When Li Mao heard this name, he subconsciously raised his hands and dug his ears. He had a feeling that he had just experienced an auditorial hallucination.
Lou Cheng?
The preliminaries' leading player?
He just couldn't connect these two at all!
It wasn't that he was disappointed by the fact that he wasn't able to become a leading player directly. According to his estimations, Chen Changhua, whose skills approached the level of Professional Ninth Pin was stronger than everyone else but Lin Que. Even if he was about to leave the Martial Arts Club, no longer taking up a chance for actual battle training and had informed Coach Shi about this beforehand, wasn't there still last semester's district contest leading player, senior brother Sun, Sun Jian?
He had not slacked off during the winter break either. He had practiced hard everyday and finally transformed all of his hard work and accumulated efforts into rewards. He now had the fighting level of Amateur Second Pin. Would senior brother Sun, Sun Jian really work by fits and starts?
If that was the case, then what other motivation would he have to participate in the special training?
Moreover, senior brother Sun, Sun Jian's girlfriend Lin Hua was not much weaker than himself. She had had a moment of enlightenment and mastered the Still Stance, and she used the winter break to chase up to their footsteps. It wasn't necessarily anything worth to be astonished about.
However, the second leading player of the preliminaries wasn't Chen Changhua, senior brother Sun or Lin Hua. It was Lou Cheng!
If it was any other name, Li Mao would probably just accept it after a moment of surprise. While Jiang Fusheng, Li Xiaowen and Wu Meng had average talent, and their greatest objective in participating in this special training was to increase their rank within limits and gain more job seeking channels in the future, it wasn't like the story of a sudden awakening leading to the meteoric rise of a martial artist was uncommon. If they did experience such a thing, he would at worst let out a sigh, be envious for a long time and feel a sense of loss for half a year. Meanwhile, the two new first-year undergraduate students Guo Qing and Yan Zheke were rumored to be pretty talented, so it was not unreasonable to think that they might create some miracle.
But the name that was announced was Lou Cheng!
It was that Lou Cheng whom he first taught and pair exercised with. It was that Lou Cheng who normally gave him feint training!
As someone who personally witnessed Lou Cheng's growth from a bewildered newbie to an amateur fighter with a practiced form, Li Mao was most familiar with his strength. He was once rather surprised by Lou Cheng, but that surprise was practically nothing to the astonishment he was feeling now. The distance between a regular greenhorn to a fighter with practiced form, was much, much shorter than the distance between a fighter with a practiced form and the leading player of the preliminaries.
Right now, the strange silence in the surroundings confirmed that he hadn't heard incorrectly. He could not help but feel a moment of absentmindedness.
Was fiction more reasonable than reality?
He would not, could not, and did not dare to believe that the newbie who had just grown familiar with his form in his head had suddenly reached a height just second to Lin Que. Just how long had it been?
Wu Meng. Jiang Fusheng and Li Xiaowen were all very unfamiliar with Lou Cheng. They only knew that he was a fellow special training teammate and remembered in general how he looked like. Their daily interactions only went as far as a nod and a greeting. They did not know about his rank, and they were unfamiliar with the progress of his martial arts. Right now, they were feeling a lot more bewilderment than actual astonishment.
Was it that Lou Cheng?
Was it that Lou Cheng we normally meet?
Or was it some other guy sharing the same name and surname?
If it was the former, then how did he skyrocket from a body to a preliminaries' leading player?
Chen Changhua, Sun Jian and Lin Hua's feelings were in between their feelings and Li Mao's feelings. They stared straight at Geezer Shi, unwilling to believe that Lou Cheng, a guy who could not even enter the substitute list of the district contest more than two months ago, a guy who could only perform logistics and odd jobs, a guy who was completely lacking in presence would leap to become the leading player of their Martial Arts Club without having to fight for it at all!
They just stared at Geezer Shi and waited with expectations for the words "I was just kidding" to tumble out of his mouth. It was to the point where they had forgotten that Lou Cheng was right beside them, and he could see their every move just by turning his head!
Lou Cheng looked at Yan Zheke amidst this unspeakable silence. She simply wrinkled her pretty nose at him, seemingly saying: Look! Look at the 'sins' you've caused!
The corner of his mouth lifted unconsciously, and he nearly could not hold back the smile on his face. He then cast a glance at Lin Que beside him, wanting to see if this captain of the Martial Arts Club had any opinion to share about his appointment as the second leading player. He wanted to see what his brother-in-law thought about him...
Perhaps it was because there was a delay in-between, and that the other party had the time to recover from his shock, Lou Cheng wasn't able to glean anything from Lin Que's face. He was as cool and as withdrawn as ever, looking as if he wasn't interested in anything but martial arts.
"Cheng? How did Cheng become the second leading player all of a sudden?" The person who broke this unnatural silence was Guo Qing. She blurted out the exclamation and stared in astonishment at Yan Zheke beside her, seemingly wanting to get an explanation from the girl.
Very soon, she turned her head and looked for Lou Cheng through several figures. She wanted to confirm if the other party had grown three heads and six arms!
"Cough!"
Geeze Shi coughed once and attracted everyone's gaze back to him. Then, he instructed casually,
"Lou Cheng, Lin Que. The two of you will do battle with each other. I'll be the umpire."
"Do battle? With Lin Que?" Li Mao, Sun Jian and the others finally looked towards Lou Cheng, unsure what kind of expression they should be wearing on their faces. It was as if they were saying, "This is for real!"
Do battle? With Lin Que? At first, Lou Cheng was surprised. Then, he felt a tremble rippling through his body. He could not describe his feelings right now.
This day actually came earlier than he had expected it would!
After the Jindan had begun displaying its effects in his martial arts, he had often imagined that his strength would rise day by day, and that he would ultimately realize the embodiment of everything he admired as a man that he saw from Lin Que, back when he met him for the first time during the third or final year of his study. He had imagined that he would have the level to challenge Lin Que for the position of captain of the Martial Arts Club.
After he had finished the Warrior Sage Challenge Tournament and had a whole new level of recognition of his own martial arts level, he thought that if given half a year, and Lin Que hadn't broken through his limits and reached Dan stage, he was not without a chance of victory if they were to fight each other.
When he began practicing 'Thunder Roar Zen' this morning, he thought again that if he had mastered the basics of this martial art, then challenging Lin Que would not be a pipe dream. The fighting style of this martial art was to shock the enemy, and its training method was to shock oneself. Through 'the sound of thunder,' he would send tremors throughout his bones, veins and five viscera and six bowels, and slowly train them. The purpose of this training was to pursue perfect unity of the force all over his body and obtain Absolute Reaction, thus building the most solid foundation for achieving Dan stage.
But he did not imagine that his master would make him fight a battle against Lin Que on the first day of a new semester, the first day of their martial arts special training, and without any prior preparation at all!
He closed his eyes and pacified the tremors rippling throughout his body. Excitement rose as his fighting will was raised.
This was a battle with the goal of his past!
This was a battle against the tall, big and powerful image of a young fighter he once held in his heart!
To be honest, he was pretty worried that Yan Zheke would have a crush for Lin Que in the past, but he wasn't able to feel any sort of jealousy due to the fact that he was way behind Lin Que in every aspect at the time. Therefore, he could only feel a strong sense of envy, fear, reluctance to admit that he was inferior and a definite sense of shame at his own weaknesses. This feeling had mostly disappeared after he learned that Lin Que was his 'brother-in-law,' and the last of these feelings would also entirely evaporate during this upcoming battle.
No matter what the outcome might be, the fact that he was able to stand on the same arena as him and challenge him to a terrific battle was more than enough to bury his past sense of inferiority!
Lin Que's eyes seemed to brighten a little as he strode with wide steps up towards the arena. Lou Cheng subconsciously looked at Yan Zheke and found her looking at him as well with slight worry.
"Worry?" Lou Cheng's heart became filled with warmth and even greater strength. Unhurriedly, he walked forwards and climbed up the stone steps on the opposite of the arena.
"You have three minutes time to talk with each other." Geezer Shi made everything look incredibly standard.
Then, a soft voice entered Lou Cheng's ears. It came from Geezer Shi, and he said, "Don't use your Power of Blaze. Let your master have an accurate grasp of the pure strength of your martial arts."
"Mm." Lou Cheng nodded and pursed his lips slightly. While looking at the relaxed but cool-looking Lin Que standing at the opposite side of the arena, he realized that this was the first time he examined him this way.
Lin Que was no longer a goal but his opponent now!
So how much did Lin Que know about his martial arts?
While recalling, Lou Cheng abruptly realized that he didn't know enough about Lin Que's martial arts!
On the surface, he had watched all of the few battles Lin Que had participated in from the sidelines. There was no way he lacked in recognition of his skills. However, he discovered a huge problem with the close analysis. The martial arts Lin Que had displayed were either the most common combinations of the blast, pound, pull, tear, tug or stir moves, or the 24 Blizzard Strikes he had cultivated only after he arrived at the Martial Arts Club. But what about his martial arts passed down in his family?
He knew from Yan Zheke that their grandfather and grandmother were pretty powerful experts and that they possessed the inheritance of unique skills. So why had Lin Que never used them?
Although the fighting style of 24 Blizzard Strikes was also a combination of the pound, lash and other common moves, they grew a characteristic of their own and became split into different styles when merged with a different kind of force, exertion technique and visualization. For example, Huxing (tiger form tactic) was a traditional style Xingyi, and Blast Punch was a modern style Xingyi. The same went with Wuthering Eight Movements and Pulsating Quake. However, Lin Que's moves were absolutely common and standard to the max. He had not reflected the characteristics of his style on his martial arts at all!
Could it be that he hadn't cultivated his family's unique skills?
Impossible! On the first day his master taught them Yin-Yang Stance, he was already able to use a technique that changed his center of gravity to beat Chen Changhua. He had obviously reached the entry level of Solemn Silence and had a corresponding visualization while cultivating. He had great mastery over his own body, and he had a complete inheritance to inherit!
So why did he not use it?
Judging from Yan Zheke's worried look, could the unexpected twist of this battle come from his family's martial arts?
While conjecturing, Lou Cheng was also analyzing Lin Que's weaknesses. However, since he wasn't familiar with the foundation of Lin Que's martial arts, the only weakness he could confirm was his stamina. Back at the district contest, Lin Que was only able to sustain a full round of 24 Blizzard Strikes.
But that was last term. Lin Que now...
Lou Cheng closed his eyes. He could vaguely hear his opponent's powerful, pulsating heart and the rushing sound of his blood.
According to Yan Zheke's explanation, his qi and blood had reached the height of exuberance, and he was at the peak of body refining state. The problem he had with his stamina must have been fixed quite a bit.
Since he did not understand his opponent, and he could not grasp his weaknesses either, he would 'emphasize his own self'.
And if he were to 'emphasize his own self', then he must exhibit all of his advantages to the max from the beginning as if he was in a life or death battle!
His thoughts rose and subsided back into his mind. Lou Cheng opened his eyes. There was serenity deep within his pupils, as if a layer of ice that had appeared on the surface of a lake. The balance of his body adjusted itself naturally and shifted continuously like mercury. Meanwhile, on the other side Lin Que never spoke a word. He looked like an old monk who was cultivating a silent vow.
It was at this moment Geezer Shi said with a cough,
"Begin! "
The crowd beneath the arena held their breaths and waited for the moment they got to 'recognize' Lou Cheng's skill.
With crisscrossing footsteps, Lou Cheng approached Lin Que meanderingly while shaking his balance non-stop, easily causing misperception among others.
Suddenly, he saw Lin Que taking a step and a slide, instantly switching from a stationary state to a sprinting state. His movements were like the amalgamation of Ye Youting's leopard form and Zhou Yuanning's Wuthering Eight Movements. It was so quick that it was unbelievable, not to mention that the timing he chose was just perfect too. Lin Que had exceeded his expectations and appeared right in front of him, assuming a position where it would be difficult for him to exert force and get out of the way of an attack.
What insight, what judgment, what footwork!
Pop! Lin Que's right hand shot out, and it was a Half-step Burst Fist. The distance between them was short, the force exerted was strong, and the air seemed to shake under his attack. He gave Lou Cheng no chance of avoiding his strikes.
Lou Cheng did not wait until his body stopped moving forwards. With a sway of his balance, and with a bounce of his spine, his back twisted like a coiling dragon and forcefully shifted his position to the side, enabling him to avoid this punch with just inches to spare.
If he hadn't readied mercurial balance from the beginning, there was no way he could avoid the blow all of a sudden with his current mastery of his body!
Ss... Li Mao and the others let out different sounds from their mouths.
They did not have a straight impression of Lin Que's level when he was attacked earlier. They simply thought that it was as it should be. However, they were shocked by Lou Cheng's near eerie movement.
One could imagine the level of his strength just from this one dodge alone!
Li Mao subconsciously looked at Cai Zongming beside him and smiled bitterly and absentmindedly, saying,
"Why do I feel that reality had turned a little fantasy?"
"I thought so since a long time ago..." Cai Zongming lamented as he watched the arena.