Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
After watching the next two spars studiously, Lou Cheng returned to his private lobby pondering the details. He then took a shower and headed to the restaurant, where he feasted on the delicacies painstakingly prepared by the chefs.
“Looks like it’s gonna rain again...” After satisfying his appetite, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and rubbed at his slightly bloated tummy. He looked through the window at the overcast sky. It wasn’t even six, but it was already dark in the city.
Afterwards, he left the restaurant and went to the club’s side gate, where Zhao Zhenhua (the driver) had parked the Nanny car. Earlier, Auman had instructed him to do so.
Since the intense battle, Lou Cheng had been feeling lethargic. When he was in the car, he leaned back against the soft, bouncy seat and shut his eyes. With his hand on the armrest, he meditated while reminiscing on the things he had learned.
Noting his silence, Auman saw to it that the multimedia entertainment system was shut down. Picking up the walkie-talkie, she softly instructed Chen Zhenhua to drive straight to the mansion at Xiapei Lake.
They didn’t encounter many jammed areas, and by the end of twenty minutes, the Nanny car was parked outside the mansion.
Relinquishing his wandering thoughts, Lou Cheng opened his eyes. He got out of the car and checked the weather, then said to Auman “You guys can head back. I don’t need anything for now.”
“Okay,” said Auman. She had more or less grasped Lou Cheng’s daily routine, so she merely nodded without saying anything extra. She waved. “Goodbye, Mr.Lou. I’ll be here tomorrow at the usual time.”
The droning of the motor receded. It became oddly quiet around Lou Cheng.
He stood still for a few seconds, then turned and unlocked the door through fingerprint verification. It was dark inside, as though the night had arrived earlier than expected. Dim light slanted through the windows on both sides, faintly limning the outlines of the furniture, walls, and pillars.
Lou Cheng shut the door. Standing beside the shoe cabinet, he looked around slowly.
The coffee table sparkled with a metallic luster, on which overturned cups were neatly arranged. None were filled with hot water or emitted a tea aroma. The television nestled silently with its jumbo screen pitch-black. No flashing screens or white noises. In a corner of the open-concept kitchen, frying pots, stew pots, and milk pans were all in their places. Not a change since yesterday. The night breeze that heralded a storm passed through the window mesh, making the room a little chilly.
Lou Cheng stared blankly for a couple of seconds. Without turning on the lights, he changed out of his shoes and shut all the windows by relying on his supervision. He then walked up the stairs leading to the second floor in the dark.
Tap, tap, tap. His footsteps were peaceful and echoing.
There wasn’t a shred of light on the second-floor hallway, but Lou Cheng avoided the shelves with potted plants like an animal with good night-vision. He opened the door to the master bedroom.
This place was slightly different than when he just bought the house. There had been huge adjustments in the layout, with the most obvious ones being: a sofa chair that one could sleep on was placed beside the French window, and a swing-styled hammock in the fully enclosed, spacious balcony a door away.
With the lights still off, Lou Cheng walked to the sofa chair and sat down, allowing his exhausted body to sink into the comfortable softness.
Lying down, he can’t help but remember his discussion with little fairy about the master bedroom layout.
“I want a sofa chair there, beside the French window. On a lazy afternoon, I will snuggle there and bask in the warm sunlight. I will read books leisurely, watch videos... then I’ll doze off and wake up when I feel like waking up.”
“Eh, wouldn’t you need sunscreen all the time if you do that?”
“Jeez! Don’t be annoying!”
...
His lips curved without him realizing. Silently, he leaned in the darkness and gazed at the darkening night. He wasn’t really thinking, but the scenes kept floating before him one after the other. Outside, it was windy and raining heavily. Drip, drop, drip, drop.
Ten minutes later, he heard a phone notification. He picked it up and an motivated emoji from Yan Zheke.
“I love waking up early! I love morning practice!”
Chuckling, Lou Cheng unlocked the screen and typed swiftly.
“I’m enjoying your sofa chair. [snickering]”
After replying, he turned on the desk light on the table beside him. A mellow and warm light spilled out, fighting against the invasive darkness and silence.
He chatted idly with Ke Ke for a bit, then played games and watched videos. He only shifted his focus back to chatting when Cai Zongming, Jiang Fei and the others were free. He also watched some live-streamed martial arts competition, from which he picked out interesting parts and discussed it in the group chat with Peng Leyun, Ren Li, and Ann Chaoyang in depth.
When Yan Zheke was done with her practice and breakfast, he began telling her about the sparring experience that afternoon. They discussed how to use Dan Equilibrium to master Nine Rotations of Five Flames. Descend Of The Sun.
The frequency of their messages slowed down when the girl had to return to her schoolwork. Lou Cheng resumed surfing the internet aimlessly. Before sleeping, he called his Mom, telling her about his mundane life lately and checking on how they were doing.
Just like that, the day passed. After a whole night of raining, the sun rose promptly.
In the car, he read some news on the popular locations for diving and sea-gazing. After breakfast, he headed back into the Physical Invulnerability Training Room. Placidly, he sat before the visualization diagram of Nine Rotations of Five Flames. Descend Of The Sun with his legs crossed.
The biggest problem I have now is that I can’t maintain a formed fireball orbiting around me... That means in order to use the two mightiest kungfu of the Fire Sect, I have to finish the preparations and execute the move in one fell swoop. That makes it close to useless in actual combat, thought Lou Cheng. His thoughts quickly cleared up after thinking about his training process and the contents of his discussion with Ke Ke the day before.
At first, he wanted to refer to the experience of practicing Titanic Starlit Skies – Absolute Frost, when he inversely suppressed the Ice Spirit Force during Force Concentration. By doing the same, he wanted to draw out the stars and Emperor Yan Force, using which to activate Nine Rotations of Five Flames. However, after much deliberation, he realized that he had to use his killer move as quickly as possible. He can’t just stand there and wait for others to attack. In fact, he didn’t even have time to condense fireballs.
Then again, he was maintaining balance with five fireballs of differing natures orbiting around him. Wasn’t that similar to the Cosmic Universe when he was in Dan Equilibrium?
Thinking along that line, Lou Cheng thought up of a solution:
If Physical Invulnerability can alter the environment through connecting Heaven and Earth, nearly merging into one with nature, then why not treat them as a whole entity?
Form a orbital balance in the whole entity!
The body becomes the cold and darkness, balancing out with the orbiting fireballs!
That would definitely require the mind as a bridge to connect the two ends. However, in the secret art Nine Rotations of Five Flames. Descend Of The Sun, one already had to make complex connections with the mind to maintain the fireball’s orbit. That is to say, I don’t have to do it the hard way of devising a complicated method. There is a simpler and more convenient path that suits me more!
The path of achieving the integration of in-and-out of his body! That was when the idea hit Lou Cheng. He stood up suddenly and examined the visualization diagram to strengthen his comprehension of the essence. He then left the room and went to the training ground outside. He formed a stance and stood steadily.
In his mind, the universe formed and expanded rapidly, with darkness at the edge and the Great Sun in the center. It formed Emperor Yan’s dense appearance.
Working his Fire Force, with the changes in his visualization, he condensed a pale purple fireball outside his body.
That was when the Cosmic Universe in Lou Cheng’s mind became supported by darkness and coldness. Using his mind, root pulp, and link with the external environment, he guided the pale purple fireballs to revolve steadily, balancing into an orbit.
In the process, Lou Cheng felt the method causing a rather small burden on his mind, so he had an idea:
If Fire Flames Revolving At Once follows the same principles, then I can maintain a lot longer than using normal methods!
Hm, that would make a huge difference!
Spirited, he began to form a second fireball. However, visualizing different scenery caused a change in his mind, root pulp, and fascias. The pale purple fireballs lost balance and crashed to the ground.
Boom!
The explosion left dents and visible cracks on the alloy.
Learning from his failures, Lou Cheng finally found a method after many trials and errors. That was, maintaining the balance through the orbital between stars when making other fireballs.
A few days later, he could already get 5 different colored fireballs to orbit around him for a very, very long time.
Finally grasping the basics of Nine Rotations of Five Flames. Descend Of The Sun, Lou Cheng was in an excellent mood. He quickly bragged about it to his wife during his break, then checked the new. He saw some eye-catching captions.
“For the first time, the 4 Heavenly Sons of China will have a face-off!”
“All of them attained Physical Invulnerability before the age of 24! The golden era is here!”
“Zhi Hai of the North, Lou Cheng of the South, Leyun of the East, Ren Li of the West, who would be the one to challenge the Dragon King and Warrior Sage in the coming years?”
Lou Cheng remembered something after browsing.
The Master battle was approaching!
He will be heading to Jiu Qu City with Long Zhen, Guo Jie, and the others on the next day!
As for the Dragon King, there obviously wasn’t a need to go, since he was already the ‘Master’ of the era awaiting a new challenger!