Martial Arts Master

Hanging up the phone, Lou Cheng gnashed his teeth angrily. Only when he recalled all his ambitions for his future training did he tear himself away from the game with his willpower. Under the pretext of his computer crashing, he shouted out a few words of rage curses.

As he climbed into bed, there were still 10 minutes left until the time Geezer Shi said he had to go to bed. Lou Cheng sighed, took out his phone, opened QQ, and clicked on the dialog box with Yan Zheke. “It’s been an exhausting day. I feel like a dog about to die lying on this bed.”

“Woof woof woof,” Yan Zheke replied with three words.

Lou Cheng couldn’t help laughing. “Are you tired too?”

“I’m the one who chose to do special training, I shall finish this even if it’s on my knees.” Yan Zheke sent a cute emoji of a pair of hands poking someone’s waist.

“Of course, we shall at least be able to get through this semester,” Lou Cheng didn’t dare boast and instead said. “I didn’t realize that you are so much different online from the one in real life. That ‘woof woof woof’ message really cracked me up.”

As he spoke, he sent an emoji crying with laughter.

Yan Zheke sent a blushing emoji. “I don’t give too much thought about idol burden.”

He was having so much fun that Lou Cheng talked until 10:30 without noticing. Using every last ounce of willpower he had, he said goodnight to Yan Zheke. With his mind full of hope, he fell into a deep sleep in hope and dream.

The next day, the alarm clock went off as scheduled and Lou Cheng woke up with a start. He quickly reached out and dismissed the alarm, afraid that he would disturb his roommates.

“If it weren’t for the fact that the new campus was located in the middle of nowhere and there was no way to rent an apartment, he would move out in an instant. That way he wouldn’t have to worry about disturbing others.” This thought flashed through Lou Cheng’s mind as he crawled out of bed. He first splashed his face with cold water, clearing his head, and then changed into his third pair of exercise clothes, which was also his last pair. It was late autumn and his first pair was still wet, thus it would be necessary for him to buy a new pair to meet the need.

Lou Cheng finished brushing his teeth, grabbed the keys that Geezer Shi had given him, and tiptoed out of the room and through the passageway. Under the dim light of the street lamps he opened the dormitory entrance, and through mist so silent you could hear a pin drop, slowly jogged toward the lake he had gone to yesterday.

Even though it was a few minutes before 5:50 when he arrived at the lake, Geezer Shi was already waiting there, with a parked bicycle at his side.

Master arrived even earlier than I did… Lou Cheng suddenly felt a bit of appreciation and ran toward him to give him a salute.

“Not bad, didn’t have to call you and tell you to hurry up.” Geezer Shi smirked. “Before teaching you any more stance training, let’s do some long-distance running.”

“Long-distance running?” Lou Cheng asked with suspicion. He was lost in thought, “As the Jindan helps me recover from fatigue, is there any point in doing long-distance running?”

Geezer Shi took out a cigarette and started smoking. “Even if it’s during the body refining period, relying on punches, the power of the muscles themselves and footwork is enough during a competition; one important thing about Danqi that you must remember is that it’s not just about your physical Qi, instead, it’s about your mind as well and all of the body systems being in perfect harmonious balance. Your physical strength, willpower, and muscles must be all working as one complete and perfectly coordinated system. Respond to any agitation as Dadan (the great Dan realm). If one lacks endurance, it will be tough for him to reach this kind of realm with the human body.

“Why in ordinary martial arts schools, high school Martial Arts Clubs, College Martial Arts Clubs, and normal martial arts classrooms, so few people can obtain the Danqi state, no matter how good their stance training is?” Geezer Shi made a short pause after his rhetorical question but continued, “It’s for lack of knowledge. Hey, don’t think that what I’m saying is too simple. One word of simple advice is more valuable than all those old wordy textbooks that go on and on.”

“I understand,” Lou Cheng said with a twinge of embarrassment. “But do I really have to run?”

Master’s words had a lot of truth to them, but as the Jindan helped him to recover from weariness, would it be possible to improve his endurance under these circumstances?

Geezer Shi tsk-tsked and said, “You mustn’t be afraid of difficulties, hardship, or strain. Every strong warrior has come through this way. Relax, Master will stand by your side and take care of you.”

He added with a sly grin, “Of course, in my old age, my body has already become somewhat feeble. I don’t have quite that much energy in the morning. You run, I’ll ride the bicycle.”

He patted the handles bars of the bike, quite pleased with himself.

“Do we have to run?” Lou Cheng hesitated and looked sincerely at Geezer Shi.

“Get going! How can someone so young be afraid of getting tired! ” Geezer Shi’s face twisted.

…

After some time, while Lou Cheng’s face wasn’t red and he wasn’t out of breath as he ran ahead, Geezer Shi began to lag farther and farther behind as he pedaled his bicycle. Gasping for breath, he slammed the pedals, his lungs sucking air in and out like a bellows.

“Stop you little brat! Stop! Do you want to kill your master or what?!”

Lou Cheng stopped, restrained himself from laughing, and deliberately pretended to gasp for breath as he watched Geezer Shi go through hell and high water to catch up.

“You… what’d you eaten while growing up? You should practice long-distance running instead of martial arts!” Blurting all of this out in one breath, Geezer Shi huffed and puffed.

“It’s… it’s just that… master, you made me run…” Lou Cheng said, his eyes filled with innocence.

However, this time the long distance running had also reaped some rewards. Compared to before, his endurance had obviously improved. It wasn’t like the first day he used the Jindan, where he’d been out of breath just after jogging for a short while and needed to recharge. Today he’d run a long distance several times that of the previous run.

In other words, when it came to recovering from fatigue the Jindan wouldn’t influence his own body’s ability to improve endurance. Not only that, but due to it’s effect, his body’s endurance now far exceeded what was normal!

Thinking about this, Lou Cheng could hardly contain the smile on his face.

A while later, Geezer Shi at last drew out a breath and said with a glare on his face. “You can’t stop long distance running in the future, but do it yourself. Don’t be lazy!”

Finishing the talk, he brought Lou Cheng to a secluded area nearby, and went over the Thunder Sect’s Lightning and Fire Stance and Ice Sect’s Condensation Stance again in detail. The former attached importance to the bodies punching speed, whereas the latter refined the senses, improved ones attention, and enhanced the body’s reaction time and hand-eye coordination, which could be incorporated into the Yin-Yang Stance. In addition, he covered the power of one’s punches, long distance running training, footwork exercises, thus forming a complete body refining system.

According to what Geezer Shi had said, he could take the Thunder Sect’s Lightning and Fire Stance and switch it for the Ice Sect’s Condensation Stance. While it couldn’t be said that the practice was necessarily more effective, it was at least more suitable for someone like Lou Cheng, who had already missed the optimal time to train.

Lou Cheng invested a lot of effort into stance training, and the benefits that came with it were obvious to see. He was naturally concentrated and single-minded, not at all complacent. Continuing his training he became even more hardworking, except for Thursdays, when he had no class to attend and would allow himself to relax, his mind racing and buzzing.

On Friday night, Lou Cheng got back to the dormitory, carrying his backpack over his shoulder. He hadn’t yet entered the room when he heard loud talking and laughter inside.

“What could be going on that was that exciting?” He opened the door and saw Cai Zongming sitting in his place.

“Did you forget? Today was our little social meetup with the girls’ dormitory. Model Worker,” Zhang Jingye replied with a smile.

“Ah, how did it go?” Although he didn’t want to go himself, Lou Cheng was very interested and listened closely to their recap.

Cai Zongming grinned and said. “Cheng, if I set my mind on something, is it even possible to fail?”

“That’s right, we all were considering giving Casanova another nickname. You should have seen it, he took total control of the atmosphere. Every time he opened his mouth, the girls just couldn’t stop laughing. For this kind of person, we think that all of his best attributes are based on that mouth of his.” The dormitory leader Zhao Qiang grinned from ear to ear. “Therefore, in accordance with the Battle of Kings Rank and Title Conventions, we intend to call him Talker!”

“Are you guys praising me or insulting me?” Cai Zongming seemed to be very satisfied with the nickname.

“Not bad, come forth Talker and bow your head to the group of perverts,” Lou Cheng teased, wiggling his eyebrows. “You all can’t get away with that, I’m asking how the social meetup went?”

“Not bad!” Old Qiu hurled out these two words as if he’d been holding them in all day.

Cai Zongming grinned. “It wasn’t bad, there was a beautiful girl, really beautiful girl.”

“Yeah, yeah! Zhuang Xiaojun is really pretty. She’s pretty if she’s wearing glasses, and pretty if she’s not wearing them,” Zhang Jingye chimed in. “It’s a shame, I’ve heard Guo Qing say that she already has a boyfriend.”

“Not a boyfriend, just a suitor, more like suitor,” Zhao Qiang retorted.

Lou Cheng faltered. “Guo Qing?”

Why did this name sound so familiar?

“Yes, the same Guo Qing from the martial arts club, the one who’s with you together in special training. It’s quite a coincidence, even predestined!” Cai Zongming grinned. “She seems to have taken a fancy to Old Qiu.”

“Bah, no way!” The stocky Qiu Zhigao quickly denied.

“I also have that feeling. She’s always looking for Old Qiu to ask about this and ask about that. Her figure would go really well with yours!” Zhao Qiang said in approval.

Zhang Jingye also said. “Old Qiu, you can’t deny that when we were talking with Pan Xue, she also said Guo Qing was pretty interested in you.”

“Old Qiu, just strut your stuff afterward when we have the next dormitory social meetup and our two dorms will become more inseparable. There will be more opportunities for Qiang and Model Worker to get in touch with Zhuang Xiaojun as well.” Cai Zongming made a joke. Zhao Qiang and Zhang Jingye roared with laughter.

Old Qiu looked toward Lou Cheng helplessly. “Cheng, they’re so crazy about girls that they can’t think straight, only you can redress the scales!”

Hmm… Guo Qing and Yan Zheke’s relationship seemed to be progressing quite well… Lou Cheng suppressed a smile as he spoke with passion.

“Old Qiu, you’re right about that!”

“Give me a break!” Old Qiu said with feigned anger as he laughed.

Careful not to overdo it, Lou Cheng turned his head and changed the subject. “Guo Qing, Zhuang Xiaojun, and there’s still two other girls, right? Pan Xue?”

“Yes, there’s one called Pan Xue, and one called You Fangfang. You Fangfang is a bit introverted. She looks…. um… pretty plain,” Cai Zongming said. “Pan Xue is really petite, pretty lively and easy to get along with, and looks really cute.”

“But she has a boyfriend,” Zhang Jingye interrupted, “some… some student from Southern Asia.”

“Ah, in our school?” Lou Cheng asked.

“Yes, these Southern Asian students smell like hell. Every time I run into them I want to pinch my nose. I don’t know what Pan Xue sees in him.” Zhao Qiang sighed.

Old Qiu then said, “Guo Qing said they met each other through English Corner.”

“Gah, English Corner is the kind of place that was made for that kind of stuff!” Zhao Qiang said angrily.

“Just like that… our best girl, damn English Corner…” Zhang Jingye and Old Qiu chimed in.

Just then, Zhao Qiang suddenly jumped up, started flipping through his book and started to head out.

“Hey, Qiang, where are you going?” Cai Zongming and Lou Cheng asked simultaneously, with their faces showing confusion.

Zhao Qiang turned back and nodded confidently.

“There’s still time. I’m going to English Corner to practice my English.”

Pfft… Lou Cheng nearly did a spit take.

“Qiang, you become a rebel under cover of honest look with big eyes and bushy eyebrows!”

As the laughter died down, Zhao Qiang’s cheeks became red.

Just then, Lou Cheng’s phone rang.

Taking it out and seeing that it was a call from Geezer Shi, Lou Cheng gloomily thought surely it wouldn’t be him again urging him to sleep?

“Hello.” As there were other people in the dorm, he didn’t say master.

On the other end, Geezer Shi said directly, “Order yourself a train ticket to Pingjiang tomorrow night at 7 o’clock. There’s only one train at that time.”

“Eh?!” Lou Cheng was baffled. “Pingjiang?”

“Yes, Pingjiang City, Shanbei Province.” Geezer Shi’s voice was deep and foreboding. “Don’t ask why. Wait for me tomorrow at the train station at 6:30 p.m.”