Chapter 14: The Art of War

  In the evening, Chu Zifeng went to the martial arts club meeting as Zhou Xiaoyu said. He had no choice, he had already paid the money, and at least for this year, he would have to stay in this four-person party's martial arts club. Chu Zifeng didn't have any extra money to join other clubs.

  "Now that everyone is here, let's start the meeting."

  Zhou Xiaoyu really has the air of a leader, although this martial arts club only has four people, but in her opinion, she is the president of the martial arts club, so she must run it well.

  Zhou Xiaoyu alone holds two different positions, one is the president and the other is a coach. Chu Zifeng has some doubts about this girl, how did she manage to do it? Didn't He Chong and Lin Shaojun ever compete with her?

  But then again, before I joined, the martial arts club only had three people anyway. What's the point of competing for the position of president in a club with just three members?

  Chu Zifeng, who was sitting beside him, didn't say a word and just kept fiddling with the ring on his hand. He wasn't clear about the situation in the martial arts club either, so he might as well listen to what Zhou Xiaoyu and the others had to say.

  "He Chong and I are both seniors, Shao Jun is a sophomore, and the newly joined Chu Zi Feng is a freshman. In other words, next year He Chong and I will graduate, and the Martial Arts Club will be handed over to Shao Jun and Chu Zi Feng to manage. Therefore, in our last year of school, we must make sure to do a good job with the Martial Arts Club, because it has always been He Chong's and my heart's blood."

  "After a pause, Zhou Xiaoyu continued: 'At present, the biggest problem of our martial arts club is still the same as in previous years, that is, there are too few members. So what we need to do now is to develop new members and try to pull students from those clubs like Judo Club.'"

  Actually, I wanted to ask this question in the afternoon, why is there only a few people in the martial arts club? Is it a problem with Zhou Xiaoyu's ability or is there some other factor at play.

  "I heard that the Judo Club and Taekwondo Club have a lot of members, and many freshmen joined them this year. Why didn't our Wushu Club get any new students?"

  Chu Zi Feng's question made Zhou Xiao Yu and He Chong both sigh, while Lin Shao Jun remained silent beside them, looking very calm.

  Zhou Xiaoyu said, "Actually, this can't be blamed on us. It's all because of the so-called 'trend' that caused trouble. In recent years, Japan's judo and Korea's taekwondo have been constantly entering our Chinese market, making many young people go after them, naturally ignoring our Chinese martial arts!"

  "What's most important is that nowadays, young people all think that our Chinese martial arts have too many fancy moves, and are more suited for showing off than actual combat. In contrast, Japan's Judo and Korea's Taekwondo emphasize the three words 'fast', 'accurate', and 'ruthless'. Training in these styles is also not as physically demanding as our Chinese martial arts, and doesn't require as much time. You could say that Japan and Korea's martial arts are a kind of quick-fix combat technique. Our Chinese martial arts require ten years of practice to achieve results, but theirs can produce results in four or five years, or even two or three years. After all, our Chinese martial arts require a deep foundation of basic skills, which must be trained from a young age. But Japan and Korea's styles don't require this - anyone can start training at any time."

  Chu Zifeng said, "So, what young people value nowadays is fighting? What combat skills can be mastered in the shortest time and knock down their opponents in the shortest time, that's what they choose?"

  "It can be said like this."

  "I don't understand this, actually I just read a few books about Chinese martial arts earlier and learned that Chinese martial arts can be roughly divided into three categories: first is Taolu, second is hard qigong, third is Sanda. Among these three, isn't Sanda more useful than those from Japan and Korea? Why doesn't anyone want to learn it?"

  Lin Shaojun, who had been silent all along, spoke up at this time: "If we were going to disperse and fight separately, things wouldn't have turned out like this."

  After messing around for half a day, it turns out that this so-called martial arts club doesn't even know the most basic things.

  Chu Zi Feng bitterly smiled and said: "Then I'd like to ask, what is it that you all usually practice?"

  Zhou Xiaoyu replied: "Because my grandfather taught me some routines, so in recent years we have been practicing routines."

  It's just one set of moves, but it's really too fancy. Young people today are not interested at all, no wonder the martial arts society has no one signing up.

  Chu Zi thought to himself, why not use the "Assassination of God Eight Forms" he created as a free fight training method? It's even more ruthless than free fighting, faster and more accurate than those from Japan and Korea. Most importantly, ordinary people can practice it.

  But Chu Zi had said before that he didn't know martial arts at all. If he were to bring up other ideas now, he might be suspected by Zhou Xiaoyu and the others.

  Just then, a voice came from outside the martial arts club.

  "Wow, I didn't expect your martial arts club to have new members this year."

  As I looked around, three boys walked in, and they were still wearing judo uniforms. It was obvious that these three boys were from the Judo Club.

  "Li Gang, what are you doing here again?" Zhou Xiaoyu asked as she stepped forward.

  Li Gang looked at Zhou Xiaoyu with great displeasure and said, "I'm telling you, Zhou Xiaoyu, have you forgotten what I told you a few days ago?"

  "You want our martial arts club to disband? Go ahead and dream on."

  "Zhou Xiaoyu, don't you see that your martial arts club only has a few people? This is simply a waste of the school's resources. Our judo club has too many people, I've already applied to the student union for an expansion of our training grounds and they've agreed. As long as your martial arts club disbands voluntarily, we'll still accept all four of you into our judo club."

  Lin Shaojun walked up to Zhou Xiaoyu and said harshly, "Get out."

  "Lin Shaojun, what's so great about you? Didn't we beat you enough last time?" Li Gang laughed.

  "There's a kind of letting go."

  "Are you looking for death?"

  Bang.

  Li Gang kicked directly at Lin Shaojun, who dodged to the side. Unexpectedly, Li Gang immediately followed up and with a "slap" sound, he threw Lin Shaojun to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw.

  "How about it, are you going to fight or not?"

  "Come again."

  Lin Shaojun stood up undefeated and faced Li Gang.

  "Alright, you little scamp."

  Bang.

  Lin Shaojun was thrown down by Li Gang for the second time, but he didn't even have room to counterattack. In judo, the closer you get to your opponent, the more advantageous it is.

  "Come again."

  Bang, bang, bang.

  For over a dozen consecutive times, Lin Shaojun was defeated by Li Gang, but Lin Shaojun's momentum didn't decrease in the slightest, his pair of fierce eyes staring at Li Gang.

  "That's enough, stop hitting him." Zhou Xiaoyu stepped forward and pulled Lin Shaoyun down, but Lin Shaoyun pushed Zhou Xiaoyu away, angrily saying: "If you have the guts, kill me. Otherwise, get out of here!"

  Chu Zi Feng sat on the stool beside him, never expecting Lin Shao Jun to be so small in stature but not in courage, he wouldn't give up until one of them was dead.

  "This Lin Shaoyun is quite good, whether it's his physique or that aura of his, he's very suitable for learning my 'God-slaying Eight Styles', most importantly, that anger and ferocity of his."

  Li Gang said: "Lin Shaojun, I don't have time to play with you. I'll give you one more chance. Next month is the big competition among all school clubs. If you can defeat me in the competition, our Judo Club will never bother your Wushu Club again. But if you lose, you will automatically disband your Wushu Club and let us take over this place."

  Lin Shaojun glanced at Zhou Xiaoyu, this matter he alone could not decide.

  "Alright, I promise you that at next month's big martial arts competition, our Wushu Society will let your Judo Society know the power of Chinese martial arts." Zhou Xiaoyu agreed without hesitation, because in her opinion, everything can be lost, but not momentum.

  "Alright then, let's meet at the Grand Martial Arts Tournament."

  After Li Gang and the others left, He Chong asked: "Xiaoyu, why did you agree with them?"

  "Are you going to obey or not?!"

  "But our martial arts club only has four people, Chu Zifeng doesn't even know martial arts, their judo club has dozens of people, how can we compare with them?!"

  Chu Zi Feng asked: "What is this 'big martial arts competition' you all are talking about?"

  He Chong said: "The Grand Martial Arts Competition is held every year in the second month of school, co-organized by the Student Union and the school. It's a grand event where each club showcases its achievements."

  The so-called "Grand Competition" is not just a martial arts club, judo club, and taekwondo club. All school clubs will participate, showcasing their achievements in front of the whole school, just like an exam, an interest-based exam.

  Lin Shaojun said coldly, "Since the enemy has issued a challenge letter, we must accept it. No matter what the outcome is, I will do my best to fight. Alright, it's late now, those who should return to their dormitories should go back, and I still have to practice."

  Vote for me!