{Instructor Yao POV}
"Thickheadedness or not, right or wrong is irrelevant. My disciple was gravely injured, and I will have Skyfall Manor answer for it."
While my voice was not loud, it carried throughout the street, and I could see shadows in the windows of the surrounding buildings watching the altercation.
Instructor Cao taught me for years in my youth, and I in no way underestimated him. However, the growth potential of a martial artist occurs primarily in their early thirties.
Cao Peng reached the peak of his growth over twenty years ago while I continued to grow into a master. While I thought this, I felt the blood qi in the lower part of my dantian pulse throughout my body like blood.
Feeling my seriousness Cao Peng merely raised his eyebrow but I didn't feel him mobalize his blood qi.
"Are you sure you want to do this, little Yao?" He said with that same mocking grin he always wore.
I did not reply. I simply waited for my opportunity. For a while, all I focused on was him and the rain soaking me. Suddenly the sound of thunder echoed in the surroundings.
As if receiving a signal, I threw myself into a sprint towards him. I moved fast enough that the raindrops. When I arrived within five paces of him, I transferred a vast amount of blood qi to my right arm and threw a heavy punch aimed at his sternum.
My punch moved with enough force to blast all the rain in the surroundings away.
'Cao Peng is likely the only expert in Skyfall Manor. After dealing with him, I'll break the City Lord's arm and leave it at tha-'
My thought cut off as my hand was caught. My eyes widened. I used eighty percent of my total blood qi, and he caught it with one hand without moving an inch.
'Impossible! That was enough force to send even me flying!'
Before I could have another thought, I felt an irresistible force from beneath me.
The force launched me and the fallen rain towards the air, and to me it appeared as if I was being pulled into the sky and the rain had reversed direction. It was as if... It was as if heaven and earth had reversed positions and only the arm that was tightly gripped by Cao Peng kep me from falling into the sky
"Wha—!"
Looking at Cao Peng's face, his mocking grin turned into something sinister. And then the force pulling me up was gone, and I felt a heavy pull on my arm, pulling me headfirst to the dirt road. I knew then and there, if I landed in that position, I would die or become a cripple.
For the first time that night I felt legitimate fear. However, before the impact that would end my life happened, I felt a heavy palm land on my gut and knock all the air out of my lungs as I went flying back at twice the speed I came with, with the rain now feeling like needles against my back.
The blow sent me tumbling, and as I landed on the floor, I continued to roll until I came to a stop. I slowly rose to my feet as the rain continued to grow heavier.
'How did he hit me?'
'Was it a kick? A throw? How did he cause the rain to flow upward?'
A horrifying idea of what was going on appeared on the surface of my thoughts before I crushed it immediately. Cao Peng is well past his prime. There was no way he managed to advance.
"Well? Are you sure you want an explanation?" Cao Peng stared at me like a kid would eye a new toy gifted to him.
I ignored him and charged forward to confirm my suspicion. I tried to throw kicks and punches and even went for grapples.
It was useless.
Every attack failed to move him and only resulted in me being thrown around as if I were naught but a child.
Each throw grows heavier every time I attack. By this point I was covered in numerous bruises and cuts from the falls, and yet I knew that he had ample time to kill me or cripple me if he wanted to.
"Well?"
Cao Peng let the words hang in the air, and I could feel the pressure coming from him rise. I remained quiet before eventually simply giving him a bow.
"Congratulations, former instructor Cao, for your advancement to grandmaster!" As I said this, the sinister grin on his face faded back into his playful expression.
"Well, it looks like you figured it out."
"It was hard to notice at first, but eventually I caught on. That was force manipulation, wasn't it? The ability to redirect any force one comes in contact with as long as the user is strong enough. The mark of a grand master." My brows furrowed while I said this. With this, there is no way to avenge Song Chu tonight.
"Alright, enough of that. Go on home and tend to your student." Still reeling from the thrashing I went through, I took this dismissal as gospel and hurried to leave.
"Oh, one more thing." Hearing Cao Peng call out, I paused and turned around to find his face an inch away from mine, startling me. His face was empty and stiff, as if it were carved from stone.
"Do not disrespect the Skyfall Manor again." As he said this, he put his right arm on my shoulder, and an irresistible force dropped me to my knees.
"Am I understood?" He did not yell. He didn't need to; the foreign force holding him down was emphasis enough.
"Understood," I answered with difficulty.
{Meng Mei's POV}
Seeing that the show was over, I retracted my qi back. It was humorous seeing these martial artists play around and attempt to scare each other off.
'Calling them apes isn't insulting; it is factual.'
I couldn't help but laugh, though a part of me wished that the fool from Martial Hall had made it through the gates. The face he made when he was thrown around with basic martial arts was hilarious. I wondered what kind of face he would have made if I had made Zhou Fan teach him a lesson.
After my chuckles subsided I turned to the corner of the room where Zhou Fan was kneeling, waiting to be addressed.
I listened to Zhou Fan's report with half of my attention elsewhere. After gathering intelligence using some guards, I basically pieced together Song Chu's scheme. And I knew there was still one more person who needed to be warned.
"Zhen Li, was it?"
{Zhen Li Pov}
Fear was not an emotion familiar to me. I had always been strong for my age. When I entered Martial Hall as a child, I was the strongest there my age. And as time went on, I became the strongest there, excluding the instructor.
To be honest I always looked down on the other disciples. They treated martial arts as if it were a game, and when they were beaten down, they had the gall to cry about it. Other than Song Chu, they were all weaklings in my eyes. But over the years I have learned an important lesson.
Never let anyone know entirely what you think of them.
So I played the socializing game. Asked about people's days and expressed interest in their interests. And consoled them when they were down. In their view, I became an elder brother figure that they both respected and feared. Life only got better when I earned the position of Marshall.
When Song Chu told me about his plan to fleece the city lord, I went along with it because doing so would increase my income and allow me to buy a place for me and my fiance sooner. And if worse came to worse and he was found out, I could use my position and strength to brush things under the rug. Right?
Last night when I saw Tong'er drag Song Chu to the Martial Hall dorms, I thought she was dragging a corpse to my doorstep. It was only after getting closer did I notice that it was in fact Song Chu under all the bruises and mangled limbs.
His condition unsettled me. Not because I was worried. But because even though I was stronger than him, it wasn't by much. When I heard him mumbling the words "Skyfall Manor" over and over again, I knew we were caught. I knew I was caught.
As I was the one who recommended Song Chu to the position, I would be the one at fault. And considering how it would only require a little information gathering for someone to realize that we were close, I knew that I would be next, and if they could do that to Song Chu...
I did the only thing I could think of. I told Instructor Yao and asked him to get justice for Song Chu. With any luck this would force Skyfall Manor to consider Martial Hall's opinion before the consequences of my actions got to me.
However, when Instructor Yao reappeared covered in bruises and his right arm dislocated, my heart dropped into my stomach. He looked at me and said one thing.
"I can't do anymore for you, Li."
The rest of the night was silent as I held onto Tong'er the entire night. The next morning I woke up with bags under my eyes and a sense of wariness that followed me all the way to the meeting room.
Despite my wariness, the meeting seemed normal. No one addressed what had happened last night, and apparently no one suffered any injuries. I almost thought I was safe until Lady Meng held me back after the meeting alone.
I kept my face placid as she stared at me. My face remained calm until she spoke a single sentence that caused the blood in my veins to freeze.
"You and Song Chu really thought you were untouchable, huh?"
With those words, a pressure unlike anything I had ever felt enveloped me. The world faded away, and the only thing I could perceive was Lady Meng, who suddenly seemed to be growing taller and taller as the pressure intensified.
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