Chapter 525: The gauntlet has been thrown down

Lou Cheng was stoked at the hopeful possibility of getting the Wholeness Formula. Then, realizing something was amiss, he typed,

“Is something in the way?”

If not, instead of having “hopeful prospects”, they would have already acquired it!

Plus, for them to look for me at such a crucial time, they definitely need me for something!

“Rapid March” replied quickly: “The Wholeness Formula doesn’t belong to the Extreme Hadou Sect; Mouko Yamashita happened upon it when he was buying antiques. After a few months of negotiation, he finally agreed to exchanging the Wholeness Formula for the Swordsman Formula. But there’s a catch— he wants to challenge you to a match. The match must not be open to the public or have any audiences. Both of you are to delegate a referee. The venue is to be chosen by him, and the time, by you, but it has to be within the next month, or else he wouldn’t promise that he wouldn’t change his mind.”

When Lou Cheng saw the six words “After a few months of negotiation”, he felt the weight of the words. Even though it ended up being an equal valued exchange, he couldn’t begin to imagine the amount of plots and ploys— perhaps, even scouting and spying— that was in play in order to get Mouko Yamashita to cooperate. Things were definitely not as simple as they sounded at face-value.

Hmm… I was able to beat Mouko Yamashita during the King of Youth Pro League, even before I became Inhuman. Yet, after four months of me consolidating what I have learned, he dares to challenge me. Some kind of chance encounter must have given him the confidence…”

After brooding for a few seconds, Lou Cheng agreed with alacrity:

“Alright, then I shall set the date as January 20th. ”

To be honest, he wasn’t all that glad since this would disrupt his consolidation progress. However, collecting the Nine Words Formula took priority, since it concerned Master’s old wounds and Ke Ke’s health. For that, he was willing to make sacrifices.

Besides, in preparation for the Nationals in April, I already have the intention of looking for opportunities to challenge martial artists in America when I visit Keke in February to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Pushing the plan forward by half a month is no big deal.

“Rapid March” gave a laconic reply: “I will let Mouko Yamashita know.”

Lou Cheng laid his phone down and told Yan Zheke about the two pieces of news he just received.

“Mouko Yamashita must be fairly confident…” the girl said thoughtfully as she stirred the green tea flavored milk tea in her cup. “But not too confident either, considering that he’s not opening the match to public and forbidding audiences…”

Since the arrangements were to be made by the military, then the referee would most likely be a Physical Invulnerability Stage Mighty One. She wasn’t very worried about that.

“I think so too, ” Lou Cheng laughed. “I do hope he improved, or the rematch would be a waste of my time.”

He didn’t mention anything about his consolidation of knowledge being disrupted.

“Mhm. Do watch out for the venue he picks. Home ground advantage is no laughing matter. I’ll help you look up the advantageous terrains for the Extreme Hadou Sect kung-fu later…” Yan Zheke analyzed enthusiastically. At the end, she hammered the table gently. “It’s so aggravating that I can’t watch you live! I want to cheer my Cheng on!”

“I intentionally set the date on a day after the start of your school term, after hearing that no audiences were allowed,” Lou Cheng said with a grin. “So I won’t miss a moment of being together with you.”

“You say all this mushy stuff without even getting embarrassed now…” Yan Zheke said, widening her eyes.

“Just like how someone is getting more and more comfortable with perverted topics,” teased Lou Cheng, bracing himself for a beating.

“Shut up!” Yan Zheke chided, vexed and bashful, turning to elbow Lou Cheng, but with the strength of a kitten.

She stopped flirting since the dessert cafe was public space. She looked elsewhere and said,

“Cheng, I think the Wholeness Formula is a lead, and we are onto something. Think about it, with the military’s influence and resources, if any of the Nine Words Formulas are still in China, they would have been discovered long ago. In the past, China had been ridden with wars, so it’s only natural many antiques wound up in Japan, Korea, Miluo and other places with similar cultures.”

She could see that the Nine Words Formula meant alot to Lou Cheng, and naturally, she wanted to help her hubby fulfill his wishes.

“You have a point there… When I go to Japan this time, I will communicate with the military and request them to begin a search. It’s way more efficient than me working alone.” Lou Cheng had long realized that the strength of martial artists is limited. Without apt supernatural abilities, it was best to leave professional matters to the professionals.

The couple shared a lively discussion revolving around the topic, which lasted until that evening when they received a call from Gu Shuang and set off to meet up with her. They were going to try out a dish named “Poon Choi” meaning “dishes in a pot” which was recommended by Gu Shuang since they were on her turf. Poon Choi originated in Guangnan, but after localization and modification, it was made to suit the taste of Gaofen natives. However, not many places served good Poon Choi. That’s right, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke had come to Gaofen the day before to spend their Christmas Eve together.

In the small private dining room, Gu Shuang sloughed off her sable down jacket and spruced her wavy, long hair. She sat down without any haste.

“I hope the two of you enjoyed your Christmas Eve?” she said with a funny look.

It was already Christmas day. Yan Zheke’s pretty face flushed red. Pretending to care less than she did, she made a hmph sound. “Didn’t you spend the Christmas Eve with your boyfriend too?”

“Nah. We broke up yesterday,” Gu Shuang replied chirpily, without a hint of sadness.

She wore light makeup, but her eyes and brows seemed more delicate than before— likely to be the work of minor plastic surgery. She was more bewitching than ever.

“So fast? Had it even been two months with this one?” Yan Zheke blurted in astonishment.

“What can I say? The magic wore off. I grew tired of him,” Gu Shuang said airily, as though she was talking about trivial matters like buying fruits from the supermarket. Lou Cheng secretly clicked his tongue in disapproval. He found her way of life alien.

“Ugh, he was unmanly, stuck to me like glue all the time, and was totally unromantic. He can’t even be compared to your Cheng who specially went all the way to America as a surprise for your birthday. Sigh, even comparing them makes me mad!” Gu Shuang expertly shifted the topic back to Yan Zheke.

Yan Zheke’s birthday was on December 9th. Since she was going to return to China during the imminent school break, and Lou Cheng had only just left America at the end of November, they promised to celebrate her birthday with a simple video call and delivered gift. But unbeknownst to her, Lou Cheng had secretly booked an air ticket. After his competition ended on December 7th, he set off to see her immediately the next day. After hours of a bumpy flight, he landed before the blank-faced Smith. Since he had access to Internet throughout the flight, Yan Zheke didn’t realize a thing.

On the day of her birthday, during their video call, she was shocked to see her garden in Lou Cheng’s background. As joyful and delighted as she was, she didn’t forget to give Lou Cheng a good punishment for his uneconomical behaviour— a punishment that left Lou Cheng overjoyed. She even went out of her way to flaunt their loving relationship on Moments and Talk-Talk. When Gu Shuang and Song Li saw her post, they were both envious and sentimental. According to them, Du Liyu kept lamenting ‘the good ones always gets taken’.

“Surprise? More like a rude shock! He doesn’t listen to me at all! Always acting on his own,” Yan Zheke chided, rolling her eyes at him, but she couldn’t hide the happiness on her face.

Those words were also her caption when she wrote the post.

Girls… they just can’t be honest with themselves sometimes… Well, I guess the same can be said for men… Lou Cheng tried to maintain his silence while the two besties chatted.

Suddenly, sounds of knocking came from the door.

“The food’s here! I’m starving!” Gu Shuang exclaimed, clapping her hands and smiling.

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After saying that, she shouted in the direction of the door, “Come in!”

The door of the private dining room opened with a creak. From outside came an average looking, smartly dressed youth. He looked at Gu Shuang with bloodshot eyes. “Why did you break up with me, Shuang Shuang?”

“Why are you here?” Gu Shuang said unhappily, creasing her brows into a frown. She stood up and walked over in an attempt to shove the boy out of the room. “Didn’t I tell you already? I don’t feel anything towards you anymore! The spark is gone, okay?”

“But… but things were fine between us just the day before…D— did I do something wrong?”

It feels as if I’m watching a TV cliche being played out… Lou Cheng shook his head in amusement. He looked over his shoulders and saw Ke looking at her friend with an expression that said “you are better than that”. She came close to covering her face and sighing.

When it comes to such things, there’s nothing the couple could do to help. They didn’t know how to either.

After quarreling for awhile, when the guy wouldn’t give up, Gu Shuang’s face hardened.

“Please leave. If there’s anything else, tell me tomorrow,” she said incisively.

Ugh, thanks for ruining my mood.

“Tell it to you tomorrow…” the boy repeated in despair. A sinister look flitted across his eyes. “I never believed others when they condemned you. All along, I thought you were a guileless and kind girl. Turns out they were right, you were just messing around with me after all. You are such a heartless…”

Gu Shuang darkened at his words.

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s exactly the kind of person I am!” she said with a voice that dripped scorn.

“B*tch… You damn b*tch!” he hissed. Suddenly, he whipped out a knife from his pocket and stabbed at her ribcage. The honed steel glimmered coldly under the light.

At that moment, the world seemed to have slowed down. An intense fear came over Gu Shuang, but her strength had escaped her, and all she could do was helplessly watch as the blade drew closer.

She could already imagine the agony that was to come. She was ready to scream anytime. Right when she was at the peak of despair, a single chopstick suddenly flew out and caught the knife on the edge. The knife flew and embedded itself into the wall, still quivering and jerking up and down.

Lou Cheng sensed the bloodlust given off by the guy in his rage, so he had picked up a chopstick and flipped it.

Immediately after that, he pushed his legs into the ground and pounced on the guy, then restrained him with one hand. Yan Zheke reacted a tad slower, reaching out to support Gu Shuang.

“Call the police,” Lou Cheng said flatly, turning to his wife and her best friend.

Gu Shuang, still shivering in shock, calmed down a little from his words. She pulled herself together, staggered back to her seat, and called the police.

When they came out of the police station, Yan Zheke shot her an angry look. “Why did you defend him?”

“I—I felt like I was in the wrong too…” Gu Shuang murmured.

“I’m surprised you realized!” Yan Zheke chastised her as though she was her mother. “You play around like love is a game, but don’t forget, not everyone can be gracious in defeat! If you aren’t serious about relationships, then stop messing around with them! If Cheng wasn’t here today, your parents would be burning joss sticks for you!”

“Ke Keke, I— I know I screwed up. I will reflect on it…” Gu Shuang swore with three fingers. With lingering fear, she pleaded,”P— please stay with me tonight. My parents aren’t home and I— I’m scared to be alone.”

“Okay,” Yan Zheke obliged, turning her head and giving Lou Cheng a resigned look.

“I suddenly regret saving her…” Lou Cheng jested to the girl through voice message.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take Ke Keke away from you. I’ll be fine as long as we are under the same roof,” Gu Shuang said, forcing a smile at Lou Cheng. “Before that, let’s get something to eat…”

They never had the chance to enjoy the Poon Choi.

“You can still feel hunger?””You are still thinking about food? I can’t believe you!” Yan Zheke chided, staring at her. Gu Shuang flinched.

After everything was settled, they entered the mansion of the Gu House. Yan Zheke and Lou Cheng stayed in the guest bedroom beside Gu Shuang’s room.

“Sigh, out of all your friends, Song Li is the only one that’s somewhat sane,” Lou Cheng sighed as he embraced his girl.

“Shuang Shuang shuang went through a painful relationship. Since then, she lost faith in relationships,” Yan Zheke explained again.

“Then she shouldn’t get into one,” Lou Cheng pointed out shrewdly.

“The thing is… I believe she longs for love at the same time. The reason why she chooses to break up when the relationship is in full bloom is probably because she doesn’t have faith that it will end well…” Yan Zheke mused, analyzing Gu Shuang’s mentality.

“She’s mentally ill, you better bring her to a psychiatrist,” Lou Cheng said with a twitch of the mouth.

“Mhm. I will drag her to the psychiatrist one of these days…” Surprisingly, Yan Zheke agreed to what Lou Cheng said on a whim.

On the other side of the wall, Gu Shuang was penning down a diary entry with lingering fear:

“I really brought it upon myself. Next time, I have to strategize my break-up method!”

“Hmm… I guess the best way is to have him break up with me! When the time comes, I’ll behave in an increasingly pretentious, clingy, unreasonable and illogical way! I don’t believe any men can tolerate that!”

The next day, when she ran her idea past her bestie, Yan Zheke left her speechless with one question.

“And what if someone actually tolerated you to the point where you can’t keep up with the act?”

“Then I guess I’ll have to accept reality…” Gu Shuang answered blankly after a long while.

—–

The episode didn’t affect Lou Cheng much. The Top-4 round-robin matches began without a hitch— Songcheng University emerged as second with 2 wins and 1 loss, securing a place in the Nationals. Yan Zheke returned to America in the middle of January to prepare for the new semester that was about to come.

Before he knew it, it was already January 19th.