Martial Arts Master

4:28.

Looking at the young man clad in deep navy blue before him, Si Jianting’s face was full of malevolence. While his frozen jaw made a sound, no words came out, as if he wasn’t willing to reveal anything.

Lou Cheng knew that the saving operation was urgent, so he didn’t delay. His expression immediately became serious, and in his mind he visualized the sharp and frigid Army Formula.

He did not complete the formula, and also didn’t pronounce the ancient words. He only melded this battlefield vigor with his own terrifying energy and conformed all of this into his words, constricting Si Jianting’s spirit.

“Where is Li Zhenhua?!” Lou Cheng shouted gravely.

Si Jianting shivered mysteriously. His entire body shivered, but many years of experience dealing with blood and carnage in the wartorn areas had made him stronger and unwilling to admit defeat.

Lou Cheng narrowed his eyes, and he repeated it.

“Where is Li Zhenhua!?”

“Where is Li Zhenhua!?”

The two sentences poured into his ears like thunder, and it was hard for Si Jianting to keep his fear from showing. It was if he’d gone back to the days of his youth when he’d been kept in the water prison of the warlord.

“Where is Li Zhenhua?!” Lou Cheng exploded with energy, and it was as if the surroundings were effused with the stench of blood and a cold, blowing gale.

“I’ll, I’ll talk…” Si Jianting was unable to take it. His spirit was thoroughly defeated, as if he’d seen death and judgement day themselves.

A spot of suspicious moisture appeared in the crotch of his pants. With a running nose and flowing tears, he bawled,

“I’ll talk, I’ll say everything. He’s not dead, not dead. He, he, he’s in my office on the 19th floor, in a secret room…”

As Si Jianting spilled his guts and made his stammering confession, Lou Cheng could roughly make sense of the course of events.

After Li Zhenhua had infiltrated the building the night before based on the tip he’d been given by a traitor within the ranks that he’d bribed, he found the accounts book for one of Si Jianting’s casinos and discovered that he’d smuggled illegal materials from the wartorn areas. This was his definitive proof, but upon successfully collecting the book and preparing to leave, he was discovered by Vincent, who had been patrolling the area. He was violently sneak attacked and taken away without any trouble.

Afterwards, suspicious about how his enemy had slipped up, Si Jianting secretly rushed over under the protection of Huang Chengda and had severely beaten Li Zhenhua. As a result, he discovered that he was a disciple of the Ice God Sect. His mind suddenly burst open; he could almost imagine the pressure he’d be under after daybreak.

At this point, they couldn’t possibly let Li Zhenhua leave, as he already knew quite a few things, and he also had a profound hatred of him. They had to handle that night’s security footage and afterward look for a way to stall time and trace back their steps to erase any evidence of their guilt.

After dealing with arisen problems, Si Jianting didn’t dare to take chances, and he immediately made arrangements to flee. He planned to go to the warlord’s place in the wartorn areas to stay away from trouble. As for Li Zhenhua, he wanted to directly have him eliminated, but he didn’t dare do so. Under the circumstances, with all of the suspicion and fingers being pointed him, if he killed an Ice God Sect Disciple or made him truly go missing, then he’d be waking a sleeping giant. Perhaps they’d send an Inhuman or even Physical Invulnerability stage Mighty One to come and chase him down. Fleeing to a collaborator that wasn’t that strong would make the opposition start to have fewer misgivings.

Therefore, this time Si Jianting intended to temporarily forgive Li Zhenhua. In any case, he’d already arranged to leave, destroyed what should be destroyed, and taken care of his property. Afterwards, he’d find another opportunity and create an “accident,” something that wouldn’t make people suspect that it was a premeditated affair to wipe out this enemy that hated him so. Then he could finally rest easy, return to his hometown, and take back his property.

Why did criminals dealing in shady business all like to record their accounts… . Lou Cheng recalled all of the television shows and novels that he’d seen and silently retorted. Afterwards, he lifted up Si Jianting, who had collapsed and become soft as mud, and spun around over to face Huang Chengda. He lifted his knee up and with the tip of his foot kicked under his ears, causing the Dan Stage fighter to go into a thorough state of dizziness.

With his other hand, he pulled Huang Chengda and lifted him up. He slowly and deliberately took him, Vincent, and the driver that had been beside the car and tied them all together, almost as if they were one person. As he did this, he didn’t at all prevent the driver from escaping.

The reason he was going to such trouble was that he felt he had to cleanly and neatly wrap up the situation. What if Vincent and Huang Chengda were lunatics? What if they wanted to retaliate against any other Ice God Sect members after they escaped?

The other bodyguards didn’t have this kind of power, but they did!

Since this was the case, he’d simply give the police two for one and deliver them both to the local police department, then the sect could apply some more pressure and determine a harsh sentence for them.

The bodyguard beside the driver wouldn’t receive such treatment, as he’d directly been flung into the flower terrace after being attacked by Lou Cheng. If he were able to regain consciousness before the police arrived, then he’d be considered lucky.

As Lou Cheng piled together Vincent and Huang Chengda, and then used one hand to drag them along, Zhang Xiaozi ran over, both startled and overjoyed as she crossed the street where almost all the cars had already made a detour past.

“Senior, Zhen, is Zhenhua okay?” She panted with anxiety and nervousness.

“It’s not too bad.” Without seeing his condition with his own eyes, Lou Cheng could only answer vaguely.

Zhang Xiaozi had already come to believe him from the bottom of her heart, and a brilliant smile emerged after she heard what had been said. “Thank you, thank you, Senior…”

She had not yet finished speaking when her phone suddenly rang. She took it out to look and her expression changed.

“The police department…” She frantically looked at Lou Cheng, asking him what to do.

This was obviously because after someone had called the police, they’d guessed that the Ice God Sect was making a move and immediately contacted Zhang Xiaozi, who was responsible for communicating with them.

Lou Cheng thought for two seconds, then composed himself and with a leisurely smile said,

“Just tell them these five words, ‘There have been no fatalities.’”

“Yes, Senior!” Zhang Xiaozi immediately regained her own sense of judgment and hurriedly answered the call.

She hummed a few times, and then, emulating the tone of voice that Lou Cheng had just used, she steadily and calmly stated,

“Rest assured, there have been no fatalities.”

She spoke no more words into the phone.

Lou Cheng could see that Li Zhenhua was in no immediate danger, but he was afraid that his fairy had been worrying for too long. He temporarily stopped dragging Vincent and Huang Chengda as he entered the Linfu Building and took his phone and wallet back from Zhang Xiaozi, then he dialed that key number.

He held Si Jianting up with one hand, and stuck one foot atop Vincent and Huang Chengda, his thick, navy blue suit unruffled as he stood. Afterwards, he watched the distant cars making their detours as he waited for his wife to pick up.

4:33.

As the call connected, Lou Cheng was afraid that Yan Zheke would misunderstand, so he rushed to talk first and said,

“Hey, Ke.”

Yan Zheke clearly released a sigh of relief, and with joy in her voice asked,

“Did you abandon the plan?”

“No, it’s already solved.” Lou Cheng laughed lowly, listening to the dumbfounded Zhang Xiaozi beside him.

The “professionally serious” senior was suddenly also capable of producing this kind of laughter…

“Sorted? It’s, it’s only been a few minutes…. You, didn’t you say that this small thing had become a real pain?” Yan Zheke was both startled and bewildered. Her body and mind both relaxed, and she was so happy she felt like she’d explode.

Hearing his fairy’s clearly flabbergasted voice, Lou Cheng was unable to keep himself from boasting. He said with a slight smile,

“I made a few errors in my judgment. Before, when I was talking to you, I really did think it would be a big pain, but now, mmm, it’s just a small thing.”

“You’re boasting!” Yan Zheke said with happiness and excitement as she laughed.

How could it be possible that Cheng would have made the mistake of neither knowing himself nor his enemy!?

“Yes, yes, I’m boasting. Coach Yan knows me so well…” Lou Cheng’s face blushed as he calmly admitted, “The main thing was that their positioning wasn’t very good. The situation also wasn’t very complicated. I’ll give you all the details later.”

“Okay.” Yan Zheke’s voice lightly emitted.

Lou Cheng thought for a moment, then laughed and said,

“I have a goal that I want to achieve within four months. I want to make this current trouble truly become a small thing.”

“I’ll give you a reminder!” Yan Zheke responded with a smile on her face. She was silent for a few seconds, and then said softly, “Cheng, hus…husband, if there’s something like this again in the future, remember to ask yourself clearly if you want to go or not.”

“Yes!” Lou Cheng’s heart ached with tenderness as he solemnly swore.

However, things were always changing and developing. It was hard to say if he asked himself clearly from the very beginning that there would be no problems. He would most likely still have to depend on going in person to make a judgment and see whether he should back out or not.

After hanging up the phone, Lou Cheng lifted up Si Jianting with one hand and dragged Vincent and Huang Chengda with the other. In the Linfu Building, a group of people stood with fear and panic in their eyes as he calmly and quietly stepped into the special elevator, arriving at the 19th floor.

According to Si Jianting’s confession, he had Zhang Xiaozi open the secret room. They saw a young man covered in bruises and cuts curled up on the ground, unconscious.

“Zhenhua!” Zhang Xiaozi threw herself to the ground.

Lou Cheng again tied Si Jianting, Vincent, and Huang Chengda together and threw them to the side of the sofa used for receiving customers. He then proceeded to step into the secret room, inspecting Li Zhenhua’s injuries.

“There’s nothing life-threatening,” he determined, and instructed Zhang Xiaozi, “Give the police department a call. Make them bring an ambulance with them.”

“Okay, Senior.” Zhang Xiaozi sighed with relief, her heart settling as she began to dial the number.

Lou Cheng then gave his master a report, allowing the sect to deal with the follow-up.

4:37.

The sounds of police cars and ambulance sirens arose simultaneously.

4:40.

Outside of Si Jianting’s office, the sound of footsteps rang out, and a group of police officers charged in. They saw a young man sitting on the sofa in a navy blue martial arts suit, his head down as he played with his phone with a calm demeanor and casual posture.

Next to his feet, Vincent, Huang Chengda, and Si Jianting all lied chaotically superimposed amongst each other, every one of them unconscious. That famous Linbian bigshot’s body was even still shaking slightly, and there was the faint smell of urine coming from him.

At the other end, Zhang Xiaozi stood quietly, wearing short sleeves, shorts, and running shoes, as if she was some kind of maiden. From time to time, her expression would float towards the other person on the sofa, Li Zhenhua.

Lou Cheng lifted his head and with a smile looked at the head police officer. Calmly and unhurriedly, he asked a question.

“Can we go now?

“…” The head police officer was silent. He looked at the unconscious Li Zhenhua, nodded his head seriously, and said, “Yes.”

“Good.” Lou Cheng slowly got up and, under the gazes of both the police officers and Zhang Xiaozi, slowly and steadily headed outside.

In the quietness of the office afterward, everyone could hear his voice in the elevator talking on the phone.

“Hi, Mom, I may be a half hour late back home for dinner.”

A half hour late back home for dinner…. The police officers and Zhang Xiaozi looked at each other in disbelief.

…

After exiting the Linfu Building, Lou Cheng hailed a taxi and sat in the back seat.

“Go to the Four Joys Shop,” he calmly instructed, showing on his cellphone the results on the main page for “Linbian specialties”, having switched modes on the app that he’d used to book tickets on.

The driver started to drive, and gossiped,

“Hey, wasn’t there just a gunfight over here in Linfu? I heard it was pretty intense?”

Lou Cheng smiled and replied,

“I didn’t watch, so I have no idea about it.”

“Fine, it’ll most likely be on the news later,” the driver said, not adding anything further.

…

4:52.

At the Four Joys Shop, Lou Cheng earnestly selected two boxes of fragrant pies and two jars of matsutake sauce. He then went next door and bought a few mangosteens and other local fruits.

…

5:19.

He arrived at the high speed rail station, and again got a call from Geezer Shi.

“You did alright handling this today,” Shi Jianguo complimented, and in the end stated, “Remember, you can’t always necessarily proceed according to what your expectations are. Today was to teach you to hone your ability to respond to unexpected changes. As these and other aspects improve, when you run into any unexpected changes afterward, you won’t get flustered, and you won’t fall into danger.”

“True!” Lou Cheng suddenly realized, feeling that he’d misunderstood his master, and he’d been unreasonable in silently judging him.

As he hung up the phone, he suddenly had doubts, and whispered,

“Could it be that that speech just now was merely Master concealing the fact that he’d been unreliable, and he was just making an excuse after the fact for his defrauding me?

“This, this seems like his style…”

…

5:35.

The high-speed train set off. Lou Cheng leaned back in his chair comfortably, playing on his phone.

…

At 7:25 in the Linbian hospital, Li Zhenhua regained consciousness.

After seeing Zhang Xiaozi next to him, he anxiously asked,

“Have they caught Si Jianting?”

“They’ve caught him. A young senior from your teacher’s school came and handled it,” Zhang Xiaozi answered honestly.

Li Zhenhua immediately let out a sigh of relief, and his expression was absent-minded for a moment.

After a few seconds, he recuperated, and then whispered the two words, “Young senior…

“And where’s Senior?” he asked.

“Gone, he left in the afternoon,” Zhang Xiaozi explained in detail.

“Mmm… when did Senior come?” Li Zhenhua asked without thinking.

Zhang Xiaozi’s tone suddenly became quite strange.

“Also in the afternoon…”

…

7:29, the path of Back Water Lake, at the entrance of the neighborhood villa.

Wearing short sleeves and a long skirt, Yan Zheke skipped over. She turned her head to look at Lou Cheng, and both happily and suspiciously asked,

“Have you not gone back to eat yet? What are you up to coming and looking for me first?”

Lou Cheng lifted up the fragrant pies, matsutake sauce, and southern fruits that were in his hands, and with a mischevious smile said,

“To give you some Linbian specialties.”