Translator: Transn Editor: Lucas
In the biting cold wind, Dawkins felt a chill, struggling to get out of the unspeakable feeling. He subconsciously turned to look at Cao Jincheng, the mayor of Gao Fen.
Seeing nothing unpleasant, Cao Jincheng’s frown smoothed out into a faint smile.
“These days, the capable youths all have very strong personalities, with no interest in getting involved in these kinds of social occasions.”
After a moment of hesitation, the elegant, pretty female interpreter expressed Mayor Cao’s opinion to Dawkins and Mason Walker, emphasizing two main points.
First, the earlier martial arts competition was just a social occasion in which a win or a loss meant nothing to them.
Second, the real capable young fighters on their side were of strong character and didn’t participate in these friendly, social events.
Cao Jincheng would sound like he was bragging and reluctant to admit the defeat if he threw this line out earlier. But now he had nailed it perfectly.
Her interpretation changed Mason Walker’s facial expression and stiffened Dawkins’ smile. The entire delegation’s arrogance and high spirits were brought down.
Fortunately, several luxury buses arrived just in time to end the topic with a friendly farewell.
Oblak, who was being supported by the arm, was finally awake, muttering,
“That punch was magical... Very, very magical.”
Members of the Brutale Delegation looked at each other with surprise. They pushed Oblak into the vehicle.
When their fleet disappeared into the distance, Cao Jincheng revealed his confusion, tilting his head and looking at Wang Mingkang, the head of the Divine Fire Club.
“Who was that?”
Wang Mingkang was a few steps behind and had missed the engagement. Puzzled, he turned to Zhang Zhutong for help.
Zhang Zhutong heaved a silent sigh.
“Lou Cheng.”
“Lou Cheng?” Han Zhifei suddenly realized why the figure seemed so familiar from behind...
“Lou Cheng... The champion of the provincial youth tournament!” Luo Zhong, the deputy mayor in charge of martial arts-related matters, remembered this name.
“No wonder.” Cao Jincheng felt relieved and gratified, commenting with some emotion, “That young man did it so considerately.”
Originally from Xiushan, Lou Cheng’s household register had been transferred to Songcheng and he didn’t have any career ties to Gao Fen. He had nothing to do with this city at all. If he fought in the competition, the Brutale Delegation might find out and they would lose face terribly for cheating, which would affect the business and commercial trade between the two cities.
When he passed by casually and lured Oblak to start a fight like this, it became a completely different story!
“This young man has a great sense of honor for this province... ” thought Mayor Cao.
He didn’t even think about the fact that Lou Cheng might just be passing by accidentally.
“He-heh... How is that possible?”
“Inform all relevant personnel that no one recognized who the young fighter was in case the Brutale Delegation questions about it,” Cao Jincheng ordered his secretary.
Listening to their conversation, Zhang Zhutong looked at Han Zhifei with mixed feelings in his eyes, finding a similar tinge of emotion in theirs.
At this moment, the words Lou Cheng had said to him during the semi-finals suddenly came to his head.
“I don’t need anyone to tell me if I’m qualified or not. In one, two, or three years, I hope you still have the balls and confidence to say something like that.”
The words were still echoing in his ears. It had only been half a year!
...
Getting off across the street from Mingqi International Hotel, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke crossed the road leisurely and entered the hotel lobby holding hands, putting an end to this date of fate and dreamy day trip.
While Lou Cheng was taking a shower, Yan Zheke changed into cute pajamas with bunny ears hanging down from her chest.
Barefoot, she half sat on the bed and picked up her vibrating phone.
“Hello, Shuang. What’s up so late?”
“Ke, your Cheng is terrible!” said Gu Shuang bluntly.
“What did he do?” Yan Zheke asked, puzzled.
Gu Shuang ground her teeth. “He promised he wouldn’t get involved in the match with the Brutale Delegation last night. But today he went to the beetle stadium and kicked their promising star fighter’s ass!”
“Hmm! He went back on his word!”
“Ahh? That was the Brutale Delegation? No wonder there were some capable foreigners... ” Yan Zheke suddenly came to a realization and hurried to clear the misunderstanding. “He didn’t mean it. We had a ‘following the heart’ trip today. We got on random buses and hopped off at random stops. Somehow we ended up at the beetle stadium and that foreign combatant issued a challenge to Cheng.”
“Hah... Pretty romantic.” Gu Shuang poked fun at her before introducing the foreign fighter. “What a chance! The combatant knocked down by your Cheng was Oblak, who had just defeated Zhang Zhutong, Han Zhifei, and Qiu Shan back to back in the beetle stadium, humiliating those uncles, aunts, grandpas, and grannies.”
“I see... Cheng was saying the foreign combatant was very close to exhaustion.” Yan Zheke affirmed some details.
“But he is best known for his abnormally great physical strength, which is not far from the Inhuman stage, similar to your Cheng.” Gu Shuang continued to reveal more information with some chuckles. “Bring your Cheng to the party for me! I must show those jerks I have such a great genius friend.”
“Go and find your own!” Yan Zheke pretended to be annoyed and teased her.
Gu Shuang chuckled. “Speaking of which, today I set a new personal goal. I’m going to lure some.”
“What can I do with you? Why can’t you have a proper relationship? What’s the point frequently changing boyfriends?” Yan Zheke couldn’t resist teasing her. “It could go terribly wrong if you chanced upon an extremist.”
“I never date multiple guys at the same time. I just break up when I no longer feel like being together,” argued Gu Shuang.
“Fine. Enough about you.” Yan Zheke rationally ended the topic. “We can talk more on QQ.”
“OK.” Gu Shuang hung up.
Holding her mobile, Yan Zheke subconsciously called out,
“Cheng, I have something to tell you.”
Then she realized Cheng was still in the shower.
“Err... The water is too loud for him to hear anything... ” Yan Zheke heard the water sound suddenly stop.
The bathroom door was pulled open and Lou Cheng popped his upper body out.
“What is it?”
Looking at his bare chest, dripping water, and wet hair, Yan Zheke instantly closed her eyes and spoke like a spoiled child,
“Can you ask after putting some clothes on?”
She opened her left eye a little bit to secretly glance at him and chuckled. “Not bad, your figure...”
“You are more than welcome to touch it,” replied Lou Cheng with no shame.
“Hmph!” Yan Zheke turned her head away. “Shuang said the foreigner you just knocked out is Oblak, a talented young martial artist from the Brutale Delegation.”
Her head turned back and her eyes were wide open, glancing up and down.
“The Brutale Delegation... No wonder... ” Lou Cheng was in a trance, shaking his head slightly. “Sadly, we didn’t have a proper fight. It feels like swallowing a date without chewing.”
Brutale was a branch of the Mission Sect, one of the leading martial arts streams in the western world. It boasted the will, manipulated the spirit, and controlled the body with faith. However, they didn’t have the process of Force Concentration or the form of the big Dan. They believed in ten primitive materials in the human body, each bearing a specific emblem. Once these were refined and mastered, a tree of life would grow to reach the final crown.
These ten primitive materials were located separately. Every time three of them got aroused and revealed, a specific ability would be unlocked as if a superpower had been awakened. And these superpowers would assist and support each other to create strong points, like physical strength and power.
Compared to the Dan stage martial arts, such combat sects were much weaker in terms of the Absolute Reaction without the smooth and thorough unification of the body strength. However, they had the great explosive force and specialty enhancement.
Lou Cheng learned about this from the Longhu Club forum. Other than that, he knew nothing about them.
“Didn’t you say there would be plenty opportunities in the future?” said Yan Zheke with a grin.
“True.” Lou Cheng went back to the washroom and dried his body and hair before coming out in his nightclothes.
Standing close to the bed, he locked his eyes on Yan Zheke, who was lying there like a doll, and grinned.
“Somebody wanted to kiss me just now?”
“That damn guy interrupted my sweet kiss!”
“Not me! Not me!” Yan Zheke shook her head like a rattle-drum with happiness in her eyes.
“Well, if you don’t want to admit it, I’ll come and kiss you!” Lou Cheng got in bed.
“If you don’t smile at your man, your man will smile at you... ”
...
In the hotel where the Brutale Delegation was staying...
Oblak was sitting on a sofa in the lobby with a blank expression, lost in a trance.
“Hey, Oblak, don’t be like this! You challenged the man after three intense fights. Come! Have a few drinks and you’ll feel better.” The black-haired Charles approached with two glasses of wine.
Johney agreed, “According to my lovely, beautiful, and bright Sandee, a sudden encounter doesn’t mean anything. Have a good night’s sleep and get ready for a brand new day!”
Abruptly, Oblak stood up and rushed to the elevator to visit his master, Mason Walker, on the 25th floor.
“What’s the matter?” Mason Walker gazed at his student with his deep blue eyes.
“Master, I want to fight with that superpower bearer one more time!” Oblak blurted out.
After thinking for a dozen seconds, Mason Walker answered, “We’ve already asked those gentlemen of Gao Fen but none of them recognized the young man, or maybe they just don’t want to tell us. We can’t stay long.”
“But... ” Oblak attempted to try harder.
Mason Walker smiled. “A capable superpower bearer like him will grow more and more famous. As long as you keep on pushing yourself, you will meet him one day!”
Foreign countries highly valued Chinese martial arts circles, but their attention was mainly focused on the top class professional tournaments and title matches.
“I hope so... ” Oblak heaved a sigh.