Martial Arts Master

Lou Cheng returned to the grandstand just as the flickering flames went off. Smiling, Peng Leyun extended his right fist and bumped into his.

“Impressive!”

A compliment rather than a consolation.

“Bravo!” Ann Chaoyang greeted him in a similar way, in terms of action and choice of words.

Ren Li gave him a thumbs-up after the fist-bump.

“Thanks.” Lou Cheng smiled and shook his head, the gloominess in him diminishing.

“How is it? How’s your injury looking? You need a trip to the emergency room?” Zhong Ningtao asked worriedly.

Just a moment ago he had seen Lou Cheng spit out blood, and even then the unwashed wound on his left fist looked hideous, though it had already been staunched.

“I’m fine. Nothing but a flesh wound. Give it a day or two and it’ll heal by itself,” said Lou Cheng, brandishing his left fist. “No major internal injuries either. I didn’t forcefully defend against it. Went along with the momentum and stepped back. With some medicine, I’ll be full of energy before my morphing completes.”

Of course, he won’t be able to fight at his full strength in the third-fourth place match one day later, but thankfully his opponent was Gusai.

“Thank goodness, thank goodness,” said Zhong Ningtao, heaving a sigh of relief as he pointed towards the changing room. “Go clean yourself up.”

“Okay,” nodded Lou Cheng as he took his phone back. Yan Zheke had already sent a “shocked doge”.

“This was my first time seeing Kaori Karasawa use Quadruple Aerial Ace…”

Lou Cheng pondered. “I guess you are right. [scratching head] I haven’t seen her using it once in all the footage I went through. I have only heard that Xinzhai Sect had this combination move.”

“[Eyes darting back and forth] Before mastering “Qi”, she probably couldn’t use it up to four times. After mastering “Qi”, she didn’t even have the need to use the Quadruple Aerial Ace at any point in time. To force that move out of her, my Cheng is the best!” replied Yan Zheke.

“Pfft, so that roundabout way of talking was to console and compliment me?” chuckled Lou Cheng, in a much better mood.

He walked steadily as he texted, scanning the road with the sides of his eyes. Peng Leyun and the others followed behind, taking refuge in the waiting room. It was chaotic outside with the milling crowd on their way out.

“If not? [rolls eyes]” replied Yan Zheke. “Should I say Kaori Karasawa is very strong, and that it’s normal for you to lose, or should I hug you tight and sing ‘Cry, cry, it’s not a sin for a man to shed tears’? Pep up and get that third place so you can go home earlier. You’ll be seeing your little fairy in September!”

“You make it like sound like beating Gusai is easy. [snickering]” replied Lou Cheng.

“Isn’t it? [looks at the sky in confusion]” replied Yan Zheke.

“Putting my injury aside since Gusai is injured too, the main problem is that I want to truly experience the Heart Reflection Punch and Six Paths of Reincarnation Punch. [cries while covering face]” replied Lou Cheng.

“I get it! You want to start playing around like Peng Leyun? It’s only been a few days and you are picking up these bad habits from him! Are you doing any justice to me?” jested Yan Zheke, “harshly” reprimanding him.

“After this time, I don’t know when I’ll get to face a strong opponent from Theravada again”,” explained Lou Cheng.

Normally speaking, he always gave it his all in everything he did.

“Yup, yup, it’s good to experience more,” replied Yan Zheke, along with a cute emoji of [a tiny monster licking ice cream]. “But don’t forget, there’s a 100000 RMB difference between third and fourth place~”

“Shit, screw the experience, I can’t wait to send Gusai crawling! [breathes fire through nose]” replied Lou Cheng humorously.

Afterwards, Yan Zheke expressed more concern towards his injuries. She could only concentrate on class after making sure that he was alright.

When he almost got to the changing room, he habitually refreshed the live-stream thread. Not many were upset. Most were generally impressed.

“…I was too engrossed! Forgot to take any pictures!”

Too engrossed fighting, that is!

This kind of reason can only be used once…

“Haha, it’s not your fault, Little Tiger. Everything else slipped off my mind when I was watching it too. [waving handkerchief]” replied “Wonton Seller”.

“Right? Too f***ing exciting! Kaori Karasawa’s Japan Kendo was f****** insane! Lou Cheng’s predictions were even more insane!” replied “Unparalleled Dragon King”, too excited to filter his words.

“I suspect Lou Cheng has discovered the signs given away by Flying Dragon Takeaway! He’s out of this world! [prostrating in admiration]” replied “Pig-Riding Knight”.

Reading their discussion, Lou Cheng heaved his last sigh of unhappiness. He was ready to start anew once he takes a shower.

Wait, where’s “Yan Xiaoling and “Brahman”? That’s when he realized the two young and loyal fans were missing during the discussion.

Curious, Lou Cheng keyed in his own name and went into the fan forum.

He scanned through and went still. On the first page of the forum, every thread shared the same title, but were posted by different people—”Yan Xiaoling”, “Brahman”, “Nie Qiqi”, “Bull Demon King”, “All The Good Names Are Taken By Dogs”— the usernames lined up in a neat formation.

“You are awesome!”

“You are awesome!”

“You are awesome!”

Thumbing across, he realized not only the first page looked that way. From the moment the competition ended, they had been spamming page after page. Even knowing that it wouldn’t change a thing, they did everything they could within their capabilities express their support.

Touched, Lou Cheng’s vision clouded. Touched by their pure love. By their unyielding support.

They were no longer following him for fun, or from a whim.

In this vast world, with oceans apart, they were strangers, yet they knew each other so well!

Lou Cheng took a deep breath and laid his phone down. He twisted the nozzle of the shower head. As the water washed away the sweat and bloodstains on his body, he felt himself gradually calming down.

Examining the hideous wound on his fist, he secretly rejoiced at the competition not being re-broadcasted in China. If not, he’ll never hear the end of it from Mom, after she sees him spit out blood, or after she sees his bone-exposing wound.

Well,I guess I’ll mention it myself and play it down when I video-chat with her later. Just in case someone who watched the live-stream tells her about it!

It’s always a good move to mentally prepare someone!

After showering, Lou Cheng took the internal injury pills which Yan Zheke strongly requested him to bring, them stuck a huge band-aid on his wound.

After slipping into a new set of clothes, he walked out of the changing room. He saw Peng Leyun playing his mobile game instead of zoning out. Remembering about the Flying Dragon Takedown, he said, “Before Kaori Karasawa uses Flying Dragon Takedown, she makes an indistinct snap. I believe it’s the sound of her compressing her fascias, bones, muscles and force.”

To him, the discovery was a stroke of fortune. If not for the Ice Mirror, who could have heard that nearly inaudible sound in the middle of a fierce fight?

Also, if he didn’t have sharp survival instincts that told him when Kaori Karasawa was going to use the move, even with Ice Mirror, it will be natural for him to neglect insignificant noises, like the snap.

It was not by fluke that the signs given away by Flying Dragon Takedown remained undiscovered for years!

Therefore, even after hearing it from him beforehand, whether Peng Leyun can seize the opportunity was another matter.

Forgetting about his game, Peng Leyun lifted his head and nodded thinkingly.

“So that’s how it works…”

Beside him, Ann Chaoyang chuckled and said, “Somehow it feels like Kaori Karasawa’s win wasn’t worth it. Just for a few hundred thousand RMB, she exposed one of the most important secrets of Xinzhai Sect to you.”

“I’m getting a chill now that you mention it…” replied Lou Cheng, half-jokingly. “Do you think they’ll hunt me down if they knew I found out about the signs?”

Then he answered his own question. “It’s alright, if they have the balls to do it, I’ll publish it on the internet! Let’s see who outdoes who!”

Peng Leyun let out a laugh at that. He zoned out for a long time before “returning to Earth”, his expression changing.

“Oh no… I trolled my team…”

Haha, you should stick to single player games, thought Lou Cheng mockingly. Ren Li rushed at the front to pull the changing room door open, poised to take charge and lead the way. In a panic, Zhong Ningtao called out and stopped her.

With a creak, the bulky door opened. Ren Li saw a mixed race beauty with a group of photographers behind her.

“Hehe, we meet again,” said Catherine with an amiable smile.

Ren Li tilted her head, thought hard, but couldn’t recollect where she had seen her. Acting as if she knew her, she said, “Here to interview again?”

That’s when it hit her. Remembering her identity, she quickly added, “You are the reporter who didn’t tell us you know Chinese! The one who made Lou Cheng embarrass himself…”

Everyone burst into laughter at the mention. Lou Cheng scratched the back of his head and reddened.

After that incident, he tried to find the article on Shengxiang websites, but aborted the mission since he couldn’t read Shengxiangese.

Catherine beamed. “I only did a simple press release at that time. Today we have an exclusive interview for you.”

A wild card two with two Top 4 qualifiers and one finalist, of course there was a need for an exclusive interview. How else could they hype up the grand finals?

Thank goodness, thank goodness… , thought Lou Cheng, heaving a sigh of a relief, gloating at Peng Leyun who had to be the main character of the interview.

With the experience from before, the exclusive interview went smoothly and rigidly, without any “accidents”. Towards the end, Catherine smiled.

“Lou Cheng, you have gained a nickname in Japan,” she said.

“What is it?” blurted Lou Cheng, regretting it as soon as the words came out. He should have asked whether it was a good nickname. If it wasn’t, don’t say it!

Catherine twinkled.

“The Kaiju from Nebula M78.”

Lou Cheng’s face darkened at the words.

After the interview, the wild card team returned to the hotel together before splitting up to do their own business in their own rooms.

After Lou Cheng video chaatted his Mom, Qi Fang, he began reminiscing about every tidbit in the fight against Kaori Karasawa, analysing the situations and concluding the pros and cons. Yan Zheke loved to discuss this with him from a spectator’s point of view.

The next morning, Lou Cheng continued doing his morphing training, his injuries not yet fully healed. In the afternoon spar, he held himself back and only did what counted as a warm-up.

When they assembled for lunch, Zhong Ningtao clapped his hands.

“We have an activity this afternoon. The organizing committee invited us to pay a visit to the Golden Buddha Temple and interact with some of the Sadhus and young boxers. This is an official event for the Four Nation Competition, so the Top 16 qualifiers are expected to go,” he announced.

“Why hadn’t they said it before?” asked Ann Chaoyang, puzzled.

Zhong Ningtao shook his head. “I don’t know either. Even though they held official events in all the previous years, it was usually after the end of grand-finals. For some reason they moved it forward this time,” he replied.

“Okay, I have nothing planned in the afternoon anyway,” replied Peng Leyun enthusiastically as he returned from “space”.

Indifferent, Lou Cheng, Ann Chaoyang and Ren Li just went with the flow.