just used Continuation, trying to push me into creating an opportunity for an active attack. Once I’ve failed several times and gotten my fighting will be paralyzed, he will take the opportunity to make an outbreak of strength and seize victory!

I was a little hasty back then. It’s risky to assume I have mastered a killer move.

Facing Zhou Zhengquan’s provocation, Lou Cheng took a firm stance and waved at his opponent.

Come on! Let’s compare our stamina!