Martial Arts Master

Two steps would have covered the distance between them— a matter of seconds for Wahku in his Arhat form. Undodgeable. Inescapable.

Suppressing his impatience, Peng Leyun did only one thing. He sprang up in an odd pose with his body straightened, as if he was lying down in mid-air!

That was his only solution to dodging “Asura Ram”!

Had he jumped with his body upright or leapt forward, Wahku would definitely have hit him in the region below his chest and abdomen. He could have gotten away without broken bones if he defended with a kick, but there’s no room for a comeback after getting knocked out of the arena by that violent force.

Of course, all he did was merely avoid the direct impact. How could Wahku not prepare secondary moves to follow up and connect?

Bam!

Wahku’s lowered his his body, slicing through the air around him. He stopped on the edge of the arena, his eyes bloodshot. With a bend and thrust of his knees, he propelled upwards with a uppercut to meet the falling.

At that moment, still in the air, Peng Leyun’s eyes gleamed. He put his hands together at lightning speed in a clapping position.

Boom!

A sunny day turned stormy as a whip of thunder sounded from nowhere. Had it been any other martial artists, it would have been hard to prevent being stunned from the deafening and terrifying effects. However, such feelings did not affect the current Wahku— a violent, bloodthirsty doom machine that was void of sense and logic. Only when the boxing effects wore off could he return to the “Immortal Path”. Therefore, even though his spirit was slightly wavered, his body remained unaffected and moved on its own. The uppercut swooshed up.

That was the reason behind using “Asura Path” on himself at the end!

By removing external interferences, he planned to end the battle swiftly without giving his opponent any chances!

In the storm, the falling Peng Leyun pulled his palms apart, between which held a spark of silvery lightning the thinness of a knife’s edge.

The silvery light quickly found its mark, striking Veigar on his body. He stopped. A thin coil of smoke spiralled from his clothes and skin.

Taking advantage of his stopping, Peng Leyun visualized dark overcasts that piled over each other in nine layers, brewing an extremely masculine brutality that matched perfectly with “Divine Wrath Force”.

Boom!

The deafening thunder roared once more. A silvery white light struck downwards like a shrunken bolt of lightning. But when examined closely, one would notice that it was actually Peng Leyun with his fist wreathed in electricity. Exploding his “Dan Force”, he struck downwards like he was delivering divine retribution!

Bang! Fist mashed into fist. One with bulking muscles and visible vessels and veins, the other with skipping silver serpents that jumped as if they were caught in a net.

Crack! The Asura-formed Wahku landed on both feet and sunk into the brick, body trembling and muscles twitching. Peng Leyun bounced up slightly, bent his leg midair and stuck his electric covered knee out, crashing towards his opponent’s chest.

Boom!

In the clangour, Wahku lifted his left arm, put it before him, and forcefully blocked the deadly kick. Then he flipped and tossed his enemy back, cutting off the secondary kicks that would have followed. His arm, where the knee had contacted, was torched black, shaking non-stop as a burnt smell wafted through the air.

Right before Peng Leyun flew out of the arena, he retracted his Qi and blood, and did a flip midair. Riding on the momentum, he stiffened his right leg, where sparks circled, and hacked it downwards in a war axe motion.

Boom, boom, boom!

Like a sparrow hawk, he persistently flew up by borrowing strength, then rained down with punches, elbows, knees, and kicks, occasionally lashing at his opponent after transforming himself into a Divine Wrath Bolt. On the narrow edge of the arena, he fiercely fought “Asura” Wahku, as if he was treading on the boundary between victory and defeat.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

From the perspective of Lou Cheng and the others, bolts of silver lightning struck down on the arena at a steady pace. Nine bolts went down in total, with each outshining the previous, reminiscent of a rumored “cataclysm”.

“The Nine Heavens’ Ensemble?” gasped Ann Chaoyang.

That was the seventh style of the Thunder Sect— Physical Invulnerability State unique skill!

“No,” said Ren Li, shaking her head. “Looks like an imitation—a Dan stage kungfu he came up with on his own…”

Her words roused a sincere awe in Lou Cheng. Though he barely caught up to Peng Leyun in two years with the aid of the Jindan, there was still a large gap between them in other aspects of martial arts. While he was still in the process of learning and mastering moves, Peng Leyun could already devise his own moves by imitating the predecessor’s unique skills. This was due to the accumulation of experience and natural talent, and if Lou Cheng wanted to make up for his shortcomings and catch up with Peng Leyun, he had to imitate the Dragon King— more hard work, more resilience, more extrapolation, more knowledge, and challenging a greater variety of opponents!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

After the ninth bolt, Wahku felt numb all over, muscles trembling as the blood in his eyes faded. Awoken from the “Asura Path”, he instinctively took two steps back.

His retreat allowed Peng Leyun to land at last. Activating Machine Fist with his Dan Force, he took advantage of Wahku recovering from “Six Paths of Reincarnation”. In a series of dull thuds, he “sprayed” at his opponent like a maniac, with fists that left afterimages. With his foot as a pivot, he maneuvered from time to time, causing disorientation in Wahku’s movements.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud! With his joints bouncing and fascias stretching, his attack left no breaks in between. Finally, Wahku’s movements slowed down from the paralysis effects stacking up. After another flurry of attacks, his defence broke down and he took a palm to the body.

Zap!

The electric serpents dazzled. As if hit by high voltage, Wahku flew back, burnt marks appearing all over his body.

Pom!

From the edge of the arena where he was standing, Wahku landed on the ground below, limbs twitching and mouth foaming.

Peng Leyun stopped moving. Perspiration beaded on him as he gasped for air. Excitement tinged his eyes, along with palpable exhaustion. He was clearly at his limits.

The referee glanced at him before putting his right hand up.

“Peng Leyun wins!”

Loud sighs erupted, along with a number of curses and expletives. There goes the last hope for the Eastern hosts.

Feeling awed and at a lost of words, Lou Cheng could not help but chuckle. Turn to Ann Chaoyang, Ren Li and Zhong Ningtao to say, “I thought today was the day he would graduate from his antics and stop playing around.”

“Me too…” Ann Chaoyang agreed with a sigh.

Peng Leyun, rested by then, watched as Wahku was supported off the arena.

“What a pity…” he muttered.

A pity he didn’t get to experience the magic of the four remaining punches of “Reincarnation Punches”!

Turning around, he walked to the grandstand with slight grandiose, then stopped before Lou Cheng and the rest to high five in celebration.

After the ritual, he poked fun at himself.

“Almost lost just now…” he laughed.

Hearing his words, Lou Cheng and Ann Chaoyang exchanged a glance and burst out in laughter.

As expected, he almost messed up from playing around too much!

“What’s wrong?” Peng Leyun looked at them, slightly confused.

“Nothing,” replied Lou Cheng without hesitation, before adding, “You do you!”

Keep playing around, especially when you run into me on the arena!

At that point, the first four matches of the Top 16s had all ended, concluding the day. Lou Cheng and the rest followed Zhong Ningtao back to to the hotel. Since two of them had to prepare for their matches on the next day and the other two were completely exhausted, none were keen on taking a walk around or getting supper. They returned to their respective rooms dutifully, to the great disappointment of certain people watching them.

After freshening up, Lou Cheng reported the results of the fight to his Mom, then chatted on and off with Yan Zheke, until he could no longer withstand the exhaustion on his spirit. He bid an early goodnight and fell asleep even before he made his spirit and Qi steady.

In the drowsiness, he felt as if he was back to the Youth Tournament at the provincial level. The time after he fought Zhang Zhutong, exhausted and nauseous, but had to recover quickly in order to prepare for the next competition.

Half awake and half sleep, he felt as if he was leaning on Yan Zheke’s tender thighs, receiving a comfortable massage at his head as her familiar aroma filled his nose with her beautiful faint voice singing at his ears.

“By the time you are old, and you hair turns white…”

The singing was at times loud and at times soft, at times close and at times far.

Suddenly, Lou Cheng woke up. He stared at the ceiling in the dark night. He was surrounded by a pitch black serenity. Alone.

Holding his phone up to check the time, he realized it was only 2 A.M. For some strange reason, he felt a little disappointed.

Inhaling, he backed away from distractions. Keeping his spirit and Qi steady, he fell asleep again.

He woke up on the dot the next morning, before the sky even lit up. Revitalized, he had an energetic chat with Yan Zheke, then continued his morphing state trainings. He could feel himself getting stronger bit by bit.

Night fell, lifting the curtains to the four remaining matches of the Top 16s. Inspired by Lou Cheng and Peng Leyun on the previous day, Ren Li performed outstandingly well and took down her opponent without breaking a sweat, making it into Top 8s along with Kaori Karasawa. Ann Chaoyang, however, ran into some problems.

His opponent was Wahku’s junior, 6th Seed Gusai. Though his training had not yet reached the “Equanimity towards Formations Knowledge”—the Inhuman stage, he had extremely strong physical talents. With the heart reflection punch and other kungfus, his power was similar to an Inhuman, and his soul-targeting kungfu was mutually effective against Ann Chaoyang’s trump card— Lake and Mirror Liked Wisdom. Soon, he forced Ann Chaoyang into a passive defence.