Chapter 913

On the long-distance bus.

Zhang Ye brought Chenchen with him up on the bus before paying for the tickets. Behind them, a few other passengers also boarded before the bus sluggishly started its engine and drove out of the bus station. The people dressed in Chinese tunic shirts sat in the middle row on the right side of the bus. They were talking among themselves and did not seem bothered by Zhang Ye and Chenchen’s presence. There were not a lot of passengers on the bus, so Zhang Ye did a quick scan and found two seats in the second to last row to sit down at. He did not dare to get too close to the group but did not want to be too far away either, so he just left an empty row of seats between themselves and the group.

On the bus, those people deliberately lowered their volume, or perhaps it was due to the noise on the bus that made it sound like they were speaking softer.

Zhang Ye leaned slightly forward and had to make a great deal of effort to hear what they were saying.

“Bro Liu, you’re glowing! Your martial arts must have improved again.”

“Hahaha, Bro Li, you too.”

“I’m not as good. My foundations are poor and I’m not talented either. Back then, when I wanted to be a disciple under the Zhou Family Style, they did not accept me. They said to me that even if I were to continue practicing and trying, it would still be very difficult for me to be admitted. Hai, it’s already been six or seven years now, but it was really as they said. My boxing techniques have reached a plateau.”

“Zhou Family Style?”

“Bro Li, you’re fortunate that you didn’t get admitted into the Zhou Family!”

“Yeah, I’m incredibly lucky. If I had been in this generation of the Zhou Family’s disciples, I would have encountered that crazy woman, Rao Aimin. I probably would have ran for my life if that had happened!”

“Hur hur, you wouldn’t have been able to get away!”

“Yeah, I couldn’t have gotten away, hai!”

They were making small talk when the topic came back to Rao Aimin again!

Chenchen anxiously perked up her ears to listen.

Zhang Ye was also trying very hard to listen to what they were saying to analyze the situation!

Zhou Family Style?

Never heard of it!

Perhaps it was a boxing style that originated in this world? Similar to the Hung Gar mode of naming?

From the tone of their voices, he could sense some fear in them, as though they were afraid of some impending event.

“The Zhou Family has really attracted big trouble this time. Speaking of, it was all because of that match those years ago and that incident in which the incumbent sect leader, Old Master Zhou Tianpeng, fought and injured the younger sister and brother-in-law of the current generation of the Eight Trigrams Palm’s eldest senior sister. The two of them suffered serious injuries and fell sick soon after that incident, then passed away one after the other a year or two later. By right, in a normal tournament match, every participant is responsible for their own lives and whoever gets injured is down to their own lack of martial arts foundation. But that Old Master Zhou Tianpeng was, after all, one of the four grandmasters at that time and was a force to be reckoned with in the Chinese martial arts world. Even if he was up against two opponents, it was still a case of bullying the weak. Heh, but back to the point, he did it all because of his son. Hai, that is the power of a parent’s love I guess.”

Chenchen was stunned!

Zhang Ye was also stunned by that. He could suddenly feel the little kid beside him trembling and when he turned to look at her, he couldn’t help feeling a pain in his heart. He hurriedly held Chenchen’s cold little hands into his!

Rao Aimin’s younger sister and brother-in-law?

Then did that mean they were referring to Chenchen’s parents?

So that was how Chenchen’s parents died?

So there were actually so many things that happened all those years back?

Grandmaster?

Zhou Family Style’s Zhou Tianpeng?

In this world, grandmasters actually existed!

In Zhang Ye’s previous world, the usage of the term “grandmaster” was already almost nonexistent. Chinese martial arts had fallen behind, the talent pool had withered, and martial arts were long synonymous with the sport of martial arts, as well as with movies and novels of this genre. Although there were still a lot of martial arts schools and classes, they mainly taught only fancy moves and stances. There were even competitions purely focused on the performance aspect of such martial arts. There weren’t many martial arts masters who were recognized by the Chinese martial arts world anymore, much less be recognized as a grandmaster in the field.

But it was clearly different in this world. They actually still had such a thing as grandmasters!?

There were even four of them?

And one of them was Zhou Tianpeng?

Then what about the others?

In front of them, another person of the Chinese martial arts world, sporting a mustache, vividly described, “Because of that, a deadly grudge between the Zhou Family Style and Rao Aimin was formed. Even after the intervention by many leaders of the Chinese martial arts world, including the current leader of the Eight Trigrams Palm, to help reconcile this difference, they were still unable to stop Rao Aimin from seeking revenge. She is truly a legend of the Chinese martial arts world, even daring to go against her master’s wishes by single-handedly fighting her way to the front steps of the Zhou Family’s headquarters. At that time, Zhou Tianpeng was on extremely good terms with another martial arts grandmaster, Chen Xi. According to rumors, the two of them were having tea together when Rao Aimin fought her way there. Chen Xi intervened and wanted to reconcile the two’s differences by urging Rao Aimin to stop whatever she was planning. However, he did not expect that Rao Aimin would not give in and even went up against both of them by herself. What left the people of the Chinese martial arts world even more surprised was that not only did Rao Aimin not get disadvantaged by the numbers, she actually matched blows with them! She even made Zhou Tianpeng and Chen Xi sweat after taking them on for several dozen rounds!”

“It’s a pity that she still got defeated at the end.”

“Yes, Rao Aimin still lost at the end. With the two grandmasters teaming up, who could have made it past three attacks from them? Yet Rao Aimin managed to battle them for a hundred rounds. Although she was seriously injured, she also injured Zhou Tianpeng! I did not witness that battle with my own eyes that year, but just thinking about it makes me shudder with excitement. From that day onward, the Chinese martial arts world welcomed its fifth grandmaster!”

Hearing this, Zhang Ye was dumbfounded!

What?

The fifth grandmaster?

Old Rao, that woman…was actually a grandmaster?

Zhang Ye simply couldn’t believe it. He knew that Rao Aimin was incredible, possibly even to the degree of being able to use concealed power. He had witnessed Old Rao using her bare hands to split metal before, but never did he think that Rao Aimin could be a martial arts grandmaster, and even one of just five such grandmasters at the top of the Chinese martial arts world!

That person was still rattling off, “What Rao Aimin did at that time shocked the entire Chinese martial arts world! Later, even Grandmaster Chen Xi admitted to his friends over a drinking session that if Rao Aimin had been born a male, he and Grandmaster Zhou Tianpeng would probably have only managed to fight to a draw with her! So you can clearly imagine how strong Rao Aimin is. From that day onward, no one in the Chinese martial arts world dared to mess with her. Also, Rao Aimin did not return to her martial sect after that. It was as if she had vanished from the martial arts community for good.”

“But in the past half year, this one and only female grandmaster of the Chinese martial arts world reappeared again!”

“Yeah. At that time, it caused such a ruckus in the Chinese martial arts world. Rao Aimin had issued a challenge to the Zhou Family, but Zhou Tianpeng did not respond to it. I guess it was because he knew that he was no match for Rao Aimin, so he chose not to accept the challenge. But Rao Aimin was still the same old her from all those years ago. When she gets mad, no one can stop her at all. She went around the entire country challenging all the training halls and martial arts schools under the Zhou Family. How could any of these second or third generation disciples of the Zhou Family Style possibly be a match for a martial arts grandmaster like her? They wouldn’t be able to take even a single blow from her! Within half a year, the number of Zhou Family Style disciples injured by her numbered over a hundred and more than 30 training halls and schools closed down! Because there were already no masters who could stay standing to continue teaching! They were left with no choice but to close down!”

Zhang Ye was getting shock after shock from hearing all of this. Only then did he realize that Old Rao was actually so amazing! When she said she would be back within a month, it was because she had gone to seek revenge for her sister. But the opponent did not respond to her challenge, so she spent half a year going around the country and bringing down their training halls and schools instead, going up against the disciples of the Zhou Family Style to force their sect leader out!

Single-handedly, she challenged the entire Zhou Family Style?

What sort of audacity was that!

The sect leader of the Zhou Family Style could not even utter a word of objection?

The members of the Chinese martial arts world just kept silent?

Then, he heard those people speak again. “Several days ago, Zhou Tianpeng finally said something, likely because he was getting forced into a corner. If it went on like this, the Zhou Family Style would cease to exist. Therefore, Grandmaster Zhou found Grandmaster Chen Xi and all the martial sects, including those leading figures of the martial arts community and called for an early convening of the Martial Arts Conference this year. He sent out mass invitations to the martial arts community and arranged for the Conference to be held at Tianshan, even releasing word that he would settle the feud with Rao Aimin during the event. Needless to say, Rao Aimin will definitely show up at tomorrow’s Martial Arts Conference!”

“Yeah, it will surely be interesting to watch when the time comes!”

“It’ll be super interesting. A battle of grandmasters? Who in the Chinese martial arts world does not want to come and witness this?”

“The Conference this time is probably going to be the most attended in its entire history!”

“Right, or else they wouldn’t have also invited people like us who don’t have any official recognition.”

“Hai, rather than say we were invited, it might be better to say that we came uninvited, hur hur.”

“We’re just here to observe the happenings and see how the grudge will be resolved. I heard that not only is Senior Rao Aimin the only female grandmaster of our current time, she’s also a peerless beauty.”

“I’ve heard that too!”

“It’s sucks that Bro Tan could not make it.”

“Haha, he was really unlucky to have met with an accident at such a time and broken his leg!”

“Yeah, his invitation card is still with me.”

Hearing everything from start till end, Zhang Ye could basically piece together the whole story and clearly understand what was happening. From the words of these people, he even knew why Rao Aimin had vanished from the martial arts community those years ago and ended up settling down in Beijing as a landlord collecting rental. She did all of that to take care of Chenchen! It was because she wanted to bring up her sister’s child! Now that Chenchen had grown up and became more sensible, she put her in the care of Zhang Ye and returned to the Chinese martial arts world to avenge the feud from all those years back! Was that her reason for saying that line “if she doesn’t make it back”?

The Martial Arts Conference was going to take place tomorrow?

Zhang Ye suddenly got very worried. Invitation letter? He didn’t have that! All he knew now was that the landlady auntie was going to be there, but how would he and Chenchen get into the event?

“Zhang Ye!” Chenchen said anxiously.

Zhang Ye put a finger to his lips to shush her. “I know what to do.”

Chenchen kept tugging agitatedly at his arm. “Quickly think of something!”

Zhang Ye thought hard for a while before he took a deep breath and said to Chenchen, “Sit here and don’t move. I’m going over for a bit.” Saying so, he stood up and took a few steps toward the seats in front of them.

Those several people were still chatting.

Zhang Ye went straight up to them and gave a fist and palm salute. “Sirs.”

The few of them were taken aback. “Huh?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “I accidentally overheard your conversation just now and realized that we’re going to the same place. You’re all going to the Tianshan Martial Arts Conference, right?”

One of the mustached youngsters asked suspiciously, “You are?”

Zhang Ye gave him a fist and palm salute, saying, “My name is Chen Zhen.”

The other person blinked and looked at him.

Zhang Ye said in a serious tone, “I am the disciple of…Huo Yuanjia!”

Huo Yuanjia?

Who is this Huo Yuanjia?

Suddenly, the long-distance bus hit a bump and the thermos flask that they had put in the netting on the back of the seats in front of them fell out in the direction of Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye did not move his body and with a flick of his ankle, he miraculously caught the thermos flask on the tip of his toe, kicking it straight back up. As it hung in the air, Zhang Ye casually grabbed it and passed it back to them with a smile. “You dropped this.”

Great agility!

Nice moves!

When the several of them saw this, they were immediately impressed. Those moves were not something that just anyone could pull off!

The four of them stood up together at once and cupped their fists in a salute. “We’re pleased to meet you!”

“So Bro Chen is also one of us!”

“Good footwork!”

Zhang Ye said humbly, “You’re being too generous with your praise.”

One of them asked, “So why did you greet us?”

Zhang Ye made a noise of understanding then said, “It’s like this. I brought a child with me this time, but as she was throwing tantrums on the way here, my Tianshan Martial Arts Conference invitation letter was lost. I don’t know what else I can do, so I wanted to ask the four of you if you know whether I can enter the event without an invitation letter. Before I traveled here, my teacher had repeatedly reminded me to step out to see the world and gain some experience. But I lost the invitation letter the moment I stepped out, so if I were to go back just like that, I won’t have it in me to face my old teacher! Hai! Hai!”

The four of them looked at each other.

The mustached youth immediately broke out into a smile and gave him another fist and palm salute. “Bro Chen, how coincidental for you. One of the people in our group did not come because he was admitted to the hospital.” Saying that, he rummaged through his bag and found a letter which he handed over to Zhang Ye. “Here, I happen to have an extra one.”

Zhang Ye hurriedly asked, “Is this, is this appropriate?

The mustached youth laughed. “What’s inappropriate about it? We won’t be using this extra invitation anyway. Besides, only the name is written on the front side of the invitation letter and there is no photo ID on it. They will only check to see if you really have an invitation letter but won’t look at the names. You’ll definitely be fine using this to enter.” There was something that they did not dare to say: It was even if they did check the names on the invitation letters, with their status in the Chinese martial arts world, no one would know them regardless. They were at most considered a fringe group of the Chinese martial arts world.

Zhang Ye said, “Aiyo, then I must really thank you senior bros!”

“You’re so polite!”

“Don’t worry about it!”

“We’re all from the Chinese martial arts world, so you don’t need to be so polite!”

The attitudes of these four people toward Zhang Ye were still quite good. Due to Zhang Ye showing off a moment ago, they felt that he had really wonderful moves. Additionally, Zhang Ye’s expressions and manners left the four of them who were invited to this conference with no doubts that he was one of them too.

From this, a fact could be proven.

Life is just like a show, it’s all about the fucking acting!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_GaChen Zhen is a character from Fist of Fury, portrayed by Bruce Lee.Chen Zhen is believed to be based on Liu Zhensheng, a real-life student of Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist who lived in the late Qing dynasty.