novelraw Chapter 21 : Has Little Chu Finally Gotten a Clue?
Chapter 21 : Has Little Chu Finally Gotten a Clue?
Has Little Chu Finally Gotten a Clue?
Seeing Chu Tianxing stand silent with that weird look on his face, Xiao Hu figured his intimidating presence had scared him and grew even more smug.
"Well, well, Chu Tianxing. Shouldn't you be at home scribbling your angsty poetry? What brings you to the Martial Arts Association? This isn’t exactly your scene, you know. Oh, and speaking of..."
He glanced around casually, trying to look nonchalant. "Where's Qin Ling? How come she's not with you?"
At the end of the day, he was still just a seventeen-year-old kid. No matter how mature Xiao Hu tried to look on the outside, he couldn't help showing his awkward teenage side.
Chu Tianxing found it pretty amusing. "Where my Little Ling’er is none of your business, Xiao Hu."
Xiao Hu's eyes went wide. "What 'your little Ling'er? Qin Ling hasn't entered your Chu family's door... wait, no—you're just some weakling who can't even do basic training. What makes you think you are worthy of her? She's a martial arts prodigy. You think you can handle her with that pathetic body of yours?"
Chu Tianxing smiled. "That's really not something you need to worry about, Xiao Hu. By the way, I heard you can punch with 1.1 tons of force?"
After hearing the first part, Xiao Hu was about to blow his top.
Xiao Hu was about to fly into a rage after the first part of the sentence, but the second half made him puff up with pride. "Get your facts straight. It's 2,215 pounds of punch force. 1.1 tons is only 2,200 pounds, you're shortchanging me by 15 pounds there!"
Hearing this, Chu Tianxing could basically confirm that his classmate was indeed his die-hard fan "XiaoHu2215" from the comment section.
All of a sudden, the way he looked at Xiao Hu became incredibly warm and affectionate. He had to treasure fans like this! This guy was his premium source of "willpower," the grassroots foundation for his future growth in strength.
"What... what's with that look?"
Chu Tianxing's warm, affectionate gaze made Xiao Hu's skin crawl.
He gulped nervously, flexing an arm thicker than most people's thighs and clenching his dinner-plate-sized fist.
"Don't look at me like that... I'll be honest, with a frame like yours, I'm afraid I'd have to immediately fall to my knees and beg you not to die if I actually punched you. You believe me?"
"I believe you, of course I do." Chu Tianxing's voice was gentle, his tone affectionate. "By the way, besides martial arts training, what other hobbies do you have, Xiao Hu?"
That warm, affectionate tone made Xiao Hu's skin crawl even more. He couldn't help but shiver and cursed. "What the fuck is wrong with you? What hobbies I have are none of your damn business! You'd better worry about yourself!"
With that, he took off without wasting another word with Chu Tianxing.
Chu Tianxing watched Xiao Hu's retreating figure with an amused smile. It was enough to make Xiao Hu’s skin crawl. The guy walked faster and faster until he was practically running away in panic.
The big guy practically fled from the second floor and directly entered his private training room on the seventh floor. Xiao Hu's family was loaded. Not only could he afford to rent a spacious private training room with all the facilities at the Martial Arts Association long-term, but he could also hire the association's expert staff as personal trainers.
In order to perform well at the upcoming Martial Arts Tournament, he had practically been living at the association nowadays.
Once inside his private training room, Xiao Hu recalled Chu Tianxing's earlier antics and couldn't help but feel a lingering sense of dread.
"Did all of that insult drive him crazy? The way he looked just now was seriously creepy... No, I need to read some novels to calm my nerves. Today's update should be out already..."
He walked into the lounge area of his training room and logged into the Huankong Net to click on the top-ranked The Legend of the Condor Heroes right from the homepage, and started reading with great interest.
Funny how Chu Tianxing's name sounds so much like the Great Author Skywalker. Too bad they share a name but not the same fate. Look at Great Author Skywalker, now that's what I call literary talent! Then look at Chu Tianxing, heh. His so-called 'modern poetry' is just breaking up normal sentences and writing them on separate lines. And the guy thinks he's a genius... what a joke."
“Maybe I should just slam a copy of this book in his face to make him face reality... uh, wait, that might not be a good idea. He already seems a bit unhinged as it is. If I poke him again, I'll probably have to beg him not to go full psycho..."
Lost in his own head, Xiao Hu breezed through the latest update.
The last chapter announced that the book was going premium and would officially launch at midnight tonight with a massive update. Xiao Hu logged on as "XiaoHu2215" and gushed about the author in the comments.
He also upvoted every new positive review post and went after the novel's biggest troll "EunuchLi" who'd been throwing shade since day one and gave him a thorough verbal beatdown. Only then did he reluctantly close his computer and start his daily training routine.
Meanwhile, after successfully registering and unexpectedly running into his die-hard fan, Chu Tianxing didn't stick around the Martial Arts Association building for long. He left shortly thereafter and headed home.
Once back home, Chu Tianxing continued his monotonous yet personally fulfilling routine. He writes in the morning, trains in the afternoon, and have dinner with Qin Ling in the evening before going back to writing.
On a related note, when the website's recommended list was updated that afternoon, Chu Tianxing unsurprisingly made it onto the Top Recommendation Rankings and received another gift package.
When he opened it, he got another part of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms called Dense Clouds No Rain. It was a technique characterized by a continuous flurry of two-handed palm strikes like a certain Jojo meme.
This Dense Clouds No Rain technique stayed true to the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’ consistently straightforward style. Apart from the non-stop palm strikes that were brutal as hell, there was nothing fancy about it at all.
Chu Tianxing mastered this technique in just one afternoon. Now he had five of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, which was more than enough for the upcoming tournament.
Rookie Guo Jing could hold his own against a veteran fighter like Liang Ziweng by repeatedly spamming the only technique he knew, so Chu Tianxing reckoned that he could achieve a good result in the tournament with his arsenal.
The thought of his novel going premium made him restless.
For the first time ever, he didn't kick Qin Ling out right after they finished eating that evening. Instead, he did the unthinkable and invited her to stay. "Little Ling’er, you've been working so hard training for the Martial Arts Tournament every day. Why don't you take a break and relax tonight?"
Qin Ling froze for a moment. Then, a crimson blush spread visibly across her cheeks.
"What's going on? He's actually inviting me to stay? Has this blockhead finally figured things out? What should I do? Should I firmly refuse, or should I agree to stay?"
But before the flustered Qin Ling could make up her mind, Chu Tianxing had already taken her hand and led her into the bedroom.
This made Qin Ling's heart race even more.
"We're... we're going straight to the bedroom? Isn't this moving a little too fast? We've been together since we were children, and Uncle Chu and Auntie Shen have always been supportive of us... but suddenly jumping to this step... I'm not completely ready yet..."
While her mind was spinning, Chu Tianxing had already pulled her to the computer desk. He pulled over another chair, set it beside his own, and pressed her gently into it.
"I found an anime yesterday that's both funny and touching. I watched the beginning but couldn't bear to finish it alone, so I saved it especially for when you came over so we could watch it together. Tonight, let's just chill out and watch this together!"
"......" Qin Ling's mouth twitched slightly, and her expression instantly went blank.
Though she had countless complaints she wanted to voice...
...but he did save the anime just for her because he didn't want to watch it alone. That had to count for something, right? Maybe... just maybe... there was hope for him yet?
So Qin Ling felt both disappointed and happy at the same time. So, even though she couldn't care less about anime, she still "reluctantly" agreed to watch the whole thing with him.
By the time they finished the movie, it was already past nine in the evening. Chu Tianxing walked her out of the residential complex and watched her get into a car before heading home.
Still feeling too restless to write, he decided to practice martial arts instead.
He went through the External Refinement Section of the Muscle-Transforming & Bone-Tempering Chapter, Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, and Finger Flicking Divine Skill for over two hours.
As midnight approached, Chu Tianxing took a shower to calm his nerves. Then, he sat at his computer desk with a reverent expression before opening his author dashboard and waiting for the premium chapter function to go live.
Midnight finally arrived, and the premium chapters were now available.
Chu Tianxing took a deep breath, vigorously rubbed his face with both hands, opened his writing software, and began uploading the premium chapters he had prepared one by one.