Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
On the next day, after he was done with morning exercise, Lou Cheng went straight to the cafeteria while drinking his soy milk and finished his meat floss bread in one go. He felt extraordinarily satisfied and had the feeling that he was enjoying a lunch box made of love.
Stepping into the martial arts club, he was just looking at the scattered crowd before his brain automatically picked out Yan Zheke's figure from them. The girl just happened to look towards his direction too, and when their eyes met they smiled warmly and sweetly at each other.
Yan Zheke bit her bottom lip softly with her teeth, and she opened the pocket button on her martial arts suit and took out her cell phone. She lowered her head, combed through her hair and typed quickly over the phone for a brief moment.
"Di..." The beep of a QQ message came from Lou Cheng's pockets, and as if realizing something he took out his phone with a smile on his face. When he unlocked his phone and took a look, he discovered that it was sent by the girl as he had expected.
"The fresh cream cake was delicious," Yan Zheke said.
"As long as you're satisfied." Lou Cheng was filled with a sense of accomplishment. "The meat floss bread you selected is perfect too!"
Yan Zheke used a "panda scratching its head" emoji and said, "The only problem is that I had to brush my teeth one more time!"
"Why do you need to brush your teeth one more time?" Lou Cheng sent her a "bewildered and confused" emoji.
"Guess~~ I'm going to put my stuff now!" Yan Zheke closed her cell phone, looked with curved eyes and a faint smile on her face before heading into the female locker room along with Guo Qing. She was going to lock her cell phone, other items she carried with her, and spare clothes into her locker.
"Guess? Could it be that she had to brush her teeth a second time because she ate too many sweets? Or did she eat some after she brushed her teeth last night because she failed to resist temptation? But she hadn't brought this up while we were chatting that time..." Lou Cheng stepped into the male's locker room while he was using his imagination.
Since they had a match later this afternoon, the level of intensity of today's special training was reduced, with a focus on maintaining their form. In fact, pair exercise was canceled in the end.
Geezer Shi gathered all members at one spot, curled his lips and said, "Songcheng University seriously is stingy, giving such a small amount of subsidy. A better martial arts school would have nurtured sparring partners of all styles so that the participants could undergo targeted training before a match. We though, hehe, could only rely on our mouths!"
If the Martial Arts Club's members were to act as sparring partners, the effects of a targeted training would be lost because the characteristics of their kungfu were similar to each other.
"If only there is a supernatural ability that could create a corresponding battle figure just through verbalization..." Cai Zongming muttered in a small voice.
Lou Cheng cast a glance at him and ridiculed him with a soft laugh. "If there is such a thing then you would be amazing. The Talker has arrived, and then who dares stand against the Talker!?"
"Unfortunately, God did not give me this chance." Cai Zongming sighed with relative regret.
Geezer Shi coughed twice and said, "The kids who aren't leading players and substitutes of the preliminaries may leave now. Those who are willing to watch the match may wait by the bus station at one thirty. Li Xiaowen, we'll not have any audience since we are fighting away, so you don't have to organize a cheerleading team. You'll help to get the logistics prepared."
After Yan Zheke had been promoted to a preliminary substitute, the cheerleading team she used to lead was passed on to her senior female schoolmate Li Xiaowen.
When the other special training members had left, Geezer Shi finally said, "You have all seen the data and videos related to Hongluo Martial Arts School, haven't you? I'll briefly explain things and analyze their fighting style so that you all have something to mull over on your own along the way."
Normally speaking, while targeted training would usually be performed based on the opponents two or three days before a match, specific fighting arrangements would only be put in order inside the locker room before the match. This was to prevent a spy inside the team from selling intel to the enemy and cause them to fall under the control of the enemy. The higher the level of competition was, the stricter security in this regard became. However, the first stage of the preliminaries and competition at this level was the equivalent of nothing in Geezer Shi's eyes at all, and he did not think that Hongluo Martial Arts School would make a big fuss over such a minor competition either. Therefore, he had made his explanation ahead of time so that these young and inexperienced kids would have sufficient time to digest his words.
After seeing that everyone's attention was focused on him, he chuckled and said,
"That is all there is to Hongluo Martial Arts School, so you lot don't have to worry too much. Follow this old man's instructions, and your chances of victory will be pretty huge. You have all watched the videos already. Hongluo Martial Arts School's fighting style is an evolution of the 'Unique Skill of Fire Sect' called 'Fire-like Invasion Move.' It emphasizes on aggressiveness and explosive power."
"At the max, their explosive power may very well equal the full powered strike of a seventh to eighth Pin Dan stage martial artist. However, this level of eruption wasn't something that could state of mind anytime they wanted to. They had to adjust their states bit by bit and receive feedbacks again and again so that their bodies could gradually compress and store energy like a spring."
"Therefore, the heart of this fighting style was to use small bursts of power to push even greater levels of bursts of power, accumulating power steadily until they reached their limits. Normally speaking, the ninth strike after eight pushes would pretty much sweep anyone beneath Dan stage. However, they are humans and not living immortals. Their strength would more or less be exhausted after a round of eruption. Taking the burning fire as an example, a fire would continuously ignite the things around it and grow fiercer and fiercer with each passing time. Once everything around it had been burned to ashes, the fire itself would become extinguished."
"In this regard, this is a fighting style that is very suitable for life and death fighting. The victory would normally be decided within just a few moves."
"Now that we've analyzed up to this point, some of you must be thinking: in this case then let's just stretch out the battle and delay until they've exhausted themselves. However, unless the martial artist who chooses to fight this way have the exceptional agility and is extremely well versed in hit-and-run tactics, they would quickly find their zone of activity compressed to a point where they could not escape by the time the people of Hongluo Martial Arts School had erupted a few times and displayed terrifying levels of speed and agility."
Lou Cheng nodded indiscernibly at the coach's words. He knew this very well from experience. During the fight against Ye Youting and the fight against the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin, he had attempted to stretch out the fight using mercurial balance. However, he was either quickly forced into a head on clash, or given no chance to stretch out the fight at all.
Geezer Shi coughed a few times and reached the main point of the explanation. "The best way to deal with this fighting style is to clash against them directly, disrupting their burst rhythm and suppressing their aggressiveness so that their eruptions will grow more and more dissatisfactory..."
He began talking in detail how to disrupt the enemy's rhythm and suppress their aggressiveness. Lou Cheng and the others listened with great interest, and before they knew it it was already noon.
After eating lunch and resting for a brief moment, Lou Cheng arrived on time at the bus station and got on the school bus the logistics of the club had purposely prepared.
Because Yan Zheke was shy and wasn't brave enough to sit next to him with so many familiar faces around them, she pulled Guo Qing with her and found a pair of seat for themselves. Lou Cheng had no choice but to sit together with student Little Ming at the seat behind them.
He didn't speak much along the way, and had started to adjust his form and state of mind. He had only opened his eyes only after they were about to arrive.
"Ay, Cheng, Qiang and the others had quite the luck with women..." Cai Zongming smartly decided against voicing his words and instead typed it on his phone and sent it through QQ to Lou Cheng.
Lou Cheng replied in surprise, "Why is that?"
"Model Worker was going to ask his girlfriend out only, but it was found out by the girls in his girlfriend's bedroom. They were very interested in the match and wanted to come and take a look too. They would be joining Qiang and Old Qiu and depart together later." Cai Zongming sent the message while looking at Lou Cheng with a sneaky expression.
"That's great. What a pleasant surprise!" Lou Cheng replied swiftly before stuffing his phone into his pocket, getting ready to stand up. They had already arrived at their destination!
Hongluo Martial Arts School was situated at the bottom of a large building where it was quiet amidst a noisy environment. The environment was pretty good.
Lou Cheng observed the situation carefully and waited until Guo Qing entered the corridor. Only then he abruptly stood up, pushed his way forwards and stuck close to Yan Zheke following behind her just in time.
He "casually" looked towards the front, stretched out his hand and pulled the girl's tender hand.
At first, Yan Zheke was surprised. Then, she looked at Lou Cheng and saw the faint trace of a smile vaguely tugging at the corners of his mouth. He turned around and blinked at her.
She was both annoyed and amused by this, blushing slightly in the face. Pretending that nothing had happened just now, she returned the grip before hurriedly pulling back her hand. After observing her surroundings and discovering that no one had noticed the gesture, she then experienced a wave of indescribable happiness.
Lou Cheng, who was equally happy and filled with strength followed his team and stepped through the main entrance of Hongluo Martial Arts School.
Naturally, this martial arts school was incomparable to Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's arena. It was only about the size of two classrooms, not to mention some spaces were used as locker rooms, strength training rooms and so on. It was sufficient for teaching and practicing martial arts, but it was seriously cramped for a preliminaries' match.
Right now, the limestone ground at the center of the martial arts school was present to act as the arena. Tatamis were laid out around the arena so that audiences could sit down and watch the match. Corridors were left out on all sides, and the place had a vague Japanese style to them.
"Thank goodness there aren't many audiences, or how on earth are we going to fit in such a small place..." Cai Zongming clicked his tongue and said.
He was not fated to enter the locker room, so after finding the tatamis arranged for the away team he took off his shoes and sat on his knees.
Not far away beside him, Shu Rui led the team and nervously but orderly lay out the arrangements for live broadcast.
After the preliminaries schedule had been announced on Friday, the first thing Songcheng's television station needed to confirm was which matches they should do a live broadcast, and which matches they should do recording broadcast.
This was nothing worthy of consideration for the other television stations of other cities. This was because there were only so many teams who participated in the competition, not to mention that the match times might not even clash with each other. On the other hand, as the provincial capital Songcheng attracted a lot of talents, and there were at least twenty teams who registered and participated in the preliminaries. The selection of teams alone would dazzle one's eyes.
For a television station at this level, competitions of lower professional ranking were in fact more welcomed. For the audiences, the professional martial practitioners at the bottom three ranks were relatable and not too inhuman even though they weren't strong enough. Every battle was very intense, and every blow threw in a match this level struck flesh. It could incite the passion in the audiences' heart. Naturally, the decision to do live or recorded broadcast must be deliberated carefully.
As the reporter who chased mainly the news related to martial arts, Shu Rui had participated in the meeting and voiced out her own opinions. She said that Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's Lou Cheng and Lin Que were very much great subjects of gossip and suited for live broadcast. In the end, the leader of the television station had accepted her plans.
Right now, Shu Rui very much had the impulse to interview Lin Que and Lou Cheng for a while after seeing them walking into the martial arts school. However, the rules stated that they could not come in contact with the fighters half a day before the match to avoid affecting their state of the mind. They could only be interviewed after the match.
Lou Cheng and the others entered straight into the locker room. Inside the partitioned area, they changed into their white martial arts suit with black borders and returned to Geezer Shi's side once more.
"I've said everything that needs to be said, and I have nothing else to add. Take the time to rest and recuperate your spirits." Geezer Shi coughed and made them find their respective seats and hone their strengths.
…
At two fifty, inside Hongluo Martial Arts School's locker room.
Wang Hui looked at Jiang Guosheng, Fang Tong and Pan Chengyun all with a different expression on their faces and smiled slightly, saying,
"Chengyun, you'll enter last and give them a pleasant surprise. That being said you may not need to show up, so if that's the case then we'll leave the pleasant surprise to the future."
"Fang Tong, you'll be the vanguard and fight to obtain an immediate victory."
"Guosheng, you'll enter the arena second. You bear a heavy responsibility in case anything happens. You must stabilize the situation."
"Yes, master (grandmaster)!" all three Professional Ninth Pins answered in unison.
Wang Hui nodded in satisfaction and pointed outside the locker room, declaring loudly.
"Go out there and show them your strength and bearing!"
…
At Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's side, Geezer Shi clapped his hand and awakened the crowd who were quietly practicing pranayama. With a rare, serious smile, he said,
"First battle, Lou Cheng."
"I'm the first..." Not only Lou Cheng wasn't anxious, he felt a shiver that came with excitement. He sneaked a glance at Yan Zheke and found her looking at him as well. She gave him a pumping hand gesture.
Geezer Shi continued to speak, "Lou Cheng, you'll enter the arena first and feel out their depths. Do not worry if they really have something wicked up their sleeves. You have Lin Que behind you."
"Lin Que, you'll watch the battle closely and know what's going on by heart. Sun Jian, you'll enter last. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to take advantage of their exhaustion."
"Alright, let's head out, everyone."
Lou Cheng and the others glanced at each other's eyes once. No one purposely organized it, and no one took the lead. Suddenly, they opened their mouths in mutual understanding and shouted out in unison,
"We cannot lose!"
After they were done the shouting, Lou Cheng took the lead and entered the stage.
What greeted them were the audiences seated on the tatamis, the arranged cameras, and the enemy who walked out from the opposite locker room.
========
It was Sunday afternoon, and Yan Xiaoling was still clinging to her bed. However, she had switched to a leaning posture with her laptop placed on top of her thighs.
"Fanfan, Fanfan, you are sure it's available?" She cast a glance at her laptop, holding her cell phone and swiftly sending a message to Brahman.
"Brahman" sent an "absolutely comical" emoji and replied, "In any case that 'Lush Gives Birth To Light' sent a post just now and said that there is a live stream on 'Qidao Video Site,' and that the site had bought the rights from Songcheng television station. She already managed to acquire the preview earlier, so she wouldn't make a mistake about something so trivial, would she? I'm so annoyed! The website is laggy, and the internet speed is so slow! The stream still hasn't fully buffered yet!"
After listening to Brahman's words, Yan Xiaoling who had just woken up during afternoon continued to search for the live stream at "Qidao Video Site" with a dumb look on her face. A few minutes later, she finally found the phrase "Hong Luo Martial Arts School VS Songcheng University Martial Arts Club" at the corner of the 'preliminaries' subpage. There were even two channels consisting of the television station's caster and the website's caster setup at the side.
Yan Xiaoling's hand glided, and she selected "Home Website Casting." After a period of buffering that was long enough to drive people crazy, she finally saw the tatami covered ground of the martial arts school. She saw group belonging to Songcheng University Martial Arts Club filing out in a line and sitting on their knees on the tatamis. She saw that the leader of the line was Lou Cheng.
The broadcast rights of the first stage of the preliminaries had been sold to the television stations of each division by the organizational committee, whereas the television stations had recouped a portion of their capital from the streaming websites. The cash flowing into the committee's pocket would ultimately become the competing fighter's insurance fee, match transportation fee and the bonus of the broadcast of the division's top eight matches.
Since there were no registration restrictions, there was no way a participant was given bonuses the moment they participated in the match. Most of those kinds of participants were only masquerading as having abilities so they could scam some funds for themselves. Only those teams who had gone through seven or eight matches and arrived to become the top eight team of the division would have the qualification to profit from the preliminaries.
"Heya, there actually is a stream!" Yan Xiaoling happily sent a message to "Brahman".
"Brahman" quickly replied, "I saw it too. Our idol is looking more and more of a model example! Ayayayaya, I'm posting the link to Longhu Club forum and show it to those people!"
The two girls busied themselves respectively for a while before watching the live stream once more with slight trepidation and excitement. They waited single-mindedly for the competition to start.
…
Deng deng deng. Two minutes before 3 p.m., Zhao Qiang, Qiu Zhigao and Zhang Jingye finally defeated the Sunday jam and made their way to Hongluo Martial Arts School in time. Four girls who were relatively student-like but dressed very fashionably followed behind them.
After looking around the whole venue once, Zhao Qiang saw Cai Zongming and pointed at him joyfully, saying,
"We'll go there!"
The "spectator seats" provided for the away team were sparse, and seats had an ample amount of space too. Cai Zongming greeted them cordially and helped arrange for the girls to take their seats. He secretly complained to Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao,
The aesthetic judgment of the arts institute truly is different from us ordinary people. Shouldn't they be wearing clothes that accentuated their youthfulness and student identities as fitting of their age? Aren't they dressed a little too maturely? Are they seriously afraid that they won't have the chance to wear these a few years later?"
Zhao Qiang sneaked two glances at the girls before smiling reservedly,
"I thought it looks pretty good."
The sunlight from outside the window reflected off his black framed spectacles.
Cai Zongming chuckled and did not say anything more. This was because the match was about to begin.
After they had all taken their respective seats, the girl sitting close to Zhang Jingye then pulled his sleeves and asked smilingly, "Who was that awesome roommate you told me about?"
This girl had a cute and likable round face. She had put on a little bit of foundation and worn a light pink overcoat that was less mature-looking. She was none other than Zhang Jingye quasi-girlfriend, Wu Qian of the arts institute.
The other three girls also looked curiously at Zhang Jingye after hearing her question, looking forward to the answer. This was the first time in their lives they had a friend that could appear live on television—the friend of a friend of a friend, that was.
Zhang Jingye pointed at Lou Cheng sitting on his knees in the first row of the away team's tatami,
"That guy. Do you see him? The guy furthest to the left and looking pretty spirited..."
Wu Qian stretched her neck and giggled.
"I saw him. He looks pretty classy."
Just when the other three girls were about to say something, they saw the referee dressed in black walking to the center of the limestone ground and declaring in a loud voice,
"Round one between Hongluo Martial Arts School and Songcheng University Martial Arts Club..."
"Fang Tong versus Lou Cheng!"
…
Enthusiastic claps and shouts resounded from the surroundings the second the referee finished making his announcement. Although there weren't many audiences, they were all groups of families and friends, so they naturally went out of their way to cheer for the participants as much as possible.
Lou Cheng slowly stood up as the cries of "Hong Luo will win" and "Fang Tong cannot fail" resounded in his ears. He first turned his head sideways to look at Yan Zheke, not trying to conceal his actions at all.
Yan Zheke returned his gaze boldly with a fluid glance that seemed like there were stars hidden behind them. Her face was blushed slightly with a bright red color due to excitement, nervousness, worry and other emotions. She gripped her fist and pumped into the air once. Her pink lips opened and closed, seemingly mimicking a cheering cry.
With a smile, Lou Cheng calmly bent his waist, put on his shoes and walked along the corridor unhurriedly towards the arena amidst many other gazes that could not be considered friendly. The strength in his heart slowly settled down and became accumulated, ready to be activated when the battle officially began.
At a rough estimate, there were a hundred and ten or so audiences present on the surrounding tatamis. The majority of them were outer disciples of Hongluo Martial Arts School and the friends and families they pulled to watch the match together with them. The minority of the audiences who were the friends and families of the disciples participating in the match. Of course, this amount of people was incomparable to the vast crowd inside Songcheng University Martial Arts Club, but because they were much closer to the arena, the sounds of cheering and provocation were actually even more impactful. It felt just like someone was roaring right beside his ears.
Lou Cheng could be considered a fighter who was quite experienced now, and he wasn't afraid of this spectacle in the least. He passed through abusive yells, spurring remarks, the defense line formed by countless gazes and entered the arena built from limestone.
During this process, he was even able to think about some trivial stuff,
"This pair of shoes probably isn't suited for wearing much longer. It would be practically unusable after a couple more intense exertions. The path of martial arts really costs a lot of money..."
Above the arena at the referee's left-hand side, Fang Tong was already standing with his hair standing on its end and his bearing fierce and aggressive. He looked like he was liable to erupt at one wrong remark.
His figure was tall and above 1.85 meters. Somehow he managed to give the impression that he was wearing a body hugging formal suit, even though he was in fact wearing a simple martial arts suit that was as scarlet as fire.
"You have three minutes to talk with each other." The referee looked at his watch and took a step backward.
Fang Tong gave Lou Cheng a predatory stare as he smiled disdainfully.
"You feel very proud and pleased with yourself, don't you?"
"You've used only half a year's time to grow up from a rankless newbie to a Professional Ninth Pin fighter. You do have the rights to be pleased and proud."
"However, I enjoy fighting against fighters who claim to be geniuses like you the most. I love to see people like you panicking and struggling futilely under my attacks. I love to see the doubt in your eyes after people like you suffered a terrible defeat, and your cringing appearance when people like you appear before me. Do you know? There was once an eighteen years old Ninth Pin genius fighter who literally broke into tears under my beating. Tears!"
"Heh, cry all you want if you want to cry later. Don't hold back and go look for your mother for comfort later!"
Lou Cheng listened quietly as a line of introduction on Fang Tong's data suddenly flashed through his mind,
"Fang Tong, well versed in trash-talking and provocations..."
He closed his eyes and confirmed his fighting style one last time:
The moment he climbed onto the arena, he would go all out and fight as if it was in a life or death battle. He would not consider saving up any trump cards at all!
He had only gone through one life or death battle and thus wasn't sufficiently experienced. He could only use it as a point of reference.
The moment he thought this, Lou Cheng recalled the minute details of his battle against that Dark Sect's Ninth Pin: a whip kick striking against the temple, causing two bloody and compressed eyeballs to fly out of their sockets; a Rocket-like Punch rising and bursting a person's groin, causing blood and piss to spray all over the ground; a secret discipline of mind aura assaulting his mind directly and shaking up his mind...
As compared to the fear the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin had caused, Fang Tong's trash-talking was literally like a child's abusive swears...
Slowly, Lou Cheng ignored Fang Tong's trash-talking to the point where it sounded like a distant cry. It could not affect his recollections at all.
The temporary stiffness caused by the secret discipline of mind aura, the fear brought by the Poison Sting Force, the stance that he forced himself to assume... he was well prepared, and he bit the tip of his tongue softly... he used mercurial balance and was able to dodge out of the way in time... his ears were attacked by a sound art, followed by another killer move... he used abrupt explosive force to fight hand-to-hand, followed by the Power of Blaze to seize the initiative...
The images flashed past his mind one after another, ultimately freezing at the scene where the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin bled out of all seven apertures of his body. The light faded swiftly from his eyes, leaving behind many qualms for life.
The image froze, and Lou Cheng opened his eyes. He looked at Fang Tong with eyes that were as frozen as ice.
"What good is a guy like you who hasn't weaned off his mother's milk no matter how strong you get? If we really..." Fang Tong was in the middle of an energetic trash-talking, but when Lou Cheng gave him an entirely unintimidating stare he suddenly stopped in surprise. He did not know why, but he suddenly felt a little chilled in his heart and was unable to say anything more for a time.
"Fight!"
It was at this moment the referee waved his right hand.
Fang Tong abruptly inhaled, causing his calves and thighs to swell up in unison. The swelling was so big that it actually caused the martial arts pants to have well-defined corners. The clothes on his upper part of his body also twitched as his muscles began to bulge in succession.
To invade like fire, and to erupt like fire!
Pa! He swiftly approached Lou Cheng and threw a Forward Punch after taking a striding step. His poured every bit of power into his right arm and punched fiercely at Lou Cheng with an enraged wind, bulged muscles and tugged skin.
If an average person took a punch like this, they would suffer grievous injuries even if they were to survive!
Lou Cheng lowered his waist as lightning struck down on his head and snow mountains collapsed. A turbulent energy surged to the bottom of his feet in an unstoppable fashion.
His right foot opened horizontally, and he exerted force against the floor with a half turned posture. As a loud bang ensued, he felt a rebound entering his body. The energy spiraled slightly and flowed from his feet to the thigh, waist, and spine. With this as the axis, he conducted every energy that the stream of energy passed by into his right hand.
He felt a bulge in his right arm, and his skin felt as if they had been stretched wide. Lou Cheng made a fist and pounded downwards towards Fang Tong's attacking arm.
Just as the two fists were about to impact against each other, his joints twisted and his muscles pulled. He unleashed a rapid and robust abrupt explosive force.
Pa! A layer of fire rose into the air, covering the surface of Lou Cheng's fist before it clashed against Fang Tong's.
The Power of Blaze VS Flaming force!
Bang! There was a dull sound of impact, and Lou Cheng felt as if his right hand had been scorched by fire. However, he had expected this from the start and used the recoil to toss his right arm backward, bringing himself a reactive force on the opposite side. Meanwhile, Fang Tong's face changed slightly as he instinctively threw his right arm outward in an attempt to extinguish that burning sensation on his fist. His chest and stomach were immediately exposed to attacks.
At the home team's tatami area, Wang Hui, Jiang Guosheng and Pan Chengyun's expressions immediately changed.
Lou Cheng gave no quarter after gaining the upper hand, twisting his back and clenching his thighs. Borrowing the push beneath his right foot and the force created after swinging his right hand backward, his left leg was like a flexible whip that abruptly tightened and whipped fiercely and violently towards the area between Fang Tong's legs. Moreover, he was still assuming a striding and charging posture.
Shock and fear appeared in Fang Tong's eyes, and he instantly visualized the image of Flaming Body in his head. His buttocks were subconsciously clenched as he exerted his muscles, pushed his tailbone, spurred his back into a bounce and induced his legs into an abrupt leap to the side.
A person shall rush into the house when the fire of passion burnt them!
This one leap allowed Fang Tong to put several meters of distance between himself and Lou Cheng. He successfully avoided that deadly whip kick.
Meanwhile, Lou Cheng unhurriedly lowered his center of gravity after missing the kick. He adjusted his muscles and stepped heavily on the limestone ground. He continuously conducted the visualized "Mega Avalanche" and "Lightning and Fire Stance" in his head to the bottom of his feet.
Dong! There was a sound that sounded like the ground was struck, and Lou Cheng bounced into the air and chased Fang Tong's leaping figure closely. His speed wasn't slower than Fang Tong's at all, and there were faint foot marks on the limestone where he stood earlier!
The one figure at the front and at the back looked like two eagles in pursuit. Fang Tong had just stood still and used the recoil to turn around when Lou Cheng had already arrived beside him. Lou Cheng turned his body sideways, lowered his shoulders, swelled up his muscles and rammed forwards strongly. He looked a little like a snow avalanche crashing down on Fang Tong.
Fang Tong could no longer dodge out of the way, and he was only able to raise his arms and block them in front of him in a hurry.
Dong! Fang Tong's arms were in pain after being rammed by Lou Cheng. His arms were pushed right before his chest.
Lou Cheng followed up the charge with a lift and a toss. The moment Lou Cheng put strength into his shoulders, Fang Tong flew into the air and out of the arena. He fell in front of the tatami and nearly knocked over a few audiences.
The referee nodded slightly and felt a tinge of appreciation for Lou Cheng's mercy at the end. Otherwise, he would have to interfere and stop the fight to avoid casualties.
He raised his right arm and announced loudly,
"Lou Cheng wins!"
Lou Cheng had won the match in just a few breaths!
The space in the entire martial arts school belonging to the home team became as silent as the grave.
…
Yan Xiaoling was staring at the screen in annoyance. This was because there was an interruption in the signal just now.
A dozen of seconds later, the signal recovered. She saw the duo's clash and heard the caster's voice,
"Welcome back everyone to our match. The match has just begun, and there aren't many delays in between. Just as I had introduced during the three minutes talking period, the fighter clad in scarlet martial arts suit is Fang Tong. He is a young expert ranking among the top on Songcheng, and he was already a Professional Ninth Pin more than three years ago... Er, he just lost..."
But I had only just f*cking started casting!
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
On the next day, after he was done with morning exercise, Lou Cheng went straight to the cafeteria while drinking his soy milk and finished his meat floss bread in one go. He felt extraordinarily satisfied and had the feeling that he was enjoying a lunch box made of love.
Stepping into the martial arts club, he was just looking at the scattered crowd before his brain automatically picked out Yan Zheke's figure from them. The girl just happened to look towards his direction too, and when their eyes met they smiled warmly and sweetly at each other.
Yan Zheke bit her bottom lip softly with her teeth, and she opened the pocket button on her martial arts suit and took out her cell phone. She lowered her head, combed through her hair and typed quickly over the phone for a brief moment.
"Di..." The beep of a QQ message came from Lou Cheng's pockets, and as if realizing something he took out his phone with a smile on his face. When he unlocked his phone and took a look, he discovered that it was sent by the girl as he had expected.
"The fresh cream cake was delicious," Yan Zheke said.
"As long as you're satisfied." Lou Cheng was filled with a sense of accomplishment. "The meat floss bread you selected is perfect too!"
Yan Zheke used a "panda scratching its head" emoji and said, "The only problem is that I had to brush my teeth one more time!"
"Why do you need to brush your teeth one more time?" Lou Cheng sent her a "bewildered and confused" emoji.
"Guess~~ I'm going to put my stuff now!" Yan Zheke closed her cell phone, looked with curved eyes and a faint smile on her face before heading into the female locker room along with Guo Qing. She was going to lock her cell phone, other items she carried with her, and spare clothes into her locker.
"Guess? Could it be that she had to brush her teeth a second time because she ate too many sweets? Or did she eat some after she brushed her teeth last night because she failed to resist temptation? But she hadn't brought this up while we were chatting that time..." Lou Cheng stepped into the male's locker room while he was using his imagination.
Since they had a match later this afternoon, the level of intensity of today's special training was reduced, with a focus on maintaining their form. In fact, pair exercise was canceled in the end.
Geezer Shi gathered all members at one spot, curled his lips and said, "Songcheng University seriously is stingy, giving such a small amount of subsidy. A better martial arts school would have nurtured sparring partners of all styles so that the participants could undergo targeted training before a match. We though, hehe, could only rely on our mouths!"
If the Martial Arts Club's members were to act as sparring partners, the effects of a targeted training would be lost because the characteristics of their kungfu were similar to each other.
"If only there is a supernatural ability that could create a corresponding battle figure just through verbalization..." Cai Zongming muttered in a small voice.
Lou Cheng cast a glance at him and ridiculed him with a soft laugh. "If there is such a thing then you would be amazing. The Talker has arrived, and then who dares stand against the Talker!?"
"Unfortunately, God did not give me this chance." Cai Zongming sighed with relative regret.
Geezer Shi coughed twice and said, "The kids who aren't leading players and substitutes of the preliminaries may leave now. Those who are willing to watch the match may wait by the bus station at one thirty. Li Xiaowen, we'll not have any audience since we are fighting away, so you don't have to organize a cheerleading team. You'll help to get the logistics prepared."
After Yan Zheke had been promoted to a preliminary substitute, the cheerleading team she used to lead was passed on to her senior female schoolmate Li Xiaowen.
When the other special training members had left, Geezer Shi finally said, "You have all seen the data and videos related to Hongluo Martial Arts School, haven't you? I'll briefly explain things and analyze their fighting style so that you all have something to mull over on your own along the way."
Normally speaking, while targeted training would usually be performed based on the opponents two or three days before a match, specific fighting arrangements would only be put in order inside the locker room before the match. This was to prevent a spy inside the team from selling intel to the enemy and cause them to fall under the control of the enemy. The higher the level of competition was, the stricter security in this regard became. However, the first stage of the preliminaries and competition at this level was the equivalent of nothing in Geezer Shi's eyes at all, and he did not think that Hongluo Martial Arts School would make a big fuss over such a minor competition either. Therefore, he had made his explanation ahead of time so that these young and inexperienced kids would have sufficient time to digest his words.
After seeing that everyone's attention was focused on him, he chuckled and said,
"That is all there is to Hongluo Martial Arts School, so you lot don't have to worry too much. Follow this old man's instructions, and your chances of victory will be pretty huge. You have all watched the videos already. Hongluo Martial Arts School's fighting style is an evolution of the 'Unique Skill of Fire Sect' called 'Fire-like Invasion Move.' It emphasizes on aggressiveness and explosive power."
"At the max, their explosive power may very well equal the full powered strike of a seventh to eighth Pin Dan stage martial artist. However, this level of eruption wasn't something that could state of mind anytime they wanted to. They had to adjust their states bit by bit and receive feedbacks again and again so that their bodies could gradually compress and store energy like a spring."
"Therefore, the heart of this fighting style was to use small bursts of power to push even greater levels of bursts of power, accumulating power steadily until they reached their limits. Normally speaking, the ninth strike after eight pushes would pretty much sweep anyone beneath Dan stage. However, they are humans and not living immortals. Their strength would more or less be exhausted after a round of eruption. Taking the burning fire as an example, a fire would continuously ignite the things around it and grow fiercer and fiercer with each passing time. Once everything around it had been burned to ashes, the fire itself would become extinguished."
"In this regard, this is a fighting style that is very suitable for life and death fighting. The victory would normally be decided within just a few moves."
"Now that we've analyzed up to this point, some of you must be thinking: in this case then let's just stretch out the battle and delay until they've exhausted themselves. However, unless the martial artist who chooses to fight this way have the exceptional agility and is extremely well versed in hit-and-run tactics, they would quickly find their zone of activity compressed to a point where they could not escape by the time the people of Hongluo Martial Arts School had erupted a few times and displayed terrifying levels of speed and agility."
Lou Cheng nodded indiscernibly at the coach's words. He knew this very well from experience. During the fight against Ye Youting and the fight against the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin, he had attempted to stretch out the fight using mercurial balance. However, he was either quickly forced into a head on clash, or given no chance to stretch out the fight at all.
Geezer Shi coughed a few times and reached the main point of the explanation. "The best way to deal with this fighting style is to clash against them directly, disrupting their burst rhythm and suppressing their aggressiveness so that their eruptions will grow more and more dissatisfactory..."
He began talking in detail how to disrupt the enemy's rhythm and suppress their aggressiveness. Lou Cheng and the others listened with great interest, and before they knew it it was already noon.
After eating lunch and resting for a brief moment, Lou Cheng arrived on time at the bus station and got on the school bus the logistics of the club had purposely prepared.
Because Yan Zheke was shy and wasn't brave enough to sit next to him with so many familiar faces around them, she pulled Guo Qing with her and found a pair of seat for themselves. Lou Cheng had no choice but to sit together with student Little Ming at the seat behind them.
He didn't speak much along the way, and had started to adjust his form and state of mind. He had only opened his eyes only after they were about to arrive.
"Ay, Cheng, Qiang and the others had quite the luck with women..." Cai Zongming smartly decided against voicing his words and instead typed it on his phone and sent it through QQ to Lou Cheng.
Lou Cheng replied in surprise, "Why is that?"
"Model Worker was going to ask his girlfriend out only, but it was found out by the girls in his girlfriend's bedroom. They were very interested in the match and wanted to come and take a look too. They would be joining Qiang and Old Qiu and depart together later." Cai Zongming sent the message while looking at Lou Cheng with a sneaky expression.
"That's great. What a pleasant surprise!" Lou Cheng replied swiftly before stuffing his phone into his pocket, getting ready to stand up. They had already arrived at their destination!
Hongluo Martial Arts School was situated at the bottom of a large building where it was quiet amidst a noisy environment. The environment was pretty good.
Lou Cheng observed the situation carefully and waited until Guo Qing entered the corridor. Only then he abruptly stood up, pushed his way forwards and stuck close to Yan Zheke following behind her just in time.
He "casually" looked towards the front, stretched out his hand and pulled the girl's tender hand.
At first, Yan Zheke was surprised. Then, she looked at Lou Cheng and saw the faint trace of a smile vaguely tugging at the corners of his mouth. He turned around and blinked at her.
She was both annoyed and amused by this, blushing slightly in the face. Pretending that nothing had happened just now, she returned the grip before hurriedly pulling back her hand. After observing her surroundings and discovering that no one had noticed the gesture, she then experienced a wave of indescribable happiness.
Lou Cheng, who was equally happy and filled with strength followed his team and stepped through the main entrance of Hongluo Martial Arts School.
Naturally, this martial arts school was incomparable to Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's arena. It was only about the size of two classrooms, not to mention some spaces were used as locker rooms, strength training rooms and so on. It was sufficient for teaching and practicing martial arts, but it was seriously cramped for a preliminaries' match.
Right now, the limestone ground at the center of the martial arts school was present to act as the arena. Tatamis were laid out around the arena so that audiences could sit down and watch the match. Corridors were left out on all sides, and the place had a vague Japanese style to them.
"Thank goodness there aren't many audiences, or how on earth are we going to fit in such a small place..." Cai Zongming clicked his tongue and said.
He was not fated to enter the locker room, so after finding the tatamis arranged for the away team he took off his shoes and sat on his knees.
Not far away beside him, Shu Rui led the team and nervously but orderly lay out the arrangements for live broadcast.
After the preliminaries schedule had been announced on Friday, the first thing Songcheng's television station needed to confirm was which matches they should do a live broadcast, and which matches they should do recording broadcast.
This was nothing worthy of consideration for the other television stations of other cities. This was because there were only so many teams who participated in the competition, not to mention that the match times might not even clash with each other. On the other hand, as the provincial capital Songcheng attracted a lot of talents, and there were at least twenty teams who registered and participated in the preliminaries. The selection of teams alone would dazzle one's eyes.
For a television station at this level, competitions of lower professional ranking were in fact more welcomed. For the audiences, the professional martial practitioners at the bottom three ranks were relatable and not too inhuman even though they weren't strong enough. Every battle was very intense, and every blow threw in a match this level struck flesh. It could incite the passion in the audiences' heart. Naturally, the decision to do live or recorded broadcast must be deliberated carefully.
As the reporter who chased mainly the news related to martial arts, Shu Rui had participated in the meeting and voiced out her own opinions. She said that Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's Lou Cheng and Lin Que were very much great subjects of gossip and suited for live broadcast. In the end, the leader of the television station had accepted her plans.
Right now, Shu Rui very much had the impulse to interview Lin Que and Lou Cheng for a while after seeing them walking into the martial arts school. However, the rules stated that they could not come in contact with the fighters half a day before the match to avoid affecting their state of the mind. They could only be interviewed after the match.
Lou Cheng and the others entered straight into the locker room. Inside the partitioned area, they changed into their white martial arts suit with black borders and returned to Geezer Shi's side once more.
"I've said everything that needs to be said, and I have nothing else to add. Take the time to rest and recuperate your spirits." Geezer Shi coughed and made them find their respective seats and hone their strengths.
…
At two fifty, inside Hongluo Martial Arts School's locker room.
Wang Hui looked at Jiang Guosheng, Fang Tong and Pan Chengyun all with a different expression on their faces and smiled slightly, saying,
"Chengyun, you'll enter last and give them a pleasant surprise. That being said you may not need to show up, so if that's the case then we'll leave the pleasant surprise to the future."
"Fang Tong, you'll be the vanguard and fight to obtain an immediate victory."
"Guosheng, you'll enter the arena second. You bear a heavy responsibility in case anything happens. You must stabilize the situation."
"Yes, master (grandmaster)!" all three Professional Ninth Pins answered in unison.
Wang Hui nodded in satisfaction and pointed outside the locker room, declaring loudly.
"Go out there and show them your strength and bearing!"
…
At Songcheng University Martial Arts Club's side, Geezer Shi clapped his hand and awakened the crowd who were quietly practicing pranayama. With a rare, serious smile, he said,
"First battle, Lou Cheng."
"I'm the first..." Not only Lou Cheng wasn't anxious, he felt a shiver that came with excitement. He sneaked a glance at Yan Zheke and found her looking at him as well. She gave him a pumping hand gesture.
Geezer Shi continued to speak, "Lou Cheng, you'll enter the arena first and feel out their depths. Do not worry if they really have something wicked up their sleeves. You have Lin Que behind you."
"Lin Que, you'll watch the battle closely and know what's going on by heart. Sun Jian, you'll enter last. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to take advantage of their exhaustion."
"Alright, let's head out, everyone."
Lou Cheng and the others glanced at each other's eyes once. No one purposely organized it, and no one took the lead. Suddenly, they opened their mouths in mutual understanding and shouted out in unison,
"We cannot lose!"
After they were done the shouting, Lou Cheng took the lead and entered the stage.
What greeted them were the audiences seated on the tatamis, the arranged cameras, and the enemy who walked out from the opposite locker room.
========
It was Sunday afternoon, and Yan Xiaoling was still clinging to her bed. However, she had switched to a leaning posture with her laptop placed on top of her thighs.
"Fanfan, Fanfan, you are sure it's available?" She cast a glance at her laptop, holding her cell phone and swiftly sending a message to Brahman.
"Brahman" sent an "absolutely comical" emoji and replied, "In any case that 'Lush Gives Birth To Light' sent a post just now and said that there is a live stream on 'Qidao Video Site,' and that the site had bought the rights from Songcheng television station. She already managed to acquire the preview earlier, so she wouldn't make a mistake about something so trivial, would she? I'm so annoyed! The website is laggy, and the internet speed is so slow! The stream still hasn't fully buffered yet!"
After listening to Brahman's words, Yan Xiaoling who had just woken up during afternoon continued to search for the live stream at "Qidao Video Site" with a dumb look on her face. A few minutes later, she finally found the phrase "Hong Luo Martial Arts School VS Songcheng University Martial Arts Club" at the corner of the 'preliminaries' subpage. There were even two channels consisting of the television station's caster and the website's caster setup at the side.
Yan Xiaoling's hand glided, and she selected "Home Website Casting." After a period of buffering that was long enough to drive people crazy, she finally saw the tatami covered ground of the martial arts school. She saw group belonging to Songcheng University Martial Arts Club filing out in a line and sitting on their knees on the tatamis. She saw that the leader of the line was Lou Cheng.
The broadcast rights of the first stage of the preliminaries had been sold to the television stations of each division by the organizational committee, whereas the television stations had recouped a portion of their capital from the streaming websites. The cash flowing into the committee's pocket would ultimately become the competing fighter's insurance fee, match transportation fee and the bonus of the broadcast of the division's top eight matches.
Since there were no registration restrictions, there was no way a participant was given bonuses the moment they participated in the match. Most of those kinds of participants were only masquerading as having abilities so they could scam some funds for themselves. Only those teams who had gone through seven or eight matches and arrived to become the top eight team of the division would have the qualification to profit from the preliminaries.
"Heya, there actually is a stream!" Yan Xiaoling happily sent a message to "Brahman".
"Brahman" quickly replied, "I saw it too. Our idol is looking more and more of a model example! Ayayayaya, I'm posting the link to Longhu Club forum and show it to those people!"
The two girls busied themselves respectively for a while before watching the live stream once more with slight trepidation and excitement. They waited single-mindedly for the competition to start.
…
Deng deng deng. Two minutes before 3 p.m., Zhao Qiang, Qiu Zhigao and Zhang Jingye finally defeated the Sunday jam and made their way to Hongluo Martial Arts School in time. Four girls who were relatively student-like but dressed very fashionably followed behind them.
After looking around the whole venue once, Zhao Qiang saw Cai Zongming and pointed at him joyfully, saying,
"We'll go there!"
The "spectator seats" provided for the away team were sparse, and seats had an ample amount of space too. Cai Zongming greeted them cordially and helped arrange for the girls to take their seats. He secretly complained to Zhao Qiang and Qiu Zhigao,
The aesthetic judgment of the arts institute truly is different from us ordinary people. Shouldn't they be wearing clothes that accentuated their youthfulness and student identities as fitting of their age? Aren't they dressed a little too maturely? Are they seriously afraid that they won't have the chance to wear these a few years later?"
Zhao Qiang sneaked two glances at the girls before smiling reservedly,
"I thought it looks pretty good."
The sunlight from outside the window reflected off his black framed spectacles.
Cai Zongming chuckled and did not say anything more. This was because the match was about to begin.
After they had all taken their respective seats, the girl sitting close to Zhang Jingye then pulled his sleeves and asked smilingly, "Who was that awesome roommate you told me about?"
This girl had a cute and likable round face. She had put on a little bit of foundation and worn a light pink overcoat that was less mature-looking. She was none other than Zhang Jingye quasi-girlfriend, Wu Qian of the arts institute.
The other three girls also looked curiously at Zhang Jingye after hearing her question, looking forward to the answer. This was the first time in their lives they had a friend that could appear live on television—the friend of a friend of a friend, that was.
Zhang Jingye pointed at Lou Cheng sitting on his knees in the first row of the away team's tatami,
"That guy. Do you see him? The guy furthest to the left and looking pretty spirited..."
Wu Qian stretched her neck and giggled.
"I saw him. He looks pretty classy."
Just when the other three girls were about to say something, they saw the referee dressed in black walking to the center of the limestone ground and declaring in a loud voice,
"Round one between Hongluo Martial Arts School and Songcheng University Martial Arts Club..."
"Fang Tong versus Lou Cheng!"
…
Enthusiastic claps and shouts resounded from the surroundings the second the referee finished making his announcement. Although there weren't many audiences, they were all groups of families and friends, so they naturally went out of their way to cheer for the participants as much as possible.
Lou Cheng slowly stood up as the cries of "Hong Luo will win" and "Fang Tong cannot fail" resounded in his ears. He first turned his head sideways to look at Yan Zheke, not trying to conceal his actions at all.
Yan Zheke returned his gaze boldly with a fluid glance that seemed like there were stars hidden behind them. Her face was blushed slightly with a bright red color due to excitement, nervousness, worry and other emotions. She gripped her fist and pumped into the air once. Her pink lips opened and closed, seemingly mimicking a cheering cry.
With a smile, Lou Cheng calmly bent his waist, put on his shoes and walked along the corridor unhurriedly towards the arena amidst many other gazes that could not be considered friendly. The strength in his heart slowly settled down and became accumulated, ready to be activated when the battle officially began.
At a rough estimate, there were a hundred and ten or so audiences present on the surrounding tatamis. The majority of them were outer disciples of Hongluo Martial Arts School and the friends and families they pulled to watch the match together with them. The minority of the audiences who were the friends and families of the disciples participating in the match. Of course, this amount of people was incomparable to the vast crowd inside Songcheng University Martial Arts Club, but because they were much closer to the arena, the sounds of cheering and provocation were actually even more impactful. It felt just like someone was roaring right beside his ears.
Lou Cheng could be considered a fighter who was quite experienced now, and he wasn't afraid of this spectacle in the least. He passed through abusive yells, spurring remarks, the defense line formed by countless gazes and entered the arena built from limestone.
During this process, he was even able to think about some trivial stuff,
"This pair of shoes probably isn't suited for wearing much longer. It would be practically unusable after a couple more intense exertions. The path of martial arts really costs a lot of money..."
Above the arena at the referee's left-hand side, Fang Tong was already standing with his hair standing on its end and his bearing fierce and aggressive. He looked like he was liable to erupt at one wrong remark.
His figure was tall and above 1.85 meters. Somehow he managed to give the impression that he was wearing a body hugging formal suit, even though he was in fact wearing a simple martial arts suit that was as scarlet as fire.
"You have three minutes to talk with each other." The referee looked at his watch and took a step backward.
Fang Tong gave Lou Cheng a predatory stare as he smiled disdainfully.
"You feel very proud and pleased with yourself, don't you?"
"You've used only half a year's time to grow up from a rankless newbie to a Professional Ninth Pin fighter. You do have the rights to be pleased and proud."
"However, I enjoy fighting against fighters who claim to be geniuses like you the most. I love to see people like you panicking and struggling futilely under my attacks. I love to see the doubt in your eyes after people like you suffered a terrible defeat, and your cringing appearance when people like you appear before me. Do you know? There was once an eighteen years old Ninth Pin genius fighter who literally broke into tears under my beating. Tears!"
"Heh, cry all you want if you want to cry later. Don't hold back and go look for your mother for comfort later!"
Lou Cheng listened quietly as a line of introduction on Fang Tong's data suddenly flashed through his mind,
"Fang Tong, well versed in trash-talking and provocations..."
He closed his eyes and confirmed his fighting style one last time:
The moment he climbed onto the arena, he would go all out and fight as if it was in a life or death battle. He would not consider saving up any trump cards at all!
He had only gone through one life or death battle and thus wasn't sufficiently experienced. He could only use it as a point of reference.
The moment he thought this, Lou Cheng recalled the minute details of his battle against that Dark Sect's Ninth Pin: a whip kick striking against the temple, causing two bloody and compressed eyeballs to fly out of their sockets; a Rocket-like Punch rising and bursting a person's groin, causing blood and piss to spray all over the ground; a secret discipline of mind aura assaulting his mind directly and shaking up his mind...
As compared to the fear the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin had caused, Fang Tong's trash-talking was literally like a child's abusive swears...
Slowly, Lou Cheng ignored Fang Tong's trash-talking to the point where it sounded like a distant cry. It could not affect his recollections at all.
The temporary stiffness caused by the secret discipline of mind aura, the fear brought by the Poison Sting Force, the stance that he forced himself to assume... he was well prepared, and he bit the tip of his tongue softly... he used mercurial balance and was able to dodge out of the way in time... his ears were attacked by a sound art, followed by another killer move... he used abrupt explosive force to fight hand-to-hand, followed by the Power of Blaze to seize the initiative...
The images flashed past his mind one after another, ultimately freezing at the scene where the Dark Sect's Ninth Pin bled out of all seven apertures of his body. The light faded swiftly from his eyes, leaving behind many qualms for life.
The image froze, and Lou Cheng opened his eyes. He looked at Fang Tong with eyes that were as frozen as ice.
"What good is a guy like you who hasn't weaned off his mother's milk no matter how strong you get? If we really..." Fang Tong was in the middle of an energetic trash-talking, but when Lou Cheng gave him an entirely unintimidating stare he suddenly stopped in surprise. He did not know why, but he suddenly felt a little chilled in his heart and was unable to say anything more for a time.
"Fight!"
It was at this moment the referee waved his right hand.
Fang Tong abruptly inhaled, causing his calves and thighs to swell up in unison. The swelling was so big that it actually caused the martial arts pants to have well-defined corners. The clothes on his upper part of his body also twitched as his muscles began to bulge in succession.
To invade like fire, and to erupt like fire!
Pa! He swiftly approached Lou Cheng and threw a Forward Punch after taking a striding step. His poured every bit of power into his right arm and punched fiercely at Lou Cheng with an enraged wind, bulged muscles and tugged skin.
If an average person took a punch like this, they would suffer grievous injuries even if they were to survive!
Lou Cheng lowered his waist as lightning struck down on his head and snow mountains collapsed. A turbulent energy surged to the bottom of his feet in an unstoppable fashion.
His right foot opened horizontally, and he exerted force against the floor with a half turned posture. As a loud bang ensued, he felt a rebound entering his body. The energy spiraled slightly and flowed from his feet to the thigh, waist, and spine. With this as the axis, he conducted every energy that the stream of energy passed by into his right hand.
He felt a bulge in his right arm, and his skin felt as if they had been stretched wide. Lou Cheng made a fist and pounded downwards towards Fang Tong's attacking arm.
Just as the two fists were about to impact against each other, his joints twisted and his muscles pulled. He unleashed a rapid and robust abrupt explosive force.
Pa! A layer of fire rose into the air, covering the surface of Lou Cheng's fist before it clashed against Fang Tong's.
The Power of Blaze VS Flaming force!
Bang! There was a dull sound of impact, and Lou Cheng felt as if his right hand had been scorched by fire. However, he had expected this from the start and used the recoil to toss his right arm backward, bringing himself a reactive force on the opposite side. Meanwhile, Fang Tong's face changed slightly as he instinctively threw his right arm outward in an attempt to extinguish that burning sensation on his fist. His chest and stomach were immediately exposed to attacks.
At the home team's tatami area, Wang Hui, Jiang Guosheng and Pan Chengyun's expressions immediately changed.
Lou Cheng gave no quarter after gaining the upper hand, twisting his back and clenching his thighs. Borrowing the push beneath his right foot and the force created after swinging his right hand backward, his left leg was like a flexible whip that abruptly tightened and whipped fiercely and violently towards the area between Fang Tong's legs. Moreover, he was still assuming a striding and charging posture.
Shock and fear appeared in Fang Tong's eyes, and he instantly visualized the image of Flaming Body in his head. His buttocks were subconsciously clenched as he exerted his muscles, pushed his tailbone, spurred his back into a bounce and induced his legs into an abrupt leap to the side.
A person shall rush into the house when the fire of passion burnt them!
This one leap allowed Fang Tong to put several meters of distance between himself and Lou Cheng. He successfully avoided that deadly whip kick.
Meanwhile, Lou Cheng unhurriedly lowered his center of gravity after missing the kick. He adjusted his muscles and stepped heavily on the limestone ground. He continuously conducted the visualized "Mega Avalanche" and "Lightning and Fire Stance" in his head to the bottom of his feet.
Dong! There was a sound that sounded like the ground was struck, and Lou Cheng bounced into the air and chased Fang Tong's leaping figure closely. His speed wasn't slower than Fang Tong's at all, and there were faint foot marks on the limestone where he stood earlier!
The one figure at the front and at the back looked like two eagles in pursuit. Fang Tong had just stood still and used the recoil to turn around when Lou Cheng had already arrived beside him. Lou Cheng turned his body sideways, lowered his shoulders, swelled up his muscles and rammed forwards strongly. He looked a little like a snow avalanche crashing down on Fang Tong.
Fang Tong could no longer dodge out of the way, and he was only able to raise his arms and block them in front of him in a hurry.
Dong! Fang Tong's arms were in pain after being rammed by Lou Cheng. His arms were pushed right before his chest.
Lou Cheng followed up the charge with a lift and a toss. The moment Lou Cheng put strength into his shoulders, Fang Tong flew into the air and out of the arena. He fell in front of the tatami and nearly knocked over a few audiences.
The referee nodded slightly and felt a tinge of appreciation for Lou Cheng's mercy at the end. Otherwise, he would have to interfere and stop the fight to avoid casualties.
He raised his right arm and announced loudly,
"Lou Cheng wins!"
Lou Cheng had won the match in just a few breaths!
The space in the entire martial arts school belonging to the home team became as silent as the grave.
…
Yan Xiaoling was staring at the screen in annoyance. This was because there was an interruption in the signal just now.
A dozen of seconds later, the signal recovered. She saw the duo's clash and heard the caster's voice,
"Welcome back everyone to our match. The match has just begun, and there aren't many delays in between. Just as I had introduced during the three minutes talking period, the fighter clad in scarlet martial arts suit is Fang Tong. He is a young expert ranking among the top on Songcheng, and he was already a Professional Ninth Pin more than three years ago... Er, he just lost..."
But I had only just f*cking started casting!
