3 Chapter 3: Time.. slowed down? (1/2)

”Shut up! I bought your chicken meat here yesterday and it caused me to feel drowsy to eventually fell asleep in class!” yelled a young man with short black hair. He bears an arrogant look to him.

”My teacher reprimanded me for that! Do you know how shameful that is for me?! Now compensate me a hundred coppers and I will let this matter go!” he shouted directly in front of grandma Ying, before his lips curled into a sneer.

”Otherwise...”

Just as he was still trying to finish his sentence, a loud 'pa' sound could be heard as he was slapped by grandma Ying which had immediately made him stumbled backwards two steps.

”You ruffian! How is that my fault? Are you dumb?!” yelled grandma Ying back towards that stupefied young man.

This grandma Ying was already in his 70's and had quite the temper as well. ”This young man had picked the wrong person to vent his frustrations on...” thought Duan Li.

”Y-you! How dare you slap me?!” said the young man with an infuriated expression, ”Are you blind old woman?! I am a student of the Jixue Knights Academy!” he shouted while flicking his white and blue uniform as his index finger pointing to the academy emblem on his right shoulder. The emblem had one sword and one saber crossing one another, with a shield as its background.

”Hah! Even if I'm deaf, I would still have slapped you the same! Now get out of here!!” replied grandma Ying angrily.

”Damned old woman!” yelled the young man as he stepped forward with raised hand seeming as if to slap back at grandma Ying.

”Stop!” shouted Duan Li, his voice was loud that it startled the young man which immediately halted his momentum.

The young man turned his head to look at the person who stopped him.

”Who are you?! Don't meddle in my business you peasant!” said the young man with an even more haughty look as he observed Duan Li's clothing. In his view, Duan Li is but a simple peasant.

”Well.. about that.. I have business with grandma Ying..” replied Duan Li slowly while giving an awkward smile as he continued, ”If you hurt her, it would be difficult for me then..”.

Hearing this, the haughty young man replied with disdain, ”Hah! Then let me teach you a lesson first as an example!”

”Materialize!” he chanted as a sword appeared in his hand.

At first, Duan Li was surprised that a sword had materialized out of thin air. But, as he observed, in all honesty, this sword seems to be made of common grade that he frequently saw on the rack of a weapons store.

Noticing Duan Li's look towards his sword that he had materialize and the lack of reaction the latter had, the contemptious young man's face flushed red before yelling angrily, ”What are you looking at?! Too surprised that cat's got your tongue?!”.

”No.. no..” replied Duan Li while shaking his head slowly and continued ”That is a great quality sword you have there!”.

'Pu!' the young man choked.

Great quality sword? He himself knew that his sword was quite common that could be found anywhere. Thus, hearing Duan Li's compliment, coupled with that gaze of his that even hinted a sliver of disdain to his sword with that 'nothing special' look in his eyes, riled up the young man entirely!

”Y-you good for nothing peasant! How dare you humiliate me like this!” he shouted as he step towards Duan Li.

”No! Stop!” shouted grandma Ying in a terrified voice when she saw the situation started to spiral out of control.

Duan Li is the child of Meng Yue! If her son was hurt because of her, how could she face her next time?

”I'll chop off your arms so that you will remain disabled forever! HAHA!” laughed the young man as he swung his sword in a cutting motion. To him, a mere peasant losing an arm or two wouldn't really cause any issue.

Due to the suddenness of this situation, Duan Li still wasn't able to react properly at all. By the time the sword was swung halfway however, his ear ranged for a bit before that sword suddenly seems to slow down considerably.

How bizarre!

But taking this chance, knowing that there are no time for hesitation, Duan Li performed a single side step as he dodged the incoming strike beautifully.

'swoosh!'

”What?!” startled the young man. He just couldn't believe his eyes! In an instant before, he was sure that his sword would amputate the peasant's arm, yet in another instant, the latter suddenly moved so fast that his eyes couldn't follow as his attack was dodged seeming effortlessly.

”I.. managed to dodge?” said Duan Li to himself as he realized that time had returned to normal again.

Gritting his teeth, he swung his sword again. This time, he aimed for the knee. He thought that it must be due to pure luck that the peasant had managed to dodge his sword attack before!

This time, Duan Li knew that the young man was aiming for his legs and tried to dodge, but his reaction speed was still too slow that the sword had already reached halfway to chop off his legs!

”I won't be able to make it!” thought Duan Li as he panicked. Then, the ringing sound reappeared again as time slowed down to a snail's pace.

”Wha.. again?” he was entirely stumped by this bizarre phenomena of time slowing down! The ringing sounded just like when one had reached a certain depth while swimming.

Thus, taking this chance, Duan Li lifted his legs from harm's way. But this time he decided to retaliate!