Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 47 - 45: Interviews are also a Battle (Part 1)

Chapter 47: Chapter 45: Interviews are also a Battle (Part 1)

"Lights ready, host ready, we can start recording now."

Qi City TV Station, Wu Li stood backstage in the studio, ready to go on stage.

Today, he was invited to participate in a Qi City TV Station interview program called "Face to Face."

With the development of the internet, fewer people are watching TV, especially young people, who almost completely rely on alternatives to TV, so television programs’ ratings have been declining year by year.

This year’s ratings for Qi City TV Station were about 0.11, barely making it into the top ten of various satellite TVs. "Face to Face" is a key program among all the programs at Qi City TV Station and also has corresponding broadcasts online.

Pin Yi Company had three contestants appear on "Face to Face," which truly was an effort in promotion, but they didn’t hold much hope for the ultimate effect.

Standing next to Wu Li were two men, one named Han Yuanfei and the other named Lu Ping. Both were professional MMA fighters, currently signed athletes for the Asia ONE Championship, although they had not achieved particularly notable results in the ONE Championship, domestic fighters generally didn’t have many outstanding achievements in MMA events, so Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping still had some fame in the domestic Martial Arts World.

Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping were sizing up Wu Li, and when they learned that Pin Yi had ranked Wu Li as the third seed and were to appear on the program with him, they were quite displeased.

Since choosing to be professional fighters, passion certainly played a role, but more often than not, it was for money; professional fighters all have appearance fees, the greater the fame and better the record, the higher the fee, similar to the star power in the entertainment industry.

Initially, when Chang Zhiyang invited them, he first told Han Yuanfei that Lu Ping was interested in participating and said that if you participate, he will too, then he went to tell Lu Ping that Han Yuanfei had already agreed...

Thus, both Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping agreed to participate in this local tournament due to face, plus a good appearance fee, only for Wu Li to suddenly emerge, and Pin Yi equated him with them, grouping them together for the program.

In Han and Lu’s eyes, what qualification did an internet celebrity have to be considered on the same level as professional fighters like themselves? This was simply lowering their status!

But the contract was already signed, and withdrawing without reason would require paying a penalty, so Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping could only hold their noses and appear on the program with Wu Li, though from start to finish, they didn’t communicate with Wu Li, and their glances towards him were quite cold.

Wu Li didn’t mind, if they didn’t accept him, so be it, there would be plenty of opportunities to prove himself against them in the future.

"Currently, fighting sports are becoming more significant in competitive athletics, and more young people enjoy watching fighting competitions..."

Frontstage, the host began the opening speech.

"Next, please welcome the top three seed players from the Extreme Martial Arts Tournament to the stage!"

"Quick, go on stage, walk slowly, and keep a natural expression," an assistant told the trio backstage.

Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping, who had fought many matches on stage, weren’t nervous about this kinda setting and walked up naturally. As for Wu Li, although it was his first time joining such a program, having streamed many times and faced many interesting online viewers, he was not nervous and went on stage calmly.

"They are Asia ONE Championship signed athletes, Han Yuanfei, Lu Ping, and recently famous online, Wu Li!" the host introduced while clapping, "Welcome, please take a seat."

The host sat on a sofa on the right, while a long sofa was placed on the left, where Wu Li, Han Yuanfei, and Lu Ping sat down in sequence, with Wu Li sitting closest to the host, a deliberate arrangement by the program team since, topic-wise, Wu Li clearly had more appeal than Han and Lu.

"For friends interested in fighting, you may know these three. Some friends might not be so familiar with them, let’s first take a look at their profiles."

A big screen at the back started playing promotional clips for the three, which for Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping were compilations of past matches, but when it came to Wu Li, the clip was significantly longer: the video and news of him fighting six outside Beichuan University’s gates, some short videos on Mo Yin, some scenes from his livestreaming room, followed by the video and related news of him defeating Ren Donglai.

Wu Li looked handsome and had a clean and sharp fighting style. Compared to the stars in Martial Arts movies, his physique and charisma were not inferior, even surpassing in attractiveness, and the promotional video was very well edited, with powerful visual effects.

Han Yuanfei and Lu Ping both wore somewhat stiff expressions; watching the comparison made them feel like side characters, there to highlight Wu Li.

"Hello, can you each share why you chose to participate in this competition?" the host asked.

"Han Yuanfei first, then Lu Ping, followed by Wu Li," the director’s voice came through their earpieces.

Han Yuanfei slightly furrowed his brows, holding back his annoyance, and began: "Before coming here, the organizer approached me, saying that Lu Ping was interested in participating, and that if I joined, Lu Ping would agree. I thought, since Lu Ping is giving face like this, I should return the favor, so I decided to join."

"Oh?" the host looked at Lu Ping, "Lu Ping, is that right?"

Lu Ping had also calmed down, his expression perfectly matched with a slight smile: "Actually, when the organizers approached me, they told me Han Yuanfei had already agreed and hoped I would join too. I thought, since Brother Han is giving face, I must return the favor."

"Haha, so the organizers were completely playing both sides," the host laughed, covering her mouth.

Wu Li looked on with a smile as the three chatted. The bulk of the conversation was predetermined, so he found it somewhat boring.

"Wu Li, what about you? What made you decide to compete?" the host looked at Wu Li and asked.

Here it comes! Wu Li shifted his position, sitting up straight, and said, "Actually, I have two reasons for participating."

The host asked, "What are they?"

Wu Li replied, "First, to promote the name of Bo Yuan Boxing Gym. Those who have been following me recently should know, I am now a coach at Qi City’s Bo Yuan Boxing Gym, and I am participating under the gym’s name."

The host nodded, "That’s pretty normal, what else?"

Wu Li continued, "Second, to vindicate Traditional Martial Arts. Everyone knows why I publicly challenged Ren Donglai initially; it was because he said Traditional Martial Arts were ineffective, so I challenged him and defeated him using Traditional Martial Arts."

The host continued nodding, "Mm-hmm, so you’re participating to continue proving to everyone that Traditional Martial Arts are indeed effective?"

Wu Li confirmed, "Exactly."

Normally, at this point, the host would switch to asking the participants the next set of questions, but at that moment, Han Yuanfei suddenly looked at Wu Li and asked a question not in the script.

Han Yuanfei queried, "The issue of whether Traditional Martial Arts are truly effective has existed for many years. In recent years, many practicing Traditional Martial Arts have been publicly defeated, which I think explains a lot. Now, Wu Li, you stand up saying Traditional Martial Arts are indeed effective, why then has no one stood up for so many years prior?"

Wu Li’s mouth curved into a slight grin, feeling the interview was finally getting interesting.

(Please recommend tickets)