Chapter 189: There Is No Way out of Man-made Calamity

Translator: Transn  Editor: Transn

“Keep smiling, keep smiling…” Hanging onto her flawless and professional smile, Shu Rui said,

“Then classmate Lin Que, what’s your assessment of your performance in this competition? Are you satisfied, or you do think it’s not as good as it could be?”

Finished speaking, she winked, innocently looking ahead at Lin Que, hoping that this amateur wouldn’t make any more sarcastic remarks.

Lin Que was silent for a few seconds, and then said slowly, “I’ve just met the minimum requirement.”

“Just met the minimum requirement? Why would you give yourself this kind of assessment? To decide how to fell a fighter of the same rank in such a short span of time, no matter what the official evaluation is, it could safely be considered outstanding, correct?” Shu Rui keenly seized this point to phrase it as a question.

Lin Que said solemnly, “The first time I did the Tremor Punch, I wasn’t able to string them together fast enough, so he was able to dodge.”

At that time, even though he’d spent a portion of his strength by using the Yin-yang Twist, and he’d had to borrow some additional strength. It wasn’t like martial arts was a supernatural thing. It’s boundaries and levels could be arranged in different ways. There were still parts of this power that he couldn’t understand and could only rely on his physical bodies’ resistance. For this reason, he’d been affected after he’d used the Front Leg Sweep linked up with Meteor Force, and had had to gather his breath. He was slow by half a beat and was evaded by Deng Hua.

If he had handled it a little better, Deng Hua perhaps could have defeated by his first counter-attack!

“Only when the body’s essence is at the peak of the body refining stage can you accomplish this. You’re already pretty good, why be so brooding?” Shu Rui said, raising her eyebrows. She felt like she was getting to get a vague grasp on Lin Que’s conversational technique.

If he only mentioned specific fight details, it should be okay!

“If there’s an insufficiency, you just have to find the reason. If your body’s essence isn’t good enough then you have to work hard to improve it.” Lin Que replied deliberately.

Shu Rui shifted her gaze, sweetly smiled, and said, “So, Classmate Lin’s meaning is that you’d like to as quickly as possible enter the Dan Stage, and smash through the body’s limits?”

“Mmm.” Lin Que wasn’t modest, nor was he arrogant. He simply nodded his head dully.

“Haha, this amateur isn’t too hard to figure out! I’ve got his number, he’s just a stubborn donkey! A reporter like me only comes around once every 100 years.” Shu Rui boasted to herself, and then asked curiously, “Your Tremor Punch and Lou Cheng’s Tremor Punch really don’t seem the same. The jabbing and pullback techniques have a definite difference from those of 24 Blizzard strikes, can you tell everybody what they are?”

As her voice faded, her heart started pounding; she knew that she’d asked the wrong question, and could already predict what Lin Que’s answer was going to be.

Just as expected, Lin Que indifferently responded with one sentence.

“That’s a secret.”

“Mysterious f*cking secret!” Shu Rui wanted to put her face in her hands and sigh, but she had to maintain her demeanor while in front of the camera. She could only look on helplessly, then nod towards Lin Que, and step away from him towards the locker room entrance.

After pulling herself together, Shu Rui continued to interview Martial Arts Club members coming out of the locker room. She asked Geezer Shi what his goal was regarding their final position in the preliminaries, Sun Jian what he thought about the bitter defeat during the second Elephant Trumpet, Lin Hua about how felt about his last-minute comeback…

Since the previously broadcasted hefty bonus was soon to become a reality, Li Mao and the others were appropriately excited, which was perfect when it came to having interviews. This made Shu Rui finally able to rest easy. Her only worry was that Songcheng University Martial Art Club’s Coach Shi seemed to lack interest towards their advancement in the preliminaries.

“Thank you Guo Qing for your cooperation.” Shu Rui said with a small smile, approaching the end.

Guo Qing’s face was aglow. She replied hurriedly, “Thank me for what?! It’s no problem!”

Shu Rui glanced a few steps outside the locker room entrance, and mentioned somewhat carelessly, “Is classmate Lou Cheng still inside?”

“Yeah.” Guo Qing answered quickly. Following her answer, her expression became strange and she added, “Reporter Shu, are you waiting to interview Lou Cheng?”

“Yes! He’s the great victor today.” Shu Rui replied without the slightest hesitation.

Guo Qing opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end only came out with one sentence, saying it as if it were a profound warning.

“You may have to wait for quite a while…”

“That’s okay, this isn’t a live broadcast.” Shu Rui didn’t mind.

Before when the interviews with the Azure Dragon Squad had been placed after the competition in the broadcast, she’d been somewhat rushed. Now however, the station had already switched the program and decided to broadcast the scenes in a different order, putting Songcheng University Martial Arts Club last. In other words, this wasn’t an “immediate” live broadcast.

Since it Isn’t a live broadcast, of course, I could wait!

How long could he possibly dawdle?

Guo Qing looked at her meaningfully, said no more, and left the Martial Arts Club.

…

In the locker room, Lou Cheng was still applying ointment to Yan Zheke’s arm.

Before during the competition, Yan Zheke actually had not had any major collisions. It was actually due to the rigid stance of her arms that she’d received a few bruises. Also, the fingermarks of her opponent remained from when she had been thrown, as well as a slight muscle tear, but all in all she didn’t have very many areas that needed treating, and was better off than Lou Cheng. During the entire fight, while he’d only delivered two punches towards Mo Zicong, the soles of his feet had smashed quite a few bricks.

While operating at such a high level, you could end up getting these kinds of high-level injuries. Applying the ointment and kneading it into unleashing the effect typically took a few minutes at most, but after showering, Lou Cheng had been stroking for over 10 minutes and it still was not finished.

Seeing that the locker room had become quieter, and that the others had already gone, he quickened the pace and finished kneading.

“You should help me.” He handed the ointment over to Yan Zheke with all smiles.

Yan Zheke pursed her lips, let out a cute humph and said,

“You’re too slow!”

Everyone knows this about Lou Cheng!

Despite her words, she still took the jar of ointment, scooped out a handful, and applied it.

After about two minutes, with everything fixed, Yan Zheke went to give it back, but instead heard Lou Cheng say quietly,

“I still have an injury…”

“Where?” Yan Zheke blinked, bewildered and concerned.

“Here…”Lou Cheng opened his mouth, and using the tip of his tongue, pointed out a small crack on his tooth. “Bite myself when I was resisting the Elephant Trumpet!”

If I get a kiss from Yan Zheke, it’ll heal completely!

Yan Zheke smiled cheerfully and pursed her lips, causing dimples to appear. She used her pinky to scoop out some ointment.

“Come here, I’ll apply some for you!”

Cheng is becoming more and more shameless!

While she spoke, her hand was already stretched out.

Lou Cheng spurted in laughter, and said on the spot, “My fault, Coach Yan, that’s not exactly what I meant…”

He stretched out his right hand and tracing a splendid half arc, grabbed the girl’s wrists, stopping her.

Yan Zheke immediately burst into excitement, her shoulders exploding, elbow joints flying like bullets, wrists trembling, squirming at Lou Cheng’s capture, and trying to apply the ointment on his mouth.

Lou Cheng’s Big or Small Hand Wrap couldn’t be broken so easily. With a shake of the shoulders and waving of the right hand, he grabbed hold of the girl’s nearby arm.

Yan Zheke bit her lower lip. Her pupils brightened, and she threw her left hand in, forming a kind of “Capture Pair Exercise” with Lou Cheng.

In the midst of this fierce struggle between the two of them, hands and fingers flew about, bustling with noise and excitement.

The final result was not accidental. The warrior Yan Zheke superficially pretending to be captured, despite only have her two wrists grasped by Lou Cheng.

“It seems you won’t make allowances for me!” Yan Zheke wheezed and giggled in a “righteous” tone. Her face became flushed and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

This kind of “hidden pair exercise” quarrel really was quite interesting!

When she was finished speaking in this light tone, she found that Lou Cheng had not responded, and was only staring at her with intense concentration and passion.

“You… what’re you looking at?” With Lou Cheng holding both of her wrists, and looking at her in this way, Yan Zheke suddenly felt an indescribable kind of panic.

Lou Cheng swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, “Ke, does your tongue also hurt?”

“Mhmm.” Yan Zheke’s eyes sparkled.

“I’ll help you…” Lou Cheng muttered and used his hand skillfully to pull her up, holding her against his chest. Afterwards, he let go of her wrists, grasped her shoulders, lowered his head and kissed her gently above her lip.

Yan Zheke’s hands gently pounded his shoulders, but after a moment, she closed her eyes and clung onto his shoulders.

Kissing was not an untraveled road for either of them. Lou Cheng traced the edges of her lips, taking in the alluring sweetness and extending his tongue, reaching out to the center of her mouth.

After momentarily trying to evade it, as Lou Cheng’s kisses become deeper and deeper, more and more passionate, Yan Zheke responded. With her few remaining inhibitions, her hands that had been resting on her boyfriend’s shoulders unconsciously formed into an embrace.

As he absorbed the sweetness, Lou Cheng still was not satisfied. He once again moved towards the girl’s small tongue, as if he wanted her tongue to be absorbed into his own.

Yan Zheke struggled as she felt her boyfriend becoming more and more forceful and intense in his attempts. As her body trembled slightly, her mind suddenly was in a daze, and an ineffable thought flashed through her mind, “Let him, let him.”

With her tongue not moving, Lou Cheng seized the opportunity and breathed in. With an incredible tenderness and affection, between short and long breaths, he could feel every part of its tenderness and sweetness.

Yan Zheke trembled more and more intensely. Suddenly she pushed Lou Cheng away, withdrawing her tongue and sitting her down. Her eyes were misty and her face flushed with red and pink, gasping for breath. Her beauty was as extreme as could be, as was her allure.

Lou Cheng felt as if he’d been struck. He kissed her again, with her tongue intermingled with saliva and her feverish embrace all together, feverishly exchanging and absorbing each other’s smell.

The excitement and stimulation made Lou Cheng’s hands, which were behind the girl’s back, start to migrate. Caressing from top to bottom, gently massaging from left to right, tracing elegant lines along her back, he came across the strap of Yan Zheke’s bra and also fiddled with her martial arts suit, removing the hem of her skirt from the inside of her pants.

With their lips touching and the sweet smell of sweat, Lou Cheng could feel her breathing become more and more rapid and hurried. There was a warm, moist kind of sweet fragrance surging from her face, making the desire in his own body become even stronger, surging forth.

His right hand went down, making its way under Yan Zheke’s martial art suit skirt, where he could most vividly feel her skin.

Just then, there was an urgent knocking at the entrance of the locker room.

Bam bam bam!

Yan Zheke seemed to awaken, pushing Lou Cheng away, lowering her head. She gasped for air as she quickly arranged her outfit.

Considerably irritated and in a bad mood, Lou Cheng controlled his tone and in a deep voice asked,

“Who is it?”

Someone who knocked on the door at that very time should be punished!

Outside of the locker room, a lovely sounding woman’s voice came through,

“Classmate Lou Cheng, I’m Shu Rui, the reporter from Songcheng TV station. Is now a good time for you to have an interview?”

“Of course, it wasn’t a good time!” Lou Cheng really wanted to respond, but he considered how the school’s propaganda department had begged him over and over. He also considered how they could cover his and Yan Zheke’s behavior in the locker room. Consequently, he breathed in and said,

“Wait a few minutes.”

He had to say a few minutes because his Martial Arts trousers were loose, and if he stood up straight it would obviously reveal an outline, so much so that it would be as if his pants were acting as a tent for his lower body!

If he went out like this, he might as well be wearing a hat with “Nymphomaniac” on it. This was no good since he would lose face in front of countless Songcheng fans both old and new, and in front of his own forum fans as well… In that case, he might as well crawl into a hole somewhere and die!

“Okay.” Shu Rui answered impatiently.

How could Lou Cheng dawdle for this long? What the hell was he doing in the locker room?

Wait a second, it seems like that pretty girlfriend of his hasn’t come out either…

Lou Cheng calmed himself, visualizing the condensation stance, but his lower half was unyielding and refused to cooperate.

“All I can do is to take a cold shower…” He gritted his teeth at the towering tent as he charged into the shower area, quickly tore off his clothes and wrenched open the faucet.

As she sat on the bench, Yan Zheke giggled at all of this, and had been for a while. She gently pounded her sides and muttered gleefully, “You brought this on yourself!”

At the same time, some slang from the internet flashed through her mind.

“Troublemaker!”

After finishing the cold shower and pacifying the tent, Lou Cheng put on his clothes. Glancing at Yan Zheke, he pulled open the doors to the locker room and went out.

Bang! Close the door like a good boy!

Holding in her smile, Shu Rui said, “Sorry for disturbing you, the main thing is I want to wrap up my interviews as quickly as possible for the larger half of the broadcast of the competition.”

Oh no, I’ve been around the block myself, will I be able to guess what you’ve been up to?

“No need to be so polite, go ahead.” It was too late to turn back now. Lou Cheng’s resentment could only turn into helplessness.

Shu Rui was not afraid to exploit the secret pleasures of others, and grinned as she said, “Classmate Lou Cheng, when you hit Mo Zicong today with those two punches, they seemed unique, and not like any of the techniques that you’ve used in the past. Has your new training given you a new trump card?”

“Yes.” Lou Cheng answered honestly.

As long as someone paid attention to the other people in the competition, anyone would notice this. He didn’t have any kind of hidden secret.

Shu Rui nodded her head, satisfied. She continued, “When I interviewed Mo Zicong, he was shaking and his face was still a bit blue, as if he’d suffered a bitingly cold injury. Does this mean that your training from the original Ice Sect school of training is complete?

“I wouldn’t say complete, only that I’ve grasped the basics.” Lou Cheng was not self-effacing, only honest.

A true Frost Force punch would have frozen Mo Zicong where he stood and temporarily covered his entire body in frost.

His own Thunder Roar Zen and Frost Force had progressed too quickly, and his grasp was still limited to the basic level. He couldn’t say that he’d already gone to a higher level simply through the 24 Blizzard Strikes.

“Look at that, such an honest answer! If he has it he says so and if he doesn’t he says so!” Confronted by this kind of person, Shu Rui could positively cry tears of joy. She glanced at Lou Cheng in both gratitude and bewilderment.

“According to what I know, even in the Danqi State, even someone who has trained perfectly can still have more areas that are insufficient, like an insufficient grasp of the body refining state. Fighting in such an intense competition, are you afraid that you have to use a correspondingly distinguishing feature or special skill?” Shu Rui followed up this question with another.

Lou Cheng laughed and said, “Can I keep that a secret?”

Let other people guess what state I’m at!

Shu Rui was nearly moved to tears. Look at this boy, asking to maintain secrecy in such a polite and refined way!

“Of course you can.” She laughed gently, and changed the topic of the interview to other things.

Not long after, when the interview was over, Lou Cheng immediately waved his hand and without looking back rushed back into the locker room.

Bang!

Hearing the sound of the locker room door’s closing, Shu Rui was dumbfounded. She couldn’t help but take her purse from the cameraman, take out a small mirror and carefully and thoroughly look at her face.

Could it be that I’ve been pulling too many all-nighters and my looks have deteriorated?

Otherwise, why would he run from me like I’m a monster? He didn’t say any more than he had to. It’s like he doesn’t have the slightest consideration for a woman’s feelings. His face was wooden from start to finish. If he could say it in two words, he wouldn’t use three, as if an ordinary full sentence wasn’t worth opening his mouth for.

As a particularly beautiful woman, ever since Shu Rui had grown up, there were times where she would receive certain acts of kindness from society. Sitting down on a train when she’d purchased a standing ticket wasn’t a problem since most men would do “what was right” and give up their seat to her. It also wasn’t a problem if she occasionally forgot to bring change, as her rate of success of borrowing money from others was fairly high…

“There’s no change!” Shu Rui looked repeatedly and came to the conclusion that she should take what had just happened a moment ago and get it out of her mind. With the cameraman following, she hurriedly left the martial arts arena.

In the locker room, Lou Cheng saw that Yan Zheke had already put together all of her articles, and was waiting for him delightfully.

“Should we get back now?!” He was still full of anticipation.

Yan Zheke flashed a glance, and said softly, “You’re so worn out. You should go back and get some sleep.”

“You saw that?” Lou Cheng had thought he had managed to conceal it.

Under these unfamiliar circumstances, throwing two Frost Force was actually quite tiring…

“Of course, I’m a famous detective.” Yan Zheke grinned wickedly. She walked up to Lou Cheng, raised her arms, extended her hands, and tenderly massaged his temples.

As Lou Cheng was enjoying the comfort after his pain was alleviated, she stood up on her tiptoes and with her pink, tender lips quickly gave him a peck on the mouth.

Immediately after that, Yan Zheke turned around, and with her hands behind her back as if everything was normal, said,

“Go back then!”

“Okay.” Lou Cheng couldn’t help but smile.

…

Back in the dormitory, Lou Cheng was just about to head to his bedroom when behind him he suddenly heard a sound coming up the stairs.

These footsteps were quite familiar and made him subconsciously halt and wait.

Quickly after, the entrance opened, and classmate “Talker” Cai Zongming sauntered in, humming a tune.

“Casanova, you just now got back?” Lou Cheng was a little flabbergasted.

Ke and I have delayed this long, how is that I got back before Little Ming when he left the martial arts arena right after it ended?

What has he been up to?

Cai Zongming tsked. “Cheng, I have some good news, and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

“The bad news.” Lou Cheng answered, not particularly caring.

Looking at Talker being unable to conceal his happiness, how bad could it really be!

Cai Zongming chuckled. “When I saw you defeat a Professional Ninth Pin fighter in the martial arts arena today with only two punches, I was really f*cking pumped. My heart was uneasy, so then I made an impulsive decision. After the competition, I’d go to the lakeside to practice my standing stance!”

“Is this the good news? You bastard, you’ll never make a sincere effort unless you’re provoked!” Lou Cheng responded with a laugh as he studied Cai Zongming’s tone of voice.

“Since when have I not been hard working? It’s like I get ravaged by a giant orangutan every day, is it easy for me?” Cai Zongming said, speaking as if he couldn’t bear to recall the past.

“OK OK OK, you’re very hard working and diligent.” Lou Cheng deliberately played up his response. “And the good news?”

“Good news?” Cai Zongming’s voice suddenly got higher. “I just successfully meditated!”

“Hahahaha, as expected, I’m a genius!” He laughed like a cartoon character.

Lou Cheng was pleasantly surprised, and walked around Cai Zongming in a half circle. “It doesn’t look like it. Is that how you meditate?”

“What’s this called?” Cai Zongming laughed. “You bastard! With this kind of twisted understanding, you’ll never recognize the months of bitter training that I’ve put into achieving meditation!”

As long as he applied himself, it was clear that Talker had some innate gifts once praised by master Geezer Shi. “This is really impressive…” Lou Cheng secretly was excited for his friend, but he shot back. “If you had this much awareness, you should have been able to meditate before Winter Break!”

Cai Zongming didn’t pay him any mind and snickered. “Cheng, a saying just came into my mind.”

“What?” Lou Cheng asked, full of curiosity.

Cai Zongming cleared his throat.

“Becoming an overnight sensation, like a bird soaring through the sky, shocking all with its prowess. All of your ignoramuses stand up and take notice, for the student has now become the master…”

“Hehe.” Lou Cheng responded.

“As the fourth person to grasp meditation in the Martial Arts Club, before the semester is over I need to take on an Amateur Third Pin. When next semester starts, I need to be at least an Amateur Second Pin fighter!” In his high spirits, Cai Zongming let his mind wander freely. Ignoring Lou Cheng, he took out his phone and shirked away to the balcony to give his girlfriend the pleasant surprise.

“Not bad!” Looking at his back, Lou Cheng burst into a heartfelt smile.

As one improved oneself, one’s friends would also improve. It really made one happy!

At next year’s University Martial Arts Tournament Challenges, perhaps Talker could compete for a substitute position…

…

Heading to his bedroom, Lou Cheng removed his clothes, lay down on the bed, and sent a few messages to Yan Zheke. Just as he was about to take a nap, he saw a message pop up, coming from “Otherworldly Cloud”

This was his cousin Qi Yunfei’s QQ username.

“Brother Lou Cheng, are you there?” ‘Otherworldly Cloud’ asked.

Lou Cheng sent a smiling face. “Feifei, what’s up?”

He and his cousins would often trade a few messages on QQ, and he also had a group that was for his brothers and sisters.

“Brother Lou Cheng, I heard Aunt say that you’ve joined the Songcheng University Martial Arts Club. Isn’t the training pretty intense?” Qi Yunfei asked, sending a bouncing and lively emoji.

“Pssh, Mom’s exaggerating…” Lou Cheng couldn’t help but smile and disagree silently. He responded modestly, “It’s not that bad.”

It seemed like his mom wasn’t too fond of him practicing martial arts, but she’d still flaunt this information about and now all his cousins seemed to know!

Qi Yunfei said feebly, “Brother Lou Cheng, I have something that I’d like to have your guidance.”

“Ask for guidance? How formal…” Lou Cheng faltered, and then responded casually, “Go ahead.”

“My…my boyfriend doesn’t want to take the high school admission test. He wants to study martial arts instead. Brother Lou Cheng, what do you think?” Qi Yunfei asked, sending an emoji with its eyes full of sparkling tears.

“What do I think?” Lou Cheng responded deliberately,

“It depends on if he truly does like martial arts, or if he’s simply using it to avoid studying. Even if he truly likes it, it depends on if he has enough willpower and if he can persevere. If he really can achieve it and see it through, then studying martial arts is a valid life path.”

As for his skill, even if he’s just average, there’s still hope of getting to be of Amateur First Pin. When that time comes, there are a few places in Xiushan and Ningshui County where it’s not hard to find jobs for those at an average level.

Qi Yunfei was silent for a moment, and then said, “He truly does like it. Whether or not he has the willpower and can or can’t persevere, I can’t tell… I’m scared that he’ll be cheated by those unreliable martial arts clubs…”

“What martial arts club does he want to go to? Tell me, I ask around.” Lou Cheng gently replied.

He reckoned that he had a few contacts in the Xiushan martial arts circles.

Qin Rui belonged to the Gushan Martial Arts School, which was one of the top groups in Xiushan!

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