Cultivating through increasing my stats in America-Chapter 125 - 124: Was Li Ang The One You Fired?
At this moment inside the Hunyuan Martial Arts School, only the coaches remained; all the students had already been sent home on forced leave.
There was no choice, a battle where winning brought little gain, but losing would result in heavy losses, was simply not worth having them witness.
As students of the Hunyuan Martial Arts School, even if they watched their coaches win challenges against other dojos, it would at most solidify their confidence, possibly increasing the chances to attract the people around them to sign up in the future.
But if they saw their own martial arts school beaten miserably, it could very well be that some would ask for a refund right on the spot.
The challenge from this taekwondo school had been issued two days ago.
Initially, they didn’t take it seriously. Taekwondo, after all, is just about kicking a few wooden boards for show. Who could they possibly beat?
In the past, other types of martial arts schools had come to issue challenges, but here there were still two or three combat-oriented coaches like Wu Song.
They had managed all the challenges so far, even if they lost, it was only by a small margin, and the impact was not too significant.
Only this time, the situation seemed different. The two schools that were challenged before them had coaches whose strength was not much different from their own, and one even had a slight edge over them.
Yet, the news they had just received was that both martial arts schools had lost, and it was a crushing defeat, the kind that showed they were not even on the same level.
"Coach Wu, do you have any confidence for the upcoming match?"
After the young coach asked his question, there was a long silence without any response, which clearly indicated that Wu Song’s silence had already given the answer.
The other coaches felt similarly; none of them were particularly optimistic about the upcoming challenge match.
Most people had a rough measure of their own capabilities.
"Look at yourselves, what a sight! Are we at the Hunyuan Martial Arts School not able to afford a loss? You’re all frightened like this even before the fight has begun. Where has your martial spirit gone?"
Hua Tianming’s deep voice resonated, and his arrival suddenly drew the attention of everyone present, momentarily boosting their confidence.
Especially Yan Tianqi, who seemed to have seen a savior all of a sudden.
Among all the people present, he was the most anxious one.
For the other coaches, a loss would at most damage the reputation of the company, and it didn’t have much to do with them personally.
In the worst-case scenario, even if the martial arts school shut down, they could find alternative opportunities at other schools.
But for Yan Tianqi, the martial arts school was his lifeline, as well as the center of his hopes and spirit; naturally, he couldn’t bear the slightest problem with the school.
After pulling Hua Tianming aside into a room, Yan Tianqi started speaking with a mournful expression:
"Master, what should we do in this situation?"
Yan Tianqi wore a distressed look, behaving more like a child in his teens despite being well over forty.
Hua Tianming felt quite exasperated seeing him like this, but also knew it was no good saying anything. After so many years, that was just how he was; if not for that, he wouldn’t still be depending on his old laurels here.
"You know Wu Song’s strength. If he hasn’t made a significant breakthrough recently, he is likely to end up like the previous two martial arts schools."
After pondering for a moment, Hua Tianming spoke slowly:
"Actually, there is a way. You could get in touch with Li Ang and ask him to step in. With his level, it’s not that he could decisively overshadow that Korean guy, but he surely wouldn’t lose too badly. Even though he isn’t with our martial arts school anymore, no matter what, we haven’t wronged him. He isn’t that heartless of a person."
Yet upon hearing these words, Yan Tianqi didn’t take immediate action, instead, a more troubled expression appeared on his face.
Hua Tianming frowned and asked:
"What is it? Can’t you swallow your pride? Right now, it’s about someone saving your martial arts school. Shouldn’t you be willing to sacrifice a bit of face?"
"It’s not because of that."
Yan Tianqi explained almost reflexively.
"What was the reason for that?"
Under Hua Tianming’s relentless questioning, Yan Tianqi finally revealed the truth behind his decision to expel Li Ang from the martial arts school.
As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Tianming’s vision darkened. He had thought that Li Ang hadn’t been coming because he found a more lucrative opportunity and had left the school on his own initiative.
Little did he know, it was his unworthy disciple who had actively expelled him from the school.
Every time he thought of all the effort he’d put into nurturing such a martial arts prodigy—providing medicinal wine and guidance—only for it to be so easily destroyed, he felt his blood boiling.
His hands shaking, he took out a bottle of medicine from his chest pocket and swallowed two pills, which somewhat eased his condition.
"You drove him away; you bring him back. I can’t manage you anymore."
Hua Tianming pushed Yan Tianqi’s hand away and turned to leave.
Given his influence, he could most likely bring Li Ang back, but he couldn’t swallow his pride to ask. Right now, he felt it was too late even to feel ashamed.
"Even if we get Li Ang to come, he might not necessarily win!"
As Hua Tianming turned to walk away, Yan Tianqi stubbornly tried to regain his dignity.
"If he can’t win, then you go up and see if you can win."
Old Master Hua left the room coldly without another word, waving his hand dismissively.
Meanwhile, a group of Koreans dressed in Taekwondo uniforms had arrived at the entrance of Hunyuan Martial Arts School.
"Hello, is this Hunyuan Martial Arts School?"
The Korean speaking in broken Chinese greeted the receptionist.
The receptionist knew they looked menacing and had a pretty good idea what they were there for.
"Yes, how may I help you?"
"We’ve come here today for a challenge."
The middle-aged man at the front nodded with a smile while speaking to the receptionist.
"Alright... please come in then."
The receptionist’s voice trembled slightly, overwhelmed by the grandeur of their arrival. She hurried ahead with small steps to seek help from inside.
Despite the current politeness of these Koreans, that was because they hadn’t had the chance to be arrogant yet—at least the signs of the last two defeated schools had already been smashed.
The coaches inside the school looked at their arrival with some evading their gaze while others watched with interest.
Although the numbers on both sides were similar, and this was their home ground, there was no sense of home-ground confidence to be seen.
Since the two parties couldn’t communicate due to the language barrier, and since there wasn’t much to talk about, they were ready to start fighting after exchanging only a few words.
On the side of the arena, a very attractive woman was live-streaming the event, clearly confident about the upcoming battle.
The battle rules stated that each side would send three fighters to compete in a king-of-the-hill-style match, with the last one standing declared the winner. This method highlighted individual strength and eliminated the underhanded tactics of "matching racing horses."
"Wang Ming, you’re up!"
The first contestant sent out by Hunyuan Martial Arts School was the second-ranking coach Wang Ming, who aside from Wu Song, was the most capable fighter in the school, having previously trained in Sanshou and street fighting before learning traditional martial arts.
The Taekwondo school sent out a tall Korean coach, a black belt.
In Taekwondo, while the black belt is the highest rank in terms of belt color, its value is not considered very high, or rather, it’s a large pool.
After all, as long as you follow the curriculum and pass the tests, you can typically earn a black belt after about two or three years of study, which ironically is quite similar to reaching level ten in piano.
