For the first time since the beginning of January, the sky in Yanling had cleared up. The sun was shining on the earth, making people feel cheerful.
Lou Cheng hummed a song, wearing a down jacket and a Songcheng University martial arts suit with white and black edges. He walked briskly into the stadium and came to the big screen, looking for his number and name.
The fourth round of knockout would be the biggest test to determine whether he could advance to the group stage.
He had gone through three tests and transformed bit by bit. He would be lying to himself if he said he didn't change his attitude toward the group stage.
At the very beginning, the group stage matches were like a fleeting hope that was hard to reach. There was only a sliver of possibility. He had booked his accommodation until the end of the group stage just in case he was lucky enough to draw the weakest team and get a bye. Even God couldn't stop him if he had good luck.
But now, he was only one door away from the group stage. He could reach it with his hand. The hope was so big that he couldn't help but start to imagine, to aspire, to be excited, and to worry about his gains and losses.
Please don't draw a Mighty One of Professional Ninth Pin in the fourth round …
Lou Cheng prayed silently in his heart. His eyes were fixed on the number 656.
"Ring One, Round Six, No. 656, Lou Cheng, 18 years old, no rank. No. 18, Wu Shitong, 17 years old, Amateur Second Pin."
"Good luck …" Lou Cheng felt happy in his heart, but soon he came back to himself. "Ring One? Isn't this the central ring?
It means that my match will be exposed to most of the audience. "
Even if there were no more than two thousand people in the group stage and the top 16, hundreds of thousands of eyes would still make people tremble in fear. The focus of the crowd was always so beautiful and so difficult to digest.
Lou Cheng took a deep breath, a little nervous and a little excited. He unlocked the screen of his phone and was about to "report" the result of the draw to Yan Zheke. He saw that she sent a message three minutes ago with an emoji of putting her hands together.
"Not Professional Ninth Pin, not Professional Ninth Pin, not Professional Ninth Pin …"
Lou Cheng was amused, and his heart was filled with warmth and joy. He smiled and replied, "I was wondering why I was so lucky today. It's because of your good luck. When I go back to school, I must treat you to a meal. "
This was called hitting a snake with a stick. He was trying to ask Yan Zheke out in private at the beginning of the next semester!
Yan Zheke sent a drooling emoji. "I won't hold back! Amateur Second Pin or Amateur Third Pin? "
Seeing her reply, Lou Cheng couldn't help but wave his fist and murmur "YES". After two tragedies where his routine couldn't keep up with the changes, he finally found a chance to ask Yan Zheke out!
Sure enough, they still had to go through some things together for the topic to naturally evolve into eating or watching a movie.
"Amateur Second Pin, much better than I expected." Lou Cheng replied with a laughing emoji.
Yan Zheke replied with a proud emoji of pushing up her sunglasses. "Not bad. My prayers weren't in vain. But you can't be careless. Those who can make it to the fourth round of the knockout game are no weaklings. Besides, you are at least of Amateur Second Pin. Too many things have happened to you."
"Thank you for your advice, Coach Yan!" Lou Cheng replied with a smile.
While chatting and laughing, he came to the front of the line. Before he opened his mouth, the girl at the service desk, Ling Ning, said with a smile, "Be careful of your opponent today. But I believe you can win."
Her voice was slightly raised at the end, showing some liveliness.
Be careful? This opponent is not simple? Lou Cheng replied with a smile, "What's so special about him?"
"He is a lay disciple of Daxing Temple!" Ling Ning said as she printed out Wu Shitong's detailed information and handed it to Lou Cheng.
A lay disciple of Daxing Temple? Lou Cheng was stunned and unconsciously felt a little more dignified. He reached out and took the information.
Daxing Temple was one of the twelve top-level forces, along with Shangqing Sect, Shushan Study, Yanzhao League, Wuyue Club, Longhu Club, and Xinghai Club. Daxing Temple was one of the twelve top-level forces, and it was at the level of the third and second. It had a long history and had obtained the true essence of Buddhism.
It was not hard to imagine what its lay disciples were like.
"Wu Shitong, from Yanling, 17 years old, a lay disciple of Daxing Temple …" Lou Cheng read the information silently. It did not reveal what martial arts Wu Shitong was good at. But from his first round of elimination of Amateur Seventh Pin, the second round of elimination of Amateur Third Pin, and the third round of elimination of Amateur Second Pin, it was obvious that he had a stable performance. And he was not an ordinary one of Amateur Second Pin.
He took a deep breath, moved aside and sent the information to Yan Zheke.
Yan Zheke replied with a dumbfounded emoji. "He is a lay disciple of Daxing Temple. But why is he only of Amateur Second Pin …?"
Amused by her last sentence, the heaviness in his heart dissipated a little. "Maybe it's because I'm too young. Or maybe it's because I was unlucky in the Ranking Event."
This was not a joke. The Ranking Event was a test of luck. Every year, the number of fighters of each level below Professional Fourth Pin was fixed. Generally, it was 10% to 15% of the applicants. Then, according to this ratio, they would be divided into a certain number of groups. Within each group, they would fight against each other. The top two would enter the last round of elimination. If they were unlucky and were assigned to the strong group, they would encounter two fighters who happened to be a little stronger than them. Then, they could only watch the defeated fighters who were assigned to the weak group cheering and jumping for joy.
Therefore, Lou Cheng had begun to treat Wu Shitong as a real Amateur First Pin.
Of course, it could not be ruled out that Wu Shitong had only participated in the Ranking Event once and had not been there again, so his current strength could not be estimated by rank.
Yan Zheke sent an emoji of touching the head. "Anyway, he is not at the professional level. You beat Jin Tao yesterday, so you have a chance to beat him today."
"If he is at the professional level, I will focus on participating …" Lou Cheng made a self-deprecating comment and replied with an emoji of patting the chest. "Coach Yan, don't worry. After yesterday's battle, I am very confident and will not be afraid!"
Yan Zheke sent an emoji of "so angry" immediately. "… There are many kinds of martial arts in Daxing Temple. I don't know which style he is good at, so I can't target him."
This was common knowledge in martial arts. Lou Cheng knew it without searching. Daxing Temple had nine unique skills, including Buddha's Great Light Scripture and Womb Realm and Vajra Realm. Among them, the Acalanatha Body of Wisdom of the Womb Realm derived from Indestructible Vajra and Golden Bell Shield; the Wisdom Fist Seal derived from Vajra Realm derived from Vajra Fist and other Zen Kung Fu in Vajra Realm derived from Buddha's Elephant Throwing Skill; and the Vajra Seal derived from Great Stele Breaking Hand and Great Stele Throwing Hand. There were too many choices for lay disciples to choose from without seeing it with their own eyes.
"And my match highlights were replayed on the big screen today …" Lou Cheng sent a shivering emoji, which meant that his opponent knew what he was good at, but he knew nothing about his opponent's fighting style.
Yan Zheke immediately replied without using an emoji, "Then check if there are any match highlights on the big screen. I'll look for them on the official website."
After a while, when it was almost nine o 'clock, Yan Zheke sent an emoji of two blank eyes. "There is no such kung fu in the competition highlights on the official website. Did he win too easily, or too simply and plain …?"
Seeing that she was so devoted to helping him look for information, Lou Cheng felt very sweet. This trip to Yanling not only changed his martial arts and mentality, but also made some good progress in his relationship with Yan Zheke.
When he successfully involved her in his affairs, she would always accumulate investment, care, and concern little by little, and not just be limited to idle chatter.
Of course, Casanova Cai Zongming once said that "feeling that she likes me" was the first of the three biggest illusions in life, so he couldn't be too blindly optimistic.
"There are no match highlights of Daxing Temple disciples on the big screen," replied Lou Cheng. "Forget it. I'll just take it as another kind of competition experience. In life, it's inevitable to meet an enemy that you don't know about while the opponent knows about you. This will be a good training for my on-the-spot judgment and performance."
Thanks to the transformation in the past few days, he adjusted his mentality quickly and comforted Yan Zheke.
Yan Zheke replied with a nodding emoji, "Yes, yes. But even if we don't know exactly what kind of martial arts Wu Shitong is good at, we can still classify the martial arts of Daxing Temple disciples and make some plans for different styles. The more prepared we are, the more relaxed we will be when we encounter him."
"Wise Coach Yan!" Lou Cheng praised sincerely.
The two quickly started to collect information and discuss this issue. During the process, Lou Cheng asked the girl at the service desk, but found that she didn't know what kind of martial arts Wu Shitong was good at.
…
In the seats near the central ring, Liu Yinglong came to watch Lou Cheng's match again. He seemed to regard Lou Cheng as a continuation of his goal. Losing to the top 32 sounded better than losing to someone who didn't even make it through the knockout rounds.
Sitting beside him were the disciples of Baiyuan Martial Arts School. They were all defeated in the fourth round.
"Wu Shitong is really something …" Qin Zhilin sighed. They were both from Yanling, but Wu Shitong was already an Amateur Second Pin disciple of Daxing Temple at the age of 17.
Liu Yinglong nodded, "This is going to be a fierce battle …"
…
Not far from them, a strong teenager in a red and yellow Daxing Temple disciple uniform was staring at the big screen. After a while, he murmured,
"24 Blizzard Strikes …"
…
When the fourth match began in the central ring, Lou Cheng had a preliminary classification of Daxing Temple's Body Refining and Dan stage martial arts, and a corresponding plan.
"I have to calm down." Lou Cheng sent a waving hand emoji.
Yan Zheke replied with a fist clenching and encouraging emoji, "I've already lent you my wisdom and character."
Then, she took the initiative to send a voice message.
Lou Cheng smiled and listened to it. A familiar voice came into his ears,
"Go ahead, young man! Go for victory! "
Lou Cheng couldn't help but smile. His anxiety disappeared and he saved the voice message.
The third cheer was not as surprising as the first two, but it was more tacit and warm, just like how he felt every time he came home, plain and meaningful.
He put away his phone, stood up, and walked to the central ring where hundreds of thousands of spectators were watching. His fighting spirit was rolling in his heart.
So what if you are a Daxing Temple disciple?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
