Martial Arts Master

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?”