After speaking his mind, Geezer Shi was about to roll down the window to breathe the fresh air when he found Lou Cheng staring at him with complicated facial expression. So he asked gruffly, "You brat, what are you thinking about with such a stupid look?"
Lou Cheng was considering his master's condition with a heavy heart. Initially, he had thought it was because of Geezer Shi's old age and chronic ailment as coughing occasionally was now troubling him after such a stunning performance, which would calm down after a while. However, he soon realized how terrible Geezer Shi's condition was after chatting with his senior sister.
In modern society where ordinary people could live to 60 on average because of the development of science and technology, it was so astonishing that a physical- invulnerability master should have only seven or eight years to live!
Thinking of this, Lou Cheng recalled master Shi's figure walking in the snowfield along with the brutal blizzard, hands behind his back, which made his nose twitched.
Since Senior sister said that my master attached great importance to his image and reputation, which was confirmed by my daily observation, I can't look at him with a pitying look or act like a sentimental girl in front of him… After balancing all the possibilities, Lou Cheng forced a smile.
"I'm recalling what happened just now. I always know you are a powerful master, but your immortal-like performance was still out of my expectation. You've made snow in August without even waving your hand! You've painted the world white…"
Being satisfied with Lou Cheng's praise, Geezer Shi sighed and replied modestly. "I'm not as energetic as ever. In those days I could simply make it without borrowing energy from the Ice Pulp."
You brat, have you been shocked by me this time!
Hearing their conversation, Shi Yuejian shook head with a smile while driving into the villa district and finally parking the car in her garage.
After the three of them entered Shi Yuejian's house, she put on slippers and said to Lou Cheng in a relaxed tone. "Just make yourself at home and I won't treat you as a guest. I'm going to cook pear stewed with rock sugar for your master."
Sensing Lou Cheng's confused eyes, she paused and tilted her head to one side. "Well, what's so strange?"
"No, I just have never expected a physical-invulnerability master to cook by herself." Lou Cheng explained with a smile.
"It's my hobby to cook. I like to make dishes in free time. It's likely that I would be a chef or baker if I didn't have talent in martial arts." Shi Yuejian laughed slightly while walking towards the open kitchen.
"Remember to cool it down, or it will taste bad in the hot summer." Geezer Shi shouted at her daughter's back.
Lou Cheng was about to complete the task with the power of frost voluntarily when he heard Shi Yuejian laughing as a compromise. "Okay, okay. I'll cool it down with Ice Spirit Force."
Er, no wonder she is a physical-invulnerability master of Ice Sect. I'd better stop showing off in the presence of such an expert… Wiping off the imaginary cold sweat on his forehead, Lou Cheng sat down in front of Geezer Shi and asked with concern, "Master, are there any developments in the study about Cultivation?"
If there was light ahead, maybe he could comprehend by analogy and lay the roots for his curing Geezer Shi in the future.
"Not any great developments, or those old guys would have already called me to show off." Geezer Shi replied with a contemptuous look, "Since I'm going to the secret base of the military tomorrow, I'll visit them on the way and fetch you some materials. Anyway, I've made contributions to the country, so they will give me a regular physical examination every year. I would go there two days ago if you brat hadn't won the youth champion and let your senior uncle now."
Regular physical examination? Lou Cheng suddenly recalled that Geezer Shi had told him before that his job was to "be examined by others."
Just when Lou Cheng was struggling to keep the smile off of his face, the old man Shi coughed and said,
"Since you decided to mix cultivation methods with martial arts, you have to grope step by step for there were no predecessors before, which would add to the difficulties. As your master, all I can do is just to offer you some suggestions based on my experience before you reached the state of physical invulnerability. But you should be mentally prepared after that."
"Master, I understand," answered Lou Cheng after a deep breath.
It was the price he must pay to maintain his greatest strength.
Struggling to behave like a serious master for no more than one minute, Geezer Shi gave up and began tut-tutting, "It's not necessarily terrible since misfortune and fortune were interdependent and inter-contained. As a talented one among normal warriors, you were still unable to match those once-in-a-century brilliant ones like Warrior Sage Qian Donglou, Zhi Hai of Daxing Temple, Peng Leyun of Shangqing Sect and your master…"
"If you keep learning and practicing according to the normal procedure, I can predict what level you'll reach within how many years with nearly no errors. So you'll hardly get neither pleasant surprise nor any chances to catch up with those ahead in that way. As for the new road you chose, there must be many challenges and uncertainties waiting for you, they will also bring you hopes and possibilities."
"But it was still too early to give my verdict on you now since you and Dragon King were much alike and he has been practicing martial arts according to normal procedure."
He didn't mention Shi Shan, the Reincarnated Buddha of Daxing Temple.
Shi Yuejian protested in the kitchen, "Dad, how come senior brother is like the Dragon King?"
Placing the stockpot on the stove, she washed hands and came back to the living room. "Considering the Dragon King's an abnormal lust for victory, how come my senior brother is like him?"
"Well, Dragon King's lust for victory is much more abnormal than you could imagine." Geezer Shi agreed with her.
Lou Cheng was immediately attracted by their conversation as the Dragon King's fan.
"Senior sister, could you please tell me some details about the Dragon King?"
Whether it was in interviews or TV broadcasting, the imagine of Dragon King was always veiled for official package. But as the leading player of Wuyue Club and physical-invulnerability warrior in the upper martial arts circle, Lou Cheng's senior sister often had the chance to deal with Dragon King and thus the Dragon King she knew might be more real.
Observing the change of his attitude, Shi Yuejian said with a smile. "So you are Dragon King's fan? Okay, we Wuyue Club will go to the south China to challenge Longhu Club. Thought I might not fight against him directly, what about introducing you to him after the competition? Will you go there with me? Dragon King's usually kind to his fans."
Though being greatly moved by her words, Lou Cheng suddenly recalled that he had already asked for a few days' leave and replied pitifully, "I must go back to work the day after tomorrow for I can't always ask for leave after getting paid. Senior sister, remember to bring me the next time you're going to meet Dragon King, and I won't stand on ceremony then. Anyway the Dragon King is always there and I can certainly get the chance one day!"
After getting the 0.6 million bonus, it was actually not necessary for him to do the part-time job. But the champion of youth tournament as well as the bonus was just a coincidence he had never expected to get, so it was morally for him to continue to help the Gushan Martial Arts School as promised.
A promise is weightier than one thousand bars of gold!
"All right, my junior brother. I suddenly feel you're a little like Dragon King because of your self-control." Shi Yuejian nodded with emotion and continued, "so you are going back to Xing province tomorrow? Your brother-in-law is still abroad so you won't see him this time. We are now in such a hurry and no one knows what the senior uncle is thinking about as the sect chief."
After adding something to this topic, Lou Cheng again mentioned what they were talking about just now while wondering the implication of senior sister's words.
"You said the Dragon King was usually kind to his fans, so what about to the other warriors?"
According to his antics and lots of gossip news, the Dragon King Chen Qitao was a combination of pride and inferiority, who was said to be vain, harsh, overbearing and narrow-minded.
Thinking for a while, Shi Yuejian replied, "Just as what I've said, Dragon King has an abnormal lust for victory. So he is kind to his teammates and fellow disciples in some aspect but harsh to them in other aspects. As for treating his opponents and enemies, he's unwilling to fail anyhow and would even throw tantrums regardless of his mighty-one manner after losing a game to some lucky dogs."
"When the winner is also a Warrior Sage, he would get even angrier since he pays much attention to the external evaluation especially the comparison between him and another Warrior Sage."
"But I have to say that he is a respectful fighter, which no one would deny even those physical-invulnerability warriors hate him. An acknowledged fact among us is that there is only one warrior Sage Qian Donglou in one thousand years, and he is the genius able to surpass all the contemporary fighters. While it's astonishing for someone to be a physical-invulnerability warrior at 23 or 24, he has already reached First Pin at 24 and gotten his first title."
"There's a large gap between Dragon King's talent and Qian Donglou's, and you can hardly imagine how many efforts and sacrifices he has made in order to not be defeated by the Warrior Sage Qian Donglou."
Geezer Shi tut-tutted, "I know what you said very well for I have fighting with Dragon King, no, the boy Chen Qitao for a period in those days."
"Excuse me? Master, when did that happen?" Lou Cheng was confused.
Why didn't he know it as the Dragon King's big fan?
Geezer Shi giggled. "Do you remember that Chen Qitao has once disappeared for almost a whole year without attending any Challenge Tournaments, which he explained as being treating with his injuries."
"I remember that. He hasn't gotten any titles then." Lou Cheng nearly approached the truth.
"He had made it to the finals of several Title Tournaments one year ago but lost to Qian Donglou in all of them, which greatly disappointed the mass media who published varieties of articles to doubt his qualification to parallel the Warrior Sage. " Shi Yuejian replied, "it seriously affected Dragon King's attitude towards martial arts, and he soon applied to come to the war area after cutting his hair to make a vow, where he spent ten months on the edge of life and death. When he came back to the martial arts circle, he defeated Qian Donglou three times and got three titles within one year."
Leaning on the sofa, Geezer Shi recalled, "Chen Qitao was already of First Pin at that time, so there was little room for him to make progress. But he was too crazy and stubborn then that you could never imagine that, and no one had expected he should have made such a great change as if shedding his mortal body and exchanging his bones."
Hearing the old stories of Dragon King, Lou Cheng was fuming in excitement with an urge to see him soon.
A true fighter should be like him!
"Qian Donglou is a generation younger than me, but I should also call him Warrior Sage out of respect. He has many common shortcomings of gift ones like being too lazy to stand instead of sitting down or to sit down instead of lying in bed. Though initially he was still able to keep working hard out of his lust for the title, he soon relaxed his will to make progress after achieving success and winning recognition for in his eyes he was invincible. Just at that time, the Dragon King appeared and almost destroyed all his self-confidence, which again cheered him up and forced him to make the most of his talent." Geezer Shi gossiped with great enthusiasm.
"It could be said that the present Warrior Sage wouldn't appear if it was not for the Dragon King's stimulation, and still the Dragon King would be at the present level if he hasn't set the Warrior Sage as his goals. So they are worth the title Legendary Twins." Shi Yuejian again sighed with emotion.
Lou Cheng listened to her carefully with great interest and burning blood.
Were them the true Dragon King and Warrior Sage?
After lunch, Geezer Shi led him to the second floor, gave him two visualization picture and then said jokingly,
"They are Burning Picture and Zhu Rong Picture, just go to find the core and charm of them by yourself. You can bring them home, but I won't help you if you lose them and you should compensate for them yourself."
"Thank you, master." Ignoring Geezer Shi's joke, Lou Cheng took over the visualization pictures in excitement. While one of them was filled with colorful flames than make him feel as if standing by a burning sea, there was a god of fire with beast face drawn in the other picture, who was suppressing the flame, fierce and powerful.
Noticing Lou Cheng's excitement, Geezer Shi walked towards the door, cleared his throat and then said calmly,
"You brat, remember to email the videos you took just now to your master."
"Eh?" Lou Cheng looked at his master in bewilderment.