Capítulo 36: Spectators Accumulated One by One
The bearded man in a dark down jacket and the young girl holding a cell phone followed behind Liu Yinglong, turning around to look at Ring Seven once in a while until streams of fighters and spectators completely blocked their sight.
Liu Yinglong advanced without a word, forming a great mass of depression over his junior brother and sister.
Finally, the young girl couldn't hold her tongue any longer. She asked timidly, "Brother, where are we going now?"
Liu Yinglong stopped. He answered in a very low voice after a few seconds,
"The Emergency Room."
The bearded man and the young girl exchanged a look with disbelief. "The student of no rank defeated our senior brother and injured him?"
Dead silence again shrouded them as they barged their way through the crowd towards the emergency ward.
Injuries were extremely common in martial arts competitions. Disability and death took place every so often. All formal tournaments cooperated with hospitals to set up an emergency ward somewhere inside the venue for immediate treatment.
...
Lou Cheng, with a huge grin on his face, paced around excitedly. Words couldn't describe how thrilled he was. He took his mobile back and logged on his QQ to share his victory with Yan Zheke.
"Ha-hah! I won my first ever official match! I won! I won!" His hands typed quickly, adding a proud smile in the end.
Of course, Yan Zheke was still flying in the air. She would get it as soon as 11 o'clock when she landed if there was no delay.
Lou Cheng calmed down a bit after sending that message. He decided not to inform Cai Zongming of this good news until after all were settled as he wasn't sure how far he could go. "In case I lost in the second round, he would laugh at me for days."
He opened the forum and clicked on the live broadcast post to check the progress of Road to the Arena and Invincible Punch but only to find out their fights were both scheduled in the afternoon. They were wandering about in the stadium and watching random fights in different rings.
"Unfortunately, my match attracted no attention. Not many spectators witnessed my victory..." Lou Cheng was upset for a second. He put away his mobile and moved to the central ring to broaden his views.
The central ring was reserved for more attractive matches which were usually between two finely balanced fighters. A martial artist of Professional Ninth Pin was not necessarily the key to a good fight as it could finish in no time if the opponent was weak.
Those reputed fighters were surely exceptions since many spectators came all the way to watch them fight. Their matches were undoubtedly arranged in the central ring.
A match just ended when Lou Cheng arrived at the central ring. Some spectators who obviously preferred close, live competitions than big screen videos were in a heated discussion.
"Baiyuan Martial Arts School is so strong. No wonder their reputation has spread to other cities in less than two years," A young man with acne said impressively to his friend.
His friend, short and stocky, nodded along. "Yeah. The fighter of Amateur Fifth Pin was only one level higher than the opponent, but he won the match so quickly with ease!"
"Ha-hah. He jumped up and down like a monkey in a dizzying pace. The opponent could hardly follow his rhythm. What's his name?" A middle-aged man wearing a black leather jacket interrupted.
"Something like Qin Zhilin, one of the better students of Baiyuan Martial Arts School." The young man with acne, probably a local, seemed to know Baiyuan Martial Arts School pretty well.
"Who is the best student of Baiyuan Martial Arts School? I'll go and watch his match." The middle-aged man wearing a leather jacket sounded very excited.
The young man with acne answered after a moment of thinking, "Their senior brother Liu Yinglong. Liu from Liu Bei, Ying like 'ought' and Long like 'Dragon'."
The man in jacket wrote the name down so he could check out which ring the fight was arranged at the service desk.
As he stepped away, the two youths opened their mouth almost simultaneously.
"Let's sign up for the Baiyuan Martial Arts School!"
Their conversation made Lou Cheng proud of himself. "He-heh! The greatest student of Baiyuan Martial Arts School has lost to me!"
Based on their words, Baiyuan Martial Arts School's arm boxing was very powerful. I probably shouldn't treat Liu Yinglong as an average Amateur Fourth Pin fighter. He might have reached the Amateur Third Pin combat strength.
Of course, the gap of one pin or two is not huge. Even the difference of three or four levels is not that depressing. The outcome of a martial art match results from the fighters' standard, body condition, mental state, style counteraction and mutual understanding. Ranks can't speak for the result or what's the point in fighting?
"In this case, which level am I of now?" Lou Cheng evaluated his level while watching the match in the central ring. "My physical strength was slightly weaker than Liu Yinglong. My flexibility and agility was not a match for him. But I'm way out of his league regarding body coordination, explosive force, and endurance. Concentration and sensation levels are hard to compare... My moves didn't fall behind, but my actual combat experience was poor... So... I'm probably of Amateur Fourth or even Third Pin already?"
The evaluation result was beyond Lou Cheng's expectation. From the actual combat, he gained a directly perceived understanding of his level.
In less than three months, I've already caught up with Brother Li Mao? Am I already of Amateur Third or Fourth Pin?
Err... Don't feel too good about me yet. Have a few more fights and then I can be sure about it!
...
Qin Zhilin from Baiyuan Martial Arts School won a fight in the central ring and attracted much attention and cheers. He felt proud and contented, too excited to talk.
He gathered with a few schoolmates who had just finished their fight in nearby rings and headed to the meeting place together.
"Hurry up! Brother Liu Yinglong must be running out of patience!" said Qin Zhilin with squinted eyes. He scored a swift victory. Probably as quick as Brother Liu Yinglong's whose fight took place earlier.
Another student from Baiyuan Martial Arts School joked along. "Brother's opponent was feeble and their match took place ahead of ours. He shouldn't blame us for being late."
He also won the first round.
Qin Zhilin and his mates talked and laughed all the way to the meeting stand where Liu Yinglong was already sitting, accompanied by the bearded man in a down jacket and the young girl on her mobile.
"Told you Brother has been waiting." Qin Zhilin suddenly noticed something was stuffed in Liu Yinglong's right shoulder.
"Brother, what happened?" He blurted out.
The other students also sensed the odd atmosphere since the vigorous bearded man didn't even greet them.
Liu Yinglong answered with no emotion after a long silence, "Injured during the match."
"No way! That kid hurt you? He... Isn't he of no rank?" Qin Zhilin stuttered. Among all the students of Baiyuan Martial Arts School, he admired Brother Liu Yinglong the most. Starting from scratch, he surpassed all his peers in two years and reached the Amateur Fourth Pin level. In their master's words, he was gifted for arm boxing.
How could Brother get injured this easily?
Another student from Baiyuan Martial Arts School seemed concerned. "Brother, your shoulder's injured. What about the following matches?"
"What do you think? Quit." A female disciple retorted.
Her voice was welcomed by an awkward silence from the bearded man and the mobile young girl.
"No more following matches. I lost already," said Liu Yinglong in a hoarse voice.
Lost? Did brother lose the fight? All disciples looked at each other and exchanged doubtful glances.
"Brother, that Lou something is actually a direct disciple of some great master from one of the big sects who just never participate in any Ranking Event? Which level do you think he is of?" asked Qin Zhilin as soon as he recovered from the shock.
After thinking for a while, Liu Yinglong replied, "The body acts like one and coordinates at will... He's not far from, if not already reaching, this description."
The body acts like one and coordinates at will? Isn't that a description for the Danqi stage?
Astonishment and fear appeared in several disciples' eyes. None of them could say anything.
Liu Yinglong rose slowly after a brief silence.
"Let's go back to the school."
...
After a few minutes of wait in the queue, the middle-aged man wearing a leather jacket smiled at the girl behind the service desk.
"Could you tell me the ring and round of the match of Liu Yinglong from Baiyuan Martial Arts School?"
He was too lazy to go through the draws on the big screens. Also, he had no idea if the match had already ended.
The girl at the service desk answered with a standard smile, "Just a minute, please. Liu Yinglong from Baiyuan Martial Arts School. Emm... His match has finished... He lost."
"He lost? Ha... Interesting. Who defeated him?" The man in leather jacket showed even more interests.
Liu Yinglong's strength could be predicted from Qin Zhilin's performance. How could he lose the match?
"A fighter named Lou Cheng. He... He is of no rank." The girl at the service desk girl suddenly stammered.
The man in the leather jacket was stunned at first and then relieved. "Must be a disciple of some big sect..."
"He is... He's an ordinary university student." The girl was in shock herself.
"What?" A chill went down the man's spine and gave him a panic attack. "Please give me his information. I'll watch his fight tomorrow!"
...
Back in the martial arts school, Liu Yinglong reported to his master Yu Haichao, the owner of the school. "Master, can you tell Lou Cheng's background? Which sect is he from?"
Yu Haichao, also featuring extraordinarily long arms and some grey hair, reflected on it. "Body coordination and weight shifting are basic skills of the Danqi stage. In the body refining stage, some stance training also focuses on these. Too many possibilities. The second strike you got from him, according to Dong's description, sounded like 24 Blizzard Strikes from the Ice Sect and the explosive force of the lightning and fire stance from the Thunder Sect. I can't be sure."
"Master, could you make a phone call to find out?" Liu Yinglong pleaded.
"For what? Who didn't lose a match or two? Warrior Sage did. So did Dragon King!" Yu Haichao shook his head.
Liu Yinglong continued to plead, "Master, it's not about revenge. I just don't want to lose like this."
Yu Haichao thought about it and took out his phone to dial a number.
He opened Baiyuan Martial Arts School in Yanling two years ago, but his relationships with several martial artists were enough for him to figure something out.
Martial artists had rapidly integrated into the modern world ever since they quitted fighting against technology. They were no monsters, nor were they foe of advanced technology. They were able to use technology, wield weapons and occupy resources.
Nowadays, martial arts began to become popular. Many criminals were rather powerful, significantly stronger than poorly armed cops. The police department had to recruit martial artists who were after power or retired from the professional circle to maintain peace and stability of the society. Recently the police department positions were pretty much reserved for martial artists to confront those skillful and heavily-equipped criminals. In the army, martial artists also form a great portion of the special forces. Only some of the high-tech and high-power units were still against disciples from martial arts sects to support their own new forces.
With such human connections, Yu Haichao quickly reached an answer and turned to Liu Yinglong.
"Same as what you found from the help desk. No other information available."
Liu Yinglong frowned. "It's strange."
"Yeah, very strange." Yu Haichao heaved a sigh and continued, "But what can we do? Should I go and watch his match tomorrow?"
Capítulo 37: Astonishing Strength
Right before 12 o'clock, the last pair of combatants of the morning was ushered in the central ring. They went up the flight of stone stairs and went to each side of the referee respectively.
A clamor burst forth among the audience with sounds of voices rising and falling and flashlights shining.
"It seems like a long-awaited fight." Without the match table for others at hand, Lou Cheng looked around with hazy eyes.
He took the opportunity to ask a passing young man out of curiosity, "Enthusiastic audience, for which two?"
The man raised his eyebrows on his alien-like face,
"Don't you know that?"
"Why should I know that..." Lou Cheng thought adversely yet said smilingly. "I forgot to take a VS list,just looking around anyway."
The young man curled his lips and answered Lou Cheng's question, "It's a round of competition between fighters with highest ranks and closest strength today, Professional Ninth Pin VS Amateur Second Pin. You see the girl in pink and white martial arts suit? She is Ye Youting, Professional Ninth Pin, the daughter of Yiye Martial Arts School's master in Yanling, known for her tiger-simulate and leopard-simulate kungfu. Her opponent is Guan Yan, a disciple of Jiuzhen Martial Arts School, Amateur Second Pin specialized in throwing techniques."
Professional Ninth Pin VS Amateur Second Pin? A competition of sorts... As Lou Cheng had seen the masterly display of Professional Ninth Pin, he had no confidence in Guan Yan in the least. Seeing that it's merely a round of knockout, the rank difference was acceptably small for the audience.
Ye Youting was tall and slim with thick brows and straight nose. Her beauty was set off by the pink and white martial arts suit to a turn. Facing Guan Yan, she said,
"If you can take my three blows, I'll throw up the sponge."
The burly-set young man was apparently offended by her words. "Rank difference cannot deny my strength. Retract your offense!"
Guan Yan had come across Ye Youting several times in all manner of martial arts activities in Yanling yet without any conversation and competition with her. It was the first encounter that he had with her in the ring, only to find how arrogant the girl was! Knowing a person by repute was not as good as seeing him face to face!
A free and easy smile appeared on Ye Youting's face. "Have a try."
Silence smothered the ring during the remaining waiting time for referee's announcement.
"Fight!"
The voice was still in the air when Ye Youting spurted out, sending forth the sound of wind. Her move was just like a leopard sprinting to its prey with powerful bearing sufficient to overwhelm very many warriors.
The distance with Guan Yan was closed up in a flash. She slammed her foot down and threw a powerful punch with strength streaming from her feet all the way up to her fist at Guan Yan, just like a giant ax or a weighty hammer falling with intense oppression to the air and people around.
Guan Yan subconsciously evaded when Ye Youting's words flashed across his mind, As long as he could take her three blows, Ye Youting would directly throw in the towel.
"Three blows are not that hard for me!" With teeth gritted, Guan Yan poised himself for Ye Youting's strike with muscles in his arms bulged out. At one time, he sparing strength to cope with changes as unexpected moves were the only key for Ye Youting's victory with no more than three blows!
Pong!
With a dull thud sent out by the collisions of fists and arms, Lou Cheng saw Guan Yan's face turning pale, and the defense of his arms was unexpectedly breached by Ye Youting's surprising strength. The fists with remaining momentum straight hit Guan Yan's completely exposed chest, making him lose balance at once. Afterward, Ye Youting stamped the ground, turned her fist into an open palm and pushed Guan Yan down the ring.
She defeated Guan Yan of Amateur Second Pin with just one blow and one push!
With Lou Cheng's mouth slightly open, referee's voice fell on his ears,
"Ye Youting wins!"
The audience was not prepared for this shocking result. A short silence was replaced by noise and excitement until Ye Youting stepped down the ring.
"How large the gap is between Amateur Second Pin and Professional Ninth Pin!"
"A man of mark in amateur martial arts world was defeated with only one blow?"
"Have Ye Youting reached the level of Professional Eighth Pin?"
Even in the middle of the passionate discussion, Lou Cheng's heart was still fluttering with fear. The pride of winning Liu Yinglong faded away in great measure.
Ye Youting beat Guan Yan by mere strength!
Strength alone!
Lin Que, the same rank with Ye Youting and very close to the Danqi stage, tended to have a tiny advantage in strength when fighting with Chen Changhua and others of Amateur First Pin or Second Pin.
Was Ye Youting born with "superhuman strength"?
It made no sense. Even if she could not reach the Danqi stage, Ye Youting had no difficulty in passing the ranking events for Professional Eighth Pin or even Seventh Pin by her strength and well-mastered tiger-simulate and leopard-simulate kungfu. Unless significant progress made in a short time had prepared her for the ranking event yet to come, "superhuman strength" could not explain this shocking victory.
The other explanation was that the blow served as a clever trick. Ye Youting's punch force momentarily reached a rolling and crushing level resorting to the combination of extraordinary strength and explosive power.
Right, maybe it's the very reason! And that's why Ye Youting tried to irritate Guan Yan with the words of "three blows decide the fight."
She used a Lightning-and-Fire-Stance-like skill which could at most burst three or four times in a fight to win an impressive victory over Guan Yan.
With a clear understanding of the fight, Lou Cheng felt no relaxation, but even more admiration for Ye Youting, realizing the gap between himself and Professional Ninth Pin was still quite extensive. It seemed impossible to get away from Ye Youting's blow with leopard-fast speed while Guan Yan's crushing defeat was telling the story of confrontation.
How long would he take to bridge the strength gap with Ye Youting's blow if he combined Mega Avalanche in 24 Blizzard Strikes with the explosive force of Lightning and Fire Stance? Was there any chance to make it?
As this idea became clear, Lou Cheng went away from the arena and came to the service desk at leisure.
"Would you please give me the deposited bags?" Lou Cheng handed the number card and luggage card to the lady at service.
Owing to Phoenix Cup Warrior Sage Candidate Challenge Tournament, the hotels nearby were all in short supply. The reserved rooms would only be kept for customers up to 2 p.m.
The lady took the two round cards over to have a check. Immediately, she had a glance at the young man before she opened the storage room with the key and returned his backpack and the number card.
"Thank you." Lou Cheng put on his backpack, pocketed the number card and walked toward the exit of the gymnasium.
Watching Lou Cheng away, the lady suddenly turned around to her colleague, "Hey! Is that undergraduate with no rank, who beat Liu Yinglong from Baiyuan Martial Arts School?"
"Him? Not a superb guy he seems like..." Another girl gazed at Lou Cheng's back on tiptoe, "Looking forward to his performance in the second round tomorrow."
...
Upon entering the lobby of Fulin Hotel, Lou Cheng saw many people in martial arts suit queuing up at the Service to check in.
"Good business..." He came to the end of the line, habitually took out of the phone and logged into his QQ to see whether Yan Zheke had landed and replied his messages.
Lou Cheng saw Yan Zheke's profile of a cute cat winking at first glance accompanying the QQ beep sound.
"Just landed. Not bad. No shame brought to the Martial Arts Club of Songcheng University! " Yan Zheke sent a smiley behind sleeves a few minutes ago, "(microphone) What would you want to say about your first victory in official competitions?"
Lou Cheng subconsciously put on a happy smile and sent an emoji of a satisfied guy wearing a pair of sunglasses. "Say something?" "Uh... I would like to thank CCTV, MTV, and KTV... Oh, No, thank Yan Zheke, Coach Shi, Martial Arts Club and Lin Que."
After dozens of seconds, Yan Zheke replied a laughing emoji with one arm leaning against the wall and then a glaring face in a frown. "I mean it!"
Lou Cheng came to be serious, "I was quite nervous before stepping up the ring because my opponent had reached much higher rank than me. But I took it easy when starting to fight with only one thought in my mind that was to put my plan into practice and show my real strength after prior exercises."
"First of all, you had no rank. So 'much higher rank than me' does not make sense. Moreover, what's his rank?" asked Yan Zheke with a curious face of the Internet-celebrity cat.
Looking at the phone screen, Lou Cheng answered with a bigger smile, "Amateur Fourth Pin."
Yan Zheke immediately sent an emoji of a cat "dropping its dried fish out of scare." "Really?"
"Yeah! You are the last one I would lie to! " Lou Cheng expressed how much he cared about her by implication.
Yan Zheke replied a comforting emoji of touching the head, "Um. Cheng is always honest. But I want to know how you could win him? How could you improve your strength so fast? I don't understand! "
"The information makes winners. I gathered my opponent's detailed information before the competition, coming at his proficiency in Arm Boxing. So I searched some videos of this skill and managed to figure out its features, which was flexible footwork. They liked to move here and there in the fight to bring their opponents under control. "
Lou Cheng explained honestly to the girl he fell for. "According to the information, I made a plan that was to expose my back to him, deceiving him into believing that his footwork had put me in a desperate spot. When he allowed his mind to relax, I spun to his back and launched a deciding blow with 24 Blizzard Strikes and Lightning and Fire Stance. Afterward, I managed to keep calm and followed up the first handsome blow... Um, the key to this victory is that he knew nothing about me and took me lightly."
Yan Zheke replied a few minutes later. "Off the plane ~ Your description makes me feel personally participating in the fight and putting my wit against the opponent. It is extremely satisfying and marvelous! My grandpa has told me that the rank of martial arts represented a stable level over the long term. There are too many external factors in individual competition."
"I am the continuation of your martial arts dream... " Lou Cheng confessed his love in the heart. "You will have this chance in the future."
Yan Zheke sent a pathetic emoji. "Your progress is so impressive! Cheng, I didn't expect this from you! I can't slack off! "
Only four people were ahead of Lou Cheng in the queue for check-in, a senior, a young man and two girls in their early twenties. All of them were in dark cyan martial arts suit with hill-simulate patterns decorated on the cuffs and neckband.
They reserved two rooms at the hotel, took their room cards and left the service desk.
Walking down to the elevator, the young man with short hair turned his head and took a glance at Lou Cheng. "To participate in the Challenge Tournament?" He mumbled.
The senior turned his eyes to Lou Chen, only to find a student-looking young man with a silly smile on his face totally immersed in the cheerful chatting on the phone. He shook his head. "Just a martial arts lover to watch the tournament."
With no more words said, the young man pressed the button in the elevator with his iron-colored right hand of big joints.
Lou Cheng booked himself a twin room. He needed a good rest to recuperate and build up energy for the tournament as Jindan (the Golden Elixir) could only help him gather strength. It merely charged a little more than 100 RMB one day for the room, since the small room was poorly equipped, even inferior to express hotels.
Yan Zheke went to bed after chatting a while on account of getting up early and airsickness while Lou Cheng slept off with relaxed mood after the competition.
The curtain of night had hung down when he woke up. The dead silence in the room seemed to be relating to the coming of the day of doom.
Pulling himself together, Lou Cheng started to browse the forum and found both Road to the Arena and Invincible Punch won their competition. As agreed, they posted their pictures on the forum.
Road to the Arena had a good face with short hair parted on the side. The only flaw was his clearly visible black eyes. Invincible Punch was tall and handsome with a brush cut and dashing eyebrows, which attracted not a few replies.
The first round of more than four hundred competition was about to draw to a close. Lou Cheng did not feel like to go to the gymnasium. He went to a park nearby to do some exercise before having his dinner. After that, he came back to bed to chat with Yan Zheke and other classmates, as well as browse content posted in forums and videos in microblogs.
...
The next day at eight forty, a middle-aged man in a leather jacket arrived in the gymnasium. He approached a screen, looking for some details in the VS list with his wide-opened eyes.
"No. 656, Lou Cheng..." He murmured.
...
Following Yu Haichao the master of their martial art school, Liu Yinglong and other disciples stepped into the arena once again.
Looking at the big screen at a distance, Yu Haichao muttered to himself.
"No. 656, Lou Cheng..."
...
At the same time, Lou Cheng was also looking for his name in front of the screen to see who his opponent was in the second round of knockout.
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