Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Looking at the back of Lu Yongyuan, he stood straight as he left looking a little desolated. Lou Cheng stood there and surprisingly did not feel the joy of winning the match. Even as the voice of the referee announcing his victory had reached his ears, it didn’t cause any ripple within his “Heart Lake”.
If he had undergone a tough match and eventually defeated this title expert, even if he was distracted and performed badly in the match, he would definitely be exhilarated and unable to; contain his joy.
However, after just nine strikes, Lu Yongyuan, who still had a lot of strength remaining, had chosen to admit defeat decisively. Furthermore, he just turned around and left afterwards. This caused Lou Cheng to feel a little bottled up and didn’t have the feeling that he was the victor.
Is this “It’s darned exhilarating to run away after acting cool”? The thought popped up in Lou Cheng’s mind as he silently cursed to console himself.
Recalling what had previously happened, Lu Yongyuan had truly let him witness a top tier physical invulnerability expert, or rather the highest level of knife technique in today’s world. If he had not paused twice during the process to explain the name of his moves and instead chosing to attack consecutively, Lou Cheng might not have been able to last the nine strikes.
So this is the distance between me and the top tier experts... Lou Cheng was struck with realization suddenly. Combining the realization with the images of the previous battles, Lou Cheng could vaguely feel that he had made some improvements under the pressure of Lu Yongyuan’s nine strikes knife techniques. He had a better understanding of the techniques of physical invulnerability moves and was no longer restricted by the original framework.
From this, he recalled his battles with Xin Xiaoyue, Wang Que and the Living Buddha over the last ten days and also their unique characteristics and unique skills. All of a sudden, Lou Cheng felt that this was a fruitful trip as he had witnessed and learned a lot.
Isn’t this the initial motive of participating in the “Master” competition?
Suddenly, Lou Cheng felt more at ease and no longer bottled up. His mood got extremely good as he moved quickly to the edge of the river. He couldn’t wait to share his own joy with his little fairy girl.
...
“Hahahaha. Now you have embarrassed yourself! I still thought that his nine strikes could not be stopped! [Fireworks expression]” said “Brahman”.
“Looking at his confident appearance, I was so nervous for so long!” replied “Eternal Nightfall”, Yan Xiaoling.
Following which, she had a question, “Didn’t he say nine knives? He had definitely struck more than 10 times!”
“Damn... A great master in knife has become the same as a small hooligan on the streets in your words... [Cover face and sigh expression]””Unparalleled Dragon King” continued to explain, “In martial arts competition, nine knives would mean nine moves!”
“Oh oh oh! So that’s how it is. As I thought, he is a title expert after all. How could he be so shameless!” Yan Xiaoling replied.
This question had bothered her for some time.
“Nie Qiqi” asked curiously, “Why does the “God Slaying Knife” choose to make the nine moves promise? I can see that he looked pretty alright in the end. There wouldn’t have been a problem he had choosen to continue fighting.”
“Road to the Arena” floated in and explained, “Martial artists who use knives don’t like to leave any leeway and prefer to go all out. This is to stop them from hesitating and not to have their will waver so as to push themselves to the fullest and perform beyond their limits. The “God Slaying Knife” was doing so a while ago. By compressing all his hopes into the nine moves, it brought out the most brilliant performance!”
“Really?” Yan Xiaoling was a little dumbfounded and felt a little like she was enlightened.
“Of course... [Laughing sheepishly]” said the “Road to the Arena”. “Of course it’s fake! I just made it up! How could a martial artist like me possibly understand the thoughts of a physical invulnerability expert?”
At this very moment, there were various intense discussions on this issue. Many people couldn’t understand why Lu Yongyuan had chosen to do so.
“There’s no issue with the promise of nine moves. This is a way a strong senior expert might act in front of a rising new generation. However, in the process of the battle, Lu Yongyuan paused twice. This allowed Lou Cheng to have the opportunity to settle himself and not have to constantly dodge and move. This decision makes others feel that he didn’t want to win in the first place.” The famous user “Missed By A Move” raised his doubts.
“Poison Milk Hierarch”, He Xiaowei, retweeted, “Perhaps there’s a major issue with Lu Yongyuan’s new technique and he has to catch his breath? Perhaps Lu Yongyuan was too confident and wanted to fully demonstrate all nine strikes but this ended in failure?”
“There are too many possible reasons and we do not have to be too bothered by it. Let’s discuss on the fact that Lou Cheng has made it to the round of 16 as a third-pin! This isn’t something common!”
After he posted this, the majority of commenters had the same feelings.
“To defeat a title expert in his first few matches as a physical invulnerability expert, there isn’t anyone who has done it!”
“Yeah. Although there are many reasons behind it, it is still a very shocking and impressive achievement.”
“Oh right. Is there any lip-reading expert? I couldn’t hear the last few words of Lu Yongyuan clearly.”
“He said he was too slow. What he meant was that he had given Lou Cheng too much time for the ninth move. This had allowed him to make up for his mistake.
“...Admire the one above who has such a unique talent.”
“Lu Yongyuan’s self-created technique hasn’t been named right? Let me see. He came from the Dark Sect but broke out from the Dark Sect with this. Why don’t we call it “Non-Dark”?”
“Lu Family’s Knife! It’s simple and easy to understand!”
...
While everyone was commenting fervently, Lou Cheng had ended his chat with Yan Zheke. He took a good nap and expelled all the hidden poison within his body.
At seven-thirty that night, he watched the remaining eight elimination matches in the hotel and got pumped up by a few matches between the favourites.
In the third last match, Ren Li stepped onto the stage to challenge the “Lion King”, Shang Youde. Her opponent was known for his resilient vitality and amazing recovering ability. He was a monster that almost wouldn’t be defeated unless one struck his vital spots.
Ren Li’s sword technique could slice the mummy and Dark Night Bat easily but was only able to leave shallow wounds on the “Lion King”, Shang Youde. Moreover, such wounds would be fully recovered in several seconds or several tens of seconds.
After attempting “Hidden Scent” and other various methods without significant effects, Ren Li could only rely on the movement techniques of Wind Sect for a guerilla-style battle while hoping to cause an impact over time. However, after a long period of battle, it was inevitable to make mistakes. The “Lion King” immediately grabbed onto the opportunity and defeated her in a single round of counterattack.
“You can start thinking of what you will like to treat us to.” When the match had just ended, Peng Leyun immediately tagged Lou Cheng in the group chat.
Lou Cheng replied, “[Laughed out tears expression] I feel that the “God Slaying Knife” should be the one treating this meal.”
“If you can invite him over to pay the bills, we are fine with it too.” Peng Leyun answered without any emojis.
“I believe he would split me into halves... [Breaking into cold sweat expression]” replied Lou Cheng.
Ann Chaoyang broke into laughter and said, “Will I make it if I book an air ticket now?”
“No problem. The round of 16 would be held at night in 2 days,” replied Ren Li suddenly.
“Didn’t you just finish your match?” Peng Leyun was a little shock.
Ren Li answered like it was only natural, “I just got back to the changing room when I recalled that I should remind Lou Cheng!”
Chihuahua is always full of energy... Lou Cheng broke into laughter and shook his head.
After another half an hour, the remaining two matches had ended. Lou Cheng realized that other than him, all the remaining contestants in the round of 16 were famous experts.
“Warrior Sage”, Qian Donglou, “Kirin”, Dong Baxian, “Wisdom King”, Zhi Hai, “King of Swords”, Wu Qiao, “Spear King”, Huang Ke, “Clown”, Gu Jianxi, “Queen of Thought”, Yi Dan, “Optimus Prime” Long Zhen, “Blazing Sword”, Qi Ling... They were either title experts or were the strong reserves to win a title soon!
Looking at them, Lou Cheng’s mouth twitched a little. He sent a message to Yan Zheke, “I have the feeling of a being a lamb in a pack of wolves... Everyone around me is a well-known expert!”
Yan Zheke happened to be having a break and saw a push notification. As there was the word ‘husky’ in it, she clicked into the link. The headline of this piece of news was about a husky mixing into a pack of wolves. There was a picture of its blank and silly look while hiding there.
As she was browsing, she saw a message from Cheng. Yan Zheke swapped out of the interface and saw the content of the message.
A lamb in a pack of wolves? That’s... Pfft! Recalling the previous piece of news, Yan Zheke broke into laughter and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
Her hand shivered for a long time as though someone was tickling her. After a long while, she slowly recovered and replied, “Yes yes yes! Brother Cheng is right!”
“Why do I feel that your reply is a little strange... [Frowning with suspicion]”.
“Where!” Yan Zheke quickly replied.
“What are you thinking of now?” Lou Cheng didn’t believe her and asked.
Yan Zheke replied with a smile, “Have you heard of the song by the Little Dragon Guy? My answer is in the song~”
The answer is in the song? Lou Cheng went to the search engine and search curiously. After looking through the lyrics, there were a few words that stood out to him, “I’m not telling you. I’m not telling you. I’m not telling you...”
Lou Cheng was shocked and his mouth formed an “O” shape. After a while, he broke into silent laughter and couldn’t wait to hold Yan Zheke in his arms.
However, there’s only a TV, a coffee table and a small fridge in front of him but the beautiful figure was not in sight.
Looking at it blankly, he was silent for several seconds before smiling again. Using a light-hearted tone, he expressed his admiration for Yan Zheke’s quick-thinking.
...
The draw of the top 16 for the “Master” competition would fix the fixture for the subsequent rounds. The winner would advance to the semi-finals with the corresponding victor.
During the process for the drawing of the first half, matches between the experts drew many people’s attention. When the second contestant for the second half was drawn, Lou Cheng heard his name and his opponent would be,
“Wuyue Club, Gu Jianxi.”
The “Clown”, Gu Jianxi!