Martial Arts Master

Zhou Yuanning the Road to the Arena unconsciously changed his posture. Holding his mobile tight, he was no longer in the mood for surfing the forum.

He pursed his lips and murmured to himself after a few seconds of pondering. “24 Blizzard Strikes from the Ice Sect… It seems he has mastered it…”

Seizing the short moment when the two were not engaging each other, he quickly wrote one line in the live broadcast post.

“Little Punch’s opponent has inherited some great skills. They are deadlocked!”

When he finished typing, Lou Cheng was ready for another charge.

“Holy crap! Doesn’t he need to catch his breath?” Road to the Arena blurted out.

…

Dashed back by the bear bump, Lou Cheng took his time to stabilize his weight. In his Dantian the nebula expanded and then shrank, spinning slowly to separate fire from ice and sweep away the weariness from the last series of strikes.

He yelled within himself, “Jindan is such a treasure! I would have been defeated if this fight took place before my fight with Liu Yinglong or before my victory over Hu Zheng. That Fierce Tiger Whipping Tail move would have been enough to end this match. My following Brutal Blizzard was all thanks to my full grasp of the set yesterday!”

After two days of fighting, observation, self-reflection and potential accumulating and extracting, for the very first time Lou Cheng felt shedding his mortal body and exchanging his bones. He was transforming from a martial arts student to an actual martial artist!

Taking no break to adjust or recover, he devised a scene of a fierce wind shrieking and howling, blowing up a blizzard in his mind. His back moved with the wind as his spine straightened segment by segment. He advanced swiftly and violently and the distance between him and Jin Tao was quickly shortened. His arm swung backward as if pulling a bow and then shot at Invincible Punch with full strength.

Jin Tao had just recovered somewhat when his opponent once again charged with a punch to his ear.

“Doesn’t he need to adjust his breath? He should be more exhausted after the last bout of mad offense!” Having no time to spare, Jin Tao lowered his weight into a steady stance and waved his right hand to hinder this strike. His Shooting Fillip was ready and his Tiger Bayonet was about to spring out to prevent Lou Cheng from absorbing his strength.

Lou Cheng drew back as soon as their hands touched with no intention to absorb Jin Tao’s strength. He followed up with another step forward and then turned sideways to launch an elbow hit. His explosive force pushed Jin Tao to withdraw while keeping his left hand out to block.

As their skin touched, a stream of strength reached Lou Cheng’s heart. He quickly adjusted his weight to throw a whip kick with Jin Tao’s strength.

Bam!

Immediately after Jin Tao warded off the kick, Lou Cheng attacked again, leaving him no room to perform his Shooting Fillip. Like an everlasting Brutal Blizzard, Lou Cheng’s strikes hit Jin Tao again and again, colder and colder, and stronger and stronger. The gap between their physical strength soon disappeared.

Left with no other options, Jin Tao did another bear bump to force Lou Cheng to back off. However, it took Lou Cheng no time to once again charge at him as if he needed no rest at all. Old Zheng and a few others cheered in the auditorium, heating up the atmosphere.

Bang! Pang!

As the match continued, Jin Tao felt more and more terrified. The opponent got stronger by absorbing his strength. Meanwhile, he got weaker by large consumption of the energy.

“How long can his mad attack last?”

Jin Tao didn’t have a clue but he knew he would soon become unable to counterattack if he stayed defensive any longer.

He made another bear bump to push Lou Cheng back, followed up with several big strides and then a powerful stamp with his right foot after a deep breath.

Bam!

The stamp was loud like an explosion and veins stood out in his temples. Jin Tao straightened his back and launched his right fist like cannon with all his strength. Towards Lou Cheng was an ear-piercing roar.

Blast Punch! Punch like a cannon!

This punch reminded Lou Cheng of Ye Youting from the day before. He knew it would be wise for him to avoid any frontal engagement, but it seemed impossible.

He took a deep breath, dropped his weight deeper and quickly adjusted his muscles, compressing all his strength to the extreme. Snow started to accumulate on the massive mountains in his mind with tremendous force.

A giant lightning bolt struck a withered tree, shaking those snow-capped mountains.

Boom!

Snow covered mountains collapsed and fell with great might, blocking all the light and turning the entire world into a huge grave.

24 Blizzard Strikes… Mega Avalanche!

The compressed force erupted and Lou Cheng struck with his fist. The collapsed snow mountains inside seemed to have made him stronger and taller, towering over Jin Tao.

Bam!

Two fists hit each other, sounding dull but heart shivering. As their arms separated, they both wobbled from the tie of the bout.

It was a tie!

He didn’t have three full minutes to accumulate his strength and the opponent’s blast punch carried great might, but it was a tie. It’s a result of Lou Cheng’s double explosion from Mega Avalanche and Lightning and Fire Stance and Jin Tao’s wearing out.

Bam!

The dull sound sent a chill down Old Zheng and other spectators’ spine. They knew it was about time for the match to end as the terrifying blast punch and the avalanche-like strike was already their boldest and fiercest attempt.

Jin Tao’s body was almost hollowed out by the blast punch. Why didn’t he use bear bump and blast punch at the very beginning? The former was not flexible enough and the latter was extremely strength-consuming. Facing an unknown enemy, one miss would leave him in a passive state. He had to play safe.

Breathing deep gulps to restore his strength, he felt certain Lou Cheng must be in the same shoe since that frightful punch must have worn him out!

When his power just began to recover, Jin Tao’s eyes froze as Lou Cheng had started another attack. He didn’t look tired, and his breath was steady and easy!

Steady and easy?

Stunned, Jin Tao stood stiffly when Lou Cheng reached him and launched an elbow hit at his chest.

Out of strength, Jin Tao raised his hand in a rush but Lou Cheng’s elbow smashed in.

Feeling a sudden tightness in his chest, Jin Tao moved backward but Lou Cheng’s right hand stretched out like lightning and pulled him by his left wrist for a knee kick.

A knee kick!

Bam! Jin Tao fell holding his stomach. The referee took a careful look at him before raising his hand.

“Round ten. Lou Cheng won!”

In the stand Road to the Arena stood up unconsciously and muttered,

“What kind of monster is this?”

Old Zheng gave a round of thunderous cheers and applause and said to his two friends, “Didn’t I tell you! He’s the real sleeper!”

“Excellent! How wonderful! Some parts I didn’t get without a commentator.” His friend also applauded.

The couple stood up clapping and talked to their schoolmates, “See! That’s the mysterious master Lou Cheng we’ve been talking about!”

“Such a great match!” praised his schoolmates.

All spectators were cheering for Lou Cheng’s victory as well as the defeated Jin Tao’s great effort and outstanding skills. For a good, thrilling match!

Liu Yinglong, Qin Zhilin and other members of Baiyuan Martial Arts School remained silent. “How many bouts of Brutal Blizzard can I stand? Not even one!”

Not to mention Lou Cheng. Even the defeated Jin Tao was more than enough to kick their ass.

“Finally he’s shown his true strength…” Liu Yinglong heaved another sigh.

The glorious victory echoed in Lou Cheng’s heart. He couldn’t wait to share the joy with Yan Zheke but also felt obligated to do something for this forum friend in case they would meet up properly in the future.

He reached out his hand to pull Jin Tao up and gave him a gentle smile.

“Thanks for your instructions.”

He didn’t use lightning and fire stance or Mega Avalanche in the last knee kick, so Jin Tao wasn’t injured but lost combat strength due to the physical ache, for which the referee didn’t interfere.

In case he had underestimated Jin Tao’s strength, at least he kept his guard high, so eventually, the victory would still be his.

After this solid fighting, his understanding of his strength deepened. His physical strength and agility had lots of room to improve given more time on training and practice and he had probably reached the level of Amateur Second or Third Pin after mastering 24 Blizzard Strikes. Thanks to the immense physical power provided by Jindan, he had a chance to defeat an Amateur First Pin fighter by exhausting him.

Of course, he wasn’t this good when he first arrived at Yanling. He had improved considerably after each fight and become much stronger during the challenge tournament.

Rubbing his stomach with tears of pain circling in his eyes, Jin Tao took Lou Cheng’s hand and got up panting.

“You are so full of contradictions. For one second I thought your punches and kicks were weak and footwork was stiff, then the next thing I noticed was how unpredictable and mighty you were that you could foresee my Tiger Tail Kicks and press on waves of bold attacks.”

Lou Cheng smiled without a word. He didn’t know what to say, neither did he want to reveal his identity. He’d rather wait and see comments on the forum.

Ha-hah! Why am I so full of expectations? Why am I feeling so good!

“Lou Cheng…” The referee’s announcement wrote down the name Lou Cheng in the audience’s mind.

Zhou Yuanning, the Road to the Arena, had no time to update the post. He stepped down to hold Jin Tao and tried to comfort him. “This Lou Cheng is very skillful. He has mastered 24 Blizzard Strikes from the Ice Sect…”

He was implying the defeat was unavoidable.

Jin Tao the Invincible Punch sighed. “He is very skillful. But I have a better word for him.”

“Which word?” Zhou Yuanning, the Road to the Arena, asked curiously.

Every moment of the last fight flashed back into his head. Those blizzard-like attacks bout after bout without any weariness and his steady and easy breath after the massive explosion…

He took a deep breath and answered in awe,

“Monster!”