Translator: Transn Editor: Lucas
Overjoyed at the question, Geezer Shi could only nod his head and say,
“It’ll be a good experience.”
“Okay!” Classmate Little Ming replied, tears almost streaming down his face.
After waiting for this long, was he finally going to have the chance to open up a tournament by himself?
Furthermore, according to Geezer Shi’s opinion, Jinfeng was arranged in order from weakest to strongest. If he used a verbal attack first to throw them off their guard, it was possible that he could easily defeat the Ninth Pin Liu Chunlai. If he was able to strike down this first opponent, it’d be praiseworthy, and even more so if he could end up facing Fang Yuan!
Beside him, Lou Cheng saw that Yan Zheke looked a bit defeated. He secretly pulled her hand and quietly said,
“This just means that you’ll have to prepare all of your strength for Capital!”
When they face Capital, simply relying on him or his brother-in-law wouldn’t suffice. Every team member that went out into the arena would have to stretch themselves to the limit, and only then could they hope for victory!
Amongst all of the substitutes, his own Ke was the strongest!
“I hope so... ” Yan Zheke replied meekly, longing for the semifinals and also envying Cai Zongming and Li Mao, who were about to ascend onto the arena.
...
Inside Jinfeng University Martial Arts Club’s locker room.
Rubbing his blonde hair between his fingers, Wei Rong looked in the eyes of Coach Zheng Fei. Seeing that he didn’t have any expression, he nervously patted a section of the bench’s surface, minding his own business along with Gao Shengli, Liu Chunlai, and the others.
“Our hearts aren’t really in this competition. Hehe, I know myself, and I’m the same. Any experienced person could figure out Lou Cheng and Lin Que’s behavior.”
“Now that it’s come to this, we can’t sit here and expect a miracle to happen. We need to honestly and frankly plan out our little objective.”
Gao Shengli’s skin was dark; it seemed as if his entire being was made of metal. After hearing Wei Rong speech, he replied with suspicion, “What little objective?”
At this moment, with something of a scholarly air, Zheng Fei chuckled and said, “Songcheng University will probably let their other substitutes come out first and fight to do some physical training and accumulate real battle experience. Afterwards, it’ll be Lou Cheng to settle it once and for all in one fell swoop. They won’t let Lin Que come out, since he needs to conserve his strength for the match against Capital.”
“Then our objective is not to allow Lou Cheng to defeat all three of us?” Gao Shengli asked again,
“Not allowing Lou Cheng to defeat the three of us, is it really that simple?” Liu Chunlai artfully retorted. “If we don’t lose to Songcheng University’s substitutes, Lou Cheng will have to defeat all of us.”
Taking this logic into consideration, there wasn’t any kind of fault in it!
Wei Rong breathed in and rolled his eyes as he looked at Liu Chunlai. Then he stood up.
“I hope the three of us can defeat Lou Cheng in a war of attrition. While this is a distant hope, it’s not as if there’s no chance of it happening. Lou Cheng still has to consider the semi-finals, so he’s not going to go all out. If we do our best, there’s a chance we can defeat him!”
“Shengli, you go out first and defeat Songcheng University’s substitute quickly. This way, Lou Cheng won’t have as much time to keep up his peak battle strength, and they’ll have to substitute one injured player for another. It’ll be a blow to his conservative mindset.”
“Alright!” Gao Shengli said resolutely.
Wei Rong pointed to himself. “I’ll go out second and wear Lou Cheng out some more. Chun, you’ll take up the rear, and hopefully we’ll be victorious.”
“No problem.” Liu Chunlai unexpectedly appeared to have no pressure.
After determining who would go out in which order, Jin Feng lined up and proceeded out of the locker room doors, heading towards their seats. They still had not been seated when they heard an explosive clamor all around them, rolling over them like an imminent tide.
When the Songcheng University group came out of the locker room... Wei Rong and Gao Shengli looked at themselves and the others, becoming aware at the same moment. It was a feeling like they’d been unfairly mismatched. When they had come out, there was some meek clapping and the occasional toot of vuvuzelas!
After a short pause, they could see who the leading player was in the list of names that Songcheng University had submitted, but they hadn’t thought that Lin Que would be this name!
“Isn’t this a bit too much, to look down on us like this?” Veins popped out of Wei Rong’s forehead, and he couldn’t keep his voice from rising.
Songcheng University had unexpectedly allowed their second leading player to come out?
Did this mean the confident Lou Cheng felt that if one man guarded the pass, ten thousand would be unable to get through?
Yes, he was quite impressive. He had quickly ascended through the ranks, and his luck was side by side with Peng Leyun’s. He surely was hoping that he would smash through their troops, but it also wasn’t 100% guaranteed!
This was far too dismissive of them!
Who does he think we are, pushovers?
A feeling of scorn and being looked down upon rose up in the hearts of every Jinfeng University Martial Arts Club member. As they looked at one another, Wei Rong waved at the judge and said to Gao Shengli,
“Are you going to stand for this?”
Jinfeng City was a Guanwai League location, and the martial arts atmosphere was quite heavy over there. All of the people over there had an attitude that one may lose the battle, but not the war!
“No!” Gao Shengli gnashed his teeth in response.
“Then go fight! Go settle this as quickly as possible!” Wei Rong clenched his fist tightly and waved.
Gao Shengli had formed his Iron Cloth around himself. It was more suitable for bullying the weak and puny, and turned him into something akin to a sharp spear.
...
At the Song Cheng University Martial Arts Club seats, after Li Xiaowen had conveyed to them the order in which Jinfeng would fight, Cai Zongming’s mouth was gaping open. Feeling puzzled for a moment, he subconsciously turned his head, looked towards Geezer Shi, and said,
“Didn’t you say that Jinfeng would come out from weakest to strongest?”
Hadn’t they agreed that it would be the Ninth Pin Liu Chunlai?
Hadn’t they agreed that it would be an awe-inspiring victory for him?
Recalling the Jinfeng videos that he’d seen as well as the gorilla-like figure of Gao Shengli, Classmate Little Ming couldn’t stop trembling. It was as if he’d gone back to that time when he’d faced the ex-club manager, Chen Changhua, who also had a history of behaving like a terrifying ape...
Geezer Shi’s eyelids didn’t lift even the slightest as he said,
“It seems I spoke carelessly.”
Even when Fighting Jinfeng, he still wouldn’t use a serious analysis?!
Lou Cheng restrained a smile, patted Talker on the shoulder, and with a look of accepting one’s fate on his face he said,
“You should get out there, the judge is indicating for you to come out.”
Cai Zongming directed his eyes towards the arena and blurted out, “How should I fight this?”
“Take advantage of the talking time,” Lou Cheng honestly advised.
“So lean on the verbal attack to confuse him, and then seize an opportunity?” Little Ming asked while in the midst of thought.
“No, what I mean is that you should take advantage of the talking time to clear your head, and if you can say a few things during that time then it’d be convenient too, wouldn’t it?” Lou Cheng chuckled.
When talking to someone like Talker, the more you comforted them, the more useless it was. Limiting it to these two sentences was for the best!
Cai Zongming looked as if he was a terminally ill patient taking advice from a doctor telling him to eat better. His heart was frozen, but he carried no burden, and he glared at Lou Cheng as he said,
“I, Cai Ritian, will be victorious!”
“Not bad, this kind of attitude is very good,” Lou Cheng complimented.
Cai Zongming extended his right hand, gave everyone a high five one by one, and finally slapped Lou Cheng’s shoulder. Like an ancient general heading into battle, he walked towards the stone steps.
After ascending the arena and arriving in the middle, he saw Gao Shengli with a furious anger in his eyes. Thoughts whirled in his head, and he pondered his plan.
The judge waited for the electric clock to arrive at the proper time and then raised his hand, waved it, and said,
“Begin the talking time.”
While “weakly” directing his eyes towards his hands, Cai Zongming sincerely said,
“We’re not looking down at Jinfeng, it’s just that we’re taking risks to progress to the finals.”
Eh?... Gao Shengli had never come across someone who had used the talking time to explain the situation like this. He was temporarily dumbfounded and didn’t know how to respond.
Cai Zongming continued,
“Capital is very intense, so we need to continue to put together all of our strength and extract all of our hidden potential. Only then can we hope to succeed. Lin Que doesn’t seem to have the abnormal strength of Lou Cheng. By resting for a day, he can once again be fit as a tiger, so we have to let him rest this round. That way, we can go to Capital in our most peak condition.”
There was truth to his words... Gao Shengli thought carefully, and unexpectedly couldn’t help but nod his head slightly.
Cai Zongming continued honestly, “We know allowing Lin Que to rest will make the outcome of this match uncertain, but for the sake of beating Capital, this is our only option. All we can do is taking the risk; it’s really not that we’re looking down on you all... ”
When he got to this point, he laughed bitterly. “It’s actually that we’re walking a bit of a tightrope.”
Seeing how honestly and extremely courteously he was speaking, and how he was ridiculing their own choices, Gao Shengli’s fury was extinguished slightly. Still being careful not to be completely enraptured by his opponent’s words, he nodded his head and said,
“If it were us, I reckon we’d do the same. In any case, Lou Cheng has enough strength to go through all of us.”
Upon hearing this, Cai Zongming laughed, and with a certain kind of bitter sweetness at not having met this man earlier said, “And furthermore, this can serve as an opportunity for us substitutes, to allow us to gain true experience and find out what it’s like to graduate from a weak battle to a stronger one. To experience the Dan Stage’s Iron Cloth is remarkable. If we were to take Lin Que and put him in my place, would it not be a bit of a waste of this opportunity?”
This guy was really something to listen to... Gao Shengli’s heart softened, and while looking in Cai Zongming’s eyes, he slowly became more good-natured. He modestly said, “It’s no greater than other moves at this stage, like Golden Bell Cover, Vajra Body Defending Divine Skill, Immortal Flesh, Forging Jade Spell, and others like that.”
“As far as I’m concerned, they’re all the same. After all, they’re all in the name of defense.” Cai Zongming had taken the opportunity to take the talking time period and make it just an idle chat, making Gao Shengli’s mood more and more lighthearted.
At the last minute, he purposely glanced left and right, and said in a low voice,
“Actually, our coach has put me out here just to polish and refine me. Why he’d choose me instead of other substitutes... hmm... have you seen my profile and previous fighting videos before?”
“I’ve gone through your profile. I’ve only seen two videos,” Gao Shengli replied bluntly.
“Last February, I formally joined the special training team. Before then, it’d all work in fits and starts. I’d trained in Kung Fu for a few years, but had only achieved Amateur Fifth Pin.” Cai Zongming feigned a sound of sobbing. “After doing special training for a few months, I went from a Fifth Pin to a Ninth Pin. Now, have a look at my Qi and Blood, it’s about as strong as a Ninth Pin, am I right?”
“Yes. You’ve done this training for a year and two months?” Gao Shengli was a bit astonished. When he looked at his profile, he only paid attention to what level he was currently at and hadn’t closely followed his previous backstory too closely.
This kid had some skill... was it really just that the coach had assigned him to come out here for some polishing?
“Yep, so I’ve got a bit of skill.” Cai Zongming laughed. “This is why our coach thinks highly of me... ”
He directed his eyes towards the electronic clock, coughed twice, and said, “The other reason is... ”
While Gao Shengli had focused his attention towards hearing the answer, the judge unexpectedly raised his right hand, and suddenly threw it down.
“Begin!”
The talking time was over!
What was the other reason? That he had a supernatural ability? That he had an innate skill for battle? When the fight began, Gao Shengli was unable to keep his imagination from roaming.
By this point, Cai Zongming had already closed his mouth and straightened his back. His feet were like arrow strings and they shot out, half pouncing and half taking a step forward, arriving in front of his opponent.
Bang!
Cai Zongming’s shoulder twisted and his right fist shot out. His five fingers spread out, heading straight for Gao Shengli’s eyes.
The Iron Cloth may be impressive, but it still had a few weak spots!
At the same time, he pressed together his backbone and stuck out his right foot, stomping between his opponent’s two feet.
He was laying a foundation for a strike!
Just then, Gao Shengli finally came to his senses and understood what Cai Zongming had purposely been doing before. He’d made him absent-minded, thus creating a golden opportunity for a sneak attack.
All of his previous courtesy, honesty, and respect, it’d all been an act. It was all to make him drop his guard!
In an explosion, Gao Shengli’s heart soared into a raging blaze of fury that came from the feeling that he’d just been cheated, that he’d trusted him with his goodwill, and that his intelligence had been insulted!
He made me become his friend! I thought he was a good, honest person!
Gao Shengli twisted his waist and thigh so that it blocked his opponents kick, and aimed his forehead towards his adversary’s oncoming fingers.
Bam!
Cai Zongming’s kick landed on his opponent’s bulging thigh. It was if he’d kicked an iron panel. His five fingers that had previously been like bow strings suddenly became soft and changed from grab to press. After being pushed away by Gao Shengli’s forehead, he bounced back and quickly withdrew his entire body.
Fury consumed Gao Shengli, and all he could think of was his Qi and Blood and his exploding Dan strength. He braced both of his legs, and with the sound of snapping beneath his feet, ferociously leapt towards his opponent.
Cai Zongming had seen this and already straightened his back, forcing him to change direction, narrowly avoiding his opponent’s pounce. Of course, this was all due to how he’d taken advantage of his enemy beforehand.
While he was atop the arena, his thoughts were quite clear. To prevail against an Iron Cloth Eight Pin Dan Stage fighter was nearly impossible, so his goal was to consume him, to consume the larger part of his energy!
In order to achieve this goal, he needed to provoke him and not give him any time to calm down!
He had succeeded by depending on the talking time period.
It just so happens that I’m quite good at this!
Come on, hit me! Classmate Little Ming’s cunning thoughts flashed through his mind.