Translator: Transn Editor: Lucas
Lou Cheng was stunned at Geezer Shi’s odd smile.
“What am I supposed to do? Challenge them?”
“What are you thinking about?” Geezer Shi said gruffly. “Haixi, Dinghai, and Hanchi all have their own physical-invulnerability warriors. And you are just a Sixth-Pin fighter, no, not even Sixth Pin yet. Why do you think you can challenge them? Are you going to court death?”
Lou Cheng carefully chose his words and said,
“I mean challenging the younger disciples.”
Geezer Shi gave him a “you’re overthinking” look and explained, “Now that you are being compared with Peng Leyun and Ren Li, do you think that you’ve surpassed all the young disciples in the Wuyue Club? The youngest Inhuman fighter here is 25 years old. That’s a good five years older than you! Apart from meeting you during competitions, why would they challenge you normally? Don’t you think they would feel embarrassed? Even Peng Leyun would be defeated in such situations.”
“As for the young Sixth-Pin fighters except for you, the youngest is already 23 years old. Though he began learning martial arts earlier than you, you are actually likely to defeat him. So he won’t feel proud if you lose to him while fighting and learning from each other, but he would be disgraced if he were defeated by you. Are they stupid enough to do this?”
“You’re also not arrogant enough to challenge those boys, right?”
“Sounds reasonable.” Lou Cheng nodded. “So what’s Senior Master’s intention in asking me to visit those sects? It’s not just to say ‘happy new year,’ right?”
Geezer Shi laughed. “Of course not. Just think about it, since you are one of the most talented fighters among the younger generation, comparable with Peng Leyun and Ren Li, all the other sects will respect you when you visit them, right? And all the girls and boys there will admire us!”
“So Senior Master just wants to show me off in front of the other sects?” Lou Cheng finally understood it. “Then what shall I do if there are some aggressive young disciples challenging me?”
“Are you afraid of them?” Geezer Shi stared at him.
“Of course not!” Lou Cheng smiled. After thinking for a while, he asked Geezer Shi, “But what do you mean by that odd smile?”
The smile was actually kind and gentle!
This unusual smile made him worry that something terrible was waiting for him!
“I always smile like this!” Geezer Shi denied everything.
Lou Cheng still looked at him with great suspicion.
Geezer Shi sighed while turning the flagon upside down to let the remaining drops of wine flow into his throat.
“I just think that those sects may think that you are showing off in front of them and thus will no longer have a good impression of you. When you want to join the top competitions for the Wuyue Club in the future, you might be marginalized by the other team members, and Longhu or Shushan Study are likely to be your next choice”
“So you just want to force me out!” Lou Cheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Well, you should go out and see the world!” Geezer Shi cooked up an excuse to change the topic back. “Yes or no?”
“Okay, I want to see the King of Spear and Clown in person,” Lou Cheng said with expectation.
“While Gu Jianxi seldom joins in the fun, Huang Ke is a man of few words. It’s so boring to meet them.” Geezer Shi refuted what Lou Cheng said. “That’s it, I’ll tell your senior master and you can go tomorrow morning and visit them one by one.”
“Okay.” After Lou Cheng finished talking, he went out of Xuefeng Palace and saw Mo Jingting waiting for them.
“Junior Master, let’s go to KTV tonight. Senior Brother Zhu and Junior Brother Lei will both be there to celebrate your birthday. Do you want to listen to my voice in its full glory?” Mo Jingting smiled happily.
“Well, probably another day. I’ve got something important to do tonight,” Lou Cheng replied.
“Something important?” Mo Jingting began considering his words. “Okay, let’s go there another day.”
The so-called important thing was to spend his birthday night with the one most important to him. After eating his Senior Sister’s cake, he began learning the 12th movement of the Ice Sect, “North Wind”, the 17th movement, “Polar Ground”, and the 28th movement, “Frost Freeze”. As for the simplified physical invulnerability, the Fire Sect’s “Internal Explosion”, Geezer Shi did not bring it with him this time since they were in the Ice God Sect and it might not be proper for them to practice another sect’s kung fu.
After finishing all this, Lou Cheng gave his mom, Qi Fang, a call and then began spending his birthday with Yan Zheke through video chat.
The girl was wearing a bear-shaped outfit with freshly washed hair. Her hair was black and shiny, setting off her flushed cheeks. She looked so precious.
There was a small cake in front of her with two candles. The candle flames glimmered and swayed softly, accompanying the sunset.
After hearing Ke’s birthday song, Lou Cheng laughed. “The sign of a 20th birthday is great. Look, a pair of candles to represent each decade and to represent us.”
As a tradition in Xiushan, one candle represented ten years.
Yan Zheke smiled. “So what about your 30th birthday?”
Three candles would look like three incense sticks used for prayers.
She hurriedly withdrew the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. “Take no offense at a child’s babble. We can use two candles to represent three and zero!”
“When you said it earlier, I didn’t realize what you were talking about. I was thinking why do three candles look bad? Doesn’t it just represent a family of three?” Lou Cheng chuckled.
A family of three... Yan Zheke turned her gaze aside to hide her emotions. “Come on, make a wish and I’ll blow out the candles. You said I could share your birthday!”
“Make a wish... ” Lou Cheng began murmuring something seriously with eyes closed.
First, may my beloved ones stay healthy and have a trouble-free life.
Second, may my martial arts road stay open and let me go further!
Third, I hope that Ke and I will be in love forever and be together for an entire lifetime.
From now on, I’ll repeat the three wishes on every year’s birthday. Not to move the heavens, but as a reminder to myself that I must cherish my loved ones and keep my dreams in my heart.
“I’m done.” Lou Cheng smiled after opening his eyes.
“What was it?” Yan Zheke asked curiously.
“Same as you. Didn’t you say that if we speak of them, they would not come true?” Lou Cheng continued smiling.
“Petty!” Yan Zheke complained about joy in her face. Then she blew out the two candles and began eating the cream with a small spoon. “Cheng, happy birthday. I’ll eat your part of cake for you~!”
“Be careful, do you want to gain weight?” Lou Cheng teased her.
“Hmph, so what?” Yan Zheke made a face.
“I’d like to see you gain some weight. I’ll feel more comfortable when holding you.” Lou Cheng chuckled mischievously.
“Pervert!” Yan Zheke yelled.
Before Lou Cheng could defend himself, the girl looked around and then asked in curiosity and hesitation, “Cheng, I have a question for you, and don’t make fun of me.”
“What question? I promise that I won’t tease you!” Lou Cheng tried hard to control his facial expression.
“Well, well, well, when you have a physiological need, what do you do in the bathroom? Take a cold bath to calm yourself down or... ” Yan Zheke stuttered with a flushing face.
Dirty Tong had always mentioned things like this, so she was curious!
Lou Cheng could barely keep the smile off of his face. Pretending that he did not know what Ke meant, he asked, “Or what?”
“That, that, that, you know... ” Yan Zheke made up her mind and blurted out, “That handjob that you boys are always talking about!”
Seeing Lou Cheng’s facial expression, she immediately turned away, her flushing face.
“I won’t talk to you!”
“Well, I’d say both. Sometimes I take a cold bath, and sometimes I... ” Lou Cheng replied with a grin.
Yan Zheke was silent for a few seconds and then gnashed her teeth in anger. “What are you laughing about?”
“I’m not laughing, I just think that we should eventually talk about such things as boyfriend and girlfriend. That’s fine.” Lou Cheng was still smiling.
Since it was his little fairy that started the topic, he would seize the opportunity and seduce the girl step by step!
“Hmph!” Yan Zheke again turned her gaze aside, still flushing.
...
The next morning, Lou Cheng got into the car provided by the Ice God Sect after exercising and arrived at the Haixi Sect.
Haixi Sect was located near the Mingsheng Lake of Moshang with beautiful scenery and high land price. When Lou Cheng walked into the sect, he saw lots of young disciples glancing surreptitiously at him, looking at him from head to toe. He could sense the complex emotions in their eyes, like inferiority, depression, admiration, anger, and envy.
After three steps, he reached Haichao Palace and was taken inside by the disciple waiting there.
“Dear Master Huang and Master Chen, I’m Lou Cheng from the Ice God Sect... ” Lou Cheng gave them a salute before raising his head to take a careful look at them. Then he began wishing them a happy new year.
Chen Bailing, the sect master of Haixi Sect, replied with a smile,
“Martial Nephew Lou, you are very well-known and I’ve been hearing a lot about you.”
Only at this moment did Lou Cheng raise his head and see Chen Bailing in an ancient Chinese suit. The old master seemed similar with Geezer Shi, and the color of his sparse hair was a mixture of white and yellow. The one standing near him was Spear King Huang Ke, who looked like a man in his thirties with a broad forehead and deep eyes. His gaze sent chills down Lou Cheng’s spine.
“You speak too highly of me.” Lou Cheng handed over the congratulatory message.
Chen Bailing took the letter and smiled while touching it. “I thought that Old He might ask you to visit us this year and I guessed right. It’s a good thing since you also need some stimulation from outside, something other than inner practice as a warrior.”
While saying this, he turned his gaze to the other young disciples, like Zheng Yu and Qian Qiyue, as if telling them, “You see, the challenger has arrived. Can you be as hard-working as him and try to catch up?”
Zheng Yu, Qian Qiyue, and the other disciples nodded and clenched their fists tightly in response.
“Damn it, this Elder is being too frank. How should I respond?” Lou Cheng could do nothing but put up a silly-looking smile.
“You’re right, master.”
“Will the disciples of the Haixi Sect be stimulated by Elder Chen’s words and thus come out to challenge him?” He was a little worried.
After chatting a while, Chen Bailing asked Zheng Yu to visit the Ice God Sect this afternoon and then picked up the teacup as a suggestion that it was time for Lou Cheng to leave.
When he turned to go outside, Lou Cheng noticed that Qian Qiyue and the other disciples were eager to challenge him, but they managed to hold back their feelings and did not step out.
After coming out of the palace, Lou Cheng sighed in the winter sunshine as he felt a little disappointed.
He had never expected the young generation of the Haixi Sect to lack the courage to come out and challenge him...