Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Geezer Shi matched eyes with Lin Que for several seconds before he smiled suddenly.
“Good! You should not be afraid! A newborn calf should not be afraid of a tiger!”
After saying this, he looked at Lou Cheng and tightened his fist in a rare gesture and said,
“You’ll go second. Lin Que is the hammer who’ll make a breakthrough. You’re the chisel who follows closely behind him. Even if the enemy is an impenetrable fortress, you’ll bore a hole in him!”
Lou Cheng was in the prime of his youth, and he felt spurred by Geezer Shi’s words until his blood pumping. He said without hesitation,
“Got it!”
Geezer Shi nodded in satisfaction before clapping once. “As long as we can bore a hole, dampen their spirits and suppress their shouts, and then today’s victory is ours. The next time we’re here, we’ll penetrate this place fair and square!”
“Sun Jian, you’ll have to prepare seriously. You’ll get the chance to enter the stage today. Perform well.”
“Yes, coach!” Sun Jian was both slightly nervous and excited.
The fact that they appeared on stage in such an atmosphere made them felt both nervous and excited.
After he was done raising morale and arranging the order of appearance, Geezer Shi checked his watch and said, “There’re still ten minutes, don’t be in a hurry to get out yet. Let’s do a warm up in the locker room first to pull some muscles and get your body familiarized. I’ve already talked about fighting style during morning training, so I won’t be repeating myself long-windedly.”
Lou Cheng assumed a stance and slowly stretched his hands and feet, slowly pushing his status towards a peak. He had cultivated ‘Thunder Roar Zen’ for over a week, and he had slowly figured out the martial art’s threshold. If he wished to deliver the ‘Force of Tremors’, and then his force must have an ‘eruption’ process when he was hitting his opponent. Just like how a bomb would hit its enemy before exploding outwards, he would create an impact using a single point to carry over a shockwave.
To complete this point, his force must have a ‘withdrawal’ and ‘compression’ process beforehand. Moreover, he must maintain them until he hit his opponent before venting, and he could not unleash it with the usual push and explosive behavior of a punch. This was a great test of his control over his body, muscle and skin.
Thanks to the training he had with Yan Zheke last time, he had gained some understanding on how to ‘withdraw’ and control. He could not wait for the moment he mastered them thoroughly.
Time passed slowly. His sleeves were tugged, the air flowed slowly, and his mind was clear. Lou Cheng withdrew both arms and stood properly once more, exhaling.
He had just withdrawn his stance before Geezer Shi coughed twice and said,
Alright, get ready to head out.”
The rest of the people hurriedly ended their warm up and followed behind Geezer Shi. They walked out of the locker room and stepped into the ‘pool of dragons and den of tigers.’
The audiences who numbered over ten thousand let out deafening noises in unison the second they saw them, causing one’s heart to jump and their breath to shorten.
“Get out of here!”
“Crawl out of here!”
Despite facing the foul mouthed shouts, Geezer Shi looked relaxed as he strode leisurely towards the front. While clicking his tongue, he said to Lou Cheng and the others, “Do you hear that? If you can shut them up for even a moment, and then today’s trip is not in vain!”
Speaking of which, it was strange that his low chuckle clearly entered every preliminaries member’s ears despite the deafening noises around them.
Infected by Geezer Shi’s easy nonchalance, Lou Cheng made a fist as his expectations for the match later overcame his own fears.
He stretched out his left hand and held Yan Zheke’s right hand. He used his own calmness to calm down the girl’s heartbeat that had quickened without her realizing it.
Yan Zheke was initially startled. Then, she turned her head around and cast him a glance. There was a smile in her eyes, and a pair of dimples appeared faintly on her face. She held her head high and walked to the front while still holding hands with him like a proud princess.
The crowd had just arrived at the away team’s seats when they discovered that Li Xiaowen, the person responsible for submitting the name list to the match supervisor was waiting for them already. She spoke as quickly as a machine gun, “Qiu Yang isn’t up. The contestant who replaced him is Tan Ming of Amateur First Pin. Wei Shengtian will take the helm personally with Dong Yi at the second.”
The slightly jumbled words caused Lou Cheng and everyone else to become startled. They all looked at Lin Que in unison.
It would seem that the rivals had come face to face with each other!
Lin Que turned his head sideways and looked towards the ring. He slowly pulled off the clothes draped outside his martial arts suit.
The referee glanced at the electronic clock before he summoned the force in his Dantian and spoke with a voice that overcame all the shouts in the entire place.
“The second round of the Songcheng division preliminaries, Fearless Squad versus Songcheng University Martial Arts Club.”
“Round one, Wei Shengtian versus Lin Que!”
He had just said this when shouts several times louder than before erupted from the spectator’s grandstand,
“Yimo!”
After a short pause, they roared again,
“Invincible Wei!”
Yimo the Invincible Wei!
Lin Que’s face was still expressionless as he tossed his coat onto the seat. While walking towards the shouts that filled the entire martial arts arena, he took one step after another to the edge of the ring, climbed up the stone stairs and got on the ring.
Under everyone’s cheers, Wei Shengtian also stood up from his seat like half a steel tower and reached the ring in just a couple of large steps.
When both parties had stood still, the referee quietly counted the time and said,
“The three minutes dialogue time begins now.”
The surrounding crowd immediately began hurling waves of abuses and greeted Lin Que’s ancestors and female relatives. Yan Zheke’s face was flushed when she heard the abuses, and she was so angry that even her breathing had grown uneven.
Lou Cheng held her soft hand and sensed the change in her body brought by intense emotions. He shook her hand slightly and said,
“Don’t be angry. Just think of them as a bunch of barking mad dogs.”
It wasn’t that he wasn’t pissed off either. He made up his mind on the inside to silence the entire arena even for just a dozen or so seconds!
Yan Zheke pursed her lips and nodded. “I know they’re trying to disrupt my cousin’s mind. This’s a ring match, and one should not be scrupulous about their methods. But, but still! I’m so angry! I’ve never been yelled at this badly in my life!”
She pouted as she spoke.
“I’ll fight to complete my small goal!” Lou Cheng said seriously.
“Ah?” Yan Zheke immediately shook her head like a rattle-drum. “I’m not angry anymore!”
“You have to maintain your state of mind and not be affected by your surroundings, got it?”
“I got it, Coach Yan!” Lou Cheng laughed in a low tone.
Yan Zheke snickered and matched his smile. She had forgotten about the background noises.
After this talk, she had forgotten about her initial nervousness and fears too.
...
On top of the ring, Wei Shengtian stared at Lin Que who was adjusting his physical condition and smiled faintly, saying,
“Your qi and blood is at its vigorous peak, and you are only one step away from achieving Dan stage. How unfortunate. In the end, one step is one step.”
“I know that you guys are planning to take one or two rounds of victories so that you may leave Yimo proudly. But I’ll not allow you to succeed. I’ll personally dispel all of your delusions!”
While speaking, he swayed his head side to side as if stretching his muscles and displaying his scorn.
While listening quietly, Lin Que suddenly said,
“The more you speak, the more you show the fear inside your heart.”
“I’m afraid? You think I, as a fighter of Dan stage, am afraid of you, a Professional Ninth Pin? Tell me, on what basis do you think that’s true? On what basis?” Wei Shengtian was both amused and annoyed as he snorted disdainfully at Lin Que’s words.
However, Lin Que no longer said anything from the opposite side of the ring. Just like a Buddha that was carved from stone, he did not show any signs of emotions at all no matter how Wei Shengtian tried to provoke him.
After taunting for two full minutes, Wei Shengtian suddenly came to a stop. It was because he discovered that he had grown a little flighty and impetuous.
His opponent had only spoken up once, but somehow he managed to make him flighty and impetuous!
His grasp of the human mind is pretty good, I see...
Wei Shengtian withdrew his mind, adjusted his mind and restored himself to his usual state. It was at this moment the referee raised his right hand and shouted loudly,
“Begin! ”
There was a flash in Wei Shengtian’s eyes, and with a bow-like back he darted away from the ground and shot towards Lin Que. The muscles all over his body bulged, and he looked as if he was a little taller and bigger than he should be. He raised his right hand and formed a fist, looking like he was holding a giant hammer over his head. He looked like he would swing downward at any moment and blow away any enemy standing in his way!
Lin Que did not attempt to forcibly defend himself against Wei Shengtian who was charging towards him like a giant spirit statue. Instead, he suddenly retreated backward.
Normally speaking, a fighter would not dodge like this. This was because they could not see the path behind them, and it was difficult to maintain their own center of gravity. This was the equivalent of putting them in an unfavorable position. However, Lin Que was like an agile mountain goat whose footwork was quick and orderly rhythmic. His center of gravity was steadily maintained.
Even more important was the fact that he had ‘retreated’ so he could move ‘forwards’!
He retreated three steps in a row, forcing Wei Shengtian to chase three steps further for him. When Wei Shengtian’s imposing energy was starting to subside, Lin Que suddenly paused like a nail that was nailed deeply on the spot. He put strength beneath his legs, twisted his back and threw out a Mountain Blast Punch loudly with his right hand.
Confident in his abilities, Wei Shengtian’s hammer-like right hand did not change its course and continued to smash fiercely towards Lin Que.
The Hammer That Opens Mountains!
Bang!
The duo had just clashed against one another when Lin Que’s back abruptly wriggled like a turning dragon. His right arm withdrew itself like a spring and borrowed a tremendous amount of force from his opponent. If the end of a lever was pressed down, the other end would most certain rose upward then. His temple bulged, and his back twisted. He formed a fist with his left hand and punched out as quickly as a meteor.
Unable to dodge in time, Wei Shengtian lowered his shoulders and raised his left arm horizontally in defense in front of him, blocking the punch.
Bang! Wei Shengtian felt as if a bomb blasted him. He felt as if every joint of his bones, every inch of his skin and every piece of flesh in his body was shaking. For a short time, he wasn’t able to summon his strength.
Yin-yang Twist and Meteor Force!
Lin Que was afraid that his own strength wasn’t enough to shake Wei Shengtian, so he had purposely taken the risk to execute ‘Yin-yang Twist’ and borrowed a portion of the enemy’s strength!
Wei Shengtian had watched Lin Que’s earlier match video before, but because he had dispatched his Amateur First Pin opponent instantly, he wasn’t able to glean anything from it at all. As such, he actually fell for the trick.
Lin Que did not relax just because he had scored a successful strike. Seeing that Wei Shengtian had turned stiff, he clenched his thighs and whipped out his right leg towards the spot between Wei Shengtian’s legs with a bang.
The surrounding abuses grew even more intense when the crowd saw this.
At a critical moment, Wei Shengtian’s body abruptly withdrew unto itself as his spirit, qi and blood, aura and strength seemed to condense into a single entity and wrapped unto itself into a big dan that was round and flawless. He stopped shaking.
An instant later, his strength erupted and gushed out from a single point of his body. His right leg kicked outward to block Lin Que’s whip kick.
Bang! The two legs clashed, and Lin Que immediately sensed a tremendous amount of strength from his opposition. He could no longer maintain his center of gravity, so he let the energy wash over him as stumbled backward.
Despite such a tremendous eruption of power, Wei Shengtian’s feet actually did not break the ground surface or his martial arts shoes. One could see that his control over his own body had reached a terrifying stage.
Scoring a blow, he mercilessly stepped downwards and dashed abruptly towards Lin Que. In the blink of an eye, he had made it in front of Lin Que as he bulged up his muscles, wanting to ram into the opponent fiercely using his entire body as a giant hammer.
Body Hammer Pound!
Lin Que had just stabilized his center of gravity before he was immediately met with the attack. His situation looked precarious, and the attack seemed impossible to dodge. Yan Zheke was so nervous she could not help but tighten her grip over Lou Cheng’s palm and hold her breath.
It was at this moment Lin Que instantly visualized the image of a meteor crossing through the sky and slamming into the ground. His muscles abruptly tightened, and a force abruptly exploded inside his body and pushed him two steps to the side. The dodge made Wei Shengtian missed and exploded only the air.
‘Meteor Force’ could be used on more than just attacks!
After dodging Wei Shengtian’s Body Hammer Pound by the skin of his teeth, Lin Que chose not to turn around and instead pushed with both his legs, tightened his right arm and whip towards the back of Wei Shengtian’s head at the side.
Pop!
Forget Bright Stone Force. Even an actual rock would be whipped into pieces under such a fierce whip strike!
The audiences subconsciously clenched their fists.