Martial Arts Master

Darkness engulfed him, leaving not a hint of light to be seen nor a trace of warmth to be felt. Even the concept of “coldness” seemed to be fleeing, not to mention any sounds or colors. This was the world Ichiei Sakata was trapped in, roaming aimlessly in the endless void until his inner struggle, kinetic energy and spirit had brought him to his senses. He woke and felt the coldness biting into his skin and numbing his thoughts.

Damn!

His mind screamed of danger, light filling his eyes as he caught a glimpse of his opponent that was about to flash past him.

The competition, the honor and expectations—was he about to let it all go?

No! Struggling, he tensed and whipped out his right leg, leaving a trail of white light as he kicked upwards at Lou Cheng.

In that kick, he had channeled Hadou to stimulate corresponding parts of his body , the strong momentum twisting his body, from which he borrowed strength to deliver a kick with his left leg as two legs successively delivered a flurry of kicks.

Bam bam bam!

The continuous,crackling sounds of his kicks sounded as if they combined into one, white radiance permeating the air as “Tornado Kicks” were being ushered in.

At his moment of crisis, Ichiei Sakata had a burst of amazing strength.

As Lou Cheng was closing in, at the encounter of such ferocious retaliation, he steadied himself and stopped in his tracks, visualizing the image of the “God of Flames riding a scarlet dragon under the blazing sun”. His abdominal muscles expanded, stretching his fascias on both sides of his body to bring an explosive force to his shoulders as he launched a right punch.

Bam! As his fist passed through the air, an invisible flame igniting around it, dancing.

Boom! (Italic)

Boom! (Italic) Scarlet flames exploded, tumbling and splashing forward, sweeping up waves of flame that held terrifying impact.

A loud bang echoed in the air as the sea of scarlet flames devoured layers of white radiance. Ichiei Sakata kicked at the flames rapidly with both of his legs, negating and nullifying its effects.

Bam! Flicking the joints in his arm and stretching his fascias, Lou Cheng fired a second punch, hitting the back of his opponent’s foot at the end of his motion, stopping his combination of kicks.

His arm recoiled on contact, trembling from the impact he withdrew and released his Qi and blood, his left arm bloating and stabbing at Ichiei Sakata like a huge lance.

Bam! Ichiei Sakata’s right arm glowed with white light , expanding to twice its original size as he chopped down with his palm, stopping his opponent’s fist in time.

With a push and a pull with his palm knives, he tried to cut through his enemy’s muscles and fascia.

However, Lou Cheng retracted his fist at first touch, borrowing the force which he redirected to his lower abdomen as he delivered a low right kick.

Bam bam bam! Bang bang bang! With his first move connecting, he immediately began to suppress his enemy, dancing the “24 Blizzard Strikes” backed up by his limitless “Force Concentration” as he launched a flurry of attacks that kept increasing in ferocity and power. Ichiei Sakata could not break away even after cycling through his “Extreme Hadou Sect” Karate moves, forced to stimulate his body with Hadou and once in a while falling back a few steps as he struggled to keep up.

Throughout the whole time, he felt the coldness biting into his bones and heard the gales roaring in his ears, as if he went from the tropical Shengxiang to The Arctic or Siberia.

As he fought on, his heart skipped a beat as he realized what he felt was not an illusion but reality,frigid winds was blowing around him and snowflakes fell and melted instantly when they touched the ground.

“He’s about to morph…” mused Peng Leyun who was not in his usual state of daydreaming, one hand holding his phone and the other stuck in his pockets.

In the past, Lou Cheng’s supernatural ability and Dan stage explosions had a clear line in between, but in his continuous “Force Concentration” attacks, his “Frost Force” began to show, turning to instinct.

What did that mean? It meant that his root pulps was already changing from the inside and that he was about the enter the door of the Internal stage, about the begin his morphing!

“So fast,” frowned Ren Li, feeling the pressure as her competitor was closing the gap between them as a strong desire of improving sprouted in her.

Ann Chaoyang gasped slightly, losing track of the music at his ears.

“It hasn’t even been a few months,” he mumbled.

It hasn’t even been 4 months since the Nationals in April, and Lou Cheng had already improved from upper end of 6th Pin to the state where he was on the edge of making a breakthrough?

He was practically advancing at the speed of a rocket!

After his short astonishment, he remembered something as he turned to Ren Li and Peng Leyun.

“It won’t be a month before Bai Xiaosheng(All-knowing Man) breaks down in tears,” he jested.

“It’s not good to gamble,” nodded Peng Leyue, logging in to his Weibo to scroll through the popular posts made by “All-knowing Man in Ganghood” in the past years, as if mourning him.

Ren Li pondered shortly and took out her phone, going to the corresponding gambling site after she made up her mind to make some quick bucks.

After about ten seconds, she gave an embarrassed smile and turned to Ann Chaoyang and Guide Zhong, she said,

“How, how do I use this?”

She had heard of it but never actually gambled before!

Among the Japanese representative team, Tang Zexun sat quietly, gazing at the arena.

“If Ichiei-kun cannot make a breakthrough here, this match is not going to end up well for him,” she said in a flat voice.

“Yes,” agreed Takeshi-kun .

The old-fashioned, serious looking Guide glanced at him and asked in a low voice,

“Takeshi-kun, can you beat this fighter named Lou Cheng?”

The air trembled behind Takechi Yamashita, a milky white light flashed and ceased, forming a blurry image of a dragon and a tiger.

“Yes!” he replied curtly.

Even if Lou Cheng had went through the breakthrough and morphed —the way the Chinese described it, he was confident he could beat him!

In the forums of Longhu Club, “Unparalleled Dragon King” who could neither see or touch the frigid winds and fluttering snow, had made a sentimental comment.

“Lou Cheng’s improving so fast, even his physique is at the level of upper 6th Pin. It’s not all impossible for him to make the breakthrough to Inhuman stage before the end of this year.”

“Yeah, I thought a strong 6th Pin standard opponent would give him some problems, but from the start till now, Ichiei Sakata never even stood a chance,” commented “Road to the Arena”.

“We’ll have to wait and see, none of the Martial Artists got to their current stages by luck, Lou Cheng can’t afford to be careless especially when he has an advantage,” commented “Pig-Riding Knight”.

“Brahman” and “Eternal Nightfall” were too engrossed in the match to sing their praises.

…

Bam Bam Bam! Bang Bang Bang!

Ichiei Sakata felt the frigid gales getting stronger as his body numbed. He knew he would eventually lose if he let Lou Cheng run over him.

This can’t go on!

He had to make the breakthrough right then and there!

Ichiei Sakata’s heart screamed, desperately making attempts, but his decisions came too slow as Lou Cheng’s advantage had spiraled out of control.

Despair grew in him as he fought on, he could see a scene where the referee raises his right hand to announce his defeat, the scorns and criticisms filling up newspapers and websites.

No! He can’t lose here! Not to someone at the same stage!

He thought about his father who was also from the “Extreme Hadou Sect” and his ardent hopes. He thought about his friends fawning over him. He thought about the worship in the eyes of female fans. He thought about all the privileges he enjoyed in life. He knew that if he lost that aura and fell to the ranks of “ordinary” warriors, he would lose it all and never be able to raise his head again and no matter how strong he actually was, no one will pay him attention again.

No!

Not like this!

Ichiei Sakata’s brain buzzed, his eyes turning bloodshot and his long suppressed emotions erupting at once— fear, vengeance, killing intent and among which other negative emotions.

At that moment, the pale white light he emitted was stained by a slight shade of scarlet as he calmed down.

“Come!” Ichiei Sakata roared, stepped forward with his left leg and threw a swift right straight.

With a loud bang, the scarlet light enveloped his body, emitting a dense killing intent that intimidated Lou Cheng’s heart and spirit, disorientating him for a brief moment.

“Extreme Hadou Sect” Super Ultimate—”7 Sins Hadouken!”

His negative emotions acted as fuel for his Dragon Roar Hadouken, giving it a similar intimidating effect as the Army Formula.

Memories had caused Ichiei Sakata to explode in power and at that moment he succeeded in his breakthrough as he delivered the strongest punch in his life.

In the deep rumbling roar of dragon and tiger, the pale red “Hadou” formed a sharp “Death Scythe” that sliced at his enemy with his fist as the edge.

Lou Cheng had already felt a sense of danger when Ichiei Sakata’s white Hadou mutated, his hands closing to form a seal and in his mind he visualized the Forwarding Formula.

In the deep reverberating noises, he came back to his senses and jerked back wards.

He did not dodge to avoid Ichiei Sakata’s “7 Sins Hadouken” since it was too fast and furious to be dodged, instead he did it just to buy some time for himself.

In his heart, he had visualized the Sun crashing onto vast expanse of “The Frozen River” .

BOOM! (ITALIC)

Ice and flame collided in his fists, spiraling into a black dot or a whirlpool.

Bam! Lou Cheng firmed his steps and arched his back, drawing his right arm back before shooting it out.

Mutated version of “Severe Warning!”

Pom!

His fist collided with the pale red Hadou, knocking its color out, along with all his killing intent, fear and strength, as if the black whirlpool had absorbed them all.

Boom! (Italic)

The whirlpool disintegrated as a savage force bounced back and crashed on Ichiei Sakata’s fists like huge tides, sending him into the air.

Lou Cheng’s right arm gave way, sore and swelled, but before it recovered he pushed his legs and pounced towards his opponent with a crackling sound.

At this moment, Ichiei Sakata launched a milky white Hadouken, scattering the dust in its path.

Just as Lou Cheng was about to return a punch, he realized he had lost track of his opponent for some strange reason.

In that instant, Ichiei Sakata’s presence had vanished completely from the arena and his senses.

A mirror of ice formed in him, suddenly realizing the threat that came from behind him.

Lou Cheng twisted his waist, facing sideways and deftly kicked with his left leg.

Bang!

The heel of his foot hit Ichiei Sakata, revealing him from the shadows, shaking him, and stopping his killing technique prematurely.

The technique Ichiei Sakata used was the “Ninjutsu: Backstab” he had secretly practiced in two years, yet it backfired on him.

Seeing his attack land, Lou Cheng sent another kick upwards.

Bam Bam Bam! One kick landed, followed by a second and a third, juggling his opponent in the air.

He drew a quick breath that exploded in him, rapidly turned and with a left kick he sent Ichiei Sakata into the air like a soccer ball.

Thump!

Ichiei Sakata, unable to control his balance, crashed into the ground, heard an ancient chant of “Formation!” as Lou Cheng’s white martial arts hung by his ears.

The referee raised his right hand, announcing in English,

“Lou Cheng wins!”