Martial Arts Master

When the staff got onto the stage and tried to transport Baco to the ER room, he finally awoke from the lengthy darkness, shivering from coldness. He then saw Lou Cheng waiting to pay his post-match respects.

Subconsciously, Baco shriveled, his vicious countenance turning tense.

He quickly held down the conditioned response, stood up and managed a bow.

Out of all his battles against opponents from the same league, this was the worst one so far—he could not even do as much as return a blow.

He initially thought he had reached the peak of his league, nearing to Wahku’s level; for his opponents to stand a chance of winning against him, they had to outperform themselves or it had to be mistakes on his part. Even if Lou Cheng was strong, he couldn’t be much stronger than the others. Who would have thought, he turned out to be a monster—a monster that defied all logic!

Had it been a real fight, a fight without a referee, the swift kick Lou Cheng landed on the side of his knee was sufficient enough to break his leg!

—— No matter how much Shengxiang boxing can toughen one’s limbs like metal, they couldn’t be compared to real steel before the root pulps mutated. Even if they were like real steel, in a situation where one cannot channel his strength to defend, Lou Cheng would likely have broken it no less, especially when it was the vulnerable side of a knee.

Lou Cheng knew that Baco wasn’t severely wounded, so he patiently waited until he stood up, then clasped a tightened fist in his palm as a form of respect. After going through the formalities, he turned towards the stone steps without looking back.

Baco watched him in silence, until his opponent had vanished in the distance. Suppressing the lingering coldness in him, he stumbled out of the arena with a slight limp.

…

Over where the Shengxiang representatives were, the sixth seed, Gusai, stood up and walked beside Wahku with his eyes fixed on the arena.

“How strong…” he muttered.

Had he been in that spot, he would have to go through a grueling battle to defeat Baco, and a moment of carelessness might even end with his defeat!

Gusai was also a Sadhu, but his plump body resembled a mountain of meat, and his skin shone a dark gold, which made a sharp contrast from the gaunt, olive-complected Wahku.

Wahku’s eyes were on the arena as well, moving silhouettes flashing in his eyes.

“Stronger every match, no less,” he mused.

Lou Cheng’s strength grew by the day, and that was something visible to the eye!

Over at the Miluo representatives’ side, the beefy Veigar had slipped into a red set of general suit, crowning a large brimmed hat as usual. Sitting at the highest level, he watched in silence, like a statue that embodied strength and beauty. But as he watched Lou Cheng take down Baco easily, a silvery white light sparkled in his eyes beneath the hat’s shade.

Over at the Japanese representatives’ side, Kaori Karasawa gently bit her lips and nodded in approval.

Mouko Yamashita stood unmoving, without a word.

On the day before yesterday, when the guide asked me if I had the confidence to defeat Lou Cheng, I answered firmly without the slightest hesitation—I believed that even if he made the breakthrough, he wouldn’t pose a threat to me.

But right now, after witnessing this battle, my resolve has slightly wavered…

But of course, only slightly!

The Nanzheng representatives remained hidden in the desolate side of the grandstand. Banam sat in a yoga pose, eyes shut firmly as he meditated, not paying attention to any of the matches.

He wasn’t about to be careless in the battle against Ann Chaoyang, because careless boxers didn’t live long in Nanzheng!

…

Lou Cheng returned to his teammates and high-fived them in sequence, before retrieving his phone from Ann Chaoyang.

Refreshing the live-stream thread after he had unlocked the lock-screen, he secretly gave a thumbs up to Ann Chaoyang.

Well done! As expected from the most reliable one among us!

Ann Chaoyang returned a smile in high spirits, then stifled his emotions to prepare for the fight against Banam.

Lou Cheng switched tab to messenger, reporting the outcome to his “boss”:

“So easy!”

“See, I told you! [looks up, swelled with pride]” replied Yan Zheke, not forgetting to express her contempt at Baco, “What a weakling, did he even last for a minute?”

“No, less than that. [adjusts spectacles smugly]” replied Lou Cheng.

“Didn’t they say he’s stronger than that Sakata from Japan? How did he end up losing so fast? [sitting with a blank expression]” replied Yan Zheke, “Is it because your skills improved after your basic mastery of the “Emperor Yan Diagram”, or did he panic after having his evil arts countered?”

“You said all there is to say, so what can I say? [snickering]” replied Lou Cheng, “All that’s left for me to say is “Right, right, right, Coach Yan is absolutely right!””

Yan Zheke, who just left the dining table, giggled and shook her head at the reply. In high spirits, she walked to the dresser, tied her hair up, and put on a pair of black rimmed spectacles that covered almost half of her face.

Another joyous day! Motivated for today’s studies!

It was seven A.M. where she was in America. She hurriedly packed her school bag, bid her farewells to Empress Dowager, boarded the car of full-time bodyguard, Aunt Du, and headed towards school—lessons began at eight.

During the journey, she quietly browsed through her lecture notes and books, occasionally chatting with Lou Cheng or swinging by the live stream thread, saving the images of anything related to her Cheng to her phone.

At seven-forty in the morning, her ride arrived at campus. With her belongings in hand, she exited the vehicle and walked towards the lecture building—where she ran into Huang Xiwen and two other upper class women, who were also from China.

She gave a slight nod as greeting, before walking past them breezily, disappearing into the building under the warm sunlight.

“So arrogant and unapproachable…” mused one of the upper class women.

“She really thinks she’s something else!” added Huang Xiwen.

Lou Cheng was famous at Songcheng University, and Yan Zheke was well-known even before him, so Huang Xiwen obviously knew that they were in a relationship.

However, from her point of view, if two people were countries apart, no matter how strong they felt for each other, the feelings will eventually diminish and die out because of temptations. Therefore, she felt that their relationship had already been sentenced to death. That’s why she was proactive in inviting her and trying to establish a connection—which would in turn increase her popularity among her classmates.

Hmph, as the Heavenly Son of China at the moment, Lou Cheng probably has girls swarming around him. You won’t be able to keep him in check even if you were right beside him, keeping an eye on him at all times, much less a long distance relationship. He might be able to restrain himself at the start, but as time goes on, he’ll eventually move on to another girl. What kind of man doesn’t cheat under such circumstances?

“Let’s see you cry when that time comes!” muttered Huang Xiwen, shaking her head before joining the upper class women in school life gossip.

Tap, tap, tap. Yan Zheke walked up the stairs deftly, along the corridor sprinkled in sunlight, towards the lecture room.

That’s when she heard her Caucasian classmates beside her having a lively discussion.

“The King of the Youth Pro League is real dope!”

“You watched it too? You remember in the last match how he punched out like this? Freaking sick!”

One of the boys stepped out with his left leg, punching out in a sliding motion with his legs. It was evident that he was a diehard Martial Arts fan.

This movement was familiar to Yan Zheke, since it was Lou Cheng’s punch that knocked out most of Baco’s evil art antics—Ann Chaoyang took a shot of it too.

The corners of her lips went up, then she pressed her pinkish lips together, her pace brisker than before.

…

In the Shengxiang stadium, a sea of cheers erupted as the highlighted match was about to begin.

Waving to his teammates, Ann Chaoyang dug out all of his belongings— cellphone, digital camera, headphones, wallet and other miscellaneous items—, and left them with Lou Cheng.

Just before he pivoted and headed out for the arena, a voice call out from behind.

“Ann Chaoyang!”

Huh? Ann Chaoyang looked back in confusion, and Lou Cheng was there, smiling with his right fist extended— an encouragement ritual before the match began.

At that moment, Ann Chaoyang was taken back to the days in Huahai University Martial Arts Club and the times he had during district contest and National Competition four years ago.

He chuckled, lifted his fist and bumped it against Lou Cheng’s fist.

“Do your best!”cheered Lou Cheng, waving his fist vigorously.

Following his lead, Peng Leyun and Ren Li joined in, each fist-bumping Ann Chaoyang before cheering him on.

“Go get them!”

“Good luck!”

Ann Chaoyang waved his fist gently as a sign of thanks, then turned and strode towards the arena, with newfound determination and a fighting spirit.

…

Over at the Japanese representative’s side, Mouko Yamashita turned to a man standing beside the coach. He had unkempt hair, a pair of spectacles fixed on his nose, and was hammering away on his laptop.

“How’s the data gathering coming along?” Mouko Yamashita inquired in a low voice.

The man with unkempt hair pushed a finger up his spectacles.

“It’s starting to take shape. We can perfect it through more competitions, but we haven’t gotten the most important bit— their genetic information. Unlike China, we don’t have enough Mighty Ones for research, so we have to resort to other means. The most valuable ones are the samurais past mutation, and the Chinese aren’t wary about this. Maybe they don’t see its importance, so they pay little attention to the area,” he paused, then looked towards Ichiei Sakata who was attracted by their voices, and said, “With their DNA, and the ones of Veigar and Wahku that we have collected over the past years, our research will advance by leaps and bounds. Ichiei-kun,whether or not you can attain the true “Hadou” might ride on this.”

“Even though China doesn’t pay much attention to this aspect, they are still being quite cautious. We haven’t gotten anything the past few days, looks like their coach did a good job cleaning up,” Mouko Yamashita paused, then continued, “You think Shengxiang, Miluo and Nanzheng might be doing the same thing?”

The man with unkempt hair curled his lips.

“With their technology…..heh,” he scoffed, fully expressing his disdain without having the need to finish his sentence.