Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
For the entire morning, Lou Cheng spent his time changing and washing four new set of clothes each while chatting on and off with Yan Zheke. It was only when the bedroom next door had opened that he went in and found Qin Mo sleeping on the opposite bed of Cai Zongming.
Qin Mo was a local rich kid, but he wasn’t as hedonistic as Tao Xiaofei. His indulgence had limits, and he had a relatively smart head up his shoulders. He wore a pair of gold rimmed spectacles and had a tall and thin figure. His countenance was clear and defined. He was the standard appearance of a cultured animal.
“Qin Mo, I need your help with something.” Lou Cheng said with a beaming smile.
Cai Zongming, who was chatting with his girlfriend opposite to him turned around to look at him with a look of gossip.
Qin Mo pushed his spectacles and asked with slight surprise, “What is it?”
“I’ve been here at Songcheng for half a year, but I haven’t got around and learned about this place. I’d like to experience the local delicacies during this time. Do you have any good recommendations?” Lou Cheng used a random reason and clarified his intent.
Qin Mo’s face was filled with sudden realization. “Yo, you’re chasing after a girl, aren’t you?”
“Why do you say that?” Lou Cheng replied with a question in surprise, On the other side, Cai Zongming could no longer hold back his smile.
Qin Mo chuckled and said, “If not a girl, are you looking to go out with a group of men then? Or are you planning to become a lonely gourmet? If that’s the case, then allow me to hold five minutes of silence for you.”
“Alright, alright, get to the point!” Lou Cheng let out a dry laugh and urged him.
After pondering for a moment, Qin Mo said, “Avoid Jiuxi Street. That place was fine in the past, but after it became famous it has been a place to fool foreign tourists. I’m just going to say whichever spots I prefer; you’ll have to select the right tastes yourself. There is some food that non-locals really can’t get used to...”
“Mm!” Lou Cheng put on the attitude of a young student paying attention in class and recorded the restaurant names, addresses, specialties and so on Qin Mo told him into his cell phone’s memorandum.
About ten minutes or so later, Lou Cheng was filled with a sense of accomplishment as he stared at the numerous records and sighed. “I’ll go on the internet later to check for reviews and confirm the tastes. Then I’ll circle out two or three places and check them these few days.”
“Check them?” Qin Mo looked a little confused.
Cai Zongming on the opposite side knew Lou Cheng very well, and he said after letting out a soft laugh, “He’s saying that he’s going to taste the food and make sure that his goddess will be satisfied with them.”
Lou Cheng added with a little bit of embarrassment, “She and I come from the same place, and she likes the local specialties I enjoy too. Concerning taste, we should be pretty similar to each other. If what I’m fine with those places then there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Plus, checking doesn’t just mean testing the food. I have to know the surrounding areas as well. For example, I need to know if there’s a cake shop in the area, and whether the cake shop has the kind of cake she enjoys, so she can bring it as her tomorrow breakfast. I may also need to check if there are cafes or quiet places to spend some time, if the theater is far away, if there are any movies suitable for girls recently and so on. At any rate, I need to familiarize myself a little with the surroundings so I wouldn’t be taking her on a pointless trip if we really are to head someplace.”
Qin Mo was stunned by what he heard. “So that’s what you mean... Cheng, seriously, you’re so earnest that I’m embarrassed to say I’ve chased a girl before!”
Back at middle and high school, he had spent quite a lot of effort in chasing the girls he liked. But even then he was never as earnest as Lou Cheng.
Of course, this was mainly due to the differences in their behavior and attitude in dealing with things. It was not a question of the sincerity of one’s feelings.
Student Xiao Ming turned on his taunt ability and mocked.
“He is what you call a diligent fool doubling his efforts to fix his own weakness!”
“As long as it can be fixed.” Lou Cheng paid no thought to his taunt and chirped, “Didn’t you always say that girls care a lot about intentions and attitude? My attitude is definitely in the right place, isn’t it?”
Cai Zongming let out a ‘heh’ and said, “It is more or less, but the problem is that the other party doesn’t know about it. What’s the bloody point if your counterpart doesn’t know how much effort and thoughts you spent!”
“Er, I never thought about letting her know about this. I just want to see her satisfied with the food, enjoy a good time, and be happy...” Lou Cheng said after a momentary blank.
“Sigh, student Cheng, when it comes to chasing girls you can’t just say and not practice, or practice and not say either. You have to let the other party know that you spend so much effort on her and touch her. Only then your efforts will be worthwhile.” Qin Mo at the side shared the same opinion as Cai Zongming’s.
Lou Cheng frowned and said, “But I can’t tell her these directly. It just looks like so extremely shallow and false.”
Cai Zongming scoffed. “Who told you to tell her directly? If it’s too direct then it’ll lose its hazy beauty and give the other party the feeling that you’re forcing them to feel moved. You’ll be adding pressure to her. Mm, when she asks you about something relevant, you can just mention indifferently that you’ve checked the spot for the date and it’ll be okay. Just stop here and let her fill in the blanks with her own imagination. The imagined beauty is also the kind of beauty that can touch oneself the most.”
Holy shit, Mouth King, your theoretical knowledge seriously just doesn’t stop coming!” The one who let out the exclamation wasn’t Lou Cheng but Qin Mo.
Cai Zongming spread out his hands with an arrogant look on his face. “Not only do I have theoretical knowledge, but I also have practical experiences as well!”
Lou Cheng memorized the instructions firmly and opened the calendar on his cell phone. He was confirming the time he would check out the spots, and then set the day right for the date.
Suddenly, he was startled when he saw the date. “Thursday is Valentine’s Day. S-shouldn’t I express a little something?”
It doesn’t look like right if I chose not to express anything. This’s a question of attitude!
There is no way to set the date on Valentine’s day directly either. I have to practice martial arts in the morning, and I have class during evening and night. This is my own timetable, and Yan Zheke should be just as busy.
Even if I could muster the courage to skip class, the girl who enjoyed studying might not necessarily be willing to skip class!
And even if she was willing, we couldn’t bloody get out!
Songcheng University’s new school district was under close management, and after the official start of a term, they were only allowed to enter and exit the venue during the weekends. Normally, they would need a teacher identity card or a postgraduate, Ph.D. student’s or final year student’s student identification card to ride on the school bus. For the first half of the semester, they could at least buy a few more spare tickets during the weekends and save it for other times, but later on, this tactic was defeated by the dates and ‘for use today only’ letters imprinted on every ticket.
In reality, with his skill, it really wasn’t a problem for him to get out of the university if he wanted to. he could do this just by finding a place where no one was looking, flipping over a wall and fence and resolving this. However, this didn’t look like the right thing to do when bringing a girl out on a first date...
Cai Zongming mouth twitched once. “Just what’re you trying to express? Just make sure you’re prepared for your date!”
“If you’re really worried, then select two or three dates with Valentine’s Day among them and let the other party make a choice. After all, you have to match times with her, right? This way, she’ll understand that you plan to date her on Valentine’s Day. You have presented your attitude, and whether she chooses to come out on that date is her problem. Of course, you’ll have to be more attentive and drop more hints on that day.”
“Understood!” Lou Cheng couldn’t help but feel that listening to the words of Casanova was superior to studying ten years of books!
Once he was done, he recalled another thing. “Mouth King, I brought up your request to Coach Shi. If you wish to participate in the special training, then you only need to meet up at the gathering tomorrow 8 a.m. at the martial gym.”
“Alright, I’ll pull my socks up!” Cai Zongming said with purposeful pretension.
...
After a day of web inquiry, review reading and selection, Lou Cheng locked down about two or three targets. he planned to take the two days before the term began to check out the spots.
It was early morning, and the sky was dark. He put on Songcheng University’s white martial arts suit with black borders and slow jogged to the quiet and secluded place he trained martial arts daily. He saw that Geezer Shi was already waiting for him.
“Show me your supernatural ability.” Geezer Shi said straightforwardly.
Of course, Lou Cheng wouldn’t rub his fingers and ignite his fire like a lighter. That would be way too ‘low’. He suddenly moved his arms and activated abrupt explosive force. With a pop, a layer of blaze appeared on the surface of his fist.
“That’s it?” Geezer Shi’s face was disdainful.
Lou Cheng sweatdropped and said, “Yeah. I’m still adapting and haven’t raised its power yet.”
“Maintain it. Let’s see how long you can maintain this blaze.” Geezer Shi muttered to himself.
The tiny blaze flickered under the cold wind. Lou Cheng had to spend tremendous effort to keep it from extinguishing instantly.
Before he knew it, Geezer Shi had fished out a cigarette and held it in his mouth. Then, he moved closer and lit the end of the smoke. He inhaled deeply before exhaling a puff of green smoke from his nose.
Then, Lou Cheng’s blaze was gone...
“This is all your blaze is worth right now to light up this cigar.” Geezer Shi ridiculed him and said, “In actual combat, it can only display a certain level of effect in a surprise attack. I was originally planning to teach you how to combine your supernatural ability to imitate a physical invulnerability move, but now? Hehe.”
“Combine supernatural ability to imitate a physical invulnerability move?” Lou Cheng replied with a question in surprise.
Geezer Shi said with slight disdain, “Many supernatural abilities are the weakened expression of a physical invulnerability move, so of course it can be imitated. That is why a supernatural ability user who can’t use supernatural abilities are at best the level of Amateur First Pin or Professional Ninth Pin. But when coupled with supernatural abilities, they have the chance of defeating a Dan stage martial artist at Seventh to Eighth Dan.
While speaking, he suddenly took a step forwards and curved his right arm, striking out a ball of translucent, snow white force. He wandered across the ground, and wherever he went foliage turned to ice, and the surroundings became frozen. When his fist hit a tree, a sheen of silver instantly covered its body and extinguished all of its life force.
Lou Cheng was somewhat frightened and stunned by the sight. As compared with watching a televised battle between physical invulnerability martial artists, being able to watch a move like this at close range was even more realistic and stunning!
His master really was a physical invulnerability Mighty One!
“Cough cough cough!” Geezer Shi coughed intensely for a long time before he cast a pleased glance at Lou Cheng. “Is my Ice Spirit Force not very similar to the Power of Frost?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Lou Cheng subconsciously nodded.
Geezer Shi calmed down and snickered on the inside. So what if you surprise me from time to time? You’ll still be shocked when facing my Ice Spirit Force!
He muttered to himself irresolutely and said, “Let me observe your Power of Blaze for some time and see if there is anyway to train it and increase its strength. Alright, let us begin today’s training. Today, I’ll teach you two new kungfu. One is based on your great attainment in meditation, ability to perceive and listen and Condensation Stance. It is called ‘Ice Mirror’, the weak version of Ice Sect’s ‘Enemy Heart Freezing Move’. At its peak, this kungfu will enable you to sense the general changes in your opponent’s muscles within a radius of two meters without touch.”
“However, this kungfu is extremely hard to train. Do strive to master the basics in two or three years’ time. Of course, you can’t completely rely on it, and you should combine it with the feedback you obtain from your eyes, nose, ears and so on. After so many years, there are plenty of sects who have developed moves to counter it. There are exceptions that can hide, mix up or cancel out the activities you should be sensing too.”
“There is also another new fighting style you need to practice, and it is called ‘Thunder Roar Zen’. This is a kind of kungfu your master has created himself by combining ‘Thunder Sect’s’ Lightning Force and ‘Ice Sect’s’ Freeze Force. Its expression at body refining state and Danqi Realm is eruption and collapse. This kungfu is also what is commonly known as Tremor Force. When a blow is connected, the force behind it will erupt explosively, causing your opponent’s body to tremble from outside to inside. It shakes the qi and blood and affects the five viscera and six bowels. It’s not something that can be blocked normally.”
“Before being a physical invulnerability martial artist, I once ventured into the war-torn zones and fought a life or death battle with a powerful enemy. I struck him with the Thunderous Zen Punch nineteen times in a row, and although he managed to block every hit in time, the shock still caused internal bleeding inside him. As a result, the longer we fought the weaker he became, and he ultimately died by my hands.”
Lou Cheng grew excited listening to his words. “It’s that powerful?”
Geezer Shi chuckled,
“I saw your competition videos. Didn’t you encounter a kid who uses the Modern Blast Punch? He hadn’t mastered his kungfu yet, and he only wielded the strength of a blasting artillery, but not the force behind a missile exploding upon contact. Otherwise, your stance would have been completely blown wide open, and you would not have been able to regain your balance as easily.”
“It is unfortunate that the supernatural ability you awakened isn’t frost. Otherwise, you could have mastered the killer move of ‘Thunder Roar Zen’, ‘Severe Warning’ beforehand. If that was the case, when you throw a punch at your enemy their entire body including their brain would become shaken. Your enemy would feel as if his mind was frozen by frost and show an obvious moment of stiffness.”
“I’ll try to ‘awaken’ the Power of Frost...” Lou Cheng quietly said on the inside. He was saying it as if awakening a supernatural ability was as easy as picking up a Pak Choi.
For the next period, he began learning the corresponding sets of practices, techniques of exertion and special visualization. Before he knew it, the time had approached 8 a.m. already. After finishing his breakfast swiftly, he hastily made his way to the martial arts gym.
The special training members and the newly joined Cai Zongming had already arrived at the venue. Lou Cheng swept a glance across the place, and he immediately spotted Yan Zheke beside Guo Qing. As the saying went, “men look good in black, and women look good in white.” Songcheng University’s white colored, black bordered martial arts suit seriously looked good on her and made her look full of vigor.
They both looked at each other and smiled with overflowing warmth. Lou Cheng walked up to Cai Zongming and the senior brother Li Mao who had paired up with him in an exercise last semester with light footsteps.
“Lou Cheng, you look like you’re in good spirits.” Li Mao greeted him.
Lou Cheng smiled and said, “Senior brother Li, you look a little stronger too.”
Li Mao said with great pride in his success, “I haven’t grown lax during the holidays, and I’ve mastered the 24 Blizzard Strikes taught to us. I believe I’m at the level of Amateur Second Pin now. I’d like to obtain more actual combat experience and strive to overcome my nervousness.”
“That’s great!” Lou Cheng praised sincerely.
The club manager Chen Changhua beside Li Mao also smiled and said, “Very good. It’d seem that our Martial Arts Club has qualified successors to take on the mantle.”
“Club manager Chen, I thought you have an internship to attend this term and can’t show up.” After the association at the district contest, Li Mao and Chen Changhua were no longer too estranged with each other.
Chen Changhua chuckled and said, “I’ve told the HR department of my company that I’d focus on preparing for April’s Ranking Event and strive to be of Professional Ninth Pin in one go. To my company, this’s no different from cutting down on costs, and when the chairman brings me along he can even hire one less bodyguard on his outings! This’s the advantage of a hybrid talent!”
“Relax, Li Mao, I won’t take away your chance to participate in actual combat. Lou Cheng, you’ll have to train hard too.”
Lou Cheng left quite the impression on him, who was the new student busy with logistics preparation last year, right?
While the crowd was busy talking and laughing with each other, Geezer Shi walked in and surveyed the surroundings one time. He motioned for everyone to fall silent, coughed twice and said,
“There’ll be no competitions this year. We’ll have to find our own opportunities to temper ourselves in actual combat. Therefore, my plans are for our Martial Arts Club to form a team and register to participate in the preliminaries.”
“Preliminaries?”
There was a buzz. Other than Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke who knew about this a long time ago, everyone else had lost their usual cool. Some people were surprised, and some were shocked.
They were actually going to use the entry competition into the professional martial arts circle as training!
After a while, everyone calmed down and looked to be brimming with joy. They awaited Geezer Shi’s latter words with high expectations.
Geezer Shi smiled slightly and said, “After a winter break, I can no longer grasp the full extent of your abilities quite accurately. Let’s have a versus battle latter so I can figure out your limits. But before this, I’ll announce the two leading players of the preliminaries.”
“Two leading players?” The crowd looked towards Lin Que and Chen Changhua.
“First lead, Lin Que.” Geezer Shi’s voice was slightly louder.
No one was surprised. They all thought it was only natural.
Geezer Shi coughed once before continuing.
“Second lead, Lou Cheng.”