Translator: Transn Editor: Lucas
“Who knows what they were thinking? Hahaha, their way of thinking was simple. They were merely planning on seizing the opportunity for a substitute, was it?” It hadn’t been long since Chen Sansheng’s tone changed. “Superstitious Belief Is Bad.” This was barely suitable for such an important individual’s thoughts to be put on Weibo. “It’s enough to make you laugh.”
His remarks were akin to “The famous commentator He Xiaowei”.
The two co-workers were mortal enemies…
“Yes, who’d have thought that Songcheng University was this strong!”
“In the next round, Huahai risks facing being broken by Mingdao. With the two of them unexpectedly facing one another, it’s like a mouse having to fight a cat!”
“And furthermore, Lou Cheng still hasn’t properly given a real show. He’s been cool as a cucumber from head to toe, contrary to Lin Que, who’s exposed a few of his secrets.”
“Chen Sansheng, you need to get your eyes checked. You’re giving him a hard time, but he was still previously a Sixth Pin fighter. You’re not seeing clearly and you still haven’t properly complimented the man.”
“Who isn’t a genius in retrospect?”
In the midst of the discussion, Yan Xiaoling, aka Eternal Nightfall, excitedly swiped through Weibo. As she searched, she saw complimentary words towards Lou Cheng everywhere. Her heart fluttered and she was giddy with excitement as she forwarded the messages and said,
“Doesn’t this demonstrate that Songcheng University is stronger than Huahai? That the chances of them leaving the next round as the winner are larger?”
Just after having sent the message, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She’d forgotten how He Xiaowei and the others had jinxed people by forecasting their victory beforehand.
If… if he makes his position clear on this side, then will my good intentions sabotage everything?
As these thoughts surfaced, Yan Xiaoling began to tremble. After a second, she deleted the message that she had just sent, and then silently prayed,
“They saw nothing, they saw nothing, they saw nothing… “
After doing this, she switched her interface to Lou Cheng’s fan forum, feeling that consulting “Unparalleled Dragon King” was the best thing to do.
At the moment, a congratulatory post was already occupying the front page.
“So easy!” All Good Names Are Taken By Dogs said, using an emoji.
Brahman laughed heartily. “Haha, shame on me for being so nervous when watching. Everything was a trick all along! These idols are all rotten!”
“Gah, they haven’t even used this month’s set of tricks… ” Okamoto’s Fan said disinterestedly. “My money is on Mingdao. I reckon if Songcheng University loses, I can at least make enough money to satisfy my needs. If Songcheng University wins, then I’ll be trading my money for happiness. Either way, I can’t lose… ”
Yan Xiaoling couldn’t help but look with a smile and laugh at Unparalleled Dragon King.
“My friends, Lou Cheng and them won against Huahai easily. Isn’t group 1 already settled?”
“I’ll settle your head! Haven’t you heard of self-restraint? Their characteristics aren’t the same, their specialties aren’t the same. Taking an identical opponent’s behavior and judging it to be the norm is completely inaccurate!” Unparalleled Dragon King playfully scolded Yan Xiaoling.
Yan Xiaoling “wept” and replied, “I just don’t understand how to ask you for guidance! Should I act like I’ve been wronged, or that I’m sad, or perhaps that I’m feeling low?”
“Alright, alright, I’ll be serious. No one could have predicted that Lin Que would have uttered the phrase ‘Attainment’, but I’m afraid that’s not all. This matches up with Lou Cheng’s Army proclamation, and it just so happens that these aspects of self-control all existed in reduced form in Brother He Shishan, so beating them was fairly easy. Also, Ann Chaoyang didn’t have enough energy to attack using any secret discipline and also didn’t have any supernatural ability. By simply relying on martial arts strength, they were broken. At most they had Xing Jingjing’s secret techniques to rely on, so of course the difficulty wasn’t the same.”
Unparalleled Dragon King explained in detail, “You can see through real combat that Ann Chaoyang was at least at an ordinary Sixth Pin level. It was Lou Cheng’s first time meeting a powerful enemy in a competition, and he had to take all of his strength and skill and just hope that he could win against this powerful foe.”
Yan Xiaoling paid close attention, and after a long while replied giddily,
“Looking forward to our man Lou Cheng unleashing all of his firepower!”
…
In the arena, Lou Cheng watched the He Brothers’ dejected silhouettes leave the arena. As he heard the cheers and applause of the crowd, and the congratulatory blasting of vuvuzelas, he adopted a stance. For the first time, he turned and went in front of Yan Zheke with an expression of happiness, extended his right hand towards her, traced along the corner of her mouth and asked,
“What’d you think?”
Yan Zheke’s cheeks were scarlet due to both the intensity of battle and her own excitement. Her pupils were sparkling as she looked down at Lou Cheng’s palm and, gasping for air, she said,
“Not bad!”
Even though the He Brothers hadn’t attacked her more than twice, and she hadn’t quite been able to catch up with Lou Cheng and Lin Que due to their entrapments and rotations, their coordination had been quite remarkable. They again had the superiority of state, and as before, it had allowed Yan Zheke and Lin Hua to together experience no small amount of trials. It had allowed her to gain personal experience through actual combat despite her not being an Eight Pin Dan Stage Fighter capable of using Force Concentration. She’d made out like a bandit.
The two of them laughed at one another. Lou Cheng took a step beside Lin Hua and gave her a high five while also praising her.
“Not a bad performance!”
As Sun Jian and Lin Hua both could not meditate, it was hard for them to penetrate and get a grasp on inner training. Under these circumstances, their martial arts strength improved slowly but surely, and the difference in level between the two them was getting smaller and smaller and was nearly equal. At this point, the more attentive Lin Hua surpassed her boyfriend regarding the competition order.
“I feel that way myself,” Lin Hua responded humorously.
Shifting himself, Lou Cheng faced Li Mao again and stretched out his hand, laughing.
“You did well!”
Li Mao snorted, slapped Lou Cheng’s hand, and added,
“I really didn’t think that I could last that many moves with a Dan Stage Mighty One… ”
Even though they hadn’t been consecutive!
Lou Cheng laughed in response and turned his head to the side to face Cai Zongming. He hadn’t had enough time to extend his hand and speak when he heard classmate Little Ming, elated, start to speak.
“Haha, I beat a Dan Stage Mighty One!”
It’s just that you made the last move, but… Lou Cheng’s mouth twitched, and he didn’t acknowledge this.
Finally, he faced Lin Que, trying to think of what to say, but once again not coming up with anything, so he simply extended his right hand.
Lin Que’s expression was indifferent and his eyes were serene as he slapped Lou Cheng’s hand and calmly said,
“You did well.”
No need to copy me… no need to steal my lines… Lou Cheng was slightly stupefied as his brother-in-law turned and headed towards the stone steps, and he suddenly and vividly recalled Reporter Shu’s “dry humor”.
It hadn’t been long since the term had started, and Yan Zheke was going to hand down the Attainment proclamation to Lin Que, wait for him to grasp the basics, and then allow him to replace herself as the go-between for her grandparents.
The background of the story was that Lin Que was also very interested in the Nine Words Formula and had wanted to get some information on it from his cousin. He would often meticulously study it, and as a result, he and his cousin would together go and consult Lou Cheng, who had managed to grasp the Nine Words Formula. Lou Cheng would, out of the goodness of his heart, disregard any kind of pricing and help them refine themselves. Combined with his own refining studies, he would then finally understand the Attainment proclamation.
The kindhearted and sincere Lou Cheng had not concealed this and had taken the initiative by allowing Lin Que and Yan Zheke to use the Attainment proclamation, to the point of apologetically making up for it with a Swordsman Formula, which was considered to be an extension of Shushan Study.
Look, look at these promising youths! They wouldn’t dare cheat one another. They’d return any property they found to its rightful owner, wouldn’t steal a penny from anyone, and had both noble character and honest disposition!
As for whether Yan Zheke’s grandparents believed this story, Lou Cheng frankly didn’t care. At present, he was confident enough to enter the Ji household.
A few members of the Song Cheng University Martial Arts Club waved their arms and sent their greetings from all around. As there were still rounds remaining in the competition, they couldn’t stay for long. In succession they stepped off of the arena and met with Geezer Shi, He Zi, and others before walking towards the locker room.
As they were walking, Lou Cheng leaned his head to the side and looked at Yan Zheke. He could only see that she was immersed in her thoughts and her eyes were shining brightly.
“What are you thinking about?” Lou Cheng asked in a low voice.
Yan Zheke pursed her lips, smiled with twinkling eyes, and said,
“Thinking about how the fight went.”
Unable to conceal her pride, she added another sentence.
“And about how good I did!”
Pfft… Lou Cheng almost lost it. He felt that this Little Ke was too cute.
At the locker room entrance, he turned his head and stared back at his teammates. Coincidentally, he and Cai Zongming locked eyes.
“Hehe, I beat a Dan Stage Mighty One!” Classmate Little Ming happily repeated.
“You finished staring or what?” Lou Cheng teased.
Cai Zongming tsked and said, “Of course I’m not done. I’m still waiting for the competition to be broadcast so that I can cut off the last part and send it to all my friends!”
“I’ve never met such a shameless individual… ” Lou Cheng laughed dryly as he derided Talker.
“Thank you for your kind words!” Cai Zongming replied, paying him no mind.
The two still hadn’t finished talking when they heard Sun Jian, who had entered the locker room first, and others shouting in unison.
“Top eight! Top eight!”
After Shanbei, the Songcheng University Martial Arts Club was now locked into the top eight!
Next up would be the small group fighting for the top place!
…
Three minutes later, the other locker room door opened. Ann Chaoyang, who was in the lead, walked out together with the members of the Huahai Martial Arts Club.
Like Lou Cheng and the others, they hadn’t followed with the fighting of their opponent in the same group before the match.
While Lou Cheng and his fellows, who had just defeated Mingdao, were applying medicine and relaxing their muscles after they had taken showers, they were watching the broadcast on the television.
In the first round, Ann Chaoyang had shown the initiative by going on stage and also faced Soul Voice Han Peipei. Under the circumstances where there were no Army or Attainment Formulas, he’d relied on his fluid and water-like footwork to rapidly reduce the distance between himself and his opponent. After doing this to a certain extent, he produced a Dan Stage Eleven Consecutive Strikes, leaning on his speed and reaction time to devour Han Peipei’s sound wave feedback, just like when Lou Cheng had faced Liu Xunzhen.
In 43 seconds, Han Peipei was defeated!
In the second round, by using ascetic practice that belonged to the Water Sect, Ocean Star, Ann Chaoyang was able to surpass the usual strength of a Sixth Pin, and for the first time he used a Simplified Physical Invulnerable Move called Deluge. Under the circumstances, which included lingering influences of nausea and dizziness, victory was his.
In the third round, Ann Chaoyang was first to leave the arena.
In the fourth round, Piao Yuan easily beat Wu Yong, and Huahai defeated Hudong at the score of three to one.
So far, the two teams in group D to advance had been confirmed. And the first one would obtain an advantageous position in the Top Eight Competition!
…
In the locker room, after watching Ann Chaoyang’s fight, Li Mao, Sun Jian, and the others subconsciously looked towards Lou Cheng.
Lou Cheng patted his martial arts suit with obvious fighting desire in his eyes. He got up leisurely and said,
“Let’s go, we should get back.”
There were only four days left until the next round of the competition!
While taking the bus back, Yan Zheke occasionally would discuss with Lou Cheng with excitement if there was something she could’ve improved in the previous fight in the arena and talk about the fighting tactics of An Chaoyang.
then they hit a traffic jam half way there, and her excitement began to fade and the aftereffects began to appear.
“Cheng, I’m going to sleep for a bit. Wake me up when we get there.” Yan Zheke moved her body, looking for a comfortable position to lean her head on Lou Cheng.
“Alright.” Lou Cheng smiled and nodded.
Not long after, Yan Zheke began to dream. As she slept, the corner of her mouth had suspiciously glistening marks that slid down.
More than half an hour later, the bus finally got back to the hotel. Lou Cheng leaned his head and looked at the girl with a smile. Softly reaching out his hand, he reached toward her other arm, twisted his waist, and, using delicate force, managed to put her on his back.
The entire process went smoothly; Yan Zheke wasn’t the slightest bit perturbed.
Taking her martial art suit, martial arts shoes, and other various female bits and bobs, Lou Cheng carried Yan Zheke on his back and steadily walked off the bus. Lin Hua and Sun Jian were behind him and they couldn’t help but give him grief.
“Look at the way Cheng is treating his girlfriend!”
