14 Chapter 13: Dark Shadows (1/2)
”Oh. You're back.”
I looked up when Zhu Jiao trudged back into the shack we shared, looking completely exhausted and wiped out.
”Hey. You're early today.”
”No, you're late. I just returned from the training facility thirty minutes ago.”
”Eh? Oh, you're right. Ha ha ha ha!”
Zhu Jiao laughed sheepishly when he glanced outside and saw that it was already night. Usually Zhu Jiao finished his training way before I did, and that wasn't even including the evenings I spent sparring against automaton puppets in the training facility.
”Oh, hey…Wui…”
”?”
I glanced at Zhu Jiao. He looked like he was about to say something, but at the last moment he turned away and shook his head.
”What is it?”
”No, nothing. Just watch out, you know? I don't think Qi Fu Ren and his flunkies are going to let us off.”
”Yeah, I know. Don't worry.”
I suspected I knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell me about his encounter with Qi Lin, and how he pleaded with him to take me as a fellow disciple. But he made a promise and swore not to tell anyone about Qi Lin or the Golden Kirin Sect. Even me.
Not wanting him to get into trouble with his new master, I kept my counsel and feigned ignorance. Inside, I was feeling conflicted. While half of me was happy for my friend, the other half was feeling sheer frustration, bitter resentment and unbridled fury that I was being left behind in the dust yet again, treated like unwanted trash in a cold, uncaring universe that mocked my existence and made fun of my horrible luck by showing off the incredible fortune of others.
If God wants me to suffer so much, why doesn't He just kill me already? End the suffering. Is it that fun to torture me like this?
”Wu? Are you okay?”
”?!”
I hastily turned away, realizing that my forced neutral façade was cracking. Swallowing, I calmed myself down and nodded.
”Yeah.”
”You look pretty angry.” Zhu Jiao chuckled slightly. ”I don't blame you. I'm pretty mad at Qi Fu Ren and friends myself.”
He held up a fist and punched it toward the air.
”But I'm going to work hard to change things. I'm going to make sure those punks will never dare to touch us ever again.”
*
Despite me thinking to myself, good luck with that, Qi Fu Ren and friends didn't bother the both of us for a few weeks. But I knew it was coming. His bullying was inevitable. Not only that, Zhu Jiao had triggered a bully flag by making his declaration.
I could already guess what would happen. After Zhu Jiao trained and learned new techniques, Qi Fu Ren and his cronies would come and pick a fight with us, most likely in front of everybody. Assuming that Bai Ning Xue wasn't there, all our other classmates would merely watch and comment, but were unable to interfere because Qi Fu Ren was much stronger than them and they didn't want to get beaten up too. They would make comments like, ”how pitiful, those two would get thrashed. How pathetic. How weak.” Then Zhu Jiao will surprise everyone with his newfound powers and restored talent and beat the shit out of Qi Fu Ren and his underlings. Following which, everyone would be amazed and impressed and start praising Zhu Jiao for his sudden display of power and talk about how he was an unprecedented genius all this time.
Yeah. It was so predictable that I wanted to dig a hole and hide myself before all of that happened.
Fortunately, nothing happened. At least for the next two weeks. We continued training, and Zhu Jiao would go his separate way to learn under his master in secret…or at least that was what they believed. I knew. There was little point in revealing that I knew, firstly because I didn't want Zhu Jiao to get into trouble with his master, and secondly, what did it achieve? That I was genre-savvy? Was I expecting Qi Lin to take me as a disciple? I would be lucky if he didn't order Zhu Jiao to kill me on the spot.
And I didn't want to put Zhu Jiao on the spot…
I increased the distance of my running to twenty-four kilometers, and my pushups and sit-ups to two hundred each. While I couldn't cultivate as well as my classmates, I could at least do my best and surpass them in sheer physical fitness. Not wanting to be left behind, I brutally punished myself by stretching my body to its physical limits, so much so that I almost collapsed after each Spartan training session.
Unfortunately, it was not Qi Fu Ren who showed up this time, but a new group of seniors.
”!”
I had almost forgotten about the seniors from the Iron Mountain Sect and the Dark Shadow Sect who harassed me a couple of weeks ago regarding my supposed inheritance of the Heaven and Earth Sect. when no one bothered me about that for weeks, I had thought it was only a handful of idiots who were deluding themselves with misinformation, and was relieved as the weeks dragged by without anything happening.
But it seemed that I was mistaken.
”Fei Wu?”
”…yes?”
I looked up at the new group of seniors. This time, the uniforms they were dressed in were slightly different. These new seniors were clearly from the high school section of Wu Ling Academy. Not only were their uniforms a little more exquisite and elegantly designed, they were also physically larger in size and bulk.
”How can I help you seniors?”
The leader of the high school division, a gruff-looking guy with close-cropped hair, a square jaw and a high forehead, stepped forward. He raised his hand expectantly.
”The Heaven and Earth techniques. Give them to us.”
I stared at him blankly for a moment before the memories from what happened two weeks ago hit me.
Not this bullshit again…
”I told you,” I growled. ”I don't have any Heaven and Earth techniques.”
The high school senior frowned. ”That's not what I heard.” He turned back and I suddenly recognized the small group of students hiding behind the high school seniors. They were the middle school seniors from the Dark Shadow Sect who I chased away back then. The former leader from back then was whimpering as he stared at me in fear.
”If you didn't, how did a middle school first year like you manage to defeat Luo Zhe who's a middle school third year student?”
”He was just stupider than me and fell for my bluff,” I replied bluntly.
”Oh?” the high school leader raised an eyebrow as he studied me. ”Interesting.”
I honestly didn't see what was so interesting about this, but I was in no position to make snarky comments. Already, the high school seniors were circling me and cutting off any path of escape. Unlike the middle school seniors, they weren't falling for my bluff. Yet at the same time they were being extra cautious.
I was dealing with a completely different level of opponent here.
The high school senior stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. One of the girls in the group hurriedly called out to him.
”Wait, Mo Ying, be careful. That brat might really be hiding some Heaven and Earth technique…”
”I know. That's why I want to test him.” The leader of the high school students from the Dark Shadow Sect waved her away dismissively. ”Stay in position and watch carefully. But no one is to interfere. Understand?”
The girl frowned, but reluctantly obeyed, stepping back to reform the circle. Mo Ying approached me, his hands glowing darkly with shadowy qi.
”So…show me your Heaven and Earth techniques.”
”I don't have any Heaven and Earth techniques,” I growled, annoyed. ”I've been telling you that from the start.”
”Well, think about it from my perspective,” Mo Ying replied with a shrug. ”If you were me, would you so readily believe the words of your target? Might you not be desperate enough to bluff people who are after you?”
”You're misunderstanding the word desperate, aren't you?” I sighed. ”If I'm driven to desperation, of course I would give you whatever techniques I have. But I don't have them. Never had them. I'm sure if you actually bothered to do an actual investigation, you'll find out that I'm telling the truth.”
”Forgive me for being skeptical,” Mo Ying countered. ”But you don't really expect me to just take your word for it, do you?”
”…”
He had a point there. If I was in his shoes, I wouldn't necessarily knew if the other party was telling the truth or not, not if I was able to read minds.
”Besides, think of this as an investigation. A test…to check if you really did inherit the Heaven and Earth techniques or not. If you die even without using even one of them, then we will believe that you're telling the truth.”
”What use is that if I'm dead?!” I yelled, annoyed. ”So you want me to let you murder me in cold blood just to prove that I'm telling the truth? What kind of logic is that?!”
Mo Ying smiled thinly. ”I'm afraid you don't have a choice. That is the fate of all who are weak. Either you succumb because of your lack of power, or…”
I never saw his attack coming. Something struck my face and knocked my glasses away. Blood burst from my nose and mouth as I flew backward, my vision turning into a dark red. I tumbled over the ground, rolling helplessly from the tremendous impact.
”How disappointing.”
Mo Ying smashed a foot into my stomach and I coughed out a geyser of blood. Writhing underneath his foot, I tried to free myself, but Mo Ying only increased the pressure of his foot and pinned me down cruelly.
This guy…he was much stronger and faster than the level 3 battle puppet that I used for training practice!
”Are you that determined to keep the Heaven and Earth techniques a secret, that you don't mind sacrificing your life?”
”I already told you,” I wheezed in between bloody coughs. ”I don't have any Heaven and Earth techniques. I never learned them.”
Mo Ying responded by grinding me further into the ground, rupturing some of my internal organs and causing my spine to creak.
”Don't think we aren't afraid to kill you. You might think that we will never kill you because we need you alive to tell us the techniques, but we have ways of extracting that information from your corpse.”
”Then do it,” I spat, my lips frothed in blood. ”Not only you'll find that I'm telling the truth, you'll be charged with murder.”
Mo Ying merely shook his head. For a moment he relaxed his foot. I immediately seized the chance to slip out from under his foot. Spinning on the ground, I used the centrifugal force to direct a Shadow Kick right at him.
Thunk!
”?!”