Then he jumped off the ring, off the ring…
All the cheers came to an abrupt stop as the whole arena lapsed into silence. No one here had expected Zhu Tao in his awe-inspiring presence suddenly surrendered without even a moment's hesitation. He looked like he was escaping from a fierce beast's cave.
Beneath the arena, Zhu Tao didn't feel ashamed at all. On the contrary, he was congratulating himself for making a prompt decision at that crucial moment without any hesitation.
Whether Lou Cheng had just finished a difficult battle or not, Zhu Tao wasn't sure if he could even defeat Lou Cheng in a one-on-one match. The terrible Tremor Punch combo attack was still fresh in everyone's minds!
Not to mention that Lin Que was also in the ring gazing at him with piercing eyes. Was there any better choice for him than surrendering?
It was not because he was cowardly, but for his opponents were too powerful and scary!
A wise man submits to circumstances!
He had intended to raise the hand and call the referee to stop the game. But considering that it was him who had just thrown Lou Cheng's girlfriend out of the ring, he was afraid that Lou Cheng would pounce on him and beat him up before the referee could come and stop him. As a result, Zhu Tao decided to dodge and jump off the ring on his own initiative, which would be safer!
Lou Cheng paused at Zhu Tao's former position and watched the poor guy jump off the ring, which amused him.
Having never expected that this seemingly tough bald-head guy should surrender without hesitation, Lou Cheng couldn't help telling Lin Que the truth,
"To be honest, I almost use up all my stamina…"
Zhu Tao shouldn't be so frightened!
Lou Cheng was not lying. Since he had just started learning Frost Force and was far from mastering it, it took him more energy to use the method each time. He had originally planned to use Frost Force followed by Thunder Roar Zen, which was then upset by Double Elephant Trumpet. As a result, he had to gather all his energy into a second Frost Force and gave his opponent the final blow, which consumed almost all his physical and mental strength.
However, Lou Cheng didn't regard Zhu Tao's surrender as a matter of rejoicing, for he was sure he would win the match anyway. If the competition hadn't stopped, Lou Cheng would still be able to throw a Thunder Roar Zen at his opponent, not to mention his Professional-Ninth-Pin strength and the help from his Brother-in-law.
He would even act as an assistant of Lin Que and wait for him to defeat Zhu Tao. How nice it would be!
Hearing what Lou Cheng had said, Lin Que turned and gave him one word,
"Likewise."
"Likewise?" Lou Cheng was stunned for a moment but soon understood what Lin Que meant. Staring at his Brother-in-law in astonishment, Lou Cheng found his eyes clear and steady, showing he was not lying.
"What a coincidence…" Lou Cheng couldn't help forcing a smile.
Then he saw the referee raise his right hand and announce loudly,
"The final result is that Songcheng University Martial Arts Club wins!"
All the audience burst out yelling, both cheering for the victory and regretting for the final battle's being over so quickly.
What a cracking and breathtaking competition, while the only shortcoming was it was too short!
They were all left feeling unfulfilled!
…
With the referee's announcement, Lou Cheng's thoughts were soon replaced by the joy of winning the match and getting the bonus.
Lou Cheng raised his hand and applauded to acknowledge the crowd, then he came back to his team's position at a brisk pace in the wave of cheers, where he greeted Sun Jian, Li Mao and other fellows with a fist bump one by one.
When Yan Zheke's turn came, Lou Cheng choked down the urge to hug the girl for fear that she might get embarrassed. He laughed in low voice and said,
"I owe it all to Coach Yan's full preparations in advance!"
Yan Zheke gave him a big smile, showing her snowy teeth, and then raised her chin.
"Hum, now you know you won't lose by taking Coach Yan's instruction?"
She turned to look to the side and continued in a pretended calm tone,
"Your Frost Force was also quite powerful…"
Yan Zheke's praise greatly satisfied Lou Cheng, and he felt so proud of himself and even got happier than knowing he was the winner just now.
What was more, even though the Jindan was no longer within his body, he could still master Frost Force himself!
"I should have no problem with getting the advancing bonus," said Lou Cheng with great joy.
At this moment he took the opportunity to make an invitation. "We have been working hard in the past three months and finally get a good result. How about going for a travel with the bonus in the Labor Day break as a celebration?"
Yan Zheke's eyes lifted once as her face was flushing.
"Let me think about it!"
"Think about what?" Lou Cheng asked half-jokingly, and he was now very pleased.
The girl didn't reject his invitation at once, which meant he had strong hopes!
"Hum, it depends on whether the tourism spots you chose satisfy me and whether you could behave yourself!" Yan Zheke pretended to be annoyed, but her smiling eyes gave her out.
Geezer Shi, who had been looking at them silently, could not help complaining in his mind,
"It's a problem that this guy hasn't gotten any trouble yet…"
"Why don't you come to comfort your master? All you know is to flatter the girl!"
"I'd rather choose a dog instead of you as my disciple!"
…
On the other side, Mo Zicong and Deng Hua had come back to Azure Dragon Squad's position with the help of others. While one of them was pale and trembling, the other still felt dizzy and would retch occasionally.
Hearing the audience's cheers, all the substitute fighters felt so upset and set Songcheng University Martial Arts Club as their common enemy.
"Songcheng University Martial Arts Club was really powerful, so do Lin Que and Lou Cheng. Actually, we still had a chance just now, but I underestimated Lou Cheng's strength since I didn't know he had mastered such an odd force…" Mo Zicong took a deep breath while criticizing himself seriously.
In fact, he was sincerely convinced by Lou Cheng's strength and didn't regret losing the competition. After being forced to fight recklessly, he got no chance to resist Lou Cheng's Frost Force.
However, Mo Zicong couldn't speak his mind out as admitting he was not Lou Cheng's match. For he should give hope to his fellows and thus make a chance to integrate the four martial arts clubs!
Deng Hua followed his topic. "I also made a mistake. Er, I've never expected that Lin Que should have initially learned to gather his qi, blood and force…"
"All in all, it's a glorious defeat, and we'll still be hoping to advance from group competition when we come back next year!" Zhu Tao also seized the opportunity to save his face.
Upon recalling the match just now, he felt frightened as if Lou Cheng and Lin Que were still gazing at him.
The two were likely to be in Dan stage when he met them again in the ring.
…
In the studio of Songcheng TV station, Fang Juexiao put on a wry smile. "Though it was indeed a cracking game, wasn't it too short? How long have they been fighting against each other, less than one minute?"
"Almost…" Gan Le laughed. "Don't worry, it was enough to attract audiences, and we still have spare game lives to fill the vacancy."
"Yeah." Fang Juexiao nodded. "Old Gan, I'm still thinking about the two blows Lou Cheng threw at Mo Zicong for they were so weird. Could you please do some analysis for us?"
Gan Le nodded. "Okay, now let's see the screen. It's a screenshot of Lou Cheng and Mo Zicong's match, in which we can see Mo Zicong's pale face and blue lips clearly as if he was suffering from exposure. We all know that Lou Cheng is good at 24 Blizzard Strikes, which belong to Unique Skill of the Ice Sect, so we have reason to believe that he has supernatural ability or special talent, which helps him to master one of the core forces in Unique Skill of the Ice Sect in advance before he reaches the Dan stage!"
"I'll explain this. Before we reach the high-ranked Dan Stage, all the martial arts movements we learn are relatively simple and plain, which focus on how to gather our strength and each school has its own secret know-how in this respect. Once the strength-gathering skill is combined with visualization method, it'll develop into Force, the core of any unique martial arts skills."
"I'd go so far as to say whatever school of Ice Sect Lou Cheng belongs to, and he can be one the most important disciples in that school."
"I see…" Fang Juexiao echoed. "Then what about Lin Que? It seemed that he has again made great progress according to the skills he used today?"
Gan Le made a positive response.
"Yeah, he had preliminarily learned how to withdraw strength. Still remember that I once predicted he would reach Dan stage by the end of this year? Now I'll correct it since he is likely to achieve it in the first half of this year!"
…
While listening to the match commentary in the video, Yan Xiaoling sent a post excitedly.
"Hey, will somebody please explain to me the core force of Ice Sect?"
She @ the Unparalleled Dragon King and Road to the Arena in the main post.
The Unparalleled Dragon King soon replied, "Aren't you in charge of admiring Lou Cheng? Why do you ask such a technical question?"
Eternal Nightfall Yan Xiaoling answered back sarcastically,
"Don't look down upon me! I'm good at not only admiring him, but also eating shit, no, self-deprecation!"
Her fellows open made fun for this, but she never got annoyed. Instead, she was willing to cooperate with them and even fond of self-deprecation, which earned her a title as Shit-Eating Moderator in the forum of Lou Cheng's fans.
"I don't know what to say."
"She's really worth the title of Northern Shit-Eating Demon…"
The Brahman, Unparalleled Dragon King and other familiar net friends clicked to like her one by one.
Finally, Unparalleled Dragon King gave a detailed explanation,
"The so-called Force is actually the core of a unique skill, without which even physical invulnerability movements would be an empty suit with no more than 30 to 40 percent of its original power…"
"Only fighters at Dan Stage or above can learn such kind of kungfu, or neither their body-controlling ability nor physical condition is adequate to meet its needs. Though fighters at Body Refining State can barely have a try, their Force can hardly come out with special skill effect such as freezing or burning their opponent…"
"Lou Cheng's not reached the peak of Body Refining State yet, but he is still able to freeze someone with his own Force, which suggests he might have a supernatural ability in this respect or other special talents. Damn it, I remember he can use the Power of Blaze!"
"What the hell is it?"
Eternal Nightfall Yan Xiaoling replied with the emoji of a circling figure,
"Thank you, Dragon King. Though I'm still a little confused, I know it's really powerful! I'll again fall in love with him! Ah, why should the match be so short? I've waited all week for Lou Cheng's several-minute performance! I'm feeling aggrieved, upset and sad… Why couldn't he show some mercy to his opponent and stay a little longer in the ring?"
The Brahman sent a crying face. "Little Changye, I'm more depressed than you. How could my idol master the core Force of Ice Sect so fast? I've expected him to join Longhu Club after graduation and inherit the unique skill of Fire Sect…"
"Anyway he masters the Force and will surely have a brilliant prospect!" Nie Qiqi and the other fellows made the same comment.
The Okamoto's Fan suddenly said, "Am I the only one noticed there was a substitute girl in Songcheng University Martial Arts Club who could be scored nine points?"
"You're not the only one. I was about to say something when the match was over…" This Poor Monk Names Himself Randomly replied, "I even want to attend this year's college entrance exam and apply for Songcheng University, where I could join the Martial Arts Club!"
Seeing this reply, Yan Xiaoling giggled and said to herself,
"I'm already here…"
She again @ the Unparalleled Dragon King and asked him with pleasure, "How far do you think Lou Cheng and his fellows will reach in this preliminaries?"
"They should have no problem with advancing from the team match, but then there'll be less hope for them to take a step further since their opponents will be more and more powerful. With the knockout still more than one month away, who knows how many progresses Lou Cheng and Lin Que will make in this period? We shouldn't predict it so early…" The Unparalleled Dragon King dare not to comment.
…
Shu Rui, the reporter of Songcheng TV station, interviewed Azure Dragon Squad at first since they were in a hurry to leave. Then she went to wait outside the locker room of the champion team, for the purpose to interview them one by one!
Liu Que was the first to come out. This cool and calm young man made Shu Rui wince a little since she recalled Liu Que's dry humor last time.
She asked cautiously, "Lin Que, is an interview convenient for you at present?"
Lin Que nodded.
Shu Rui cautiously chose selected words and said, "Lin Que, your pounce at Deng Hua just now was of more explosive power than usual, does it suggest you have preliminarily learned how to withdraw your strength?"
Lin Que answered seriously,
"That's a secret."
"Secret? We all know what that means!" Shu Rui was almost driven berserk.