Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The Longhu forum attracted a large number of fans, always having huge traffic. It would only take a few minutes for any post to sink to the second page if no one replied to it. Thanks to Lou Cheng’s eye-catching title, people noticed his post quickly.
The reply came from an ID called “Above the Sky”, with an avatar photo of a rock and roll teenage girl: “The second floor! Become my apprentice and I will tell you!”
She was popular in the forums, and Lou Cheng was about to call her master, but suddenly the name of Yan Zheke echoed in his mind, and a tiny bit of guilt set in. How could he tease others if he was secretly in love with someone else?
At this time, the second reply popped out. “A Plumber Eating Mushrooms” said:
“First of all, buy yourself one set of exercise clothes, and then enter the class a few minutes late. Put on a grave and stern face and walk with steady steps. Meet your coach and tell him, ‘I am sorry. I got hurt in a match earlier. Restorative exercises would be fine for me today.’ And then if the coach agrees, you could practice tai chi, do some stretching or take a walk. If the coach disagrees, you give him a serious stare and take a firm stand. Eventually, you will be OK. Well, one quick question, can you beat the coach?”
The answer was not intended to help, being merely a joke, yet Lou Cheng smiled and replied: “What if I cannot beat the coach?”
As he sent out the message, the page was refreshed, and several other replies emerged.
“Okamoto’s Fan” posted: “Is the coach a woman? Chase after her! Amuse her!”
“Invincible Punch” went: “We do not have such a problem in our martial arts school. Behave yourself if you cannot beat the coach.”
“Road to the Arena” said: “Offer your coach some money in private. Since you have zero experience, all you have to do is exercise and pretend to be a fighter. But it took me some real effort to get into the martial arts world.”
“Outspoken” suggested: “Go exercise until your physical strength is improved. Or else you may find the standing practice unbearable, and even the girls in the class would be better than you, wouldn’t that be even more humiliating?”
These four were the frequent visitors of the forum. Although Lou Cheng was a newcomer, he had spent some time in the forum over the last few months, so he was kind of familiar with these people:
“Okamoto’s Fan” was one filled with dirty jokes, who made whatever topic a sex topic.
“Invincible Punch” was a student in martial school, one year older than Lou Cheng. He was already an Amateur First Pin, and was working hard to enter the professional circle. He always gave accurate and elaborated analysis of martial arts. Besides, his good character made him well received in the forum.
“Road to the Arena” always boasted about how rich he was or how he was taught by well-known masters. He claimed he owned a Professional Ninth Pin certificate, but he gave up a martial arts career to inherit the family fortune. Thus, a swarm of fans followed him.
“Outspoken”, as his ID revealed, was somehow low on EQ, and offended people easily.
As a newcomer, Lou Cheng replied to them one after another: “Sorry to disappoint you, but my coach is an old man,” to “Okamoto’s Fan”; “Take it easy...” to “Invincible Punch”; “I am only a student, and I am saving the money for myself,” to “Road to the Arena”; “You are correct. I had hardly ever done any exercise in the senior year of high school, and I wasted my summer hanging around. I should really work on my physical strength,” to “Outspoken”.
A few more replies came up after he sent out those words.
“Unparalleled Dragon King” replied: “Martial Arts Club in a university? Which university? If you are in Shanbei, Capital, or Huahai, please ask Peng Leyun or Ren Li for their autographs! Wait no more! They are true geniuses and will be top Pin fighters one day. Last year, in the finals of the National Martial Arts Competitions, they beat their seniors, who had inherited supernatural abilities from their predecessors. I have no idea why they stay in the university. You should seize the opportunity and find them!”
“Wonton Seller” send a cute emoji and wrote: “Go get them, Little Tiger, and keep working on your physical build!”
“Unparalleled Dragon King” was obsessed with martial arts and “Dragon King” Qitao was his idol. Lou Cheng had to reply, “Do not mention my stupid school, please.”
He had spent his entire senior year in high school preparing for the national exam, and if there were any spare time and attention, he would focus on “Professional Martial Arts Competition” and five “title match” instead of “National University Martial Arts Competitions”, not to mention the players such as Peng Leyun or Ren Li.
“Wonton Seller” was a lively, gentle young girl in her second year in high school, who was well-liked by the elder members of the forum. Lou Cheng answered with a smile, “Why not wish me success in dominating the martial arts circle of the universities?”
Meanwhile, he also received replies to his previous posts.
“A Plumber Eating Mushrooms” said half-jokingly: “Since you are no match for your coach, as a Schrodinger’s tiger, all you can do is Fierce Tiger Falling Moves!”
Fierce Tiger Falling Moves meant crying for pardon with four limbs on the ground.
“Okamoto’s Fan” said: “A male coach? All you can do is turn around and bend over!”
With an awkward smile on his face, Lou Cheng continued to browse through other posts for gossips of the various martial arts legends. He followed his own post closely and replied to comments timely.
Of course, he prioritized his responses. Naturally, he tended to reply first to the members who had a good relationship with “Pig-Riding Knight”, the moderator. They formed a small fringe group including “A Plumber Eating Mushroom”, “Above the Sky”, “Unparalleled Dragon King” and “Wonton Seller”.
Due to the living conditions in Lou Cheng’s family, he had no PC before high school. Then, when he finally owned one, he had to study hard and play less. After the national exam, Lou Cheng officially embraced the online world, full of interests in forums and QQ, especially when he met someone with similar ideas.
Lou Cheng felt delighted through the discussion, but then he noticed sky was already darkening. He found “Wonton Seller” had posted a new reply: “For I am simple and young, please fool me no more. Little Tiger, you are not even an Amateur Ninth Pin, how can you dominate in martial arts clubs? Little Tiger, stick to where you are, and find yourself a promising job!”
As he smiled and replied, he heard a soft knock on the door, so he turned back. It was Cai Zongming standing by the door, looking embarrassed. “Cheng, please go and enjoy your dinner by yourself. I have to treat the people from my hometown tonight.”
Lou Cheng made a mocking gesture with his index fingers pointing down and thumbs stretched out.
Dusk was closing in. The last class would be dismissed in any minute. Now, he was more worried about the endless lines in the cafeteria. He turned off his PC, left the dorm and hastened toward the nearest cafeteria.
The dining hall was not crowded yet. Lou Cheng stepped to the counter, pointed to some dishes on the left and asked, “Rice with potatoes and beef, and lots of gravy, please.”
Since the university was subsidized, its cafeteria provided inexpensive but substantial meals. Lou Cheng could spend less than 20 Yuan on food per day. If he had ordered less meat, 10 Yuan would have been enough. Of course, with such an advantage comes another price. For one thing, the taste, quality, and quantity of meals varied every day; besides, he would never know what course would come up. Thus, the Cafeteria Food was called “the Ninth Style of Cooking in China.”
In Songcheng University, the braized potatoes and beef were cooked differently. They were soaked in delicious gravy. The potatoes were stewed so soft and tender that they nearly melted into the soup, and someone could finish a big bowl of rice served only with it. However, Lou Cheng’s favorite was still the fat beef, juicy and fresh, not quite like the tasteless lean beef.
Perfectly satisfied with his dinner, Lou Cheng decided to head back and play video games or chat with Yan Zheke on QQ. Suddenly, he recalled what “Outspoken” commented.
“I am indeed not strong, and I should work out more. I cannot make a fool out of myself in the Martial Arts Club, especially in front of Yan Zheke...” Lou Cheng mumbled to himself and decided to take a walk by the Weishui Lake. He would try jogging for one or two laps after his dinner had gone down. As the old saying goes, sharpen one’s spear just before going into battle.
Songcheng University was located downtown. As the number of students soared, a new campus was built in the suburb, and it was called the “campus with landscape garden”. Therefore, the Weishui Lake was included within the campus. It was a small lake with a vast expanse of misty, rolling waters, surrounded by green grasses and singing nightingale, just like a beautiful landscape painting.
Lou Cheng walked around the lake for half a lap, approaching the wasteland that was not yet under construction. It was dark and a cold wind was blowing. Lou Cheng noticed no one was around, except the dense woods. He trembled with fear, imagining all kinds of ghosts and monsters.
He tightened his coat, started to run back to get out of that place. Maybe there was no ghost, but a band of robbers could be waiting for him right there.
He ran for a while and started to pant. He started to feel exhausted and had no choice but to slow down to take deep breaths.
At the moment, Lou Cheng heard a sound in the lake. He looked toward the direction it came, and he saw a black carp writhing by the lake, almost 20 cm in length. Its scales were dry and had a lot of scorch marks, as if it had been burnt by fire.
Snap!
The black carp skipped and hopped high, and then fell to the ground with the other side up. The scales on this side were covered with white frost, as if it had just been taken out of the freezer.
“What the...” Lou Cheng gasped in surprise. How can a carp be served half roasted and half raw, wait, I mean, half burnt and half frozen?
As he got ready to run, the black carp stopped struggling. The side of the carp split open and something inside the carp’s belly started to emerge. It looked like a shining moon hiding within the carp’s belly, cold and bright, casting light upon the surroundings and turning them into a dreamland.
Lou Cheng decided to take a better look. In the carp’s belly, there was a ball that was glistening as if it was encrusted with crystals. As Lou Cheng approached, the ball reflected the whole universe, like a spinning nebula. Every crystalline piece was a planet, encircled by light purple flames, an image of the fusion between fire and ice.
For a moment, Lou Cheng frowned, and then talked to himself, “It seems like a Jindan (the Golden Elixir) in a martial arts novel.”
The crystal nebula was still there, tempting Lou Cheng, but he thought to himself and took out the phone to try to find details about Jindan or internal alchemy on the internet.
“Never touch strange stuff!”
“Never touch unidentified objects!”
Lou Cheng was surprised by the search results. A well-known martial arts website mentioned:
“In ancient times, the martial arts world was divided. Some people intended to break the limit of life to live forever, so they hid from everyone else. They lived in seclusion, taking an alternative way of martial arts training. They called themselves immortality trainers. After one or two millennia, through their relatives and clues obtained from caves that they lived in, we found out that they had succeeded in cultivating the internal alchemy and achieved immortality. However, they failed to pass the secret method to the next generation. As for immortality, a human’s strength is limited sometimes...”
“A human’s strength is limited sometimes...” Lou Cheng muttered to himself like he was somewhat enlightened.
“Maybe the shining ball is the real “internal alchemy”, left by the last immortality trainer and mistakenly swallowed by a black carp inside a cave.
“Is this my destiny?
“Or maybe this is dangerous, and I will end up like that black carp?
“There are one or two opportunities that could really change your life path. If you miss it, you will regret for the rest of your life. Is this my opportunity? Or am I doomed?”
Lou Cheng pondered over and over. Finally, after taking a deep breath, he took off his coat and wrapped his right hand with it, and stepped forward slowly, intending to pick up the ball with the greatest care.
As the saying goes, never let go of any opportunity, but always stay cautious as if walking on thin ice!